If Only You Wanted Me (As Much As I Need You)

It was a nice, sunny, regular old day in Ponyville. It was Summer, which meant that almost every day was sunny, with routine rain to prevent droughts.

The marketplace was happily buzzing with Ponies shopping for the same things they bought last week, lists clutched tightly and shops visited in set patterns.

In fact, everything was nice and orderly, the old routine familiar and comfortable, everything in its place.

As far as Discord was concerned, it was Tartarus on Equus. Was a little chocolate milk storm really too much to ask for? How could a species that fascinated him so much stand such boredom?!

"Are you sure you want to come with me, Discord?" Fluttershy whispered into her satchel for the billionth time. "I'm fine getting groceries by myself, really."

Discord stuck his miniaturized head out of her bag, hopefully keeping a scowl off his face. She wasn't trying to get rid of him, he had to remember that. "Of course, my dear! I'm happy doing anything with you." Was that too needy? Eh, whatever, she knew he was clingy.

"If you're sure." Fluttershy smiled, glad he was coming along. She trotted gently through the sparse crowd, humming a merry tune as she looked at the different shops. She had a small list, but liked to buy a few random things each time she came to the marketplace. It was fun having something different in her pantry every week.

"Hey, move it!" a stallion yelled, pushing past Fluttershy. Fluttershy mumbled an apology, ears flat, and scurried away.

It was rather easy for Discord to forget that his favorite Pony wasn't exactly the bravest of the bunch. Alone with him, she was assertive, sassy, playful. All this in mind, Discord was frozen in shock too long to hex the rude stallion. Oh well, he'd track him down later.

Carrots, apples, and other assorted nibbles slowly filled the satchels. Discord sat on top of the small mountain, shrinking some more to not be spotted by the townsponies. He wasn't afraid of them, of course, but he'd hate to cause problems for his dear Fluttershy.

"Watch where you're going!" a mare growled, after bumping into Fluttershy. Discord was quite ready to give the Pony a piece of his mind, but Fluttershy used her wing to block the opening of her satchel, hurrying off with quiet apologies.

"What a rude Pony!" Discord grumbled, head coming out of Fluttershy's hair to covertly whisper in her ear. "You should've let me–"

"Discord, please don't curse anypony," Fluttershy whispered. "It's fine, she was probably just in a big hurry, or having a really not-so-great day. Besides, I'm... used to it."

With that information definitely not making things better, Discord leaned back in the satchel. Despite his annoyance, it wasn't long for boredom to set in again. What to do, what to do..?

He teleported out of the bag, staying small and close to Fluttershy. A color change here, a tiny enchantment there, some singing flowers... It wasn't a lot of chaos, didn't even catch anypony's attention, but it was enough to keep his magic happy and behaving.

Mostly.

"Discord, we've talked about this." Fluttershy's disappointed tone was enough to keep Discord trapped in the satchel, better than any Binding. "At least nocreature knows it was you..."

"What cowards, there were only fiv–"

"Discord."

"Then again, I guess Ponies aren't really built to handle sharp teeth and claws, huh?" He chuckled nervously, not poking his head out to look at her. "I guess I'm not coming again next week."

"Are you sorry about what you did?" Fluttershy stopped between two buildings, voice quiet enough that only they could hear.

"I'm... sorry Ponies almost got hurt." He wouldn't lie to her. Anycreature else, not her. "And I probably should have given more thought to what I doing, I suppose."

"Then you can come next time, if you want." Fluttershy continued walking. Discord couldn't see her, but he just knew she was smiling in that soft, gentle way that made him want to do better. "But if this happens again, you can't come with me for a few weeks, alright?"

"Alright." And if that happened, he was almost certain he wouldn't sneak along anyways. Well, not more than once or twice, for a short moment, maybe.

"I only need a few balls of yarn, then it's off to home." Fluttershy's tone was of a mare thinking aloud, but Discord knew she was telling him that he only needed to keep his magic under control for a few more minutes.

Or a few more days, judging by the size of the line. What, was there a sweater-making competition he hadn't known about?

"Oh dear, I forgot that the annual Sweater and Tea Cozy competition is next week," Fluttershy squeaked, getting into queue with a subtle look of dread. "I hope we can make it home before sundown."

While still agonizingly slow, things moved along quicker than expected. Their progress was not helped by Fluttershy continually letting Ponies cut in front of her, willingly at the slightest of pleas, quiet when not even asked.

Discord could understand it when a family with several crying foals asked to go first, nearly everycreature let them go, but she was letting Pony after Pony cut.

Oh, the havoc he would have wreaked if he wasn't trying to be on his best behavior! But he'd promised Fluttershy he wouldn't cause any more trouble. Well, he didn't exactly promise, but she'd told him him to stay out of trouble, which was basically the same thing.

"Wow, what a wimp." A gryphon snickered from right behind Fluttershy, making her jump. "I know Ponies are scaredy-shells, but I didn't think they were this bad."

Then again, it's not breaking a promise if he didn't actually promise, right? Discord raised his talon, about to snap, but then dropped it. He sighed, frowning.

It was just words, Fluttershy could handle that. And wouldn't unleashing his powers just make her worse off? She could get in trouble, maybe even become a pariah, if Creatures started to really associate her with him.

They were almost at the shop, finally, when Discord heard whispering. He peaked out of the back of Fluttershy's satchel, catching sight of that damn gryphon, who seemed to be in a deep conversation with a unicorn. He might've just ignored them, except they were laughing in a not-nice way, glancing at Fluttershy.

It was only one more mare before Fluttershy's turn when the duo's plan became apparent. Green energy surrounded Fluttershy, lifting her into the air, making her squeak and tense up.

"You don't mind us cutting, do you?" The unicorn smirked, dropping Fluttershy all the way at the back of the line.

Discord saw red, which was probably because his eyes were glowing. "Are you alright, my dear?" As soon as he made sure the answer was 'yes', he was going to turn that pair into tennis balls and leave them at a sports club for a few weeks. Or into bugs and just let them loose in the forest. Or–

Fluttershy didn't respond. Instead, she growled. She spread her wings, flying over the crowd to land between that awful duo and the shopkeeper.

"What in the world makes you think it's okay to treat somecreature like that?!" Fluttershy's eyes widened, a soft, nearly imperceptible glow surrounding them. "Who raised you with such poor manners? All I wanted is some yarn, I did nothing to you, yet you thought it was okay to pick on me. Why? Because I let some Ponies cut in front of me? Because I'm shy? Everycreature deserves respect, especially the nice ones. Now, go to the back of the line and wait your turns, or I will call my dear friend Twilight — you might know her, lives in a castle? — and have a talk with her about the poor line management in this town."

Slightly dazed, the duo nodded and ran off, surely to be confused later as to why they didn't just yell at her. Discord doubted the words would get through to them, but still — name dropping? He didn't think she had it in her.

"I'm so sorry to make a scene like that," Fluttershy said softly, turning to the shopkeeper. "I hope I didn't cause too much trouble."

"Nonsense, dear." The shopkeeper smiled. "Honestly, I should've dealt with it myself, but those two always pay so well when they're in town..."

Discord scoffed. Even in Ponyville, greed was ever present.

"Now, what sort of yarn do you need?"

Discord was full sized again, enjoying the walk back to the cottage. There was a lovely sunset, the flowers hadn't yet closed up, and his small touches of chaos she'd long ago let him decorate the path with were going strong — but he barely noticed any of this.

All he could see was Fluttershy's smiling face as she rambled on what she might make for dinner that night, oh if he'd like to have dinner with her, but it was perfectly fine if he didn't, Angel will just love these carrots, they're so fresh–

There was no trace of the angry Pony who'd told off bullies, nor the meek one who'd try to ignore them. It was just Fluttershy, sweet and silly and kind. Too gentle even to him, but oh-so-capable of protecting herself.

She didn't need him to defend her, he was silly to worry. He doubted she even wanted his protection, she was so strong...

A part of himself he tried to ignore wished she did need him, if only so he knew for sure she'd never abandon him. If only she wanted him as much as he needed her.

Fluttershy looked at Discord, smiling up at him as he got lost in his thoughts, small bits of his magic randomly reaching out in his distraction. She'd ask him to clean it up later, it wasn't hurting anycreature.

Market days were always stressful. It seemed that no matter how much she grew, she could never find her bravery when at the market. Like she was a little filly trying to live by herself all over again.

But this time wasn't so bad. It wasn't all that scary when she knew Discord was there, ready to protect her if he had to. And the little acts of magic, the ones he thought she didn't see, always lifted her spirits.

She was glad he came, and hoped he did so again next time. It was much easier to stand up for herself when he was there, as if she was drawing on some of his strength.

He was so strong, so powerful. He could do things she couldn't even imagine, had been to worlds she'd never heard of. It was really special that he'd accepted her friendship.

He didn't need her, he had lots of friends now, even ones she didn't know. If he got bored of her, he would still have plenty of reasons to stay good, including genuine empathy he'd been so good in building up.

She should be happy about it, that should be a good thing, but she wasn't. A selfish part of her wished he was just a little more reliant on her, if only so she'd know for sure she wouldn't lose her best friend.

They arrived at the cottage, Angel Bunny greeting them at the door. Discord floated inside, snapping his talons to start the first steps of dinner. He'd been listening to her, even though he was thinking so deeply!

Oh, he was so thoughtful, so sweet, so unique. If only he wanted her as much as she needed him.