//------------------------------// // Chapter 13 // Story: Mail Order Orphan // by kudzuhaiku //------------------------------// For a moment, Fluttershy didn’t recognise the alicorn in front of her. One side was blackened, covered in blisters, raw red flesh visible where the skin had cracked. The other side was sooty grey, also blistered in some places. The blackened side’s wing was missing many feathers. One eye was swollen shut. “What happened?” Fluttershy asked, her voice cracking. “I went into a situation and made a bad assumption. I chose to react poorly and I have paid for it.” Celestia’s voice was raspy, she sounded like she struggled to breathe. She looked at Twilight and Ivy. “Twilight, please see that Ivy is looked after. Consider yourself a foal sitter for the time being.” Twilight nodded, and pulled Ivy off into another room, Ivy yowled and fussed a bit as her mother disappeared. The hallway became silent. “This has something to do with what happened in the Everfree today, doesn’t it?” Fluttershy asked, looking up at Celestia. Fear was rising in her chest, the first hints of panic settling in. “What happened? Why am I here?” Celestia cleared her throat, unsure of where to start. “Earlier, I felt the very worst of Discord’s magic tainting the world once again,” Celestia began as Fluttershy let out a small cry, “and I went at once to its location. With Luna. To confront him. To figure out why, after all this time of living peacefully, he had returned to his evil ways. At least, that is what I had assumed…” Her voice went low, she took a deep breath, “ I arrived on the scene, offenses on the ready, ready to destroy. I made a mistake.” Celestia lowered her head. Fluttershy was confused, the tears had already began. “Luna went in with an open mind, hoping to reason, but ready to defend. She sensed that something wasn’t right. She sensed the very sort of magic coming from Discord that he had once used to rip the magic from us, stripping away our powers. Something I failed to do.” Celestia coughed, and, as she wheezed, bits of black withered flesh flaked off. “Luna put her strongest magical defenses and wards around both herself and Discord. She assumed that I was doing the same. I hadn’t. I went in ready to attack.” Fluttershy murmured wordlessly several times, struggling to find words. None came. Celestia closed her good eye, her face a rictus of pain. Her eye re-opened. “Discord rid himself of his magic. Stripped himself of his immortality. Very nearly killed himself. Had Luna not protected him, I do believe he would have died. I do not understand what he was thinking. Perhaps he was suicidal. Luna is sustaining his life right now, entwined with him in a dream. You and Ivy keep appearing. I was hoping that you could shed some light on this odd situation.” “I want to see him,” Fluttershy cried, “where is he? I will tell you anything you want to know, but I want to see him.” Celestia looked grim. She turned and looked at the door behind her. It opened. Fluttershy forced her legs to move forward. She bit her lip. She moved forward slowly, but resolutely. She moved her head through the door. And she saw him. His long serpentine body was draped over a bed. He was burned in places, but not as bad as Celestia was. His chest was bloody. His eyes were closed. Discord’s tail had fallen to the floor. Luna was in a bed close by, also singed, somewhat burnt, her eyes closed. A unicorn stood between the two of them, he was dressing the bloody wounds on Discord. “No,” she whined softly, “why?” “I was hoping that you could tell me that.” Fluttershy jumped slightly at the sound of Celestia’s voice. “I dunno,” Fluttershy squeaked, “we had a talk earlier. Some things happened.” “Things?” Celestia implied. “We talked about Ivy. We talked about his long life. About why he was the way he was. He went off to find Ivy’s roots and try and find others like him. Like her. He was scared that he was all alone. He thought it was over, that his kind were gone.” Fluttershy paused, taking a deep breath before continuing. “We talked about a long of things actually. And stuff happened.” “Stuff?” Celestia prompted. “I asked him to come and stay with me. Actually stay with me, not just stay as a visitor. I asked him if he wanted to be a father for Ivy. I kissed him. More than once. I wasn’t very good at it. He wasn’t either.” Celestia began to weep. It started off with a single sob, and quickly turned to many. Mare Imbrium stood in the door behind her, her face sad, her usual stony expression gone. Her ears drooped, as did her wings, the tips nearly touching the floor. It took a while, but Celestia began to compose herself. “I shouldn’t have responded the way I did. I went in assuming that Discord had returned to evil. I should have been more compassionate. I’m a fool for allowing myself to hate.” “Discord said you hold a grudge.” Celestia looked Fluttershy in the eye, her one eye blazing suddenly. “And rightfully so!” She snapped. “After everything he has done!” Fluttershy began to back away in fear. Celestia immediately regretted her actions, her face cringed in shame and embarrassment. “I do hold a grudge,” she admitted, “and by all rights, Luna should be the one with an even larger grudge. The things he’s done to her. But she went in with the assumption that something was wrong with Discord, not with the assumption that Discord was doing something wrong. She’s a better mare than I am.” She looked at her sister, lying in the bed. “Discord will recover,” the unicorn gently interrupted, “Luna is restoring his vitality. He will never be the same though.” “After today, a lot of us will never be the same.” Celestia added. Imbrium backed out of the door and left. Fluttershy stood, her knees wobbling, her heart thudding in her chest. She felt faint. Suddenly, the floor was rushing up to meet her.