Discord isn't pleased when Princess Celestia give him an assistant, but what seems like a major pain in the flank turns out to be a blessing in disguise.
Discord has been less than chaotic these last ten years. The mischievous draconaquus everypony knows and loves just doesn't seem to exist anymore. But when Princess Celestia gives him an assistant, an unbelievable adventure begins.
He stared down uncomprehendingly at the dark outline before him. His eyes traced the buttercup-yellow wings, the rosy-pink mane and tail, the staring teal eyes. And then, the deep red gash that marred the mare’s throat. He began to tremble. His head tilted back, releasing a scream of agony, of heart-wrenching pain, loss, of savage and primal rage. A dark laugh echoed through the night.
“Fluttershy!”
Discord shot straight up in bed, banging his head on the low ceiling in the process. He embraced the pain gratefully. He could deal with physical pain. Focusing on that helped him escape the ocean of pain that always accompanied the dream. If only it was only a dream. It had been ten years. Ten years since that witch Chrysalis had stolen everything from him. Ten years since his 11-month pregnant wife had been murdered. Ten years since Discord’s life had lost all meaning.
He sighed and got out of bed. He made his bed by claw. Discord rarely used his chaos magic these days. The only thing he did with any energy was help in every way possible to the ongoing hunt for Chrysalis.
He walked down the long hallways of the castle, where he now resided. As he approached, the guards opened the throne room doors for him. "Good morning, Discord,” Celestia greeted him. He grunted. “I haven’t gotten any more leads on Chrysalis yet, Discord. I’m sorry.” Discord sighed and nodded glumly. He hadn’t really expected anything new, but he couldn’t help hoping. After ten years, leads on Chrysalis had become pretty scarce. He turned to exit the room. “Discord, one moment please. He turned back to the princess. “I know you’ve gone through the stacks with the records of Chrysalis many times already, but I think one more time wouldn’t hurt.” Discord opened his mouth, but Celestia cut him off. “ I know you’ve all but memorized the stacks, but I think somepony with a... different perspective might see things you don’t.” Discord tilted his head, confused. “ I’ve decided that you need an assistant. But the thing is, this assistant isn’t the... normal type of assistant.” Once upon a time, this would have triggered many a joking comment from the Lord of Chaos, but now he just narrowed his eyes in suspicion. Celestia wasn’t normally so indirect.
"What do you mean by ‘not the normal type of..’” He was cut off by the entrance of a little grey unicorn filly with a red mane, green eyes, and a pink tornado cutie mark made out of tiny musical notes. She bounced up to Discord and grinned up at him.
“Oh no! No, no, no, no, no! There is no way I am going to babysit an annoying little filly!” Discord exclaimed, glaring at Celestia. “All she’ll do is bounce around asking questions, breaking things and being loud!”
“No, I won’t, Mr. Discord!” the little unicorn said earnestly. “I promise I won’t be loud or annoying at all! I’ll be the perfect assistant, I promise!” Celestia walked over to the little filly and bent her head down.
“Musica, why don’t you go wait outside for a minute?”
“But...”
Celestia gave her a look.
Musica looked down. “Okay,” she mumbled. She slowly trotted out of the room. Once the doors closed behind the filly, the princess turned to Discord.
“I won’t do it, Celestia.”
Celestia carefully considered before she began. “Discord, I know you’re not one for children, but I think she will be a great help to you. Musica is an extraordinarily intelligent filly for her age. She will be a great help to you in your ongoing search for Chrysalis. That’s not the only reason I chose her to be your assistant though. I know that these last ten years have not softened the blow of Fluttershy’s loss.” Discord flinched slightly. “And I know her friends have tried to help you. But they were her friends as well as yours and they remind you of her. I believe that somepony who has no connection at all to Fluttershy will be most helpful. I would have done this much sooner, but you snapped at everyone the first couple of years and spent most of the rest either shut in your room or taking unannounced trips to any place that Chrysalis has the faintest connection to. You’ve been staying here for the most part recently, so I decided to take advantage of the fact.”
Discord folded his arms. “So basically you’re doing this out of pity for me.”
Celestia shook her head. “Not completely. I’m also doing this for Musica. She’s an orphan with a huge advantage in magic and mental capacity compared to the other orphans. She has nearly the same amount of magic potential that Twilight did at her age.” Discord looked skeptical. “It’s true. I would take her as my student, but I am very busy with organizing a meeting of the various leaders. I may still take her as a student, but there’s no knowing when that will be possible. This way, she will be able to pick up a few tricks. After all, you are a very powerful being.”
Discord still didn’t look convinced. “But the same would go for Luna,Cadence, or Twilight. Shining Armor could work too.”
Celestia nodded. “That is true, which brings us to my next point. Musica isn’t an ordinary orphan. Her parents’ identities are completely unknown. There are other orphans in this situation, but they were all left on the doorstep, usually with a note. Musica was found by one of the volunteers at the orphanage while the mare was taking a walk by the edge of the Everfree. Musica had nothing, no basket, no clothes, no diaper. She was wailing at the top of her lungs. The volunteer took her back to the orphanage, where she grew up. She was teased for her unusually often magic surges and because she had already had her cutie mark when she was found.”
“She had a cutie mark when she was a baby?”
“Apparently. I believe that having a mentor who knows what that feels like to be teased because of something that is out of their control would be beneficial for her. Despite the teasing, she is a very nice filly. And she won’t get in your way. She’s quite helpful,” Celestia finished. “Please at least consider it. I must get back to work now, and I assume you must as well.” Discord nodded and turned, mulling things over in his head as he left the room. As soon as he exited the throne room, he was confronted with Musica.
“Please let me be your assistant, Mr. Discord! I promise I’ll be helpful! Pretty please with magic on top?” she said with big blue puppy eyes. Discord looked away, trying not to remember the big teal eyes that had broken his resolve many a time. He sighed. “ I suppose a trial wouldn’t hurt.” Musica cheered and bounced around the room.
“Hold on!” he said loudly. Musica quieted down instantly. “There are three conditions. One, no loudness, chatter, or generally annoying noise. Two, no bouncing around or making messes you can’t clean up. Three, there is to be no mention of or reference to a mare named Fluttershy.” Musica tilted her head in confusion at the last one.
“Who’s Flutter..” Discord glared at her. “Sorry.” But as she followed Discord down the hallway, she couldn’t stop a wide grin from spreading across her face.
Musica rubbed her eyes. Discord had taken them to a room filled with stacks of paper. He had plopped a stack in front of her and told her to note anything related to Chrysalis. After of three hours of going through the pages as quickly and efficiently as she could, she had only gone through about half the papers and she had very few notes to show for it. She sighed quietly and glanced over at Discord. He’d gone through at least five stacks already and had page after page of notes. She narrowed her eyes. If he can do it, so can I! She threw herself back into the work. After a while though, she sat back again. How does he do it? she wondered. Maybe I could try scanning the stack with magic. She frowned. Sometimes my magic gets out of control, but maybe this time...
Discord had gone through these stacks so many times that it took him no time at all to find all the mentions of Chrysalis in each stack. He had no hopes that he’d find anything new. He glanced over at the filly. Three hours, and she’d only done half a stack with barely a page of notes. He mentally sighed. He refocused on his work. He soon became aware of a spell being cast nearby. He looked around and saw that Musica was using magic to scan her stack and take the notes. It worked for about three seconds before things started to go downhill. The spell, originally cast only on the stack in front of the filly, began to spread to the surrounding stacks. It grew and grew, so much that Musica’s notebook filled up and the notes started to write themselves over the words on the stacks. It would have kept going had Discord not stopped the spell. With a snap of his fingers, the spell disappeared, as well as the notes that had appeared overtop the words on the stacks. Discord turned slowly to Musica with one eyebrow raised. She stared at the floor. “I’m sorry.” A long moment passed.
“Follow me.”
Discord lead Musica out of the castle to a large field. He turned around and said, “Using your magic, pick up that boulder and hold it in the air.” She looked at the boulder he indicated and took a deep breath. The boulder was encased with dark pink magic and rose into the air. She grinned at Discord. He nodded, expressionless, and pointed at a tiny pebble. “Pick that up with magic and move it in a fancy design.” She started to concentrate again, but Discord interrupted. “Put the boulder down first.” She did so and then focused on the pebble again. It rose into the air with no problem. She started to move it around in the air, but after a few seconds, every pebble in the field rose into the air and started hurtling around. Discord ended the spell as he had before. “It’s as I thought. Spells that require great power are easy enough for you, but you don’t have enough concentration to do the more complicated spells without them exploding outward.” Musica looked at her hooves in surprise. She hadn’t realized it before, but what he was saying was true. Discord gave a heavy sigh. Musica looked up at him questioningly. “Looks like we have some training ahead of us.” Musica blinked.
“You mean you’re going to teach me how to use my magic?!” she cried.
“Unfortunately, it seems I must.” he said.
“Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes!” She ran around in excitement. Discord rolled his eyes and groaned, but he couldn’t help feeling amused.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Musica fell into her bed, exhausted. Discord had made her do many spells that required a lot of concentration so he would know where she was. The power part was easy enough, but the concentration she needed eluded her. Discord had been strict, but not at all mean. When he had dismissed her for the day, she could have sworn he had been less gloomy than he’d been earlier. She walked over to her small dresser and picked up her locket. It was one of the few things she had that was from before she had moved here. Inside was her one clue to who her parents were, a single strand of hair that had been wrapped around her hoof when she was found. She often wondered if her parents were still alive, what they looked like, what they did. As she drifted off to sleep, she held the locket close to her heart.
Musica and Discord soon fell into a routine. In the mornings, they would hunt through the stacks, Discord zooming through five or six, and Musica struggling to make it through one before lunch. After lunch, they would go out to the field and Discord would show her some spells and have her practice them. It was hard, but little by little, she was getting better. She could now levitate a small pebble without a million other ones floating upwards as well. Now she was trying to stop lifting up a boulder to accompany it. Musica was perfectly happy. Before she knew it, a month had flown by. But like all good things, it had to end.
Discord was hunting through the stacks as usual when a messenger summoned him to the throne room. When he entered the throne room, he saw Princess Twilight. “Morning, Twilight.” She looked at him with surprise.
“That’s the cheeriest greeting you’ve given me in years.” Discord shrugged and looked away.
“Good morning, Twilight. Hello, Discord,” Celestia greeted them as she entered the throne room. “What was it you wanted to see Discord and I about?” Twilight cleared her throat nervously, something quite uncommon for the confident princess.
“Well, you see, I’ve discovered something about, well, Fluttershy.” Discord froze. He turned slowly towards the purple alicorn, eyes wide. Twilight took a deep breath. “Well, as we all know, at the time of her...incident, Fluttershy was in a fragile state. Pregnancy. She was almost ready to give birth. In fact, the due date was in less than a week.”
Celestia nodded slowly. “And this is relevant at this time because...?”
“Predictably, we were all horrified by the way she...went, so much that we avoided any mention of her. We couldn’t even stand to look at the body, we just asked the funeral home to handle everything, and to have a closed casket. We could hardly stand seeing the coffin, much less her body. I couldn’t even think about her for a year afterwards without bursting into tears. Time healed the wounds her death wrought upon us, though we still have a scar. So after ten years, I can finally think about Fluttershy without constantly seeing her body. Only now have I been able to question the fate of her, no, YOUR child.”
Celestia spoke up. “We know the fate of the child. It died within her.”
Twilight shook her head. “No, we assumed that. I’ve thought back to it, and I don’t remember seeing her still pregnant. We were too grief-stricken then to realize it, but I have become more and more convinced that her body was no longer round with child. I.. I looked at pictures taken of the body, documenting the death of the bearer of the element of kindness, and none of the photos show her to be pregnant! Discord, I might be wrong, but depending on if she gave birth, and when..”
Discord drew himself up to his full height, his eyes glowing with a fiery determination that had not been seen in him for years. “Depending on if she gave birth before Chrysalis got to her or not, the child may have survived! If there is any chance at all that my child is out there, I swear, I will do everything in my power and everything not to find them!”
Meanwhile, Musica was still in the records room, going through her stack. She glanced at the clock. Discord had been gone for a long while. She put down her stack and trotted down to the throne room to ask Discord if she should keep continue working on her own or if she should go eat lunch. As she entered the throne room, she saw Discord, Princess Twilight, and Princess Celestia deep in conversation. They didn’t even notice her as she approached them curiously.
“I’ll ask Zecora if she knows anything. She lives in the Everfree near Ponyville, so maybe she noticed something,” Discord said.
“I’ll ask the mayor of Ponyville about unusual magic and appearances,” Twilight said. She pulled out a piece of paper. “Here’s a list of questions to ask, about unusual appearances, magic, and behavior in the last decade. Oh, and appetite.” Discord snapped his fingers, and he and Celestia both had a list.
Musica looked at him in surprise. She’d known he had magic, but he rarely used it, except to fix messes she made with her magic spells. There was something else about him too. He seemed.. different somehow. More determined, like he hadn’t had a purpose and now he did. “What’s going on?” the filly asked. Three heads turned to her in surprise. They hadn’t realized she was there.
“Musica! I thought you were in the record room!”
“I was! You were taking a while, so I came down to ask you if I should have lunch now. What’s going on?”
“There is a little problem that needs investigation.”
Musica brightened immediately. “Cool! Are we going on an adventure?!”
Discord shook his head. “We are not doing anything. I am.”
Musica frowned. “How come? I’m your assistant, after all. Shouldn’t I come with you and help?”
“This is a personal matter.”
“Then why are the princesses involved?”
Discord growled. “Because.”
“That’s not an answer! I want to come!” the little filly shouted, stomping her hoof.
“You’re not coming, Musica! That’s final!” The little unicorn glared up at him, then turned and galloped out of the room, angry tears in her eyes. Discord sighed and turned back to the princesses. “Where were we?”
After she had calmed down a bit, Musica started to pace the library floor. She had ended up here because it had so many nooks and crannies to hide in. As she paced, she thought about what she’d overheard. "Something personal,” she muttered. “Something that involves the princesses. Something that matters, based on the way Discord was acting.” She groaned. “This is getting me nowhere! All I know about him is what he’s told me! I need to get more info about him...” She stared up at the bookcases surrounding her. A small smile came across her face.
After a few minutes of magic scanning (Discord’s lessons had helped her control it better), she read through the notes she had. After a few pages, she dropped them with a groan. “This is getting me nowhere! This is all about his villain time and his chaos magic. Not really helpful.” Then she recalled one of his conditions. There is to be no mention of a mare named Fluttershy. “Hmm.” A few minutes later, Musica was reading through her new notes.
1. Fluttershy was the bearer of the element of harmony. 2. She was a member of Princess Twilight’s council. 3. She reformed the Lord of Chaos, Discord, changing him from a powerful enemy to a mischievous friend. 4. She married said draconaquus a few years later. 5. She was murdered by Queen Chrysalis of the changelings a year and a half after her marriage.
Musica stared at the paper in shock. Discord had had a wife? She’d been murdered? He’d been mischievous?! She looked at rest of her notes, but nothing else really had anything to do with Discord.She refocused on her original question. What did this have to do with Discord searching for...unusual magic and appearances? “What about that determination he had? I haven’t seen him like that before,” she muttered to herself. But there was something wrong with that statement. What was it? She suddenly realized what it was. “I have seen him like that before! Whenever we find something about Chrysalis that he says he didn’t find before!” Her eyes widened. She hadn’t really understood why finding Chrysalis was so important to Discord. Now she knew. But I’ve never seen that much energy in him. Not even when we find stuff. She gasped. He must have found a solid lead! That’s why he didn’t want me to come! There’s a chance he might find Chrysalis herself! She stood up, and started galloping towards her room. Well I don’t care if it’s dangerous! I am going to help!
Discord tapped his cloven hoof impatiently. He and the princesses had asked various ponies, but hadn’t gotten anything. Celestia had needed to return
to the throne room to deal with her usual stuff, like greeting dignitaries and sorting out problems, but Twilight was going with him to check out the clearing where his wife’s body had been found. He sighed impatiently. “Are you done yet?!”
Twilight was putting magic tracing gear in a big cardboard box. “I’ve just finished.”
“Finally,” Discord muttered under his breath. He snapped his claw and they were in the forest field where, ten years ago, Discord had felt the first shreds of torture from his beautiful wife’s murder. He did his best to hold back the pain that the memory brought, but he could still feel it, waiting to overcome him.
Twilight noticed, and said gently, “I think we should start where...she was.” Discord nodded, understanding. They walk over to where Fluttershy had taken her last breaths. Twilight set down the box, which she had been levitating behind her, and opened it up. She couldn’t help a little yelp when a small gray unicorn horn popped out of the box. She recovered quickly, and glared sternly at the little head that followed the horn. “Musica!” The little filly looked down, guilt in her eyes.
“Musica?!” Discord exclaimed, noticing her. “What are you doing here?! I forbade you from coming!”
Musica trembled and looked at the adults pleadingly. “Please don’t send me back! I want to help!”
Discord glared at her. “You don’t even know what we’re doing here!”
“I know it something to do with Fluttershy!” Musica blurted. She covered her mouth with her hoof. She hadn’t meant to say that.
Discord became very still. “And how do you know that?” he asked, deceptively quiet.
Musica took a deep breath and began to talk very quickly. “WellIoverheardyouguystalkingaboutfindingunusualmagicandyousaiditwasapersonalmattersoIwenttothelibraryandI..”
“Whoa, slow down, Musica! We can’t understand you when you talk that fast!” Twilight exclaimed.
Musica nodded, and began again at a slower, if slightly faster than necessary, pace. “ I overheard you all talking about finding unusual magic and Discord said it was a personal matter, and when he wouldn’t tell me why you and Princess Celestia were involved, I was curious. I was in the library and scanned some books and found out that Fluttershy was Discord’s wife and got murdered by the queen of the changelings. So I did so thinking and figured he had found a really good lead on Chrysalis. And I really wanted to help, since I’m his assistant and I hate mean ponies like Chrysalis.”
“So you thought that we had found the queen of the changelings, who you just found out murdered a mare, and decided you wanted to come?” Discord asked, one bushy eyebrow raised. Musica blushed and looked down.
Discord continued, “Well, you’re lucky you were wrong. Otherwise you would be in major trouble. You still are, in fact.”
Musica glanced up, surprised. “I’m wrong? So what is going on?”
“Nothing you need to worry about, especially since you’re going right back to the castle.” Musica gasped, looking pleadingly at the purple alicorn who was rummaging through the box.
“At least she had the sense to shrink my instruments instead of taking them out of the box.” Twilight commented. Then she turned to Discord. “But I don’t think it can hurt for her to come along.” Discord opened his mouth to argue. “I know, she isn’t supposed to be here. But still, since she’s here, she might as well get some experience out in the field.”
Discord sighed. “I suppose you’re right.” Musica squealed and hopped up and down. “Don’t get to excited, Musica. You’re still in trouble.” She drooped, but still couldn’t help being a little excited. Other than her magic lessons with Discord, she hadn’t done much as his assistant that had involved being outside or using magic.
“Let’s get started.” Twilight said. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Musica was bored. This isn’t nearly as fun as I thought it would be. Discord and Twilight had looked at an odd looking thing-a-ma-bob and written some stuff down. Then they walked a few hooves and did it again. Sometimes, they frowned and walked around a bit until they seemed to find something again. They didn’t seem to be following any particular pattern, zigzagging here, backwards there, and at one point they went upside down. Or rather, Discord had. For some reason, the randomness of where they were going seemed to encourage Discord. Every time they went in a random direction, or when he and the princess looked at the weird device, Musica saw another flare of that weird determination on the eyes of the draconaquus. Weird. Even though watching this phenomenon was interesting, it got old after the first twenty times. Deciding to break the silence that had surrounded them since the clearing, Musica asked, “What exactly are we following?”
Without looking up from her device, Twilight answered, “Some indications of where a helter-skelter of a half-breed may have decamped.” Musica looked at the purple alicorn blankly.
Discord rolled his eyes. “We’re following a magic trace. Normally, we wouldn’t need the instruments, but this trace is very old.”
“But why are we following it? What’s so important about it?”
Twilight looked up. She looked at Discord. After an immeasurable silence, he gave a tiny shrug. Then he took magic tracer from Twilight and walked ahead a few hooves, where he stared at the device and made some notes. Twilight turned to Musica. “As you said before, Discord and Fluttershy were married. And of course, he was desolated.” Musica tilted her head in confusion. “Devastated?” Twilight tried. Musica nodded. She knew that one. “So Discord was devastated. But there was more than that. Not only did he lose his wife that day, he lost his unborn child.” Musica gasped, horrified. Twilight nodded, pain in her eyes. But then the pain was replaced with a determination that reminded Musica of Discord. “But I realized recently that we never checked for certain that the child died within her. I looked at some photos and discerned that she was no longer pregnant in death.”
Musica furrowed her brow, confused. Then her eyes went wide in realization. “So the kid might still be alive?!” Twilight shrugged. “We don’t know. Chrysalis may have killed the child like she did Fluttershy, or she may have not known Fluttershy was pregnant in the first place. But don’t get your hopes up. More likely than not, the child was murdered along with the mother.” Then the princess trotted ahead to where Discord was frowning at the device, and moving it up and down. Musica trailed after her, still digesting what Twilight had told her. Even though Twilight had told her that the kid was probably a murder victim, she couldn’t help but disagree. After all, she thought, why leave Fluttershy’s body but not the kid’s?
“Take a look. The trail’s gone. It’s amazing that we followed it this far. The trace must have been really strong when it was fresh, that it would still be detectable ten years later, even if it was so faint.”
Discord ground his teeth in frustration, knowing Twilight was right. “Still, to have come so far and lose the trail now...” He sighed, his head drooping. There was no way to know what had happened. One of the changelings could have found the baby, which was likely if the trail had been as strong as Twilight thought it had been. Maybe a timberwolf had come across his child. For all he knew, a dragon could have snatched up his child!
Twilight noticed the despair settling on the draconaquus. “Don’t assume the worst, Discord. Maybe a somepony came along and found the child.”
“Yeah, and didn’t notice the oddities my child was bound to have that would clearly state ‘child of Discord!’ The only place near here is Ponyville, and they know me well enough that they would know draconaquus antlers or legs or tail when they saw one!” he spat pessimistically.
“You’re forgetting one thing. It was Fluttershy’s child too. Maybe it got her looks.” Twilight pointed out, packing up her equipment.
“Yeah, maybe.” Discord muttered, clearly not agreeing.
Musica, who had stayed quiet while they were arguing, looked between the two adults. She could tell that even though Twilight had been giving arguments supporting the child’s survival, Twilight was just as upset and disheartened as Discord. “Sh-should we get going now?” she asked timidly. Discord started. He’d forgotten she was there.
“I suppose we should. And I’m assuming you know that there should not be a recurrence of this kind of, ah, incident?” Discord arched a bushy eyebrow. Musica nodded, looking at the ground. And with that, Discord snapped his claw, and they disappeared. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
For the next few days, Discord was moody and morose. He snapped at everypony, and threw himself with new vigor into his search. Today he was in an especially bad mood. He slammed down the stack he had been working through. Where in Equestria is Musica?! She should have been here ten minutes ago! He stomped through the castle towards where Musica’s room was. He knocked loudly on Musica’s door. “Musica!! What the hay is taking you so long?!”
“Sorry Mr. Discord!” she said, opening her door. “I lost track of time!” She hurried out of her room, dropping something inside her door before closing it. She trotted quickly down the corridor toward the records room. Discord started to follow her, then noticed that the object she had dropped was preventing her door from closing all the way. Grumbling, he bent over to pick it up, intending to toss the offending item into the little unicorn’s room. It was a small locket that was old and tarnished, an ugly thing. As he stood up with the locket in his paw, it opened. He stared down blankly at the contents. It was a strand of hair. Pink hair. Rosy pink hair that matched the mane of the mare who was always in the back of his mind. Slowly, a conscious thought permeated the fog of shock and confusion that besieged his mind.
Why does Musica have a strand of Fluttershy’s mane?