Fluttershy had pushed her bed by the window for added light, flipping through the pages of the deep blue book. She had read the one provided by Twilight briefly, but as much as she loved the descriptions and pictures of the most interesting creatures in Equestria, she still had felt the untitled book call out to her.
It was strange for her to have been able to read or understand the strange words that were written, aside from being in a language she'd never heard of, it also was written in an almost code like sequence. But as she read the words aloud it all seemed to make perfect sense - better than perfect sense.
She was nodding along to it in satisfaction, it seemed to speak truth, like it was something she'd always known but had never put into words, and as she got to the with page she realised, that she couldn't have told anypony what was on the first page, she simply couldn't remember, or even on the page before as of that matter.
Fluttershy glared resentfully at the book, and she flipped it over to the first page and started again, reading one word aloud at a time with a pause in-between. The words sang like a bird out of her mouth, beautiful, melting like sugar on the tongue. But she still couldn't keep the patterns of it in her head, but she kept reading it dreamily as if it were part of her. She started repeating something she just went over again and again, desperate to remember it.
Thy Heart will soon begin to glow
And within it a seed, a tree will grow
Darkness, Corrupt and nightmare fuelled
Will hath all thy loved ones fooled
One power by thy times of six
Bring forth a fire to mend thy sick
Hath traits of friendship sentiments
And thy should find the elements
"Elements.." She whispered, her chest beginning to emit a small light until the door smashed open.
There he was, standing in the framed doorway. Fluttershy froze in surprise. He was furiously angry, his eyes glittering and terrible, and he held out his paw, lit up in a purple glow and gestured for it to come to him.
The book tried to jump out of her hooves, to fly across the room to the Lord. Fluttershy blindly clutched it on pure instinct. It wriggled against her, trying to escape from her grasp, but against her better judgment she managed to yank it back into her arms, the purple glow encasing the book and his paw ceased.
He gaped at her, and grew even more wildly angry; he stormed across the tiny room on all fours, while Fluttershy tried to scramble up and back, but there was nowhere for her to go. She almost considered jumping out the window and braving her terrible flying abilities, but it was too late. He was on her in an instant, thrusting her back against her pillows. Her wings spread out on the silken Anugypt sheets.
"So," he growled low, sounding silky, his paw pressing down upon her shoulder, pinning her to the bed. Her heart was thumping faster than she thought possible, each beat shaking her.
He plucked the book away with his free eagle talon - at least this time she wasn't silly enough to keep trying to hold onto it anymore - and he tossed it onto a small table. "Fluttershy, was it? Fluttershy of Ponyville." He pretended to have forgotten her name, but he definitely wanted an answer from her.
"Y-Yes." She whispered.
"Fluttershy," he murmured, bending low towards her, and she realised he meant to kiss her. She was terrified, and yet half wanting him to do it and have it over with, so she wouldn't have to be so afraid. But he didn't do that at all. Bent so close to her face she could see her teal eyes reflected in his he said, "Tell me, my dear Fluttershy, where are you really from? Did Trixie send you? Or perhaps Celestia herself?"
She looked away from his mouth and met his eyes with her own, and dropped her terrified expression, replacing it with confusion. "I--what?"
"I will find out," He said. "However skilful your master's spell, it will have holes in it. Your - Family -" He sneered the word. " - may think they remember you, but they won't have all the things of a filly's life. An old cradle, filly clothes you've grown out from that are now worn out, or a collection of broken toy's- I won't find those things in your house, will I?"
"All my toy's were broken?" Fluttershy said helplessly. She hoped not, she loved always treasured her old toys. "They're- yes? I'm usually good at wearing out my clothes and I -"
He lifted her up and then shoved her hard against the bed again. "Don't you dare lie to me!" He hissed, "I will tear the truth out of your pretty little throat." His claws were now resting on her neck, his dragon leg between her own, and in a great burst of strength she put her hooves against his chest and shoved him off her with everything she could muster, and he fell from the bed taking her down to the floor below with him.
She had fallen on top of him, but hopped off him, matching the speed of Angel Bunny, Flying to the door. She fled for the stairs. She didn't know where she was going but she didn't care, she just ran anyway: scrambling down two flights, and he was pursuing her on all fours. He could have snapped his fingers and brought her to him, but as angry as he was, he loved a chase.
Fluttershy scrambled to a landing and ran down another dimly lit corridor to her left, and finding a room at the end with overly large doors much like her own only larger. She flung the doors open and dived in, quickly shutting it behind her and barring it up as best she could with a side table she found to her right. She stepped back and let out a small sigh of satisfaction, but her terror quickly came back as she realised HE CAN JUST TELEPORT IN!
Knowing she only had a few seconds to hide before he figured out which way she went, as he had not been far behind her, she glanced around the room she had entered looking for a hiding spot, but her terror only increased when she realised where she was. This was his room!
The room was black with a dark shade of maroon, much like his throne in the potions room. Aside from the side-table, she had pulled from the corner and another desk directly under a mahogany cabinet that had vials, although far fewer than the potions room, littered along the shelves, the entirety of the furniture was on the ceiling. With nowhere else to go she darted under the table, praying he would not be able to see her and pulling her legs to her chest.
The blockage she had made, obviously didn't work, and with a flash, he was in the room. She saw him over the edge of the one table. He paced around the table with steady steps, and as he rounded the end Fluttershy darted forward, scrambling the other way and tried to pull the side table of her silly attempt to protect herself away from the door so she could get through. Giving it a strong tug she lost her grip on it and stumbled backwards into the cabinets filled with vials and bottles of potion. One of the potions struck her back and she winced in pain, it rolled off and smashed on the floor at her hooves.
Grey smoke came up all around her and into her nose and muzzle, choking her, stilling her, she sputtered. It stung her teal eyes, and she went to rub them free of pain but found- she couldn't, she couldn't even blink, unable to move at all. Her whole body slowly froze into place, in an unflattering position on the floor.
She heard The Lords steps coming over to her, it sounded distant though, in her state, and for a moment she didn't care what he would do to her.
He stood there looking down at the used to be buttercream pegasus, now grey. The world had gone grey through her eyes too, and very still all the same. "No," he said after a moment, " - no, you can't possibly be a spy." He turned and left her there.
After some time, he came back. Fluttershy wasn't able to guess how long he had been gone, she appeared to have no sense of time in this state and unbeknownst to her It had been half a day. He had a displeased look on his face, holding up a small knitted toy of a bunny that Fluttershy had made for Angel, that had been torn from both her affection through growing up and Angels insistence of dragging it around with him for years. "So," he said, tossing the knitted bunny to the ground, "You're not a spy, only a wimpy pegasus." And he massaged his left arm and winced as if in pain. "With a very annoying, oddly strong pet, that has an incredible temper." He continued.
He let go of his arm and put his paw to her forehead, and she was encased in a purple aura, and as he did so, she started to see colour, breathe, and feel time again. Fluttershy's head came free and she shied away from his paw. The stone was slowly fading out of her flesh. Her front arms and hooves came loose, and she pushed them against the marble floor to try and free her own back hooves that still hadn't broken out of stone yet. He caught one of her front hoofs, however, so when she finally came to lose all the way she had no chance of flight.
Fluttershy didn't try to run, though. She figured if he wanted to do something terrible to her he would have smashed her to pieces, or left her in stone at the very least, and fortunately, he doesn't think she was some sort of spy anymore. She couldn't put her hoof on why he thought she was a spy at all, why would anyone have wanted to spy on him, much less celestial herself, he worked under her after all?
"And now, my dear. Tell me. What were you doing with that book?" He demanded, his eyes still suspicious and cold.
"I only wanted a book to read," She said
"I know you've met Twilight and Rarity, maybe the others even, and I know she gave you an animal book, not that one."
"She- She did, I didn't- I didn't think there was any harm in another and -" She paused, only now registering his words. "The others?" She asked. But he ignored this.
"And you just happened to take Stars Swirls Summonings off the shelf for a light reading?" He said sarcastically, "And merely by chance -" Her alarmed and blank look convinced him, and he halted mid-sentence and looked at her, with agitation and wonder. "What a gift for disaster you have."
"Um- is that a good thing, to you?" She asked meekly. He scowled down at her, and then averted his gaze to the floor. Fluttershy followed his eyes downwards and looked at the smashed glass between his mismatched legs and her own hooves. He hissed his breath out between his teeth and harshly said "Clean that up and then come to the library. And don't touch anything else."
He started to stalk away and she called out to him in shock, "But can't you just snap it away?!"
Whipping his head around he shouted at her, "I COULD, BUT I THINK YOU, MY DEAR, NEED TO LEARN A LESSON! ARRIVEDERCI!" Clearly, in a temper, he wouldn't come out of anytime soon, she pouted and looked away at him in defiance. He then continued on his way, knowing well that she would comply.
With an agitated grumble, she got up and made her way to the kitchens to grab some rags and a bucket of water, and made her way back down to his room. She picked up the glass with a rag and washed his floors for good measure, even though the marble floor held no trace of any liquid. It was as if the potion had evaporated like a puddle indirect light of Celestia's sun. Fluttershy kept looking at her hooves to make sure they weren't turning into stone again. 'Why does he even have that potion?' She wondered, 'Has he ever used it on somepony else?' She shuddered and threw the washcloth down angrily into the bucket, making a small splash of dirty waterfall over her new attire.
Going to her room she collected the book that had caused all this trouble, and walked back to put it on the table she had tried to hide under and was careful not to touch anything else. At last, she made her way through the castle to meet him.
Fluttershy came into the library and didn't find him on his throne, he was pacing the floor, the book he was reading last time she had come here while he was present, was thrown to the side, neglected. He Turned to her, with an expression on his face that she couldn't read at all, and eyed her up and down.
Curious she looked down on herself as well to try and find what had the Lords interest and she frowned, guiltily, as the beautiful dress Rarity made her only this morning was stained with the dirty water that she had gotten on herself in her tiny outburst of anger, and the pink bow had been undone, a few tears here and there, obviously from the scuffle between herself and her Lord earlier.
"We'll begin with that, then." He said, gesturing at her attire. "As much as I like the new chaotic assembly of it all, I don't think it does you justice in its state."
She tilted her head at this. was that a compliment? She shook her head, No, no it couldn't have been, he likes things chaotic, and he just said that this LOOKS chaotic, so maybe he is suggesting I'm not worthy of it? well, I don't think I owe him beauty! she continued to ponder in confusion, forgetting to address what he had just said. His ears had gone hot after saying that, mentally cursing himself for letting it slip from his tongue, not knowing where it had even come from.
No reply had come from the Pegasus, which was starting to make his temper flare again, he scratched the table at his side with his eagle talon, making it emit a loud screeching noise, much how a blunt knife would sound going down a chalkboard. This caught her attention again.
He beckoned her over, she could feel his impatience, and took a cautious step towards him; he took her hooves and crossed them over her chest, she felt the heat in her face from having his paw brush just under her neck as he did so. "Now I'm not always going to be around, my dear. so I am going to teach you how to do this to make yourself less of an embarrassment." He cupped her face gently, which made Fluttershy almost forget he had just some-what insulted her. "Now say this; Ornataurinsta."
Fluttershy stared at him in mute rebellion. He grabbed at one of her wings painfully hard, but she gritted through the pain. She would not let him know he got to her in any way or form. "I may have to put up with your incompetence, but I won't tolerate your spinelessness," he said. "Now say it!"
Fluttershy gave in, after all, she had just been encased in stone. What else could possibly happen to her? It came from her lips in a whisper, as if being quiet would make whatever it did not work, "Ornataurinsta."
Her strength went with the words as soon as it left her mouth, and she found herself feeling extremely weak. Sinking to the floor she started breathing more heavily as if she had run or flew a great distance. The dress Rarity had amended was now of green and brown silk, its skirts pooled around her small frame and her wings had been tucked in the tight corset of the attire. Her head felt strangely heavy, she placed her hoof to the source and found the sudden weight was due to a heavily flowered headdress, a veil flowing down her back in a gold thread.
"Overdramatic much? And over nothing but a small spell again." He said over her. "At least your appearance has improved. Do try to keep yourself in a decent state from now on. Tomorrow we will try another." And with that he turned and walked away from her and sat at his throne, levitating his overly huge book over to him and started engaging in it. Fluttershy hung her head low and made her way to her room without another word.
The next few weeks came and went. Every morning now she had woken up a little before Celestia raised the sun and lay in her bed as the window brightened, wondering how her friends, family and Angel bunny was going, and what they might be up to, if they even remembered her. She scolded herself for these thoughts 'Of course they remember me, don't be such a silly filly.' Fluttershy hadn't seen Rarity or Twilight all this time and didn't quite understand why.
On the plus side, she didn't have to take him his meals anymore, and she was starting to feel that maybe she was right, that he just wanted some company and seeing that they were seeing each other every day now he needn't have his meals delivered. Sometimes she would still see a tray outside the library empty on her way in, however, but never questioned it.
They would start with a few different spells, and she was getting quite tired of being his magical puppet, physically and emotionally. She wished he would stop channelling his magic through her, wondering why he was even doing so. All her simple dresses had slowly become elaborate and chaotically designed day by day, and they littered her room like mountains, able to stand up on their own because of all the skirts, cages and frills. Fluttershy would have much-prefered Rarity's input and found herself craving to see the fashionista again. 'Why is he using me this way?'
Feeling so drained every night she found herself imagining all the Fairy-stories, the worst of them; Vamponys and changelings drinking the life out of mares and stallions. The only comfort she had was knowing she wasn't the first mare to be taken, to have gone through this, nor was she the only one in the castle.'Others..' She recalled. 'Was he meaning the other Chaos born before her?' Who knew. She didn't have the energy to overthink it.
One day she tried to keep away entirely, hoping he would forget for just one day. She made her way to the kitchens and stayed there til Celestia sun went down, and she raised the moon. Celestia had to take on both roles since her sisters' corruption. There were rumours however that she wouldn't be able to keep this up for too long. Luna had vowed to make it eternal night all over Equestria. At least that's what the stories said. But it had been well over 200 years now and Celestia had managed to be holding well, so much so that no pony believed in a threat as great as that one. Only the terrible war that cost ponies their families and loved ones were real to them. Then it came, a Breeze, like the ones she had seen many times before floating around the forest, keeping watch for the Lord. She loved watching them from the border, They were so - cute.
It was the shape of a small equine wearing a tiny fur coat that would even be too small for one of her own dolls back home. With translucent wings, bug-like almost. Pink bushy hair and blue fur, and she swore if she looked close enough and squinted her eyes she could make out the colour of the Breezie's, a bright pink. It wandered over to the little pegasus and landed on her nose, which sent up a tickle that almost made her sneeze.
Fluttershy for the first time in a while felt excitement boil up from her stomach and greeted the little creature with much enthusiasm. "HELLO!" She yelled, not very loud albeit but it was enough to send the little bug-like equine to the floor in a gush of wind. "OH MY GOODNESS, I AM SO SORRY!" She yelled again, making the Breezie crumple to the floor again in its attempt to get up.
"Will you stop shouting! Fluttershy gaped, 'It can talk?' She had never heard a Breezie talk before.
"I've come to collect you. The master is waiting."
"NO!" Fluttershy shouted again, only this time the Breezie braced herself, her little mane blew back wildly from her voice. The tiny equine was clearly becoming agitated.
“With all due respect,” The Breezie spat the last word bitterly, clearly not meaning respect at all, “It will be my plot he would be busting if I didn't come back with you.”
Fluttershy hung her head low, and nodded her head, defeated. With Fluttershy not saying much else, the Breezie took it as compliance and turned hoof to the corridor and made her way through, as expected Fluttershy followed. It was dark tonight, it didn't seem like the menacing stones that glowed on the wall were providing much light and that's how Fluttershy felt on the inside as of late in regards to her own happiness.
Desperate to numb the thoughts plaguing her and dim her sadness she piped up a conversation, “So... What's your name?” She asked the Breezie in a quaking voice. The tone in her voice didn't go unnoticed by the small creature, and the Breezie looked down to the floor in a moment of sympathy.
“My names Sea Breeze.”
“Nice to meet you...” Fluttershy said softly.
They turned down another corridor where a staircase lay, they went up it. The Breezie could feel the silence weighing heavy on the young Pegasus, and decided to play along with this charade, after all, she was a sweet mare, and Sea Breeze knew how hard the lord of chaos can be on these mares. “You must be Fluttershy, I have heard a lot about you, you are as pretty as the master says.”
Fluttershy's eyes widened. “He thinks I'm... pretty?” Fluttershy from that point was so lost in her own thoughts she hadn't realised they had reached the tower where he resided. Sea Breeze made her way through the crack of the door, which was slightly ajar. Fluttershy stood there for a moment, not wanting to go in, swallowing nervously, she finally pushed the door inwards and poked her head around the corner.
Sea Breeze was in The lord's paw, they were discussing something Fluttershy couldn't quite make out. The Lord nodded and Sea Breeze flew from his hand and out the window. The lord continued to look out the window, and without as much as a glance at Fluttershy he spoke up, “If you're going to idle by the door all night, by all means, but I won't forgo your lessons, as much as I don't like watching you flap about like an exhausted fish over the least cantrip. We've already seen the consequences of leaving you to your own devices.”
He turned to look at her, she hung her head low, however, it seemed to be out of annoyance more so than shame or sadness. He couldn't help but smirk, as he blew air from his nostrils in a small un-audible laugh. She was quite feisty for such a shy mare. A strange combination, he liked that, in fact, he didn't even mind so much when her attire got out of order per-se. But he had his reasons for doing what he did.
Fluttershy finally looked up and buckled under his gaze briefly. He seemed to be zoned out almost. What is he thinking about... what... is he looking at? She figured he must be waiting for her to do the usual spell, to gussy herself up. Reluctantly and softly she spoke, “Ornataurinsta...”
He snapped back to reality as her attire shifted into something for an autumn Queen, wrapped in an array of orange and yellow silks. He noticed she was giving him a look as if saying ‘Happy now?’ He opened his mouth to speak but shut it just as quick. He turned to the window. “Those books on the table, to sort them into alphabetical order, say; Darendetal.”
Fluttershy looked at the books, and for the first time, didn't hesitate to do what she was asked. “Darendetal.” She mumbled. The books on the table shuddered, and one after the other they lifted and spun into place. This time, Fluttershy didn't feel as drained, she only merely gripped the edge of the table to keep her balance. He looked over at the order of the books gave a small growl in suppressed anguish.
“Did I do something wrong?” Fluttershy asked, showing not much evidence of emotion in her voice.
“No... I've just never been fond of order.”
“Then why did you ask me to-”
“Never mind that.”
An awkward silence fell between them before he spoke up again. “That's Twilights favourite spell.” He gave a small chuckle, “She likes to keep things in order, its where we clash the most.” Fluttershy's ears perked up and her eyes widened. How was she to respond to that?
Another silence fell upon them, this time Fluttershy was the one to break it. “I have so many questions...” She said, softly.
“Understandable,” He said, still not facing her, “Tell you what, since you managed to do one cantrip without being told, and not collapse to the floor with the second. I will answer you two questions.”
Fluttershy was stunned, she had a lot more than two to ask. She stuttered for a moment, “What does Sea Breeze do?” As soon as the question left her lips she mentally cursed herself for asking such a trivial question. Well, it wasn't trivial, she was still curious, but she should have asked about Rarity and Twilight.
“Sea Breeze isn't the only one, the Breezies work for me, they look after the forest...” Fluttershy looked on with interest as he spoke, he finally turned to face her and gestured for her to come to the window. She Hesitated, but then made her way over, her eyes never leaving his. He continued, looking back out the window. “They used to live in the forest, it wasn't so bad once, but long before you were born, 300 years ago, it became a dark place. Ponies aren't sure why, but I sensed it. The magical imbalance, I'm still not entirely sure what caused it.”
Fluttershy looked away for the eerie view and back to the Lord of Chaos. He seemed to have sorrow in his eyes, or was it stress? Whatever it was, it was a look he often didn't display. “What-” Fluttershy began before she stopped herself, that would count as a question if she had finished, and she didn't want to waste it. He laughed slightly, and for a moment she smiled too, as there was something about him laughing that suited him well.
“Nice save.” He said with a smirk, before continuing the story. “They are quick, and aren't affected as much by the evil in the forest, They let me know if anything unusual has shown up if anything needs tending too, and lately I have been asking them to look for a particular tree for me. I took them in, so they merely do this as a favour to me, not so much as an order.”
Fluttershy opened her mouth to ask why, but he interrupted.
“Tsk Tsk, only one more question, so choose wisely.”
She pursed her lips in a pout, before placing a hoof under her chin in thought. “I can't decide.” She sighed.
“You can save it for a later date if you like.” The lord suggested, with no decipherable tone in his voice.
Fluttershy nodded. Silence filled the room again. Fluttershy looked up at him with her teal eyes sparkling, which made The lord feel like his heart had sunk to the bottom of his stomach, and he couldn't quite understand why. “Thank you for taking them in, that was... very kind of you.”
His voice hitched in his throat and he stared at her wide-eyed. She started making her way to the door. He tried to focus his attention on the forest outside. He told himself he was still furious at her, and that he couldn't let such a conversation change his mind. His brows furrowed in concentration.
Fluttershy reached the door and had a sudden thought... a sudden urge even. She whipped around to face the back of the Draconequus. “I know what my next question is.”
He sighed. “mmhm?”
“W-Whats... your name?” She asked, quietly.
He stiffened and slowly turned to face this, wonderfully strange mare again. Should he answer her? No one but the mares in the castle knew of his name. None of the Chaos Born mares before this one did either, aside from Rarity. But then again it took even Rarity ages to find out. He got lost in the mare's eyes once more and visibly relaxed.
“Discord,” He said, almost quietly, “My name is Discord.”
“Discord,” Fluttershy repeated. It felt right on her lips, like he was just like her now, maybe not a pony, but a breathing being, that has feelings.
He felt weak when his name left her lips. After a moment he snapped himself out of it. His confusion on the events that just played out and whatever emotions he just felt made him feel... agitated. He needed her to go, he needed to breathe. This... this was too much for him for one night. “Get out.” He said sternly, which caught Fluttershy of the guard.
Her eyes widened and became a little wet. “W-what?” Fluttershy asked, she couldn't understand, she thought... maybe she was getting through to him, that maybe he wasn't as bad as he had been seeming.
“I didn't stutter,” he snapped “I will follow up with you on a later date, I have answered your questions and for now I am done with you.”
Fluttershy bit her lip, feeling emotional from the sudden outburst. Holding her head high and taking a deep breath, she quickly made her way out of the room to her own. Once she reached her room she flopped on the end of her bed. This was ridiculous. And yet... she couldn't stop repeating the name, softly until she went to sleep. “Discord...”