Discord was trembling. He stared at his own shaking paw and claw, breaking into a sweat. The snow had appeared so suddenly before the mare had had the chance to land. He hadn't even thought about it. He hadn’t snapped his claw. It just appeared. He'd shoved her away, so obviously he shouldn't have cared how she landed! She had done something to him, whatever it was, that had made his heart start pounding. Before it was beating so subtly he wasn’t sure it was working at all. Not that he minded! He groaned at the pangs it was experiencing now, new feelings of regret surfacing that wasn’t there before. It was madness. Chaos! And not the good kind!
He stumbled back into some wall that hadn’t been there before, as it felt more and more like his realm was closing in on him. He touched a claw to his lips absentmindedly, then threw his arm down.
“What am I doing!?”
He had no new memories, especially not of her, but what if what she’d done had kickstarted something inside him? He needed to find a way to fix it, and fast. How could he wreak chaos and terror with new feelings of guilt overwhelming his senses?
At least he now knew that the mare, Fluttershy, wasn’t going to turn against him. He shut his eyes with gritted teeth for a moment at the memory of being encased in stone. How cruel a torture had that been? He couldn’t go back. Fluttershy had tried to act as though she would turn him, but he knew she wouldn’t. He could tell she had cared about him. She had kissed him even. He briefly wondered if they were involved before he took the potion. If that were the case, why would he have taken it?
Discord pulled at his face in confusion. None of it made any sense, which was ironic. Usually, he liked for nothing to make sense. Now he only wished that it made sense to him. If Fluttershy had the same feelings toward him, he would have had no reason to get rid of his own. Was he dissatisfied? That could have been it. She didn’t seem all that remarkable. But something told him differently.
Then maybe she didn’t have feelings…but he did? That would explain it. He let out a low exhale and brushed his claw through his mane. Leave it to him to get caught in a whirlwind of unrequited love. How embarrassing! Either way, he had no memory of these feelings or this mare. This shouldn’t stop him from moving forward with his plan, yet something now hesitated inside him. Surveying the realm, he found it was devoid of anything but blackness. There were no clues, no explanations to help him through this. He thought back to the Pegasus and the feeling of her touching him; the soft and hesitant brush of her lips to his, her hooves on his face. He shuddered as his stomach moved in knots, quite literally popping that memory bubble above his head with his claw.
He decided this was entirely Celestia’s fault. If she hadn’t damned him to eternity in stone in the first place, none of this would be happening. With her standing in the way, with every pathetic element of harmony, he would never know victory. He had to get rid of them. Especially Fluttershy. For a small second, she had had power over him. The accidental snow proved it. He had unknowingly protected her from her fall. Whatever it was inside him that once loved her remained there; buried deep by the potion, but not eradicated. Even as he thought of this, the idea of hurting her was becoming less and less appealing. His heart started to hurt, and he grabbed at his chest uselessly. No, this wouldn’t do. Not at all. He had to find Princess Celestia and end this.
Quickly, he grabbed a coat from a coatrack he’d just manifested and vanished.
“I think we should consider going to Princess Celestia,” Twilight argued pointlessly. Fluttershy had not been very receptive to the idea of the Princess helping.
“She wants to turn him to stone!”
Twilight groaned, “Celestia didn’t know-she thought it was another Tirek situation. She’ll understand-“
Fluttershy huffed, pushing her mane out of her face and turned from her friend. Twilight slowly crept around Fluttershy’s shoulder, searching her face.
“Fluttershy?” Her voice was tender, eyes filled with compassion. She knew that Fluttershy was afraid of losing Discord. She knew that, even if she hadn’t admitted it, she loved him. It was harder for Fluttershy to understand that Princess Celestia would be willing to help if they explained the situation.
“Flutters,” She put a hoof on her shoulder.
“Discord calls me that,” The Pegasus said, staring away. A sad smile grew on her face. “He has so many nicknames for me, he gave himself an award for the most original given nicknames. There was a ceremony even…!”
Fluttershy’s smile faded as she remembered Discord’s graceful bow from the stage, as he rewarded himself with a sash and trophy. She had applauded, and he had been grinning so widely.
Twilight smiled and sighed. “We’re going to go to Princess Celestia. We’re going to explain to her what happened and why Discord is doing this. She knows Discord well enough to believe us and to want to help. We should be able to find him fairly easily. We’ll just follow the chaos,”
Fluttershy gave her a long hesitant look, before finally conceding with a nod.
“When we find him, I want to talk to him,” Fluttershy told her, a stipulation. “Just me,”
“Fluttershy, what makes you think that will work a second time?”
The Pegasus bit her lip, eyes on the ground. “I think he saved me,”
Twilight gave her a look that told her she didn’t understand.
“I mean when he shoved me away. There was suddenly all this snow on the ground. It wasn’t there, before, Twilight. I think he put it there,”
“Why would he do that?”
Fluttershy shrugged, her face hesitant and hopeful somehow at the same time.
Nodding, Twilight looked to Zecora. “Well…I guess we should get going then. We’re heading to Canterlot,”