The forested path looked lovely on a summer evening. Fluttershy listened to the birds singing, and paused to watch a mother deer lead her fawn out to a meadow. It would have seemed perfect peace and tranquility, except as Fluttershy walked she couldn’t shake a feeling of foreboding, like dusk was fast approaching and she was still a long way from the safety of her cottage. But that ray of sunshine dancing on the forest floor needed more than just a glance to appreciate, and oh, those wild roses looked too cheery not to sniff! Fluttershy couldn’t seem to will herself any faster as her sense of danger grew and grew.
Then she looked up into a tree, and all her fear melted away.
“Discord! I’ve been looking everywhere for you! Would you care to accompany me home?”
“Hmm?” The coiled draconequus lifted his head to gaze disinterestedly at the pony. “Why, fancy meeting you here,” And he laid his head back out of sight. The shadows all around Fluttershy seemed to deepen rather suddenly.
“Um, I, um… Discord? I think it’s getting dark, and I don’t really feel safe out here. Could you at least maybe teleport me home, since I’m still so far away?”
“Why would I trouble myself to do that?” He didn’t even look down to her again.
“Because, well, I—I thought you cared about me? You always used to look out for me...”
“Oh, maybe I did care about you once, but then you vanished. I realized how much I don’t need you, and how much happier I am on my own. So get lost!” With that, Discord took off flying the wrong direction down the path. Fluttershy started galloping after him.
“Wait, Discord! Please, can we talk? Don’t go away! I still need you!”
With every step, the forest grew darker and darker until finally Fluttershy had to stop because even the ground under her hooves had become invisible. She was standing in infinite darkness and she felt very, very vulnerable. “I need you...”
Her whisper echoed into emptiness. Fluttershy curled up into a ball and started crying. How could he leave her? After all the tea parties they had together, after all the memories they made, after all the learning and growing together—how could he do without her? She didn’t think she could do without him anymore.
Had his smiles, his company, his hugs, his sacrifices—had all been a cruel trick? The Lord of Chaos working his finest deception yet?
The darkness echoed with the hollowness of betrayal.
She needed him, even after everything, how she needed him! But where was he in the vast darkness? How could he be reached? Fluttershy abandoned her hope in his reappearance and gave herself over to the loneliness and fear of the shadows.