//------------------------------// // Curse of the Childhood Song // Story: Flurry Heart // by Buttery Biscuit //------------------------------// Cadence sat still, stiller than a pond on a windless day. She took shaking breaths, hidden behind her throne. Tears filled her eyes, no, she thought to herself. Just go away. Hoofsteps could be heard, echoing off the walls of her throne room. Hoofsteps of a beast. A beast that did not know it was a beast. Cadence knew it was just an innocent creature. She tried to convince herself, that it would do her no harm to look at it. She tried but she failed. She did not move, she could not move. No matter how much she wished to help the beast, she could not turn to face it. It would be too horrifying, One look at it and she knew she would be doomed. It was her, or the beast. Her heart broke as she refused to help it, a single tear dripped down her face as she heard the beast stop walking. She would make it up to It. She breathed slow breaths, trying to keep her thoughts on anything else besides the creature in the room. She thought of Shining, her one true love. He was currently training guards he would not be able to save her. She didn't want him to, he was busy and she didn't want to bother him. Cadence's heart dropped as she heard the hoof-steps approach closer to the throne. She tried to look straight ahead but the shadow caught her eye, the shadow of the beast. A Pegasus, an innocent pony but not to the parent or caretakers of a powerful being. It was a nightmare a walking nightmare. Oh, Celestia, she had seen it. It was too late for her. Too late for her doo, doo, doo, doo, doo, doo. NOPE NOPE NOPE. Don’t think about it don’t you dare think about it, Cadence thought to herself. Eventually, the pegasus left the throne room. Cadence wasn't too far away, she could still save herself. Maybe there was away. Just try not to think about it doo, doo, doo, doo, doo, doo. Not think about it doo, doo, doo, doo, doo, doo. OH NO! Cadence ran into the kitchen trying to fill her mind with anything. Anything but that stupid cursed song. She ran into Discord and Sombra hiding in the kitchen with Flurry Heart. Maybe with their help, she would have a chance, a saving chance. “Hey did you see…..It.” It was the code word they established for any pegasus. Cadence felt sort of bad that she kept avoiding them, but what else was she supposed to do? Just one look that's all it would take. Then there was no going back, she would be forever doomed. “Yes, we are hiding before it is too late.” Discord said trying his best to list all the chaotic things he could think of. All the chaotic things he could think of doo, doo, doo, doo, doo, doo. OH CELESTIA NO PLEASE NO. CHAOS, CHAOS, CHAOS, THINK ABOUT CHAOS. It isn't too late, just don't think about it. “I hate that song DoO, dOo, dOO, Doo, DOo, doO,” Sombra said mockingly before realizing he just sang the lyrics out loud. “Oh fuck me.” “DOO, DOO, DOO, DOO, DOO, DOO,” Screeched Cadence at the top of her lungs, no, no. “Why me, doo, doo, doo, doo, doo, doo? Why me, doo, doo, doo, doo, doo, doo? Why me, doo, doo, doo, doo, doo, doo?” Flurry Heart just giggled because she did not understand what she was doing to her caretakers and her parents. “BABY PEGASUS DOO, DOO, DOO, DOO, DOO, DOO! BABY PEGASUS DOO, DOO, DOO, DOO, DOO, DOO! BABY PEGASUS DOO, DOO, DOO, DOO, DOO, DOO!” The three of them screeched at the top of their lungs. Flurry just giggled some more, it could be considered an evil laugh if she knew what she was doing to her poor guardians. She did not know but that didn’t make it any less painful. “I WISH I WAS BACK IN STONE DOO, DOO, DOO, DOO, DOO, DOO.” Discord yelled in the air, nothing. Nothing was worse than this damn song. “I WISH I WAS BACK IN ICE DOO, DOO, DOO, DOO, DOO, DOO.” Sombra screamed, when did he lose his sanity? He felt like he was sane before this. This felt like a fever dream, he was in the Princess of Love's kitchen, living in her home, helping take care of her child, screaming this infernal song. “I’LL TAKE LUNA'S OLD PLACE ON THE MOON, DOO, DOO, DOO, DOO, DOO, DOO.” Cadence meant it too, anything to get away from this damn song. She never wanted to see another pegasus for as long as she lived. “Hey guys, we uh….we doing okay?” Shining Armor heard the screaming from down the hall. Every pony in the castle could probably hear the screaming. “DOO, DOO, DOO, DOO, DOO, DOO.” Is the response he got from the three of them, in unison. He knew of the song but he had been off patrolling and training the guards enough to avoid the mental breakdown that was happening in his kitchen, but just barely. He hovered Flurry out of the hands of Discord and to his hooves. Since he had been busy he felt he was low on his Flurry time and it was his daughter. “I uh think I will just take this and uh. I’ll just leave you be.” “DOO, DOO, DOO, DOO, DOO, DOO” He heard them yelling as he left with Flurry Heart, what could be so bad about that song? “Want daddy to play you that song?” He got a coo from his daughter and it melted his heart and he went off to play his daughter her favorite song. What a fool, he knows not what he does to himself. In a kitchen sat three adults just having finished belting Baby Pegasus angrily at the top of their lungs. “There has to be something we can do.” Said Discord he felt so defeated, and he had been actually defeated before. “Is it too late to take over Equestria again? I can NOT hear that blasted song.” “I am on the same page, this is a fate worse than death and I have actually died,” Sombra said with a long exasperated sigh. Cadence wanted to ask Sombra questions about that but it was better not to, he always avoided questions about his life much like Discord, but if you let the two of them talk. You could pick up tidbits of information, Cadence wondered if they knew they were doing that. Or if they just did it without thinking. Whatever the answer was this is how she would have to learn about them until they trusted her enough to tell her everything. “We have to change the song she likes. We just have to.” “To what? We already tried feeding her every childhood song that we could find!” Sombra shouted into the air. They had sung through five children's songbooks to Flurry. She didn’t like any other song but that one. “We make one, step aside my improv skills are about to be out the roof!” Discord stood up. He picked Sombra and Cadence up in his arms as he ran out of the kitchen and to Shining, he didn’t bother waiting for an answer. He was going to change the song Flurry like, even if it was the death of him. He burst through the throne room doors to find a crazed looking Shining. “Doo, doo, doo, doo,” Shining sang to the song, he had caved, this was it. This was Tartarus, no it was worse. This was worse than Tartarus. He groaned as the song started once more. If he turned it off Flurry would cry and demand it back on. So he, of course, played it, again, and again, and again. Discord snapped it off much to Flurry’s dismay “Flurry, Flurry look at Discord. Look at me, I have a new song for you!” He booped Flurry’s nose with his claw and she giggled. She attempted to eat his go-tee, which had grown much bigger, it could be considered to be more of a beard. Taking care of it just slipped his mind which wasn’t something that normally happened. He just had kept so much of his attention on Flurry. Of course, Sombra, Cadence, and Shining spent a load of time with her. He didn’t have to hang around when Sombra looked after Flurry but he did have to hang around when she was with Cadence and Shining, just in case. That didn't leave him a lot of time to himself, though he didn't mind. Sombra did his best to cover Discord as much as possible but he also did two jobs, advisor and bookkeeper. The official one too, which was a crazy thought. Discord still couldn’t believe Sombra was helping run the Crystal Empire. What a crazy world they lived in. Covering flurry’s tracks was Discord's only job as well as keeping a general eye on her. It was the hardest thing he had ever done as it was incredibly boring. He took her pranking, or to go cause light chaos to keep it interesting. Flurry giggled once again and Discord was pulled away from his thoughts. Ok time to make a children's song it couldn’t be that hard. “Princess Celestia, raises the sun,” he said snapping up a figure of Celestia, that figure activated her horn and she raised a tiny sun. “Makes time tick by, makes the crops grow, She makes sure the day runs.” He said as he puppeted the figure of Celestia to move the sun in an arch-like it did in real life. “Princess Luna raises the moon” He sang as he changed the figure from 'Tia to Lu-Lu. “Makes sure you dream, no nightmares for you, she makes sure of that real soon.” He snapped his fingers and Lu-Lu changed into Sparkles. “Princess Twilight, she spreads friendship. She's your aunt, her friends, always attached to her at the hip.” Her friends appeared by her side smiling and laughing with one another. It wasn’t his best line but how do you rhyme friendship? “Mama Cadence,” he said as he snapped up a copy of Cadence. Flurry exploded with giggles and Discord broke from the song “yes it's your Mama. This one is.” He said as he made the figure dance about which only made Flurry giggle more. “Mom spreads love.” He said he snapped the figure of Cadence lit her horn and a heart appeared. “Makes sure all creatures have it, even if it takes a shove.” The heart went from Cadence to Flurry and she giggled with glee in Discord's arms. “You like that huh?" Discord then proceeded to summon a bunch of randomly chaotic things, checkered potatoes, spotted lambs, lamas with hats, a unicorn named Charlie, and finally an octopus that blew bubbles when you squeezed it. That last one made Flurry explode with excitement as she grabbed and bit into it. Squeezing it with pure delight, much more interested in the octopus than in any of the songs. "I'll create it anytime you like. I'll create whatever you want. You gonna stop needing….that.” He said daring not to speak its name and Flurry just giggled, octopus in mouth, and Discord sighed with relief. He'd rather do that a million times than hear the cursed song. "Couldn't you have just brainwashed her?" Sombra asked as soon as he realized that was an option. "Can you brainwash me? Oh please, Discord I can't bear to look at…..you know what….without thinking the song. Oh please do it.” Cadence hoped he would, she went through her days in fear. Fear of that cursed song. “Me too!” Shining said quickly afraid that Discord would not offer to do it. He needed the song gone from his head. What was he thinking, playing this song? “I can erase all our minds of the lyrics but I will keep the rest of the memories. We just won’t know how the song goes but we will know that it was painful. That way we never want to find out. But I can't do that for Flurry she is too young. A brainwash could hurt her you know since she still growing up. I don’t want to hurt her.” Discord said as he tried to explain brainwashing 101 to ponies who knew nothing of it. “I supposed that makes sense,” Sombra said. “I don’t care if it does just erase my brain Discord. ERASE IT.” Cadence felt that at this moment she would turn evil. Evil and take over the empire. Then she would interrogate her people until she found the writer of that song. Then she would hang him from the tallest building she could. Where would the elements send her after that? As long as it did not contain that cursed song she did not care where she went. Discord did not argue with Cadence he learned a frazzled mother was not a force to be messed with. He’d rather kneel before the Tree of Harmony and tell it that it’s the best force in the universe. Which was not true he’d cross his fingers while doing it, he was the best force of course, but he’d at least fake it. Do that, rather than mess with Cadence. She….her motherly stare….was way worse then Fluttershy's ever was. You did not tell her no, not when she was like this. Sometimes it made him wonder what Fluttershy's stare would become if she became a mother. His theory was that she could stare into the face of creatures of unspeakable horrors and those creatures of unspeakable horrors would bend to her will. Tartarus, maybe she could make Grogar himself scared. “Ok.” So Discord did, he erased the lyrics from every creature's head except for Flurry. While still keeping the general memories of the song. The painful, painful, lovely memories. As much as Discord complained about the song he couldn’t help but smile at all the chaos she caused them. How could he not love it? The memory was worth keeping even if the song wasn’t.