//------------------------------// // The Immortality Club // Story: Kindness and the Fate of Shadow // by Raven-Flight //------------------------------// Fluttershy woke to the pummelling of two sets of little hooves. “Mommy, Daddy, play!” Fio shouted, as he bounced on the bed. “Play, play!” Echoed Corey. Then both foals suddenly stopped and changed their tune to “Daddy? Daddy?” as they nosed around in the blankets. Fluttershy sat up and rubbed her eyes, struggling to force herself awake after a poor night of sleep. Then she corralled her foals to herself. “He’s not here, my loves. Daddy had to go on a little mission. He’ll be back soon.” Fio shoved himself away from his mother with enough force to fling himself back onto his rump. His pudgy forelegs crossed defiantly. “Daddy’s always not here!” “Well,” Fluttershy reasoned, climbing off the bed and extending a wing so Corey could clamber onto her back, “he promised me he’d be back for breakfast. Maybe if we go start cooking, he’ll come back faster! What do you say, Fio?” “Hmmph!” “Come now, little flower!” Fluttershy fluffed her wings invitingly. “The mommy-train is all ready to leave the station! If you hurry, we might even open a jar of zap apple jam!” At that, Fio instantly encased his whole body in his golden aura and lobbed himself through the air toward Fluttershy, spurting out an arc of drool in his wake. Panic made Fluttershy flick up a wing just in time to catch her careening child and direct his fall safely into the cushion of her down feathers. “Fiorello Garnet Dusk!” She scolded. “You must be more careful! You could have gotten hurt!” But her two offspring had already burst out laughing together and did not hear. Fluttershy just sighed, resettled her wings and the foals between them, and set off for the kitchen. The first thing she did when they got there was place each colt in his own high chair. The second thing she did was retrieve two frozen strawberries from the freezer and set one before each of her sons. The third thing she did was set the kettle on the stove and dig out her strongest black tea from the back of the cupboard. “Can I have it too?” The little voice was right in Fluttershy’s ear, and she squeaked in surprise, dropping her bag of tea as she spun around. “Coreopsis! Just what do you think you’re doing?” She hurriedly snatched her levitating son out of the air and moved to put him back in his high chair. “Fio did it!” “Yes, I know he did, but he shouldn’t have, and neither should you. Stay here and munch on your strawberry, okay? Mommy will have some pancakes ready in a few minutes.” “Pancakes in a few minutes?” Whined a new voice. “Why not waffles right now?” Warm, steaming waffles instantly began blooming everywhere—from the countertop, from the ceiling light, even from Fluttershy’s forehead. “Daddy! Daddy!” Chanted the twins in unison, laughing at the feast and the menagerie of hungry little animals ithad suddenly it attracted into the kitchen. Fluttershy found herself in a hug, and a moment later, an extra large cup of perfectly brewed, extra dark black tea was pressed into her hooves. “Discord, you’re back,” she cheered, sounding almost as excited as her foals. “These two are full of mischief this morning.” “I’m glad to hear it! Although, you do look a little worn down for so early in the day, my dear.” “That’s because I am,” she replied, taking a deep drink of her tea. “But I’ll be alright. Did you find anything in your research?” “As a matter of fact, I did! Lobsters seem to be able to repair themselves at a cellular level, which might work great for you once I figure out just how they do it, and whether the substance or process responsible is compatible with your biology. The jellyfish way seems less likely, since their immortality arises from their ability to revert to an immature polyp stage, and you don’t have a polyp stage. And clams… I didn’t have the patience to figure out if they were immortal or just aging really, really slowly. I might be able to get you clam-like longevity by lowering your metabolism—how would you feel about being cold-blooded?” “I… what?” Fluttershy dismissed the ridiculous question with a vigorous shake of her head. “Discord, you sound like you’ve been hanging out with Twilight!” Discord lifted his paw and caught the flung waffle out of the air, resulting in an eruption of giggles from the twins who had conspired to launch it. “I may have enlisted her help. She insisted she didn’t mind and could manage without one night of sleep!” “Oh dear,” Fluttershy murmured, moving to wipe whipped cream from Fio’s chin. “I might like to pay her a visit this afternoon, just to check in on her...” “Cold-blooded!” Fio announced with a spray of half-chewed food. “What of it?” Discord challenged, moving to wipe soggy waffle chunks from Fluttershy’s besoiled face. It was Corey, rather than Fio, who responded. “What’s it mean?” Fluttershy, once she was clean, leaned down and scooped a tiny lizard into her hoof. She held him up to display it before her foals and used him to illustrate her simple definition. Once she’d finished and set Mr. Scales back down to continue munching on a discarded piece of waffle, the twins both stared at her with deep, glittering eyes. Then Fio’s lips formed that dreaded word: “Why?” Fluttershy froze. Answering that question would lead into a labyrinth of explanations that often left her questioning what she really knew about the world. Whether it was possible to really know anything. Whether it could truly be said that there was even a genuine world to talk about, rather than an imagined complex of absurdity that her solitary, irrational mind had invented in order to give meaning to a fundamentally random and meaningless existence. Whether her own existence could even be said to be… Detecting Fluttershy’s rapid descent toward delirium, Discord whispered “I got this” into her ear and swept the foals up into a sphere of his magic, where he could confront the challenge to parental sanity out of earshot from her. Fluttershy snapped to herself after a moment and watched Discord battle fiercely against the insatiable flames of toddler curiosity. All the while, she kept thinking fondly—What would I ever do without him? The uneaten waffles had all been gathered into the basket of scraps to later be fed to the chickens and the mug of black tea had been emptied by the time a battered Discord and his triumphant sons emerged back into the kitchen. Corey in particular was a whirlwind of excitement. “Mommy, mommy,” he panted, twirling in circles on the floor, “did you know? So many animals are cold-blooded! But we’re special! All the animals are groups and we have our group and it’s warm-blooded but all the groups are different specials and so many ways to live! So many ways!” Fluttershy caught her speeding child and gave him a hug. “Yes, that’s right. Every creature is special in its own way, and that’s a wonderful thing.” She continued stroking Corey’s mauve mane as she looked up to smile at Discord, who was gently tossing a laughing Fio from paw to claw. “I don’t know what went on between you three up there, but good job, and thank you.” “I also told them we’d all go visit Auntie Twilight later today, and if they’re extra good for her, she might teach them a little more magic.” “Daddy?” Discord stopped tossing Fio and dangled the foal upside-down before his face. “Yes, son-of-mine?” “What’s immer… immer-talty?” “Immer… what are you talking about?” “You said ‘jellyfish’ and then immertalty!” “Immertalty!” Corey echoed. Fluttershy stopped stroking her son and let him squirm out of her arms. “They heard you say immortality. Should we tell them?” Naturally, a squeaky duet of “tell, tell!” proceeded from the twins. Discord shrugged and snapped his fingers. The four of them all appeared on the grassy lawn behind the cottage, but Fio and Corey were completely unperturbed by the change in scenery and kept up their chanting. Fluttershy sighed and lifted a hoof to quiet her sons. They would need to know eventually. “Alright, my flowers, I’ll tell you about immortality.” The foals were instantly quiet and sat themselves in front of their mother. “Immortality is when you live forever. Most creatures do not have immortality. They grow up and get old, and when they’ve lived for a very long time, they get tired and say goodbye to the world, and then they go away and never come back. But there are some creatures, like jellyfish and lobsters, that might live forever. We call them immortal. Not everycreature can be immortal, because then no one would ever go away and the world would get so full, nocreature would even be able to move! That’s why most of us are mortal. We get old, and eventually, we go away to make room for others.” Fio jumped up. “Mommy, are you immortal?” “No, dearest. Even I’ll go away one day, but not for a very, very long time.” Undisturbed by the thought, Fio spun around and faced Discord. “Daddy, are you immortal?” Discord locked eyes with Fluttershy for a second. Neither of them moved. Then Discord gave a little smile and picked up his inquisitive foal. “Not anymore. Daddy used to be immortal, but then he met Mommy, and Fio,” here he picked up the other foal too, “and Corey, and he loved them all so much, he decided he didn’t want to live forever. When you all go away, I would be all alone, and then I would be sad. So I made myself mortal too.” Only Fluttershy noticed the glistening at the corner of Discord’s eyes when he finished. Corey reached over and prodded Fio. “Are we immortal?” “Yes, yes, I don’t want to go away! Daddy, are Corey and me immortal?” “I wouldn’t count on it, sport...” “But you’re Daddy! Mommy always says we’re just like Daddy!” Corey nodded enthusiastically to his brother’s claim. “Yeah! Just like Daddy! Same group!” “Same group!” Fio repeated. Then they chanted the phrase together, as they so often did when they felt their parents’ nonsense needed to be defeated. Fluttershy cleared the look of horror from her face. She didn’t want to pursue this conversation any further. Then she looked around and spotted a friendly distraction. “Hey, kids, want to know who else is in our warm-blooded group?” Corey dropped the chant first and levitated out of Discord’s arms. “Who?” Fio was quick to follow suit, and both foals dropped themselves onto the ground, bounced to their hooves, and ran after Fluttershy. Fluttershy gestured underneath the bush in front of her. “Angel Bunny!” The foals tackled the rabbit, chanting “same group” again over Angel’s squealing protests. Fluttershy and her family visited Twilight at court in the afternoon. Between subject hearings, their princess promised to close court within an hour and bid them to wait for her in the south drawing room. There, Discord stretched himself out into a long, curling racetrack and summoned a miniature carriage for each of the twins to keep them occupied. The two set about racing their toys down Discord’s flattened spine until one of them won and the other angrily bumped the winner’s carriage off the track. “Boom!” Corey bellowed. “You fell in the fire! You have to go away ‘cuz you’re mortal!” Fluttershy moved to intervene when Fio screeched, but then he started laughing. “No fair! We have t’ start over! I’m mortal, you’re immortal. I have t’ cross the finish line!” “And I try t’ push you in the fire! Ready set go!” With the new rules set, the game continued. A minute later, Twilight pushed into the room. “Hey, everycreature! Sorry to keep you all waiting.” Before she could continue, the twins rushed at her, their toy carriages in tow. “Auntie Twilight! Corey’s immortal!” Fio pointed at his brother’s toy. “And Fio’s not!” laughed Corey, pointing in turn. Twilight’s greeting smile immediately dropped, and she looked helplessly at Fluttershy and the newly-reinflated Discord. “Uhhh…” Discord explained. “They heard about the research and started asking questions. We decided to tell them.” “They’re talking about the toys,” Fluttershy added. “Corey’s carriage is immortal, and Fio’s carriage is not.” Twilight looked relieved. “Ah. Phew! Okay. Corey, Fio, carriages aren’t alive, so you can’t really say whether they’re immortal or not. But they’re both very pretty carriages!” Fio bounced beside Twilight’s hooves as she continued further into the room. “Auntie Twilight, Daddy says he was immortal and then he stopped. He says Corey and I are mortal, and I say we aren’t ‘cuz he’s our Daddy!” “Same group!” Corey helpfully added. Twilight frowned at Fluttershy, who winced in reply. “I’m not sure that’s how that works, kiddos...” Fio scowled. “But Mommy said foals are just like mommies and daddies, and—” “OKAY FOLKS, that’s enough about that!” Discord darted forward to snatch up the foals, then set them down in front of himself and facing Twilight. “Corey, Fio, why don’t you show Auntie Twilight your new magic trick?” The twins were eager to oblige and both immediately levitated themselves off the floor. Discord caught Fio when his magic flickered out, while Corey set himself down on Twilight’s back. Their honorary aunt then proceeded to give the twins a magic lesson, jotting down a few simple exercise ideas so Fluttershy and Discord could coach the two through practice at home. It was just about time to lower the sun and raise the moon when Twilight ended the session. While Discord chased his levitating sons around the room with a butterfly net, trying to corral them out the door and toward home, Twilight turned to Fluttershy for a quick word. “So… lobsters.” “Oh, I’m so sorry about last night. Discord found a gray hair in my mane and started freaking out, so I encouraged him to do a little research to calm him down. I had no idea he was going to come disturb you in the middle of the night!” “Ha! He did kind of startle me awake, but it’s alright. I’ve noticed I can get by on less sleep than before with all this alicorn magic, and honestly, I was really into the research anyway. Don’t worry,” Twilight added before Fluttershy could scold her, “I don’t make a habit of pulling all-nighters. Not anymore, anyway. But I wanted to know what you thought about what we found.” “Discord seems pretty optimistic about the lobster lead, so I guess I’m happy about that. I’m still a bit leery about the idea of being made immortal, but that’s a conversation we’ll have if Discord actually gets some positive results. I’m mostly worried about how that might change our relationship with Fio and Corey down the road...” “Do you really think they’re going to be immortal?” “Oh no, not unless their dark magic… Well. Discord and I tried to tell them they’re not, but as you’ve seen, they’re convinced they must have inherited it.” “Maybe it’s time to introduce them to… you know. They’re a little young, but probably the sooner they learn about their dark magic, the better they’ll be able to resist it.” Twilight flashed a guilty smile, as if in apology for the suggestion. “I’ve thought about that. I really don’t want to, but more and more, I’ve been thinking a visit is due. I hate keeping secrets from them.” “Well, the decision is between you and Discord. In any case, you know you have an excellent support network, and we’re all here for you no matter what.” At the same time Fluttershy smiled at her old friend, Discord roared from the corner of the room. “GOT’CHA!” The two mares turned to see Discord holding up two foals by the scruffs of their necks. He walked toward Fluttershy. “About ready to go?” “Yes Discord, thank you. And thank you, Twilight, for giving them another lesson and for the advice.” "Anytime! Have a good evening! Oh, and Discord? I intend to get a good night of sleep tonight. If you wake me up with more research questions, I’ll turn you into wallpaper.” “Hmm, me-themed wallpaper. Not a bad idea… Alrighty-then! Sleep tight, Twi, and good-bye!” Discord snapped, and the family vanished. Twilight didn’t have to see her bedroom to know that Discord had already redecorated her space in a garish draconequus theme, but despite her exhaustion, she found herself amused by her ridiculous friend. Whatever Fluttershy had wanted from her life before, she had never thought it would be this. Now that she was here, though, she couldn’t imagine having it any other way. She was stretched out on her stomach across the top of her bed. An adorable unicorn colt lay in a similar manner on either side of her, and in her hooves was the storybook she had co-authored with Twilight not long after Fio and Corey were born. It was the twins’ favorite. “The young student and her new friends had no idea that day, when they helped the princess reunite with her long-lost sister, how their lives were starting to change forever.” Fio put his hoof on the picture of the young student. “Auntie Twilight!” “No,” returned Fluttershy, donning her “Silly Mommy” voice, “It can’t be! Don’t you know Auntie Twilight has wings?” While Fio started giggling, Corey cast a pink aura over the book and magically flipped a few pages. He found what he was looking for and pointed at a new picture at the end of Chapter 3. “There! Now she has wings!” “Of course,” giggled Silly Mommy. “How could I have forgotten?” Fio jumped to his hooves and peered around Fluttershy to talk to his brother. “Now she has immortality!” This again. Fluttershy lost her giggles, but tried her best to keep smiling at her enthusiastic sons. “Yes, that’s when Auntie Twilight became a prin—” “Same group!” Corey exclaimed, bouncing up to his hooves as his brother had done. “Same group,” nodded Fio, solemnly. “And what’s so important about that?” asked Fluttershy, looking from one twin to the other and wishing that they had picked anything else to fixate on. “Never-go-away group,” explained Fio. “Friends for always!” Corey added. "Or emenies!" “E-NE-mies!” “Yes, yes, enemies!” “Auntie Twilight isn’t your enemy,” gasped Fluttershy. “No, she’s a friend,” corrected Fio, while Corey went back to flipping through the book. “Same group,” he finally declared. “Enemy.” Corey pointed at a scary picture of a tall, black and red centaur. “No, little ones...” Fio tilted his head. “Not immortal?” “No, I mean,” Fluttershy’s hoof collided with her forehead. “I mean, we think he’s immortal, but that’s not the point. He’s not your enemy, okay? He’s just sick, and we put him somewhere safe while he gets better. How about I keep reading? Would you like to hear the part when Auntie Rainbow Dash makes the sonic rainboom again?” They weren’t listening. Fio jumped off the bed and shouted up to his brother. “Corey! Same group meeting! We say who’s friend and who’s emeny!” Corey jumped down too and raced out of the room with his brother. “E-ne-my!” “Yes, enemy!” And they were gone. Nevermind, thought Fluttershy, closing the book and flipping onto her back. I could imagine life being another way. Then she sighed, shook her head with a defeated smile, and set off to find where her sons decided to hold their “same group meeting”. It was Tuesday, which meant Spike had the foals for the afternoon, and Discord and Fluttershy were out on their weekly tea date. “Those two are still going on and on about immortality,” complained Fluttershy after a sip of her favorite ginseng. Discord gave his beard a few strokes. “Yes, they bring that up with me a lot too. It’s kind of amusing, if a little monotonous.” “Monotony’s not the problem.” “Then what is?” “Oh, I don’t know,” mused Fluttershy, pausing for another sip of tea. “I guess I just don’t want them to like the idea of it. They don’t know being immortal means giving themselves over to their dark magic, and even if they did, they wouldn’t know how dangerous that would be.” She sighed. “I love our sons so dearly, but this would all be so much easier to deal with if they had just been born as pegasi. Then they wouldn’t have any dark magic for us to worry about.” Discord picked up the empty tea kettle and began absent-mindedly sculpting it in his hands as if it were putty. “You’ve still got dark magic circulating in you,” he pointed out, “and you’ve kept its influence under control all this time.” “But that’s because I have kindness magic to counteract it, and I don’t know if that’s even heritable!” For a few moments, Discord wordlessly tossed the tea-kettle-putty between his hands, then set it in the empty space above the table and watched it swim away. “Maybe it’s time we told them who they really are.” “What do you mean?” “Like I overheard Twilight saying; we should take them to see their actual father. Teach them about the shadow ponies and dark magic. Their powers are only going to keep growing as they do. The sooner they learn about dark magic, the better equipped they will be to protect themselves from it.” “Or the more eager they’ll be to experiment with it.” “You know it pains me to be the voice of reason, Fluttershy, but I think we have to take that risk. If they stumble across their dark magic abilities on their own before they’ve had any warning about it, we may never be able to convince them of its dangers. You know better than anycreature how… tempting that magic can make itself.” Fluttershy furrowed her brow at the thought, then hung her head. “Alright. We’ll take them to see him.” “Fluttershy, my love.” She glanced up at him, “Have I ever told you you look beautiful by deep sea anglerfish-light?” and she smiled in the deep sea anglerfish-light, as the creature in question swam in lazy figure-eights above their private Mare-iana Trench tea party. “Okay, little ones,” Fluttershy announced, crouching down to look Fio and Corey in the eyes. “Today is a very important day. Mommy and Daddy have a lot to teach you. Some of it is not going to be very fun to learn about, but we need you to try your best to understand, okay?” Corey put on his determined face. “Okay, Mommy.” “Hey Corey!” Fio whispered, ignoring his mother’s admonishment. “Why does Daddy not smile? He always smiles!” Discord heard the comment and responded by scooping up the foals. “Daddy’s not smiling because he has to tell you a secret now, and he doesn’t like this secret.” The twins’ eyes grew wide. “Fiorello, Coreopsis, you have two daddies.” “Two daddies?” they gasped in unison. Discord set them back down to let Fluttershy explain the next part. “Yes, my flowers, two daddies. Discord is your real daddy, because he loves you very much and he’s doing everything he can to help you grow up to be the best ponies you can be. But he didn’t make you. You remember how I said foals are always like their mommies and daddies?” Fio and Corey, standing at full attention, both nodded. “Well, what I meant was foals are always like the mommies and daddies that made them, and you two have a different daddy who helped Mommy make you.” The twins couldn’t keep still any longer and started bouncing. “Where is he?” “Why we never see him?” “Can we see our other daddy?” Discord stepped back into the conversation. “Hush, little mongrels. Prepare yourselves. We’re going to go meet your other daddy now. You should call him “Father” since he’s not your real daddy. But there’s something else you need to know. “Father” got very sick after he helped Mommy make you. We had to put him in a very secret place so he could have absolute quiet while he gets better. You can look at him and talk to him, but he won’t be able to talk back. Understand?” “Yes, Daddy,” they declared. “Very well then.” Discord turned to Fluttershy, noticed the grim look in her eye, and took hold of her hoof. “Are you ready?” “Yes.” “Just say the word, and I’ll take us back.” Then he snapped his claws, and all four of them vanished.