Fluttershy felt dizzy and confused as she awoke on the ground in the middle of Ponyville. Her head hurt so much and her vision was still a tad blurry, but she knew this was the town square. She wasn’t sure how she got here, or why, but she was wondering if her good friend Discord was making a strange prank. Her thoughts were interrupted as she heard groaning.
Slowly, her vision was returning to her, and as it did, she noticed that her five friends were beside her, also waking up. What’s going on?
Fluttershy’s vision was close to being fully restored, and thus felt confident enough to walk around a little to figure out what happened. Though she didn’t have to go far.
She saw a portal shaped like an X and was surprised she didn’t notice it before. Upon closer inspection, the yellow pony could see that inside it looked like Equestria with a weird atmosphere.
That’s when memories hit her. That floating triangle with the single eye wearing a top hat and bow tie was causing chaos to Equestria. She and her friends tried to stop him, or at least try to understand his motivation. Fluttershy thought she would be able to befriend him like Discord, but this creature wasn’t like Discord.
Discord was a being of pure chaos, but he was never truly evil. He was a misunderstood creature that, deep down, just wanted a friend to care about him. But this other being seemed to have wanted nothing more than to destroy to his hearts content. It was hard to explain for her, but you could tell nothing truly mattered to the being. Unlike Discord, he valued nothing and enjoyed hurting others.
As the blurred vision finally relented, Fluttershy saw the triangle creature on the other side of the portal. He was massive and, for a little while, just floating there. She began to hear mumbling, but then heard him shout something that made her uncomfortable.
“I’M AN ALL SEEING GOD!”
After the claim, he took his arm and, which he used to plunge into his eye, pulled out something that horrified her; a soul resembling Discord.
“Well, heh heh, it was worth a try,”Discord said in a painful chuckle. Flutteshy was lost for words. Discord fought this creature in a battle of chaos and lost. He was going to die. How could this be possible? What could stop this monster masquerading as a god?
Suddenly, her rhetorical questions were answered by his next words. “Still…I’m surprised you don’t recognize…your old home.”
Fluttershy could see the terror in the eye of this entity as the fake Equestria crumbled all around. One thing he apparently wasn’t capable of was escaping this dimension. It was good news, but then, what about Discord?
Slowly approaching the fading portal, Flurrershy felt that she stepped on something and saw that it was a parchment. She noticed the wax seal, his seal, and was on the verge of crying. She was practically speechless; only able to utter out two words.
“Discord?…Discord?”
She could see the terrified monster rush for the portal and, as it faded away, knew he was trapped in there as he once was. She should have been happy, but she felt the impossible might have just happened to Discord, but she didn’t dare continue to think about it. She decided it would be best to read the scroll he left behind instead.
She opened it up and read. Her friends were all waking up and regaining their composure too, but that didn’t deter her from reading. Even as tears began to cloud her vision, snot beginning to accumulate from her snout, and her throat starting to choke, she kept reading. She had to finish reading this no matter what, because she would never be capable of trying again, and she wanted to read the last words left by someone who meant more to her than she realized until this moment.
The yellow pony’s five friends all regained most of their basic senses and looked at each other expecting someone could explain why they were here. One thing did trigger in their heads.
“Anypony else remember that talking triangle,” Twilight Sparkle asked. They all nodded in response.
“I think I remember Equestria was in utter ruin by that fiendish floating shape,” Rarity said.
“Yeah,” Rainbow Dash agreed. “He was messing up everything and we were going to kick his flank.”
“That guy was a total meanie,” Pinkie Pie chimed in. “I mean his powers were like Discord’s, but I can’t remember Discord being so psychotic; even when we first met.”
“I’ll say,” Applejack said. “He had all these monsters swarming around and the world looked and felt worse than Tartarus on a summer day.”
They all shuttered with the memories flowing in. The whole world was beyond dark. Orbs littered the skies. They tried to stop him, but he turned most of the ponies in town into what seemed like small statues. Then he turned the group of friends into tapestry; one by one.
It was then that they noticed Fluttershy at a small distance. She was looking down and stood as still as a statue. As they slowly and carefully approached, they heard sniffing and crying.
The five rushed over to comfort their shy, and sweet friend. She was showered with hugs from everyone and the yellow pony found herself hugging Rainbow Dash in particular.
“Hey, it’s okay, buddy,” Dash said reassuringly.
“That horrendous thing appears to have vanished for now, but we’ll be ready next time, darling,” Rarity softly said.
None of them truly understood what she was crying about, but they thought they did until Twilight noticed the letter Fluttershy had on the ground.
“What’s that, Twilight,” Pinkie asked.
Twilight saw the handwriting and gasped. “It’s a letter from Discord.” The purple alicorn began to rapidly read the parchment.
“Discord,” Applejack exclaimed. “That better not be some darn confession that he did this for our benefit or something. Hasn’t he learned a darn thing from the last time he tried that?”
“No! It’s…it’s not!” Everypony look at the sobbing yellow pegasus as she tried to muster out words in her lament. “Twi…Twilight can tell you.”
Fluttershy could say nothing else and buried her crying face in Rainbow Dash’s chest. She was annoyed by it at the beginning, but now Rainbow couldn’t get this dredged feeling out of her gut. She embraced her childhood friend and let her cry as much as she needed.
Everypony began to look worried and sad. Pinkie’s fluffy main even began to deflate and she started to think there was far more in this sadness Fluttershy had.
“Sorry, Fluttershy,” Applejack said in a regretful tone. “That wasn’t right to blame him and I’ll be nice when we ask him what he knows.”
“That…that’s not possible.”
With the exception of Fluttershy, everpony looked at the direction of the sad and terrified alicorn; wondering what she claimed was impossible.
“What’s happening, Twilight, dear,” Rarity asked with great concern.
“My Pinkie senses aren’t liking this,” Pinkie said; her mane now fully straightened.
“Damn it, Twilight, what does that letter say already!”
All shocked eyes turned to an angry and crying Dash; still holding onto her yellow friend.
“Okay, just give me a minute to gain a little composure, and I’ll read it out loud.”
Twilight began to clear her throat and wipe away tears. Afterwards, she lifted the long parchment and started reading to her friends with a volume louder than she intended.
“To my dearest friend Fluttershy, and my friends of a friend.”
Nopony interrupted, but from the first sentence, they felt like he accurately described how they thought of him and felt bad that he understood it.
“If you are reading this, then that means my main plan worked. Equestria is saved from that chaotic deity known as Bill Cipher.”
They didn’t understand, but knowing the name of this creature that Discord referred to as a god made it all the more dreadful. Of all the villains they faced, Discord never once made it seem like a threat in his eyes. He made it sound like they never stood a chance.
“Bill should be back in his nightmare realm, and I took extra precautions to ensure his realm’s door will never be opened and that no creature will ever encounter him. Still, make sure that Luna does extra protections until he dies in a few years from his own destiny.”
Now they were all scared. Discord was sealing off this creature and wanted the very princess of the night to ensure it stayed that way. They began to wonder where he was, but didn’t dare confess to themselves that they already knew.
“However if you are reading this message it also means that my other plan failed too.”
Everypony tried to hold back their tears for the inevitable.
“I failed to defeat him myself and he has killed me.”
They all froze. Nopony wanted to admit they thought he was going to say this because it seemed impossible. They thought he had to have been faking it, after all, he had already faked an illness and pretended to have been defeated before. Surely this was just another one of those moments.
“I know it’s hard to believe, but I’m not faking it this time, girls. I would never leave behind my best friend forever and I was never good at pretending to be dead.
I’m currently writing this in my house, and I can feel the chaos that Bill is causing to Equestria.
I know I haven’t usually helped out before, but know that when I didn’t, I did so because I didn’t want any of you to lose your own worth. You never needed me to win your battles. However, Bill Chiper is on a level that, for once, I actually fear.
I know he’ll probably kill me, but if there’s one thing I learned from all of you, it’s that friendship is worth the risk sometimes.”
The five mares didn’t know this, but they all had tears flowing down at an uncontrollable pace.
“I honestly thank Celestia every day that she forced you six to befriend me; especially you Fluttershy.
I always thought of myself as a monster. One who would never truly find friends and I used to curse the very almighty for creating me into this…disfigured mess. I suppose I could have changed my appearance to look different, or hide my very nature from everyone, but you saw yourself what happens if I’m not chaotic, Fluttershy.”
They remember Fluttershy mentioning a few things that happened to Discord when she went to his house. It wasn’t until then that they understood why he always did something chaotic around them. That he had to or he would fade away.
“Now I think I understand what I was created for. I was created to ironically prevent chaotic beings like Bill from harming this world. I was meant to save you all and restore harmony; at least this one time.”
Aside from Twilight, her friends were speechless and beginning to sob. Even through this sorrow, Twilight continued to read and the others continued to listen.
“The amount of chaos Bill is causing has made me feel more powerful than I ever thought I could be. It won’t be easy, I want to win and I want to come back to you all, but if I don’t, I think I’m ready to die.
Before I do, though, I want to tell you something, Fluttershy.”
Twilight looked to the yellow pegasus if it was okay to continue. She saw a nod; one that screamed that she wanted them to know. The thing was, they already knew what he was going to say. They all knew how these two felt for one another. But for her respect, Twilight read on.
“Because of you, you gave me something Bill Chiper will never have; friendship and love. I’m sorry that this was how I had to confess what we both felt, but I love you.
The day you went to my house. The moment you went out of your way to prevent me from fading away because I was trying to act normal for you. The moment you said that you liked me because I was different. That’s when I knew I had been in love with you all this time.
I know it’s not fair that I’m telling you this the way I am, but I want you to know that I’m sorry I can’t be there for you anymore. You were my queen, Fluttershy. I have lived since the prehistoric period of Equestria and, in all that time, those few years with you were the most precious and meaningful.
Who knows, maybe I’ll reform and come back some day. As long as chaos exists, in a way, so do I. I am chaos incarcerate, after all.
I need to get going, but the last line is something I will write in front of Bill so he can understand what you and your…our friends taught me. He’ll probably react the same way I did the day we met, but, unlike me, he will never truly learn, because he finds no value in it.”
Twilight was beginning to lose her composure. She was trying her best to finish the last words he ever wrote. Reading this out loud hurt so much, but she managed to say them.
“Dear, Princess Celestia, today Bill Cipher learned an important lesson about friendship.”
She dropped the parchment and looked at her friends who were all crying in their own ways. Pinkie and Rarity were crying close to the level Fluttershy was while Rainbow and Applejack tried to hold it together, but had the look of agony as they looked down.
Twilight walked over to them and sat down unsure what to say for a moment, but finally found what she believed felt right; even if she was a bit choked up.
“Discord was an amazing friend in the end. Don’t you think?”
Everypony managed to calm down long enough to nod. The ponies then had all their eyes on the purple alicorn.
“I don’t think I ever imagined anything could truly kill him. I believed that he would always be with us. Sad part was, as the princess of friendship, I never thought about being a better one for him. I could have handled situations with him with more kindness like you Fluttershy. To let him know that other ponies cared about him too. I’m sorry for your loss, and I will inform the other princesses about what happened. Discord deserves a proper hero’s funeral.”
The yellow pony was fighting back tears and looked at her friends beside her. She signaled for them all and they had a group hug. It was ironic, honestly. The world had been saved, and yet, never in their lives had they ever felt so defeated.