//------------------------------// // Epilogue - Fool Her Once // Story: What I Became // by Symphony //------------------------------// (Listen to this for extra feels) Darkness. Cold. Silence. Discord shivered. His body may be stone, but within his mind he could move freely and spawn random trinkets as to his wishes. The only thing he could actually focus on was the fact that he got carried away and his ego led to his downfall once again. It was a foolish move to underestimate the Elements, especially Fluttershy. ”Fluttershy...” He had one friend. One pony he could talk to and he blew it quite spectacularly by harming her both physically and mentally. He actually admired her courage to trot up to him and punch him in the face like she did. His thoughts wandered off to the princesses and how he was sure that they would never allow him to feel sun's rays on his skin ever again. It was a depressing line of thought, to be sure. But he knew that he deserved to be in this situation. He knew that what he did to the princesses and Fluttershy was terrible. ”Why couldn't I stop myself?” He remembered a song he overheard the Elements of Harmony sing together earlier before he snapped and returned to his former self. Discord inhaled slowly, closed his eyes and sang in a scratchy, broken and monotone voice. ”A true, true... Friend...” He coughed, ”helps a friend in need... A friend... Will be there to help them see...” Discord wrapped his arms around himself and laid down. ”A true, true friend helps a friend in need...” He felt a few tears make their way down his features as he cupped his talons over his face. ”To see the light... That shines...” Discord sighed miserably. ”...From a true... true friend...” His voice echoed through the void that was his prison. Discord never thought that he would deserve to be imprisoned, but strangely enough, he felt enough remorse to accept his fate. ”You never give up, do you?” A voice echoed in the void and Discord's ears perked. It was Celestia. ”I remember that you told us that you could still hear us, even when you were imprisoned...” She paused. ”I may not know what drove you to fall back to your old ways just like that.” Celestia sighed. ”But I thought that you should at least know that Fluttershy misses you, even after what you did to her and her friends.” Discord sat up at that. He bit his lip and looked down. ”She told me that and of course I was shocked at first, but after she explained it, I understood.” Celestia paused again. ”She told me that you had come to her on almost a daily basis to talk to her about pretty much anything. She appreciated your frequent visits. She certainly do miss you, Discord...” It felt like someone had dumped a bucket of cold water on him, then punched him. Discord sighed heavily and continued listening to Celestia's message. ”Even when it would be hard to believe, she actually requested that I would allow you to be freed again, and she would try harder to change your ways. I let her down easily by explaining that I couldn't take the risk a second time.” Celestia explained. ”That's what I had to say to you.” Discord wanted to call out to Celestia and ask her to stay for a while, but he knew that she wouldn't be able to hear his request. ”One more thing, Discord...” Celestia spoke up. ”You may have a visitor coming from Ponyville tomorrow...” Silence. Celestia had finally left him to be by himself in his prison again. One could say that his imprisonment was like a slumber, but he was aware of what happened around him. He closed his eyes and focused, and after a while he felt grass grow from the floor beneath him. As he opened his eyes, he looked up to see a blue cloudless sky with a dark blue sun shining down on him. Discord focused, and before his eyes a butter-yellow body of a pony started materializing in front of him, along with a long, graceful pink mane. Finally, two sea-green eyes appeared. The pony stood immobile with a distant look. ”I guess you will keep me company for a while...” Discord smiled sadly. The clone looked at him, not making a single sound. ”Well sure, I still have to work out the kinks and perhaps give you a free will, but it'll do for now.” He took a step toward the clone, who just seemed to be confused. ”Now, how about we have some tea, hm?” Discord said as he turned away from the clone and started walking in a random direction. Not realizing what else to do, the clone took a few careful steps to follow Discord. Discord looked back to the stumbling clone and smiled. Perhaps his prison wouldn't be as bad as it was before...