//------------------------------// // Extended Ending - Broken // Story: What I Became // by Symphony //------------------------------// An older, frail mare walked slowly down the path she had walked several times before in her life. A younger pony walked next to her, helping his grandmother with everything she needed help with. He supressed a shudder as he saw the imposing statue of a mismatched monster frozen to stone mid-charge. It didn't matter on how many times he had seen it, it still gave him the creeps. ”Thank you, dear.” Fluttershy smiled and adjusted the glasses perched on the edge of her wrinkly snout. ”I can move on from here by myself. You can go on and take a walk around the garden, I know that you're not comfortable around Discord.” The stallion sighed in gratitude and gave his elderly grandmother a soft hug. Fluttershy ran a hoof through her gray mane and looked up at Discord. She coughed to her hoof before she cleared her throat. ”Good morning, Discord. I assume that you slept well?” Fluttershy knew that no answer could come, but it had become a habit. ”Oh please, I never get proper sleep whilst I'm still cooped up in here!” Fluttershy sighed and pushed her glasses back up. ”Usually I would continue talking to you for a while, but I am afraid that we will have to keep it short today...” Fluttershy held up a hoof and coughed at it. ”The doctors say that I shouldn't be up and about too much anymore...” Fluttershy turned her head and saw her grandson watching her from a distance, waving his foreleg for her to come over. She sighed once again and her head dropped as a single tear fell from her snout to the grass below. ”This could be the last time I come out to you like this... So I guess that this is it. Goodbye, Discord...” Her grandson came to her aid and helped her stand up and walk away from the garden. ”Fluttershy? Where did you go? No... She was supposed to be here longer! I-.. Oh, who am I kidding...” "Where is she?” Discord groaned within his prison void. ”She should have been here by now...” He sighed. He knew that Fluttershy had passed her best days as she went on her older years. Discord decided to attempt and sense the elemental seals holding him. He closed his eyes and let out a long breath as he was able to sense the magical leylines around him. To his own horror, he felt the seal from the element of Kindness to be weak and flickering. Discord went in full panic and started lashing out against the other seals in a desperate attempt to break out from his prison as soon as possible. ”No, no, no... No! No! NO!” Discord gritted his teeth and focused to release one single powerful blast of magic at the seal. His talons started shaking in exasparation by the time the charge was ready. Tears which he fought to ignore rolled down his cheeks as the blast went off, successfully shattering the remaining seals. Discord felt consciousness drag him out of the void as the stone collapsed around him. Discord fell to the ground next to the base of the statue, breathing heavily. He felt the blades of grass against his body and the scent of freshly cut grass invade his nostrils. As soon as he had regained his composure, he raised his eagle talon and snapped it, teleporting to the Ponyville General Hospital. After a gold flash, he stood in the waiting room in a hospital. He lifted the nearest nurse in the scruff of her neck and brought her to his face. ”Where. Is Fluttershy?” He growled through gritted teeth. The nurse gulped. ”I uh... I can take you there in a minute...” Discord snarled. ”I-I-I mean... I can take you there right now! Just follow me, sir!” The nurse stuttered and Discord released her. She started walking down a hallway and motioned for him to follow her. (Listen for extra feels) Discord was numb. He couldn't feel anything in his body, his movement felt slow and clumsy. He had a stone in the back of his throat that he couldn't swallow away. The disinfectant smell of the hospital was overbearing. The nurse stopped and looked up at him and said something. Discord couldn't make out what it was, it just sounded like white noise. Discord looked inside the room to see the remaining Elements of Harmony and the princesses inside the room, staring at Discord in horror mixed with rage. Discord walked inside, not saying a single word. Luna prepared to stand up and see him off, but Celestia moved her hoof onto her younger sister's and shook her head. Discord felt and heard his own heartbeat as he saw the little pony he saw as his only friend lying motionless on a small hospital bed, covered in tubes and different wires. A few more tears rolled down his face as he took a seat next to the bed. Fluttershy stirred and looked around the room, then to Discord. ”I... must be seeing... things...” Fluttershy wheezed and coughed. Discord felt a pang in his heart at her words, but he shook his head. ”No... I'm re... Really here, old friend...” Discord bit his lip and tried to compose himself. ”How nice of you...” Fluttershy laid back in her bed and coughed. Discord winced at her cough and nonchalantly wiped a tear off his face. ”You're the only friend I have...” Discord whimpered. ”You're the only one who actually cared for me after everything I did to you and your friends, not to mention what I did to the princesses...” Discord shivered. ”And when you're gone... I'll have nopony again... I'll be all alone again... Who knows what I will do this time? A monster shouldn't roam free...” Discord buried his face in his talons, but looked up as he felt a hoof to his shoulder. He turned his head to see Fluttershy patting his shoulder comfortingly. ”Now don't you ...go around saying that...” Fluttershy took a deep breath. ”You're a good pony... You've just had a very rough past... I'm sure that if you would be able to... Talk things out with a certain somepony you would... be able to work things out... and start over again...” Discord turned to Celestia, who nodded solemnly. ”Well... It wouldn't hurt to try...” He relented and Fluttershy smiled. The minutes went on, simply a minute felt like an hour for the gathered ponies and the spirit. After another few tense minutes, Fluttershy finally spoke. ”I... think... it's time...” Fluttershy sighed. Discord held her hoof and she held his talon, but eventually he felt her grip weaken as her eyes slowly closed and a last breath came from her mouth, followed by complete silence. Discord felt a cold shiver run down his spine and his mouth fell open as the little pony he cared about slumped back and lay still. His hearbeat increased as a cold panic latched onto his senses. He calmly and gently placed her hoof back on the bed and patted it once, then stood up and walked out from the room. He closed the door behind him and turned to a wall. He punched the wall with all his might, creating a massive hole. He threw punch, after punch, after punch as the tears flowed from his eyes. As an aura encased around his talons, impairing his movements, he screamed and fought against it at the best of his abilities. Something broke inside of him. It hurt and burned like never before. A final roar came from him before he gave up and slumped against the wall. He raised his talons to his face and sighed. He stood up and walked to the nearest window and opened it, then slithered through it and flew off toward the horizon at his personal top speed. He had to get away. His mind begged for it and he complied. He looked back to the small, cozy town one last time before he slowly raised a talon, took a deep breath and teleported away to the distant.