Grayscale was slithering through the everfree forest. He still had a long way to go until he would reach the domain of his yellow goddess.
He would not stop until he was back by her side, he owed her that, she had unselfishly rescued him after he had been taken by a falcon, in his youth.
Despite being one the oldest animals in the domain of the goddess, he was still disliked by a lot of animals living there.
But in order to serve his goddess he would do anything.
He lived for one reason and one reason alone. To please the one that saved him and help her out anyway he could.
He would protect the newly hatched chickens from predators, he would kill other snakes with bad intentions, he would gladly sacrifice his own life, if his goddess wanted him to do it. Other snakes saw him as a traitor, but it was worth it.
The smile upon the goddesses lips was enough reward for him. He wanted nothing more than for his goddess to be happy.
But even the most loyal of servants sometimes fail the ones they love.
He could not stand, Discord, his mere presence angered him. Why did his goddess chose to spend time with that monster?
A monster who took nothing seriously, a monster who cared about nothing but itself, a monster that would abandon his goddess at the first sight of someone else.
Yet his goddess seemed to enjoy the monsters company, he had seen her laugh and smile when the monster was there, he had seen sides of his goddess which he had never seen before and despite his wish to serve, he would never accept that monster as anything other than a selfish piece of dung.
Grayscale had made it to a small river. He recognised this river, he was close to the place his goddess called home.
He knew that the water would be cold and the cold alone could probably kill him.
But he had no time to waste, he had a bad feeling, something was going to happen to his goddess and he would be damned if he was beyond her reach when she needed him.
Grayscale dove into the river and swam as fast as he could, but fate was not on his side today, because the moment he left the river a young black snake approached him, it was the black kingsnake of the forest, or newly crowned king at least.
In his eyes this one was still an inexperienced hatchling, who was high of the power his father had left for him.
Normally this little egg-muncher would have been a breeze to deal with, but with his body cold from the water, he was in no condition for a head on fight.
Grayscale had to be smart about this, he had to win time, he lowered his head to the Kingsnake and greeted him, just as he would have done to his father.
“Greetings oh mighty one, I hope you will allow and old servant to pass.”
“Well this is a surprise, you are the last one I expected to bow before me. What happened to that cocky attitude of your?”
“With time comes wisdom my king.” Grayscale kept his head lowered as he talked. “And I have finally realised that I am no match for a someone as powerful as you.”
The black King got closer and bared his tiny yet sharp fangs, they were dripping with fresh venom.” HA! The mighty Grayscale has finally come to his senses. Hahahah! Such a glorious day! Keep your head low, it will make it a lot easier for me to bite it off, traitor!” He hissed menacingly.
`Oh, snakeskins! This cocky hatchling is going to kill me........Well as long as there is a breath in my body I swear that I won’t leave this world unless it’s by my goddess side and by her own desire.´
Grayscale was outmatched in speed overall stamina and most likely endurance. But he still had more experience and his unusual size to utilize in this fight.
The black King hissed and moved in for what he expected to be an easy kill. But when he launched himself at his prey, he was met by a surprise.
Grayscale had used the end of his tail and slapped him hard right between his nostrils, it caused the King to flinch.
That was all Grayscale needed, he bared his fangs and sank them into the King’s lower abdomen thus causing him to roar in pain.
The battle had just begun and the King was already at a clear disadvantage, even though Grayscale’s poison had since long dried up, his fangs were still some of the sharpest know to snake kin.
The King had to take this seriously if he wanted any chance at winning, but a youthful snake drunk on power takes nothing seriously. In a fit of rage the King once again tried to sink his deadly fangs into Grayscale’s body.
Just as he had anticipated the King relied on nothing but brute force, there was no thought behind his aggressive attacks and Grayscale avoided them easily.
The King got angrier and angrier, therefore his attacks grew more and more sloppy, until finally he had done a fatal mistake, he had his back turned to his opponent, the one thing you never do.
Grayscale wrapped himself around the King’s body and squeezed him tightly, he then caught the King’s head in his mouth, the king was scared, his breathing had gone haywire and he knew that there was nothing he could do to prevent Grayscale from ending his life.
So he did what every coward would do, he begged for his pathetic life.
“P-p-p-please, don’t kill me. I DON’T WANT TO DIE!” The king begged. “I’ll GIVE YOU ANYTHING!”
Grayscale pondered his offer for a moment, on one side if he killed him there would be chaos in the forest and that would most likely lead to more frequent snake attacks, in the goddesses garden.
But, he would finally be rid of this pathetic hatchling and no snake would ever dare to go up against him, thus solving the possible threat on the goddesses garden.
But this hatchling still had many insane followers who would stop at nothing to get revenge for their fallen king.
But on the other side, if he spared his life he could make him promise that there would be no more attacks on the garden, while his bloodline was in command.
But there is no way to tell how long this hatchling would be in charge. There was only one logical thing to do.
Grayscale released the King’s body but kept his head in his jaw.
“Listen here! I will let you live. But I want you to promise on your ancestors that there will be no more attacks on my goddess' garden, Is that understood?!” He released the King’s head, but he made sure to scratch his throat in the process.
The king slowly regained his posture, he cursed under his breath and said. “Very well. I swear upon the name of my father and everyone before him, to never attack the garden, as long as Grayscale’s goddess wanders upon these lands, I will personally make sure of that.” The black King slowly slithered away deep into the forest.
As Grayscale continued his journey towards his goddess, he wondered if he did the right thing, when he spared the King’s life, his father would have upheld the promise, but he was not convinced that the son would do the same.
`Oh, well, if he breaks it, I’ll simply kill him the next time our roads happen to cross. I need to get back my goddess. I have a bad feeling about something and I’m certain the monster is to blame.´
He slithered as fast as he could, if he was lucky he would be back by his goddess side in a few hours.
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Fluttershy was sitting down next to a big stone which Discord was standing on, he was wearing a pink headband and a pair of matching long pants, he was looking down at her from the rock, towering over her even more than usual. Fluttershy felt a tad nervous, she had never been trained by anyone in the art of bravery before.
Discord jumped down from the rock, he walked up to Fluttershy and cleared his throat. “Ahem! Are you ready for your bravery training?!”
Fluttershy got closer to the ground and very quietly said. “Yes.”
Discord tugged at his beard and stretched it out like a piece of taffy, which he then used as a scarf. “Fluttershy, I’m not getting a good vibe from you. We are here to train you to be brave and you are already trying to hide. I said that we would start at sunrise and I stand by my word.”
Fluttershy’s mood brightened and she rose from the ground. “Oh, that means we won’t start until tomorrow right?”
Discord widened his eyes so much that they fell out of his skull. “RATS! Not again!” He started feeling around for his eyeballs. “Stupid eyeholes. Not being stretchy enough. I need to get some chains attached to these things.” He muttered under his breath.
When he finally found them, he simply popped them back in. “Ah, there we go!” He turned to Fluttershy and squinted his eyes. “Now what were you saying? Something about starting tomorrow or something?”
Fluttershy pointed at the sun and said. “Well it’s almost midday, so we missed the dawn today, so we can’t start until tomorrow, right?”
Discord drew a deep sigh and beamed himself up on the rock again, Star Trek style. “My dear Fluttershy, you still don’t know who I am?” He pulled out piece string of licorice and fashioned a lasso out of it. He then threw it at the sun while whistling in an innocent manner. He proceeded to pull the sun down from the sky and thus making it dawn again.
He turned to Fluttershy and said. “Hello my name is Discord the living embodiment of chaos, I think we have meet before.
Fluttershy sighed in defeat and smiled at him. “Let’s start then. I’m ready for anything!”
“Now that’s the spirit!” Discord pulled out a pump, took the nozzle in his mouth and started pumping himself full of air, he stopped once his biceps was bigger than his head. Suddenly music started playing and Discord started singing.
He walked up to Fluttershy and poked her chest.
“Let's get down to business
To defeat your fears.
We'll need all the time we have
because there is a lot.”
He disappeared and reappeared behind Fluttershy thus making her scream
“You're the biggest coward I’ve ever met
But you can bet before we're through
Sister, I'll make a man
Out of you.”
Suddenly they were in a big flowery field.
“Cute as a flower
But fragile as a pearl.”
They they were under water.
“Once we find your bravery
You are sure to win.”
Discord stood behind her and sang into her ear, in pure darkness.
"You're a spineless, pale pathetic gal
And you haven't got a clue.
Somehow I'll make a man
Out of you."
They were back at the meadow by the cottage.
Fluttershy sang “I'm never gonna find my courage” She then looked over at Discord.
“But, I’m not giving up
And I hope that he won't either!”
A tiny red Discord appeared on Discord’s shoulder and sang
“You are scaring her to death!”
Discord sang outside of Fluttershy’s range of hearing.
“Maybe I should stop this right now
I care too much about her for her to get hurt!”
Suddenly a choir of tiny Discords appeared and sang
“BE A MAN!
We can’t stop now she is starting to bloom!
BE A MAN!
She’s got the will of a great typhoon
BE A MAN!
With the bravery of a mighty lion
But still cute and cuddly as a little cat!”
Discord looked over the horizon.
“Time is racing toward us
Soon she’ll be too weak
But she heeds my every order
I got faith in her!”
Fluttershy was laying on the ground panting for air and Discord sat down next to her.
“You have done your very best today and I'm proud
but we are done.”
Discord walked away and sat by the pond and sang with a sad look on his face.
“How could I make a man
Out of you?”
The Tiny Discord choir started to sing again.
“BE A MAN!
We can’t stop now she is starting to bloom!
BE A MAN!
She’s got the will of a great typhoon
BE A MAN!
With the bravery of a mighty lion
But still cute and cuddly as a little cat!”
The Tiny Discord choir sang once again.
“BE A MAN!
We can’t stop now she is starting to bloom!
BE A MAN!
She’s got the will of a great typhoon
BE A MAN!
With the bravery of a mighty lion
But still cute and cuddly as a little cat!”
“Hoo-ah!”
The music stopped and the tiny Discords disappeared.
Discord and Fluttershy was enjoying the sunset together, it had been a tough day full of jump scares and whatnot.
“So how did I do?” Fluttershy asked timidly.
Discord looked at her and smiled. “We are making progress, in a few day you will be as brave as a lion!” He picked her up and swung her around.
But he tripped and she landed right on his face.
They both started to laugh, they laughed for a while and then they looked deep into each other's eyes, their lips were slowly getting closer to each others and they were both thinking the same thing. But as we know fate is a butthole.
In the midst of their little moment Angel bunny interrupted, he squeaked angrily at Fluttershy.
“Oh, I’m sorry Angel, I’ll get you your dinner right away! I’m sorry but I gotta go.” She got up and walked back to her cottage with Angel.
She turned her head “I’ll see you tomorrow then?”
“Of course dear, I’ll be here sometime after lunch.” He waved at her as he took off into the air.
As Discord flew through the air he realised the he was feeling a sharp pain in his heart.
He stopped mid flight and opened a small panel to reveal his heart.
“Now let’s see what’s wrong with the old ticker.” He observed it closely. “Hmm, oil level is fine and so is the all the parts. Hmm I’m stumped.” He turned his heart one more time and noticed a small syringe piercing his heart and injecting some unknown pink substance, straight into his heart.
“Hmm what is this?” he pulled it out and looked at the conveniently placed label. “Love essence.....LOVE ESSENCE!” Discord landed on the ground, he put his heart back inside his body and closed the panel.
At first he was worried, but then he got the biggest, most joyful smile he had ever worn on his lips.
“Hahahah.” He laughed nervously. “She loves me...............But do I love her?”
He took off into the air again and soared slowly back to the castle. “I need some time to think about this. Maybe Celestia can help!” He flew inside the castle and started looking for Celestia.
“Celestia! Where are you? C'mon cakeflank, for once in my life I need........ your advice!” He peaked inside Celestia’s room and saw the she was reading Luna a bedtime story, all while embracing Luna tightly.
Discord teleported himself to his room and fell to the floor, with a thud. “HNGGGG, MY HEART!” He grabbed his chest right above his heart.
A few moments of intense heartbeats later he passed out. Love and adorableness does not mix well, so remember to be careful.
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“ And the prince kissed the princess and they lived happily ever after.” Celestia shut the book and gave Luna a nuzzling. “So did you enjoy the story, little sister?”
Luna yawned and nodded. Celestia picked her up and carried her to her bed. “Well little sister, I still got some work to do. Will you be alright by yourself?”
Luna looked up at her sister and said. “I might look like a foal, but I promise that I’ll be fine. Go and finish up your work and I’ll see you tomorrow.” She ended with a big smile.
Celestia smiled back at her sister and left the room, leaving a small gap between the door and the wall open, so she would hear if Luna was crying or something.
The moon was shining as it always would, but the stars were acting strange this eve. Luna would normally have noticed such a thing, but in her current state she had other things that occupied her mind.
He fear of the dark had returned to her, she was shivering like a scared puppy beneath the sheets. `I’m not scared of the dark, the night is my friend, it won’t hurt me and there is no such things as shadow fiends.´ Luna tried desperately to comfort herself with encouraging thoughts.
But to no avail.
She was scared and there was only one pony who could make her feel better, but she was busy with other things. Luna wanted to cry, but she didn't want to be more trouble than she had already been.
Her sister had to reschedule her entire day, just to be there for her and now when she finally had some time to work, The last thing Luna wanted was to to bother her further.
Luna’s tears fell silently in the night and she did everything in her power not to make a sound.
Suddenly a powerful force appeared out of nowhere and manifested itself inside the room, it walked up to the bed. Luna sensed it and cried even harder, even when she was trying her best not to be a bother, she failed.
She moved the covers from her head and sniffled. “I’m sowwy, I’ll be good.” Luna opened her eyes and to her surprise it was not her sister that was standing beside her, it was the same entity she had seen while traveling through space.
What was it doing here and what did it want?
Luna wanted to scream, but something about the entities aura feel familiar and comforting.
Without thinking, Luna raised her hooves and whimpered, she was picked up and held by the shapeless entity, it hugged her tightly and rocked her slowly from side to side.
Luna’s fears were melting away and she was overcome by a warm and gentle feeling, she could not remember the last time she had felt this safe.
Luna quickly fell asleep in the entities grasp and she was gently put back into the bed, but the moment it let go of her, she started to whimper.
The entity looked up at the night sky, it held out a limb and a star descended down from the sky, It then molded the star into a fuzzy white spider plush, with blue eyes, it handed the plush to Luna who hugged it tightly and started sucking on her hoof.
The entity kissed Luna’s forehead and faded away back into the darkness of which it came.
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Fluttershy had given Angel his dinner and was heading to bed, she was going through everything that had happened today.
She had have so much fun, Discord was a real sweetheart after all, but she already knew that, even though he tried to hide it for some reason.
She got into bed and pulled the covers up to her face and shut her eyes, within seconds she was asleep.
Meanwhile Discord was still laying practically dead on the floor from a cuteness overload, he twitched a little now and then. But point being he was out for the night.
But not every part of Discord was out cold, his tail sprung to life, it morphed into a finger and let out an audible snap, a hushed wicked laughter echoed throughout the night.
Fluttershy was enjoying her dreams and was sleeping tightly, she was completely unaware of the fact that her body was glowing with a familiar yellow light. The curse which had been planted had been awakened and was free to ravage it’s victim.
Fluttershy’s dreams went from happiness and sunshine to a dark and twisted nightmare of grand scale, she was sweating, panting and she wanted nothing but to wake from the nightmare which haunted her.
But as we know fate is a butthole and she suffered all throughout the night.
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It was early morning and Grayscale was finally back to the place he called home.
He was still worried about his goddess, so she slithered up the stairs and into her bedroom. To his great surprise his goddess was nowhere to be seen. But something was moving around in her bed.
`A mouse perhaps? Probably a new houseguest, I should introduce myself and lay down the basics for it.´ Grayscale slithered into the bed and pulled the covers away with his fangs. Standing before him was his goddess, a whole lot smaller, but it was still her.
Fluttershy turned around to see a giant snake. “Epp!” A yellow aura engulfed her and she got even smaller.
Fluttershy’s eyes were filled with tears and she was terrified. “What is happening to me?”
Grayscale lowered himself to the mattress and looked at his tiny goddess. He saw fear in her eyes. He could only think of one creature capable of something like this. “Discord!” He hissed angrily.
Fluttershy looked at huge snake again and realised that it was her old friend Grayscale. “Oh, Grayscale, I’m so happy to see you! Please can you take me to Twilight, you remember Twilight right?”
Grayscale scratched his chin with the tip of his tail. `Twilight........Twilight..........who the heck is Twilight?´ He pondered.
Fluttershy noticed that he was having trouble remembering, she tried to think of something that could trigger his memory. She clapped her hooves together thus gaining Grayscale’s attention.
“She is the purple mare that you scared, when I accidently left you in her bed a few weeks ago, she lives in the big tree in the center of town. Do you remember?” Fluttershy bit her lip.
'Tree. Purple. Scared..........Oh yeah, she is the one who wet herself and looked like she was staring straight into death’s eyes.´ He nodded his head.
Fluttershy’s mood got way brighter and she smiled happily. “Great! Umm, can you take me to her, you think, please?” But her mood fell flat in an instant, how was she going to get there.
Even with Grayscale’s help it would be incredibly dangerous considering her size, and she did not want to risk getting any smaller.
Grayscale noticed the distress in her eyes and slithered off the bed and into the closet, he returned shortly with a big balloon in his mouth, he spat it out on the bed and motioned for Fluttershy to get inside.
She had no clue what he was planning but she trusted him, once she was inside.
Grayscale forced his head inside and tied the balloon with his tail.
“What are you planning to do? If you don’t mind me asking that is.”
Grayscale knew she was unable to understand him perfectly, but he tried anyway. “Get on my neck and hold tight.” To his surprise that is exactly what she did.
“Um, like this?” Fluttershy clinged to his neck.
Grayscale nodded and started to blow air into the balloon, a few moments later they hovered into the air and hit the roof with a soft thud.
Fluttershy was at a loss for words, how was this possible, it broke several laws of physics, but then she remembered that she got that balloon from her friend Pinkie Pie, so she just allowed it to slip.
Grayscale started spinning his tail like a propeller blade and set course to Ponyville library.