//------------------------------// // Family // Story: More Than a Friend // by Tatsurou //------------------------------// Fluttershy calmly walked up to the door of her cottage, sighing heavily and breathing hard. Discord had tried a few times to go on grocery runs, but it hadn't ended well. Despite all his attempts at improving his reputation, adult ponies wouldn't sell him anything. He'd actually been keeping them both fed by scavenging the Everfree and swiping food from the royal kitchens. When Fluttershy had learned, she'd decided rather firmly that she would do grocery runs from then on. Since they were still keeping the fact that they were a couple and having a baby secret, Discord enchanted one of her housedresses with some magic that would completely hide her pregnancy, making her look exactly as she had before she got pregnant. She was wearing it now as she went shopping. Discord had mentioned that ponies might be more inclined to be polite and give her better deals if she let them see how heavily pregnant she was, but she had declined. For one thing, it would be difficult to answer if anyone asked "Who's the father". For another, her market shopping was just as effective if she channeled some of Iron Will's teachings when she went shopping, and that was surprisingly easy with all these crazy hormones running through her system. She didn't even need to yell or be cruel, either. All she had to do was glare, and she got everything she needed at the best prices. Of course, Discord also enchanted her grocery bags to be completely weightless beyond the weight necessary to hang downward and not float away. Still, the walk was rather rough on her, not that she would complain. Still, she was glad to be home. Taking a deep breath, she opened the door. Discord was in the kitchen, getting the food ready for the animals. Discord then came in from the backyard, putting the chicken feed away. Discord was also in the front room, cleaning and dusting. Discord also came over and immediately swept her off her hooves. "You're home!" he said happily, hugging her tight. She smiled, nuzzling into him as Discord collected the groceries and took them into the kitchen where a different Discord started putting them away. "Umm...Discord? Why are there so many of you?" Discord chuckled. "Fluttershy, I am made of all the minds and souls of an entire race. Multiplying to multitask is easy for me, especially if I'm staying in a single location." Discord then took her upstairs, where more Discord's awaited. One removed her housedress and immediately began massaging her back. Four more approached, each one taking a hoof to massage, while the one who carried her up placed her head in his lap and began to feed her peeled grapes. Fluttershy managed a giggle. "You're spoiling me," she accused, suppressing a blush at having six Discord's around her. She wished she could tell herself that the thoughts causing the blush were the result of pregnancy hormones. She really wished she could. Discord smiled softly. "I want to spoil you. It's the least I can do to make up for you having to go to the market like this." Fluttershy smiled softly. "I just wish you'd told me about your problems at the market sooner." Discord sighed. "It's no big deal, Shy. Really, by now I'm used to it." "You shouldn't have to be," she insisted. "You're a good pony, even if you aren't technically a pony, and every living creature owes you more than they could imagine. You stopped Tirek." Discord sighed. "Yeah, there is that." He closed his eyes. "It's not something I really like thinking about." "Why not?" Fluttershy asked. "You killed a demon that threatened the whole world, fulfilling your purpose." "Not exactly," he replied. "...in the center of what used to be the pony kingdom ruled by Starfall and Earthsea, the area now known collectively as the Badlands, lies the Wailing Well. Scientists claim the howling sound that echoes from the well is due to wind currents, but they can't explain why nothing will grow within 100 feet of it. Scientists are wrong." Discord closed his eyes. "The Wailing Well is Tirek's eternal tomb, and the wails are his." Fluttershy could see the sadness in him, the pain he kept inside. "Tell me," she said calmly. Discord blinked, then spoke, not even seeming to be aware. "When I was first formed, I knew nothing but my purpose, Tirek's destruction. I didn't know how to go about doing it. I didn't even know how to move or breathe, or even if I was supposed to. It took me six months to figure out how and what to do to reach the civilized lands...where the only pony who didn't greet me with hatred and fear - thinking I was Tirek's creature - was Earthsea herself. She took me in and raised me alongside Celestia and Luna. She taught me how to eat, how to speak, how to live, and how to feel. If not for her, I would have never began to live...only continued to exist. I...came to think of her as my Mother, and she called me her son. Luna treated me as a brother, and Celestia accepted me, although she was to old to see me as a complete sibling. However...it was my family. And I was...happy." Discord closed his eyes against painful memories. "A year later, Tirek came. I went to fight him, since his destruction was my purpose. But I didn't know how to fight, and he knocked me down again and again." He shuddered. "Earthsea didn't know I couldn't be destroyed, so when Tirek struck to kill me...she shielded me, and was slain. I...I don't clearly remember what happened next, beyond rage." He shuddered again. "Tirek still falls down the Wailing Well, his soul and life force being slowly unraveled. He will not truly experience death until he reaches the bottom." Fluttershy swallowed. "And...how long will that take?" Discord lowered his head. "Forever. The Wailing Well stretches down into infinity. Tirek will never experience true death for as long as this world exists...for as long as I exist...and he can never escape, because only I can undo the magic of the Well...and I will not." Fluttershy shuddered, nuzzling Discord in an attempt to offer comfort. "But...but if you did that to the one who killed Earthsea...how come you and Celestia became enemies?" Discord sighed. "I will never forget what happened next..." An image appeared in the air before them both. It showed a very young Discord and Celestia - Celestia didn't look any more than 13 at the most - standing before a large well as the grass around it slowly died. "You..." Celestia was saying. "You did this. How were you able to do this?" The Discord in the image turned to Celestia. "I was created to destroy him," he said. "This was my purpose." Celestia stared at him, her expression flickering between grief, fear, confusion...and finally settling onto rage. She struck him across the face with her right forehoof. "Then why didn't you do it sooner?" she shouted, tears of rage and pain streaming from her eyes. "Then Mother would still be alive!" Turning around, she kicked Discord with her hind legs, knocking him back, before running off in tears. The image vanished. Discord sighed. "Celestia blamed me for Earthsea's death. After that, since she had primary control of the throne as Luna was only 2, she barred me from the castle. I could have warped in...but she didn't want me there. So I left. I spent the next millennium alone with my thoughts, the memories of the race that made me...and the ability to make every thought that occurred to me real. It was only a matter of time before I went completely mad." He sighed sadly. He saw Fluttershy pulling the enchanted housedress on. "Fluttershy, you just got back from the market. Where are you going?" "Canterlot!" she replied, her eyes blazing. --------------- Celestia calmly walked down the hall of her castle, heading towards her next major meeting. As she walked, however, she heard what sounded like the start of a commotion. "Ma'am!" one of her guards was saying. "You can't go this way-" The voice faded, and a familiar voice spoke, quietly angry. "Stay. Put." "Y-y-y-y-yes Ma'am!" the guard gulped out. Celestia turned towards the commotion. She wondered what could be bothering Fluttershy to the point of using 'The Stare' on the Royal Guards. She also wondered why Fluttershy was wearing a dress. It wasn't her normal modus operandi. The way she was wearing it, it almost looked like she was hiding something. "Hello Fluttershy," she said calmly. "Is there anything I can do for you today?" Fluttershy looked up at Celestia, her glare intense. "Celestia, we need to talk." Three things clicked in the Solar Diarch's mind to put her into panic mode. First, Fluttershy had called her by name. Second, she was behaving dominant, without her usual timidity or even standard manners. Third, Luna had informed her that Discord had taken up permanent residence with Fluttershy. "I'm afraid I don't have much time at the moment, Fluttershy. You see, I'm late for-" She was pulled up short, literally, as Fluttershy grabbed hold of the end of her coruscating mane and yanked her head down. "It can wait!" she hissed. "Of course, my little pony," Celestia replied automatically, her gaze held by Fluttershy's steely orbs. She followed Fluttershy to her own bedchamber before settling down on the bed. "Now, Fluttershy, what was it you needed to talk to me about?" Fluttershy stared up at her. "Don't you think it's about time you stopped blaming Discord for what happened to your mother?" she asked bluntly. Celestia flinched. "I don't know what Discord's told you about that-" "That he was created to kill Tirek. That he didn't even know how to exist or live until Earthsea adopted him. That he was created from the sacrifice of the entire race of the Dragonequui, what we called the Kirin." As Celestia stared, surprised at how much Discord had told her, she laid out her last card. "And that at the time he created the Wailing Well and cast Tirek into it, he was only one and a half years old." Celestia almost jumped at that last one. "What? That's impossible. He was twice my size! There's now ay he could have been-" "The destruction of the Rainbow of Darkness triggered the creation of the Kirin as a separate race. That was the day Luna was born. Three months later, the Kirin discovered their power could harm Tirek. Three months after that, they performed the ritual to create Discord." Celestia's eyes widened as she made those calculations herself. "Discord was created after Luna's birth. Luna was only two when Earthsea died...when Tirek was destroyed." Celestia stared ahead, working her way through these realizations. "But...but..." Fluttershy continued. "And it was you casting him out like that and not letting him back in that doomed him to the loneliness that drove him mad, turning him into the monster you fought 1000 years ago." She shook her head. "I don't blame you for what you did back then, you weren't much more than a filly yourself. You didn't know." She stared up at Celestia. "But now you do, and you're old enough to know better. So don't you think it's time you forgave him? Don't you think it's time...you let your brother come home?" Celestia closed her eyes, letting it all sink in. Deep down, part of her wanted to say it wasn't her fault, that she hadn't done anything wrong, that she shouldn't have to make things right...but she'd ruled too long to let that part of her rule her. She knew she had to do what was right. "Do...do you think he might hear me out, if I came to apologize?" Fluttershy smiled. "I'm certain he would be overjoyed to have his family back again." Celestia smiled, closing her eyes to hold back tears. "Tell me, Fluttershy," she said, opening her eyes. "Do you have any idea what it was that caused Discord to open up to you so much?" She hoped it wasn't too earth shaking. She was still reeling a bit from realigning a rather fundamental part of her world view. Fluttershy smiled, and removed her dress. "I think this has something to do with it," she said, laying her hoof against her now visibly swollen abdomen. Celestia fainted.