Mail Order Orphan

by kudzuhaiku


Chapter 11

Ivy was in a tree. This was her second happy place, a place where she felt at one with the world. Her clawed toes and talons were getting stronger every day, and more than once her tail had saved her from a nasty fall, leaving her hanging upside down like a possum, and requiring a rescue from her mother.

She looked down on her other happy place, the yellow pony she called “mama.” Anywhere was fine provided the yellow pony was there. Fluttershy was below, feeding her animals, looking after her chickens, and doing mama things. Whatever those things were.

“Shicken!” Ivy exclaimed randomly. The large robin next to her warbled after her outburst. She turned her gaze at the bird. “Shicken?” She asked, pointing a talon. She looked over at the squirrel a short distance away. “Not shicken!” She announced, letting everything around her know that she understood that some things were not chickens.

Ivy giggled when she saw a gander give her mama a goose, causing the yellow wings to extend fully, and yelp of surprise to be exclaimed. Ivy let out her own cry of surprise when she felt something on her head suddenly.

Her eyes crossed, and she looked up, trying to see what was on her head. Her ears flickered, and she felt her feathers getting ruffled. She lifted a her talons to her head and felt something step on to one of her talon-fingers. She lowered her talons to reveal a small brown bird. “Hi hi!” Ivy greeted. One of mama’s many birds, probably a singer. Ivy stared cross eyed at it intently. She restrained the urge to smile. For some reason, her smile scared things away. She didn’t know why.

She lifted her other talons away from the branch, steadying herself on her hind legs, her tail coiled around the branch. She gently stroked the bird, angling her claws away from its tiny body, feeling the feathers on her fleshy talon tips. Birds were too fragile to hug. Too little. Ivy wished that she could whistle like mama did. All she could do was make rude raspberry noises.

The brown bird flew away suddenly. Ivy’s ears perked. She quickly turned her head around, looking for whatever made the bird fly away.

A tall figure entered the yard, and it looked a bit like Ivy. Ivy began to bounce in place on the branch, feeling excitement. “Oh hi hi!” Ivy cried out.

The tall figure looked up at her, as did her mama.

Fluttershy let out a cry of surprise upon seeing Discord. He had hair again.

“It grew back finally,” he said in a low voice, “I’ve never been burned quite like that before. That was interesting!”

“Hello Discord.” Fluttershy began to kick her hoof against the grass.

“Did you name her?” Discord questioned, raising an eyebrow. “Something suitable for the flaming terror that she is?” The draconequus let slip a giggle, his mismatched paw and talons clapping together with glee.

“Climbing Ivy,” Fluttershy answered, “and I think you can see why.”

“Indeed,” Discord responded, looking up again, “don’t fall!”

Discord levitated himself into the tree with Ivy, sitting in the fork of the tree close to her.

“I missed you,” he said, his voice low, “and I’m glad to see you again little Ivy.”

Ivy scooted along the branch carefully to reach the lounging draconequus, her tail securely wrapped around the branch.

“Dearest Fluttershy?” Discord asked.

Fluttershy looked up. “Yes?” She responded.

“I was busy while I was gone. I crossed the ocean! Went deep into the Sea of Grass where the zebras live, kept going to the Forevergreen jungles. And you won’t believe what I saw!” Discord smiled broadly. He took Ivy into his arms when she reached him, hugging her close.

“What did you find Discord?” Fluttershy inquired.

“I found little dragons that look a lot like Ivy!”

“You what?”

“I found a species of tree dragon. I knew I had seen a species of dragon at some point in my life with a rear facing toe on their hind foot to allow for grasping. I just couldn’t remember where I had seen them, or what they were like. I found them again. They’re a little larger than ponies are, intelligent, capable of speech, and even somewhat friendly. At least for dragons.”

Fluttershy stood there, looking up in awe.

“And I found jungle griffons. Front half was like parrot. Green, most of them, like Ivy.” “Discord squeezed Ivy affectionately.

“You went looking for Ivy’s roots?” Fluttershy asked.

“Not exactly,” said Discord, his cheerful expression fading, “I went looking for something else as well.”

“Well?” Fluttershy said, a hint of impatience settling into her voice.

Discord said nothing for a few moments, holding Ivy, he closed his eyes.

“I went looking for the others. Others like me. My kind. Seeing Ivy made me remember them. What few of us there were. We probably started out just like Ivy. Crossbreeds. And when regular species wouldn’t have anything to do with us, we had plenty to do with each other. Doing each other, that is. Once you introduce dragon ancestry, any sort of crossbreeding becomes possible. Even really weird things.” Discord fell silent. He opened his eyes, and looked at Ivy, who was looking up at him. “I think it’s over Fluttershy.”

“What?” Asked Fluttershy. “Over? I don’t understand.”

“My kind. My species. I think they’re gone. I think I’m the last one. It’s over. My kind, most of them were brutes. Barely capable of speech, most of them. Short lives, usually ended by violence. Other species thought we were horrible monsters. We were different. Other species did what they could to kill us. To rid the world of us. We were mongrels that offended the eyes of almost every other species. I grew up during a very bad time for this world. I had something that most of my kind didn’t have though. Magic. I bound myself to chaos magic, as I was not a harmonious creature, not like you ponies are. I delved. I dabbled. I learned to channel powerful magic. I figured out immortality, just like Celestia and Luna. I slowly eased myself into becoming an all powerful being. I slowly built immunity to all sorts of things, until I finally achieved what few do, immunity to death. At least, most types of death. I learned how to not feel pain. I learned how to survive and shape the world until it was something I wanted. But there was one thing that I apparently could not do…” Discord’s voice trailed off. He sighed. He squeezed Ivy again. Her tail was coiled around his lion foreleg. “Seeing Ivy reminded me of why I did what I did, and made me think about where I went wrong. I didn’t mean to become a villain. Honest. I just wanted to protect those who were like me. And at some point, it all went wrong. I’m lonely. I still haven’t figured out how to flush that out of my system.” Discord closed his eyes, leaning his head back against the tree. He sat there in silence.

Something soft and warm brushed up against his cheek and he heard the flutter of wings. He opened his eyes and saw Fluttershy hovering a short distance away, her forelegs wrapped over her muzzle, her ears flat against her head.

“What was that?” Discord asked, all the usual sarcasm drained from his voice.

“I don’t know!” Fluttershy squeaked.

“Is that what I think it was?” Discord narrowed one eye, his own ears perking forward.

“Maybe…” Fluttershy whispered. “I’m sorry, I don’t know what came over me. You looked so sad. And attractive. Something about how you are holding Ivy. How you’ve been kind to Ivy. How you’ve helped me throughout this whole process. And everything you just said. And I wanted to make you feel better. And I wanted to make myself feel better.” Fluttershy’s voice trembled and she fell into silence.

Fluttershy closed her eyes, her muzzle scrunched, and she darted her head forward, smooshing her nose into Discord’s.

“I’m not very good at this.”

“I’m not either. I gave up on relationships over a thousand years ago.”

Ivy giggled as Fluttershy’s mane tickled her cheek.

“You don’t have to be lonely Discord. You know you could stay here. You have in the past. The guest room is still as you left it.” Fluttershy slowly raised her eyes to look into Discord’s eyes.

“Things seem a little different at the moment,” Discord commented, “Your invitation seems a bit more open ended.”

“Oh,” Fluttershy gasped, “it is. I, um, er, well…” she trailed off, her words unspoken.

“Dearest Fluttershy, what are you trying to say?”

“That I hope that you will stay here and move out of the guest room…” her voice collapsed into a squeak.

There was a long awkward silence, the sort of silence that only two socially inept beings can create.

“Ivy needs a father. And something she can relate with. You’re more like her than I am. You could do something wonderful.” Fluttershy paused, becoming reflective for a moment. “Besides,” she continued, “just think about how much chaos could be had raising a foal like her.” Her eyes dropped, and her ears fell along the sides of her head, against her cheeks, embarrassment flooding her face. “Or making a sibling for Ivy. When the time is right. When we know each other better.” Fluttershy’s voice plummeted into a whisper so soft that few creatures could hear it.

Thankfully, Discord was one of those creatures. He sat there, stroking Ivy, silent.

“Why?” Discord asked. “Why me?”

Fluttershy raised her eyes to look at him. “I can’t relate to other ponies that well. Not like I can relate to you. Or Ivy. Or my animals. There is something about you. All of you. I can open up a little and be my self.” Her eyes dropped again. “I can talk to dragons, manticores, and bears, but I have trouble talking to ponies. There is something wrong with me.”

“No there isn’t. And don’t ever say that ever again.” Discord’s voice was uncharacteristically gentle.

He looked at Fluttershy. “You know that I will lead Ivy into mischief, right?”

Fluttershy nodded. “And I also know that you will keep her safe. And that it will only be gentle mischief and mild trouble.”

“That doesn’t sound very chaotic…” he mumbled.

“Then stop to think about all of the trouble that Ivy could get you in, as you try to keep her safe. There is the entire Everfree forest right over there. And she’s bound to slip off sometime and go exploring.”

Discord cringed. “Ivy slipping off, not knowing if she’s alright, wondering if she’s been hurt…” his voice trailed off, and he seemed to have a moment of realisation. He looked down at her. “You wouldn’t!”

“I’m sure she would.”

“Ugh, that’s awful. Is THAT what I do to ponies? Cause that sort of concern? That sort of fear?”

“Yes.” Fluttershy said boldly.

Discord slumped, his tail dropped, his shoulders sagged. “Love is perilous,” he murmured, “I’m not sure that I like it.”

Ivy yawned, her tongue falling out of her mouth. When she finished, she slurped her tongue back in.

“She does that a lot.” Fluttershy commented.

“Fascinating.” Discord replied.

He paused, turning his head slightly, raising his eyes to look directly at Fluttershy. “I’ll stay if you’ll have me.”

Fluttershy nodded.

“What will Celestia say?” Discord thought out loud. “She doesn’t trust me very much. And rightfully so, all things considered. What if she forbids this? What if she thinks I’m hurting you? Or leading you on, or pranking you, or any of the hundreds of horrible things I usually do? What if she thinks I’ll hurt Ivy?” Panic crept into his voice.

“You are going to have to prove yourself Discord,” Fluttershy replied, her voice soft and soothing. “You could go a long ways towards doing that by settling down and helping to raise Ivy. Learn to be responsible. Show that the effort put into rehabilitating you was worth it and what little trust was offered to you was well placed.”

“What if I fail somehow? What if I really really want to do the right thing but I screw up somehow and it all blows up in my face and Celestia hates me? You don’t know her like I do. That mare holds a grudge.” Discord’s face dissolved into a worried scowl.

“If I know that you are doing the best you can and an accident happens or something outside of your control takes place, then I will stay with you and see you through whatever trouble comes. Just try to be good. I know that you can. I’ve seen it.”

Discord looked down at Ivy, and then back to Fluttershy, his features thoughtful.

“I like my eggs poached.” Discord said, a smile cracking on his face.