//------------------------------// // Discovering Discord (or Terrified of Talantilo) // Story: Celestiphilia // by Dr Atlas //------------------------------// “S-Stay away!” “Shy, please, we’ve been at this forever.” Fluttershy shook her head again and continued walking away from him. She had been at this ever since last night when that changeling said all those mean things that Discord did, and the entire time, she thought all of it was true. “How do I know you’re not just trying to hypnotise me?” Discord groaned, he tried explaining to her that he had never done anything that changeling had said, but he knew he would once he saw that bug, just not in front of her. “Listen, Shy, everything that bug said wasn’t true.” “Are you sure? How do I know you don’t?” Fluttershy turned around and looked up at him with watered down eyes. Discord looked down and did the same. “Of course I don’t, why would I even eat bugs? I doubt they taste that good anyway.” Fluttershy gulped. “But you can eat anything, you even ate paper when-” Discord flew next to Fluttershy and wrapped a tail around her. “But I don’t eat living things, I may sharp teeth, but that doesn’t mean I eat meat.” Fluttershy meeped at the sight of his giant pointy tooth. She was never scared of it before, but from what that changeling said last night, she could swear that his tooth could bite through anything. “A-are you sure?” Discord rose in the air with his tail still around Fluttershy. “I swear.” He held his bird claw to his chest and his paw in the air. “I would never harm any creature. Sure, I would make them think they were in danger or just flat out make them evil, but I would never hurt them.” Fluttershy grimaced. “Um...okay…” Meanwhile, Stan held onto the side of the tree harder than ever as the mutant goat was ready to clamp his jaw around the mare, and made way for his prey. “Nice rhyme.” Stan said out loud, which then led him to clamping his big mouth shut seconds later. “Hmm?” Fluttershy turned to the tree Stan was behind, and she could tell he was behind it. Transparent or not, wings were pretty easy to see when they stick out of trees. “Why is a...wait…” She tapped her chin while Discord looked where she was looking. “What is it?” Discord didn’t notice the pair of blue, bug like, wings protruding out of the sides of the nearby tree. Fluttershy then climbed out of Discord’s tail and made her way to Stan’s hiding spot. “Let’s see if your right then Dissy.” She cleared her throat and stood by the tree. “Um..excuse me, Mr. changeling?” Stan’s heart never skipped so many beats once Discordalantilo’s prey called out for him. He knew this was a trick, but how did that monster know that Stan was behind this- “Um...I can see your wings, you can stop...whatever it is you're doing.” “Maybe he’s spying on us.” Discord smiled “How cute~” Stan jumped into the air and hit his head on a branch. Which then led him to go through the leaves of the tree and fall on the other side, landing right on top of Fluttershy. “Stupid wings!” Stan stood up and grabbed his transparent wings. “First you fly me here, now you blow my cover, why don’t you just tell them who I am while you’re at it!” “Wait a minute...I know you.” Stan stopped fondling with his wings and turned around, seeing his second worst fear come straight toward him. “You’re that prey from last night, you sound just like him!” “Who?” Fluttershy raised her head and looked up at Stan, she tried to move but Stan seemed to keep her held down, even though he was a little bit smaller than her, and he wasn’t even trying to hold her down, since he was too focused on Discord. “Um...Changeling, can you...please-” Stan immediately yelled at the top of his lungs and grabbed Fluttershy. “D-don’t take me!” He held her up like a shield and cowered behind her. “Just take this one...She probably tastes better anyway.” Fluttershy dropped a jaw while Discord raised an eye. “Y-you are that same changeling!” Discord came as close as he could to the bug with Fluttershy in the way. Fluttershy looked back and forth at the cowering changeling and the angry Discord. “Are you sure he’s the same? Maybe he’s a different bug who’s...who’s still afraid of you.” Fluttershy started realizing what was going on. “Why are they scared of you Discord?” “Wha- Does it look like I know? I never even saw nor heard of these things until the wedding, and last time I remember,” Discord flew around Fluttershy and faced Stan. “they destroyed it.” Stan was too busy closing his eyes no notice Discordalantilo’s teeth that were inches away from his head. “W-we just...please...I...d-don’t want to be l-l-like the others…” Stan was starting to crawl into a fetal position with his back propped up to Fluttershy. “Others, what is he talking about?” Fluttershy was becoming more concerned for the bug. They might’ve destroyed the wedding, and they might look terrifying, but she knew they were doing the right thing now, and with this one cowering at her hooves, she could do nothing but look at it with sorrow. As for Discord, he could only look at it in anger, he was fed up with this bug telling them all of these lies. “I’m not a monster!” He yelled right in the changeling’s face. “What makes you think I am, just because of how I look? And how I devour your kind?! I am just like you, my prey, I may look strange but I’m not someone who goes around and kills you. I am not someone who lures others into being my meal! So what makes you think that I’m your worst nightmare, who will finally get his chance to end the life of Sta-” “STOP!” Stan lost it. He flew behind Fluttershy again and grabbed her. “Please, don’t let him do this,” He turned her around and looked at her in the eyes. “I know you can hear me in there pony, so just come to your senses and..and…” Stan threw Fluttershy at Discord and ran off. “Just take her instead!” Fluttershy and Discord cringed the entire time Stan crashed or smacked into something. They watched as the changeling flew into the tree again, then into a bush, then a statue, then another one, making it crack, then he finally got his wings under control and flew away...right through a glass window.  Fluttershy looked up at Discord and frowned. “Why are you making him act like this?” ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Carl’s apartment was quiet and eerie, not a single sound was being made, except for Carl, who continued make moaning and groaning sounds in the bathroom, it wasn’t until a bright flash of light shined through the cracked doors that he stopped. Seconds later, Carl gasped and launched himself out of the bathtub, falling on the hard tiles and catching his breath. “W-what...wh-why….how...when….where? What am I doing in...oh no…” Carl glanced over at the bathtub filled with water. “D-did some one…” He ran up to his mirror and looked over himself, trying to find some indication of what he thought happened to him. “Come on...where’s the stitches? I know they don’t just heal it with magic, they just take it and leave you in a tub of ice. So where’s my stitches?!” He continued looking over himself, trying to find some indication that someone left their hoof-ie work behind to show Carl that he lost a vital organs. “N-no...nothing’s too vital in me, only three things are vital to me. My brain, my heart, and…and.” He then felt around his body to find his other important organ. He breathed a sigh of relief once he found it. “Oh thank Chrysie...Thought that would’ve been it for me.” He then raised an eye. “Hu...wonder why it’s blue right there, and there, and there?” He sat back down and tried to catch his breath, trying to figure out what happened to him. “Okay...just relax, what was the last thing you remember...the last thing I remember was...talking to Stan, then after that I tried to...tried to...wash something...and...” He groaned and stood back up. “Oh for queen’s sake, I need to get to a hospital! Who knows how long it takes for a changeling to die once he loses...Whatever it is I lost.” With that in mind, Carl ran out of his bathroom, knocking the door down, dashed outside, knocking his other door down, and made his way to the hospital.