Fluttershy couldn’t see anything. It was pitch black around her and she had no idea where she was. No sounds, no smells, no texture under her hooves… as far as she could tell she wasn’t even standing on anything. She wasn’t so much scared though as she was tired. She lay down and curled up, closing her eyes and trying to drift away.
Just as she was about to fall asleep, though, she started to hear some sort of thumping music in the distance and something bright started to flicker in front of her. She groggily opened her eyes and lifted her head to see thousands of flashing lights way far off into the distance and the music faded to a quiet hum.
What is that?
She got up on her hooves and started walking towards the colorful lights. It seemed like she had been walking for hours when she started to feel grass under her hooves. Looking down, she still couldn’t see anything, but it was nice to actually feel like she was walking on something, so she continued.
The lights were still far away, and she still couldn’t see what they were, but Fluttershy was making progress. They had gotten somewhat brighter and the music started to get slightly louder. But there was still so much distance to cover.
Fluttershy sighed and took another step. But as soon as her hoof hit the ground the blackness started to fly past her, the grass whisking underneath her and her mane and tail sweeping back, flapping behind her as the far-off lights came into focus and the distant music became increasingly louder.
It was a carnival.
Whatever force that had pulled her there instantly stopped and her body tumbled forward in front of a colorful arch which she assumed was the entrance. Fluttershy stood up and shook her head, trying to reorient herself, and looked up. Beyond the entrance was a huge ferris wheel, countless colorful booths and tents scattered about, a giant roller coaster running behind everything, and a brightly lit carousel off to the side.
“Oh this place is beautiful.” She reflected on how she had always wanted to visit a carnival but could never handle the crowds. But this place seemed like the perfect one to start at. Eagerly, she trotted through the arch and wandered around, looking at all the colorful booths to see what lay inside. One of them was for a ring toss game and another had stacks of bottles piled-up. There was one over there filled with stuffed animals and another with popcorn and soda, and that one by the roller coaster had cotton candy and other sweet treats.
The music got slightly louder and caught her attention. Where was it even coming from? She didn’t see any speakers or anypony playing… Maybe it was an enchantment…
She looked up at the ferris wheel in all its splendorous lights and how they seemed to flicker in sync with the music. She looked closer though and noticed there wasn’t anypony in the cars. Come to think of it, there wasn’t anypony in the booths either, or anypony walking around.
Fluttershy started to shake at the realization and backed up before she turned around and galloped towards the arch, wanting to get away. How did I not notice that earlier? She started to cry as she neared the exit, but right as she was about to run through it the arch collapsed and the darkness started to creep inside, crawling over the fallen structure and submerging it into its depths so that it seemed to have never existed. Fluttershy skidded to a halt and frantically turned around. The lights that weren’t being absorbed grew brighter and the music started to thump louder. The darkness was coming in from all sides now and Fluttershy retreated to the center of the carnival, in front of the ferris wheel. It started to creek and Fluttershy looked up at it with her tear-stained eyes and saw it start to bend and grow, arching back as it stretched out, screws flying out as its support beams pulled out from the ground. The front ones pulled up as the wheel continued to arch back, then slammed down as it lunged forward, a snarling face created by the mangled pillars that stretched out from the center, its eyes lined with red and yellow lights. The cars jingled and started to bounce up and down with the still increasing thumps as the ferris wheel roared her name in sync with them, inching closer and closer to her.
“FLUT-TER-SHY
“FLUT-TER-SHY
“FLUT-TER-SHY”
The pegasus screamed at the top of her lungs as her body shook mercilessly.
“FLUT-TER-SHY
WAKE UP”
And she opened her eyes, seeing a pair of red and yellow orbs in front of her. She choked out a scream and pushed back, getting on her hooves and backing up before bumping into a wall and falling down, covering her face as she curled in on herself, her body trembling.
Something rested itself on her back and a soft voice sounded in her ears. “Fluttershy, it’s okay. It’s okay.”
Discord had fallen asleep at around noon. He promised himself he’d stay awake for Fluttershy but he hadn’t expected her to be crashed-out so long. He told himself just a quick nap before he returned to his post and wrapped his body around her. It was mainly to keep her warm, but also to ensure he woke up to sooth her if she started to shake.
Which she did. Discord woke up to see her trembling at his side. He would’ve just rubbed her back until she stopped like earlier, but he could see tears trickling down her muzzle and whimpers escaping her mouth.
“Fluttershy,” he whispered. “Fluttershy, it’s okay. It’s okay.” He started to run his paw down her spine and wrap his body tighter around her.
She only trembled more, which raised Discord’s concern. He set his paw and claw on her shoulders and gently shook her, “Fluttershy wake up. Wake up Fluttershy, it’s just a dream. It’s only a dream.” Just then her eyes shot open. Discord was about to wrap her in a hug when she choked out a scream and pushed him away, crying.
He saw her back up against a wall and curl up.
Discord pushed himself on his haunches and slowly made his way to the frightened pegasus, full of worry.
He reached out his paw and gently laid it on her back. “Fluttershy, it’s okay. It’s okay,” he hushed. He rested his body on the floor next to her and ran his paw back and forth. “Everything’s gonna be fine,” he whispered. “I’m right here and I’m not gonna let anything hurt you; you’re safe. It was all just a bad dream dear, you’re safe. You’re safe.”
Her wimpers stopped and her ears perked up slowly. She raised her head just a bit and peaked at him through her mane. Discord reached out his eagle claw and cupped her cheek through her hair, resting his forehead against hers and closing his eyes. “It’s okay.”
She blinked a few times and then pushed her head past his and burrowed it into his neck. “Oh Discord,” she choked, “it was so awful.”
Discord wrapped his body around hers in a hug as she continued.
“It was pitch black and then th-there was this, this carnival,” she started to weeze again, “and it was just so beautiful Discord, you would’ve l-loved it.” She wrapped her hooves around the draconequus, “but there was no-nopony there and the darkness, it s-started to come inside and th-then. Oh it was awful!” She buried her head deeper into his fur. “The ferris wheel, it, it came to life and roared and it was the most frightening thing I’ve e-ever seen!” She squeezed her hooves around him tighter. “I-it had these s-sharp teeth and the sc-scariest eyes. T-they,” and she reeled back and stared Discord in the face to explain just how menacing there were, but upon seeing his yellow and red eyes, the ferris wheel's eyes, gasped and started crying uncontrollably. “Oh D-Discord I-I’m so sorry,” she sobbed. “I-I..” she started to pull herself from Discord’s embrace and backed up, avoiding his confused look. “I-I can’t believe I…” She rushed upstairs before she could finish her sentence.
Discord sat there for a moment, confused. But then he remembered how Fluttershy screamed when she woke up and saw him, how she was describing the monster ferris wheel and it's eyes. It wasn't hard to put two and two together.
The monster in her dream had his eyes…
Fluttershy
His first thought was to comfort her and he started rushing up the stairs, but then thought it would be better to give her some time alone and stopped. But he did that two weeks ago and look what happened. Plus she was blaming herself for having a nightmare about, well sort of about, him. He didn’t blame her for it, though. Yes it hurt tremendously, but look at what he had done to her…
Discord knew he had to stop her grieving and pull her out of the hole she didn’t know she was digging herself, knew he needed to stop her from blaming herself and realize none of this was her fault.
He continued up the stairs to her door and heard her crying behind it. He knocked lightly against it. “Fluttershy… Fluttershy I’m coming in, okay.” He turned the handle and walked inside. She was laying on her bed, her head lifted up and staring right at him. Her front hooves rested on a pillow he assumed she had just started crying into and saw tears still trickling down her cheeks. She started to open her mouth when Discord flew up and wrapped her in the biggest hug he could.
“There’s nothing to be sorry for, Fluttershy,” he hushed. “Absolutely nothing. You’re the most wonderful pony I’ve ever met my dear and you need to stop blaming yourself for everything. It was my fault I joined Tirek and helped him steal everypony’s magic, and it was my fault I stayed away so long and left you to wallow in grief. It’s my fault I hurt you so much, Fluttershy.” He pulled his head back and cupped her face with both of his claws and stared into her tear-stained eyes with his own. “You did absolutely nothing wrong my dear, sweet, wonderful Fluttershy,” he hushed to her, shaking his head a little trying to rid the tears pouring out his eyes. “Honestly Fluttershy you mean the world to me and seeing you like this I--I don’t know what to do or what to say, I’m so new to this and I want to help you and I’m going to do my best and I won’t stop until I know you’ve healed and I’m going to do everything in my power to make that happen and-- and,” he shook his head again realizing he was rambling and pulled her back into a hug. Fluttershy still shook against him and he still heard her crying, but he could tell she was purging everything this time. It was a good cry.
They lay like that in each others arms for a while before they both fell asleep on her bed.
It was evening when Discord started to wake up. He was confused for a moment as to where he was until he looked down at the slumbering pegasus at his side. Right.
Discord rested his head on his claws and stared out the window, lost in thought when he felt Fluttershy stirring next to him. She stretched at his side then opened her eyes. They darted around in confusion for a brief moment until they rested on Discord, and all the memories from a few hours ago flooded back. Oddly enough, though, she felt kind of… refreshed. It was as if she had been carrying the world and it had suddenly been lifted off her back. She smiled softly at Discord, her eyebrows pinched at the center.
Discord smiled softly back and ran his claw through her mane. It was still mangled like when he found her in the snow, so he used his magic to untangle it with each stroke of his talons. Fluttershy sighed in content and laid her head back down. She wasn’t sleeping this time, but relaxing, for probably the first time in a couple of weeks. It felt… nice.