//------------------------------// // House of Chaos // Story: You Gave Me Nothing! // by twilightsparkle3562 //------------------------------// Chapter 3 “House of Chaos” By the time that Luna had raised the moon, Fluttershy was still standing on the edge of the hill overlooking the valley where Twilight and Tirek had their confrontation. The wind was growing stronger and the scarf that Discord made for her was not keeping her cool for very long. “Discord’s been gone for a while,” she thought, taking to the air. “I think I’d better look for him.” So Fluttershy flew off in search of her chaotic friend and eventually came to the spot where Discord’s thinking tree usually was. But to her surprise, it wasn’t there and Fluttershy was wondering what Discord was up to. Before she could do anything else however, she suddenly disappeared and found herself in a strange realm where everything chaotic was taking place. “You must have been wondering where I was, Fluttershy?” called a voice and the timid Pegasus came up to a house that kept turning upside down. Although she wasn’t sure if she could forward, Fluttershy could see that it was Discord’s and flew over to it. “Discord, are you in there?” she called, knocking on the door and the door opened to reveal Discord wearing a pink bathrobe and bunny slippers with a cup of what appeared to be coffee in his eagle claw. Fluttershy entered and she could see that something was troubling her friend. “Is everything all right?” “Yes, everything is fine,” replied Discord, somberly, feeling exhausted from unleashing his anger on Tirek. “I’m just tired from my visit to Tirek’s, that’s all.” He then walked over and came over to his couch, sitting down while sighing heavily. Fluttershy then joined him on the couch and sat next to him. “Care for a drink?” asked Discord, trying to perk up for his friend. When Fluttershy nodded, Discord snapped his fingers and his tall floor lamp walked over to the kitchen and brought out a cup of tea for Fluttershy, handing it to her like a butler. “Why, thank you,” replied Fluttershy as the lamp tipped its top and walked back to its normal spot. “Who knew furniture could be so polite? Must have been from all those lessons I taught you on manners.” Fluttershy took a sip of her tea and it was at this point she needed to find out about what happened in Tartarus. Normally, Fluttershy would keep herself in the dark about these kind of situations, but this was her close friend that was feeling down and she had to make an exception. “Now,” she said, looking up at Discord. “Care to tell me what happened in Tartarus?” “You sure about that?” asked Discord, snapping a plate of cucumber sandwiches. “How about some cucumber sandwiches? I made them myself.” This didn’t bode well with Fluttershy who was just about to use her stare on Discord in an effort to get him to talk. Realizing that he could not hide the truth any longer, Discord snapped away the sandwiches and let out a heavy sigh. “All right, I’ll tell you everything that happened,” sighed Discord. “But, only because you asked me.” Fluttershy keenly listened in on what her friend had to say and Discord sighed heavily as he spun his revelations on what had happened. “Well,” he began, producing a small screen which showed what exactly happened in Tartaurus. “You see, I went into Tartarus because I was still feeling cheated by Tirek when he offered me power over friendship. I’d figure if I go down and show him how I feel, I could at least release some of that frustration. But, it wasn’t to be.” Fluttershy’s mouth then dropped when she saw the horrible shot of Discord using his magic to shackle Tirek’s wrists to the cage and lift him up, almost as if Discord was going to do the unimaginable. “Discord,” she gasped, her voice filled with horror. “What were you doing?” “Fluttershy, I couldn’t control myself at that moment,” cried Discord, trying to defend his actions. “I made a grave mistake by betraying Equestria to him. I had a chance to speak up, but I didn’t and every little angry feeling I had inside of me came out.” Fluttershy could only stared with her eyes wide open as she continued to see the dark side of her friend play out on the tiny screen. With each moment she saw Discord torture Tirek with his magic was a moment that made her skin crawl. Tears began to form in her eyes and when Discord saw his friend cry, he snapped away the screen and pulled Fluttershy into a tight hug. “Why would do that, Discord?” sobbed Fluttershy, crying into her friends chest. “There are better ways to assert yourself than that.” “I know, you’re right, my dear Fluttershy,” replied Discord, who was starting to get choked up himself. “But, that was something I couldn’t control. He made me hurt you and your friends. It was because of me that Twilight lost her library, it was because of me the princesses got sent to Tartarus. All this wouldn’t have happened if it wasn’t for me. I wanted to correct what I did, but I took it too far.” Discord suddenly began to release all his emotions at that moment to and the two friends continued to cry out their sorrows for a good long while until Discord’s floor was wet from all the tears they had produced. Once they had calmed down, Fluttershy let out a ragged sigh and spoke next. “Discord, I forgive you for what you did,” she gasped. “Not just for what happened, but for everything that happened when you were with Tirek. You were just misled and were played for a fool.” “I want you to know something, Fluttershy,” he whispered, placing his paw to Fluttershy’s cheek, raising it up to his face. “As of now, I am never going to live up to my name as the master of chaos. All my life I wanted to find a friend to call my own and I found it right here. You and your friends have given me friendship, you and your friends have given me magic and you and your friends have given me everything that I could ever ask for.” Touched by what she had heard, Fluttershy smiled as looked back up at Discord before the two friends embraced each other even tighter than before. It was at this moment, not when Tirek had his moment of triumph, that Discord would vow to be a better friend and he was going to live up to that promise for the rest of his life.