Forward

by GivingSpider


Chapter 2

Discord took a moment to glance out the window and at the world outside. Specifically he was looking at a tree he planted. He spent a fair amount of time planning on a treehouse for the child he was expecting. He smiled as he imagined the days ahead. They played out sort of like they always had but this time it was going to be real. Also this time he had an incredible wife to share it all with.

He glanced at the couch across the room and saw his favorite pony in the world lying sprawled out without a care in the world. She was still the same pony he loved but there was one very recent change. He glided over just an inch off the floor and gently ran a paw over her body, favoring the place where their future child was currently living in. He sat down at the edge of the couch while gently moving his wife’s head to his lap. She smiled faintly and rolled onto her side. The new position brought with it very mild snoring.

Discord chuckled to himself. Fluttershy snoring was just one new thing he had adjusted to over the past few months. Her strange new appetite and palette was a very curious thing compared to his own standards of odd. Pumpkin pancakes with a side of a three onion risotto? Jelly bean, banana and pepper sandwich? Spinach ravioli pie?

He paused and admitted that the last one was actually somehow not that bad.

Discord stretched his claw towards the other side of the couch and magically commanded a pale blue blanket to drape over his love. Her response was to shift around again into a new comfortable spot which was only an inch away from the one she was already in. He gently moved his paw over her barrel and stopped abruptly. He could have sworn that he felt something comparable to a heart that only beat once. With pure fascination and excitement he kept his paw still. Fluttershy shifted slightly as he felt another kick. Discord could feel his heart add an additional beat to its rhythm as he waited for another tiny sign of life from their soon to be newest member of the family. Another kick and liquid joy crept from the corner of his eye. He slowly moved his paw along and felt another kick. He swore that she had followed him. A few minutes passed and soon added up to an hour and nothing happened. He withdrew his paw and worked on containing himself.

“It’s all right little one” he quietly said to his unborn child. “I can wait a little longer for you.”

Of course deep down he knew that he said it purely for the benefit of the mother and child. For Discord the wait was unbearable. He was too focused on what was coming to think about what he was doing. He had arranged a temporary cease fire with Pinkie and was very aware of the betting pool that was steadily growing in the Cake household and had stretched to other ponies in town. The Draconequus let out a slight laugh. Almost two thousand bits was now waiting for the pony who correctly predicted the hour of his retaliation for the incident where Pinkie’s shadow had somehow replaced his own.

It still boggled him when he thought of how she pulled that off.

He turned his attention to his sleeping wife. She had shifted again and her eyes were open. Fluttershy elected to lie there and gaze off into nothing before deeply yawning. Discord glanced to the window and at the tree outside. He could have sworn that for an instant he saw a small foal sitting on a low branch and looking right at him. He closed his eyes and stretched and gave another glance. This time for a fraction of a second the mysterious child was on the ground sitting upright and looking at him. He continued to stare at the tree long after the illusion had passed. He breathed deeply and looked down at his wife who was giving him an inquisitive look.

“Something on your mind Dizzy?” Fluttershy asked out of concern.

“Any day now. That is what’s on my mind.” Discord responded while gently stroking her mane.

Fluttershy stretched and casually kicked the blanket off her body, letting it hit the floor. She rolled onto her back and looked to the window that had captured her husband’s attention. Discord looked again and just for a flash he saw the featureless child again, this time it stood a bit closer to the house. He wondered if his mind was starting to crack from the waiting. The precious memories of playing with his imaginary daughter flooded his mind. The sound of her laughter, her antics while riding a cotton candy cloud, the infinite curiosity that shown in her swirled eyes, and so many other powerful images stormed his brain. He glanced at where Fluttershy was growing their child and slowly ran his paw over the area.

He took a moment to remind himself that it was equally possible that she would bless them with a son. Discord felt another drop creep away from his eye. No matter what she was carrying he was going to love their child. Whether it was a filly, foal or any and all points in-between he didn’t care.

He looked at the window and for a longer period he saw the shadowed outline of a filly pressed against the window, knocking with a hoof. He ran his paw along Fluttershy’s body and felt another kick. Discord’s eyes widened when he realized that the illusion’s knock was in sync with the kick.

“It might be closer than we think dearest” Discord said softly as the child disappeared from his sight.

“You think so?” She asked while tilting her head back to make eye contact.

“Call it a hunch.”

“I call it wishful thinking” she replied with a faint giggle.

Fluttershy rested her hoof on top of his paw and held it against her womb. Discord nearly jumped when the sensation of something touching him occurred on his shoulder. He did jump slightly when he heard a faint giggle behind him. Fluttershy’s eyes suddenly went quite wide and her breathing became erratic.

“Discord! It’s time!”

In Discord’s fully justified surge of adrenaline and panic he wove a spell and channeled it with indefatigable purpose. The floor beneath them turned into a portal and Discord let himself fall through with Fluttershy held securely in his arms.

The hospital had seen many things since its first day of opening. Many minor injuries from brave children and a hooffull of broken wing incidents (most of them belonging to Rainbow Dash) were quite common but furniture falling through the ceiling was a new one. Amidst the chaos Discord charged the front desk like a mad rabid animal and barely managed to avoid a very familiar pink pony popping out of the debris. Upon reaching the desk and the very surprised pony behind it he dropped the panicked state of mind and addressed the pony in the most polite manner he could.

“Excuse me but my wife has gone into labor.”

He looked behind him at the sight of furniture and floorboards having crashed into the lobby. He glanced at a small calendar on the wall and at the clock next to it. Discord took a moment to recall the town’s shared wager.

“Huh…August thirtieth at two thirty in the afternoon…”

“DISCORD GET THIS BABY OUT OF ME!!!”

And with that the betting pool vanished from his mind. Things turned into a blur as they were ushered deeper into the hospital. Discord stood in a stunned daze when he himself was prevented physically from going through a door that doctors took his wife through.

“I guess…I’ll just wait here then?”

He stood staring that the doors.

Discord regained the thoughts on the betting pool for when he would cause an act of random chaos and summoned the chart that had signatures and predictions from most of Ponyville. He inched his claw around until he found the date and hour of the portal incident that left Pinkie buried.

His heart skipped a beat when he saw that somepony with the name Screwball had claimed the spot and concluded that everything he knew about the universe was wrong.