//------------------------------// // Autumn: Don't believe the lie that your dragon needs slaying // Story: Non-Entity // by Captain Wuzz //------------------------------// Don't tell me a woman did this to you Cause your wild card Boy needs playing Don't believe the lie Your Dragon needs slaying Won't you lay here with me And I will bring Kisses for the beast Lay here with me -Tori Amos Discord was on his fifth library book. It was a volume on fractals. He was completely absorbed in it. It illuminated quite a few things even he had questions about. He was about to turn the page when the door burst open revealing a wild eyed and windblown Fluttershy. Discord stood up. "Hey, hey, Shy! What—what's wrong?” He led her over to the couch while she tried to catch her breath. Discord waited until Fluttershy was able to talk again. He had come to realize he hated seeing her upset, no matter what the reason. “S'matter, Shy?” he asked, taking one of her small hooves in his paw. Her ears were flattened against her head. “Snare,” she said, letting out a deep breath. “He has photos of the remains of ponies and your tracks are next to them.” He looked at her in horror. “So...I did kill ponies?” He felt bile rise in his throat. “I don't care!” she shouted. “I told you I knew this was a possibility. You weren't in your right mind, and that's what I told them.” “So that's what the meeting was about? I'm the emergency?” She nodded sadly. “The mayor has given you a week to leave.” “Leave?! Leave and go where?” “The Everfree. Maybe further. I don't know.” “I'm not leaving.” “Discord, listen to me. We tried to convince the townsponies you weren't a threat but I don't think they're going to listen to us. Snare has them swayed with the photos. He's creating hysteria. Maybe you could go to Canterlot Palace and Princess Celestia could put you under her protection there.” “And then what? I live as a pariah in some stuffy castle?” “Once the Princess finds out what has happened I'm sure she'll put a stop to this.” “I'm not leaving. Everything good in my life is here. Right here.” He ran his talon through her mane. “Besides, I have magic to protect me.” “Discord, please! Listen to me. I don't know what they're going to do after a week. We have to go to Canterlot. At least there we can figure things out. And if you use your magic they'll just use it as another excuse against you. Please please listen to me.” She was crying now. He looked at the ground and finally sighed. “Okay, Shy. I'll go.” “You will?” she sniffled. “Yeah. I don't want to but you always seem to know what's best for me. I mean, I'd rather stay and tie pony's tails in knots then tie them together and swing them from a tree like a tetherball but I have a feeling you'll dissuade me from that.” He chuckled. She hugged him in relief. “We'll leave tomorrow,” she said. He looked at the floor again. “Did you really stand up in front of a bunch of ponies and argue my case?” asked Discord. “Uh huh,” said the pegasus, still sniffling. Discord thought of her standing in front of the crowd, a fiery look in the mare's eyes as she defended him. He knew Fluttershy was afraid of many things, including crowds, and the thought of her standing up for him sent a fierce wave of amazement and tenderness through him. He pulled back to look at her, and was dismayed to see that she was now sobbing. “I'm a failure!" she wailed. She was crying in sharp, convulsive gasps now and seemed inconsolable. "I tried to convince them but I'm a screw up, I'll always be a screw up! I can't do anything right, I..." He was kissing her and it was only afterwards that she realized just how good at it he was. When his lips pressed against hers and he worked his talon into her mane, she felt a shiver shoot down her spine and pool into the lower part of her body, making her blush hard. His talon moved to her face and he cupped it in both hands as his tongue begged for permission against her lips. She parted them and he tasted her, their tongues intertwining. She forgot about her tears as the feeling at the base of her spine started to uncoil. Discord came up for air and buried his face in her shoulder, his talon moving back to her mane. "You are not a screw up, Fluttershy," he breathed into her neck. "Take it from the world authority on that subject, you are the furthest thing from screw up I have ever seen." Part of the reason he had his face buried in her shoulder was he was afraid. He had just thrown all caution to the wind and kissed her. There was no going back now. Yes, she had kissed him back but she could change her mind at any time. Maybe she was being polite. Maybe he had just crossed a line. But any worries he had on that front were quickly vanquished when she delicately touched his cheek with her hoof. He looked up at her, the tears on her face were drying. Her heart was beating rapidly. He was a person. Discord was a person. A person who cared about her. Her soft lips met his again, this time at her commencement. Discord's heart leapt and his tongue wasted no time in exploring her sweet mouth again. Aw, god. She tastes so good. Fluttershy was beginning to wriggle out of her coat, and Discord's eagle hand moved to the soft exposed fur and skin on her chest. He wanted to go further, but this wasn't some roll in the hay. He needed to be sure. He swallowed hard, hoping the words he said next weren't going to sound like he was croaking and had a dry throat. He was relieved that they didn't: "You're an amazing mare, Fluttershy, and if you'll let me, I would very much like to make love to you." "Yes." "Wh-what?" he said, feeling like an idiot once the word had left his lips. "Yes, Discord." Her coat was on the floor now and she threw her arms around his neck and kissed him once more. Dammit, this was her life and she was going to enjoy it. She had kissed him hard, surprising him, and his eagle hand began to move over her soft fur again. She moaned at his touch and the sound made his feathers rise a little. Feathers. Feathers like a griffon, limbs like a griffon, but he was not a griffon and he was part pony and she found him, very, very attractive. Suddenly his paw and talon hand slid under her carriage and he lifted her up in his arms. She sighed happily and rested her head against his chest and he floated across the living room and up the stairs with her. He kicked the bedroom door open with his dragon foot and they fell into bed together. Afterwards they lay together in the dim light catching their breath. Discord felt rubbery, as if all the tension had left his body as he enjoyed his afterglow. Fluttershy's hoof rested on his chest and he placed his paw over it, his talon arm holding her tight against him and his muzzle nuzzling her mane. Discord had lain with many beings, male and female, pony and non-pony, but the feel of Fluttershy's body pressed against his own felt so sweet and he wondered if he had ever felt this way about anyone else. He unconciously ran the tip of his eagle talon across the scars on her withers. She sighed happily and soon she was snoring gently, and after a moment he joined her. Some hours later he felt her nuzzling his neck and he knew she wanted him again. He shifted and his lips found hers once more. The draconequus lost himself in her again and again, completely surrendering himself to bliss and pleasure until she cried out and they collapsed against each other breathlessly. This time sleep came to him a lot faster, and that was when he began to dream. The emotions he felt were both blissful and terrifying in equal measure. The images passed behind his eyes, faster and faster until the thundering roar took him, and in that moment, he remembered who he was. He remembered everything. He came awake with a start and almost panicked when he saw the pink mane draped over his body. He stumbled backwards out of the bed, his heart pounding, his palms sweaty, his breath almost reaching a state of hyperventilation. She was still asleep, and he walked backwards, stumbling against the door. He heard the clink of metal hitting the floor and he realized his back had brushed against Fluttershy's saddlebag hanging on the door hook. He looked down at the object dumbly. It looked like a metal necklace. In the centre something glinted back at him. He bent down and picked it up and promptly dropped it again when he realized what he was looking at. It felt like he had been stung. He heard Fluttershy shifting on the bed and she sat up and looked at him with bleary eyes. “Discord, what...” “Don't come any closer!” he snarled. She looked at him, wide eyed in confusion. “Discord, what's wrong? What's the matter?” “You know very well what the matter is,” he growled. “You—you were working for her! All along! And that whole thing about trying to get me to Canterlot Palace. What an idiot I was!” “I don't know what you're talking about!” said Fluttershy truthfully. She was beginning to feel frightened. “Still playing the 'innocent mare' card I see,” said Discord, his hackles rising. “When were you and your friends going to use those things on me. Tell me the truth.” “We never wanted to,” said Fluttershy, who was now trying not to cry. “I definitely never wanted to. They were just for protection. We didn't know you then.” “Bull!” screamed the draconequus. How could he have been so stupid as to trust a pony? He'd done it before with Celestia and look how that had turned out. Celestia. She clearly wanted to immobilize him, maybe even destroy him. His heart ached as he looked at the pegasus mare in front of him. She had felt so good.Her huge blue eyes were tearing away at him even now. How could have he ever thought she had feelings for him? He had laid Equestria to waste and she—she was meant to be kindness. Except she just wanted him captured and trapped, under the orders of a Princess. He should have grabbed her mane and held a talon to her throat. But he couldn't. He couldn't. He growled in pain and turned away from her. “Discord,” she was trying so hard not to cry. “Did your memories come back?” “You weren't counting on that, were you?” “I was! I need to explain!” “Too late for that,” he said quietly. “Don't you dare come near me again.” Then he ran towards the wall and through it. “Discord!” cried Fluttershy. She ran to the window and saw his form moving swiftly across the bridge. He was running on all fours like an animal. She sped down the stairs, leaving her Element behind her. Discord ran and ran. He still couldn't teleport long distances, and that didn't really matter to him at this point. He preferred to run, run while the brush and undergrowth scratched at his feathery body and furry neck. He needed to run. There was so much energy building up in him and he felt it crackling around him as he sped through the foliage. His heart twinged and twisted in agony and he knew things were disintegrating and becoming unravelled around him. Trees broke into slices as he ran past them and toppled like towers made of blocks; bushes burst into blue flames; wind and rain slammed into him. Then he felt a sharp pain in his dragon leg and he fell hard, his jaw slamming into the ground and his body twisting as he plummeted through the undergrowth. He came to a standstill in a ditch and lay there for a few seconds, feeling dazed. That was when he realized his dragon leg was still experiencing blinding pain. He twisted his long neck and turned his body so he could look at it. He was bleeding, and there was something that looked like a piece of glass sticking out of his leg. He hissed at the pain, and immediately focused on his magic so he could remove it. Nothing happened. He tried again and instead a wave of nausea overcame him. Whimpering loudly, he tried using his eagle talon to pick the object out of his flesh, but he couldn't get a decent grip on it. He heard the crunch of hooves on the leaves, and glanced up to see a mare standing over him, aiming a crossbow at his head. Something glinted in the weapons flight groove and he suddenly realized what was in his leg. “Get up or you'll feel a lot more than a little splinter in the leg,” said Carmarella firmly. The draconequus got to his feet slowly, but he only manage to balance himself on three legs. His dragon leg was killing him with pain. “That'll do,” said the mare. “Now walk slowly in front of me.” Discord wondered if he could make a break for it on three legs. Maybe if he grit his teeth and sprinted and just endured a few seconds of pain. “Don't get any ideas,” said Carmarella, as if she had just read his mind. “If you so much as flinch in the wrong direction I'll put this through your skull.” Discord walked as he was told. “How much is Princess Celestia paying you then?” he hissed at her, and Carmarella was almost taken aback at hearing the creature speak. “How long have you been planning this?” asked Discord. “The—the Princess?” spluttered Carmarella, and she laughed. “Is that what you think?” “Who else would want me dead or immobilized? I'm assuming immobilized because you haven't put that thing through my skull yet.” “If you don't shut up I will.” “And idle threat if ever I heard one,” spat the draconequus, but he kept straight to the path as instructed. After walking for nearly an hour, Carmarella instructed the draconequus to turn into the forest. Discord knew this path well. It was the dirt road to the Everfree. He limped, gritting his teeth as the sharp pain continued to throb in his leg. They eventually came to a clearing and Discord's back feathers stood on end with disgust and fear. In front of him was cage, attached to a steam tractor. A large beefy looking centaur stood next to it, waiting with the door wide open. Discord's brain worked fast. Maybe if he was able to bolt in just the right direction, the mare would fire and take out the centaur instead of him. It was a long shot, especially with his injury, but the alternative was to be trapped and then he'd be well and truly scuppered. He tensed his body preparing to jump, but then felt something sharp poking into his spine. “If you even think about it I'll pull the trigger,” hissed Carmarella. “You're gonna walk into that cage, and I'm going to follow you all the way with this on your back until you're locked away. Do you understand me?” “No need to shout, you contemptible shrew,” snapped Discord. “In,” said Carmarella calmly. Discord began to limp towards the cage. With great difficulty, he hoisted himself up into its entrance, completely aware of the crystal poking into his back the whole time. Then he was pushed forward, and the cage door slammed. He swung round to look at his captors. Ox pushed a button on the underside of the cage. “Now, you're going to be a good little draconequus, aren't you?” cooed Carmarella. Discord growled at her. He was already trying to work out a weakness in the cage. “You might wanna look up,” said Carmarella, gesturing with the crossbow. Discord did so and saw what looked like sharp points facing towards him at different angles. They were shards of crystal. “If you mess with them. If you even try to touch them with magic they'll fire. If you try to open the door, or mess with the lock, they will fire. Don't get any ideas. Ox! Go tell the boss we have him.” The centaur grunted in the affirmative. Fluttershy ran along the path panting heavily, her cheeks red with exertion. She was only guessing that Discord was headed for the Everfree, but she didn't have many other options as to where he would flee to. It was raining now and though the water was something of a relief to her overheated body, it was starting to make visibility worse. Eventually she smelt burning, and she turned and saw a blaze of destruction cut through the forest. “Discord,” she whispered. Her heart leapt and with a surge of adrenaline she galloped towards the trees. Sokolsky wasted no time getting to the clearing. His heart was pounding. Finally, the draconequus had been captured. For one terrible moment he was afraid the trappers were lying to him or might have caught the wrong creature, but his fears were quickly quelled when he walked up to the cage. Discord got to his uninjured feet, curved his back and hissed at Sokolsky. “Magnificent,” said Sokolsky. “I knew you were when I first saw you, but now that I have you. Oh, the things I could learn from you.” Discord threw himself against the cage door and grabbed the lattices of the cage with his claws and talons. “What makes you think you're going to learn anything from me? What makes you think I want to teach you?” “It's not about what you're going to teach me. It's about what you're going to tell me. I want to know everything about your species. I want to know everything about your time as ruler of Equestria.” “Why don't you just ask your crony Celestia? I'm sure she can tell you.” Sokolsky laughed. “If only. Seems the cow is quite adamant that certain parts of history should be censored and there's no way she's going to tell me about it. So you're going to have to do it for me. And then I can write about it, and my family will finally be vindicated. She never gave them what they were owed when they shot you all those centuries ago.” Ox made a disapproving sound at the word “cow.” “Oh? So you're related to the guy who shot me?” asked Discord, moving closer. “I am indeed,” said Sokolsky, moving closer too. Discord spat hard in Snare's face. Sokolsky closed his eyes slowly, and wiped the spit from his face with a handkerchief. “You're going to talk one way or another,” said the stallion. “Or what?” laughed Discord. “Or we'll fire those things above your head and then you can go back to being a drooling imbecile. Then we'll study you anyway. Though I would much prefer if you talked. I'd get more out of it.” “So you want me to talk, but if I don't you'll shoot me in the head, thus mitigating your chances of actually getting me to say anything? Brilliant plan.” Sokolsky didn't miss the acid tone in Discord's voice, and he turned on his heel. “You'll talk eventually,” he said. “Ox, bring me the mare.” The centaur came forward with the struggling pegasus. “Fluttershy!” cried Discord. Despite the anger and pain he felt earlier his heart skipped a beat at the sight of her. No. No, he couldn't think of her that way. She had deceived him. Carmarella moved in front of the cage again, her crossbow aimed at Discord's head. “Move back,” she told the draconequus. He gave her a death stare then retreated to the back of the cage. Sokolsky pressed the button at the underside of the cage again, the door swung open and the centaur tossed Fluttershy's small frame into the cage. The door slammed shut again. Discord was baffled. No...no, this didn't make sense. Why was Fluttershy in the cage with him? Why would they put her in here with him? Fluttershy flung herself against the cage door, bristling with rage at Sokolsky. “You animal!” she shouted at him, but it was not a compliment. “How could you do this?” “Oh, please,” replied the stallion. “Surely as a lover of the natural world yourself you understand that sometimes certain measures need to be taken to study creatures.” “He's a person!” she shouted angrily. “Really? Because just hours before you were arguing that he 'wasn't in his right mind' when he ate all those ponies. So, which is it? Is he sapient or not? You can't have it both ways.” “You'll wish you'd never done this! When Princess Celestia finds out what you've done to someone under her protection she'll...” “Oh, Princess Celestia? You mean the one who ordered ponies to kill Discord in the first place? Yes, I'm sure she'll care.” “She didn't want him killed! She wanted him immobilized. She was heartbroken when she thought he was dead!” Sokolsky scoffed at the pegasus' words. “Oh, please. You really expect me to believe the Princess ever loved that thing? That she mourned its supposed passing? After the atrocities it brought down on Equestria? No one could love that thing.” "I do!" she screamed at Sokolsky, throwing her small frame against the cage door again. She had never felt such rage. She wanted to kick Snare's face off. Snare stared at her as if she was crazy, then laughed. “Oh, so it's like that is it? Well, whatever gets you off, you twisted mare. I'm not one for inter-species relations myself but since you two are locked up together you'll have all the time in the world to experiment.” Snare turned to the hunters. “We'll have to set up camp,” he said. “It'll be light soon and we can't travel the road in daylight without being spotted.” “Goodnight, love birds,” he grinned at the caged pair. The pegasus watched them move off beyond the trees, and she sunk to her knees. She couldn't even summon Twilight and the others. She had left her Element back at the cottage. She turned and looked warily at Discord, expecting to see an angry or terrified face. Instead he was looking her with a mixture of astonishment and hesitancy. Then he moved towards her. She felt fear rise in her as the draconequus approached and reached for her with his paw. Then he moved back in the cage with his arm around her and pulled her to his chest in a tight embrace. She felt his paw run through her mane and the tip of one of his eagle fingers run along the back of her soft, velvet ear. "The feeling is mutual, Canary-Horse," he whispered.