Chapter Two — Aftermath
Spike had to hand it to Twilight, she landed herself a pretty sweet deal with the new castle. Not only did it have rooms upon rooms and a massive library, but it had the best kitchen an aspiring chef like himself could ask for. After an animated discussion on breakfast pastries with Pinkie Pie, she had shared her family’s "super secret pancake surprise" recipe. All he needed now was his apron.
Sliding down the crystal banister, he landed with a practiced precision on the first floor runner. Trotting over to the guest bedroom turned storage closet, he paused for a moment. A low rumbling noise seeped through the cracks to his ears like the low hum of a motor.
Gulping, he reached cautiously for the doorknob. Please don’t be dangerous, please don’t be dangerous. With as much courage as he could muster, he opened the door, peering around the frame. He nearly cried out upon noticing the draconequus curled tightly on the bed like some grotesque kitten. Discord?
Judging from the quilts draped over his sides and how sound asleep he was, Discord had not simply wandered in for another prank. But why was he here? Surely the Spirit of Chaos had better places to be than in their castle; Discord certainly acted like he did at any rate.
Just as carefully as he opened the door, he shut it, leaning against the wall. What do I do? Oh, Twilight’s going to be so mad. Making up his mind, he raced down the hallway only to slam head first into something hard and toppling to the floor. “Ouch. . . ” He looked up to see the pony he was searching for blinking back at him. “Twilight, thank Celestia I found you.”
Twilight giggled, helping him to his feet. “In a hurry?”
“You could say that.” His eyes darted to the chamber door. “It’s Discord. He’s in the guest room.”
“I know.” She shuffled a little, pawing at the smooth crystal below her hooves. “I . . . I put him there.”
“What?” But, there was no mistaking the dead serious stare Twilight shot back at him. “Why?”
She sighed, running a shaking hoof through her mane. “Well, you see . . . there was this accident last night and, well . . .”
“Well what?”
She spilled out the next sentence with all the air of pulling a bandaid off quickly. “Discord’s magic is drained and it may or may not be my fault.”
“Discord’s magic is . . . drained?” Hearthswarming Eve had come early this year. “Yes! No more stupid pranks.”
“That’s nothing to be happy about, Spike.” Twilight’s harsh tone stopped his victory dance cold. Her legs were shaking a little under her as she continued more softly, “He tried to cast a spell on me, said it would calm my nerves or something. I thought I’d be smart and use my reflecting spell on him and,” she gulped, folding her ears back, “I-I think . . . I may have hurt him pretty bad.”
“Hurt him?”
“Well, he sort of slammed into the bookshelf.”
“Please, as if a bookshelf’s going to hurt the Spirit of Chaos. Powers or no powers, he’s still Discord, right?”
“Well, I guess so . . .” There was a long pause, then she started towards the kitchen. “Let’s get some breakfast. The last thing we need is Discord whining about how we woke him up.”
“Okay. I’ve got a new recipe I wanted to try anyway.” Spike rolled his eyes after she walked off. Discord crashing at their place, a spell gone wrong, looks like it was going to be another lovely day in Ponyville . . .
Discord blinked awake, stomach sinking as realization slowly dawned on him. The bed, the room, none of it was his. Rather, the crystal chamber belonged to a certain alicorn princess with a guilty conscience. He sighed, tossing off the blankets.
In the morning light, he took in the real aftermath of his run-in with Twilight’s bookshelf. The bandages were stained with dried blood, but, as he unwrapped them, he noted with some satisfaction that the bleeding had finally stopped though it still ached with every movement. The cut more closely resembled a puncture wound, digging deep into the flesh, but hardly wider than a pony’s hoof. So why had she panicked like that?
Guilt aside, Twilight had no reason to lose it last night. Her reaction, though irritating, did not come as a surprise. Hell, he would have been more shocked if she allowed him to throw the spell at her unquestioningly. With as much intelligence as she possessed, she had to have seen his little ruse coming. Somehow she had turned his experiment into one of her own. Still, for the rebound to be so violent . . .
He grimaced as his claw ran over the gash. Can’t say I’m exactly pleased with the results. Her ability to successfully construct and utilize a spell based on a magic ponies hardly understood remained nothing short of brilliant.
His eyes fell to the small medical kit Twilight had left for him. Snapping his claws, he summoned it to the bed. The utter lack of a magic ripple made him shudder. Still not working, huh?
Opening up the kit, he frowned. Ointments, bandages, scissors, gauze, and a few other supplies he did not recognize. Strange and stupid as it was, Discord had no idea what to do. He didn't get hurt, so learning first aid never ranked high on his priority list.
After his best attempt at dressing the wound, he got shakily to his feet. Out of habit, he snapped his fingers to teleport to Twilight, but that only resulted in his teleporting just outside the door. He nearly tripped over his feet at the unfamiliar weakness in his limbs. Oh, right . . .
Reluctantly, he set off down the hallway. Walking might be normal for most ponies, but it always seemed stupid to him. Why walk when he could just as easily teleport to his destination in no time at all? Halfway to the library, he tried to summon something to eat. Even that proved too much for his current magic. Great, just great.
“Discord?”
His ears twitched as he turned to see Twilight trotting over to him. “You’re awake. How are you feeling?”
Like Tartarus run over. Though he gave her an indifferent shrug. “Fine.”
“That’s good,” she breathed. “I was just about to fetch you for breakfast.”
Discord hoped she couldn’t hear the loud growling of his stomach. “Sounds good. Er . . . I’ll follow you then.” This was going to be one hell of an awkward day, wasn’t it?
Discord generally approved of spending as little time as possible in the confines of an institute of knowledge. However, certain sacrifices had to be made when reduced to all the magical prowess of a run-of-the-mill stallion and the only answers lay in the library. That and, after over a thousand years imprisoned in stone, his patience had worn thin.
They hadn’t said a word to each other all throughout breakfast, but Discord could have cut the tension with a butter knife. Then Spike shot daggers at him the whole way through, as though expecting an attack any second. The same expression plastered to the townsponies’ faces whenever he walked by. He had had enough of it to last a lifetime.
Now after following Twilight to the entrance of the library, she turned to face him at last. “Hey Discord?”
“Yes?” What now?
Her eyes drifted to his back before focusing on the floor. “Maybe you should rest some. I appreciate you wanting to help but . . . I think I can handle it for now.”
If you don’t want me to stay, just say so. Giving his best would-be-casual shrug, he sauntered off down the hallway. “Alright. Do let me know when you’ve turned Spike into a chicken or something . . .”
A weight lifted off his shoulders as he walked away from the castle. Twilight would do all the dirty work for him while he passed the time away. What better way to spend his time than visiting his Flutterbuddy? At least she had the common courtesy not to blast him into bookshelves.
The morning turned out to be even more pleasant than he originally imagined. All around town, spring flowers bloomed and chubby clouds drifted lazily across an achingly blue sky. Ponyville’s residents darted to and fro as usual, glancing occasionally at him before returning to their mundane tasks.
Discord stood in the center of Main Street, stretching his arms to the sky. “Good morning, everypony!”
Most of the residents jumped and cringed, but a few brave souls mumbled a greeting. One scrawny pegasus filly even smiled at him. “Charming, simply charming,” he mused to himself before trudging down the road.
He scarcely went a few steps before being stopped by Pinkie Pie nearly sliding into him.
“Hiya, Discord,” she chimed, voice carrying across the marketplace. As usual, she greeted him with a bonecrushing hug. The pressure on his aching muscles was far from pleasant.
As subtly as he could, he pried her off of him. “Well, somepony’s in good spirits today.”
“Yup a doodles. Today’s the day.”
“Oh how delightful!” Discord clapped his hands together, grinning mischievously. “Are you finally going to take my suggestion?”
“Er,” she giggled, pawing at the dirt, “well, I don’t think the Cakes would be very happy with me hiding confetti canons in their cupcakes.”
He sniggered, starting down the road. “Who said they had to like it? That’s part of the fun!” Seeing the concern in her eyes, he added, “So what’s really going on today?”
“Oh, well, Rainbow’s helping me design the first annual Sweet Olympics.”
“Sweet Olympics?” Discord had the sudden mental image of ponies on a balancing pole suspended over a giant pool of pudding. “Marvelous! What do you say about my helping out. Why, I could add some chocolate rain, a liquorish maze, a gummy bear pit . . .”
“—Yes!” She started to bounce up and down as if on a puppet wire. “I was gonna ask Cheesie to help, but you can just snap,” her hoof waved in what he could only assume was her impersonation of a snap, “and we’ll have all the sweets we’d need.”
An uncomfortable lurch came at her words. He stared down at his aching limbs, pondering. Just how long would this spell affect him? Shaking his head, he smiled back at her. “Yes, it will be quite the show.”
“Sooo,” Pinkie stared expectantly back at him, “whatcha doin’ in Ponyville? Going to play some more pranks?”
He shrugged, “Oh, I’m always pulling pranks, that’s not going to change. But,” his eyes flickered to the castle, “you might say I’m detained here for the time being.”
“De-what now?”
“Never you mind,” he sing-songed, sticking out his tongue for good measure. Raising his talon, he made to teleport, only to be stopped by Pinkie’s hoof. “Yes?”
“Er, Discord,” her voice grew uncharacteristically soft, “are you okay?”
“Of course, why wouldn’t I be, Pinkie?”
Her eyes drifted to his bandages, “You’re all wrapped up.”
“Oh this?” His booming laugh set a few ponies looking their direction. “It’s an experiment, my dear.”
“Experiment?”
“Yes, Er,” Discord wracked his brain for possible excuses, “it’s a secret.”
A mutinous expression flickered across Pinkie’s face before being replaced by a knowing smirk. “Oh, ho, ho. So, it’s an undercover mission, huh?” She crouched low to the ground, posing like some comic book spy. “I like it.”
“Uh, huh.” Seeing his opportunity, Discord snapped and transported to the edge of Ponyville. Such a distance could hardly be considered a success, but it was progress. Give it time, Discord, give it time . . .
Fluttershy could not get enough of late spring mornings. A kind of perfect balance came over the world at this time of year. Good weather, lush green grass, the occasional light rain shower, and of course all the baby animals she had the pleasure of looking after.
After watering the last of her flowers, she placed the pail down, sighing contentedly. For the first time in weeks, her yard had returned to some state of order, resembling more of a garden than the nursery it had been. Just as she turned to go inside, a welcome, but completely unexpected figure apparated into the flowering shrubs. “Discord?” she squeaked, darting over to him.
Discord grumbled something to himself before untangling himself from the shrub. “Sorry about that, Fluttershy. My teleportation is on the fritz today.” He snapped his talon, a few red and orange sparks taking to the air.
“Oh, my.” When did Discord’s magic ever go on the fritz? Something terrible must have happened. “Was it Tirek again? Or,” she instinctively cringed behind her wing, “some other monster.” The very thought of another powerful monster wreaking havoc on Equestria so soon after the last incident made her shudder all over.
“Huh?” He cocked his head, knocking a few stray leaves from his ear. “No, no, no. Nothing like that, Flutterbuddy.”
She gave an audible sigh of relief. “So why’s your magic—Oh my goodness!” For the first time since he appeared, Fluttershy gave a long hard look at Discord. Bandages wrapped around a portion of his back, and his entire stance just looked off to her. “What happened?”
“Oh the usual.” His claw waved an all too hurried dismissal. “Nothing to be concerned over.”
“The usual what?” she pressed, a little firmly now.
“Experimentation,” he hedged, looking away.
Fluttershy felt the smallest tinge of annoyance now. After spending months getting to know Discord, she could tell a half-truth when she saw one. What trouble had he dragged himself into this time? “Discord, look at me.”
His eyes met hers with all the air of a kicked dog. “What?”
“Discord please,” she gripped his paw in her hooves, “you’re hurt. What happened?” Once again, he averted her gaze, “Discord, you tell me this instant!”
Discord twitched. “Princess Sparkle and I may have had a tiny dispute,” he mumbled, rubbing the back of his head.
She crossed her arms. “The whole story, Discord.”
“Oh, okay then!” His next words tumbled out in a rush, “I stole some of Twilight’s notes the other day and found a power draining spell she had cooked up. I thought it’d be a good laugh to use it on her. When I tried, she waaaay overreacted,” the words were accented with a wild gesticulation, “and she sent the spell back on me.”
“Oh, my. And . . . your back?”
Discord took a long breath before continuing in a more collected manner. “Well, I hit the corner of one of the bookshelves pretty hard. And . . . I . . . may have kinda lost my magic. Well, most of my magic,” he amended.
Lost his magic? Fluttershy’s stomach churned at the thought of Discord without magic. It was as ludicrous as Angel Bunny without fur. “Are you okay? I mean, you’re practically made of magic. And your cut, did you clean it properly?”
“I’m fine, and yes,” he added a touch too quickly. “It’s just a scratch, Fluttershy, I’ll be better in no time.”
“Well, if you’re sure . . .”
“Positive. Now then,” he stood up a little straighter, jerking his head to the cottage, “let’s have some tea and forget all about this nasty business.” His hopeful smile proved impossible to resist.
“Sure.” She led the way inside the cottage, eyeing Discord from the corner of her eye. Working as an animal caretaker as long as she had, Fluttershy could almost always tell when one of her animal friends ached. Though he tried to hide it, his discomfort leaked through. In all their months together, Discord had not shown the slightest hint of pain despite countless reckless stunts. For a bookshelf to do this . . . It did not bode well, not in the least.
For the next half hour, they chatted as they always did, be it the day, their friends, or whatever random thoughts popped into their heads. Throughout their chat, Discord acted polite and overly jovial. He always tried to be courteous in his own way, but never like this. He didn’t eat the tea cups or send random objects flying, hog the conversation, or even tease Angel Bunny, he just sat there cool as a cucumber.
After a time, her observations became a preoccupation, so much so that their conversation turned to a dull hum in her ears. She snapped out long enough to see Discord staring expectantly back at her. “Yes, honey is the best sweetener,” she added quickly.
Discord raised an eyebrow, “You put honey on your mashed potatoes?” He raised the cup to his lips, smirking a little, “How delightfully chaotic. You’re learning.”
“What? No, no, no.”
Angel Bunny clapped a paw to his face.
Taking control of the situation as best she could, she continued softly, “I just, I was a little distracted.”
“About?”
“You,” she barely breathed the word.
Discord gave one of his booming laughs, stroking his beard. “I suppose I am dreadfully distracting . . .”
A long, awkward pause filled the void their conversation had left. Then, slowly, Discord placed his cup on the table before leaning back in his chair. “Could I ask you something, Fluttershy?”
The strangely serious tone jolted her to a kind of attention. “Yes?”
“Do you . . . do you think they’ll ever trust me?” he murmured, so gently even Angel stopped glowering at him.
“Who?”
“The . . . the ponies, your friends, and,” he paused as if lost in thought or memory, “Tia.”
Fluttershy leaned forward, smiling her most encouraging smile. “Of course they will. I know our friends already do, and Celestia spoke so highly of you at the Gala. And the others will come around, you’ll see.”
Discord nodded slowly, sitting back up again. “Yes, yes. What was I thinking? He, he,” he stammered, rubbing the back of his neck with a paw. “Well . . . I suppose I’ll leave you to it then.”
“To what?”
“Your spa date with Rarity.” He shot her a playful wink, “Don’t want to miss that, do you?”
Her eyes drifted to the clock, starting at the time. “Oh, goodness.” Leaping to her hooves, she trotted over to the door. Halfway out the door, common courtesy caught up with her. She wheeled around, addressing the draconequus. “If you need to talk some more, Discord, I can stay. She’d understand . . .”
“No, no, no.” He waved his claw almost lazily. “Do go on, I’ll be just fine.”
“Er . . . Okay then.” With that, she headed out the door towards Ponyville. Just fine? At that moment, she would have given anything in the world to believe him.
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6022241 well that's disappointing. You could have removed the mature tag then, downgrade it to teen and that way have better exposure for the story
Another excellent chapter. Keep up the amazing work.
Well, he isn't stressing out yet. I'd have thought he'd be panicking a touch by now.
6022478 Oh, it's coming.
*Ahem*
6022336
From fimfiction's own guide. By fimfic's official standards, this is a mature story.
And thank you for that.
Not writing him in would be like... not giving Apple Bloom a part in your AppleFlim story. Except Big Mac and Granny Smith didn't exist, so she wouldn't be spending any family time with them instead. She only had Applejack.
I'm glad that Discord has at least a relatively healthy attitude: this is a prank that backfired on him, and he's not really... grousing about it.
I mean... come on, Twilight. If you let him cast it then he would've stripped your magic instead. I guess that might be better to you, because of fetteredness, but all in all... it's not really better.
6022486 Yes, then why don't just have the reference and expand your audience? This way you are losing 2 major audiences
6022498 It may not seem like it, but I'm using this story as a way to fine-tune stylistic details and the like for my personal writing. I need practice with such scenes i.e. I want to write a mature fanfic. That and there will be some more mature topics touched upon that I wouldn't want younger audiences to read. I have a teen rated Twicord series (with 3 books planned), so I get plenty of views there.
I'm liking where the story is going
I'm liking this. Do go on.
Dude, sex scenes are clop. I think it would be more accurate to say you're going to write good clop.
Good job with this story. You are doing a great job. Good luck with the next chapter.
For a bookshelf to do this . . . It did not bode well, not in the least. - Those bookshelves murder ponies when their backs are turned. Watch out for them.
“Of course they will. I know our friends already do, and Celestia spoke so highly of you at the Gala. And the others will come around, you’ll see.” - Episode 7 was amazing xD
What exactly inspired you to write this?
6026098 I don't know. O_O I like Twicord, I wanted to write a canon Discord story, and I wanted to write a more mature fic. Therefore, I came up with this.
Also might be due a teensy bit to my characters in pain fetish . . .
6026201
That's cool. yeah we all like to see our favorite characters to be in pain now and then. I always liked angst and twicord is a good ship for it.
6023325 no its clop when you have the intention that someone faps to it
here would be dirty talking, much more details and stuff
Love this story hope more soon
