• Published 23rd Apr 2016
  • 4,002 Views, 47 Comments

Heat Death - JackRipper



Discord describes himself in the most cynical, factual way possible.

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"Do you know what I am?"

That was a question that Fluttershy hadn't expected when she asked him to tell her more about himself. Had he not realized what he was?

"You're a draconequus Discord." Fluttershy answered, obviously confused as to what he was asking.

He rolled his eyes playfully at her, "That's not what I meant Fluttershy. Do you know what it means to be me?"

"Um..." Fluttershy trailed off, not really knowing what to say. If this was some kind of puzzle, Discord had her beat.

"I don't really know what you're asking Discord, are you talking about chaos?" Fluttershy offered.

His eyes lit up with a glimmer of hope, realizing that they were starting to make progress. "Yes! Chaos, or me, in a sense."

Fluttershy's confused look waned a bit as he continued, "Fluttershy, I am, in a sense, the embodiment of chaos and disharmony."

Fluttershy frowned, "But you aren't chaotic anymore; you behave so much better! I think my friends are starting to warm up to you too. Pinkie and Rainbow have been wanting to pull some pranks with you for a while now."

Discord chuckled, "Maybe if you were the one being held at gunpoint, you'd see things a bit differently."

Fluttershy tiled her head, "What's a gun?"

Discord shook his head, breaking out of the tangent they were starting to get into, "Nevermind that! You are dismissing my point; I am the physical manifestation of chaos, or discord, as my namesake pertains."

Fluttershy pondered that thought, "So... you're saying that you are the spirit of disorder. But... that can't be right, you seem very calm and collected."

Discord chuckled darkly, making Fluttershy flinch a bit. "Heh, oh Fluttershy, didn't you ever take a class of chemistry? Everything with order eventually becomes chaotic again, and with indiscernible time, will reform once again."

Fluttershy shuddered, suddenly a bit more afraid than she was before, "Does... does t-that mean y-you're going to be evil soon?"

Discord raised a paw in defense, "No! No of course not! It will be a long while before I recede back to my former self; it will most likely be beyond your time."

Fluttershy sighed in relief, "But it seems like you're avoiding something Discord, all you've told me was that your reformation is only temporary. What else is there?"

Discord heaved a heavy sigh, and Fluttershy realized that Discord was hiding something to himself. For how long, Fluttershy didn't know.

"Discord, something's bothering you. I'm your friend, friend's tell each other what's wrong." Fluttershy said as she scooted closer to him.

"This isn't a problem that you can help Fluttershy, but maybe... you could hear me out." Discord mumbled feebly.

Her silence was the only answer he needed, he pressed on. "Fluttershy... do you know how the princesses are immortal, Celestia and Luna?"

She nodded, "Yes."

He sighed once more, "Well, they aren't. They'll die, just like everyone else. For you see, they are the physical embodiments of astral bodies, the sun and the moon. Once those die, Celestia and Luna will die with them."

Discord paused for a minute to contemplate Fluttershy's horrified expression, hearing no protests, he continued. "I am Discord; I have gone by many names: Entropy, Chaos, Dissonance... but every time I am one in the same. I am the disorder of the universe, and I will never die, only expand as the universe dissociates into nothingness."

Discord paused to face Fluttershy, staring her directly in the eyes. "Do you see my dilemma here Fluttershy? The cost of immortality far outweighs the benefits of my power. Your friends may resent me for annoying them, and your rulers may be disgusted with my actions over the course of several millennia for disrupting their harmony, but it the end, it doesn't matter to me. Because I have existed before the creation of your world. I will outlive you, Celestia and even your universe. Because in the end, I am all that remains."

Discord walked towards the front door while Fluttershy stood there agape, her tea had gone cold several minutes ago. "Discord, I... don't know what to say. I'm sorry that you have to suffer like that, but I don't know what I can do."

Discord gave her a genuine smile, "You've already done plenty Fluttershy, you've given me kindness more than anyone I've known, and trust me, I've been alive for a long time." Fluttershy blushed at his remark.

Discord opened the front door and looked towards the now setting sun, "I suppose it's true that I will outlive those before me. It is inevitable that I will be all that remain and everything else will cease to exist. But... after everything you've given me Fluttershy, the future doesn't look quite as bleak."

Discord tried to walk outside, but was quickly halted as Fluttershy embraced him from behind, burying her muzzle and her into his scales, "Discord, I know it's going to be hard, and I know there's nothing I can do, but please... stay strong, for me."

Discord raised a brow, this was not like Fluttershy; so unwavering. Her life was going flash before him in an instant, and no amount of chaos magic would keep her alive, it would only delay the inevitable. But maybe, if he formed enough memories with her now, he might have enough to look back upon in the future.

"I promise I'll give it my all, Fluttershy."

And with that, Discord walked out the door.

Author's Note:

A small one-shot I wanted to write after reviewing entropy. Tell me what you guys think. :twilightsmile:

Comments ( 47 )
JackRipper
Moderator

7153002
I didn't hit re-publish, now I did. :twilightblush:

Thing is, I do not see anything as more ordered than a system completely devoid of energy. In essence one could say chaos breaks down at the end because a system where everything is even, is unchangingly perfectly ordered.

To win is to lose.

JackRipper
Moderator

7153302
You may be right on that front.

But to be alone in the void or dead, whose to say there is a difference? Either way he loses, there is no winning here.

7153378

I'd prefer to think, in the world you set up, that Discord would go join the rest of the dead when he is finally alone.

JackRipper
Moderator

7153417
Maybe it's just something he hasn't thought of.

Maybe it's not his place to break the veil of death, for he is the only thing that exists in this world anymore.

In the end, Discord is neither alive nor dead, he simply is.

And that's all he ever will be.

Short but poignant, bittersweet but hopeful, warm but heartbreaking. Great job.

JackRipper
Moderator

7153895
Thank you. :twilightsmile:

eh... i get what you were trying to do, but you didn't really expand on it. it kinda bothers me that they sit down for tea and after a statement, discord just ups and leaves.

but then again, i just got done reading The Universal and you maybe, could have expanded his foreboding sadness at knowing that fluttershy will die, everything will end, and he doesn't know what will happen to him.

lord knows i wouldn't want to be the last guy out getting the lights. i don't know why it really bothers me that they didn't even finish their tea.

JackRipper
Moderator

7154767
The conversation just didn't call for tea eventually. :twilightsmile:

And I could see why you would think he would express more sorrow in regards to Fluttershy's passing, but think of it from his perspective;
he's existed since before the rise of civilization and has lived through hundreds of thousands of generations; ponies die very often to him, and you kind of... hollow out after a while.

Even he needs to act silly to distract himself. :ajsleepy:

JackRipper
Moderator

7159067
Uh... you're welcome? :twilightblush:

This doesn't have to do with anything about the End of The Universe, does it? I guess I'll find out...

The opening felt a bit awkward; it always seemed like Discord being the spirit of chaos was common knowledge to me.

JackRipper
Moderator

7813858
He's trying to get her to understand him better, make her think the way he does. It doesn't help that he's not the best at explaining his own nature.

Was it being 1000 words intentional? Also, great story. :ajsmug:

This conversation could be so much longer, but this is just fine.

JackRipper
Moderator

8338115
Not at first, then I edited it to make it one-thousand exactly. :twilightsheepish:

JackRipper
Moderator

8338360
Thank you, this is still one of my earlier works, so I didn't know what to say completely. :scootangel:

The universe began in darkness and it will end in darkness. And I am all that will remain. -Discord, maybe, who knows? :trixieshiftright:

JackRipper
Moderator

8350223
Oh boy, you're treading into my older stuff now. :rainbowlaugh:

Honestly? This doesn't stick with Discord. As far as we know he can just finger snap matter into existence. Not only that, but the so called heart death of the universe is not a maximum of chaos, but of order. If he was the inevitable decay of everything he couldn't be father from being the incarnation of chaos.

JackRipper
Moderator

8350592
The heat death of the universe is maximum order, in which everything is even and there's no available energy anymore. We don't know how Discord's magic works, but I wrote this assuming that even his magic is finite.

Either way, this one one of my first stories, so I didn't exactly think through the whole plot.

8351412
Don't worry, those things come with practice. It was a nice beginning story, keep writing and you're bound to become even better :twilightsmile:

JackRipper
Moderator

8351419
That's the goal. :heart:

:pinkiegasp: There are no words to properly express how astounded this made me. This was deep, for a fic that involves Discord. Good on you.

JackRipper
Moderator

8384200
Not my most proficient work, but I'm glad you liked it. :twilightsmile:

JackRipper
Moderator

8452618
Wow, an audio reading of one of my older stories, I'm humbled. :twilightsmile:

Thank you for taking the time to make this. :heart:

Not bad. I’d elaborate, but honestly I can’t think of anything insightful to say right now. Sorry.

JackRipper
Moderator

8490190
I've certainly made better. This story is pretty old. :twilightsmile:

Discord from the show doesn't really look like a spirit of chaos (like entropy-related or heat death-related chaos), more like a spirit of creativity or weird sense of humor (which can be called "chaos" in some way). It seems true chaos is really alien for pony (human) minds.

JackRipper
Moderator

8577699
Well obviously he’s depicted in such a way that would fit the style of the show. I’d like to think my interpretation is a better fit for the concept of entropy and simply what Discord is.

8577853
Hmm, that's a tricky question what concepts close to regular day-to-day life entropy-related stuff is best mapped at. First answer that popped up inside my head was "death", but it's clearly wrong: death is big important thingy only for us, humans --- universe doesn't seem to care about something like death at all. Some kind of "ultimate indifference" I guess?
I remember seeing how evolution (which is a kinda nicer part of chaos since it produced us, but still quite horrible) is compared to Azathoth --- pretty generous to evolution I think. So does this make Discord supercharged version of Azathoth on steroids? :rainbowhuh:

JackRipper
Moderator

8578701
Can’t say I know what I was going for here. It’s been quite a long time since I wrote this after all.

8578704
Still pretty cute story though :twilightsmile:

JackRipper
Moderator

8579565
:heart:

Not my best story, only good enough to keep on my profile. I got a lot of better stuff if you’re ever interested. :twilightsheepish:

A very interesting, very dark, idea; it could be elaborated upon, but honestly, I don't think it needs it. It works perfectly just as it is. A tiny window into the immense sadness of this lonely creature.

Ohhh, nice look at Discord. Reminds me of Chuck and Amara in Supernatural. In the end, everything will go back to being JUST them. It'll all have to start over...maybe Discord can find Fluttershy again, if she's reborn.

Hmm I got this marked as read but it's not thumbed up... that's strange...

JackRipper
Moderator

8720557
You'll have to remedy that, I'll wager. :scootangel:

I'd like a sequel where the others find out too.

Comment posted by Chaosxzx deleted Apr 3rd, 2020

Interesting discussion by Discord and Fluttershy

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