Darling

by Pickleless

Honesty

Darling tried her best to soothe Discord, but there was little she could do. What he feared was justified. She knew it would be foolish to assure nothing was wrong when something was. She tried to comfort Discord’s mind and help him think in a productive manner.

"I hate to be so blunt with you, Darling, but I have no idea what the hell to do here."

His attempt at positive thinking wasn’t going well.

Darling was at a loss, how could she encourage Discord when she had no plan? She had to face that thing, it wanted her dead just like her mother. It was tragic, here she sat with her sweetheart, both of them faced death soon, and yet they refused to leave each other's side! How romantic it was!

Tragic.

How tragic it was.

Discord stroked her tree branch. "I do wish I was stronger, as strong as Frost, so I could help her."

Darling felt his pain, she didn't have her mother's power. She wondered what she could do to put a stop to that parasite. Her mother's shards could empower others, all she could do was encourage. She wasn’t sure if she was supposed to inherit her mother’s power, but it seemed Frost did instead. Darling had to face an enraged alicorn while she herself was just a little sapling, that frightened her.

"Well, it was supporting each other that helped me escape those caves." Discord smiled. "I'm sure supporting her will be the right answer here, too."

She swooned. There was one blessing in this situation.

Her wonderful, heroic knight still stood by her side during all this. Discord stood adamantly between Darling and Frost, even when that parasite’s influence warped Frost's body into a horror. Darling didn't have much to work with, but at least she had Discord.

...What if Discord got hurt? Would she be able to protect him?

She considered if it would be better to send him away, encourage him to start walking in a direction towards one of the nearby towns. Her heart felt as if it was sucker punched at the thought of being separated. She didn't want to lose him.

"Lovely?" Discord turned around, then gasped.

Darling felt Discord's heart rate spike. A large source of dark magic landed nearby them.

“Lovely, is that you? Why are your hooves covered in...” Discord squinted. “Is that blood?”

“I took care of the slave camp, now move.” Frost slowly trotted forward.

"Lovely... you, you got me! Where did you manage to find fake blood? Much more of a dragon prank really." He nervously chuckled.

Darling agreed, laughing in the face of danger was a useful skill in life indeed, but not when the other is so badly hurt. Darling spiked a feeling of sobriety into Discord fast, now is not the time for jokes. Frost needed help now more than ever.

"Last warning.” She narrowed her eyes as she blew a visible huff out of her nostrils. “Move," Frost's voice rumbled in a deep contralto.

"Loving Frost, please—"

Loving roared, summoning a wave of fire and shooting it at the two standing before her. Darling tried not to panic as she poured everything she had into putting a shield around them. A small part of her mind wondered if using fire on a dragon and stone tree was wise, then she felt multiple rocks melt nearby. She dismissed that notion and instead cooled the air and ground around them. Frost put all of her hatred, panic, and desperation into the attack. It made Darling feel as if she was wilting. Frost hated her so much, Darling wasn't sure how she could convince her this wasn't going to work.

"That sapling did this to me!"

"How could a sapling do this all to you," Discord cried out, "you were a half-dragon, half-pony before I planted it!"

"Those caves did strange things to ponies! Those slave drivers, that pillar, e-even the slaves! They all did this to me! You did this to me!"

Darling faltered as a burning gust of wind broke through the barrier, knocking over Discord and making her feel uncomfortably hot. Discord wailed out in pain as his scales began to burn. Darling pushed herself further and reformed the barrier. Her core felt like it was on fire as she forced herself to try and soothe Frost just a little. The mare rose into the air and screeched.

"Did you kill everyone in there?!" Discord yelled.

"If I can kill them, I can kill both of you, too! I'm not afraid!"

Darling sensed something else within Frost. The entity possessing her was highlighted by a large amount of dark magic. Frost was very afraid, but so was the Parasite. She tried her best to curb Frost's negativity. Whenever Darling touched upon her feelings, it felt as if something was draining her.

"Frost, you're acting like a raving lunatic! I'm not quite sure how to help, but I'm certain murdering everything is not the answer!"

"I'M NOT CRAZY!!"

"You grew bat wings and a horn and are burning down a forest!"

"No, I am a normal pony! I was a normal pony! I just wanted escape those caves and be a normal pony!" Frost screamed, her eyes now brimming with tears.

Darling’s conscious became blurry as she grew weak. She stopped trying to do anything else and focused on protecting Discord with her shield. Her sixth sense of the world around her dimmed as all grew cold. She felt the focus of her barrier move closer, until it was covering her again. A warm feeling flooded her body, and suddenly her world was filled with color. A small brown baby dragon was shimmering brightly with a golden aura. Discord was hugging her.

Darling’s world went from darkness to splashes of prismatic rays. The power she felt was overwhelming, burning heat flooded through the end of her roots to the tips of her branches. She didn’t breath in air, but the life of all around her in, and pushed the energy back out, feeling the whole world around her in a completely new dimension. She resonated with a harmony towards all living things, and with it came a glorious epiphany.

She was cognizant now how her mother kept going despite being drained dry from that horrible creature. It wasn't the power from herself she used, but from the world all around her. She loved and coexisted with all living things. The parasite didn’t just isolate Darling’s mother, it exacted a cruel punishment while killing her.

"What's going on!" Frost screamed, "What is that tree doing?"

Darling always felt empowered when Discord believed in her, maybe all he needed was her to have faith in him. She understood how to affect the minds of creatures all around her, but now she took her new-found power and poured it all into Discord's body. He cried out in alarm as his scales began to soften and split, turning into short, wispy hairs covering his body. His kneecaps shifted, changing shape and turning to face the other way. His toes came together and hardened as they turned into hooves. His back split open, and two large wings extended outward, reflecting light from the fire. His pupils went from being silts to widening out like a pony eyes. A tumble of hair quickly fell in front of his face, before a gust of hot air blew his mane back.

He always said he wanted to be half dragon, half pony.

"It's infected you..." Frost fell to the ground in shock. "Y-you've been infected too!"

"No, Frost, I believe I have been given a gift," Discord responded, "the same gift you used to save me, and now, I shall save you with it!"

Go get ‘em, tiger, Darling encouraged. Discord lunged forward and grabbed Frost by the horn. She screeched as rainbow electricity coursed through her, burning away the dark magic infesting her body. Darling poured more and more into Discord, who channeled it through to Frost. The thing inside of her gave a voiceless screech as it boiled away. Darling's heart swelled in hope as Frost's wings and horn melted into black sludge, dripping down onto the ground. Discord put one claw onto her heart and the other around her back. Frost thrashed about as Discord kept her in place.

Her screams continued for another minute before the mare appeared normal again. Darling couldn't sense anything more possessing her and relented. Discord gently laid her friend on the ground, regarding her, worry present in his eyes. They had won. They had beat the thing that killed her mother and tortured Frost. Soon, she'll wake up, and Darling would finally be able to enjoy the company of dear Frost with no parasite controlling her mind.

"Frost? What's happening?!" Discord gasped.

Frost's skin begun to sag inward, as if her body was becoming hollow, losing all muscle mass and fat. Darling started to panic, she couldn't feel the thing inside of Frost anymore, it was gone. How was it doing this? She tried to pour the same power she used on Discord into Frost, but Frost didn’t heal no matter how much she soaked in.

Both of them watched in horror as Frost’s skin began to dry and crack all over. Her bones became brittle and audibly snapped, the body losing its basic structure as it collapsed in on itself. Embers from the forest fire blew over her, leaving black scorch marks over what was left of her body. Her husk had become unrecognizable.

Darling tried her hardest to console her dear friend, but it was difficult when her heart ached too. Discord picked up the remains of his friend's body and cradled her in his arms. What went wrong? What killed her? She didn't attack Frost, she only tried to heal her mind and heart, and purify her of that... thing, whatever it was. That horrible parasite that once possessed her mother, then Frost-

...Darling reached deep within Discord, looking for any sign of it, and was horrified to find a smidgen of dark magic in the corner of his head. She lashed out to destroy it at once, only for it to soak up a little more of Discord's power and spread. She tried again, and this time it ate her power.

"Frost was right... you are evil!" Discord muttered.

No, no, no, no. Darling desperately tried to reach a unity with him again, to sync their hearts. She reasoned this should be both of their problems. They'll fight this thing together-

"Get out of my head!" He screamed.

Darling felt something lash back at her, and cried in pain. No, this wasn't how it suppose to be, it can't take him, not her little rogue. It can't get away with corrupting him too and then leaving him a dried out dead husk. This time she didn't soothe, but frantically pushed her will, trying to force that thing out. Discord and the thing cried out in pain as one, his body grew larger, the dark magic amplifying inside of him. She wish she could stop this thing, just keep it in place as she desperately tried to think of a way.

"What are... what are you doing to me?!" Discord cried out, his words dripping with venom.

Darling’s power focused on freezing him in place. Her prism magic clashed against dark magic, causing stone to climb up his body as he screamed in terror. His body became encased in rock, keeping both him and the parasite in place. All in the forest was silent, as a statue and the corpse of a mare laid next to crystal sapling.

Darling wept.

---

Darling’s home was named the Everfree Forest.

The forest was being forced to burn through its energy at rapid rate. Darling was constantly pumping the forest full of life, and that was the only reason the Everfree was still standing. The paths through the forest changed daily because the trees were constantly dying and sprouting back up from the ground. Animals hunted each other down close to extinction, but would find new breeding grounds and safe havens from Darling's well practiced nudges. She encouraged all the animals to stay in the forest where they couldn't hurt anypony that didn't wander in. Darling was in control of the weather, and she would change it as needed. It's a shame the pegasi didn't like the forest, but no matter how much they didn't like nature, she did. It was her forest, they were her clouds; it would rain when it would rain, and it wouldn’t when it wouldn’t. Due to the rapid movement of plant life, creatures, and weather, ponies gave up trying to map the place and left it alone.

Darling could not figure out where the strange, yet pretty blue flowers came from, but they cursed anypony that touched them with a cruel physical alteration. Manticores warped and grew poisonous tails, they became far more aggressive and attacked even each other for no given reason at times. The more peculiar creatures were the broken pieces of wood collecting together and coming alive for the sole purpose of hunting down other creatures, killing them, and eating them when they couldn't be digested.

Unfortunately, turning a blind eye to the whole chicken and snake mating phase was a terrible idea in hindsight. She knew it wasn't natural for those two species to be interested in each other, but she was a stone tree in love with draconequus in a coma, she really didn't feel she had the right to judge others. She felt cockatrices were weird, but she gave them her blessing in her own way. As soon as she got rid of the root of all this aggression, they should become much more friendly.

Darling was aware the forest had essentially become the same as Frost during the final moments of her life. Every time She examined the statue of her love next to her, she found that thing still inside him, not even attempting to hide itself anymore, as if it was mocking her. She wasn’t sure how, but it found a way to spread its influence outside of the body it was in. A part of her feared the parasite could multiply, yet carefully combing through the forest thousands of times has shown that no, it had not left Discord in any way.

A part of her hated that, deep down she blamed herself for what happened.

Now, things would be different. Over time, She had been collecting her power, storing it inside six very precious jewels. The fires of friendship was a step in the right direction, an unintentional one, but a good one all the same. Clover the Clever proved when another creature was having a thought process or feeling in the heart similar to herself, she could pour her power into that pony. Darling figured it would best to make her support more portable and amplified. She lit up her six jewels and named them the Empathy Stones.

She was finally ready to purge her precious rogue of that thing. She tested her Empathy Stones on various creatures, and it cured them of their malice, up until the thing's influence touched them again. She was very certain whatever this thing was and whatever it did, it wouldn't be around for much longer. The six jewels embedded in her glowed with a rainbow light, and wrapped around the statue of Discord.

---

Discord blinked.

He was free? He was free! Ohhhhh joy~! Really it was rather boring staying in that statue all that time. At least he was able to have a little fun on occasion as his power grew, as much as that ugly tree allowed him too—now there it goes trying to mess with his mind again. Really, what a crude thing it was, trapping him in stone and now trying to toy with him again. Still...

"I must thank you dear, it feels so good to be free!" Discord bowed, donning an exaggerated grin.

Discord could practically feel the tree burst with joy.

"Oh it is so good to see you too! Do you like what I did with the forest? Since we did become roommates and all, I figured it was only appropriate I redecorate our home just a little!"

The tree became confused.

"Now I know you weren't happy with some of the changes, but at least we were both in agreement that snakes and chickens really DO go together!" Discord poofed a cockatrice into his claw and held it up to the tree. "I even threw in the power to turn things into stone, you know, as a reminder on how we first met!"

It brought Discord no end of satisfaction to how horrified the Tree was becoming.

"Oh don't be so stiff, dear! Why, you're white as a sheet!"

Discord's laughter was cut short as he felt the tree desperately try to use it's gaudy jewelry on his mind again.

"Now, now, poking around other creature's brains is rather rude, now isn't it? No need to be so pushy, I was planning on leaving anyway.” Discord pressed a finger to tree to shush it. "Now hold on! What kind of roomie would I be if I didn't have a parting gift?"

Discord conjured a large amount of seeds, and plowed them into the ground, next to the roots of the tree. He cackled as he felt them began to suck away it's energy.

"Well, it has been fun, but I'm afraid my attention is needed elsewhere, tah tah!" Discord teleported away, summoning in his place a dozen boxes of tissues.

Darling wept

Comments

[Karakorum]

It is amazing how tragic a story of the romance between a stone tree and a warped dragon can be. But I love this!

[Ice Star]

This is absolutely bizarre.

[Aura Moon-Walker]

[Aura Moon-Walker]