Discord's Little Butterfly

by Fluskie

Chapter 6: Harmony Isn't Always Peace

Author's Note:

Woo! I'm so happy I got a chapter out finally after a month. Enjoy y'all. This one might hurt a little.

Edit: Whoops, I noticed just now that I said Discord used an invisibility spell at the beginning of the chapter and Celestia saw him midway through when she probably shouldn't have. Sorry for that little error! Perhaps Celestia can see through invisibility magic..

Edit again: I fixed another error. Sorry for so many. xT

“Almost...There..Phew..Still haven’t changed the castle much have you, Tia?”

Discord was currently hanging from a window on Canterlot Castle, his noodle-like body just dangling in the air as he held himself there with suction cups.

One would normally scream in fright upon seeing a rather giant ‘monster’ hanging off Canterlot Castle but Discord had it covered. He was using an invisibility spell to make himself not visible. As well as a spell that would mute all sounds of his moving and speaking. Chaos magic was truly a treasure like no other.

He grunted as he pulled himself up so he could sit on the very tiny windowsill and peered inside. It seemed his memory hadn’t failed him in the number of years he was in stone as he found just the room he was looking for, the throne room. And there was his greatest enemy seated in her royal throne, Princess Celestia. All high and mighty looking as usual..Pathetic.

She was levitating some scrolls, frantically looking them over as her eyes moved over each letter as quickly as possible. Despite having a rather serious and calm look on her face, the Princess still looked a little unsettled. She was the type to fake her smiles and emotions for her subject's delight and seemed to have a lot of training in keeping herself calm in intense situations. Discord could understand why since she had to be a role model to the ponies but it still disgusted him that she did that..You know what, everything about her disgusted him. She was a pretty pony with a lot of awful secrets..

“Princess, we’re here!”

Princess Celestia’s head jolted upwards as Discord heard the throne room doors slam open and shut. A small stampede of hooves made its way up to Celestia before stopping in front of her. Rarity, Twilight, and two other ponies he had never seen before stood in front of her. An orange earth pony wearing a western looking hat was carrying an unconscious Rainbow Dash on her back while his daughter Fluttershy stood in the back of the group, looking rather uncomfortable. She didn’t seem like she wanted to be there at all and would rather jump out a window than be here. If only he could snatch her from them..

“Good, thank you Twilight. I’m happy to know you all made it here together safely..Or am I mistaken..”

The first time in many moons, he had heard her calm voice once again. It brought back many memories such as his first meeting with Celestia when she was preparing to become Equestria’s ruler or when she had made a fool of herself in front of a bunch of fancy Canterlot ponies. Yes..He did know her personally before he was turned to stone..But those were memories he’d rather forget. They were nothing now. Nothing after what she did to him.

“Oh, Rainbow Dash? Yeah, she’ll be fine. Just took ah’ hittin’ from a tree. Ah'll take her to go lay down when we’re done here.” The orange pony said, seeming to have a southern accent.

“I see. If she has any other issues, don’t refrain from taking her to a doctor. There’s plenty of nurses and doctors here in the castle.”

The southern pony nodded.

“So what did you need us all here so urgently for?” Twilight asked.

Celestia seemed to hesitate to continue as she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Something was clearly bothering her as she stood up from her throne and trotted down onto the red carpet, facing away from all of them.

“I need to show you all something very important. You cannot tell anypony else you have seen or have these. Follow me.”

The other ponies seemed to give each other weird looks as they all followed her, Fluttershy still trailing behind. Discord shifted a bit and jumped over to the next few windows until he could see them clearly again. They approached an odd door that had no handles but rather a hole. Celestia bowed her head, pushing her horn inside it as she used a spell on it. Her horn and the outlines of the hole glowed as she removed her horn, the magic travelling through different lines and patterns on the door until each and every one was traced with her magic. The door suddenly opened as a huge dust cloud flew at the six ponies, making them all cough and rub at their eyes. When they opened them again they were in pure shock at what they saw.

The room in front of them was filled to the ceiling with gold and jewels, even treasure chests spilling out with bits on to the floor. The Princess simply walked inside as they all followed looking around in amazement.

“Darn it, did they really have to go into a room with no windows?”

Discord quickly sneaked in through an open window and tip-toed right into the treasure room. He couldn’t believe how loaded Princess Celestia was when he got inside. He almost had to refrain himself from grabbing a handful of gold and jewels himself despite being able to easily snap them up with his magic.

“Ooo, do you think the Princess would let us have some gold?” The pink pony asked.

“Absolutely not. It would be disrespectful to steal from her without asking.” Twilight replied.

“Yea, so why don’t we ask?”

“Just leave it alone, Pinkie. It’s hers.”

The one named Pinkie pouted as she eyed a pretty necklace with a large jewel in the middle before turning away from it and following the group again.

Twilight trotted in front of the group now as she walked alongside Princess Celestia.

“Is there anything wrong, Princess? You seem particularly quiet..Well, there’s nothing wrong with that obviously but-“

“We’re here.”

Twilight looked in front of them as they now stood in front of a pedestal at the end of the room. There was a small blue box on the pedestal just sitting alone. Just a basic old blue box..

“Ooo, boxie!”

Pinkie gasped, running out from behind the rest of the ponies and heading straight for the little box. Twilight was about to say something when Pinkie suddenly smacked her face right into an invisible wall, falling on to her back.

“Ouchie..” Pinkie said, rubbing her forehead.

“A force field..Good choice.” Twilight mumbled to herself.

“It’s not just a force field.” Celestia replied.

Celestia’s horn glowed as she lowered the force field. It wasn’t very visible but the ponies could see a thin wall shrinking and getting smaller and smaller until it was as if it was gone. Celestia then stood aside and pointed to the tiny little box.

“There is one more enchantment on it that must be broken. It requires the six of you to place one hoof on the box. This will tell me if my predictions were correct and you all can use them.”

“Use what?” Twilight asked.

“You’ll see, go ahead.”

The ponies all glanced at each other as Rarity was the first one to put her hoof on the box. She felt the box vibrate softly under her hoof as if there was some kind of powerful magic within it waiting to be released. It was almost like her touch had given whatever was inside more of a chance of escape.

The others soon joined after Rarity, placing their hooves on the box. The box suddenly started to vibrate furiously. A bright light started to shine out of the cracks of the box as the ponies grew more curious of what was inside. But..Nothing happened. They did just as Princess Celestia told them to..Why wasn’t it working?

“Princess, was the box supposed to do something?” Twilight asked.

“Oh, horse apples! Sorry y’all, ah’ forgot to put Rainbow’s hoof on the box.”

The country pony apologized, blushing with embarrassment as she moved Rainbow’s limp hoof to the box as Rainbow continued to snore loudly on her back.

That was all it took for the box to do something as it suddenly exploded open, letting out a blinding bright light. The ponies shielded their eyes with their wings and their hooves as Celestia shielded her own with her large alicorn wings. The blinding light wasn’t for long as it shortly disappeared after. When they all opened their eyes they were amazed at what had come out of the box.

Six colorful looking gems came out of the box and floated in the air in a little circle. There were five that were shaped like diamonds and one that was in a star shape. There was a blue diamond, a light pink one, a red one, a orange one, and a purple one. The one gem that didn’t look like the others was hot pink and floated a little higher than the other ones while still remaining in a little circle.

“Woah, what are those thingies?” Pinkie asked.

“They’re-“

“The Elements of Harmony..” Both Princess Celestia and Discord said together, interrupting Twilight.

Discord’s eyes widened as he may have said that a little too loudly. He could see the Princess looking around the room out of the corner of her eye as he quickly ducked out of view behind some gold. His heart pounded as his mind raced, wondering if she saw him. There was a long pause however as he waited until someone finally spoke again.

“Princess? Are you alright?” He heard Twilight ask.

“Yes..Yes of course. Forgive me, I was lost in thought for a moment.”

Celestia composed herself as she stared up at the floating elements.

“These as I once said are the Elements of Harmony. They are ancient relics that carry powerful magic within them that can only be unlocked by its users. Only the ones who are connected to the elements may use its power. And just as I suspected, you all are connected to them.”

“We are?” Twilight asked.

“Yes. If you weren’t, you wouldn’t have been able to open the box. I’ve been storing them away for years until I found its next wielders. It seems you all have been chosen.”

“Chosen?..For what?” Applejack asked.

“I can’t exactly answer that right now but I can tell you that these elements will be very important to you. I would recommend getting used to them for the moment.”

“And how in Equestria do we do that?” Rarity asked.

“Pinkie Pie seems to have the right idea.”

The other ponies all turned to look at their pink friend who was currently inspecting a floating blue element. She batted at it with her hoof like a cat when it suddenly glowed. She backed up, a little startled by it as all the elements including that one began to rotate in a slow circle and glow one by one.

“Pinkie, what did you do?!” Twilight asked, seeming a little frightened.

“I don’t know!”

The elements suddenly all flew in different directions, each one of them heading straight for one of the six ponies (except Celestia of course). When it reached the pony it chose, it stopped a few inches from her face, idly floating there allowing the pony to see her own reflection in its shiny surface. Fluttershy flinched when the light pink element stopped in front of her, covering her face with her hooves and shaking.

All the elements were suddenly enveloped in bright light, covering them entirely as they each got closer. The diamond looking elements floated to the ponies necks and suddenly transformed into wearable necklaces with the actual gem part in the middle. The star looking element had floated up to Twilight’s head and transformed into a crown, softly resting on her head.

Celestia seemed rather surprised and Discord on the other hoof couldn’t believe his eyes as they all noticed that not only did the elements become wearable accessories, but they changed shapes. It seemed the elements had become similar to its owner’s cutie mark as Rarity’s was a more detailed purple looking diamond, Fluttershy’s a light pink butterfly, Rainbow’s a red lightning bolt, Pinkie’s a blue balloon, and Applejack’s an orange apple. The only element that stayed the same was Twilight’s and that one already seemed to resemble her star cutie mark even before she knew it was her’s.

“T-They changed?..” Twilight gasped, touching her hoof to her new element crown.

“I’ve never seen this before..It must be because they belong to somepony now..” Celestia muttered to herself.

“They didn’t belong to somepony before?” Rarity asked.

“Not really..They were connected to me and..My…”

And then Celestia stopped. It was like she couldn’t continue her sentence..Something was stopping her. There was a look of fear and sadness on her face now as she turned her head away from the ponies, using her long flowing mane to prevent them from seeing her expression.

“Princess..I know there’s something wrong. I’ve known ever since you called us here. The way you’re acting shows it even more. Would you please tell us what’s wrong?” Twilight asked. “I have a feeling you gave us these elements right now because of a bigger reason and it connects to why you’re acting like this.”

There was a long silence as Twilight watched Celestia worriedly while the others stood there waiting for some kind of response. Finally, Celestia sighed and finally looked Twilight in the eyes. Twilight could see great pain within her eyes which made her even more concerned.

“I was originally supposed to give these to you all later on as you all got more use to your new adult lives. However, that isn’t possible anymore..”

Celestia looked over to the throne room where her large throne sat along with a smaller one beside it. Luna’s throne..

“My sister has been disappearing during the day a lot more than usual without telling me where she’s going. If I ask she simply tells me to mind my own business and goes off on her way. I’ve tried to follow her but I always lose track of her. She returns at night time to do her night duties in the dream realm and as soon as I raise the sun, she leaves again.”

“I’ve walked in on her once looking at a book about dark magic and other evil creatures. I’m rather concerned that she might be tampering with something she shouldn’t be and possibly cause harm to herself and others. If that comes to pass..”

Celestia hesitated and then started again. “I need you all to use the elements on her.”

“Wait..But, she’s a princess!” Pinkie gasped.

“I give you permission to use the elements on her. I promise you that you will not be in trouble for it. The element's main objective is to bring harmony and peace to others. I think they will bring her a sense of inner peace and stop her feelings of anger and pain.”

“But, what if we don’t need to use the elements on her?” Twilight asked.

“Then I will try and help her myself. It's the least I can do for how I’ve made her feel all these years..”

There was a pause as it seemed Celestia had finished her speech and Twilight turned to her friends with a proud look on her face and then to Celestia again.

“Alright, will do our best princess! Right, guys?”

“Right!” The other ponies cheered except for Fluttershy who was just shyly hiding behind the rest of them still.

“Wait, before you all leave, I need to tell you someone else you should look out for.”

Discord suddenly felt a bad feeling in his gut. He knew she was going to talk about him..

“I’m sure you’ve all heard of Discord at this point since it's widely known that he was let out of stone around when you were all born, right?”

The ponies all nodded except for Fluttershy as her eyes widened with fear. She really hoped that the princess wasn’t going to make them use the elements on her very own father. He wasn’t evil anymore..Well..Celestia didn’t know that. Her friends seemed to not believe her very much as well but trusted her for the moment.

“With my sister possibly in trouble like this, he may use this time to strike and wreak havoc on Equestria once again. Use the elements to turn him to stone..Permanently.”

Fluttershy gasped behind all of them, her breath caught in her throat. She couldn’t believe what Celestia just said as she could feel fear taking over her and multiple scenarios of Discord being turned to stone zooming through her head. She felt like she couldn’t breathe as she stared down at the shiny floor. Her body was shaking in her reflection as she tried to calm herself down.

“Use the elements to turn him to stone..Permanently.”

“Stone...Elements..Permanently..”

“Permanently.”

“Are you alright darling?”

Fluttershy looked up to see Rarity with her hoof on Fluttershy’s back, looking down at her concerned. Her eyes fell on Rarity’s sparkling blue eyes and then on her diamond element on her neck.

“Wait, no, don’t do it! Please, he’s all I have!”

“DISSSCOOORDDD!”

She could hear her own screams echoing in her head mixed with his screams of pain and the sounds of the stone cracking and forming on his body. It was unbearable..

“Fluttershy, wait, where are you going?”

Fluttershy galloped out of the room and slammed right through the throne room doors, leaving them swinging behind her. She heard the distant yells of her friends trying to get her to come back but she refused..She wouldn’t. She was not turning her father to stone no matter what anypony else wanted.

“Fluttershy, wait. Fluttershy!”

She suddenly stopped as she realized she was now outside of Canterlot Castle in the same gardens Discord once found her as a baby. She turned around to see Discord standing there in his normal form.

“D-Discord?..”

“Yes, it’s me. Sorry, I probably should have put on my disguise but I noticed you ran out of the castle and- oof!”

Fluttershy had flung herself at him which almost knocked him over but he somehow kept his balance. He looked down to see his daughter hugging him tightly and crying. His ears flattened to his head slightly as he put his arms around her, crouching to hug her back.

“I-I won’t turn you to stone!..I..I won’t!” She whimpered.

“It’s okay..You don’t have to.”

They stood there for a while as he felt her sob into him and hug him tightly. It soon came to Discord’s attention that they were out in the open and that her friends might come looking for her soon..And possibly see him.

“You want to go back home?..” He asked softly.

“Yes..” She sniffled.

That’s all he needed to hear as he snapped and they poofed far away from the castle, leaving behind the others.

Comments

[Yoshifan30]

Oh boy That is a really tough situation for fluttershy to do this to discord After all he done for her But she doesn't want to hurt her friends either so she's basically caught between the things that she loves I wonder what she's going to do I guess we'll find out next time

[GeekCat]

I enjoyed this chapter! It's good to see Celestia taking precautions and preparing them for Nightmare Moon and Discord. Especially since she doesn't know how bad (or not bad, in Discord's case) leaving them alone c oukd be. It was even better to see the sweet moment at the end, where Fluttershy promises not to turn Discord to stone.

[Comickook]

Excellent job on this latest chapter. Took a while, but was quite well worth the wait. The exchanges, characterizations and future chapter set-up are well done in all the right places. Yeah. The precautions Celestia took concerning the Elements were great as were the steps Discord took to evade detection outside the palace. And, yeah, I could see Celestia getting worried enough to ask Twilight and her friends to use the Elements on Luna if talking to her failed. And that scene between Fluttershy and Discord at the end of the chapter was beautifully bittersweet.

VERY certainly going to be looking forward to more of this.

[Heartstrings1]

Aww

[FanficReader920]

Question: Why does Fluttershy not call Discord “Dad?”

[Fluskie]

10412175
That should be answered soon after the current chapter.