Reformed Romanticism

by ice_dancer_92

Take on Me

Chapter Three: Take on Me

Hey Fluttershy,

It's Twilight. You've been gone for a week now, and we wanted to make sure you were alright because we haven't heard anything from you. We've kept all the animals fed and taken care of for you, but they miss you. I don't know what's gone on up there in Canterlot with Discord, but please come home soon. We're starting to get worried.

Twilight

“Oh, goodness. I didn't realize I'd been away from home that long.” Fluttershy fretted as she held the letter up to her nose.

“Then go on home, my darling Fluttershy. Your friends miss you.” I responded, running a soft brush through my darling's lovely pink mane.

“I know, but I like taking care of you, too.” Fluttershy said, looking back at me with those shimmering eyes.

“Then I'll go with you... Wait. Damn, I can't.” I muttered. “At least, not that easily.”

“Why not?”

“Celestia won't let me leave the castle without an escort.... She's still distrustful of me, I know it.” I confessed.

“Oh, Discord.” Fluttershy giggled. “I don't think it's because she doesn't trust you. She's just worried about you. I think Princess Celestia cares about you more than she lets on.”

“She has a damn funny way of showing it; always has.” I snapped, throwing the brush onto the vanity set and storming out of the room, suddenly enraged. That royal bitch has never cared about me! All she cares about is power, and using mine to further her own! She cares nothing for me, never has and never will!

I left the room and let out a mighty roar to vent some of my anger, a roar that left two guards patrolling the outer balcony to jump in their armor and dart off, probably to alert the Princess. Little sissies. Back in my day guards had substance, not style. You had to have balls to be a Royal Guard. That brother of Twilight Sparkle's, Shining Armor, was regrettably one of the last Royal Guards I ever knew of to really have balls. One has to have giant brass balls to court and marry a Princess (and the Princess of love, no less) and still retain a measure of dignity (even after the whole “Changeling Queen hypnosis” thing. Yeah, that's right. I can hear everything while petrified. I heard that little debacle clearly.) And the stallion does. More power to him. I hope he's rewarded well. But the rest of these guards? All bark, no bite.

Fluttershy followed me out of the room, concerned for my state. “Discord, what's wrong? Did I say something that upset you? I'm so sorry.” She begged in that ridiculously polite tone.

I sighed, seeing the tears spring up in her gorgeous eyes. I felt like a prick for upsetting my lovely Fluttershy. I knelt down to her level and held her beautiful face in my claw as gently as I could. I kissed her on the forehead and wiped her tears away.
“It wasn't you, darling. I think there's something wrong with me. I can't seem to get a handle on myself lately. The flashbacks, the anger.... I feel like I could explode at any moment, and I don't like this feeling, Fluttershy. It's too chaotic, even for me.” I shuddered. “My type of chaos is more obvious and dare I say, more comical. Chocolate rain, upside-down buildings, bears in tutus, soap in the roads! This subtle, internal chaos.... it's too much. It feels like my own magic is working against me.” I lamented, holding my head in my paw. It had begun to throb again, despite healing from the concussion I'd suffered days before. Fluttershy's gentle hoof caressing my own paw sent the pain slowly ebbing away. My darling, lovely, beautiful Fluttershy....

“Why don't we get away from the castle for a while, Discord? I'll ask the Princess to send a single escort guard with us, just to keep her happy, and we'll go back to Ponyville and see everypony. We'll have a picnic. A nice picnic. How does that sound?” Fluttershy offered, nuzzling into my claw.

“It sounds.... wonderful.” I consented, and lifted Fluttershy onto my back. I opened my wings to take flight, diving out of the tower window and heading around the castle's spires towards the main gate. Fluttershy squealed and held on tight, hiding her eyes in my fur. She seemed to be forgetting that she could fly. Not that it meant much to me; I liked giving her rides around the landscape.

I landed with a soft thump in front of the main doors, and the two jittering pegasus guards at the gate quickly opened their wings and let myself and my lovely rider through.

“Discord. I'm glad to see you're feeling better.” Celestia noted as I walked through. “I take it you're feeling well enough to travel.” She said, her piercing eye seemingly pointed right at my soul.

“It's both impressive and somewhat creepy that you're able to see through me so clearly, Celestia.” I retorted. I bowed down low so Fluttershy could hop off my back.

“Discord said you won't let him leave without an escort... can we have one....? If that's okay....” Fluttershy half-mumbled, “...your highness....”

“Of course.” Celestia agreed. “You know, Discord, the reason I want you with an escort is not because I don't trust you. It's for your own safety. There are many ponies across Equestria who still revile and distrust you. I just don't want anything to happen to you.” She noted.

'I'm glad I have your concern, then, you winged royal bitch.' I wanted to say, but kept my fanged yap shut.

Celestia ushered over two of her attendees, and gave them instructions to chaperone myself and Fluttershy on our travels. I remembered that Fluttershy wanted only one guard, but this would have to do. Celestia chose two pegasi, so we could fly to Ponyville ourselves and not have to take the train. Good thing, too. That train was a bit too small to fit a draconequuis properly. I took that train once, on a trip to Manehattan with Celestia for some royal something-or-other I didn't give a flying feather about. I got out of that train with a crick in my neck and a hunch in my spine so severe I couldn't stand up straight for days.

“You're going back to Ponyville, are you not?” Celestia asked.

“Yes, we are. Fluttershy wants to have a lovely picnic in the country sun.” I smiled happily, and Fluttershy held my paw in her hoof.

I flashed open my wings, and the pegasus guards opened theirs as well. Fluttershy climbed back onto my back. I'd learned by now that she couldn't fly the distance from Canterlot to Ponyville all on her own. She wasn't exactly the greatest flier, and she got tired easily. I, however, can fly literally for centuries, at full speed, without landing or resting for even a moment (as I figured out by being chased by two Princesses for six hundred years before they caught me), so I could carry my darling down.

I took to the sky, the two guards following me up, and then down as I dived down from Canterlot's mountain-side home, towards the sweet scent of apples and springtime that noted the lush green fields and lovely forests of Fluttershy's home.

“Hey, is that Discord?” I heard one of the ponies below us ask. It sounded like Rainbow Dash, but I wasn't looking, so I couldn't be sure.

“Sure looks like it, sugarcube. Got guards, too.” That unmistakable drawl was certainly Applejack, the element of Honesty.

“Oh, dear. I hope everything's all right.”

“I'm sure everything's fine. Look, I see Fluttershy on Discord's back. He must have gotten my letter and been good enough to bring her home, that's all.”

I landed in the town square on all fours, surrounded by Fluttershy's friends and other nameless background ponies who murmured amongst themselves and stared at me. I let the timid yellow pegasus slide off my back and land on the ground with a small grunt of effort. The pegasus guards circled above, keeping an eye on me and ready to intervene should anything go wrong, yet out of the way and high enough up that I couldn't just swipe them out of the sky if they annoyed me.

“Oh, hello, everypony. I hope I didn't cause too much worry.” Fluttershy said sweetly. “Discord and I must have lost track of time as he was healing up. He feels much better now, don't you, baby?” Fluttershy scratched behind my favorite ear, and embarrassingly enough I lost control of my pride long enough to drop to my stomach and get lost in the sensation. Damn, she was good. I think my tongue even lolled out of my mouth at one point. God, I really was Fluttershy's little pet, wasn't I? And I loved every second of it.

“Awww, how sweet.” I heard Twilight giggle. “Discord must really like his ears scratched.”

“It's not just his ears,” Fluttershy started, “... if you scratch his tummy he falls asleep.”

“Fluttershy~! Stop it...!” I protested, face flushing red.

Fluttershy just giggled. “I'm just teasing you, Discord. I'll stop if you really want me to.”

“Fluttershy...!” I whined, “I'm the great and terrible God of Chaos....!”

“You're the cutest, sweetest, most chivalrous great and terrible God of Chaos in the whole wide world.” Fluttershy replied, and stopped scratching my ear long enough for me to cough awkwardly and stand back up on all fours and shake off the lethargy.

“See?” Fluttershy said to her friends. “He's a big sweetheart.”

“So, how did you end up with a concussion?” Twilight asked suddenly. “In the Princess' letter, she mentioned you'd hit your head on her throne, but she didn't really go into detail as to how. She just mentioned you'd been getting dizzy spells lately.”
I shrugged. “It's a long story, and it's not a pretty one.”

“That doesn't really answer my question.” Twilight replied skeptically. I groaned and rolled my eyes. Stupid, persistent unicorn.

“Alright, look. Here's the skinny of it. I wasn't always Discord, the villain. I used to be Discord, the goofy nerdy teenager with a crush on a certain sunny little Princess, who also used to be a huge elitist snob. I also used to be a little over-emotional in my younger years, and I suffered from a healthy dose of low self-image. Long story short, Snobby Princess rejects Emo Teenager Discord, he goes crazy with grief, becomes Villain Discord. Snobby Princess captures Villain Discord, turns him to stone, and angry Villain Discord wants revenge. Villain Discord escapes, ponies re-capture him, later reform him. Memories of Emo Teenager Discord being goofy and stupid like to flashback into Reformed Discord's wacky brain. Reformed Discord flips out and accidentally hits his head on Snobby Princess' shiny little throne, gives himself a concussion.” I explained as quickly as possible, my face flushing redder and redder as the moments went by. “Does that answer your question?”

Twilight looked at me sideways for a moment. “Well, that sounds like it could end up being a big problem. Let me see if I can find anything in my books that might help you out. Come on up to the library and I'll check it out.”

“You're being awfully accepting for someone who used to hate and revile me.” I retorted, but followed her lead anyway.
“Well, it seems Fluttershy likes you, at least, and Fluttershy's a very good judge of character. If she says you're a decent draconequuis now, then I believe it.” Twilight responded.

She nudged open the door to her library and let us in. She woke her little baby dragon assistant from his nap and put him to work finding all the books she could on my species. Like that was going to help; there's only one of me and as far as I know, I'm not all THAT well-documented.

Well, that showed what I knew; within minutes the little ball of purple scales had come down with an absolutely ancient leather-bound book with a clear illustration of myself on the front cover, only I was highly stylized. Very highly-- I had no idea that I could apparently breathe fire, nor do I ever remember owning and operating a pitchfork on a regular basis. And I apparently missed the memo on the hordes of blood-thirsty, hideous shadow creatures under my control.

“Ah, here we go. Howling at the Moon: Memoirs of a Draconequuis' Rule.” Twilight said, opening the book.

My jaw almost hit the ground. “I'm thousands of years old, Twilight, and I was never made aware that a book like this existed.”

“Judging from the binding techniques and hoof-set type, I'd say the book was made in secret during your rule over Equestria. It's probably mostly propaganda, but it's our only lead right now.” Twilight answered. She opened the book, and dust came billowing out from between the pages, sending everyone in the library (including myself) into a coughing fit. I waved my paw frantically, trying to clear the thick dust from my eyes and lungs. It tasted like neglect and forgetfulness, and coated my lungs in a thick tar.

Suddenly, the book burst to life in her hooves, multi-colored fractals of light exploding from the pages in all directions. The world around us shifted and faded and turned foggy, and suddenly, it all came flooding back to me at once.

Comments

[Spite]

Ha to see Fluttershy do that to Discord is far to hilarious. Another great chapter. I look forward to seeing that oh so interesting book about Discord. Keep up the great work.

[ElementOfHope]

just noticed that the chapters a references to songs.
just want to say i love this story again and i'm a little sad that theres not another new chapter for me to read so sad.
Anyway this was another home run and sorry i can't write more today. runing late

The ever Enigmatic
-ElementOfHope

[AcrylicDawn]

D'aww, too cute

[Yeou]

I think this is slowly becoming my favorite Discoshy piece! Your Discord is very adorable, but I wonder if you have something much darker in mind for him, hmm?
I'm excited for the next chapter and it's hard to wait, but please take as much time as you need; I'm really enjoying this story!

[keksbela]

Love it
*Fav*

[Recteik Shade]

I'm luvin this plz get the next chapter up soon

[ice_dancer_92]

I thank all of you for your kind and wonderful comments. I'm looking forward to putting the fourth chapter up soon, but due to circumstances beyond my control (namely, lack of wifi), it's going to be a while yet. I hope you all see me through to the end~~!!

[ice_dancer_92]

2165372

To answer you specifically, yes, the next chapter is very, very dark. I'll give you a hint. If you hate blood, death, sadness, or references to such, you may want to skip it.

[Fireball Rush]

The way how you set the last scene so far was just perfect. Can't wait for more!

[alexanderhunt88]

This chapter:

And

I felt like a prick

Are you English?