> The Tale of Discord > by lingonberries > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > The Beginning > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Fluttershy gasped and sat up in her bed. She was drenched in a cold sweat, shaking from head to hoof. Her heart was racing, considering the dream she had just woken up from. Discord, she thought. Discord was the Spirit of Chaos. 1000 years ago, he had tried to take over Equestria, but Princess Celestia and Princess Luna had managed to stop him and turn him to stone. But, then, he broke out of his stone encasement and came to Ponyville to turn everything to, well, chaos. Fluttershy and her 5 friends had then managed to defeat him again and turn him to stone for the second time. But, rumor has it that he broke out of the stone for the second time! Fluttershy was very worried that he would terrorize Equestria again, now that he was free. She then decided that she needed some breakfast, so she slid out of bed and went to her kitchen. As she was taking out the oats from the cupboard, she heard soft footsteps behind her. She whizzed around, worried, but it was only Angel. She sighed. "Fluttershy, you have to be braver than this!" she scolded herself. Angel then hopped up onto the counter and pointed outside, tapping his foot. "What is it, Angel?" She glanced outside. It was pitch black, no sun, no moon, only a few stars scattered here and there. She then looked at the wall clock. It said that it was 8:21 AM. "Hmm, the sun should've been up hours ago!" Fluttershy wondered aloud. Angel nodded, then imitated reading a newspaper. "You think I should read the newspaper today?" He nodded, and then imitated, well, Fluttershy guessed it was a princess? "You want me to buy the Canterlot Times?" He nodded and pointed at the door, tapping on the screen of his watch with his other hand. "Ok, I'll hurry..." Fluttershy ran out the door and was greeted by a blast of cold wind. "On second thought, I'm going to bring a sweater," she voiced aloud. As soon as her sweater was on, she took off into the night. She couldn't see much at first, but then her eyes adapted to the dark and she could see what was going on down below. Ponies were out on the streets, whispering and glancing nervously towards the Everfree Forest. Fluttershy made her descent by the news stand and asked for the Canterlot Times. "That will be 4 bits, please." The news-pony said. "4 bits for a newspaper?" Fluttershy gawked. "Yeah. Since so many ponies wanted it, we raised the price. You want it or not?" Fluttershy nodded and handed him 4 bits, then put her newspaper in her saddlebag and started to look for a bench. As she walked, she heard snips of conversations from the worried ponies around her. "What should we do?" "Oh, I hope they're alright..." Then, all of a sudden, a certain pegasus with a rainbow mane leaped into the air and screamed. "Rainbow Dash!" Fluttershy flew over to her and grabbed her hoof. "Wha-" "I need to talk to you, Dashie. Just follow me!" Fluttershy led her to her cottage and pulled her inside. They flopped down on the sofa and Fluttershy immediately turned to face her friend. "What's going on? I bought a copy of the Canterlot Times, but I haven't had a second to look at it yet!" Rainbow Dash shrugged. "Take a look at the headline on the front page." Fluttershy opened her saddlebag and took out the paper. She unrolled it and gasped as she took in the front page. > The News > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Fluttershy could not believe what she was seeing. The headlines read, PRINCESS CELESTIA, LUNA, AND CADENCE: MISSING! "B-but, H-h-h-how?" Fluttershy choked through a wave of tears. "Nopony knows, Fluttershy," Rainbow Dash said,"But when I find out who kidnapped them, I will give them a hard kick in their ugly face!" Fluttershy sniffed and looked up at Rainbow. "It'll be all right, Fluttershy!" At this, Fluttershy whimpered. "What? Did that not help?" Fluttershy said, " Oh, no, Rainbow, it helped a lot!" "Then what's wrong?" Rainbow Dash asked with a concerned look on her face. "Umm..." Fluttershy stammered. "I'm listening?" "Alright, fine, this morning, I woke up from the worst dream I've had in a long time. It was about D..." Her voice faltered. "What was that?" "Dis..." Rainbow Dash gave a fake cough and stared at Fluttershy. "Yes?" "It was about... D-Discord..." Fluttershy then buried her face in a nearby pillow and started to cry. "It's ok, Fluttershy," Rainbow soothed. Fluttershy was able to pull her head up then. "D-Discord was trying to t-take over Equestria again, and I was by his side, h-h-helping with the chaos..." Fluttershy sniffled. "Oh, Fluttershy, that will never happen!" "I know, b-b-but..." "Sssshhhhh. Why don't you get some rest?" Rainbow Dash whispered. It won't be too hard, since the sun's not up... Rainbow thought. "O-okay..." She then scooped up Fluttershy and took her up to her bed. She tucked her in and whispered, "Sleep well." When she woke up, she was dazed. She sat up, and the world started spinning. At second thought, I think I'll lie back down... Fluttershy thought. She thought about her most recent dream. It had involved Discord again. She had been holding his lion paw, and they were sitting on a fallen log in the Everfree Forest, just chatting. Discord surprised her once with a bouquet of roses. In a way, Fluttershy thought that, in a way, that was scarier than her first dream. She rolled over and looked out of the window, hoping that the light of the morning sun would rouse her. But, instead, she was greeted with the blank black sky, same as yesterday. She groaned, and made herself get out of bed anyways. She trudged down the stairs, and realized that she was famished. Oh yeah, all I ate yesterday were those oats... She turned into the kitchen and was heading towards the fridge when she noticed something on the counter. She turned around and picked up a small piece of pink paper, cut into a butterfly shape, just like her cutie mark. On the back were four simple words: Make the right choice. > The Arrival > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The yellow Pegasus stared at the note for what felt like hours, until Angel reminded her that she had things to do. She thanked him and continued preparing her breakfast of carrots and hay, but the note occupied most of her mind. She ate her breakfast without fully realizing that she was doing it, and then she was off. She needed to catch up with Twilight Sparkle at her library. Maybe she knew something about the note. Sure enough, Twilight Sparkle was relaxing inside of her library, reading a book, when she heard a quiet knock at the door. "Come in," she called. The door creaked open, and she saw Fluttershy shaking in the doorway. "Hey, Fluttershy!" Twilight called. "Hi..." Fluttershy said. Twilight put down her book and trotted over to Fluttershy. "Is anything wrong?" she asked. "No, well, kind of, um, well, I just wanted to ask you a question..." Fluttershy stammered. "Sure! Anything!" Twilight grinned. "Well, um, this morning, when I went downstairs for breakfast, there was a note on my kitchen counter. It said Make the Right Choice and it didn't have a signature, and, oh, Twilight, I'm scared!" Twilight embraced her friend and patted her on the back. "I'm sure that everything will be all right. Now-" All of a sudden, Twilight's whole library started to float upwards. Twilight and Fluttershy were now floating in midair, too. Books fell from the shelves, spinning around like a tornado. "Watch out!" Twilight shouted as a huge, thick book flew straight towards Fluttershy's head. Fluttershy ducked and screamed. "Let's try to float towards the door!" Twilight said. Fluttershy thought that this was probably the best idea Twilight had ever had. They tried kicking their legs, but it did nothing. Then, Fluttershy had the idea to use their arms to "paddle" to the exit. It worked, and in no time, they were in a heap on the ground outside of Twilight's floating library. "I wonder how that happened!" Twilight exclaimed. Fluttershy was about to respond when she saw a pair of certain mismatched horns in the distance. Fluttershy gasped. "What is it?" Twilight said. "Discord," Fluttershy said grimly. > The Request > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Fluttershy and Twilight ran over to the large group of people gathered before the King of Chaos. "Ah, the Element of Magic and the Element of Kindness. Glad you could make it!" Discord snapped his fingers and a glass of chocolate milk appeared in his claw. He leaned his head back and took a sip. Fluttershy noticed that he drank the glass instead of the milk. "Alright everypony, I have come to make an offer. You see the sky?" Everypony nodded; Who could miss it? "You see your town?" Everypony took a quick look at the state of Ponyville; the orange and purple polka dotted ground; the licorice trees; the flying pigs; and nodded. "You know that the princesses are imprisoned?" Everypony nodded again, but this time, with a sadder look. It almost looked like they were imprisoned themselves, Fluttershy thought. "Ok, citizens of Ponyville - Here's my request: In exchange for your day/night cycle, your normal town, and your princesses, I want one mare. Just one, to be my wife." Everypony gasped and started talking to one another. Discord summoned a bolt of lightning made of caramel and had it strike right behind the throne he was seated upon, which caught everypony's attention again. "This mare must come of her own free will, and she must be willing to marry me. Think about it - it's a great deal! One mare, just one, in exchange for your sky, your town, and three princesses!" Everypony started chattering at once again, and Discord summoned some ketchup flavored ice cream to entertain himself while the ponies talked. When he finished, he summoned a second lightning strike, this one made of cotton candy. It didn't cease to catch everypony's attention again. "If I do not have a volunteer by precisely 11:59 PM on Saturday, then your town will stay like this forever, plus your princesses will stay imprisoned forever. If anypony wishes to speak to me, I may be found in that castle in the Everfree Forest." Discord pointed at a huge castle with an upside-down polka dotted door surrounded by flying pigs. "It's your decision, but you have to Make the Right Choice, everypony. " Then he looked straight at Fluttershy. > The Dissappearance > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- At first, Fluttershy had trouble comprehending everything that Discord had said. He wanted a single mare to be his wife in exchange for Ponyville's and the sky's ordinariness and the princesses! He also said that if there wasn't a volunteer by 11:59 PM Saturday, Ponyville would be crazy forever! And at the end, he had said to Make the Right Choice, which was the same thing that Fluttershy's note had said! She couldn't believe it! It was Discord who had left that mysterious note in Fluttershy's kitchen! Somehow, Fluttershy managed to get back to her cottage and flop onto her bed to think it over. Only one mare... When she really thought it over, Fluttershy didn't think that she had a true purpose in Ponyville. Applejack had Sweet Apple Acres and Applebloom to take care of, Rarity had her own fashion line, Rainbow Dash flew with the Wonderbolts, Pinkie Pie had everyone to entertain, and Twilight was an alicorn princess! But she, Fluttershy, didn't feel like she had a purpose. Yeah, she had a bunch of pets, but so what? Anyone can have a pet. A single tear fell from Fluttershy's perfect lashes. She knew what she had to do. When Fluttershy woke up, she was thinking about taking a day off and sleeping in at home, but then she remembered what she promised herself to do last night. She took a deep breath and started to write a note for her friends, telling them her last goodbyes. Then, she gave all the animals a hug, grabbed her sweater, and stepped out the door. "PINKIE! COME QUICK!" Rainbow Dash yelled. "FLUTTERSHY'S GONE!" Pinkie Pie hurtled out her door and came to a stop next to Rainbow, Applejack, Rarity, and Twilight. "What happened?!" Pinkie Pie shouted. "Was she kidnapped by an army of cupcakes??" "That's highly unlikely, Pinkie..." Rainbow muttered. "But this is serious, so no joking around, Miss Pie!" Pinkie Pie sighed sadly. "Fine..." The 5 friends dashed over to Fluttershy's cottage to check for any evidence of anything. Not even a minute before they had been inside the cottage, Twilight said,"Hey, everypony, I found a note! Everyone gathered behind Twilight so they could see it. > Fluttershy's Note > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dear Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Twilight Sparkle, Pinkie Pie, and Rarity, I have volunteered to be Discord's wife. Do not come after me, or do anything of the sort. I will be fine. Thank you all so much for being my friends. Love, Fluttershy Everypony gawked at the note in silence. Rainbow Dash was the first to break the silence. "Well, I say we go after her!" "No, I don't think we should, Dashie. Her note said to not go after her..." Twilight said. "Well, I don't care what her note says! Discord could've put her up to this! We need to fight for our friend! I bet that we could smash Dis-" Applejack walked over to Rainbow Dash and put a hoof on her shoulder. "Whoa there, Nelly! Slow down!" "But-" Applejack silenced Rainbow Dash by shoving a big red apple into her mouth. "Mmmmmf mmmmmmmf MMMmmmmmmmmmmmf!!" Rainbow gagged. All of the ponies couldn't help but laugh. > The Confession > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Wow, Fluttershy thought as she stared up at Discord's castle. It was a huge mansion made of some kind of dark stone. Fluttershy thought that it was very intimidating. She tried to walk across the bridge to the front door, but she was stopped by some kind of a force field. It was quiet for a full minute until suddenly, a loud, booming voice filled Fluttershy's ears, making her squeak. "Who is it?" the voice asked in an extremely menacing tone. In the loudest, bravest voice she could muster at that moment, she said,"F-F-Fluttershy..." "Oh, my dearest Fluttershy!" Discord suddenly teleported himself next to Fluttershy, which caused her to jump. "Why, I wouldn't have expected the ponies to send YOU as a mouthpiece for Ponyville!" "I-I'm not..." Fluttershy started. "I thought that they would send someone like Twilight, or Rainbow Dash, but not you!" "I-I'm not a m-m-mouthpiece..." Fluttershy whispered. "But, you're so shy, and I thought that it would cause you to not have good negotiating skills!" "Um, Excuse me, Discord-" "I cannot even imagine you as-" "I SAID THAT I AM NOT THE REPRESENTATIVE OF PONYVILLE!!" screamed Fluttershy. As soon as she finished yelling, she turned bright red. "I'm s-s-sorry... I lost control..." Discord gave her an evil grin. "If you didn't come as the representative of Ponyville, then why did you come?" "I came...to be............" "What was that?" "I came to be... Your b-b-bride?" > Discord's Castle > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Discord jumped into the air and did a fist pump. "YES! YES!" he chanted. He kept doing this until he noticed Fluttershy staring at him like he was crazy, which he very well could be. Now it was Discord's turn to blush. "Discord, can you turn everything to normal now?" Fluttershy said under a small smile. "Uh, of course, Fluttershy." With a snap of his claws, Ponyville was back to normal and the sun had risen. "Are the princesses free yet?" Fluttershy asked. "Yes, yes they are, so shall we go inside, Fluttershy?" "Sure..." Fluttershy followed Discord as they crossed the bridge to the front door. "Alright, Fluttershy, I've warned you - you're going to be amazed!" Discord grinned hugely and led the beautiful yellow Pegasus inside. The aforementioned Pegasus gasped as she saw the inside of Discord's castle. It had red-and-white polka-dotted floors with lime-green-and-yellow striped walls. The ceiling was hounds-tooth patterned. The room also had floating, upside down couches, chairs, and even a TV, as well as random, floating doors and stairs that led to nowhere. "Isn't it beautiful?" he asked. "Y-yes..." "May I show you to your room, my dearest Fluttershy?" "M-my room?" "Of course! Do you think that I would let my beautiful bride sleep on the couch?" "Um, no..." "I hope you like pink!" Discord said as he opened a blue door with orange polka dots. Fluttershy followed him inside of the room, and let out a small gasp when she saw it. Pink walls, pink carpet, pink dresser, pink EVERYTHING! Fluttershy trotted over to the bed and sat down on it. It was probably the softest bed she'd ever sat on. "Like it?" questioned Discord. "It's wonderful, D-discord!" The draconequus in question grinned and said, "Do you like roses?" "Um, yes, but-" Before Fluttershy could finish, Discord had summoned a bouquet of roses and handed them to Fluttershy. He then took one out and slid it behind her ear. "Wow, thank you, Discord!" Fluttershy blushed. "You are most certainly welcome, my sweet." For emphasis, he then summoned a piece of taffy and ate the wrapper only. "Mmm, I always love some taffy once in a while!" he smiled. "So, Fluttershy, what shall we do with the rest of our time today?" Fluttershy then faked a yawn. "I'm tired... Can I just go to sleep?" "Are you sure that's what you want to do?" "Yeah..." Fluttershy trailed off. "Okay then... I'll leave you alone for a while." Discord got up and walked through the wall. As soon as he left, Flutttershy burst into tears. She missed her friends already! At least they had each other and a normal town again... Fluttershy sniffled. > The First Day > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Discord leaped towards Fluttershy and picked her up. "And now, I shall kill you." Fluttershy screamed so loudly that she thought her vocal cords were going to snap, and then she woke up. She was facing towards the wall, sweating and shaking. She rolled over and almost screamed again because there was something next to her. It was Discord! She whimpered, but told herself that it was a dream, and nothing more. "I heard you screaming," Discord said. "So I came to check it out. Are you alright? What happened?" "Yes, I'm fine, Discord... I just had a bad dream, that's all." "What was it about?" "Um..." "You can tell me anything, Fluttershy. I won't be mad." "Um, I had a nightmare about you... killing me..." Fluttershy turned bright red and pulled the covers up over her head. "Oh, Fluttershy, I would never do that to such a sweet mare!" Fluttershy looked at the draconequus' face and saw the genuine truth. Slowly, she moved over next to Discord and wrapped her arms around his middle. He was frozen for a second, but then he hugged the yellow Pegasus back. They stayed like that for a while, Fluttershy's face in Discord's fur. They only moved when Fluttershy's stomach groaned in need of food. "Come on, Fluttershy, let's go get some breakfast." Fluttershy stayed by his side until they reached the dining room. They sat on opposite ends of a long table. "What would you like for breakfast, my treasure?" He then summoned a treasure chest, took out a beaded pearl necklace and fastened it around Fluttershy's neck. "Thank you, Discord, this is beautiful! And I would like a salad, please." "Oh, I know exactly what type of salad to make!" Discord said excitedly. He snapped his claws and a salad with raspberry vinaigrette, feta cheese, ranch, and cucumbers appeared before Fluttershy. "Wow, how did you know that this is my favorite?" "Fluttershy, over the past 1,000 years, I've had nothing better to do except to spy on ponies." Fluttershy laughed and took a bite. "Yum, this is delicious!" "Why thank you very much, my beautiful mare!" Discord then summoned himself some failed test papers and, of course, chocolate milk. He took a bite of a test and took a sip of the chocolate milk glass. When they were done, Discord asked, "When would you like to get married?" Fluttershy said, "When I know that I'm ready and that I truly love you." "What, are you saying you don't love me now?" "Not in that way, yet, but I do consider you a very good friend." Discord grinned. "That's good enough for me, for now..." Suddenly, Discord was next to Fluttershy. "I have a surprise for you!" > The Surprise > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Discord led Fluttershy through the castle until they got to a door. Discord opened it and revealed... A 50 foot drop to the ground. "What did you want to show me, Discord?" He grinned and made Fluttershy cover her eyes as he snapped his claws. "You can open your eyes now." She opened them and couldn't believe what she saw! Right in front of her, where there had once just been a deadly plummet, stood a beautiful garden filled with tulips, roses, dandelions, sunflowers, alliums, peonies, and much more! She also saw all of her animals from Ponyville, including Angel! She smiled hugely and ran out to play with her animals. Angel hopped up to her first, then all of her other animals followed. She played with them for a while, and then went back to Discord. "Thank you so much for bringing my pets and this beautiful garden here!" "You are completely welcome, my dear." They locked eyes, and slowly, the space between them was diminishing. 5 inches, 4 inches, 3 inches, 2 inches- All of a sudden, Angel hopped onto Fluttershy's shoulder and mimicked eating a carrot. The draconequus and the pegasus quickly moved back from each other, and Discord snapped his claws, causing Angel to recieve a carrot. He nodded a thank-you to Discord and hopped away. Fluttershy stole a glance at Discord, and she saw that he was looking back. They grinned at each other and went back into the castle. > Journey Outside of The Castle > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ~2 Days Later~ "Fluttershy, how do you feel about... going outside of the castle for dinner tonight?" Discord asked. "You mean... Outside of the force field?" Fluttershy asked. "Yes, that's exactly what I mean." Discord chuckled. "That sounds wonderful!" Fluttershy gushed. "Okay then... I'll come for you at 7," Discord said, "and remember to dress nicely!" Fluttershy blushed and gave a tiny smile, then went to get ready. She had 45 minutes. She dug through her closet, nothing catching her eye until- "Ah ha!" Fluttershy voiced aloud. At 7:00 PM, Discord was standing outside of Fluttershy's door, waiting for the Pegasus to be ready. He was wearing a tuxedo with a golden bow tie and black dress shoes. He knocked on Fluttershy's door. "Are you ready, my sweet?" "Yes, I'll be out in a second!" Discord thought of summoning a bouquet of roses with a golden ribbon 10 seconds before she came out. "Good eveni-" Discord could feel his mouth hanging wide open and could not finish his greeting. "What? Is it too much?" She was wearing a golden dress with silver lace trim, a bronze bow in her mane, and silver flats. "Discord?" The dumbfounded draconequus shook his head and said, "No, it's perfect!" He took her hoof in his paw and led her outside into the Everfree Forest. "Ok, now, Fluttershy, hop on my back and we'll fly there." "Um, I can fly by myself..." "Oh, but we wouldn't want your pretty wings to get tired, would we?" "I guess not..." Fluttershy then climbed onto the draconequus' back and they took off. Fluttershy buried her face into Discord's fur. "What's wrong?" "I-I'm scared..." "Of what? Heights?" "N-n-no, of falling!" Discord sighed and facepawed. "You're a Pegasus, Fluttershy! You won't-" "B-but I'm still scared!" "Okay, okay, I promise that if you fall, I will catch you! Deal?" "Can we l-land now?" "Of course. I see the perfect spot, anyways!" > The Date > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- They landed in a huge, empty clearing. Discord summoned a huge marble floor, and a small gazebo with cushioned seats and a table. He led Fluttershy across the floor to the table and pulled out a seat for the yellow Pegasus. She sat down and Discord pushed it back in for her, then went and sat in his own seat. "I'm guessing that you would like your usual salad?" Discord questioned. "Yes, please," Fluttershy smiled. Discord summoned her salad with raspberry vinaigrette, ranch, feta cheese, and cucumbers, then got himself some chocolate milk flavored cotton candy and some cotton candy flavored chocolate milk, respectively. When they finished, Discord asked, "Fluttershy, will you give me the great pleasure of... Dancing with me?" Fluttershy nodded. "Of course!" They got up and started to dance slowly in a circle. "Fluttershy... Do you like fireworks?" "Yes, I find them very peaceful and calming." Discord then snapped his claws and a bunch of mini fireworks were shot into the air at once. Fluttershy found them beautiful- wait, were they spelling something? She read, Fluttershy, I love you! After she read that, she stared into Discord's eyes and said, genuinely, "I love you too." Then she brought Discord's face to hers and they were kissing. Fluttershy thought that nothing in the world could feel better than this, with his cool lips against hers. She never wanted to pull away, she wished that she could stay like this forever, safe in Discord's arms, protected from the world, fireworks exploding behind them. A Draconequus and a Pegasus. To be more specific, a draconequus that is The Lord of Chaos himself, and a Pegasus who is the Element of Kindness. How unlikely...