A Story For The Ages
Fluttershy's eyes fluttered open as the sun's warm rays landed on her face. Slowly the sleep was forced out of her eyes as she lazily gazed around her room. She emitted a small sigh and smiled as she got out of her bed and stretched her back out and quietly moaned at the relief she felt from the action.
Fluttershy made her way into the bathroom, and looked at herself in the mirror. Her mane was slightly tangled, she still had bags under her eyes, and crusties in the corner of them, but after a quick brushing and face rinse, she looked like her normal self again.
Fluttershy busied herself by performing her usual morning chores. She fed her animal friends, gave them water, and changed out their bedding, all before whipping up herself some breakfast. She sat down at her table and stared at the wheat bagel and hay beacon she had prepared.
She lifted the bagel and a butter knife, and proceded to smear cream cheese on it. After she finished that, she brought the pastry to her ready mouth and chomped down to take a hearty bite, but instead of getting a mouthful of toasted bagel and cream cheese, she bit nothing but air. Her eyes widened in surprise and she heard a familar chuckle come from a picture hanging above her sink.
The picture was of a peaceful pond, tucked away in the middle of a serene forest. However, she had never noticed the red row boat before, that was now floating in the pond. She leaned closer to better inspect the strange vessel, and saw that there was nothing out of the ordinary about it. She began to comtemplate that maybe, some how, she just over looked the boat before. She slowly pulled away from the painting, and was about to return to searching for her bagel when suddenly, a talon shot forth from the painting, grabbed a throughly shocked Fluttershy, and pulled her into the painting.
Fluttershy screamed as her vision began to run like mascara in the rain and did the only other thing she could do, she began to cower and whimper. She felt her stomach churning like she was about to hurl, her hearing was gargled, her body felt as if it was being streched, and she couldn't feel the ground. It was as if she was floating in mid-air without her wings. Needless to say, that this sensation unnerved her even more.
After what seemed like an eternity, but in all actuallity it was only a few seconds, Fluttershy could feel the ground again, the horrible churning in her stomach went away, she felt the warm rays of the sun falling onto her back, and her hearing came back into focus.
Fluttershy hesitantly peeked out from under her hoof, and stopped cowering on the ground almost at once. She was in total awe of the beauty that surrounded her. The forest was a lively green and it was a buzz with little critters talking back and forth betwixt one another, the pond gently lapped at the shore as the wind blew over it's surface, and the red row boat gently floated towards her. As it approached she saw a familar draconequus.
"Discord!", she yelled as loud as she could, which was about as loud as a shouted whisper.
The self proclaimed 'Lord of Chaos', pushed the sunglasses that covered his eyes up onto his forehead and replied with a chuckle, "Why Fluttershy, my dear, what a pleasant surprise."
Fluttershy's response to him was a grimace and a little snort.
"Now now my dear," Discord snapped his talons, disappeared, and reappeared next to Fluttershy with his arm draped over her neck, "there's no need to get angry."
"Discord," Fluttershy started as she removed his arm from her body, "you really scared me."
"Oh come now Fluttershy, you need to learn to lighten up a little.", Discord retorted dejectedly as he crossed his arms over his chest. He snapped his talons again and Fluttershy started to float again.
"Discord, put me down this instant!" Fluttershy said urgently as she began to float onto her back.
Discord huffed, "Fine!", he crossed his arms again and muttered, "You're no fun."
Fluttershy ignored Discord's last statement and once again began revelling in the beauty of the scenery that surrounded her. She looked up into the lavender sky and marvelled at the clouds which resembled cottonballs. She looked into the forest and watched the wildlife scurry about. She thought about trying to talk to citters and befriending them, but then the realization dawned on her that none of this was real.
Discord on the other hand, felt like this serene landscape was missing something. He lounged back on nothing but thin air and began to run his talon through his goatee, "Something's missing here," he began scratching his head with his other paw, "it's right on the tip of my tongue," he stopped scratching his head and used his paw to support his talon at the elbow, "but I don't... know... what.", he said thoughtfully as he tapped his chin with a finger.
Discord jumped down from his invisible seat and began pacing back and forth. Fluttershy took notice to this and began to wonder just what was he talking about. Everything here was perfect, the air was warm, the day was beautiful, and nothing seemed out of place.
"Oh I know what's missing!", Discord said as he facepawed.
Fluttershy then realized what Discord thought the problem was, everything here is perfect. There was no chaos anywhere to be found, and now he was going to bring it here to this perfect world and corrupt it.
Discord began laughing and snapped his fingers.
"Discord stop!", Fluttershy shouted.
The trees began to levitate off the ground, the pond froze over and burst into flames, the sky began to switch from day to night with only one second between the two, and the cute animals in the forest were transformed into hideous beasts. Fluttershy's mouth hung agape as she watched the chaos begin to spread throughout the once peaceful landscape.
Her anger began to rise up inside of her and finally she shouted, "Why do you have to ruin everything that is beautiful?!"
Discord's laughter caught in his throat after hearing that. He turned towards Fluttershy, who was now pawing at the ground like an enraged bull, and he stared at her dumbfoundedly.
"Why?!", Fluttershy shouted again.
For the first time in a long time, Discord began to feel pain erupting from his chest. What Fluttershy had said to him hurt a lot. It hurt more than anything he had ever felt before except for... no, Discord promised himself that he would never think of that day ever again. The words Fluttershy spoke echoed in his mind again and again, as he just stared at her. He didn't know what to say, but he knew what he had to do.
Discord hung his head and snapped his fingers again. Everything was returned to its rightful place, even the red row boat had disappeared from the pond. He looked back up at Fluttershy, who was still steaming mad, and openned his mouth to say something, but she cut him off by raising her hoof and saying, "Don't say anything. J-just take me home."
Discord nodded his head and snapped his fingers once more. The scenery of the forest faded into darkness, and when light began to reappear, they were standing in Fluttershy's kitchen. Discord slouched his shoulders and began floating to the door of Fluttershy's cottage.
Before he reached the door, he turned back to Fluttershy and said in a disheartened tone, "You know... I wasn't always like this.", before turning and exitting her home.
Fluttershy gasped as she realized what she had just done, 'Was I really that nasty to Discord?', she asked herself, "It's not like he was hurting anypony. It was just a painting. I mean none of it was real.'
Fluttershy ran to the door he flew out of, and called out to Discord, "Discord! Discord please come back. I'm sorry I yelled at you."
She poked her head outside and saw him sitting down on the railing of the bridge that crossed the stream in her front yard. She walked over to him tentively and gazed down into the stream with him. She watched as a tear fell into the water below and looked back up at the draconequus. She saw the steady stream off liquid rolling down his face, and it broke her heart.
"I'm so, so, sorry Discord. Please forgive me.", Fluttershy said as she nuzzled him gently.
"For what?", Discord asked, "You're right Fluttershy. I destroy everything that is beautiful."
"Oh, you're not all bad.", Fluttershy said.
Discord's pain began to slowly disapate upon hearing this, his tears stopped flowing, and a small grin formed on his lips, "Thank you, dear Fluttershy, for your kind words," he turned his head towards her and his grin faded, replaced by a heartbreaking frown, "but I'm afraid you don't know all there is to know about me."
"Oh? Well, why don't you come inside? You can tell me all about you.", Fluttershy asked sweetly while rubbing his back with her hoof.
"Actually Fluttershy, how about I show you?", Discord asked.
Fluttershy hesitantly nodded her head, and Discord stood up standing on the air over the stream and snapped his fingers. The world faded black once more, but this time, Fluttershy could hear spoken words.
"Monster!", a male's voice yelled.
"Go away, you'll never belong!", a feminine voice shrieked.
"Get outta here you ugly... thing!", a child's voice screamed.
Fluttershy stared at Discord and watched him wince with each new hurtful, hate-filled phrase. The phrases began to echo in the empty void they were in, bouncing off of the nonexistant walls. Just as suddenly as they had started, they stopped.
"Discord?", a female's voice called out.
The darkness gave way to a bright and vibrant forest. The birds happily chirped their songs, the squirrels played in the trees, and the deer grazed on the bushes and low branches. Everything here was happy, everything except,
"Discord, there you are.", the voice said.
Fluttershy turned and saw Discord motioning for her to join him over by a bush. Fluttershy walked along a small path, and was almost trampled by a passing deer. She fell backwards onto the ground due to the sudden crossing of the deer and shouted as she pushed herself off the ground, "That wasn't very nice, where are your manners?", to the fleeing deer.
"Fluttershy, this is the past. We can not be seen or heard by any who live in this time.", Discord said as he lent a helping paw to Fluttershy.
"But... the girl... calling your name?", Fluttershy asked.
Discord pushed apart a bush and pointed out into a clearing in the forest. There sat another draconequus and a brown unicorn, with a black mane, and a cutie mark of the sun rise, who was comforting the draconequus.
"Discord, you can't let what other's say get to you.", she said.
"Oh Radiance, how I wish it was that easy! You're not the one who gets shoved around! You're not the one who gets yelled at for something that you can't control!", the Discord of the past exasperated. "I've been holding back my powers for a long time now! It's boiling over, and I just can't control it anymore!"
"Yes, this is true." Radiance said as she placed a comforting hoof on Discord's shoulder, "I know it must be hard Discord, but you have to keep trying. I know you want others to see you the way they see me, but I can't destroy an entire village at whim."
"So, you're one of them?", he abjectedly asked.
"No Discord, I'm not, but you have to see why other's are afraid of you. You have so much power that you can alter reality if you saw fit.", she said with a hint of pity in her voice.
Discord's face turned from one of sadness to one of rage, "That's right. Why should I let them kick me around? Why should I be feeling repressed?", he turned to the unicorn, who was now backing away from him slowly, "And I know just what to do!", he said with an evil grin, "They wanted a monster? Well now they got one!", Discord shouted into the sky.
He began to float upwards as a blinding light surrounded him. He began to laugh manically as the chaos he had surpressed for so long flowed freely throughout his body in full force. Lightening shot forth from his fingers and the sky darkened. The Discord of the past was throughly enjoying this. He looked down when he felt something tickling his side, and saw that Radiance was trying to attack him with some spell.
"And what is this?" Discod asked in a semidemonic voice.
"I can't let you do this Discord! If you want your revenge," she recharged her horn and fired again, "you'll have to get through me!"
Fluttershy looked over at the present Discord, who was staring at the ground as a fresh tear rolled down his cheek.
"Radiance was my first friend before you, dear Fluttershy.", he looked up at Fluttershy, "All she ever tried to do was help me, and I... I just..."
An angry growl erupted from the Discord of the past, and suddenly there was an explosion. Fluttershy turned to see what was going on, but the present Discord grabbed her and held her close in a hug.
"I'm so sorry.", Fluttershy heard Discord whisper, "Please forgive me."
Discord snapped his fingers and suddenly they standing in front of Fluttershy's cottage once again. He fell to his knees with his face in his paw and talon, and began sobbing loudly, occationally apologizing.
Fluttershy knelt down beside the draconequus and hugged him tightly, all the while comforting him.
After a while his sobs subsided and he looked into Fluttershy's eyes, "You remind me a lot of her, you know?"
"I'm sure she was a very nice pony.", Fluttershy said quietly.
"Oh she was. She was the nicest pony around during that time.", he said with a small smile.
"And Discord?", Fluttershy said trying to get his attention.
"Yes dear Fluttershy?", he responded.
"I'm certain that she has forgiven you.", Fluttershy said with a small smile.
Tears filled his eyes again, but they didn't streak down his face, "Thanks Fluttershy."
"Oh! One more thing Discord.", Fluttershy said as if she had remembered something important.
"Yes?", he said.
Fluttershy smiled and asked, "Where's my bagel?"