Fluttershy and Discord are enjoying an abnormal afternoon in his realm. Unfortunately, Discord recalls some of the more unpleasant dimensions he's been in, causing trouble for his sweet bird pony. Poor Fluttershy has no idea what she's about to face.
Discord's seen a lot in his time. Poor Fluttershy is about to see the absolute worst of the worst. In order to rescue his best friend, he has to return to one of the most uncomfortable and sickening dimensions he's ever been to. It's full of dead eyed ponies that laugh at everything and all look the same; there's no telling what will happen to Fluttershy if Discord doesn't find her in time.
This is pretty tongue in cheek, and a lot of jokes at the expense of G3 MLP. It is coming from a place of authenticity however; I grew up with and enjoyed G3 greatly. Now that I'm a sorta adult and in love with G4, I felt like taking a crack trip down memory lane. Plus, I personally think G3.5 is far worse.
Fluttershy and Discord were spending the afternoon comfortably in his chaotic realm. More specifically, lounging on his thinking tree and enjoying the occasional nonsense that passed by. Fluttershy was curled up on Discord’s chest, her eyelids drifting shut only to open again as she attempted to remain awake. Though it was slightly more difficult to stay conscious with Discord’s claw combing through her mane absently.
Fluttershy took a moment to marvel at the situation. Before Discord came into her life, she couldn’t even began to imagine how comfortable she would become with the odd and out of place. Sure, she was still timid and quiet, but now that was more out of natural instinct rather than her wariness to speak up. She’s really come a long way, and Discord’s chaos became a welcome complacency in her life. Of course, she would never tell him that. It is funny to imagine his reaction if she were to tell him that his weirdness was now normal to her.
She looked up at said draconequus. He seemed to be staring at nothing, eyes not directed toward anything in particular. A three headed tongue demon flew by, drool leaking up as it passed. Fluttershy smirked at the thought of Twilight trying make sense of the many oddities with Discord’s realm. Her giggle caught his attention, and he grinned down at the pegasus.
“Now my dear, it’s not polite to laugh before one has even made a joke.” He said playfully.
Fluttershy smiled and shook her head, “Oh, I was just thinking about how Twilight would handle your place here.” This brought a mischievous glint to Discord’s eye, and she could tell instantly what he was thinking.
“Not that I’m making suggestions.” The stern tone was betrayed by Fluttershy’s grin.
“Don’t worry Flutters, I’m not planning on messing up the eggheads worldview by revealing to her the secrets of the multiverse,”
He stroked his beard in thought, grinning, “...yet.” Fluttershy sighed, knowing she couldn’t stop Discord from being himself. Not that she wanted to.
“Twilight has gone to another dimension, the one where Sunset Shimmer is. I mean I haven’t been there, but I believe she handled that one just fine.”
Discord’s eyes widened in recognition, “Ah yes, the fruit snack human dimension. I haven't bothered with that one in a while.”
He waved his hand dismissively, “Besides, that ones not very shocking, in fact, I’d say that dimension is even more organized than yours.”
Discord scoffed, “It’s no wonder Princess Twilight got along so well there.”
That got Fluttershy thinking. “Um, Discord?”
“Hm?”
“What are some places that have shocked you?” His pupils shrunk. Nervously, he scratched the back of his neck.
“Darling, places that have shocked me are few and far between. I wouldn’t dream of showing you those places.” Sweet innocent Fluttershy, the light of Discord’s ridiculous life; he couldn’t bear it if she were to witness some of the harsh mind shattering truths about the universe. Had it been anyone else, he wouldn’t have bothered, but Fluttershy was different. Still, she got him thinking about some of the more...unpleasant worlds he’s passed through. A shiver shot down his spine as he recalled one that contained multi colored horses. Which sounds quite standard, except for the fact that them being colorful ponies was not what made that dimension stomach churning.
Unbeknownst to Discord, he had inadvertently summoned a portal to said dimension. He was lost in the memories of that horrible place, and had let his magic get away from him. The portal appeared below them. Fluttershy stretched tiredly, a yawn overtaking her. She leaned to the left, losing the balance she had on Discord and slipping off the branch.
They both noticed the portal at the last second; Discord barely had time to register Fluttershy’s cry as she fell through and the gateway closed after her. “Fluttershy!”
The God of Chaos blinked. A moment of disbelief passed through him, as it registered that Fluttershy had just fallen into a random doorway to Celestia knows where. He slapped his hands against his face.
He stopped and focused on Fluttershy’s signature, attempting to pinpoint her whereabouts. A familiar tug and he found the vague coordinates. In his mind, he saw the general setting of the dimension. His eyes snapped open so hard that his horn and antler fell off. Discord gulped as an uncommon but not unfamiliar knot of fear settled in his gut.
“Oh no…”
***
Before she knew it, Fluttershy was falling through the sky at an alarming rate. She whimpered and tried to angle her wings to push herself upward. Her wings snapped back to her sides when this only aided in her descent. “Oh dear…” If only she were Rainbow Dash, her friend wouldn’t have a problem with this at all. She let loose a scream as she broke through the clouds, and saw the approaching ground.
She covered her eyes with her hooves, waiting with dread for the inevitable. “Discord,” she whispered to herself, fearing his reaction when he would find her. Or what was left of her.
“I’m sorry.”
Seconds went by, and Fluttershy left out a yelp as she was engulfed in a soft plush feeling rather than the unforgiving ground. She opened her eyes and was greeted by the sight of multicolored fabrics. She felt around and pulled the blanket off her head.
Fluttershy squinted as she took in her surroundings. She seemed to be in a moving wagon that was traveling through an obnoxiously colored town. The houses were very loud in appearance, some decorated with various rainbows, cupcakes, or flowers. Looking to the front of the wagon carrying her, Fluttershy was startled to see that large chicks were pulling the cart. While she was happy to see some animals, she couldn’t really prove the ethical value in having babies pull your wagon. Carefully, she shuffled out of the wagon and took a look around. There was a small bridge nearby, and Fluttershy was happy to see a pony on it. She sighed in relief. Given the circumstances, it was very lucky that she wasn’t thrown into a completely foreign universe.
Fluttershy made her way over to the blue pony, who started to look very familiar as she got closer. It was faint, but her mane had similar rainbow colors. Then she gasped, “Rainbow Dash?” The pony turned, and Fluttershy was completely floored. This was by far the strangest pony she had ever seen, and certainly not the Rainbow Dash she knew. Her head was uncomfortably large, with doll like eyes to match, there were no wings, and her muzzle jutted out as she grinned at Fluttershy.
“I don’t believe we’ve met darling, my names Rainbow Dash. What’s yours?” Fluttershy couldn’t help it. She fainted.
Discord closed the portal behind him, barely observing his surroundings as he searched frantically for his canary horse. He groaned at the obnoxious colors that greeted him. Mostly pink. He smacked a claw to his forehead. How could he have been so careless? Usually that was of the norm, but not when Fluttershy’s safety was on the line!
Looking down, he spotted a butterfly shaped island, with other various butterfly themed architecture. There in his sight were brightly colored flying ponies. He shuddered at the thought of interacting with insipid, bug eyed, four legged--!
Discord stopped himself. Now's not the time to be repulsed. Fluttershy was waiting for him. An image flashed through his mind of Fluttershy being stuck in a technicolor nightmare with no hope of escape as she’s surrounded by copies of the same pony laughing endlessly at everything she said. The thought turned his stomach. With newfound courage, Discord flew down to the island. Better to start there than not at all.
As soon as he landed, Discord was greeted by the shrieks of terror from a multitude of pegasi ponies. Ah, of course. Discord thought to himself. This is the world where things not covered in pink or glitter is absolutely horrifying. Perhaps he was being unfair. But when one lives in a world where it’s already filled to the brim with optimistic friendship worshipping ponies, it’s hard to be kind when they find an even more sugar coated world in more ways than one.
One pegasus fainted at the sight of the draconequus, another dive bombed through the window of her house. Some forgot they had wings and free fell out of the clouds and into the ocean. Discord’s grumpy and stressed attitude did melt a little at the sight. How he missed this. What’s even more enlightening is the fact that this mayhem was merely caused by his appearance. Who’s to say what types of reactions he could elicit from a bit of chaos?
A white pegasus with toothpaste hair flew forward and attempted to quiet the screams and overdramatics. “Ponies please! There is no cause for alarm!” Her voice was evidently different from the others. Where most of the ponies of this dimension were high pitched with stuffy noses, this one sounded like a wispy wannabe Princess Celestia. She continued.
“We have grown past our cowardice with the help of the flightless ponies,” Most of the pegasi had calmed down considerably at this. A complete one-eighty from before. The toothpaste Tia ripoff turned to Discord, her eyes unblinking and static.
“So sorry, my name is Star Catcher. What is yours friend?” Discord grinned, making extra sure his fangs were on full display. Some of the ponies behind Star Catcher trembled in fear, unlike their leader, whose expression remained at the same frame.
“Oh excuse me for not introducing myself sooner,” He bowed in mock respect, pushing his voice to sound far most sarcastic than is deemed possible, “I go by many names, Eris, Tau, Set, obnoxious… but I prefer you address me as Discord.” He struck a pose.
“Master and Being of Chaos and Disorder.” With a snap of his fingers, lightning struck behind him to add to the effect. The effect was well executed, and the pegasi huddled comically behind Star Catcher, forming a pile of fear. Star Catcher simply smiled, and looked up at Discord without a shred of uneasiness. He couldn’t tell she was just brave or stupid for not realizing the possible danger he posed. He went with the latter.
“Well Mr. Cord, what can the pegasi of Butterfly Island do for you?” Ew. How about nothing.
“Yeah yeah I’m just looking for a dear friend of mine. Just tell if you’ve seen her or not.” Discord waved his hands in an act of silencing Star Catcher. He continued to describe Fluttershy in the most basic way possible.
“She’s a yellow pegasus, rosey pink hair with a butterfly cutie mark. She’s got a really soft voice and looks significantly better than any other pony here.” He rolled his eyes, “Or in your case, she looks odd.” He said, finishing off that sentence with air quotes.
The pegasi all looked at each other in confusion, and Star Catcher moved up to Discord’s eye-level and smiled...even more so one would propose. “What is your friends name? Most pegasuses can be found here on Butterfly Island.”
“Yes I know the name of your hovel--”
“Please tell us.”
“Her name is Fluttershy, has anypony seen her?”
At this, there was an influx of pegasus ponies searching the relatively small island for the yellow one. Meanwhile, Discord tweaked a bit of the ponies daily appliances. Simple stuff, like turning their rainbow photo negative, or screwing with the proportions of their butterfly houses, turning them upside down. There were a few reasons he didn’t go all out, but it was mostly due to his impression that it wouldn’t take much to turn these ponies’ world upside down.
A dark blue pony with a yellow teal mane flew up to Star Catcher. “Star Catcher, I've seen no Flutterbutter pegasus.” Another added to the news with the same mane and yellow coat.
“Me neither Splish Splash, no sign of Butterscotch.” Soon a combination of the same ponies with different skins added to the mix.
Have you seen her Scoop Shine?”
“I haven’t Lyra Shine.”
“What about you Royal Rose?”
“Nope Baby Honolu-Loo.”
“You know you don’t have to say your names in every senten--”
Discord was cut off by Star Catcher, thankfully putting an end to the overly fluffy madness. “It seems she’s not on this island Mr. Obnoxious--”
“DIscord--”
“Perhaps she’s in Ponyville, or Unicornia.” Discord raised a bushy eyebrow at the humiliating name. The corniest of the corns indeed. He sighed and bowed, looking for a fast exit. Star Catcher caught his need to leave. This was obvious mostly from Discord twisting his head 360 degrees, prompting his neck crack and fall off his body, leaving his head suspended in the air.
“A short cut to Ponyville is through that rainbow over there.” Star Catcher pointed to the fluffiest, glitter monstrosity of a rainbow Discord had ever seen. He ‘hmmd’ mockingly.
“Yes well, thank you hmmmhmm tra la la…” With that, Discord straightened out and shot like a pistol through the gaping maw rainbow wormhole. Not a goodbye. Lucky for them.
Discord groaned as he left the Celestia-forsaken island, coming out the other side of a rainbow waterfall. Peering over the lazily drawn trees, Discord could see a pink town in the distance. Ponyville. Discord snapped his claw, and cut the butter on this dreadful trip. Absolutely insane, and not even in the fun way. He could only hope Fluttershy was faring better.
