Chapter two: Dirt and Straw
Snap.
In another circumstance, the town would be in a much different state. The grass would be speckled with a pattern of garish colors, the roads would be coated with soap and bubbles, and the buildings themselves would be thrown into stasis. Anomalies would occur in every corner - buffalos in tutus, piglets with wings, giant shakers of pepper spilling their contents on passers-by. Ponies would laugh, then would scream, then would beg for their world to return to normal.
Snap.
Normalcy. Such a nice, clean, boring aspect. A normal day in a normal life, where the only concern of a mother was what flavor of jelly to pair with peanut butter. Where a child needn’t worry about losing his way home, or forgetting where the edge of the dangerous forest began. Where friends were friendly, families were loving, and nothing unexpected ever happened. At least, not without a swift intervention by a group of heroines.
Snap.
Discord used to hate ‘normal.’ He used to hate order and sense, choosing instead to inject his own brand of peculiarity. Music from rocks, chocolate from clouds, solid structures changed to flimsy cardboard. There was simply no fun in making sense, so he chose nonsense. It was and always has been a conflict of order versus chaos, one that he enjoyed even in defeat. He was unique in his abilities, his form, and his desire, and he proudly wore that fact like a badge.
Now order had won once again, but this time it was different. ‘Normal’ had changed.
Snap.
Two ponies whipped their eyes toward Discord, himself holding his outstretched eagle-hand toward them. The sound of his snapping fingers flew around their heads for a split second. Both of the ponies were surprised on two accounts. The first was that Discord, who had sworn not to use his powers on Ponyville citizens, had just attempted to do just that. The second was that nothing had happened despite his attempt.
Discord didn’t look at them as they slowly continued on. He instead stared at his hand, pressing his fingers together once again. His gaze shifted to a nearby flower. Snap. In his mind’s eye, the flower grew to the size of a building and began to sing every song in Equestrian culture off-key. But the flower, of course, remained a flower, silent and beautiful and boring.
‘Normal.’ He began to hate it once again.
Discord withdrew his hand and began to wander aimlessly through Ponyville’s center. Ponies who personally knew him simply stepped aside, while those who simply knew his reputation actively avoided his path. In all cases, the populace left him to his thoughts, which were as chaotic as his nature. Of course, this time, the chaos brought him no glee.
His thoughts were rampant, saddened, wistful, and senseless. They were not the product of his scheming or pranking, but the result of something else. His mind wasn’t part of the cause, just the effect. Discord scoffed at himself. He was having a reaction to the news. And a reaction like this was perfectly normal.
He paused and looked around. Normal ponies would not be avoided. If a pony was seen walking down the road with a long face, no fewer than four other ponies would flock to their side. Chances were high that one of those ponies would be Pinkie Pie. What made this brand of ‘normal’ different?
The answer was obvious. ‘Normal’ wasn’t what had changed. The concept of normalcy was his opposite, the yin to his yang. He was chaos incarnate, the Spirit of Disharmony, and as such ‘normal’ was simply not possible for him. It was a way of life he had never practiced. Yet here he was, as typical as a common cloud. The normal way of life had brought him into its fold. Change had found him.
He kicked a nearby stone and sent it tumbling along the road. ‘I knew there was a reason. There was always a reason why I hated normal.’
He decided he was angry. He did not decide at whom.
Discord looked at the distant rock he had just kicked. Snap. The rock remained a rock.
It was some time later when he spotted her. Of course it would be her; who else? Out of all the ponies he considered friends, she was by far the most genuine. It came as no surprise that she would have been told the news, and neither was it a surprise that she would seek him out. She was searching the buildings one by one, looking on the ground when her target was above it. Door after door she opened, window after window she peered through, each time never losing pace.
Eventually, he decided to help her out. As she passed beneath him, he gripped a tuft of straw, pulled it loose, and let it fall to the ground. Many strands fell on her mane (and face, when she finally looked up), causing her to shake herself clean. Discord held up a hand to greet her, but didn’t say a word.
Fluttershy was too concerned to be embarrassed about the straw. She spread her wings and leaped up to the roof, where Discord sat waiting for her. She didn’t waste any time before speaking her mind.
“Discord! Are you okay? Twilight told me what happened! Well, it was actually Spike who told me, because he came and found me earlier and told me on the way to the castle. How are you feeling? Can I-”
Discord silenced her by gently placing his lion paw atop her head. With the soft pressure, Fluttershy stopped mid-syllable and looked around her mane at him. He gave a silent laugh, then rubbed her head. Her mane instantly went from ‘free flow’ to ‘bed head.’
She shook herself free. “Discord!” she scoffed.
“Good to see you, Fluttershy, but one question at a time, hm?”
She paused to pat down her mane. “Are you...are you okay?”
He gave a grim smile. It could just as easily have been a frown. Fluttershy wasn’t sure.
“Uhm...what are you doing?”
“Oh, just enjoying the sunset.”
“...it’s just past three in the afternoon.”
He nodded. “I suppose it is.”
“And you’re facing east. The sun sets in the west, you know.”
“Hm. I suppose it does.”
Fluttershy nodded. “You’re not okay, then?”
Another grim smile-frown.
Both were silent for a while. It dawned on Fluttershy that perhaps her friend didn’t want to talk about the latest development in his life. For a fleeting moment, she considered leaving him to his thoughts while she went about her day. Then she considered it some more as the silence stretched on.
She reached a decision, and sat down next to him. “Um, ah...nice sunset...?” she pried.
“Fluttershy, I know you mean well, but you don’t need to pretend for my sake.”
The pegasus shrunk and looked in his direction. He had very nearly spat the words at her, but she could see regret cross his muzzle after he said them. Discord’s eyes shifted, caught her looking his way, then shifted again.
“Sorry.”
After a moment, she lightly tapped his coiled tail in a gesture of comfort. “It’s okay.”
They were silent once more. Fluttershy again thought about leaving her friend to his demons, but decided that since she had already planted herself, she should stay. This was for him, after all - he had the problem to overcome. So, with patience honed from years of watching over forest critters, she sat and waited for him to start.
It was a solid four minutes before he did. “How do you do it?”
The pegasus allowed herself a moment’s grin in victory. “Do what?”
“Live each day like this?” Discord swept his eagle arm outward, gesturing to the town and landscape beyond.
“...um, what’s wrong with this?” She blinked. “It. What’s wrong with it?”
Discord scoffed. “Nothing. Everything. I don’t know...this is just so boring! How can you stand it?”
“Well, I...have my friends to see, the critters in the meadows and forests to care for, and sometimes...something unexpected happens that we need to correct. Those all tend to make days quite lively, and not, uhm...boring.”
The draconequus cocked an eyebrow. “What if you woke up one day and discovered that everything you knew was different? Or even worse, just barely out of reach?”
“I think I would look for the good side in things. You know, the things that hadn’t changed and I could still enjoy. Like tea parties and sleepovers.”
“Hm. Different question, then.” He slowly reached over and took hold of one of her feathers. The sensation of it being tugged made her want to recoil. “What if you woke up tomorrow and discovered you were missing your wings?”
Fluttershy was silent. She looked from his face to his lion hand then to her wing. “I...” She hesitated. “...I’m not sure.”
“But why not? Isn’t there a ‘good side’ to it? Wouldn’t you still be able to visit your friends and enjoy your tea parties?”
“I- well...you’re right, of course. I would still be able to do some things that I enjoy...but not being able to fly? I...actually, I think I would get used to it after a while.”
Discord blew raspberries and turned away. “Get used to being something you’re not? Get used to never touching clouds again or flying with your little birds? I get the feeling you didn’t really think about you answer.”
“Hey, there’s no need to be mean about it!” she scolded. Discord only gazed at the town in response. “To be fair, being without my wings has only happened once. You remember when, don’t you? And when it happened, it didn’t matter. I needed to stay on the ground anyway.”
“Mm-hmm,” he muttered, still unconvinced. “So you know why I’m up here, don’t you?”
“...yes.”
“Think of me as a bird, Fluttershy. A full-grown falcon, who is proud to fly in the sky and roost in the trees. Now think of me without those wings.”
“That’s not the same thing, though,” she argued. “A bird needs its wings in order to live. To survive each and every day. They’re fundamental to-”
“So you think my magic isn’t fundamental to me?” he spat.
Fluttershy hesitated again. This was proving far more than she had expected. “...no. I just...think you’ll be able to live even without your magic. It was a big part of you, yes, but not all of you. You should be able to live happily without it...”
Discord waited a moment. Then he said “How ridiculous,” slid off the rooftop, landed on the dirt road beneath, and began walking back into town.
Fluttershy was flustered. For the third time, she thought about leaving him alone. But for the second time, she mentally argued that she had already made her decision. She just realized that the choice she had made was the hard one, perhaps the hardest in a long time. The pony swallowed her doubt and decided to try again, gliding off the rooftop to join her friend.
Ahead of her, Discord glowered at anypony unlucky enough to cross his path. He still hadn’t decided who deserved his anger.
Very well made, you captured Discord and Fluttershy's internal turmoil very well. Though Fluttershy was kinda writing off the loss of his magic as 'not a big deal'. Understandable, since she's never lost something of that magnitude.
Hm... I hope Twilight can fix this.
I think it would be a cop-out for Discord to accept this for any reason other than time passing. He's going to be angry and bitter and unhappy and because he feels like this is his own fault/karmic comeuppance for his betrayal, he doesn't even have anyone he can pin it on besides himself, so he's probably going to be in bad mental shape for some time. It's quite understandable that Fluttershy would try to help him see that life isn't over, but I don't think she can; the only thing she can do is be there for him, put up with his shit, and try to keep him from alienating everyone who might care about him (because he's likely to be lashing out verbally at everyone and everything, and most of the ponies aren't going to take that; after all, it's not their fault he lost his powers, it's his for trusting Tirek and betraying them all. Fluttershy will probably understand that he's just reacting out of grief and pain and try to smooth things over with anyone he pisses off, because she knows that when he finally comes to terms with it he's going to need his friends more than ever, so the best thing she can do for him is make sure he doesn't drive them all away.)
Eventually over time he'd get used to it, because people who become disabled get used to it over time and learn to accept it, but I don't think it's going to be quick.
Twilight may find a way to help him reconnect with his power (and it may be necessary, because where is that power and what is it doing if Discord isn't controlling it?), so this might not be forever, but I like that he thinks that it is -- he doesn't really believe Twilight's going to find a way to fix this, so he's going to react like someone who's just broken their spine in an accident, not someone who's faced with a difficult quest (characters who lose their power but have a way to get it back will react very differently). Personally I hope he eventually gets his power back, but even if he doesn't, I like the psychological drama of it.
It's fortunate for him that he's still three times the size of a pony, with sharp claws and teeth, because if it gets around that he's powerless... most ponies are very forgiving, but there may be some he helped Tirek steal power from who would want to take the opportunity to get revenge. But you'd need to be a pretty damn powerful pony to beat Discord up even if he has no powers because he's so much bigger and stronger than ponies. And that's going to provide a deterrent intimidation factor that will probably keep ponies from trying to hurt him for revenge. They may refuse him service or refuse to sell him stuff, if he tries to do ordinary things now that he has to to survive, but he's got Fluttershy and the others to help him with that.
5305214 I ought to pay you or something, because you've basically outlined all of my ideas for the direction of this fic! I mean, holy shit, there's no less than FIVE plot devices I have in standby that you've mentioned. I can't upvote your comment enough. High-five!
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Yes, you've correctly sensed a few planned plot points for future chapters. I won't say which ones, because an air of mystery adds to the drama, but feel proud that you saw them ahead of time. That said, the direction in which I plan to take said plot points is still undecided. I kind of shoot myself in the foot that way, always planning the last chapter(s) but never the next one.
THIS STORY IS AMAZING :D
so excited for more
I will say; very few stories have made me tremble with excitement and sadness at the same time. (And by tremble I mean legs and arms shaking and jaw chattering.) This is one of them.
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Personally I found Fluttershy to be less understanding here than she ought to be.
Aside from that I second that. You captured the dynamic between those two very well.
I'm looking forward to more.
This is a really unique premise. I like how its executed so far. Discord was written extremely well but, as others have pointed out, I think Fluttershy would be a bit more concerned and compassionate. Her continuing to follow him was a great touch though and made it satisfying enough.
I can't wait to see what happens next.
when will you update ?:(
5644939 Soon. I've started work on the next chapter as of yesterday, and I plan to keep up work after chapter four at least is done. At a glance? Chapter three is 3/5ths complete!