His Name Is Q: a DisQord fic by Jed R.
A strange being sat in Fluttershy the Pegasus' garden, reading a book. If one had actually thought to look at the book, one would have seen that it was covered, on every page, in simple swirly lines, as if to crudely represent writing to someone watching as opposed to being genuine literature. Since the being reading the book was a spirit of Chaos, it wasn't entirely surprising.
He had the face and upper body of a pony, with a snaggle-toothed mouth, and a selection of mis-matching body parts making up the rest of his form, from a lion's paw to an eagle's claw to a cloven hoof and a dragon foot. He was a kind of being - or rather, the sole example (he thought) of a being - known as a Draconequus. His name, appropriately enough given the odd arrangement of body parts he possessed, was Discord.
As he sat reading, he frowned slightly. The book was interesting enough - fortunately enough, he was able to read the cartoonish squiggles (don't ask how: rules of logic not applying to him and all) - but it wasn't distracting him from a nagging feeling he had been having for well over a month.
"Hello?" the small voice of Fluttershy, his only real friend, spoke. He turned to look at her as she stepped out of her house into her garden, and smiled at her. The little yellow Pegasus smiled back.
"My dear Fluttershy," he said, his voice almost melodious (if a tad melodramatic). "Wonderful to see you."
"Discord?" she asked, her voice small. "I wasn't expecting you..."
"Reformed I may be," Discord said with a wry grin, "but if I ever became predictable I'd be a very poor excuse for a spirit of Disharmony, wouldn't I?"
In truth, he had felt the need to come visit Fluttershy. He couldn't have explained why and he wasn't sure he wanted to, but he felt like it was important he come and see her.
"It's good to see you, anyway," Fluttershy said kindly. "Would you like a cup of tea?"
"No thanks," Discord said, snapping his fingers. In his eagle claw, a cup of a deep black liquid materialised. "I've a cup of raktajino right here..."
He frowned softly, turning his head to look at the cup.
"What's raktajino?" Fluttershy asked curiously, looking at the cup.
"I... have no idea," Discord said softly. That was new: he knew a lot of things. Almost everything in fact: he was pretty old and pretty knowledgeable, after all... "I just summoned it." He took a sip. "It's ghastly. Ah well." He threw the cup away, and it landed in a bush.
"It's coffee, or some horrible Klingon excuse for it," a cocky-sounding voice spoke out of thin air. Discord's ears pricked up - he heard the voice as though it were coming from all around.
"Who is that?" Fluttershy asked, looking around in confusion and worry.
"I don't know," Discord said with a frown. He stood up, his book and the cup of rakta-whatever vanishing in a flash.
"Forgotten me so soon, Bro?" the voice said. "I'm hurt."
From out of nowhere, another flash appeared, identical to how Discord normally travelled, and a figure emerged from the light. Fluttershy gasped in shock at the sight: it was another Draconequus!
This one looked almost identical to Discord, save for the fact that where Discord was grey-bearded with dark brown fur and a black mane, this Draconequus was brown-bearded, with blonde fur and an auburn mane, as well as lacking the snaggle-tooth. The minute this new Draconequus saw Discord, he grinned, throwing his arms wide.
"There you are!" he said happily, grinning at Discord with what could only be described as delight. "It's been too long!"
The new Draconequus' voice was tinged with a vague Trottingham accent, and he seemed genuinely happy to see Discord, judging by his tone of voice.
Discord regarded the new Draconequus with wide eyes. "Who are you?" he asked, more surprised than he tended to be after things such as this.
"You don't remember me? Has it been that long?" the other Draconequus said, looking concerned, his arms dropping to his sides. "Really? Come on, Q, it's me!"
"My name is Discord," Discord said coldly, regarding the new Draconequus with wary eyes. "And who might you be?"
"I'm..." the being said, his voice trailing off slightly. "Well, I suppose for the sake of clarity, let's call me your long lost brother."
"Ha ha, very funny," Discord said, narrowing his eyes at the being. "I happen to know there are no other Draconequus' apart from me."
"Actually there are no Draconequus' full stop," the being said, looking faintly concerned. "All appearances to the contrary. You just invented them when you came here."
"I was born a Draconequus," Discord countered, now getting irritated. The new Draconequus frowned, now clearly worried.
"No you weren't," he said. "Oh no... don't tell me you forgot..."
"Forgot what?" Discord asked.
"Do me a favour," the being asked, "and change the gravitational constant of the universe."
"Of the universe?!" Discord repeated, eyes wide. "As in, the entire universe?"
"Yup: all however many to the hoo-hah square light years it is," the being said, grinning slightly.
Discord looked at the being for a moment, before bursting out laughing.
"That's a good one," he said. "Change the gravitational constant of the universe. As if that's even possible..."
The being stopped grinning, just looking at Discord with something resembling shock. Slowly, Discord stopped laughing. The other Draconequus face-hoofed, and then held up his eagle claw, before waving it in an outward motion, almost as if he were swatting a fly.
And suddenly, Discord and Fluttershy were floating.
"Wh-what?" Fluttershy said, looking around shocked. Discord was equally surprised, but the surprise was short lived as the being waved it's hand again, and he found that he was back on the ground.
"You forgot," the other Draconequus said shortly, sounding a combination of irritated and unhappy. "Well, that's ok I guess. Can always just take you back home to the continuum, hope that you remember when you're there..."
"Remember what?" Discord asked, irritated.
"Who you are, of course," the other Draconequus said with a smile. "Yeah, that's probably gonna work. Come with me..."
"I don't think so," Discord said irritably. "I have less than no interest in going anywhere with you."
"You think you have a choice?" the other Draconequus said. He scrutinised Discord closely, then gasped in shock, and nodded in comprehension. "Oh, I get it now! You've fettered yourself, Q."
"Discord," Discord corrected.
"I get it now," the other Draconequus said. "When you came here, you fettered to really live it out here. You created a species specifically to do that and yet retain some semblance of your power, hence the..." he gestured to Discord's form, "motley appearance."
"I have no idea what you're talking about," Discord said irritably.
"But even in your fettered state," he added, ignoring Discord, "you must have felt something. Something just a bit... off? Would have been fairly recent in linear time."
Discord said nothing, but his eyes widened slightly: he had been feeling something... wrong. He just didn't know how to describe it.
"I see you have," the other Draconequus smiled. "That's the Continuum, calling you home. We need you back, Q."
"Discord," Discord corrected. "And I'm still not going anywhere with you. I have a schedule to keep after all." A flash of light appeared, and a long scroll tumbled to the ground from Discord's claw.
The other Draconequue chuckled softly. "Ah, Q: you can say what you like but, in your fettered state..." and here his voice took on a slightly sinister tone, "you're nothing next to my power." The other Draconequus gave an unsettling smile. "I could take you by force if I had to, and though I'd rather not, I really will."
"Now listen here!" Fluttershy spoke up, flying up to the other Draconequus with a hard look in her eyes. "I don't know who you think you are, being mean to Discord, but you're not taking him anywhere!"
"Oh look at that, Q," the Draconequus said with a condescending smile, his tone patronising. "You've made a friend. Or possibly bought a pet. Really can't tell the difference."
"She's my friend," Discord said, almost angrily.
"That's right buster," Fluttershy said angrily. "I'm his friend. And if you don't leave him alone right this second, I'll..."
"Don't threaten me, kid," the Draconequus said, a wave of his hand adding a zip to Fluttershy's mouth that closed very quickly. "It's so pathetic it isn't even funny."
Discord snapped his finger, and the zip disappeared.
"Whoever you are, and frankly I'm not sure I care, this is my turf," he said angrily, "and this is my friend. I'm not going anywhere with you."
"Interesting," the other Draconequus said with a thoughtful expression. "Could it be that you're staying for your friend here?"
Discord said nothing, but the other being laughed anyway.
"It is, isn't it?" he said. "You've actually become attached to these things."
"And what if I have?" Discord asked coldly.
"That's so like you," the Draconequus said with a mock-sad shake of the head. "It's so similar to that time you..." He trailed off. "You know, they're not nearly as attached to you as you are to them."
"What do you mean?" Discord asked, narrowing his eyes.
"That's always the way," the other Draconequus said. "You mess with their lives a little, but you do it because, despite all reason, they actually interest you. Their lives are so short, but so full. Believe me, Q, I know."
"My name is Discord!" Discord shouted. The other Draconequus held his hands up in a placating gesture.
"Ok, Discord," he said. "But you know," he added, continuing his previous train of thought, "you can get attached to these things all you want. You can think they're good sport - maybe even your actual friends - but they aren't, Discord. They'll never understand you. Not like us."
"Us?" Discord asked.
"Us, your people," the other Draconequus said, his tone now almost serious - even pleading. "Not Draconequui, but the Q continuum. Our species. Your species. Your home. Your family."
"Family?" Discord said softly. That struck a chord: for as long as he could remember, he had been the only one of his kind, the only one with his level of power over reality. "I..."
He shook his head, ignoring the desire to learn more about his own kind - the ancient desire to be among others who were just like him, so long ignored and forgotten.
"I don't remember you, and judging by your dismissal of my friend and your dismissal of my free will, I don't think I want to," he said with finality. "Anyone who knows me should know I don't take kindly to being threatened, or having my free will ignored."
"Oh, I know," the other Draconequus said, "but you know it isn't just me that wants you back. The higher ups want you back too, and they don't care what it takes."
"Well, I'm not going," Discord said. "End of."
The other Draconequus sighed.
"It's your attachments, isn't it," he stated more than asked. "They're what's keeping you here."
A nasty smile played out on the Draconequus' face.
"What if I showed you just how little they actually cared for you?" he asked. "What if I showed you how much their 'friendship' is worth."
Discord tensed, sensing that nothing good would come of this, but before he could act, he found himself sat in a comfortable leather armchair, the only uncomfortable thing being the shackle around his waist preventing him from standing up. The only other thing of note was the gag around Discord's mouth, preventing him from speaking.
A moment later, a flash of light heralded the other Draconequus, who looked suitably abashed by the entire thing, but also resolute.
"Hello again," he said softly. "And, sorry about this. It's something of a cliche, I know, but it really is all for your own good."
And with that, before Discord could even try to say anything through the gag, he vanished.
***
Twilight Sparkle was confused. A moment ago, the purple alicorn had been reading a book about Starswirl the bearded, trying to continue her studies, but now she found herself standing in what she could only describe as a white void. A moment's inspection revealed the presence of the other bearers of the Elements of Harmony, sans Fluttershy, all looking as confused as she was.
"Twilight!" Rainbow Dash called out, and Twilight walked over to join her friends. "What is this place?"
"I don't know," Twilight said softly, regarding the confused blue Pegasus with worry. Wherever they were, it was somewhere far from Equestria.
"Better question," Applejack put in, the orange Earth Pony looking around with something resembling fear on her face. "Where's Fluttershy?"
"That's definitely a better question," came an unfamiliar voice. A moment later, a flash of light heralded the appearance of a Draconequus.
"Discord!" Rainbow Dash yelled at once.
"Nope, wrong," the Draconequus said, grinning. "I'm... well, actually, to go with the naming convention he seems to have established, I don't know what you'd call me."
"You're another Draconequus," Twilight stated, eyes wide in shock. All her research into the matter had suggested that Discord was the only one.
"That's an accurate name, but I don't see it taking off," the Draconequus said thoughtfully. "'Hello, my name's Another Draconequus, nice to meet you'. See, that just doesn't work."
Pinkie Pie snorted softly, clearly amused. A glare from Applejack shut her up.
"I suppose if your 'friend'," the Draconequus said air quoting the word "friend", "Discord is the Spirit of Disharmony, I'm more like the spirit of... well, here?" He smiled, a cold unsettling thing. "I guess you can call me Fraternus. I'm his brother after all."
"He never said he had a brother," Twilight pointed out, eyes narrow.
"Of course he didn't," Fraternus said. "He doesn't remember. See, he and I come from another place - far from your world. Call it a spirit dimension if you like: that is your term for us, isn't it? Spirit?" At the wary nods from Twilight and the others, he continued. "He came here to learn and to test, and apparently felt the need to fetter himself to do it."
"Fetter himself?" Rarity asked from behind Twilight. "You mean chain himself?"
"Metaphorically," Fraternus said. "In our natural state, we're pretty much Gods. He's powerful as he is now, sure, but no God, not like he should be."
"This is all very boring, but it doesn't explain why we're here," Rainbow Dash said angrily. "And why Fluttershy isn't here."
Fraternus smiled his cold smile again. "That would be because she's through this door."
He waved his hand, and a yellow door with the symbol of three butterflies - Fluttershy's cutie mark - appeared.
"What have you done with her, ya varmint?" Applejack said angrily.
"Locked her behind door two," Fraternus replied, grinning. "And behind door one?"
He waved his hand, and a brown door with the letter Q emblazoned on it appeared.
"Who's behind that?" Pinkie asked.
Fraternus didn't reply, merely waving his hand. Letters appeared, surrounding the letter Q, until they spelled a word.
"DisQord."
"You're holding Discord prisoner?" Twilight asked, looking at the door with suspicion.
"He's powerful, but like I said, in his fettered state he's nothing to us," Fraternus said simply.
"Why are we here? Why are you doing this?" Applejack asked, frowning.
"Simple really," Fraternus said. "I told Q - sorry, Discord - that he had to come home with me. He refused." The Draconequus gave a nasty grin. "That means that he is a threat: he has our power, our something like it, but won't return to abide with our kind - and more importantly, won't acknowledge our kind, and therefore won't acknowledge our authority. That creates a Discontinuity. And a Discontinuity must be..." And here, Fraternus' grin grew even crueler, "dealt with."
"What does that have to do with us?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"Simple really," Fraternus said. "I'm going to utterly destroy either Discord or your friend Fluttershy."
"No!" Twilight yelled. The others reacted similarly strongly.
"Yes," Fraternus said, still grinning. "It's simple. Either Discord dies to prevent the Discontinuity, or he comes back with me and your little friend dies."
"Why involve us, though?" Rarity asked.
"Because you're going to choose who dies," Fraternus said. There was another murmur if shock from the five ponies.
"How can we choose?" Twilight asked, echoing her friends' reactions. "That's a horrible choice!"
"Oh, I know," Fraternus said, smiling slightly. "But I like it. The rules are simple, really."
He waved his hand, and each pony was suddenly placed in a separate box, though they could still hear Fraternus - and see him through a single window at the front of each box.
"Individually, you will decide which one you want to die," Fraternus said. "You will leave the box, enter the room and tell the individual within that you want them to die. You will not reveal that another being is in danger, and you will mean everything you say. You will want the individual you choose dead! Make no mistake, small thing, I will know if you don't, and that will count as a vote to the other. The individual with the most votes at the end gets to die."
"You're a monster!" Twilight said angrily.
"Oh, yes," Fraternus said with a grin. "I know."
With that, he disappeared, leaving five ponies in five boxes to decide which they wanted to die.
***
Rainbow Dash didn't like Discord. That much was obvious: she was always eager to deride him, put him down, and distrust him: but that didn't mean she wanted him to die. Death was a big deal: a really big deal. She didn't think she had it in her to bestow that kind of judgement.
But she had to. She didn't want Fluttershy to die, the yellow Pegasus was one of her best friends...
That was the crux of it really. Rainbow didn't want Fluttershy to die. She didn't particularly want Discord to die either, but she desperately wanted to save her friend, and compared to that, her desire to save Discord - or really, her desire to not kill him - was... well, irrelevant. Not as much of an issue. If he had to die to save Fluttershy, it was sad, but...
Still, that was a far cry from literally wanting him to die. She frowned. She had to figure out some way to really want him to die.
Discord had, when they first met, stolen her wings. That had upset her. She focused on that upset. He had brainwashed her into abandoning her friends. She focused more on that.
He had hurt her friends...
Now she was angry.
She had never really believed in his reformation. Even now, she still didn't. It was only a matter of time before he did something evil again. Sure, she didn't think it was entirely necessary to kill him, but... part of her, a small part, admitted that it was something she really wanted to happen.
The minute she thought that, the front of the box opened, and without hesitation, she walked through the DisQord door.
Inside, she found Discord, bound and gagged. He looked up as she entered, looking for all the world like he was genuinely upset. A nasty thought played through Dash's mind: how does he like being helpless for a change?
It was with that thought in mind and a grin on her face that she spoke.
"Discord," she said softly, "I just want you to know that I really, honestly do want you to die. You hurt my friends, and you twisted me into some... horrible disloyal pony. I don't think I ever forgave you, and I don't think I ever can, and I'm glad... I'm actually really kinda glad that you're gonna die."
The Draconequus' eyes widened slightly in surprise, but Dash didn't bother saying anything else. She turned and left the room - there was a flash of light, and she found herself back in her box.
***
Applejack didn't believe in causing harm. It wasn't her nature. But she did believe in justice, and as far as she was concerned, Discord hadn't received that much of a punishment. Certainly not nearly as much of a punishment as she believed he deserved. The whole "reformation" thing aside, he had threatened all of Equestria. He was evil. It was obvious. Fluttershy - too kind Fluttershy - might have befriended him, but he was still Discord.
"He's evil," she said to herself softly. "Evil!"
And yet, she couldn't honestly say that she wanted him to die. Be harshly punished, sure, but die? Could he even die? He was pretty powerful... but this Fraternus seemed more so. And whatever he might have seemed, he didn't seem to be lying - though Applejack was wary of believing anything any Draconequus said, as her usual skill at detecting a lie was... well, next to useless on Discord, let alone another of his kind.
Still, she couldn't risk Fluttershy on maybes and might bes. She had to act on what she knew, and what she knew was that it was a choice between Discord and Fluttershy dying. If that was a choice, Applejack couldn't lie and say she didn't want to save Fluttershy over Discord: but she still couldn't say, in all truthfulness, that she wanted him dead,
And yet... he had taken her honesty when they had first met. He had taken that which made her her. That was a worse crime than all the things he had done, worse than practically everything! Reformed or not... that was the most horrible thing anypony could ever have done to her. It made her mad just thinking about it...
She snarled slightly, kicking out at the walls of the box in frustration... only for a wall to open up, directly in front of the DisQord door. She blinked at it, before realising that she had made her mind up.
She walked through the door, and found herself facing a bound and tied Discord.
"Howdy Discord," she said, feeling slightly absurd. "I - I want to be honest with ya."
She felt silly.
"Ya'll have done a lot of things I can't forgive," she said. "And I... well, I think ya'll oughtta be punished for it. And the more I think about it, the more I think death is about the only punishment that'll cover it." She paused. "Don't get me wrong, I don't like the idea of anypony dying... but you've done some bad things, and you ain't nearly been punished enough for 'em. Death's extreme... but you did some darn extreme things."
She nodded once, as though confirming that this was her honest opinion, and left, not staying to see Discord's reaction.
***
For Rarity, there wasn't all that much thinking to do. Discord had brainwashed her into being in love with a rock. This wasn't funny. This wasn't even uncouth. It was downright barbaric. He was barbaric. Working herself up to feeling like he should die was... well, it was almost too easy.
When she walked through the DisQord door, she stood in front of him, a small smile on her face.
"Discord," she said simply, "Would you kindly die."
She walked out immediately, unrepentant.
***
Pinkie Pie would have had a lot of difficulty thinking of any reason to want anypony to die. She wanted to believe that there was good in everypony, be they Pegasus, unicorn, or even a Draconequus.
But...
But there was a choice to be made. It wasn't a nice choice, it wasn't even a funny choice. Heck, it wasn't even a remotely funny choice, there was generally nothing good about this choice at all.
She had to pick somepony to die.
She didn't want to hurt Discord: he was supposedly reformed, and if Fluttershy thought so that was good enough for Pinkie. But she didn't want Fluttershy to be hurt either. And if she had to pick, she would pick to save Fluttershy because... well, Fluttershy was her friend and Discord - no matter how funny the chaos could be, or how good his chocolate rain was - just wasn't. She had never even thrown him a party, because she didn't want to, and for her to admit that was just plain weird.
She didn't want to kill him. But she had to choose him.
Slowly, she tried thinking of a way to mean it: to mean that she wanted him to die. It was horrible, but if she didn't she would end up accidentally voting for Fluttershy to die, and that would just be horrible.
She briefly toyed with the idea of going through Fluttershy's door and telling her she wanted her to die - supposedly if you didn't mean it, that would count against the other person - but she didn't think she could bring herself to say it to Fluttershy even if she didn't mean it.
No, she had to find a way to say it to a Discord and mean it.
He had messed with her friends. That made her angry. He had turned them against one another. That made her angrier.
He had taken parties away from her, taken laughter away from her.
She walked through the DisQord door without a second thought, facing the bound Draconequus and looking him dead in the eye.
"Discord," she said, sounding as serious as she could. "I want you to die."
She walked out again, feeling a strange mixture of justice and regret...
***
Twilight was the last pony to go. She had thought about every possible option - not speaking up, not saying it once she was in there, saying it half-heatedly to Fluttershy and hoping to explain later - but the some truth was that there was no way out of what Fraternus had said other than to do as he had said.
She vaguely considered the possibility that Fraternus was lying: either that Discord couldn't actually die, or that Fraternus wouldn't follow through with his threat. But just because Discord had never killed, that didn't mean he couldn't, and this Draconequus seemed more powerful... and more threatening. And in any case, could she really risk Fluttershy's life because of the possibility that Fraternus was lying?
She didn't want to kill anypony. Equestria didn't have a death penalty and Twilight had always been proud of that - but this was not something she could step away from.
And she remembered all too well what he had done to them all...
When she walked into the DisQord room, the Draconequus was looking straight at the door, as if expecting someone. His eyes were filled with an odd emotion - something like resolution, mixed with... what?
"Discord," Twilight said softly. "I want you to die."
She stared at him for a long moment. He didn't seem to react to her words, but...
Was that a gleam of water in his eye? He blinked, and the soft trail of a tear tracked down his cheek.
Not wanting to see him cry, Twilight walked out of the DisQord room again.
***
The minute the door closed Fraternus was in front of Discord. With a wave of his eagle claw, the gag disappeared.
"I told you," he said softly. "I told you that they'd never care for you."
"You manipulated them," Discord said at once, his voice heavy.
"I manipulated circumstances," Fraternus replied waving a hand airily. "I put their backs up against a wall. They're the ones who summoned the feelings they felt, the words they spoke."
"In extreme situations, ponies will say anything," Discord said, almost too softly to be heard.
"Oh, you're grasping at straws, Q," Fraternus said. Discord didn't even bother correcting him. "Face it," the other Draconequus said. "They sent you up the creek with no canoe."
"I bet you threatened them," Discord said angrily.
"Threatened them? Me?" Fraternus said, an all-too-innocent expression on his face. "Why would I do an unpleasant thing like that?"
"To get your own way," Discord said. "I know that trick, I invented that trick."
Fraternus grinned. "I may have said something bad would happen to someone if they didn't say that to you. But I would never have done it."
Discord said nothing, and Fraternus waved his hand.
***
Suddenly, everypony was standing outside Fluttershy's cottage, including Fluttershy herself. Fraternus grinned, taking in the mixture of resolute and shamefaced expressions on the ponies' faces.
"So, everypony," he said, "the votes are in. Five for the execution of Discord. None for the execution of Fluttershy."
Discord frowned in confusion, before looking down at Fluttershy. She looked up at him, confused.
"So," Fraternus said. "Time to kill Fluttershy then."
The outraged reactions nearly bowled Fraternus over. He blinked.
"You meanie!" Pinkie Pie yelled, tears in her eyes.
"How dare you!" Rarity added.
"You lying varmint," Applejack growled, snorting in rage.
"Did you seriously think I would kill my own brother?" Fraternus said, looking shocked at their reactions. "Honestly. No, this was a test. A test to show dear Discord here just how little you care."
He grinned nastily.
"Do you know, if just one of you had decided to sacrifice your friend to save him, I'd have spared her?" he said. "If just one of you had even not meant it when you spoke. But somehow, every single one of you chose to kill him, and more than that, every single one of you meant it. Wholeheartedly. I'm almost impressed by the ruthlessness."
"But you said..." Rainbow Dash began, looking angry and confused.
"Oh come on, I'm his brother," Fraternus said, pointing at Discord, who looked entirely shocked. "It's not like you should be surprised at this shocking turn of events."
"Don't you dare hurt Fluttershy you big meanie!" Pinkie Pie said angrily.
"Or what?" Fraternus asked, looking Pinkie right in the eyes. "What can you do to stop me?"
"It's alright," Fluttershy suddenly said. Fraternus looked down at her, and the other ponies did too. "I'm ok with dying. If it saves Discord's life, that is..."
"It doesn't!" Twilight yelled. "He just said it didn't! He'd never have killed him..."
"But it might save him from having to go," Fluttershy said. "He might not have to leave if I do." She looked up at her friend. "I don't want you to have to leave."
"Don't," Discord said to her, holding up a hand. He turned to Fraternus. "If I go with you, will you let her go?"
Fraternus looked evenly at Discord, regarding his brother analytically.
"You're offering to come with, no problem?" he asked.
"Yes," Discord said. His gaze swept coolly over the assembled ponies, warming considerably when it reached Fluttershy. "These ponies have showed me precisely what they think of me. I won't lose the only one who cares."
Fraternus clapped. "Excellent. No more time to waste then, brother Q. Now that you're willing, I can do this."
He waved his hand... and suddenly, Q remembered.
He remembered wanting to study something other than humans for a while. He remembered wanting to retain enough power not to be helpless, but restrain himself so as not to frighten them. He remembered choosing a form, keeping his personality but locking his memories away... he remembered Celestia, the stone, the release... the reformation...
Everything.
He frowned at his "brother" - oh such a limited term for a complex idea. The Draconequus body he'd chosen was, in Q's opinion, nowhere near as stylish as his own.
"Q," he said slowly, "I said a few moments ago that this was my turf and I didn't want anyone interfering: that means you."
"Yeah, well, we've a small problem and we need your attention for a moment or so," the Fraternus Q replied, shrugging. "Otherwise I wouldn't have. It already took me too long to find you."
"A small problem?!" Q said, annoyed. "You cause emotional distress to my friend instead of just immediately releasing my fetters and you call it a small problem?! It better be another 0 incident to make up for this pain in my rear!"
"Sorry, sorry!" his 'brother' said, holding up a hand to placate him. "I just thought I'd have a bit of fun..."
Q held up a finger. "You messed with me Q. I'm not one of these life forms." He gave a sudden, dark grin. "I hope you remember who you're talking to now. Unfettered. All knowing. All seeing."
The Fraternus Q sighed. "I know. And I'm sorry." There was a pause. "Look, I'll meet you back in the continuum. I think you'll have a discussion with your... 'friends' to have first."
"Fine," Q said, sighing. His brother Q flashed away a moment later, leaving Q with the ponies. He frowned at them all.
"So," he said simply. "You wanted me dead."
The group of ponies looked suitably shamefaced and abashed, except for Fluttershy, who was confused.
"I don't understand," she said.
"Oh, it's simple," Q said. "Your little friends here had a choice between picking one of us two to die, and they picked me. Every last one of them. And said it to my face. And, now I think back every single one of them really meant it."
Fluttershy's eyes widened in horror, and she stepped away from her friends slightly. "That's horrible! How could you?!"
"Backs to the wall, everypony is capable of truly horrid things. Whether they like to admit it or not," Q said tiredly. He had seen enough of that in billions of years. "Given a choice between hurting you or me, they would always pick me... and wanting to kill me? That's just a matter of working yourself up enough for it."
He didn't know how he felt: it was like he was torn between rage and... and what? Sadness? Like they were... like they had... betrayed him almost. Like he had lost something. The other ponies looked up at him, all of them clearly hesitant but clearly wanting to try and apologise somehow.
"Well," he said, trying to forestall them. "I guess I should be glad Q wasn't listening to you."
The ponies still looked shamefaced.
"Discord," Twilight said softly, "I... I..."
"Don't pretend like you're ashamed," Discord - Q - said, holding up a hand. "I know you weren't when you said it, and that's what counts. All of you wanted me to suffer. That's fine. I've had that before, I just... I suppose I expected more from you." He laughed slightly. "More fool Q."
The ponies looked even more ashamed of themselves, if that were possible, and Fluttershy kept looking horrified. Discord regarded them for a moment, then sighed and looked at Fluttershy.
"I'll be back in a short while, I'm sure," he said. He turned to the others. "Since this is weighing so heavily on your minds, let me relieve you of it."
He waved his hand, and suddenly none of the ponies could remember what had happened. He clicked his fingers, and they vanished back to where they had been. Q turned to Fluttershy.
"What did you do?" she asked, looking at the space her friends had occupied.
"Oh, removed their memory of this encounter," he replied airily. "Guilt is such a bore."
"So they won't remember that they were so... horrible?" Fluttershy asked, clearly still shocked that her friends had done such a thing.
"Nope," the Draconequus replied, sighing. "Lucky mortals."
There was a moment's pause. Q - Discord - was looking off into the distance somewhere, while Fluttershy kept looking at him, concern evident in her face.
"Discord?" she asked softly after a long moment. "Are you ok?"
"Fine," he said tiredly, lying to her to ease her mind. Telling her just how tired he felt wouldn't help anyone. "Just irritated that my brother managed to prove a point."
"You'll talk to me about this when you get back, won't you?" Fluttershy asked, widening her eyes slightly.
Oh no. She was upset on his behalf. Discord sighed again, realising what he must do.
"I don't think so, my friend," he said. "In fact, I don't think you need this any more than I do."
She realised what he meant a half second before he did it, but he didn't give her time to protest. He snapped his fingers, and Fluttershy was returned to where she had been, all her memories of the incident having also been removed. He hated taking memories - it was a violation, in a way, and one he would never have forgiven had their situations if they had been reversed - but in the case of the others their incessant guilt - guilt they only felt, he thought sourly, because he hadnt ended up dying - would be annoying, and he really didn't want to deal with it. In the case of Fluttershy - he wanted to spare her his pain, and he knew she'd ask to hear everything. He was older than some stars. He knew he had too much even for her kind heart to handle.
Besides: had she let her keep her memories and not let them, she'd have resented them and not known why. Had she let them all keep their memories, they might have been torn apart - and he didn't want Fluttershy to lose her friends.
Sighing and shaking the maudlin out of him (quite literally - a small bag labelled "Discord's maudlin feelings" fell out of his ear as he shook), Q snapped his fingers for a third time, and vanished back to the Continuum. They had better have wanted something worth what had happened here...
Author's Note
So. That happened.
Ok, firstly: this was a plot bunny I got while working on "The Avatar of Albion". Like all the best plot bunnies, it aimed a shotgun at my face until I wrote it.
The basic premise was, "Mane Six manipulated into telling Discord they want him dead". I've tried to make it as justifiable as I can, given that I doubt it would actually happen, but if they're OOC... well, it was inevitable with the premise I suppose.
The idea of Discord being Q is just something I like. The other Q is technically an OC Q, but if you squint I like to think he'd be similar to the blonde Q from Déjà Q.
Hope you enjoyed folks. :-)
