The Taxonomy of the Lower Reaches of the Discordian Dimensions

The guards descended on Discord as he passed out, and began tying his limbs together. They still hadn't worked out what they were going to do about his snake-like body, but for the moment he seemed to be still.

Fluttershy ran up to Starswirl, still clothed in her bath robe. "Why are you doing this?" she asked.

"Fluttershy, are you okay?" said Starswirl. It was as if he hadn't heard her question. He looked incredibly concerned.

"Yes...I'm..." she suddenly felt dizzy. Was she okay? She looked up at the swirling sky and felt mildly nauseated.

She tried again:

"I need to speak to Scriptum," she said. "I need..."

She collapsed on deck and Starswirl called for help.

"We need to get him to the hospital," one of the guards was saying about Discord.

"Are you crazy?" said another. "Celestia said to capture him if he was hurting the girl."

"She also said he was to come to no harm. Do you want to explain to Princess Celestia why this guy looks half dead?"

"Ugh. You're right. Okay, we'll get him to the hospital, but after that his flank is being thrown in jail. I'm not taking any chances. As for his magic not working, couldn't it just be a trick?"

"Why would he allow himself to be captured?"

"I don't know...this is Discord we're talking about."

"And did he actually hurt the girl? I mean, yeah they were in bed together, but..."

"Are you kidding me? Do you really think a gorgeous thing like that would touch him after all the things he's done?"

"I suppose you're right."

"Look alive, numpties!" said a third guard. "I think we're taking the girl to the hospital too. She's looking a bit faint. Maybe this horsehole did something to her."

Discord felt himself drift in and out of consciousness. His ears only captured snippets of conversation. He heard the guard calling him half dead, and he heard Fluttershy saying she needed to speak to Scriptum. At the latter piece of information, he felt his heart break and decided he didn't care if he passed out again. It was just like last time with Celestia: Starswirl hated him and Fluttershy did not want him.

Starswirl accompanied Fluttershy to hospital, but he was told to leave by the nurses once she was in their care. He reluctantly agreed, but asked who the best pony to speak to would be regarding the jelly monster.

"You'll want Dr.Zygoma --she's the doctor in charge of the patient who was attacked," said the receptionist.

"Thank you," said Starswirl. He quickly penned a letter to Twilight, sent it off and made his way to the east wing of the hospital.

Fluttershy was slowly regaining consciousness. The hospital staff had given her fluids when they had determined she was dehydrated and exhausted. They had also taken blood samples.  She still didn't feel strong enough to move around, but she was on the mend. Her thoughts briefly drifted back to Discord, and she suddenly sat upright. That had been a mistake; dizziness overwhelmed her and she collapsed back down on her pillow.

You need to focus on regaining your strength, then you can do something about the situation she told herself. But it was so frustrating. She needed to get a message to Twilight that this was clearly all a misunderstanding. She also needed to tell Twilight that Scriptum had hurt her before he hurt anyone else. She wasn't entirely sure he would, but it was best not to take any chances. The monster had been captured. It wouldn't matter if Scriptum no longer worked for them.

Scriptum was still reeling from the fact that his plan had worked. He had, of course, intercepted the messages Celestia had sent back to him and simply faked Twilight's hoof-writing. It was easy enough to find examples of it around the library. Spike was easily distracted, and never asked to read what was being sent to the Princess anyway.

He knew he had to keep playing Celestia and Twilight off one another. Princess Celestia obviously trusted Twilight's word and vice versa. But he knew he couldn't keep up this charade for long. He needed to keep Discord out of the picture. Then his mare would be safe from the draconequus's clutches.

When the letter to Twilight arrived, he checked it thoroughly, and, deciding it didn't give anything away, he showed it to her. It was best to let some letters be seen. Less suspicion would be aroused that way. He had carefully copied Celestia's hoof-writing which had requested that Starswirl go alone with only guards as back up. Twilight seemed puzzled and almost disappointed at the prospect of not being asked to go on the mission, but thankfully did not write a letter back requesting that the Princess reconsider. Scriptum had relied on that slightly- he knew Twilight respected Celestia's word, and to top it all off, she seemed to be fawning over Starswirl.

Discord had been taken to hospital, but Scriptum had not foreseen Fluttershy going to the same place, so when Starswirl sent word that Fluttershy was in the same ward as the draconequus and Scriptum was unable to intercept the note in time, he was forced to accept to himself that they would all have to go over to the hospital as a group. There was no way he could tell her friends not to see her and go there alone. It was arouse far too much suspicion.

"Thank goodness Fluttershy's safe!" said Pinkie as they made their way to the hospital. "Plus they caught that big jelly thingie!"

Twilight was deep in thought as they walked. She had a sour taste in her mouth. There was still something that didn't seem quite right about this. If Discord really had horsenapped Fluttershy, then why had he caught the monster? Why was he heading back towards his house? Did he simply want to gloat at them? While she had to admit that gloating was very in character for Discord, she still wasn't sure about horsenapping. She needed to speak to Fluttershy and find out more.

"Twilight!" cried Fluttershy. She embraced her friend as the alicorn greeted her. "I'm so happy to see you. There are so many things I need to talk to you about." She embraced each of her friends, enjoying the comfort their presence brought.

"We're so glad you're safe, Fluttershy. What happened?"

"I...I'm not sure. Discord and I were on our way back with the creature then the guards came and captured him, and he's lost his powers, Twilight! That creature attacked him before we caught it. Maybe the same thing is happening to him!"

Twilight listened, and noted with interest that Fluttershy seemed awfully concerned about her horsenapper.

"Where is he, Twilight? Is he okay?"

"He's next door," said Scriptum as he entered the room. "But not to worry, he's heavily guarded and he'll never hurt you again."

A chill went down Fluttershy's spine at the sight of the unicorn.

"Hurt me? He didn't hurt me."

"Fluttershy, you were, apparently in...bed with him when the guards found you. I don't know what he did to you, but it's clear you are very confused about the whole situation."

"I'm not confused! I...we..." She suddenly blushed at what she had been about to say.

"She's obviously suffering from Stockholt Syndrome," said Scriptum. He moved towards the pegasus and put his arms around her, she froze  at his touch.

"Now, now," he was saying. "I'm here now and I won't let him touch you."

Fluttershy felt sick but was having trouble articulating the situation to anyone. It all felt like too much. She needed to be alone with Twilight.

"Um...Scriptum..everyone," she said. "Could you give me and Twilight a minute?"

"Of course, darling," said Rarity. "Come on girls." The ponies exited the room and made their way to the waiting area.

Fluttershy looked at Scriptum. "I, um. Need time to talk about...girl stuff," said Fluttershy.

Panic gripped him, but he smiled and said "of course. I'll just be outside."

It didn't matter anyway. Once they knew he had written all those notes to protect her from Discord they would be understanding about the whole thing. He left the two mares to talk.

As for Discord, well it was time to give him a piece of his mind. He strode over to the heavily guarded room.

A large pegasus guard blocked his path with his large body as he tried to enter the room.

"Can I help you?" said the pegasus.

"Oh, yes. I apologize for not stating who I am, but I'm with Princess Twilight and friends. I'm the archivist working on the project to capture the creature. Loathe as I am to speak to the creature behind those doors, I'm afraid I must in case we are missing any vital information with regards to the jelly monster. Any info we have could be a step closer to saving that poor pony's life, after all."

The guard looked to his right and saw Rarity, Applejack, Pinkie and Rainbow Dash sitting in the waiting area. Scriptum waved to them and Pinkie waved back happily.

"Alright," said the pegasus. "But be quick."

He opened the door for Scriptum.

Discord was propped up in bed with several pillows. Tubes stuck out of his arm and his eyes were closed with exhaustion. He wasn't asleep but he felt so drained that even his eyelids were having trouble staying open.

The unicorn moved closer to the bed.

"Scum," said Scriptum.

One of Discord's mismatched eyes opened and took in the unwelcome sight of his rival.

"Oh, it's you. The last person on earth I want to see right now." He opened both his eyes. If he had been his usual healthy self Scriptum would have been on the ceiling by now. As it was, a sarcastic attitude was the only weapon he had, and he intended to keep it sharp and use it.

"I knew you were bad news," continued the unicorn. "I knew it all along. Molesting innocent mares."

"Molesting? Is that what you call it when a mare sleeps with someone who isn't you? That's a rather impressive form of mental judo. Denial is a river in Anugypt, and all that."

"Ha! She would never sleep with you. What are you, like ten thousand years old?"

"I'm eons old, actually. But it all becomes a blur after a while. And she asked me to make love to her."

"There's no way she would let you touch her like that," responded the unicorn. "She's a completely innocent mare."

Discord actually tittered.

"She is!" shouted Scriptum. "You must have forced her. The doctors even say her temperature was consistent with a mare coming out of a heat cycle, so you must have taken advantage of that."

"She chose to be with me."

"That's what males like you always say."

Discord growled, but he was now fighting self-doubt in his head. Had Fluttershy really been her right mind when she had gone to bed with him? She had previously told him she didn't think of him that way, and the evening she had come into his bedroom had been spurred on by hormones. Had he done the wrong thing?

"Everyone knows what you're like," Scriptum continued. "The only way you could get a mare to touch you is by force anyway."

"How would you know when you've never touched one?" countered Discord, giving him a sharp toothed malicious grin.

"Well she has gone to bed with me!"

"To sleep? Because we've done that many times too, but that isn't at all what I meant. Do I need to dig out the school charts and tell you that the story about the Stork leaving foals in the vegetable patch isn't true?"

"Well now that she's back," said Scriptum. "It's time she was with a good stallion instead of a traitor like you."

"She's not an idiot. She'll figure out what you're doing soon enough. Your plan has so many holes in it could well compete with a teenage colt's face."

"What's that supposed to mean? I'm doing what's best for Fluttershy. Whether she knows it or not, hanging around someone like you is bad for her. I'm only protecting her from you, and I'll do everything in my power to make sure she's safe from you."

"I'm her friend."

"Not for long! Fluttershy has to learn what's good for her. Besides, she was with me when Starswirl told us what happened between you and Princess Celestia. You really think she could ever love someone who let ponies die under his reign? What were you going to do the second time around? Were you going to share her with Tirek? Disgusting. She's lucky that I'm here and when she's feeling better she can enjoy the touch of a real stallion."

Discord was incredibly still, the grin frozen on his face. The only thing that seemed to move were his glassy eyes. It almost looked as if his eyeballs were trembling with untold rage.

"I'm going to kill you," he said calmly to the unicorn. "I've never wanted to kill anyone before, but I might have to make an exception for your greasy, disgusting hide. When I get out of here you will pray to whatever god you think exists that you had never come across me. And if you ever touch her again you will pray to whatever god you think exists that gods didn't exist. But they do, Scripto, ol' boy. And you've pissed one off."

Discord's teeth were bared in a terrifying smile. His eyes seemed to burn straight through the stallion.  Despite having the upper hoof, Scriptum instinctively felt the hairs on his back rise in fear. He was overcome with the drive to bolt, as a prey animal would from a predator.

"Well," he said as steadily as he could. "You're not a god anymore, are you?"

"No, it's true I've lost my powers. But unlike your goodself I still have my wits about me."

There was nothing to lose anymore. He was a criminal in everyone's eyes again and he would never be loved by her.

But that didn't mean he wasn't going to go down without putting up an ungodly amount of defiance. He absolutely hated the unicorn before him. He would have never done what Scriptum was suggesting. He had only wanted Tirek's acceptance and yes, draining his friends of their magic was an awful thing to do, but he was certain that he never would have let Tirek touch or hurt them.

Though given what happened it's not like you could have stopped him if he had wanted to.

He felt sick.

And how many ponies had that sort of thing happened to when you had forbidden any sort of law?

His heart sank. He truly was an awful person.

But that didn't mean he didn't still want to make Scriptum pay for the pain he had caused him. He reached over and grabbed the first thing he felt to his right and flung it at Scriptum, hard. The unicorn squealed and ducked, narrowly missing the bedside lamp that Discord had launched at his head. It hit the floor with a smash.

"Nice moves," said Discord, who flung a water jug after the unicorn next. Scriptum skidded across the room to avoid the object, which smashed against the wall.

A guard pushed open the door. "What's going on here?"

"He attacked me!" shouted Scriptum, pointing his hoof at Discord, who was mid swing with an IV drip which he had pulled out of his arm. He had run out of things to throw but still felt compelled to make the unicorn dance. It hit the guard with a flopping sound.

"Doc!" shouted the guard. A small grey earth pony with a moustache came running down the hall. "This here's the dangerous one I was telling you about," said the guard.

"Oh dear," said the earth pony. "He shouldn't be exerting himself that way."

"What about me?" said Scriptum almost pitifully.

"What about you?" sneered Discord. He was now pulling another drip out of his arm.

"Stop!" said the Doctor.

"Hells to the naw," came the reply. Discord wasn't about to sit there feeling helpless. Even if he didn't have his powers, he still felt the need to be something more than a passive observer in life. He was getting ready to throw the second IV drip when he felt a sharp pain in his shoulder, and turned to see the doctor pulling out a needle.

"You need to calm down," said the doctor, and Discord was instantly transferred to a world of bliss. His limbs felt floppy and he lay back down on the pillow with a stupid smile on his face.

"There now," said the doctor, who carefully reattached Discord's IV drips. "We can't have you wasting all your energy when you're deathly ill."

Even though Discord heard the words "deathly ill," he continued to smile and blinked happily. All seemed right with the world. Why should words and their meaning matter?

"Can't we?" said Scriptum.

"Can't we what?" said the doctor.

"Have him waste all his energy. Does he really deserve to live after what he did?"

"Young man, I'm not sure what this creature did and whatever he did is for the courts to decide, isn't it? May I ask why you are in his room if you are not friend or family?"

"My marefriend is in the same hospital," said Scriptum. He pointed a hoof at the happily drugged Discord "and it's because of him."

"I'm very sorry to hear that. Be that as it may, I'm afraid I must ask you to leave. It is my job to look after my patients, not pass judgement on them, and from the looks of things he is being heavily guarded anyway."

"Fine," said Scriptum. "I need to go and check on my marefriend anyway." He shot Discord a triumphant look as he said this.

Discord smiled at him. The blue pony had a marefriend. That was nice.

"What happened, Fluttershy?" Twilight repeated. "We need to know the truth. Did Discord really hurt you? You can tell me."

"No!" came the indignant reply. "Twilight we...I. We...made love." The last two words were barely a whisper and Fluttershy's face was red as she hid behind her mane.

Twilight felt her own face burn at Fluttershy's admission. Then she felt extremely confused.

"But we got a letter from you. It said you had been horsenapped!"

"What? I sent you a letter but it said  Discord and I were going to look for the monster together!"

"That's not the letter we got. Fluttershy, if he did something to you, and you're blocking it out you need to let us know so we can help you."

Fluttershy was starting to get angry. "Why does everyone treat me like I'm stupid!" she shouted. "Discord hasn't done anything wrong! I asked him to be with me. And I didn't send the letter you mentioned! You're my friend! Why don't you believe me?"

"I...do believe you."

"You do?"

"Yes...it's just. I'm not sure about believing Discord. We all know how he feels about you, and now that you have a coltfriend, well...it seems like the sort of crazy thing he would do when he didn't get his way."

"Scriptum's not my coltfriend," whispered Fluttershy.

This was clearly a surprise to Twilight. "I thought you two were getting on."

"So did I. Then he tried to stop me from seeing Discord when I was worried about him." Fluttershy took a deep breath then whispered: "Scriptum tried to physically restrain me and he broke one of my wings in the process."

"What?!"

"I don't know if he meant to do it, but I don't want him to come near me. And now that we have the monster we don't need an archivist, right?"

Suddenly the pieces fell into horrifically clear place. "Scriptum," said Twilight.

"What?"

"Scriptum wrote that letter. Wait right here. I'll be back, I promise. I need to find Starswirl and we need to get a real message to Princess Celestia right away. I'll send Rainbow Dash in so you're not alone."

Discord's awareness slowly returned to normal as he lay in bed. He felt sick as the thoughts came to him.

His chaos magic was fading quickly, but the chaotic emotions were still there. If anything, the delerium he felt only served to worsen them.

He felt the tears roll down his face even as he laughed bitterly. She had felt so good. Of course it wasn't going to last; nothing ever did with him. Even if Scriptum hadn't come into the picture, he had done terrible things and she would have found out about them sooner or later, and really, could he truly expect someone as sweet and good as her to be okay with it and love him? No, he couldn't.

As for their mating, she clearly had been under the influence of hormones, nothing more. He could have been any male. He was becoming more and more sure that what he had done with her had been wrong.

He couldn't take the humiliation of it all anymore, and when Princess Celestia found out he was probably going back into the statue. He at least needed to get out of here.

He removed his IV drips once more and planted his feet on the ground. He tried taking a tentative step. The world swayed and he groaned. He took a deep breath and pushed himself off the bed and onto the floor. He tried standing as a quadruped instead. That was a little better.

He knew the guards were still outside the door because he could hear them talking. Whoever had chosen his room had also made sure it was one without windows. Oh, how he wanted his magic. He kept having to resist the urge to try teleporting because he knew very well that he couldn't.

He looked around the room. There didn't seem to be anything he could use to escape. The glass he'd smashed earlier had been cleaned up and he wasn't sure he could overpower the guards in his state anyway. He leaned against the side of the bed and closed his eyes and sighed.

When he opened them again he was staring at the far wall and that was when he noticed the air vent.

He crawled across the floor towards it, and looked up at the wall. It wasn't that far up, but it felt like it was miles away in his condition. He was going to have to stand up on his hind legs. He took a deep breath, gritted his teeth and stood up. Nausea washed over him and he quickly gripped the iron grate covering the vent with his talons to steady himself. He was glad he had an empty stomach.

With tremendous willpower, he swapped the grip of his talon with his paw and started working on the screws holding the vent cover in place. When he had finished unscrewing the fourth and final one, it plummeted to the floor and he caught it just in time with his tail before it clattered and alerted the guards. He nearly threw up at the effort.

After taking a few more gulps of air, he flexed his body and leapt upwards, pulling his long body head first into the vent, while his lizard foot tried to gain purchase on the wall. After an agonizing two minutes lying there, he pulled the grate in behind him with his tail. Then he began moving through the vent.

It took ages. Every few feet or so he travelled he had to lay down and recharge. There was hardly any energy to charge on. His head was pounding and his muscles ached and the waves of nausea always threatened to return after a brief respite. He didn't really know which direction he was moving in; he just knew he had to get out.

After what seemed like hours, he passed a grate and looked through it. The room before him was empty, and there was a window there he could easily open. He used his long talons to unscrew the grate and it clattered to the floor.

"Miss Fluttershy, I'm glad to see you are doing better," said Dr. Zygoma as she entered the room to check on the pegasus. "And that you have friends by your side." She smiled warmly and pulled up a chair next to Fluttershy's bed."Miss Shy, if I may speak with you in private?"

Rainbow Dash looked at her friend, who nodded.

"I'll be outside Flutters," said Dash.

Once the door was closed Zygoma turned to the pegasus. "Miss Shy, I realize you've been through a lot and this must be an exhausting experience for you, but I'm afraid I must ask you a few more questions."

"Oh?"

The doctor nodded. "The old man who brought you here said you had previously been attacked by the same creature as the patient down the ward. Is that correct."

Fluttershy nodded.

"As you know, we've taken a sample of your blood. Miss Shy, did you know that the same virus-like substance that has appeared in the sick pony is present in your bloodstream?"

Fluttershy looked alarmed. "No! I assumed I was okay. I felt fine!"

"That's because you are fine. Fluttershy, you appear to have antibodies. You are immune."

The pegasus gasped. "Does that mean...?"

"Not yet. We're working on it. These things take time, but eventually, yes. We might be able to create a serum that could cure that pony."

And cure Discord, thought Fluttershy. She beamed at the doctor.

Scriptum waited in the hallway with the rest of the ponies. He watched the door to Fluttershy's room intently. When he saw Rainbow Dash leave he thought he had his chance, but then he realized the doctor was still in the room with Fluttershy. He gritted his teeth. He really needed to see her alone so he could explain his plan. So he could explain that he had done this all for her, to protect her.

When he saw Dr. Zygoma emerge, he didn't wait. The others were deep in conversation and he quietly slipped into her room.

Fluttershy was about to say something to Rainbow Dash when she realized the blue pony that had entered the room was not her friend.

"Fluttershy," said Scriptum. "I'm so glad you're back in one piece."

"I don't want to talk to you," she said firmly.

"Why not?"

"Because you're not a good person," she whispered.

"What are you talking about?"

"You faked those letters to Twilight and Princess Celestia, and you destroyed the letter that said I was safe with Discord."

"But don't you see? You weren't safe Fluttershy. Discord is dangerous and not to be trusted. I did it all because I was afraid for your safety. I know you think he's a good person, but he isn't. For goodness sakes, he was accomplice to a mad man just over a year ago. I know you're a trusting, lovely girl and you have a sweet nature, but one day it's going to get you killed. And you are aware that he took advantage of you while you were in heat, aren't you?" He moved towards her and she instinctively felt her back press against the wall. She realized her eyes were searching the room for something to defend herself with. She didn't want him near her. She prepared to scream for help if she needed it, and prayed that her throat wasn't too dry for such a feat.

"I'm only sorry that he destroyed your innocence. That was a horrible thing for him to do." He was moving closer now, and his hoof brushed a strand of her mane away from her face. Fluttershy was frozen in disgust and terror. "But now that we're together again we can work on mending any damage he did to you." He leaned forward, his lips inches from hers. Fluttershy felt the scream freeze in her throat, then suddenly she was free of his grip as Scriptum was yanked backwards by an invisible force.

"I don't think so," bellowed Starswirl, who now had the struggling unicorn trapped in a magical field. "And by the way, you're under arrest for perverting the course of justice."

"On...whose...authority?" said Scriptum, struggling in mid air.

"Mine," said a calm yet commanding voice. Princess Celestia entered the room, followed by Twilight, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Applejack and Rarity.

"I was only trying to protect her!" shouted Scriptum, pointing his hoof at Fluttershy. "My marefriend!"

Fluttershy's voice suddenly seemed to come roaring back to life.

"I'm not your marefriend!" she shouted. "You don't have the right to tell me what to do with my life!"

"He's old, Fluttershy. He's old and he's a former criminal! He'll just use you. Mark my words."

"Enough," said Princess Celestia. "Guards!"

A few of the  ponies that had been guarding Discord's room moved towards Scriptum and surrounded him. One of them bound him with a similar magical field to the one Starswirl had been using to subdue the archivist.

"You will be held at Canterlot until you can be given a fair trial," announced the Princess. She then turned to Twilight. "I am very sorry, Twilight. I had no idea this was happening, and to be honest I should have questioned that letter a bit more thoroughly than I had."

"Don't blame yourself, Princess," said Applejack. "We were all taken in by this here varmint's lies."

The guards began to carry Scriptum away. He started screaming at Fluttershy. "You're a fool, Fluttershy! Don't you see? He'll hurt you! He betrayed you once and he'll keep doing it because people like him never learn and never change!"

"I don't want to hear any more from you," she said.

"This isn't fair!" the unicorn continued to yell. "You're not supposed to fall in love with the bad guy! That's not the way it works! That's not the way it's supposed to be!"

His cries slowly faded away as the guards dragged him down the hallway and out of the building.

"Good riddance," snorted Applejack.

"Um, Princess?"

Celestia turned to look at one of the guards that had stayed behind. "Yes?"

"I just checked Discord's room, and, well...he's gone?"

"Gone?!"

"Definitely not there."

Starswirl looked alarmed. "How did he get out if he has no powers?"

"There was an air vent in the room. The grate was loose. He must have climbed through it."

Starswirl felt sick. There was a deeply disturbed draconequus on the loose that could or could not be wielding extreme power. They all now knew Discord was innocent, but he didn't know that they knew that.

"There's something else," said Fluttershy. "Doctor Zygoma says I'm immune to the creature. She says they may be able to manufacture a cure from the antibodies I'm carrying. If Discord is out there then we need to find him because he's..." her eyes flooded with tears. "He could be dying. Like that pony is." She was especially concerned that whatever that creature had done to both Discord and the pony, Discord's condition seemed to be worsening faster than the latter.

"I'll see if I can find him," said Starswirl. He turned and hurried out the door.

Fluttershy burst into tears. "It's all my fault," said the pegasus. "All this happened because of me. Because I went to the dimension to find him."

"This is all Scriptum's fault. Don't you dare go  blamin' yourself," said Applejack.

"Yeah, Fluttershy," said Dash, moving in to hug her. "We were all taken in by him." She felt guilt gnawing at her insides as she realized how quick she had been to judge the draconequus.

"We were a little quick to judge, it must be said," said Rarity softly. She thought of the times Discord had come to her for advice about Fluttershy.

She watched as the pegasus sobbed into Rainbow Dash's shoulder. Rarity fumed. Scriptum had really done a number on Fluttershy and Discord.

Just after nightfall Discord dragged his haggard, exhausted figure into a wooded area and crawled inside a roadside ditch. He curled up, hiding his face under his tail tuft. He had crawled for hours, trying to keep out of sight of any passers by. At one point a pony had seen him and asked if he was okay, but when they saw who he was they had told him they didn't want any trouble and ran away swiftly.

That incident, more than anything else had just solidified things for him. He was powerless, and unloved and a terrible person, and everyone knew it. He quite literally felt like crawling into a ditch, so he had done so.

As he lay there with his tail over his face he was also running a high fever. Whatever that thing was doing to him wasn't just affecting his magic. He babbled to himself as he drifted off to a sleep filled with feverish dreams. He wasn't even sure the words were coherent. Shortly it began to rain. Discord shivered as he tried curling up his body as tightly as possible to make less surface area. He continued to babble to himself.

And that was how Starswirl the Bearded, his horn glowing in the fading light as he searched, found the draconequus. He knelt down next to Discord's head.

"I'm sorry," whispered the unicorn.

Discord's ears moved towards the sound and he dragged himself towards it. However, halfway to Starswirl's lap he froze and moved away.

"Please forgive me," said Starswirl. "I'm sorry I told you to stay away from her. I...I just didn't want you to get hurt again, boy. I really didn't. I should have minded my own business." He put his arms around the draconequus's neck, trying to hug him. Discord flailed as he tried to pull out of Starswirl's grasp.

"I'm sorry, boy," repeated the unicorn. "Please let a stupid old man help you."

Discord continued to struggle for a few seconds more, then gave up and collapsed in Starswirl's lap.

The draconequus started sobbing. "Noodle," said Discord. "Noodle doesn't love...she must hate...they all hate..."

"You're not making sense, boy" said Starswirl, whose own eyes were wet with tears.

"Help me."

Starswirl held him as he wept.

Back at the hospital, the creature in the jar opened its single eye and began to send out a call.