A wilted rose

The streets on this side of town were dark, some of the street lights having been damaged, or left in disrepair. Very few people could ever be found on this side of town for one reason or another while the unfortunates could be found of no other choice.

This night the world was cold, as a storm passed over, leaving everything even darker, rain falling in slanted sheets. The brightest lights found in the sky as lightning flashed, followed by the rumbling thunderous booms.

On a dark street, a young girls screams can be heard, though muffled by the sounds of nature unleashing its fury over the landscape. As the latest boom sounds off, a dirty man in a dark hoodie lurches out from a dark alley.

He checks the purse, dropping the contents onto the wet ground, quickly becoming lost in the drops as they coalesce into puddles around his feet. A flash of lightning momentarily shows a man unclean, unshaven, teeth near rotted out, his face contorted into a frenzied snarl until he finds a smaller leather purse and removes the colored paper of money from it. He drops the purse onto the ground and staggers forward.

Nearby, a young boy runs up a stoop and begins to pound on the door, the storm around seeming to work to try and muffle all sounds this night as it continues raging.

“Nero! Nero, it's Paquelo. Your sisters hurt, man. Nero!” The boy screams, pounding away. His body is already soaked through and through, his black hair plastered around his head, his face draining away the excess water down his angular tanned face, dripping from his chin. He has a dark loose coat, but too thin for weather such as this, and so, it leaves the majority of his shirt drenched in places as well, his pants, absorbing too much water sag even further down his backside, his shoes occasionally making a squishing sound as he leans from one foot to the other, looking over his shoulders into the nearly-abandoned city, and the torrential storm.

The door opens, a wave of heat, and a warm yellow light graces his features, lighting up his brown eyes. A man in loose blue jeans and a stained wife beater looks down at the boy as he chews on a pizza idly. His hair is shaved close to his skull, a thin black mustache on his upper lip, likewise, a thin black beard is left jugging his chin closely. His ears holding one earring a piece. His black eyebrows furrow briefly, looking down at the boy.

“Eh, lil man, whats the trouble?”

“It’s your sister, some junkie or guy hit man. You gotta come and help.” With the utterance of these words, Nero’s eyes widen in alarm, before narrowing in anger. He turns, moving into the house, tossing the partially eaten pizza onto a nearby table. After a few brief words in another language, he grabs a coat and leaves the house with several other men. They follow the boy as he leads them a few blocks over.

“Look, we don’t have that many rooms and are full. You need to find someplace else.” The young woman said, he brunette hair flat and straight around her shoulders, her thick makeup over her eyes, and even thicker eyelashes, gave no doubt she was too young to properly apply said makeup.

At least, in the opinion of the man standing before her. A level six foot, slightly broad shouldered, but thin, seemingly uncharacteristically thin. His face was pale, his eyes a dim hazel green held deep dark bags under his eyes. His head full of red hair was a mess, as was his thick beard.

Unconsciously, he reached up and scratched at the beard on his face, finding it uncomfortable, but not having a proper place to clean up since this was the last chance he had in the city where he could afford a room for the night. With a small sigh, he closed his eyes, his body leaning forward just slightly. He worked to keep himself upright, his body was sore, his stomach having stopped grumbling for a few minutes left a strange feeling of emptiness within him. He lowered his hand to the desk to helps steady himself.

The girl behind the counter was already reaching for her cell phone, not wanting to trust this crazed looking bum any longer.

Opening his eyes, the man immediately turned around, hefting a large overstuffed black duffle bag on his back to make it more comfortable.

“Thanks anyways.” The man said as he left.

The girl gave him a dark look at his back, not wanting to trust anything in case he tried something. But she finally relaxed as he left through the door, and out into the night.

Despite taking a breath, the girl decided to go ahead and make a call.

Once more back out into the storm-ridden night, the man pulled his hoodie closed and zipped it up, before pulling it up over his head. He didn’t care to have the hoodie up, but the thick coat he wore underneath it didn’t have a hood or cover he could use.

In his mind, had he worn the selection of clothes the other way, then the hood would have soaked up water and allowed it to get under his coat, which could have given him the unfortunate chance of getting a cold.

He shivered as he felt a trail of water run down his back. He reached up and adjusted the collar of his coat from beneath his hood, and pulled it ever tighter around his neck. He turned to the right and began his long trudge through the rain.

A step into an unseen puddle left him hesitating for a moment as, he felt the water soaking up into the cracks at the bottom of his boots, and quickly into his sock, leaving his foot cold and soaked through.

With a sigh, his shoulders sagged even more as he moved on, one foot now squishing with each step.

A few blocks away, someone in a hurry bumped into him and rushed past. Rolling his shoulder, the man with the beard stopped and checked his pants pockets to ensure he still had his necessities. He didn’t want to think he had fallen prey to a pickpocket.

With a nod to himself when he found everything he needed, where it belonged he looked around to find someplace he could set his stuff down.

When he found a dry doorway he set his stuff down and check the bag. He worked to fix the bag that had been covering the top part of his duffle and checked for any wet spots around the bag.

Hearing a noise and loud voices behind him, he began to turn to see a group of people running in his direction. He moved to step back out of their way until they stopped in front of him.

‘Well, I don’t recognize anyone, so, the question is. What do they want?’ As he looked around at the men, he could feel something off. The looks on their faces were that of anger and hatred.

A slight movement at the corner of his eye distracted him. He glanced over to see a young boy about half his height run around a corner.

“No, He’s-”

“Paquelo, stay out of this.” Commanded a man in the middle.

A deep foreboding sense overcame the man they surrounded, he knew their intention was against, and once more in his long tiring life, he found himself in the wrong place at the wrong time. Seeing as how there were several people, this was going to be bad.

“You’re gonna pay for killing my sister.” The man spat.

He flinched, at gave him an incredulous look, “The fuck are you talking about? I don’t-”

A fist came across his face from almost behind him. It was a sucker punch, and it, unfortunately, sent him down to the ground in darkness.

What felt like a few seconds, he grunted as he felt a force of something hit him. With a groan of pain, he lifted his head to see the men surrounding him, their faces and bodies covered in shadows, the clouds far above them equally dark, as the rain fell from the heavens.

It took them only a second to see him raise his head to them before they all started in on kicking him, his chest, his face, his back, his sides, arms, and legs. Wherever they could put a foot, they pounded it against him.

“Nero, no!” Came the voice of a child, “He’s not the one. It was another guy, who looked like a drugy.”

“Yeah, well, as dark as it is, maybe you didn’t see him. You said it was some guy, in a hoodie, there is no one else we were chasing. This coward is going to pay for what he did.” A man responded, leaving the man on the ground to believe this was the one the boy called Nero.

‘So, my fate is to be beaten to death cause they think I’m some drug fiend who killed a sibling. Damn, ain’t life grand.’

He could make out a small shadow coming behind the group as he used his arms to try and protect his face, his body curling in on itself.

The boy began pulling and yelling that he wasn’t the guy. But these other guys were out for blood, they weren’t going to stop.

A good hard stomp to the back of his head, slammed his head down against the ground, knocking him out.

No longer was he aware of the men surrounding him, no longer was he aware of the intense pain of blows raining down on him.

There came a knock at the door, Fluttershy smiled as she turned away from the last bowl she had been filling for her animal friends.

“Oh, one second, please,” She called out softly, her voice sounding shy and reserved.

She set the bag of food down and smiled slightly wider as she took a second to watch the animals begin to dig in.

“Remember, not too quickly now, or you might get a tummy ache,” She said to them. A few ferrets looked up with black beady eyes and nodded before returning to the food before them.

Turning, Fluttershy untucked and retucked her wings more comfortably at her sides as she made her way to the door.

Opening it, she was greeted with a tall slender form of mismatched proportions.

He had the head of a horse, with one large oversized fang, extended from a crooked mouth. A white goatee like that of a goat, one antler horn, a light blue horn of a frost beast, the body of brown fur, one eagle claw for a hand, and one lions paw. His feet, one a cloven hoof, the other the claw of a dragon, and a red scaly tail of a lizard, and upon his back a pair of wings, one of a bat, and one of a bird. His eyes were the most startling as they were yellow, with red irises.

“Hello, Discord. I just finished feeding the animals.” She explained with the same tempered soft voice though she was still able to portray her happiness at seeing her new friend.

“Well, then, I take it you’re ready for our, Mmm, rendezvous?” He asked, as he fitted a tuxedo over his frame suddenly and bowed to the small yellow, pink maned pegasus.

“Oh yes, I am. I mean, that is, if you are.” She said lowering her head a little, allowing a cascade of pink hair to fall around her muzzle.

The two left the little cottage and began to make their way down the path and towards a village some distance away.

The two made their way through the village of Ponyville and continued on until they reached the white tail woods.

Once they were a short distance into the woods, Discord looked around and smiled down at the small Pegasus and opened a small portal.

“I hope you don’t mind, my dear. I thought a small change of scenery would be nice.”

“Oh, that will be just fine. I know I’m safe when I am with you.” Fluttershy said, smiling up to him.

The two made their way through the portal and into a dark alley, where after a few seconds, the sounds of the world around them came became apparent as the rain fell out on the street in front of them.

Fluttershy looked around, at the wet and dark place they found themselves in, the soft light from her home, coming through from behind them.

“If you don’t mind, we will need to dress up just a little. But no worries, I can take care of that.” Discord explained before he snapped his fingers.

Fluttershy looked around, now seeing a flash of light everything looked slightly different, where she was once low to the ground, and on four hooves, she was now standing on her hind legs, with pale soft skin on her legs.

Pink hair cascaded down around her face as she looked over herself fully now. She wore a pair of soft brown shoes, and white socks that stopped just under her knees, a small yellow and pink plaid skirt covered her lower body, and a pink coat over a white shirt covered her chest, with a picture of a bunny with a halo over its head ion the left side of her coat.

She took a moment to look over her new limbs and body. Marveling at how Discord was able to change her. He had recently started to change things up a little bit when they met up for lunches, or picnics, deciding to help her see new and exciting things.

She had reservations at first but quickly came to enjoy their excursions more as she became accustomed to the new surroundings, and often times the different changes Discord could provide to ‘Blend in with the locals’ as he would say.

As she looked up, she was surprised to see Discord in a form of his own, as a tall male, still in the suit, which seemed to fit this body of his far better than it did before.

Gone was his mismatched limbs and body, all except the white hair on his chin, brows, and the same yellow and red eyes. In one hand he held a large umbrella, over the two of them.

With a snap of his fingers, the portal seemed to close, as he offered her an arm. She took it and they began to walk forward, Fluttershy trying to remember how to walk in this form since she had only a chance to visit it a few times previously.

She found she was able to remember and move a lot easier than her previous attempts. They left the alley and stepped into the rain and sidewalk of this world.

All around her, Fluttershy could just make out large shadowed and bland buildings with even darker windows all around. Discord walked the two on and on until they came to a better better lit area.

They came to a stop outside of a well-lit restaurant.

Discord opened the door and bowed for Fluttershy, and allowed her to enter first.

Fluttershy looked around as she came back through the portal, now back in her pony form. She stretched herself out, feeling better now that she not only had a full stomach of salad and breadsticks, she was also back in her own body.

She looked around the forest, seeing as the sun was just now getting around to setting, before looking back at Discord.

“What’s wrong, Dissy?”

Trying to hide the shiver when Fluttershy called him by his new nickname, he turned with a concentrated look on his face.

“Oh, it’s nothing. Nothing at all, my dear.” He replied as he grabbed a zipper that appeared at the bottom of the portal and zipped it closed before it seemed to fade away.

‘Strange, I know very well I had closed that portal as we left. I didn’t want to run the risk of anyone or anything to find its way here and cause trouble.’

The two made their way out of the woods, and looking at the sun, Celestia seemed ready to set, so Luna could bring her moon up, Discord shrugged off the matter.

He decided he was in the mood for a little fun at tonights Night court, so he bid Fluttershy adieu, explaining he was needed for tea time with the favorite princesses.

Flutterhsy wished him a good night and asked that eh not get into too much trouble.

“Why, my dear Fluttershy, who do you take me for?” He asked, his head suddenly looking like a large oversized rat.

“Oh Discord, I know you mean well. But if you’re going to have tea with Princess Luna, just try not to cause her or her guards too much consternation.”

With a soft smile, Discord leaned down, a claw going under her muzzle, as he tilted her head to his.

“My dearest Fluttershy, just because you asked, I will be on my best behavior.”

“I’m glad to hear it, Discord, but please uncross your fingers from behind your back.”

With a defeated look, Discord rolled his eyes and pulled his arm from behind his back where he uncrossed his claws. “Oh very well, I suppose I can’t get past you.”

“Thank you Discord, but that doesn’t mean you still can’t have fun,” Fluttershy explained as she turned away.

Discord stood up, watching her leave. Turning looks away, his eyes bulging slightly, a red tie appearing around his neck.

“’Sheesh, I get no respect,’” he quoted, his voice altered to that of another's, as he tugged lightly on the tie.

As he watched her leave the forest, he shrugged before vanishing.

The night was calm and warm, warmer than it had been in the other world Fluttershy had just returned from. Yet, with such a quiet night, on this far side, one would have sworn they heard the call of the royal Canterlot voice screaming out Discords name.

The next mornings paper would read, “Raging Royal holds concerned conflict with Dizzying Discordant tea time.” Which would be followed by a picture of an angry Princess Luna, chasing Discord, while her thestral guards did their best to fight back against tea cups, pitchers, and such.

For this night, however, Fluttershy was only just leaving the white tail woods, quietly humming to herself, a smile gracing her features. As she made her way onto the path back to Ponyville, she halted as she came upon a dark lump in the middle of the road.

“What’s this?” She asked out loud to herself. As she closed in on the lump she could hear a low groan.

“Oh, no, you’re hurt.” She realized as she got closer and smelled blood. She nuzzled the thing on the ground trying to get a closer look at what she thought to be an animal.

She was surprised to see that it was a human, just like some of the ones she had seen just a little while before, though this one, was soaked through, a thick amount of hair covered the majority of his face, though, she noted, the parts uncovered were dark with bruises.

Fluttershy danced in place for a few seconds trying to figure out what to do. She needed to help this poor thing, and she was afraid of how badly it was hurt. She did her best to look for help and spotted some birds, and rabbits.

“Hello my little friends, I need some help. Can you rbing some other animals, and Berry the bear? This one is hurt badly, and I need help getting him to my cottage to see how badly. I don’t want to bother anypony else because of how late it is.

The animals chirped and tweeted their agreements and went off in a hurry.

Fluttershy paced for a few minutes before she heard the lumbering sounds of the bear and scamperings of other animals coming to her aid.

Fluttershy got some help from some of the animals still in her home as they had cozied up into a small pile for warmth before she arrived with another patient. She had them place down some blankets onto the middle of the floor as well as grabbing her plenty of medical supply.

The first thing she did was have Berry place the human onto the blankets, on his back, where she spotted drippings of blood coming from under a thick set of clothing. Biting her lip she worked the layers off as best as she could. She could see bruises all over his pale thin body and a wound of something sharp having pierced his body. It was small, but as she looked she could see how deep it was.

Fearing the worst, she immediately had some animals sent out to find Princess Twilight, hoping she would be able to bring a doctor.

While they left, Fluttershy grabbed her equipment and frowned. She had plenty of supplies for small animals, and such, but not for something like this.

She moved up along his body trying to find where his heart was. Once she was able to find it, remembering back to the times she had explored her own copy of a human body, she could faintly hear the heartbeat. It was seeming to fade, and fade quickly.

Biting her lips, she grabbed her supplies, no longer caring how little of she had, and set to work to the best of her ability.

Years of tending to animals which had not only gotten hurt, but had also gotten hurt in territory disputes with each other, and worse helped her to clean and dress the wound as best as she could. She had done her best to keep pressure on the wound he had.

She got help from the animals that stayed by her and the patients side when she needed it.

By now, quite a lot of time had passed, and she was now pacing waiting for more help.

After a few more paces she heard a knock and a voice.

“Fluttershy? Are you in there? I got a bunch of animals that ran into the castle. What’s going on?” The voice was that of Twilight and sounded a bit panicked.

She quickly opened the door and invited the princess of friendship into her home.

“I’m fine, but I found a human at the border of white tail woods. I didn’t realize this when I had found him, but he was badly hurt. He needs medical attention. I’m limited by the supplies I have and could only do very little.” She explained as she drug her friend over to the raggedy breathing human on her floor.

Twilight looked him over, seeing much of his body covered in gauze, as well as a red splotch over his stomach.

“Thank you for telling me, Fluttershy. We should go ahead and get him to the hospital for help. If our doctors can;t help him, then I will need to get him through the mirror back to his own world.”