Fluttershy Gets Inside Discord's Head
Fluttershy held the delicate china cup between her forehooves, admiring the way in which the ambient light seemed to permeate through its very form and make the tea within glow with an ethereal orange radiance. She span the gently steaming infusion slowly around the cup with a soothing swirling motion, obviously distracted.
“What’s wrong?” enquired the dapper draconequus sat opposite her on a green sofa. He held a cup of tea in his right paw and in his left claw a teaspoon which he held still as the cup span itself in circles, stirring itself for him.
“Oh, I’m sorry” she apologised, “It’s just that I stopped earlier to help a mommy bird who was injured and couldn’t collect enough food for her young chicks; I should hate for anything to happen to them just because I hadn’t done as much as I could.”
“I’m sure you did more than anypony else would have done, so your conscience is clear.”
“No, no it isn’t” she whispered sadly, “I can always do more, and I always feel guilty if I don’t make everything absolutely right for every little critter. I sometimes wish I had magic, like Twilight or you, so I could make everything better and then everypony would be happy.”
“Oh my dear Fluttershy” empathised Discord, as two sugar lumps vaulted from the sugar bowl and used his teaspoon as a springboard to dive happily into his tea, “Magic isn’t the answer to everything you know; don’t you remember when Twilight switched all your cutie marks around? How sad everypony felt?”
“Yes, but she didn’t mean to.”
“That’s hardly the point, but I can see I’m not going to convince you by words alone. We’re going to have to see things from a different perspective” said Discord looking at her over a pair of 3D theatre glasses that had suddenly appeared on his face, “I’ve decided - we’ll swap.”
With that, Fluttershy let out a sudden “eeeep!” as she found herself floating while everything around her suddenly grew quite a lot bigger; the furniture, Discord … and … a primrose pegasus with a vacant expression sat in an arm chair – her arm chair! It was her, but yet it couldn’t be!
She felt a soft, yet irresistible force levitate her upwards and towards Discord. As she neared him, she noticed that his head had flipped open on a solitary brass hinge, revealing a hollowed out space and she was being drawn in!
Descending slowly into the void behind his eyes, she noticed that it resembled a room with two pictures nailed to the walls; one of a vase of flowers and the other of her. She watched incredulous as a miniature Discord got up from a comfortable leather seat and stood over to one side, waiting for her to join him.
Eyes wide and with pupils like pinheads she found herself lowered into the waiting seat; in front of her was a joystick and in front of that, a bank of screens.
“OK, get yourself comfortable. The controls are quite simple” he said gesturing to the joystick, “Forward, back, left right, and if you want magic just press the green button. Oh, and don’t touch the red button.”
“Why not?” she asked in a terrified whisper.
“Ejector seat” he said disinterestedly, “Or perhaps it turns the moon into cheese? I can never remember. Maybe it summons a fish on roller skates with a marmalade sandwich? Who knows?”
Petrified in case she pressed the wrong button, Fluttershy stared at the screens in front of her. One gave her a view of her giant self sat expressionless opposite, but many of the others showed her at different times of her life, all looking very happy. She stretched a trembling foreleg out forwards, gesturing.
“Oh, those are your happiest moments” he sighed wistfully, “I like to see you happy. You can call up whatever you want to see; just think of it and it will appear.”
She looked at a screen and focused hard; next thing she saw Angel Bunny as a kitten, cradled in the crook of her foreleg. She stared at the image, a mixture of panic and devotion freezing her face in a curious shape.
“Right, it looks like you’ve got the hang of it. I suggest you put on your seatbelt while you get used to the joystick” he said, snapping his claws and producing a seatbelt from nowhere that clicked shut and drew itself tight, “Oh, and if you don’t like these controls, think of different ones and they’ll appear. Why, just last week there was a ship’s wheel right where you’re sat now. It’s quite easy really …”
She remained frozen in fear as he floated up and out of the giant head, closing the flip top behind him and latching it shut.
She watched on the screen as the diminutive Discord flew over towards the large Fluttershy in the arm chair and let out a revolted “eeeyuk!” as he dived in to her ear, emerging behind her eyes only a few seconds later. He waved cheerfully before getting her body to lift the cup of tea she was holding and taking a sip, crossing her legs for her.
“Well, go on then, away you go” she heard her other self say.
In response, she gently applied the slightest touch to the joystick and the Discord she was now driving fell forward, flat on his face.
“Oh my …” she gasped, raising her forehooves to her mouth as the screen in front of her showed a close up image of her rug.
She pulled back violently on the joystick and in response Discord performed a backflip over the sofa as the primrose pony in the armchair clapped her forehooves in applause.
Discord watched with rapt fascination as Fluttershy fought bravely to master his body’s movements. Once she had mastered back and forwards, she tried sideways and gyrated his pelvis furiously from left to right as if spinning an imaginary hula hoop while the giant Fluttershy looked on, howling in helpless mirth.
Then she tried to walk, lifting one hind leg stupidly high and leaning forward until it made contact with the ground, followed by the other leg trying to catch up in a sequence of tiny little hops.
The final effect made the Ministry of Silly Walks look as staid as an undertaker’s procession, and while Discord’s body could not be said to be in any way elegant as it strutted precariously around the room, the wilder gyrations were definitely starting to show signs of coming under some sort of control.
Inside, Fluttershy wrestled bravely with the joystick, her intense concentration not even faltering as the occasional bead of sweat dripped into her eyes. She pressed the green button and a sweat band snapped itself onto her forehead. She thanked the button most politely as she continued to get to grips with mastering Discord’s body and pressed the green button again. Two dozen pink fluffy slippers suddenly materialised around her and she gasped in astonishment as they all fell down, pushing the joystick forward in surprise and somersaulting back into the chair, landing upside down with feet sticking up in the air.
“Oh, well done!” cheered Discord enthusiastically, “I didn’t know I could even do that!”
“Neither did I” whimpered his body pitifully as Fluttershy tentatively removed her shaking hooves from the joystick.
“Well, now you’ve mastered the basics, let’s go out and see what we can find, shall we?” he urged.
“I don’t think I’m really ready …” she whimpered.
“Just press the blue button.”
“What blue button?” she asked, “There’s only green and red.”
“Well, there’s a blue one now too. I just decided.”
Sure enough, when she looked down, a blue button had appeared on the joystick alongside the other two.
“Well? Press it then” he insisted.
She did, and suddenly Discord’s body rotated around and sat down smartly, crossing his legs and picking up the teacup once more.
“Well come on then, chop chop!” urged the primrose pony rising from her armchair, “You’ve got things to do.”
“Must I?” she whimpered.
“Yes you must. It’s my body after all, and it would be terribly rude not to do with it as I ask, wouldn’t you say?”
Begrudgingly, she placed her hooves on the joystick, anxious to get Discord’s body out of the chair without a repeat of the problems this simple task had caused last time.
“Oh, and please try not to damage me any more, I’m going to have to take myself in to the body shop as it is. Just press the yellow button.”
“But …” she began to protest meekly, then saw a yellow button, but every time she went to press it, it moved away, repositioning itself at random places all over the joystick.
“Well, do come along” he chided impatiently.
She paused, making sure she was poised just above the yellow button and then summoned all her courage to thrust her hoof down, closing her eyes as she did so. The yellow button sidestepped neatly out of the way just in time, dragging the green button swiftly into its place just as her forehoof made contact. Suddenly it began snowing, as Discord’s head turned into a giant snow globe.
Partially blinded by the unexpected snowstorm, she rose to follow herself out of the door, but missed and crashed into the wall, backed up and bumped into the wall again before sidestepping like a limbo dancer and striding out purposefully to catch up.
“Ah, there you are” said Discord, “Got to grips with the controls, I see.”
Now the snow had settled in Discord’s head, Fluttershy was indeed beginning to do a passable job of driving, and began to call up different images on the screens in front of her as her confidence grew.
“Over here” she called, “On the right; there’s the mommy bird I was telling you about.”
The big Fluttershy stopped and followed as Discord’s body made its way off the path and into a clearing where a blue bird was struggling unsuccessfully to fly up to a nest above her, from which a chorus of cheeping baby birds could be heard.
“Its OK little one” she cooed soothingly as the grounded bird looked up with some trepidation at the draconequus looming over her, “I’ll make it all better for you.”
“Are you sure?” asked a voice of doubt from beside her.
She was sure, and focused really hard on fixing the bird’s wing, then pressed the green button. Immediately a glow of magical energy surrounded the bird and after a second or two, she cocked her head on one side and then flew back up to her nest to feed her babies, emerging a moment later to say a very grateful thank you.
“There” said Fluttershy, turning to her larger self, “Wasn’t that worth it?”
“I don’t know” came the enigmatic reply, “I expect that only time will tell.”
“Oh my” she gasped, “There’s another injured bird not far from here; we simply have to go and help.”
She led them back onto the path and along a distance, her confidence growing with each stride until she once again left the path and set off through some low shrubbery. Soon they could both hear the sound of flapping and leaves rustling and converged at the point where a hawk was struggling on the ground having got tangled in brambles, one wing hanging down by his side.
Fluttershy took a look at the different screens in front of her and caught sight of a hungry lynx approaching the distressed bird, eyes wide, tail swishing slowly from side to side as it crept up towards its prey. Immediately, she turned and strode off to put Discord’s body between the hunter and the hunted, rounding on the approaching predator reproachfully and telling it off in no uncertain terms. It looked up at her as it was being scolded and then slunk away having missed its meal. Content with her intervention, Fluttershy then returned her attentions to rescuing the injured hawk.
She looked down at the struggling bird and pressed the green button. Immediately, the brambles withdrew, coiling themselves back into the undergrowth and the bird’s wing settled back into place. He flexed his wings, feeling that everything was as it should be and flew up onto the outstretched paw Fluttershy offered, telling her how grateful he was before flying away.
“Well, Discord” she announced proudly, “I would say this magic is doing a lot to help poor defenceless animals that can’t help themselves.”
“Perhaps” replied Discord, “But why did you stop that big cat attacking this bird?”
“Well it was going to hurt him” she understated, as if the question was futile and the answer obvious.
“Oh, I see” came the reply, “Tell me, shall we check on the mommy bird you helped out, you know, just to see how she is?”
“Good idea” she replied, “I can’t wait to see the happy expressions on all the chicks’ little faces.”
They trudged back to the site of their first rescue and looking around the clearing saw a pile of blue feathers on the ground.
Fluttershy looked. But wasn’t prepared to process what she saw.
“You can play back what happened” said Discord softly, “If you really want to know, that is.”
Forehoof trembling, she pointed to a screen and watched an action replay of the blue bird she had helped earlier being intercepted with practiced finality by the hawk she had just rescued. She couldn’t bear to watch the details and covered her eyes, fresh tears stinging bitterly as they spilled out between her hooves.
“But … but that can’t be right” she whimpered pitifully, “That’s not fair.”
“I’m sorry Fluttershy” lamented Discord with genuine sadness, “But magic doesn’t discriminate; it’s a balance between cause and effect; by changing one event, you cannot always guarantee what will happen as a result somewhere else. It’s never quite as simple as just snapping your claws and fixing everything.”
Fluttershy couldn’t stop sobbing. “What about the baby birds?” she wailed.
“They’re no worse off now than they were before you stepped in” he replied sincerely.
“How could you say that!” she raged, shaking with grief, “How could you? They haven’t got a mommy to look after them now and it’s all my fault!”
Discord suddenly popped into existence next to Fluttershy. He approached the grief stricken pegasus and knelt in front of her, gently stroking her, but she pushed his paw aside and continued crying. He lay his head gently on her lap, feeling her pain and eventually felt her reaching down to give him a hug.
“I’m sorry Discord” she said quietly, “I don't think I'm ready for magic. Please can I be myself again?”
“In a moment” he replied, “I can’t transfer you back while you’re crying, you might short circuit something and then even I don’t know what might happen.”
She giggled, her mind temporarily distracted from the terrible guilt she felt as she recalled her disastrous earlier attempts at controlling his body and gave him another big hug.
“Thank you” she whispered, “But before you send me back, can you give this a happy ending please?”
“You know this is playing with the cosmological laws of cause and effect, don’t you?”
“Please” she asked, “Please can you fix it without causing any further problems elsewhere?”
“Very well” he replied, “Just this once, but you have no idea how much paperwork will be involved though.”
At this, all the screens started showing cascades of paper, flowing over each other like a waterfall.
Fluttershy smiled; a grateful, happy smile, and Discord knew he could not refuse her.
The seatbelt around her suddenly vanished and she got out of the leather upholstered seat, relieved that it was all finally over. She took one last look around the strange room that she now saw only as a prison to her conscience and realised she would never be able to cope with the responsibilities that magic demanded, no matter how much she wanted to help others.
She leaned over, closed her eyes and gave Discord a grateful little kiss on his cheek and then unexpectedly found herself back in her own body once more. She looked at the blue mommy bird flying up to feed her babies; no sad pile of feathers on the ground any more. Overhead, a hawk skimmed majestically over the treetops and screeched joyfully as he circled around the clearing, just for the delight of showing off his mended wing, before flying off to see his own young family.
“Shall we go and finish our tea now?” asked Discord, “I think our work here is done.”
“Thank you, I think I would like that very much” replied Fluttershy happily.
Hoof in paw they walked back to her cottage, each with a deeper respect for the other.
Behind them, a fish on roller skates followed along carrying a marmalade sandwich on a silver platter.
