“Wow, these flowers are so beautiful!”
Fluttershy smiled at a patch of blooming sunflowers along with many other different flowers all clustered together in the Canterlot Gardens. They seemed well cared for and often given water and the right amount of sunlight as she assumed they would be. This was Canterlot after all and Princess Celestia seemed to take a bit of pride in keeping the gardens healthy and presentable for guests.
She sniffed a small purple flower, enjoying its wonderful fragrance as she sighed contently. The smell of fresh flowers was a smell like no other and Fluttershy wished she could somehow bring the smell along with her. Being here in the gardens made her want to have a few more flowers of her own.
If only..No, that would be rude..Cruel even. How could she ever have the thought about taking one of Celestia’s precious flowers and keeping it for her own? It was only for a moment but the thought made her somewhat sick. Taking somepony’s hard work without even asking was a terrible, terrible thing to do. Where did that thought even come from?..
Fluttershy shook her head and stepped away from the purple flower she once was sniffing, a bit scared she might somehow give into the strange thought. She knew she wouldn’t in her mind but she wanted to be sure just in case.
“Celestia has so many flowers and you’re scared about taking only one?..She wouldn’t even notice it was gone. Besides, don’t you think she already has enough in her possession?...”
Fluttershy jumped a little, startled by the sudden voice she was hearing. She looked around frantically, looking for the source but found nothing. Nothing but rows upon rows of flowers and hedges in the distance.
“Wait, you heard me didn’t you? You heard my thoughts?”
“W-What’s going on?...W-Who are you?” Fluttershy asked worriedly.
The voice laughed loudly. “You heard my thoughts! It’s been a thousand years since anypony has heard me speak.”
“I...I don’t understand. I can hear somepony talking but I can’t see them.”
“Hmm, I have a little game for you. You like games, don’t you?” The voice asked, sounding smug.
“Um...I like games that aren’t scary and where I don’t get hurt. Is this a nice game?”
“It’s a rather simple game so I would say it’s nice. However, it requires one little flower.”
“A flower?”
Fluttershy looked towards the large patch of flowers beside her and then up to the blue sky. She assumed for some reason that the voice was coming from above.
“Yes, one of Celestia’s flowers. Take a flower and I will tell you where I am.”
“But I can’t do that. That’s so mean and disrespectful. Princess Celestia would be so disappointed in me if I did that. Besides, that’s not who I am.”
“But I heard you earlier. You wanted some flowers of your own. Like I said, she wouldn’t notice. It wouldn’t hurt her to take just one.”
Fluttershy eyed the purple flower she was smelling earlier and looked nervously towards the castle. “Does it have to be one of her flowers? I could just grab one from somewhere el-”
“Do you want to play the game or not?” The voice asked impatiently.
She never really agreed that she wanted to play the game. She only wanted to play if it was a nice game and clearly the actions he wanted her to commit weren’t nice. She did want to find out who this strange pony was but she wasn’t going to do something cruel just for the sake of it. It just wasn’t in her nature.
“I’m not going to play your game if it involves me doing mean things. I’m sorry but I refuse to steal from Princess Celestia. That goes for everypony else too.” Fluttershy replied assertively.
“You really are the Element of Kindness. What a borefest.”
“Huh?...How did you know that?”
“I know a lot of things. Many things that ponies would never understand. You’re all obsessed with friendship and peace and harmony. It really is sad that I got put in here for having a little fun. Too bad that the Element of Laughter didn’t stumble upon me instead..”
“Put in where? I can’t see you.”
“That’s the point. You didn’t give me a flower from Celestia’s garden so you’re not allowed to see me. You don’t follow my rules, you don’t get the prize. Quite a shame really since I’m quite a sight to behold.” The voice spoke egotistically.
“Isn’t there another game I can play that doesn’t involve me doing something mean?”
“Nice games are boring. This is why none of you colorful blobs have a sense of humor.”
Fluttershy thought to herself for a moment, thinking about what she could do. If she suddenly heard his voice when she was in the garden, perhaps that meant he was somewhere around here. She just had to find him. Perhaps she could do this without playing one of his games.
“Well, I’ll just look around myself then.”
Without his confirmation, she decided to search the garden of flowers, careful not to step on any. She didn’t think he was some tiny mouse that was hidden amongst the flowers but she thought perhaps he’d be somewhere around here. Besides, why would a tiny mouse be so mean towards the Princess? In fact, why would he refer to her so informally? It confused her immensely.
After she trotted around carefully through the flowers for a little while longer, Fluttershy decided that he wasn’t anywhere near the garden and looked around her once more. She spotted a little dirt path leading to a closed in area full of hedges. That seemed like the most likely place. He wasn’t exactly speaking anymore and telling her what he thought so it was worth a shot.
She trotted down the dirt path and found the sights around her beginning to change as tall perfectly cut hedges were at her sides now and no longer any flowers. The narrow path began to break off as she found herself in another place of the Canterlot gardens. This area was more wide and there were walk paths leading to large statues of ponies placed here and there amongst the green grass. This area must have been the most popular for tourists.
“Are you near the statues?” Fluttershy asked.
She paused in silence, listening for an answer but the voice didn’t speak. Investigating for herself once more, she walked closer to the statues and studied them. Most of the statues were of earth ponies holding a flag, a scroll, or a staff of some kind. However, one statue caught her eye as it seemed to be three ponies hopping over each other, representing some kind of bond between all of them. The others seemed to lack any uniqueness, except for one.
Her eyes widened when she noticed a large hybrid creature statue standing away from the pony statues. The creature seemed to be standing on his hind legs with his head thrown back as he laughed but remained frozen. Fluttershy felt a bit of uneasiness as she approached the statue out of curiosity. She stood near his mismatched feet as she continued to stare up in shock and amazement at the strange piece of art.
“I’ll have you know that I’m not a piece of art for ponies to simply look at. I’m alive too, you know!”
Fluttershy squeaked, startled by him talking again. “W-What? What are you talking about?...”
“You found me, congratulations! Your prize for finding me is nothing but eternal silence and loneliness! Unless of course you leave. I can’t exactly do anything about that while in here.”
“Wait, you’re a statue?”
“Not by choice! Your two-faced princess put me in here.”
“P-Princess Celestia? Why would she do that? She’s one of the nicest ponies I know.”
The statue laughed. “Please, wait until you hear what she did to her sister.”
“I know what she did to her sister but she had to. She had no other choice.”
“She had plenty of choices! Just like how I could have had many before she turned me to stone! She’s no fun at all.”
“And why did she turn you to stone?”
Fluttershy decided to sit down on the grass now beside the statue, assuming that if he decided to tell her, it would be a long story. She may as well rest her hooves. He seemed to be a bit surprised by that.
“You really want to know? Hm, I didn’t expect that from a pony.”
“I like listening to others and hearing their stories. Each one of them is different and interesting so I wouldn’t mind listening.”
“Well, if you really want me to.”
The statue began to explain the story of his chaotic reign and his stone imprisonment from his perspective. He explained that his way of ruling was rather “beneficial” for not only the ponies of Equestria but of course, himself. Fluttershy didn’t quite understand why chaos would be beneficial for ponies since oftentimes it upset them or messed with their normal activities.
However, she did understand that he was a spirit of chaos and with such a purpose, it was his very destiny to create chaos and mess with the balance that harmony brought. And since she was a being of harmony, like most of Equestria’s inhabitants, he felt alone and quite different from the others. Chaos was what he did and all that he ever knew. She sympathized with him on that part.
What she didn’t sympathize with was him tormenting ponies with his chaos magic and overthrowing Princess Celestia and Princess Luna’s rule. She didn’t like the idea that he used ponies as his puppets and threw them into an unhealthy state of disharmony without any warning or consent. Not to mention just taking everything away from the princesses.
“And they just sealed you away into stone after?” Fluttershy asked.
“Can’t you see for yourself? I can’t exactly go anywhere now can I? I can’t even lift my claw. I can only speak and listen to Princess Celestia’s painfully boring speeches about moving a tapestry there or a bush here..” He paused and let out a yawn. “Just talking about it puts me to sleep.”
“They should have tried to understand your side of the story too, even if you did some very bad things.”
“I don’t expect her or anypony else to understand. I do as I please and that’s all that matters. If I’m happy, who cares how anyone else feels?”
“Wouldn’t you want friends to share your chaos with? It’s nice when you have friends who care about you and you care for them back. I’m sure being here alone for so many years gets lonely.”
“Friends?”
The statue burst into laughter and made Fluttershy feel momentarily embarrassed and wrong for mentioning anything about friendship. When he finally finished his laughing fit, he went quiet.
“What are friends?”
“You don’t know what a friend is?” Fluttershy gasped.
“What, is it some kind of new stupid pony trend that I missed out on? If so, I really don’t care.” The statue complained, pretending to not have as much interest in this friend's thing than he actually did.
“Actually, you don’t have to be a pony to have a friend. Friends are just someone who is there for you and cares about you. You might share the same interests with each other or be completely different. What matters is your connection and memories with them.”
“Sounds cheesy and a complete waste of time.”
“Have you ever had a friend before?”
“No, but I don’t need any. Chaos is all I’ll ever need!”
“Well, if you say so.”
Fluttershy stood up now and dusted herself off of grass. It seemed like the pegasus was preparing to possibly leave and the statue started to get a little antsy at this.
“Wait, are you leaving?” He asked.
“My friends are in the castle right now with Princess Celestia and they’re probably wondering where I am. I was going to head back before they start searching for me.”
“Oh...” His voice trailed off.
Fluttershy turned her back to the statue and glanced around at her surroundings, trying to visualize the path back to the castle.
“Wait, before you go...What’s your name?” He asked.
“My name? I thought you already knew my name. You said you knew lots of things.”
“I don’t know everything as much as I wish I did.”
“My um...My name is Fluttershy. What’s yours?..”
“And why should I tell you that?”
“Because I told you mine. When you meet someone, you usually exchange names.”
“Well I don’t do the usual things like you ponies do so I refuse!”
Fluttershy put her hoof to her mouth and thought to herself, inspecting his features at the same time. She remembered that he had told her he was a creature of chaos who created disharmony and mischief. She knew of a name that sounded exactly like this description that would most likely fit him well.
“I guess I’ll call you Discord then...If that’s okay with you.”
The statue seemed surprised and paused for a moment.
“Fine, if you really must give me a name.”
Fluttershy smiled softly. “Well Discord, I’ll see you later. Maybe I’ll come back to this garden again someday.”
Fluttershy turned around and trotted off, leaving the statue behind her. The statue didn’t say goodbye but seemed to silently watch her leave, even if his eyes were closed in the current pose he was forced to take. He wasn’t desperate for her to come back neither wishing for her to stay away. He was curious and interested to know more about her.
He had never wished or expected for a pony to at least try and understand his chaotic ways and yet a pony rare among her kind of ignorant fools was willing to listen and understand. He wanted to keep track of this pony and remember her efforts towards him.
Someday he would be freed from this jail he was forced to live in and he would spread his chaos far and wide once again. However, he wanted to at least spare one pony from his puppet strings. Fluttershy...Fluttershy was her name. Once his physical body was free again, he would speak to her himself in all his glory and spare this kind spirit.
Why?...He had no clue.
Author's Note
I hope you enjoyed this random idea I had for a short story. I honestly have no plans to continue this AU but y e s enjoy. x3
