Transference

"Please, have a seat," the draconequus, in a terribly good mood, pointed to a bench in the garden behind the cottage while hovering close above me.

As I sat down I noticed Fluttershy, not far from us, tending to two timberwolves and a cockatrice. It seemed that she was dreaming of taking care of the more exotic animals of the Everfree Forest. Such a pure soul, even in her dreams.

"Fluttershy isn't aware that we are here," Discord said in an unfamiliar light tone while looking at her with concern. "She is getting older, you know. I have to be even more careful these days not to upset her fragile heart."

"What is this about, Discord?" I asked him impatiently. "You said you were expecting me to show up at some point. Please, be so kind as to elaborate why?"

Discord descended on my level and sat in the air, arms and legs crossed. He just floated before me like that for a while, not averting his gaze off of me, seemingly thinking about what to say next.

With a smile forming on his face, he addressed me, "We both know why you are here, poor little soul. You are looking for a way to come into the living world, are you not?"

Closing my eyes slowly, I took a deep breath. "Real mastermind right there, asshole."

Acting all offended, he threw his arms up in the air, "Oh, please. I'm not holding you here. There's the door if you want to leave," he said as he pointed multiple arms in all directions to the edge of the dream.

I considered leaving. Nothing good would come out of this, I thought. What was I even thinking coming here? He was partly responsible for my suffering.

"But..." Discord started talking again. "Just so you are aware. Luna won't find a way for you to safely cross over without hurting a pony in the process. She has been desperately looking for a viable solution, with no success thus far."

I looked up to him, some fear building inside of me. "Wha... What do you mean?"

Discord sighed as if I was a bit slow on the uptake, "For you to permanently take over somepony else, would mean for the other soul to lose its connection to their own body. So basically dying... or, even worse, the soul being irretrievably lost in the process. Luna won't tamper with that again, I assure you. She has learned her lesson, and you are an eternal monument as a reminder to her. She made a mistake bringing you here."

Was what he was saying true? I actually expected that the potential host needed to have its soul removed for me to take over permanently, to die... I had been okay with that, really, which is why I was on the lookout for some potential villains. But if it meant for Luna just to have another soul lost in her domain or permanently shattered... that complicated things.

"I'm lost forever, and Luna won't even tell me the truth," I mumbled to myself.

Discord sprang up, now dressed in a suit, almost looking like some sketchy car salesman, "Ah, don't you worry, for I have just the thing for you, my dearest of friends!"

He flew over to Fluttershy wildly waving one of his arms, "What do you think about this second-hoof model, hm? I know, she's quite old and her rump is a bit soggy, but I assure you, she still has a lot of mileage in her!"

I just looked over at him, perplexed, "What, why Fluttershy? What difference would it make? And isn't she like your special somepony or something?"

This was making me nervous. Why would he suggest something like that? With Fluttershy no less.

"Oh, for you see, I'll give you a special discount. A safe way to transfer into a physical body, no harm will come to Fluttershy's soul in the process, I assure you, how does that sound to you, hm?"

That sounded too good to be true. There must have been a catch to it. I mean, sure, Fluttershy was a mare past her prime, but I wouldn't even mind, I'd take anypony available at that point.

"Discord... what's the catch, what's in it for you? How would it be different than with Luna?" I asked, already looking over Fluttershy's body longingly from a distance.

With a poof he appeared before me again in his former sitting position. "I want her to be mine, human. She shall be mine alone, forever."

He looked at me with half-closed eyes. I had never seen him that serious-looking before, he gave off an unusual dark aura. I was getting a bit scared for a moment there.

Discord leaned over to me, uncomfortably close. "Fluttershy is getting old and she will eventually die. I'm not interested in her body, I want her soul. I need your help as much as you need mine. I can't just take it."

Processing what he had just revealed, I looked over to Fluttershy again and then back to Discord. "You... you planned this, didn't you? You fucking bastard... I'm only here for your own goals!"

I stood up, angry about the realization. Only to sit back down again after I had thought about it for a while. What was I supposed to do? Was there even another way out of this than what he offered?

"How would you accomplish that, what happens to Fluttershy after?" I asked, contemplating the consequences.

Discord chuckled. "Interested, aren't we? She is a fine mare after all..."

Out of nowhere, he made something appear next to him out of thin air. It was some sort of web with feathers dangling from it. A crystal in the middle of it all... some sort of dreamcatcher, I presumed.

"This will make you forcefully stay in her long enough for her soul to be pushed out of her body and eventually be collected by the stone this holds," he said with an intense look on his face. "I will tend to her forever after, you mustn't worry about her well-being. I love her with all my heart."

He was a complete maniac. I saw it in his eyes. But he was the maniac I so desperately needed to move on.

"Does she know about this?" I asked, knowing the answer already.

He looked at me, his expression telling me the he was disappointed that I had asked. "She will have enough time to accept. And please, don't act like it makes a difference to you."

"Do I even have a real choice?" I asked, more myself than him.

If I had to stay any longer in the dreamscape, I'd likely go insane and start possessing ponies uncontrolled. Thinking it all over it really wasn't that bad. Sure, Fluttershy would be at his mercy, but he wouldn't dare harm her, right?

Discord held out one of his arms to me. "Do we have a deal?"

I looked up to him and grabbed his arm with one of my hooves. "Deal!"

Before I knew it, he had me yeeted in the direction of Fluttershy.