Author's Note

Ok so in this chapter it’s just Discord and two other animals that have dialogue but aren’t actually speaking English, their still chittering and chirping like animals, but since it’s just Discord and the animals I think it would flow better if the animals have dialogue, and Discord would probably be able to understand animals after sending all those years with them so uh yeah, that’s it, hope you enjoy

A Dying, Broken Heart

Discord sat at a scratched up wooden desk in a room that would’ve been pitch black if it weren’t for the small candle that stood in place at the corner of the desk, and he held in his hand a picture frame, it was a picture of him and a buttercream pegasus with a rose-colored mane, his breath shook as he held back tears “I...” he began but he couldn’t find the words a simply I miss you wouldn’t work he wanted to say something, but he couldn’t he sighed heavily all he could do was softly stroke the dull wooden frame with his thumb, and let the tears roll down his face

“Um, Discord are you alright?” a voice suddenly called from behind him

It had cause him to jump as he shoved the frame into a drawer of the desk, he quickly wiped the tears from his eyes, keeping his back to the creature who had entered the room “R-Reginald,” he stuttered “what have I told you about coming into my office without knocking?”

The opossum made his way over to Discord and hopped up onto the desk “I know, and I’m sorry to bother you sir but I was just in the forest, and you’ll never believe what I saw!”

Discord rolled his eyes “So, what did you see?”

“I saw five ponies, four mares and a stallion, heading in the direction of the cottage, and the stallion even calmed a manticore, not only that but the manticore had cubs! Now that’s not something you see every day and once I saw it, I ran back here as fast as my paws could take me and--”

Discord cut him off “Wait, five ponies?”

“Yes, saw it with my own two eyes” he confirmed

Discord growled “Where’s Tabby?”

Reginald laughed nervously at his sudden anger “Oh...um...well he’s...he’s...somewhere?”

Discord’s growl became louder “Where. Is. TABBY!?”

“I should probably go find him, huh?” Reginald asked

Discord gave him a stone-cold gaze then looked off at the wall

“I’ll taking that as a yes,” he jumped off the desk and ran over to the door “I’ll be back” he yelled behind him before scurrying off and down the hall

Discord snorted and again growled under his breath, he looked down at the drawer he had stuffed the photo in, he reached down, opened the drawer and pulled the frame out again, he looked down at the item he held in his hands, he shook his head and set the picture face down on the desk, he laid his head in his hands and softly sobbed to himself, he wanted to see her again, more than anything else in the universe but he knew he couldn’t, he knew that not even he could bring her back, but that didn’t stop his longing for her

Reginald quickly ran in and out of each room of the cottage as he called out Tabby’s name until he had eventually stumbled across the large brown tabby cat sprawled out on his back, “TABBY!”

The brown tom looked over at the screeching opossum and laughed “What's up Reg, stressing over some missing mushrooms again,” he flipped over onto his stomach “I swear I didn’t take them this time”

“Don’t call me that,” he said walking over to him “and no I'm not missing any mushrooms”

Tabby stood and stretched out his back and front paws letting his claws unsheathe with a loud yawn “Then why did you have to coming into my room screaming like the house is on fire?”

“Because Discord is asking for your presence” Reginald said as he rubbed his temple

“What? Why?” the tom questioned

“I don’t know but he seemed pretty angry” he replied

“Well, we better not keep him waiting,” Tabby said moving towards the door “you know how he gets when he’s mad”

Reginald sighed “Yes, and all too well” he ran over to Tabby’s side, and they made their way to Discord room

The brown cat looked over at the small opossum and he could tell something was wrong, he nudged his companion in the side to get his attention “What on your mind” he asked

Reginald shrugged “I just...I really wish we could help Discord; I mean he’s aways so sad or angry all the time and even though he tries to hide it we see, I see it, from the stories that have been passed down all those years ago, he used to be happy, he used to smile, he used to laugh, what happened that made him how he is now? We can’t help him if we don’t know what's going on, I...I just want him to be happy again”

Tabby gazed at the ground “I don’t know if that’s possible Reg, Discord like this because he lost so much, I mean his wife passed over a thousand years ago-”

“And he’s still not over it?!” he yelled cutting him off and stopping his slow trot "Sure he’s lost someone, but look how much he’s gained, he has the sanctuary, he has us! And that’s still not enough for him!? Why can’t he just forget about her?! Why does he worry so much about some stupid pony who died over an eternity ago?!”

Tabby walked over to his upset friend and placed a paw on his shoulder “I know you hate to see Discord this way we all do, even if this is how we’ve seen him our whole lives, and I know you want to do something about it but there's nothing we can do, I-I’m sorry”

Reginald again started walking towards Discord’s room “It just doesn’t feel right, leaving him like this, it feels like we’re abandoning him, like we’re giving up on him, and even if there’s no way to help him, I still don’t want to leave him alone”

Tabby followed in the direction he was heading “And were not, we are not ever going to leave him alone, not even after death, we'll be there for him even if he doesn’t get better, we will not leave him”

Reginald smiled sadly at the tom “Yeah, I guess so, and I'm sorry for yelling it was uncalled for”

The cat nodded “It’s fine Reg, just hope Discord didn’t here you...he’s...he’s a bit sensitive when it comes to the mentioning of his lost lover”

The two continued their walk down the hall until they eventually reached the door of Discords office, Reginald reached out his paw and knocked on the door and after a few moments of silence they heard a mutter from the inside “You may enter.”

They both crawled into the room quietly and stopped once they were fully in the room, they looked up at Discord, who's back was to them, and Tabby was first to speak “Y-you wanted to see me sir?”

“Yes,” he stood up and turned to face the two, looking the large cat in the eyes “now tell me Tabby, what did I ask you to do for me earlier today, hmm?”

“You asked me to hide the crystals” he replied

“Well, have you seen the crystals?” he asked

“Yes” he answered

“And did you do that task for me?” he said

“Yes” the tom replied again

“Really? Then tell me, WHY ARE THOSE MEDDLESOME PONIES HEADING HERE?!” he shouted

“Oh, uh well that's because I hid the crystals in the tunnel maze that goes through the mountain in the everfree, not too far from here” he said

Discord took a deep breath in an attempt to calm himself down before continuing “Ok...I’m not...I'm not mad...I just need you to...” he paused to think of what he could do “I need you to go find Hazel, and chase those wondering ponies out”

“Yes sir, right away sir!” he said quickly before turning to run off

“Wait.” he said before the cat had exited out the door

“Yes?” he asked

“The stallion…well uh, he can…apparently…understand animals…so watch what you say fur boy, you tell him any information that he don’t need to know and I will it hesitate to pull out the clippers and shave you to the skin!” he told the tom

“Y-yes sir” he said, getting the last word and heading out the door

Discord turned back to his desk and sat in the wooden chair placed in front of it his back now to the opossum that still stood in the room, Discord reached over to the picture frame that laid face down on the desk, he held the frame carefully in his hand and again started stroking the wood of the frame with his thumb, Reginald leaned over and looked over Discord’s shoulder, he vaguely saw the photograph the draconequus grasped onto as if his life depended on it but his focus was broken when he heard a choked sob coming from the chimera

“D-Discord are you okay?” Reginald asked softly

Discord threw the frame onto the desk and slammed his hands down on the edge of the table digging his claws into the wood “Does it look like I’m okay Reginald?” he hissed

The opossum took a step back “I-I’m sorry” he said, though he knew the creature that sat in front of him wouldn’t ever hurt him he still felt uncomfortable and even a little scared being alone in the office with him, especially in the state

Discord sighed heavily “You have nothing to apologize for...” he grabbed the photo again “I just...I’m so tired...”

Reginald's ears perked up at this “Oh, well, you were up pretty late last night, though I know you prefer work through the later hours of the night-”

“No Reginald,” he said cutting him off “that's not what I mean...I mean I’m tired of this, of living this cursed life, tired of being alone...I don’t want to go on and yet there's nothing I can do, I...” he couldn’t continue, his built-up emotions had swelled over him, and he broke down in tears covering his eyes with his hand and resting his elbows on the desk, Reginald ran over and jumped onto his desk

“D-Discord wait, I-I’m sorry, please don’t...don’t cry please, I’m sorry, I’m sorry!” he screeched

Discord didn’t stop he just continued his hysterical sobbing, his insides flooding with painful emotion, his body shaking uncontrollably “I...I...I” he tried to speak but through his sobs he could barely breathe “I miss you...I miss you my love...please come back...I miss you please...I want you back...I need you back...please...PLEASE!!!” he pleaded

All Reginald could do was wrap his small paws around Discord arm trying comfort him, but his efforts didn’t succeed as Discord’s sobbing carried out through the hours that they sat in the office in a tight embrace