One evening in the life of Fluttershy and one minute in the life of Discord
15:44:24
"Fluttershy, are you okay?" Discord asked sympathetically.
Fluttershy raised her head in fright and began to look around. It was too surprising – a sympathetic tone and Discord! He worried about her from time to time, but here his tone was too sympathetic.
"Has something happened?"
Holding a cup, which was humming some beautiful hymn, in his hand, the spirit of chaos and disharmony calmly said:
"Nothing worth mentioning, you just dozed off, Fluttershy."
"Really?"
"Yes, you did."
Fluttershy shook her head slightly just to make sure she wasn't dreaming. There was some kind of lightness in her head. Discord bent down with the cup and said gently:
"I do not know why you exhaust yourself with hard work, but you passed out instantly! I admit, it's kind of awkward for me to strain you when you're so tired."
Fluttershy thought about it. She felt pretty good all day, despite not getting much sleep. When Discord seeped through the wall to the traditional weekly tea party, there was no sign of drowsiness. And then she just falls asleep like that? Pegasus looked around, checked her feelings. Strange. All seems fine.
"Discord, how long did I sleep?"
Discord smiled strangely and replied:
"Just one minute. You're so tired," Discord paused and, waving the sleeves of the giant cassock he was wearing at the moment, asked his friend, approaching her face point-blank: "Fluttershy, sweetie, promise me one thing. Swear by your favorite rabbit's fur, Twilight's wings, Celestia's crown, your Mom's health, or something else that is really important to you."
Fluttershy was already used to such emotional and theatrical outbursts. The very embodiment of chaos, after all.
"Yes?" Fluttershy replies calmly.
"Promise me that you'll get a good rest this evening, and then you'll get checked out by a doctor as soon as possible."
"Why?"
"Just promise and do it, please. It's not like I was panicking or anything," draconicus in a white coat smiled, examining the pegasus with a hefty magnifying glass with the emblem of the Canterlot guards on the rim. "But you ponies are such fragile creatures. And you're already falling off your hooves from exhaustion. How are you going to organize the next tea party in this condition? And poor little animals will be sad too. Visit the doctor, okay?"
Fluttershy smiled sheepishly. Discord didn't often show his concern. In any manner. She said softly:
"I promise. I will devote the rest of the day to rest, and after that I will sign up for an examination. You can calmly fly-teleport-disappear away."
Both Discords laughed heartily:
"Oh, Fluttershy, you know me so well, but I'm going to choose something different today."
"And what will it be?" Pegasus asked the four little Discords.
"Well, I don't know; I think I just divide myself," eight miniature Discords answered in chorus.
Fluttershy, chuckling, watched as sixteen... no, thirty-two miniature… no, sixty-four microscopic Discords divided completely from her cozy cottage.
Well, the promise must be fulfilled. What to do now? Fluttershy's eye caught on a book. The book was big, old, in the cover, and there was a piece of paper sticking out, glued to the inside of the cover, where the dates of return to the Ponyville Library were written. And the book was unfamiliar. Fluttershy could have sworn she'd never had it before.
"Angel, do you think a leisurely walk to the library will count as rest?"
Fluttershy's beloved rabbit, contrary to his usual habit, did not snort contemptuously. Instead he continued to look out the window. Without waiting for an answer, Pegasus put the large book in a saddlebag on one side, put Angel on the other side and fluttered out of the house.
15:43:27
"She's dead! She's dead! Poor Fluttershy! Why?! Chaos, why?!" Discord shouted, wringing his hands.
This picture was watched by Discord and Discord without much pleasure, but with some interest. There was a dead Fluttershy lying on the tea table.
"So, at first I spent fifteen whole seconds panicking. Then I slowed down time. And now I'm sitting here, panicking further," Discord noted sadly, sipping some kind of drink from a flask. The origin of drink Discord did not even want to know. And he couldn't, because he used the memory of this drink to prop up the closet at home. It was always falling off the wall-ceiling.
"But Fluttershy is really dead. Her brain failed. This is not a heart that can be restarted by electric shock," Discord replied to him, puzzled. "She's really dead."
"But death, even in this form, is not an instantaneous process." The chaos spirit replied calmly. "I have a couple of minutes before her brain falls apart. Considering that now one second lasts five minutes, I have every chance to figure out what's wrong and fix the situation."
"And how will I do it? I can't cut her into pieces and review every organ. I won't be able to put her back together. And I'll spill all the blood! I need to know what to look for."
Suddenly Discord stopped sobbing and shouted in a strangled voice:
"The library! I'll find the right book in the library!"
"And how will I get there? Slowing down time is too difficult even for me. Even within one cottage. If I go outside the cottage, then the minute will fly by. And it's not so easy to snap my claws and appear in the library with Fluttershy's corpse, no matter how much I brag in front of others. The slowdown bubble will fall apart if I try to use teleportation with it."
Discord took another sip from the flask and added:
"Don't forget that if I reinstall the bubble again, time may go the same way for Fluttershy as for me. And then she's definitely doomed."
Discord scratched his chin thoughtfully, hugged Discord and Discord, and shouted joyfully:
"How about I slow down time around the cottage and around myself? And then I'll run to the library!"
"But then the slowdown will not be the same. From a three-hundredth deceleration, the strength of the double bubble will drop to one hundred and eighty. Two hundred at best. A second in three minutes is already worse and leaves much less room for maneuver. Plus, two time dilation bubbles will limit me even more. No flighting over Ponyville, no scaring away stupid ponies. 'To run to the library' would mean to run to the library. I'll have to run! With my own legs!"
To run. Discord broke out in a cold sweat. He hasn't run for millennia. A short walk when he lost his magic due to the magic-absorbing Chrysalis throne – yes. But to run... Swallowing nervously, Discord realized that there was not a single millisecond to lose. Adding to the bubble of deceleration around the cottage, a bubble of deceleration around himself panicking, sobbing and ready to run, he asked himself slurping questionable swill and himself trying to be the voice of reason:
"I'll look after her, right?"
Discord only remained silent in response, but Discord raised the flask up and proclaimed:
"I'll keep an eye on her. Now run and save Fluttershy!"
And draconicus ran!
Woof, woof, woof! Woof-woof-woof!
Woof, woof! Woof, woof! Woof-woof!
A dog choir sang to Discord about beautiful but dead Fluttershy as he ran. His lungs were burning, but he poured several barrels of water into himself and continued to breathe with his gills.
Ar-r-r-r! Woof-woof-woof-woof!
Woof, woof, a-r-r, woof-woof-woof!
The dog choir sang of Discord's bravery. His paws were already starting to fall off from fatigue. He put on new ones on the go and kept running.
A-u-u-u-u-u-u! A-u-u-u-u-u-u!
A-u-u-u-u-u-u! A-u-u-u-u-u-u!
The dog choir howled about the situation. The gills had already burned out, too, and Discord simply stopped breathing. Such a big deal! Oxygen can be pumped into the brain with the help of a hose! What one of the huskies in the dog choir did, flying up to the running Discord on his green wings. "I'll catch my breath when Fluttershy starts breathing," Discord decided to himself. To reach the library – nothing else mattered now.
16:26:58
It was a bit too fussy around the library. And once inside, Fluttershy realized why. All the books were scattered on the floor. Unhappy librarian ponies darted between the shelves, trying to figure out where everything was. Everyone was so busy that it took Fluttershy several minutes to summon the courage to stop one of the bustling ponies. The pony pegasus, carrying books back and forth, was carefully held up by a hoof.
"Excuse me, can you tell me what happened here? And may I return this book to you?"
The brown pegasus with glasses first tried to fly away, but Fluttershy gently held him with her wing. He lowered his eyes and explained:
"About an hour ago, something very fast flew in here and scattered all the books. It was so fast that we could not get a look at it."
"Hm. How long has it been here?"
"Let's just say that if you counted to three very quickly, you would have made it. Maybe," the librarian's gaze fell on the saddlebag, where a large book was sticking out. "Oh! 'Complete Atlas of Pony Anatomy'! I've been looking for it! Where was it?"
"At my house."
Pegasus stared into space, puzzled and gloomy. The prospect of searching for missing books all over Ponyville did not please him at all.
"Did anything strange happen there too?"
Fluttershy thought very hard at this point. Yes, something very strange was happening there every week.
"When were the books scattered? About fifteen minutes to four, right?"
"Yes! Yes! Yes! Do you know what it was?"
"I have a guess. Let's agree that I'll look at home for other books. Ok?"
The librarian took the atlas of anatomy and left. Fluttershy looked around the library once more and spoke gently to Angel in the saddlebag: "Strange things are happening, aren't they?"
Instead of answering, Fluttershy's beloved rabbit squeaked hysterically and fearfully.
"What's wrong, Angel? Is there something wrong with you? You don’t remember?"
From the frightened squeaks of her pet, pegasus realized that her rabbit had lost his memory of the last month. All he could remember was some kind of strange magic. Everything was getting weirder and weirder. Twilight could help with strange magic. So could Discord. Fluttershy left the library and walked towards Twilight Sparkle Castle. It was much closer than the passage to the Discord dimension.
15:43:37
The whole floor of the cottage was littered with paws, winged huskies were flying around, Discord was slurping his swill from a flask, and Discord was lying on the floor. Smoke was pouring out of his mouth, and his clawed paw was clutching a 'Complete Atlas of Pony Anatomy'. Discord walked up to Discord, took the atlas in his paws and began flipping through it while Discord dispersed the dogs, waving a flask.
"Bad news, my panicked self. This book will not help me in any way."
Discord jumped up from the floor and grabbed draconicus with a book over his shoulders. Shaking him with all his might, he screamed:
"What do you mean, it won't help? I took a run for the first time in many millennia. I slow down time so much that the space-time continuum is almost torn apart. I took a whole second and a half to find this book! And I tell myself that it won't help me?! How dare I?!!!"
Discord, in a white coat, threw the exhausted flask over his shoulder. The empty flask jumped to its feet and ran off somewhere. Discord grabbed both Discords by the shoulders and told them:
"Of course it won't help. It will take me a lot of time to read this book. Fluttershy will be dead by the time I finish reading. Well, she's going to die completely. I need at least some kind of lead. Who can know about her health problems? Who was always with her? And do I have to run after them?"
Angel, who was peacefully dozing, had a sixth sense unknown even to the spirit of chaos and disharmony. The rabbit took off and immediately rushed towards the exit. He even managed to run out the front door. But the door now led to Fluttershy's bedroom, where Discord was already standing with a butterfly net and a baseball glove. Thirty-forty milliseconds later, the big-eared pet was sitting in the net, sulking with displeasure.
"Here you are, a piece of fur. Useful for something at last. Look, I don't speak rabbit, and I don't have time to learn it. So I need your memory!"
Angel found only one advantage in the situation: he could cover Discord with the choicest rabbit-cursing that he would never use in the same room with Fluttershy. But something happened to Fluttershy, and now this crazy creature was going to do something terrible to him. The rabbit shook his head, looking at his left clawed paw. Stop! He's not a rabbit, he's a Discord!
Discord shook his head once more, reproaching himself for having so carelessly pumped Angel's memory into himself. He almost started thinking of himself as a rabbit! But it was worth it. Three weeks ago, Fluttershy went to see her doctor. A good doctor in Canterlot, who worked at home. Fluttershy had her own doctor. And this impudent rabbit remembered the name and the address! Unicorn mare Healthy Spirit, who lives in Canterlot on Beautiful Night Street, house 45, apartment 3.
"Canterlot!" Discord shouted in desperation, running into the living room, where Discord, Discord and Discord were already thinking about how Discord could get to Canterlot without crumbling the deceleration bubble. The problem was, if the Discord had moved with the time dilation bubble that far away, the bubble would have burst. This bubble was limiting the spirit of Chaos terribly. And so he, united in four persons, was arguing, shouting, swearing, trying to figure out how to circumvent this restriction. They argued like that for a whole second. In the end, Discord said:
"I don't have any more ideas!"
"Me too," Discord added.
"Me three," Discord confirmed sadly.
And they disappeared, leaving Discord alone. Only he and Fluttershy's corpse were left in the room. Her brain was getting closer with every millisecond to the moment when it would be irreversibly destroyed. And Discord, with all his might, could do nothing, absolutely nothing about it. He couldn't stand it. He lay down on the floor and cried.
16:46:48
Fluttershy met Twilight Sparkle almost immediately after she left the library. It was the perfect moment to ask her about rabbit's amnesia. But she quickly guessed from her friend's face that Angel's memory problem had to wait. The princess had that "everything is ruined, everything is ruined" expression on her face. Darting gaze, twitching eye, incoherent muttering. It had been a long time since Fluttershy had seen her like this.
"Twilight, what happened? Is something wrong?"
The princess stopped in the street, grabbed pegasus by the shoulders and yelled:
"Everything is wrong! The map doesn't work, the castle almost crumbled, the Tree Of Harmony went crazy! It was running for half an hour (running, Fluttershy!) through the Everfree forest, and now it glows with all the colors of the rainbow."
"Where is it now?" Fluttershy asked in surprise.
Angel, meanwhile, has stopped trying to squeak about his problem. There was no way to get any help out of such Twilight.
"It's in place. The Tree Of Harmony is in place. It calmed down and returned. But something flew into the castle like a flash. Then there was a rumble right in the throne room, and it all started. Glowing, sparkling, there was a roar in the Everfree forest. Haven't you heard?"
Fluttershy remembered that on the way to the library she had heard some distant rumbling in the woods. She didn't pay attention at the time. This was an Everfree forest, the source of countless problems. Who knows what could possibly go wrong there?
"Fluttershy, will you join me? We need to find out what happened there. I'll be glad to have your company."
Pegasus looked down.
"I'm sorry, Twilight, but I promised I wouldn't burden myself today. And what you're asking for seems to involve some fuss. I'm just not feeling well today. Therefore, I decided to devote the rest of the day to leisurely walks.
Suddenly, a white rabbit spoke from the bag.
"Oh, I almost forgot! Twilight, do you know if these magical bursts, or whatever it was, could have erased Angel's memory of the last month?"
The purple alicorn sighed heavily. The picture was bright and cheerful even without rabbit amnesia.
"They could have done anything. I haven't even figured out what it was yet. Okay, go get some rest. If needed, I'll call you all."
"Okay. Goodbye, Twilight," Fluttershy waved and walked on. Maybe it's not because of magic after all? Pegasus decided to visit a vet.
15:43:41
The special clock Discord had built into his arm struck thirty seconds after Fluttershy's death. It struck generously, with all its heart, with all its might, and with its foot, right in the Discord’s head.
"Ooh," The spirit of chaos and disharmony shouted. "It hurts!"
The clock struck once more
Aiming straight at the eye
So that poor Fluttershy
Did not disappear
There's something wrong with her
She's dead, poor thing
And Discord’s tears are in vain
He knows the name of her doctor
If he doesn't use his brain
The clock will get even angrier.
Discord shook his head to remove the delusion. There was little pleasure in the fact that he scared the universe itself into rhyming everything around. But the clock was not beating him in vain, Discord came to his senses and began to think. The first thing he did was summon into reality a straitjacket for the clock that had already picked up a baseball bat. Under other circumstances, Discord would have asked the clock where it got the baseball bat, but now was not the time. The clock clucked with displeasure, but could do nothing.
"Okay, I admit, I gave up too easily! You didn't see or hear anything! Anything!!! Is that clear?!" Discord, still with an angry and wet face, began to think about his situation more calmly. "Healthy Spirit. Canterlot, Beautiful Night Street, 45, apartment 3. How do I get there? Teleportation and running are not options. I'm severely limited by this tartaric time dilation!"
"Peek-a-boo!" The clock chimed irritably, trying to break free. To no avail, the jacket held its hands tightly.
"Yes, you're right, the restriction is annoying. I can't turn around in full force while this bubble is hanging on me."
"Peek-a-boo!"
"What, a lilac one? Yes, she found a way around these restrictions. But to do this, she had to use the power of the Tree Of Harmony by sneaking into Twilight Castle! Hallelujah! I know what to do!"
"Peek-a-boo!"
"Yes, yes, yes, Twilight Castle! It is connected to the Tree Of Harmony, after all. Also, there's a map! I think I will be able to find Beautiful Night Street with it.
Discord's joy was doubly stronger because the castle was on the same side of the outskirts as the cottage. It will take at most five seconds to run there, even taking into account the fact that one second will be equal to three minutes, not five.
And this time Discord fixed all previous mistakes. First, he shortened his body to make it easier to run on all fours. Secondly, he moved his lungs to his back with his nostrils to make it easier for them to capture air. The nostrils became four times wider. His wings became larger, and their shape copied the wings of Rainbow Dash. It may not be the most ideal option, but it definitely works. Thirdly, no distracting dogs! And fourthly, the part of Discord's personality that disliked sitting still more than the rest ran.
The clock that remained with the stay-at-home Discord joyfully announced that only four whole four tenths of a second had passed when draconicus, dressed in a T-shirt with the number "1", ran through the doors of Twilight Sparkle Castle. The princess, whom he found in the corridor, did not even have time to be surprised by his appearance, and he was already in the throne room.
A bunch of small Discords flew across the miniature model of Canterlot, looking for the Beautiful Night Street. They spent an entire three hundred milliseconds on it, but what could they do? The Tree of Harmony will definitely not allow him to do anything more than grab power once. So it was necessary to act for sure.
"Here it is!" One of the Discords squeaked. "House 45, apartment 3. She lives almost right next to the palace."
All that remained was to attach to the map and merge with the Tree. Draconicus stretched out his body and his paws to make it easier to grab all the corners of the map, and took the spire of the miniature of the princess's palace in his teeth. A white flash lit up the throne room. In less than a millisecond, Discord disappeared.
17:06:07
"Fluttershy! Fluttershy!" Rainbow Dash swooped right in front of the leisurely flying yellow pony. "Do you know what's going on today?"
"Are you talking about the Tree Of Harmony?"
"Twilight told you already?"
"Well, yes."
"And you didn't notice anything else strange?"
Fluttershy thought about it.
"Well, Angel's memory of the last month has been gone. I'm taking him to a vet. And, nothing else."
"So you didn't notice a piece of a white two-story house hovering over your cottage an hour and a half ago?"
"A piece of the white house?"
"Well, yes. It appeared out of nowhere, hung right over your cottage for about fifteen seconds and disappeared. You know, it was a rich house. Like the ones that stand near Celestia's palace in Canterlot."
"Oh," said Fluttershy, "just like on Beautiful Night Street, right?"
"Right! I also caught a glimpse of the number. Forty something. Either forty-five or forty-nine. I wanted to fly closer, but the thing was already gone. I immediately flew to Twilight for advice, and there… Well, you already know."
Fluttershy only nodded slightly in response.
"Okay, how was your day?"
"Not bad. I've been feeling a bit unwell for the last couple of days after I was hit in the head by a ball while playing buckball."
Rainbow Dash grumbled:
"I should have taken you off right away. Why did you stay to finish the game? How are you feeling right now?"
"You know, I feel very well, thank you, Dash."
"Go see the doctor. Head injuries are no joke. You may fall in the middle of the street."
Fluttershy hastened to reassure her rainbow-maned friend:
"I will, Rainbow! It's funny; you're not the first person to recommend this to me today."
"Because it’s good advice," Rainbow Dash said before saying goodbye. "Take care of yourself, Fluttershy."
Fluttershy only waved her hoof in response and laughed softly. For some reason, she felt better than ever.
15:43:48
"Where am I? What's happening? Why is my apartment hanging in the air? Who are you?" A white unicorn with a cutie mark in the form of a bottle of medicine screamed hysterically. Her stern, cherry-colored eyes had seen many things, but this was clearly a novelty.
Discord ground his teeth in anger, but there was no choice. If he didn't explain everything to her, then there would be no help from this hysterical mare.
"Well, I'm answering in reverse order. Listen carefully, because I won't repeat it twice! I am Discord, the spirit of chaos and disharmony."
After this remark, draconicus's paws abruptly changed places, and his head separated from his body. After making sure that Healthy Spirit's jaw dropped low enough, he continued: "Your apartment is hanging in the air, because I was too lazy to look for you in the house, and I had to act quickly. The Tree Of Harmony is very nervous about any attempts to borrow its magic power, unless you use the elements of harmony, of course. Do you understand me?"
Healthy Spirit nodded.
"Good. Now the most important thing. What's happening is this: your patient, dear Fluttershy, dropped dead during a tea party. She just put the mug aside, and her kindness-filled brain abruptly began to spread a lot more chaos around than anything alive can spread. And this is the first and most true sign of death that I can easily recognize. Not loss of consciousness, not a coma, we are talking about instant death. Immediately after that she fell on the tea table, where she lies. Dead. I would have fixed it myself if I knew exactly what happened to her!"
"So I need to make a diagnosis?"
"Yes! Exactly. But you need to do it quickly! If Fluttershy's brain collapses completely, even I won't be able to help her. We have at most one minute!"
Healthy Spirit was so shocked that she didn't even panic anymore. Quite calmly she said:
"Then Fluttershy is dead, because we've been talking for over a minute."
Discord glanced at the clock running around in a straitjacket: "I slowed down time. But you're right, we've already spent two hundred milliseconds on this conversation! Criminally much. Now, to answer your last question, we are hanging near the Fluttershy cottage. Shall we go?"
A carpet unfolded right through the air from the void that replaced the wall of the living room of Healthy Spirit. It led to the threshold of Fluttershy Cottage. The white unicorn thought for a long moment before stepping on the red carpet floating in the air. But draconicus looked at her affectionately and smilingly, hinting only with the corner of his lips that he would not hesitate to kick her plot. She had to go down. The fact that the carpet held her in the air was no longer surprising. There was so much surprise in this situation that she just stopped being surprised at all.
But at the sight of Fluttershy, whose head was lying on the tea table and staring at nothing, something in her soul trembled. There are no doctors who would like to see their personal cemetery replenished.
"Okay, do I understand correctly that it is useless to feel for a pulse because of time dilation? And I won't hear her breathing either?" Healthy Spirit looked longingly at her patient. "We usually interview the living and send them for examinations. Or we conduct autopsies to determine the cause of death. Honestly, I don't even know what to do here."
Discord shoved the 'Complete Atlas of Pony Anatomy' under her nose (he didn't run after the damn thing for nothing!) and said:
"Just show me in the pictures where to look!"
"Are you going to get inside?" Healthy Spirit asked skeptically. And without waiting for an answer, she immediately added: "Okay, I can already see from your face that you will. But we need to know where to start. Tell me, how has Fluttershy been feeling lately? What was she complaining about? Did she have any health problems?"
"How should I know? I don't spend all my..." Here Discord stopped in mid–sentence.
Draconicus' face lit up. He shouted "Eureka!". A light bulb, an antique chandelier, three neon signs, another light bulb, a candle in the shape of a Celestia, a spotlight, an anglerfish, a squad of dancing fireflies in the Wonderbolts uniform and several fireworks lit up above his head. With the same joyful cry, Discord took out a small white ball and stuffed it down Healthy Spirit's throat.
The doctor shook her head in surprise at first. After three seconds, sorry, ten milliseconds of sitting in place, the white unicorn took off and started jumping like a rabbit with a terrible squeal. Discord raised his arms, paws, wings and tails to the sky and shouted:
"Come on! I just gave you the memory of her favorite rabbit! Nothing to go crazy about!"
It took Healthy Spirit some time to get used to it. But she remembered that she was a pony, not a rabbit. She managed, however, to turn over all the furniture before that. The realization that Angel's memory was separate, and she was separate, came to her when the unicorn was enthusiastically gnawing on the wooden leg of the chair. The doctor was a little confused, of course, but the necessary memories gave her confidence. Healthy Spirit once again recalled her life. Childhood, youth, medical school, first patients, saved lives, delicious salads cooked by Fluttershy, a game of buckball a couple of days ago.
"Buckball! While playing buckball, she was hit on the head with a ball. Plus, she felt a little worse from that moment on! Oh, if only I was wrong!"
"What is it?"
"Do I understand correctly that you can examine her from the inside?"
"Absolutely right," Discord broke into a smile, holding an open anatomical atlas in his paws. "What do I need to do?"
Healthy Spirit began to quickly flip through the pages of a thick folio. They had serious work ahead of them.
19:16:08
Fluttershy had already managed to take Angel to the vet, but he could not help. Except for the lost memory, there were no problems with Angel. Fortunately, the rabbit decided that there was no point in grieving. Especially when he has delicious salad. Seeing that Angel was happy and calm, pegasus went about her chores. Having provided her pets with everything they needed, Fluttershy lay down on a soft sofa with a book. For some reason, she was in a surprisingly good mood.
But Fluttershy hadn't even flipped through five pages when there was a knock on her door. Through the window, she saw her friends: Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash. Twilight and Rainbow were clearly excited.
"Fluttershy, we need your help!" Rainbow shouted.
Fluttershy stretched, spread her wings, and flew to the door.
"Hi, Twilight. Hello, Rainbow. Something happened?"
"Discord is acting weird again!" Rainbow Dash shouted.
The princess corrected the blue pegasus sternly:
"Dash, we don't know for sure that this was Discord!"
"Then who do you think it was?!"
The yellow pegasus hurried to reassure her friends:
"Girls, calm down, please. What happened?"
Rainbow Dash twisted her face and nodded at the princess to give her version of events. Twilight straightened up and began to speak:
"As you already know, strange events are taking place in the vicinity of Ponyville today. Something has scattered all the books in the library. A piece of the house was seen floating above your cottage. And this house was clearly not from Ponyville. And I'm not even talking about what happened to the Tree Of Harmony! The map in the castle still doesn't work! And it all happened at the same time!
"At the very time when you and Discord were having tea here!" The rainbow-maned pony shouted.
"Dash, this is not an indicator yet. All the evidence are circumstantial," Twilight muttered in displeasure, after which she turned to Fluttershy more affectionately. "But yes, all this looks suspiciously like Discord's activities."
"Well, what is required of me?"
"Talk to him. Try to find out what happened and if he was involved in it. We'd ask him ourselves, but he'd rather tell you than us."
Rainbow Dash sighed grumpily, trying to hint that diplomatic tricks wouldn't work with Discord.
"So, the library, the flying house, a strange incident in the castle," Fluttershy began to list. "Anything else?"
The Princess scratched her chin.
"I don't know if this is relevant, but strange gray pills have appeared at the Canterlot Cardiology Hospital. Some Healthy Spirit brought them. She said that they should be dissolved under the tongue. She gave them to patients with heart disease, and then sent them to checkups. It turned out that the hearts of the ponies who took these pills were miraculously healed. The holes were filled, the partitions were straightened. But even this is not the strangest thing. According to one of the patients, when he tried to swallow the pill, it flew out of his throat, screamed that it should be dissolved under the tongue to be absorbed into the blood, and it was disgusting to climb through the stomach and intestines into the bloodstream. No less mysterious stuff than what is happening here, but it may well be a separate incident."
"And what does this Healthy Spirit say?" Rainbow Dash asked, interested in the story.
The Princess just sighed:
"She doesn't say anything. She claims that she was just lucky, and got some big help," Twilight remembered why she had come here and turned back to Fluttershy. "Just ask Discord, don't push him. Of course, if he doesn't want to, he won't tell you anything. Can you talk to him today?"
"Well, I can take another little walk. I'll visit Discord and ask him."
"Thank you, Fluttershy."
Before they flew apart, Rainbow Dash said softly to her quiet friend:
"By the way, you have a bruise on your neck."
"Really? Fluttershy flew up to the mirror. There was a small spot on her neck. "I must have fallen during the game. I always forget about caution when I play."
"Bye-bye," Rainbow and Twilight shouted.
Pegasus shook her head. The spot was there, right on the neck. It wasn't her imagination.
15:43:50
Healthy Spirit unfolded the atlas on a two-page spread with an image of the pony's cardiovascular system.
"So, we need to get here, inside the blood vessels of the head. How would you do that, by the way?"
"I will send several thousand of my smaller copies inside her," Discord has created many small draconicuses over his paw. Mini-discords flew over the clawed paw, constantly changing their size from sparrow to mosquito. "I just need to somehow, I do not know, make a hole inside her head."
"Why? We're not doing a brain biopsy. Oh, I need a couple of special catheters, but, I guess, regular syringes will do too. Can I run home?"
"Yes, of course. The slowdown bubble covers your apartment as well. As long as it hangs nearby, the bubble does not have to be divided," immediately after that, he added irritably: "These are all unnecessary details."
Literally fifty milliseconds later, Healthy Spirit came running back with a couple of twenty-cc syringes. All the dishes that were left on the tea table were removed by telekinesis.
"How many times is time slowed down?"
"About three hundred times."
"A second and a half passes between heartbeats. Multiplied by three hundred is almost ten minutes. So it's possible to go through an artery. It will be easier for you to get in from there."
Healthy Spirit thought it over again, looked at her patient carefully.
"Okay, put her on her side!" The doctor commanded.
Discord had never been so scared of what he was holding in his paws before. Afraid, really afraid that something else terrible would happen, he put Fluttershy on the tea table, making the table as soft as possible for those fractions of a second. No matter how the bubble created the illusion of a neat landing, Fluttershy hit the table three hundred times faster than she should have. Fortunately, the Discord-modified table extinguished the blow. Healthy Spirit felt Fluttershy's neck and muttered something under her breath. Then she exhaled and unfolded the atlas again.
"Okay, look here. I'll put you through the carotid artery. Your copies should be as small as possible. Preferably less than three hundred micrometers."
"That is, as thick as a pony's hair?"
"Exactly! About a hundred micrometers would be ideal. Look carefully, you will enter here," Healthy Spirit pointed with her hoof at the diagram of the vessels of the pony's head in the neck area. "You need to examine these vessels here."
"What to look for?"
"Breaks," Healthy Spirit aimed the syringe at Fluttershy's neck. "Just swim through the blood vessels to the places that I have marked. Follow the flow of blood. It will flow three hundred times slower, but I think you will understand the direction."
"And why into the artery?"
"If I'm right, the arteries are damaged. I could prick a vein, but I don't think it's worth forcing you to make a circle through the heart. Yes, a hole in the artery may cause gush of blood, but now her blood flows three hundred times slower," the doctor felt Fluttershy's neck again and asked Discord, starting to rub the injection site with cotton wool with alcohol: "Are you ready?"
Discord just nodded. He watched Healthy Spirit's actions with some fear. And he was not ready to admit this fear so easily, even to himself. Therefore, draconicus looked as impassive as he could. But he still flinched when the white unicorn drove a needle into Fluttershy's neck.
"Now, check it out!"
"What?"
"Check if I hit an artery."
Discord shifted his position irritably, leaning towards Fluttershy. From his hand (yes, one of his limbs looked like a hand, sometimes) a thin gray trickle stretched out. It retracted completely into the syringe. Discord, with the most serious and focused face, stared into its needle.
"We're talking about a giant pipe with blood, right?"
"About a millimeter thick."
"Great, I'm there. What's next?"
"Move towards the head," Healthy Spirit watched Discord's actions with much more concern than he showed to her. This comforted Discord. The doctor asked perplexedly, "How do you do this?"
Oh, Discord wasn't just comforted here, he was overjoyed like a child. Healthy Spirit was somewhat alarmed. Her heart felt that the answer would surprise her.
And her instincts were right. Healthy Spirit found herself inside a giant iron pipe. A twenty-meter-width endless iron pipe at one end of which a light loomed in the distance.
Hundreds of Discords were marching inside the tube. It was a mind-blowing sight. Hundreds of identical draconicuses in flippers, with aqualung gear on their backs and a headlamp on their heads. All of them were wearing dress uniforms. But everyone has a different one! Someone was in the uniform of Wonderbolts, someone in the uniform of one of the princesses of Equestria, someone had a simple soldier's uniform. The uniforms of every conceivable army, many of which Healthy Spirit had never even heard of. White, gray, blue, red, khaki, with epaulettes, with axelbants, with shoulder straps, with top hats, with caps, with helmets, embroidered with gold, with and without decorations, ceremonial, field, soldiers, officers, doctors, unicorns, pegasuses and ordinary earthponies. Not a single repeating uniform. All this army marched in step along the bottom of the pipe. The procession was divided into squads of twenty-five discords. Next to each half-half-hundred walked draconicus with a bugle, drum, trumpet, guitar, double bass, triangle, perch with a flock of songbirds, cymbals, ukulele and Discord knows what else.
Despite the difference in clothing, all this army marched in step. Absolute disarray and absolute synchronicity. And then each leader of the discords squads shouted:
"Sing our marching song!"
And they began to sing. At first, each Discord musician shouted out a line, and then everyone else picked it up. The echoes of their singing and marching intertwined inside the pipe into a single song.
Any illness we can beat!
Any illness we can beat!
Now we will save Fluttershy!
Now we will save Fluttershy!
Discord promises to you!
Discord promises to you!
Pegasus will come back soon!
Pegasus will come back soon!
Come on, princess, do not cry!
Come on, princess, do not cry!
We are already in blood!
We are already in blood!
What is wrong we will find out!
What is wrong we will find out!
Our eyes won’t miss a thing!
Our eyes won’t miss a thing!
Then, the doctor will tell us!
Then, the doctor will tell us!
Without fear and without lies!
Without fear and without lies!
How can we heal Fluttershy!
How can we heal Fluttershy!
Sing along the chorus line!
Sing along the chorus line!
Lo-ong li-ive Fluttershy!
Lo-ong li-ive Fluttershy!
Lo-ong li-ive Fluttershy!
Lo-ong li-ive Fluttershy!
Now Healthy Spirit understood where she was. The pipe wasn’t giant. She was small. Discord showed exactly what he was doing by shrinking her and sending her inside a syringe needle, where she could see what was being injected into her patient's blood. This did not help her composure.
Discord in a general's uniform came up to her, gently slapped her on the shoulder and handed her an aqualung:
"Are you coming with us? Drowning in Fluttershy's blood is not a good prospect, I would wear this thing if I were you."
"Erm… Can I go back?"
"Don't you want to evaluate everything yourself?" The spirit of disharmony squinted slyly.
"I think such a crowd would find a reason easely. If necessary, I'll take a look myself. You'll be able to let me see, won't you?"
"Of course, of course. By the way, great work. Right into the artery with one try!"
The white unicorn was instantly in the cottage and returned to her normal size. Discord stared intently at Fluttershy. A gray trickle ran from his finger straight into the needle of the syringe. Now it was clear what it consisted of. The stillness of the Discord was frightening. Not a single muscle twitched, not an attempt to change posture or scratch. Discord did not even blink. He usually looked like a creature who, in principle, could not be serious, and therefore his immobility and concentration were very frightening.
This terrible stupor lasted for a second and a half. During this time, Healthy Spirit managed to re-imagine all possible horrors, review the atlas, and check again that she correctly indicated to Discord where to look. Several drops of blood had already fallen down from the point of injection. Healthy Spirit was already thinking of putting down the atlas and shaking the "statue" by its clawed paw, but just as she decided, another ordinary oddity happened, which this house was full of in the last forty seconds.
The drawing with the vessels of the brain lit up and changed. One of the arteries above the brain was severed and blood was gushing out of it. Discord, whose height was about ten centimeters, came out from under the spine of the book and, pointing to the drawing, asked:
"Here! It even shows in motion. But this is not visible due to the fact that I have slowed down time three hundred times. Tell me, what's wrong with her?"
Healthy Spirit looked around nervously. Discord was still standing behind her, his paw inside Fluttershy. Or not a paw. Or still a paw consisting of hundreds and hundreds of discords. When the unicorn turned her head, Discord was still sitting on the open page.
"Well?! What's wrong with her?"
If the drawing isn't lying, then she's right. And if she's right…
"A brain aneurysm," Healthy moaned desperately. "The artery was damaged after playing buckball, and today it ruptured completely. How long has she been dead?"
"Forty-one seconds. The blood has spread there! What to do?!"
"I don't know, the level of development of medicine in Equestria doesn't allow…"
She didn't have time to finish. Discord, sitting on the pages of the book, fastly increased in size and grabbed the doctor by the throat. In his other paw was a building level with a red cross in the middle. The chaos spirit was incredibly angry. He screamed:
"If you don't tell me how to save Fluttershy, I'll punch your level of development down your throat!!!"
Healthy was scared. Her knees were shaking. Somehow gathering all her will into a hoof, she muttered, stammering:
"I-i-if you somehow manage to collect all the blood and restore the vessel. But I don't even k-k-know how to do it. An aneurysm kills if it is not caught in time. And here it's already forty seconds too late."
"So! What does blood consist of? What does it look like?"
"Are you seriously…"
"If I just wanted to know the reason, I would have waited and called the pathologist! We have to cure her before it's too late! Well?"
Healthy Spirit began to quickly flip through the atlas.
"Here! Watch carefully. Here are the white blood cells. These are red blood cells, here we have…"
"Oh, I've seen these things!"
"Yes. About half of the blood is liquid plasma, where various proteins and compounds float. Take a good look at this. Did you remember everything?"
The white unicorn turned at some noise. There was a Discord standing by a chalkboard that had come from nowhere. He was drawing and calculating something.
"What are you doing?"
"I'm counting the approximate volume. I don't want to grab any extra fluid from her brain."
"Are you really going to collect all the blood back and repair the artery?"
Discord thought about it. There was a delicate job ahead. This meant more copies and even more reduction. If it hadn't been for the slowing down of time in the cottage, he would have managed. It would have strained him, but he would have managed. But with that damned slowdown bubble and the copies already in place, he was already at his limit. But if he honestly answers "no" now, then Fluttershy will die. This could not be allowed in any way. The Tree of Harmony will not give him any more strength. Not after today's invasion. It had been a full ten seconds since Discord had borrowed its powers, but the tree was probably still angry at him. There was another way out.
It was possible to open a gap into another universe and take power from there. It was very risky. The time before last, a part of him rebelled, left him, took some stupid one-letter name and stayed there to wreak chaos on an intergalactic scale. Last time, the gap could not be properly repaired. And millions of strange creatures were still closely watching his universe. And after him too! And his house! Though much less than after Twilight Sparkle and her friends. Discord sighed. He has to apologize to Fluttershy somehow for these voyeurs. When she comes back to life. And, the worst part, both times it didn't help him. He still ended up being sealed in stone!
"Okey. I'm going to build a bridge to another universe to gain more chaos from there! If something strange happens, don't be surprised," Discord warned the doctor impressively.
Healthy Spirit only laughed nervously in response.
The chaos spirit gathered his strength and strained with all its might. Suddenly the ceiling disappeared. Instead of the ceiling, there was an image of a riot of some strange creatures that looked like giant monkeys. They marched in a crowd, shouted slogans, carried posters, and broadcasted something into small iron megaphones. Another crowd of giant monkeys was advancing on the crowd. They were wearing some kind of black armor and carried shields made of some strange material.
"What?! What is it?!"
"A window into another universe with a lot of chaos. And it's based on several thousand words in a language I don't even know! Don't distract me!"
"But what about…"
"Right now, several million microscopic copies of me are colletncig Futltyershs bodlo!"
Dcisord flet taht teh rbidge fo esvelar thosanud orwds wsa binengign to collapse. He briefly managed to pull himself togeetrh, ubt it asw ont enuhog. He reizlaed ttha shi strrrrgth si livnaeg ihm colmpteyel. He olts cnocisunsosse.
53:82:-15
"Discord, pull yourself together!"
"Wta?"
"Discord, pull yourself together!"
"Zdg?!"
"Discord, pull yourself together!"
"Ni el shwo pofivad!"
"The bridge between universes. I'm not going to let you just break it up into a postmodern."
"Woh rea yuo?!"
"Oh, I even understood what you wanted to say. It doesn't matter who I am. What is important is that when you started to pass out, the bridge between the universes of words began to collapse. You pulled yourself together for a while, but then your strength left you completely and you passed out. But you keep the deceleration bubble even in a semi-conscious state. Well, I think so. Otherwise, the story would have ended already."
"Waivfaiva."
"This is not going to work! Come on, repeat after me. Lo-ong li-ive Fluttershy!"
"Lyvov voyscv Fijssmzsch!"
"Lo-ong li-ive Fluttershy!"
"Olgn vi-ilv Flshttsh!"
"Lo-ong li-ive Fluttershy!"
"Glo-on i-ilve Futtlysrhe!"
"It's bad, it's bad! Repeat it! Lo-ong li-ive Fluttershy!"
Lo-ogn li-iev Fltutreshy!"
"Lo-ong li-ive Fluttershy! This story needs you, pull yourself together!"
"Lo-ong li-ive Fluttershy!"
"Lo-ong li-ive Fluttershy!"
"Lo-ong li-ive Fluttershy!"
"Lo-ong li-ive Fluttershy!"’
"Lo-ong… Okay, stop, that's enough! Who are you?!"
"The bridge between universes, Discord."
"Oh, I think I got it. Thanks. Now I will continue to move the chaos back and forth. If I don't pass out again. Fortunately, I don't need too much."
"You almost fell apart into letters. You almost broke everything into letters. Don't do that!"
"Oh, like you understand a lot! It's all because of your stupid contest! Do you think 10,000 words will make a good bridge?! Last time, there was a whole media franchise with several versions of my universe to boot! And even that wasn't enough! And here we have just a pitiful few thousand words!"
"I won't even ask how you know! And anyway, would you be able to build such a powerful bridge at the same time as slowing down time three hundred times? Don't make me laugh. And… How do you slow down time now? I know you're still doing it. Otherwise, the story would have ended."
"I used the instinct of self-preservation. If the bubble collapses, then I will die."
"U-uh. Radically."
"I didn't have time to think!!! I needed it to work! Now my fear of death takes away almost all my strength. When it's over, I'll give him a hard time! Three hundred parachute jumps… without a parachute!!! And yes, you won't win your stupid contest! There's already too much of me in your job!"
"Do you mean chaos? Or postmodernism?"
"Postmodernism-chaosdernism-tartardernism, pha! I don't understand your silly nonsense!"
"So, what are you doing with our universe?"
"Pumping chaos from yours to ours. That's how I feed myself. Your local king will now rule for about five years longer. You deserved it, by the way!"
"Nice. Maybe it would be better to take the Second World War?"
"Are you crazy? I can't pump so much through your pathetic writing!"
"Actually..."
"I don't care! I have more important things to do than chat with you. And you too, yes, exactly you, what are you staring at?! You could have spent your time with much more benefit not reading this nonsense! And anyway, stop spying on my universe! It's infuriating!"
"Don't be rude to them. The strength of the bridge depends on them, too, you know. And you gave them this opportunity, by the way."
"Yes, yes, yes, they are all so nice, white and fluffy. You just want them to praise you! Damn wall, I have to fix it now! Ar-r-r-rgh! That's it, I'm leaving! I have things to do!"
"Discord, wait! Good luck there!"
"Pf-f-f-f, thank you!"
15:44:01
Healthy Spirit was sitting on the floor, staring into space. After a long silence, she somehow opened her lips and spoke completely emotionlessly:
"You know. What I've been seeing. It was too weird. Even by your standards."
Apart from her, there were now only Fluttershy and Discord in the cottage. Half of his arm was now pulled inside the syringe. The spirit of chaos was pale. His breathing was heavy and ragged. He said clutching his stomach:
"Blood, fuh-fuh-fuh, collected. Fuh-fuh-fuh. The artery is intact. F-f-f-f-f-f-f-f-h-h! Is it over?"
The white unicorn looked at Draconicus with a puzzled expression. She thought for about three or four milliseconds, and then quickly grabbed the anatomical atlas and began flipping through the pages. Discord looked at her with fear and dislike. He wasn't sure if he could do much more in his current state. What else does she need?
"Are you still there?"
"Yes, I'm still there. There is something else, right?"
Healthy Spirit unfolded the atlas on a large diagram with a heart, poking her hoof.
"Fluttershy has recently been diagnosed with a congenital heart defect. A small defect. A hole where it shouldn't be. And the blood is not flowing as it should. Because of this, she had problems with physical education in her childhood. She needs an operation to fix it. So, maybe while you're there, you can get there and fix it up neatly? It's much easier than what you just did. I can see from the animated drawing that you managed to cure the aneurysm after the blood vessel burst. No one else would have done it."
Trying not to break into a joyful smile, which was easy enough in his condition, Discord bowed without taking his hand out of Fluttershy.
"Well, if no one but me, then of course, of course! And even more so for the sake of Fluttershy! And yes, now I owe you, and you have no idea how much I hate to say it. Especially out loud. Especially when I can be heard," with these words, Discord handed Healthy Spirit a sheet of paper. "Write here what you want and I will do everything I can to help you. And I can do a lot! Especially when time is running smoothly. Please note that only you can write and only once! And it will only work if you won’t tell anyone about what just happened to you. Do you understand me?"
"Yes, I understand! But why not tell anyone?"
"Because I have come too close to the limits of my powers! And I don't want the whole Equestria talking about it! No silence - no deal. So, do you agree?"
"I agree!"
Healthy Spirit took a pen and, holding it with her horn, wrote on the sheet of paper, 'All I want is to heal ponies'.
"Hm. I'm not a doctor, but I can do something. You'll find the pills with the instructions on your living room table as soon as I clean up this mess. Thank you very much!"
Discord made another bow, took his hand out of the syringe needle and handed Halfy Spirit a red rose. The rose bowed and said:
"Thank you, Doctor."
Healthy bowed back, took the rose, and wandered off to her apartment, which was still hanging over the cottage.
20:25:32
Fluttershy flew to a tree on the outskirts of the Everfree Forest. She hoped very much that this was the right tree. After Pinkie Pie got into Discord’s dimension, he sealed everything tightly, leaving only one protected passage.
The tree looked around nervously, muttered something like 'come in, quickly' and lifted one of its roots. A large hole was found under the root, which led underground. Fluttershy began to carefully climb up this expanding hole. The fact that the hole leading down under the roots of the tree widened and rose up encouraged her. She was going to her friend. Soon she went up to the door.
She didn't even have to knock, as the door slowly began to open. The pegasus yelped and flew several meters away, but quickly calmed down. Behind the doors stood Discord in glasses with lenses of different colors, in a droll hat, which was half clown's cap and half dainty crown, in gently breathing dog slippers with pink tongues sticking out and in a chic terry dressing gown. A clawed paw clutched a flask with an elegant monogram "D". Discord took a sip and asked calmly:
"Has something happened?"
"No, nothing. I just wanted to ask you about a couple of incidents."
"Why me at once?! Come on, did Twilight send you?"
After hesitating with the answer, Fluttershy confessed:
"Yes. But I'm going to ask anyway, because I was wondering myself."
Discord just shrugged his shoulders:
"Go ahead. Do you want to try it, by the way?"
Fluttershy took the offered flask and took a sip. In the next second, her face twisted. She almost spat out the bitter-sour liquid.
"Celestia the Wise, what was it, Discord?"
Draconicus scratched his chin thoughtfully:
"Wait, let me remember. Oh, that's right! It’s grapefruit juice mixed with lemon juice in a ratio of two to one. And a little bit of soda, of course! Not like this over-sweetened cola that is served in your cafes!"
At the same moment, a terrible crash was heard from somewhere behind the doors. Judging by the sound, something very large and stuffed with dishes fell. Discord raised his paws:
"Well, now I need a new closet! And new dishes! What kind of day is this?"
"Oh, I'm sorry," Fluttershy said as if she was personally to blame for the closet falling down. She had such a bad habit of being overly polite to compensate for her insecurities. "So, about the incidents..."
"Tell me already! Don't be so shy."
"Someone has made a terrible mess in the library. One of the books, by the way, for some reason ended up at my house, although I definitely did not take it. Angel has amnesia. He doesn't remember the last month of his life. The harmony tree went crazy. And a piece of the house was floating in the air above my cottage. And all this happened while you were in Ponyville."
Discord leaned his shoulder against the doorjamb and only grunted in response:
"Well? Why would I do such stupid things?"
"Maybe you were solving some serious problem while we were having tea."
"Fluttershy, I've told you more than once. If you or I have any problem, I will solve it with one click of my claws. Or fingers. Or feathers. What you described…"
"Yes, I understand, but still. Was it you?"
"No," said Discord. "And anyway, you promised to rest today."
"Don't worry, I didn't burden myself."
"Okay, I need to rest too. Is there anything else you need?"
Fluttershy calmly and confidently fluttered to Discord, kissed him on the cheek and said "Thank you" affectionately. Discord smiled sheepishly.
Draconicus headed inside the door, where his dimension was already waiting for him. He thought about shouting "bye", but instead rushed over to Fluttershy, who was already leaving, and handed her a small white ball.
"What is it?"
"Give it to your rabbit. Well, the one who is white and very arrogant."
"Angel?"
"Yeah, that's the one. It's not necessary to eat, just let him touch it."
"What's in there?"
"His memory for the last month. All of it. Well, almost all of it."
"Is there anything else I should know about?"
"Go to your doctor and examine your heart. I heard from your friends that you have a problem with it. In the next few days. Promise?"
"I promise, Discord," Fluttershy smiled. "That's it?"
"Yes, that's it. Fly to rest already."
Having said goodbye now completely, the friends went their separate ways.
Coming out from under the root of the entrance tree, Fluttershy saw Twilight Sparkle there, who, apparently, tried to win against the tree in a staring contest. The tree just grumbled, 'I won't let you in, all sorts of creatures are walking around here, and then my artifacts disappear.' The princess, somewhat outraged by the fact that some tree does not respect her dignity, continued to stare sternly, with a squint. Without taking her eyes off the grumbling oak, the princess briefly asked:
"Well?"
Fluttershy smiled, shrugged her shoulders, and calmly replied:
"He didn't tell me anything."
"Do you have any guesses?"
"Absolutely none."
"Damn it! But never mind, I've already cleaned up the mess," Twilight turned to the tree. "And I'll deal with you later!"
'We've seen it before. So bossy! All sorts of creatures are walking around here.' The tree growled. 'Go away already, you're spoiling my disguise.'
The two ponies flew away from the edge of the forest, and the tree assumed a natural pose for the tree, closed its eyes and finally merged with the landscape.
15:44:03
Discord spent the last two seconds cleaning up the mess at Fluttershy's house. He was also worried about the injection point. He probably shouldn't have sealed it just at the skin level. It was a little scary for him to go back and redo it. He sat her down in a chair as if she had just fallen asleep.
The amount of work he had to do made him want to tear his hair out. He would have grown hair specially for this, but he really didn't want to clean up afterwards.
After all, he still had to fix the fourth wall that he had so carelessly demolished, take away a piece of his consciousness (it's time to stop practicing splitting it, it won't end well) that stuck in the Tree of Harmony, provide Healthy Spirit with his copies and bring her home with her apartment back to Canterlot. There was probably something else important, but Discord couldn't remember what exactly at the moment.
But first it was necessary to remove the time dilation bubble. Discord took a deep breath and time in the cottage went its usual way. A wave of gigantic relief swept through Discord's body. Unfortunately, at this blissful moment, he had to concentrate and put the doctor's apartment in place before it fell to the ground.
The next seconds dragged on as if time was still slowed down three hundred times. Discord even double-checked to see if he had removed the slowdown. Yes, Fluttershy seemed to be well now, but she did not open her eyes immediately. After all, the magic that erased the last minute and a half from her memory (there was definitely nothing pleasant for her there) did not disappear instantly.
Fluttershy, sitting in an armchair, began to slowly open her eyes.
"Fluttershy, are you okay?" Discord asked sympathetically.
He had already seen that she was alive, and that made everything sing in his soul. Then everything became too cramped in his soul, and it was transferred inside the cup, which immediately sang one of the most beautiful songs that Discord could remember.
"Has something happened?" Fluttershy asked in her usual voice. Everything indicated that she was alive and was not going to die.
Holding a singing cup in his hand, the spirit of chaos and disharmony calmly said:
"Nothing worth mentioning, you just dozed off, Fluttershy."
