Sweet Feather Diet

Twilight’s eyes shot open, jolted awake by a sudden rush of adrenaline. She looked around, finding herself standing in the hall just outside the library where she had last been. She was supposed to be dead, wasn’t she? Twilight slowly raised her hoof to her neck to check for a pulse. A breath she hadn’t realized she was holding escaped her as she felt the steady thrum beneath her skin.

Twilight went still as she pulled her hoof away from her neck, noticing healthy, unmarked skin where the fatal bite had been.

“The bite… I’m alive— I—” Twilight’s astonishment was abruptly interrupted as a lion’s paw hooked around her, pulling her backwards into an awkward embrace.

“Yes, yes! No need to thank me or anything! What are friends for, and all that usual tripe...” Discord’s serpentine body coiled around Twilight as he spoke. Given her shock and the chaos of the moment, deciphering whether his touch was meant as a hug or an irritation was not her priority. She opted to view it as the latter.

“Discord?! Where have you been?! It’s been— I don’t even know how long!” Twilight glared at him, but her obvious displeasure was met with a playful squeeze and a scoff.

“Oh, honestly, I turn my back for one moment, and Equestria is in shambles? Did Princess Twilight lose her footing in my absence? Maybe Princess Celestia should just bite the bullet and make ME a princess! Then you and I could be Castle Neighbors!” Discord hummed with obvious satisfaction. Although he might not admit it outright, he clearly took pleasure in the state he found Equestria in and relished the opportunity to needle Twilight about her shortcomings as a future ruler. Twilight wriggled out of his grip—though he wasn’t making much of an effort to hold her in place to begin with—and gritted her teeth in indignation.

“This is serious! I tried to reach you for WEEKS! You can’t just disappear whenever you please. We needed you! Do you have any idea what—" Her anger was cut short as Discord’s claw pressed against her lips, his eyes nearly rolling back in exasperation.

“I thought I was your friend, not your on-call ‘Save Equestria Maid.’ Seriously, can’t a draconequus be spared a moment to himself without everything going hooves up?” Discord said matter-of-factly, straightening up. “Besides! I’m here now, aren’t I? Though it’s really more for me and Fluttershy’s trip to Neighagra Falls— Whom I can’t seem to find hoof or hair of, by the way! I’ve been trying to snap right to her, but I just keep ending up in the same wooded spot.” He huffed, scooping Twilight up under his arm as he continued his fervent rant about his search for Fluttershy. With a snap, he transported them both to a patch of forest Twilight was already well familiar with. “See!?” Discord exclaimed, dropping Twilight without warning to gesture around the forest exasperatedly. Twilight landed on her back with a wince. “I was trying to take us to Fluttershy, but there is no Fluttershy!” he said fretfully, lifting Twilight briefly to search the spot beneath her before dropping her again just as promptly.

Twilight got to her feet with a slight grimace, trying her best to brush off the impact of hitting the ground twice. “She’s— That’s her…” she said reluctantly, pointing to the tall, twisted tree before them. “HA! Right, yes, a tree!” Discord rolled his eyes. “Now normally, Twilight, I’d love to indulge in this little stand-up routine of yours, but this is serious.” Discord sneered, crossing his arms and glancing up at the odd tree before turning his attention back to Twilight, only to be met with her somber expression. Discord’s curled lip slowly dropped as a long stretch of silence dragged on between them, only emphasizing Twilight’s dourness.

“YOU’RE SERIOUS!?” Discord shrieked, grabbing Twilight by the torso and shaking her dramatically. Twilight quickly teleported herself out of his grip and safely back to the ground before he could drop her for a third time, Discord already having turned his attention back to the tree, coiling around it and inspecting it delicately. Twilight took a small, hesitant step closer as Discord examined the tree with a much more sullen air about him.“She was sick before anyone else… She just said she wasn’t feeling well… before we knew it a few days had already went by without any of us hearing from her. Dash went to— I should have— I…” She stammered, her grief causing her to stumble over her words as she thought back on it.

Discord seemed to ignore Twilight as she fell silent with guilt, sitting down in the grass a short distance from him to fight back tears. Discord knitted his brow as he examined the tree, quickly feeling pangs of guilt as he looked upon what had become of his dearest friend, Fluttershy. He felt terrible for not checking in sooner and felt perhaps he bore some responsibility for how drastically Equestria had been turned upside down. However, Discord’s eyes narrowed as he pondered. The only reason he hadn’t been around was due to a rather sour argument he had during his last visit to Ponyville, where Spike, of all creatures, had told him he was too needy and needed to get out of everyone’s mane. The nerve. Yes, the more Discord thought about it, the more he convinced himself that this was DEFINITELY Spike’s fault, and not his. Twilight cleared her throat, drawing Discord’s attention as he nodded thoughtfully to himself.

“You can fix this, can’t you?” Twilight asked, too preoccupied with wiping away tears to notice Discord’s arm closing the distance between them and pulling her into another awkward side hug. “PSHH! Of course! What do you take me for, some puny street magician?” he laughed, his usual attitude replacing the earlier somber mood. “I’ll snap everything back to as it were, and we can all forget about my little vacation transgression! How does that sound, Princess Twilight?” He raised his brows expectantly, tightening the embrace.

“And then I think we should have a talk about your availability…” Twilight said, a hint of annoyance in her voice, though she didn’t resist the hug.

“Yes, well, of course! If you happen to remember to schedule that meeting, I’ll be sure to attend!” Discord replied in a patronizing tone, leaving Twilight momentarily puzzled by his meaning. Before she could voice any protest, he snapped his claw.