Chaos Inverted

A screen of white enveloped Discord’s eyes. He had been staring at the computer screen for five minutes now. He was supposed to write an email to someone about something, he couldn’t remember. His mind was too scattered and unfocused to recall his next steps. This wasn’t like him, but how could he focus when his supposed rendezvous with an ethereal woman was in less than 12 hours?!

As much as he didn’t want to admit it, he was like this all week. He missed the deadline on a bunch of his usual reports. He was spaced out at the weekly meeting. He would walk into rooms and forget why he entered in the first place. A passive-aggressive email from Trixie from HR was even sent to him noting his lack of attentiveness in his work (to be fair, every little thing seemed to set off Trixie from HR, so it wasn’t a big surprise).

He really, really tried to pass off the whole event in the forest as a dream or a mental break. Sadly, there were still little reminders throughout the week. When he got home, the green leaf bandages were still on his arms and neck. Light scarring remained from the cuts throughout the week. His flashlight and chair were still a bit damaged from the tussle with the hunters. All of these facts kept him in the current reality he stumbled in: Magic was real. People were hunting said magic. And there was a mysterious women named Fluttershy hiding in the forest who had more power than he ever faced before.

Discord tried to think of ways to get out of the meetup, but most ended with him moving to a new country and changing his identity. Who knows if that was enough to hide from a woman who can do whatever she wanted at the snap of her fingers? Out of curiosity, he checked a weather website. Maybe, if he was lucky, the weather will be too bad to stargaze. The website took forever to fully load. After some searching and scrolling, Discord found his answer: The forecast predicted an 80% chance of rain. He doubled checked with a few other websites. The rest of the sites had precise results ranging from 80%-90%.

Discord felt his shoulders relax a bit. Never in his life would he be happy to be rained out for one of his outings. Still, even with this high chance of a downpour, he still had to show up. He had no way to communicate with her, and he was afraid of the repercussions if he appeared to have ditched. He still had to make the long drive to his possible doom.

He glanced at the clock on his computer. 4:02 PM. For once, why couldn’t the usual Friday time dilation keep him at work a little longer?

=================

The drive to the forest was eerily quiet. Discord didn’t want to distract himself with any music or podcasts this time. The only comfort he had was the rain he was wiping away from his windshield. If this rain kept up, he could stroll up to the strange woman, say that the weather’s too bad for tonight, and try to think of a way to not come back. Would saying he was suddenly allergic to grass work? He doubted it.

By the time he pulled into the Everfree Forest parking lot, the rain had subsided to a light drizzle. He hoped the weather would still be bad enough to cancel. Taking one last deep breath for luck, Discord left his car and headed toward the fence.

Sure enough, at the edge of the forest entrance, was Fluttershy. She wasn’t looking in Discord’s direction and instead was looking deep into the forest. She had a look of stoic concentration across her face, and Discord was afraid she was already mad at him for something. However, when she caught his movement up the path, her face softened as she gave a small smirk.

When he was close enough, Discord managed to say, “I’m here.”

Fluttershy’s smirk became bigger, and she said with a little sass, “You sure are.” She strolled up toward him until she was only an arm’s reach away. She said, “Care to lead the way?”

Right, she didn’t know about his specific spot. It was a little reassuring he wasn’t followed around like a hawk by her every time he entered the nature reserve. He mumbled a quiet committal noise and made his way to his usual path.

Both of them managed to make it through the small opening in the fence without much trouble. It was through this action Discord was able to take in Fluttershy’s current appearance. She was in the mismatch state like she originally appeared. Most of her oddities were covered by a long, dark blue cloak with a hood, but the hood was kept down, leaving her tree antlers swaying with the wild breeze. She caught him staring, so Discord tried to explain, “Oh, sorry, it’s just, you still have-”

“Oh, right,” Fluttershy said while patting her non-broken antler. She hid herself more in her cloak as she said, “Want me to put them away?”

“No, no, you don’t have to!” Discord said with a vague gesture. After their first encounter stewed in his mind for the past week, he honestly wasn’t that frightened of her anymore (based on her looks, at least. He had other, more powerful things to worry about). He tried to explain, “I mean, if that makes you feel-or if there’s a-whatever’s more comfortable for you.”

Fluttershy put her hand down, gave a simple smile and said, “Okay.” They continued their walk in silence. A full minute had passed before she broke the silence by saying, “I’m amazed you haven’t asked me yet.”

“Huh?”

“My whole...appearance, as it were. That’s what most people ask me. Well, usually they scream the question at me while running away or looking for pitchforks.”

Discord moved his gaze to the ground. He honestly wasn’t sure how much she was exaggerating with that last statement. He mumbled, “Well, I didn’t want to be rude.”

“My, my, aren’t you a gentleman?” she said with a hint of her sass again. “I haven’t seen much of that during this century.”

The two of them went back to silence. Discord was afraid to bring up the elephant in the room, but he figured he might as well get some information. After all, this whole setup was already super tense, might as well dive headfirst into the awkwardness. He turned to her and said, “C-can I ask? About your appearance?”

Fluttershy shrugged her shoulders and said, “Sure, no fur off my back.” The phrasing made Discord jump a bit, so she added, “What? It’s a joke. Relax, man.”

She quickened her pace and went ahead of Discord before speaking. She said in a nonchalant way, “I look like this because I have draconequus blood.”

“D-dracano-what?”

She let out a quick laugh. “Exactly. My guess is you’re new to all of this.”

Discord spread out his arms in exasperation. “Wouldn’t everybody?”

“You’d be amazed. Fine, I’ll teach you the basics.” Fluttershy stopped walking and turned to Discord. She went on, “The abridged, kid’s fairy tale version of it all is this: The inhabitants of this world used to be connected to the different energies of the universe. That’s what most people call ‘Magic.’ People used it all the time and even magical creatures were born. This is where you get your stories full of wizards and dragons and five-headed chickens and stuff.

“Then, something happened. No one knows if there was a shift in the world’s connection or something else entirely, but the majority of people and animals couldn’t access the energies anymore. Magical-based creatures died, and humans had to rely on their own inventions and ingenuity to survive. Only certain humans and creatures managed to keep some connection, but it’s significantly weaker than what it used to be.”

Fluttershy paused and looked to the ground. She said the last part with a hint of dejection. For Discord, the tone made it sound like she saw the decline in the magical world personally over the centuries.

The story enraptured Discord. He asked, “You said you have draconequus blood. I’m guessing that has magic?”

“Kind of,” said Fluttershy. A smile grew on her face as she continued, “We’re our own entity of creatures who have access to the best magic of all: Chaos magic!” As soon as she said the last word, she snapped the fingers on her wooden hand in a grand flourish. A bush nearby instantly grew an extra 3 feet and sprouted an unseen flower with red and blue polka dots. Discord jumped back and held back a scream.

Fluttershy approached the bush with excitement in her eyes. She started plucking some of the flowers while she elaborated, “Think about it. The little changes and effects in the world that pop out of nowhere. The smallest changes that go on to start the biggest domino effect. The disorder found in life that leads to revolution and change for the better. There’s magic behind it, whether you notice it or not.”

She tucked some of the flowers in a hidden pocket in her cloak. She went on to say, “So draconequus like me have access to that. Sort of. The connection to the chaos magic of the world has been diminished over the years. Whether it was the lost connection or how we had to share our lineage with humans for survival.”

She plucked one last flower and handed it to Discord. He hesitated at first but saw the importance of this gesture. He took it (hoping it didn’t burn or change his skin) and placed it in his jacket pocket. Sensing the explanation was over, he continued to walk to the clearing while Fluttershy followed. To fill the new void of silence, he asked, “So, this chaos magic, I’m guessing the Everfree Forest is full of it? You said it had some natural magic.”

“It does, but most nature reserves untouched by technology is full of chaos magic,” she clarified. “If you think about it, nothing is as chaotic as nature itself.”

Discord wasn’t sure he fully understood, but the time for more questions was coming to an end. The clearing was right in front of them now. He led the way through the knee-high grass while Fluttershy inspected the area with interest. Discord looked up; the sky was still full of clouds from the earlier rainstorm. Now was the time to wiggle his way out of this situation. Though talking to her did seem to go better than he planned.

“Right,” he said with a tone of finality, “we’re here.” Fluttershy was nearby and soon noticed the cloudy state. Discord said, “Yes, the clouds. I’m sorry for dragging you out here like this. I didn’t know how to warn you ahead of time. I checked the weather apps, and they predicted something like this. We can head back.”

Fluttershy just looked up, shrugged her shoulders, and said, “No worries. I got this.” With another snap of her fingers, the landscape changed in an instant. The clouds parted as if they were repulsed with each other. A circular opening with the circumference of three football fields hung above their heads. The whole field was illuminated by a full moon which Discord forgot would appear tonight. The stars and galaxies seemed to be brighter and clearer compared to his previous trips.

The whole ordeal left him breathless, but it wasn’t due to fear. He was mesmerized. “That’s amazing...” he managed to choke out.

Fluttershy let out a small laugh. “Really?” she said in a teasing voice. “I just told you about all the magic and chaos in the world, and you’re still surprised? Don’t tell me you weren’t listening. I should give out quizzes after my monologues to check for listening comprehension.”

“It’s...still amazing,” he replied. He was truly moved. Sure, she wanted to come along and needed a way to remove any obstacles, but Discord never had someone do a grand gesture like that for him in his life. He was used to being forgotten about or avoided. He turned to the magical woman and simply said, “Thank you.”

If Discord didn’t know any better, he could swear he saw a slight flush to Fluttershy’s face. She turned her head and mumbled, “It’s nothing. You caught me on a good day when I’m not tuckered out. You’d be amazed how many animals need help which requires magic.”

The two of them stared at the wonders of the sky for a few minutes. They were silent, but the silence wasn’t as suppressing or awkward as before. Discord was amazed he was comfortable with someone nearby for what he considered his private hobby. Yet she seemed to respect it. Discord continued looking up, catching the last bits of the Perseid meteor shower as they blinked in and out of sight.

“You know,” Fluttershy said, “we could be closer.”

“Closer?” Discord wasn’t sure what she meant. There weren’t any mountains or even large hills nearby.

“Sure, but wait. Do you get airsick?”

“Airsick? No, but what does that have to do-AHHH!!” Discord’s sentence was cut off by the sense of weightlessness. He felt a strong wind keeping his eyes closed. He felt what he imagined to be Fluttershy’s furry hand holding his. His grip became tighter, sensing that having her nearby would keep him safe. After a few agonizing seconds, he heard Fluttershy say, “You can open your eyes now.”

Discord (reluctantly) opened his eyes and almost lost his lunch, dinner, and whatever snacks that remained in his stomach. He was floating a few miles high off the ground! He snapped his eyes shut and grasped Fluttershy’s hand with both of his hands. He could hear her scoff and say, “Relax, will you? I got you.”

“H-h-h-how can I relax?!” He kept his eyes shut and tightened his grip. Talking was not helping his unease at all.

“Geez, you going to break my hand at this rate. I wouldn’t have taken you up here unless I knew I could handle it. Trust me.”

“T-this is t-t-too much. Please, p-p-put me down.”

Fluttershy sighed. Discord heard her voice closer to his ear as she said, “Look, I’ll take you down if you want, but before we do, will you please just look up?”

He really didn’t want to anything that involved confirming the fact he was dangling over the earth, but he figured he was not in a position to argue. He sighed, opened his eyes, and looked up.

Nothing could prepare Discord for what he saw. The wonders of the night sky seemed to surround him at all sides. Swirls of unexpected colors from faraway galaxies were so close now he felt he could touch them. He wasn’t just a watching participant anymore; he was a part of it.

“Wow,” he heard himself say without expecting it. He vaguely saw Fluttershy at the corner of his vision, most likely giving a self-satisfied grin. She said, “Yeah. Better, right?”

Discord just nodded and continued staring at the sky. He still held a death grip on her hand, but the fear of falling was slowly diminishing with each passing second. The two returned to their stargazing without a word.

The need to quell his curiosity eventually got to Discord again. He said without looking away from the stars, “Those people in the woods, they were looking for you for your magic, I’m guessing?”

Fluttershy nodded. “Sadly. There are those who still hunt down the entities left with magic. You know, for the usual stuff: Power, fame, unstoppable force, etc.”

Discord wasn’t sure how to respond to that. He couldn’t imagine running away from people who just wanted to hurt him all the time. All he could manage was a simple, “That’s rough.”

“Yeah, but I’m good. Just have to keep my guard up sometimes. Around everyone.” She used her free hand to push her hair out of her face and turned away from Discord. He could tell it must have been a touchy subject. In a move he would probably regret later, he prodded on by saying, “Are...are they all bad? Maybe some of them just need some help?”

She turned back to face him. Despite her youthful face, he could sense a long history of betrayal and burned bridges behind those eyes. She said with no emotion in her voice, “Trust me, no matter the intention, trying to gain magic that’s not yours leads to trouble. Every time. Hell, having magic alone is its own trouble, and many people try to repress it or try to pass as normal.” She said the next part with a new wave of conviction, “But not me. I’m proud of my draconequus blood, and I will not let anyone tell me what to do with my magic. I’m no one’s plaything.”

Discord was left speechless. He honestly didn’t know what to do about this. True, he wasn’t planning on taking her magic or using her for his own needs, but she didn’t know that. Why is she spending time with him if she can’t trust others? What made him so special? Why was he roped into this whole thing at all? The questions seemed to swirl in both his head and his already weakened stomach.

Fluttershy didn’t seem to catch this and instead changed the subject. She asked, “So, this is what you do? You just...sit here?”

Discord wouldn’t consider their current position as “sitting,” but he fought back the urge to be a stickler. He said, “Yeah. It’s not much, but I like it.”

“Why?”

Ah, yes. The question that has been haunting Discord for years. It was something he was still trying to figure out himself. He considered giving a vague non-answer, but something about Fluttershy opening up made him want to share the feeling.

He said after a minute of thinking, “I’m honestly not sure. I came here when I was du- when I was at a low point in my life. I felt like a nobody and listless. I felt like I had to live up to someone’s- hell, anyone’s expectations, and I kept failing at it.

“Then I came here. Sure, it was just the sky, but I guess it opened up something in me. Here was something bigger and more random and listless than me. And it was fine, the earth kept turning. It made me feel less of a failure.”

Discord turned to Fluttershy. She was staring intently at the stars. God, he must have bored her to tears. He followed up by saying, “I’m sorry, that got weird. I didn’t mean to bother you with my bul-”

“I get it.”

“Huh?”

“I get it,” she repeated. “At least the ‘living up to other people’s expectations’ part. It’s hard, and it sucks. So, I get it.”

Huh. Discord was not expecting one of his rambles to be relatable to a chaotic being of power. Then again, I guess trying to find your place in the universe is a common emotion.

Fluttershy didn’t follow up her statements, and neither did Discord. They just stared and relaxed and enjoyed each other’s company. For once, his mind didn’t lean towards the endless list of ways he could screw up this interaction. He didn’t feel the need to fill the silence with hollow chitchat. Instead, he felt a sense of deep connection he didn’t really feel toward others.

It was nice.

After a solid period of silence, Fluttershy turned to him and asked, “Wanna see me change to a different section of the world? We can try to catch the aurora borealis.”

Discord tightened his grip once again (he wasn’t going to be losing his fear of heights anytime soon) but nodded and bravely said, “Sure.”

=================

The ground was a luxury Discord would never take for granted again. He resisted the urge to kiss it as they walked back toward the parking lot. Despite all the magical shenanigans and literal new perspective creating a new sense of fear, this was one of the most memorable outings he had for a long time. Overall, he was grateful for making it out here.

He said to Fluttershy, “Thank you again, for all of this.”

She gave a toothy smile and said, “I should be thanking you. Now I got a new thing in my forest to check out.”

As much as Discord wanted to leave everything like it was, he knew he had to ask. With the remaining bits of his courage, he said, “Fluttershy, can I ask you something?”

“Fire away, buster.”

“Why did you set this up? It sounds like...normal people like me shouldn’t get involved with this magic stuff. You could have erased my memories later on or ban me from the forest or something. So, why? Why...do you trust me?”

Now it was Fluttershy’s turn to be introspective. She stared at something far off as she tried to find the proper words. After what felt like an eternity, she said, “I have my reasons. For one thing, I know you’re not going to exploit me. Don’t act like you’re some nefarious, evil mastermind or something. It’s obvious you’re just a weird, boring guy.”

Discord would have been more insulted, but he kind of agreed on that fact. She continued, “Besides, I just had a good feeling about you. After you saved me and all, and let’s face it, it’s nice to talk to a human after being with animals for so long. Don’t get me wrong, they’re great, but you can only hear about winter preparation and the best berries to eat before you start to-”

“Wait, wait, wait,” Discord managed to say while stopping their walk. “What do you mean I saved your life? You saved mine.”

“Hmm?” Fluttershy stared at him like he wasn’t making sense. Then it hit her. “Oh, right! I never told you. Here, this should refresh your memory.” Another SNAP and something big and showy was suddenly behind her. It was an array of giant, furry tails of different colors arranged like peacock feathers. Fluttershy posed like she was ready to model on a catwalk. Discord stared intently; the color scheme, the texture, it looked so familiar...

The realization hit Discord like a bus. “You were the fox?!”

Fluttershy nodded and snapped the tails away. “You caught me when I used up most of my magic for the day fixing a dispute between some beavers.” She leaned in to whisper the next part, “Never get on their bad side, by the way. They will tear up your house’s walls in a millisecond.”

She stepped back and said, “Anyways, I was exhausted that day. All I had the energy to do was escape when those hunters came. I never thanked you for that. So, thanks.”

Discord nodded and mumbled a small, “No problem.” Thinking back on that first night, some parts were starting to make sense. He didn’t question anything at the time, but now everything was glaringly obvious. He could see how magic was still unknown by the general public if people are so quick to dismiss the unexplained. With Fluttershy’s display finished, they continued their walk in silence.

The parking lot was soon in viewing distance for both of them. Fluttershy readjusted her cloak and said, “You should be heading back, I imagine. Thanks for indulging me. Feel free to come back anytime. I’ll leave you be.”

Wait, just like that? She wouldn’t bother him anymore? No more prodding or expectations? Discord was amazed and a bit relieved. This magic business was not good for his health.

Still, he felt something hollow inside of him. He wasn’t sure what he wanted to happen after this outing. Sure, he started wanting to run away, but then he got to know more about this strange, alluring woman. This sweet yet sassy woman who had her own worries and dreams. She probably felt isolated being in these woods all the time. She probably didn’t have anyone to truly talk to. It was all too familiar to Discord.

After a lengthy pause, he said, “You can join me next time.”

Fluttershy was on her way back into the forest, but the sentence made her stop in her tracks. She turned and looked at him in a puzzled expression. “Really?” she said while raising one of her eyebrows.

Discord had to admit to himself; he wasn’t planning on saying that either. Still, it felt right. He continued, “Well, the Perseid meteor show is over, but there’s the Leonids one in mid-November, and I usually just come out for regular stargazing too. W-we don’t have to do that either! We can just talk or hang out i-if you want.”

God, this was just like high school all over again. Any plans to interact and socialize and it falls apart under his awkwardness. Fluttershy didn’t seem to be bothered by that, though. She just smiled and said, “Well, aren’t you a complex Rubik’s cube? Thought I pegged you as a lone wolf type of guy.”

“I am, usually,” Discord said while he crossed his arms as a weak form of protection, “But I didn’t mind our talks. And-well, to be honest, it sounded like you needed a friend.”

The last word made Fluttershy lower her head and give a low sounding chuckle. “A friend, huh,” she mumbled to the ground. “Haven’t had one of those in a long time.”

Discord stepped closer to the one-of-a-kind woman. “Well,” he said after a moment of hesitation, “You have one now, if you’re willing.” The two of them then stared at each other, trying to read the other’s emotions. Discord was trying his best to appear brave in his new social choice, while Fluttershy’s face was etched with curiosity and a little bit of hope.

Discord felt the awkwardness starting to creep back into the air. He tried to salvage it as best as he could by saying, “I-I should warn you, I’m not good at social stuff, and I’ll probably put my foot in my mouth, especially with this new magic stuff, and I should figure out how to contact you better and-” he paused and sighed. “This isn’t making much sense, is it?”

Fluttershy gave a louder, lighter laugh compared to before. Discord blushed and looked away. Already he messed it up, great. Fluttershy seemed to sense this and said with her usual level of sass, “Hey, what fun is there in making sense?”