Chaos Inverted

The plate was precariously placed on top of a drinking glass and a dirty pan in the sink. Discord resolved to wash the plate and the rest of the dirty dishes left in the haphazard shame pile later today. He was usually on top of his cleaning chores, but his mind wasn’t focused on much lately. He was still debating on what his next step should be.

He impulsively checked his phone for the fifth time in the last hour. No texts from Fluttershy. Discord sighed; he wasn’t too surprised. After all, he canceled his last outing, blaming it on an unspecified illness. She took the bait and said she would wait until next time. She even sent a few texts to get their conversation going again. But he never texted back. For over two weeks. Like an ass.

He knows the pains and guilt of being ghosted, but he couldn’t help himself. The “meeting” with the other Element ladies still played in his mind when he tried to sleep. What did they want from her? What did they want with him? Were they still tracking him? In what way was Fluttershy connected to these Elements? The sad part was he could easily find out if he had the courage to say something, anything. But he didn’t.

What he need right now was some good ol’ distraction. He dragged his feet to the living room and looked through his record collection. He wasn’t a vinyl record collector until recently, when his mother passed away last year. When he inherited her house, he also inherited her assortment of junk and treasures. Among the abandoned craft projects, kitschy knickknacks, and antique floral vases, he found some leftover stuff from his father.

His father left the family when Discord was only four years old. His mother never talked about him, as though invoking any part of his memory would bring back waves of nostalgia and pain. He didn’t even think about his father until he heard about his death in his freshman year in college. The man was a mystery to Discord, and all he had left to know about him was whatever leftover boxes his mother stored in the attic.

One of the items was a box of old vinyl records. The main genre was mostly jazz and blues from the 50s and 60s. Seeking any kind of connection to his father, he found a decent vinyl player online and played them when he got the free time. Discord started to like the genre and even made trips to a record store to add to his new collection. Now, whenever he wanted to drown out his thoughts, he played whatever caught his interest.

His fingers moved through the dusty records until he settled on one of his father’s jazz collections. As the music played softly through the room, Discord scanned the state of his house. He was really behind on cleaning, and he could use his day off to finally get things in order. Settling on this plan, he rolled up the sleeves on his light brown sweater and got to work.

The coffee table was organized, the carpet was vacuumed, and dust was wiped off the TV and other surfaces. Satisfied with his progress, he let his rats out to roam a walled-in play area and moved on to the kitchen. He threw out the mystery leftovers from his fridge and was about to tackle the kitchen island full of unread mail and empty beer cans.

“You know, I never expected you as a type who liked floral print.”

A voice cut through the music and almost made Discord jump a foot into the air. That sounded like, no, it couldn’t be-

He swung his head toward his phone he left on the counter. No messages, no recent calls. He then turned his head toward the living room. Could she be-

He ran out of the kitchen and poked his head around the corner. Sure enough, there she was in her usual mismatched glory. She was facing away from him, staring at the old, peeling wallpaper he had been meaning to replace.

She wore a somewhat average long-sleeved shirt and skirt combo. The skirt portion looked to be made of different colored fabrics, but the top section was a simple faded yellow shirt with the sleeves rolled up. Fluttershy had her furry hand under her chin as if she were staring at a renowned painting. She glanced over to Discord and said, “You seemed more like an Art Deco type.”

As much as he wanted to clarify the wallpaper was left over from his mother, he knew that wasn’t the most important thing right now. “What are you doing here?” he asked as he approached her. “How did you find this place?”

“You took me to your garage, remember?” Fluttershy moved her gaze back to the wallpaper. “Wasn’t too hard to retrace my steps.”

Right, the whole fox thing. He forgot. He relaxed a tiny bit. At least now he can talk things out directly instead of over the phone.

“As for why I’m here,” Fluttershy said with bit of malice in her voice, “You tell me.” She turned her whole body to face him, crossing her arms as if she were about to lecture a disobedient child.

Discord felt his previous relaxation exit out of him like steam. This wasn’t good. All he could manage to utter was a useless, “Uhhh...”

“You haven’t been responding. Why?” Her glare was enough to turn someone to stone. Discord couldn’t help but notice her sharpened canines more now when she talked. He never saw her so pissed, and he had to think of a good response and quick.

He decided to go with the stupid option; he got defensive. Discord stood up taller and balked back, “H-hey! I don’t need to be at your beck and call at all hours of the day! I was busy!”

“Busy, huh,” Fluttershy said with the most obvious disbelief. She looked around at the relaxed atmosphere with the soft jazz music still playing in the background. “Yes, I shouldn’t interrupt you when you’re sooo busy,” she said with the driest of sarcasm. “Don’t forget to clean the grout from the tile and reorganize your sock collection.”

Discord wanted to bite back with his own words, but he held back. He knew he was in the wrong and didn’t want to provoke her. He instead looked away as he felt his face flush in shame.

“Look,” Fluttershy continued while pacing around the living room, “I might be a bit rusty on this whole ‘friendship’ business, but from my perspective, you and I were eager to talk and drink tea and hangout all the time. Then out of nowhere, you decide to just phantom me!”

“I believe the term is ghosted...” Discord corrected under his breath. He imagined she wasn’t too caught up on current lingo if she hung out in the forest with a bunch of animals.

“Whatever! Point is, I’m pissed off!” She said the last word while stomping a hoof to the floor. The record skipped and a few items near his TV stand flew off the shelves from most likely a magical force. She turned her back to Discord, putting her hands on her head and her wings vibrating with rage. “UGH! This is why I don’t even bother! Just when you finally open up a teeny bit, and you think, finally, there’s something meaningful happening here. But no! They pull it back like it’s bait. Everything is temporary and conditional, apparently! I just-you’re just so-”

Fluttershy didn’t go on, just letting the silence settle on both of them like a heavy blanket. Discord was frozen in place. He couldn’t think of anything to do or say to make this better. He didn’t realize how much this meant to her too. Fluttershy eventually dropped her hands, and her wings stilled. Her head hung low to the floor as she whispered, “I was really starting to...look forward to it. Guess it was too good to last. Just tell me, was it something I did? Is it...because of who I am?”

Discord’s heart almost shattered on the spot. That feeling of always being the cause of a friendship breaking, to feel inadequate all the time. He had felt this way too many times in the past, like a failure. And now his cowardice made her feel like failure too.

Fluttershy was still hanging her head low to the ground, so she didn’t expect a strong force pressed against her back. She jumped a bit and turned her head. Discord was hugging her from behind, an action even he didn’t predict himself doing. But doing this felt right.

“No, no to all of those things,” he murmured close to her ear. “I’m so, so sorry. I didn’t mean to make you feel like that. I would never want someone to feel like that.”

Fluttershy was fairly tall compared to other human women, but she still had to look up to stare into Discord’s eyes. She fought back a blush to the unusual close proximity and put on her mask back on. She sighed and said, “You sure like sending out mixed signals, don’t ya?”

“I wanted to talk to you again, I swear. It’s just...I mean...things got complicated.”

She stepped away from their embrace and faced him. “Then make it less complicated. Tell me the truth.”

“Huh?”

“If you don’t want to see me anymore, just say it,” she said while her tail whipped behind her in either agitation or nervousness (maybe both). “I’ll leave you alone, no questions asked. I can’t stand being stringed around.”

Discord took a deep breath. As much as his usual instincts wanted him to run away from any possible danger that came with interacting with her, he needed to know. It was now or never to fight this fear paralysis. “Okay,” he said after collecting himself, “I’ll tell you the whole truth, but you have to do it too.”

Fluttershy tilted her head and gave off a confused chuckle. “Okay?”

“I mean it,” he emphasized. “I’m still new to this whole chaos and magic stuff, and I need to know what I’m getting into.” He softly placed a hand on her shoulder. “Please.”

Discord did his best to look firm and serious. He also did his best to not think about all the possible chaotic scenarios he would be put through due to an angry/upset draconequus, but they were leaking in. Fluttershy didn’t look angry or upset, though. She just stared back at him as if to read his mind (he hoped she couldn’t read minds). She eventually closed her eyes, put her hands on her hips, and said, “Alright, that’s fair. I’ll be truthful and stuff.”

Not fully buying the execution, but it was a start. “First off,” Discord said while backing away, “Answer me this: what are the Elements?”

Fluttershy’s eyes shot open and her wings twitched. “The Elements?”

“There was this group I ran into awhile back. They kept questioning me, wanting me to confess to all that I know about the Elements of Unity or something.”

“Harmony.”

“What?”

Fluttershy let out a frustrated groan and walked over to the daisy-patterned couch to sit down. She squeezed her wings close to her back to fully lay down comfortably. She picked at the dust and lint on the arm rest as she said, “They’re called the Elements of Harmony. Now, if you ask me, I would have gone for a more ominous-sounding title, but hey, I wasn’t on the naming committee.” She patted the seat next to her. “Might as well sit down. Start from the beginning.”

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

“-and that was the last time I saw them. I haven’t heard from them yet, but I’ll be honest, I’m not sure if I’m being magically tracked or not.”

It took Discord around ten minutes to fully tell about what happened during his lunch break with the other Elements. He went into detail as much as possible with Fluttershy only interrupting to ask for clarifying details or to repeat a sentence.

Around the five minute mark, Fluttershy snapped her fingers to instantly bring one of her tea concoctions in a teapot made of cave crystals and geodes. She drank several cups like shots while Discord sipped his first cup (it was a flavor combination he enjoyed in the past. She called it Lavender and Stardust. He was afraid to clarify whether it contained actual stardust).

Fluttershy finished her fifth cup and said, “I don’t sense their magic on you, so you should be in the clear. For now. They probably think your connection to me is small and won’t lead to anything.” She was pouring another cup from the apparently bottomless teapot when she said with a smile, “Good job getting around Applejack’s setup. I’m impressed.”

Discord took the small compliment as best as he could and set his cup down on the nearby coffee table. “So, that’s my side,” he said after a moment of hesitation. “Now yours.”

Fluttershy stared down at her dark purple tea with annoyance. “Mine? Is it really necessary?” she said more to the tea than to Discord. She dropped the tea, got up from the couch, and started to walk over to the kitchen. “It’s starting to get late. How about some food? Are you open to Italian-Japanese fusion cuisine?”

A slight tug on Fluttershy’s furry hand stopped her progression. Discord was gently grabbing her wrist, his eyes full of concern. “Please,” he said with a hint of desperation, “Tell me what you know.”

She bit her lip. “I promise you, it’s nothing,” she started. “They’re making a mountain out of a molehill. I doubt you want to hear my dumb take on this.”

He lowered his hand to loosely grasp her hand. He gently moved his fingers over the soft fur. “Please,” he repeated.

As much as Fluttershy didn’t want her only human friend to get caught up in her bullshit, she knew he needed to know at least the basics. She sat back down on the couch and turned to face him. She squeezed his hand as she said, “Okay, but I swear it’s not as big of a deal those horse bloods are making it. I...happen to be one of the Elements. There’s different types like Laughter, Loyalty, Honesty, Generosity. The sappiest of stuff.”

Discord kept holding on to her hand. He imagined the contact is helping her get through this rough part of her history. She was an Element this whole time. That explains why that group wanted to find her so bad. He remembered the Twilight one was saying she was the Element of Magic. So there’s different types.

The title made Discord wonder. “Which Element are you, then?” he asked.

Fluttershy let go of his hand as she used both hands to comb through her hair. “Don’t make me say it,” she whined. “It’s sooo lame.”

“You said one of them was the Element of Laughter,” he said with his own chuckle. “I think you’re fine.”

Fluttershy gave him a deadpan look. “I’m the Element of Kindness.”

The pause that followed permeated the room. What followed next was a stifled wheeze.

“Don’t laugh!” Fluttershy said while pointing at the guilty party. She said it with annoyance, but she had her own smile forming from the absurdity of the situation.

Discord turned his head away as he continued to hide his evidence. “I-I’m not! It’s not that bad.” Still, he couldn’t help but picture a stereotypical fairy tale princess helping animals in the forest with a title like that.

Thankfully, both of them were smiling and laughing at this revelation. Fluttershy was the first to calm down as she said, “Yeah, yeah, you so are. But it’s the truth. For some reason, in the last century or so, I was chosen for the Element. And I legit don’t know why. Harmony magic is counterintuitive to chaos magic. Something that’s made for order and unity in mind shouldn’t choose someone whose entire nature is to dismantle that. But you deal with the cards dealt to you.”

She picked at her animals claws as she continued. “If I had to guess, they’re worried about me doing my own thing without their supervision. They can’t tap into the full potential of the Elements without all six of them together. But I’m fine on my own!” Fluttershy jumped up a bit on her seat as she stretched her arms to make her point. “I tried working with them, but they had so many rules. ‘Fluttershy, don’t levitate items around the room. Fluttershy, don’t create windstorms to travel on.’ I felt like I was being suffocated!”

With all of her extra energy spent, she laid back down on the couch, her arms spread out on the back portion. “So, I ran away as fast as I could,” she said while staring at the ceiling. “And they’ve been looking for me ever since.”

Discord let the words sink in as Fluttershy didn’t move from her spot. “Do you think they’re the ones who sent the hunters?” he asked after thinking it over.

She shrugged. “I doubt it. They wouldn’t get regular humans involved. Something about both protecting and being separate from humanity or some crap.”

The way the other Elements looked so forlorn when asking about Fluttershy played in Discord’s mind. He prodded again, “But are you needed? You said they can’t tap into the Elements.”

“They still can,” she clarified, “But it’s not as its strongest. And the current world doesn’t need it at full power. Look around!” She swept her wooden hand in a grand gesture. “We live in a world where people are more concerned about their jobs, money, and little bits of free time. The grand era where heroic, magical interventions are needed is over.”

Fluttershy paused and let her hands rest on her lap. She gripped her skirt into a tight ball as she mumbled, “They’re more concerned about controlling me than they are about the status of the world. Trust me on that.”

Discord didn’t have anymore questions to ask, and Fluttershy didn’t want to continue. Discord tried drinking his tea again, but it became lukewarm in the intervening time. They both sat on the couch, not sure where to go next. Both for the conversation and (possibly) their connection.

One part of Fluttershy’s explanation made Discord pause to think. Last century or so...

“Wait, how old are you?” Discord said without thinking. God, he knew the proper way to put his foot in his mouth, didn’t he?

The question seemed to break the tension left in the room. Fluttershy snorted and said, “You should know better than to ask a lady her age. Why not ask which gods I sacrifice blood to next?”

Discord blinked. “This isn’t helping.”

Fluttershy blinked back, looked away, and whispered quietly and quickly, “Couple of thousand years, give or take.”

Discord fought the urge to make any sudden shocked noises. He shouldn’t be surprised. Anything is possible at this rate. Instead, he dropped his head into his hands. “God, I’m in way over my head.”

“You’re fine,” Fluttershy reassured as she patted his back. After a moment, she cleared her throat and said, “And...I am sorry. I really didn’t mean for you to get wrapped into this.”

“I know you didn’t.” Discord raised his head to stare back at her. “Thank you. For telling me everything.”

Fluttershy just nodded and moved her hand and whole body away. She wasn’t used to opening up this much and needed a distraction. Luckily, a nearby squeak and a tumbling of a food bowl caught both of their attentions. Fluttershy walked over to the noise and saw two little rats peeking up from their playpen. She giggled and asked, “Are these your little friends?”

“Oh, yeah.” Discord moved off the couch. When he got closer, he pointed to each pet. “This one is Socrates, and this one is Ben.” He proceeded to point out his other pets in the living room (Art the lizard in his heat tank and the betta fish Meg and Steve in their aquarium) and vaguely to other areas of the house (Brutus the snake in his bedroom and 2 to-be-named hermit crabs in a spare room). “I used to have hissing cockroaches, but then they escaped into the vents at my last apartment, and let’s just say I haven’t gotten my security deposit back.”

Fluttershy laughed more heartily and looked back at the rats. “They seemed to like you.”

Discord blinked. “You can tell?”

“Yeah, I can communicate with all animals. Big Ben is a bit grumpy with his current diet, but all of them have nice things to say about you.”

“That’s...good to know.” Discord scratched the back of his head as Fluttershy continued to coo and play with the rats. His previous image of her being a fairy tale princess actually matched better than he realized. She always seemed to be talking to and helping animals in her forest. Maybe her connection to the Element of Kindness wasn’t such a stretch after all.

“What’s the story behind their names?” Fluttershy asked as she gave Ben a scratch under his chin.

“O-oh, just whatever popped in my head when I first got them,” Discord stammered. “I like to watch old horror movies sometimes, so when I got Soc and Ben, I went with the names in the movie Willard.”

“I’m so behind on movies. Any good?”

“Not too bad, I think.” Discord wasn’t sure if Fluttershy was the type to appreciate old 70s horror. Most people didn’t. He muttered to himself, “I think I have the DVD somewhere around here...”

“Sounds like a plan!” Fluttershy clapped her hands and stood up rapidly. “You set that up, and I’ll throw together dinner.” She went over to the kitchen before Discord could say anything.

Then again, a cozy night in watching an old movie with his magical friend sounded pretty nice. Why would he object?

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

“You know, you’d probably be better off not being around me.”

The sentence sprang up out of nowhere from Fluttershy. Discord looked over to her and gave her a questioning look. He didn’t understand. They were having a good time for the last hour or so.

She made the promised Italian-Japanese fusion cuisine (sushi in a garlic white sauce shouldn’t have tasted so good, but it did) and he managed to dig out the DVD and set up the DVD player in only 10 or so minutes (plus or minus a few grumbled swears). They were near the climax of the movie where Willard sent his rat army to destroy his boss when she broke the silence with that statement.

Sensing she had to explain, Fluttershy continued, “I mean, I know I can be a handful sometimes, especially with those five hounding me all the time. I’m not planning on changing my mind on going back. I guess I want to make sure you’re still...okay with things are now.”

She was giving him another out, Discord realized. Did she feel like a burden to him? He certainly didn’t feel the same. While it was scary to know there were people out there looking for Fluttershy (and possibly him), he was liking the current status of his life more than what came before. He was liking the changes in himself more.

He was still scared (he knew he would always be scared), but he was also intrigued. And that kept him going.

“Why wouldn’t I be?” he said while shifting his weight to face away from the TV. “I might be, well, out of my element, but I still want to see you. You make great tea, you’re nice and funny, and you put up with my ramblings. I wouldn’t be a good friend if I gave up as soon as things got hard.”

The draconequus woman stared back at him in disbelief. Was she not used to people staying around? The thought made Discord’s chest tighten. It’s one thing to pick a life of isolation. It’s a whole different thing when it’s decided for you.

“Besides,” he said while moving a bit closer to the perplexed woman, “I don’t like being told what’s good for me.”

Fluttershy snorted. “Oh, really?”

Discord smirked back. “Yeah, I guess I picked it up from you.”

“Smartass,” she murmured as she leaned against him. Discord felt his heart do a backflip. He was fine with them hanging out on the same couch, but now they were touching each other. He tried his best to brush off the feeling. They were just two friends comfortable in their spaces. That’s all. Also, it was cold, he added to his mental checklist. It was an early autumn night, and he didn’t turn on the furnace yet to his house. Made total sense.

Thankfully, the rising action of the movie soon distracted his mind. They watched the rest of the movie in contempt silence.

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

The world was made of stars.

That’s all Discord saw at all directions. Stars, galaxies, and stardust swirled around him. Their glow was made of different hues of blue, yellow, green, and red. They blinked, faded away, and came back just as quickly. It was serene, peaceful, a blanket of stars to lie back on and drift.

Something grabbed his arm. He was pulled toward a swirling galaxy. A shiver went through his body. Was he afraid? He wasn’t sure. He let the force pull him away toward the unknown.

Discord felt something lightly brush his face. He looked up. A woman made of stars was holding his gaze. Her eyes were so bright, he couldn’t stare straight at them. Her hands made of stardust held his face towards hers. He felt warm and safe. He didn’t want to move. He needed to be closer to her.

Discord pulled his face closer to hers. She reciprocated, bending down to be within inches of each other. Before he made contact, he noticed how the star woman’s hair seemed to be soft pink and flowed behind her back like a winding river. ‘How strange,’ he thought as his lips inched closer. ‘It looks so familiar...’

The scene ended with the blaring of the world’s most obnoxious phone alarm. Discord groaned as his dream gradually fell away to be forgotten. He really hated that alarm, but it was one of the few that seemed to cut through his deep sleep the best. He silenced it and slowly made his way to the bathroom. After a quick shower, he brushed his teeth and dressed for another day of work. He could pick up some breakfast on the way over to the office.

He glanced at his phone while brushing. Fluttershy sent him a funny picture of a sleeping Angel laid on top of an annoyed bear around 4:35 AM. He let out a breath of amusement and wondered if that woman ever slept a normal sleep cycle.

Then, it hit him all at once. Pink hair flowing. Twinkling eyes. Stardust hands. Their faces moving closer and closer and closer.

Discord dropped his toothbrush in the sink. He felt the prickling heat of a blush overcome his face. He stared at the aghast man in the mirror.

“Oh no.”