Where Humans Don't Belong

I lay on Fluttershy’s couch, the fever getting worse. Discord places a cool washcloth onto my forehead into an attempt to calm my body temperature.

I feel more comfortable with Discord being around now that I’ve been talking to him for a few hours. He’s told me about being rejected by everypony and being turned to stone, having to stay like that for centuries. I noticed he seems very lonely, only genuinely smiling if he’s talking about his pranks, or about Fluttershy. I’m convinced he likes her, though I’ve never mentioned it. And I don’t plan to.

I’ve mostly been listening to Discord talk, as I’m feeling too weak to respond to him much, but I think he enjoys having someone to talk to. He’s a nice, polite guy when you get to know him. It seems we have more in common than I originally thought, seeing as how we are both extremely different from the ponies.

I can see why his life turned out the way it did. I can imagine he wasn’t very popular from the start, what, with him looking so different from the other creatures in Equestria. I can almost relate to him. Even though I wasn’t half bad looking, I was always very quiet. I didn’t like to talk to people, and they didn’t like to talk to me. Just because bright colors weren’t my favorite, and I usually wore black, people thought I was weird.

I notice after a while that he’s stopped talking and is now looking at my eyes. He notices me looking at him and quickly diverts his gaze.

“Your eyes look different from the ponies.” He explains, hoping I wasn’t thinking anything different. “It’s rare to see a creature with grey-blue eyes. They usually have a tint of green to them. And yours have an unusual pattern to them. They’re dark around the rim and light on the inside. Ponies usually have light eyes at the top which progressively get darker as it goes down.”

“Hmm. Yeah, I noticed that too. Also, in my world, people only have blue, brown, green, and sometimes grey eyes. Never red, pink, or purple, like some of the ponies here have.” I agreed.

The front door of the cottage opened, letting a beam of daylight into the dimly lit room, a silhouette of a pony with long hair standing outside.

“Oh, I hope I wasn’t gone too long.” Fluttershy says apologetically. “Oh, she’s awake already!”

Fluttershy trots over to Discord, and whispers in his ear. “I hope she wasn’t too scared?”

“Only a bit shocked, but she calmed down quickly.” He responds, talking quietly so I don’t hear.

Fluttershy gets a please look on her face, turning to me and says “You know, Kelly, once you feel better, you, Discord and me should all get together to have tea sometime.

“Sounds good!” I say as cheerfully as I can, hoping they know that I genuinely want to.

Fluttershy looks happy, smiling a bit and says “Discord, it looks like you might get a new friend!”

I look a bit confused, replying with, “I thought we already were friends.”

Discord looks surprised at first, then gets a relieved, happy look on his face knowing that he now has more than one friend. “Well then, friend” He says. “Perhaps after tea, we all could go ice skating on the river. I’ll even take the liberty of freezing it.”

Fluttershy gives him an uncertain look, knowing that many of the ducks like to go swimming in the river. Discord notices this and rolls his eyes. “It’ll only be for a little while.” He says to calm her fears.

“I would love to!” I say. “That is, if Fluttershy is okay with it.

“Well, I guess if it’s only for a little while.” She responds, smiling politely.

Discord gets a please look on his face, the thought of being able to make even a little chaos brightening up his mood.

“Oh, it’s almost time for Twilight to get back.” Fluttershy comments, looking at the clock on the wall next to the couch.

Discords face then turns into a look of disappointment, not liking the idea of having a new friend leave.

Fluttershy notices this, feeling a bit bad for him. “Don’t worry Discord; she’ll be back as soon as she’s feeling better.”

There’s a knock on the door, starting Fluttershy a bit. She goes to answer it, opening up the door to reveal Twilight, standing there with an anxious look on her face.

“Hi Fluttershy, well, I was wondering if you could keep Kelly here for a few days. I dropped my entire schedule for the next week in a puddle and it smeared everywhere! I can’t read a thing on it. So I need to re-write it, which will take a while.” Twilight says quickly, anxious to get back to her house to fix it.

“Why of course, Twilight. Discord will be happy to hear this, since him and Kelly are friends now.” She says, receiving an odd look from Twilight.

“Oh, okay then. The sleeping spells I’ve casted on her don’t seem to be lasting as long as they should. Perhaps she’s more resistant to magic.” Twilight ponders. “Well I need to go now. See you in a few days Fluttershy.”

“Goodbye Twilight.” Fluttershy says with a polite smile, watching her as she turns around to leave. Fluttershy closes the door and turns around to look at us. “Good news!”