The Captive of Discord

      Morning has come. The prisoner in the house of Chaos was still fast asleep, snoring sweetly. There were no windows in the basement, so her awakening from a ray of sunshine would be a miracle. Footsteps sounded from the doorway. It was Discord coming down carrying Fluttershy's breakfast: two buttered toast, a red apple and a glass of juice. Quite a decent breakfast, if you ask me. The magician opened the door and looked at the girl. "Still sleeping. Haha. I'll leave this next to her, she'll eat when she wakes up."       He put the plate and glass next to the mattress, then patted Flutty on the head and left with a smile on his face. The girl woke up only a couple of minutes later. Stretching out and rubbing her eyes, she looked around. The same sloppily papered basement. Fluttershy sighed in annoyance. She had wanted it to be just a bad dream all night. But no. It is a nightmare, and quite a real one. She noticed the breakfast left for her on the floor. Hunger was making itself felt, but Flatty wasn't going to eat it. "He kidnapped me," she thought, "and now he wants me to be his pet? It'd rather starve." She was obviously disappointed in her recent idol. "On the other hand...," she reasoned, "he could just hypnotize me again and then he would do whatever he wants to me. But he didn't. Why?"       The scene that she saw the first time she woke up here the day before popped into her head. She did her best to restore the piece of dialogue that she heard then. Approximately it was like this: Smoothie: Are you sure? Discord: Absolutely. No one will ever know my secret again. Smoothie: But wouldn't it be easier to just use hypnosis instead of waiting for Stockholm syndrom to take over? Discord: It would. And it would also be more violent. She is a fragile girl and a long exposure can erase her mind completely. Smoothies: ...then how are we going to help her get to know you better, br'er? Discord: How many times have I told you, don't call me brother outside of work!       And after that came the scene from the previous chapter. Flutty couldn't figure out what he really wanted. If he wants to keep his secret, then why didn't he decide to "erase her mind", as Smooze suggested. As you understand, although our Fluttershy is kind, she sincerely did not understand why the kidnapper would not immediately kill his victim. Suddenly she noticed some kind of glare in the near corner. Coming closer, the girl saw a strange, glowing ball, clearly made of glass. She carefully picked it up and held it up to her face. Interesting highlights played in the orb, which seemed to flow into various images. A sudden flash blinded Fluttershy. She automatically squeezed her eyes shut. She stood there for a few seconds. Then Fluttershy realized that nothing was happening, she opened her eyes. The girl was now in a completely different room, completely unfamiliar. It was a very beautiful room, as if in a mansion, there was a wardrobe to the right of the front door, there was a single bed opposite it, and on the right side of the bed there was a grayish chest of drawers. What stood to the left of the bed surprised Fluttershy even more: a white, neat crib, and someone was moving in it. Coming closer, the girl saw a small child. Just a tiny one, in a gray jumpsuit, who was sleeping peacefully, holding a blanket in his little hands, and quietly snoring. Flutty wondered who this baby was, but immediately realized it was Discord. How did she know that? She saw two little, little horns on the top of his head. Although they didn't look as impressive as his adult version, but it was enough. The kid stirred, stretched and yawned, then stared straight at Fluttershy. An awkward silence. The child smiled sweetly and began to stretch out his tiny hands to her. The girl was so touched by this that she also stretched out her hand to him.       But in an instant, both he and the room disappeared into thin air. Flatty found herself in a black void. One more moment. She's back in this room, but the crib is gone. On the edge of the bed sits a grown-up Discord, about 11-12 years old, covering his face with his hands, while resting his elbows on his knees. He was wearing black pants and a black vest over a shirt, as well as a bow tie. Fluttershy was looking at him, standing opposite the door, with her back to it, when someone entered and approached the young boy, literally passing through the girl. It was the silhouette of an unknown woman. She walked over to Discord and squatted down in front of him. "Discord," she said in a low voice, "Have you taken off your braces again?"       Discord removed his hands from his face. It seemed so young, completely without wrinkles and circles, there was also no goatee, only the protruding right fang remained unchanged. "Yes..." "Why did you do that? You know it makes your father very angry." "But they hurt me. And they're not helping anyway." "Honey," the woman took Dee by the shoulders, "This is for your own good. You know that yourself. So please don't make your father mad with such small things." Discord silently looked away. Fluttershy noticed some tears on his cheeks. "Do you want us to go to the park to calm down and relax?" "... uh-huh.'' ''That's it," the woman smiled(probably) and hugged him, "Put on your hat as soon as possible and we're going out."       Discord smiled faintly. "Okay, Mom."       Everything has dissipated again. Now Fluttershy was watching quite an unpleasant scene. Discord was holding on to his left wrist, which was bleeding heavily, and a tall man, again presented as a silhouette, was standing very angry in front of him. He had a rod in his hand. "You! No matter how many times I tell you, you keep going there again and again! I know you're up to something! What are you hiding?!" "I'm not hiding anything!" "Don't lie!" the man whipped the wrist of the young man restraining the cry with a rod, "Answer me, why do you still go there!" "T-this is Mom's favorite place!"       After these words, the man hit the poor boy on the cheek, that he even fell to the floor, still holding his bleeding wrist. "Brazen liar... You know very well that it's your fault. Since she died, you've been doing nothing but wreaking havoc and strife in our house! And your mother only cared about you because she knew how pathetic you are. You are responsible for her death. You are nothing but continuous strife!" "D-Discord!" Fluttershy in horror rushed to help the young man.       Everything disappeared into thin air again. Fluttershy lost her balance and fell to the floor. She was safe, don't worry. However, when she raised her head, she saw Discord again, much more mature now. He was in the corridor, apparently, of some university or college, and, roughly speaking, one of the students bullied him. He had his hat in his hands. "Haha! I knew it! You're a demon! Am imp!" "Give me back my hat. Please." "Or what? Will you curse me? Will you send me to Tartaurus? Don't make me laugh, demon of Discord!" The bully laughed while Discord helplessly lowered his head trying to cover his horns with his hands. "Give it back," a voice said. Both young men turned around and saw the puff guy we already know, but now he was wearing a medical mask. Discord was clearly surprised by the appearance of this particular defender. The bully immediately switched to him. "And you don't interfere, you always-sick lump of mucus." "At least I'm not mentaly sick like you." "Oh, yeah?!" the bully pulled a folding knife out of his pocket and, raising his hand, attacked Smoothie. "Stop!" Discord jerked his arm forward. The bully was only a couple of centimeters away from puffy, but instead of stabbing him, he crashed into an invisible barrier. The tall one came up to him, grabbed him by the collar and lifted him to the ground, looking him viciously straight in the eyes. "Listen here. I've been putting up with your antics for a very long time, but this is just enough. If you don't leave us alone right now, I'm going to take this very knife and stick it into your "a" as deep as possible! Got it?!"       The self-confident expression on the bully's face immediately disappeared and was replaced by horror. He shivered. "That's right," Dee released the bully, "Now get out of my sight!" "Wow," whistled Smooze, looking at the fleeing guy, "That was brave of you, uh..." "Discord," Discord introduced himself, putting his hat back on. "I'm Smooze. My friends call me Smoothie, so you can call me that." "I'll take it into account, thank you." "By the way, maybe you overdid it with your magic, huh?" "Magic?" Discord looked at him blankly. "Well, your magic transparent shield, with which you saved me from being stabbed." "So... So did I do this?" The young man looked at his hands. "Yes. Thank you, of course, but I'm concerned that this guy can cut himself and tell the director that you stabbed him." "What nonsense! He's not that dumb-..." "He's here!" they suddenly heard, "And his minion too!"       Fluttershy was looking at this with anxiety and expectation, when suddenly she felt her hand hurt and tightly grabbed. It was enough just to turn her head 90° to see an adult and terribly angry Discord. Flutty screamed. A white flash blinded her again. They were back in the basement of his house, the girl had that glass orb in her hand. Still clutching the poor girl by the hand, the magician snatched the orb from her, pinning it in his chest, and lifted the girl off the floor, pulling up her hand. "Where did you get it from?? Who gave it to you?!" "I-I...," she mumbled in fright. "Answer me!" "N-nobody! It was l-lying in the corner!" Discord stared at Fluttershy for a few seconds before throwing her back onto the mattress. He held the orb convulsively in his hands, heading for the door. "You're never.. ever coming out of here." "B-but..!" "The chat is over!" he shouted before slamming the door, behind which the girl's desperate sobs were immediately heard.