Lovely day...
April 24, 2024 at 5:20 PM
"Um, so why did you call us here, Twilight?"
All five friends gathered in the Golden Oak Library for an important meeting that Twilight had announced. They were all sitting at a round table. Well, everyone except Twilight herself. She stood up, holding several sheets of printing paper in her hand.
"I called you here together to tell you very a important and unpleasant piece of news."
"An Inspector-General is coming?" Pinkie asked anxiously.
"Wh-..? No, no! This is completely different. I've found evidence of that magician's possible involvement in Fluttershy's disappearance."
"And here we go..." sighed Rainbow Dash.
"Sugarcube," Applejack interrupted her, "We're all worried about her. But don't you think it's too much to suspect the same person?"
"Only if it's not worth it. But it does."
With these words, the clever girl threw papers on the table with information clearly printed on them: name, surname, exact description. However, the description was not so accurate - important details, by type of color and type of clothing, hair and skin were smeared with black rectangles, as if censoring words.
"His real name is Discord von Chaos. I heard this name yesterday in the park, when the owner of the local elite Weightlifting Center, Tirek, addressed him. The description is not fully known, but the name is enough. Look," Twi pointed to the right line, "He has several missing people to his credit, later found on the island of Tartarus either dead or distraught. Just his first two victims were included in the second list."
"You mean to say," shocked Rarity got up from her chair, slamming both hands on the table, "that this monster can kill or drive our Fluttershy crazy?!"
"Exactly.
"Then what are we waiting for? Rainbow Dash jumped up from her chair, "We have to go to him right now and catch him red-handed!"
"There's no need to hurry."
Everyone looked at Twilight in disbelief. It was a surprise to them that the most tremulous and restless girl in their company in terms of friends calmly says that they don't have to hurry with the release of their missing friend. Seeing the bewilderment on her friends' faces, Twi continued.
"I have studied all the information about this island. To get to it, you need to go from our city to the sea for two or three weeks, plus a week to sail to it after. Maniacs like him usually plan such trips carefully. Today or tomorrow are the worst days for an ambush."
"Why is that?"
"Simply to be polite. Before I realized everything, we had a good talk with him and he promised to arrange a performance in our honor the next day."
Her friends chorused with emotion.
"We don't want to immediately fall in his eyes, do we? Otherwise, everything is gone. Both we and Fluttershy."
"What do you suggest?"
"I'll tell you now..."
SCREW REALISM, IT'S DISCORD! Fluttershy almost choked when she noticed it. At that moment, a Smoothie came out to them, to make sure that everyone was happy with everything and everyone liked everything, and saw this.
"Is he all right?" Flutty asked him.
"Hehe, yeah, don't worry. He's just got a cru-..."
Discord's face at that moment took on such a creepy and serious look, which said, "I'm going to tear your legs off", that Smooze instantly fell silent and did not continue the sentence.
"He's got what?" Flatty was still puzzled.
"N-nothing."
The magician, already with a more softened, but still gloomy face, got up from the table and headed for the door without saying a word. He slammed the door. Only a scared chubby and a confused girl remained in the room. Fluttershy felt ashamed that Discord had left because of her, so she also got up and followed him, despite Smoothie's attempts to dissuade her. She had just left, but immediately noticed that the door to his bedroom had closed. The girl went there. When she reached the door, she stopped. "He's probably not in the mood," thought Flutty, "What if he tries to do something to me when I come in?.. Don't be silly, Fluttershy, he won't hurt you." Finally she decided and opened the door. There she saw Discord: he was standing facing the mirror, just putting on his hat, and... how should I put it? He tried to make a maskimally pretentious villainous expression with his tongue sticking out, which he did very well, with his forked "snake" tongue. Fluttershy froze in amazement and blushed sharply. It seemed that the magician wouldn't notice her if she didn't move. But no, he noticed her without being at all embarrassed.
"Oh, you here?"
"D-don't do that anymore!" Flutty covered her face with her hands and turned away. She was burning with embarrassment.
"Hey, don't worry so much," Discord came up to her, "You didn't know I would be "making faces" here, did you?"
"I-I should have knocked..."
An awkward silence. The magician was looking at a terribly embarrassed girl who didn't dare even look at him.
"Fluttershy. Take this."
Fluttershy removed her hands from her eyes, still covering the rest of her face. Discord was handing her a glass orb, slightly smaller in size than the one with the memories. The girl turned her gaze from the orb to the magician in surprise.
"Come on. Take it."
"W-why?"
"Just take it."
"B-but I thought I wasn't allowed to touch-..."
"I said, take it!" Dee blurted out in a stern tone. Fluttershy flinched, startled, and took a step away from him. Still, she had to take this orb.
"It was easy," the magician smiled, stroking her on the head, "Now listen here. Smoothie and I can't be late for our own performance, you'll have to be here alone. The whole house is at your disposal, but do not dare to go outside or open the curtains. As soon as this orb lights up, touch it. Got it?"
"P-probably," Flatty said uncertainly.
"That's a good girl. Have fun," Discord left the room, leaving the girl alone in it, "Smoothie, get ready! The audience cannot wait!
* * *
Fluttershy could hardly open her eyes. Her eyes hurt a lot after yesterday's outburst of emotions. Maybe that's why mom always told her that she didn't need to keep everything to herself and then cry it out, especially before going to bed. Because of the slight pain, she saw everything dimly, so she could not see anything. She tried to stretch. But it didn't work out. She tried again. Nothing. It was as if someone was holding her and not letting her move. Fluttershy squinted, rubbed her eyes and looked again. At that moment she almost screamed in fright. Turns out, Discord took her out of the basement as she fell asleep, and then put her on the bed with him. To put it mildly, the girl was in shock. His hands were closed so that it was impossible for her to turn over, let alone stand up. The poor girl tried to put her hands on his chest and push off in order to somehow free herself. Guess what? It didn't help. But it woke Discord up. He looked at Flutty calmly. "What's the matter?" "L-Let me go! Let go!" "Calm down," Discord ran one hand through her hair, making the girl blush, "I wasn't going to do anything bad to you." "Humph!" said Fluttershy. "Did you sleep well?" he asked softly. Fluttershy looked into his eyes in surprise. Sleepy, but calm and gentle eyes that seemed like smiling at her. "W-well..," mumbled Fluttershy quietly, "I kinda did..." "Huh. Alright. That's what I wanted to hear," the magician smiled. The girl looked at him in bewilderment. "What? Trying to figure out why you slept with me?" She nodded uncertainly. "Huh. You were so depressed. I wouldn't be able to forgive myself if I left you sleeping there. Believe me, definitely not after you hugged me." "I-I did??" "Uh-huh. Don't you remember?" "...n-no." ''Eh, that's fine. The main thing is that everything is over and you will no longer have to suffer in that basement, as I once did. " "W-were you locked up there?" Flatty asked anxiously. Then Discord realized that he shouldn't have blurted it out, and the smile on his face immediately disappeared. Unpleasant memories surfaced in his head, but before he could think of what to answer, a cheerful face of Smoothie appeared in the doorway. "Good morning! Get up, sleepy heads." "Phew, you saved my butt. You're just on time, as always, Smooze," Discord thought, smiling, and said out loud: "Did you wake up before everyone else again so that we wouldn't starve to death? You're a tricky dumpling." "It was worth it, buddy. Get up and hurry to the kitchen! There's an omelette with tomatoes waiting for you," and Smooze left. "Here! What did I say? This cunning dumpling with his cooking will raise anyone, even the dead," the magician said cheerfully, getting up and stretching. Fluttershy looked away for a moment, so as not to embarrass either him or herself. And then it dawned on her that they were both sleeping with their clothes on. "W-wait. Did you s-sleep with your clothes on?" "Well, yes. You didn't leave me all night, I couldn't undress in this state, even if I wanted to." "I-I see..." Discord spent about half a minute or less correcting creases on clothes, including gloves. Oh, yes! I completely forgot to mention that he wears yellow gloves, although he has a fingerless one on his left hand. Dumb silly me. Ahem, so, while the magician was "preening", the girl was furtively looking at him, and a lot of questions were running through her head. Why didn't he leave her there? Why didn't he fall asleep with her in the basement, since she wouldn't let him go? Why did he let her be with him in first place? So far, Flatty couldn't figure it out. Finally Discord finished, completing everything with a back stretch. His back made a loud and clear crunch, Fluttershy even felt uncomfortable. "Let's go," said the magician, looked at the girl for a moment, and headed for the door. The girl hesitated, but still got up and followed him, looking around at everything around. She was surprised at how "far" they had to go to the kitchen, namely, to walk along a rather richly decorated corridor about five meters, past several other doors located there on the right side. There were windows on the left, but all were curtained, so that not a single ray of light could penetrate inside. Fluttershy even thought that this corridor looked familiar to her. The magician stopped at the last door in the corridor. Fluttershy took a couple of steps towards him before stopping. Discord knocked, which confused the girl. "W-why did you do that?" "To be sure. To be honest, I didn't remember the location of the rooms very well." "But isn't it... your house?" "It is," Dee sighed, "but I haven't been in it for quite a while. I only came back here a couple of months ago. You never know what my father could redo here." "Come in!" there was a belated response to the knock. "You got me worried, Smooze. Work on your reaction sometime," the magician grinned, opening the door. Behind it was an equally rich-looking room, in the center of which was a long table covered with a white tablecloth. There were curtains to the left of the entrance, obviously hiding the cook's workplace. All the necessary appliances and plates with cooked breakfast were already on the table, as well as, in the middle, a beautiful candelabra with three burning candles. Smooze was nowhere to be seen, but the rattling of dishes could be heard behind the curtain. "Smuz, did you overthrew the cutlery drawer again?" "No, no, I have nothing to do with it! It fell itself." "Yeah yeah, sure," the magician replied sarcastically, looking at Fluttershy, while winking at her, "Very well. You're welcome, my lady." With these words, he curtsied, taking the girl by the hand. Fluttershy blushed. Let's get down to business. They finally sat down to breakfast. Fluttershy, still confused, ate the omelet in small pieces. By the way, it was quite delicious, I recomend it to everyone. Suddenly, at some point, she felt someone's eyes on her. Looking to the right, she saw that Discord was leaning his elbow on the table, holding his head slightly tilted to the side with his hand, and looking at her strangely. Somehow even... dreamy? It puzzled her. "Is everything okay?" Fluttershy asked. "It couldn't be better," Discord replied simply. By the way, hearts appeared and disappeared around his head, clearly giving him away.* * *
It was getting late. The door in the house of the Chaos Manor opened. It's Discord and Smoothie coming home. This day was difficult for them, even despite what seems to be a fun job. They were so exhausted that puffy passed out right on the doorstep, and the magician had to drag him to bed. But it's not difficult for a wizard, right? Right. So he went to his room almost immediately afterwards to check on Fluttershy. She was sitting on the bed when the magician entered, and was holding in her hands the very ball that he had given her before. "Hello, hello. Well, how do you like our performance?" Discord came closer to her and, to his horror, found tears on her face. Yes, Fluttershy was crying again, and the magician was worried that he had messed up somewhere again. "H-hey, why so sad?" he took her by the shoulders, "Don't cry, I can fix it, I swear." "T-that was beautiful!" suddenly Fluttershy turned to him and hugged him tightly, almost knocking him off his feet. She was smiling. She was smiling happily. She saw his presentation dedicated to her friends. She saw how he sympathized with them and wished to find her safe and sound. And she saw a touching ending when the magician threw his hand with a wand up and the lights at the top gathered under the music in the inscription "How the magic of friendship grows~". Discord looked at her in surprise before smiling and hugging her just as tightly. - I'm glad you liked it. Suddenly there was a knock on the door...
