Stitches

Chapter 2: Awake

Fluttershy rolled over, blinking in the morning light. Her bed was so soft, she never wanted to leave it, but she knew she had to. She has animals to care for, and she needed to talk to Discord about the strange, half-remembered nightmare she had had.

She yawned, stepping out of bed and rubbing the sleep out of her eyes with a hoof, gently lifting her head...

She screamed as she tumbled backwards to the floor, pushing herself against her bed with hard breaths, suddenly remembering every detail of last night's dream. Except it wasn't a dream, it was real, and the stitched-up Fluttershy double beast thing was right in front of her!

Without the all encompassing hatred, it occurred to Fluttershy how terrifying the thing was. But it wasn't acting threatening, and its stitches looked much more healed and properly done, so her fear wasn't quite as terrible as it could've been.

Her double sneered at her, scoffed, then seemingly-reluctantly kneeled. After a few seconds, it disappeared into a glowing cloud of yellow dust, absorbing into Fluttershy's skin to unlock something deep within her.

A few more seconds passed before she let a shrill scream, running to her closet. She knocked thrice, walked in three counterclockwise circles, then opened the door and walked in backwards with her eyes closed. When she opened her eyes, she was standing outside Discord's house in Chaosville.

"Discord!" Fluttershy yelled, rearing up to bang both of her front hooves on his door. "Discord!"

"He's not in there right now, Ms Breeze." Fluttershy spun around to see Parcel Post, Discord's Mail Pony and neighbor, pushing some mail into a surprisingly normal red mailbox. "Lord Discord's over there on a really big island doing something secret. He said that nocreature's to go over there or he'll make the bottomless pit seem like a vacation spot. I'm honestly not sure if that's a threat or not, considering who we're talking about, but I'm personally erring on the side of caution."

"You said that he was over there?" Fluttershy asked, gesturing where he had indicated with her wing. She remembered the injury she had received, and was pleasantly surprised to find that, while sore, her wings seemed undamaged.

"Yep, right that way. I'm sure he'll be back soon." Parcel smiled at her. "There's a town movie playing by the Parasprite nests. Smooze and I are planning on going, so you're welcome to join us while you wait, Miss."

"Thank you, but I really need to talk to Discord now." Fluttershy smiled back as she took to the air. "Maybe next time. Give my regards to the Smooze!"

"I will! Bye!" Parcel waved, kicking off into the void to continue his bizarre mail route.

Fluttershy continued on the way Parcel had pointed, keeping her eyes peeled for giant islands or familiar chaos lords. Just as she was beginning to fear that she was going the wrong way, or that the geometry had changed again, she spotted the single biggest island she had ever seen in Chaosville. And it was absolutely covered in Draconequui.

Fluttershy approached just in time to see Discord tackle a Draconequus with a torso patterned like a snow leopard, baring his teeth and growling. "You had absolutely no right to bring her there!"

"Would you have rathered I let her succumb to the Beast?" The other Draconequus asked calmly, uncaring of the strong forelimbs pinning him to ground or the sharp teeth inches from his face.

"She shouldn't have had a Beast in the first place!" Discord roared. "How is that even possible?"

"I have no idea." The other Draconequus shrugged. "It is completely unprecedented. Perhaps your little Butterfly has been more affected by you than you thought."

"Discord?" Fluttershy said softly, landing on the island. "What's going on? What's he talking about? What were those things?"

"Fluttershy?" Discord whispered, turning to stare at her. He looked around at the others gathered around them, growled, then curled himself around her gently but firmly. He hissed, swiveling his head to see all of his fellow Draconequui. "Mine."

Normally she'd scold him for such aggressive possessiveness, but Fluttershy got the feeling that something more was happening in this situation than she could see.

The snow leopard Draconequus stood up with a chuckle, dusting himself off with mismatched reptilian forelimbs. "Do not worry, none of us shall bring harm to Chaos's Butterfly." The other Draconequui offered murmurs of agreement, causing Discord to visibly relax despite still being on guard.

"Um... My name's Fluttershy." Fluttershy squeaked.

"I am well aware, Little Butterfly." The snow leopard Draconequus bowed briefly. "And I am Decision, one of the leaders of the Draconequui. More or less."

"More or less?" Fluttershy asked, resting her head on Discord's coils to look him in the face.

"I don't know if you've noticed, dearest, but my kind doesn't particularly respect authority of any sort." He absent-mindedly ran his talon through her mane. "Not even our own."

"The words of your Dragon are true, Little Butterfly." Decision laughed, causing Discord to blush for some reason while confusing Fluttershy. Her Dragon? "Now, I believe you had some questions?"

"I... W-where were we? What were those beasts? Why were they all stitched up?" Fluttershy asked, feeling a little as if the questions were being pulled from her faster than her shyness could stuff them back in. "Why did one look like me, but not me, and why did I hate it so much? I've never hated anything like that before in my life! And why did it appear after I woke up? Why did it turn into a cloud of dust and go inside me? Why do I feel different? Is this going to hurt me? Are are there really this many Draconequui? What are you all doing here? Why can't I stop asking questions?! Why-?"

A snap of Discord's talons stopped the stream of questions. She shot Discord a grateful look as he growled at Decision -- eyes red and fangs bared.

"Chaos's Butterfly fought her Beast very fiercely." Decision murmured, stroking his beard thoughtfully. "Much more fiercely than I would think a Pony capable of. It is little wonder she conquered it. I do not know why it didn't quite look like you, Discord's Dearest, nor why you had one at all. But I doubt it shall harm you."