Stitches

Chapter 1: Nightmare

Fluttershy rolled over, blinking in the dim light. Why was her bed so hard? Did she roll over onto the floor again?

Fluttershy sat up with a gasp, realizing that she was neither in her bed nor her bedroom. The ground beneath her was solid black rock, the sky barely brighter with a central point of light that sorta almost mimicked a sun. She could see nothing but grey and black in all directions.

Fluttershy whimpered, hugging herself. What was this place? She felt an overwhelming sense of terror fill her, knowing without being sure how she knew that this place was incredibly dangerous. She might have sat there, alone, for minutes or hours -- she couldn't be sure -- before a figure appeared in the distance.

She sat quietly as the figure got closer and closer, unsure whether she wanted them to see her or not, until it got close enough for her to start making out details. It was snake-like, with horns and limbs that were all different colors, and-

"Discord?" She whispered. She broke into a grin, pushing down a sudden sense of foreboding in favor of the sense of safety he always gave her. "Discord! Discord, I'm over here! Discord!"

She waved her forelegs and started flying towards him, but she stopped when she spotted something very, very wrong. She put a hoof to her mouth to stifle a horrified gasp. "...Discord?"

Every mismatched part of Discord looked stitched together. Not the tidy stitches of a doll, but the messy stitches of a Frankenhoof's Monster. They were bulging, and ugly, and looked as if they were barely holding him together. He was on all fours, his face twisted in a beastly growl, his eyes locking on her with no recognition nor intelligence.

Whatever that thing was had Discord's face, but it was a wild, feral animal. Fluttershy started to carefully fly away from it, but it slowly followed her. She backed up further and further, it got closer and closer, the distance closing until...

It pounced, claws and talons flashing as it tried to gain purchase in her flank, but she dodged upwards just in time. She started flying away from it as fast as she could, hoping the whatever-it-was shared Discord's weak running skills, noting that it hadn't yet used magic.

She felt something hit her wing, pain exploding across it, and realized the beast had started throwing rocks. More rocks came, until one hit just the right place to send her spiraling to the ground. She pulled her wings close to herself, watching in terror as the beast stalked towards her, taking its time now that its prey was wounded.

It leaped, and she prepared to roll out of the way, but a multicolored blur hit into the creature that looked like Discord. They wrestled on the ground, then the blur stood up in a familiar silhouette. Fluttershy felt her heart stop, thinking it was another one of those beasts fighting over prey, until she noticed the lack of stitches.

"Are you... Okay?" Discord panted, looking over his shoulder with a gaze filled with recognition, worry, and protectiveness.

"I'm fine... My wing's just a little banged up." Fluttershy whispered. "Discord, where are we? What is that thing and why does it look like you?"

"You shouldn't be here, my dearest Fluttershy. How are you here?" Discord muttered, more to himself than to her. His attention was caught by a roar from the beast, causing an equally beast-like growl to come from him. He looked between the beast and Fluttershy, cupped his paw and talon to his face, and shouted to the sky. "Luuuuuuunaaaaaa! Hey, Lulu! Get your star-spangled flank down here and do your job! Pony in need of dream protection here!"

"Discord, what is going on?" Luna asked, appearing from a moon that certainly wasn't there before. "Normally you don't let me into your dreams no matter- what is that?!"

"I'll explain never, just take Fluttershy and go. Now!" Discord grabbed Fluttershy and stuffed her into Luna's forehooves, occasionally snapping his jaws at the beast to keep it away. He growled, eyes going completely red. "I'll deal with this."

"Discord, I know not how Fluttershy is in in your dreamscape when even I cannot enter without your leave, but I do know a nightmare when I see one." Luna held Fluttershy tightly, both of them staring at Discord. "Allow me to help you fight this."

"Sorry, Princess." Discord chuckled darkly as more and more stitched-up Draconequui appeared, his eyes focused only on the one that resembled him. "But this is one inner demon that I have to deal with myself."

With that, he pounced back onto his double, scratching and biting every bit as fiercely as the beast. Luna was forced into the air by the other beasts, heading back towards the moon despite Fluttershy's protests. The Pegasus looked back to see hundreds of unstitched Draconequui join the fray, each attacking a ghastly stitched-up double.

"Go back! We can't just leave him!" Fluttershy pleaded, trying to squirm out of the Princess's grasp, uncaring for her damaged wing. They were almost to the moon. "Discord! Discord!"

"I am sorry, my little pony, but- woah!" Luna screeched to a halt just before the moon, her way blocked by another beast, one that resembled Fluttershy.

Except, it had antlers sewn onto its head, bat wings sewn to its back, bird talons sewn as forelegs, a dragon-like tail sewn to its flank. Its canines were long and sharp, its mane sporting a green streak, its Cutie Mark missing.

Fluttershy hated it. She hated it more than anything else she had ever hated in her life. She hated it so much that she couldn't think of anything else, couldn't remember her own name. With a cry of rage and strength she didn't know she had, she broke out of Luna's grip to pounce upon her double, sending both towards the ground in a flurry of hooves and teeth.

The fighting may have lasted for hours, or days, or weeks, or months, or maybe even years. Or perhaps merely minutes, she couldn't really tell and didn't really care. She was distantly aware of Discord and other Draconequui fighting their doubles around her, and of Luna calling for her, but Fluttershy's world centered on her own hooves and her hated beast.

Eventually, though she couldn't remember it clearly, the fighting stop. The stitched-up Fluttershy was gone. The hatred left her, and the world faded to black.

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."

Chapter 3: Notes

Basically, a loooong time ago Draconequui were sorta like Hulk -- if they got angry, they'd lose any control of themselves and destroy things around them.

To protect themselves and others, the ancient Draconequui sealed the Beast part of their species away -- at a cost. Every hundred years, Draconequui must battle a representation of their Beast side in the dreamrealm. If they win, they're good for another hundred years -- if they lose, they're the Beast for a hundred years. (This happened to Discord even in stone, and he lost a couple times, making him worried about losing outside of such containment).

Fluttershy, unknowingly, is slowly becoming the Guardian/Spirit of the Everfree, and has been since she was a filly. This slow transformation has caused her to absorb a little of Discord's essence (along with him secretly using his magic to save her life at one point). That's why she has a Beast. Her Beast looks a little closer to what her Guardian form will look like, but even it's not completely finished.

When Draconequui are pulled into the Dream Realm to fight their Beasts, they're separated into groups. These groups are Packs, and are very close. Discord has come to see Fluttershy as Pack, which is one of the reasons she was in with his group.

Decision's nicknames for them (Dragon, Butterfly, etc) are his way of saying they're Mates. This is either pre-relationship or early in their relationship, so Discord's embarrassed/frustrated by the insinuation, while Fluttershy's confused.

Decision's actually a good guy, just a little bossy/controlling and a troll (he is a Draconequus after all). He's as well Discord's brother in law, being married to Discord's sister.

The fic would mostly be Fluttershy meeting more Draconequui and learning about their culture and abilities, while as well learning more about her own growing powers.