Chapter 20
"Mmm. I have to go do something. I'm glad I could help."
As I leave the building the words I spoke ring in my head. I must have sounded so callous. I must have seemed so flat. I feel flat. I feel gray. Like I had a shape and a color but lost it to uncontrolled heat. I check myself, just because, and I am still copper. My hair is still light gray. My hooves still exist, and they still have their faint scars if I look too closely. I always look too closely.
I try to tune my ears to the sound of the town, and for the chaos god therein. I can't believe how quickly I forgot about him after he disappeared and I had to go back to Echo. What a jerk I am.
I don't hear any sign of him running amuck, but I swivel my ears round and round anyway. Does he have any haunts? As a god of chaos, I don't imagine he would. That would be too easy, too predictable. Of course, he could defy that easy thinking and have a hangout or two anyway. It's hard to say. Thinking like that makes your mind go in circles. In the end, I figure it's a toss up, and I let it go.
"Who would know where the lord of mischief goes when he isn't feeling well?" I murmur as I walk and listen. It was obvious he was having a bad reaction to my vision jar. And what he called me, a 'visionary', what does that mean? And why did he freak out? I mean, was it all just a bad reaction to the jar or was the realization of what I apparently am an added note of unrest?
I near Sugarcube Corner, and wonder briefly if anypony in there would know. I shrug and enter. To my surprise, Princess Twilight is here, chatting with Pinkie. I have a feeling they'll know.
"Hey." I say, all tact or caring for it gone. They look up, smiles on their faces that disappear when they see mine. "I'm looking for Discord." My words are as flat as I feel.
"He loves to hang out at Fluttershy's, or here. He's not here at the moment, so he's probably there." Twilight says, concerned. "Why are you looking for him? He didn't do something, did he?" She asks with a gritty expression.
"No. I-" I don't know what I was going to say, but it doesn't matter, because Pinkie interrupts.
"You're looking for him because you had a weird interaction that was cut short earlier and you feel bad for forgetting about it so now you want to see what all the fuss was about and also is he okay because the cutting short seemed to leave him somehow compromised!" She exclaims in one breath.
"Uh. Yeah. Something like that." I blink. "Which way does this Fluttershy live?"
"She lives to the east in a tree cottage outside town by half a mile. Would you like somepony to go with you?" Twilight asks.
"No. Thank you, though. I'm sure I'll find it." I let a smile creep into my words and onto my face. The flatness.. fades a little.
"Alright. Stay safe, she lives close to the Everfree, and it'll be dark in an hour or so."
"I will. Thank you." I trot away, but once I'm outside the sugary establishment, I start to gallop the opposite direction of the setting sun. The town is wider than it is long, that is, it's further east to west than it is north to south, so I go for a few minutes before the buildings even begin to thin out, but by then I start hearing sounds that seem far too similar to Discord to be anything but.
"Discord!" I call out. I point my ears and swivel them around, hoping for a return call. The best I get is a loud moan and the telltale sound of garbage cans falling over. I dash toward the sound, and thankfully it's him. He looks no worse than he was before, but no better. Has he been teleporting around randomly this whole time? It's been a couple hours, surely. The time I spent meditating, well, 'meditating' must have been quite a while, if only judging by the sun's movement.
I approach, ready to catch him as he wobbles this way and that, like an animated noodle trying to stand. Sure enough, he falls over, and though it hurts, I brace him as best as my considerably smaller form can do.
"Lunar Liberties, Discord. Are you okay?" I ask.
"Nnng, no." He pants. "Can't.. guh, can't get this to work right…" He hold up his hands, trying to snap his fingers. Now that he's leaning all over me, I notice his body is incredibly hot. Just, bucking warm. That can't be good.
"Discord, where can I take you? I don't know how to help you."
"F.. Flutt-tersh-shy…" He manages. He also manages to shrink himself down again, as that doesn't apparently require snapping to do. He curls up on my back, breathing heavily.
"Alright. Hold on." I feel his now small hands clutching the smaller braids of my mane, and I start galloping again, with a little more determination than last time. Within a few minutes we're out of town, and with a few more we're at what can only be Fluttershy's cottage. I knock heavily on the door, trying to control my hoof enough that it does not come across as belligerent pounding.
"H-hello?" A small voice calls from inside. I can hear the undoing of a slide lock.
"H-hey. Uh, my name is Copper, and I've got your friend Discord here, at least I assume he's your friend, and he's not doing too well. I don't know what's wrong with him, but he can't seem to use his 'snappy' magic, and he's got a hell of a fever." By the sounds coming through the door, I can tell she's upset. When she finally manages the door open, she shoots out, dust going everywhere as she skids. She quickly notices the pony-sized Discord on my back, and scoops him up. She's surprisingly strong, because he's still pretty heavy and she's cradling him like a foal.
"Oh my, oh my. What happened to you?" She asks caringly but sternly. He must get into trouble a lot, but I imagine none like this.
"H…" He tries to start, but can't finish. Instead he lifts a shaky arm and points at me.
"M-me? Wh-wh-what did I do? I didn't mean to do anything!" I exclaim. "Ohmygods, ohmygods!" Before Discord can explain, he passes clean out. I should have seen this coming. Today is too weird. I can't take it anymore. I shriek.
"Hey."
"Hey."
"HEY!" I finally notice the yellow mare yelling at me. I shove my hoof in my mouth, embarrassed and worried. "It'll be fine. Come with me." She calmly flies inside, Discord still cradled in her front hooves. I follow shortly behind, ready to do anything. Fluttershy lays the noodly god on her couch, and puts a thick comforter over him. Is that safe? He's got a fever, won't that make him worse, putting the blanket on him?
"He'll be fine. Discord imbues objects he handles regularly with magic that matches him at his normal state. With any other pony or creature, I'd handle this differently, but Discord is strange, and it's hard to predict what will help him or how. He's only gotten sick once before, and it was because of magic. I did some research, and it turns out that highly magical creatures, like alicorns and draconeqi and ursas can only get sick from magic. So that means what's wrong with him isn't a normal sickness; it's magic.
I can only assume that you have a clue to how this happened. Tell me everything you know." She commands softly. I nod and take a breath.
"I snuck out of my house today because I was on bedrest and Discord was there. I don't know why and he said he didn't either but we went for a walk and when he teleported us back to my room he started handling…" I pause. How do I explain? I can't risk leaving details out for Discord's sake, but I really, really don't want to tell this complete, though kind, stranger about my weirdness. I sigh. "My jar of metal balls. They.. they have magic in them. When I concentrate, they show me visions of all sorts of things, a-and when he touched one, he got all weird and shaky. A-and when somepony came in to check on me, he hid under the bed because he wasn't supposed to be there and he panicked, and when I saw him next he was all melty and weird. He snapped himself away but he had a hard time with it, and, and I forgot but when I remembered, I searched for him because I felt bad and I found him like this. Well, he was still big when I found him, he shrunk himself down so I could carry him oh gods is he going to be okay?" I start to blubber. Fluttershy pats me on the shoulder, and gets up to grab some tissues.
"I think so. I.." She hesitates. "I don't know a lot about magical sickness, only what I've read from a few books. But I think I know what will help." She turns to a window that I suspect points towards the forest. "The Everfree has many magical flora specimens that are known to have incredible effects on those who ingest them. One in particular is sought after in medical emergencies like what Discord is experiencing. Nowadays, there are lab-grown samples, but we don't have the luxury of that. Ponyville is too small and has too few unicorns with high levels of magic to warrant the expense of having it grown or imported here.
Ideally, I'd suggest we go tonight, but it only blooms at dusk, and is near impossible to spot in the dark. We're too late to go tonight, or we'll risk getting lost in the forest. I'll monitor Discord very closely tonight, but will you go with me tomorrow? I.. I think I know where a healthy patch is, and I'd appreciate you coming with me, I mean, that is.. if you wouldn't mind…" Suddenly all the confidence and know-how she was displaying is gone, replaced with timid eyes peeking out of pink hair.
"Yes. Yes. I did this, even on accident. I'll go with you. A-and I might have a friend or two who'll go with us, just for safety. One's in the guard, h-he'll help, I'm sure. And I'll stay with you tonight. I'm.. I'm awful sorry about all of this."
"It'll be fine. We do need to hurry tomorrow though. Th-the Everfree has calmed in recent history, but I am still very wary of entering it with the intent of staying close to dusk."
"Alright." I say, unsure of what else I could say.
"Y-you don't have to stay tonight, I'll be fine watching him by myself."
"Bu-but I caused this, I, I don't know how, but I am responsible, and should be held accordingly. Unless my being here will be a hindrance, I should insist on staying and helping."
"Well, you won't be a hindrance, I can almost assure you of that. I'm mostly going to check on him every half hour to make sure his condition doesn't change."
"Okay. What if it does?"
"If it gets better we won't change anything, because we don't know what it is that's helping him. If it gets worse, we change something, and monitor him closely to see what happens next. I'm hoping his blanket will help, because, as I mentioned before, it contains magic and aura of him when he's 'normal', and for creatures of high magic that means that they can reverse engineer their functions. At least, that's my understanding of it. It's actually very complicated thaumaturgical and inter-biological reactions and studies that I had Twilight explain to me so that I could understand the basics. In case something like this popped up."
"Wow, that's amazing. So what's the best we can hope for?"
"Realistically? I think that there's only a slight chance he'll actually improve, and a much higher one that this will at least keep him constant, and worst of all there's the chance this may not help at all, and he'll get worse. If his condition deteriorates fast enough, I think we would have to risk entering the Everfree at night." Fluttershy explains, talking like a doctor. I wonder.
"Okay. So, uh, sorry for introducing myself by nearly getting your friend killed."
"I've… had worse."
"Really?"
"...yes." She shies away.
"Oh. Um." I scratch my leg, looking for something to say. "W-what do you do?"
"Hmm?"
"Out here, or for a living. You, you talk like a doctor."
"I am the town's animal care. I can communicate with animals, and am trained to be a nurse. I'm not certified for very much, though. I wonder, then, if, if maybe we should tell somepony else about this?" I flinch. "Twilight would know what to do. She may not be a doctor, but she's the most knowledgeable on all things magic. What to do?"
"I.. I can run a message to her. I think I know where she lives. You can stay and monitor Discord, since you know what you're doing, and we'll still get her help. I can also take the time to stop by my friend at the barracks and see if he'll help tomorrow."
"That sounds like a good plan." Fluttershy checks Discord's temperature and heart rate, nodding to herself before turning back to me. "He hasn't deteriorated, so that's good. I don't know what you should say to Twilight, other than explain the situation. If there's something you don't want ponies to talk about, tell her. She can keep secrets."
"A-alright. If she's not at her castle, where might she be?"
"She's at her castle, at this hour. She's always working late at night."
"Okay. Okay." I head out at a brisk trot, but once I see the light of town, I gallop. If I could maintain a steady sprint, I'd do that, but I am not strong enough for that. Still, I push myself as hard as I can, because Discord's life may depend on it. When I get to castle, which glows, by the way, I don't know what to do. Do I knock? How on earth would she hear? Do I stride in like I know what I'm doing, which I don't? I knock, but I decide that if she doesn't respond quickly I'll go in on my own.
It's Spike that answers the door after a couple knocks.
"Yello?" He says sleepily.
"Hi, I need Princess Twilight. It's urgent." I say, trying not to sound desperate.
"Urgent? Okay." He rubs his eyes and leads me in. "She'll be up in her work room. I'll show you the way."
"Okay." I whisper as I follow him through the castle. I try to calm myself as we walk, but I can't. After a short time, Spike opens a door and waves me in. The poor dear is obviously tired. Twilight is working in a corner, writing something with a blank focus.
"Hold on a sec." Spike says. He opens a drawer and grabs some pens, aligning all of them perfectly parallel, except for the last one. "This is honestly the best way to get her attention." As I watch, the purple princess does indeed lift her head, somehow sensing the order not quite complete.
"Ah, Spike. And.. Copper?" She seems surprised.
"Yes, sorry to bother you but something happened to Discord. He's at Fluttershy's right now, and sick. He…" Gosh, I'm back to not knowing what to say or how to say it. "He came into contact with magic and he's reacting badly to it. Fluttershy doubts whether or not she knows how to handle it, so she wanted your help. I.. I may be the cause of this sickness, a-and…" I blink back tears. I hear Twilight come near me.
"Woah, woah, it's okay. I'll help. I'll head right over and talk to her about it. He'll be okay." She assures me. I don't know how she claims to know that, not knowing any of the details, but her kindness is calming.
"Okay. Okay." I breathe. "Fluttershy thinks that a cure may be found in the Everfree, and I'm going to fetch a friend of mine in the guard to see if he'll help. I'll meet you back at Fluttershy's."
"Good plan. See you there." She teleports away, and I am left with Spike.
"Woah. That's crazy." He says, more fully awake.
"Yeah, I know."