Chapter 2 – Found Your Message
Once Blade walked into the room; Fluttershy, a yellow Pegasus with extralong salmon-colored hair for her mane and tail, could see it. The look of deep thought whirled through the stallion's mind, "Why, hello Blade." she said kindly, her voice slightly louder than the first time he had met her.
Blade looked up not only was Fluttershy sitting there with a cup of hot tea in her hooves but across the daybed from her, sat a draconequus, a mish-mash of different animals that she called Discord. He had the body of a serpent dragon, brown-furred until the red-scaled tail and light brown neck with a blue feathered wing on the left of his back and a black batwing on the right. His goat-like head was adorned with two horns, one on the right was that of a deer antler while the one on the left side looked like a twisted version of a blue unicorn horn, bent backward and bulging here and there all the way up to the tip. He crossed his two hind legs, a dragon's claw on the right, and a goat hoof on the left. His left arm was that of an eagle's talon and gripped the cup of tea while the lion's paw right arm clutched the saucer, a smile on his long face and the one fang sticking out from his mischievous smile told Blade he needed to pay attention more to his surroundings, "Discord." he nodded to the draconequus, a mistrusting glare to the creature, and then turned to the pegasus, "He's not causing trouble I hope."
"Oh, you wound me." Discord said in a dramatic tone.
"He promised not to pick on you today." Fluttershy said in response.
"Good." Blade said, and walked up to them, "I got some work to do, and I need Discord's help."
"Oh, the great warrior needs the help of lowly old me!?" the draconequus asked in mock shock.
"Yes, the great warrior needs your help." the stallion said flatly, he had learned to anticipate Discord's behavior, even accepting that the floating furniture and walking teapot were all a part of his nature, and truth be told after Twilight had included him in her rescued circle of friends against Tirek, his behavior had improved slightly. Blade walked up to the coffee table and placed down the device in his hooves, "I'm going to attempt to fix this but I need a tool to pull it apart."
"That's all?" Discord asked, and snapped with his right claw. Instead of a tool appearing, the machine flashed, and when Blade turned it over, the screen was in perfect shape.
"Thanks, Discord." Blade said and lifted the corners of his mouth into a small smile.
"A simple thanks and no smile, what kind of pony are you?" the draconequus asked.
"Discord…" Fluttershy reprimanded.
"A pony with only half the smile muscles required in his face." Blade said in response.
Discord had no words, shock instantly appeared on his face, "What…" he asked in surprise. The draconequus never got his answer, Blade had turned and walked away, finding the correct orientation on the door that leads to the back of Fluttershy's house as it actually spun in its frame.
As Blade disappeared, Fluttershy looked to him, "Now look what you did!" she said as she turned to her other guest, "He's really sensitive about not being able to properly smile you know."
"So…wait…not smiling is a physical disability?" Discord asked in honest confusion, "Since when?"
"He's not from our world, remember?" she told him, "And Maud can't smile either."
"I thought that was just a story made up for a book he was writing!" Discord announced, "Honestly, I'd read it!" That last part he said with a smile and caused an untitled book to appear in his paw.
"Try reading the book Twilight wrote, 'Trouble Between Worlds'. We were a big part of that!" Fluttershy said in true pride as she remembered the battles, and with a nostalgic glance at the Valkyrie helmet she had made for her memories, she quickly stepped from the couch and flapped her wings to gracefully land, "I'll be right back." she said as Discord looked to her in confusion. The book in his paw flashed, and in its place was the book Fluttershy had advised, a much bigger book than he had anticipated, then with a sigh and a groan, he placed some reading glasses on and began to read.
"He didn't mean anything by it; you know that right?" Fluttershy asked as she met up with Blade.
He sat there, a small tube in one hoof and the device in the other, "Yeah, I know. It's just…" he hesitated, "With all the strength I have, easily matching any earth pony, I still wish I could express my emotion like everypony else. It's not easy not being able to smile. Especially when everypony around you expects it when you say something." he said, and turned to her, "I have caused many misunderstandings because I keep such a straight face when I'm trying my best to cheer somepony up. I really try, I just…"
Instead of talking, Fluttershy leaned in and hugged him. Wrapping both of her front legs around his neck in order to tell him she was there. He returned the favor, wrapping his own legs around her waist to embrace her, "Thanks Fluttershy." he said, and turned his head to kiss her right below the ear. She giggled a bit as he did, and pressed her cheek harder into his mane, "I feel better now." he said as the two of them released their grips on each other.
"Good." she said and leaned in, kissing him on the lips, a kiss he returned.
"I like this bolder side of you!" he said, causing her to blush and hide her face in her hair.
Suddenly, it was like the machine turned itself on, "I can still hear you; you know!" Discord's voice said from the device.
"Oh yeah?" Blade said, and touched his hoof to the bottom of the shell, sliding it to one side as Fluttershy could hear static and then music for some reason, romantic music, and it was Discord who was singing.
Fluttershy giggled as she could almost see the annoyed look on the draconequus face as the two of them made their way back to what was supposed to be the living room. "I don't like you!" Discord said darkly as they emerged, he was dressed in a very fancy suit, with a mic in paw and a very sour expression on his face, "How are you able to do this to me?"
"I know my radio stations." Blade said with the best smile he could muster; he was officially enjoying himself. It stopped when the station suddenly became jumbled, the signal mixing with static and what could arguably be called a voice, "Nice try Discord, but I've seen more true horror than you could think up." he said flatly.
"Only part of that is my doing." the draconequus said in defense as he changed back to his old self, "Someone is trying to hijack my signal." With that, he leaned on over the shoulders of the two ponies, and Blade, through his nervousness, touched the slider again, and slowly moved it side to side, trying to pinpoint the signal frequency. The music and the static seemed to get worse the first time, and then, cleared up only to disappear and reveal a very distorted message.
"(Static)…need your help. If this message is received, then…(static)… Rainb…(Static)… I would…(Static)…I need you on this. If you remember me, it's…(static)…and I need your help. If this message…" it said, and as soon as Blade recognized it repeating itself, he shut the device off.
"That had to be close to be able to send a message like that." the stallion said.
"How close are we talking?" Discord asked in curiosity.
"Accounting for the distortion and the signal breaks, I'd say probably this side of the nearest star and getting closer." Blade told him, and the draconequus' face suddenly fell into a worried look.
"Wait, you really are from space?" he asked.
"We need to get this message to Twilight and the others; it might be a call for help." Fluttershy said to the two of them.
"The usual meeting place, I'll see if I can track down Rainbow Dash and Breeze, they shouldn't be hard to find." Blade said.
"Oh, for the love of…" Discord said suddenly, and again snapped his claw, the scenery changed to the outside of their favorite café and everyone was there with a surprised look on their faces.
"DISCORD!" the entire group called out in annoyance.
