//------------------------------//
// The Statue 
// Story: The Royal Canterlot Family 
// by CartoonNerd12 
//------------------------------//

Screw Ball turned to her mother, "Okay, Mom, your turn. And please tell me you and Daddy didn't have a meeting like Aunt Pinkie and Uncle Cheese's."

Fluttershy giggled, "No, it was nothing like that. When I first met your father… it was… interesting…"

"If not scary." Rainbow muttered.

Screwy asked, "How so?"

Fluttershy inhaled, "Well, it all started when I was forcing Angel to eat more…"

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Angel Bunny was refusing the food Fluttershy was giving him in the garden.

"Please, Angel? You need to keep your strength up."

The bunny just fussed and squirmed out of Fluttershy's grip before hopped towards the labyrinth. She cried, "No, Angel! Don't go in there, you'll get lost!" She fretted that she would never see her precious pet again and flew after him. When her wings got tired, she ran on hoof. She didn't care about the walls surrounding her and just focused on finding Angel. She finally located him and sighed in relief.

"Don't ever run off again!" Then she saw he was pointing to something. She looked up and saw a strange statue of a creature with different animal parts wearing a gleeful expression with one hand up in the air and the other on his stomach. She gasped at this bizarre statue. She wondered who could have made such sculpture. She felt a strange pull toward the statue that was both frightening and exhilarating. It could have been her love for animals that was speaking out since the creature was a mesh of animals she cared for. She could certainly appreciate this piece of artwork and planned on seeing it from time to time.

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At the castle, Fluttershy could not stop thinking of the statue she saw. At lunch, she hardly ate and Celestia noticed this. When the meal was over and the rest of her daughters went, Fluttershy was about to join them, but her mother held her back.

"Fluttershy, my darling, is everything all right?"

"Oh, of course, Mother. Why do you ask?"

"You seem distracted. You didn't eat much lunch."

"Oh, I'm sorry. I… I found this strange statue in the labyrinth this morning and I can't stop thinking about it."

Celestia straightened up and gave a serious face, she asked, "What did this statue look like?"

"It was a creature with different animal parts. I have never seen anything like it."

"A draconequus."

"A… draconequus?"

"Yes, there's only one left of the species and he's sitting or standing in the maze."

"What?!"

She sighed as she looked up and Fluttershy followed her gaze. They saw Sombra's portrait hanging on the wall as Celestia began the story, "You see, my darling, your father and I were newly married when we were given reports of a creature having the power to change things or to defy the law of nature. Your father and I immediately went to investigate and we found the creature or draconequus. He was sitting on a throne as he oversaw his creations. We went to him and demanded that he stopped with what he was doing. But he refused and your father and I had no choice but to combine our magic to create a spell that would imprison the draconequus in stone."

Fluttershy gasped and covered her mouth.

Her mother explained, "His power was too great for any prison, so putting him in stone was the only way."

Fluttershy didn't know what to make of it. Here was a living being trapped in stone, but at the same time he caused damage to those around him. So, surely he deserved it. But Fluttershy felt sorry for the creature, for if she was in his place, she would not like being stone. Every being deserved to move about freely.

After talking with her mother, she went back to the labyrinth to find the draconequus in stone and stared at him. He was scary-looking the way he was positioned, but at the same time, he intrigued her. In that moment, she wished she could set him free and ask him questions of what it was like being the creature he was. With a deep breath and determined look, she made up her mind. She flew straight back to the castle.

It was nighttime when she met with her mother in the queen's suite. She told her mother of her decision and Celestia gave a concerned look.

"My darling, your kindness knows no bounds, but what you request…"

"But it's not fair he should be locked up in stone! How would you feel if you were a statue in the gardens? Would you enjoy it?"

Celestia sighed and closed her eyes in thought. Finally, she faced her daughter again, "Alright. But he must understand that he cannot get his way if he is to live among us. If he doesn't…I'll have no choice to send him back to what he was… Do you understand?"

She solemnly nodded.

"First thing tomorrow morning, then. We best tell your sisters about what is about to transpire and I'll have to have the guards on high alert if something were to go amiss."

Fluttershy just nodded.

The next morning, Celestia and Fluttershy entered the labyrinth while the rest of the princesses waited by the entrance. Rainbow Dash whispered to her sisters, "I can't believe Fluttershy wants to release a dangerous criminal!"

Rarity whispered, "You know she can't watch anything suffer."

Applejack proclaimed, "Well, land sakes! This varmint deserves his fate! From what Mother told us, we can't believe he would be willing to change his ways!"

Twilight said, "I guess we'll just have to see."

Celestia and Fluttershy made it to the statue and she turned to her daughter, "Now, be ready. He is a cunning one. He will say anything to you that will make it sound like he's reformed, but let me know so I can see for myself."

"Yes, Mother."

"If you are ready, I will release him."

Fluttershy looked up at the statue and felt a twinge of fear, but she scolded herself. She wanted this to happen and she had to see through it to the end. She exhaled, "I'm ready."

Celestia flapped her wings and her horn started glowing. Its beams touched the statue and slowly it started cracking. There was a low moan that caused Fluttershy to quake. Then, all at once, the statue came to life and the draconequus gave out a mighty yell and then he shouted out, "I AM FREE!" He gave out a cackle.

Fluttershy whimpered as her mother came down to comfort her.

The draconequus floated and was break-dancing in midair, chanting, "I'm free, I'm free, I'm free! Oh, yeah!"

Fluttershy was stunned at the creature's movements. Celestia, however, frowned and wondered if her old foe would notice them. When he was still dancing, she cleared her throat and addressed him, "You presume much that you think you escaped on your own."

The creature halted in the middle of his dance and turned to see an alicorn he knew as one of his captors. Behind her was a lovely - if not beautiful - pegasus he ever seen. Of course, he couldn't let her know that. Instead, he had a smug look on his face and said, "Well, well, if it isn't Queen Celestia. Where's your king? I would think the two ponies responsible for my capture would be here together to witness my release."

Celestia scowled, "Never mind that. The only reason you are out is because my daughter Princess Fluttershy has deemed it."

"Your daughter?! Well! This is a treat!" He got closer just as the pegasus whimpered and stepped back in fright.

Celestia said, "My daughter has a kind heart. She was willing to release when no one else would."

"Namely you," he crossed his arms.

The queen kept scowling, "Be grateful, Discord. You are about to be given a second chance. If you repent your chaotic ways, then you can live with us and not be stone anymore. But if you don't…I don't think I need to tell you."

Discord touched his chin in thought, "Let me see… Give up my chaos or be stone again… Hmm… I would have to choose… None of those!" He started taking off, "So hasta-la-vista, suckers!" He started flying away.

Fluttershy looked to her mother, who smiled, "Wait for it…"

Discord almost reached the sky when he felt something holding him back. "What the…?!" He looked back to see he was glowing and so was the pegasus.

Fluttershy saw this and said, "Mother…?"

Celestia just smiled as Discord floated back toward them with fire blazing in his eyes, "WHAT DID YOU DO?!"

Celestia merely replied, "I cast a bonding spell between you and my daughter."

"YOU WHAT?!"

"It was her decision to release you from stone, so she has the right to free you from the spell when she feels you are ready to reform."

"I DON'T BELIEVE THIS! I have all the powers of chaos at my whim and I am bonded to wimpy pegasus princess!"

"Be careful about what you say about my daughter, Discord, or else I will turn you back to stone right now."

He grinded his teeth.

Celestia turned to Fluttershy, "It's all up to you now, my darling. I need to get back inside to start my duties. If you have any trouble, ask your sisters."

"Yes, Mother." But she felt uncertain about being left alone with the strange being.

Her mother smiled, "Don't worry. I have every confidence in you… Ever since you were small, you tamed the most hard of hearts in Canterlot's nobility."

Fluttershy was surprised to hear that.

Celestia gave her a gentle nuzzle before flying off, leaving the two alone. They stayed in awkward silence and Discord gave off a bored look. He couldn't take it anymore and broke the ice, "So. Princess. What are you planning we do first?"

Fluttershy stammered, "Oh, well, I guess we go meet my sisters."

"Your sisters?! How many princesses are there?!"

"There are six of us."

"Six?!" Geez, you would think Celestia and Sombra would be too busy ruling a kingdom to have that many kids!

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He met all of the princesses and was amused how the sisters were so different in looks and personality. He could see some of them had distrusting looks towards him, namely Princess Applejack and Princess Rainbow Dash. Princess Pinkie looked excited, Princess Rarity looked disgusted, and Princess Twilight Sparkle looked unsure as if she was trying to study him.

Pinkie bounced, "Ooh! Is it true you can make chocolate rain?!"

My, she's a hyper thing… I wonder which parent she inherited that from. What a juicy secret it would be to know… To answer the princess's question, he snapped his fingers and a pink cloud made of cotton candy appeared and started raining chocolate milk on the princesses. The pink princess was more than thrilled and started snacking while the others were complaining. Rarity shrieked as she got out from underneath the cloud.

Then an idea hit him. Even though he was bonded to the pretty princess, he could still use his magic to cause chaos! Of course… the princess would surely notice, but if he could pretend to be good for her sake, then he could trick her to freeing him sooner and he could roam around once more spreading disharmony to his pleasure! He was so busy scheming to himself that he didn't hear Fluttershy.

"Um… Discord? Could you maybe please stop?"

"Huh? Oh." He snapped again and the cloud disappeared.

Pinkie was still sticking her tongue out when she realized the tasty rain stopped. "Aw!" she pouted.

The remaining princesses were drenched and sticky from the rain. They casted annoyed looks at the draconequus.

Rarity shouted out, "Look what you did to my mane! I need a nice long hot bath just to fix it!" She huffed and trotted away.

Rainbow went up to Fluttershy, "Are you sure this is still a good idea, Flutters?"

"Of course I do! I have to at least try to help him, Dashie. I would hate to see him going back to stone."

Twilight came to her, "Do what you must, Fluttershy. But remember, if he becomes too unbearable and refuses to change, then you have to let us know immediately, okay?"

Fluttershy sighed, "Yes…"

The purple unicorn gave a sympathetic look and a plan formed in her head. Unfortunately, the spirit of chaos knew of her plan before she even thought it up. Oh, no you don't, little princess. No reforming spells in this case. That would be after all cheating… he sniggered to himself.

Once the other princesses were gone, Fluttershy took him to the gardens where she fed her animals. Discord sat on a tree branch in boredom.

"You know, Shutterfly…"

"Um, it's Fluttershy," she corrected him.

He waved his paw dismissively, "Right, right… All I want to know is what do you do for fun around here?!" He swung himself around with his tail hanging to the branch.

Fluttershy watched on with amusement and she released a giggle.

Discord heard her cute laugh and stopped to face her, "Ah-ha! I made you laugh! So you do have a sense of humor! Not like those fuddy-duddy sisters of yours, except maybe Pinkie Pie…"

She stopped laughing and frowned, "My sisters aren't fuddy-duddy!"

"Then how come they didn't like it when I poured chocolate rain on them?" he shrugged.

"Um… well, it wasn't a very nice thing to do…"

He rolled his eyes, "Sor-ry…"

"I don't understand why you do such mean things."

"Is it mean to have a little fun every once in a while?"

"Not when it's hurting some pony."

He gave an exasperated sigh, "Fine, my pretty pony princess," He did air quotes, "What is the 'nice' thing to do?"

"You're… willing to reform?" her eyes widened.

"Well, if I am ever to be free from our bonding spell I have to be nicer, right?" he said innocently, though he was really leading her on.

Fluttershy smiled widely.

For the past week, Fluttershy taught Discord about being good. In turn, he answered her questions about what being a draconquus was like and even showed her some his shape-shifting abilities of turning into an animal as long as he had a part for it. On occasion, he caused some mischief. When he was inside the palace, he would find a way to annoy or disrupt the princesses or castle staff. He used the excuse that he was still learning to be good. Fluttershy always gave him the benefit of doubt.

At the end of the week, she thought it might be a good idea to have a dinner party to see how much Discord improved, but Twilight decided it might be time to tell her sister they should use a reforming spell on Discord. But when she went to the library to find them, to her horror, she discovered the pages were torn out!

She screamed.

Fluttershy rushed in, "What's wrong?"

"What's wrong?! What's wrong is that… that… creature took out my reforming spells!" she panted from her rant.

"Oh my…" Fluttershy blushed and rubbed her leg, "I was wondering why he was eating paper for breakfast…"

Twilight ended up sputtering, "He… He… HE ATE THEM?!" She fainted.

"Discord!" Fluttershy shouted.

Discord popped in with a poof while wearing a turban and puffed pants. He bowed, "Yes, my master?"

She shook her head and asked, "Did you eat all of Twilight's reforming spells?"

"Perhaps, but I seem to recall that I must be reformed of my own will if I wish to be free from our spell."

"Hm… I suppose… but you didn't have to eat them."

"I didn't want to take unnecessary chances. Supposing your sister performed the spell without you knowing?"

She was deep in thought, "I guess you're right."

"Besides, isn't this what you wanted all along? To impress your mother that you can tame a chaotic spirit?"

"What?"

"Why else would I still be here, Fluttershy? You told your sisters and mother that you wanted to set me free, but how can I be if I'm bonded to you?"

The pegasus gaped at this and before she could reply, Twilight came out of her trance and spotted Discord with a look of fury. "You! You book destroyer!"

Discord held his hands up, "Now, Princess Twilight, aren't we being a bit hasty? After all, I'm sure you're aware of the saying 'You can't judge a book by its cover'…"

"Hey!" came Rainbow's voice as she flew up to him, "I found this in my room!" She held out a dirty, smelly sock, "Any idea who it was…?" She eyed him.

Rarity came in then screaming, "My hair! It's green!" She bawled, "Green!"

Applejack rushed in with bed sheets tied together. She demanded, "Alright, who's responsible for this?! It's going to take me days to fix this!" But she had some ideas as she glared at the draconequus.

"What's going on?" Pinkie bounced in, "Are we having a ruckus?! I want to be part of it, too!"

The remaining princesses ganged up on Discord while Fluttershy started getting angry and then she yelled out, "Stop it! Right now!"

Every pony turned to her in confusion.

Fluttershy spoke, "Now look, I know Discord does things that are not good, but I can also see that none of you are willing to give him a chance! He is learning, but how can he truly learn if I keep on him a leash?! Well, no more!" She faced Discord, "You're only here because I want to you to… But as a good friend, I should let you go…"

Discord's mouth gaped opened and he wasn't the only one. Her sisters were shocked as well, not quite believing what they were hearing. She then took Discord's paw, and for one brief moment, they felt a warm sensation before Fluttershy proclaimed, "Discord, I set you free!" The glow between them dimmed and Discord could feel the spell had been lifted.

Twilight gasped, "Fluttershy! What have you done?!"

"What I had to…" she turned away from the creature.

"You… you let me go…" Discord uttered in astonishment.

"Of course…" she faced him with near tears in her eyes, "We're friends."

"Fri… Friends?"

She nodded.

"But… how? I just caused some trouble among your sisters and you don't care if I'm good or not… Why?"

"You were right. If I truly cared about your freedom, I would have never used the bonding spell…"

Discord was speechless. Twilight whispered among her sisters, "Brace yourself, there's no telling what he might do…"

Discord stood still until he started moving and put his hand over his heart. In a white flash, Rarity's green hair returned to her normal mane color. The sock Rainbow had disappeared and Applejack's bed sheets were unraveled and taken out of the room. Twilight checked her books and could see her reforming spells were all back. They were gaping at the draconequus.

Fluttershy smiled as she asked them, "Girls, could you maybe leave for a bit?"

They reluctantly agreed and left.

"Thank you…" the pegasus said.

"No, Fluttershy, you have only yourself to thank…" He smiled at her before conjuring up a single red rose in her hair. She blushed at the gesture. He sighed, "I guess when you're friends, you can't always have your way all the time."

"But that doesn't mean you have to give up what you love the most. You love chaos. It's a part of you."

"So I guess I can't turn the entire land into a chaotic wonderland, huh?"

She shook her head before thinking it over, "You can still do little things, something funny, perhaps. We'll have to talk it over with my mother."

He groaned, "I was afraid you were going to say that."

Then they both laughed.

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When they met with Celestia, she was certain Discord had changed, but she still had some reservations. They made a pact that Discord would use his magic for the good of Equestria and in turn, he would have his own living area where he could have all the chaos he wanted. From that day on, Discord did use his magic for good, but he still had a few tricks up his sleeves whenever he came to visit Fluttershy at the castle. The sisters had a hard time trusting him, but at least he wasn't causing any trouble that could put him back in stone.

Back at the present, Fluttershy was finishing the story, "So you see, it wasn't until the time when Mother issued the proclamation that we would have suitors is when I discovered my true feelings for your father. But when the Changeling Queen took us, your father proved himself to your aunts. They finally accepted him and I had never been happier."

Her sisters smiled as they embraced her.