Fluttershy just reformed Discord when Princesses Celestia and Luna call the Mane Six to Canterlot. She reveals that there is a darkness spreading from the south and that the Mane Six, along with Discord, may be the only ones who can stop it.
Fluttershy has just successfully reformed Discord, but another evil lurks in the shadows. Princesses Celestia and Luna has called upon the Mane Six to team up with Discord in the battle of their lives against a terrible darkness spreading from the south. Discord is more than reluctant to go, and Fluttershy takes it on herself to convince him to join them on their quest. She soon finds out about Discord's dark and tortured past, while forming a romantic relationship with him. Will she be able to save Equestria and her new found friend, or will she have to sacrifice one for the other? Cover Art Made by Chelis, fimfiction account -> http://www.fimfiction.net/user/Chelis Original Art done by norang94, deviantArt account -> http://norang94.deviantart.com/
Fluttershy kept to herself, as usual. Princess Celestia had just congratulated her on her success in reforming Equestria’s long-time nemesis, Discord. Princess Celestia and the others were currently talking about what to do with Discord now that he was willing to use his powers for good. Discord himself wasn’t saying a word, just watching the discussion from the ceiling. Fluttershy, in turn, was watching him. He didn’t seem as though he was really listening to the conversation, but lost deep in thought.
“Princess Celestia, when you tasked Fluttershy in reforming Discord, you said that you had use for his powers. What exactly did you have in mind?” Twilight asked, raising a goblet to her lips via magic. At the sound of both of their names, Discord’s eyes flicked over and met Fluttershy’s gaze. Almost instantly she looked away, blushing.
Celestia exchanged a knowing glance with her sister Luna before responding in a slow voice. “Luna and I both have sensed a great, impenetrable darkness radiating from a cave about three days south of PonyVille. A cave that three of us in this room find particularly familiar.” Celestia’s eyes moved to the ceiling, just as Discord’s eyes moved from Fluttershy.
Discord now seemed extremely interested in what was being discussed. “My dear Celestia, if you think for a moment that she of all ponies would choose now to make an appearance, than you seriously underestimate her clever mind. Besides, how could she possibly be alive?”
Twilight scowled at Discord for questioning Celestia. “Who is ‘she’ precisely?”
“Discord is referring to Misfortune, a powerful alicorn who proved numerous times to be more destructive than even Discord.”
“Hey now! What could possibly be more destructive than cotton candy clouds raining chocolate milk?”
“Yeah! And not a single dollop of whipped cream in sight!” Pinkie Pie chimed in, causing her friends to shake their heads affectionately.
“See? Pinkie agrees with me…” He stuck his tongue out at Celestia to reveal yet another tongue, which stuck itself out as well. Discord then crossed his arms and pretended to be hurt.
Celestia ignored them both. “Misfortune is different. She doesn’t have ‘fun’ like Discord. She sees her deeds simply as business.”
“The last time she appeared, she caused the ground to blacken, the trees to become nothing more than sticks. Nothing grew anymore, the animals slowly started dying off from lack of food, and harsh winds ravaged the entirety of Equestria. It was the longest year Equestria had ever had, and nothing has compared since.” Luna’s expression was one of terror, loathing and depression all at the same time.
“How did she manage that? If she caused nothing to grow, how in tarnation did she survive?” Applejack asked, her bright green eyes observing Discord as he made the candles on the table dance a waltz.
“Misfortune learned to feed only on other ponies suffering.”
“A dark magic indeed.” Luna commented after her sister.
“So, how did you defeat her?” Twilight had never heard of Misfortune, not even during her extensive study days in the library.
“For every pony who suffered, she became more and more powerful. When we first tried to overthrow her, she managed to banish us into her own dreamland.” Celestia looked down at the table and Luna continued her story.
“Once we were there, we had to find the lair in which she resided, and defeat her there. Time moves so much more quickly in a dreamland than that of the real world… by the time we got back, it had been a year and Equestria was nearly destroyed.
“So what happened after you defeated her?”
“We sent her into a dreamland that I created, one that I check every night so that she cannot ever escape. However, last night when I checked, she was not there. I searched all over and could not find her. That is why we think it must be her.”
“Discord said she couldn’t possibly be alive.” Twilight’s horn glowed as she saved one of the candles from tripping.
Celestia looked up from the table. “When you send someone to a dreamland, even an immortal, you force their soul to leave their body. When that happens, the body itself is left to waste away just like any other body would. It’s been thousands of years, and logic would have it that there would be nothing left of her body for her soul to go back to. However we cannot deny that she is gone from Luna’s dreamland and that the darkness is emanating from the cave that we defeated her at.”
“I thought you said you defeated her in the dreamland?”
It was Luna who answered this one. “Most dreamlands mirror that of reality, with a few minor changes. Misfortune’s dreamland was not an exception. Because she created her dreamland based on the actual Equestria, we defeated her in the cave both in reality and in her dreamland. It’s confusing, but I think you’ll understand more when you undertake this journey.
“Uhh, what do you mean by that?” Rarity was almost reluctant to ask the question.
“We can’t be sure if Misfortune will send you into a dreamland once you encounter her.”
Silence swept across the room.
Applejack gulped before breaking the silence. “So, pardon me if I’m bein’ rude, yer Highness… but why do we need Discord when we have the Elements of Harmony?”
“Now that is a good question if I ever heard one, darling. Really, I think Discord would simply slow us down with his shenanigans.” Rarity flipped her hair.
“She’s right! Besides, the Elements of Harmony kick more butt than Discord ever could!” Rainbow Dash added, shooting into the air.
“Girls, girls! Now just a minute here! I can kick some butt if I really want to!” At this point a giant boot materialized behind Rainbow Dash and kicked her rear end, sending her spiraling through the air. He then transformed into his usual self and shrugged. “See! Even Rainbow Crash couldn’t avoid me! Lucky for you ladies, I do not wish to go.”
Luna sighed. “Discord, out of the three of us, you knew Misfortune the best. The girls will need you, you must see that.”
“Wait wait wait! He knew her?? The best??” Rainbow exclaimed, rubbing her rear end and glaring at Discord with disdain.
Celestia looked at Discord, and Fluttershy could almost have mistaken it for the same sort of affection that she may look at Pinkie or Rarity with. She spoke in an amused voice, “Well, Misfortune wasn’t always called as such, and Discord wasn’t always called Discord either. Back when we were kids, they were called something entirely different.”
Twilight’s mouth nearly fell to the floor. “When you were kids? Do you mean…”
Celestia looked at her pupil. “Twilight, I haven’t always looked this way. Me, Luna, Silver Streak and—“
Discord cut Celestia off by zipping her mouth shut. “Now just a minute there, old friend. Let’s keep that piece of information between us, shall we?”
Celestia only nodded, and Discord removed the zipper. “Long story short, the four of us grew up together."
And yet another silence where nopony knew what to say or how to respond. Twilight finally asked her question.
“So… Silver Streak was Misfortune’s old name?”
Celestia nodded. “We all grew up together back when Canterlot was still new. Silver Streak and…’ She stopped herself, glanced at Discord, and continued. “And Discord never had siblings. In fact, they were orphans. They grew extremely close to one another. Although none of us could be separated from each other, these two were particularly close. This is why Discord is the best choice to go with you. She may yet still be willing to listen to him.”
“Dear Celestia, I’m not sure how I can possibly make you understand.” Discord thought a moment, then a light bulb appeared above his head and he snapped his fingers. Before anypony knew what was going on, he had a megaphone in his lion’s paw. “I WILL NOT GET INVOLVED IN ANY MANNER WITH LITTLE MISS SILVER STREAK!!” In the next moment, he was gone.
Celestia only sighed in exasperation.
“It’s ok, Princess. We’ll make him go or we’ll turn him back into stone. Right girls?” Applejack looked at her companions for agreement. And they met it with enthusiasm… all except Fluttershy.
Celestia had sent them home to pack what they would need for the trip, and gave them a day to prepare. Twilight was catching up on her spells, Rarity was busy putting together a wardrobe that would not only serve her well, but also look fabulous, Rainbow Dash was training by clearing the skies of both PonyVille and Canterlot, Pinkie Pie was… well, eating cupcakes, Applejack was bucking as many apple trees as she possibly could before leaving, and Fluttershy was simply sitting in her garden at home, fluffing Angel’s tail.
“Now Angel, I’m going to be gone for a few days, maybe even longer. Please be careful while I’m gone! I can’t imagine what I’d do if I came home and you had a broken leg, or had a cavity, or a.. a…” She trailed off, hyperventilating. Angel reached up and slapped at her, chittering. “Oh I’m sorry Angel bunny… I’m just so nervous. What if I slow everyone down? What if I’m the one who lets Misfortune get away? What if…” She gulped and stopped herself before she started to hyperventilate again.
In all reality, that wasn’t why she was so nervous. Discord made her nervous. The way he looked at her, the way he caught her when she was looking at him…. She took a deep breath. It still troubled her the way he had made his exit from the meeting that morning. Why was he so determined to stay away from Misfortune? Was it simply because he was so close to her? Fluttershy sighed.
“I’m going to the castle Angel. Maybe I can talk some sense into Discord before we leave. Take care, you hear?” Angel only chittered a response before Fluttershy went into her cottage to retrieve her packs and catch the train.
Fluttershy floated into the castle with her saddlebacks on her back, intending to first go to the room Princess Celestia had set aside for her, then on to Discord’s room… which was conveniently just across the hall from her own. As she started to move in the right direction, she heard someone call her name.
“Fluttershy! You don’t have to be here until tomorrow. What are you doing here so early?” Princess Celestia flew up to her, landing gracefully only a few paces away/
“Oh… well I, uhm, came early because… well, I… I wanted to talk to Discord a little before we left… I mean, if that’s ok with you… he just seemed so upset this morning at the meeting.” Fluttershy hid behind her mane, but Celestia put her hoof under Flutterhy’s chin, forcing her to look up.
Celestia smiled at her. “This is exactly why I chose you to reform Discord. Out of everyone I know, you are the kindest and most forgiving.” Celestia stopped and hesitated, but continued. “I never thanks you for what you did.”
“Oh but you did this morn—“
Celestia cut her off. “Princess Celestia thanked you on behalf of her subjects.” She looked into Flutterhy’s teal eyes, “This is just Celestia, thanking you for bringing an old and treasured friend back to her. I am forever in your debt, Fluttershy.”
Fluttershy blushed and smiled. “Th-thank you Princess, that means a lot to me for you to say.”
Celestia smiled back at her and motioned her head in the direction Fluttershy had originally been going. “I’ll let you go settle in. If you’d like, you can join Luna, Discord and I for dinner at six ‘o clock, or you can just visit the kitchens and have something delivered to your room.”
“Thank you, Princess.” Fluttershy flew off, happy as can be and much more ready to talk to Discord than ever.
After getting settled into her new room and combing her hair about as many times as she could stand to, she took a look in the mirror and sighed. She was about to turn away when the mirror talked.
“Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who’s the fairest of them all?” Discord then moved out from behind the mirror, grinning from ear to ear. “And so the mirror replied, ‘Ask this question, I must ask why, for all can see it is clearly Fluttershy!’”
“Discord! How long have you been there?” Fluttershy blushed. The entire time she had been in her room she had been muttering to herself how nervous Discord made her.
Discord teleported himself to her bed and lounged there, stretching out. “Well, I saw you talking to Celestia in the main hall, and figured you’d be here soon, and I wanted to see you, but…” Discord disappeared from the bed, only to appear right in front of Fluttershy, close enough to be muzzle to muzzle, concern splayed across his face. “Do I really make you so nervous?”
Fluttershy’s first reaction was to squeak and pull backwards, but through sheer force of will she stayed put. She could feel his breath, and it smelled sweet. ‘He is so close… it would only take one small movement to…’ As she thought this her eyes flicked down to his lips unconsciously. Once she realized this, she snapped her eyes back to his and gulped. “Y-Y-Yes… but it isn’t bad…”
“So… it’s a good nervous?” He pulled back, and Fluttershy blew her breath out in relief. “I understand that; you make me nervous too. It’s been thousands and thousands of years since I’ve had a friend.” He sat down on the bed and patted the spot next to him, motioning to Fluttershy.
She walked over and settled herself onto the bed next to him, her heart still pounding a million times a minute. Discord continued talking.
“So, why are you here so early?”
“Actually, I came to see you.”
Discord, startled, looked at her. “Really? But… why?”
“I don’t know how long I will be gone, and I wanted to spend some time with you in case… in case something happens.”
They stayed silent for a few moments, neither of them knowing what to say. Discord finally broke the silence.
“Fluttershy, you should know why I’m refusing to go. You see, Silver Str—“ He cleared his throat. “I mean, Misfortune and I… well, we loved each other. And not just as friends. It would be hard, nigh impossible for me to face her again.”
They fell silent for a while. Suddenly, the draconequus pulled Fluttershy into a hug and held her tight. Fluttershy’s heart instantly tried to leap out of her chest. Discord started to stroke her silky mane, running his fingers through it. Fluttershy slowly relaxed, enjoying his touch and nuzzling into his chest. At her nuzzling, Discord pulled her closer and wrapped his long body around her like a snake, laying down on the bed. As they cuddled closer, Fluttershy threw her leg around his body, wanting as much of their skin touching as physically possible. He inhaled sharply and she looked up at him.
“I-I’m sorry, too much?” She asked, withdrawing her leg.
“No-no-no! I just didn’t expect you to do that.” He reached over and used her leg to pull her close again, wrapping it around his body once more. They laid like this for a long while, nuzzling each other and falling in and out of sleep.
“Fluttershy?”
“Hmm?”
“I love you.”
“I love you too, Discord.” She smiled up at him sleepily.
He returned her gaze, frowning slightly. “I don’t mean I love you as a friend. I mean, I do love you like a friend, but—“
She put her hoof over his mouth and shhh-ed him before moving up to his face slowly. “I didn’t mean it like that either.” She said this as she moved closer and closer, and as she moved her hoof away from his mouth she replaced it with her lips. The kiss was slow, deliberate. Discord, surprised at first, now reached back and held her by the nape of her neck, deepening the kiss. She sighed against his lips and allowed him to take control. They enjoyed the slow bliss of each other for a while.
Eventually they broke their kiss and gazed at each other, neither of them able to speak. Finally, Discord broke the silence.
“That was probably the best kiss of my life, and that’s saying something once you consider how long I’ve lived.”
Fluttershy simply giggled. “Well, that was my first kiss ever… I’m glad it was so high on the scale.”
“My dear Fluttershy, you must be joking! You’re a natural!” Discord laughed and thought to himself, ‘I wonder what else she’s a natural at…’ He leaned in and gave her another kiss, this one not quite as long but just as enjoyable.
“He pulled away and smiled at her. “Hungry?”
She nodded in response. “Dinner isn’t until six, though.”
Discord shook his finger at her and at tapped her nose with it, earning a giggle. “Dinner with Celestia is at six. We can have dinner whenever you’re hungry… that is, if you’d like.”
“I would love to have dinner with you.
About twenty minutes later they were eating apple slices and other fruits together on her bed, Discord talking about his childhood.
“You know, I didn’t always look like this. The draconeqi died out even before I was born, and as the Lord of Chaos I felt as though this form suited me best.”
“Really? What did you look like before?”
“Just like any other alicorn does.”
“You were an alicorn? I didn’t even realize there were male alicorns… Could I see it?”
“See what?”
“Your natural form, silly!”
Discord hesitated. “It’s been so long since I’ve been that way, I’m not sure I could do it.” One glance from her pleading eyes made him chuckle. “But I will certainly try.”
He finished his apple and got down from the bed. He closed his eyes, concentrating. For a long time he stood like that, and Fluttershy was starting to think that nothing was going to happen. In the next moment, Discord started to glow, a bright, blinding glow that slowly grew bigger and bigger until Fluttershy couldn’t look at him anymore. She shielded her eyes, and before she knew it the light was gone. She blinked several times to clear her vision.
“Well… what do you think?”
Draconequus Discord was no longer in the room. What stood before Fluttershy now was an alicorn with a deep grey coat and midnight blue hair that swept backwards, as if he had just gone on a speedy flight to PonyVille and back. His eyes were much kinder in his pony form, and they too were deep pools of blue that seemed to go on forever. All in all, Fluttershy was now looking at the most handsome stallion she had ever seen in her life. She circled him cautiously, examining every bit of him until her eyes landed on his cutie mark: a pinwheel with silly eyes colored bright blue and yellow.
“Discord? Is that really you or is this a prank?” Fluttershy looked suspiciously at him.
“What, you don’t like it? This is what I looked like before… well before I became the Lord of Chaos. I can turn back if you’d like…”
“No! Discord, I loved you in your other form, but you have to know that you could’ve been a donkey and I still would’ve loved you. I love your natural form, much more than your draconnequus form, because this is what you’re meant to look like.”
Discord could feel the tears forming in his eyes, but quickly choked them down. “Thank you, Fluttershy.” He bent down and nuzzled her neck. Then he had a thought. “You know, I do feel better now that I’m my old self again… but I don’t want your friends to know that I’m who they know as Discord. I know you trust them, but please excuse me if I don’t. I really don’t think they like me, particularly now that I’m reformed.”
“Do you want me to call you something else, then?”
Discord smiled at her. “Call me by my old name; Ebony Laughter.”
Ebony Laughter, as he now wished to be called in his new reformed state, and Fluttershy spent all afternoon together. They flew around Canterlot, ate dessert at a thrifty little café, and made their way back to the castle, laughing and joking all the way. Ebony may not be Discord anymore, but he still liked to play tricks; nothing harmful, just little pranks. A waiter at the café kept trying to pour tea into a cup, but the cup kept moving around the table, and each time the waiter got more and more frustrated as he spilled so much tea on the tablecloth that it was completely brown with the liquid. Fluttershy couldn’t contain her laughter, and they had to leave the café before the waiter suspected anything. It was the best day either of them had had in a long while, and neither of them were willing to let it end so soon, particularly since Fluttershy was to leave soon to confront Misfortune, Discord’s old lover.
As they made their way back to the castle, Fluttershy brought the issue up again. “I really think you should come with us, Ebony. I know you don’t want to face her again, but don’t you see? This is the only way to conquer your past and move on entirely! Once we defeat her, don’t you feel as though you’d be completely happy again?”
Ebony bit his lower lip. “Fluttershy, I just don’t know. I’m scared. She was the reason I turned into the Lord of Chaos in the first place.”
Fluttershy gave him a confused look. “What do you mean?”
He sighed. “Well… when the four of us were just kids, you have to understand how she and I felt. Celestia and Luna were heirs to the throne of Equestria, and we were just a couple of lowly peasant orphans. They never treated us that way, but everyone else did. They thought we were just a couple of scammers trying to get in good with the royal family in any way we could. Misfortune, Silver Streak at the time, felt that the only way to stop everyone from bullying us was to get rid of Celestia and Luna. I tried to talk her out of it, but she accused me of being too soft. So I toughened up, too much in fact.” His eyes started to water as he thought back. “I loved her so much, I didn’t want to disappoint her, and so I helped her. I thought we were just going to lock Celestia and Luna away for a little while, let their power over the people diminish a little. But then she sent them to that dreamland, and I knew that that was going too far. I left her, and never looked back.”
Fluttershy and Ebony had stopped walking at this point, and she was watching him tell his story with pitiful eyes. After a pause to compose himself, he said, “Long story short, she broke my heart, turned it to stone and took away all the friends I ever had in the world. And people wonder why I wanted Equestria to be one big distraction.” He looked at Fluttershy with eyes full of tears and fear. “I know I need to face her. I just don’t know how.”
Fluttershy was crying too, now. “We’ll face her together. There is nothing we can’t beat if we work together. I know how it is to be scared, I’m scared almost every day. But when I’m with you, you make me feel beautiful, confident. That has to mean something.”
Ebony put his forehead on hers. “Thank you, Fluttershy.”
She smiled at him. “Come on, let’s go back to the castle and go to sleep. We both have a big day tomorrow.”
As they entered the castle, Celestia called out to her.
“Fluttershy! We missed you at dinner! Have you seen Dis—“ At the sight of Ebony Laughter, she stopped dead in her sentence, her eyes wide with amazement. “Ahh, never you mind, I believe I’ve found him.”
“Evening, Celestia.’
“Evening… Discord?”
“Please, call me Ebony Laughter. How was your dinner?”
“Ebony? Oh my stars… you really have been reformed!” Celestia threw her front legs around Ebony’s neck, clinging to him with tears in her eyes. “Old friend, I cannot tell you how good it is to see you again! Why, I haven’t been so happy since Luna was returned to me!” She pulled away and wiped her eyes off with her wings.
“It feels good to be back, Celestia. I don’t think you know how much.” Ebony was wiping tears from his own eyes. After all the tears were gone, he composed himself and said, “I think you’ll be happy to hear that I will be accompanying the girls to confront Misfortune tomorrow.” Celestia only nodded, smiling broadly. “Fluttershy and I are going to bed now. Goodnight, Celestia.”
At this he turned and walked away, motioning Fluttershy to follow, Celestia beaming after them. Ebony let out a huge sigh of relief as they walked up the stairs to their rooms. He turned and flashed a half smile at Fluttershy. He opened the door to her room for her, and followed her in.
Ebony closed the door behind him and let out a huge sigh of relief. “Well, that went fairly well… a little too formal for my taste.” He frowned. “I miss snapping my fingers.”
Fluttershy giggled, earning a smile out of Ebony. “You could just summon a hand to snap it’s fingers for you, you know.”
Ebony’s face lit up, and soon enough a lion’s paw had appeared next to him, and proceeded to snap its fingers. He laughed loudly, something reminiscent of Discord.
Fluttershy smiled at him. “You know, I’m glad that’s the one thing that didn’t change.” As she said this, she blushed bright red.
“What do you mean?”
“Your voice.”
“Now it was Ebony’s turn to blush. He walked over to Fluttershy, nuzzled her and used his wing to point to the bed. “Can I sleep here tonight? I don’t want to be alone…”
Fluttershy nuzzled him back. “I don’t want to be alone either, but I think the bed is too small for us both to sleep comfortably.”
The lion’s paw appeared and snapped its fingers before disappearing again. The bed was now twice the size and height as it was before. Fluttershy laughed.
“Well, it’s a good thing I can fly.”
Ebony picked her up with his magic and placed her on the bed. “You won’t have to, my dear.” He snuggled up to her on the bed, putting one of his forelegs under her head while the other wrapped around her, pulling her close. She nuzzled his dark grey coat, and he laid his wing on top of her. Soon they were fast asleep.
“Where in all of Equestria is Fluttershy?” Twilight asked aloud as she paced around the train station.
“She’s just running a little late, darling. Rainbow went to her cottage, they’ll be here soon enough.” Rarity flipped her hair and pumped her curls up with her hoof.
As if on cue, Rainbow Dash flew into the train station at top speed and skidded to halt. Without saying a word, she handed Twilight a piece of paper with Fluttershy’s delicate handwriting scrawled on it.
“At the castle. See you there, Love, Fluttershy.” Twilight read aloud.
“I wonder when she left? And why she went there early?” Applejack said, reading the letter over the purple unicorn’s shoulder.
“C’mon you sillies, she obviously went to convince Discord to come with us. DUH!” Pinkie replied, bouncing around.
“All aboard for Canterlot!”
Twilight sighed as she headed towards the train. “I guess we’ll know soon enough.”
The next morning Fluttershy and Ebony joined Celestia and Luna for breakfast. It took some time, but Fluttershy had finally convinced him that they needed to talk to the Princesses about keeping who Ebony really was away from the other Elements. Thankfully, they understood and agreed to keep it from them. Celestia warned however, that they needed to tell them eventually. The rest of the time was spent talking. Fluttershy mostly listened as the three alicorns caught up.
“So, you two are…?” Luna finally found the nerve to ask.
Ebony spit his chocolate milk all over the table. “Wh-what do you mean?”
Celestia’s musical laughter filled the room. “Come now, Ebony. We’ve known each other for years, how stupid do you think we are?”
“Besides, we knew from the start you two were perfect for each other.”
“Now that’s a lie Luna, and you know it. Pay up.” Celestia held out her hoof and Luna reluctantly handed over a gold coin.
“Wait-wait-wait! You two bet on whether we would be together or not?!” Ebony was in a state of disbelief.
“Not exactly. We bet whether you would be with Fluttershy, or Pinkie Pie.”
Ebony sputtered. “Well, ladies! I think there’s a word for you two!” The lions paw appeared and snapped its fingers, causing two dunce caps to appear on the princesses heads. Another snap made confetti spurt from the tops. They all laughed at the little trick, until the door opened on the far side of the room.
“Fluttershy! There you are! Where’ve you been, sugar cube?” Applejack trotted over and hugged her friend, then caught sight of the stallion sitting next to her. “And, uh, who’s yer friend?”
At this point Ebony stood up. “My name is Ebony Laughter, nice to meet you. On Discord’s refusal to accompany you ladies on your journey, Celestia and Luna asked me to go with you instead.”
“Oh! Glad to have ya along, Ebony. My name’s Applejack, and this here’s Twilight, Rainbow Dash, Rarity and… where’s Pinkie Pie?”
Pinkie Pie had snuck around while the introductions were being made, and had drank all the chocolate milk left in Ebony’s glass. Now that the deed was done there was no sense in sneaking around, and she exclaimed, “Here I am!” and bounced back over to her friends.
Ebony looked in his glass and frowned, but simply used his magic to get the pitcher from the table and poured himself a new glass.
“Pinkie! You shouldn’t drink from somepony’s glass!” Twilight scolded her.
“Not even if it’s delicious chocolate milk?” She licked the drops of brown liquid off her lips.
“Chocolate milk, huh? That’s an interesting drink there, Ebony.” Rainbow Dash narrowed her eyes.
Ebony looked around nervously, then cleared his throat. “Rainbow Dash, is it? Who are you to judge what I drink? Are you saying that it’s unusual for someone to have milk with their breakfast?” He raised an eyebrow at her.
Rainbow was still looking at him suspiciously. “No, but that’s the kind of thing Discord-“
“Rainbow, I think perhaps you’re being a little paranoid, darling. Anyone can tell this handsome gentlepony is certainly not Discord.” Rarity batted her eyelashes at him, causing Fluttershy to giggle.
Ebony gave Fluttershy a quick look before turning back to the other Elements of Harmony. “Uhh, thank you Rarity.”
“My pleasure.”
“Could we please get to business here? Misfortune isn’t going to wait for Rarity to stop flirting with Ebony.” Applejack said, rolling her eyes.
“Now just a minute here you—“ Rarity was cut off by Celestia.
“She’s right. You must leave as soon as possible. You have the Elements?” After everypony nodded, she continued. “Good. Normally I would have let you depart from PonyVille, since its closer. But there’s something I want to give you before embarking on your journey. Please, follow me.”
Princess Celestia led them through the halls of the castle. “You see, when Luna and I battled and defeated Misfortune, our main weapon was certainly the Elements of Harmony. But there was one other item we used to help us, and we would not send you off to her without a set of your very own.”
“A set of what?” Rainbow Dash inquired.
Celestia opened the door they had just reached. As she started to open the door she responded, “Armor.”
Inside were seven sets of armor, six small ones and another larger one clearly meant for Ebony. Each set was silver with gold details, along with simple outlines of their cutie marks.
“Oh my gosh. These… are… AWESOME!” Rainbow sped forward to her own set and proceeded to put it on. “Who knew I could actually look cooler?” She admired herself in the mirror.
“Each set was designed to the exact measurements of each of you. Luna and I enchanted them ourselves with powerful defensive magic.” Celestia explained as the Mane 6 and Ebony put their armor on.
Ebony looked at Celestia with disbelief. “You… you saved mine? After all this time?”
Celestia only smiled and nodded to him.
“What do you mean, ‘after all this time?’” Rainbow Dash inquired.
It was Celestia who responded. “Ebony here used to be the Head of the Royal Guard. This was his armor from then.”
Fluttershy blushed. She knew that wasn’t the truth, of course. She smiled to herself and looked over at Ebony, who had tears gathering in his eyes as he put on his armor.
After everypony had put their armor on, they were set to go.
The journey was long, and over treacherous terrain. The closer they got to the cave, the more nervous Ebony got. It didn't help that Rarity was an absolute horror to travel with.
"My hooves hurt!"
"Are we there yet?"
"I'm tired, can we stop for a rest?"
"Rarity, if you don't can it, I'm gonna hogtie you faster than you can blink!"
That stopped it... for the time being.
On their second night, Ebony pulled Fluttershy aside.
“Flutters, I don’t think I can do this. I-I just can’t…”
“It’s ok, you’re going to be fine. What are you so nervous about? I mean, I know you two used to be involved, but…”
He looked at her beautiful teal eyes, and decided that it was time to tell the truth. “Misfortune… she… has a power over me. Something I may not be able to control.”
Fluttershy folded her legs beneath her and laid down on the grass, motioning Ebony to do the same. He laid down next to her on his back, looking up at the night sky where the stars were twinkling brightly. He was silent for a long while, but Fluttershy just watched him, waiting patiently. Finally, he spoke.
“When we first turned against Celestia and Luna, she proposed that we make a pact. A pact that neither of us could go against, ever. The spell we cast was old before we were even born, so you can imagine how ancient it is now.” He took a deep breath and continued. “It’s called a soul-twine. It’s a spell that binds two souls together, forever. When she was sent to the dreamland, even though I was miles away from her, I felt it. I felt her soul leave, and mine very nearly went with her.”
Fluttershy didn’t like where this was going. Ebony looked at her, his deep blue eyes filled with regret.
“If she dies, I may have to die with her.”
Fluttershy’s heart instantly pounded against her chest, hard. “B-but… how did you manage to keep your soul from leaving with hers?”
“It took every ounce of my strength to keep it here.’
“So you can-“
“Fluttershy! It’s different when someone dies! Its more powerful than simply having your soul moved.”
Fluttershy’s eyes began to water. “S-so, this might be the last night we have with each other?” She couldn’t suppress the tears any longer, and started to sob uncontrollably.
Ebony pulled her close and wrapped his wings around her. “I’m so, so sorry Fluttershy. If I could change it I would, in a heartbeat I would take it back.”
Fluttershy sobbed against him, pushing herself against his body and wishing that she could just melt into him. She felt moisture drip onto the top of her head and she looked up in surprise. Once she realized what it was, she reached up, pulled his face to hers, and locked lips with him. It was a slow and passionate kiss. They lost themselves in each other and would’ve kept going had someone not cleared their throat behind them. They spun around to see Twilight standing there, her horn lighting the path.
“I think I have a solution, but I need the whole story.”
They were all sitting around the campfire, Ebony and Fluttershy had just finished telling them everything, and everypony looked absolutely bewildered.
Rainbow snapped out of it first. “I should’ve known that Discord was going to mess things up somehow! I say we follow our original plan and let what happens, happen!”
“G-guys…”
“I have to agree with Rainbow on this, girls. I mean, just how much are we willing to risk for that monster?” Rarity was glaring at Ebony through the flames of the campfire.
“B-but you don’t know…”
“And how come he didn’t tell us this before? That’s probably why he didn’t agree to come in the first place!” Applejack chimed in.
“Girls, please—“
Soon everyone was trying to speak over each other, yelling and shouting. ‘Monster,’ ‘fiend,’ ‘varmint,’ and ‘not worth it,’ floated around the circle and through Fluttershy’s mind. Ebony wasn’t saying a word, only sitting there looking at the dirt patch in front of him.
“ENOUGH!!” Fluttershy finally yelled, to everypony’s utter surprise. Even Ebony stared at her with wide eyes. He face was red with anger, and her eyes went from soft and kindly to hard and cold all in 0.3 seconds. “How dare you talk about him that way! You couldn’t trust me when I said I could reform him, you didn’t even give him a chance when he was obviously trying, and now you’re doing it all over again! Don’t you see he’s changed? The old Lord of Chaos would have turned you all into gravy boats by now!”
“F-F-Fluttershy…” AJ stammered, never before seeing anything scarier in her life.
“Don’t you Fluttershy me, AJ! Everypony deserves a second chance. I am so sick and tired of hearing everypony call him a monster. Please…” Fluttershy’s voice broke as tears started to stream down her face. “Please just give him a chance… He’s good, and kind. Sure he still pulls the occasional prank, but darn it Rainbow so do you! If you could only have seen Princess Celestia’s face when she saw him in his natural form… and… and how happy he makes me.” Fluttershy burst into tears, and Ebony wrapped his wing around her.
“Fluttershy, we’re all really sorry. We had no idea…” AJ looked considerably shaken up.
There was a long moment where the only sound was Fluttershy’s crying, and Ebony whispering to her that it was going to be ok. Twilight finally broke the silence with a question.
“Dis… I mean, Ebony. You said that you and Misfortune used the spell soul-twine?”
He only nodded in response to her, all of his attention still on the delicate mare wrapped in his wing.
“What if I told you that there was a way to counteract that spell?”
Both Ebony and Fluttershy both looked at the unicorn with disbelief in their eyes.
“Come again?” Ebony asked, his eyes disbelieving.
“There’s a spell I can cast that will counteract the soul-twine… but I need to talk to Fluttershy alone first.” Without another word Twilight got up from the campfire and went into the forest, her horn lighting the way. After a moment, Fluttershy flew after her. Once they were alone, Twilight turned to look at her.
“Fluttershy, there’s only one way to counteract a soul-twine, and it’s not fool proof.” Twilight looked back in the direction of the campfire. “I can perform a soul-twine with you and Ebony.”
Fluttershy just stood there, stunned. “I-I don’t understand…”
Twilight took a deep breath. “A second soul-twine doesn’t sever the first. If Misfortune dies, Ebony’s soul will still try to follow hers. But if we use your soul to act as an anchor, he may have a chance.”
“Well what are we waiting for? Let’s go!” Fluttershy started to go back, but Twilight grabbed her arm, stopping her.
“Fluttershy, I don’t think you understand! If your soul can’t hold him here, then it will undoubtedly follow him.” Twilight couldn’t hold her tears in anymore and they flowed down her cheeks. “Fluttershy, there’s a good chance you’ll die.”
Fluttershy hesitated, then her expression became confident. “I’m willing to risk it.”
Twilight wiped her eyes off futilely, as more tears streamed down her cheeks. “I was afraid you were going to say that. Let’s go tell the others.”
They walked back to the campfire in silence. Fluttershy settled in next to Ebony, looked up at him and gave a little smile.
“Well? What is it?” Ebony asked.
“We’re going to cast a second soul-twine. Fluttershy’s soul should help to anchor yours here if Misfortune dies.” Twilight’s expression was solemn.
Ebony frowned. “Something tells me there’s a catch.”
“If Fluttershy’s soul fails to keep yours here, it will follow you.”
It took a minute for Ebony to fully digest what this meant. His eyes slowly filled with anger and desperation. “NO! ABSOLUTELY NOT! I will not allow Fluttershy to suffer for MY mistakes! I absolutely refuse.”
“Fluttershy, you can’t be serious about this! What would we do without you? What about the animals?”
“The animals can take care of themselves.”
“B-but you’re the Element of Kindness, darling! We can’t lose you!”
“And what use would the Element of Kindness be with a broken heart? You’d be losing me either way.”
“D-Do you really love him so much?”
“I do.”
Silence enveloped their little clearing, the only sound to be heard the crackling of the fireplace. Ebony reached over and made Fluttershy look at him.
“You’re sure you want to do this? You know what it means, don’t you?” His eyes searched hers for any sign of hesitation, any faltering. He found none.
“Yes. Ebony or Discord, it doesn’t matter. I love you, and I’ll follow you anywhere.” Her eyes radiated confidence and resolve. “You’re a soul worth saving.”
Tears formed in his eyes as he embraced her. “Flutters, I don’t know what to say…”
Twilight's eyes were full of tears. "I wish you would reconsider, Fluttershy. I know you love him, but we love you too."
"I love you girls too Twilight, but this is my decision and I'm not backing down from it."
Everyone around the campfire was silent, staring at the flames flickering across the wood Applejack had gathered earlier. None of them could think of anything to say for what seemed like forever, until Rainbow Dash spoke up.
"You know what? Flutters you won't be doing this alone. If you are tying your soul to Dis-I mean, Ebony, oh whatever his name is, then I am tying my soul to yours. I've protected you from bullies since we were fillies, and I'm not about to lose you over something like this."
"No, Rainbow! You can't!" Fluttershy cried out desperately.
"Yes I can. Just like you said, this is MY decision."
"Actually Rainbow, she's right, you can't." Twilight was looking sadly at the ground, and as she spoke she lifted her eyes to Rainbow. "A soul-twine is an extremely difficult task, as it is I need to ask for Rarity's help in performing it. I simply don't have enough to cast one soul-twine, let alone two of them."
Rainbow dejectedly sank down to the ground, the unfamiliar look of defeat splayed across her face. Rarity's eyes shot to Twilight, anger filling them.
"Absolutely NOT Twilight!! I will not help you bind our poor Fluttershy to... to... him!" Rarity harrumphed and stuck her nose in the air, looking away from the others.
"Rarity." Ebony hadn't said a word for the entire conversation, but was now looking at Rarity with eyes full of tears.
Rarity opened one eye and looked at him for only a moment before shutting it again, her nose still in the air.
Ebony took a deep breath and started to talk. "I don't want her to do this either, you have to understand that. I hate the thought that she may have to pay for my mistakes. But I also understand that this is in fact her decision to make. I don't want to be in the way of her making a decision for herself. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't relieved that she is willing to do this, because to be completely honest I'm scared out of my wits about facing her again. I know if I have Fluttershy by my side, I will be able to face Misfortune." He paused for a moment, walking over to Rarity and taking her hooves in his own, staring into her eyes. "You have my word that no harm will come to Fluttershy. If it takes every last breath in my body, every last drop of magic and strength, she will be safe."
No one doubted the sincerity of his words. Applejack was pretty good at detecting a lie, and there was not one smidgen of doubt in her that Ebony meant every single word he said. Rarity was looking at him in amazement until her eyes started to fill with tears. She closed her eyes and nodded.
"Alright, fine. I'll help you cast the spell, Twilight."
Twilight nodded, feeling much more confident about casting the soul-twine after Ebony's promise. "We need to get started right away then. Fluttershy, stand here next to Ebony and face me. Rarity, get behind them."
Once everypony was in position, Twilight closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Her horn slowly started to glow, and Fluttershy could feel the pressure of magic in front of her and behind her as Rarity's horn also began to glow. Fluttershy's insides started to feel as though they were going to burst out of her chest, and she shut her eyes tight against the pressure. When she opened them again a small strand of pale pink was being pulled out of her, and a similar, purple strand was being pulled out of Ebony. Twilight's horn was like a beacon now, sparks flying off of it and lighting up the forest around them as if it was daylight. The two strands met and started to twine together, slowly swirling until it was hard to tell where Fluttershy's strand was and where Ebony's strand was. in a flash the strand was gone and all four ponies fell to the ground, exhausted.
"There..." Twilight said, panting with her eyes half closed. "It's done. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to sleep." She slowly got up and tottered off to a soft spot in the grass, laying down.
Rarity looked as if she was going to be sick. "Oh dear... she wasn't kidding when she said it was a big spell..." Rarity too went off to sleep, leaving Fluttershy and Ebony on the ground together. The spell must have taken hours, because the other three Elements were already fast asleep. Ebony looked over at Fluttershy.
'How are you feeling, my dear?' He asked her, reaching over to touch her mane.
"I'm... fine. Just really tired." She said, panting.
'You don't have to speak, you know. Since we are soul-twined I can hear your thoughts,and you can hear mine.'
Fluttershy looked at him sharply, as the realization hit her that he hadn't been speaking, only speaking to her mind. 'You can hear my thoughts?'
Ebony simply nodded in response and scooted his exhausted body over to her. He reached out and held her close, knowing that she had possibly sacrificed her life to save his. She gently nuzzled against his chest as he used his wing to cover her up, and thus they fell asleep.
The four ponies who were involved with the soul-twine were incapable of moving very much the next day, and so spent the entire day lying on the ground recovering. Twilight was suffering the most out of all of them, experiencing severe headaches and muscle cramps from hell. By the end of the day Fluttershy, Ebony and Rarity were able to get up and walk around, but Twilight was bedridden for the entirety of the day. After two days of caring for Twilight and making sure she was regaining all of her strength in preparation for their battle with Misfortune, everypony was ready to set off again, slowly at first.
Right around midday, after eating a small lunch, they came to a town. The town itself was eerie, showing no signs of life , no signs of anypony living there for quite some time. They walked slowly and cautiously through the abandoned streets, listening to the sound of the wind banging broken window shutters against the walls of the houses. Everypony felt it, but Rainbow Dash was the ony who said it: "Something doesn't feel right here..."
The words were no sooner out of her mouth than six ponies sauntered slowly out into the middle of town. They seemed to come from no where, and the Mane Six and Ebony stopped in their tracks as they watched the strange ponies advance toward them, only to stop a few paces away. Each of the strange ponies were the same color of grey, but what was the strangest was that each pony looked exactly like a member of the Mane Six.
"What in tarnation is go-" Applejack started, but was interrupted by the alternate AJ.
"We are the Elements of Misfortune, created by Misfortune herself to help her in her quest to rid the land of useless ponies such as yourselves. I am Deceit, and my companions are Cruelty, Treachery, Selfishness, Despair and last but not least, Enmity." As Deceit said this she pointed in turn to the alternate Fluttershy, Rainbow, Rarity, Pinkie and Twilight. Deceit turned her gaze onto their colorful counterparts. "We know why you are here, and we cannot allow you to move forward any further."
“Well, I suppose I should be pleased to find that without me, Silver Streak has absolutely no imagination…” Discord grumbled.
Twilight looked thoughtfully at the monotone counterparts. Without warning she shot a stream of purple from her horn, heading straight for Deceit. Twilight’s counterpart, Enmity, laughed as a shield formed itself around the entirety of the grey group.
“I can’t believe you actually thought that would work. How could Twilight Sparkle possibly defeat herself?” Enmity smirked at her from behind the shield.
Twilight bit her lip. She thought that the counterparts may have been an illusion to distract them from continuing, but that shield was certainly no illusion. It had stopped her attack dead in its tracks. She heard a growl and looked over at Ebony, who was charging up for his own attack.
“You may be able to counter Twilight, but you are not even close to matching her, because you are missing one thing. Without the Elements of Harmony you don’t stand a chance against me.” His horn blasted a deep blue towards the shield, holding it there for a few moments before the shield finally disintegrated and the counterparts were turned into grey colored poppy flowers. Ebony frowned at the flowers, and no one but Fluttershy seemed to notice that something was bothering him. She looked at him thoughtfully and figured he must be thinking of Misfortune again.
The Mane Six and Ebony continued to walk through the ghost town, taking care to trample the poppy flowers thoroughly before moving on. Soon they had left the little town behind, never seeing another pony after the Elements of Misfortune. They were traveling over rocky terrain that slowly sloped upwards, Twilight occasionally checking the map.
Twilight finally broke the silence that had engulfed them all ever since Fluttershy bonded herself to Discord. “Ebony, how was your magic able to defeat the Elements of Misfortune when mine wasn’t able to even breach their shield?”
Ebony looked at her in surprise. “Why, I thought you would have figured that out by now! Twilight, my dear, let me make one thing perfectly clear: without your precious Elements, there would have been nothing to stop me from taking over Equestria.”
Twilight gulped and said the only the thing that came to mind. “Ah.”
Ebony chuckled. “No need to fear, I have no desire for Equestria… at least not at this moment. I’m more interested in taking care of little miss Silver Streak, so that I may no longer be troubled by her.”
Somehow this statement didn’t make Twilight feel any better.
The seven travelers finally reached a very large cave, one that strongly reminded Twilight of the cave in which the Ursa Major owned in the Everfree Forest. Ebony didn’t say a word as they stopped just outside the mouth of the cave.
“So, uh, what’s the game plan guys?” Rainbow Dash asked, a slight quiver in her voice as she planted her hooves on the ground.
They all looked at Ebony, who didn’t register that he was being watch until he realized that the conversation had stopped. He glanced over, only to find everypony looking at him. Surprised as he was, he simply stared back at them for a moment before replying, “Oh, wait… you want me to figure out the strategy?”
“You did know her best, according to the Princess.” Applejack told him logically.
He sighed heavily. “Well…. Perhaps I should go in there first, and try to talk her out of what she is doing. If I can’t seem to knock some sense into her, then you girls will-“
“No.”
They all looked at Fluttershy, surprised to hear that word come out of her mouth with such confidence and without a second of hesitation.
Ebony looked at her with concern, “What do you mean no, my dear?”
Fluttershy looked at him defiantly. “I told you from the start that I would be with you to help you through this. Not some of it, not most of it. All of it. Every single step of the way. You will not be going in there by yourself.”
The other Elements looked at her with absolute shock. They had never heard Fluttershy talk like that to anypony, ever.
Ebony gave her a sympathetic look before saying, “Darling, I don’t know what she will do. I would prefer for you to stay out here until I call for your assistance.”
Fluttershy’s gaze had not faltered. She didn’t even reply to him… which in and of itself was the reply, though not the one Ebony was looking for. He sighed in defeat.
‘I should’ve known better than to argue with her when she’s like that… when Fluttershy is stubborn, she won’t budge… but sweet Chaos is she cute when she’s like that.’ He thought to himself.
“Very well, my dear. But on one condition: stay silent. Don’t say a word to her unless I expressly tell you to. Alright?” Ebony looked at her seriously, and she simply nodded in response.
“Did he seriously just ask Fluttershy to be quiet? Really? Is that even necessary??” Rarity whispered to Pinkie, who giggled in response.
Ebony and Fluttershy walked into the ominous cave together, quickly disappearing from sight.
Fluttershy walked closely to Ebony, making sure that their sides were touching constantly so that she wouldn’t lose him in the darkness. She whimpered softly and she felt him put his wing around her, as if shielding her from the dark. They walked on, and Fluttershy wondered whether they would be able to even see Misfortune past all of the impenetrable darkness. Just when she thought she couldn’t take it anymore, despite Ebony’s wing draped over her, they were surrounded by silver light, almost as if the moon had been summoned in the cave. A few feet away was a mare, her coat silvery grey and her mane as white as snow. If she hadn’t known better, Fluttershy would’ve said she was incredibly elegant.
“Discord, my my my. It has been a long time, hasn’t it?”
“That’s not my name anymore, Silver Streak.” Ebony growled.
Misfortune laughed at him. “Nor is that mine, but let us not waste time on trivial things such as names. Are you here to beg me for forgiveness and join me again?”
“Ha! You wish. I’m simply here to try and talk some sense into you, that’s all. Although I’m secretly hoping you don’t listen to me.”
“You know, someone once told me there was no fun in making sense. Since when did you try to talk sense?” She sneered at him.
“How did you come back, Silver?” He ignored her question.
“Oh come now Discord, sweetheart. You should know me by now. Do you really think I would’ve allowed myself to be caught by those two unless I had a backup plan?” She sniffed, as if she smelled something terrible. “Celestia and Luna have always thought they were better than you and I, and it was reflected through how the pony’s treated us. Remember how they used to sneer, how the other fillies and colts would bully us for trying to be better than what we really were?”
“That wasn’t the Princesses fault Silver, and you know-“
“How DARE you treat this as if it was nothing!” She cut him off, her eyes flaming with hatred and anger. “You would simply dismiss how we were treated, how miserable we were, as if it meant nothing?”
Ebony looked at her with sadness in his eyes. “Silver, I was never miserable. I never cared how other ponies treated me, because their opinions didn’t matter to me. There were only three ponies in the world whose opinion mattered, and that was you, Celestia and Luna. That was something you never truly understood, was it?”
She hissed at him loudly. “You always were soft, Discord.” Her gaze rested upon Fluttershy, who immediately shrank back. Misfortune looked from her to Ebony thoughtfully. “Where are your manners, Discord? Who is the little mare friend?”
“Don’t you even touch her, you wench.”
Misfortune feigned shock. “Why, I was only being polite! Here you and I are reminiscing about the good old days, and your friend here is simply left out.” She grinned widely at Fluttershy, making Fluttershy retreat into her rosy pink mane even more. “Come now, don’t be frightened. What is your name?”
Fluttershy whimpered, not wanting to answer. Misfortune frowned.
“Is she a mute, then?” She looked questioningly at Ebony.
“That is none of your business, Silver Streak. You have business only with me.”
Misfortune’s eyes narrowed. “And who are you exactly? You look like Ebony Laughter, yet your heart remains Discord.”
“What are you talking about, Silver.” He said her name like a curse, making her laugh.
“I think you know exactly what I am talking about, Discord. There was a reason why you were no longer Ebony Laughter, why you chose to be the Lord of Chaos.”
“You made me this way.”
She giggled at him. “Oh dear, it seems as though some pony has lost their memory. Shall I entertain our guest with a story, then?”
“Silver—“
But it was too late. Misfortune was already looking at Fluttershy, a strange gleam in her eyes. Fluttershy, try as she might was unable to look away from them, and felt herself slowly slip away….
Fluttershy woke up to find herself in a field filled with flowers and tall grasses. She has just been having the most awful dream, and was glad she had woken up. She looked around her and with a sudden pang she realized that she had absolutely no idea where she was. She whimpered softly as she looked around her, trying desperately to find something familliar.
Her ears perked up at the sound of voices, though instead of making herself known she shrank back, allowing the tall grass to hide her.
A female voice was laughing, "That was the best prank ever!"
"Did you see the looks on their faces? Priceless!" At the sound of the male voice, Fluttershy's ears perked up even more.
'Ebony?' She thought to herself, daring to take a peek in the direction of the voices.
What she saw brought everything back in a flash; Discord changing into Ebony Laughter, her and Ebony and their soul twine, the Elements of Misfortune, and of course, Misfortune herself. She let out a small gasp as she watched Ebony and Silver Streak trot through the meadow laughing. It didn't take her long to realize that this was only a memory, something that had happened in the past.
"What in the world did you turn into anyway?" Silver asked, her laughter subsiding.
"Well, I was reading a book I borrowed from Celestia about a species called the draconnequi, and how their magic mostly focused on chaos. I thought it would be perfect for our prank today." Ebony responded, smiling faintly.
"I think it fits you really well, actually. I mean, you seemed so natural like that." Silver laid down on the grass.
Ebony copied the movement, sitting in front of her and responding mildly, "It did feel more comfortable than I thought it would, to be honest." He mused for a moment and in a flash of blue transformed into the draconequus.
Fluttershy felt her heart skip a beat when she saw Discord. 'Oh my goodness... Do I- do I miss Discord?' She hadn't even realized she had missed the mismatched troublemaker.
Silver Streak got up and circled him. "It really does suit you, I must say."
"It feels natural to me, as if this particular form was meant for me." Discord/Ebony was looking himself over.
"Well, if you are comfortable that way, then I saw you should keep it."
Fluttershy frowned at the scene before her. Ebony had told her and everypony else that Misfortune had turned him into Discord, that he was the reason he had become the Lord of Chaos... but from what she was seeing, he thought of it all by himself. A part of her felt like this was a trick laid out by Misfortune, and yet another part knew this scene was a true memory and that Ebony had lied to her. Her mind whirled, a million thoughts running through and confusing her.
'No,' She told herself, 'This doesn't change a thing. If this is real and not some trick of Misfortune's, then he had a good reason for lying. If- no, when we get out of this alive then we can talk about it.'
At that thought, she saw Silver Streak lean into Discord and realized that they were kissing. She quickly looked away, feeling an odd mix of emotions swirl around her chest and stomach. Half of her heart felt jealousy rip through her, and another more subdued half felt as though she was intruding on a very personal situation.
"What's the matter, little mare? Don't like romance?" Misfortune's voice echoed around Fluttershy, reverberating the malice they held until her bones ached. Fluttershy didn't respond, only burying her face deeper into her front legs.
"Oh come now, it's rude to ignore somepony who is simply trying to have a discussion with you." Misfortune taunted, trying to get Fluttershy to talk.
Fluttershy ignored her, desperately wishing that her Discord was there. Suddenly she heard a crash and a yell, her head shooting up in surprise.
Her Discord, not Ebony, was standing up and dusting himself off. Fluttershy's heart felt as though it was going to jump out of her chest when she saw him, confirming her earlier question to herself: She had missed Discord the Draconequus.
Discord examined himself closely, a confused look on his face. He looked at Fluttershy, his eyebrow raised as if to say, 'Really, this is what you want?'
He shrugged when she sat there, still looking shocked, and thought to himself, 'We'll just talk about this later, then...'
A maniacal laughter cut through their silence. "Well, Discord, it seems as thought your little mare friend doesn't want your natural form. She wants this twisted, evil being that you claim I turned you into. But we learned differently, didn't we girl?" Fluttershy felt a hoof brush her hair back possessively, breaking her out of her shocked and heart-wrenched state and causing her to shrink back into the grass, her eyes tightly shut.
Discord growled at the disembodied voice of Misfortune. "This has nothing to do with her. This is between you and me, Silver Streak!"
"Oh, but that's where you are wrong, old friend. You made it about her when you bound yourself to her, just as you bound yourself to me." There was nothing said, only a low growl from Discord, and Misfortune laughed at him. "Have nothing to say, hm? Just as well, the next scene is about to begin."
Fluttershy felt, rather than saw the settings around her change, and soon she found herself in what appeared to be a rundown orphanage. There were a few thin children sleeping in ragged beds, covered with stained sheets. In the corner was a hunched figure, and Fluttershy could hear the soft sound of sobbing coming from it.
She slowly walked over, her motherly instincts taking over. She was about to say something when she a heard the voice of Silver Streak behind her: "Are you okay?" Before she could even react, Fluttershy felt Silver move through her.
'It's another memory,' She realized. 'This must be sometime after the memory from the meadow.'
The figure in the corner turned, and Fluttershy saw Discord, eyes pouring tears. Fluttershy gasped at the sight, never before realizing that Discord was capable of such tears.
"Why do they have to be so mean, Silver? Why can't they just leave us alone and let us be friends with whoever we choose? So what if they're the Princesses, they still have a right to have friends...." Discord was trying very hard to hold in his tears, however unsuccessfully.
Fluttershy was almost in tears herself, and yet was very confused. 'He's so sensitive... almost as sensitive as I am...' She wondered what had happened to change him so much, but before she could speculate any further, she got her answer.
"Really, Discord? A couple of kids pick on you and you're here sobbing like a baby?" Fluttershy looked over at Silver just in time to see the sneer form on her face. Silver continued to scold Discord, "If you really want to carry out our plans and rule Equestria together, you have to stop being such a little filly. I need a strong person to stand beside me... if you can't toughen up, I'll have to find somepony else."
Discord looked at her with his still wet eyes, "But, Silver-"
Silver moved in, pushing her muzzle against him, looking at him through eyes that were half lidded, her voice husky. "Don't you love me, Discord? Don't you want to be with me, forever?"
"Yes, but-"
"Then toughen up." She said menacingly, her eyes narrowing suddenly as she pulled back from him.
Discord looked at the ground in defeat, one word slipping past his lips in a mumble: "Ok."
"Good. Now get some rest, we have a lot to do tomorrow." Silver Streak turned away, heading for her own bed and leaving Discord to continue sobbing as quietly as he could in the corner of the room.
The scene shifted again, opening up to a different scene. Celestia and Luna were on one side of a courtyard that appeared to be the old castle in the Everfree Forest. On the other side of the courtyard was a very determined looking Misfortune and a fidgety Discord.
"Just give up, Celestia. We as ponies were never meant to get along."
"Silver Streak, please don't do this! What happened to all the good times we had as children? The picnics at the waterfall, the rides into market, teasing the palace guards!" Luna pleaded with her.
"It is precisely because of those good times that I am stuck with being called a no good, brown nosing orphan! You don't understand what it feels like to be ridiculed like that every day!" Misfortune yelled back at her, eyes flaming with hatred.
"What about Ebony, then? Does Ebony feel the same way that you do, Silver?"
"Stop calling me that! The Silver Streak that you once knew is gone and has been replace by me, Misfortune."
"You haven't answered my sister's question." Celestia's face was calm as she addressed the distraught mare threatening both her and her sister.
"I don't have to answer any questions you ask. I am in control here." Misfortune spat at her, a scowl disfiguring her face.
"You're right. I'm sure Ebony can answer for himself. Ebony, do you truly feel as though Luna and I are the source of all your problems?" Celestia looked at the obviously nervous Discord, who fidgeted even more under Misfortune's murderous gaze. Suddenly, as if something had snapped inside of him, he straightened up and his whole demeanor changed.
"Celestia, you and your sister have caused nothing but trouble to Misfortune and I. I must stand with Misfortune." Discord had reached the final stage of the creature that had attacked Ponyville with his chaos, and Fluttershy's tears weren't stopping. This Discord did things to spite ponies, always wanting something to distract him... and now she knew why.
Celestia was shaking her head sorrowfully, tears in her own eyes as Luna was openly crying. Celestia looked at the pair of new villains and a tear escaped her eyes to trickle down her cheek. "I'm so sorry you feel that way. But Luna and I are not going anywhere. This is our home, and our kingdom."
Misfortune looked at them smugly. "You have no idea how much I was hoping you would say that." Her horn started glowing turquoise with her magic, and she fixed it on the two sisters. Celestia had instantly started to charge up her own horn while Luna raised a shield.
"Sweet dreams, Princesses." Misfortune muttered before firing, her bolt immediately disintegrating Luna's shield and striking the sisters, knocking them unconscious.
Discord was looking at the two sisters lying on the ground, not having yet registered that they were simply unconscious. "Silver, what have you done?"
"How many times must I tell you, you dolt. I am Misfortune now, just as you are Discord. And I haven't killed them so don't trouble your soft heart. I've only put them to sleep and sent them into a dream land where they will never bother us again."
"That wasn't the plan! The plan was to lock them in a tower for a couple of years, let the people forget about them... what you've done, you've..." Discord couldn't finish his sentence.
"What I've done? Discord, you agreed that they were in the way of our happiness. This was as much your decision as it was mine. I've only given the plan a little bit of a twist, is all."
"I only agreed to make you happy, Misfortune! I never saw them as in the way, just that other ponies were unwilling to see what you, Celestia, Luna and I really had. Do you think I'm stupid? I know what you've done, you can't just tell me that you've put them to sleep! You've sent their souls into a dreamland, one that they won't be able to escape until it is too late!"
Misfortune growled at him. "Who cares! Now I am free to rule Equestria as I please, and make all the ponies who made my life miserable suffer for what they have done!" When she realized that Discord looked suddenly hurt at her words, she laughed cruelly. "Yes, that's right I said that only I will be ruling Equestria. You just don't understand, you don't see past that damn tender heart of yours and I am sick and tired of dealing with it." She looked at him smugly, her head held high.
If Fluttershy thought something in Discord had snapped before, then she was wrong. Something really snapped when he found that Misfortune had been lying to him the whole time. He stood there shocked for a moment, looking at her through wide eyes, his lion's paw over his chest. "But... we soul twined."
"Try not to die, then."
That was it. The last straw, the final step over the line. Discord's face became stormy, fluffy pink clouds forming around him. "Very well, Misfortune. If that is the way you want it, my dear, then so be it. You want to see a heart of stone? Ask and you shall receive, though beware of what the future brings." It was then that Fluttershy heard the laugh; the laugh of somepony half-crazed, the laugh that she knew all too well from her first meeting with Discord in the labyrinth, when he had stolen the Elements of Harmony. She could barely see what was going on through the tears in her eyes.
Just like that, everything was gone, and Fluttershy was again standing in the cave next to Ebony (not, she realized with disappointment, Discord), with Misfortune standing in front of them.
"So you see, my little mare, Discord not only chose his form, but also chose to become evil. I won't deny that I did give him a little push here and there, but the majority of it was all him." Misfortune said quietly, glaring at Discord from narrowed eyes.
Fluttershy saw a flash of light through her eyelids, which were closed in an attempt to stop the crying. She felt a lion's paw and an eagle's talon grab her shoulders and she looked up in shock. Discord, her Discord, was staring back at her through gold and crimson eyes, concern playing through them.
"Fluttershy... I am so sorry you had to see that. You should never, ever have had to see that... and as much as I simply want to hold you and tell you it will be alright, I can't right now. I need you to be strong and help me defeat Misfortune before she has a chance to get away and harm anyone else. Go and get the other Elements, I will hold her off."
"But Discord, I can't leave you-"
He grabbed both sides of her face and gently kissed her on the lips, stopping her in her sentence as her heart decided it wanted to jump out of her chest again, only this time with much more force. He pulled away from her and looked her in the eyes.
"Now go." He picked her up and set her in the direction of the cave entrance, watching only to see that she started to run before turning back to Misfortune, anger written on every line of his face. "You've screwed with my life for the last time, Silver."
"That's it, I'm going in!" Rainbow Dash had been waiting patiently for the better part of an hour, and had finally had enough. Fluttershy and Ebony had been in there way too long, and she was worried about her friend.
Before she could take off, Applejack had Rainbow's tail in her mouth. "Woah there, sugarcube. Ebony told us to wait out here until he called for us." Applejack said through a mouthful of rainbow colored tail.
"And you expect me to trust him? He lied to us, AJ! He could've told us he was Discord from the very beginning!" Rainbow Dash struggled for only a moment, then realized that Applejack was not going to allow her to go into that cave.
"I must say I agree with Rainbow Dash, girls. Besides, how do we know that brute hasn't tricked poor Fluttershy and has turned on us, working for Misfortune instead."
Applejack glared at Rarity before responding, "Do ya really think that Fluttershy is that easily fooled? She may be shy and naive, but she isn't stupid. Besides, Rainbow, if yer so angry at Discord for lyin' to us, why aren't ya angry at Fluttershy? She lied to us to, ya know." Applejack was always the voice of common sense, forcing other ponies to see the truth when they otherwise wouldn't have.
Rainbow sputtered, not knowing what to say. "Well, that's... that's different, Fluttershy is our friend! Discord isn't!"
Twilight's head shot up from the book she had been reading. "Applejack is right, girls. We promised to trust Fluttershy's judgment of Discord and his intentions. Besides, any friend of Fluttershy's is a friend of mine. Regardless of his past wrong-doings."
Rainbow landed heavily on ground, defeated and feeling ashamed of herself for having doubted her childhood friend. "Fine. But they're not out in the next ten minutes, I'm going in there no matter what you say!" She looked at Twilight with her eyebrow up. "Hey, where did you get that book anyway? You didn't seriously pack it up the mountain, did you?"
Twilight had been levitating her book in front of her face, and lowered it just enough to look at Rainbow Dash from over the top of it. "If you must know, I've been practicing this summoning spell that allows me to call any book from my library to wherever I am at. It took me weeks to perfect, and thankfully I had it down before going on this journey. I found the spell in a book called..."
As Twilight rambled on about her new spell, Applejack leaned closer to Rainbow and whispered, "Ya just had to ask, didn't ya?"
Rainbow snickered at the comment, then her right ear, the one closest to the cave, perked up at the sound of running hooves. They all heard it and turned towards the cave in time to see Fluttershy, tears streaming down her face running out of the cave, barely noticing where she was going. Applejack intercepted her just before she tumbled off the edge of the cliff.
"What's wrong, sugarcube?" Applejack asked as soon as Fluttershy was safe.
"Did that good-for-nothing trickster hurt you? Where is he? Why I'll-" Rainbow Dassh was interrupted by Fluttershy, who was still belligerent through her tears.
"D-discord... he-he's holding off-ff Misfo-fortune in there." Sudden realization of the situation at hand caused her eyes to widen and her stammer to disappear. "We have to go help him! He sent me out here to get you girls and he said he was gonna stay behind and hold off Misfortune but I don't know how long he'll last and oh dear Celestia please don't let him die and-"
Twilight cut her off. "Slow down, Fluttershy, you're only freaking yourself out more. We all need to have a calm head about this." She looked at the other Elements of Harmony. "C'mon girls, we have to get in there."
They all rushed into the cave, Fluttershy surprisingly taking the lead (not that the others even had a chance, she was running so fast). As they ran deeper into the cave they came closer to a series of flashing lights which could only be the battle going on between Misfortune and Discord. They rounded the last corner just in time to see Discord hit the ground, battered and bruised.
"Discord!" Fluttershy shouted and ran up to him, taking his head into her lap.
"My dear Fluttershy, don't you know how rude it is to be late?" Discord whispered, falling into a coughing fit.
Fluttershy didn't pay the comment any attention, stroking his face and crying softly. "You're going to be okay, Discord. The girls are here and we are going to defeat Misfortune."
Discord smiled at her. "Well, you couldn't have had better timing... I'm done, Fluttershy. I feel cold... the world is spinning around me and my life is flashing before my eyes..." He grimaced. "I really didn't have good fashion sense in the 70's..."
Fluttershy's tears hadn't stopped, flowing down her face. "No, you're going to be fine. We'll defeat her and get you out of here."
"Don't worry about me.. I-I have lived a long life and have lived long enough to say goodbye to you... that is all I can ask for." He spasmed (a motion that looked ridiculous, and would've been funny in any other moment), and then lay there, unmoving, his eyes wide open and his tongue lolling out of his mouth.
Fluttershy was too distraught to see any humor in any of it, however. She yelled to him, "Discord! No, Discord!!" When he didn't respond, she bent over his limp form possessively.
The maniacal laughter of Misfortune sounded from around the Elements. "Well, lookie here. It seems as though the Lord of Chaos, even in death, hasn't lost his sense of humor. What's the matter little mare? Can't take a joke?" Misfortune laughed again.
Fluttershy kissed the dead draconequus' forehead before slowly getting up, cold fury enveloping her and transforming her features from the soft, angelic normality into something hard and unforgiving. She didn't say a word, only nodded to the other Elements (who were all shaking with horror, and not from Misfortune) to let them know she was ready and took up her position. Misfortune had materialized in the middle of the great cavern, a smug look on her elegant face.
Fluttershy looked back at Misfortune, the other Elements surrounding her. "I had pity for you in the beginning you know. I felt sorry for the little orphan who was mercilessly teased for being friends with somepony. I still feel pity for you, though." Fluttershy's eyes flamed with anger and hatred as the Elements of Harmony activated and levitated them all off the ground, leaving Misfortune on the ground to stare disbelievingly at the floating ponies. "I feel sorry for you because you don't know what real friendship or love feels like. I feel pity that you have chosen now, when we are the Elements of Harmony, to make yourself known. But there is one thing I don't feel sorry for. This." At that moment, the necklaces and Twilight's crown fired a bright rainbow at Misfortune, who suddenly realized that she had no way of escaping. Instead she yelled as the rainbow struck her and swirled around her, obscuring her from view.
When the rainbow melted away, all that was left of Misfortune was a single silver bracelet, glowing slightly. Fluttershy walked up and took a closer look at the bracelet to see that it was engraved with little figures of what appeared to be the events of Misfortune's life, complete with the end scene where the Elements of Harmony had defeated her. Fluttershy reached out a hoof to touch it, then Twilight yelled.
"Wait! Don't touch it Fluttershy!" Twilight trotted over next to her. "It may seem like it's just a bracelet, but you have to remember that it's still Misfortune, much like Discord was still Discord even though he was only a statue." Twilight levitated the bracelet into her own packs carefully before looking at Fluttershy with sympathy. "I'm so sorry Fluttershy, I-"
"Don't." Fluttershy cut her off, tears forming in her eyes again. "I don't want to talk about it... it just... it just doesn't make sense! Why didn't I feel him slip away? I thought we were soul twined and that I would have a chance to fight for him if he tried to slip away... but I couldn't do anything..."
"Fluttershy, my dear, haven't I told you there is no fun in making sense?"
All six mares, who had all joined Twilight and Fluttershy near the bracelet, whirled to find Discord, standing there without a scratch on him, grinning like a fool. Pinkie Pie, who had been surprisingly silent through the whole ordeal, let out a big whoop and ran forward to hug Discord.
"Oh my gosh! We all thought you were dead, and Fluttershy was so sad and then we defeated Misfortune and Fluttershy tried to touch the bracelet but Twillight said no and then we were all sad again because you were dead but now here you are and look! Not even a bruise!" Pinkie said breathlessly, giggling at the end and letting go of Discord.
"What in tarnation, Discord? We were all worried sick about ya, we all thought you were dead! What happened?"
"You better have a good reason for this Discord, or I'll, I'll..." Rainbow Dash couldn't formulate the end of her sentence, Discord was laughing so hard.
Discord looked at Rainbow Dash, wiping a tear from his eyes and trying desperately to stop laughing. "Or you'll what? Crash into me? As you can clearly see, I've dealt with worse. Besides, now that I'm the Lord of Chaos again I couldn't help but create a dramatic death for you all to feel emotional about. And boy did it work! You should've seen the looks on your faces!!" He burst out with laughter all over again, and everyone but him was looking at Fluttershy, expecting to see her angry or sad.
Fluttershy couldn't think of anything to do but sit there and look shocked, mouth hanging open. It took her a moment to realize that it really was Discord standing there, laughing as though nothing had happened. Her mouth closed and formed an angry line, her eyes narrowed and she flew right up to Discord. Discord immediately stopped laughing and looked at her with wide eyes, afraid of what she was gonna do. To his and everypony else's surprise, she didn't hit him or scold him, but flew right into his arms, hugging him so tight that his face started to turn blue.
"It's good to have you back, Discord." She murmured into his fur as his arms encircled her.
Fluttershy was moving around her little kitchen, making pancakes and waiting patiently for Discord to wake up from the couch. They had gotten back from their journey after defeating Misfortune only two days earlier. They had all returned to their own homes to rest, and were scheduled to meet with the Princesses later that day for dinner, after which they would talk about the defeat of Misfortune. Before they left however, Fluttershy had plans to talk to Discord about what had transpired while she and him had been in the cave with Misfortune. A million questions reeled through her mind; were those memories real? If so, why didn't he just say that it was he who came up with the draconequus form, not Misfortune? What possible reason could there be to lie to her? Was he okay with the fact that she truly did love Discord more than she did Ebony? Did he understand why?
Fluttershy shook her head to clear her thought's, focusing on not burning the pancakes. 'Sooner or later the smell will wake him up, and then we can talk.' She thought to herself as she took the spatula in her mouth and flipped a pancake.
"Good morning, dear Fluttershy!" The spatula had suddenly grown two suspiciously familiar eyes and a mouth with one pointed tooth sticking out. Fluttershy squealed and dropped the utensil, where it transformed back into Discord. He continued to lay there on floor, grinning at her. He reached out and grabbed her, pulling her to him on the floor where he continued to hold her, softly stroking her mane. Shocked at first, Fluttershy slowly eased into the embrace, enjoying the just-woken-up warmth from his body. She closed her eyes and nuzzled his chest. They laid on the kitchen floor for some time before Fluttershy smelled something burning.
She leapt up from the floor, pulling herself away from Discord. "Oh dear, the pancakes!" She immediately turned off the stove top and moved the pan from the hot burner. Then she stared at the crispy discs laying in the pan with disdain.
"Oh come now, don't look like that! They're still perfectly edible, with the right amount of syrup." Discord summoned a bottle of maple syrup and poured it over one of the black pancakes. He bit into it and immediately put his hand to his throat, making a 'guhh' sound and collapsing onto the floor dramatically. Fluttershy rolled her eyes, smiling affectionately at him.
"What, is my cooking that bad? I'm sorry, I try so hard..." She pouted, looking down at the floor dejectedly.
Discord's head shot up at the sound of her sad voice and said immediately, "Oh no! I was just joking, I didn't mean to make you feel bad! Look, they really aren't bad at all, in fact, I like them! See?" He shoved the whole pancake in his mouth and chewed vigorously at first, but it slowly turned into a slow, forced chewing. "Mmm, see?" He said, spraying black crumbs all over.
Fluttershy laughed at him, "I can't believe you ate the whole thing! I got you, Discord!"
He stared at her in disbelief, unable to register that this sweet little mare had actually got one over on him. Finally he grinned at her and picked her up, causing her to yelp in surprise. "Why you little wench! How dare you trick the Lord of Chaos himself! You have earned yourself a punishment, my dear!"
Fluttershy's laughing abruptly stopped at the mention of 'punishment' and looked at him suspiciously. "What do you mean punishment?"
He grinned at her mischievously before carrying her into her living room and throwing he on the couch... where he proceeded to tickle her.
"N-no! Discord, what're you doing, Discord, STAHP!" She desperately struggled, laughing uncontrollably as Discord tickled her, laughing as much as she was.
"What was that? I couldn't quite hear you darling, you're laughing too much." He said over her loud laughing.
"D-discord... ahahahaa! Please, stop!" Fluttershy had tears in her eyes from laughing too much.
"Well, since you said please..." He finally stopped his tickling barrage, allowing her to catch her breath. She laid on the couch a little longer, and then her stomach growled.
She sighed. "Well, I guess I better get in there and make the pancakes right this time." She started to move, but Discord held his hand up.
"Please, allow me. After all, I was the one who distracted you from your cooking." He snapped his fingers and within seconds he and Fluttershy were sitting at her dining room table, fresh-made pancakes sitting in front of them along with glasses of milk (chocolate for Discord, of course) and plenty of hot syrup. Fluttershy even had a fruit salad sitting next to her pancakes, filled with strawberries, little mandarin slices, blueberries, and bananas drizzled with honey.
"Oh my goodness, this looks delicious!" Fluttershy exclaimed, digging into her salad.
"Anything for you, my dear. Besides, we're both going to need our strength to deal with Sunbutt up there." He took a long sip of his chocolate milk, the amount of milk in the glass never going down, providing Discord a nearly endless supply just out of one glass.
Fluttershy swallowed the strawberry she had been munching and looked at him thoughtfully. "Discord, may I ask you a question?"
Discord put down his glass solemnly. "I figured this would be coming. Of course you may ask me a question." He looked at her straight on, an amount of seriousness she didn't think was possible for the Lord of Chaos.
She swallowed, suddenly finding her throat dry. "Well... I was just wondering... were the memories that Misfortune showed to me true?" Discord simply nodded at her. "You told me at first that it was Misfortune that made you the Lord of Chaos... and yet in the memories I saw that you had come with it all by yourself. Why didn't you just tell me the truth?"
"My dear, I did tell you the truth. I did come up with the form. Misfortune however, made me the cruel being you met in the Labyrinth... just because I look this way, doesn't mean I am what I used to be."
"Oh." Was all Fluttershy could think to say as she mulled over what he had said. She really hadn't thought of it like that, and to have all her questions answered with such a simple answer was... well, unexpected.
"Now, may I ask you a question?" Discord spoke up, pulling her from her thoughts. She nodded at him.
He took a deep breath and looked at her meaningfully. "When you were in the memories and you wished for me, I appeared in this form, my draconequus form... Why did you wish for Discord, not Ebony Laughter?"
Fluttershy blushed. "Well, I guess I didn't realize how much I missed you- Discord, I mean. I know it isn't the real you, and I feel just awful loving a fake you instead of the real you."
Discord left his chair and walked over to hers, looking her in the eyes. "Then allow me to explain something to you, my dear. I didn't realize how much I missed Discord either. You see, when I went back to being Ebony Laughter, even though it was the real me, I felt... wrong. Like it wasn't me somehow. I felt as though my whole self had changed." He kissed her on her forehead before looking back into her eyes. "Misfortune and everything else in my life changed me. Ebony Laughter was who I used to be, not who I am now. Too much has happened, and I couldn't go back to being Ebony again, not after realizing all of this. I guess my real question is this: Do you love Discord, or do you love Ebony?"
To Fluttershy, everything clicked. Ebony, who didn't cause havoc and wasn't nearly as fun as Discord was, and why she had missed Discord so much despite the more peaceful counterpart. She had forced herself to love Ebony because she felt as though Discord was in there somewhere... but what she really wanted was Discord. She stared into Discord's eyes and replied, "I didn't fall in love with Ebony... I fell in love with Discord. I don't want to change you into somepony more peaceful, or even less chaotic. I want you to be who you are, nothing more, nothing less."
Discord smiled at her and kissed her, wrapping her up in his arms firmly. She hugged him back gratefully, melting into his hold and nuzzling into him. She felt his lips brush the top of her head, and smiled contentedly. He pulled back and looked at her again. "Now, let's finish this breakfast and get ready for tonight."
