//------------------------------//
// Chapter 2 
// Story: The Land of Dreams 
// by Rocky The Unicorn 
//------------------------------//

Chapter 2
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Discord stood in the freezing snow. He could barely feel his limbs. It felt as if icicles were growing upon his chin that very moment. He knew that it was possible for the weather to hurt him, since the storm had been created by an unknown magic. His head told him to return to Ponyville, but his heart was telling him something different. His heart wanted to go out into the heart of the storm to look for Fluttershy. His heart felt that she was out there all alone without any protection. He needed to find her, no matter the cost. Discord slowly and steadily started moving. He brushed the snow off himself. He began to search in the snowy biome of Ponyville. He searched for a while, but still no sign of her. Discord began to worry about how the weather could affect Fluttershy. If weather this bad could hurt him, Discord, the King of Chaos, it could definitely hurt a gentle, loving, beautiful, mare like Fluttershy.
She was so precious to him. Her light pink mane that reminded him of cotton candy clouds; her yellow coat the color of the golden sun setting upon the horizon; and he couldn’t forget her beautiful teal eyes, that always looked at him so lovingly. Sometimes, it felt as if no other creature in the world cared about him but Fluttershy. Most of all, he loved Fluttershy because of her sweet personality and her being able to easily forgive somepony. Wait, what was the word he used? Oh yes, he loved Fluttershy.
Do I really love Fluttershy? Do I want us to be more than friends? Wow, had this buttercream mare really come into his life, and softened his heart? This mare did more than soften his heart. She went right ahead and stole it. His life would never be the same. That was specifically why he had to find her, no matter what!
Discord’s head suddenly hurt. He felt so dizzy, and let out a groan. Angel Bunny lifted up Discord’s hat, to see what was going on out there. Discord felt a sharp pain in his head. His body was intensely shivering. He was making his way through the snow, in the direction of Ponyville. He had to be at least 2 miles away. There was no possible way he would be able to fly in this weather, or use his magic. The only option was to walk. His coordination was really bad. He couldn’t tell which direction was which. Was he headed towards Ponyville, or farther into the Everfree forest? He continued onward, no matter the direction. But, what was he doing? Why return to Ponyville when Fluttershy was still out there, probably freezing to death in the storm. He would be fine. He had no reason to worry. Discord felt lethargic. The shivering was just getting more intense.
He saw Fluttershy’s scarf lying on the ground. He must have dropped it earlier. As Discord reached down to pick it up, his shivering came to a stop. He felt warmth surrounding his body. He assumed the storm must be coming close to an end since he was already feeling better. He put the scarf up to his face. It smelled just like her. He knew she had to be out there, somewhere. He started to feel even warmer than before. He thought the sun was coming out, so he looked up at the sky. To his horror, he found that dark gray clouds still covered the sky and were pouring down snow.
Discord tried to breathe, but all of his breaths were very shallow and slow. He knew what was happening. He tried calling for help, but his speech was slurred.
Oh no. Apathy, very shallow and slow breathing, bad coordination, slurred speech, and intense shivering leading to warmth. This only meant one thing. He had hypothermia. Discord thought.
Discord felt his muscles loosen, and his body sulk. He felt himself as if in slow motion falling down, and collapsing into the snow surrounding him.
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As the closest princess to ponyville, Twilight Sparkle had the duty of flying over ponyville with the captain of the Wonderbolts, Rainbow Dash. They were to make sure everypony was safe, inside during the storm. If somepony wasn’t, they would have to assist them. Rainbow Dash had gone through lots of training at the academy, so she was supposed to be Twilight’s guide during this time of disaster.
As they flew over the town of ponyville, the two began to talk.
“Wow, it’s been awhile since we last talked Dash.”
“Yeah, no kidding Princess.”
“Rainbow Dash, honestly call be Twilight! I’m your best friend. You don’t have to call me Princess!”
“Oh, well, um, ok then Twilight.”
“You’ve been so busy lately! I heard rumors that Applejack is going to start running the family business. It must be hard on her, with Granny passing last week.”
“Yeah, definitely. I heard Cheese and Pinkie have some big news. I wonder what it is?”
“I know right! What are they planning? I really hope we all don’t become more distant, with all of these new responsibilities. Do you know what Rarity’s been up to?”
“I heard she is going to open her 12th shop next Friday! Business must be booming for her! It’s insane! Do you know what Fluttershy’s been doing?”
“Oh, the usual. Dealing with her animals, and hanging out with Discord. Speaking of which, we haven’t flown over her neck of the woods. We should go check on her, and maybe stop by to say hello, since we are done searching the rest of ponyville.”
“Good idea!”
The two mares landed outside of Fluttershy’s cottage. To their dismay, the cottage door wide open, with snow inside. It was so dark inside it looked as if nopony was home.
“Oh no! Where could Fluttershy be? I hope she’s ok!”
“I think we should follow these prints in the snow,” Rainbow Dash pointed out.
There were two tracks of prints. There were the prints of a mare, and of a strange creature. Twilight and Rainbow were very confused at first, but then they realized, it had to be none other than Discord.
“Oh Dash I hope Fluttershy’s ok! What on earth are her and Discord doing out there? We have to go find them!”
“I agree! Let’s go!”
The tracks got harder and harder to see. They eventually altogether disappeared. It seemed useless, until they spotted a scarf half buried in the snow.
“That’s Fluttershy’s scarf!”
Rainbow Dash ran up to it. She grabbed hold of it in her mouth, and began to pull. She jumped back in horror to find that it was wrapped around somepony’s hoof! No, someone’s claw! An eagle talon. Discord’s eagle talon.
“Twilight, you really need to see this!”
“What is it Dash?”
Twilight cantered over and saw the half buried arm in the snow, with the scarf wrapped around it.
“Oh no! Dash, help me dig him out! What if Fluttershy’s under there too?”
The two mares began frantically digging Discord out of the snow. Twilight reached to feel his pulse.
“I’m no doctor, but I can only assume he has hypothermia. We need to hurry and get him inside! He could die out here if we don’t!”
“Why didn’t he just teleport himself back to ponyville.”
“The storm has prevented all unicorns and alicorns to use their magic. This probably also prevented Discord from using his. Now come on!”
The two of them hauled Discord onto their backs, and carried him to Fluttershy’s cottage.
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When they arrived in Fluttershy’s ghostly looking cottage, they hauled Discord onto her sofa. Twilight and Rainbow ran to the door to fight it into closing. Eventually, the two mares took the upper hoof and shut the door. There was no warmth whatsoever in her cottage. The two mares decided to rummage through the dark home looking for some sort of heat. There were no candles, no firewood, and no source of warmth anywhere. Finally, Twilight found some blankets for all of them. The two mares wanted to know what had happened, so Rainbow Dash shouted at Discord.
“Discord wake up! What did you do with Fluttershy?”
There was silence. Discord didn’t stir.
“Rainbow are you sure we need to ask him right now?”
“Yes I’m sure!”
Rainbow grabbed Discord’s shoulders and shook them. When that didn’t work, she smacked him across the face.
“Rainbow Dash stop that! You might hurt him!”
Discord eyes fluttered open. His face stung as if he had been slapped. He looked up and saw Rainbow Dash glaring at him. He was so surprised that his head flung up. He startled Rainbow Dash with the sudden movement, and she leaped down onto the floor. Discord looked around the room. He was in Fluttershy’s cottage. He looked down at his claw to see her scarf still wrapped around his palm. He wanted to cry, but he knew he couldn’t show any pain in front of these two mares. They would be awfully suspicious to why Discord cared so much about Fluttershy, which might lead them to uncovering his crush.
Angel Bunny, who had been hiding in Discord’s hat, jumped out onto the floor, and ran up the stairs, leaving the three down stairs.
“Where did you get that scarf Discord?” Rainbow asked.
Discord was silent. All sorts of thoughts filled his head. Fluttershy had been so sure she would be fine. She went after the animals, even though he told her the about the dangers. Did she really take into consideration what could become of her? Could he have done more to protect her? Did she realize that she had stolen his heart? Did she know how he felt about her, about how much it hurt to lose sight of her in that cold winter storm?
“I said, where did you get that scarf?” Rainbow interrogated with so much force that Discord broke. He couldn’t help it. He just snapped, shattered, and tore apart.
“She’s gone,” was all Discord could mutter as he broke into tears.

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When Flura was shown around the school it was so awkward! Her whole dorm was supposed to give her the tour, but Claudia and Sadie said they were “too good” to be showing around a “loser” like her. Out of the kindness of her heart, Arrieta offered to give her the tour.
“Come on now! This is going to be so much fun!” Arieta said.
“Ok coming Arieta!”
“Oh please, call me Rita.”
Rita grabbed Flura by the wrist and the two of them raced off around the campus.
Finally they had reached the end of the tour. They had gone to every classroom, every hiking trail, and even to the crystal clear lake which was at least two miles away from the dorm!
“And that is everything! How did you like the tour? Would you recommend me to give tours to others? Was I a good tour guide?”
“Yes you were great! I just have one question.”
“Yeah, what is it?”
“Why didn’t you take me up there?”
Flura pointed in the direction of the left hill, at the cave toward the top.
“Oh, well, you see, the students here are forbidden to go up there, even for tours.”
“How come?”
“Well, you see, no one who has gone in has ever returned. There are so many rumors and theories, but, do you want to know what I think?”
“What?”
“I think that there is a beastly creature lurking in the depths upon that very cave, and that one day, when the time is right, it will attack the school campus!”
“Wow! You really think so? I mean, how do you know for sure, if no one has ever lived to tell the tale?”
“Oh don’t be scared. You most likely won’t be harmed if you stay away from the cave. It’s better to be safe than sorry!”
“I guess you’re right.”
In the distance, Claudia and Sadie were walking by. They watched Flura and Arieta talking and having so much fun together.
“I can’t stand that girl Claudia!”
“Why not? What’s so bad about her? I think she’s pretty nice.”
“Are you disagreeing with me?”
“Oh, um, no Sadie. You’re probably right. Well, what is it that you don’t like about her then?”
“She is so pretty! I am supposed to be the prettiest girl at this school! I can’t let her use this to her advantage! I mean, Arietta used to always agree with you and me! We were a trio! I don’t like how this Flura girl is getting in the way!”
“Don’t you think you’re exaggerating? She arrived last night.”
“Are you disagreeing with me again?”
“No, no! I’m so sorry Sadie! I really am! You are totally right!”
“That’s what I thought.”
“What are you going to do about Flura?”
“Oh Claudia, you must learn. Do you really think I don’t have a plan?”