Chapter 3
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It was officially Flura’s first day of classes. The day before she didn’t have enough time to start her classes after the tours around the school she got from Rita. She was currently getting ready. She had gotten new clothes from the school staff. She was trying to brush out her hair, but was really struggling. That’s when Sadie came in.
“Oh, hey Flura. I just wanted to apologize for yesterday. I know I was kind of rude. Do you forgive me?”
“Yes of course. I understand it must be overwhelming with a new roommate.”
“I’m so glad you accepted my apology! To make it up to you, I wanted to let you borrow my leave-in conditioner. I see you’re having trouble with your hair. This will work perfectly!”
Sadie handed Flura a decent sized bottle, which was silver with a white screw on lid. The label read “Leave-in Conditioner.” Flura looked up at Sadie with grateful eyes.
“Thank you Sadie! I’ll give it back to you as soon as I’m done!”
“Oh, there’s no need to! I already have about five! It’s yours to keep.”
“Really? Well, thanks so much!”
“Anytime.”
Sadie exited the room. Outside the door Claudia was eavesdropping. When she saw Sadie coming, she tried to act natural, as if she wasn’t doing anything wrong.
“Oh please, I know you were eavesdropping.”
“It’s just, I thought you wanted to get back at Flura?”
“I did. You honestly thought I meant that apology? Just wait until she finds out what I did! She won’t know what hit her!”
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Twilight and Rainbow Dash watched as the Being of Chaos fell apart before their eyes. They were shocked, and weren’t quite sure what to make of it. Both mares looked at each other, as if hoping the other finally say something. Rainbow had grimace on her face as she cocked her head toward the whaling draconequus. Twilight glared at Rainbow Dash as if saying.
This is all your fault, so you better fix it.
Eventually, the look of defeat was plastered across Rainbow’s face. She took a step forward, and cleared her throat.
“For goodness sake Discord! Just tell us what happened!”
Twilight scowled at Rainbow Dash, looking very disappointed.
Discord’s face looked full of humiliation and embarrassment. Is sorrowful looking yellow and red eyes were still damp with tears. His lion paw reached up to brush the remains of them away. His voice shook, but he finally began to speak.
“W-Well, you see, F-Fluttershy needed, sh-she needed, my help, b-but I let her down.”
Discord’s voice cracked. He wanted to continue, but at the same time he didn’t. Even mentioning her name brought tears to his eyes, reminding him how it was all his fault that she was gone. About how he could do nothing right. Every time he tried he messed everything up.
“Discord, we really need to know what happened to Fluttershy. Could you please tell us. If you do, we might be able to help,” Twilight said.
“She ran into the forest. I tried to stop her, but she was gone. It’s all my fault!” Discord managed to croak.
“Wait you don’t mean, the Everfree forest, do you?”
“Well, what other forest would he be talking about Rainbow Dash?”
“But Fluttershy gets so scared even when we even mention the Everfree forest! Why would she want to go in there?”
Discord looked at the two arguing mares, and finally worked up the courage to tell them the whole story. Well, not exactly the whole story. Of course he wasn’t going to tell them about the muzzle to muzzle incident, and about how he discovered he had feelings for this buttercream mare. They didn’t need to know that extra information anyway.
“I looked everywhere, but she was nowhere I looked! I even looked in that small cake at the edge of the forest!”
“Wait, hold on a second! There is no cave at the edge of the forest! I have flown over the Everfree so many times, and I’ve never once seen any cave at the edge of the forest in Fluttershy’s neck of the woods!”
“Well I saw it with my very own eyes. I even walked in, but there was really nothing in there. You probably just weren’t being very observant, as usual.”
“You take that back you...you…”
“Oh, are you at a loss for words just looking at me? I mean, I am pretty amazing! I know, I know, breathe it in, you are actually having a roast battle with moi!”
“Discord you're so full of yourself! Why can’t you just think about somepony else for once in your life?”
A strange feeling of sadness washed over Discord that very second. It appeared as if nopony other than Fluttershy appreciated his sense of humor. Did the others really think he was arrogant and selfish? Was he really? Did he even care about what happened to all of his pony “friends?”
“I do care about her!” Discord yelled, as tears were brought forth to his eyes.
Oh great, here we go again. They’ll just think I’m even more pathetic now.
“Discord for Celestia’s sake, get a grip!”
“Rainbow, calm down! Fluttershy could be in potential danger, and Discord is the only one who knows here last whereabouts!”
“I knew it! He did it! He is the cause of her disappearance! What kind of sick joke are you playing you monster?” Rainbow angrily asked.
“You think I did this? Why on earth would I do something to the mare that I lo...love to have tea parties with?”
Twilight and Rainbow Dash both looked confused. They needed to come up with a solution to the problem somehow, but what could they do? They both looked at each other and then at Discord in a way as if saying:
Got any ideas?
Finally, Discord had the courage to speak up.
“When the storm is over, I will continue looking in the forest for Fluttershy.”
“That sounds great Discord! The girls and I will be fixing all the damage in Ponyville cause by the storm. Rainbow, you should probably have the pegasi plan for a warm day, to melt the remaining snow!”
“Sure thing Princess!”
The two mares got up, and wrapped up in winter clothing. They opened the door to see the storm had calmed down. Now, the winds weren’t as strong, and a light snow came down from the clouds above. As the two of them left, Discord couldn’t help but feel lonely. He had a job to do though, and sitting her on Fluttershy’s sofa sulking wouldn’t help him solve any problems.
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Flura had rubbed in all of the leave-in conditioner. She hadn’t looked in the mirror yet, because she was too busy focusing on getting out all of the tangles in her hair. Finally, when all of the tangles were out, she decided to look in the mirror. She was terrified at what she saw.
As she looked in her mirror, her hair appeared to be pink! She was so confused. Then, she remembered the bottle of conditioner. Flura picked it up un unscrewed the cap. There, inside was pink hair dye.
Flura couldn’t believe she had actually trusted Sadie! Classes started in less than 10 minutes! She had to do something. Then, Flura remembered the hoodie Arietta had been wearing the first day. Flura ran into her Rita’s bedroom and began digging in the drawers. Eventually she found the hoodie! She put it on over her clothes, at put the hood over her head, making sure all of her hair was tucked in, and no loose strands were hanging out. After she was finished, she headed on over to classes.
The first class was on biology. She had actually found the subject quite interesting. Everything was going great, until Sadie walked in.
“Excuse Ms. Rosemary, but class started fifteen minutes ago.”
“Yeah, yeah I know Ms. Ronda. Please, just call me Sadie, not ‘Ms. Rosemary.’ I don’t like being called by my last name.”
“Do not back talk to your teacher, and take a seat.”
The only seat available was behind Flura. Flura was so upset when Sadie took a seat behind her. She sunk down into her chair, pretending like she didn’t exist.
Finally, class was almost over. Sure, it had been interesting, but Flura was filled with worry the whole time. When the bell was about to ring, she felt tugging on her hood. Before she could do anything, Sadie ripped the hood off her head. Everyone began staring at Flura and laughing. The bell rang at students were getting out of their desks and coming her way. Some took out phones and starting taking pictures of her. Tears filled her eyes as she ran outside. Sadie and a few other kids followed, one of which was Sadie’s older brother.
Flura was running away when she felt a hand grab her shoulder. Suddenly, she turned around, facing Sadie.
“Hey there you clown. Sorry, but the circus is next week.”
The people around her starting laughing and Sadie’s rude and very hurtful remark.
“Get off of me!”
Flura shoved Sadie to the ground. Sadie looked up at her in shock. Her face grew red and she began to yell.
“Did you just push me? Oh you’re going to get it! Get her! Nobody pushes me to the dirty ground, especially when I’m wearing my favorite blouse!”
Sadie and a few others ran after Flura. She ran as fast as she could, all the way to the lake. There were a few canoes, but Flura didn’t know how to use them, and she wasn’t a very good swimmer, so the there was a possibility of drowning. The only other option was the left hill. She took off running up the hill, while Sadie and two others continued chasing her. Finally she got to the top. Flura looked down to see they hadn’t given up yet, and they were still running after her, not too far behind. She would either have to face the meanest bullies at this whole school, or face whatever may await her in the cave. It seemed pretty simple to her. Go into the cave.