– and they emerged in Fluttershy’s cottage, as pure as though it had never drifted apart in the first place. Rainbow Dash briefly wondered if Discord could make a killing in interior design before the floor rose up and smacked her across the boards.
When she got up, cursing under her breath, she saw the others piled ignominiously on the sofa. Between Harry’s elbow and the Smooze’s gape, Fluttershy burst out of the pile and took a breath.
“Oops,” said Discord. “Sorry.”
The air wailed with unseen ghosts. Rainbow cocked an ear. After a few seconds, the wailing rose, then after a few more seconds, the wailing fell, but the longer it went on, the more she was sure someone somewhere would have to draw breath, and yet they didn’t.
She looked out the window. Blackness.
“This isn’t home!” she said over the wailing.
The Smooze oozed off the sofa, followed by Harry. Angel simply hopped onto the restored table while Fluttershy wiped the worst of the slime and the hairs off herself, tongue sticking out.
“We’re on our way!” Discord replied. A snap of his talons, and Fluttershy was clean again. “Just keep watching!”
Fluttershy coughed up a few stray hairs, which floated gently to the floor. “What? I told you!”
“It’s not dangerous! Look!” He jerked a thumb-like digit to the window.
Outside, a few dots of light suggested themselves. Rainbow squinted. They were… whizzing past, she guessed. In this darkness, it was hard to make them out.
“What is it?” she said over the now-high-pitched wailing.
Discord giggled. “The space between spaces! Ahahahaha!”
Growling, Rainbow shoved both Cerberus heads into her ears as improvised earmuffs. “Can you turn that sound off? It’s freaky!”
“It’s beautiful! Really, you need to appreciate the classics more, Rainbow!”
Now the dots became more obvious. Streaks went past. They must have been shooting through the entire universe to go at that speed. Rainbow licked her lips and rubbed her forelimbs together. Sometimes, Discord’s company was worth a little annoyance.
Then it sped up. The streaks of stars became ribbons of light.
Then the ribbons became bars, bars of solid glowing pink and blue. Now the wailing became urgent.
Around them, the cottage began to shake. Walls rumbled. Teacups and spoons rattled. Birdhouses swung about them. Even Rainbow, forcing herself to stand stiffly against it, felt her own teeth chatter and her hooves dance across the floor through the sheer power of that vibration.
Her cheeks were shaking. She had to squint against forces pressing into her face. For several moments, she shook so much she felt like she had two heads, and both were aching from the inside out. She had to reach up and grip her temples to steady her vision.
At this point, Angel threw a spoon at Discord. The draconequus lazily raised a paw. The spoon stopped, shattered, and floated piece-by-piece around the air before popping like a bunch of balloons in a cactus plantation.
“Oh, all right,” said Discord moodily. He snapped his digits.
The sudden change knocked Rainbow so hard onto her front that she bounced. Hastily, she flapped and righted herself, rubbing her stinging chin.
The wailing stopped. The shaking stopped. Outside, the bars of colour began to shift towards oranges and reds like a tacky neon effect. Only – now that Rainbow could pay closer attention – they seemed restricted to left and right, as though the cottage were racing between two walls.
“Gah!” she spluttered. Beside her, a splash of green showed where the Smooze had had even less luck than her.
Fluttershy rose off her sofa and flapped next to Discord, both staring out onto the explosion of colours.
“Ooh,” she said appreciatively.
“The Chasm of Enlightenment!” Discord gestured with a stretched eagle claw. “Not many ponies have ever seen this one. At least, none who didn’t go mad afterwards.”
“What!?” Rainbow yelled.
“I’m kidding, I’m kidding!” Discord flapped his tail as though batting aside the concern. “In fact, hardly any ponies have ever found this place. It’s not something we interdimensional beings talk about much.”
“It’s beautiful.” Fluttershy drifted closer to the window, and now Rainbow could see the colours outside shining on and rushing across her face. “Look, you can see all kinds of shapes out there!”
“It’s freaky,” repeated Rainbow Dash. “Anyway, aren’t we supposed to be going home?” She wasn’t entirely happy with Discord using all the colours of the rainbow to impress Fluttershy. Vaguely, she felt that was her territory.
Discord slumped where he stood in midair. “Oh, have it your way. Yeesh, is this a convention of party-poopers? Still, I suppose it is about time we cut this short.”
Yet he was clearly watching Fluttershy, waiting for a cue. One of his ears rose slightly with hope.
“Hm?” Fluttershy looked round. “Oh, well, I, uh, don’t mind taking the scenic route.”
“You’re sure?” Discord prepared to snap his talons again.
“Absolutely! Um…” Fluttershy glanced at Rainbow Dash. “I mean, I wouldn’t want to be selfish. And… I suppose a last-minute bit of fun can’t hurt any.”
One suspicious eyebrow rose on Discord’s face. “All right. But that’s it, then? No ‘you can’t do this, Discord’ or ‘learn your lesson first, Discord’? Nothing like that?”
He too glanced at Rainbow, who could only shrug in reply. Fluttershy was just the sort to stop and gush over some pretty thing she’d noticed, but not to the point of skimping on a good telling-off.
“Could we come back here someday?” said Fluttershy to the window, as the lights shifted to greens.
“Uh…” said Discord, looking about for inspiration. But Harry and Angel had disappeared into the kitchen again, and the Smooze was slithering over to the window beside Fluttershy, nodding along with her whispered comments and pointing gestures.
“Psst,” hissed Rainbow.
Fluttershy hummed and turned her head.
“Fluttershy,” hissed Rainbow. “Got a minute?”
Discord grimaced, but said nothing. Instead, he took Fluttershy’s place at the window while she flapped over to stand before Rainbow. Beyond, the Smooze gurgled and Discord laughed as though he’d just heard the greatest witticism in history.
“When you said you should let him do what he wants,” whispered Rainbow, “I didn’t think you meant anything he wants.”
Fluttershy waved a hoof feebly. “I know what you think.”
Fiery colours burned and blazed around them. At the window, Discord and the Smooze grunted with admiration.
“But look at him!” Fluttershy fidgeted where she stood, occasionally glancing back at the two buddies. “Think, Rainbow! For over a thousand years, he’s been stuck as a statue in a garden. All that time, and he never got to do anything he wanted.”
“Yes,” said Rainbow flatly. “Because he was evil.”
“And thanks to me and all his new friends, he’s become good! He can see things he hasn’t seen in centuries! I can’t stay mad at him. He’s really just a child deep down. Only no one really understood him until I came along. I can keep him nice and friendly.”
“Well, yeah,” said Rainbow. “But what about Nightmare Night?”
Fluttershy began turning away and drawing away again.
“No, Fluttershy!” Rainbow made to grab her shoulder – to stop her – but remembered herself in time and turned it into an emphatic forward step. “Look, what’s got into you? You even agreed you’d let him choose!”
“Yes,” said Fluttershy. Amid the blazing colours, it was hard to tell, but she must be blushing again. “Only –”
“Only what? You’re worried he won’t go?”
“No.” Fluttershy swallowed. “I’m worried he won’t stay.”
Rainbow gave her such a glare that she coughed and added, “I’ll ask him, I’ll ask him. Don’t worry. I want to work up to it, that’s all.”
“Fluttershy, when you’re doing something like that, you don’t ‘work up to it’. Just get it over with. You’ll feel better. Trust me, it’s just like in training. You don’t hesitate, you don’t ask stupid questions, you don’t make up excuses, and you don’t hang about the starting line waiting for an adrenalin rush. You jump right in and give it all you got. The rest of your body’ll catch up.”
At the window, Discord suddenly groaned. He jerked. Frozen in an exaggerated grimace, he held the angular pose for just less than a second before returning to watch. The Smooze chuckled in a wet, gurgling voice that sounded like a giant toad drowning.
Fluttershy stopped fidgeting and looked pleadingly at Rainbow Dash. “But then he might leave.”
“So? He’ll get to find some fun. What’s wrong with that?” There was the scent of guilt in the air again. Rainbow narrowed her eyes. “You don’t seriously believe the rest of us will keep him out of the fun, do you?”
“No, of course not,” said Fluttershy, glowering.
“Well, then.”
“But –”
“Come on. Just do it. It’s not fair on him.” Thinking this might need something of a gentler touch, Rainbow patted her on the shoulder. “I’ll be right behind you.”
Fluttershy still stank of guilt, and it took a minute of yet more jerky, mocking poses from Discord before she finally whispered, “OK.”
Just in case, Rainbow gave her another pat on the shoulder. She smiled in the way she thought Fluttershy might have smiled were the roles reversed. At least, she hoped that her own face looked encouraging.
Fluttershy hung her head and flapped over to the two. Discord and the Smooze drew back from the window to make room for her, revealing that at some point, the walls of flashing colours outside had flipped. Now Rainbow saw lights stream under and over the cottage, as though they were flying through a psychedelic cave towards a discotheque horizon.
“Isn’t it grand?” Discord nodded to the window, grinning with the expected praise. “Imagine what Rarity could do if she saw but an iota of all this!”
“Yes. It’s… grand.” Fluttershy stared out of the window at the undemanding lights, which changed form; bubbles of pinks and reds and oranges and yellows flashed past.
Great. She’s just going to avoid it again. Come on, Fluttershy. You’re better than that.
Thankfully, the Smooze leaned forwards and nudged Fluttershy’s rump encouragingly. This had the effect of bouncing her head off Discord’s midriff, but the slight knock woke her up again, and she coughed.
“Discord,” she said. “I think I should tell you what Nightmare Night is really about.”
“Oh?” he said, leaning down.
“It’s, um, not all about hiding. In fact –” she glanced out at the window, where the lights had arranged themselves into a streaming cobweb “– really, I’m the only one who does that. Everyone else goes out on Nightmare Night. And they dress up on Nightmare Night, like Rainbow Dash did. And they go out and do stuff, on Nightmare Night.”
“Stuff?” said Discord. Rainbow relaxed. So far, he was taking this surprisingly well.
By contrast, Fluttershy fidgeted and rubbed herself and looked all over the place as though seeking escape. “Like, going door-to-door and getting candy. Or telling scary stories. Or playing scary games in mazes and apple-bobbing and singing and pin-the-tail-on-the-nightmare and evil tea parties and there’s this statue about Nightmare Moon and sometimes Luna comes to make things really spooky, and –”
The Smooze stretched and tapped her once on the shoulder, leaving a blob to trickle down her leg like a slug.
Discord’s lips parted.
“So,” said Fluttershy, straightening up. “What I want you to know is… Well, if you want to go out and see what it’s like…”
She glanced at Rainbow, who instantly nodded.
“…then you can. It’s only fair.”
Discord too glanced at Rainbow Dash. Judging from his gape and wide eyes, he wasn’t quite up-to-speed.
“So…” he said. “All that hiding away stuff…?”
“Was just my way of doing it,” said Fluttershy. “I’m sorry Discord. I really am so, so sorry –”
“And,” he continued, tapping his digits together as though trying to work out something, “I could go out and scare ponies?”
“If you want,” said Rainbow, feeling she ought to be more helpful.
“Right.” Discord scratched his chin and twirled his goatee. “And whatever I do, however scary it is, so long as no one gets hurt… that’s fine?”
“But not too scar–” Fluttershy cleared her throat. “I mean, yes.”
“Uh huh?”
Discord swallowed and bent down. Obligingly, Fluttershy cocked an ear.
He coughed nervously. “You don't think I might – Well, I mean, there's no chance, is there, that I would – You're not worried about a, um, a relapse?”
“Not even for a second.” Fluttershy didn't hesitate. She met his gaze. “I know it doesn't seem like it right now, but I can say, from the bottom of my heart, that I trust you with that much, Discord. I believe in you.”
Rainbow fought not to gag.
Instantly, Discord’s eyes lit up – not literally, but it was an extremely close thing. “So I really can?”
“Yes,” said Fluttershy with a nod.
He grinned. “As much as I like?”
A pause. Fluttershy lowered her gaze. “…Yes.”
He was already dancing on the spot, rubbing his forelimbs together. “And that’s one hundred per cent, no-strings-attached, totally, utterly, without-question fine?”
By now, Fluttershy was reduced to a single, dropping nod.
Pure blazing light swelled across the glass so fiercely that the Smooze groaned and slid behind the sofa. Fluttershy winced. Even Rainbow had to squint. However, Discord whooped and yelled and jumped and did three jigs at once, which was quite a sight when he only had one body at the time. A triumphant trumpet fanfare blared from nowhere, and the wailing voices came ringing and singing while he spun on the spot. Smells of baking cake and chocolate perfumes and creamy cheese crammed the nostrils like a force-fed buffet. Rainbow staggered under the sheer sensory overload.
Then, Rainbow Dash blinked. The world changed colour. Blues became oranges, reds became greens, whites became blacks, and vice versa.
Discord stopped dancing and landed hard on the carpet, back on both of his odd feet.
“I’m going Nightmare Night-ing, I’m going Nightmare Night-ing,” he sang.
The Smooze peered over the sofa, open-mouthed and ready to duck back down again.
For a blink, Fluttershy’s discoloured face – Rainbow blinked again, and normal colours returned – wore a smile, but Rainbow knew what that meant. Discord really was like a little child, which Fluttershy held dear to her heart, and yet…
And yet, something hidden made itself felt. Fluttershy slumped where she stood, unable to hold up the mask of good cheer.
Rainbow sighed. At this point, Fluttershy was supposed to be genuinely happy. Just do it, and it’d be a lot better than she’d expected. That’s what it should have been like.
Darn it. I’ve made things worse, haven’t I? But what was I supposed to say? “Keep him cooped up, even though he might not want to be”?
The flaring light faded. At once, Discord and the Smooze leaped – or, in the latter’s case, slimed quickly – over to the window. A single swirling spiral of lights remained.
“Ah,” said Discord. “Home sweet home. Bet you’ve never seen the galaxy from the outside, eh, Fluttershy?”
He ushered her to the window, even summoning an usher’s red uniform and torch to complete the effect. Rainbow flapped over for the heck of it. In truth, not a bad view, but she lost interest after a few seconds. They were just swirling lights, after all.
Nevertheless, she stayed and watched for Fluttershy’s sake. In the window, the reflection of genuine awe on her friend’s face was a fine enough sight in itself. Rainbow even shuffled aside to make room for Angel and Harry, wishing her fake Cerberus heads didn’t bounce so much.
All too soon, the spiral became a wall of stars, which became a cluster, which became a single, small, unregarded yellow sun. A moon hung opposite. In between them lay a world of blues and greens, which filled the window. Fluttershy never took her eyes off the scene for the entire time.
Rainbow blinked and then groaned. All the colours had flipped again.