DONG DING! The reversed chime of a typical doorbell echoed throughout Discord's home. Cadance, who was on the top floor, looked over the balcony towards the front door and saw the neatly brushed pink mane of the element of kindness through the small window. The draconequus clapped his unmatched hands in glee.
"Oh ho ho! She's here!" he giggled as he stretched his upper half to the front door, leaving his torso at the base of the stairs. Despite everything Cadance had just witnessed with Diamond Tiara, she almost giggled at Discord's method of getting to the door. After licking his thumb, smoothing out his scraggly gray eyebrows, spraying freshly-made (as in with the snap of his fingers) cologne, and checking his breath, he looked in the mirror.
"How do I look? Acceptable?" he asked. His reflection put a hand to his chin and scanned him up and down before nodding his head.
"Sensational," the reflection cried with a grin, "Chaotic...but with class!" Discord chuckled.
"Oh, stop it, you..."
The chime of the doorbell played again followed by a set of soft yet firm raps on the door.
"Discord? Are you in there? Is everything okay? Oh, I truly hope I'm not interrupting...maybe I should just--"
"Fluttershy! Right on schedule, as always!" Discord greeted after swinging open the door. "You're looking lovely as always...are you ready for an incredibly relaxing afternoon?"
Fluttershy nodded her head as a grin grew across her face before Discord pulled her inside and closed the door. Fluttershy took her spot in the sky-blue armchair that sat adjacent to a similarly colored sofa in front of a table. As Discord glided into the kitchen to prepare the tea, he called out to Fluttershy.
"Oh, by the way," he said, taking out a bag of green tea mix from his cabinet, "We have a VIP in the building right now. And I'm delighted to say that she'll be joining us for tea..."
"Oh, really? That sounds wonderful! Who are they?"
"She's looking over the railing as we speak!"
Cadance's eyes widened as Fluttershy looked directly above her and gasped. She sheepishly waved and donned a nervous smile as Fluttershy's grin drew near lengths only reached by Pinkie Pie.
"Oh, hello, Princess Cadance! I didn't know you knew came for tea as well!"
"Oh, I don't," she responded as she gracefully glided to the bottom floor (completely ignoring the stairs) to the side of the chair the pegasus sat in, "I'm here for...*ahem* different reasons."
"I see. Diplomatic things? Things that relate to the Crystal Empire?" Fluttershy asked rapidly before putting her hooves to her face in worry, "Oh, I can't imagine how stressful that must be to a busy pony like you! I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said anything--"
"Fluttershy, that's not it at all," Cadance reassured with a soothing voice to the quivering environmentalist. "It's just something related to Spike's stay in the asylum. That's all."
Fluttershy glanced at Cadance after she finished her sentence with fearful eyes. "Is it about Diamond Tiara? I know that she's here..."
Cadance's multicolored wings dispatched in shock. "What?! You know about Diamond Tiara? How?"
"Discord told me about the entire incident on the way here and said he would tell me more over tea. Fortunately, I didn't have to wait too long, as we had scheduled tea time the next day!"
"Discord...are you sure you want to tell Fluttershy about this? This is some sensitive stuff," the princess called to Discord. He nodded as he emerged from the kitchen with a tray populated with full cups of tea, a kettle, and sugar.
"I'm certain, Princess," he responded, "I'm sure you've witnessed Fluttershy's true power in person..."
"What true power?"
Before he was able to place the tray on the table, Discord froze and looked at Cadance in disbelief. Fluttershy blushed.
"Discord please...what true power could I possibly have?" she asked with a giggle. Now Discord's shock was directed at Fluttershy.
"Hmmm...assertive Fluttershy, batpony Fluttershy, goth Fluttershy, woke Fluttershy, chique Fluttershy, just to name a few..." he mumbled flipping through a book, "Anyway, long stories short, princess, she's stronger than she looks. I think she can handle the juicy details of the reason behind Diamond Tiara's tenure."
"Oh yes, please do explain," Fluttershy encouraged as she received a cup of tea from Discord's lion paw. Using her magic to pick up a cup, Cadance gazed into the steaming hazel-colored liquid with wonder. Although it was just a regular cup of green tea, she couldn't help but see something more in it (and it's not just because Discord made it). There were so many questions that she had about Diamond Tiara's stay in the asylum how Spike, the Elements of Harmony and the rulers of Equestria were tied into it. If what both Spike and Diamond said were true, this would be the biggest scandal that Equestria had ever seen!
Taking a whiff of the tea before sipping it, a feeling of relaxation briefly washed over her. For a split second, she forgets about the crisis that they are currently involved in and the lives at risk. Everything that worried her vanished. But only for a split second.
"I can see from your expression that you like my tea?" Discord asked with a smile and a half-empty cup. Fluttershy's was already empty; she currently donned a small smile on her face.
"I...I didn't have any yet," Cadance responded, "I was just taking a sniff of it."
"Don't worry, there are no surprises in this one. I made it myself."
Cadance's eye twitched; she would definitely be cautious when drinking the tea now. There was no telling what tricks Discord would have up his sleeve. She brought the warm cup to her lips and took a long sip of the tea. The second the liquid hit her tongue, the serenity she felt from its scent was multiplied a hundredfold.
For a short while, everything seemed right in the world again. Equestria was in perfect harmony; no kingdom was at war with any of the others. Princess Celestia was still seen as a role model for fillies everywhere. Spike and Twilight's relationship was stronger than ever. Diamond Tiara hung out with the Crusaders on a regular basis. There wasn't an issue to be found.
That is, until she blinked.
"Wh...what happened?"
Discord smiled. "Blink, princess, and you'll miss it."
"What do you mean?" Cadance asked, putting the cup down. The two creatures across from her chuckled.
"I call that Dream Tea," Discord explained, "It works best when you take it right before bed. What it does is present you with a fantasy where you didn't have any troubles and all of the worries that you have didn't exist. When you wake up, it's all gone."
Cadance frowned. "Then why is Fluttershy smiling? She's caught up in the middle of all of this too! What's going right now is chaotic! Not only is she caught up in this, but so are the rest of Twilight's friends, three innocent fillies, and the rulers of Equestria."
Discord and Fluttershy looked at each other with smiles going strong.
"I asked Fluttershy the same thing when she first agreed to try this tea," Discord answered, "And the answer that she gave me was something that I'd never considered."
Silence filled the air as the element of chaos turned back at the princess. "She said, 'Just because what you see isn't how things are at the moment doesn't mean that they never will be again. I'm smiling because there's still a chance for things to go back to how things were.'"
"It's true, Princess," Fluttershy added, "Things may seem bleak right now, but think of this as a thunderstorm. You may be scared and uncomfortable, but at the end of the day, the storm always passes. Even if it does damage, you can always rebuild and turn what was into something better!"
"Well said, Fluttershy," Discord said, clapping his hands, "Well said."
The princess was speechless. She had never thought of something like that. In addition, she definitely didn't expect something like that to come from Fluttershy. One of the princesses, maybe, but not Fluttershy. As Discord poured her another cup of tea, Cadance began to enjoy the experience despite what was going on.
"I should come to tea more often..." she thought.
"But now that that's settled, Fluttershy, before I tell you all of the details about Diamond Tiara, Cadance, do you remember what I said about Princess Luna?"
This got Cadance's attention. "I know that you mentioned Tormential Demise was used for only the most dangerous threats of Equestria."
"Well, that and one other thing. I also said that she usually saves people from interesting nightmares."
Cadance took another sip of her tea. "Yeah. What's wrong with that?"
"What's wrong with that? You don't know what's wrong with the fact that a pony can have a nightmare and Luna ignores it? You don't think there's anything wrong with that?"
"Well, when you put it like that, I can but still! Nightmares are never real," Cadance pointed out, "It'd never hurt them."
"Not in the dreamscape."
"How can someone get damaged in the real world from their dreams?"
"Sleepwalking?" Fluttershy suggested. Discord nodded.
"She's got a point."
"You know what I mean, Discord."
"Well, let me put it to you this way. Luna can see dreams and decide whether or not to save them. Even if she doesn't save them, she still sees it."
"Hold on--if she does this to ponies, why hasn't anypony spoken up about this? Nopony has protested against Princess Luna for a while now."
"Consider her position."
"Celestia's sister and ruler of the Dreamworld."
"Bingo."
"So what?"
"So what's stopping her from making ponies' nightmares reality?"
"The fact that that's morally wrong, maybe? Plus, she can't."
Discord facepalmed himself. "Firstly, we're in the middle of a scandal and you're still insisting that everypony has morals that are set in stone and seem worthwhile at face value. Everypony can change face under the wraps. You seem so sure of yourself even though you've seen and heard enough to consider that fact. Secondly, yes she can. Luna can always tell her sister about the nightmare of a pony that she didn't save."
Cadance's eyes widened; she began to see it.
"And I'm sure Celestia has access to magic that can turn those fears into reality."
"E--even if that's the case, nopony's stepped forward!"
"That's because Diamond Tiara may be an example."
Silence filled the air as Fluttershy and Cadance sat in shock as Discord's words shook them like a world-changing earthquake. The draconequus continued to sit there with a calm and casual demeanor.
"My theory is, what if Diamond had a dream that all of this happened; what if she had a dream where her mother disowned her and she was left to rot in an asylum? That would have been her nightmare and Princess Luna was nowhere to be found. This wouldn't have been the first time, so she would be prepared to speak out against them...until her potential terror turned true."
Silence.
"I have the ability to be in places in secret. I was there when the Crusaders first saw her in that asylum. One of the first things she said was that the Elements of Harmony and the Princesses weren't what they seemed. She told them this after one of them brought up, you guessed it, Princess Luna."
"But...that makes no sense," Fluttershy spoke up, "Luna is so sweet! She saves me whenever I have a nightmare...everypony else can say the same!"
"Who do you mean by the term 'everypony', Fluttershy?" asked Discord with a raised eyebrow, "Do you mean the other five ponies that you're best friends with or the entirety of Equestria?"
"I...I can't say anything about anyone outside of the other five..." she admited.
"Which is my point. She's not willing to save everypony from their nightmares. We don't know if it's because she can't, but I'm sure there are some spells in those dusty halls about being in two places at once. So, why would she favor saving you all and people close to you all exclusively and turn a blind eye to everypony else?"
"I...don't know. This just sounds so far-fetched Discord. The theory makes sense, but I think it's unlikely," Cadance said, "Let's be realistic."
"Luna is a master of magic," Discord answered, putting everypony's teacups on the tray, "That doesn't sound too far from the realm of realism."
"I think it makes sense."
The three looked to the top of the stairs where Diamond Tiara stood with tired eyes and a face riddled with sorrow.