Anarchy: Pony of Chaos

by Ninjadeadbeard


2 - Grampa

“Alright you foals!” Wonderbolt Captain Rainbow Dash shouted to a line of uniformed mares and stallions atop the highest clouds around Cloudsdale, “I don’t wanna be up this early ever! So, when I say our mission is important… you can bet your feathers that it is!”

Rainbow Dash stood with the sun to her back as it crested the horizon. Even with her aviators on, deep down inside she despised seeing the morning sun. It was like a needling reminder that she hadn’t slept nearly enough the night before. Or the day before. Or… just enough ever.

Oh well. Those stormclouds weren’t gonna move themselves. That'd just be weird.

She held up a set of folders with one wing, “Now, Equestria is counting on us to deliver the right amount of rainwater to wherever it is that needs it most! These storms are vital to the continued production of flowers, wheat, carrots, apples… apple cider… and everything else that’s good to eat, so once you get your assignments, you will follow them to the letter!”

She tossed a sidelong glance towards Soarin, her second in command. He nodded, affirming he was ready for this. That’s what an entire pot of black coffee will do for you, Dash supposed. The stuff got her too jittery to fly right.

“Wonderbolts,” she took a quieter, more solemn tone, like Spitfire taught her, “This is our sacred duty, and nothing will keep each and every one of us from doing our jobs…”

Her ears twitched. Was that… thunder? No, couldn’t be. There weren’t any clouds above her, and the factory was still waiting on those moisture deliveries. Though, considering how many of her Wonderbolts’ eyes were drifting somewhere above Dash’s head right now...

Something landed in Dash’s mane, right on top of the swept-pomp. Experience at being a leader had given Rainbow the ability to show no emotion in tough situations, and it was with this stoicism that she reached up with her hooves and dislodged the offending envelope and letter which had dared interrupt her speech.

Soarin watched as his longtime friend and Captain ripped open the letter with her teeth, and then began to scan its contents. He knew her for being the most level-headed, mature pegasus he’d ever had the pleasure of working with. No, really. She’d calmed down a lot over the years, and Spitfire had earned her name before Dash’s time as Captain. He’d seen her face down hydras, manticores, demons… even Applejack that one time she’d forgotten their dinner plans with Lyra and Bonbon…

It had been a long, long time since Soarin had seen a Rainbow Dash freakout. It would only be the first remarkable thing he saw this morning.

The whole wad of folders crashed into his chest, and it was all he could do not to stumble and fall off the cloud itself. He barely heard her rushed words as Dash screamed, “Sorry-Soarin-I-gotta-take-this-gotta-see-a-pony-about-a-horse-I-knew-you’d-understand-take-over-for-a-bit-buddy!”

The second remarkable thing Soarin saw this morning was a Sonic Rainboom. He never expected to see one on takeoff especially, nor the second one moments later as his Captain whipped back around in mid-air, but then… working with Rainbow Dash was always surprising. And as he and the other Wonderbolts stared at the tidal wave of rainbow light that washed over Cloudsdale, he could almost swear he heard Dash’s words as she hurtled into the distance.

I’m coming Shy!!!!”


“Are you sure I can’t entice you to stay for another day?” the Princess-Regnant of Equestria said to the purple-maned fashion icon, and one of her five co-rulers as they walked down the streets of Canterlot. “I’m sure I could announce another Royal Fashion Show…?”

Rarity chuckled, lady-like as ever, “I’m happy to see you’re finally taking advantage of your Royal Prerogative, Twilight darling. But I’m afraid it cannot be helped,” she paused to purchase a bottle of… something Twilight was sure had something to do with fashion, “Thorax is expecting me in the Badlands within the next few days. And I cannot delay the Changeling Fashion Revolution any longer!”

Spike, struggling under a mountain of bags filled with Rarity’s Changeling Revolution’s fabrics and other materials, huffed as he added, “Maybe they can start with the name. Seriously… the ‘Badlands’ still?”

The local elite of Canterlot bowed and knelt as the three passed, despite the copious number of edicts, proclamations, legislations, and decrees Twilight Sparkle had written which asked them to, please, stop that. Twilight hadn’t enjoyed the attention when she’d first become a Princess, and now that she had to deal with the severe height difference as well… well, it was a bit irritating to be reminded of how different one was from those she really wanted to see as friends and fellow ponies.

She ought to write Celestia again. That was a good outlet for those sorts of emotions.

Twilight hoped her desperation for a little more companionship wasn’t showing, but Rarity’s keen eye never failed to catch such details. “Though,” she drew the words out slow and dramatically, “I suppose one more day couldn’t hurt. Would you care to join me for lunch with Sassy tomorrow?”

Twilight smiled, gratefully, “I believe I can make some room in the schedule for that! I gotta say,” she nodded politely to a unicorn stallion who had knelt down before her… and winked at the little filly by his side who watched the Princess with stars in her eyes, “I finally realize what Celestia and Luna were feeling all those years ago, when they wanted to get out and adventure again. Running a government is mostly paperwork, bureaucracy, and schedules…”

“Which you love,” Spike grunted.

She snorted in a very un-Princessly way, “Most of the time! But once in a while, I miss having wacky adventures with you girls. The closest I come to that these days is a weekly meeting with Prince Blueblood.”

Rarity scoffed, “My dear, please. Do not speak his name. I feel absolutely filthy being compared to that… that…”

“I know, I know,” Twilight placated, “He’s not nearly as bad as he used to be though. High office and age have mellowed him out, and I’m always surprised how... accommodating his views on pony-creature relations are. Plus, he brings his daughter around for the meetings. She’s too cute! I think Pearl Rose has some real talent with magic too…”

Rarity tossed a rather peevish look over her shoulder, “I believe Applejack would say something to the effect of apples not falling far from their trees. I do hope you take her under your wing someday, if only to spare the dear…”

She paused in place, a sudden, stomach-turning thought coming to her, “Oh dear… what poor mare had to marry that incorrigible…?”

But before more could be said, a strange puff of wind and sound dropped an envelope onto her mane. A second one followed, depositing another atop Rarity, who swiftly removed the offending item before it did any permanent damage to her style.

A third puff landed an envelope atop Spike’s stack of Rarity’s shopping needs, instantly toppling his precariously balanced mountain of goods and burying the dragon.

“I avoid having a hoard for this very reason,” he sneered beneath the bag-avalanche.

The streets cleared instantly as the envelopes appeared. Plain-clothes changeling guards swept out of hiding with a ferocious speed and secured their purple sovereign, her advisor, and her fellow ruler. They formed a perimeter so quickly, it left Rarity and Twilight’s heads spinning.

“Um… this seems unnecessary,” Twilight hummed as the envelopes were tossed to the ground and surrounded by a unicorn-guard’s orange containment spell.

“Good heavens,” Rarity looked around, bewildered, “I didn’t even realize we had a guard detail.”

One changeling with a golden carapace and bright blue compound eyes saluted them. “Your Highnesses, we are always watching you.” The bright blush that came to his face was followed with an embarrassed, “that didn’t come out right…”

Another guard, the teal-coat and red-maned unicorn mare who’d cast the containment spell, saluted Princess Twilight, “Princess, as per protocol, during a spike in unknown magical signals, the Royal Ponies are to be secured to prevent a cessation of governing functions.”

“Well,” Twilight snorted, “I think that’s taking protocol a little…” she bit her lip. Then, she sighed, “I wrote that one, didn’t I?”

“Princess Luna enacted most of the security protocols you wrote while studying under Celestia, yes,” the guardpony said.

Twilight shook her head before taking back the envelopes in her magical aura, “Summer reading projects from when I was twelve shouldn’t be used as the basis of a governmental security system.”

Rarity took a close look at the envelopes. “Unknown magic?”

With that, one of the Changelings trotted up with a popsicle stick. He reached it out towards the envelope, and Twilight allowed contact. Within seconds, the stick turned an off-white gray color.

“Discord?” Twilight frowned. “What does he want?”

“Darling, how do you know the letters are from Discord?”

Twilight smiled, “I developed a color-coded system for identifying spellcasters based on their unique magical aura and thaumic signature. Though in this case…”

She lifted up the popsicle with her magic, revealing the tiny white eyebrows which had grown out the end. She incinerated the stick with a thought, and then turned a curious eye towards the envelopes again… only to pause, and raise her ears.

Spike was the first to interrupt her sudden meditation, “Twi? Got something?”

But before she could answer, everycreature else heard it as well. A low rumble off to the north. It almost sounded like thunder, but that wasn’t scheduled for another…

The Sonic Rainboom crested the tip of Mount Canterhorn, its radiant light and beauty shining across the city. Such a sight was only marred by a single, rainbow-hued vapor trail tearing away from the brilliant explosion, and heading directly towards the region of Ponyville.

Twilight and Rarity watched the blue dot rocket away through the sky, dragging out that rainbow trail like nothing else. Or, nopony else. They instantly knew what it was they were seeing, though they hardly expected what happened next.

For just as Rainbow Dash passed the city, she hit a new level of speed. A third Sonic Rainboom erupted from her body as she took the speed of sound and made it cry uncle.

“Shyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!” the distant sound could just barely be heard above both the cacophony that was the Rainboom, now bathing the city again in rainbow light and color. In fact, the white-hot dot that was Rainbow Dash was already miles ahead of the sound of her own voice.

Twilight, watching and listening to Rainbow’s unprecedented speeding ticket write itself, suddenly flicked her attention to the envelope held in her aura. With the barest glimmer of power, she incinerated the envelope, leaving the letter unharmed. She unfolded it, and began to scan through its contents.

When she was done, the Princess, Rarity, and Spike vanished in a crackle of magical light.


In another world, Rainbow Dash came down too hard, right into Fluttershy’s window. The resulting explosion devastated the landscape and scarred Ponyville for generations. In another, she missed the cottage by a few too many miles, and her resulting hard bank vaporized a mountain. And everything beyond it for miles.

But in this universe, she expertly cut back on her speed, flared when she needed to, and her bank was so well controlled, only Applejack, just pounding up the road from Sweet Apple Acres, letter in mouth, could tell Rainbow was as close to true, frothing insanity as one pony’s rage could carry her.

Good thing the Apple matriarch had the sense to bring her lasso. Granny always used to say, a gal without her lasso ain’t a gal worth a lick of salt in a saloon.

With a practiced ease, she snagged the cyan pegasus’ wings and brought her back down to earth. But when Dash landed, she immediately whirled about and stomped towards Applejack.

“I’ll kill him!!!”

“Slow down there sugarcube!” Applejack said slowly, planting her hooves like she was staring down an oncoming boulder, “We don’t know…”

Their muzzles met, and Applejack… almost flinched as Rainbow Dash’s eyes glared into her very soul. “This has Discord written all over it in neon lights! I knew we shouldn’t have trusted him!”

Applejack, not one to back down, still kept her composure, “Dash, the last time Discord messed around like that were almost twenty years ago. I don’t think he’d be startin trouble now.”

“He’s been laying low! We let our guard down!” Dash’s breaths were coming out in ragged, gasps, more from her anger than the immense physical effort she’d just put in. Applejack could also tell her eyes were dilating something fierce, even if they weren’t starting to drift towards different directions as well.

“Dashie,” Applejack said with an air of warning, “You know the Doc says you can’t get worked up like this anymore. It ain’t good for yer heart…”

“This is Fluttershy we’re talking about!” Dash snapped back, one eye twitching. “I think we’d have noticed two days ago if she were gonna have a foal…!”

The air behind Rainbow Dash whipped up for a second, leaving a certain purple alicorn Princess, tall purple dragon, and purple-maned unicorn standing on the dirt path.

Rarity stepped forward, “Foal? Fluttershy? Good heavens what did I miss!?”

Twilight frowned, “The letter only mentioned a foal-shower, Rainbow. You usually have those before the baby arrives.”

The Wonderbolt Captain whirled back around, “That’s not the point!”

Applejack rolled her eyes, “Seemed like the point a second ago, darlin’.”

Rainbow just snorted and snarled at the… the traitors all around her. “Fluttershy wouldn’t do something like this without telling us. Discord’s done something, and we need to kick his butt again!”

Another voice joined the debate, though from a way off. “Hiya Twilight-Rainbow-Dash-Applejack-Rarity-and-Spike!!!”

Turning back towards Ponyville, a remarkable thing was approaching. A tremendous alligator with bizarre, purple eyes trudged along, dragging along a truly massive pink cannon by a wagon-harness. And sitting atop the perpetually-perplexed reptile was the one and only pair of party planner ponies of Ponyville and parents to the precious pink-maned prince of playfulness.

Pinkie Pie hopped off her ride and skipped straight up to her cluster of friends. Cheese and their son remained to continue Gummy’s slow slog towards the cottage.

“Isn’t this so exciting!? I can’t believe they already went ahead and did it!”

“Well they did,” Rainbow growled, “Now what are we gonna do about it? You got confetti in that cannon?”

“What!?” Pinkie’s face was pure horror, “Why would I do that!?”

Silence met her words. Silence would have taken her words out for a nice first date had Twilight not craned her long neck down to add, “Um… because you’re Pinkie Pie?”

“Normally,” the pink pony allowed, “I’d give you that. But I remember what having Lil Cheese was like… and a confetti style party just wouldn’t do.”

Rarity measured the cannon as it approached, “So… what is the… cannon for?”

Cheese Sandwich, now close enough to easily join in, laughed and said, “She calls it the Baby Howitzer!”

Pinkie smiled, “It’s filled with diapers, foal-food, a few backup blankets, and more hoof-wipes than you can shake a stick at!”

“Well,” Applejack beamed, “That’s mighty considerate of you, Pinkie. Jus’ so long as yer planning on unloading that thing instead of firing it…”

Pinkie helped Lil Cheese onto her back as Gummy came to a stop, “Course, I’ve had a little extra time to plan this than you guys. What with my Pinkie Sense, and Fluttershy talking about it on the train…”

Rainbow’s eyes widened, “Wait… you knew about this? Fluttershy talked about this?”

Pinkie raised an eyebrow at Dash as Lil Cheese nuzzled up to her side, “Well, yeah. Why? That weird or something?”

“It’s…” Rainbow Dash finally, finally lost that keen edge of anger that had kept her going through the sheer exertion of getting to Fluttershy’s house as fast as she did. She slumped down onto her haunches, and became quite lost in thought, her voice barely whispering, “Why didn’t she tell me…?”

Applejack sighed, then laid a comforting foreleg over Dash’s withers. “It’s probably just cause Pinkie’s already gone through the whole process, sugarcube. I know ye’ve always been a might protective were it comes to Fluttershy,” she picked up Rainbow’s head with one hoof under her chin, and met that mare’s red eyes with her own emerald green, “But right now… I’m thinkin’ she needs yer support more’n your protection. Alright?”

Rainbow Dash… smiled, at least a little bit. “Alright,” she said, “But if Discord has done something…”

“Then I’ll be the first to help ya beat him ta within an inch of his life,” Applejack said with the exact same emotion and phrasing as one might say ‘I love you’.

“Actually,” Pinkie tilted her head to one side, letting a hoof-full of sprinkles to fall out of her mane, “I just finally noticed Fluttershy was acting all whimsical and motherly around Lil Cheese and she confessed.”

Twilight Sparkle strode into the middle of her friends, and then pointed her horn towards Fluttershy’s door.

“Regardless, I think there’s somepony we should really see soon to clear all this up…”


“I… I just don’t understand,” the Lord of Chaos, the Spirit of Insanity, the Duke of the Demented, the Mayor of Mania, and the Original Steel Donut himself, sighed dejectedly. He lay almost flat against the carpet, wilted as so many flowers beneath a hot sun.

Said hot sun being his own daughter, Anarchy.

“She… she just won’t laugh!”

The chairs in the living room had been reduced to stacked vegetables, the floorboards were speaking in Prench, and the books on the shelving had been replaced by sapient whoopee cushions. And that was only what Discord had done in the past hour! Every inch of the cottage had been transmogrified at least twice already, and only partly by himself.

Ann just… didn’t get her old man’s humor. He’d started making faces, and she just stared. He tried changing things up, and it bored her. Right now, she was babbling in the most adorable fashion, sliding down the waterpark-slide she’d made with her own Chaos magic only a moment ago, and having the grandest time.

But Discord had nothing to do with it. Even his meta-humor had failed him.

“I thought the black trench coat and katana combo was still funny…”

DISCORD!” Fluttershy called from the kitchen, “How is Ann doing!?”

“Fine,” he said just loud enough to where he thought she might hear him. He didn’t care anymore. He wasn’t useful for anything. Not when Anarchy was…

Well, now she was examining a picture on the wall. From Discord’s vantage point, it looked like one of both Fluttershy’s parents. For the first time in almost two days… she wasn’t zapping anything. She wasn’t flitting about. And she hadn’t started screaming again. Something about that picture…

And then she grabbed a second picture, one of Fluttershy’s ne’er-do-well brother Zephyr Breeze, and gobbled the whole thing down in a single bite.

“Well… no accounting for taste,” he allowed himself a little chuckle.

Fluttershy drifted in, wings flapping while she continued to stir a saucepan of formula. The poor dear hadn’t slept since the birth, and she looked it, with her mane out of place and what feathers weren’t falling out instead sticking out all akimbo. Regardless of who’d actually given birth, Fluttershy looking so flustered wasn’t a good sign.

“Formula will be ready soon Ann,” she said sweetly through the obvious strain, “I hope you’re hungry!”

Anarchy belched, and a few of Zephyr’s hair-ties fell out of her mouth. Somehow.

Discord sighed, “I think she already ate.”

“Oh my!” Fluttershy set down the pan onto a nearby-and-currently-stable veggie-chair, “Can she eat solid food so young? Most ponies can only handle mother’s milk for the first few months…”

“As I said,” Discord oozed slowly over to where Ann was currently rolling on the floor for the sheer heck of it, “I made her as randomly as any real child would be between two ponies. And while Draconequii mature very differently than ponies… I just don’t know how quickly she’ll develop compared to somepony else.”

Fluttershy walked over to her foal, and Ann’s face lit up like a lightbulb. Happily, as Fluttershy tugged on her tail to switch it off, the foal leaned in and nuzzled her mother while cooing… like a pigeon in this instance, but the message was clear.

“But you made her potty-trained because…?”

Discord scrunched his nose up, “Because there’s no way that…!”

The door to the cottage seemed to glow purple for just a moment, and then it swung inward to reveal a mass of ponies looking in.

“Oh!” Fluttershy’s eyes flashed with surprise, “Hello girls. Did something happen? We weren’t expecting any of you until…” she looked away, a hoof covering her mouth as she thought. “Discord? When did your letter say the shower was set?”

The assembled mares entered the cottage together, with Twilight having to bend down quite far to make it under the door. They all seemed to be watching Fluttershy as they entered, at least until they noticed the complete and utter disarray of the entire house. Only Rainbow Dash focused her eyes squarely onto the Draconequus sitting up on the carpet.

The fact that he wouldn’t meet her eyes seemed to only confirm her own feelings on… whatever was going on here. Which included flying salt-shakers, an assortment of photo-realistic eyeballs growing out of the ceiling, and what appeared to be a giraffe in place of every other floorboard.

“Oh,” said the Lord of Chaos, “I thought I said a few days from now, but then again,” he began to blow away into dust, “I’m not feeling so well, Miss Shy…”

“Discord…” Fluttershy sighed, “I love you… but not today?” she gave the vanishing cloud of Draconequus a tired stare.

With a sigh of his own, Discord snapped his fingers, returning the cottage to its usual standard of normalcy. He grumbled, but wasn’t in the mood to fight over it.

“See, Dash?” Twilight nodded towards Fluttershy, “Foal Shower. Nothing crazy has happened, so there’s really no excuse for all the fuss.”

“Fuss?” Rainbow snapped her eyes around to her tallest friend, “Who said I was fussing?”

Applejack chuckled, “Nopony said you was fussing, sugarcube.” Then, she added with a disgruntled frown, “We all said you were crazy.”

Fluttershy’s face flushed red, “Um… oh, No. Nothing too crazy happened here.” She then thought better of that, and added, “Wait, what did you all think happened?”

“Darling,” Rarity smiled warmly towards her friend, “Did you, or did you not have a foal? It’s a very simple question.”

“Oh, then yes. We did.”

“See? Now that wasn’t…” Rarity took a moment to analyze just what she’d heard. Then, as smoke began to waft out of her ears, she cried, “W-wh-what!!?”

The entire room gawked at Fluttershy. Some form of mute horror and shock overtook every other thought they might have had… except for Dash, whose glare turned white-hot and locked back onto Discord once more.

Fluttershy flinched, and suddenly wished she could still hide behind her mane like she used to. But she liked her hair-clip too much.

“We… we already had a foal. Just two days ago, r-right after our meeting…”

“Hold up!” Pinkie slid both Rainbow Dash and Applejack aside with a sweep of her forelegs, and then stomped straight towards Fluttershy. “Do you mean to tell me that you just… went ahead and had a foal? With magic? Chaos Magic!?” Pinkie’s eyes began to twitch as she reached Fluttershy and began to smudge the concept of personal space into nothingness.

“… yes,” the pegasus eventually managed to whisper.

Discord chuckled, sadly, “It was a snap.”

“But… but, but, but… that’s so unfair!!!” the pink pony screamed, “Carrying a foal was the worst experience of my life! I spent a year not being able to enjoy pickles and ice cream! I kept craving salads, and my hooves swelled up, and Lil Cheese kicked like a mule while he was…”

Big Cheese, knowing the signs of a Ponker-Meltdown a mile off, laid his hoof gently over her withers and tried to give a few comforting rubs along Pinkie’s back.

“Pinkie? Dearest?” he crooned in her ear, “you should eat some candy. You’re not yourself when you’re hungry…”

If looks could kill, the one Pinkie shot her husband now would have stripped him down to bones. Instead, the piercing glare and low, dog-like growl merely sent him backpedaling towards Discord, where he promptly took cover behind the Spirit of Chaos.

Fluttershy smiled, chagrined, “If it makes you feel any better… I haven’t slept since.”

Pinkie… chuckled, “Actually, yeah! It does! Great job avoiding being pregnant, I guess!” Her hair poofed out, as full and frizzy as ever, as though nothing had happened. “So! Where’s the little one?”

Applejack seemed to shake herself back to the present, “Oh, yeah. Where is the little… filly? Colt?”

“Well, she’s right… um?” Fluttershy looked to her side. Then to the other. She glanced about the room, taking in every nook and cranny. She even looked up at the ceiling, just in case.

“Ann?” she called out into the room. The scuff of hooves drew her back around towards the kitchen, where she caught a glimpse of a pink mane, and a little red eye staring out at the strange ponies that had invaded her home.

Fluttershy smiled warmly towards her daughter, and said, “Anarchy, I know it’s scary to see so many new faces at once. I’ve never liked crowds myself. But these ponies are my very best friends, and they really want to meet you. Will you come out?”


She didn’t like this. The entire world and everything in it were just fine before all these… other ponies showed up. There were so many eyes! So many eyes that could be watching her! And now Mom and Dad were talking to them!

Ann just didn’t know what to think about all this. Maybe if she…

“Ann?”

Don’t look over here. Don’t look over here. If she didn’t think too hard about Mom looking at her, maybe…

Fluttershy smiled warmly towards her daughter, and said, “Anarchy, I know it’s scary to see so many new faces at once. I’ve never liked crowds myself. But these ponies are my very best friends, and they really want to meet you. Will you come out?”

Well… of course Mom saw her now! She was thinking about it. That was always the way. It was like… well, if Ann were a little older, she might have an analogy or two to fit in there. Give her a break, she was less than forty-eight hours old.

But… Mom had called these strangers her friends? What the heck was a friend? Ann didn’t like the sound of it at all, but then Mom had never done anything to make her scared or frightened. Why would she start now?

Anarchy began walking, slowly, so slowly into the living room. She was pretty annoyed all her Chaos had been put away. Maybe Dad would help her put it back later? He was pretty weird. She liked weird.

Couldn’t let him know she liked that though. It’d ruin their game. She should probably tell him he was playing.

Later.

Right, the strangers. Ann finally reached the six strange ponies… or, five ponies and one dragon. It was funny, knowing what those words meant. It tickled in that space behind her eyes.

They all looked down on her with curious expressions. Were… were they waiting for something? Did… did they like her?

An explosion of coos and ‘D’awwwws’ answered that question thoroughly.

“She’s absolutely adorable, Fluttershy!” said the white one with a purple mane. Her eyes were actually sparkling as she said, “I demand you let me design a wardrobe for her! It’s like a little you!”

Ann tried to take a step back and away from that one as she looked like she was going to start measuring her on the spot. If her mom’s legs hadn’t stopped her retreat, she might have gotten away too.

The tallest pony, with a mane that flowed in an ethereal wind, almost wrapped her body around Ann and her mother as she was took in the filly at every angle possible. She mused, almost to herself, “Half Draconequus? But then the symmetry should… no, if the harmonics in the upper-lipidal frequencies… Fluttershy, she’s fascinating!”

“Adorable,” the dragon corrected.

“Yes, that too,” the tallest purple thing that ever purpled said.

“Shucks, sugarcube!” the orange mare was next, “She’s prettier than a shiny red apple on a summer mornin’! Ain’t that right, Dash?”

Now, while the orange one was really scary, and she made her ears hurt, Ann blushed at the compliment. But when she looked up at the blue pegasus… Ann loved her right away! Was this what friendship was like!? The way her mane was every color? The way her scowl perfectly masked a boiling sea of fear and concern? There was something so magnetic about her naked hostility that Ann found wonderful!

Dislike and Friendship. Same thing, right?

“I don’t know… is she real? Or just Discord’s magic?”

Dash!!!”

Everypony seemed to say that at once. They harmonized well, Ann thought. Shame they weren’t in a band.

Immediately, the mood shifted. All the older ponies began arguing, yelling, and generally shouting their heads off. And to Ann, this was nothing short of beautiful. Harmony had been… nice. But a little Chaos was better! It was like the difference between… well, not that Ann knew what they smelled like, but it was like comparing the smell of fresh vegetables and fresh cookies.

But as much as she liked it… why did her tummy feel so weird? All that chaos was right there! But nopony was having… fun?

And that’s when she saw… Her. The Pink One. Ann wasn’t sure if it was her chaos senses, or some element of pony instinct, but she could tell that one was like a full-blown eight-course meal of Chaos under a fine layer of pickled chocolate.

The pink pony seemed unconcerned for the argument blowing up around her. It had gotten boring, so Ann didn’t think much of it either. Something about Dash being a jerk, or something. Who cared? Not Ann. Nope. She only had eyes for the Pink one’s little colt, who had almost Ann’s exact mane and coat color, and who even now trotted up to her with his mother’s encouragement.

“Hi!” he said, “My name’s Cheese! What’s yours?” He held out a rubber chicken to her, sharing his toy with a new… friend.

Huh. That was an interesting feeling. Much nicer, Ann decided, than Chaos without friendship.

“Gaah,” she said, “Goo babwhuh… uh?” That wasn’t right. She’d meant to say her name, hadn’t she?

She tried again, a little more frustrated, “Bhup pblbl!”

“I’m sorry, Lil Cheese,” Ann’s Mom said to the little colt, “But Ann is still too young to talk. Discord made her just a bit older than a newborn, but not that much.”

Well. That wouldn’t do at all! How was she supposed to talk to her new friend if she… couldn’t…?

Who said she couldn’t? She was Anarchy! Pony of Chaos! She could do what she wanted! When she wanted! And right now… she wanted to talk to Cheese!!!

Anarchy lifted up her long, pink tail, and with no small amount of concentration managed to force it into the rough shape of a finger and thumb. Just enough to get a snap going.

“Uh oh,” the dragon alone spotted what was about to happen, “Look out everyone!”


In the echoing silence of the post-snap, while everycreature in the room stood stock-still and watched the little foal, Anarchy was left clearing her throat.

She turned towards Lil Cheese, who hadn’t even blinked at the ripple of Chaos as it flowed around the room, and said in a tiny squeak of a voice, “Hi Cheese! I’m Anawchy. No…” she narrowed her eyes, “That didn’t sound wight…”

Fluttershy was the first to react, “Ann!”

“Howd on Mama,” Ann said, “I’ve got ta figew this out…” Maybe something was wrong with her tongue? “I just leawned myself the woads…”

“Ann, you can talk!” Fluttershy wasn’t sure if she sounded more crazed or more manic, and for once didn’t seem to care that there wasn’t exactly a difference between the two. “Discord? What’s going on!?”

Discord, to his credit, immediately stepped forth and began to examine his daughter. He pulled out a magnifying glass and quickly went over her, focusing mostly on her head, her eyes, and her throat.

“Hmmm…” he mused, “She didn’t do anything more than teach herself ‘how’ to speak. She didn’t try to alter her body in any way,” he turned a sly smile over towards Twilight and added, “Safety feature. Can’t have a growing Ponequus go fussing about with biology…”

After a few more moments of poking around, he tried poking at the little filly still deep in thought. Specifically, he licked one talon, and began poking her in the ear.

“Gaah!” she cried, “Da-ad!”

“Hmmm,” the Dad-onequus nodded, “It’s as I feared.”

Fluttershy scooped Ann up into her forelegs instantly, “What!? What’s wrong!?” All of her friends crowded around, making Ann shrink down further into her mother’s embrace as all the eyes in the world fell back upon her.

Discord sighed, “She’s using her powers of Chaos… responsibly.” He seemed almost distraught by the news.

Discord!!!” a vein popped out near Fluttershy’s temple.

“What?” he asked, genuinely confused, “She saw a problem, and fixed it in a straightforward manner that allowed for no shenanigans to occur! I’d say our kid’s taken a rather dismal path early in life, wouldn’t you agree?”

“Um,” Ann looked up at Fluttershy, “I’m fine, mom. I just gave myself the woads… no, the woads…”

Ann frowned, and then finally seemed to figure out just what was wrong.

DA-AD!!!” she whined.

“Oh, I’m going to have to get used to this, aren’t I?” Discord sighed again, “Yes, Anarchy?”

“You gave me a lithp? Wait…” The little filly reached up with her bat-wing and used it to pull out her tongue. She pulled, and pulled, and pulled… and continued pulling to the confused horror of the other ponies in the room until her tongue had extended over a dozen feet.

All along the pink appendage appeared to be written instructions. Ann herself began to scan the canvas of her own tongue… before suddenly realizing she hadn’t given herself the ability to read. “Any othew safety featews?”

Discord pinched her cheek, “Maybe. I wouldn’t test it out any further. I might have put in a few… lessons for fillies who don’t learn how to not mess about!”

Fluttershy, however, could read the fine print. “Oh my. Discord? Did you put these here?”

“Not intentionally. Not entirely intentionally.”

Rainbow snorted, “Now that sounds like Discord.”

Twilight leaned in close, eyes wide with the news there was a new field of knowledge to explore. “What does it say!?”

Fluttershy squinted. “Not a lot. The words keep moving around. I don’t think they like me. But I think it says she has trouble saying her R’s and L’s… and S’s, but only when she tries to say ‘Lisp’.”

“That…” the Princess frowned at Discord, “Seems incredibly unhelpful.”

Discord shrugged, “Well, I made her as Chaotically as I could! It’s not my fault that all you ponies follow rules and suchlike! Did you ever think it was your fault? Hmmmm!?”

Ann’s tongue shot back into her mouth like a roll of film snapping back into its reel.

“Gweat,” she huffed, “I hope yew pweased wiff yewseff, Dad.”

Lil Cheese, still sitting besides his new friend, offered his rubber chicken again. Ann smiled, and gave the fabricated poultry a squeeze, leading to both foals laughing together.

But just before Discord could say anything snide or sarcastic in reply, the door to the cottage slammed open, and a dark wind blew through the house. The sky outside had turned black, and crashing thunder and lightning backlit the latest visitor to Fluttershy’s home.

A tall, blue ram stood in the doorway. A ram with horns that doubled his already impressive stature. A blue ram whose eyes were gold and red, and whose malice emanated from him like an aura. A voice as ancient and as ceaselessly grinding as the sea itself rumbled in his throat.

“He probably is,” the old ram intoned, “Because he is a fool!”

As the ram spoke, each of the Bearers of Harmony struck a defensive pose. Fluttershy held Ann back with Lil Cheese, while Rainbow stepped in front of her and flared her wings. Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and even Cheese Sandwich squared off with the intruder. Only Applejack may have looked intimidating on her own, but nocreature underestimated an earth pony properly motivated to defend their own.

Rarity lit her horn in blue magic, and Spike stood by her with fists raised. And before all of them, Princess Twilight Sparkle stood resolute, prepared to unleash such power as had not been felt in Equestria since the legendary battles between Grogar and Gusty themselves.

She knew this, as they did all, because ever since Discord’s last betrayal, all those years ago… Twilight had always suspected this ram, Grogar himself, would appear to be their final challenge. Well, if it was to defend Fluttershy’s new family, then no sacrifice would be…

“Pop-pop?”

Twilight spun her head around. Discord stared at Grogar with some strange chimeric look of… Actually, she had no idea what was running through Discord’s mind. It could have been anger, fear, love, or some random object or metaphysical concept like rice-pudding, or the sound of one hoof clapping, and she’d have no way of knowing either way.

Grogar sighed, “Greetings, Discord. I see you’ve sired a child. Finally.”

From behind the eldritch ram, a far more cheery and familiar voice asked, “Are we interrupting something Grogar?”

“We could always let you two have a few moments,” a second, equally familiar voice said, “Though I’m quite curious to see what a half-pony-half-Draconequus looks like.”

“Luna! Don’t be rude.”

“Tia, I want to see the filly!”

Into the rapidly shrinking space of Fluttershy’s living room entered a new pair of alicorns, the former rulers of Equestria itself. The Princess-Emeritus Celestia and Princess-Emeritus Luna.

“C-Celestia?” Twilight stuttered, “Luna? Grogar? What in Starswirl’s bells is going on!?”

Grogar stepped forward, “Indeed it is I… GROGAR! The Nec-ram-ancer! The Dark Lord of All! The Father of Monsters!”

“Ex-cuse­ you!” Discord suddenly snarled. “Father of Monsters? Do you want to make my therapist richer than she already is!?”

Grogar shrugged, noncommittedly, “Very well, my son. Father of Creatures Who Keep FAILING to take over the world. Is that better?”

Discord frowned. “Yes, slightly. But I don’t recall sending you an invite, Dad…”

Fluttershy, Ann at her side, slowly approached the ancient Ram of Evil. The older pegasus was shaking in her horseshoes as she stopped, knowing full-well the reputation of the being standing before her.

“Y-you’re Grogar…? Discord’s father?” Her eyes widened with sudden fear, “I didn’t have time to clean up… or sleep, for that matter. Oh dear, I’m being a bad host for my in-law…”

Grogar nodded once, and then turned his baleful eyes down towards Ann. “Little Anarchy,” he growled, “Daughter of my Son…”

Violet energy crackled about him. Power and magic untold burned the air, and the shrieks of his fallen victims called out…

As he produced a lollipop. “Would you like candy from your Grampa?”

Anarchy’s eyes glistened with a need for that lollipop. But another thought came to her…

“Can my fwend Cheese have one too?”

Grogar narrowed his eyes. “Friend?”

“Fwend.”

“Not… minion?”

“Fwend.”

Grogar sighed, “Just this once. But no more friends! They are a terrible habit…”

Celestia and Luna chuckled as they gathered around Ann and Cheese.

“Oh Grogar, be careful with those jests!” said Luna as she began scratching a smiling Lil Cheese behind his ears with her wings. “The Princess of Friendship is right behind you.”

“Yes, she is,” Twilight snorted, “And she would very much like to know why Grogar is here!”

Celestia lay down and began playing with Ann’s bat-wings, “Well, I should think it was obvious. He’s here to see his grandfoal.”

“No,” the Princess sighed at her predecessors, “I mean, why is he alive? Didn’t Gusty the Great defeat him, like… millennium ago!?”

“Gusty NEVER defeated me!” Grogar whirled on the assembled rulers of Equestria, his eyes blazing with red fire, “She merely stole my Bewitching Bell and… that allowed her and her friends to…” The Nec-ram-ancer narrowed his eyes at Twilight Sparkle.

“So I retired,” he finished, quickly returning his attention to Ann and Cheese, “I didn’t die or anything.”

Discord huffed quietly in the corner, “Don’t do me any favors…”

“Then… you’re not here to conquer Equestria?” Fluttershy stood beside the ancient terror of ponykind.

“No,” he said, finally, “World domination is a young-monster’s game. I prefer fishing, playing cards down at Silver Shoals…”

“And Bingo,” Luna added, helpfully.

“… and Bingo…” Grogar grumbled.

Applejack glanced around, expecting more. “So… crisis over? As much as I’d love to see yer little filly some more, I did just dump a whole heap of work on my farm-hooves and Big Mac to run over here.”

Fluttershy allowed herself a warm smile for her friends, “Oh my, yes. Things should be alright around here.”

“For a given definition of alright,” said Discord, unheard by anypony else.

“But, um…” Fluttershy’s eyes began to shake slightly as she spoke, “If anypony could find a few hours in their schedule to watch little Ann… I’d be most appreciative. I haven’t slept since… since…”

She dropped straight down to the floor, cushioned in her fall only by a fluffy white pillow that had materialized under her not a moment too soon. The assorted friends in the room took half a step forward, or three in Dash’s case, but stopped as they heard their animal-loving friend’s soft snores.

Discord retrieved Fluttershy and held her tightly in his arms. “It’s about time. I’ve been waiting for her to collapse like that.”

Rainbow scowled, “You were waiting?”

“I learned long ago to just let Flutters tire herself out,” the Lord of Chaos began knitting a quilted blanket around her like a spider spinning webbing, “It lets her get it out of her system and feel like she’s accomplishing something.

“But,” he smiled, chagrined, “We could both use a break…”

Grogar turned to Discord and laughed scornfully, “There is no need. I shall escort the child and her minion to the local park.”

“Oh!” Celestia raised her head from blowing raspberries into the giggling Ann’s stomach, “That sounds lovely! Count me in!”

“Absolutely not!” Discord and Rainbow Dash found themselves shouting as one.

Discord continued, pointing a talon directly at his father, “Why do you think I’d ever trust you with Anarchy?”

Grogar grinned smugly, “Because when I set out to do something, I always succeed. Such as,” he faced Ann directly. Grogar’s eyes bulged out of his face and crossed themselves, while his cheeks puffed out, and the tip of his tongue poked out of his mouth.

He gave a little raspberry.

“Faces? Really?” Discord shook his head, “Dad-gar, she didn’t even crack a smile at my faces. What makes you…?”

Ann began to chortle, rolling on the floor as tears of laughter sprang from her eyes. Her father snapped his mouth shut at this, his ears wilting.

Grogar turned back to his son, and finished his thought, “Such as being better than you at everything. If I say I shall safeguard your child, then she is safe from all harm.”

“Oh,” Discord raised an eyebrow in irritation, his teeth grinding just enough to cause sparks, “And I suppose when you set out to destroy Gusty, she was totally destroyed…”

Without pause, Discord swiveled his torso around so he could more easily gesture towards Rainbow Dash, “Thanks for having my back, by the way…”

Dash snorted, “No! I was saying I absolutely wasn’t gonna leave you alone with Fluttershy! Not til I’m convinced this isn’t some trick you’re pulling!”

The entire assembled room sighed as one. Even Ann pinched the bridge of her muzzle with one wing.

Rarity placed a foreleg over Rainbow’s withers, “Dashie, darling? I think that particular ship has, shall we say, sailed.”

Discord, however, smiled, “Oh, don’t be too hard on Rainbutt. I rather appreciate being protective of Fluttershy.”

While Rainbow Dash continued to, admittedly half-heartedly, glare at the Draconequus, Grogar grew more and more impatient. “Enough of these pleasantries!” he thundered, “I have promised my future weapon of Darkness time at the park, and that is what shall come to pass as soon as you meddling ponies vacate my sight!”

“You know,” Spike whispered to Princess Twilight, “I don’t know about this guy. Seems… blatantly evil.”

“I know what you mean, Spike,” she replied, then leaned down to whisper to her old mentor Celestia, “You are going along with this to watch over him, right?”

Not breaking her smile, Celestia answered with her own whisper, “Of course. I mean, he’s a mostly harmless retiree… like Luna and myself, but he’s still Grogar.”

The ruling Princess sighed contentedly, finding the world to be a right and orderly place once again. With a careful wave of her wings, she silently indicated to her friends that they should make their leave.

Applejack reached the door first and opened it wide, “Finally! Gotta git back and make sure the last of the storm-prep is ready.”

“Yeah, wouldn’t want…” Rainbow almost smiled, thinking of the barrels of cider they’d get out of the harvest assuming the storm clouds didn’t knock the farm about too badly, when she made a sudden, inexplicably delayed realization.

SOARIN!!!”

And with a muffled crack as the sound-barrier ripped asunder, Wonderbolt Captain Rainbow Dash rocketed through the door and banked straight up into the gathering stormclouds… which seemed to be listing about without their usual organization…

Applejack had to readjust her Stetson and mane a little, but she just shook her head and began a quick trot back towards Sweet Apple Acres.

While Cheese Sandwich slipped his Lil Cheese a few necessities such as twine, balloons, a banana-cream pie, a wooden nickel, and a kazoo… Pinkie Pie gave Discord and the sleeping Fluttershy some reassurances.

“I’ll just leave the cannon with you guys,” she was smiling, “It’s out on your front-yard, and it’s packed full of everything you need, including wipes and diapers.”

Discord nodded as he snapped Fluttershy’s blanket cocoon into a foal-harness strapped to his chest, “Thanks for that, Ponkers, but Anarchy was born potty-trained, so…”

The Lord of Chaos is never scared. Never. It isn’t even within the realm of possibility. Possibility could only dream of hosting the fear of a Draconequus, because those things don’t exist. But he does have… personal space issues. Yes. Let’s go with that. And Pinkie Pie was suddenly violating that personal space, with two hooves gripping his long neck like a vice.

She sputtered, “Ha- wha… you fu- bwhuh!?!!?” while one eye twitched and her mane began to deflate. “HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO ME!?!

It took a minute, the combined power of three Princesses of Equestria and the gentle hooves of another party planner pony, but Pinkie eventually gave up on strangling Discord. She instead settled for collapsing into tears on Cheese Sandwich’s back.

Cheese looked up expectantly to Discord, “So… Guy’s Night?”

“My schedule’s clear, assuming I can get a sitter,” he shifted an evil look towards the smiling Grogar, “So I’ll let you know by Thursday…”

Cheese nodded, satisfied, then trotted out with his wife slung across his back.

She was still sobbing angrily, “How could this happen to me!? I made my mistakes…!”

“Bye mommy!” Lil Cheese cheerily waved a hoof after his parents, “Bye daddy!”


Twilight, Spike, and Rarity were the last to leave, closing the door behind them just as a familiar sight flew down from the rapidly darkening heavens. A blue-feathered griffin landed heavily before them, gold armor glistening with frost and rainwater. Panting, he saluted as a golden chariot drawn by pegasi guards landed on the road.

“Your…” he gasped, “… Your Highnesses… we came as soon as we could…”

“Thank you, Gallus,” Rarity patted the griffin on his shoulder comfortingly, “But the situation has already been resolved.”

Gallus glanced between the three creatures in front of him. “So… no crisis?”

Spike chuckled, “Nah, Fluttershy and Discord just had a baby.”

“… Discord?”

Twilight nodded, “And the grandfather is Grogar, the Nec-ram-ancer.”

“The…” Gallus’s eyes narrowed and his mouth ran dry, “the Lord of Darkness?”

“Yes,” said Twilight, her horn flashing to life and slowly applying a warming spell to Gallus’s armor and feathers, “But Celestia and Luna will be watching them at the park.”

“He’s going to…” Gallus blinked, finally, “Grogar the Father of Monsters… is going to be at Ponyville park…” He finally seemed to gain the nerve to look up at his sovereign directly, “And there’s no crisis?”

“No darling,” Rarity tittered, “Just Anarchy.”

Of course. Of course, there was. For not the first time, Gallus wondered why he took this job. He could still remember his drill instructor, Flash Sentry’s uncontrollable laughter when he’d told him the news Gallus would be Captain of the Guard in Cantelot.

That should have tipped him off.

The Princess raised her horn again, and in a flash she, Rarity, and Spike had vanished into thin air. Again. Without telling her guards where she was going. Gallus ripped up a few clawfulls of dirt in frustration, then returned to the chariot to let his men know they’d flown all the way here for nothing, and that they needed to fly all the way back to Canterlot.

“Um,” one said, biting his lip, “Could we stop for something first? We kinda got called up during lunch so…”

“Yeah,” Gallus sighed, “yeah…”


Back inside, Discord had finished listing off everything he could think of for Grogar to know about caring for Anarchy. Not necessarily useful things, just enough random tidbits and odds and ends to get a real good annoyance going for the old goat.

“… and No Skeleponies,” he finished, “I don’t care that they’re harmless, it’s out of season. Wait until at least the month of Nightmare Night before raising the dead!”

Grogar, face perpetually scowling when not contorting for Anarchy’s amusement, growled, “Anything else?”

“No, unfortunately,” Discord looked towards the two remaining alicorns, “Just… make sure she’s safe?”

Luna nodded, “Have no fear, Discord. We have watched over nations. A foal will not be the end of us.”

“You say that,” Celestia chuckled, “But I’ve had to raise a few in my time. If Ann’s half as rambunctious as Sunset or Twilight were…”

“Then we’re off!” Discord waved his claw through the air, tearing a hole straight from the cottage into the realm of Chaos, the other end of this portal hanging right about a large, comfy-looking bed. He looked down towards Ann and said, “Be good kid… or at least as chaotic as possible. We’ll be back for dinner.”

A strange thought came to Discord just then, as he was about to step between dimensions. He took a deep breath, and then proceeded to cross his eyes and puff out his cheeks. With the tip of his tongue sticking out, he made the best raspberry he could muster.

Ann just… stared.

“Ha!” Grogar guffawed, “As ever, you come crawling back to my way of thinking when things don’t turn out how you planned, my son.”

The ram’s laughter rose as Discord’s face fell. The Draconequus sighed, and said, “Well… it was worth a shot…”

Which was when he felt a thin pair of forelegs reach around his long neck, and gave a comforting, tight squeeze.

“Dad,” Ann said without her lisp as she gave Discord a quick kiss on the cheek, “You’re weird.”

She’d said it with the exact same emotion and phrasing as one might say ‘I love you’.

Discord smiled, just for a moment, and ruffled his daughter's mane with his paw. With that, the Lord of Chaos departed with Fluttershy, sealing the portal as he left.

Grogar, finally free of his pesky son and daughter-in-law, grunted and faced the two foals before him.

“Very well. We shall now depart for the park. And there shall be merriment unseen since the Days of Yore. And the pillars of creation will tremble with your laughter, my child.”

Luna stamped her hooves, “Huzzah! Let the park-partaking commence!”

“Yeah,” Ann said slowly, her tail taking the form of a hand again, “About that…”


Lil Cheese had been busy picking up Boneless Six, and had just heard the odd snapping sound again when he turned around. Glancing about, he was slightly confused.

Where had those statues come from?

“Um, Ann?” Cheese somewhat nervously followed the cute pegasi… dracon… pony as she started out the front door. “Shouldn’t we wait for your Grampa and our Aunties to come back?”

“Nah,” she laughed, “We’ll be fine. Wace ya!”

And like that, the two foals took off for the park, laughing together as they went. Anarchy wasn’t even all that upset when Cheese somehow managed to beat her there… though since she teleported most of the way, it was surprising…

Grogar, still conscious within the stone, could only wonder at his predicament.

It was like raising Discord all over again…


Fluttershy’s eyes only partly opened as she lay down. She could feel the soft bed beneath her… her bed. She could feel the warm sheets around her. The room felt faintly of purple and smelled like a carol at Hearth’s Warming. Well, she was definitely in the Chaos Realm.

Home sweet home. But where was…?

“Ann,” she whispered, and tried to get up. Only, she was completely bound up in blankets. And more, Fluttershy could see a long, snake-like body had wrapped its way around her, holding her fast.

And right near her own face, she finally caught sight of a sleeping Discord, his whole body bound up tightly with hers, keeping her still and warm. At this angle, he looked so… peaceful.

“Best you get back to sleep,” he whispered softly, “You need it.”

Sleep was demanding she return to it, but not without answers.

“The Sanctuary?”

“I gave Angel thumbs for the day,” Discord smirked, “He knows the routine.”

Fluttershy blinked, “Anarchy?”

“With Cheese at the park. She turned Grogar to stone first,” he smiled so warmly at that, “Atta girl…”

“How…?”

“I’m Chaos,” Discord smacked his lips. “Her powers are more like… an allowance. I know everything she's doing with them.”

“She’s growing up so fast,” Fluttershy yawned.

Her Draconequus nuzzled close to her, “Don’t worry. I just skipped the rough parts in the beginning. She’ll be our little foal a long while yet. Though I suppose we’ll need to think of school…”

Fluttershy closed her eyes, “That’s… very responsible of you to say. I wonder…”

“She’s so creative and full of chaos,” Discord chuckled lightly, “She’d turn the place upside down in an hour!”

“And there it is,” Fluttershy still smiled, despite herself. Yet, before sleep claimed her again, she had one last thing to ask. “Discord?”

“Hm?”

“Can we handle this?”

Discord finally opened one eye, and let its gaze fall upon his dearest, dearest friend in all the cosmos. The only pony who ever conquered Chaos with Kindness. The only creature who ever looked at Discord as anything other than a monster.

The only pony he loved. Well… the first pony he loved. There was now another in his life, and he couldn’t help but see all the best of one in the other.

“If anypony can, it’s you,” he whispered as Fluttershy fell fast asleep.