//------------------------------//
// Chapter 5. Psalm 30:2 
// Story: The Pegasus who Kicked the Changelings' Hive 
// by A M Shark 
//------------------------------//

Chapter 5

"O Lord my God, I called to You for help and You healed me."—Psalm 30:2



Scarcely had Fluttershy registered Mache Max's altered appearance, then the origami parrot began shaking himself wildly like a dog. Paper airplanes shot out from his body in every direction, forcing the TreeHAB's occupants to run for cover. Fluttershy dove behind a particularly large bundle of camouflage as the paper missiles whizzed over her head to bounce off the TreeHAB wall.

After several seconds, the artillery stopped. Fluttershy was just debating whether it was safe to peek out from her hiding place when the air was filled with squawks, shrieks, hisses, and a rapid-fire clicking. Peeking out from around her shelter, she gasped.

Mache Max—now looking once more as she remembered—was bouncing about, squawking as he gleefully head-butted the membrane imprisoning the skeletal mystery creature. The creature struggled to stay upright as it snapped and snarled at him in helpless fury, unable to bite through its prison. Fluttershy mentally shuddered each time it accidentally jostled its injured legs and let out enraged cries of pain.

"Stop!" Fluttershy shouted, leaping out from behind her hiding place and racing forward. "Stop it!" She snatched up Mache Max, brought him to her face, and shook her free hoof sternly at him. "Bad Max! You don't do that! You do not!"

For a millisecond, she thought he looked a tad ashamed of himself, but the next thing she knew he was cheerfully rubbing one beak up and down the length of her bandaged foreleg, and nibbling at the edge of the bandage with his other beak.

"I'm so sorry about—" she started to say as she turned toward the skeletal creature, but was cut off when it let out a hacking rattling sound. It seemed to be trying to spit up a fresh wave of fire, but produced only a few feeble sparks.

Then Fluttershy heard Spike say behind her, "Hey, I think that thing is running on empty. If its flame works anything like a dragon's anyway."





The little equine was doing her best to stay upright, but it was difficult with only two working legs. Even the slightest movement sent bolts of pain through the other ones. But she couldn't afford to collapse, couldn't afford to let her captors see just how weak and hurt she really was. She had almost started to hope they might leave her alone when that strange off-white thing suddenly showed up to start tormenting her. Oh, yes. She had been through this enough times to know how it worked. She wasn't about to fall for that yellow pony's nice routine. Not with the way her little tormentor was now cozying up to the pony. No, they were hatching a fresh plan to torture her.

Suddenly the yellow pony was joined by the others who all huddled around her and began whispering among themselves. The little equine lifted her ears, trying to catch what they were saying.

"We don't know how long it will take for that flame to recharge, so this might be our only chance."

"If we can keep it still, I can pop that leg I dislocated back in place. But that's going to be painful enough even if it cooperates, which it's clearly not going to do."

"Twilight, if you dissolve that bubble, I can pin our guest down while High and Fluttershy work on its legs."

"But Screwjob, if you do that, it might see you as nothing but an enemy from now on."

This was greeted with a short chuckle. "Fluttershy, I'm a heel. It's in my job description to be the lightning rod of hate. Plus, it's not like our mystery guest has exactly warmed up to any attempts to be nice so I doubt it could hate my guts any more than it probably already does."

"Alright, here's what we'll do."

Their voices dropped even lower, and try as she might, the little equine couldn't make out what they were saying.

Then the group suddenly split up and began drifting away toward different parts of the room. The little equine didn't trust this. They were up to something. Wobbling on her two good legs, she snapped her head back and forth, trying to keep everyone in sight...

When the bubble surrounding her suddenly flashed bright. Momentarily blinded, she recoiled and fell backward, landing painfully. She tried to scramble up, but there were suddenly hooves on her, flattening her out on her stomach. She tried to strike out with her good limbs only to find them both caught in an unbreakable hold. She tried to lift her head from the floor but that was pinned down as well. She even tried to strike out with her injured limbs only to find them also caught.

She knew this would happen. She knew her hope of freedom was too good to be true!





"The patient is locked down and ready to go!" Screwjob reported as he got the mystery creature pinned in a submission hold.

Highflyer went in next.

"Stay here please, Max," said Fluttershy as she carried him as far from the mystery creature as she could. But just as she set him down, he shot past her back toward the struggling creature. At least he tried to shoot past her, but didn't get far before Rarity's magic surrounded him and held him fast. Fluttershy sent the unicorn a grateful look before turning back to the scene in the middle of the room. The mystery creature hissed and snarled as it struggled to get free, but Screwjob held it fast as Highflyer examined its dislocated hind leg. The rest of the group had spread out around them, ready to lend support if anything went wrong, but at the same time not wanting to hinder the wrestlers by getting in their way.

"Here we go!" said Highflyer, and anything else he might have said was immediately drowned out by the creature's pain-filled screams.

"It's all right, little one, it's all right!" Fluttershy called as she hurried forward. "We're just going to help you. It will stop hurting soon, I promise!"

But she wasn't sure the creature could even hear her over its own screams.





The little equine could do nothing but howl in agony as the bones of her back leg ground together. It hurt so bad! Would it never stop?! Would—?!

Suddenly something seemed to pop into place and instantly the pain diminished, dwindling down to almost nothing. Her scream died off in a startled gasp because the relief was so immediate it was almost a shock. Had her captors just ... fixed her leg?

"There, see?" she heard that soft-voiced yellow pony say. "Your back leg doesn't hurt anymore does it?"

Well, no. Not much anymore.

"Now I'm just going to take a look at your front leg. This will hurt but it will be over real soon, and you'll feel a lot better once it's done. I promise."

Could that ... possibly be true? No, no, she mustn't be taken in. No one ever offered her compassion except to make the inevitable betrayal all the more painful.





Fluttershy had hoped that letting Highflyer fix the creature's hip before she attempted to set its front leg would help it finally see that they were only trying to give it aid, but it soon became clear that wasn't the case.

It had been difficult enough for Fluttershy to set Highflyer's wings even with him cooperating, but that was nothing compared to this new patient who seemed determined to fight every step of the way. Nothing she seemed to do or say ever seemed to get through to the creature. What drove it to be so resistant?

She lost track of time but finally at long last—with a good bit of help from the surrounding ponies—she had the creature's leg set and bound up with tape and a splint. By then her own injured leg was aching as well.

"It's done!" she gasped, releasing the creature's leg. Immediately Twilight's horn flashed and a magenta membrane similar to the bubble she had produced before now encased the creature's bandaged leg. Given how resistant the little one had been toward every action, they had decided they couldn't risk it trying to tear off its bandages once it was free. Fluttershy backed up several feet before the two wrestlers both released the creature and rolled away from it. Twilight flashed a new bubble around the creature.

Fluttershy had sat down and was bent over, trying to get her breath back when Skywishes suddenly stepped toward the magenta bubble with a rolled-up blanket tucked under one wing. Fluttershy frowned at this. What was the coral-colored pegasus doing?

"Now listen," said Skywishes. "Before we leave you alone, I'm going to put this blanket in there with you. Now, you can either throw a snit fit and set the blanket on fire, or you can be smart and wrap it around yourself to stay warm. It's your choice, but if you go with the first one, I'm not going to give you a second blanket. You can just freeze for all I care."

"Sky—" Fluttershy started to protest.

"Fluttershy, hush!" Skywishes snapped, not taking her eyes off the creature in the bubble. It tried to spit flames, producing a little more than the feeble sparks it had earlier but not much. Skywishes leaned in closer until her muzzle was almost touching the bubble. "I'm not going to throw you out of the HAB, but I'm also not going to bend over backward to help you. Especially not if it means sacrificing them." She flicked her free wing back toward the rest of the group. "You got that?"

The creature glared at her and let out a low sound that was a sort of half-growl, half-purr.

"I'll take that as a yes," Skywishes murmured before pushing the blanket through the bubble. The creature tensed at this intrusion, but didn't attack. It sniffed warily at the blanket which had unrolled slightly when Skywishes pushed it through.

"How'd you do that?" Fluttershy asked as Skywishes stepped back. Twilight hadn't mentioned anything about them being able to put things into the bubble from their side.

A faint smile flashed on Skywishes's mouth. "I put in a request to Twilight while you were working on that thing's leg."

Ah, yes. Fluttershy had been so focused on trying to set those badly fractured bones that the other ponies around her probably could have had several conversations without her noticing.

"Speaking of which..." Skywishes lifted her head. "Twilight! I think we're going to have to use your food-growing idea now that our number of mouths to feed just went from nine to ten." She glanced back at the mystery creature, who was now attempting to watch everyone around it, and examine the blanket on the floor in front of it at the same time. "Though come to think of it ... How exactly are we supposed to feed something with no tongue or lips but plenty of teeth? Maybe it just swallows everything whole...?"

Or it doesn't need to eat at all... Fluttershy mused. After all Mache Max didn't seem to need to eat. But then again ... what if Discord hadn't made the creature? The hostility it had shown toward Mache Max had made her second guess her idea that Discord had made the creature. But then again, there was no rule saying one's creations had to be all buddy-buddy with each other. Especially if they were created by someone who was supposed to specialize in disharmony—

"Hey, look at this," Screwjob called, waving a now-unfolded paper plane. "We're on the front page." He held up another. "And so is Discord."

Before she even knew what she was doing, Fluttershy had raced to his side and snatched the second paper from him so quickly it almost tore.

"What's it say?" several of the other ponies asked.

Fluttershy's eyes darted over the paper, which she now saw was part of a newspaper. "He's in the hospital..." she murmured, trying to relay the important points as she took them in. "Sedated and fitted with cuffs that are supposed to inhibit his power—" She came to an abrupt halt, staring at the page.

"What is it? What'd you read?" Twilight asked, and when Fluttershy didn't respond, she used her magic to tug at the paper, trying to view it for herself. When she succeeded in freeing it from Fluttershy's unresponsive hooves, Twilight took over reading. "'One would expect such a dangerous prisoner to be placed under maximum security at one of the major hospitals in Canterlot, but instead he is currently being treated at a hospital in Ponyville. At, in fact, the very same hospital currently housing his two almost-victims.'"

"Does that mean he's in the same hospital as my mom and Amethyst?!" Dinky cried, surging to her feet. Her legs gave out almost immediately and she would have collapsed if Twilight's magic didn't suddenly prop her up.

"That's what it says," the alicorn confirmed, her eyes continuing to dart back and forth over the paper. "And not just are they at the same hospital, but Princess Celestia even ordered that they all be kept on the same floor."

"Why would she do that?" Fluttershy asked, having snapped out of her earlier stupor.

"It doesn't say," said Twilight, frowning at the paper. "All it says is that neither Celestia nor Luna were available for comment..." Her frown deepened as she continued reading.

"What's wrong?"

"It says that Celestia left a list of instructions regarding Discord's treatment, but that she and Luna haven't been seen since he was captured."

"They aren't the only ones AWOL," Screwjob added. "There's also a list of missing ponies in this article. See? Apple Bloom, Apps, Dinky, Shy, High, Rarity, Loo, Me, Wishie, Spike—and you," he added as Twilight jerked the paper from his hooves. "All currently being urgently sought, contact authorities if you have any information, and etc."

Twilight only responded to this quick recitation with an absent nod as she read the article for herself.

However, all is not lost, the article concluded. There is hope we may soon locate Twilight Sparkle as our most powerful unicorns are currently working on a spell they will put on every town in Equestria to alert them to any alicorn magic being performed there.

Twilight let out a despairing groan. "Oh, I bet the changelings are behind that last part. Making it sound like a helpful idea when it's really them just trying to trap me and the rest of the princesses."

Applejack slammed a hoof against the floor in frustration. "How can they keep getting away with this?! Anypony who reads this is going to worry about us, and we can't even let our friends and families know we're all right because they might be disguised changelings, while they've got free reign to capture anypony they—"

"What makes you so sure they haven't already captured Celestia and Luna, and are now just trying to catch you?" Skywishes suddenly asked Twilight.

"Because I—" Twilight started to respond, then stopped as she considered the question. Fluttershy considered it too. Why was the spell mentioned as detecting alicorn magic in general rather than just Twilight's? Why—?

"Wait a minute!" Spike exclaimed, his eyes suddenly narrowing in concentration. "Wait a minute..."

"What is it, Spike?" asked Twilight.

"Skywishes's question just made me realize ... we know the changelings are trying to catch us by calling attention to the fact that we're missing. ... So why would they also be doing that with Scootaloo and Apple Bloom unless...?"

Rarity gasped in realization. "They haven't caught them yet."

Is it possible? Fluttershy had feared like the others that the young mares' failure to show up at her cottage meant they had been captured, but now ... Scootaloo did have Tank with her, and Apple Bloom was familiar with the changelings' deceptive tactics given her experiences the year before. Dare she hope they had managed to elude the enemy?

Then Applejack's expression suddenly darkened. "Apple Bloom may be on that list, but Big Mac isn't."

An uncomfortable silence fell over the group as they realized this likely meant that the changelings had captured the stallion. And who knew just how many more unlisted friends and family members had also been taken?

Then just as quickly Applejack's face took on a look of bitter satisfaction. "At least Granny's where they can't hurt her this time."

Screwjob cocked his visible eyebrow. "This time? What happened to her?"

Applejack looked away and tugged her hat down before muttering, "She's dead. Died just five days before all this started."

"Oh..." Screwjob seemed at a loss for words. "I ... didn't realize that. She ... meant a lot to you?"

"Practically raised me when my parents died," she spat out, bracing herself for him to make some tacky remark.

But all he did was murmur a soft, "Ahh ... I'm sorry. That's hard."

She frowned at this, surprised he hadn't tried to turn the situation into an attempt to flirt with her. Then she remembered his words from the day before, and turned enough to partially face him. "You ... swore on some aunt yester—"

"He what?!" Highflyer sounded shocked. "Don't tell me he swore on his Aunt Moonshine!"

Applejack turned to the smaller stallion. "How'd you know—?"

"So he did?!" Highflyer demanded before she could even complete the question.

"Well, yes—But what's the big deal?!"

Highflyer sucked in a breath. "Oh, boy. Applejack, the Screwjob Stipulation is a joke. It doesn't mean squat to that old heel—"

"I'm not that old!" Screwjob protested.

"—but swearing on Moonshine..." Highflyer shook his head in wonder. "He's so devoted to her, that's pretty much the Ultimate Oath to End all Oaths for him."

Applejack's gaze snapped back onto Screwjob, not liking the idea of him having an aunt that he revered as much as Highflyer seemed to imply. It was so at odds with her view of him as a smug, shallow, self-centered jerk that she found herself almost hoping he would grin or make some comment that would disprove Highflyer's claim.

But for once Screwjob wasn't even looking at her. He was looking toward one of the TreeHAB windows with his visible right eyebrow furrowed more than usual.

Highflyer padded over to him. "Moonshine on the mind, Jobs?"

"Yeah," said Screwjob, his voice unusually soft. "I just realized that if those changelings are so determined to kill us they might try to lure me out by going after Moonshine."

"She's got Big Tim with her."

"That's why I'm worried. She's magicked him up so much I don't know if there's enough animal left in him to sense windigo-essence."

"Even if he can't sense that, I don't think it will be a problem, considering Big Tim's never liked anyone apart from your aunt."

"Who's Big Tim?" Applejack asked.

Screwjob shuddered. "The biggest, ugliest, foulest rattlesnake you never want to meet in your whole life."

This was greeted with a skeptical snort.

"I AM Serious! He was bad enough when she first brought him home as a regular snake, but now thanks to her magic he's big enough to scarf down most ponies without unhinging his jaw, has super-strong scales that are impervious to a lot of attacks, and can slither about on walls like a bug can climb them. Oh, and he's got this sort of sixth sense that pretty much means nothing goes in or out of my aunt's house without him knowing it."

"That actually sounds like a pretty good security system." Spike commented dryly.

"Yeah, but what's to stop one of those changelings from posing as me? Moonshine would welcome them right in and order Tim to leave them alone." Screwjob ran a hoof over his face. "Annnnnd while that snake hates me as much as I hate him, he's never disobeyed my aunt."





While this was going on, Fluttershy had moved to examine the rest of the paper planes scattered about the HAB, hoping they might have more information about Discord, but they all seemed to just be different newspapers rehashing the first two articles. At Applejack's mention of Granny Smith, Fluttershy suddenly remembered how Angel had died the same night as the old pony. And with that came the wild thought: Had his passing that night been unplanned, or could Angel have somehow known what was coming and chosen to move on so his well-being was one less thing she would have to worry about?

There was no way to find out now.

And yet ironically they currently seemed to be just as powerless to contact their living loved ones as they were their deceased—

Fluttershy flinched as she felt something tickle the back of her neck. It was Mache Max plucking at her now-shortened mane.

Lifting him from her withers, she brought him around to face her. "Max, you did a wonderful job in letting us know what's happening with Discord, and I'm so proud of you." She stroked his stained and tattered paper crests, and he responded by nuzzling them against her foreleg. "But now I'm wondering ... if it's not too much trouble ... can you actually take me to see him?"

The parrot squealed and grabbed the collar of her camouflage in both beaks, tugging her toward the TreeHAB's entrance panel.

"Did you seriously just ask him to take you to Discord?" Skywishes's flat voice betrayed no emotion, but Fluttershy still felt her face flush as she fumbled for an answer.

"Yes, I—I saw what the articles said, but..." But that wasn't enough. I need to see him for myself, she thought, but wasn't sure how to best explain that in a way the rest of them could understand and sympathize with. Then her gaze happened to land on the skeletal creature in its shimmering bubble. It was now burrowed under the blanket and might have looked as if it were ready to go to sleep, but its eyes were wide-open, watching them warily.

"But I think we need to find out if Discord made that little one in there," she heard herself say. Granted she had been having doubts about that theory but the others didn't need to know that yet.

Skywishes moved to meet her eyes. "You really think that thing might have come from him?"

Fluttershy shrugged her withers. "It would sure explain why we've never seen anything like it before." Then she sighed. "Oh, I really don't like to keep referring to it as an 'it.' That just feels..." It felt demeaning, but what else could they call the creature when they had no clue what sex it might be?

Skywishes's mouth suddenly twitched in a faint smile. "Well, you did refer to it as 'she' a couple of times when you were begging me to let it stay."

Fluttershy blinked. "Did I?" She had been so focused on trying to stop Skywishes that she hadn't even noticed what pronouns she was using to refer to the creature. "I wonder why I did that...?" Why had she instinctively referred to the creature as a 'she?'

Skywishes seemed to sense this question. "For the record, Max is still technically an 'it'—"

Mache Max responded with an indignant shriek and slung a sheet of paper at her.

"Cut it out!" Skywishes snapped at him, catching the paper before it could strike her. Fluttershy quickly pulled the parrot to her chest before he could go for more ammunition. Setting the paper down, Skywishes turned back to her. "He might not really be male or female," she went on in a softer voice. "But it just felt natural for me to think of him as a 'he.' Maybe it just felt natural for you to think of that thing as a 'she.'"

"Well..." said Twilight, moving to join them. "Now that you mention it, that shell or whatever it's covered in does look a bit more like a female pony's bone structure than a male's. So maybe we should consider it a female until we learn anything that proves otherwise."

Skywishes looked to the creature. "You hear that? We're going to call you a 'she' from now on, so if you've got a problem with that, speak up."

The creature eyed them, but made no sound. Not so much as a low growl.

"Well," said Skywishes, turning back to the others. "I guess 'she' doesn't mind being called a 'she.'"

"We should probably also give it—uh, her—" Fluttershy turned apologetically to the creature. "Um, you, a name too."

The creature lifted its head and sneezed a small fireball that dissipated when it struck the bubble's wall.

"Hmm. You seem to do that a lot," Skywishes muttered. "How about we call you ... Fireball?"

The creature responded with a series of clicks that sounded displeased.

At this the group called out a host of other fire-related names.

"Flame!"

"Wildfire!"

"Coal!"

"Charcoal!"

"Ember!"

"Conflagration!"

"Conflagration? Seriously, Jobs?"

"What? We could shorten it to Connie."

More ideas were called out but all were met with disdain.

"Smoky!"

"Glow!"

"Flare!"

"Blaze!"

"Sparky!"

"Bonfire."

The creature's ears pricked and she let out a short inquisitive thrum.

Skywishes, who had suggested the last name, raised an eyebrow. "Oh, you like that one? Bonfire?"

The creature trilled softly, sounding almost pleased.

Skywishes looked to the others. "Any objections to naming her 'Bonfire?'"

There were none.

"Alright. Bonfire it is."

Fluttershy moved forward. "Bonfire," she said, testing the new name. "Do you know if Discord made you?" she asked, remembering uneasily how Mache Max hadn't even hesitated to answer a similar question in the affirmative. But to her relief, the creature just gave her a wary uncomprehending stare. Fluttershy turned back to the others. "Okay, so she doesn't know if he made her, but that doesn't mean he didn't."

Skywishes inhaled, and walked over to the entrance panel. "Alright, see if you can get Max to lead us to the hospital without bugging me too much and I'll fly you to Discord."

Fluttershy was startled by this offer. "Um, Skywishes, maybe you should take a break. You've been flying all—"

"Don't be ridiculous." said Skywishes, picking up a flashlight and snapping it on and off to test the beam before securing it to a loop in her camouflage. "It's too dangerous for you to go waltzing through the forest on foot with all the predators currently prowling around." She added a butterfly knife, her ax, and a coil of rope to her supplies. "And it's also too risky for Twilight to fly to town—"

"Wait a minute," Twilight cut in. "I could fly Fluttershy to town as long as I don't use my magic. Plus it will take them time to set up that spell on each town so they might not have it ready yet."

Skywishes picked up a second flashlight and began testing it as well. "Can you be absolutely sure of...?" She paused in her flashlight examination. "Oh, shoot!" She shut her eyes, and let her forehead thump into an upraised wing.

Twilight frowned at her. "What is it?"

"I just realized ... If they put that spell on all the towns, what's to stop them from putting it on the Everfree as well? If they do that we might be invisible here in the HAB but if you use your magic we might as well be screaming: Here we are! Come and get us!"

But Twilight shook her head. "Don't you realize the Everfree is very resistant to pony magic? In fact if there's one place they wouldn't be able to work that spell, this is it." Then another thought occurred to her, making her frown again. "Of course, they might realize I'm here through the process of elimination ... But not if I put a second spell to mask my magic around the TreeHAB first." She seemed to warm to the idea. "Yes, it could act like an air pocket, and help us stay hidden, and—"

"And that's another reason why I'm the more expendable flier of us two," said Skywishes as she extended a wing to point at Twilight. "You are the expert on magic." The wing folded over to point at its owner. "I am not." Turning back to Fluttershy, she deposited the flashlight, and an extra knife and coil of rope in front of the wingless pegasus. "Looks like it's just you and me again."

"Actually do you have room for one more?" Spike asked, moving to join them. "Twilight might be stuck here, but if I go with you, I can let her and the rest of the group know what's happening with us."

Skywishes didn't seem completely onboard with the idea. "Isn't that spell on you alicorn-magic? So wouldn't you sending messages trip the same spell as Twilight using magic?"

Spike shook his head. "No, mine's different. Twilight using her magic is like lighting up a new candle each time while me sending a message is like using a candle that was lit a long time ago and is still burning."

"Hmm. Interesting. I never realized there were so many ins and outs to how spells worked. Well, if you're sure that's the case..." She retrieved a third flashlight and tested it before setting it right in front of the dragon. "It might actually be a good idea to bring you along."

While this was going on, Mache Max had been tugging on Fluttershy's mane. Gently at first, then more and more insistently.

"Don't worry, Max," said Fluttershy. "We're going now."

"Fluttershy," Dinky suddenly croaked from where she was lying. "When you go to see Discord, can you check on my mom and Amethyst too?"

"I'll do my best, Dinky." said Fluttershy, feeling a bit guilty that she had been so focused on Discord that she'd forgotten about the two ponies.

As they got ready to leave, Applejack suddenly moved in front of Skywishes. "Skywishes, about last night, I—"

"Applejack, just..."

Fluttershy watched the two ponies uneasily. She hadn't had the chance to tell anyone about Skywishes's revelation, partly because she wasn't sure if it was really her place to share it.

Skywishes seemed to be struggling to find the words to say. "Just ... help me keep as many of us alive as possible. Okay?" Her front hooves came up to grasp Applejack's shoulder, her dark green eyes locking with the farm pony's lighter green ones. "With everything we've got stacked against us, some of us likely won't survive, and I'm trying to minimize that number. That's all I'm trying to do. Okay?"

Applejack nodded and reached up to clasp one of Skywishes's hooves. Fluttershy felt some of her unease drain away, realizing that even though Skywishes hadn't spelled it out, she had forgiven Applejack and was even providing a peace offering in the form of an explanation for her own seemingly callous attitude.





The little equine watched all this while trying to assess her new situation. She couldn't reach anything beyond the bubble she was in, but she was still free to move about inside it. Not that she really had the energy to move at the moment. The material she had wrapped around her body was pleasantly soft and warm, unlike anything she had ever experienced before. She clung to it tightly and watched those around her, ready to fight if they attempted to take this one source of comfort from her.

While she watched the group and they continued not to bother her (yet), she found herself thinking on what else they had done. Given her a ... name.

Bonfire. All her life she had been fed the idea that she wasn't worth wasting a name on so this new situation ... this ... having her own name ... was almost a shock.

Bonfire. She would never be able to actually say the word aloud, but now she repeated it over and over in her mind, testing its sound and feel. Bonfire. Bon-fire. Bonfire.





To his credit, Mache Max guided Skywishes and her two passengers safely first through the forest and on to the hospital with a minimum of fuss. The moon was completely obscured by thick clouds when the little camo-clad group landed on the hospital roof, and the accompanying darkness was both welcome and dreaded; welcome because it gave them extra cover, and dreaded because it would make their semitransparent enemies virtually invisible.

"Alright," Skywishes whispered as her passengers dismounted. "Now if we could just—"

At that moment Mache Max bounced toward an air duct and began banging on its grating with both heads, producing a loud clanging that would have been more at home coming from a huge bell. Fluttershy snatched him up, shushing frantically as she joined Spike and Skywishes where they crouched in the shadows. They waited for several long tense seconds to see if their guide's noise had given them away. But after nothing showed up they finally relaxed.

All this time Mache Max had been straining wildly, but mercifully silently, toward the air duct.

"I think he wants us to go in there," Fluttershy whispered.

Skywishes eyed the air duct doubtfully. "I'm not sure we'd fit."

"One way to find out," Spike whispered, scuttling toward the air duct on his stomach. The two ponies hurried after him, Fluttershy keeping Max tucked in one foreleg. Spike loosened the grating's screws with his claws, and Fluttershy released Max so that she and Skywishes could lift the grating free of the air duct. As they laid the grating gently to the side, Fluttershy saw Max dive into the now-open air duct, confirming her suspicions as to his intentions.

"I'll go next," said Spike. "I'm the smallest, so if I can't fit in there, none of us can."

As he tied down one of the ropes they had brought and began playing it into the air duct, Skywishes nudged at Fluttershy to get her attention.

"I think one of us should stay out here and stand guard just in case some changelings come by."

Fluttershy suddenly wondered if Skywishes might be claustrophobic and just wanted an excuse not to go into the air duct. However, as she watched Spike disappear down the air duct, she found she couldn't really blame Skywishes for possibly having this fear. Spike had managed to get in easily enough, but it was definitely going to be a tight squeeze for the average pony. And considering how many fears Fluttershy herself struggled with regularly, wasn't Skywishes entitled to have at least a few as well? Especially after all she's risked to help me and the others in the past few days?

Plus, Fluttershy had to admit having a lookout was just common sense. Aloud she said, "I think that sounds like a good idea, Skywishes. Um, would you mind being that guard?"

"Not at all."

Fluttershy wondered if there might have been a hint of relief in those words.

"Here, take this," said Skywishes, passing her another one of the ropes they'd brought. "I want you and Spike to tug on it three times when you're ready to come back. If you feel three tugs back in response that means it's safe to come up."





As Spike and Fluttershy followed Mache Max through the hospital duct work, she couldn't help thinking back to how just yesterday—Or was it the day before that, considering that by now late night might have changed to early morning?—she had been in an almost identical situation. Except that now instead of fearing she would be spotted because she was in a wide-open space, she was fearing she might get stuck in this small tight dark space with only the light from Spike's flashlight allowing her to see their little paper guide at all. Though she also had a flashlight of her own, they had decided to use only one at the moment to conserve their batteries.

She wasn't sure how long they crawled through the darkness but finally Mache Max came to a stop and began marching around and around in a small circle. Spike played his flashlight beam over this spot, and they saw that the parrot was parading around within the boundaries of a ceiling tile.

"Do you want us to move that?" Fluttershy asked, pointing to it.

Max stopped circling and bobbed up and down, making little "auh!" sounds. Then he flew up out of the way as they lifted the tile, which turned out to be made of plasterboard.

Below them, Fluttershy saw Amethyst lying unmoving in a hospital bed. Her forelock and most of the front of her mane had been cut off, and her head was bandaged. The rest of her was covered from the neck down with a hospital blanket. She didn't seem to need a ventilator, but she was likely hooked up to some monitoring equipment judging from several tubes trailing out from under the blanket.

Then Fluttershy noticed a burly security guard standing beside the bed with his head down and pillowed on the blanket. Dark sunglasses hid his eyes but Fluttershy was pretty sure he was asleep. At least she was until his head suddenly snapped up and he whipped the glasses off. His eyes seemed to lock directly onto Spike and Fluttershy, who both flinched back, dropping the tile back into place in the process. Surrounded by darkness, they heard hoof beats below them and tried to back away from the tile. Spike fumbled with his flashlight and just managed to switch it on when Mache Max swooped into view, startling them. The flashlight beam whipped about wildly. Fluttershy heard Spike stumbling and might have fallen over herself if Max hadn't pulled her forward by the mane. Then the flashlight beam landed on her face, momentarily blinding her. All this time Max was tugging on her mane as if to say, "Don't go that way, go this way."

The pony and the dragon did their best to comply while simultaneously giving the tile they'd lifted a wide berth. As they moved forward both kept looking back, fearing the tile would lift, and the security guard would be peering out from under it. Fluttershy thought she might have heard more hoof beats below them, but so far no security guard had popped up.

Maybe he didn't get a good look at us, she tried to reassure herself. Maybe he thought we were just leftovers from his dream. But neither of these ideas did much to quell her furiously pounding heart. There was just something so unnerving about the way that guard had sprung alert. She and Spike had been so quiet, and yet somehow he had still sensed them.

And what if Derpy and Discord were being watched by equally alert guards?

She didn't have long to speculate on this because at that moment Mache Max released her mane, flitted forward and began repeating his little circular dance on another tile. Spike and Fluttershy had no choice but to see what was under it, so once again they lifted it, albeit much more cautiously this time. This room was much more dimly lit then the other, but their eyes had adjusted enough that they could still make out details. Fluttershy felt a modicum of relief when she saw no guard below them, but that was immediately eclipsed by a wave of nausea at what was there.

To an uninformed observer, it might not have seemed so horrible. Just a shimmering opaque bubble with a myriad of tubes stuck in it, all connected to machines and bags of fluid. But Fluttershy knew that inside that magical shield was Derpy's horribly contorted, wrong-side-out-but-still-alive body. She shuddered at the thought of being trapped like that. Even if the doctors found a way to reverse the spell, would Derpy's mind ever recover from the experience? What must it be like for her now? Was she deaf and blind to the world around her, or still somehow aware of it? And which would be the worse of the two?

Then on the trail of that thought she suddenly found herself wondering if death might actually be preferable to being trapped in that state; if Pinkie and Rainbow's brief experience of it followed almost immediately by a quick death might—

She forced herself to stifle this train of thought. That was precisely why the changelings had killed her two friends in the first place! To make her and so many others give up and despair! She looked back down at the opaque bubble, this time almost feeling as if she could see the horror within it. We'll get you out of there, Derpy! I don't know how, but we'll find some way to fix your body and get you back to your daughters!

"Fluttershy?"

She started and turned enough to see Spike looking up at her.

"You okay? You had an odd look on your face." His eyes flicked down toward the sight below them. "That's not making you queasy is it? I ... I know it is a bit for me."

"N-no, but we should probably move on." The words seemed so feeble when compared to the promise she had just made to Derpy in her thoughts, but at the same time she couldn't deny that she currently had no resources to make that promise a reality.





Fluttershy wasn't sure what to expect when they lifted the third and final tile. She looked down into a room lit with the same pale eerie light as the last one. As her eyes made out the shapes below, her heart seemed to stop.

Discord's long body was stretched over four hospital beds laid end-to-end with multiple straps circling his neck, torso, arms, legs, and tail to keep them lashed in place. There were bandages covering his right shoulder and the sides of his neck. His skull was also swathed in bandages from the eyes up, and the lower half of his face was hidden by an oxygen mask strapped over it. Despite the beeping of a heart monitor, he looked as lifeless as a corpse.

"There doesn't seem to be any security guard down there," Spike whispered. "At least none that I can see."

Forcing herself to turn her gaze away from Discord, Fluttershy also noticed the lack of guards. "Why would they have a guard watching Amethyst but not Derpy or Discord?" she whispered back.

"I don't know. Maybe that guard was there just in case Amethyst woke up."

But would he have helped her or harmed her? Fluttershy suddenly wondered. Had that guard just been a pony doing his job, or a disguised changeling making sure Amethyst never awoke from her coma. For that matter, was Discord really alone or was the room full of unseen semitransparent changelings waiting to spring a—?

At that moment, Mache Max shot past them with a wild flurry of wings, dropping down into the room. Fluttershy and Spike could only watch fearfully as he flew aerial loops around the room, still beating his wings noisily and steadily descending with each loop until he skidded across the floor. Coming to a stop, he cocked both heads up at his two watchers, seeming to radiate smugness. Discord had reacted to none of the noise, hadn't so much as twitched his ears. No one entered the room to investigate and nothing sprang out from the corners of the room. Not even when Mache Max flapped back up through the hole to join them back in the ceiling.

"Well," Spike finally whispered. "If there were any traps down there, that little performance probably would have set them off. Do you want to go first or shall I?"

"I-I'll go."

Spike seemed surprised at this, but didn't argue as he helped Fluttershy tie off one of their ropes to lower herself into the room. Even so, it took Fluttershy several seconds to psych herself up enough to actually climb down on the rope. The whole time she was braced for some sort of alarm to go off, for some sort of attack to come from the shadows. Sure, Max had flown all over the room unscathed, but Fluttershy couldn't shake the feeling that there was something off about the lack of guards in the room. As she descended, she noticed there were no windows in the room, just a single door. If anyone came through that door, she would be trapped unless she could somehow scale this rope and get back into the ceiling without being noticed. When she finally reached the floor, she lowered a hind hoof to it as gingerly as if she were about to step on the decaying planks of an old rope bridge. Oh, if only she still had her wings and could just hover in the middle of the room like Max did. When nothing happened, she cautiously placed the rest of her hooves on the floor as well. She stood there, heart pounding, shivering in spite of her warm camo, feeling exposed in spite of the room's shadows, straining to hear any sound of danger over the soft but insistent beep and hum of nearby machines.

Only the sight of her former partner lying there so lifeless, so unresponsive, gave her the courage to take a cautious step forward. When nothing happened, she dared take another step. And another. And another.

Finally she reached the beds and their motionless occupant. As she looked up at Discord's face, or at least what she could see of it between the bandages and the oxygen mask, she noticed the edges of his ears looked all ragged. The hospital staff must have taken out his earrings while operating on him. She wasn't sure how she felt about that. She realized that stripping him of his jewelry had probably been a necessary part of the surgery, but she still found the idea oddly degrading. As she gently took his limp paw in her hooves, she noticed that his wrists were still encircled with the gold bracelets the Princesses had put there.

"I'm sorry," she whispered, stroking his paw. Turning him in had been the only possible way to save him back on Foal Mountain, but it still pained her to now see him looking so vulnerable. And yet she still couldn't take her eyes away from him, trying to relearn the features her dreams had been desperately conjuring for the past year. At Foal Mountain she had been too panicked to take in any details, but now as she watched the slow rise and fall of his chest, she noticed he had feathers mixed in with the soft wooly undercoat and long coarse guard hairs that formed his fur. They were like the feathers she'd seen once on a bird known as a kiwi. How had she never noticed them before?

His torso suddenly turned as much as the restraining straps would allow, and the blanket covering him slipped down enough for her to see one of the familiar black, red, and green coils of his dragon tattoo. It had never been a mystery why Highflyer's tattoos were so visible through that short close hair all ponies had, but Discord only had that type of hair from the neck up. Why had she never realized just how odd it was that his tattoos managed to show through all his feathers and fur? Could it be that rather than love making her blind, it had only made her all the more aware of just how strange and different he truly was?

Her gaze moved to his neck, noticing a few of his wasp tattoos were peeking out from under the bandages. But as she got a closer look at them, she felt a jolt of shock. His tattoos didn't look like wasps anymore. They looked like ... moths. Just like in her dreams. When had they changed? Why had they changed? Had she heard about the change somewhere in the news and somehow unconsciously incorporated it into her dreams?

Or what if this was all a dream now?! She struck her bandaged foreleg and stifled a gasp at the burst of pain. No, she was definitely awake. She was definitely in a hospital room with Discord. And his neck tattoos definitely still looked like moths.

She reached toward the nearest one, intending to trace its shape just to assure herself that her eyes weren't playing tricks on her. But her hoof had barely touched it when the moth suddenly fanned its wings wildly. An instant later all the other moths had swarmed down to surround her hoof. Or at least they would have if she hadn't yanked it back in surprise. The cloud of moths continued to circle the spot where her hoof had been, seeming to grow more agitated by the second, when the dragon tattoo's coils suddenly shifted. At first Fluttershy thought it was just Discord's body moving, but then the dragon tattoo's head appeared over his left shoulder and stretched down across his chest, its eyes fastened on her. Then the dragon turned its head inward so that it was facing Discord's chest, and huffed as if it were flaming. Discord's body spasmed up against the restraining straps and his eyes snapped open as the nearby heart monitor went from producing a low steady beep to a wild crescendo.

Fluttershy felt frozen in place, her head screaming at her to get to the rope, to get out of there; while her heart begged her not to abandon Discord. Suddenly she heard a loud creak over all the other sounds, and the room's lighting snapped from dim to bright. She cowered to the floor instinctively, and as she squinted against the light she saw that she was now level with the hospital bed's skirt. Without giving it a second thought, she dove under the skirt. Through the veil of fabric she could faintly make out the shapes of pony legs moving around the bed, and curled up as tight as she could, trying to make sure no bits of her were sticking out from under the bed. Above her the bed shook, and her ears were filled with frantic shouting from voices she didn't recognize.

That is until Discord's voice suddenly rang out. "Undo these straps this instant!"

"I'm afraid we can't do that," said an unknown male voice that sounded as if it were trying to be commanding, but couldn't completely hide its unease.

This was followed by a beat of tense silence before Discord made a sound that expressed equal parts amusement and disgust. "Oh, why did I even waste time demanding that? Silly me."

This was followed by a familiar snap.

Silence.

Then another snap. And another. And another. Then a rapid series of them accompanied by a baffled, "Is this thing on?" from Discord.

There were several audible sighs of relief, followed by a couple of nervous titters.

"No," said the male voice between uneasy giggles, a nervous haughtiness creeping into it. "No, it's not, and it's going to stay off as long as those cuffs stay on." This was followed by more laughs, but they all sounded more like giddy relief rather than amusement or malice.

But if he can't use his power ... then how were his tattoos still able to move? Fluttershy didn't have much time to dwell on this before Discord suddenly raised his voice again.

"Oh, yes. Very droll," he jeered sarcastically. If realizing he was suddenly unable to work his magic had frightened him, he was doing a remarkable job of hiding it. "Once you've finished yucking it up, do you plan on telling me exactly why I'm here?"

"Why do you think?" said a second unknown male voice that sounded like it was coming from the hallway. "You're here to get patched up so you can get a fair trial, and then be executed for what you've done."

Fluttershy felt her hooves curl like clenched fists. Suddenly she didn't care if any of these speakers were deceived ponies or deceiving changelings. All she could think was: You're not taking him! You're not taking him, he's mine! You've already taken two of my best friends, but you're not taking him as well! Do you hear?! You're not taking him!

Suddenly Skywishes's words about how you couldn't lose what you couldn't attain no longer seemed to matter. Not in the face of this.

Then the male voice from earlier cut through her thoughts. "That'll do, Mike. Just get back to your job, and let us get on with ours."

"I'm going," said the voice from the hallway. "Though I still say this is a waste of time considering it's practically an open-and-shut case."

"That's why I'm the doctor, and you're the security guard. Now go."

"Uh-huh."

She heard hooves moving down the hallway, before a female voice spoke up above her.

"You know he's right."

"Maybe," said the male voice that she now knew must belong to a doctor. "But we still have our professional integrity to uphold. Even if it's just fixing him up for the royal court to properly deal with later."

"Since when did professional integrity include talking behind a patient's back in front of them?!" Discord demanded.

"Since that patient was you," said the doctor, now sounding completely unruffled. "Now take these pills."

"I refuse!" Fluttershy could almost imagine him crossing his arms to emphasize the point if they weren't strapped down.

"Refuse all you want, but you're probably about to regret it."

The draconequus made a pained noise.

"I thought so," said the doctor. "Look, I'm not trying to poison you, if that's what you're thinking. I've been ordered by Princess Celestia herself to make sure you're physically fit to stand trial, and that outweighs my own feelings toward you. Those pills are painkillers so I suggest you take them if you want that headache to stop any time soon."

Discord muttered something that sounded like grudging consent, which was followed by several gulps.

"Hmm," the doctor murmured clinically. "You seem to be breathing fine on your own now, so we'll leave the oxygen mask off."

"And what about these?" Discord asked, loudly jiggling his restraints.

"Those stay right where they are. Princesses' orders." Fluttershy could practically hear the smirk in his voice. "We can't risk you slithering out of here, after all." Then almost as an afterthought he added, "Though we might remove some of them later on if you behave yourself."

The female, who Fluttershy guessed was probably a nurse, seemed to find this amusing for some unknown reason. "Sleep tight."

Fluttershy heard the hooves moving away from the bed. Then the lights dimmed and the door closed. She stayed under the bed a while longer, allowing her eyes to adjust and wanting to make absolutely sure the staff had left before she dared to venture out. Turning back to the bed, she saw that they had indeed taken the oxygen mask off Discord's face. Ever since that one time she had seen him without his tattoos and piercings, she had secretly longed to see him without them again. But not like this. Then she noticed how he seemed to be fighting not to nod off, and suddenly wondered if there had been some type of sedative in the painkillers.

He struggled at the sight of her, the beeping of his heart monitor increasing both in speed and volume. Fearing it would bring the staff running back to investigate, she hastened to calm him.

"It's okay, Discord. It's me, Fluttershy. Remember when we were trying to find out who killed Applejack? I asked if you had a photographic memory and you told me you had a cinematic one. Then you took me inside it to show me."

His struggles seemed to lessen slightly at this, but he still strained against the straps on his wrists, fingers outstretched toward her. Fluttershy quickly lowered her face to his paw, and he ran his fingers under her chin and up her cheeks, tracing their shape.

"Fluttershy..." His voice was now much softer and more uncertain than earlier. "What are you doing here?"

"It's a long story," she murmured, nuzzling at his paw, luxuriating in his touch despite the desperate circumstances.

You're wasting time! a small voice in the back of her head shouted. You're supposed to be here to ask him questions!

Fluttershy looked up, intending to do just that, but the sight of her former partner looking so disoriented as he fought to stay awake brought tears to her eyes. She quickly turned to wipe them away.

"Don't leave me..." Discord's voice was heavy and slurred, but still held a clear desperation.

"I'm not. Don't worry. I don't want to," she whispered, quickly putting her face back within his grasp. But her wants didn't change the fact that she might have to leave him soon. She had just barely escaped detection earlier. She might not be so fortunate a second time.

His caresses became more languid then stopped all together. She looked up to see his head lolling to the side with eyes closed.

"Fluttershy!" She jumped with fright at the soft hiss from above. She looked up to see Spike waving down at her from the opening in the ceiling, and briefly wondered if he'd gotten the tile back in place before the hospital employees had shown up, or if it just hadn't occurred to them to look ceilingward. She turned back to Discord. She longed to wake him, if only to spend a bit more time with him, but that might only alert the hospital staff again. Even just staying there, waiting for him to wake up on his own was too risky.

Still she couldn't leave him without at least some form of goodbye.

She leaned down and took his paw in both hooves and nuzzled it one more time. "They're not taking you, Discord," she whispered against his paw, her lips pressing against his fingers almost like a series of kisses. "I swear, they're not taking you this time."

When she finally released his paw and hurried to climb the dangling rope, she glanced down to see his moth tattoos were all crowded together at the top of his neck just short of his skull bandages, and were hovering there, watching her. Further below them the dragon tattoo had also moved higher than usual on its owner's neck and seemed to be watching her with a longing expression as well. She tried to give them what she hoped was an encouraging wave before disappearing up into the ceiling.

"You didn't get the chance to ask him about Bonfire, did you?" Spike asked.

"No." Fluttershy lowered her eyes guiltily. "I—"

"Don't worry about it. I saw what happened. It wasn't really the best time. But I started thinking: Maybe you and Skywishes should go back to the TreeHAB while I stay here."

"What—?!"

"Think about it, Fluttershy. If I stay here, I can keep hiding in the duct work. I can probably scrounge food from the hospital cafeteria when nopony is looking, so that's one less mouth to feed at the HAB. I can keep an eye on Discord, Derpy, and Amethyst, and send reports back to the HAB through Twilight." Then his gaze seemed to take on an almost calculating edge. "And if you write a letter to Discord with all those questions you didn't get the chance to ask, Twilight can send it to me, and I can wait for the right opportunity to pass it on to him."

"Well ... if you're sure..."





Skywishes had been surprised when Fluttershy and Mache Max emerged from the air duct without Spike, but when things were explained to her, she had to admire the little dragon's reasoning. However when they tried to fly away, Mache Max protested so vehemently that Fluttershy was forced to stuff him inside her jerkin, where he suddenly went into cuddle mode. Fortunately, though Skywishes had needed him to find the hospital, she had taken note of what directions they had flown and now knew how to get back to the HAB.

Now as they flew, Fluttershy could feel Skywishes breathing hard beneath her and she suddenly wished she could offer to get off and walk, but knew that would only slow them down more. She felt guilty for forcing Skywishes to make this trip just so she could see Discord.

"I really can't thank you enough for this, Skywishes. For letting us stay at your home, for rescuing Bonfire, for flying me around. You've just done so much, and I—"

Her words were cut off with an "oof!" as Skywishes suddenly landed on a tree branch.

"Fluttershy," Skywishes sounded tired. "If you think this is a case where I've just been giving and you've just been taking, I want you to remember you and your friends spent a full year trying to find me just to let me know what happened to Sunny Daze. Nopony's ever done anything like that for me before. I already told you about how I didn't learn about her death until four months after the funeral, and that was before I even started living in the Everfree and making the effort to be harder to find. I wouldn't have blamed any of you if you just gave up in your search for me, and the fact that you didn't ... It's awoken something in me that I can't ever remember feeling before. ... It's like..." Skywishes suddenly shook her head. "Never mind. Let's just focus on doing what we need to get through this." And with that she pushed off the branch—which Fluttershy now noticed belonged to an especially large and increasingly familiar tree—hooked her hooves into an invisible entrance panel and slid it open.