Warning: Reader Discretion is advised. The following chapter will be discussing sensitive subject matter. This chapter will be discussing the mental and emotional state of a character who’s a survivor of an emotionally and mentally abusive household. If you or someone you know has been affected by the real world theme portrayed in this story, please follow the link & phone number provided in the description at end/bottom of this chapter for the organization that can provide practical help and advice.

“There is nothing like looking, if you want to find something. You certainly usually find something, if you look, but it is not always quite the something you were after.”

J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit

ʇɥƃıs uıɐld uı uǝppıɥ

Fluttershy warily stirred in bed, trying to block the peaking but still piercing sunlight. However, Fluttershy’s face slowly nudged towards the direction of the door, where the soft, intoxicating smell of breakfast was coming from. Her right arm reluctantly pulled out from the warm covers in order to reach for the nightstand, trying to find her cellphone with no success.

When Fluttershy finally lifted her head away from the pillow, she saw that her phone was nowhere to be found. It took her still hazy mind a moment to finally recall the events of the past few days.

When Verko and his fae men kidnapped her, it’s likely they either destroyed her phone, or sold it to the highest bidder on the black market, or just threw it away. But more importantly, Fluttershy was reminded that she wasn’t home.

She sighed and rubbed her face, almost lazily trying to rub out her guilt and her homesickness.

Fluttershy stretched her arms out wide and wiggled her toes slightly under the covers before moving to exit the sheets. Her action was met by the sudden bumping of the edge of Angel’s bed with her side of her foot, causing the bunny’s ears to perk up. His head lazily followed after.

Angel responded with a yawn, and soon after, proceeded to prepare himself to jump out of his little bed.

“Oh, no no, you don’t have to wake up,” Fluttershy tried to argue in her soft yet groggy morning voice. “Go back to sleep, okay?”

Angel let out a quiet, tired, squeaky protest. His tone indicated to Fluttershy that he was up anyway, so he might as well start his day and get going. And to emphasize his point, he quickly stretched out his entire body like a little kitten before hopping off.

As Fluttershy followed in Angel’s lead, she glanced down at what she wore to bed and realized something rather important.

“Oh dear, I wore my new clothes to bed. How long have I been sleeping for? Angel, do you know what time it is?”

Angel hopped over to the top of the desk and looked out the window. He pointed to the fresh morning light, the bright blue skies, and the flock of birds flying over the garden, squeaking to properly get her attention.

“It’s the next day already?” She remarked in groggy awe, her eyes squinting into the window.

“I can only imagine what Discord and Autumn must think of us. They must think we’re such lazy and unappreciative house guests.”

Angel growled under his breath at the mention of Discord’s name, still less than happy about the situation that the manic and masked mage was putting them through.

Fluttershy picked up the white bunny and headed towards her new boots left beside her bed.

“Now Angel, I know you still don’t trust Discord. But, at least he’s giving me a choice in all this. After all, I could say no to his offer and go home. However, there’s a lot to consider. There’s still a lot of dangers out there all because I’m a Sleigh Beggy. If I’m not prepared, who knows what could happen next?”

Despite her points, Angel let out a series of squeaks, hisses, and growls; all in a questioning and suspicious tone. He even waved his paws around dramatically to accompany each of these squeaks, hisses, and growls.

Yet despite the seemingly incoherent ramblings from the pintsized forest creature, Fluttershy was able to follow every sound with ease.

“That’s a good question Angel,” Fluttershy responded reflectively, placing Angel on the bed while strapping her brown boots back on. “How do I know if he’ll even be a good teacher or not? Hmm, actually… more than just a good question.”

She took a moment to think about it, pondering on how to test this mysterious mage. Fluttershy instantly realized that her solution lied in that very word: test. “Oh I know! What if we gave him a test?”

“A teacher test. A test to specifically see if he can be a good one or not. If he can teach me at least one good lesson on how to defend myself from the fae, then we’ll stay. If not, we’ll leave right away.”

When Fluttershy reached out for the bedroom door’s handle, she also contemplated aloud, “I should ask Discord if he has a phone I can use somewhere. No matter what decision I make today, I still need to call Aunt Cinch and let her know what's been going on. Although …”

Then, she pondered aloud in a shy and unsure tone, “To be honest, I’m not sure how to explain this to her. I have a feeling that she won't… you know and... reasonably so.”

Her moment of silent debate was interrupted when she quickly realized something was missing.

“Oh, I almost forgot,” She pulled out her jade butterfly necklace, and placed the pendant into her palm.

Feeling unsure on how to activate the pendant, regretting not asking Autumn for the full instructions. Then again, since it was magical jewelry, she figured that she could at least try asking it first because… why not ask an enchanted pendant that can take you to any spot inside a crazy yet magical cottage?

“Um, hello little pendant. If it’s not too much trouble for you, could you please show us the way to… wherever Discord and Autumn are in the house?”

The pendant immediately started to glow, the same light blue glow of Autumn’s magic.

The carved piece of jade floated a few inches above Fluttershy’s palm and, pretty soon, the handle shared the same shine as the jade. With a slick turn and a click, the door opened.

A spiraling vortex was then revealed inside the doorway. Before Fluttershy could walk towards it, gravity released its grip on her feet and she was floating above ground just like she did yesterday.

Now startled and unsure, she clumsily strode over to the portal like a newbie astronaut learning how to walk on the moon. She closed her eyes and let the magic transport them to who knows where in the house.

Thus, leaving behind her butterfly hair clip that was still stuck in the soft folds of her bed.

When Fluttershy opened her eyes, she found herself floating in a rather traditional medieval kitchen. Well, it would be… if it weren’t for perpetuating swirling, bright, black and white striped patterns that covered the walls and floors. Along with the gravity defying furniture.

The kitchen floor appeared to be made out of cobblestones. Smooth, light arched ceilings and walls decorated the room, harsh iron and flame-less chandeliers, and a giant fireplace that served as the stove and oven area.

Good thing this kitchen had the giant fireplace and bright, monochrome spirals because this room would have been completely consumed by pitch darkness otherwise.

Amidst the bricks and spirals was Autumn, humming and cooking away by the giant fireplace; stirring the huge boiling cauldron inside the flames.

The savory yet pleasantly aroma filled the kitchen air and this attracted an excited crowd of buzzing Parasprites hovering from nearby. Some even cuddled close into Autumn’s mane just to get closer to the lovely brew cooking in the pot.

The home cooked meal seemed to consume the atmosphere around Fluttershy; almost distracting her away from the small, curled up, lizard-like fae that was nesting under Autumn’s cauldron.

The young animal enthusiast squinted her eyes to get a closer look and discovered it was the same little red gecko fae that she saw yesterday.

At first, Fluttershy was bewildered by the sight of this fae just seemingly burning in the fireplace. But, once she realized that the fae was, well, a mythical creature with the power to enjoy himself in the warm embers without being cooked alive… she mentally slapped herself.

Discord, on the other hand, was currently hanging on the ceiling...along with the dinning table.

In spite of his unusual sitting location, the mad magician didn’t seem the least bit bothered, casually reading a newspaper and drinking his tea. Or rather, he was drinking the color and substance of the tea cup itself, leaving the hot tea to remain in the shape of the disappearing tea cup.

To accompany Discord’s strange drinking behavior, the table was decorated with all kinds of traditionally Asian breakfast dishes. However, a quick glance showed there was a vegetarian flavor to them, focusing more on ingredients like eggs, noodles, rice, and vegetables.

“Does Discord know that I’m vegetarian or is this all just a large coincidence?” Fluttershy pondered.

Just like Autumn, he and the dinning table were surrounded by a herd of happily humming Parasprites. Though, whenverone of the Parasprites tried to get close to the food, Discord would magically summon a flyswatter and harmlessly swat them away.

At the center of the dining area was a long, curled up, green, serpent-like, dragon shaped teapot with matching dragon head shaped tea cups surrounding it, while hot steam was leaking through their nostrils.

“Morning sleepy head!” Autumn called out to Fluttershy, waving joyously at her with one hand and stirring the cauldron with the other, “You’re just in time for breakfast.”

Discord glanced up... or rather down from his newspaper and added in with a gentlemanly tone, “Good morning Fluttershy.”

The gecko-like fae curled up under Autumn’s cauldron opened his eyes and perked up his head happily at the mention of Fluttershy’s name. He turned towards the direction of Discord’s voice, and soon found the sweet Sleigh Beggy just a few feet away. He beamed at the sight of her and quickly waddled towards her.

Meanwhile, Fluttershy took notice of Discord’s new, and very magical looking attire. In this outfit, it truly made Discord look like a wizard from a fairy tale.

He had a grand, long, black robe with white and black detailed accents at the end of his big sleeves. Strings of gold hanging in ringlets from his antlers; framing his tall, ebony neck and his red gem bolo tie nicely. Tied on the back of his antlers was a piece of a purple and lavender checked cloth. Underneath his robe was a collared white shirt with a black, buttoned vest, black tux pants, and polished onyx shoes. The only thing that was missing was his signature golden cane, and Fluttershy wondered where that could be.

Discord then started to slowly scan her up and down. Fluttershy’s arms instinctively wrapped around her chest and turned her back slightly towards him. Meanwhile, Angel Bunny jumped in front of his beloved owner and readied himself in an attacking pouncing position. All set to defend her from the untrustworthy spellcaster.

Before she could ask why he was looking her up and down, Discord chuckled, “Well now! What do we have here? I see that you liked your new clothes so much that you slept in them.”

Fluttershy, in a quick but stiff self search, saw that her new outfit was covered with nothing but wrinkles. Her face immediately flushed with embarrassment. “It was an accident. I usually don’t sleep in my clothes, but I-”

Rather than offer some snarky retort, Discord, with a snap of his fingers, magically took out all of the creases and wrinkles in Fluttershy’s new outfit. Making it look brand new again, reminding Fluttershy of the rather unique situation she now found herself in.

The sentiment wasn’t shared by Angel, who merely stuck his tongue out in disgust at this whole conversation taking place.

When Fluttershy looked back up to him, Discord had returned to reading his paper. His muzzle completely covered by tall columns and head lines.

“Miso’s ready!” Autumn joyously announced, using her magic to lift the cauldron out of the fireplace.

While the kirin chef, the Parasprites, and the cauldron floated towards the dining table, the miso soup magically streamed from the cauldron into three fine china bowls.

“C’mon Flutters!” Autumn encouraged eagerly. “Get it while it’s hot! Oh, you don’t mind miso, do you?”

“Oh no, not at all.” Fluttershy assured the maid. “I like miso. Thank you for making it. And breakfast too.”

As Fluttershy processed Autumn’s constant remarks about her being part of their “family”, she floated over and took a seat on the other end of the dining table.

When she took her seat, Angel immediately took his rightful place on her lap before the red, reptile fae could. This in turn left the poor fae to whine in defeat and slowly float back to the fireplace, while the still angry Angel growled at the attempted intrusion.

As Fluttershy and Angel adjusted to the sensation of blood rushing to their heads, the dragon head teapot opened its maw and let the tea drool into the tiny mouths of each tea cup, as if it was feeding its babies.

The tea cups, now filled with tea, scurried hastily to Discord’s, Autumn’s, and Fluttershy’s spots at the table.

The aforementioned energetic maid was about to take her seat, but when she scanned the table, her eyes stopped towards Discord’s end. “Wait a minute! Hold the phone! Where are the wasabi pancakes?!”

“Hmm,” Discord pondered aloud, stroking his boney chin in thought. “That’s a good question. Let’s see: there's dumplings, buns, rice, tofu,.... oh darn. It looks like the Mouse Kingdom is at it again. You know how much they love pancakes.”

“THOSE FREAKIN MICE!” Autumn growled, her fiery form emerging immediately.

She rapidly flew out of her seat and left the kitchen exclaiming, “THIS WILL BE THE LAST TIME! YOU HEAR ME! THE LAST TIME!”

As Autumn’s fiery form fled to inflict ferocious vengeance, one of the Parasprites followed after her with a distressed look on their face, while Discord didn’t even bother to look in her direction.

“Take your time Autumn,” Discord called out to her. “We won’t eat the eggs without you. We promise.”

“YOU BETTER NOT!” shouted Autumn. Her call echoed in the hallway just next to the kitchen.

And just like that, Discord and Fluttershy were all alone in the kitchen... well mostly alone. Hidden underneath the table, Angel was glaring angrily at the mage’s polished shoes, barely restraining himself from taking a large bite out of them.

Still, in spite of the rather lively start, things had quieted down with only the sound of hungry Parasprites chirping for food and their wings resounding alongside the sound of crackling fire being heard. Though, even that somewhat minor level of noise was utterly deafening to Fluttershy, now completely alone with her host.

Despite only knowing him for a short while Fluttershy was fairly confident that Discord wanted Autumn to leave and made those pancakes disappear on purpose.

“So, have you made your decision, my dear?” Discord asked pompously as he laid out his napkin on his lap with overly exaggerated flare.

“In that case” He eagerly encouraged, seating practically at the edge of his seat. “Don’t be shy. I’ll always be all ears.”

Filling in the ear holes on the side of his skull head, Discord was fashioning a giant pair of grey elephant ears that seemed to wiggle with pride for some reason.

“Though, you don’t really need to tell me,” Discord chuckled in his mind, “I already know what it’s going to be.”

“Excellent! You see Fluttershy, this is why I like you. You’ve got this wonderful thing called intelligence. I dare say that you even have a good head on your shoulders.”

Fluttershy’s eyes widened in terror and she instantly screamed at the sight of a human skull on her left shoulder. Naturally, this alone would scare most people, but the fact the skull ominously had a long, pink wig on top of it didn’t help steady the poor girl’s nerves.

Before the skull could hit the kitchen floor, Discord poofed it out of existence... with an evil little snicker under his breath. Then, with a theatrical wave of his hand, Discord made fine glasses appear in both his hand and in Fluttershy’s hand.

“Let’s celebrate! And I cannot think of a better way than with some mimosas! My treat!”

Fluttershy, after taking a moment to get over her brief shock, examined the sparkling drink in confusion and uttered, “Um, I’m eighteen.”

“Doesn’t matter!” Discord dismissed in a jolly tone, wavering his drink around without a care in the world and his elephant ears still flapping about. “It’s still close enough. The drinking age in Vanhoover is nineteen, right? Besides, you’re in Europe now! Children here learn to drink at a far younger age.”

Fluttershy sat her drink down on the table before stating hesitantly yet sincerely, “Discord,... I… I don’t mean to be rude, but… I’m only agreeing to your proposal under one condition.”

“A condition?” He replied, cocking his skull head to the side in confusion and taking the tip of his muzzle away from his mimosa.

“If you can prove to me that you're a good magic teacher, then I’ll stay as your apprentice. And once I complete my studies with you, you'll allow me to go back home. But,... if you can’t prove to me in one lesson that you can’t be a good magic teacher… then… well...”

“I’ll finish that statement for you,” With another wave of his hand, but this time less theatrical than before, the mimosas and his elephant ears disappeared. “You won’t ‘let’ me teach you, right?”

“Regardless of being ‘the most powerful mage,” Fluttershy emphasized despite her better judgement to do so. “To me, this doesn’t really tell me whether you’ll be a good magic teacher or not.”

“How could it not?” answered Discord in an almost insulted tone, placing his gloved hand on his chest. “Only powerful mages, such as I, can understand the true depths and complexities of your power and how to properly control it.”

“That may be true, but… how are you going to do it? How are you going to teach me?”

“But, how?” Fluttershy re-emphasized, feeling more genuinely confused and curious rather than hesitant, which finally seemed to get the message across to the mage.

“Well, I’ll,” he stammered slightly, struggling to find the right answer to this stubborn girl’s question. He thought he had the teaching plan all figured out, but his mind was drawing a blank for some reason. Was he too focused on coming up with a scheme to lure her into his world that he completely forgot the teacher part of his master plan? He mentally snapped himself at his own incompetence.

However, he gracefully recovered from his stammer and gave her the most typical but safe answer he could think of, “I’ll just do what any good teacher would do. Magic or not. Simple as that.”

“I’ll give you homework,” he continued with ease and casualty, poofing in homework papers and chalkboards and other school items into the air above them. “I’ll be the most cliche teacher of your dreams. I’ll write on the chalkboard and make you spell out all your magical ABC’s.”

“That still doesn’t tell me what kind of teacher you’re going to be,” Fluttershy explained to him further; her frustration slowly building below the surface. “Let alone whether you’ll be a good one.”

There was only so much that Fluttershy could take. She had been in his presence for just about twenty four hours, and the more she questioned this mage about anything, the more questions he seemed to produce. Why did he need an apprentice? Why did he need one now after not having one for so long? Why did he need her specifically as his apprentice? How did he know about her in the first place? How did he find her?

At this rate, Fluttershy felt like she’ll never get her answers, only jokes, riddles, games, and chaos. She needed at least one thing, just one thing, that seemed to be solid and true.

“I’m sorry, but if you don’t want to teach me how to defend myself from the fae properly, then… “

Feeling like she had no other option she could go to, in order to get her point across, she had to take the risk. Fluttershy hated taking risks more than anything. But despite this, she threatened him, politely of course, with, “I guess that I’ll just have to find another teacher.”

“Ha! You?” Discord emphasized in his chuckle, and instantly making all the school items poof out of their sight. “Another teacher? How? You can’t even get within twenty feet of another fae without running away in fear! So, what makes you think that you have enough guts to approach another mage?”

His mocking chuckle broke Fluttershy’s patience. Without even thinking, she let her frustration speak for her. “Hmph! Fine then, I guess I’ll have to go back to Verko and ask him on how to find a real magic teacher.”

“Really? Verko did mention that Sleigh Beggies were rare things,” Fluttershy continued to vent out. “And rare things only go to the most prestigious buyers. I’m sure that he’ll be able to find a mage, just as powerful as you are to teach me!”

Fluttershy’s gusto suddenly left her when her ears picked up on the devouring silence in the room. Discord was quiet. Too quiet. He didn’t respond right away.

What made this worse was that there seemed to be no emotion that lingered in his glowing eyes. His eyes were the only gateway to his true emotions from what Fluttershy could see. Without his expressive eyes, Fluttershy felt lost and the weight of what was happening started to hit her.

She quickly remembered the kind of person she was. The kind of girl that she’ll always be. Just a shy, pathetic coward, doomed forever to the constant threat of the fae. Completely powerless when it came to defending herself. What was she thinking? Trying to defy fate? Trying to assert her own rights and thoughts into a situation like this?

Fluttershy began to regret this stupid test plan. She wished she could leave this kitchen, go back home, curl up into a ball in her room, and forget how foolish she feels right now. Discord was right. Without him, how in the world was she supposed to venture out into the world on her own?

Angel meanwhile, sensing the stress that his adopted mother was going through, jumped onto the table. He stood in front of her; standing as the only wall against the tyranny that is Discord, paws across his chest and giving him a leer far too brave for a prey animal of his size.

Sadly for Angel, his little act of defensive defiance was ignored as Discord’s skull head was buzzing with all sorts of puzzling quandaries rather than plans to hurt anyone.

“This girl! This difficult, annoying girl. No worse, this clever, difficult, annoying piece of Sleigh Beggy existence. I wonder if that rabbit of hers is responsible for this. Hmm, did she cast a spell to allow herself to talk to animals? Pfft! What a useless spell! She shouldn’t be wasting her magic on something like that. When I’m her teacher, that will be the first thing to go.”

Discord went through every dirty trick he could think of. Every trollish spell in his memory that could have the slightest possibility of helping him in this situation. But, in the end, all possible answers led him to ultimately controlling Fluttershy’s will with his magic. And if he ended up doing that… it would ruin all his plans. He can’t do that. As tempted as he was to give his own version of a counter proposal to her counter proposal, he knew that if he attempted this, his ultimate goal cannot be achieved.

“No! Stop it!” Discord mentally scolded himself, “Don’t you dare think about-!”

Before he could accept or deny Fluttershy’s proposal, Autumn returned, back to her cheerful, non-fiery self. Alongside her was a smiling Parasprite, popping out of her mane to greet them.

She came back into the room with a plate stacked with a huge pile of green pancakes. “Found them! You wouldn’t believe where I found the pancakes. Turns out that-”

Fluttershy jumped a little in her seat when Discord arose straight up. Without any attention given to Fluttershy or Autumn, he began his descent back to the floor. “The Mice Kingdom didn’t kidnap our wasabi pancakes.”

“Oh you know,” Discord dismissed in his usual trollish tone, hiding flawlessly his inner
exasperation. “Looked into the future and all that fun jazz. Honestly, how would I not know?”

Then, he reached into his empty ear socket and pulled out his signature golden cane. As the item came into existence, he twirled it around in his grip with swift grace. Then, Discord used it to summon a portal.

Before Fluttershy could ask where the mage was going, her gravity defying chair was taking her down. Angel quickly jumped into Fluttershy’s lap before his owner could leave him behind.

“W-Wait!” Autumn called out to the pair, reaching out to them to almost stop them from leaving. With her ears slightly pinned back, she asked in a whimper, “Are you guys... leaving?”

“Afraid so, my dear kirin,” said Discord, taking no notice of Autumn’s saddened state. “It’s the first day of magic lessons and our impatient little student here just cannot wait for another moment. As a wise candy man once said, `So much time and so little do. Wait a minute. Strike that. Reverse it. Thank you.’”

“But,” Autumn protested. “You guys just can’t leave. Not without breakfast. Not without… our first breakfast together.”

Autumn fought through the emotion building in her throat and tried to cheerfully recommend, “I mean, a student can't learn on an empty stomach, right? And I certainly don’t think a teacher can teach on an empty stomach either.”

“She’s right, Discord,” Fluttershy added as she lifted herself from her chair. “Besides, Autumn went through so much trouble just to make us breakfast.”

“Oh, it wasn’t too much trouble at all Flutters,” Autumn reassured her, a bit of mirth returning to her voice. “I’m happy to do it anytime, anywhere, and any day of the week.”

“Oh good,” Discord chimed. “In that case, you wouldn’t mind it if we packed it for to-go.”

With a snap of his fingers, all the food on the table was gone. Soon after, bento box lunches appeared in Discord’s hands and Fluttershy’s hands.

Befitting his strange nature, Discord’s box was in the shape of his own head, while Fluttershy had a cute little box in the shape of a butterfly. This sudden shift left the Parasprites humming sadly at the disappearance of the breakfast that they were about to devour while the powerful mage wasn’t looking.

Just as Autumn was about to utter another objection, Discord threw his entire bento box into his mouth and swallowed it all in one gulp.

Autumn’s eyes became like saucers as she witnessed Discord licking his massive jaws with his long, serpent-like tongue. All her disagreements died off as she softly picked up on Discord’s satisfied moan.

In order to lead Fluttershy into the luminescent portal, Discord hooked his long arm around her by the waist and swooped her close to his side. He then surprised the young Sleigh Beggy by poofing her very own book bag on her shoulder.

As he magically commanded her bento box and Angel into her book bag, Discord proclaimed, “Come along my dear, the great world of learning awaits!”

As for Fluttershy, she turned around to tell Autumn goodbye. However, her farewell faded on her tongue when she briefly gazed upon her unusually downtrodden state.

The poor kirin was staring down miserably at her cloven feet, and her large ears were hanging lifelessly on each side of her head. All the Parasprites hovered around Autumn; some of them even nuzzled against her cheeks in a vain attempt to cheer her up.

But, when Autumn sensed someone’s gaze towards her way, she quickly lifted her head. She gave Fluttershy a forced smile. Then, she waved in a too excitable fashion as Fluttershy disappeared into the portal.

When Fluttershy opened her eyes, she found herself standing in the middle of a slightly narrow, cracked, city sidewalk.

Old brick buildings towered each side of the sidewalk, each holding secret little alleyways. There weren’t too many people walking about and the few that were present were mostly visiting the stores and cafes inside the brick buildings.

The people that mainly made up the area were either sweet elderly couples, chic yet hipster millennials, the insect like fae that would repair the shops’ flowers, the gremlin like fae that lived in the trash cans, and the small but very much alive gargoyles perching on top of the old brick buildings.

Small, European cars were driving on the road that separated the parallel, cracked sidewalks. The pavement smelled of fresh rain, and the sun shared the sky with some light grey clouds. Straight ahead, she could see the path eventually leading her to modern streets of Leapdon.

As Fluttershy was about to follow behind the silent but off putting mage and ask him where they were heading off to, but she was stopped by her bunny’s high pitched shriek.

When she looked down at her feet, she could see that her legs were replaced with the hind legs of a cat.

Fluttershy instinctively brought her hands to her face and discovered that her face was now covered in fur. Despite her fright, her hands hesitantly explored her new face.

Her fingertips were able to trace out her new, more protruding nose. Even her mouth was sticking out, formed completely into the shape of a cat’s snout.

Fluttershy quickly pulled her hands away from her face. She was shocked by the new revelation that her hands were no longer hands, but rather paws.

Her eyes immediately searched as fast as she could for the nearest mirror. Luckily yet unfortunately, she did find a nearby store window. She didn’t think it was true, but it was. She had been turned into a cat. A humanoid cat.

Her cat form was colored with the same color as her skin. Except, with light pink highlights on top of her head and her ears. There was a pink highlight at the tip of her tail, and pink decorating her paws and hindlegs. Her teal eyes were still there, except brighter and sharper in shape and color. Definitely more feline in nature. To go with the eyes and fur, she also had a round, soft, fluffy face and tail to match. She even had light pink fur spots patterned upon her face, almost like freckles. But there was one spot that didn’t look like a soft, little freckle. This rather unusual looking pink spot was on her upper lip.

“Is that a… moustache?” She wondered as she lightly traced her upper lip.

Luckily, unlike an actual cat, she wasn’t naked. She still had all her clothes on. Although, there was a new addition to her wardrobe.

On her neck was a blunky, knitted, light grey infinity scarf. But, there was something particularly funky about the scarf’s scent. You can only imagine how potent the scarf’s scent was to Fluttershy’s new cat snout. It not only smelt like a household of cats, but also smelt like old cat nip, a litter box, dead rats, and decaying spiders. In fact, thanks to her new cat ears and eyes, the light of day seemed brighter and every sound was louder than before.

“D-Discord?!” Fluttershy shouted, “Something went wrong inside the portal! I’m… I’m… ”

Discord, suddenly appearing out of nowhere, shushed her by lightly placing the unicorn head of his cane on her lips.

Coming from behind, and with a delighted chuckle, Discord defied high above Fluttershy’s new furry head. He stared into the same shop window with Fluttershy, taking a good and full glare into her newly transformed state. She had a feeling that, if Discord’s face had the ability to do so, he would be smirking right about now.

Angel hopped up and down furiously, trying to reach the mage’s feet or at least ankles. He wanted to ferociously bite off the toes of this no good bone head.

“Relax my little soon-to-be apprentice, the portal that I had summoned just had a hint of transformative glamor to it. That’s all. Happens all the time really. Although, I really should be calling you my little familiar if we truly want to be convincing with your new look and all.”

When Discord pulled his cane away from the Slay Vega’s lips, Fluttershy remarked in a soft yet unsure tone, “Fa-Familiar?”

As Discord floated back to the sidewalk, he brought the head of his cane close to one of the ear holes on the side of his skull and called out, “What’s that I hear? Is that the soft whispers of a little so & so in need of a wise but very handsome individual to teach her?”

With a twirl of his cane and a cocky stride in his step, he added, “If so, that little whisper better follow this noble yet merciful teacher if she is ever to get the answers to her questions.”

As the mage left Fluttershy’s side merrily, Angel charged at his feet like a wild bull. But right when he was about a few feet away from Discord’s ankles, the bunny was met with an invisible wall. The impact made him bounce back towards Fluttershy and land straight onto his belly, leaving the slightly battered bunny to rub his now swelling forehead.

Fluttershy meanwhile was left unsure if Discord would truly answer her questions if she followed him. After all, he has been nothing but a riddle master since they met. Not to mention, he still hadn’t given her his answer to her little proposal. Is she going to be his apprentice by force or by her choice? However, he did give her some time to think about his own proposal yesterday. So, maybe he’ll accept hers today, or at least, think about it.

As frustrating and unsettling as it would be to have this fae as her teacher, he was the only available and willing option she had for learning about the magical world. Without this knowledge, Fluttershy would have no means to defend herself. So, she really had no choice but to rely on Discord.

In the end, she would need his help in order to turn back to her normal self. Even though this new look of hers was all his fault. Plus, she's a vulnerable, fresh out of high school girl, transported to a foreign country. With the added factor of being a magical target to all fae everywhere. She’ll need his guidance for today whether she liked it or not. Hopefully, she can find a place with a phone and call her family.

As she was about to follow Discord to their next destination, a hipster couple were quickly approaching her from behind. Sadly Fluttershy didn’t notice them, until they started to walk through her.

Angel and Fluttershy both shrieked as the couple continued on their way, completely ignoring the sounds.

Fluttershy, with wide eyes glued to the pair ahead, realized aloud, “I’m… I’m one of them. I’m one of the fae. Discord, he… he transformed me into… a fae.”

It was bad enough to face the nightmares of being sold to the dirty underground of the black market as a magical slave, but now, she had to face the hell of being a fae as well. To become the monster of her worst fears, the thing she most despised. Fluttershy couldn’t feel any oxygen entering in or out of her body. She began to feel light headed. She couldn’t think.

As she started to back away, and head towards a dark alleyway behind her, Angel quickly placed himself behind her. Ready to catch Fluttershy in case she faints. However, before she could do so, her cat ears perked up on the sound of two large dogs barking happily behind her.

When she turned towards the barking, she found that it wasn’t two separate dogs running past her. Instead, a brown and white two headed dog ran right past her. But luckily, this time, the creature didn’t run through her like she was a ghost. Instead, the magical canine pushed her aside.

As Fluttershy grabbed hold of the brick wall behind her, she had to be sure that the two headed dog couldn’t hear her just like that couple. She had to know whether she was just a regular fae or a ghost. Though, in Fluttershy’s mind, she couldn’t tell which scenario was worse.

The dog-like fae stopped. His floppy ears perked up and he sniffed the surrounding air until he was facing Fluttershy's direction. All of his ears perked, and Fluttershy’s new cat ears mimicked this action as well.

The two shared a silent moment together, holding each other’s gaze. But, this was soon broken when one of the heads on the two headed dog sneezed. The other head barked at Fluttershy and ran off.

“Well, at least the fae can see and hear me,” said Fluttershy, her gaze not leaving the alleyway that the two headed dog disappeared into.

With a smile, Angel nodded his head. Then, he leapt into his cat mom’s paws and gave her a sweet hug.

“Thank goodness,” She whispered happily into his hutches, taking extra care to make sure her claws didn’t scratch him while hugging him.

As Fluttershy slowly removed her face from her bunny’s fur, her sharp cat eyes focused on Discord reaching almost to the end of the street.

“But, why didn’t that two headed dog attack me?” She asked Angel. “Why didn’t he, at least, try to approach me or give me attention like the fae did back in Discord’s cottage? Why wasn’t he curious about me just like Autumn was?”

As her questions went unanswered, Discord was about to enter the next block. Not caring whether she was following him or not.

Angel shook his head. Then, he proceeded to climb over Fluttershy’s shoulder and pointed to the direction behind them.

“I’m sorry Angel,” said Fluttershy as she pushed herself towards Discord. “Running away isn’t going to solve our problems. Facing this on our own won’t help either. We need help. I need help. And right now,... he’s the only form of help we have.”

Angel slumped back into the cat girl’s embrace and pouted. These two days have been nothing but a string of bad ideas leading them to somewhere yet nowhere at the same time. The bunny began to wonder if this endless quest was ever going to end.

Unbeknownst to our trio, two pairs of eyes were observing them from a hidden alleyway. One of the pairs was small, beady, and glowing bright brown. While the other pair were a shade of bright purple, hidden underneath a dark plum hood. A strand of pink, purple, and light yellow striped hair peaked out of the darkness of the hood as well.

“What do you see Cadence?” said a muffled sounding female voice, echoing softly in the dark alleyway.

“I see the Chaotic Mage,” answered Cadence, narrowing her glowing eyes on Discord. “He has succeeded in obtaining the girl. And it looks like he has cast some form of transformative glamor spell on her. The fae in the area have seen her, but recognized her as an Abyssinian. The mage must have also cast some form of a receptor spell to disguise her scent.”

A sharp ping of pain attacked the veins in her eyes. The pain came in rapid like a bullet, and it stung like the slow pull of multiple pins in her skin, making it difficult to keep her eyes open as they began to bleed. But despite the tears of blood, the pain, and the bodily weariness, she still kept her gaze on Discord, Fluttershy, and Angel.

This however, proved to be worthless. As she focused on the trio, she could see the figures her field of vision slowly disappear into the wind and transform into pieces of magical dust.

Cadence’s bright eyes looked down at her companion. In the light of her eyes revealed a possum with beady yet glowing brown eyes.

When the possum opened its mouth robotically, the muffled voice returned with, “You need more fairy ointment.”

“No, I can do this,” Cadence protested again, fighting against the urge to let her eyelids fall and just sleep in the alleyway. “The ointment… There is still some time left… if I just… “

“Do not worry Cadence, they won’t stray far. We’ll send the girls right away to take your place while you rest.”

“N-No! You can’t. The girls… they’re not… they’re not ready. They’re not ready to face The Chaotic Mage.”

“Worry not, they will only keep vigilant watch over him and nothing more. We know what is at stake if he finds them. Now come, you need rest.”

“But,” Cadence protested again, only significantly weaker than before. “The fae… they’ll… they’ll… “

“Cadence, the girls’ training and studying has prepared them to face the fae. They’re ready for this world. All they need now… is to meet Fluttershy.”

With a swipe of the possum’s claw, a portal was opened. The possum offered its tiny yet open paw to Cadence, but she gently pushed it away and staggered into the portal on her own. Once Cadence disappeared into the portal, the possum followed soon after.

“It’s about time, my dear,” Discord stated in a satisfied yet cocky tone; the dainty sound of Fluttershy’s feline hind claws scratching against the cracked pavement ringing softly inside the ear holes of his skull.

He slowed down his pace in order for Fluttershy to catch up with him; all the while, taking in the pleasure in the fact that he was proven right. Whether she likes it or not, she needs him. He knows it and she knows it.

“Maybe she’ll forget her ridiculous little deal,” Discord wondered as he watched the girl finally get close.

When Fluttershy was finally able to walk alongside Discord, he commented, “I was beginning to worry about you. I sincerely thought that all notions of curiosity had left you. If that were the case, I would never take you on as my apprentice now. Not even if you begged me. In my opinion, if you want to be a good student, you have to be perplexed by this world.”

“Speaking of my apprenticeship, have you… thought over my proposal? From this morning?”

“Curse this strangely bullheaded, shy girl!” Discord cursed in his mind. “Why couldn’t I get a Sleigh Beggy with the memory span of a guppy?”

“Well, what happened to your question from just a few moments ago?” He teased, “You seemed quite anxious to get that answered first.”

“That question can wait, but for now, I would like this one answered first. If you don’t mind that is.”

Discord let out an exhausted sigh before giving his final answer, “Yes, I’ve considered your proposal.”

“Here it comes,” Fluttershy reflected. “This is where he’s going to say no. Well, at least I tried to fight-”

“While your proposal is a complete waste of our time and accomplishes nothing in the end, if such a proposal gives you ease, then… I’ll accept it.”

Fluttershy was drawn away from her thoughts and looked up in shock. She searched for his eyes, trying to find any indication of a lie or a joke in those glowing red beams. Sadly, despite her best efforts she couldn't see much. Discord was so tall that she would often lose his gaze. But from what she could see, his eyes were serious. No hint of trollish glee or malicious intent.

“That’s why I brought you here. I’ve often heard that only good teachers offer their students nothing but the very best. And that often starts with materials at their disposal. What better way to show you how much I value you as a student than with the best supplies that money could buy?”

Fluttershy couldn’t believe it. He was actually going along with her idea. Despite how much he hated it, he still wanted to be her teacher. And spend money on her no less. She never had a teacher so eager to teach her before. All her life, any educator she had either ignored her entirely, demeaned her, or just tolerated her at best just because of her aunt’s influence. Did she truly have such a power that makes her worthy of his time?

Then again, he still wanted to gain her trust. He still wanted her to have faith in him. Even though he devalued her idea and he still had his own possible selfish motives behind teaching her, he still went along with her proposal. No one had ever considered her ideas before.

She didn’t know how to respond or how to feel in this situation other than simple gratitude. “Oh, well um, thank you Discord. That’s very kind of you, but there’s no need to go through such an expense just for me. Here, let me at least help with-”

To her surprise, when Fluttershy reached into her coat pocket, she couldn’t feel her wallet. No matter how deep she reached, she couldn’t find it. She tried the other pocket, but no luck. She tried her book bag, but the wallet was nowhere to be seen.

“Oh d-dear,” Fluttershy stuttered in a similar fashion to what a peculiar Piglet would do in Winnie the Pooh. “How am I going to explain this to my aunt?”

“Look on the bright side, my dear. Just imagine what those idiots are doing to do with your money. That’ll cheer you up. Let’s see, if I know those moles, I’ll bet you that they’re going to eat it before Verko could probably transform the bills into pounds.”

“Ah, there we are and about time I say. I do so hate walking. It’s so unnecessarily inconvenient.”

Fluttershy followed Discord around the corner, leading the pair into a tight, shadowy alleyway.

She stopped immediately and stared wide eyed at the unsettling darkness. A darkness that didn’t have a tiny light at the end of it.

Discord lifted his left hand into the air and snapped. The snap echoed ominously in the alleyway, stunning Fluttershy with it’s sheer volume. This alleyway was far deeper than it seemed.

When the echoing finally stopped, a new sound emerged. It seemed to remind her of rushing wind and the piercing sound of something wooden screeching along the brick walls.

Fearing for her life, Fluttershy hid behind Discord. As for Angel, while in Fluttershy’s arms, pushed Discord away as much as he could from him.

When the screeching sound and the wind ceased, a large, purple, wooden wagon was now revealed. It had golden and blue accents, and little blue and purple stars finishings. Fluttershy stepped away from Discord’s shadow in order to marvel at the wagon and how it magically appeared to them. She looked up at the sign on top of the wagon and it read, “The Great And Powerful Shop: The Only Shop In Town That Will Make You Almost as Great and Powerful as The Great and Powerful Trixie Herself”

Using the side of his foot, Discord kicked the side of the wagon. This kick prompted a mini set of wooden stairs to pop out, leading to the small door in the front. Discord walked up and used the unicorn head part of his cane to knock on the door.

Various chaotic noises consisting of clashing pans, falling books, explosions, angry animalistic squeals, and heavy clomping of hooves answered. The sound of the clomping hooves was especially prominent in the midst of all these sounds. Steadily became louder and louder, until…

The door swung open and standing in the doorway was a very frustrated and messy looking fae. Her white and light blue hair almost consumed her entire face in its poofy fizz. So much so, in fact, that it almost covered her blue unicorn horn. Much like Autumn, this woman stood on two, furry, equine hind legs. Unlike Autumn however, instead of a lion’s tail, she had the tail of a horse and its hair matched the one on top of her head, topped with blue, pointed, equine ears.

Her dark navy corset dress; contrasting nicely with her blue skin tone. While her dress was astonishingly clean, her purple cape on the other hand, was not so. It was covered with an array of colorful stains, many so prominent that it took attention away from the starry design on her cape.

Finally moving her hair away from her face, the mysterious fae was able to focus her dark purple eyes directly into Discord’s.

“Chaotic Mage,” She snarled. “Trixie should have known that only a nuisance like you would cause such a disturbance to her pleasant day.”

Discord lowered himself towards Trixie’s eye level and baby-talked, “Oh, but this is what wittle Trixie gets for not letting her favorite nuisance have those pig pegasus wings for a reduced price when he asked.”

“Boop!” He remarked at the end, while booping her nose with the tip of his gloved finger.

“Grrraaaahhh! It was that one time! One time! When will you ever let that go?! Also, do not boop the nose of the Great and Powerful Trixie!” shouted Trixie, as she swatted Discord’s hand away and furiously flapped her arms about, which only served to make her look like a child throwing a temper tantrum.

While Discord responded with some hearty laughter, Fluttershy and Angel were gazing at the situation with awkward confusion. They both wondered if these two odd individuals were more like hateful neighbors than colleagues.

“Do you know how much Trixie lost just now because of you?!” Trixie exclaimed. “Do you understand how long it took to get this week’s shipments?!”

“Oh c’mon Trixie, there’s being you and then there’s being melodramatic. How bad could it be?”

Trixie stepped to the side, letting Angel and Fluttershy witness the aftermath of Discord’s actions inside her wagon. Fluttershy couldn’t believe how big it looked on the inside.

There was a giant spiral staircase in the middle of the room, leading to one more or even a couple more floors to this magical wagon. Though from what could be seen, it looked as though a hurricane had just blown through.

On each of the floors was filled with collapsed retail shelves, tables, and chairs all over the place. Broken glass all over the floor, along with various types of liquids and their contrasting aromas. At least a hundred books have fallen to the floor, along with all kinds of sticky and dirty unknown substances.

“If this isn’t something to be ‘melodramatic’ about, then Trixie’s dying to what is from your perspective.”

“Well Trixie, I must say,” Discord commented with a cheeky remark. “Your shop looks ten times better than it did before. Everything is so much easier to find now.”

Discord brought his fingers to the tip of his muzzle, and then let displayed a joyous chef’s kiss. While he did so, he temporarily fashioned a head chef’s uniform with the tall white hat to match. He even magically summoned a black, curly, thin moustache to be placed on the tip of his boney muzzle, “Just muah! Bravissima!”

“If you weren’t my best selling customer and The Chaotic Mage, I swear to The Almighty Mirror, I’m gonna-!”

Trixie’s threat stopped immediately when she finally got a good look at Fluttershy.

This unusual and sudden draw of attention made Fluttershy immediately look away from Trixie’s vigorous stare. She took a step away; ears pinned back and tail tucked between her legs. Holding Angel close to her chest, which activated the bunny’s desire to give the fae woman a dirty look.

Just like the two headed dog from earlier, Trixie and Fluttershy locked each other’s gazes in silence, with Trixie being especially captivated.

However, the shopkeeper returned to her senses and shook her head. Then, she let out the loudest yet haughtiest laugh that Fluttershy had ever heard.

“What do we have here? Could it be? Does The Chaotic Mage, THE Chaotic Mage, at last have a familiar of his own? And an Abyssinian no less? Well well, didn’t know that you needed the help soooo badly.”

“Tis not I that is in need of some assistance, but rather the other way around.”

“Oh really? An Abyssinian, needs your help? Since when did The Great Chaotic Mage become so ‘generous’ towards his fellow fae?”

“I wouldn’t be as my title implies, if I didn’t mix it up every now and then. Always chaotic but never boring, my dear shopkeep.”

Discord then properly introduced, “But enough of the why, let me introduce you to the now. Trixie, may I introduce you to my familiar: Grizabella. Grizabella, this is Trixie Lulamoon. My own personal supplier.”

“Grizabella?” Fluttershy pondered. “Why would he call me… wait… do all the fae know my name?”

While struggling to push through this horrifying thought, she then quietly voiced to Trixie, “Um how do you d-”

“The Great and Powerful Trixie does not work for you!” interrupted Trixie, correcting Discord in a demanding tone. “She is the boss of her own shop! She’s a strong and independent female entrepreneur! These expensive and glorious supplies are for everyone. Not. Just. You.”

Before Fluttershy could hide away from Trixie again, the fae shop keeper rapidly brought her face uncomfortably close to Fluttershy’s. She scanned and sniffed the Sleigh Beggy’s face skeptically; ignoring the uneased expression and the growling bunny in the Abyssinian’s arms.

Trixie finally brought her face away from Fluttershy’s and crossed her arms across her chest, “Did you make her, Chaotic Mage? She looks artificial.”

“As fun as that would be, I assure you, she is the genuine article. I wouldn’t have made her my familiar if she wasn’t.”

Trixie harshly pointed towards the pink mustache looking spot on Fluttershy’s upper lip. “This is totally your signature and you know it!”

Then, she lowered her finger and narrowed her gaze into Fluttershy’s feline teal eyes. “Not to mention those eyes. Abyssinians may be known for their eyes, but hers...no Abyssinian can compete with hers.”

“Tsk tsk, I’m surprised. I thought your experience in the Black market has made you familiar with the eyes and fur markings of this particular clan.”

Discord lowered his head once more and reminded her, “Do you really need to ask when it comes to moi?”

But, she couldn’t admit this aloud. Not to him. So, instead, she blew air through her lips in slight frustration. Through this, she was able to blow away some of the messy hair strands from her face.

Soon, Trixie took notice of what Fluttershy was holding and observed. “Why is your familiar holding a rabbit? Is it her snack or yours?”

Fluttershy gasped at such a notion, and held Angel tighter as a result. “Angel is not my snack! And he’s certainly not Discord’s either! He’s my bunny! I would never eat Angel! I would never let anyone eat him!”

Fluttershy didn’t realize how loud her tone was until she saw the shocked expression on Trixie’s face and how wide Discord’s eyes were.

Trixie was in a complete stupor of just how fervent this familiar was acting in front of her master. Especially a master as powerful and as merciless as the Chaotic Mage. Trixie was expecting… no, waiting… for the mage to yell at her and punish her for this display of trivial emotion. But no such punishment came; only silence. And to add to this confusion further, this familiar had mentioned a name that she had never heard before. Discord? Who is this Discord?

Discord, on the other hand, was reflecting on how this was the second time that she had raised her tone today. The first time was to stand up for her silly little teacher test proposal. This time, it was to stand up for her pathetic little bunny. Such a quiet Sleigh Beggy… with unusual timing when it comes to using her voice. Discord didn’t know whether to condemn her chaotic outbursts or praise her for them. One thing’s for sure, at least it left such a wonderfully confused expression on Trixie’s face.

“I…” Fluttershy quietly scrambled to say, trying to find some way to recover from this awkward tension, “I-I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to… it’s just that… Angel is very dear to me and-”

“Well done Grizabella!” Discord congratulated. “Well done! My chaos, you’re such a good girl! Here’s your treat.”

With a snap of his fingers, he instantly made something appear within her clenched fist, which looked ready to spill out if she didn’t act quickly.

Fluttershy shifted Angel in the hold of her left arm in order to look at what Discord had just magically given her. It was a pile of biscuits. Biscuits that took the cartoonish shapes of fish, chicken, and cat faces.

“Wasn’t that precious?” Discord bragged to Trixie, “No lie, I’ve taught her to do this trick myself. And it only took her one day to master it. Isn’t she just the most clever little minx you’ve ever seen?”

“Why in the world would you teach your Abyssinian to embarrass you in public in such a manner? It’s such a useless and ridiculous command.” replied Trixie in a confused yet irritated tone.

“I wouldn’t say it’s entirely useless. After all, without that darling party trick, I wouldn’t have gotten to see that dumbfounded look on your face. Simply priiiiicelesssss.”

Discord gestured his large head towards the front door, “Now, are we going to continue to carry business outside or actually see the full inventory inside? I don’t know about you, wittle miss Great and Powerful, but I’d much rather see the inventory then exchange unnecessary pleasantries out there with you.”

Fluttershy swiftly stuffed the cat treats into the pockets of her long skirt, and softly placed the all too willful Angel into the safe confines of her bag before scurrying after the two bantering fae.

She would have entered, if it weren’t for her new cat muzzle. The overwhelming aroma of all the spilled materials on the shop’s floors was too much for her to take. Even Angel buried himself into the shoulder in order to hide from this over consuming odor.

As Discord smoothly avoided every mess inside the larger than life wagon, he took notice of the lack of claw steps sounds from his new “familiar”. He turned around and saw Fluttershy covering her nose with her paw and clinging to the doorway for support. He especially noticed how physically weak and sick she looked in the face of the strong fragrances.

It reminded him of whenever he was in his… other form… that even the smallest of areas can be compacted with the potent array of odors. And it would drive him nuts. Sometimes, it would get so bad that he would have to restrain himself physically in order to stop his body from following every single scent he could find.

With a slight wave of his cane, he summoned a white mouth and nose mask to appear on her face. He even gave that rabbit a mouth and nose mask as well despite every thought to do the opposite.

“Why don’t you go upstairs and relax?” Discord suggested, directing her to the spiral staircase, “This shouldn’t take too long.”

Once Discord left and joined Trixie in some backroom far from sight, Fluttershy gulped at the height and presence of the staircase. But once her stomach began to growl, she realized that she hasn’t had anything to eat since yesterday afternoon. With this little break, she should have enough time to eat Autumn’s packed breakfast.

With careful consideration of all the fallen items scattered everywhere, Fluttershy slowly made her way towards the staircase.

When Fluttershy reached the top of the staircase, she was greeted by, from what Fluttershy could only assume to be, an office of some sort. Except, it had a humble Bohemian flare to it. Well, it would be fully Bohemian and humble if it weren’t for the posters and pictures of Trixie that covered all the walls.

There were slanted walls and shelves filled with old paper scrolls instead of books. And these scrolls were organized in utter disarray, with some having fallen to the floor. There was a light blue couch to sit on along the wall; with multiple heavily patterned pillows on top of it. Due to Discord’s magic moving the wagon by force, the legs of the conch left scars on the floors from where it slid. The couch wasn’t the only thing to sit on. There were tons of bean bags and lounge pillows to sit on if you wished to sit on the floor. Veils and draperies framed the room, almost leading Fluttershy towards the desk and chair. A long, wooden desk covered with stars and moons carvings had fallen to the floor, along with the twig structured office chair. Papers, pens, and candles covered the floor. Almost covering the starry, woven rug that took up the center of the room. There were some doors on the walls and ceiling, presumably leading to some other rooms in the wagon.

But, what really captured Fluttershy’s gaze was the light lavender trimline, corded phone in the midst of all the papers, pens, candles, and mess on the rug.

“Angel, look,” Fluttershy called out with joy; which prompted the bunny to pop his head out of her bag. He let out a happy squeak when he beheld the sight of the phone.

Fluttershy’s ears perked up, her fluffy tail wagged with glee. As she kneeled towards the floor and picked up the phone, “We can finally call home! We’ll just let them know that we’re okay, and tell Aunt Cinch that I’m… “

Fluttershy remembered who she would be conversing with and all the possible consequences that would occur if she told her the truth.

Angel lowered his ears in defeat and gave his owner a sad but empathetic look. He wished that he could communicate in the same language as her. That way, he can give her the right words to say to her aunt.

But then, it dawned on her. “Wait, Mrs. Cake always answered calls for the home phone. If I call the house, then I can talk to her first. I can tell her that I’m studying abroad thanks to Harmony University’s pre-college program, and then she can talk to Aunt Cinch for me.”

Angel applauded, and hopped in anticipation as she confidently dialed. With a sure yet sweet smile, Fluttershy waited and listened to the ring.

Fluttershy naturally expected a pause from international phone lines, in order to ask if she wanted to connect to Canada or not and where specifically in Canada she wanted to connect to.

But instead, someone at the house answered right away. Fluttershy’s heart dropped when she heard the all too familiar stern tone, “Abacus Cinch speaking.”

Angel was soon filled with dread when he witnessed the sudden drop of Fluttershy’s hopeful smile and when her feline ears slowly flopped down.

Angel knew that Fluttershy couldn’t stay silent forever when it came to Ms. Cinch. So, he tried to regain her attention by waving his arms about and hopping up to her eye level.

But, Fluttershy couldn’t see Angel. She couldn’t hear him. Her eyes,... her ears,... her body... was consumed by the heavy yet tingling sensation of fear. She could feel her heavy heart beating quickly against her chest. Her body temperature is rising; her tongue is completely dry inside her mouth.

It had been so long since she had heard her aunt. Her voice was ringing… vibrating inside her… like it was grabbing the collar of her shirt and clutching it tight.

Has Fluttershy been gone for weeks? Months? Either way, even over the phone, her aunt still had her all looming presence. Even over the phone, her aunt still had…only this time,... it was far worse.

Fluttershy couldn’t help but feel so small. Like she was literally shrinking with each passing minute. Her chest felt so bindly tight, like it was shrinking with her. Will her heart shrink with her? Will her mind shrink with her? Will everything just shrink with her or just her body?

For as long as she could remember, she’d often felt small when interacting with her aunt, but… not like this. This was different and yet somehow felt familiar, something she hadn’t felt in a long time. Not since she first arrived at the Cinch household after her mother’s funeral.

Everything was so scary and strange without her mother back then. Her aunt’s house was so big, empty, and cold. And… it still is…

It held so many dark, shadowy places for the fae to hide in. The house… that haunting house… and all the people who lived within it. It didn’t have her mother’s comforting words,... or her lullabies,... or her loving hugs,.... or her gentle smile. It wasn’t her house. Times might have been scary because of the occasional fae and without Papa or Zephie around, but at least she had her mom by her side.

Was it days? Was it weeks? Was it months? Did it take a year? Everything seemed to blur all together after the funeral, yet the house… strangely became routine for her. Routine was the only word to describe it. Avoiding all its dark corners became routine for her. Her cousin’s cold shoulder became routine. Her aunt’s stare… her aunt’s voice… her aunt’s tone… her aunt’s words…. her aunt’s judgement… her aunt’s shadow… everything that her aunt was… was routine for Fluttershy. But above all,... feeling small became routine. Feeling small began to feel… normal.

If it weren’t for Mrs. Cake coming in and breaking up this routine, Fluttershy would have completely forgotten her the immense warmth of her mother’s love. She would have forgotten the small specks of affection left behind by her father and her little brother. However, even in the midst of Mrs. Cake’s presence, the normalcy of feeling small never left her. The feeling that she could shrink away… that never left her.

There was a part of her that didn’t just want to shrink away. Fluttershy wanted to exist. She wanted to just remain in this existence. But… there was a part of her that kinda wanted to…

But right now, Fluttershy couldn’t help but start to miss…the certainty of it all… the routine of it all…

The sound of aunt’s voice somehow was able to snap Fluttershy out of it. But, this still didn’t help the girl with finding her voice again. But, lucky for her, she finally noticed the frantic behavior of her bunny. He was giving her the signal to basically cut it before it was too late.

Angel’s ears softly dropped and nuzzled his head against her knee. When Fluttershy instinctively responded with soft scratches on top of his head, she could at last feel like she could breathe again. At last, she could actually feel present within her own body. Her body, no longer belonging to fear. At last, she was dragged out of those memories.

“I’m,” Fluttershy finally spoke, still trying to get over her current dazed state. “I’m sorry. I… I don’t know what came over me.”

Angel lifted his head away from her fingers, and pulled the mask away from his face. With the mask gone, he looked up to her with a smile on his face. Even though she still couldn’t stop contemplating about her aunt, if there was one thing that she had to learn during this life with the fae… when peace or love is offered… she would take it full heartedly. Especially when in the form of Angel’s beautiful grin.

When she reached to pet and comfort her starving rabbit, Angel shooed those fingers away with his paw and gave her a tough pouting look.

“Come to think of it,” She continued. “You haven’t had anything since yesterday afternoon. Oh, you poor thing. Mommy hasn’t been taking care of you, has she?”

Fluttershy turned her eyes towards the couch, pulled out the bento box, and suggested, “Come on, let’s finally have some lunch.”

“Ahem?” Trixie coughed purposefully, “Aren’t you forgetting something, oh Great and Powerful Half Baked Mage?”

With an opened magical portal behind them, revealing the gravel country road leading to Discord’s cottage, The Chaotic Mage turned to face the shopkeeper. But, his “Abyssinian familiar” did not. She instead, kept her eyes towards the lovely scenery in the portal and protected Angel gently in her grasp. Angel looked up at the cat girl with melancholy worry.

He thought for sure that having lunch together would cheer her up. But clearly, that was far from the case.

Trixie, with two box crates full of supplies behind her, walked up to Discord and handed out her empty palm to him. “It’s this magical thing called payment, and it requires hardly any magic at all to transfer it. Ring any bells? Hmm?”

“Oh Trixie!” Discord dramatically proclaimed, placing his gloved hand swiftly yet delicately upon his puffed out chest, “You wound me with such contempt! Did you honestly think that I, your most loyal customer, would forget to pay you?”

“Yes, yes you would,” She dryly pointed out. “because that’s what you did last time with the pig pegasus wings.”

“Pig wings, figs, thinamings. My my wittle Trixie,” Discord mockingly laughed, “your humor never ceases to amuse me.”

With a smooth snap of his fingers, he made some small, cheap off brand peanut butter crackers appear in her hands. As soon as Trixie gazed upon the cheap snack, her eyes lit up and grew big. Her smile immediately beamed from ear to ear.

Trixie let out a happy squeal as she hastily ripped off the plastic packaging. “Yes!” she whispered joyously.

As Trixie fed upon the peanut butter crackers like an excitable puppy, Discord waved his cane above the crates. The crates glowed with his magic, and instantly transformed two, small, four winged, opal eyed, rainbow swirled, ravens.

Fluttershy waited until the ravens and Discord traveled through the portal before entering it in herself. As she slowly walked through this gateway, she had hardly noticed that she had transformed back to normal.

As the ravens flew towards the cottage, Discord closed the portal. “And that my dear, is how you haggle with a shopkeeper. I hope that you were paying attention closely because the key to handling those dim wits is showing them who the superior mage is in the relationship. And-huh?”

Discord was then shocked to find, not only that the young Sleigh Beggy was not freaking out or reacting to the fact that she regained her humanity, but also to the fact that she was walking away from him. While he was talking no less!

“How dare that little-!” Discord mentally maddened. “No human or fae on this earth has ever walked away from me! Especially when I’m rightfully bragging about myself! After agreeing to her deal, after dealing with Trixie, this is the thanks that I get?!”

Before he could properly give the mopey girl a piece of his mind, a voice called his name from a distance.

“Oh chaos,” He mumbled, slapping his palm against his forehead in frustrated annoyance. “Don’t tell me…”

Discord didn’t want to turn around, but he had to… he knew who the voice belonged to.

Reluctantly, he saw a young man, not much older than Fluttershy, running up the path from behind with a big yet nervous smile on his face and waving at Discord. The young man was dressed in all black, except for the white collar poking out from the collar of his black sweater. The young man’s skin was all light orange except for his white hands, and the white stripe that traveled from the top of his forehead to the bottom of his nose. He had a floppy, messy looking, almost mohawk looking, reddish orange hair and a matching frizzy goatee. Excitement illuminated his wide blue eyes, and sunlight reflected off his huge, light blue, circular glasses.

The Wife of the Old Draconequus

by misskoifishpony

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