//------------------------------// // Scattering the Harmony // Story: Son of Chaos // by twow443 //------------------------------// Chapter 5-Scattering the Harmony I stirred and opened my eyes. I looked around and saw that I was in Fluttershy’s room. Sighing, I shook my head. Ending up in here again just brought a round of déjà vu to my mind. But, I had something else to wonder about. Discord apparently needed me for something, but what? And even more important, how was he freed? Celestia had told me that Twilight and the others had frozen him again when he almost cast all of Equestria into chaos. It seemed like whenever he was frozen, the certain ponies that froze him were unable to do it again. So if Celestia and Luna had frozen him once, and my friends had frozen him again, who could do it this time? I rubbed my horn in thought, noting that I was in my changeling form. I needed to learn about my birth. Discord had to have been freed, but then frozen again. The answers lied in finding out who freed him, and why Celestia decided to have a child with him. That part confused me more then anything else. They were enemies, right? It didn’t seem right that Celestia would suddenly want to have a foal with her mortal enemy. She was hiding something and so was Discord. Considering the fact that Discord recently beat the living hay out of me, I decided that I needed to ask my mother, or find the answers myself. I checked my necklace, it was still empty of emotions. I had used so much energy that I would have been out a lot longer unless I was somewhere that my body could automatically absorb love. I slowly rose out of her bed, remade it with a small spell and made my way into the bathroom. After I rinsed my face, I felt more awake. I shifted into my unicorn form and started to go downstairs. I stopped when I heard voices. I knew that I shouldn’t be casting spells when I was still weak, but I didn’t want to go down there without knowing who was there. I wasn’t completely trusted yet in Ponyville. So, I cast a spell to hear who was talking. I could sense that it was only my friends so I started to descend the stairs. I stopped again when I heard my name. Worried, I sat down to listen. “So, is he okay?” I heard Twilight ask, worry in her tone. “Oh, yes.” Fluttershy said. “I don’t know what would have happened if you hadn’t found him Rainbow.” “What happened anyway?” Rarity spoke up. I heard Rainbow start talking. “I had finished clearing the clouds and moving some over to Sweet Apple Acres so AJ could have that rainstorm she needed. I heard a loud crash and saw a big explosion in the sky. I flew over there, and it was that field that I helped Shade learn to fly in. You know, after he got out from the hospital?” “Yeah, we all helped him.” I heard Twilight speak up again. “I remember that he could do some weird magic for not being that skilled in it, but he got tired fast.” “Anyway..” Rainbow continued. I smiled as I sensed annoyance in her tone at being interrupted. “I got there and saw craters all over the ground. Then I saw Shade laid flat out on the ground. I was going to get a cloud and wake him up with some water, but I saw that he looked like a changeling.” “That might because he is one.” Applejack said. “I know that.” Rainbow said. I sensed more annoyance in her tone. “You know that he doesn’t walk around looking like that. And I know that he wouldn’t take a random nap like that either.” “Ahm just teasin, Rainbow.” AJ said. Rainbow ignored her. “So I landed by him and called his name. When he didn’t answer, I opened his eyes, and they were pitch black.” “Black?” Twilight asked. “Yeah, it freaked me out.” Rainbow answered. “I knew that Fluttershy lived close, so I picked him up and flew him here. He’s really light when he looks like a changeling.” “Why did you bring him here?” Rarity asked. “Because I knew that Shade would get better because he needed emotions. I knew that Flutters could help with that.” She answered. I sensed shyness flowing from Fluttershy and assumed that she was blushing. I didn’t want to spy on my friends anymore, but they would know it was my if I went downstairs. I was going to walk downstairs, but I stiffened as I heard Fluttershy say, “I better go see if he’s okay. Excuse me.” Great. If I tried to walk upstairs, she would hear me. If I tried to use a spell, then she would hear the flash of magic. I only had about twenty seconds before she knew that I was there. Thinking hard, I got an idea. I lit up my horn with a soft glow and cast a quiet spell. The light from the spell turned into a soft blue mist. The mist covered my whole body and quietly wafted toward Fluttershy’s room. When it was over her bed I ended the spell, turning myself back to normal. I shifted into my normal form and slipped back into the bed, just as Fluttershy came into the room. She was holding a bowl of, I think it was water. Her face lit up as she saw me awake. “Shade! I’m so glad that you’re awake!” She came over and sat on the bed, handing me the water. “Are you feeling okay?” I forced myself to relax, drinking the water. “I am now. Thank you.” Fluttershy leaned over and gave me a soft kiss. I returned it, feeling love flow from her into me, making me feel much better. She leaned back and ran her hoof though my mane. “I was worried about you. You were asleep for a day.” “A day,” I pondered. “At least it wasn’t a week again.” Fluttershy smiled, but I sensed that she was still upset. “What’s wrong?” She softly sighed, continuing to stroke my mane. “Were you going to come downstairs?” “Maybe.” I said, not wanted to reveal that I had been listening to their conversation. “Why?” “You said that you would be in your changeling form when you were here.” She said. “But you are in your unicorn form now.” I knew what she meant. She knew that I had gotten up. It wouldn’t have surprised me if she knew that I was listening in on the conversation either. About two months ago, Fluttershy told me that she thought I was cute in my changeling form, so I told her that whenever I was here I would be in that form, unless ponies were here that wouldn’t understand. I was quiet, not really knowing what to say. Rainbow was right; I really was dense around mares. Fluttershy smiled. “It’s okay Shade. We were checking on you. I won’t tell anypony that you were listening.” So she DID know. I silently sighed. Twilight had told me once that Fluttershy knew me better then I knew myself. If she knew how correct she was… “I wish that you would take better care of your mane.” She said, still brushing thought it with her hoof. “It looks so cute when it’s all brushed out.” Now I was the one blushing. “Careful Flutters. You’re starting to sound like Rarity. I don’t really want it brushed out all the time. Besides, you wouldn’t want any mares to try to take me away from you.” She smirked at me, something she rarely did. “But I know you. That wouldn't happen.” That’s all she said, but I knew what she meant. We heard a knock on the door. “You okay in there, Shy?” We heard Rainbow ask. “Yes. We’ll be right out.” Fluttershy said. I rose up and stretched. “Let’s go, huh?” I said. I turned and saw that Fluttershy was holding a hairbrush. I sighed, knowing what was going to happen next. . . . A little while later, and with a brushed out mane, I found myself walking with Rarity back to the boutique. The rest of our friends decided that we would try to meet up later that day. I wanted to talk to Sweetie Belle, and just hang out with Rarity as well. “Shade, your mane looks wonderful! What did you do with it?” The white unicorn asked. I sighed. “Fluttershy brushed it out. Don’t know why, considering that it’ll probably get messed up again.” Rarity gave me a look. “If you trained it, it would stay like that. Not to say that your mane looks quite nice when it’s well…” “Messy?” I asked, sticking my tongue out at her. We smirked then broke out laughing. After we stopped, Rarity asked, “You are close friends with my sister, correct?” I nodded, “She’s really fun to hang out with. All three of them are.” “Sweetie told me that someponies in her class were saying things about you.” Rarity said. I nodded. “Yeah, Apple Bloom got in a fight for me about it yesterday….Uh-oh.” “What is it?” Rarity asked. “I think that Cheerilee said that she was going to go by the farm later to talk to AJ and AB together.” I said, worried. “And that’s a problem because…?” Rarity questioned. “I pretended to be Applejack so Apple Bloom wouldn’t get in trouble.” I admitted. “I owed her a favor, but because AJ didn’t know…” Suddenly, in a flash of purple light, Applejack and Twilight appeared in front of us. The workhorse looked absolutely furious. “Shade! Were you pretending to be me?!” She stormed up and got right in my face. “Sorry, Shade.” Twilight said. “She didn’t remember to bring it up when we were at Fluttershy’s.” “Oh, you’re fine.” I stammered out. I was more worried about the mare in front of me that had the ability to buck me into next month. “DID YOU GO PRETENDEN TO BE ME?!” AJ yelled. I felt intense fear flow though me. Suddenly, the back of my neck felt like it was on fire. Everything looked like in was in a tint of blue. “Yes! I’m sorry, Applejack! Don’t kill me!” I laid down, covered my head with my hooves and started trembling. Applejack stepped back, surprised. “Why, I…” “Look, his neck!” I heard Twilight yell. “It’s glowing!” “Shade, look at me.” Rarity commanded. I did as she said and she gasped. “His eyes are glowing blue!” “That’s the color of fear.” Twilight said. “Applejack, you scared him into submission.” “But..I.” AJ was confused. I made an effort to get over it, but I couldn’t. I looked at Applejack and nearly threw up from the shudder of fear I had. “There you are. I wanted to ask you…oh!” I heard Fluttershy from behind us. Though the haze of fear, I remembered that I had told her I was going to talk to Diamond Tiara’s father. She had wanted to come with us, and I had forgotten. Smooth move on my part. “Shade?” Fluttershy came closer to me. “Wait! Let me cast this spell on him!” Twilight looked me in the eyes and said, “Be calm.” Instantly, the feeling of fear flowed out of me and into my necklace. I shuddered and said to Applejack. “I’m sorry. I should have been more respectful of your wishes. I won’t do it again.” AJ looked shocked and just nodded. I looked at Twilight. “Could you send us over to Filthy Rich’s house? I don’t know where it is to teleport there.” “Sure, Fluttershy’s going with you, correct?” I nodded and Twilight lit her horn up. In a instant, we were gone. . . . The three mares that remained looked at each other. “What..the hay just happened? I wasn't tryin to frighten him.” Twilight was quiet, rubbing her chin. Rarity shifted her weight nervously. “I got it!” The purple unicorn yelled. “Remember when Shade was helping fix your barn, Applejack. He was frustrated because he messed up a spell and started throwing wood everywhere?” Applejack nodded. “Ah remember. His eyes were glowing yellow then. Ah had to buck him into the side of the barn to calm him down enough so you could cast that spell.” “Exactly.” Twilight said. “Girls, come with me to the library. We need to figure out what's going on.” Twilight lead Rarity and Applejack toward the library. . . . Fluttershy and I appeared at Filthy Rich's doorstep. I was awestruck by the house. It was two stories high, and the lawn was pristine. The house was painted gold and silver which was an interesting color choice. I probably would have just stood there for another twenty minutes, unless Fluttershy hadn't gently poked me. “It's okay, Shade. We'll be fine.” she said, rubbing her hoof though my mane again. She always did that when she knew that I was nervous or upset. I kissed her and we moved up to the doors. Swallowing my fear, I knocked on the doors. We waited a moment and then Diamond Tiara answered the door. “Oh, hello Fluttershy.” she said, making a point to ignore me. “Did you need something?” “Hello, Diamond.” Fluttershy said softly. “Could we speak to your father for a moment?” “Sure, come on in.” she said. I let Fluttershy go ahead of me, and Diamond proceeded to slam the door in my face. I used a quick spell to flash inside the door, next to my marefriend. Diamond glared daggers at me and continued walking. I looked at Fluttershy, who was about to say something and shook my head. Diamond led us into her father's library. I looked around, trying to take in the surroundings. The room was painted red, and each wall had a large bookshelf of books. I thought that Twilight would have been jealous. But that wasn't why we were here. I looked at the brown earth pony sitting in a chair, calmly reading the newspaper. He looked up and his face remained perfectly straight. I took a step back as I felt a rush of anger come from him. This was not a good idea. “Dad, they wanted to know if they could talk to you.” Diamond spoke up. Rich nodded to her. “Thank you, Diamond.” The young filly left the room. Rich looked at us. “Please, take a seat.” I let Fluttershy sit, I remained standing. “So, I've heard that you've been saying undermining things about me, sir.” “Right to the point, I see.” He leaned back in his chair. “Alright then. Here's the thing. You are a menace to society.” “And how so?” I asked. “Think about it.” He calmly said. “Changelings haven't been seen in Equestria for over one thousand years. Now all of a sudden, they seem to be appearing up everywhere.” “I assume that you are mentioning the attack on Princess Cadence's wedding?” I asked. “Yes I am.” Rich was just getting started. “Sure, they were repelled from the castle. But, how could anypony know that they were all expelled? See, here's my thought. How long have you been living with the princess?” “All my life.” I said. “I'm her son.” “If you say so.” he said. “But I don't believe it. Nightmare Moon returned while you've been alive, didn't she?” “The one thousand years were over.” I said. “She would have returned anyway.” “Possibly.” I didn't like the tone in his voice. “Discord returned, and now the attack? Now I have no way to point the return of Discord, but what about the changelings? You are one, they are the same. Were you a spy for them? Leading them to attack, giving them all they needed to storm the castle?” “I wouldn't plot against my own mother.” I said, anger growing in my tone. Fluttershy put her hoof on my shoulder. “Maybe. But you weren't expelled from the castle.” Rich said. “That's because I wasn't trying to hurt anypony!” I snapped. “Then why didn't you help?” he asked. “I wasn't skilled enough in magic to have done anything!” I yelled. “Maybe.” He was pushing all my buttons. “I heard from somepony that you can...control emotions? It would have been very easy for you to manipulate the emotions of the princess, especially if she's your mother. And about this young mare right here.” He pointed at Fluttershy, and I knew he was about to make a mistake. “You say that she's your marefriend? Was that her choice, or did you force that upon her?” “I did NOT TOUCH HER EMOTIONS!” I barked at her, my fangs bared. Fluttershy jumped and Filthy jumped. I was so close to slamming my teeth into him, paralyzing him, and then draining every ounce of emotions from his soul. I took a step toward him, when Fluttershy got up and held me. “No, Shade. Don't.” She didn't need to raise her voice for me to know what I was about to do. I stepped back, looking her in the eyes. She was afraid, not for herself, but for me. And I knew that if I attacked Rich, I would be nothing more then the monster he had called me. I stepped back and took a deep breath. I sensed fear rolling from Rich in waves. I slipped past my marefriend and walked in front of the earth pony. “Listen to me very carefully.” I said. “I will ignore everything you said to me. But if you ever even imagine the thought that I would hurt Fluttershy, I will end you. Understand?” He nodded. “Thank you for speaking with us.” I walked away, put my hoof around Fluttershy's neck and teleported us out of that house. . . . Filthy Rich took a deep breath, not knowing how close he had been to death. “Diamond, come in here.” he called. The young earth pony sauntered in. “So, did it go well? Do I need to spread the word like that strange pony told us?” Rich looked at his daughter and nodded. “Yes, I believe that you can.”