"Come on, little guys," Fluttershy said to the small gathering of small critters in her kitchen. "It's ten to eight, so that means it's time for you all to get ready to go to bed."
Fluttershy smiled as the animals obeyed her wished and filed out of the room, a few of them with little bits of food in their paws and mouths. As Fluttershy went to go open the door to the animals' sleeping room, a knock came from the front door. Not expecting company, Fluttershy slowly and nervously made her way to the door. As soon as she pulled the door open a crack, she recognized who it was.
"Hey, Fluttershy," Simmons said, eyes darting around nervously.
"Hello, Simmons," she said quietly, watching him concernedly. "Are you okay? You don't look so good."
"I'm fine," he said, voice cracking slightly, telling Fluttershy that he was indeed not fine. "I know it's redundant question because it's Grif, but is he around anywhere?"
"Yes, he is. He's out back having a nap," she said. "You can leave a message with me and I'll tell him about it when he wakes up."
"It's kind of urgent," he said, shaking his head. "Kind of really urgent."
"What is it?"
"Can you please just go get Grif?" he sighed irately.
"Er, alright. I'll go get him for you," she said, moving to the side to let him in. "You should sit on the couch. You look like you're about to be sick."
"Thank you, that would be great," he said thankfully, shutting the door behind him before walking towards the couch on the other side of the room.
Fluttershy bowed her head and walked towards the kitchen and went through the back door. She saw Grif sleeping on his regular hammock, Haley sleeping next to one of the trees it was attached to. Walking over to it, Haley's ears perked up and she raised her head. Her tail began to wag as Fluttershy approached her and patted on her head a few times, easing her back to sleep. With a smile, she turned to the sleeping pegasus and lightly prodded his side, intending to slowly wake him, knowing he hated being rudely awoken.
"Stop it, Sis," Grif snorted in his slumber.
Fluttershy paused at the name he called out. She knew Sis was, as the nickname implies, his sister, but she didn't know much about her. Grif rarely chose to speak about himself, especially his sister, but he knew that he loved her, as she saw a month ago when he saved Tex, thinking she was his sister. Because of this, she wanted to let him sleep to let him think about his sister. She also knew that Simmons really wanted to talk to him and he would not leave until he did so, and Grif would just go straight back to sleep anyways.
"I don't want to go to school, so just tell mom that I'm sick," he mumbled, still asleep.
"Grif, wake up" she said again, shaking him again, this time a bit harder.
"Bwuh?" Grif snorted, eyes slowly opening. Noticing who it was, he sat straight up in the hammock and stretched his back, yawning loudly. "This better be important. You know that I'm running a strict sleeping schedule."
"I'm sorry, Grif. It's just that Simmons is here to see you. He seems really antsy for some reason, but he wouldn't tell me why."
"Mhm," he mumbled, falling back onto the hammock. "Tell you what. How about I go back to sleep, and you tell him that I told you to tell me what he wants to tell me, that way you can tell me later when I actually wake up."
"I think it's really important and he seemed intent on telling you personally. Why else would he be so nervous?"
"Because Simmons and nervous go together as well as Grif and sleep."
"Grif..." she said quietly, staring at him seriously.
"Fine, if it means I can catch some more Zs, then I'll talk to him. Just... mind if you go and bring him here? I don't like getting up when I just plan on going straight back to sleep anyways..."
"Okay," she said with a smile.
Quickly making her way back to her cottage, she entered to see Simmons pacing about the room, muttering something to himself.
"Simmons?" she asked.
"Hey. Where's Grif?" he asked, snapping his head towards her.
"He's awake, but you have to go talk to him out back," she replied. "Is it a private matter, or do you want me to come too?"
"You should come. You'll need to hear this," Simmons said, as trotted past her and out the door.
Fluttershy then followed him to Grif, who was staring up at the night sky, struggling to stay awake.
"Grif, I'm going to need you to pay attention to what I'm about to say, because-"
"Hey to you too, Simmons," Grif muttered sleepily as he glanced up to the moon, judging the time by it's position. "Okay, you've got about three minutes. What's so important that you couldn't have waited until I'm eating to tell me?"
"It's about Church," Simmons replied simply. "He's back."
"What?" Fluttershy asked, eyes widening at what she heard. "But... the Elements of Harmony trapped him. How did he get out?"
"I don't know, but Sweetie Belle came back home about an hour ago and told us that she went to the library with her friends. Except she saw Church there," Simmons said, looking around the area. "And she also told us that Theta and Sigma were with them, too. And that means he got freed somehow and split back up."
"That's great news," Fluttershy said with a soft smile. "The others must be so happy to see them back."
"Yeah, and I am too to a small degree, but doesn't something about the fact that he's not stone anymore make you scared?"
"Not really. Why would-" she started, then gasped and took a shocked step back. "If Church isn't in the statue anymore, doesn't that mean that-"
"Yes. Not only are the other fragments back, but that also means Discord has to be somewhere too, so we're going to have to be on our toes again."
"Simmons, if I had the ability to care anymore, I doubt I'd care that much even then," Grif said, turning away from him. "If he really is back, he'll stay away from us. And if for some reason he does decide to mess with us specifically, we have nothing to worry about because the Elements of Harmony could just kick his ass again."
"But-"
"Sorry, Simmons. Your three minutes are up," Grif sighed, twisting in his spot until he was more comfortable.
"That didn't feel like three minutes," Simmons complained. "Come on, we have to get the others and make a plan for if Discord returns!"
"But I want to go back to sleep," he whined. "Besides, if there's one thing I know, it's that Church probably doesn't give a shit either, Sarge or Tucker wouldn't care all that much, and I know I don't. And I doubt Caboose would even understand what you're even talking about."
"And what if he returns and makes it so you can never eat or sleep again?"
"Ugh, fine," he growled reluctantly, rolling off the hammock and onto his hooves. "I'll just have to put in some more sleeping hours tomorrow."
"Your life is such a delicate balance," Simmons said sarcastically.
"Thank you for noticing, Simmons," Grif said sincerely.