For the next few hours, Fluttershy wandered aimlessly across what part of the Vale she felt safe enough to travel around, calling out to her friends and living in the hope of finding them. However, despite all her searching, she found nothing; she was too tired and her strength waned after the battle with the kraken.
The sun was under the mountain by the time she gave up in her search for her missing friends, and ashamedly walked towards the mountain; she remembered Trixie saying she had camped up there during her stays here, so she hoped she would be there now. With that thought, she broke into a meandering trot, praying she would find them at the top so they could smile and cheer at their reunion together.
When she made it up to the lonely ledge via a long and gently slope that nestled against the mountainside, with a load of firewood she could find on her back, the sky was almost black with night and the stars began to appear to colour the sky. The top of the mountain itself was a large circular ledge with the tipped peak of the mountain walled behind it. It was perfect for defensible purposes, since there was only way up, but it barely mattered to the Dragonlord.
There was nopony, or any baby dragon, up there to greet her.
She threw the logs down, and began to start a fire using a method she had rarely demonstrated: rubbing two sticks together until one finally sparks. After ten minutes of stressful waiting, the two sticks came alight with a warming flame. She gently set them down into the rest of the firewood, and watched morosely as the greedy flames began to tear apart the bark on the sticks.
Having enough of staring at the fire and watching the twigs disappear, Fluttershy turned her gaze upwards to stare at the Vale around her with sullen eyes. The Vale was particularly calm and quiet, with not even a hoot of an owl or the evening songs of birds, or even the squeaks of bats shooting into the air to feed. It was as though that whatever scared her friends caused them to vanish; or that they were responsible for their disappearance.
She shook her head rapidly to rid herself of the thought. It was stupid. But then again, nothing about what happened made any sense to her. Fluttershy sighed once more and rested her head on her crossed forelegs, a thousand questions racing through her mind but only one stood out from the rest. What manner of creature could have given them reason to run blindly into the Vale, separate and alone from each other’s support?
Fluttershy sniffed back more tears. She could not answer those questions, and it broke her heart. “I should have been there for them,” she whispered to herself. “If I were just a little bit stronger and less hesitant in hurting that darn kraken, I would have been there for them all.” She slammed her hooves into the ground, screaming through gritted teeth. “Why couldn’t I be stronger? Why couldn’t I be more cold and ruthless when I needed to be?”
“Well, I would help you with that, but I prefer having to deal with kind you rather than cruel you,” a voice said from behind her – a voice Fluttershy was all too familiar with.
Fluttershy’s head shot up in shock, yet she did not dare turn around, in fear that if she did the person she hoped to see was not actually there. ‘Could it really be him?’ she wondered. She hesitantly turned her head around, and only saw a grey, dull wall of the mountain behind her.
She sighed sadly. ‘I guess I was only imagining it,’ she thought, her ears drooping across her head. She turned her head away, only to come face to face with a grinning Discord.
“Boo,” he said as soon as her eyes locked onto his.
Fluttershy screamed and fell backwards in surprise, making the draconequus burst into loud laughter. “Oh my stars, you should have seen your face just now!” Discord cried through his laughter as he fell to the ground. After a moment he got up and grinned at the fallen Dragonlord. “Absolutely the best “oh!” face I have ever seen.”
Fluttershy managed to calm herself down enough to raise her head, and confirm to herself that Discord was floating in front of her. She grinned delightfully. “Discord!” she squeaked.
She jumped to her hooves and tackled Discord in a hug. “Oh, easy with those new toys of yours,” Discord said as he wrapped his mismatched arms around the pegasus, taking care to avoid her extended wings and the wing blades attached to them. “We don’t want any accidents now, do we?”
Fluttershy pulled away, grinning from ear to ear. That grin suddenly disappeared, to be replaced with a look confusion. “Ho-how did you find me?”
Discord shrugged. “I’m the man,” he replied.
Fluttershy raised an eyebrow amusedly. “You’ve been watching too much cinema, haven’t you?”
“I most certainly have,” Discord replied, his infectious grin working into Fluttershy’s soul. “If you ever become a creature of chaos like me, you get bored really quick with poking fun on Celestia and Luna and just enjoy some of the stuff you ponies have to offer. Gosh, cinema is certainly one of the best inventions I have ever seen you ponies create.”
He snapped his talons together, and a large, soft-looking yellow couch with pink trims suddenly appeared behind him. He snapped his fingers once more, and re-appeared spread-eagled along the couch. “But to answer your question, my dear Fluttershy, you were very hard to track down. I learned a few days ago from a reliable source of the Everfree Forest that you were last seen with Luna, Cadence, and a big dragon. I nearly gave up there as she said in her typical rhyming fashion that you had gone. Luckily, I remembered I had learnt a spell that could track down the simplest of magic uses, and after a while of searching through hundreds of magic castings I singled out the ones that were certainly the most powerful: namely that of Luna’s and Cadence’s.”
He paused for a moment as he shifted in place. “I followed such a trail into the Unicorn Range, which brought me to here. And then I waited until I saw your fire begin burning, and here we are now,” he finished, spreading his arms out wide. “And I must say, what a wondrous abode you have here. Good view, good seating, good company, and best of all, good drink.” Just as he finished speaking, he snapped his fingers together, and behind him a bar suddenly appeared with a copy of Discord cleaning a mug. He clicked his fingers once more and a tankard full of foaming chocolate appeared in his claw. “Want one?”
“You know I cannot drink, Discord,” Fluttershy said as she moved to sit in front of the couch.
“Ah, yes, because of your Dragonlord abilities. Well, at least you won’t be able to forget this night,” he said. He clicked his fingers again, and in her hoof, a mug of ale appeared. “Drink up; might make you seem a little less solemn.”
Fluttershy bowed her head, and threw away her mug. “I’m sorry, Discord, but I don’t feel like drinking anything,” she said sombrely. “I would feel better if I was with my friends.”
“Ah, yes, Luna and her not-exactly-her-niece, niece, where are they? I haven’t scared them off, have I?”
“Oh no, you haven’t done a thing,” Fluttershy assured him. “It’s just that…” She sighed as she bowed her head again. “It’s a long story.” She looked up at her friend. “Why are you here, Discord?”
Discord’s eyes widened, and he threw his arms up in the air. “Can’t I drop in to see the only friend that I have in this world?” he asked innocently.
Fluttershy nodded quickly. “Oh, of course you can. I always appreciate your company, no matter the circumstances. But um, I thought, given what’s going on, I thought you would be avoiding Equestria. I’m not blaming you or anything, but, um, others who know of your freedom and reformation might do... blame you, I mean.”
Discord tilted his head. “Blame me for what?”
Fluttershy could see the absolute sincerity in his tone, and tilted her own head. “You really don’t know what’s going on, do you?” she asked.
“Oh, you know what, I haven’t the faintest idea. Let me check and see what’s going on.” He clicked his fingers once more, and a large screen like one a cinema has appeared in front of them both. A small black rectangular object with many coloured buttons on its face appeared a second later in Discord’s hold, and he pushed one, the button making the sound of a squeaky toy as he did so. “Let’s see what’s on television,” he said. Fluttershy shifted about until she was comfortable once more, and set her eyes on the screen with dread in her heart.
The television came to life with images of what was going on across Equestria, and Fluttershy’s eyes widened in horror. Hearing about what was happening was bad, but to see it was terrifying. She saw houses and shops burn across a great town somewhere, with ponies screaming, raging, fighting, or crying as the world went mad around them. The scene changed again, this time in Canterlot, with soldiers of the Royal Guard marching across the streets, keeping the ponies of the city locked in their homes.
The view cut once more to the city of Strutford, with its streets and river ways deserted and covered in destruction, and its homes and shops broken into and wrecked. The view changed again, this time on Vanhoover and its giant steel wall that had been erected around it. It wasn’t the wall that made Fluttershy feel sick, however, it were the thousands of refuges camping outside it; all of them hungry, sick, in tears, bitter and angry not just at Vanhoover, but at each other.
Fluttershy turned her eyes away from it. “Turn it off,” Fluttershy ordered sullenly. “I can’t bear to look at it anymore.” She heard Discord snap his fingers, and a flash of something disappearing. She looked back around to see Discord staring at where the television had been in stunned silence, though she could see in his eyes he was disgusted by what was going on.
“Well, well, well,” Discord hummed. He fell back onto the couch and rubbed his chin. “What on earth brought this about?” He looked into Fluttershy’s eyes, which stared into his own with hope that he had nothing to do with it. “I have nothing to do with this, if that’s what you’re wondering,” he said, putting a claw against his chest where, Fluttershy presumed, his heart would be.
Fluttershy smiled at him disarmingly, yet she was relieved to say the least. “I wasn’t, actually, but I’m glad that you aren’t.”
“I had hoped so, or else I would seriously be questioning our friendship,” Discord said. “So is that why you, Luna and Cadence are out here?”
“Yes, well, more or less,” Fluttershy replied. She told him briefly about the events which saw her and her friends running for their freedoms, from how her friends betrayed her, to the present.
When she had finished, Discord sighed drearily and rubbed his head with a paw. “Oh dear. If your Ponyville friends and Celestia are under this influence, too, then only bad things can follow for everypony.”
Fluttershy nodded in agreement, and then asked, “Who do you think could be behind all of this?
“I’m not sure, but it would have to be someone incredibly gifted with really dark magic,” Discord answered. “Someone with the power to manipulate minds on a country-wide scale and do far greater damage than I ever intend; I do have my own limits, you know.” He got up from his couch, and began to pace around the fireplace.
With the couch free, Fluttershy jumped up and made herself comfortable. “Could it be King Sombra back from the dead?”
Discord stopped pacing, and his face lit up with delight at a thought. The look quickly disappeared and he shook his head. “No, not that lunatic. He’s dead, I’m afraid. Very much so. Well, you have to be after being blasted into pieces like he was.”
“Oh,” Fluttershy said, pouting. She looked up again as another potential candidate came into her head. “What about that changeling queen?”
Again, Discord shook his head. “Oh, no, not her. Chrysalis might be a deadly opponent, but she is a rubbish tactician. There is no way she would organise something as big as this.”
“She did make that plan to invade Canterlot,” Fluttershy pointed out.
“Yes, but by sheer luck alone did it almost succeed,” Discord countered. The two fell silent once more as Discord thought of who could be behind Equestria’s sudden change.
“Oh, what about that Heimdallr fellow you defeated two years back?” Discord asked, pointing at her.
Fluttershy shook her head. “If it was him, then he would be out to only get me; not the rest of the country,” she replied. “He wasn’t one for biding his time, especially near the end.”
“Oh, well in that case, I can’t think of anyone at the moment,” Discord said disappointingly. He clicked his fingers; at once, the couch disappeared in a flash and sending Fluttershy to the ground and landing on her rump with a squeak of alarm. “Oh, sorry.”
Fluttershy smiled comfortingly as she got back up. “Oh, that’s okay. And I’m sure you will think of someone now that we’re together.”
Discord’s face fell, and with it Fluttershy’s heart began to drop. “What do you mean, my dear Fluttershy?” he asked.
“You’re going to help me now, right?” Fluttershy said, her tone hopeful, yet she dreaded what answer Discord was about to say. “Come on, you must do. Celestia freed you because she saw you had the chance to do some good to Equestria, and right now, Equestria needs your help to remain free. You can help, right?”
After a moment of listening to the fire burning, Discord sighed and looked away. “I’m afraid I cannot help you, Fluttershy.”
Fluttershy’s heart and ears fell. “Wh-what?” she squeaked.
Discord looked back, his eyes showing his sorrow and shame. “I won’t be any good to you, Fluttershy. My magic can’t fix this, no matter how hard I will try.”
“You managed to fix the flooding and the damage to Sweet Apple Acres.”
“Yes, but that was done by my magic,” Discord reminded her. “My magic cannot disrupt whatever this magic is that’s affecting Equestria, or your friends. And even if I could, I won’t be able to without consequences.”
Fluttershy stepped forward. “What consequences?” she demanded.
Discord sighed once more. “When Celestia gave me this bit of land for me to do with as I please, I was sworn to only come to Equestria by her and Twilight’s summons and their summons alone. Only once a month am I allowed to break this rule, but only for a day. If Celestia discovers I am helping you in anyway at all, she will gladly order the Element Bearers to cast me into stone once more, which is something I would like to avoid.” He looked to the night sky, and saw the moon rising. “And I must be away soon.”
For the hundredth time in one month, Fluttershy felt her heart snap apart. She turned away from the draconequus and sighed, heaving back her sorrow for just a bit longer. “I… I understand, Discord,” she said firmly, yet she thought she could hear the cracks in her voice getting wider. “I wouldn’t want you to get hurt because of my own troubles; that would be selfish of me.” She turned around, and smiled at him. “You best get going or else you might get us both into trouble.”
Discord’s eyes stayed fixed on her, and she could see the struggle going on within them. ‘Please stay,’ she pleaded in thought. ‘Please. I need you.’ She had already lost so many friends on this journey so far; she did not think she could bear to lose another.
Finally, Discord made up his mind. “I’m sorry,” he said, before disappearing in a flash of white light.
Fluttershy stared at where Discord stood a few moments ago unblinking, unmoving. When she finally realised he had really left her, she clenched her eyes shut and pressed her teeth together to hold back the tears of despair. “I can’t do this… I can’t do this anymore,” she whispered to herself, as she began to sob quietly.
First Twilight, Rainbow, Rarity, Pinkie and Applejack, then Celestia, and now Spike, Luna, Cadence, Trixie and Discord. All the friends she had known and loved like her own family had gone – left her as if she were nothing to them anymore. It made her want to curl up into a ball and stay in one place, to only be found a thousand years later as a nameless skeleton with no real reason to be cared about. ‘Nopony will miss me. Nopony will even care if I’m gone,’ she thought sullenly.
She looked drearily behind her at the edge of the cliff, and knew all it took were a few dozen steps, and she could go over and end it all. She could be with her parents, the only ponies that would never betray her or leave her. She would be happy with them.
Slowly, she got up and crept to the edge. She stopped and stared at the abyss below her, breathing heavily as she saw how far up she was from the ground. Hesitantly, she brought a leg up and moved it so her hoof dangled over the edge. All she needed was to push herself forward, and then let gravity take care of the rest. Despite the wish, the want she could feel in her heart, she could feel hesitance flow through her, causing her leg to shake violently. “Please, Vidarr, give me the strength to do this,” she whispered through her tears. “I just don’t want to be alone anymore.”
“But you are never alone,” another voice said from behind her – a voice she had not heard in a long, long time.
Fluttershy’s eyes widened in shock as she stepped back from the edge. ‘My ears are playing tricks on me, surely? He’s dead!’ Her chest began to rise and fall rapidly, her breathing increased, and she did not know whether to turn around or not to be sure she wasn’t actually hearing things. She didn’t want to give herself hope that it was actually him.
She felt something touch her right shoulder, making her flinch in place, but despite the calming affect of whatever it was she still would not turn. “Fluttershy? Sweetheart?” the voice said gently.
The voice flowing through her ears told her that she was indeed not hearing things. Gathering up her courage, Fluttershy slowly turned her head around, only to find herself looking straight into the eyes of her father. “D-dad?” she asked incredulously.
Firewing nodded, smiling thinly. “Hello, sweetie.”
Fluttershy backed away from him in fright. “H-h-how did you find me?” she asked the ghost of her father. Firewing was a ghostly pale, with a silver mane and tail that flowed in a breeze only the dead could feel, and his body was surrounded by a glow of silver, like magic from the horn of a unicorn. The only thing colourful about him was his haunting green eyes.
Eyes that Fluttershy had missed so much.
“I had some help,” Firewing replied, gazing at the peak of the mountain behind the living pegasus. He quickly looked back at his daughter with a smile. “I have missed you so much, Fluttershy.”
The living Dragonlord took a step forward and raised a hoof up to touch him. Disappointingly, the hoof just moved through him until it was dangling just behind his chest. ‘Okay, that is a bit creepy,’ she thought, as she pulled it back to her side. She looked sadly into his eyes again, and said, “Why can you touch me yet I can’t touch you? I just want to hug you like we used to.”
Firewing frowned. “I do not know entirely, but I think it is because you are living and I am dead – well, in this realm anyway.”
Fluttershy did not entirely understand what her father meant, so she moved on to the other question in her head. “How can you be here, dad?” she asked. “The last time I saw you, you said that if we were to meet like this the barriers between our realms would collapse and the dead would pour through.”
Firewing’s frown grew more fiercely than before. “That’s not important right now – well, it is, come to think of it, but I have others to discuss with you. I have come to you with a plea from everyone in Paradise – including your mother.” He inched closer to her, and set his forehooves on her shoulders. “Save us, Fluttershy. You must save us all.”
A sudden and terrible chill swept through Fluttershy as Firewing spoke, and she realised she had never felt more afraid than she did now. “Save you? What do you mean? Is mum all right? Is she safe?”
“She’s fine for the moment. We all are. But I fear it is only temporary,” Firewing answered grimly. “I do not know what is going on exactly, my dear, but I fear something is happening to the barriers of the Three Realms to weaken them and allow ghosts such as myself entry to this realm, when it should not happen at all.”
“Do you know what?” Fluttershy asked fearfully.
“No, I don’t, but I fear dark magic is involved; only negative magic can destroy such ancient and powerful defences. Anyway, you must help us, Fluttershy. With Celestia unable to act, the Elements turned against you and with the other Princesses now missing, only you now can find and destroy whatever is causing these ancient barriers to collapse.”
Fluttershy stared at her father blankly for a long minute, with only the howling wind to banish the silence, before sighing and tipping her head down. “You have faith in the wrong pony, dad,” she said as she turned away.
She walked away from him until she was on the opposite side of the campfire. “What makes you think that my faith in you is misplaced?” Firewing asked worriedly.
“Because I can’t do jack!” Fluttershy snapped, spinning around and glaring at him, while feeling the tears begin to fall again. “I can’t save my friends from whatever has happened to them, I can’t keep any of my friends that I have known and loved for four years, I can’t find other ways to get around things except violence and all I seem to do lately is hurt others even my own friends and I just can’t do it anymore, I just can’t!” She bowed her head and began to cry once more as the stress and tension as well as the heartbreak she had suffered came to the foreground of her mind.
After a moment of being allowed to weep, Fluttershy felt cold yet comforting hooves wrap around her neck and gently pull her close to her father’s chest. “Shh, shh, shh, it’s all right, it will all be okay,” he cooed softly.
“How?” Fluttershy sobbed quietly. “How can I do this when I have nothing to fight for? And nopony to help me? How can anything be okay after that?”
Firewing paused for a moment to think about his next words. “Now I know I am not good with words or speeches; in fact, if I was going to be judged on my speeches alone, then I would be considered the worst leader of the Dragonlord Order. Ever,” he joked, making Fluttershy smile a little but not enough to make her laugh. “But I know for certain that you are not alone. Never. Because even though your friends are not beside you, they are here,” he placed a hoof against Fluttershy’s chest, where her heart was, “in your heart.
“And not only there, but in your memories, too, giving you the reasons why you must fight and keep fighting: for them, for your family. And right now, my child, we all need you to keep fighting for us.”
Fluttershy’s ears flickered as she listened to her father’s words. “But how can I do this with what I have?”
Firewing shook his head softly, sighing as he caressed her cheek. “My beautiful daughter, I have watched with pride as you grew into a weapon of righteousness. Your skills in battle are next to unmatched, and your capacity for kindness to anything is unlimited. Right now, both are needed to combat this new threat, not just to Terra, but to all.”
The living Dragonlord felt a twinge of fear once more. ‘All? The Deer King said the same thing to me before he left,’ she realised. What he had said was not just the deer eating too many mushrooms; they had really seen the future and have seen the great war that is to come. Fluttershy knew she had to stop it before it could, but how?
“I’m scared, dad. I am really, really scared,” she said, her eyes wide and her voice cracking under the fear she could feel.
“I would consider you a fool if you weren’t, my love,” Firewing said. He rubbed his nose against hers. “But have faith in those around you and in yourself, and you will succeed. I am sure of it.”
Firewing sighed as he glanced at the moon. “Well it is getting late, and I must return to Paradise before the tear closes up once more,” he said as he turned away. Before he left, he looked back at Fluttershy, who watched him with imploring eyes to stay, and smiled. “I will watch over you, Fluttershy. I always have and always will. And if you have no reason to fight in this realm, then fight for us.”
Before the living Dragonlord could reply, Firewing turned away and began to trot down the mountain and into the darkness. “I’ll send your love to your mother!” he called, before vanishing out of sight.
Fluttershy blinked perplexedly as she watched her father disappear, this time forever. ‘Did I just see that? Was this me just dreaming?’ she thought. She quickly bit her leg to be sure, and yelped in pain. ‘Nope. That was real.’ Though she was sad that her father had to go, she knew he had to. Her mother would be waiting for him.
She shifted herself about until she faced the campfire once more, and stared deeply into the fire. If what her father’s ghost had said was true, then not just Equestria was facing oblivion, but Paradise as well. That would mean her mother, father, and anypony she knew that was up there were in terrible danger. And the war that was threatening Equestria and possibly all of Terra would spread into Paradise, and if successful would dominate the Three Realms.
She felt her hooves clench into the ground in an attempt to suppress her anger. Whoever or whatever was doing this was destroying everything that Fluttershy had ever loved: her home, her family, her freedom, her friends, and her world. Her father was right, her friends and family might not be with her physically but were with her spiritually, and this monster wanted to take them away.
She would rather go to war than let that happen.
Fluttershy looked upwards, gazing at the stars. “I will find you,” she whispered, her voice cracking no longer with sorrow and grief, but with the anger and fury of a Dragonlord. She stood up on all fours and spread her wings out wide. “I hope you can hear me, whoever or whatever you are!” she yelled to the stars. Whether it was magic or not, her voice carried across the air like the wind of a storm, and she hoped it would send this beast the message she wanted to deliver. “Because I want to inform you that you have made a grave mistake! The gravest mistake of your miserable life! Leaving! Me! Alive!
“You took my friends from me! You took my home, my own freedom, and now you threaten to take my family in Paradise!” She felt herself floating in the air, spreading her forelegs out wide. “I will not let that happen, not while I draw breath! I’m going to find you! I am going to hunt you down to the furthest reaches of this planet if I have to, and I’m going to make you pay for all of the ponies you have hurt in your sick and twisted little game!
“My name is Fluttershy Firewing! I am the last of the Dragonlord Order! And from this day onwards, I will not rest until you are defeated and my friends and Equestria are back to normal! I hope you are scared, because you should be!
“And if not, you will be!”
Discord shuddered as the last words of Fluttershy’s messages faded in the darkness. To hear her so mad was, if he was honest to himself, terrifying. Even though she couldn’t sound so serious with her sweet, angelic voice, he knew the sincerity of her words, and knew that only a fool would laugh at her.
From atop the peak of the mountain, he watched the only friend he felt he had fall back to the ground, and after a minute to calm down settled down by the fire and fell asleep. “I am sorry, Fluttershy,” he whispered. “I truly am.”
He wished he could stay and help her, but what good could he do? The only good he could do was lead the confused and concerned ghost of her father to her and do what he could not: give her a reason to keep living and fighting. He couldn’t fix the problems Equestria seemed to be suffering now, and neither could he go back on his promise to Celestia. He wished he could absolve himself from that particular promise, but he gave his word, and being friends with Fluttershy taught him to keep it.
With a heavy sigh, he clicked his fingers and vanished from the top of the mountain. The world seemed to blur for a moment, with swirling colours converging and colliding like galaxies smashing into each other, but before he could get bored of it the colours disappeared, and he was back in his own little world, just before his favourite cloud hammock.
Discord’s world was bright, and full of his chaos. The ground beneath his feet was made up of tiny little boxes of brown and white for one moment, but turned red and green another. Chocolate rain clouds danced across the sky like honeybees racing to the plants for pollen. Hills wobbled all over the place like jelly, and a single house – his own – shredded off an old room and grew another one.
Even with the familiar chaos around him, he couldn’t feel any joy from it. He had betrayed his best and only friend, and all for the price of staying out of stone.
“Is it done?” Twilight Sparkle demanded.
Discord sighed, and turned to face the five Element Bearers. All of them wore their Element of Harmony, and the ponies looked willing enough to use them. “Yes, it is done,” he replied sullenly.
“So the tracking spell has been cast on Fluttershy?” Rainbow asked.
Discord looked at her with narrow eyes, and nodded. “Yes.”
“Will she know that it exists?” Applejack asked.
Discord looked at her, and then shook his head. “The spell cannot be noticed by any powerful unicorn. Fluttershy, or anypony with her, will never know it is there.”
Twilight nodded, smirking. “Good, that’s very good. We’ll have the traitorous cow in stone in no time.”
Discord clenched his claw in anger, yet his face didn’t reveal the rage in him. “Yes, well, now that I have kept up my end of the bargain, I would like you all to leave immediately before I say or do something I will regret.”
Twilight’s smirk grew wider and she raised a hoof to stop him. “Ah, ah, ah, not yet. One more thing to settle first. When Princess Celestia told us to come to you, she said that you promised to stay out of Equestrian affairs. Will you keep that promise?”
‘Only when it suits her that I will break it,’ Discord thought. “Of course I will. I am a creature of my word. Now would you all kindly leave so I can make more chaos to wallow in?”
Twilight nodded. “Of course we will.” She looked to the others. “Come on, girls, let’s go and ‘re-unite’ with our ‘friend’.” Twilight led the way out, followed by Applejack, then Rarity, then Pinkie and finally Rainbow Dash.
Discord watched them walk over the hill and out of sight, looking glum and forlorn. That look gave way to a mischievous grin when he realised they were not coming back. When he was sure that they were gone, he began to laugh triumphantly. “Yes!” he cried, punching the air in victory and dancing with humble abandon. ‘Don’t say I don’t do anything for you, Fluttershy,’ he thought proudly to himself. He turned around and walked briskly to his cloud hammock, chuckling to himself as he jumped into the air and landed on his back right across the comfortable cloud, with his head resting on his arms and a triumphant grin on his face. “Those fools.”
“You seem awfully proud of yourself.”
Discord chuckled, clicking his fingers to create a glass of chocolate milk. “Why of course I am, my dear fellow. Those fools think I cast a spell on Fluttershy that will track and follow her movements while she is in Equestria. The thing is, though, I only put the spell in reverse, so when Fluttershy goes one way, the spell will say she went the opposite direction instead!” He laughed boomingly, his whole body tingling with his laughter.
“I see. So you have managed to keep your end of the bargain to Princess Celestia, while also aiding Fluttershy Firewing in her flight for freedom?”
“Of course,” Discord guffawed. He drank his glass of chocolate down, and then threw it away, which turned into chocolate flowers. “I may not be able to help Fluttershy by being at her side, not without the risk of being turned to stone once again. So why not work in the shadows and not be seen by those out to get me?” He laughed again. “Oh, I am a genius.”
“Indeed you are. You are a genius. A very clever being.”
Discord put a paw to his chest and said, “Why you are too kind, conscious, very ki… wait a moment?” The smile on his face disappeared. “My conscious doesn’t sound like that voice at all. Mine sounds like a mare, not a booming creature of some sort.”
“And a genius such as yourself, cannot be allowed to wander freely…”
Discord jumped out of his hammock, his eyes wide as he spun on the spot to look for the speaker. But he couldn’t see a thing. Somehow, without him noticing, fog had rolled into his territory and shrouded it completely in a soft, cloud-like embrace. “Who’s there?” he called. “Who or what are you?”
A low growling came from behind him as whatever was taunting him sailed silently past. “I am hunger.” Discord spun around to see him, but the creature disappeared from sight. Another trembling growl came from behind him again. “I am thirst.”
Discord spun back around, but the creature had already gone. “Speaking in riddles, now?” he enquired. “That’s my job as the Master of Chaos.”
“Oh? Is it now?” the voice questioned, as he saw a large, serpent-like shadow begin to encircle him. “You see, from what recent events I know of you, you are considered reformed by Equestria, and no longer seen as a threat to its security and ideals. You cannot be considered the Master of Chaos, if you cannot create true chaos like I can!”
Discord spun around repeatedly, hoping beyond hope he would see the fiend that was taunting him. However, no matter how hard he tried, he could not catch sight of whatever it was. “Show yourself!” he yelled.
He stopped spinning when he saw five similar silhouettes before him. “Oh, come on now, Twilight Sparkle and friends,” he said as he strode towards them. “I have given you everything I could in my power to help you capture Fluttershy, and I have already said I don’t want to…” He trailed off when he saw their faces, and his mouth parted in shock as he saw the tears rush down their faces. “Hey, now, no need to cry. I may not be the easiest-going person to work with but–”
“They cannot hear you, old fool,” the voice bellowed from behind him.
Discord spun around to face the creature, only to feel himself pale as he stared in growing horror of the beast behind him. “Well aren’t you the biggest dragon I have ever seen,” he remarked quietly.
The dragon looked like a giant snake with four long and scaly legs. Two giant bat-like wings reached imposingly to the sky, and its scales were the colour of summer leaves with light green spikes running from the base of its neck to the tip of the tail. Its head was pointy like a dragon’s, with two black nostrils billowing smoke like a chimney and a crown of horns on the back of its head, but it also shared the resemblance of a snake with a non-existent forehead and its eyes on either side of its head. The dragon’s grin was like looking into the gates of Tartarus itself, for rows upon rows of curved, bloodied teeth adorned its mouth, with four longer snake-like fangs rested above and below its nose and chin.
But worst of all were its eyes: the left was the colour of twilight, and the right was a pulverised mess of dried blood and madness.
“Well, isn’t this a lovely surprise,” Discord said as the dragon silently circled him to stand behind the five Element Bearers. “Five ponies and the young baby dragon all grown up. Suppose you’re all here for a party and came here to invite me? I have to say how deeply flattered I am, but I am afraid I cannot attend.”
“Oh, I am not that little pest,” the dragon spat, its tail wavering like a snake’s body. “But we are here for a party of sorts. Though it should be considered more of a wake we are organising than a party.”
Discord ignored the statement, and asked with a swift gesture of his head to the Element Bearers, “How comes they can’t hear me?”
“They cannot hear you because they are under my control,” the dragon said, sneering. The monster lowered his head and with a gentle claw, stroked the five crying mares’ heads. “They may not be able to hear you, but they can certainly see you.”
Discord felt something he had not felt since he was turned to stone the last time: fear. “Where are they? What have you done with them? Are they dead?” he asked.
“Oh, somewhere here,” the dragon replied, tapping heavily against Twilight’s skull. “Locked and trapped within the confines of their own mind, forced to watch the world burn around them while their bodies become my playthings. My little ponies.” His head shook rapidly for a second. “But they just won’t SHUT UP!”
Discord stepped back in fright as the dragon’s head swivelled and roared, which echoed across his land and blowing a lot of the fog away. “I can hear them,” the dragon said, its head freezing in place and staring at Discord with extreme hate. “I can hear every single one of them screaming at me, begging me to be let out and be free once more. But I will never let them go, oh no, not ever. They will be mine until they die, and even after that, I will continue to use their bodies as I please. And so with thousand of others across Terra. Even Princess Celestia Solaris’s.”
Discord’s eyes flickered between the ground and the dragon, trying to come up with something that would get rid of it. He flexed his claw and paw as he prepared to make it disappear with his magic.
A claw from the dragon snapped shut around him, choking him and locking his fingers together, preventing him from using magic. “Come now, did you really think the pathetic babies’ magic you can create could match my power?” the dragon asked. He tittered as he shook his head. “I thought you would have learnt your lessons by now, Discord. Especially after last time.”
Discord stopped struggling to escape, and stared at the dragon oddly. “Last time? What last time?”
The great dragon sneered. “Have you forgotten the first time we met?” The sneer vanished when he saw the confusion in Discord’s eyes. “Ah, I see you have forgotten about me. Maybe you just need some reminding!” he roared as he tightened his hold on Discord, unleashing a surge of purple-coloured lightning from his claw and through the draconequus.
Discord cried out in agony as he felt the dark magic flow through him, making him feel as though he were being electrocuted and set on fire at once. As well as that, he felt his body weaken, and worse, he could feel his magic being ripped out of him and fade away.
Finally, the torture came to an end, and the dragon dropped him to the ground. “Do you remember now, Discord? Do you remember how I destroyed your playground and left it open for the two sisters and their little rebellion?” the dragon asked as Discord hauled himself onto his mismatched feet.
“You…” Discord panted, clutching his lion leg, while trying to conjure magic by clicking the fingers on his claw; after several attempts, nothing happened. “You took away my magic.”
The dragon shook his head. “No, I only buried it within you, like sealing treasure within a chest,” he corrected him.
“But nothing has ever done that. Not since…” Discord’s eyes widened in horror as the memories came flooding back to him.
The cities, towns and villages burning, the monsters of hell itself roaming freely everywhere and slaughtering everything in sight, the numerous ponies trying to hold them back and failing with the cost of their lives, and amidst the smoke and ashes, the dragon behind it all and laughing maniacally as the world around the pair of them died.
“But you… you were defeated,” Discord whispered, his mist-matched eyes staring in dismay at the monster before him. “I heard about what happened. Celestia and Luna defeated you.”
“No, I was not defeated. A defeat would mean I was utterly destroyed with no chance of reprisals in the not too distant future. I was merely delayed.” The dragon began to slowly creep towards him. “But now I have returned to finish what I have started, and this time, the Elements, or anypony, cannot stop me from taking what I desire: this realm.”
Discord spun away and began to run in the hope he could outpace the monster, but the dragon managed to appear in front of him, blocking his only route of escape.
“You are not going anywhere,” the dragon said. With a slight snort of smoke, the five Element Bearers moved forward and stopped so that between them all they surrounded the former Master of Chaos. “And you won’t be going anywhere at all after this. Which is a shame, really, because I could have used you to advance my goals.”
“What makes you think that? How do you know I won’t help you so I can get a share of Equestria once you’re done with it?” Discord asked fearfully.
“Two reasons, really,” the dragon replied casually. “One, I don’t trust you. And two, I would never have allowed you to have a piece of Equestria, anyway. It will all be mine in the end.”
Discord knew his fate was now sealed in stone – quite literally, after what was about to happen. He looked up once more at the dragon, his eyes filled with loathing for him. “Fluttershy will stop you; she will save her friends and all of Equestria from you.”
The dragon laughed. “You overestimate her.”
“Whilst you underestimate her,” he replied. “She was the one who made me see I can be who I like and have a friend who loves me for who and what I am. On top of that, she defeated a dragon that asked my people to help him, and wiped us out as a reward.”
The creature cackled. “Heimdallr was nothing compared to me. I have already defeated Equestria. I have enslaved the Element Bearers and the Princess to my will, and I have an army poised to invade this land, destroy Equestria, and then all of Terra after it. Do you still think your precious Fluttershy Firewing has a chance?”
Discord grinned. “Yes,” he answered.
The dragon’s sneer remained. “We will see.” The dragon clicked his fingers, and at once Twilight bowed her head and lit up her horn, preparing the spell needed. “Any last words before your imprisonment, this time for good?”
Discord nodded instantly. “I have a few, to be honest.” He stretched his arms out wide, showing his defiance to the great dragon. “You should be scared, Apophis. For when a good mare goes to war, Celestia have mercy on those she goes against, for she will have none.” He closed his eyes, and braced himself for what was to come.
Apophis sneered vehemently, and with a snort gave the command. With a sudden burst of power from Twilight’s horn, the five Element Bearers were lifted into the air, their bodies glowing brightly as the Elements were activated and their bearers began to glow like lanterns.
“Armies will fall like leaves from a late autumn tree. Cities will burn to ashes like wood in a fire, and once I am through with it Equestria will cease to exist!” Apophis declared as the Elements grew more intense with power. “Then the world will fall and a new order will rise, an Order of Chaos!
“The suffering will be plenty, and the rewards ripe for those who have served me, but you will have no part to play in this!”
An explosion of light and colour rocked Discord’s ears, and he soon felt the familiar tingle of the Elements of Harmony around him. He peeped an eye open to see his legs form into stone, and then his torso until it reached his neck.
That was when he felt something different.
He could feel his legs feeling as though they were going to sleep, and could feel his hearts stopping along with his lungs. It did not take much longer for Discord to realise that he was not just being encased in a stone prison, but he was going to become stone, without being able to hear anything or even think. It would be as if he was dead.
Discord sighed as the stone crawled up to his mouth like a parasite, sealing it shut. There was nothing he could do to stop Apophis from doing this, and he couldn’t help Fluttershy’s friends from what was controlling them. It would be better to die and leave it at that than be useless to anyone and live. Still, at least it was painless. He closed his eyes for the last time, just as he felt the stone crawl across them.
‘Good luck, Fluttershy, and thank you,’ he thought, just before his body became completely frozen in stone, and he could think and feel no more.