//------------------------------//
// Act One 
// Story: Fluttershy's Masquerade- Season 4 - The Lost Episodes- Three 
// by Matthais Unidostres 
//------------------------------//

	It was a beautiful afternoon in Equestria, and all was peaceful in Fluttershy's cottage. The yellow mare was lying adorably on her couch, breathing softly as she napped peacefully.

"UP AN AT 'EM, PAL!!!" Discord declared as he teleported into the cottage, sending streamers and confetti in every direction.

Fluttershy shrieked in terror as she shot up and hugged the ceiling.

Discord teleported up on the ceiling, clinging to it with suction cups, and put his paw under her cheek. "Oh come on, Shy! You know it's me!"

Fluttershy smiled nervously and said, "Oh, yes. But, 'um, you really shouldn't surprise ponies like that."

Discord teleported back to the floor and said, "Oh, but you knew I was coming. . . .Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiight?"

Fluttershy landed back on her couch and thought, "Um. . OH!" Fluttershy gasped, "Yes, we were going to hang out today! . . .But. . .you showed up late. . ."

Discord sighed in annoyance, "Oh yes. I apologize for that, my dear Fluttershy. Something came up I just had to take care of." Discord glanced at the wooden chest held by his tail. He set the chest down on the floor and focused his attention on Fluttershy. "Anyway, I should probably tell you that I had an ulterior motive in my dramatic entrance." Discord threw his lion arm around Fluttershy's shoulder and said, "Today, I am going to give a crash course in chaotic pranking!"

Fluttershy looked nervous, "Oh, um, pranking is really Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie's thing."

"And it's also my thing. And it could also be your thing too for the low, low price of only one afternoon!" Discord said, and he teleported to the other side of the cottage. He wore a black and cap and gown, and held a pointer which he used to indicate points on a blackboard which produced chalk images by itself.

"Pay attention, my faithful student! In essence, a prank is nothing more than a medium of 'Chaotic Good.'" The blackboard showed Princess Celestia getting doused by a bucket of water. Discord and Fluttershy appeared next to her, and all three of them shared a good laugh. "It channels the Element of Laughter," Discord explained. A chalk image of Pinkie Pie popped up on the board and waved at the real Discord and Fluttershy.

"Hi Discord! Hi Fluttershy! What's up!" she asked.

"Pinkie Pie, you are interrupting my lesson," Discord said in annoyance.

"Oops! Sorry! See ya!" the image said before ducking down out of the frame.

"Sometimes that pony freaks me out," Discord commented. He straightened his cap and adjusted the tassel. "Anywho, pranking is nearly vital to this world's survival." The blackboard showed a balance scale. One side said chaos, and the other side said order. "In a world with too much order, then everyone is bored and does everything the same and looks the same and acts the same. Everyone is sad." Discord made a show of pouting as the scales on the black board tipped down towards order. On the order side, expressionless ponies all dressed the same with identical hair styles appeared. 

"However, add a little chaos in the form a pranking. . ." Discord said.

On the board, Discord and Twilight appeared chaos side of the scales. Discord shook Twilight's hoof, and zapped her with a joy buzzer. The scales then balanced out.

". . .and everything happy!" Discord cheered as he tossed off his outfit and sent more confetti everywhere.

The black board disappeared in a flash, revealing a scroll which floated into Fluttershy's hooves.

"And you have just graduated Discord's School of Chaotic Pranking!" Discord cheered.

Fluttershy opened the scroll and read over the diploma. It had a wax seal of Discord holding a thumbs up and winking at her.

"So, what do ya say, pal? Ready to introduce Ponyville to it's newest pranking duo?" Discord said.

"Um. . ." Fluttershy said, slowly putting a nervous smile on her face, "Well, okay. I'll be glad to give it a try."

Discord laughed as he hugged the pegasus and rubbed her head, "That's the spirit, pal. Let's go!" Then the pair teleported away.





Applejack walked over to an apple tree, positioned herself next to it, and bucked it.

SPLASH! SPLASH! SPLASH!

Instead of apples falling from the tree, apple-shaped water balloons fell from the tree and homed in on Applejack, soaking her hat and fur.

"What in tarnation?! Rainbow Da-!" Applejack began, but then the guffawing laughter of a Draconequus reached her ears. She turned and looked up to see Discord laughing in a tree, and Fluttershy was in the tree with him. She was doing her best to hang onto her nervous smile, although she was sweating profusely.

Applejack just smiled and shook her head. She chuckled and waved good naturedly at the pair before turning to another apple tree.

Discord nudged Fluttershy and said, "Ya see? She loved it! Wasn't it fun?"

"Um. . .I guess?" Fluttershy said unassuredly.

"Come on," Discord said as she took her hoof, "Let's go for broke! Let's prank a prankster!"

"Rainbow Dash?" Fluttershy gasped.

"Noooooo way. She trusts me the less. Let's prank the other one." The pair teleported away.





Outside of Sugar Cube Corner, Pinkie Pie was bouncing around, putting up wooden poles and stringing up flags and colored water lanterns.

Fluttershy flew over to her pink friend, "Hi Pinkie Pie."

"Hi Fluttershy! Are you excited for the masquerade ball tonight?" Pinkie asked.

Fluttershy hid behind her mane. "Oh, um, no. I don't really like parties like that."

"Aw, come on Fluttershy! You and Discord can go together! By the way, what was Discord teaching you before?" Pinkie asked.

Fluttershy was confused, "Huh? How do you. . .? Oh. . .right. Um, nothing important. Anyway, I'm just going to go get a cupcake at Sugar Cube Corner-."

"Great idea! I needed a break! Let's go!" Pinkie cheered as she rushed into the building.

Just then Discord teleported next to Fluttershy. "Get ready Flutters. This is gonna be golden!"

"Yeah. . ." Fluttershy said nervously as Discord nudged her forward towards Sugar Cube Corner.





Fluttershy and Pinkie sat at a table with two unwrapped cupcakes with a mound of pink icing on top.

"Come on, Fluttershy! The masquerade is gonna be soooo much fun! If you don't have costume, then I'm sure Rarity will make you one in time!" Pinkie said.

Fluttershy looked away. "Oh. . .um. . .no. . .I just. . .no. . ."

Pinkie Pie shrugged. And she went down to take a bite. Fluttershy felt Discord slip an identical cupcake into her hoof from underneath the table, and she quickly pointed behind Pinkie's shoulder and and shouted, "Look, it's Cheese Sandwich!"

"WHERE?!" Pinkie shouted in excitement as she turned around fast.

Fluttershy quickly swapped Pinkie's cupcake with the one Discord gave her.

"Oh, sorry. . .my mistake," Fluttershy said with a guilty look on her face.

"Oh, okay. No big deal, Fluttershy," Pinkie said, and she hit the plate the unwrapped cupcake was on, sent the cupcake into the air, and caught it in her mouth. She chewed on the treat for a moment, but then stopped with a quizzical look on her face. Then she hiccuped, on blew bubble gum bubble. She hiccuped again, and the bubble got bigger. Pinkie Pie hiccuped rapidly, blowing the bubble up bigger and bigger, until the bubble finally popped, coating Pinkie Pie's head in bubble gum.

Discord shot up from under the table and a banner that said "GOTCHA!" unfurled down from the ceiling. After a bout of laughter, she clapped Fluttershy on the back and said, "Oh, good job there, Fluttershy! She gotcha good that time, didn't she?"

Pinkie smiled and snorted with laughter. "Oh, that was great Fluttershy! Discord taught you to be as good as me and Dashie!"

Fluttershy looked extremely uncomfortable, a stark contrast to Discord and Pinkie Pie. "Um, sure, I.  .. I have to go!" Fluttershy got up from the table and ran out the door. 

Discord frowned, and then teleported after her.

"Hey wait! You left your cupcakes!" Pinkie called after Fluttershy. She looked at the cupcakes for a moment, shrugged, and started gobbling them up.





Fluttershy ran back to her cottage with her head down. She didn't notice Discord appear in front of her.

"HUG TIME!" Discord shouted comically as he caught Fluttershy in his arms. He swung her around a few times before setting her down in a psychologist's couch. "Now," Discord said as he got out a notepad and put on a pair of tiny glasses, "What seems to be the trouble, my dear."

Fluttershy looked away in shame and said, "I. . .can't prank with you anymore, Discord."

Discord nodded, focused on his notepad. "Mmm-hmm. So, when did you start having these feelings of 'not wanting to prank'?"

Fluttershy got up off of the couch and said, "I just can't keep doing this! Each time I tried your pranks, all I could do was think of how I would've felt if it had been me being pranked! It just felt awful!"

"But your friends loved your pranks!" Discord said, "You saw those smiles!"

"But I wouldn't have liked being pranked, so what gives me the right to prank others," Fluttershy said strongly.

Discord held out a lollipop and shoved it into Fluttershy's mouth. "Oh, come on, Fluttershy. Cheer up! A little pranking makes the world go round. Forget about your own worries and focus on making others happy! And you get to explore your chaotic side a little more."

Fluttershy pulled the lollipop out of her mouth, and it promptly turned into a flower. She sighed and handed it back to Discord. "I'm sorry, but, I don't think I want a chaotic side. Ponies can get hurt if pranks get out of hand."

Discord looked surprised, "How can pranks hurt anypony?"

"Well, what if the water balloons were too cold and gave Applejack pneumonia? Oh what if Pinkie Pie choked on that bubble gum?"

Discord stared off into space for a moment a blinked his eyes. Then blew into his paw until it grew 3 times its size, and then face palmed hard. He quickly recovered and got back up. Then he said, "I am truly sorry for saying this Fluttershy, but that really is the silliest thing I've ever heard in my life." 

"Maybe. . ." Fluttershy said, "But it's better to be safe than sorry. No more pranking for me."

"And miss out on the chance of a lifetime?" Discord snapped his fingers and made a crown appear on his head and a tiara appear on Fluttershy's head. "You and me? Best friends and pranksters extraordinaire?"

Fluttershy tried to smile pleasantly, and she said, "But friends don't have to be exactly alike."

Discord shrugged as their headgear vanished, "Well yes, but think of all the pranks we could pull tonight at that party."

Fluttershy shook her head, "Oh. . .um. . . I'm not going."

"What!? I thought that was a part of the prank!" Discord said in legitimate surprise.

"I just don't like it when ponies are all wearing costumes. . .I just don't. . ." Fluttershy said fearfully.

"Fine. I'll protect you!" Discord said cheerfully as he threw an arm around Fluttershy with a cocky wink, a suit of armor appeared on him.

Fluttershy smiled back, "Thanks you. . .but I think I'd much rather have a quiet night at home. Please understand."

"Okay," Discord said with a smile as his armor vanished.

"I just really don't- wait what?"

"Okay."

"That's it?"

"What do you mean?"

"I figured you'd try to do whatever it took to convince me to go."

Discord pinched Fluttershy's cheek and said, "What kind of friend would I be if I were pushy?" Discord sighed and said, "Although, it won't be the same without my best friends by my side, and I'll be thinking about my little lost Prankster Princess and all the fun she's missing out of, and how she's denying her chaotic side enjoyment. . ." Discord then bopped Fluttershy on the nose and said, "But, who am I to be pushy. Later, pal!" Discord snapped her fingers and teleported away, leaving Fluttershy alone with her thoughts.





"I just don't know Angel," Fluttershy said as she paced back and forth as Angel reclines on the sofa, staring at his owner in annoyance. "Discord wants me to be like him. And shouldn't friends have some things in common? Is he so wrong to want to share his likes with me?" Fluttershy sat on the floor in distress. "Should I go pranking with him? Should I go to that masquerade ball?" Fluttershy looked over at a mirror on the wall. "I don't even have a costume. . .how can I-?" Fluttershy stopped when she noticed the wooden chest Discord has absentmindedly left there. Curious, Fluttershy walked over to the chest, and opened it. Inside, she found a green wooden mask.

"Discord probably got this for me; to wear at the party," Fluttershy said, feeling quite touched. She reached in and picked the mask up. She felt something tap her on her side, and she turned to find Angel thumping on her. He stared at her and shook his head vigorously.

Fluttershy smiled, "Oh Angel, don't worry. It's just a mask." Fluttershy lifted the mask over her face. "See?"

WOOOOOOSH!

Angel shielded his face as the mask burst into a flash of green light and a chaotic wind blew through the cottage. Angel fell flat on his back, and the wind stopped abruptly. As the bunny lay on his back, he looked up at Fluttershy.

"What's up, doc?"