//------------------------------// // Lifting Your Hoof Up // Story: No Elements, No Harmony // by Fret //------------------------------// As Twilight and Celestia finished their explanation to the two mares in front of them, Pinkamena and Applejack were stuck for words. Scratch that - stuck for actions. When no reply came, a certain draconequus appeared behind the two Princesses and spoke for them. "Are you gonna speak or...?" The two earth ponies jumped at the sight of him. Applejack narrowed her eyes. "What's he doing here?" she scowled, "Don't y'all know the trouble he can cause when he gets the chance?" "Yes. Yes I do," Celestia said flatly, "trust me, I know what I'm doing." The farm pony gave an uncertain look at her, while Pinkamena wasn't really focused on him. From the looks of it, she was still deciding whether what Twilight and Celestia had told her was trustworthy. "I can hardly believe you're Queen Solar Flare's counterpart," she finally spoke "got any proof?" No words were said, instead Celestia just angled her body so that her flank was visible. "Does this cutie mark look familiar to you?" The pink mare blinked at the sun on her rump, then sighed, "Yeah... I guess." "Glad I've finally gotten your trust," Twilight smiled, "I... do have your trust, right?" Pinkamena nodded. "I'll join you. But I want to be as subtle as possible," she angled her head to the castle not far away. "I agree," Applejack joined in. "Don't worry, we're staying as secretive as we can," Twilight assured them both, "the closest any of us are going to get to the queens right now is where Luna is - and I doubt she'll get caught in the act any time soon." --- Neither of them were sure what to say next. Solar Flare was by far the most shocked, but Luna was just downright frightened. This could be the end of everything. Her eyes followed the fiery alicorn as she paced around her, her flaring eye sockets piercing into each part of her body. Once Solar Flare had finally completed a circle around her, she opened her mouth. "Nightmare Moon... are you-" She was cut off by Luna smashing both her hooves on her mouth. "Don't you dare call me that..." she hissed. But she knew, all she was doing was confusing the Queen rather than helping her. Once Luna removed her hooves, Solar Flare gritted her teeth. "I don't get it... how are you-" "Free? Oh, I'm not. Your sister isn't anyway. Except I kind of am your sister... err... well, no, I'm not actually free." Yep, the Queen was totally lost. She didn't even move her white pupils around, she was so mixed up in the head. But then she started to growl. "Discord, if this is some sort of ridiculous prank of yours..." "Pfft..." Luna tried her best to hold in her laughter. "You think I'm... Discord? Bfftaahkaay... that's kinda funny," she covered her mouth before another giggle escaped her. "Well, who are you then?!" Solar Flare thrust her face back up to hers. "I could be a changeling... oh wait, you wouldn't know what that is. They wouldn't bother coming to Equestria, not a scrap of love to feed on!" "I'm still waiting for an answer." How else could I stall her? "Like I said, I shouldn't need to introduce myself. You know me very well," she said calmly. "But..." Solar Flare began, "you're... you're Luna! You can't be here... you're long gone!" Luna's ears drooped at those words. "Sad but true..." she sighed, "even a monster like yourself could admit that." As the Princess started to trot towards the exit, she heard her counterpart sister snarl. "Just whom art thou calling a monster?" she rushed to block her path. "You. And me," with that, Luna broke into a gallop. She dodged around her sister and started to make a break for the exit. Good, now she could teleport out of here! She closed her eyes, letting her horn glow and her mind picture her destination. She was about to finally escape, when she felt something pull her back by the head. She opened her eyes in shock as she spotted a chain at the corner of her eye. It hooked onto her glowing horn, cutting her blue aurora off, and pulled her down to the ground. The impact hurt her head and spine, and kept her still for a moment. But that was just about enough time for two other cuffs to appear around both her hooves. She tried to breath, but her heart was skipping ahead of her. Still lying on her back, she looked up at the bright figure towering over her. "You'll tell me what I want to know. And you'll tell me now." --- "Alright, now that we're willingly doing this," Twilight continued, "let's gather our next pony - Fluttershy." As Twilight began to walk into the depths of the Everfree Forest, Celestia put a hoof in front of her, causing Twilight to look up to her in surprise. "About that," she began, "don't you think it would be a good idea to take this one?" she pointed a hoof to the draconequus floating next to her. Twilight wasn't so sure. "A few flaws with that, Princess. Is there any need? I mean... he's already agreed to be reformed," she kept her voice low, as did her former mentor. "Twilight, may I remind you this is Discord we're talking about?" she muttered, "yes... I do trust him right now. But when it comes to the Lord of Chaos, an opinion on friendship can be very... well... imbalanced." "Don't worry Princess, Fluttershy reformed him in a day!" she grinned. But it didn't convince her. "A couple of moons later he betrays Equestria. I know why Twilight... It's hard for him to accept friendship," her violet eyes angled towards her hooves. "All blame goes on me for that one." Twilight tilted her head and laid her hoof on Celestia's leg. "You have to stop blaming yourself, Celestia," she soothed her. "Look, I don't know exactly what happened between you two, but that doesn't matter. I guess it would be a good idea to get Fluttershy to befriend him! Shouldn't be too hard," she continued towards the forest, but Celestia stopped her again. "It will though... their relationship here is... off." "Off? How do you mean?" "Discord sees Fluttershy as an abusive owner rather than a caring friend," she quickly explained. "...Oh," Twilight blinked, "err, well, surely we can get Discord to see just how kind she really is? But another problem..." "Mhmm?" "Won't the Queens eventually notice Discord's disappearance?" Celestia's muzzle crinkled up, "Well, if they try anything, they can kiss my two back hooves." Twilight was rather surprised at her talk of violence. "Wouldn't you technically be kicking yourself?" "When you put it that way..." Getting off the subject, Twilight turned to the three candidates before her. "Alright, we're going to Fluttershy next." "Ugh..." Discord moaned, "good luck with that." "You're coming too." "What?!" "Celestia's idea." "I hate you Celestia..." "I love you too, Dizzy," the white alicorn just pulled a tongue. Again, it was rather strange to see the princess act childish. "So, I don't exactly know where Fluttershy lives. Does anypony know?" Twilight urged on. Pinkamena then raised a hoof. "I do. We've talked a few times... she lives that way," she directed the four of them towards the other side of the forest. Of course, that wasn't enough information to go by. "Mind leading the way Pinkie? Er... do you mind if I call you Pinkie now?" Pinkamena gave an unreadable expression. "Just call me Pinkamena... it's easier." "But Pinkie's shorter," Applejack pointed out. "It's quicker for me to reply to though." --- The four ponies and draconequus traveled through the dead forest, Pinkamena leading the way. Celestia kept looking around, picturing what it looked like back at home, in her own universe. She tuned to Discord. "Remember when we used to play here?" she murmured, half expecting him not to reply. Yet he did. "It's the only thing worth remembering, when you have my life." Celestia's ears drooped. "Agreed..." Discord's eyebrow perked up. "I thought life in your world was good?" She nodded. "It is... but..." the princess was unsure how to put it, "not the same." She couldn't help but notice her former student's ears directed towards them from ahead. "So much fell apart... I had to turn you to stone, banish my sister to the moon. A whole millennium of loneliness... no fun... nopony to talk to." "This is what would've happened if you didn't though," He held up his chains, and pointed his tail to practically anywhere. She nodded again. "Luna blames herself for this, but... this no one's fault but my own." "Celestia," Twilight suddenly spoke up. "Please, don't blame yourself! It isn't your fault." She ignored her. Because she knew that what she said was false. "If I told you, you'd understand me," she murmured, though directed at Twilight, she didn't speak loud enough for her to catch her sentence. Again, they fell quiet. Ahead, Pinkamena was slowing her pace, and was glancing around the dead trees. "I think she's usually around here," she said. "Buuut she's not," Discord pointed out, "perhaps we should give up right now." "No. We need Fluttershy just as much as any of the other ponies I need with me," Twilight glared at him. Discord gave a pout and half-folded his chained arms. "Wait!" the pink mare suddenly stopped, holding her hoof in front of the others to block their path, "I hear something." ... "I don't hear anythin'." Applejack whispered, only to be immediately hushed by Pinkamena. "Listeeen." Everyone's ears were perked as the tried to pick up some sort of sound. But not a trace was found. "Oh. She's gone silent again..." the pink mare sighed, beginning her walk once again. Above her, a bird darted about tail-length above her head, which suddenly came to a stop. Then, out from the branches, flew a yellow pegasus, who was glaring straight at the little swallow. "What did I say about leaving the bird house?" she scolded, with a surprisingly sharp bitterness in her tone. When Celestia looked at Twilight, however, she could see her violet eyes sparkling with excitement, totally ignoring the helpless bird dashing into the opposite direction. Once the bird disappeared, the pegasus calmed, then landed. At first, her back was facing them all, but she eventually turned around, and flinched at the sight of them. "Um..." she murmured, lowering her head a little. Her pink mane was about to cover her eye when she noticed the draconequus standing near the back of the crowd, triggering her to shoot back up into the air and fly up to him. "What are you doing here exactly? From what I have heard, you're still on your time out." "You're still on your time out, uuurh!" Discord echoed her, with a taunting tone in his voice. "Nice to recap things I already know!" "Umm... excuse me?" Twilight stepped towards the arguing couple. "You're Fluttershy, right?" Fluttershy turned her head to the smaller alicorn, totally forgetting her debate with the draconequus. She landed in front of her, allowing both Twilight and the others to get a clear look at her. Her mane style was much like Applejack's - the same style as her counterpart, just ruffled. But that's not what caught their attention. The whites in her eyes were tinted red, and her coat had small but just about noticeable patches missing, along with a few bruises scattered across her body. "Err... who are you? And why are you with him?" she pointed a hoof to Discord. "My name is Twilight, and this is Celestia." She angled her head to the larger alicorn, whom smiled at the timid pegasus, though it had little effect on her. "I'm guessing you already know these two ponies," Twilight continued, turning to Applejack and Pinkamena. "...Yeah..." she faintly replied, "um... again... why are you with Discord? He shouldn't be here." A hint of harshness edged her voice with the last sentence. "Many reasons," Celestia simply answered. "I'm sorry, but that's not good enough," Fluttershy's voice level grew as she flew up to Celestia's height. "I'm in charge of what Discord does. The queens would of let me know about... err... whatever this is," she glanced at the ponies around her, but immediately broke eye contact with any of them. Celestia wasn't at all phased by her attempt to be intimidating. "Well perhaps the queens don't know that he's here," she suggested, raising a brow on Fluttershy. "Well I'll just have to take him off of you," she told her, floating over to the draconequus and hooking a hoof on his chains, "come on. Let's go." "Fluttershy... I thought you cared about the animals here," Pinkamena trotted over to her, "why are you so mean to them?" The pegasus stopped trying to drag the Embodiment of Chaos with her, then turned towards the pink mare. "Mean to them?" she blinked, "I'm... I'm not mean to them! I just..." "Control them?" Pinkamena finished. Fluttershy landed in front of her and opened her mouth to protest, but the mare stopped her from speaking a word with her cracked hoof. "Don't deny it! I can spot overpowering like hay in a hay stack," she growled. "But I... I don't harm them or anything... that's just... awful!" she gasped. Pinkamena rolled her eyes. "You don't need to. Living a life under somepony's shadow is the worst way to overtake somepony," she looked at the ground, "I should know." Fluttershy's expression looked rather horrified. "I... I wouldn't abuse... I..." "You're eyes! They're almost red, Fluttershy. They're red from your stare, you use it that often!" Pinkamena was literally shaking the pegasus at this point. Once she let go of her, Fluttershy regained her balance, then looked back at the pink mare. "I... is that why they're red? I never worked it out..." "You're an idiot," Discord butted in, only to be elbowed by Celestia. "Ow..." Fluttershy didn't notice anyway. She was just hanging her head in shame. "I'm sorry... I..." she paused, and turned to Discord, "I was too afraid to be kind." Twilight pitied the shy mare. She took a step to stand by Pinkamena, then started speaking. "It was the queens, wasn't it?" she concluded. "They took advantage of your talent..." Fluttershy nodded. "But... um, if you don't mind me asking that is, why are you asking me these questions?" Twilight glanced at her former mentor, who nodded. She took a breath, then faced Fluttershy. "I'll start from the beginning." --- With each pull, the chain around Luna's horn seemed to just get tighter. Her teeth gritted with pain, but she couldn't give up now. She'd yank the metal out with a chunk of wall with it if she had to. Nothing was working though. "Struggling will just make it tighter, dear," Solar Flare settled her hoof under her chin, "just talk and you can go free." Luna snarled, "I have." "Yeah... no, there's more than saying you're Luna. Considering my sister doesn't even share those looks." "Pshh. Your sister you say?" the princess scoffed, "nice play of words, Celestia!" In reply to that, the Queen smashed Luna against the wall with her hoof. Luna felt a huff of her breath stroke her - which also stank of dead hay - but despite the rather threatening display, Luna's fear of her had died down. She's faking... she has to be! "No one knows my real name... Unless of course you are Discord." Luna choked down her laughter. "Look, if you truly don't believe I'm not Discord, go outside and look in that cave - you'll find Discord there." She knew it was the wrong thing to do, but she couldn't think of anything else. If her sister got caught, which she rather doubted, then they'd possibly work it out from there. That, or Solar Flare would probably believe her when she says she's not faking. The alicorn looked rather skeptical at first, then gave another huff. "Fine... don't you go anywhere though." "I would if I could," Luna muttered as she walked out of the cobweb-filled prison they were in. She watched the door close, as Solar Flare trotted to where the draconequus was sheltering. --- Solar Flare landed in front of the cave entrance, not even squinting at the darkness that haunted the inside. She allowed her mane to provide a light, so she could see whatever was inside. The first thing on her mind was Discord. "Discord? Where are you?" No answer. After she scanned the entire area of the pace, Solar Flare was about to leave, with a smirk on her face. However, as she moved one hoof towards the exit, something nudged her. She looked down, and noticed a book, open, facing up towards her. She picked it up with her magic, and scanned over the scribbles and cross outs. However, the lines through the words weren't enough to stop her from understanding the language. "What is that draconequus playing at?"