//------------------------------//
// Chapter 15. Matthew 7:7 
// Story: The Draconequus with the Dragon Tattoo 
// by A M Shark 
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Chapter 15

"Ask and it shall be given to you; seek and you shall find; knock and the door shall be opened to you."—Matthew 7:7





As they walked back to the cabin, Discord rested his eagle claw lightly on Fluttershy's head. He could have just flashed the two of them back to the cabin in under a second, but he wanted to use the time walking there to think on what had just happened that day.

Up until he'd seen Rainbow Dash streaking toward them, he'd almost completely forgotten about what he'd done to Fluttershy's friends, and it disturbed him to realize just how much his time with the pegasus had taken his mind off his original plans.

What doubly disturbed him was how strangely ambivalent he felt toward Fluttershy herself. The fact that she had so thoroughly distracted him did not invoke the expected anger it should have. And it wasn't until that moment when she had flinched distrustfully away from him that he realized just how accustomed he'd become to her welcoming his touch.

He looked down at her head with his taloned fingers twisted loosely into her mane. His eyes flicked to the barbed loops that encircled his wrist and biceps, and he remembered how they had mysteriously disappeared that morning. When disguising himself with another shape like a pony’s, he’d often gotten rid of some of his piercings, and/or shrunken his tattoos, simply because there was so much less space on a pony’s body than on his own. But that had been the first time they had simply disappeared of their own accord ... the first time since he'd gotten them that someone had seen him in his natural form without them...

Then there were the strange feelings that had risen in him when Fluttershy had informed him that she still wanted to be his friend ... and the way she had just told him to come home when he was ready to, as if she trusted him to come back to her rather than just flash away to the other side of Equestria...

He mentally sighed as he pinched the skin between his eyes with his paw. He was supposed to confuse and unsettle ponies not the other way around.

Then he remembered why they had come out there in the first place and halted. The fingers he still had buried in Fluttershy's mane caused her head to jerk back and she halted as well, looking up at him.

"What is it, Discord?"

"What about those changeling corpses we were going to look at?"

"Oh, I forgot to tell you. Twilight is sending some ponies to get them so she can study them and maybe find out why they seemed different from changelings we'd seen before."

Discord frowned at that and, removing his hand from her mane, crossed his arms. He wasn't sure how he should feel that Twilight was stepping in on the case, but he felt robbed. Granted he wouldn't even have been involved in the case if Fluttershy hadn't been trying to contact Twilight but still—

"Um, Discord?" Fluttershy's soft hesitant voice jerked him out of his thoughts.

"Hmm?"

She looked down at the ground and rubbed one of her forelegs with the other. "Um, do you remember what I told you about what the changelings told me last night?"

"I do."

"Well ... when I told my friends about what happened, I didn't really mention that part to them."

Discord's eyebrows went up at this news. Then he felt a rush of conspiratorial glee at the realization that Fluttershy had chosen to share this piece of information only with him. She however seemed to be growing steadily more uncomfortable and this put a damper on his brightening attitude.

"What's wrong?" he asked, stretching his neck down so that he could look her in the face.

"Well, Discord..." Fluttershy fidgeted and licked her lips nervously, then plunged on. "I want you to help me look through my memories of when the changelings captured me last night."

Discord jerked back as if a rattlesnake had just tried to bite him on the face. He stared down at Fluttershy in shock. "Darling, you do remember what happened the last time we tried that?"

Fluttershy swallowed but pushed on. "I do remember. But I've been thinking about it all day and I feel I have to see it again."

"No! Forget it!" Discord thrust his hands behind his back and caused them to fuse together in a lumpy mass; as if afraid they might start probing Fluttershy's head of their own accord.

"Please, Discord. At the time I was too shocked at the idea of Apple Bloom and Big Mac being the murderers to notice much else. But now I think there might be some clues in those scenes if I watch them knowing that the Apples are really changelings. Please, would you—?"

"I told you the answer is No! I'm not going to put you through that again." He looked away from her, but she flew up to hover in front of him, taking his pierced face between her hooves and turning it back toward her before he could pull away. Her turquoise eyes met his yellow ones.

"Please Discord. I know the risks, but I have to see. If there are any clues in there I have to know."

Discord shut his eyes, but Fluttershy's pleading expression had already done its work.

"Oh, very well," he muttered. "But I'm doing it under protest."

Despite the seriousness of what she was asking him to do, Fluttershy couldn't help feeling a tad amused at his sulky attitude.

"Come on, let's get this over with," he grumbled, bringing his hands, now back to their usual state, out from behind his back. Taking her by the shoulders, he pushed her down until her hooves touched the ground in front of him. His hands began glowing as he moved them to the sides of her head, taking care with the stitched left side. Fluttershy shut her eyes and thought back to the night before.





"You sure you still want to do this?" Discord asked after he had given the extracted memories a spin in his cinematic one.

Fluttershy looked scared but determined. "I have to."

Discord's sulky attitude was gone, but his reluctance was still there. "Just ... try to remember it's not really happening. No matter how real it feels."

Fluttershy nodded and braced herself. "I'm ready, Discord."

"All right," he sighed before cupping her face in his hands. "Don't be afraid, Fluttershy."

Then she was surrounded by bright light.





When the light cleared, Fluttershy was suddenly back in the root cellar with her limbs tied and her head aching horribly.

"It's about time you woke up."

She felt the familiar sense of shock at the sound of Big Mac's voice.

It's not him, she tried to remind herself. It might look and sound like Big Mac but it's not him.

"Big Mac?" she felt her throat form the words. "Where are we? What's going on?"

It's not them! It's not them! It's not them! Fluttershy had to keep forcing herself to remember as the scene played out before her. Pay attention! It's not real! It's not happening again! she yelled inside her head even as all her senses screamed that it was indeed real and all the shock and horror she had felt at the time came flooding back. It's not real! It's not real!





For Discord, watching the events as they played out through Fluttershy's eyes was far different from hearing her describe them. While the scene didn't affect him in the visceral way it did her, he did get a new sense of her helplessness that he hadn't had before. He could also feel her shivering under his hands as she fought not to let the memory suck her under.

That's it, Fluttershy, he urged. Don't be afraid. Keep fighting it.





Fluttershy could faintly hear her partner's voice as she continued struggling against the numb disbelief that had filled her back when the memory had been reality. She tried to pay close attention to the disguised changelings' attitudes and actions, hoping to spot some clue as to whether or not they had lied to her about Applejack. They both seemed quite amused at her horror when they confessed to murdering the six ponies in Applejack's journal.

"But Applejack? Your own sister—?" It's not really them! It's not really them! Applejack's real siblings are captured and tied up just like I am! It's not really them!


"What did you find out about Applejack? Tell us! What happened to her?"

Why would they ask that if they told Big Mac and Apple Bloom that they killed Applejack while disguised as them? Why would they—?

"You ... you killed her. Didn't you?"

"Oh, we wanted to. We wanted to so badly. But then she disappeared."

"We don't have time for this. Her mix-and-match partner could get back at any moment."

"You're right. She doesn't know where Applejack is anyway. Let's get to work."

It isn't real! It isn't real! It isn't—

Fluttershy's mental chant was interrupted as she felt herself being yanked into the air and dangling upside-down by her legs.

"Careful. We don't want her to suffocate all at once."

This isn't really happen—

Then that thought was shattered as she felt the all-too-real sensation of the noose biting into her neck. She choked as the rope tightened. How could this not be real?! It was real! She could feel a very real noose cutting into her throat!





Feeling Fluttershy start to writhe, Discord snatched her up in his arms and yanked the two of them out of the memory. As they reappeared in the real world, Fluttershy thrashed about so hard he dropped her. She hit the snow on her back, wheezing.

"Fluttershy!"

The pony's eyes were open but she didn't seem to see or hear him. She pawed wildly at her bruised throat, trying to loosen the non-existent noose she thought was there. Fearful that she would do further damage to her already battered throat, Discord grabbed her forelegs by the fetlocks and pinned them down on either side of her.





Let me go! Fluttershy screamed inside her head as her forelegs were suddenly pinned and the noose continued to tighten. I can't breathe!

She kicked out with her hind legs in a desperate attempt to free herself.





Discord grunted as one of Fluttershy's kicks caught him in the chest. The draconequus flipped his long body over her so that he was standing bent over backwards, still holding her down as her back legs kicked at empty air. Fluttershy snapped her head back and forth, still breathing in those horrible shallow wheezes.

The last time he'd flashed them back out of the memory, she had come out frightened and trembling, but she hadn't still been trapped inside the sensations of the memory.

What if she ended up actually suffocating while convinced that she was being choked to death?

Fighting his own panic, Discord transformed his tail tuft into fingers and clamped them around Fluttershy's head, holding it steady as he shoved his own forehead down against hers.

"Come on, Fluttershy! Snap out of it! There's no noose around your throat, so ignore it! Ignore everything except what I'm telling you. You're not choking, you hear me?! You're not choking, so ignore that noose and breathe!"





Deep in her panic, Fluttershy heard him. Ignore the noose and breathe?! How could she possibly be expected to do that? The noose was the very thing keeping her from breathing in the first place!

"Don't you die on me like this! Breathe will you!"

Hearing the desperation in his voice, Fluttershy found it in her to ignore the noose cutting into her neck and try to suck in a large breath of air. Then the pressure on her throat suddenly seemed to dissolve and she could breathe freely again.

At first she didn't know where she was. Then she realized she was lying on her back in the snow, with her front legs pinned down on either side of her.

And Discord was above her with his forehead pressed against hers.

"Discord...?" she panted.

At the sound of her voice, he pulled his head back from hers with a look of relief on his face.

"Discord, what—?"

Before she could finish the question, his eyes suddenly narrowed and Fluttershy was blinded by another flash of light. When it disappeared, she and Discord were back in the cabin and he was standing upright with her in his arms. He set her down roughly on her bed and stalked away from her.

"Discord—"

He whipped around to glare at her. "Don't ever ask me to do that again!" he snapped. "If you do, I'll take you right back to that root cellar and string you up myself!" Then he seemed to realize what he'd just said and let out a low moan. "Oh, forgive me, Fluttershy. I didn't mean that."

She gave him a weary smile. "I know you didn't." She hesitated a moment, then added, "And thank you for going through that with me. Even though you didn't want to."

His expression softened and he moved back to the bed, kneeling beside it. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm still a bit shaken I think," she said, wrapping her forelegs around her body. "I knew it would be hard to experience all that over again, but ... I didn't realize just how frightening it would be ... feeling them string me up all over again." Unconsciously she put a hoof to her bruised throat as she went on, her voice trembling. "I thought I was going to die and there was nothing I could do to stop it."

She looked up at him, her eyes shiny with unshed tears. "I don't remember if I ever thanked you for saving me." Taking his paw in both hooves, she lifted it to her face and rubbed her cheek against the back of it. "Thank you, Discord. I'd be dead now if it weren't for you."

Discord's own eyes suddenly looked rather watery. Then he turned away and seemed to rub or scratch at his face with his free hand.

"Discord ... are you crying?"

"No, this thing just isn't in crooked enough and it's bothering me," he said, tugging on one of his nose rings hard enough to make both himself and Fluttershy wince. He gave the ring several twists in different directions before letting go of it and opening and shutting his eyes in a series of grimaces.

"Ahh, that's better," he said, pulling his paw free from her hooves. "Makes your eyes water though," he added, rubbing his thumbs back and forth across the edges of his closed eyelids. Fluttershy glanced at the rings hooked through his nose. Neither of them seemed to have changed position in the slightest and he'd never complained about them before.

Then his dragon tattoo suddenly used an inky claw to sketch what appeared to be a pair of pants on its host's left shoulder. It then snorted inky flames onto the pants, causing them to turn to ashes which it promptly swept away with a claw. Discord stopped rubbing at his eyes just as the dragon tattoo finished its clean-up and froze in place again.

"So you're sure you're all right?" he asked, propping his arms on the edge of the bed.

She nodded. "I just need some time to think about what I saw and heard in that memory."

"You sure? Because I can get you anything if you need it."

She shook her head though she had to admit that his fussing over her was rather sweet, especially after what she'd just forced him to do. "That won't be necessary. I just need some time to think, to clear my head."

Standing back up, Discord conjured a candy cane and held it out to her with the curved end under her nose. "Here. Take a bite. It will help with the head-clearing."

Fluttershy looked from the candy cane to him then back at the candy cane. Exactly how it would allegedly help with the head-clearing, she wasn't sure. But then again with the things Discord conjured, appearances could often be deceiving. So she leaned forward and bit the curved end off of the candy cane. First the taste of peppermint filled her mouth. Then it was replaced with regular mint that was then replaced with chocolate.

"This will help too," Discord added, conjuring a glass of water for her as well. Swallowing down the chocolate, Fluttershy took the offered water and took a cautious sip, expecting it to taste like something else, or to change color or texture, or maybe for the glass to disappear, but it just remained an ordinary glass of water. While she sipped, Discord stuck one end of the remaining candy cane in his mouth briefly before taking it back out and blowing a stream of blue cotton candy up at the ceiling.

"You said you were going to start supper, but it looks like it's still a little early for that, so how about lunch?" he asked, sticking the candy cane behind his ear.





"Starting lunch" turned out to consist of Discord magically conducting and shuffling various ingredients together into sandwiches while Fluttershy watched. She'd seen ponies spread both peanut butter and jelly on sandwiches before but this was the first time she had seen anyone slice those particular condiments up and deal them. Along with the peanut butter-and-jelly sandwiches, there were several other conventional combos like cheese, cucumber, and daisy, but there were also several more ... eccentric combos. ("Don't try the triangular-cut ones," Discord warned. "Some of them have cement in them.")

The draconequus had just sent the final sandwich springing across the table and leaping onto an already large pile of sandwiches, when there was a knock at the door.

"Fluttershy?" called Twilight's voice.

Moving to the door, Fluttershy opened it. "Come on in, Twilight. We were just about to have lunch."

Twilight started to step forward and suddenly ran into an invisible wall.

"Whoops," said Discord in a suspiciously innocent voice before snapping his talons. "There. All clear."

"Sorry about that," said Fluttershy, as Twilight put a hoof out in front of her, feeling about for any unseen obstacles before trying to move forward again. "I had Discord put a shield around the cabin so nopony could come in and hurt Angel while we were gone. I forgot it was still up."

"Right," said Twilight, rubbing her nose while glancing from Fluttershy to Discord, still not entirely sure what to think of him.

"We were just about to have lunch," Fluttershy said quickly. "Would you care to join us?"

“You’ll enjoy the triangular-cut sandwiches,” Discord said, tipping the plate toward her, and Fluttershy gave him a warning look.

"Sorry, but I can't stay long,” said Twilight. “I just wanted to check how you were doing, and to let you know I got those changelings sent back to Canterlot for examination. I'll keep you posted on whether I find out anything."

"Oh, that's good. ... Um, did you stop at the hospital to see how the Apples were doing?"

Twilight nodded. "Well, Granny Smith survived that stroke, but she's still pretty weak and they're not sure how much longer she has. Apple Bloom and Big Mac are staying there so they can be near her just in case she gets worse. ... And they told her about the changelings ... so now she knows who killed Applejack." Twilight's voice lowered on the last part as if she found it hard to say.

Discord darted a glance toward Fluttershy to see if she would mention the fact that the changelings had given her a different story than they had given the Apple siblings but she didn't. She just asked how the Apple family was dealing with the news about Applejack's murder.

"It's pretty hard on them," Twilight said sadly. "knowing that Applejack died believing they were killing her. But I think they're also a bit relieved to know that the murderer wasn't somepony from their family like they'd thought it was."





"Discord?"

The two partners were sitting in front of the fire with a plate of sandwiches between them. Fluttershy was lying on her stomach with Angel curled up between her front legs. She had been nibbling on a peanut butter-and-pickle sandwich, one of Discord's more unusual combos that she had selected by mistake but had turned out to taste surprisingly good.

Discord meanwhile, having had his fill of sandwiches, was lying on his back beside her. He had taken the candy cane back from behind his ear and was currently trying to exhale pink and blue cotton candy out of his mouth and nose at the same time to see if he could get them to mingle together and turn purple. He stopped this experiment to turn his attention to her.

"Discord, I've been thinking on what we saw in my memory and about what the Apple siblings told us about when the changelings captured them ... and some things just don't add up. Why did it matter to the changelings that I or the Apple siblings know they were behind those murders? And if they were willing to kill those ponies, why didn't they do the same with Angel?" She stroked the old bunny's thinning coat. "Why go to the trouble of creating and planting a fake corpse if they were just going to kill him later anyway?"

If they needed to get rid of you before I got back, why did they strangle you slowly instead of snapping your neck with one swift hard yank? Discord wondered as he looked at the bruises on her throat. Then he thought uncomfortably of when he'd tried to trick Fluttershy into being the opposite of her Element. The fact that Applejack no longer existed to wield the Element of Honesty had removed the need to corrupt Fluttershy, and yet he had continued trying to do it because toying with her had amused him.

He thought of the changelings choking his friend slowly and painfully, of the pleasure he'd seen on their faces. Had he had a similar expression as he tormented her when they had first met? His cinematic memory gave him the option of viewing his own memories from multiple view shots to check that, but suddenly he was afraid to know.

"Discord, about the changelings not killing Applejack—"

The draconequus quickly covered his musing by jetting a cloud of salmon-colored cotton candy from his nostrils before lifting his head from the floor to look down at her. "You believe that?"

Fluttershy hesitated then nodded. "I think so. Every time the changelings had two ways of doing things they seemed to pick the crueler of the two options. If they'd wanted to hurt me, they could have just confessed that they'd killed Applejack if that was the truth. But the fact that they didn't makes me think…" hesitating again before continuing in a softer voice. "that somepony else got to her before they did."

Discord understood what she was saying. Applejack had vanished sometime during the reunion that had been made up of Apples and several disguised changelings. If the changelings hadn't captured and killed her ... that left only the Apples.





This conclusion left Fluttershy feeling torn. Should she go and tell Applejack's siblings and grandmother that their suspicions about the rest of their family had been right? Her head told her it was the honest thing to do, but her heart told her it would be like ripping open a freshly healed wound to destroy what little closure they now had. There was also the fact that Granny Smith might die soon. What if she died before Applejack's killer could be identified? Would it be kinder to let her die believing her family was innocent of Applejack's murder? Or to let her die knowing the truth?

At Discord's suggestion, they decided to continue investigating the Apple family in secret and tell nopony else at least not until they got some more information.

"If the killers think they're safe, they might get careless and make a slip," he reasoned.





A few days later they were packing up to head back to Fluttershy's cottage. Apart from her yarn and some of Angel's equipment, Fluttershy hadn't brought much with her, but after the ransacking the changelings had given the cabin she and Discord made a thorough search of the place to make sure everything was accounted for.

"Hello, what's this?" said Discord retrieving a vial and battered book from behind the bed.

"Oh, that's the potion Granny Smith gave me when we went to get those records from the rest of the Apple family," said Fluttershy, taking the vial from him. "And that's the book with the potion recipe in it, just in case I needed to make more."

"Hmm." Discord squinted at the book and began to flip curiously through it.

Fluttershy smiled wryly as she watched him. "But then we got snowed in by the blizzard and I never needed to use the potion after that." She lowered her head thinking, And according to Big Mac and Apple Bloom that "Apple Butter" disguise didn't fool many of their family members anyway. "I guess the changelings must have missed it. I forgot I even had it until now."

"Hold on, there's a page missing here. See?" Discord held the book out toward her. He was right. One of the book's pages had been torn out so neatly and carefully she could barely see the ragged edge near the book's spine. She never would have noticed it if it weren't for the book's page numbers.

"You suppose there was a clue on that page so the changelings ripped it out?" Discord mused.

Fluttershy frowned. "But ... why would they just take out one page and leave the rest of the book? It's not a very big or heavy one so it wouldn't be difficult to carry. Several of the ones they stole from us were much bigger."

"You do have a point there."

"I wonder if Granny Smith gave it to me, knowing that page was missing."





Once they were settled in at Fluttershy's cottage, they decided she would go to the hospital to question Granny Smith about the book's missing page while he set about recollecting information on the Apples so they could rebuild their suspect profiles. They hadn't been able to find any of the documents the changelings had stolen and were forced to conclude that the changelings must have burned them or otherwise destroyed them.

Apple Bloom and Big Mac were there when Fluttershy was let in to see Granny Smith. The old earth pony had tubes hooking her up to machines and she looked much paler and thinner than Fluttershy last remembered. Big Mac and Apple Bloom looked as if their grandmother's condition was putting a considerable strain on them as well.

Fluttershy greeted them before moving to the bedside. "Granny Smith?"

"Eh," the old pony said vaguely as she tried to focus on the pegasus beside her.

"Do you remember this book you gave me?" Fluttershy held up the potion book.

"Eh," the old pony nodded slightly.

"Well, did you know one of its pages is missing?"

"No, just saw it laying around. Figured it was Apple Bloom's."

At this, Apple Bloom moved to the bedside as well to get a better look at the book. "No, I never used that one. It's not mine."

Big Mac denied ever having seen it before as well.





If it doesn't belong to any of them, that means either Applejack brought it to the farm, or some other family member or friend must have brought it and left it by mistake, Fluttershy thought as she left the hospital. She headed in the direction of the library, intending to find out if it had a copy of the same book. It was probably a dead end but it couldn't hurt to find out what was on that missing page.

Twilight wasn't at the library but Spike was. "Hey, Fluttershy, what's going on?"

"Um, I wanted to see if the library had a copy of this book," said Fluttershy, holding it out to him.

Spike glanced over it. "Oh yeah. We got that one. I'll get it."

While he was scaling a ladder to reach the desired book, Rarity poked her head in the open door. "Hello?"

Fluttershy waved her in. "Come on in, Rarity. What brings you here?"

"Oh, I was just bringing something for Spike," Rarity jerked her head toward her saddlebags. "To make up for how I acted when—" she halted uncomfortably. "You know." She hesitated then asked, "Fluttershy, are you sure you're all right with letting that ... that ..." Rarity tried to come up with an appropriate word to call Discord then gave up. "Him staying with you?" The white unicorn knew her friend would often go to great lengths to be nice to somepony and this time she was worried Fluttershy might have bitten off more than she could chew just to please her ruler. "Are you sure you're not just doing it because Princess Celestia decided you should?"

"He saved my life Rarity," Fluttershy pointed out gently though she couldn't really blame her friend for being concerned. "I know what he did to you and Rainbow and Pinkie was wrong, but he's changed since then." Their conversation was interrupted as Spike joined them.

"Here's that book you wanted, Fluttershy," he said, holding it out to her. "Oh hi, Rarity. What's up?"

"Oh, I just wanted to give you this Sparkling Cider to make up for things earlier," said Rarity, levitating a fancy cider bottle out of her saddlebag.

"Sparkling Cider?" Fluttershy asked as she took the book.

"Yes, it's a brand I found out about several years ago," said Rarity. "It's quite good and very popular among high class ponies."

Spike covered his face uncomfortably. "I know this sounds disloyal but I actually think it's better than the stuff from Sweet Apple Acres."

"Well, that's understandable," said Rarity. "Considering it has gems mixed into it."

"Ahh," Fluttershy nodded absently as she flipped through the book to the correct page.

When she found it, she froze, staring at it. The memory of seeing Applejack in the market place for the last time flashed through her mind. Then she slammed the book shut, causing both Spike and Rarity to jump.

"Fluttershy—?" they both started to ask.

"I have to go," she said, flying out of the door with both books clutched in her hooves. She heard them calling after her, but she ignored them. If this new theory of hers turned out to be correct, she had to move fast. And she needed to share this information with Discord before sharing it with anypony else.

"Discord!" she panted as she burst into the cottage, but he wasn't there. She blew on the whistle he'd given her. It produced no sound, but he suddenly appeared in front of her, clutching his ears.

"That's it! I'm taking that whistle back!"

Fluttershy felt the whistle promptly vanish from her mouth and saw it reappear in Discord's hand. He tossed the whistle, string and all, into his mouth and crunched it like a potato chip before turning his attention back to her.

"Now, what can I do for you?" he asked brightly.

Fluttershy was still puffing from flying so fast. "I found out ... what was on ... that missing page," she panted, holding up the two books. "and Discord ... I think I know what happened to Applejack."