//------------------------------// // Chapter 1 // Story: How far would you go? // by Gingerboyman //------------------------------// It was a beautiful day in Ponyville, the sun was shining and the birds were singing. Down in the town, ponies were hard at work preparing for the upcoming Summer sun celebration, putting up banners,cleaning and various other tasks. No pony could possibly have a worry in the world. However on a hill overlooking the town, a yellow pegasus was out of her mind with worry. “He should be here by now, why isn't here now?” Fluttershy said worriedly, as she paced back and forward. She had done this so repeatedly, that the grass had started forming into a trench. She gasped as a sudden thought occurred to her, “ You don't think he’s hurt do you?” A rainbow maned pegasus, sighting on a red and white checkerboard picnic blanket, looked up from a game of cards she was playing with a purple dragon and pink earth pony. “Would you relax, Fluttershy, this is Discord you're talking about, you know, Spirit of Chaos; I'm sure he’s fine he’s just running late.” The blue pegasus said as she refocused on her game. “But he’s never late!” Fluttershy cried. “If anything, he’s always early, once he even arrived 2 weeks in advance.” Not that Fluttershy didn't mind Discord early arrivals she thought to herself. “Really? I never imagined that Discord would be so punctual”, a white unicorn said as she inspected her freshly filed hooves. “I thought he would prefer to be quite fashionably late.” she said as she moved on to the other hoof to file. “Maybe he’s at his chaos area and he just lost track of time.” The small purple dragon offered as he drew another card from the deck. “Maybe.” Fluttershy said slowly, though she was unconvinced. A peripheral alicorn looked from her book at her worried friend. “Don't worry, Fluttershy.” Twilight said calmly, as she got up from her place on the ground to walk to Fluttershy. “I'm sure Discord will be around any second now.” “But Twilight...” Fluttershy was cut of by Twilight’s next word “Has Discord ever missed any of your get togethers.”she calmly asked. “Well no!” Twilight smiled at her friend “There your answer, Fluttershy if Discord hasn't missed any of your get togethers, then I doubt he will start now.” This gave Fluttershy a little comfort, and she relaxed a little. “Thanks Twilight, I just got little worried I suppose, its just not his habit to be late for a type of thing he likes.” “I sure he’s not that late, perhaps 5 minutes maybe ten.” An orange earth pony, who was reclined comfortably against a nearby tree pleasantly munching on red apple, shielded her eyes with her hoof and looked up at the sun. “Hmm I’d actually reckon he's closer to 35 minutes late maybe half an hour” Apple Jack said. “35 MINUTES! ” Fluttershy cried. “or a half an hour” the pink earth pony added in happily. Fluttershy resumed her worried pacing, with the occasional “o dear” whisper escaping her lips. “So Discord running late. Fluttershy, this doesn't mean anything bad has happened to him.” Twilight said trying to calm down her friend. “ He’s one of the strongest magic users in all Equestra.” “Yeah.” Pinkie Pie added setting down her cards and turning to her friends. “It’s not like he could get col-,” She stopped remembering the twisty worm instead “um will it’s not like he can lose his magi-,” She stopped again. “well its not like he could hur-, well if he lost his finger then I guess he could ge-” Pinkie’s thoughts were interrupted by an apple core thrown at her head. Only after she shook herself out of her daze did she realise the distress Fluttershy and the scolds she was getting from the rest of her friends. “But I am sure he’s fine” Pinkie added quickly. Rarity, put down here file and walked over to Fluttershy. “Don’t worry Fluttershy I am sure Discord’s fine. He’s most likely going to appear in some grand entrance, any time now.” “Am I truly getting that predictable?” a small high pitched voice said. The 6 ponies and dragon turned their heads in all directions to see where the owner of the voice was, though it wasn't his usual volume or tone, but everyone knew who it was. “Discord?” Fluttershy said as she spread her wings and hovered a foot off the ground and looking desperately for the draconequus. “W-where are you?” “Down here AAAAA Watch where you put your hoof Twilight you nearly crushed me!!” the draconequus cried. The alicorn moved a couple steps back in shock. “Down?” Fluttershy asked, while she landed gingerly on the ground next to a startled Twilight. “Down where?” “If you take one more step you should see me, my dear.” Fluttershy did as Discord asked and took a tentative step forward not sure what would happen or what she would see. She looked around again, a look of puzzlement coming over her face.“I still don’t see you.” “Quit with the games Discord, and show yourself!” Applejack cried, getting up from here spot under the tree to help look for the draconequus. “But my dear AJ, I’m not hiding at all, I'm in plain view for the world to see; in fact, you could say I'm part of the world, you're all just looking in the wrong place.” Fluttershy was trying to pinpoint Discord voice; by all accounts, Discord should be right in front of her as he had said. But all she saw was grass, and a drooping flower. A Flower, Fluttershy thought, had that been there before? Interested, Fluttershy laid down close to the drooping flower for a closer inspection. The flower had a green stem and white petals that fell forward concealing the head. By all accounts it seemed like any other flower, but this was Discord she was talking about so? “Discord?” Fluttershy questioned the flower. For a moment nothing happened, then the flower twitched and lifted its head throwing back its’ petals with one of its’ leaves, like it was getting some hair out his eye. To reveal a grinning gray pony face, with yellows eyes and mismatched red pupils. “Discord!” Fluttershy cried excitedly, her face breaking into a grin and her eyes lifting up. Discord gave a wicked grin and suddenly grew into his draconequus form, wrapping his arms around Fluttershy in a warm hug lifting her up in the process. Fluttershy let out quick squeak of shock with the draconequus’ transformation, but then happily returned the hug with one of her own. “I knew you would be the one to find me, Fluttershy.” Discord said, his voice returning to normal, as he removed his arms from Fluttershy gently placing her back on the ground. “I actually often find myself wondering how the others here would function without your keen observation and different outlook, my dear.” Discord gestured to the other ponies and small dragon who were now all gathering over to where the draconequus arrived to greet him. A light blush formed on Fluttershy cheeks, she was about to respond, but then she got a look at Discord’s face. Fluttershy put one of her hooves to her mouth to stop the trickle of giggles, ultimately failing however, as the trick became river of laughter that issued forth. Discord gave a confused look to Fluttershy and released the other ponies and dragon were laughing as well. “ I have seemed to have missed the joke?” Discord inquired. “You haven't missed the joke, Discord” Rainbowdash said while laughing “ you are it.” Discord his eyebrows knitted together in confusion. “Perhaps this will shed some light on what we're talking about darling.” Rarity said handing, with her magic, her powder compact. Discord took the purple, flat, compact and clicked it open to look at his reflection. He was shocked to see white flower petals still inserted in his head making him have the appearance of a flowery mane. Discord quickly disposed of his new floral mane, by pulling on two of the petals both on opposite sides and removing them from his head causing the rest of his flower mane to detach from his head and gently drift down to the ground and then disappear in a explosion of confetti. “OOOO OOOO OOOO, Discord here we saved you a piece of double layered chocolate apple cake.” Pinkie Pie cried joyfully. Pulling a white paper plate out from from behind her decorated with a few brown scraps of cake. “Well, we did save you a piece of cake, ..but it… kind of got smaller an- OKAY I ATE IT, BUT IT WAS JUST SO GOOD!!” Pinky then spied the last few crumbs of cake; and her tongue shot out like a chameleons, some how growing in size and length, and in one second, the plate was clean of any of the stray cake crumbs. “I AM SORRY IT WAS JUSST SOO GOOD”. “Uhm..its.. ok?” Discord said unsurely, still confused on how the pink earth pony ticked. “Really?” Pinkie asked lifting her head from between her hooves. “Yeah, sure I can make, double layered aa... what ever you said appeared at any time Pinkie, so all is good” Discord said casually. “Well okey dokey, I’ll still make you an apology cup cake, no an apology pie, no a…” Discord tuned out on Pinkie’s ramblings and turned his head to where Fluttershy was shyly poking his lizard leg. “Uhm Discord, if you still wanted to try the cake, and it's perfectly all right if you don't, but you could always have my slices” Fluttershy said in her soft but sweet tone. She was holding out a green plate with a brown and white colored cake that had a few tiny chunks taken out of it. “O Fluttershy couldn't do that, that’s your slice and I could not deprive of something as epic, as Pinkie describe it.” “Oh, it’s no trouble at all, Discord, the cake was quite filling and was too much for me to finish and it wouldn't to be fair to you, not to have tasted it because of you arriving a little late, and I hate it to go to waste.” Fluttershy. “Well, how about this.” Discord said, taking the plate, placing his hands on either side of the plate and pulled. separating both the cake and the plate into two. “No, we both can share the cake” he said to Fluttershy passing her one of the plates. “Sorry if I'm being rude, Discord but why are you late?” Rainbowdash questioned. Discord’s expression turned to one of caution. “You didn't get a letter?” he asked. “No, what letter?” Twilight asked equally confused. “Do you mean the letter you sent me 2 days ago, Discord?” Fluttershy asked helpfully, but doubting the contents in that letter were relevant to Discord tardiness. The draconequus shook his head, mumbling something about how busy could two princes be not said in a simple letter, that Fluttershy only heard. “I am so sorry for my late arrival every one, but I thought our graaand ruuulers of Equestria” He said grand rulers of with an eye roll and air quotes “Would be able to spend two or three seconds of their busy day of signing and stamping parchments to write a simple letter.” “But what did the letter say?” Twilight pursued. “ the reason I would be late.” Discord stated. “And why are you late?” “Because the princes gave me a job.” Twilight face slapped her self , Discord might be her friend but his antics could be quite tiresome, and waiting for 35 minutes didn’t help matters either. How does Fluttershy put up with him, Twilight thought. “So what was the job that Princess Celestia and Princess Luna have given you Discord?” Fluttershy questioned. “Ah the right question, Fluttershy .” Discord exclaimed happily. Fluttershy, blushed a little at being put on the spot. “But honestly though, I don’t see why they ordered me to look into the job in the first place...” “Discord” Applejack said. “I thought there were ponies with jobs for that type of thing…..” “Discord.” Rarity said “I mean, I feel like that my chaotic skills are being wasted on any menial task that Sun buts and Lunn buts want done….” “Discord.” Rainbow said. “I don’t know why they were so touchy about the job, any way I mean it was only piece of jewelry that wa-” “Um, Discord” Fluttershy said Discord immediately stopped rambling. “Yes Fluttershy? whats’ the problem.” “Well, I didn’t want to be rude in interrupting you, bu-” “WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT!!!!” the 5 ponies and dragon cried, finishing Fluttershy sentence. Discord rubbed his ear from the sudden outburst. “Gese, why not shout a bit louder, I don’t think I heard you.” He snapped his fingers, summoning an ear trumpet, emphasizing his point leaning the wide end down to the group. Pinkiepie sucked in a deep breath ready to repeat the question. “He’s being sarcastic, Pinkie” Twilight said, noticing her friends deep inhalation. “Oh ” the earth pony said as she let out the breath. “You still haven’t told us the job, Discord, what was it?” Spike questioned. The draconequus puffed away the ear trumpet puffed away as he straightened his body to address the group again. “Well to get down to the bare bones of what that job was, they wanted me to look into a break in at the so called” Discord used his fingers to form air quotes “ impenetrable, Canterlot armoury.” Most of the group seemed confused at the his statement . Save for the two purple creatures present, who looked like Discord’s words had physically slapped them. “WHAT!!” cried Twilight. The group turned to the shaken dragon and alicorn. “OH NO NOT THE CANTERLOT ARMOURY. WE’RE ALL DOOOOMED” Pinkie cried falling to her knees. She then turned her head to face Twilight. “Twilight what’s the Canterlot Armoury?” Twilight took a shaky breath. “The Canterlot Armoury is where all the most dangerous magical artifacts are gathered; it’s also one of the most highly kept secrets in Canterlot due to the contents it holds.” “Yeah” Spike cut in “It’s also one of, if not the most highly secret place in all of Equestria. It’s under constant supervision, and has magic defenses; the place is impenetrable.” “Well it was impenetrable Spike, until somepony managed to break in, the whole reason I did the air quotes there” Discord said. taking a bit of the cake and then quickly devouring the rest of the cake and plate. “So how much of these a magical artifacts was actually taken?” Apple Jack inquired. Discord liked the remnants of the cake from his fingers before summoning a pair of reading glasses and a clip board. His eyes scrolled down the clipboard contents, now and again flipping through a page on the clipboard, and letting out a mhm. Rainbow Dash was the first to break the sudden silence.“Discord, you were just at the armoury; do you really need a clipboard to remind yourself how much was taken” The clipboard and glasses disappeared as he looked up to face Rainbow Dash “ No, but I do love adding a bit of drama to the whole thing. Anyway to answer Apply Jack’s question, out of the many artifacts that armoury contains, only one was taken. ” “Well that good isn’t it?” Fluttershy said. “I thought so too” Discord agreed. “But our graaannd leaders sent me to check it out anyway.” “It doesn’t matter if few or many of the thousand of artifacts were stolen; they were sealed away because they are dangerous, if even one of them would fall into the wrong hands the ramifications could be devastating.” Twilight . stated. Discord arched an eyebrow at Twilight Sparkle, in amusement. “ You know Twilight, I think you’re spending too much time with your fellow princesses, you’re starting to sound like them.” “So what was taken from the Armoury?” Twilight questioned, fearing the worst. Discord shrugged, “Some piece of jewelry, I think it was called, the parrot pendant.” Discord’s eyebrows knitted together in consternation “No wait a minute,... uhm.. the negative necklace, no what a minute, that was on the pedestal next to it,” Discord stroked his beard in consternation. “I think it started with an A, ah, the Albatross amulet, the Aproucto amumlatm, the alamoamlue amulmata, ahhh its on the tips of my tongue.” Discord then stuck out his fourth tongue revealing a piece of paper cover, he gently picked up the scrap and flicked off some of the saliva of that had accumulated there before of inspecting its contents. “I knew eating all those pages from your books, Twilight would eventually pay off.” Discord said, grinning at the assorted group who now had faces of mild disgust except for two mares Rarity whose face had turned a shade of green, and Fluttershy who was suppressing a smile at the draconequus antics. “ Ah, here we are, the item that was taken from the armoury The Alcorn Amulet.” he stated, before turning the page to show the group of the image of the black and red necklace. There was amount of sighs, of the group digesting this information before they all cried in unison, “THE ALICORN AMULET!!” “B-but how is that even possible I thought Zecora had the necklace.” Rainbow said. Twilight shook her head. “ No Zecora gave it to me soon after Trixie left Ponyville to give to the princess for safe keeping.” “AHHHH I DONT WANT MY MOUTH TAKEN AWAY AGAIN!!!!!” Pinkie Pie screamed. “Discord did you find any clue to how took the amulet?” Fluttershy asked in a worried tone. In a flash of white light, Discord was wearing a deerstalker,brown overcoat, and holding a magnifying glass in his lions paw, and a brown pipe in his eagle’s talon, which he placed in his mouth blowing out few brown bubbles, that Pinkiepie eagerly chased after. Discord took the pipe out of his mouth “With my skilled detective skills, I looked” he stretched like a rubber band a low hanging cloud which he inspected with his magnifying glass. “and low” Discord’s body returned to his original self and bowed over Fluttershy inspecting. The close contact made Fluttershy blush and Discord noted a shy smile creep on to her face. He could hear his beating heart , like a pair of drums keeping an oddly fast pace, and he felt warmth entering his cheeks, an odd tingling started to form in his lips feeling to lean over and… Few strands of Fluttershy mane fell across breaking the spell that had drifted over him, abling him to pull back from her and turn his back to hopefully cover up the growing blush that was taking hold of his face. “and didya find any evidence?” Apple Jack questioned, “I was just getting to that AJ.” Discord said spinning around, recollecting himself, pulled a chocolate syrup bottle out from his coat which he poured down the mouth of his pipe, and then placing the bottle he on the pipe blew causing a fresh spew of chocolate bubbles, which Pinkie once again bounced happily after, but this time her pink face smeared broun. “My expert Detective skills revealed….” Discord said, stopping to take the pipe out of his mouth, and to build suspense. “Nothing!” “Nothing?”Fluttershy echoed. “Nothing.” Discord confirmed. “Like nothing, nothing or like nothing nothing nothing ?” Pinke questioned, bouncing back with a freshly covered chocolate face apparently hearing the whole conversation while she stalked the sugar filled bubbles “Like nothing, giant zero, diddley squat, nothing.” Discord stated. “OOOO that type of nothing.” Pike replied, understanding in her voice “strange! Can I have some of that chocolate syrup?” “Take the pipe too, I’ve done using them as props.” Discord said, snapping his attire out of existence and handing the pink pony the pipe and syrup. “But I don’t understand, crawling with guards at all times, would have they have noted the intruder.” Spike questioned. “Spikes right .” Twilight agreed, “And even if they some how did get past the guards, there’s no way, they could have gotten past the wards, hexes and other spells that protect there without at least triggering one.” Discord shrugged. “ Maybe your security isn’t all that it’s cracked up to be; because I managed to teleport in, no problem.” “Yeah, but can’t you do anything with just a snap of your fingers” Applejack said. “Well anything is a bit much, AJ, but I appreciate the compliment” “What a minute,” Rainbow Dash said, “ So if you can teleport in and out of the armoury with so much ease, what cou-” “Rainbow Dash!” Fluttershy cried shocked at her friend’s action. “WHHHHHHAAAT” Pinkie cried catching everyone’s attention, “the pipes made of choul to that some, Pinkie cried, munching down on the pipe then washing it down with the syrup. “Look, I’m just saying, that maybe this some joke that went a wrong.” regaining the attention of every pony besides Pinkiepie who was busily munching on the pipe. “ Well, I won’t deny Rainbow, that it would be a hilarious joke, taking one of the artifacts from the museum, there are two points I should make clear, first one is; I only learned of the armoury’s existence to day, the same as most of you it seems, and the second,even though I said it would be a hilarious joke, I wouldn’t do it because I am reformed, harmless, benign.” Discord said, summoning a crook, and bounte, to emphasize his point. Discord then heard something that all was made his heart soar with happiness. Discord turned his attention back to Fluttershy who had her head turned to him, doing a terrible job of concealing her giggles from behind her hoof. Absent mildly Discord costume vanished as he bent his neck down so he was at the same levels as Fluttershy “I would never do anything to jeopardize the friendship and trust I have with you.” Discord comical tone of voice turned to one of soft gentleness, one dripping the sincerity. Fluttershy heard the abrupt changing in Discord’s voice and her giling seats as she turned her head so that it was facing his. Discord wanted to continue his thought, but Fluttershy teal eyes held him captivated him making it impossible for him to continue. Has she been working on her stare? he thought to himself. “With me?” Rainbow questioned. “Hu...what...no ...well yes.., what meant to say..was with all of you ” Discord said getting shaken out of his stupor, by the rainbow maned pegasus words. “But that still leaves us with the question, who could have broken in” Twilight said getting the conversation back on topic. “ They must have had extensive knowledge of the armoury layout and its security systems, let alone powerful magic and more importantly a specific reason to just take the Alicorn Amulet.” the last thought scared Twilight Sparkle the most. It took however few moments for her friends to catch on. Applejack’s eyes is widened , catching on to what Twilight was getting at. “ I see, Twi, you’re saying that the thief had the opportunity to swipe not just the amulet, but also other artifacts as well, so why didn’t he?” “and if the thief, or thieves, as the case may be, broke in, went through all that trouble get the amulet, you can bet he or she isn’t going to use it just for a fashion accessory.” Rarity added. Twilight nodded in consent, to her friend’s statements. “Do you think, whoever took the amulet will take control of a town like Trixie did when she had the amulet. ” Rainbow questioned. Twilight took a moment before answering and then shook her head slowly. “ I don’t that would be the thieves goal, there would be easier means and subtler means of taking over towns then just barging in with an extremely powerful magical tool. Not mention, sooner or later the word would somehow get to the princess about the towns enslavement and would investigate and apprehend the culprit.” I think you mean she would send me or the seven of you to investigate and apprehend, Discord thought. “No, I think whoever took the amulet has deeper plan in mind than that” Twilight counted. “So what do you think their real plan is?” Fluttershy, softly asked. “I dont know.” Twilight admitted. “but I don’t think it’s good.” The group fell silent the cheeriness they had felt before replaced with a growing wariness and unease. Which lasted approximately 5 seconds before it was broken by a certain draconequus yawn. “I really don’t understand what you’re all making such a fuss about.” Discord said as reclined his floating body next to Fluttershy. All the gazes turned to face the draconequus. “Discord dear, do you even know what the Alicorn Amulet does?” Rarity asked. “Of course I do, I had that page on the Amulet in my stomach sites the day you tried to use a reforming spell on me, I was bound to have learned something about the thing in that amount of time.” Twilight opened her mouth to ask how it was possible he could have learned anything about the amulet while that page was in stomach, but then closed her mouth, some things were best left unexplained. “And Fluttershy telling me of that whole list may have helped,” Discord stated, placing his feet on the ground and gently putting his paw on Fluttershy’s shoulder. Fluttershy looked up at Discord’s touch and they both the draconequus and the pegasus, smiled at one another happily for a second before. Discord then had a strange feeling come over him then as he stared at Fluttershy. He shook it off and continued on, removing his paw from Fluttershy which instantly felt colder for some odd reason. Any way “If anypony doesn’t believe me or anyone else has forgotten what the AA does l will explain.” In a flash of white light the 6 ponies and young dragon were sitting on a quite a large couch that seated them all. And a projector floated above the group lighting up a wide pull down screen. A circular timer counting down from five appeared with each rotation of the circle, the number decreased by one and a quiet beep sounded. Pinkiepie pulled a bag of popcorn out from her mane and squirted some of the chocolate syrup onto the popcorn. Beep,Beep,Beep. After three beeps. A black and white image of Discord appeared wearing a mortarboard and black and white polkadot bow tie. “Hello and welcome, everypony to another Professor Discord lecture , I will be your gracious host and teacher Discord. To day I will talking about a recently nicked magical necklace known as the Alicorn Amulet.” An image of a the Alicorn Amulet floated in Discord’s claw. “ A seemingly harmless piece of jewelry. However looks can be deceiving. When this amulet is fastened around one’s neck, it grants the user the powers of an alicorn and can not removed by anyones hooves save for the owners and it is also very fashionable piece of jewelry.” Discord then fastened the amulet around his neck and struck a pose. “Thank you for watching, tune in next time for our talk on magic mirrors.” The Discord on the projector then snapped the fingers on his lion paw and the area returned to its original state before Discord had used his magic. Pike stuffed the rest of her uneaten popcorn back into her mane and as an afterthought stuffed the syrup bottle in with it. “Did I miss anything, Twilight” Discord stated, floating on his back next to Fluttershy, his Mortarboard still on his head and polkadot bow tie, which apparently black and white was actually its natural colors, still hadn’t vanished. “So knowing what the amulet can do why are you so come?” Spike. “Two reasons, Spike.” Discord said, taking off his hat and throwing it away like a frisbee and letting his bowtie flutter off like a butterfly. “My magical abilities have not only beaten, but overthrown two highly trained Alicorn princesses with a just snap of my fingers.” He snapped his talons for emphasis. “And the second, if the thief does make a move, I highly doubt it would be on ponyville. no all it being are new alicorn princesses place of residence, also it will host the other three princes as well as there are royal guards for the Summer Sun Celebration” “which reminds me” he said cheerily, “I can’t wait to spend the next three days with my favorite ponies and dragon, relaxing, causing chaos, pranking, causing chaos, sleeping, causing chaos, causing chaos-” “Hate to rain your parade, Discord, none of us have will have time relaxing, you included, since we’re going to be so busy preparing for the celebration.” Twilight said. “Say what now.” “All the council of friendship came to a unanimous decision, that you will take part in helping us prepare for the upcoming Celebration. I even finished making a list of which pony you’ll be assigned to work with on each day.” “whoa, whoa, whoa,” Discord said hastily putting both his feet firmly on the ground. “The way, the to solar buts put was that I was coming down here to have fun and spend time with my friends” as soon as he said it out loud he knew just been duped by two sisters, he had been so excited to come down here to see every pony, particularly one pony, that he hadn’t thought about how this could be a trap to make him do more work. “working can be fun.” Applejack said “Yeah, especially if you do it with a friend. And some jobs can be scrumptlydelicious” Pinkie added. “It can also be overcoming and relaxing” Fluttershy added. “ But more importantly for you, Discord helping us with all the summer celebration job will help you in improve your status with all the ponies of Ponyville.” Twilight added. “And how do you figure that.” Discord queried. “It’s simple really, darling.” Rarity said. “If ponies see how hard you’re working and not causing chaos, they’ll be more willing to accept you as one of their friends.” “Ha! I have been running jobs all over Equestria for our grand highness, for quite a while now and I haven’t got one thank you card for any of .” “Yeah, but those jobs you probably do on your own, because nopony else can do them, and therefore nopony realizes how much hard work you put in to it. But here you won’t be alone, you will be working side by side with us and the other Ponyville ponies preparing for the celebration.” “And since most of the ponies have already seen you about in Ponyville before they will know what to expect, unlike other ponies who haven’t seen you and build up rumors of what they think you’re exactly like” Rainbow added. “You see Discord we’ll all have great time working and having fun.” Fluttershy said happily, smiling up at him. Discord was about to reply but he didn’t know what to say; he was both touched and taken aback about what was happening. And the why, Fluttershy was looking at him with that twinkle in her eyes wasn't helping him much for concentrating. “Welluh I hate to beleaven’ but I gotta pick up some of the Apple Family at station, and I best be moving out if I get there at 4:30.” Applejack said getting up. “What's your rush AJ, I’m sure you have plenty of time before you half to pick your fellow Apples.” Applejack glanced up at the sky for second before returning her attention back to Discord “If your definition of plenty of time is 15 minutes yeah right I got plenty of time.” “O come on AJ, you can't expect me to believe that you can tell the exact time just by looking at the sun.” Discord said. “Don't believe me? why don't ya magic up a cloak and see for yourself.” “All right I’ll call your bluff pilgrim” Discord said, conjuring up an alarm clock. “Well what its say?” Applejack said, a confident smile on her face. Discord, scowled at the clock face, “lucky guess” he mumbled. “luck got nothing to do with it, Discord.” Applejack said. “if you want, a can teach ya some time.” Discord, dismissed the clock with a flick of his wrist. “Thanks but no thanks AJ, I do not need to rely on such party tricks of telling the time since I can summon a clock whenever I please.” “Speaking of parties.” Pike explained. “I gotta bounce my self, gotta help the cakes with baking the treats for SSC.” “I think I should say my farewells too, I have quite a few orders for the celebration that I must complete” Rarity said getting up from her spot. “I best say my goodbyes as well.”Discord said giving a yawn. “ All this snooping into stolen accessories can really make a guy tired. If anypony needs me I will be at my usual lodgings .” “Actually Discord, I wanted to talk to you about that” Fluttershy said in a quiet tone. “Talk about what, Fluttershy?” Discord asked even though he had a bad feeling he knew what. “About you staying with me; now that Twilight has her new castle and she agreed to have yo-” For the first time since his reformation, Discord tuned Fluttershy out. He felt like he had been punched in the stomach from the sudden shock of Fluttershy words and he felt twice the pain. Instantly guilt and sorrow filled Discord’s heart. She still doesn't trust me, he thought, and why should she, no matter how many times he apologised to her he could never take back his action. Discord had been so preoccupied by what Fluttershy said that hadn't noted that her face had fallen or the sad tone she said it in. “Do you not want me staying with you Fluttershy?” Discord said, interrupting her in mid ramble, matching the same melancholy tone she used. “What?” Fluttershy said, surprise instantly taking the place of sadness. “whatever gave you that idea, Discord?” “Well it just sounded like you didn't want me staying with you, Fluttershy.” Discord said, confusion filling his voice “and its perfectly alright if you don't. I know I can be quite boisterous.” Discord said not wanting her to feel guilty at having him at her cottage if she didn't want him. “Of course I want you at my cottage but I didn’t know if you wanted to stay with me at my place, seeing as how my cottage is always crowded, and Twilight’s castle comes with guest rooms that are comfortable and large like the one in the Canterlot castle so I thou-.” “Fluttershy.” Discord said interrupting her rambling in now uncommonly gentle voice. “ I love spending time at your cottage even if it is a little cramped sometimes, and even if you have a devil of bunny” he mumbled the last part. “Really” Fluttershy said looking up at Discord excitedly , he noticed that the twinkle had returned to her eyes, which caused that strange feeling to come over him again. “Yes Fluttershy, your cottage is like a home away from home for me” This was a lie, Discord had never had a home before, the room in the castle the two princesses gave him was nice, well it was not that he had used some of his magic on it, but he never really associated with anything emotionally just a place to rest his head. But it was different with Fluttershy’s cottage and he couldn't figure out why, maybe it had to do with Fluttershy herself. “So you're not coming back to the castle with Spike and me?” Twilight asked. “Well that all depends, on Fluttershy’s answer” Discord said turning to the purple alicorn and then back to the shy pegasus “can I stay at your house?” “YES!” Fluttershy cried happily, out of character with her shy nature Discord thought, jumping up on her hooves. “I mean yes” she repeated again her quiet tone back as quick as it had fled. “Then I respectfully decline your invitation Princess Sparkly” Discord said, addressing Twilight with a mock bow. “I hope that you can live without having my presence.” “Oh, I think Spike and I will somehow cope”, Twilight said withrelief at not having Discord living with her for four days. Discord was a friend but Twilight could only tolerate Discord’s shenanigans for a certain amount of time before he became a nuisance . “I’ll tell you who you’re working with tomorrow then.” “Yeah, the castle’s always open though.” Spike said quickly and politely as possible, though he was feeling the same amount of relief as Twilight. “Well, shall we be on our way then, Flutters, usually your bunny gets fed around this time, doesn't he” Discord asked . “Oh my goodness, you're right, it's coming up on Angels afternoon snake, poor baby must be getting hungry.” _______ The friends packed up their picknice, and said their goodbyes to Fluttershy and Discord as they made their way to her cottage in one direction of the hill and others when way to there homes in ponyville. “I wonder why the princesses didn’t send me a message that the amulet had been stolen.” Twilight said breaking the silence that had descended upon the group since they left the picnic area. “Perhaps they just wanted to keep it under the hat, not to worry so many ponys” Apple Jack said. “Yeah, and they probably knew Discord would blab the whole thing to us” Rainbow agreed. “Speaking of Discord, did anypony else think he seemed too excited that he was staying with Fluttershy instead of us” Spike said. “ Come to think of it, Fluttershy seemed a little too excited that Discord still wanted to stay with her.” “She did seem about more vocal than usual.” Rarity agreed. “Well they do spend a lot of time with each other” Pinky added, bouncing beside her friends. Rainbow gave a shrug. “ Fluttershy lives by herself and doesn’t really get out much so I guess it’s only natural that she would like some company even if it is only for a short time. And Discord….well he’s Discord.” “Maybe.” Twilight said but she couldn't help think there was something more to it than that. “Well just have to wait and see what happens” And she meant that on both questions.