About halfway to Sweet Apple Acres, Fluttershy clenched her mouth tight as she held her a hoof over her mouth.
“I must control myself,” she said to herself. “I must control myself. I…must…control…myself.”
She kept repeating this mantra, until she reached Sweet Apple Acres. Once there she bumped into Big Mac and asked him where she could find fresh apples. He pointed her toward the barn, stating that he just harvested a few of them earlier today. As she reached the barn door she let out a long sigh.
“Keep it together Fluttershy.”
She then slowly opened the door.
“Who is it?” asked Applejack.
Fluttershy peeked her head into the door.
“Applejack, it’s me Fluttershy.”
She then saw Applejack turn and greet her with a smile.
“Hey there, Fluttershy,” Applejack greeted. “Did ya need somethin’, sugarcube?”
As the scent of fresh apples hit her nostrils, Fluttershy tried to remain calm. As a result, she began to shift around nervously.
“Um…I was wondering…if I could have some fresh apples?” she asked.
When she looked back to her, she saw Applejack gave her a tilted glance.
“Yeah, of course ya can. There some right over there,” she said as she pointed to a cart of fresh apples.
Once she gaze upon the fresh apples, the sunlight that reflected off of them made them look divine. Fluttershy felt her eyes grow to the size of saucers as a little bit of drool started to trickle down her chin. She slowly felt her control start to slip as she began to lick her lips at the thought of devouring all the apples in that cart. She quickly steeled her resolve and she had a little grin upon her face as she flew across the room to the cart.
“Thanks AJ.”
Applejack gave a warm smile.
“Not a problem Flutter-”
Before she could finish, Fluttershy quickly grabbed as many apples as she could carry and then flew out the door.
“-shy… What the hay was that about?” Applejack asked bewildered.
With her prize in hoof, Fluttershy then flew quickly back to her cottage.
--------------------------------
As Fluttershy arrived back to her cottage, she rushed upstairs to her room and locked herself inside. When she placed the apples on the floor, she started to fall into a trance. She then began to devour the apples one by one. While she ate, Fluttershy felt herself start to change. Her normal long, flowing pink mane became jagged and darkened in color, her gentle cyan eyes were now crimson red, her yellow coat turn to a darker shade and her Cutie Mark was now three dark pink bats. Fluttershy was no longer able to fight it any longer as her darker half, Flutterbat, was now in control.
With every apple she’d devour, she would spit out into a pile of dried appled. With the final apple now gone, she began to lick her lips for any juice that might’ve escaped from her lips. While she did this, she then caught the smell of another apple that was coming from behind her. She turned her head around and narrowed her eyes as she saw the apple was in Discord’s paw. As she turned around fully, Discord sported his trademark toothy grin.
“Well…well…well, what have we here?” Discord said, as he tossed the apple in the air.
Flutterbat gave a low hiss.
“I absolutely love the new look,” said Discord. “And just how long have you been keeping this from me?”
Flutterbat just hissed in response, she quickly flew at him and grabbed the apple while in midair. Within seconds, she drank it dry and spat it out onto the floor. With a hearty laugh, Discord snapped up another apple into his paw.
“Come this way, my dear,” he said in an alluring tone as he floated out of the room.
She then followed him close, while she kept the apple in her view.
“So, can you understand me?” he asked.
She nodded in response, never once losing vision on the apple. Intrigued, he then offered the apple to her.
”Can you still speak?” he asked.
Flutterbat shook her head and grabbed the apple out of his paw and devoured it once more. Once again, he snapped up another apple.
“So, about that timberwolf business…mind if we talk about it?”
The bat mare let out an angry hiss and quickly snatched the apple from his paw and flew to the ceiling and hung upside down.
“Hmph…I guess not,” he huffed.
Discord then teleported up to her. As he hovered upside down, he saw her glare at him with her crimson eyes as she wrapped herself in her wings.
“So how long are you going to be this way?” he asked.
She doesn’t even respond to him. Discord was at a loss as to what to do for her. But he soon he found himself lost in her ‘adorable’ crimson eyes. It felt as if he were under a trance, as he could’ve sworn she batted her eyes at him.
Discord, a bit lovestruck, gently placed his talon on her rough, yet somehow still soft, mane and slowly brushed it. In response, Flutterbat angrily hissed at him and bite him. Discord snapped out the trance, to see that she was now biting his talon. Her teeth were deep enough that it started to bleed. As he saw his blood hit the floor he wasn't angry, upset or even terrified. He was just sympathetic.
“It’s okay…” he responded.
His reaction caught her off guard, as she tilted her head of confusion. While his talon was in her mouth, he used his paw to continue to keep brushing her mane.
“Even if you have a darker coat, pointed ears, sharp fangs, different wings and those lovely crimson eyes...You’re still my dear Fluttershy.”
Discord then leaned over to her and gave her a soft kiss on the cheek. This made Flutterbat slightly blush. She then quickly released him and flew out of the room.
“Wait!” he called out.
He then followed after her. As they flew around the house, he soon found out that her bat pony self is a lot more agile and faster flier. She soon made her way outside she then hung upside down again on a tree branch. Discord stood beneath the tree a little out of breath.
“She certainly more agile than I’m use to…” he said a little winded.
Once he caught his breath, he summoned a baked apple crisp.
“I know you’re not going to say much, but I’d really like it if you can down and listened.”
As the bouquet of the fresh apple crisp reached her nostrils, Flutterbat slowly tucked her wings away to look at him.
“Now I don’t quite know what happened to you, my dear. But it’s not necessarily a bad thing that it happened,” Discord said, as he slowly waved the baked treat.
She licked her lips at the sight of such a delicious smelling delicacy. As the hungry bat mare quickly flew down to take the fresh baked apple crisp for him, Discord quickly spawned a collar around her neck.
“Now I know that this might seem a touch strange, but I am running out of apples and I’d really like to keep you from flying away,” he said, as he attached the leash to the collar.
Flutterbat then tried to get the collar off of her neck. As she struggled, she looked up to see that the moon was being covered by clouds. With the moon now hidden, she started to turn back into her pegasus self. She then shook head.
“Ugh…what happened?” she muttered to herself.
She noticed that she was wearing a collar attached to a leash that was held by Discord.
“Umm…Discord? Why am I wearing a collar?” she asked with a heavy blush.
Discord stammered to respond and quickly snapped the collar off of her. Before she could ask what was going on she notice shirvelled apples on the ground. Her pupils shrunk in horror.
“Oh, no. Did I-”
She then looked to the sky to see it was about night time.
“Oh no, I’m late! I have to go!”
She quickly flew into the house for the mulch bag of rotten carrots and headed into town. Discord then seemingly looked into the camera confused.
“What just happened?”
----------
As the screen started to fast forward again, Discord looked beside him to see that Pinkie was giving him a teasing smirk.
“What?” Discord deadpanned.
“I didn’t know you were so naughty, Dissy…” she said with playful glance.
“It wasn’t anything like that. I was just trying to keep her from flying off again,” he defended.
The girls then look at him with wagging eyebrows.
“I’m telling you it wasn’t like that,” Discord groaned.
“It’s okay, Dissy. We all have at least one or two kinks,” Pinkie said with a wink.
He then rolled his eyes and resumed playing of the story at the point where Fluttershy ran back her cottage later that night.
----------
She was flying at a fevered pace back to her cottage, with Pinkie Pie close behind her.
“Please don’t follow me, Pinkie Pie!” Fluttershy cried.
As she reached her cottage, Fluttershy flew and slammed the door behind her. She then quickly locked the door. Fluttershy then fell to the floor to catch her breath. She was desperately trying to maintain control and not let out Flutterbat.
“You can do this, Fluttershy,” she muttered to herself. “You can control it…as long I don’t go outside and see or smell an-”
The mare’s thought were cut short when to her horror and delight she saw a buffet of various apple treats on her kitchen table. Among them were apple pies, apple cider, caramel apples, apple fitters, apple muffins, apple sauce, apple pancakes, etc.
As she slowly backed into the door, the timid mare’s breath became erratic at the scent of all the sweet and delicious looking apples that were now in front of her. Though she tried to fight the sweet fragrance of the alluring apple treats, Fluttershy soon found that it was a losing battle. Without even realizing it, she had already began to walk toward the table. With each step her mouth began to water as she slowly began to change. She felt her fangs start to protrude out of her mouth.
“They…look…so…delicious…” she uttered in a trance like tone.
Halfway through the transformation, she came to her senses and stopped her march to the bounty of apples.
“No! I…can’t… I don’t want this…” she quietly wept to herself.
She then saw an apple roll across the room and stop at her hooves. She then looked up to see that Discord was lounging on the pile of apples next to the table. He then smiled at her while he took a bite of an apple.
“I’m curious, my dear.” Discord spoked with a soothing voice while taking another bite of the apple. “Why do you fight that part of you?”
“Why…why Discord? Why are you doing this?” Fluttershy asked horrified.
Before he could answered they heard a loud knock at the door.
“Fluttershy, what’s wrong?” Pinkie Pie shouted, as she continued to bang on the door.
“Please Pinkie…” Fluttershy cried out “Just go away.”
She looked to see the he had teleported next to her.
“It’s simple my dear…” Discord spoke wrapping around her like a his snake. “I just want to help you accept who you’ve become…let it happen.”
Fluttershy clenched her teeth as she tried to resist the transformation.
“But…why?”
Discord gently placed his claw on her mane slowly stroked it.
“Because no matter what you change into, you’d still be you.
“Discord…”
“So want to I’m going to help you control it. We wouldn’t want you to attack anypony, right?” he said as he show her his bandaged talon.
“Did I do that to you?” she gasped.
“Yes, my dear but I know that it was only in self-defense.”
He then grinned as he wrapped around her and lifted her chin to meet his gaze.
“Since the day we met I’ve always saw you as the strong pony,” he spoke in a hushed tone.
“S-Strong? Me?” she asked incredulously.
“Yes, dear Fluttershy. You…who selflessly sacrifices for her friends without expecting anything in return. You…who cares for others more than for herself,” he continued as he leaned closer, which caused her to blush. “You… looked at me, the embodiment of chaos, and saw past my faults to offer me your friendship. To me that make you the strongest pony I know.”
This caused her slightly to tear up.
----------
Discord paused it when he heard the sound of sniffling. He looked to see the girls were teary-eyed.
“Discord…that was beautiful,” said Twilight.
“I wasn’t that big of a deal. I was just-”
“Speaking from the heart?” Rarity chimed in.
“Well…yes…” he blushed.
Pinkie then wrapped him into a big hug.
“Aw, Dissy. You act all mean and nasty, but deep down you’re just a big old softie,” she smiled.
He then let out an annoyed groan.
“I’m never gonna live this down…” he facepalmed.
“Nope, I’ll be milking this for all it’s worth,” grinned Rainbow.
“Whatever, let’s just finish the rest of the story…”
He then continued the story.
----------
“So let me help you with this,” he offered.
Hesitant at first, Fluttershy gave an approving nod. With a grin, Discord released her and summoned another apple. He then began to swing it like a pendulum. Her eyes then followed the captivating fruit, and began to fall into a trance. When she started to reach for the apple, another loud knock on the door caused her to snap out of her trance.
“Why won’t you help, Fluttershy?” Pinkie Pie asked. “We’re gonna need your help catching this timberwolf.”
Fluttershy then shook her head and groaned.
“Please…Pinkie Pie…just go away.”
“So, you’re still going after that timberwolf?” Discord asked while he continued to swing the apple.
“Yes…” she admitted. “But…I can’t…not like this…”
She her focus then shifted back to the apple. As the apple pendulum swung, Fluttershy felt her inner bat wanting to get out.
“Indeed. That big…strong…nasty timberwolf might hurt some innocent pony. You might not be able to stop it, but I bet Flutterbat could.”
“I…can?”
With a smile, Discord placed his talon at the base of her neck and glided it down her back which caused her to shiver. She then looked at him to see a confident grin on his face.
“I know you can…Flutterbat…”
As his words reached her ears, she felt the transformation take hold. With nothing to hold her back any longer, she completed the full Flutterbat transformation. She then looked around in confusion. Yet again Discord summoned another apple.
“Apple, my dear?” he offered.
Flutterbat snatched the apple and started eating it. Discord grinned at her actions.
“There you go…”
Once done, she saw the apple buffet on the table. With licked lips, Flutterbat began to consume every apple dish in sight. Discord watched in amusement, as he bore witness to his once timid friend now turned bat pony and eating everything that was within her range. Seemingly in a flash, she had devoured the whole buffet. Still not sated, the bat mare turned her attention to Discord. With her eyes narrowed, she slowly walked toward him with a predatory hiss. Discord then took a step back from her.
“Easy now…it’s me Fluttershy. It’s your friend Discord. I know that probably I smell like apples right now, but I assure you that I’m not one,” he said, as he flailed his talon and paw.
She ignored his words and continued to stalk him. With each step, her hissing became louder and louder. As she advanced, Discord continued to take steps backwards.
“Maybe this wasn’t such a great idea,” he gulped. “Fluttershy…I know you’re in there. You have to take control.”
She then let out a loud hiss. Discord was then prepare to teleport away, but he wasn’t quick enough as he was tackled to the floor by her. As she pinned him to the ground, she began to sniff his body.
“Umm…what exactly are you doing, my dear?” he asked a little frightened.
She ignored him and kept sniffing his body. The aroma of sweet cotton candy mixed with apples both intrigued and confused the mare. She knew this scent, but couldn’t quite put her hoof on it. Instead of biting him, like he thought she would, she moved off of him. As he sat up, she tilted her head in confusion. It was if she was trying to remember who he is.
“F-Fluttershy? Are you still in there?” he asked cautiously.
Before she could react, her ears perked up as she heard an eerie howl. Baring her teeth, she flew out the door, almost knocking it off its hinges, and headed toward Ponyville. As Pinkie then ran after her, Discord merely chuckled.
“Good luck my dear…”
----------
“And there you have it,” Discord spoke, as he snapped away the screen and projector.
Discord turned to see Twilight was looking at him while she rubbed her temples.
“Okay, I understand that you were just trying to help her control her bat pony self, but did you ever stop to think that tonight might not have been the best night for that?” she spoke with annoyance.
Discord then rolled his eyes and folded his arms.
“I was only trying to help my friend,” he huffed.
“We understand that darling, but how can turning her into Flutterbat possibly help us?” Rarity questioned.
“It simple really. What better way to stop a monster than with another one?” Discord explained as he stroked his beard. “Plus, I may be able to win this bet…”
“Wait…what was that last part?” Pinkie asked with an arched eyebrow.
Before Discord could respond, Timberjack let out a howl. They look to see the she had finished her wood. She then headed toward the Town Square.
“Somepony stop her!” Rainbow shouted.
Flutterbat ears perked and looked up to see Timberjack was escaping. She then opened her wings and pursued her.
“Fluttershy…wait…” shouted Twilight.
Timberjack looked back to see that she’s being chased by Flutterbat. The wooden pony growled angrily and continued running faster. Flutterbat quickly closed the gap between them, but wasn’t able to fully catch up with her. That’s when Flutterbat came up with a plan. She flew up and then hid in the shadows. When Timberjack looked back and saw that she wasn’t being chased anymore, she slowed her pace to a trot. After a few seconds, she’s then tackled by Flutterbat. As the two rolled around on the ground, Timberjack managed to grab her and throw Flutterbat off of her. When Flutterbat got to her hooves, they two glared at each other with gritted teeth. After a brief standoff, they both charged each other to begin their epic battle.