//------------------------------//
// Chapter Twenty-four; A Hairy Rescue 
// Story: Most Daring Pony 
// by CowgirlVK 
//------------------------------//

Discord laughed, tossing the kerchief over his shoulder. "Oh Applejack! Did you not expect me to come fix the one issue I left unable to be handled by any of you?" 

Fluttershy immediately stepped out. "Discord!" Her eyes were flaming, her jaw clenched. "Why. Did. You. Trap. Angel. In. The. BALL?!" 

Discord chuckled. "Oh my dear Fluttershy, a mere level of inconvenience, I assure you!" he said, twirling his beard around his claw. "It is not as if I was hurting him! Besides, the bunny was making quite the nuisance of himself. Wouldn't you agree, Spike?" 

Spike bit his lip, grabbing his tail as he tried to hide behind it. "I'd prefer not to answer that one." 

Discord laughed. "See? What did I tell you. Putting the rabbit in a cage is just what Spike needed to be able to care for him." 

"Then why didn't you make it so I could open it?" Twilight demanded, steaming. 

Discord waved his paw. "Didn't feel like it. Besides, I had other matters I needed to clear up. Had to make sure nopony messed with me getting back over here to do it. Am I not right, Pinkie Pie?"

"Posh, posh. You know exactly what I am speaking of," he said. "But no matter. The fact remains; Angel isn't getting out of there without my help. Though I should warn you..." He snapped a talon, and the sign that had previously hung on the rabbit reappeared around his neck. "He might bite."  

Twilight growled. "This isn't funny, Discord!" 

Discord smiled. "Of course it is not. No more than it is funny that you are an egghead." A chicken egg suddenly appeared on the tip of her horn and cracked, causing the contents to run down into her eyes. 

"DISCORD!" Fluttershy exclaimed. "Why are you doing this?" 

He rolled his eyes, "Why do you think, dear Fluttershy? Because it's getting a little tense around here. I'm just trying to lighten the mood. You know, all of you are going almost crazier than me with this whole situation. Most problems you have been able to solve in thirty minutes. This one, however, is taking far longer. The town is beginning to get concerned, you guys are beginning to get frazzled, and oh my, the drama!" He threw back his head and laughed. "I couldn't come up with more if it was a story about Rarity!" 

Rarity tossed her mane and shot him an icy look. "I'll have you know that-"

He stopped and looked her straight in the eye. "Save it. We all know you are nothing but drama. And I so do wonder about the drama that has been caused by all that gossip!" He disappeared, then reappeared as a hairbrush.

Rarity screamed, "Discord!" She glared at him as he transformed himself into his natural shape. 

"Really, Miss Rarity, it isn't that bad now, is it?" 

"Don't, I repeat, don't do that again." She glared at him. 

"I'll think about it," Discord said, rubbing his chin. "Alright, now where is that demon?"

Fluttershy glared. 

"I mean Angel of a bunny." Discord corrected, as he scanned the room. "There he is." Discord dragged the hiding rabbit from beneath Rainbow Dash's bed. "Noisy aren't you?" he commented before returning his attention to the rabbit. "Now, undoing this spell is quite complicated." 

"Complicated?" Twilight said, not believing a word of it. 

"Oh, quite! You see, first I need a pony to do a cartwheel."

Rolling her eyes, Applejack glanced at the draconequus. "How's a cartwheel gunna help?"

Discord only smiled, "The ball is round, is it not? Pinkie Pie, would you do the honors?" 

Pinkie giggled. "Why not? How many do you want?"

Discord shrugged. "Oh, perhaps a baker's dozen?" 

Pinkie Pie grinned, then started turning cartwheels from one end of the room to the other. "Like that?"

Discord clapped excitedly. "Bravo! Bravo! Encore! Encore! Wait, no. We must move on." Discord snapped his claw; he was now dressed in a graduation robe. "We now must continue. The next thing we need is the first eighteen digits of pi." 

"Pi?" Twilight asked. "How in Equestria is that going to help?" 

"It is round." He smirked. 

Twilight groaned, "Great, I guess I'm it for this one."

Discord nodded, "Quite it." 

Twilight growled. "Fine, 3.14159265358979323," she recited. 

Discord smiled, and with another snap of his claw, he changed into a tree. The tree rustled and shook for several moments before there was another flash of light. "I think a fashion show is out of the question." Before Rarity could protest, he was once more standing beside her. "Alright, Miss Rarity, what type of crystal is best for Sapphire Shores’ outfits?" 

Rarity's jaw dropped. "Discord, I'm sure you are aware that the answer to that question is sapphires, but I'm uncertain what-" A large bucket of crystals of all shapes, sizes, and quality appeared in front of her. 

"Gems! Yum!" Spike drooled.  

Twilight flattened her brow. "Spike!" She waved a hoof at him. 

"What?"

Discord grinned. "I see you guessed the other half!" He winked at Spike. "Rarity, you must feed Spike all the sapphires in the bucket, but not any of the rest of them. 

Twilight facehoofed. "This is going to take a while.”

Thirty minutes later, Spike sat groaning on the floor. The bucket, which was almost the same size as him, was nearly half full of nothing but sapphires. Spike liked gems, loved them in fact, but there was such thing as too many. 

Discord, however, was oblivious, or was pretending to be oblivious, one could never be sure. He stood, list in hand, studying it carefully. To everypony else, however, it was just a blank piece of paper. "Oh my," he exclaimed "Now Applejack, the tallest tale you've heard today." He grinned savagely at the farm mare. 

Applejack raised an eyebrow. "Discord, Ah think yer stallin’."

"Me? Stall!"  He turned the list around and pointed to a line. To their surprise, the parchment really did say that Applejack was to say the wildest story she'd heard during the course of the day. 

Rainbow Dash, who had woken up during the 'feed the dragon' challenge, scoffed. "Yeah, the wildest thing I've heard is the exploits you've done! Really! You have been the biggest joke today!" 

Discord thought about it. "True..."

Applejack shook her head. "Remember Dash, it's supposed ta come from me. And ah say the wildest thing ah've heard was that story ol' Flash told Spike!" 

"Winter Cutie Marks! Yay!" Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom, and Scootaloo shouted together. 

“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” Discord looked between them. “You mean a soldier has outdone me?” Discord feigned a faint. “I’ve been replaced!” A kettle appeared beside Spike. "What did he tell you?"

Spike gulped, "N-n-nothing!" 

Discord rolled his eyes. "No, he told you about the legendary Mountain Mares!" 

Spike gulped and nodded nervously. 

Discord tsked several times, shaking his head. "Not a group I'd mess with, if I were any of you," he said, a crackling fire and fireplace replacing a window. He sat wrapped in a bright red ‘rug’ with a pair of wire glasses on his face in a big lazy boy chair. "The Mountain Mares are the closest thing those wild mountains have to leaders." He looked each one of the dozen ponies in the eye. "And their hearts are as frozen as the snow dusted peaks they rule! They care not for culture. War and famine has plagued their land for generations- and they are heartless!" 

Twilight rolled her eyes. "Right, and why should we believe you? Besides, how many are there?" 

Discord grinned. "Because I've sneaked in on private conferences with them at Celestia's castle. I've seen many. Nopony is quite sure of their number, but it isn't small." 

Rainbow Dash cocked her head. "I'm surprised they've never come down to fight!" 

Discord shook his head. "I fear even I would lose against their full number. They have as much magic as the princesses, are stronger than an earth pony stallion, and are more clever and agile than any pegasus in Equestria. And that is not all." He looked around the group, his eyes alive with fear. "They can bring winter wherever they go!" 

The young fillies gasped, hugging one another. Discord snapped, a white cloud appearing within the room over their heads. Snapping again, it dumped a bucket of snow upon them. "Just like that."

Just as suddenly as he had gone serious, the snow, fireplace, and chair were gone, and he now stood in a western getup upon Big Mac's back, no larger than Angel bunny himself. "Now," he read, pulling his best southern accent, "That list says ah need ta spot ya two!" 

Big Mac and Cheerilee were once again speckled in multi-colored dots. Cheerilee placed a hoof over her mouth. "Oh my," she gasped. 

"Eeyup!" Big Mac grunted. 

"You bet!" Discord grinned. He turned to Rainbow Dash. "Let's see, you can't fly, you can't crash, you can't memorize-"

"Just what are you doing?" Rainbow Dash grumbled, cutting him off. 

"There we go, that's what I needed," Discord said with a smirk. 

"WHAT?!" Dash snapped. 

"I needed you to shoot those little daggers through my slender body," he said. "If I had simply asked for you to growl, it would not have worked." 

"And what is that supposed to mean?" Rainbow Dash glowered. 

"I would highly advise you stop now. Otherwise, you could make the crystal explode, then I fear it might harm all of you, especially the rabbit."

Discord glanced to Fluttershy who was petting the crystal ball, whispering words of comfort to the bunny who was glaring at him. "Fluttershy," he said. "I need you to tell him to go to bed now."

"Oh!" Fluttershy yipped.  "How could he? This isn't his home!" 

"That is the last thing I need to break this spell," Discord explained. "Unless you tell the rabbit to go to bed, and mean it, the crystal ball will not open to release its prisoner." 

Rainbow Dash facehoofed. "You are crazy!" she said. 

"Crazy Dashie!" Pinkie giggled. "This is so much fun! I've never been this nervouscited before in my life! Well, except for when Twilight got the castle, or turned into an alicorn, but are you kidding? This is so tenseful!" 

"Pinkie Pie, " Cheerilee said in her best teacher voice. "It's either nervous, or excited. And it's full of tense. Nervouscited and tenseful are not real words." 

Pinkie Pie shrugged. "I'm still super excited!" She pulled a giant cookie out of nowhere and shoved the entire thing into her mouth. "What? I need sugar!" 

"Pinkie," Dash said. "You are so random."

Pinkie nodded. "I know right! Okay Fluttershy, tell Angel to go to bed and mean it!" 

Fluttershy gulped. "Um, alright, Angel, please go to bed," she said shakily. 

Angel tapped a foot, crossing his arms over his chest. Fluttershy looked to Discord with a frown. "It's not working."

Discord rolled his eyes. "Of course it didn't work! You didn't try hard enough."

Fluttershy squinted her eyes closed. Taking a deep breath, she whisper-shouted in her sternest voice, "Angel. Go. To. Bed!" 

Nothing happened. Discord sat back on his heels and played with his beard as every eye in the room turned to him. "That should have worked," he said, pulling back out the parchment he read down it. "Oh my, wrong one!" he said at last. "This is for the other crystal ball I use!" He snapped his talon, "All he needs is a bit of chaos." With that, everything that had been mixed up righted itself, Angel was free, and Discord was gone. 

Twilight growled. "That-that-that!" She gritted her teeth together. "All that and it's the wrong spell?! All he needed was to snap and Angel would have been free!" 

Fluttershy sighed. "Does seem so," she said softly. 

"But you have to admit," Pinkie giggled, turning cartwheels in the empty areas of the room, "It would not have been half as fun." 

"Getting stuffed full of gems is fun?" Spike asked, patting his stomach. 

Applejack shook her head. "Don't try ta figure it out Spike. The more ya think, the more it'll hurt. Discord's ways ain't ours." 

"Eeyup!" Big Mac nodded, his face unreadable. 

"Get off it, BM!" Applejack smiled weakly. "I think you looked cute with freckles from nose to hoof."

--------------------------------

Lilly took deep, measured breaths as soon as she got inside, standing with her eyes closed and head down. If there was one little quirk in her character that annoyed her more than any other, it was how fast she could get angry and then not be able to control it. Some days were better than others—this just wasn't one of those days. Sufficiently getting her temper reigned in, she entered the industrial-sized kitchen made to feed all of the over 200 ponies that could be fed on any given day during this time of the year. Mares, stallions, fillies, and colts of all tribes, sizes, ages, and colors mucked about. But Lilly was not interested in any of them, nor was she interested in the smells. Carrot stew was her favorite, but currently not on her radar as something to be paid attention to. 

Scanning the room, Lilly's eyes finally landed on her two younger sisters—her twin Catstitch, and her baby sister Water Jewel. Water Jewel was like Lilly, a pegasus. Only five years of age, the filly had the same rougher build of Catstitch, but was colored like her cousin Crystal Glass.  her coat blue, with a pink mane and tail. The filly lay in the middle of the floor. "Oh, but Cat, this is too hard! I'm going to die!" she cried dramatically. 

Catstitch, was at the end of her rope completely. Like Lilly Feathers, she had a hot temper, but while Lilly was more likely to be loud, then ignore the pony for years, Cat became very quiet and almost hissed when she was upset. "Water Jewel, must I tell mum?" 

"It's too hard!" Water Jewel continued to pull the dramatics on full force. "I can't do it! I will never be able to hold a knife in my wing!"

"Aye WJ, ye will be," Cat continued to hiss. "Ye will in fact be able to do this if ya practice!" 

One of Lilly's cousins stepped over the sprawled filly on his way to the counter with a hot pan. Water Jewel didn't move a muscle until he had moved past them. 

"Excuse me, but am I disturbing-" 

Catstitch looked up, fear quickly filling her eyes. Tossing Water Jewel over her withers, she pushed Lilly rapidly back out into the restaurant-sized dining room. "Lilly! If ah've told ye once, ah've told ye a million times! Keep ye jinxed hooves out of the kitchen!"

Lilly's ears flopped down. "Sorry twin."

Catstitch removed their youngest sister from her back, then pulled Lilly into a bone-crushing hug. "Sis, ye need ta get around here more often! Ye are neigh about often enough!" 

Lilly sighed, pulling Water Jewel in with her wing. "I do come, Cat. You are just never home when I am." 

Catstitch sighed, "Neigh, Ah be not. But that be neither here, nor there. We have a mission." 

Lilly nodded. "So I heard." She pulled her own letter out of her bag and handed it to Catstitch. 

Catstitch read through it rapidly. "Ye did bring Steady, right?" Her voice was somewhat alarmed. 

"No, I didn't bring him," Lilly flattened her brow. "He invited himself."

"That be funny," Cat mused. "The letter ah got said he was ta come." 

Lilly threw her forelegs in the air. "What is this world coming to?! Next thing I know, Celestia will want Steady and Arrow to do a mission!" 

"Neigh a bad idea," Cat said, scratching her chin and nodding. 

Lilly facehoofed. "No, not bad, horrendous!" she deadpanned. 

"To each be his own," Cat reminded. "Anywho, ah need ye, and we need ta talk." 

Lilly rolled her eyes. "Why am I not surprised? So, I'm guessing you have more info than I got."

Catstitch nodded. "Aye, ah contacted Glitter and Celestia a wee bit ago and got as much info as ah could. Ah fear it be neigh very much."

Lilly sighed, but nodded. "Alright, what have you got?”

“Ye know we be headin’ ta the new castle?” Cat inquired. 

“Friendship, right? Magic’s?” 

Catstitch nodded. “From the information ah got, seems some of them have hurt themselves pretty bad. Ah didn’t get a how nor when, but seems the princess be wantin’ ye ta use yer talent in therapy and help em’ on the road to recovery.” 

Lilly shook her head, rolling her eyes. “At least they’ve decided to use my talent this time and not just my title." 

Cat smiled sadly. "We be always takin' into account yer talent."

Lilly glared, but said no more on that topic. "So, did it say how?"

Catstitch shrugged. "I neigh be sure if ah remember. But the reason we need Steady-"

"Besides the fact we would have had to be on the train five minutes ago-" Lilly commented.

"Besides that," Cat agreed. "Seems Rainbow Dash be one of the ones injured. Glitter checked the record. “And there be a storm on the forecast-"

Lilly facehoofed. "Rainbow!" she growled, rubbing her eyes. "How many times did I tell you to SPECIFY?!" 

Catstitch grinned. "She neigh did learn, did she?" 

"Are you kidding, Catstitch? I was a broken record with that filly!" Lilly Feathers exclaimed. "'Miss Dash, please sit down. Miss Dash, please don't rock back in your chair. Miss Dash, please put your name on the top of your- No, you may not go a million miles a second AROUND the building till we all get dizzy. Miss Dash, please- Miss Crash, please put the books back up on the shelves! Please!"

By this point Catstitch was in stitches, hissing through her teeth. "Ye had yer hooves full." 

Lilly threw her hooves up in the air in exasperation. Shaking her head, the irritated look quickly turned into a smile. "I miss that bundle of energy. It was quite nice to have a student whose only problem was paying attention. Once I figured out how to get around that, I was good to go. Unlike with the rest of the group, Bumble, Jinx, and Flutterfly." Her eyes got a faraway look to them. "Oh, Bumble was so stupid! And then he hardly had any wings whatsoever! You know he was the school bully ‘till he got put in my class?" Lilly giggled. "Then Jinx could make anything turn into a disaster, and Flutterfly was just so timid and wimpy." She sighed, "Sometimes I wonder what they are up to." 

Catstitch nodded, only half listening to her twin ramble. "Back to it, Lil. Steady has a knack for reading between lines." 

Lilly blushed and nodded shyly. "That he does." 

Catstitch nodded. "If anypony can make sense of what Rainbow Dash wrote up for this month's weather schedule, it would be him."

Lilly nodded thoughtfully. "There are a few in the Wonderbolts’ ranks that could do it as well, but I'm uncertain on how well I could get that point across to Spitty."

"You two still fightin’?" Cat groaned. 

Lilly shook her head. "We aren't fighting. She just doesn't like me."

Just at that moment, Steady chose to finally make his appearance. Catstitch beamed from ear to ear. "Steady, we were just talking about ye!" 

Water Jewel looked up from where she had been playing on the floor, screamed, then dove under Lilly's right wing so that only her tail and nose stuck out.

Lilly groaned, "Steads!"

Steady raised an eyebrow. "Indeed," he said to both mares. Eyeing the pink tail, he cocked his head to the side before turning his attention to the younger twin. "May I ask what you were saying?"

"But-"

Lilly shook her head. "You actually have a part this time."

Steady switched eyebrows he had raised. "I am to carry your sister to Ponyville," he affirmed. 

Catstitch sighed, "More to it that that, Mr. Flyer. Do ye know of the Elements?" 

Steady sat back in the chair. "Does anypony not?"

Lilly smiled. "That's a yes, Cat."

Catstitch glared. "Neigh! Ah be tinkin’ it be a no! I be only born yester' morn’." 

Lilly waved her hoof. "Continue, dear sister of mine."

Catstitch shot Lilly the death stare. "Anyways, one'a the Elements be the weather keeper." 

"Rainbow Dash," Steady stated. 

Catstitch, for several moments, groped for a response. "Aye!" she finally said, surprised that he knew.

Steady nodded solemnly, his eyes going distant. Cat opened her mouth to speak, but Lilly stopped her. "No good, Caddie. He's thinking. He won't be able to hear a word you say."

They both waited until Steady's eyes cleared again. "Might I ask what Miss Dash has to do with the mission?" 

Catstitch nodded. "Aye, ye see, ah dunna know for right certain who all be under the weather as it were, but ah know she be one of them. From what I was tol', she dunna keep the books as well as she should." 

Steady nodded. "I see." 

Lilly placed her hooves to either side of her face. "You do, huh?"

Steady raised an eyebrow but said nothing. 

"Anyways," Cat reminded them, "Lilly is a' called ta help set up a therapy routine ta help get them on the road to recovery. While we doin' that, we need ya ta take care of the books."

"You can do that, right Steady?" Lilly inquired.    

Steady nodded. "Indeed." He confirmed.

Lilly let out a breath she did not know she was holding. "Alright, anything else sis?" 

Catstitch nodded. "Aye, while ah was dealin’ with that, Celestia wrote me." This letter she had on hoof. Pulling it from her mending basket under her chair, she hoofed it over to Lilly. 

Dear Motivation and Dedication, 

Greetings, and I hope this letter finds you well. I know I have laid upon your shoulders a hefty load, but we are hoping your sister Glitter will be finished in Griffinstone by the end of tomorrow evening. She told us she has almost reached a compromise that is to both of the countries’ likings. So, I would like to see the three of you in the Crystal Empire after your meeting with the Elements of Harmony. 

Princess Celestia. 

Lilly groaned, "Just like her." 

Catstitch nodded. "Aye, that it be, but it'a also be a fine time ta get all this settled away. Glitter willa be back, ye donna have ta be back at work ‘till Monday, right?"

Lilly nodded in agreement. Catstitch sighed, "I wasa hopin’ ye woulda say that. And when we be all done, we be goin’ swimmin’ in the Loch Pegasus."

Lilly smiled. "Sure will." Turning her attention to Water Jewel, who was still hiding beneath her, she groaned, "Alright kid, you are getting way too big to be hiding under my wings. Out you come.”

Slowly the filly poked more than just that little nose out from under the wing. "But Lilly!" She griped.

With that, Lilly opened her wings and set her youngest sister on the chair beside her. "You are way too big to be carried."

Catstitch nodded and smiled. “Anyways, ye need ta finish peelin ’ carrots.”

Water Jewel made a face. “But I don’t wanna!” she whined. 

Lilly ruffled the already messy mane of her baby sister. “Come on, Tadpole, we can do this together. Why, you haven’t seen a better carrot peeler in all-”

“Not in there, you don’t!” Cat stated before either one of them could get up. “I’ll bring it out here. Ah neigh gunna allow a jinx in my kitchen!” Under her breath she muttered, “Let’s just hope nothing goes wrong this time.”