//------------------------------// // Chapter 2. Proverbs 17:22 // Story: The Ponies who Played with Fire // by A M Shark //------------------------------// Chapter 2 "A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a broken spirit dries up the bones."—Proverbs 17:22 Skywishes woke the next morning to the sound of soft but still audible sniffling. She padded into the main room to see Fluttershy crying and cradling Angel's limp body. The coral-colored pegasus walked over to the couch and just stood there, silently waiting to be noticed. Realizing she had an audience, Fluttershy looked up, wiping at her eyes and intending to explain things. Before she could, Skywishes spoke. "You planning to bury him?" Skywishes's brisk, matter-of-fact tone helped snap Fluttershy momentarily out of her grief. "Oh, um, yes." "Where?" "In my garden. There was a spot there he liked." "Hmm." Skywishes pushed herself up onto her hind legs and put her front hooves onto the couch on either side of Fluttershy, looking down at them as if measuring the space between them. Then she lifted one hoof so that it was near where Angel's head tipped back limply over Fluttershy's foreleg. At first Fluttershy wondered if the other pegasus intended to pet Angel's head, but Skywishes just kept her hoof in the air several inches away from him, her vacant eyes flicking back and forth between them for about five seconds. Then she dropped back onto all fours. "If you show me the spot where you want him buried, I can dig the hole while you say your goodbyes." A few minutes later, Skywishes was outside, digging a hole with her hooves while Fluttershy got a box to put Angel in. With tears trickling down her face, she laid him in the box and tucked one of his favorite blankets around him. The grief in her heart over losing him was painful, but as she finished wrapping him in the blanket and gazed down at his face one last time, that pain was suddenly tempered with a strange sense of relief. As Angel had gotten older and feebler over the past year, there had been many days when he was clearly in pain, and she had sometimes wondered if it would have been kinder to put him down rather than prolong his suffering. Yet every time those thoughts had crossed her mind she just had to go to him, stroke his thinning fur and look into his cloudy, but still determined eyes. She knew he would resent her making that kind of decision for him and he wasn't about to go anywhere until he was good and ready. Now that he had finally moved on, she wouldn't have to worry about his discomfort any longer. While part of her longed to be able to hold him one last time and bid him a proper goodbye, his dying peacefully in his sleep was really the best way he could have gone. Now, as she gazed down at his motionless face, she thought of the various ups and downs they'd had over the course of his life. There had been times when he had been unpleasant and demanding, but there had also been many times when he had taken care of her as much as she had taken care of him. And last year he had even helped save her life— The memory sent a sharp jab of pain into her heart because with it came the confusion she now felt whenever she thought of Discord. Squeezing her eyes shut, she tried to force any thoughts of the draconequus away. This isn't the time to think about him. Think about Angel. Opening her eyes, she looked back down at him and fresh tears filled her eyes. She wanted to tell him how much she loved him, and how much he'd meant to her, but all she could choke out was a soft, "Goodbye Angel. I'll never forget you." Then she kissed the top of his head one last time before covering his face with the blanket, and putting the box's lid in place. Carrying the box outside, she saw Skywishes still pawing away at the soil like a machine. As Fluttershy drew nearer, she noticed that the hole looked just about the right size to hold Angel's box, and she wondered if Skywishes had calculated those dimensions when she'd been moving her hooves about on the couch earlier. Fluttershy cleared her throat, and Skywishes looked up from digging, her eyes flicking to the box and back up to Fluttershy's face. "I—" Fluttershy set the box down and wiped at her eyes. "I said my goodbyes." Skywishes nodded and flapped her wings just enough to lift herself up onto the ground next to the pile of earth she'd dug up. Fluttershy laid the box in the hole and Skywishes shoved the pile of earth back over it, patting the mound down with her hooves. Since winter was on its way, there weren't many flowers around, but Fluttershy found some leafy carrot tops and used them to mark the grave instead. Finally the two pegasi moved back to study their work. "Thank you for helping with that," said Fluttershy, trying to hold back more tears. Skywishes shrugged, then looked around as if not sure how to respond. "Well, I should probably get back to the TreeHAB." She pushed off the ground and flew to the cottage. "Sorry about your pet, but thanks for telling me about Sunny." "Skywishes wait!" Fluttershy cried and flew after her. "Before you go, would you like to come meet the rest of my friends?" Considering the time it had taken to find the coral-colored pegasus, it didn't seem right to just let her go off without giving the others a chance to meet her. Skywishes had been tugging on her camo, but at Fluttershy's words she paused and gave the yellow pegasus a considering look. At first Fluttershy thought she was going to refuse, but then Skywishes replied with: "Sure, I'll go meet them." Fluttershy decided that Sugarcube Corner was their best bet to meet up with any of her friends. Most of the other five ponies had spent the past year traveling about, making it much harder to get together like they had always been able to before, but over the past couple of days Pinkie Pie had been staying at Sugarcube Corner more often than usual. The Cakes had gone away on a family vacation and she was minding the store for them. However when Fluttershy entered the bakery, she saw not only Pinkie Pie, but also Twilight. "I've got it narrowed down to High Winds and Haystings—" Twilight was saying when Pinkie Pie's head suddenly went up. "Hi, Fluttershy! Care to join us?" Then she frowned. "Are you okay?" Before she and Skywishes had left the cottage, Fluttershy had washed her face to hide the signs of her crying, but on the way to the bakery she hadn't been able to stop fresh tears from spilling out. "I will be," she said, her voice trembling with the effort not to break down. "It's just that ... well ... Angel died last night." She sniffed hard and swallowed. "I knew it was probably going to happen soon ... but it's still hard..." Her two friends got up from the table, moved to her side, and pulled her into a comforting hug. In the ten years that had passed since Applejack's disappearance, Owlowiscious, Opalescence, and (much to Applejack's regret) Winona had all passed on as well. Now that Angel was gone, Tank and Gummy were the only two surviving pets. Realizing that most of her friends had also experienced the loss of a pet helped sooth Fluttershy as much as Twilight and Pinkie's embrace did. "Thanks, girls," she said, pulling back from them. "I'll be all right. I just ... need to focus on something else for a bit now." She glanced over at the paper Twilight had left on the table. "What were you talking about when I came in?" "Oh, we were trying to figure out who Rainbow Dash's mystery pen pal is, and I brought a list of all current and former Wonderbolts," said Twilight. "You're looking for all the ones who start with H?" asked Fluttershy, a small smile tugging at her mouth, as she thought of the mystery the rest of her friends had been trying to solve involving a postcard Rainbow Dash had accidentally dropped almost a year ago. "Oooh, who's that from?" Pinkie had said as she scurried over to the card. She had started to read it out loud, but was interrupted by a loud "Give me that!" from Rainbow Dash, as the blushing blue pegasus snatched up the card. At the time, this little event was far overshadowed by the news of Applejack's return, but later on Rainbow Dash's friends (with the exception of Fluttershy who had been too consumed with confusion over Discord's sudden departure to feel curious about much else) had started to wonder why she was so determined to keep that card's contents a secret. According to Pinkie Pie, the card had said: Ray, See you at the usual place at the usual time. —H They had guessed that Ray must be some sort of nickname H had given Rainbow Dash, but they still hadn't been able to figure out who H was, nor why Rainbow Dash seemed so determined to keep him or her a secret. They had noticed that Rainbow Dash seemed to be unusually sneaky with some of her letters, which made them suspect the letters were either to or from H but the girls never got a chance to check this for sure. At the thought of mail, Fluttershy suddenly remembered who was still standing outside the bakery, waiting for the signal to come in. "Oh, girls, sorry. I forgot to tell you—" "You found Skywishes?" Pinkie Pie guessed. "Yes, and I brought her with me." Fluttershy motioned with her head to where Skywishes was still standing outside, but Pinkie had already shot past her out the front door and was now pushing the camo-clad pegasus into the bakery. "Welcome to Sugarcube Corner, Wishie! Can I call you Wishie?" Skywishes looked a bit disoriented by the fact that she was now sitting at a table with several other ponies, but before she could figure out how to respond, Pinkie had plonked a cake down on the table and showered the pegasus in confetti. "Happy-short-notice-much-delayed-welcome-to-Ponyville!" said Pinkie, grabbing Skywishes's hoof and pumping it up and down enthusiastically. Skywishes leaned as far away from Pinkie as she could with the energetic pony still holding her hoof, and squinted down at the cake. "That thing says 'Happy Birthday Gummy.'" "Does it?" Pinkie looked down at the cake. "I was wondering where that went. Oh well, he won't mind if we use it anyway—" Twilight cleared her throat pointedly. "Oh, where are my manners?" Pinkie let go of Skywishes's hoof and tapped herself on the chest. "I'm Pinkie Pie. This is Twilight Sparkle," Pinkie gestured toward Twilight who raised a hoof in a small wave. "You've already met Fluttershy, and—" Pinkie suddenly stopped and frowned at Skywishes. Apparently it had just occurred to her that she hadn't actually made sure this pony she'd snatched from outside was the right one. "Uh, you are Skywishes right?" The pegasus in question was busy shaking the confetti out of her mane. "That'd be correct." "Oh, good! That would have been weird if you weren't. And that's Gummy." Pinkie pointed at the floor and Skywishes looked down in time to see a tiny alligator just as he clamped his jaws around one of her forelegs. Cocking an eyebrow, the pegasus raised her foreleg so that the gator was dangling from her sleeve. She gave the sleeve a small experimental shake, not as if she wanted to get him off, but as if she wanted to see just how firmly he was stuck there. Suddenly he let go of her sleeve and snapped at her face, causing Skywishes's normally dead eyes to go wide then slam shut as she jerked back with a startled yelp. "It's okay," said Pinkie. "He doesn't have any teeth." Skywishes opened an eye to study the gator now dangling off her forelock. Then her mouth twitched in what was almost a smile. "I used to have a pet reptile too. A chameleon. Well, technically he started as my sister's but we ended up sharing him. ... Until she died and I just kind of took over..." That faint smile slipped for a second, then she made a noise that was half-laugh, half-snort. "His name was Mittens. Can you imagine that?" Fluttershy looked at the other pegasus with new eyes. She hadn't really expected this laconic dead-eyed pony to be a pet-owner and was curious to know more. "What happened to Mittens?" "He died several years ago." "Oh, I'm sorry." "Eh, don't be. As chameleons go, he had a good long life." Just then the bakery door creaked open, and they looked up to see Applejack peeking in. "Hi, Applejack," said Pinkie, waving for her to join them. "Come on in. We found Skywishes. Well, Fluttershy found Skywishes. Did you know she used to have a pet chameleon named Mittens?" As Applejack moved slowly into the bakery, Pinkie noticed that her eyes were red as if she had been crying. "What's wrong?" Applejack hesitated and when she finally spoke her voice was thick. "Granny Smith died last night." Her three friends all moved to her side, voicing their condolences. "The four of us were planning on a family outing today," Applejack went on in a choked voice. Ever since her return, she, Apple Bloom, Big Mac, and Granny Smith had been spending nearly all their free time doing things together as if to make up for a decade's worth of lost time. "But when I went to get her this morning ... she didn't wake up." She drew in a shuddering breath before collecting herself enough to go on. "I reckon it's probably the best way she could have gone. Falling asleep looking forward to our outing the next day ... but it's still hard..." "It's never easy," Skywishes muttered from where she was still sitting at the table. "No matter what their age." The seriousness of her statement was a bit undermined by the fact that she still had Gummy hanging off her forelock, but Applejack didn't seem to notice. "What about Apple Bloom and Big Mac?" asked Twilight. "How are they taking it?" "Well, we got in touch with some ponies to take care of the funeral—" Pinkie sighed. "Why do funerals have to be sad?" she mused aloud then brightened. "When I die, everypony is going to love coming to my funeral. I'm going to put the 'fun' in 'funeral.'" "Uh, Pinkie, I don't think now's really the time to joke about that," said Twilight. "Who's joking? It'll be my funeral, so I'll want it to be every bit as fun as any of my other parties. There will be balloons and bright colors, and bouncy houses, and I'll be laying there with a big bowl of candy on my chest." She leaned back with her eyes closed, and her front hooves up as if they were holding a large bowl. "And when the dancing gets underway, I want them to pick me up and make me crowd surf," she added as, still leaning back with her eyes closed, she began walking backward on her hind legs with her front legs stretched out in front of her with the hooves flopping about. In spite of recent events and the rather sobering subject of funerals, the other ponies couldn't help laughing at Pinkie's antics. Even Skywishes couldn't hold back an amused snort. Satisfied at having coaxed some smiles out of them, Pinkie stopped the routine and moved back to join the group. "What were we talking about?" "Why Applejack was here instead of with her family," said Skywishes. "Well, after we made the funeral arrangements, we didn't really want to go on that outing without Granny, so Apple Bloom and Big Mac went to see their friends, and I decided to see how y'all were doing." "Twilight and I were talking about Rainbow Dash's mystery messenger, but now we're getting to know Skywishes. Speaking of which..." Pinkie Pie went eyeball-to-eyeball with the coral-colored pegasus, bumping Gummy in the process and causing him to swing over Skywishes's head so that he and her forelock were now dangling back into the rest of her mane. "Where have you been hiding all these years? I know everypony in Ponyville, but I've never seen you, and you'd think with all that camouflage on you'd be easy to spot. What gives?" At that moment Gummy let go of Skywishes's forelock and she reached one hoof behind her to catch him. "Maybe it's because I don't live in Ponyville," she said, using her free hoof to paw her forelock back into its proper position. "I only come here once in a while to get my mail and a few supplies I can't get other places. Also I generally don't wear my camouflage around town because here it's a bit of a misnomer. And until yesterday, I've never even had a pony try to talk to me unless I asked them something first." Fluttershy could sort of understand that last one. While the look in Skywishes's dead eyes had never been openly hostile, it didn't exactly scream "Come over and talk to me!" A two-minded pony gets twice the headaches. Discord had seen that written somewhere once and he was currently experiencing it. When he'd first awakened, half of him wanted to dive right back into the dream and try to finish it, while the other half was berating him for once again dreaming about Fluttershy. And what's wrong with dreaming about her?! the first half demanded. In my dreams she's always happy to see me so why can't I indulge? Yeah, and keep waking up disappointed afterward? sneered the second half. Forget it! In fact, why are you even "indulging" in that sort of thing? You don't NEED her! You don't need anypony! Making a sound that was half-groan, half-growl, he snapped his talons, instantly undoing all the improvements he'd given the Haywaiian beach. A bubble wand flashed into his paw and he swiped it down over himself, somehow squeezing his head, neck, body, and tail all through the wand's much smaller hole. He came out the other end encased in a large bubble. Flashing the wand away, he sent the bubble spinning down into the water and didn't stop until he was down in the depths of the ocean. He sighed, leaning back against the bubble's wall. How in the world had he sunk this low? Easy, you dove down here, said a small snide voice in the back of his head. Ha. Ha. I need a change of scenery. He conjured a map and tacked it to the bubble wall in front of him. Deciding he could use some more light, he pumped his horn and antler down then up again like a pair of levers, and his tattoos all lit up. That was better. The map was covered in a multitude of checkmarks indicating the places he had already visited. As he gazed at them, he grinned and felt a swell of pride at the fact that he'd gotten away with stirring up chaos in so many places. When he'd first started his travels, he had been tempted to try taking over Equestria as he'd originally planned, but had quickly decided against it. With Applejack restored to them (ironically thanks to him) the Element Bearers now had the power to turn him back to stone, and they would likely be on their guard if he tried to trick or brainwash them a second time. No, straight-up hostile takeover had been out of the question ... but that didn't mean he couldn't work out a system to still have some fun. His method of travel had involved choosing a place at random, flashing himself there, and turning things upside down both figuratively and literally while there. Then as soon as news began to spread that he was in that location, he would change things back, teleport away, and do the whole thing over again in another location. While it often pained him to undo his improvements, it beat being turned to stone. His grin faded as he continued studying the map and realized that he'd visited just about every corner of Equestria. Except one. Ponyville. For the past year he'd told himself that he'd been avoiding Ponyville because it was the most likely place for the Element Bearers to be. But deep down, he knew that there was more to it than that. Visiting Ponyville meant he would risk running into Fluttershy and that was currently the last thing he wanted to do. Before he could stop it, his cinematic memory dredged up the last time he'd seen Fluttershy. She was sitting at an outside restaurant table, smiling and laughing ... and he hadn't been the one sharing that table with her, and inspiring that smile and that laughter. He groaned at the jumbled feelings that memory always stirred in him. Since that day when she'd broken his heart, there had been many times when he wanted to hate and loath her with every fiber of his being, but try as he might, he just couldn't bring himself to do it. Maybe it was because deep down in his heart, he knew that she hadn't intended to hurt him. If she had knowingly two-timed him, then maybe he could have hated her, but as it was he couldn't deny that apart from those times Fluttershy had declared herself his friend they had never really discussed their relationship. There was that one time he had sprung the statement "I love you, marry me." on her, but that was just to see her reaction. A wry laugh trickled out of his throat at the memory. At the time, he hadn't meant the words even though he had come to love and value her as a friend—as in fact, the only friend he'd ever had in his lifetime. It hadn't dawned on him until several weeks later—when faced with the prospect of leaving her—that he was in fact in love with her. Even he had trouble believing it at times. The very idea that a powerful, reality-bending master of chaos could fall in love with a simple, quiet, shy, soft-spoken pony was absurd even by his standards. And yet fall he had, and fallen hard. And she had picked some plain ordinary pony over him. Then why not turn yourself into a pony? the little voice in the back of his head suddenly piped up. You could even be any size, shape, or build that she— I don't want to turn into a pony! he mentally snapped. I hate looking like a pony! And yet you can't seem to get that particular pony off your mind even though you haven't seen or spoken to her in a year, the little voice pointed out. At those words, Discord's head came up as a new idea suddenly popped into his head. It was true; he hadn't seen Fluttershy in over a year. He had only dreamed about her again and again ... but what if that was part of the problem? What if he had been building her up too much in those dreams? Seeing her the way he wanted her to be as opposed to how she really was? After all, he hadn't found her attractive when they first met. Maybe ... maybe instead of trying to avoid her, he should go see her and—if he could convince himself that he felt absolutely nothing for her—he could finally be free of her. Eager to try this, he jumped up, pumped his horn and antler down then up to switch his tattoos back off, and yanked the map from the bubble's wall. As the tacks pulled free of the bubble, air whooshed out of it, and it shot back toward the ocean's surface with Discord still in it. As he rose, he began magically pulling water up with him, stirring it into a frenzy. Oh, yes. To show just how little he cared, he wasn't just going to flash himself to Ponyville. He was going to arrive in style. "Why'd you get a mailbox in Ponyville if you didn't plan to stay here?" asked Twilight. "It was the closest option I could find near the Everfree Forest." "Why'd you want to build the TreeHAB in there?" "Oh, several reasons. For one I found the perfect tree: big, tall, plenty of branches to build on and thick bark to protect it from possible forest fires. Also the weather isn't controlled in the forest and I wanted the HAB to be able to hold up in any weather. But mostly because it was the best place to avoid kibitzing. I can't stand that." The four friends had been getting to know Skywishes over cake until Pinkie had excused herself to go fill some baking orders. Now Twilight and Skywishes were deep in a discussion about what had gone into designing and building the TreeHAB. At first Fluttershy had expected Skywishes to be close-mouthed and unsocial, but the camo-clad pegasus actually seemed to enjoy talking about her project. "Of course, the trade-off to not having other ponies poking around telling me how to do my job, is that the whole thing is on me so the HAB's got a ways to go before it's completely functional. So far the only thing I've had much success growing up there is tomatoes." "Hmm, maybe we should help you get in touch with Strawberry Swirl's old partners," said Twilight. "They're still doing her experiments to combine different plants together." "Ahh, you might have something there," said Skywishes, rubbing her chin and squinting one eye at the alicorn speculatively. Up until that moment Fluttershy had just been passively listening to them, but at the mention of the late Strawberry Swirl's botany experiments her mind pulled up the memory of Discord first telling her about them. "She should have put me on that job," he'd said scornfully. "I could have gotten results—" Then he'd snapped his talons, instantly conjuring up several samples of hybrid fruit. "—like that." Now she began to wonder if he'd ever conjured up more hybrid fruit since he'd left her. She'd heard reports of him popping up and wreaking chaos in different locations throughout Equestria, but he never left behind any physical evidence of his activities. All they had to prove he'd been there were eyewitness accounts and she couldn't remember any of them mentioning hybrid fruit. Then her mind shifted to the dream she'd had of him the night before. She'd been having similar dreams on and off ever since he'd left. Why couldn't she stop having such vivid dreams about him when it was clear he wanted nothing to do with her? She glanced toward Applejack, who had also been listening to Skywishes and Twilight converse. Despite the part Fluttershy had played in finding Applejack, she had seen surprisingly little of the orange earth pony over the past year. While Applejack no longer used her Amberlocks disguise, she had continued managing the Orchard she had started in the Crystal Empire. And though Apple Bloom and Big Mac had been able to keep Sweet Apple Acres afloat in her absence they had been quite happy to let her resume management there as well. Thus, Applejack had spent a good chunk of that year traveling back and forth between the two orchards. Still, considering what Applejack owed her and Discord, she was probably Fluttershy's best candidate for discussing her mixed feelings about her former partner. "Applejack, can I talk with you alone?" she whispered. "Sure," Applejack tipped her head to Twilight and Skywishes. "Excuse us." They nodded to her and Fluttershy before going back to their own conversation. Applejack and Fluttershy moved to the other side of the room. "What did you want to talk about, Fluttershy?" "Well..." Fluttershy hesitated, trying to come up with a way to explain her feelings without mentioning her dreams. "Well, it's been almost a year since Discord left, and ... well ... I still miss him ... but I'm not sure if I should. ... I thought we were friends; I really wanted us to be..." I even thought I might be in love with him. "But now I wonder if that was just a lie to get his freedom, and I'm not sure I should want to be friends with somepony like that." But I do want to be with him. Maybe I shouldn't, but I want it so much. Applejack was silent for several seconds, pondering what Fluttershy had told her. Then she sighed and put a foreleg around Fluttershy's withers. "Sugarcube, I wish I could tell you what to do or how to feel... but all I can really think to tell you is: If somepony shows you who they really are, believe them." If somepony shows you who they really are, believe them. Who had Discord shown himself to be? He had tried to break apart her friendship with the other ponies, but he had later helped her track down Applejack. He had tormented her mercilessly, but he had also cleaned and bandaged her injuries with as much care as she would have shown one of her animals. He had a definite knack for spotting patterns and fitting them together logically, yet he seemed to thrive on doing just the opposite. When they had been together he seemed to relish her attention, and yet he had spent this past year completely avoiding her. Fluttershy mentally sighed in frustration. Applejack's normally good advice just seemed to fall apart when she tried applying it to her former partner. Sometimes she had felt so sure that she knew and understood him, but other times he was just as much of an enigma as the case he had helped her solve. At that moment Rainbow Dash was flying toward Ponyville. She hadn't needed to fly with the Wonderbolts that day and had decided to use her free time to check in with her friends on their search for Skywishes. Maybe she would take a turn watching the mailbox, and while she was there she could check if there had been any letters from— "Hiya, Ray!" The voice jolted her out of her thoughts, and she spun awkwardly in the air as she tried to turn in the direction of the voice. Looking down, she saw an earth pony standing on his hind legs and waving up at her. His coat was a light golden brown, while his mane and tail were jet black. He wore close-fitting pants with a pattern of red, yellow, and blue flames on them, and a sleeveless black shirt that revealed a pair of forelegs wrapped in athletic tape. Rainbow Dash quickly looked around to make sure there were no other ponies nearby before folding in her wings and swooping down to hover in front of the stallion. "Screwjob, what are you doing here?" "Oh, come on, Ray. Is that any way to—" She covered his mouth with her hoof. "Don't call me that." Screwjob ducked out from under her hoof. "Why? I thought you liked it?" Then he quirked one thick dark eyebrow at her. "Or do you only like it when he calls you that?" he asked in a teasing voice. "Will you keep quiet," Rainbow Dash snapped. "I don't want anypony to hear you." He looked around. "I don't see anypony else." Then he grinned back at her. "You know you can't keep this a secret forever." "I know," Rainbow Dash said in a resigned voice. "I'm just trying to figure out the right time to tell them." "Well, you better tell them soon because if you don't ... I will!" Screwjob said in a sing-song voice. Rainbow Dash's eyes narrowed suspiciously. "What are you talking about?" "You mean he didn't tell you? We're both out on medical leave, so we're sticking around. And while we're sticking around I want to meet the rest of the lovely ladies, so if you don't tell them—What the hay is that?!" Rainbow Dash whirled around to see what he was looking at and saw what appeared to be a tornado consisting of tomato sauce and spaghetti spinning straight toward them! Discord cackled as the spaghetti tornado whipped him about. He was up near the top of it, and didn't see when a nearby gray pegasus lost control of her flight and was sucked into the pasta vortex. Nor did he notice the two unicorns—a pink adult one and a light purple one in her mid-to-late teens—running toward the tornado, trying to pull the pegasus out of it with their magic only to get sucked in as well. Their screams were drown out by the wind and the sound of wet noodles slapping together, so it wasn't until the smaller of the two unicorns collided with Discord's head that he realized his ride had picked up a few extra passengers. Startled he tried to shake her off, but the unicorn hung on. Then the other two ponies smacked into his stomach. Without thinking about what he was doing, he grabbed them and teleported himself and the three hitchhikers out of the spaghetti cyclone. As they reappeared several yards behind the still spinning tornado, he somersaulted over the tomato sauce-covered ground, dislodging the three ponies in the process. Sitting up, he wiped the tomato sauce from his face and turned to see who had so rudely interrupted his ride. The three ponies were all stumbling around dizzily and coated so thoroughly in sauce that he couldn't tell what color they actually were. Then the pegasus turned in his direction, and despite the fact that the pupils of her gold eyes seemed to be skidding off in different directions he got the impression that she was studying him. "Hey, I know who you are," she said, a woozy smile spreading over her muzzle. He snorted. "Well, of course you know—" "You're that guy who helped Fluttershy." For once Discord was at a loss for words. That was not quite the title he had been expecting. "That guy who helped Fluttershy" could certainly have applied to him a year ago, but it was a long way off from the Spirit of Chaos, the Patron of Pandemonium, or the Mucky-muck of Mayhem. Then the pegasus licked the tomato sauce from one hoof. "Not bad, but it could use some parmesan."