The sun is rising over the treetops of the Everfree Forest. Rays of light shined through one tree with a house hidden inside its branches and onto the lump of pink hair that peeked from the bed sheets.
Nameless slowly blinked her eyes as the sunlight from the window woke her up. Rising from the sheets, she sees the light shining more in the room, causing her to recall how the Cutie Mark Crusaders agreed to help save her life. Even though it’s not yet approved, as Apple Bloom had informed about her sister being the leader of Ponyville; she is already looking forward to things turning out for the better.
“Flitterby?” Diamond Tiara said, “Why would you want to name her that? Why not something like ‘Destitute?’”
The group is now downstairs, preparing breakfast to start their day before going back to Ponyville. They were the ones who woke up earlier and decided to leave the sleeping pegasus in peace.
“Oh, come on, Diamond,” Apple Bloom persuaded, “Those awful changelings never gave her a real name; Giving her a new one might make her feel better.”
“Yeah,” Scootaloo implied, “Like if I were in her place, I don’t think I would like being called something like ‘Nameless’ for the rest of my life.”
“Other than blank flanks?” Diamond Tiara blankly asked.
The others glared at her.
“What? I’m just supporting your point! You don’t have to glare at me like that,” Diamond Tiara defended while turning away grumpily.
“Let’s go back on the subject,” Apple Bloom sighed, getting the girls to leave Diamond alone to her mumbling, “Now, we know that at a glance, she is shy, but is also very nice. What name sounds very delicate?”
“How about something flowery, like…. Pink Daisy or Rosy Posey?” Sweetie Belle suggested.
“Hmmmm…. Nah.” Apple Bloom replied, “It doesn’t suit her.”
“Well, she got wings,” Babs Seed brainstormed, “Maybe it should be about flying.”
“And her cutie mark’s a bunch of pink butterflies,” Scootaloo spoke.
“Oo, Oo! How about Summer Rose?” Sweetie Belle exclaimed, “Or Rosy Skies? Aurora Belle? No, wait, how about Honey Glow?”
Diamond snickered, “Honey Glow? What, you want the bears to eat her?”
“Her skin is yellow!” Sweetie Belle argued.
“The next thing you know, you might want to call her Honey Boo!” Diamond said, bursting out laughing.
“What are you girls doing?”
The girls snapped their head around to see the confused Nameless standing in the middle of the stairs. It seems they didn’t notice her as they were brainstorming.
“Oh! Good morning, Rosy Belle!” Sweetie Belle exclaimed before frowning down at her suggestion, mumbling, “No, that doesn’t sound right.”
“Rosy Belle? But that’s not my— “
“We know,” Apple Bloom answered, “We’re just thinking a new name for you.”
Nameless widened her eyes, “a new name? Oh, but you don’t have— “
Apple Bloom interrupted her, “Listen, it’s already bad enough that your mother and her army—I mean, children, didn’t want to name you, but it’s worse if your name reminds you of…. Unpleasant memories.”
Nameless frowned to herself, recalling back at times where the village officers would harass her or when the guards give her a harsh number of chores. She shook them out and glanced back at the fillies before she could dig any further.
“Sooo,” Apple Bloom continued, “we thought a new name would help you forget everything about it.”
“Yeah, and you can have a new identity; for a new life in Ponyville!” Sweetie Belle exclaimed.
Nameless thought about it for a while. As sweet as the idea is, she’s not sure if she can be called other than “Nameless.” Yet again, her mother, or even her original parents wherever they are, never really gave her a name in the first place. And that she is free of their grip over her, she can learn to adapt to her new name.
“That’s sweet of you girls,” Nameless replied gratefully, “But what name should I have?”
The girls mentally put up their thinking hats and brainstorm their options. Scootaloo’s the first who spoke out, “Well, so far, we got Pink Daisy, Rosy Skies, Honey Glow— “
They were interrupted with they heard a sniffled snicker coming from Diamond Tiara.
“Anyway,” Scootaloo said, breaking the glares that Diamond is receiving.
“We also got Rosy Posey, something about Aurora, Flitterby, Butterwings, and…. That’s it.” Bab Seed stated.
“Hmmm, I’m not sure if I like those names,” Nameless answered in uncertainty.
“Same here,” Apple Bloom replied. There was a short pause before she spoke out again, “Quick question, are you a good flyer?”
Nameless answered nervously, “No. I was barely taught how to fly. The highest I can do is this.”
She opened her wings and hovered her body as high as she could before slowly float down to the ground.
“Sometimes I only fly when there is an emergency,” She said a moment after landing.
“Makes sense,” Bab Seed commented, “The changelings wouldn’t teach you to fly as a normal Pegasus would; they’d probably think it meant escaping.”
Suddenly Sweetie Belle lets an extremely loud excited gasp and yelled out, “FLUTTERSHY!”
Everypony gave her a questioning glance, “Huh?”
“You can barely fly, but you flutter, like a butterfly! And you were timid the first second we met you can hardly greet Apple Bloom without shuttering! That’s why your name should be Fluttershy!” Sweetie Belle explained.
Apple Bloom gave a surprised look on Sweetie and looked over to Nameless, “Huh, you know, that name does suit her. What do you think?”
Nameless thought about it. Nervously, she replied to them, “Well, it does sound nicer than the others…. And it has a nice ring to it.”
“Then it’s settled,” Apple Bloom announced, “Your name shall be Fluttershy!”
The three fillies then rushed over her to hug her. Nameless—Fluttershy as needed to call herself from now on—hugged them back as a sign of gratitude.
Diamond Tiara looked at the sappy group in annoyance, wondering how she even agreed to let that overly emotional pony stay in the first place.
Oh, changelings, she realized in her thought and then mentally said irritably, Right.
She glanced back to the clock on the wall, which strikes half an hour until 8. “Um, I hate to break the heart-warming hug here,” she stated sarcastically, “but we’re going to be late for school.”
The little fillies turned their head around to the clock and realized that she was right. In the moment of panic, the girls rushed into the closet and got their school saddles, already filled with books, and ran into the kitchen to make five sacks of lunch.
Fluttershy looked nervously at them as they speed through the large room and the kitchen like a bullet “Is there anything I can help you with?”
Scootaloo replied, with her mouth holding a knife dipped with mayonnaise, “No, that’s okay, Fluttershy. We’re good.”
In a matter of seconds, the girls finally got their lunch set and all ready to walk to school.
“So… is school sort of like a training ground?” Fluttershy questioned.
Diamond snorted before replying to her, “No, it’s where we ponies learn the basic things, like the alphabet, numbers, social interactions-- things that you wouldn’t understand.” She turned to her head to the door sharply and walked away.
“I’d ignore her if I were you. Like we said before, she’s rough,” Apple Bloom consoled her “And don’t worry Fluttershy, I will talk to Applejack about you after school, and we’ll see what goes on from there.”
Fluttershy nodded to her and then a horrifying thought comes up when she recalled her journey to the woods yesterday, “That seems a long way to town. What if you get hurt?”
“It’s fine; we each got an animal repelling remedy from a friend,” Apple Bloom said while holding out a necklace with a pouch attached to it. “See you later!”
Fluttershy waved her goodbye to them as she closed the door. She then turned around to see a clutter of mess that the girl left in the kitchen. Streams of mustard, mayonnaise, and ranch on the counters, bread, vegetables lying unattended, clean dished left out of their cupboards and peelings of apples and oranges left on the floor.
“Well,” Fluttershy said to herself, “I can start the day by cleaning.”
Fluttershy grabbed the broom and dustpan from the closet and began sweeping up the droppings left in the kitchen. As she was sweeping, she saw that the piled-up peelings and vegetables almost resembles a face, amusing herself to her imaginations.
“BOO!”
She screamed and jumped back as she saw the face-like pile moved and scared her out of her wits. The pile sudden rises and whirls around like a tornado with loud, booming laughter echoed through the tree house.
The tornado gradually closes together until it formed a figure, now towering before her. The bellowing creature had a frightening appearance; with a body the shape of a snake attached to a long dragon’s tail, the diverse limps that are glued to the slim structure, including a lion paw and eagle claw for its arms, a goat and lizard’s legs and antlers on the top of its head belonging to a deer and a mountain goat. It also had short, rustled mane from the back of his neck running down to the shoulder blades, bushy white eyebrows matching to a tuft of white, small beard on his chin and an overgrown tooth hanging out of its lips.
The creature later ceases his loud booming laughter which then turned into a few fits of breathless laughter, “You should see your face right now! It looked just like that,” he exclaimed while he pointed to Nam—Fluttershy’s terrified face who is holding onto the broom for her dear life.
“Now that the dramatic entrance is already out of the way, let’s get down to business, shall we?” the creature stated. His eagle claw glowed and a yellow aura engulfed Fluttershy’s body, lifting her off the floor and shifted closer to the creature before her. He then took her hoof from the broom and started shaking it as if he was grasping a noodle.
“Hello, the name’s Discord, Lord of chaos, Spirit of Disharmony, call me whatever; the list goes on.” He let go of her hoof, then floated closer to her, “Now ask me something my dear, if I know everypony in and outside of the Everfree forest, to which I do by the way, how is it I can possibly miss an interesting little canary-pony like yourself?”
What truly scares Fluttershy the most was his eyes, the strange discolored eyes. Where instead of pearly white sclera and the dark pupils, it only holds a bright yellow and a bloody red that seem to stare at her like a snake staring down at its prey. Fear was claiming over her as her body was shaking violently and she was too speechless to speak.
“Well, since you’re too shocked about my good charm and charisma, maybe I can guess your answers for you,” he said before starting a list of question that he stated so fast and carelessly that it made Fluttershy more uncomfortable, “Let’s see… Are you moving? Are you traveling around the world? Are you visiting? If so, are you related to the Apple Family? I hope not because I find them a little annoying, but you don’t seem to have the country-like complexity that they had it running. I wonder how do they that--?”
He paused to see if he had gotten any response from her, only to find that her face is still frozen in fear. He mentally grinned at this.
“I take it as a no then. Well, if it’s not one of those reasons, like traveling all over Equestria or visiting a family, it probably means that you’re hiding something. But if you’d think I would consider your privacy and your feelings over such touchy topics. Sadly, the truth is…”
He leaned his face towards her with a delightfully toothy grin on his face, “…. There’s no hiding from the Lord of Chaos. And the Lord of Chaos can’t resist secrets….”
Suddenly the door opened with Bab Seed entering while searching in her saddlebags, “Hey, I know I’m late, but I forgot my notebook— “She looked up to see Discord holding Fluttershy in his magical grasp.
“Discord!” Babs Seed exclaimed angrily.
“Oh, hey there, Bad Seed,” Discord greeted to Babs cheerfully. “You just said You lost your notebook, right? Perhaps I can fix that for you.”
He snapped his talons and a notebook with a picture of Discord drawn in glitter and markers appeared in Babs’ hooves. “Oh, and look, you got the chaos edition,” Discord commented mockingly.
Babs walks up towards the floating couple and slams the notebook into the table, “Listen, if you don’t let her go and get out of our treehouse right now— “
“Hey, relax,” Discord complained, “I was only welcoming this precious little canary to her new home. Besides, I was going to leave anyway.”
His eagle claw stopped glowing and the yellow aura disappeared around Fluttershy. As she was falling, she quickly spread her wings and landed softly.
“I must say, my dear; it’s been a pleasure meeting you. I hope I see you again,” Discord said before disappearing in a flash of light with the snap of his fingers.
Fluttershy was staring into space where he disappeared. “WHAT THE FLYING SHEEP?!”
Babs looked at Fluttershy shocked from her sudden response.
“Oh, sorry. Language,” Fluttershy nervously said before going back to her panic mode, “But still! Who was he? How did he so powerful? How did he know me? Why have I never heard anything like him before?! WHY DID--?!”
She stopped when Babs’ hoof launched into her mouth. “Whoa, slow down, sugar cube! You’re going hurt your noggin’ if you keep on talking like that.”
“Who is he, Babs?!” Fluttershy cried, “Do you know him?”
“I wish I didn’t,” Babs mumbled grudgingly, “In fact, all of Equestria knew him.”
Fluttershy widens her eyes, “What?”
“Yeah. What, have you been living under a rock?” Babs sarcastically said in surprise.
“Sort of. I lived in a dungeon cell,” Fluttershy replied bluntly, giving Babs a startled expression.
“I was being sarcastic,” She stated, making Fluttershy blush in embarrassment.
“Look, I’m sorry you had to endure that, and I would like to tell you more about him, but I really need to get back. The others might be close to the clearing by now— “
“But you still got time; it’s 7:40!” Fluttershy pleaded,” Please tell me more—just 5 minutes and you’re free to go!”
Babs paused for a moment hesitated. She doesn’t think if Fluttershy can take knowing more about that monster, fearing that he would do anything to harm her if she stayed in these woods. Especially since there are rumors about ponies disappearing on the forest and coming back looking like they’ve seen a ghost. It has been speculated that he’d traveled all over Equestria, spreading his chaos and getting rid of them when necessary. What if Discord takes advantage of Fluttershy’s vulnerability? She won’t accept anything horrendous like that, not after a lifetime among with changelings. But again, she needs to be warned about him; it seems like the right thing to do after all.
She then sighed in defeat, “Okay, I’ll talk; but don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
She walked and grabbed a small book from the in-wall bookshelf before gesturing Fluttershy to sit next to her on the table.
“What’s that?” Fluttershy asked, pointing to the small book.
“This is a book that we got from school,” Babs replied, “It’s like a history book, but only with pictures.”
She opened the book and turned the page to see an illustration of Discord in the shadow, looking down the ponies that looked like they were in pain. It also shows a place Fluttershy didn’t recognize; the floors were designed like a checkerboard completed in swirls, the sky is purple, and the clouds were pink for some reason.
“I’m pretty sure he might’ve mentioned himself as ‘The Lord of Chaos’ to you?” Babs asked Fluttershy, to which she nodded yes.
“Well, I can say to you that he wasn’t exaggerating about that. He is a draconeqqus, a species that no longer exist. They were known to have the ability to bend of laws of reality with the snap of its claws. Over a thousand years ago, he took Equestria away from the Royals of Canterlot, sending every pony in a state of unresting torture. No pony before the Princesses even managed to stand up to him due to the unbelievable amount of magic that he possessed. Not to mention that he’s also a trickster,” she demonstrated by holding up by the notebook that Discord conjured for her earlier. It revealed that there were letters covered with glittering saying, ‘Vote 4 Discord.’
“The Princesses caught attention of this the same time when they became the first bearers to the Elements of Harmony. In the end, they— “
“The Elements of Harmony?” Fluttershy asked, hating to interrupt her.
“They’re really powerful gems; they’ve been around for centuries. They have the power to bring balance to the land in any possible way.”
Babs was going to continue until a thought came to her, “Your mother was defeated by the elements in the past. I’m surprised she hadn’t at least mentioned them to you.”
Fluttershy thought of it weird that she hadn’t heard anything about gems that brings harmony to the land and even the fact why none of the changelings had ever talked about them in front of her. Then again, her mother is very prideful, and it would’ve hurt her to even think about how hard she’d failed at anything. In the end, she replied to Babs with uncertainty in her voice, “I don’t know. I… I guess she didn’t want to talk about it.”
Babs then shrugged that thought away and went back to the subject, “Anyway, the princesses used the elements to turn Discord into stone and everything was back to normal.”
“W-wait,” Fluttershy uttered confused, “You said that he was turned to stone? But how was he able to break free from it?”
“I was getting to that actually,” Babs continued, turning the page to see Discord in stone form surrounded like six multicolored lights.
“You see, there was a prophecy that says that each time a meteor shower came down, the six ponies were born on that night would become the new bearers to the elements of harmony. But the thing is since the princess is disconnected from the elements the first time, their power over Discord slowly demolished. So as the stone on his body began to diminish, the first bearers used the elements to turn him into stone again. It’s always happened since then, every single time he was free, the bearers would turn him back. And it’s always been like that until now when something horrible happened to one of the newborn bearers.”
“What happened?” Fluttershy questioned.
Babs was going to reply, but she stopped as she tried to recall what exactly happened, “I’m not sure, to be honest. I heard some things like the baby went missing and some believed she was dead or something like that. It happened years before I was born, so I really don’t know all the details.”
“Anyway, Discord was freed when that happened and the whole land went on a frenzy looking for him. Sometimes they heard reports that he was in one town, raining his chaos all over the place. But once the reinforcement came, he and his magic disappeared. Canterlot is still looking for him, but they are still unable to catch him. And he has been hiding from them ever since,” Babs concluded, closing the illustrated book.
“Makes sense now?” Babs questioned to Fluttershy, who is surprised by his past and how he survived for all these years.
“I guess it does, but…” Fluttershy was about to ask more when Babs took notice of the clock, which now strikes 7:45.
“Well, that’s 5 minutes,” Babs announced, “I need to get to the school before Miss Cheerilee would count me tardy.”
Babs grabbed her school saddles and her new notebook. As much she hated to admit it, she had no choice but to use it now she doesn’t have time to find her other one. But before she can reach the door, she turned to Fluttershy.
“Now that Discord knows you and you know him, that doesn’t mean you know what he might to do you. So, you must try to stay away from him. And you mustn’t tell him anything, including the changelings.”
“Don’t worry,” Fluttershy reassured, “I’ll try to be careful. See you tonight.”
“Okay,” Babs said rather hesitantly, “Bye.”
As soon as Babs closed the door and ran further into the forest, there was silence until….
“Well, it’s about time.”
Fluttershy jumped and squeaked as she hears Discord’s voice coming from the kitchen window. Discord laughed at how high she jumped and landed on her back clumsily.
“My, you jump as high as a grasshopper on a sugar rush,” he laughed hard.
“W-w-wh-what are you here for?” Fluttershy nervously asked, cautious of what he might do next.
“Oh, there’s nothing to fret. I was going to give you a welcome gift before the brat barged in, so...”
He snapped his fingers and a potted plant with a large green bud appeared at the table.
“Ta-da! What do you think; it is satisfactory for your taste?”
Fluttershy was surprised by how the plant looked so harmless and replied to him, “Yes, actually. It looks very nice— “
She could’ve finished her compliment if she hasn’t noticed that the plant was moving and the bud open to reveal a set of sharp teeth and a row of red petals with white polka dots. After a moment, the plant launched at Fluttershy and she jumped back before it can bite her!
“WHAT KIND OF A PLANT IS THAT?!” Fluttershy yelled at the amused draconeqqus.
“Oh, something I found from the sewers of Manehatten. It almost got the guy who beat him--I’m guessing he was a plumber?”
“HOW DO YOU MAKE IT TO STOP BITING?!”
“Whenever it feels like it. You might want to feed him a few bugs, but careful; their bite is worse than their appetite. Cheerio!”
He disappeared in a flash of light. Fluttershy was finally left alone, only backing up against the wall away from her carnivorous plant.
Oh, dear. What have I gotten myself into?