Chapter 5
"My grief is beyond healing; my heart is broken."—Jeremiah 8:18
Fluttershy staggered back from the bakery's front door and sat down hard on her haunches. She stared up at the sky, feeling dizzy with nausea. Nearby she heard a nasty gagging sound and jerked her gaze around to see Rarity bent over the shrubbery near the bakery, retching into them. Part of Fluttershy felt she should go to her friend's side, but the majority of her was in too much shock to move from her current spot. She shut her eyes, but it did nothing to block out the gruesome sight that had been seared into her mind.
Pinkie Pie murdered?! And by Discord?! She clutched her head. This couldn't be happening. It just couldn't be happening!
Then she dimly heard a familiar voice above her. "Hey there, Fluttershy."
She looked up to see Rainbow Dash circling overhead with Highflyer on her back. Rainbow Dash swooped down to land near her friend. "I heard some ponies mention they saw the Cakes and Pinkie Pie come back here a little while ago, so I thought we'd drop in for a bit to see her. Give her and Highflyer a chance to meet," she added as the tiny pegasus jumped down from her back.
See her...? Fluttershy thought dazedly. See Pinkie Pie...? Then the statement fully registered. No! No, you can't see her! Fluttershy's gaze snapped back around toward the bakery door and she saw with a modicum of relief that it was now shut, blocking the sight of Pinkie Pie's remains.
At that moment Rarity let out a particularly unladylike heave, catching both Rainbow Dash and Highflyer's attention.
"Is she all right?" Highflyer asked, his expression hidden under his mask, but his tone concerned. "I hope that's not from something she ate here."
Rainbow Dash fluttered to Rarity's side. "You okay?" She drew back with a grimace as a splattering sound came from behind the shrubs.
Rarity slowly raised her head and wiped her mouth on the back of one trembling hoof. Her normally white face now had a sickly gray tinge to it.
"I'll get you some water to rinse your mouth out," said Rainbow Dash, flying to the bakery door.
This helped Fluttershy shake off her stunned state. "Rainbow Dash, don't—!" she started to say as Rarity shrieked "No!"
But it was already too late.
As the door opened, Rainbow Dash gasped, her wings froze in mid-flap, and when her hooves hit the ground she staggered to stay upright.
"Woah, easy there, Ray," said Highflyer, darting forward and pushing his masked head into her chest to give her something to lean on. In the process, he also saw what was inside the bakery.
"What—?" Before he could finish the question, Mr. and Mrs. Cake galloped around from the back of the bakery, pushed past him and Rainbow Dash, and slammed the bakery door shut.
"Sorry, we're closed—" Mr. Cake started to say, then halted as he seemed to recognize Rainbow Dash. "Oh, you—" He glanced uneasily at the closed bakery door.
"What happened?" Rainbow Dash's voice was faint and her blue face looked almost as pale as Rarity's.
"We had just gotten back," said Mrs. Cake. She, her husband, Rarity, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, and Highflyer had moved a short distance away from the closed bakery. "Pinkie was at the front of the store, and we were in the back, taking inventory when we heard Pinkie suddenly shout Discord's name. We peeked over the swinging doors, and saw him standing in front of her with his back to us. I don't think he knew we were there. He said something that sounded like 'This will show them.' Then he snapped his fingers and..." Mrs. Cake looked as if she were trying not to be sick. "And ... and it turned Pinkie inside out." She shuddered at the memory but tried to push on. "Then he disappeared and she just sort of ... exploded."
Fluttershy swallowed hard. Even though she had already seen the aftermath of what Mrs. Cake had described, it didn't make it any easier to hear about it. Judging by the expressions on Rainbow Dash and Rarity's faces, (and possibly on Highflyer's, though she couldn't actually see it) they were trying to do the same. Actually, Rainbow Dash looked even more shaken than Fluttershy felt if such a thing was possible.
Staring at the ground, the blue pegasus shook her head in disbelief, murmuring almost to herself, "Oh, I knew he was ticked off, but I never thought he'd do something like this."
The words sent a jolt of surprise through Fluttershy. "Wait! What are you talking about? What do you mean you know he was ticked off?"
Rainbow Dash jumped at the question, apparently just realizing she had voiced her thoughts aloud, and looked guiltily at her friend. "Fluttershy, I ... I saw Discord at Derpy's house earlier today. Right after I went to your place."
"What?! Why didn't you tell me?"
Rainbow Dash squirmed. "I was trying to find the right moment to, and ... well ... earlier just didn't seem like the right time, but now..." She gulped as she looked back toward the bakery before turning back to her audience. "When I saw him, I kind of yelled at him about leaving Fluttershy, and he..." She turned uncomfortably to Fluttershy. "Said he never wanted to see you again."
At those words, Fluttershy felt something inside of her break. All day she had been watching and waiting for any sign of Discord, hoping it would give her a chance to finally sort out what had gone wrong between the two of them. But now it seemed that Discord had never intended to contact her at all.
How can you even think about wanting to see him?! a tiny voice in the back of her head shouted incredulously. He just murdered one of your best friends!
"What if this is my fault?" Rainbow Dash's uncharacteristically tearful voice yanked Fluttershy out of these thoughts. "What if I got him so mad he took it out on Pinkie Pie?!"
"Rainbow Dash, no!" Rarity exclaimed. "You didn't know this would happen. None of us did!"
"That's true," said Mr. Cake, his voice taking on a hard edge. "The only one whose fault this is, is Discord!"
In spite of her grief over Pinkie, a small part of Fluttershy suddenly felt an urge to jump to her former partner's defense. But how could she deny what the Cakes had seen with their own eyes?
Unknown to the small group of ponies, their chief murder suspect was currently miles away in the Everfree Forest, banging his head against a tree trunk.
Stupid! Stupid! Stupid! Stupid! Stupid! he mentally cursed with each thump. Banging one's head against a tree trunk for an extended period of time is generally bad for one's health, but in Discord's case the whole exercise was a bit undermined by the fact that curtesy of his magic this particular tree trunk was currently only about as hard as the average pillow. Still he continued the activity in a vain attempt to drown out the words lodged in his head.
I never want to see her again!
It wasn't so much that he regretted saying them to Rainbow Dash, but the fact that the instant he had uttered those words, he suddenly realized just how false they were. Never wanted to see—He did want to see her! He wanted to see her so much it hurt!
Maybe that's because of all the head-banging you're doing, that snide voice in the back of his head pointed out.
He promptly stopped the head-banging and just stood there, leaning his forehead against the tree, his face sinking into its soft trunk as Rainbow Dash's sharp accusatory voice rang through his mind.
Do you have any idea how hurt she was by your leaving?!
No, he really hadn't. At the time, he had been too consumed with his own pain to even consider how his disappearance would affect Fluttershy. And over the past year whenever he thought of her he had just assumed (with a great deal of resentment though he wouldn't admit it) that she was still happily going out with Big Mac. It had never really occurred to him that Fluttershy might have ... missed him in the time he had been away.
She had said she enjoyed working with him, but...
On a sudden impulse, he flashed into his cinematic memory of the day he had left. He saw his past-self and Fluttershy's past-self outside Carousel Boutique.
Past-Fluttershy moved toward the boutique's front door, then paused and looked back at Past-Discord questioningly. "Aren't you coming with me?"
"No, you go ahead and have fun with your friends. I'll be fine."
"Well, if you're sure..."
Past-Fluttershy started to turn back to the door, but then Past-Discord snatched her up and pressed his forehead against hers.
"I'll just be waiting for you back at the cottage," Past-Discord's face took on a sly seductive expression as he added, "with a surprise."
Did I really lay it on that thick? Present-Discord mentally cringed.
Past-Fluttershy frowned at his past-self. "Discord, what are you—?"
Past-Discord's expression went back to light cheerfulness. "Oh, you'll find out soon enough, my dear. Now run along." Drawing his face back from hers, he kissed her with a loud "Mwah!" on the nose before setting her down.
Discord paused the memory just before his past-self flashed away to Fluttershy's cottage so he could study his former partner's expression. She looked startled but not in a disgusted way. That playful smooch on the nose had been their last real interaction with each other in over a year, and only now did he start to wonder what sort of message she might have taken from it.
On a second impulse, he flashed himself to the memory of seeing Fluttershy and Big Mac together. His past-self looked so ... exposed without the tattoos on his body and the piercings in his face. He saw the shock on his past-self's face and even though he now knew that nothing had happened between the two ponies, he still found it hard to watch them together. Then he watched as his past-self flashed back to the cottage. He saw the tattoos slithering out across Past-Discord's back as the draconequus wrenched off the scarf Fluttershy had given him and flung it into the trash. Present-Discord flashed back into the real world, and buried his face in the soft tree trunk.
"What have I done?" he moaned, then repeated in a slightly-hysterical-albeit-muffled voice, "What have I done?!"
Go to her Discord!
But how could he?! How could he ever face her again after just leaving her like that?! Oh, she must think the surprise he had hinted at was that he had intended to throw her aside as soon as he had gained his freedom!
And why should that one sniveling pony's feelings even matter to you?
Shut up.
Letting yourself care about her is what got you into this mess in the first place.
Shut! Up!
Only when you figure out what you're going to do about this!
Groaning, Discord pulled his head out of the tree trunk and floated backward in a reclining position. He absently peeled the spiral tattoo off his right shoulder and began twisting and weaving it into various shapes as he tried to analyze the situation.
He wanted to see Fluttershy—No! He needed to see her! But if he saw her, and she found out why he had left in the first place ... why he had, to quote Rainbow Dash, hurt her … what if she decided she wanted nothing more to do with him? His avoiding her had been one thing. At least then he had not given her the chance to reject him to his face, but if he gave her that chance now...
Oh, if only there was some way to satisfy his Fluttershy-craving and at the same time be absolutely sure she would be nothing less than thrilled to have him back! Then he had the solution. His dreams! The Fluttershy in his dreams might not be the real one, but he could always count on her to be glad to see him. And this time, he would not permit any outside disturbances to interrupt things. He would enjoy this dream through to the end even if all he experienced in it was fake.
Letting go of his spiral tattoo and allowing it to glide back up his arm to its usual place, he straightened his long body into a standing position so that his feet came to rest on the wide tree branch he had been floating above. He snapped his talons and was suddenly surrounded by a bubble that hid him from the rest of the world and would prevent any weather or nearby creatures from disturbing his sleep. Underneath him, a bed complete with blanket and pillow popped out of the tree branch. Pulling the covers up over himself, he conjured a mallet and conked himself on the noggin with it, falling asleep almost instantly.
"I guess all we can do now is let the mayor know what's happened and keep everypony out of the bakery until a ... clean-up crew can go through there," said Mr. Cake, standing up.
Nodding, his wife stood up as well. As they turned to go, she told the other ponies, "You might want to leave before we get back. You've all had a pretty bad shock and if you stick around, you'll probably have to spend the rest of the night answering painful unpleasant questions."
"Yeah, maybe we should do that," Rainbow Dash murmured faintly as the Cakes cantered away. "You ready, High?"
"You sure you're okay to fly, Ray?"
This question seemed to touch a nerve. "Of course! Why wouldn't I?!" Rainbow Dash snapped, but then her face crumpled and she burst into tears. She flung her forelegs around the tiny stallion and buried her face against the top of his head. The sight of their normally tough friend sobbing so brokenly triggered tears in both Fluttershy and Rarity's eyes as well. They each laid hooves on her withers, also weeping for their murdered friend. Highflyer didn't seem to be crying, but he did reach up to pat Rainbow Dash sympathetically on the back of the neck.
After several minutes Rainbow Dash managed to get her crying under control, and pulled back from Highflyer, wiping at her eyes. "I'm okay now," she said in a quavery voice, turning to Rarity and Fluttershy, who were wiping up their own tears. "Thanks you two." Then she looked back down at the top of Highflyer's now-tear-soaked mask. "Oh, I'm sorry, High. Now I've gone and gotten your mask all wet."
"Well, I guess that's one less one I'll have to wash."
Rainbow Dash smiled weakly at this feeble attempt at humor before turning to Rarity and Fluttershy. "We should probably go."
"Yes, we ... probably should," Rarity said faintly, still wiping at her ruined makeup. "I ... I think I need to go home and lie down. Or have a hot bath. A long, hot bath." She seemed to have forgotten about the plans she had made earlier with Fluttershy, and the pale yellow pegasus didn't have the heart to remind her.
I don't think I could even look at a cake or cookie right now without thinking of—Fluttershy couldn't bring herself to complete the thought. Addressing the ground, she said, "I should probably get home too." Out of habit, she almost added "To check on Angel," but caught herself as a sharp pang reminded her that she would never check on him again.
Fluttershy managed to hold it together until she reached home. However seeing Angel's grave marker in the garden caused her to break down once again, because not only did it remind her that her beloved pet was gone, it also reminded her of Pinkie talking about how she would put the "fun" in funeral. Now it looked like that funeral would be held far sooner than any of them had ever expected.
There wasn't even enough of her left intact to crowd surf. Fluttershy choked out a shaky laugh at this absurd thought, and the fact that Pinkie could still make her laugh even after death just made her feel worse.
Running to her room, she collapsed on the bed, sobbing. As she buried her face in the pillow, she felt something soft and lumpy. Pulling back, she saw that Discord's scarf had been placed on the pillow. How had it gotten there?! Then she remembered folding it up and placing it there before going to meet her friends at the gym.
She could still remember how awestruck Discord had seemed the night she had given him the scarf. It had also been the night she had officially declared herself his friend.
And later he had thrown the scarf away as if it were worthless garbage. Fluttershy felt a sudden urge to hurl the scarf away. She should want nothing nearby that reminded her of Discord! He had just murdered one of her closest friends!
So why couldn't she bring herself to fling the scarf into a far corner of the room? Why did some part of her still long to see her former partner? Overwhelmed with grief and confusion, she gently brushed the scarf off the pillow onto the bed beside her and with a heaving sob, buried her face in the pillow.
Fluttershy wasn't sure how long she cried, but finally her sobs tapered off to hitching gasps. She lay there, waiting for her breathing to go back to normal, when she suddenly heard a familiar giggle. Pinkie?! She sat up as she heard the giggle again, eerie in its cheerfulness. She looked about but there was no sign of the pink pony even though the giggling continued. Fluttershy slowly eased herself off the bed and moved about the room, trying to pinpoint exactly where the giggling was coming from.
"Pinkie? Is that you?"
The giggling seemed to get fainter, as if whoever was making it was moving away. Fluttershy ran to her bedroom door, pulled it open, and went through only to suddenly find herself standing outside on a low hill under an overcast sky. She turned back toward her bedroom door but it had vanished.
Then she jumped as a fresh bout of giggling burst out right behind her. She whirled around to see no pony behind her. But the sky above her was now full of colorful balloons, most of them various shades of pink. One of the pink balloons suddenly bobbed down closer to Fluttershy. It bumped against her forehead, but instead of bouncing away, it burst like a full water balloon, showering Fluttershy with blood! She flinched back with a shocked squeal, trying to paw the blood from her face, and in the process she bumped into a second balloon that had drifted down behind her. This balloon burst as well, this time splashing blood across her wings and back. Letting out a startled scream, she spun back around in the direction of the second attack.
The giggling increased in volume, taunting her and, as if on command, all the balloons in the sky swarmed down on her! Some struck the pegasus, splattering her with more blood, while others burst on the ground around her, creating steadily growing puddles. Fluttershy tried to flee but no matter which way she turned a balloon seemed to come flying at her!
Then her hooves slipped on a particularly large puddle of blood and she went sprawling on her stomach. Before she could push herself back up, ropes of blood whipped up from the puddle and wrapped around her hooves. Then they began pulling her legs deeper into the puddle!
Panic seized Fluttershy! That's not possible! The blood puddle couldn't be more than a fraction of an inch thick, but she seemed to be sinking into it as if it were quicksand! A tiny part of her mind remembered that to avoid sinking in quicksand, ponies must spread their limbs apart as if trying to float. But her limbs were already spread out and she was still sinking! She tried to pull her hooves free but they were stuck fast! She tried flapping her wings, but that didn't work either. Then she sank down even farther and her wings smacked into the puddle on a downbeat, getting stuck as well!
As she continued to sink, she tried to raise her head to keep her muzzle clear of the blood and it was at that moment that she saw a patch of blackness among all that crimson blood and brightly colored balloons. One of the blood puddles nearby the one she was trapped in was turning black! Not the way blood often does when it dries, but as if the blood had transformed into ink.
Then an ink-coated arm shot up out of the center of this ink puddle and came down, clawing its grip into a patch of dry ground. This arm was then joined by a second thicker one. The two hands briefly kneaded the ground, then spread apart so that they were emerging from opposite ends of the puddle. Shoving their palms against the ground, the arms levered themselves into a vertical position as if performing a pushup, and a pair of dripping shoulders rose out of the puddle. A long torso and equally long neck also began rising on either end of the shoulders.
Fluttershy lay frozen in horrified fascination as this strange ink-covered shape emerged from the puddle. She didn't even notice the giggling still echoing around her nor the blood-filled balloons still raining down. As more of the figure's long inky body rose out of the puddle, the puddle shrank, almost as if it were transforming into the figure.
The figure towered over Fluttershy. It raised its dripping hands to its dripping featureless face, as if wiping a pair of non-existent eyes. Fluttershy watched, terrified, yet unable to look away.
The slick, warm lap of blood on her chin caused her to twitch and try to jerk away, a reminder that she was still trapped and sinking. Her efforts were in vain as the blood continued to pull her under. She shut her eyes and sucked in a huge breath, bracing herself for the awful sensation of being completely submerged under that blood—
But then a paw clamped onto the scruff of her neck! This startled Fluttershy into opening her eyes and exhaling. She tried to swing her head backward to get another breath while her muzzle was still above the blood, but the paw on the scruff of her neck prevented this. She writhed desperately, trying to get away—
"Woah-ho! It's all right, Fluttershy! I've got you now!"
She froze at the sound of that familiar gleeful baritone. Other times it might have sent a hopeful thrill through her, but now...
Then she was yanked up and out of the puddle that had been trapping her. She found herself face to face with the inky figure from before. Except that now its formerly featureless face had eyes! Yellow eyes with different-sized red pupils now gazed at her through a mask of gleaming ink.
Then a blood-filled balloon burst right on top of her head. She felt her rescuer throw her over his shoulder, and she wrapped her hind legs and forelegs around him reflexively, not wanting to risk slipping off and getting trapped in another one of those puddles. Pushing her blood-soaked mane out of her face with a free hoof, she saw that she and her rescuer were now floating high above the balloons. Then she noticed that most of the ink that covered her rescuer's body was receding to reveal a familiar combination of scales, feathers, and fur, while what remained of the ink was taking the shape of tattoos.
She buried her face against his shoulder. I'm dreaming! He can't really be here! Rainbow Dash heard him say he didn't want to see me. I shouldn't want to see him either!
She tried to will herself to fly away from him, but her limbs refused to obey, just clinging to him all the more desperately. Maybe it was just a fear of falling back down into one of those blood puddles. Maybe—
She heard a snap behind her, and lifted her head from his shoulder to see all the balloons below them seeming to turn on each other, slamming together until every balloon had burst, and the ground was soaked with blood. Then she realized that the eerie mocking giggling had stopped.
"Now let's get you cleaned up," Discord's voice said behind her. She heard another snap, and all the blood both on her and on the ground turned to water.
"Admittedly not one of my most creative changes," Discord said conversationally as he floated both himself and the pegasus wrapped around his shoulder back down to the ground. "Blood to water. I'm sure that's been done before. Or vice versa. But I suppose it will do for now."
It had taken him quite a bit longer to find Fluttershy than he had expected and when he did, she was trapped in what seemed to be a pool of blood, with blood-filled balloons bursting all around her. A bit more on the macabre side than he usually preferred things, but never mind that now. The important thing was that he had found her. And doubtless she would be very happy to see him after the way he had just rescued her.
He started to lift Fluttershy from his shoulder so they could see each other face to pierced face, but halted when she let out a whimper and grasped two hooffuls of his bristly mane.
"I can't believe you did it, Discord!" she sobbed against his shoulder. "I don't want to believe you did it, but they said you did!"
Caught off-guard by this, he reached around to grasp his mane several inches above where she was clutching it and pulled it around so that it was now on the front of his neck rather than the back, taking Fluttershy with it. This sudden change in position startled Fluttershy into letting go of his mane and he caught her bridal-style.
"Did what? What are you talking about?" he asked as his mane slid back across his neck into its usual position. In his mind he added: And why aren't you happy to see me?
Fluttershy had curled up reflexively when Discord's arms wrapped around her shoulders and haunches, but at his questions, she raised her head. The thick coat of ink that had hidden his features earlier was gone now, leaving only his facial piercings for him to hide behind.
You murdered Pinkie Pie! Fluttershy howled inside her head, but before the words could come out of her mouth, she saw the distressed look on his face, and her throat suddenly seemed to close up. How could the same creature that had murdered her friend so callously, now look at her with such obvious concern? Fluttershy struggled to spit the accusation out but her tongue refused to cooperate.
After what felt like hours, but was probably only seconds, she lowered her head and asked in a voice that held no accusation, only confusion, the only question she could bring herself to. "What are you doing here? You said you never wanted to see me again."
Discord's breath hitched at this question. How did you know about that?! Then he mentally smacked his forehead. Of course! I'm dreaming and my mind just put those words in her mouth.
Shifting his grasp on her so that he was cradling her in one arm, he ran the fingers of his free hand lightly over her damp mane. "Oh, I didn't mean it, darling," he cooed. "I've said things I didn't mean when I was upset before. You know that."
Fluttershy stiffened both at his touch and his words. It was true! She could even recall one specific instance when Discord had done just that. It was back when their investigation into Applejack's disappearance had led them to dip into Fluttershy's memories in their search for clues, and this particular memory had been of Fluttershy's own attempted murder. Discord had been against the idea, only agreeing to do it on Fluttershy's insistence, so when she had reemerged from the memory shaken and terrified, he had been far from thrilled.
"Don't ever ask me to do that again! If you do, I'll take you right back to that root cellar and string you up myself!" That furious declaration had been promptly followed by a remorseful: "Oh, forgive me, Fluttershy. I didn't mean that."
These thoughts sent Fluttershy's mind spinning back to memories of Applejack's supposed murder, of Angel's supposed murder ... and now a wild new idea started to take shape.
What if ... what if Pinkie wasn't really murdered?! I didn't actually see it happen, so what if it was fake?!
But the Cakes said they saw it happen!
But what if they were fooled somehow?! What if—?
These thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a loud insistent knocking, and Fluttershy jerked her head up, causing it to collide with the palm of Discord's hand. "Oops, sorry. What's that?"
"What's what?"
"That knocking sound."
Discord swiveled his heavily pierced ears about. "I don't hear anything."
"Are you sure? Because I can hear it so clearly."
As she said this, Discord noticed that her body seemed to be turning transparent. "What are you doing?" He tightened his grasp on her, causing her to squeak in surprise, but her image still continued to fade. "Don't disappear on me!"
Fluttershy looked down at herself, but her body and limbs looked just as solid as they normally did. "What are you talking about Discord? I'm not disappearing. I'm right here."
"Fluttershy, you get back here! I'm not finished with you yet!" The words were commanding, but his tone sounded frightened.
Before Fluttershy could respond, she was suddenly back in her room, lying on her bed. It was light outside and there was a steady insistent rapping coming from her bedroom window.
Discord stared at his empty arms. Then he began feeling about for Fluttershy and calling her name. This was the first time this sort of thing had happened in one of his dreams. Other times something from the outside world had often woken him up but he had never had Fluttershy just fade away right in front of his eyes. That sort of departure had always been more his department.
After getting no answer, and feeling about for her without success, he forced himself to shrug. Well, so what? This is my dream and I can make it go any way I want, with whatever I want. And what he wanted was more time with Fluttershy, and he didn't intend to wake up until he got it. He snapped his talons and there she was, standing before him and beaming.
"Hello, Discord!" she said happily.
The draconequus opened his mouth to respond, then paused and frowned at Fluttershy. Something was wrong. This version looked and sounded the same as the one he had found earlier, but at the same time there was something off about her. He couldn't quite put his finger on it, but something seemed to be missing.
Rubbing sleep from her eyes, Fluttershy sat up, looked in the direction of her window, and let out a startled squeak. For one brief frightening moment, she had no idea what was looking in at her, but then she realized what it was. Blue eyes were peering at her from behind a mask identical in design to the one Highflyer had been wearing the day before, except that instead of being black with blue-and-yellow trim, this mask was green with black-and-red trim. Hurrying to the window, she opened it to see Highflyer clinging to the bottom edge of the frame.
"Oh my goodness! What are you doing up here? And how did you get up this high?"
"I climbed."
"Quick! Get in here before you fall," said Fluttershy, moving aside to give him more room.
The tiny stallion glanced down at the ground below, shrugged his wings, and pushed off from the branch he was balancing on. He dove through the window and landed in a summersault that brought him back up onto his hooves. Fluttershy noticed that he was wearing a shirt that matched his new mask's color scheme.
"Thanks," he said, turning to face her. "Sorry about that," he added, tipping his head in the direction of the window. "I hope my mask didn't scare you too badly."
"Oh no," Fluttershy said quickly. "It just startled me a bit. But why were you up there anyway? Why didn't you just knock on my front door?"
"I did knock on your front door for about ten minutes, but you didn't answer, so I decided to see if you were up here."
That seemed a bit rude to Fluttershy. "Why did you do that?"
Highflyer ducked his head sheepishly. "I was wondering if you could give me a ride to Ray's place. She was supposed to meet me today over an hour ago, but I haven't seen her. She was pretty torn up about..." He paused, apparently searching for the right words before settling on "what happened last night. And I wanted to make sure she was okay." He looked up and added. "I'd just go check on her myself, but the fact that I can't fly kind of complicates that."
Fluttershy's heart softened at this, though she couldn't help asking, "So why didn't you hire a balloon?"
"Oh ... I, uh, didn't think of that." Judging by his tone, Fluttershy suspected he was blushing. The tiny stallion turned to the door. "I'll just show myself out. Sorry to bother you—"
"No, no, it's okay," Fluttershy said quickly. "I'll be glad to give you a ride there."
Giving Highflyer a ride turned out to be more of a workout than Fluttershy expected. For such a small pony he was surprisingly heavy. Still the flight gave Fluttershy plenty of time to think back on her dream involving Discord. The night before she had been in too much shock to do much more than numbly accept what the Cakes had told her about Discord murdering Pinkie, but ever since waking up from that dream—and thinking back on her own experiences with Discord during their Applejack investigation—she had been having these little niggling doubts both about Pinkie's death and Discord's guilt.
You just don't want to believe he's guilty because you used to be his friend, the cynical voice in the back of her mind sneered.
Fluttershy had to admit this was true and it troubled her to think she might be blinding herself to the truth about her former partner.
But what reason would he have to murder Pinkie Pie?
He's the Spirit of Chaos and Disharmony! He doesn't need a reason!
But it just ... doesn't seem to fit with what I know about him.
Do you know him, Fluttershy? Do you truly know him? Did you ever truly know him?
She had been wrestling with these conflicting thoughts the whole flight. She didn't want to chase a false hope, but she couldn't shake off the idea of Pinkie's murder being faked the same way those changeling hybrids had faked Angel's death over a year ago. Could a changeling have disguised itself as Discord to frame him? She made a mental note to run these various ideas by Twilight later on as the alicorn would probably be the best authority on such magic.
Landing in front of the cloudominium, she let Highflyer dismount before she went up and knocked on the door. Suddenly there was a loud bang on the other side of the door and it flew open as a green blur shot out. Fluttershy dodged out of its way, but Highflyer leapt up and tackled the green blur, which Fluttershy now recognized as Tank strapped into his flying gear. Highflyer's added weight brought both him and the tortoise back down on the clouds. The propeller strapped to Tank's shell continued to whir, but Highflyer hung onto him, looking as if he were trying to hold a beach ball underwater.
Fluttershy heard a relieved sigh behind her, followed by a male voice saying, "Good. He shouldn't be out in this cold weather."
She turned to see a pegasus standing in the open doorway but it wasn't Rainbow Dash. It was a taller older-looking tan-colored pegasus dressed in a slightly rumpled Wonderbolt jacket.
"Who are you?" she asked.
"Oh, Captain Haystings."
Fluttershy remembered Rainbow Dash mentioning a Captain Haystings a few times, but Fluttershy had never actually met him. According to Rainbow Dash, he had been a Wonderbolt until a wing injury had forced him into early retirement. Nowadays though he could still fly, his wings no longer had the stamina required to perform most Wonderbolt maneuvers. However, he was still on good terms with the active Wonderbolts and often assisted the reserves by acting as an unofficial coach/mentor (usually advising against attempting the stunt that had cost him his own career). According to Rainbow Dash, this position had prompted some of the Wonderbolts to affectionately stick the title "captain" onto his name even though he had never officially made that rank.
Highflyer came forward with both his forelegs still wrapped around Tank's shell. He bobbed his head toward the former Wonderbolt in acknowledgment. "Nice to meet you. Is Ray—" He caught himself. "I mean Rainbow Dash here?"
At this question, Haystings shrunk back and shifted his weight from foot to foot. "Well, you see..." He scraped one of his front hooves uneasily against the other and as he did this, Fluttershy noticed that there were red smears on his hooves. Then she noticed there were similar red smears trailing behind him into the cloudominium.
Oh no. Fluttershy felt her stomach clench at the sight of those smears, and on a sudden impulse, she scooted past Haystings into the building. The two stallions might have called out to her, but Fluttershy was too focused on following those red smears to listen.
Please no! Please no! Please no! Fluttershy pulled up sharply as she reached her friend's bedroom. The door was open and there was a crimson stain slowly oozing out the doorway. Please no! Not Rainbow Dash too!
She felt her hooves carry her forward, and her neck leaned forward to look inside the room.
It was like looking into Sugarcube Corner all over again. Except that this time written in blood on the wall were the words:
So she thought I wouldn't do something like this, eh?