The Umbra Queen

by Car Cloth

Fluttershy & Discord

Rarity tossed and turned in her sleep. She jerked awake moments before the sunrise, covered in sweat and shaking with regret. After a few deep breaths she calmed herself. What had she been dreaming about? It was something… something important… something about a promise she had made…

The fleeting feelings and thoughts left her. She couldn’t seem to remember her nightmare, but she knew it was just that. Pulling herself out of bed, Rarity immediately trotted over to the cradle she kept in her room. The two baby foals were sleeping. Peacefully sleeping.

“How are mommy’s prince and princess this morning?” she whispered to them.

Both of the foals yawned before wrapping their hooves around each other, hugging in their sleep.

Rarity was confused by a knocking at her bedroom door. She trotted over to open it when it suddenly burst open.

“Surprise!”

Standing in the doorframe was none other than Discord. He flashed a pearly white smile before slithering into the room and wrapping himself around Rarity.

“Did you sleep well, my darling?” he asked cryptically.

“Discord,” Rarity balked. “What are you doing in my house? And at this hour?” She wiggled her way out of his grasp and walked over to her nightstand. Using her magic, Rarity telekinetically brushed her mane and straightened her appearance. She hated looking sloppy in the morning. It was so… uncouth.

“I came right over the instant I had an idea,” he said with a half-smile. Discord floated over to the cradle and gently rocked it. “You see… Fluttershy has asked me something... important... and I thought I would do something special for her.”

Rarity finished primping herself before turning to Discord. “What did she you ask you?” I'm glad those two are spending more time together, Rarity thought with a laugh. She has always had a thing for Discord.

“Do you think you could make a special dress for her?" Discord asked, completely ignoring Rarity's question. "Something she would like?”

“Me? I would be honored to but… why wouldn’t you make one? With your magic?”

“I want something that would last,” Discord replied. He stopped rocking the foals and turned to her with a playful wink. “I know whatever you make will be glorious.”

“Oh,” Rarity blushed as she held her head high. “I guess I do make wonderful dresses…”

“The best dresses.”

“Flattery will get you everywhere,” Rarity said with a laugh, quickly grabbing her sketchbook with her magic and jotting down a few preliminary ideas. “You’re in a better mood than usual,” Rarity coyly stated.

Discord flashed a mischievous grin. “The world is a different place when you have a very special somepony. Wouldn’t you agree, Rarity?”

She remained quiet and focused on her inspiration. She had experienced love once, but it had come and gone so quickly… she wished she could have enjoyed it more. Like Discord was.

“Can you keep a secret?” Discord asked, floating over to her and turning upside down.

“Of course.”

“Fluttershy asked me… to stay with her here in Ponyville!”

Rarity was momentarily shocked but quickly calmed down. That wasn’t too surprising. They did spend a great deal of time together and Fluttershy was the only pony that really seemed to get along with him… “I’m happy for you,” she finally said. “When are you going to make it official by telling everypony else?”

“Oh, sometime soon. Which is why I want you to make a dress. She wants to have a party. She has no sense for event planning so we’ve asked Pinkie to plan everything.” Discord disappeared and then reappeared on the other side of the room. “I want it to be remembered for the right reasons. I would use my magic to make everything right, but… I can’t help it if everypony doesn’t appreciate my chaotic flare.”

“I’m sure it’ll be special, darling. Now, if you don’t mind, I need to deliver a dress over to Sweet Apple Acres. I’ll start on Fluttershy’s ensemble the moment I get back.”

Discord glanced over to the twin foals. “Aren’t you going to take your kids? Or should I watch over them while you’re gone?”

“T-that’s quite all right!” Rarity nervously gasped, running over to her children and shielding them from Discord’s sight. “I’ll bring them with me!”

“Are you sure? I’m free this afternoon…” He floated over the cradle and wiggled his fingers around, trying to get their attention. He made a menacing, spike-covered rattle appear in his hands.

“No, no. I wouldn’t want to impose,” Rarity said with a nervous laugh. “I’ll take them. With me. Right now.” She quickly scooped up her children and placed them in her duel carrying saddlebag. It was her own custom design, so that she could carry her children and still be stylish.

Both the foals were awake now, glancing around their environment. Ebony began biting the saddlebag but Obsidian was as quiet as can be. Rarity used her magic to levitate over two bottles of milk and gave each one, preventing Ebony from destroying Rarity’s hoofstitched bag.

“You’re no fun,” Discord pouted, vanishing the rattle.

Rarity carried her children downstairs and collected the dress. I’ll be back in no time at all, she thought. No time at all.

“I’ll be back later tonight to see the progress on the dress,” Discord said, waving to her as she left.

---

“So when are we going to get together to try and get our cutie marks again?”

“Hmm… I don’t know. I’ll have to talk to Scootaloo about it.”

“It should be soon. My family has been asking me to do a ton of chores lately.”

Sweetie Belle lifted an eyebrow. “Don’t they ask you to do a ton of chores every day?”

“Well, yeah, but… Apple Jack and I usually do them together... but all this morning Apple Jack was busy doing other things. She hasn’t said more than two words to me! I don’t like it.” Apple Bloom sighed and took a seat next to the barn. All the members of the Apple Family were gathering near the house to start decorating for Babs Seed’s Cute-ceañera. Pinkie Pie was directing and blowing up balloons. Sweetie Belle watched them with only mild interest.

“Apple Bloom? Where are you?”

“Hide!” Apple Bloom gasped. “It’s Big Mac!”

“Big Mac?” Sweetie Belle questioned. “Why would we hide from your brother?”

The two fillies jumped behind a stack of hay and quieted down. Big Mac walked by, his eyes scanning the area with an intense scrutiny. After a moment of glancing around, he left. On his bag he carried a huge sack…

Sweetie Belle looked over the edge of the hay and watched the stallion go. “Why were we hiding from your brother?”

“He’s been acting really weird. For the last few days. Talkin’ all funny and tellin’ me what to do all the time… I don’t know why.”

“You didn’t ask him?”

“I thought he was just havin’ a bad day or somethin’…”

“Wait, and you said Apple Jack was acting weird too?” Sweetie Belle asked, pacing back and forth. Maybe there was something going on… “Maybe something happened to them and we need to figure it out! We could get our cutie marks in detective work!”

Apple Bloom smiled. “Hey! Yeah! That’s a great idea! We should tell Babs and Scootaloo! We could all hang out again!” The two fillies began jumping around in circles, each of them imagining all the fun they would have being detectives.

“Apple Bloom!” Big Mac angrily snorted. Apple Bloom cringed and slowly turned around. Big Mac was standing over them with a glare. “I’ve been calling you,” he said in a stern tone.

“S-sorry,” Apple Bloom muttered. “I guess I musta missed that…”

“Come with me,” he commanded, pushing her ahead of him with a powerful shove. Sweetie Belle glanced at her friend with a worried expression. “Sweetie Belle, you come back during the party. Understand?”

Big Mac’s gruff speech was far from what Sweetie Belle was used to. “Er… Y-yes, of course. I’ll be back then.”

Big Mac nodded before taking Apple Bloom away. Sweetie Belle nervously shuffled in place. That was really weird. Maybe I should tell somepony, she thought. Somepony who’ll do something…

Out of the corner of her eye she spotted Fluttershy. The yellow Pegasus was watching Pinkie Pie set up the outside decorations. Sweetie Belle ran to her. She helps Twilight rule all of Ponyville! She’ll know what to do!

“Fluttershy! Fluttershy!” Sweetie Belle called out. “I need to speak with you!”

Fluttershy turned and lifted an eyebrow. “Yes? What is it?”

“I… I have to tell you something! I think some of the ponies here-”

“Get away from me!” Fluttershy abruptly shouted, swatting away some bees that had randomly flown by. “Pests,” she hissed under her breath. She turned back to Sweetie Belle with a sweet smile. “What were you saying?”

Sweetie Belle awkwardly took a step back. “I… Uh…”

“Oh, wait, Sweetie Belle. You’ll have to tell me later. I need to go help Apple Jack…” Fluttershy opened her wings and took to the sky, flying straight over to the barn where Big Mac had taken Apple Bloom. Sweetie Belle turned to Pinkie Pie, who was close by.

“Did you see that?” Sweetie Belle asked under her breath.

“See what?” Pinkie Pie asked in between blowing up a balloon.

“See her?”

“See who, silly? Fluttershy? Sure. I saw her.”

“Did you see how weird she was acting?”

“I didn’t notice anything weird,” Pinkie Pie said, pondering the question. “I guess her mane was a little different today…”

“No, er, I mean did you see her with the bees? She waved them away!”

“Well, of course! They were bees! Bees sting ponies!”

Sweetie Belle frowned. Did Pinkie Pie already forget that Fluttershy was the one with a wasp for a pet? She would never wave away bees! Something was going on and it was beginning to creep Sweetie Belle out.

“I need to go,” Sweetie Belle suddenly blurted out. She had a bad feeling about Sweet Apple Acres. She needed to get away from here… as far away as she could.

“Okey-dokey,” Pinkie Pie absent-mindedly stated. “See ya later!”

Without looking back, Sweetie Belle ran from the farm as fast as she could. Maybe nothing was going on… maybe it was all in her head but… she had a terrible feeling about everything… like there was a darkness slowly closing in all around her…

Rarity… I need to speak to Rarity!

Comments

[Gdenofa]

Plot thickens. Great job as usual with keeping everyone in character, especially Discord. A spiked baby rattle XD

[Black_Heart]

As expected, Discord and Pinkie are hard to read, can't say if they are being affected by this "closing darkness" or just being their usual (relatively insensitive) selves.