Chapter 11. Luke 15:4
Chapter 11
"Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn't he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it?"—Luke 15:4
Fluttershy took an automatic step toward the pinned-down pegasus when a new realization caused her to halt. What if this wasn't the real Skywishes? What if Skywishes had been a disguised changeling from the first time they had met?! What if—?!
No, wait a minute! Fluttershy forced her panicked thoughts to slow down as she remembered the way Gummy had spent the whole time they were at Sugarcube Corner contentedly gnawing on Skywishes. Surely he wouldn't have stayed that close to her all that time if he could sense windigo-essence in her... "I might be the real Fluttershy, but how can I tell if you're the real Skywishes?"
Highflyer glanced up at that. "You know this pony?"
"Alleged pony," said Screwjob.
"One way to test that," said Highflyer, seizing a hoofful of Skywishes's camo and giving it a fierce yank.
"Hey!" Skywishes yelled as the material tore and several folded-up empty bakery boxes spilled out.
"Well, this ain't a changeling disguise," said Highflyer, waving the large chunk of torn fabric about before dropping it to the ground.
Skywishes tried to lift her head and chest, but Screwjob just pulled her front legs further back, forcing her to stay down. "Hold it. How do we know you're not just a changeling who caught the real Skywishes and stole her clothes?"
"Oh, for crying out..." Skywishes grumbled against the ground before turning her head enough to look up. "Fluttershy, ask me something only I would know!"
"Um ... how are things at the Tree-H-A-B?"
"Okay, first of all, I already told you it's pronounced 'tree-hab.' Second of all, I don't know how things are there, because I never made it back there! I've been dodging changelings ever since I left you—mmf!" Her voice had been getting steadily angrier with each word until she was almost shouting. Probably in an attempt to lessen her volume, Screwjob had put more of his weight on her back, forcing her muzzle to smoosh against the ground again.
Only the real Skywishes would know that she already corrected me on the TreeHAB's pronunciation. "Let her up, guys. She's the real thing."
Immediately the two wrestlers released their prisoner, and Skywishes scrambled away from them, her ripped camouflage now flapping in two large strips on either side of her body. Fluttershy quickly backed out of the way as the coral-colored pegasus darted into the cottage. Highflyer grabbed up the discarded piece of camouflage, then he and Screwjob punted the discarded bakery boxes through the door before hurrying inside as well.
As Fluttershy locked up behind them, she heard Dinky gasp, probably at Skywishes's ragged mud-caked appearance, and hastened to reassure her. "It's okay, Dinky. She's a friend."
"More or less," Skywishes grunted. Rubbing at one of her sore shoulders, she glared back at the two wrestlers. "You didn't have to try and break my shoulder blades like that," she muttered.
Highflyer's expression was inscrutable behind his mask, but Screwjob looked completely unrepentant. "Dislocate. Not break. There is a difference. And what did you expect us to do when we noticed you sneaking around the house all suspicious-like? Offer an engraved invitation, no questions asked? It just so happens there's a pack of changelings roaming around out there, intent on killing us."
"So I noticed. What changelings do you think I've been trying to avoid?"
Screwjob let out a rather dimwitted "Huh?" before Fluttershy cut in. "Um, Skywishes, maybe you should explain."
A split second after Discord had left his final message on Fluttershy's note, he reappeared, albeit still invisible, on a cloud high above Equestria. A quick scan of his surroundings revealed no ponies nor any other creatures nearby, but he still decided to maintain his current invisibility.
The moth tattoos on his neck were all vibrating furiously. They had started back while he was still an illustration on Fluttershy's note and that was what had prompted him to leave when he did. Now he smacked both hands down on the vibrating tattoos, stilling them. Taking his hands away from his neck, he brought them together, cracked his knuckles, and when he spread his hands apart, a saw appeared between them. He began using said saw to cut a circular hole in the center of the cloud. He tapped the cut-out center of the cloud with a toe and it dropped out of the cloud to float away. Slipping the saw into his bristly mane, he leaned over the hole to look down at Equestria far below. He ran a paw around the edge of the hole and the image of the land below seemed to zoom in. He adjusted it until Ponyville was filling most of the hole. Three dots were moving away from Sugarcube Corner and through the town.
It seemed his prisoners had finally gotten themselves free. He chuckled. Little did they know that during the interrogation he had turned three of his moth tattoos invisible, peeled them off, and pressed one against the back of each changeling's neck, where they were now acting as trackers—
He was jerked out of this smug gloating when he felt a new and different prickling sensation along his back.
"Hey! Stop right where you are!" he shouted, reaching over his shoulder and seizing his dragon tattoo by the throat. The rebellious thing was trying to fade from his body and sneak back onto Fluttershy's note!
The tattoo hissed angrily and thrashed about in his grip.
"I said stay where you are!" Discord snapped, stretching his neck back to glare at the tattoo. "We're not going back there! Not yet!" The tattoo spat a stream of ink at his face and he dodged before mashing its head down against his back fur. "We're doing this my way! Got it?!"
The dragon tattoo flung its front legs out with an exasperated snarl, but stopped trying to get back to Fluttershy's note. Discord released its neck and the tattoo slumped down with its back to his, crossing its forelegs sulkily. Discord meanwhile turned his attention back to the hole in the cloud to watch the changelings' progress.
Odd. Based on what Fluttershy had told him earlier, he had expected the changelings to start heading toward Ghastly Gorge, but they seemed to be heading off in the opposite direction.
Oh, well. No matter. He smacked one end of the cloud with his tail and it began drifting in the same direction as the dots were traveling. Settling back, he continued watching the dots, waiting for his moth tattoos to vibrate a second time; the signal that the changelings had reached their queen. He didn't really care whether or not they gave her his message. He just wanted to find out where she was hiding so he could capture her and the rest of her subjects. Once they were caught, he was sure he could force a confession out of them before dropping them off at Canterlot gift-wrapped for Celestia to deal with.
Then and only then did he intend to go back to Fluttershy.
And what if she's still angry with you? You heard how she called your name just before you left. His heart quavered at this thought, but he quickly tried to dismiss it. Surely she wouldn't be able to stay upset with him if he told her he had only left her this time to bring in her friends' real killers. Then a grin stretched across his face as another idea occurred to him. Maybe he could claim he had suspected those changelings were out there all along and he had left her over a year ago in an attempt to lure them out of hiding!
His dragon tattoo snorted contemptuously at that idea, and he glared over his shoulder at it.
"You don't have to be so rude. I realize she'd likely ask why, if that was my plan, I didn't just tell her before I left."
Still the idea had possibilities...
Skywishes's explanation ended up getting delayed when she opted to get cleaned up a bit first. Fortunately her camouflage coat had taken the brunt of the mud, so once she stripped down, cleaning up involved mostly scrubbing the mud from her face, mane, and tail. When she reemerged from the bathroom, she saw that Screwjob was now sitting in front of the couch, wrapping his front fetlocks in sports tape. The tiny stallion with the mask, tattoos, and splinted wings (High, Screwjob had called him) was using a damp cloth to sponge the forehead of the young unicorn on the cot. (What had Fluttershy called her? Dinky?) Then Skywishes noticed Fluttershy approaching the cot, carrying a bowl of what appeared to be soup. Scarcely had the butter-colored pegasus reached the cot when her long mane fanned out and the origami parrot shot out of it, landing on the unicorn's head. Seizing the cloth in both his beaks, and jerking it out of the stallion's grip, he began alternately smacking Dinky on the head with it, and trying to spear it on her horn. She yelped and tried, albeit unsuccessfully, to shake him off.
"Scat!" the stallion snapped, swatting the parrot off, only for it to go after him, slapping at his masked head with the cloth. Setting down the soup, Fluttershy hurried over and snatched the parrot out of the air. He thrashed about briefly, but quickly settled down and dropped the cloth when he noticed who was holding him. Both his heads were now soggy from the cloth so Fluttershy tried to be careful not to tear them as she gently petted them. Eyeing the parrot warily, the masked stallion sidled over to the soup bowl and picked it up.
"Wait," said Dinky as he extended the bowl to her. "Let me see if I can feed myself." As she pushed herself up into a sitting position, her horn sputtered feebly and a very faint yellow glow appeared around the handle of the soup's spoon. She strained for several seconds, trying without success to lift the spoon, before the glow vanished and she fell back against her pillow, exhausted. "No good," she groaned, wincing as she rubbed her temples with her hooves. "My magic's still shot. I don't think I could lift so much as a toothpick."
Fluttershy started to move toward the cot again, probably to help feed Dinky, but the masked stallion shook his head. "I'll help her." His gaze flicked down to the paper bird still in Fluttershy's hooves. "You should probably keep an eye on that thing, as you're the only one it seems to like."
"Yeah, so far," Skywishes muttered, catching their attention as she yanked a comb through her tangled mane. Fluttershy winced in sympathy as the comb came away with large knots of pink-and-purple hair snagged in its teeth.
"Um, would you mind if I combed your hair out for you?" she asked, moving over to Skywishes.
The coral-colored pegasus winced again as she jerked the comb through her mane a second time. "I wouldn't, but Max there might."
"Max?"
Skywishes jabbed a wingtip in the direction of the parrot Fluttershy was still holding. "Mache Max," she clarified before yanking her wing back as the piece of origami tried to snap at her feathers with one of its beaks. "After the first day or so, I started calling him that. It just seemed to fit."
Fluttershy looked down at the parrot. "Um, Mache Max?" One of its heads jerked up to study her. "Will you behave yourself and stop bothering the other ponies please?"
The parrot made an "eh" sound, hopped onto Fluttershy's back, and buried both his heads under her wing.
Keeping her flat eyes trained on what was still visible of Mache Max, Skywishes surrendered the comb. Fluttershy took it and began gently combing through Skywishes's mane, starting at the ends and working on tiny sections a bit at a time so she wouldn't pull it painfully.
"So, what was it you were saying earlier about dodging changelings?" Screwjob asked as he finished securing the tape on one fetlock and flexed the joint experimentally.
"Oh. That," Skywishes grunted. "I hadn't gotten too far into the forest before I decided to stop and check just what Pinkie Pie had packed for me. I landed on a tree branch, opened a box of what turned out to be cupcakes, and lurking in there among them was Mache Max."
So that's where he disappeared to, Fluttershy mused. He must have slipped into one of those boxes while we were busy watching Pinkie load up Skywishes...
"No sooner did I open that box, then he flew out and started pecking at my head. Then Fluttershy showed up."
Fluttershy froze mid-brush. "Me?"
"That's what I thought at first. You came flapping toward me through the trees, calling for me to wait, when Max suddenly hurled himself toward you and started trying to peck your eyes out. I almost went over to help you, but the fact that he hadn't acted that way toward you earlier made me think something was off. So on a hunch, I dropped the cupcake box I was holding and shot away from you into some bushes where I could hide but still watch things. You called out to me and kept swatting Max away, but he just kept coming right back, and I of course stayed silent. Finally you seemed to get fed up with Max harassing you, and light shot out of your forehead, knocking him to the ground. Then you turned into one of those semitransparent changelings you had mentioned, and several more of them came into view as well. If you can call it that considering how easy it is to miss their nearly invisible outlines if you're not watching for them. They started to spread out, looking for me. I wasn't sure what they wanted, but based on what you told me about them, I doubted it was good so I snuck away from there as fast as I could.
"Unfortunately, all this pink-and-purple hair," she flicked her forelock with a hoof for emphasis, "tends to stand out in the forest, and one of them spotted me. I took off. They gave chase, and almost caught me until I flew into a swampy area and got myself covered in mud that helped me hide better.
"I don't know how long they chased me, but I finally managed to give them the slip. I was hiding under the hollowed-out part of a fallen tree—wondering what I was going to do, considering I wasn't sure exactly where I currently was in the Everfree—when a mud-covered Max made his reappearance by flying right into my face. I was about to shoo him away, when I remembered how he had known that changeling-Fluttershy was fake. I then wondered aloud how he had managed to find me, and if he could possibly do the same with other ponies.
"I wasn't really expecting an answer or anything, but then Max hopped out of the tree and started galloping across the forest floor. He stopped about twenty feet away, looked back at me, then flew back, and uh ... goosed me out of the tree." This was greeted with a couple of snickers from the audience and an eye-roll from the narrator. "I got the message that he wanted me to follow him, and—figuring he probably couldn't get me any more lost than I already was—I followed."
By then Fluttershy had finished combing out Skywishes's mane, and now moved to start working on her tail. As Fluttershy shifted, Skywishes glanced back to make sure Mache Max was still situated under her wing.
"Turns out he wasn't exactly the easiest guide to have—" Skywishes went on, her tone loaded with dislike. "—as he seemed to get a kick out of tormenting me anytime we were alone." Then her tone suddenly shifted to grudging respect. "But on the flipside, any time changelings got near our hiding places, he would dart away from me and made noise in a different location to lure them away until I could escape. I don't know how he always managed to find me again afterwards but he did.
"Yeah, as much as I hate to admit it, I probably owe him my life." Then her mouth briefly twitched in what was almost a smile. "Well, him and all those cakes and cookies Pinkie gave me. I didn't want to risk getting caught while foraging, so that's all I was eating for the past days. By the way, remind me to tell her that we'll have to take a raincheck on those TreeHAB tomatoes I promised her."
The other ponies all exchanged uncomfortable looks that were not lost on Skywishes. "Is something wrong?"
Fluttershy felt trapped. How much should she tell or not tell Skywishes about ... well ... everything?
Before she could decide, Screwjob spoke up, all humor gone from his voice. "Skywishes, I'm afraid Pinkie's not around anymore."
Fluttershy wouldn't have thought it was possible for Skywishes's eyes to go any flatter, but that's just what they did now. "What happened?"
Once again the other ponies unknowingly came to Fluttershy's rescue as they filled Skywishes in on what they knew. Highflyer described how he and Fluttershy had found out first about Pinkie's murder and later about Rainbow's. Dinky told of how she had spent a day cooking with Discord and how shocked she had later been to hear he had committed murder. Then the two wrestlers told of how they had gone to visit Derpy and her daughters only to get dragged into a desperate battle that had ended in an equally desperate escape.
When they got to the part about crash-landing in the Everfree and hiding under tree roots, Skywishes's mouth once again twitched in what was almost a smile. "Hm. Well, that explains that."
"What do you mean?"
"Max and I had managed to shake our hunters off. Again. When you three came crashing down right near our latest hiding spot. I wasn't sure if you were ponies or disguised changelings at the time so I stayed hidden, and Max did the same. At least until a couple of changelings blasted the leaves a little too close to our hiding place and we had to get out of there. I went one way and Max went the other."
The spoon fell from Highflyer's hoof as his eyes widened behind his mask. "So it was you that lured them away from us."
"Not intentionally, but apparently."
Highflyer set the soup bowl down and pushed himself up onto all fours, dipping his head in her direction. "I guess we owe you one then."
Skywishes grunted noncommittally, before glancing back at Fluttershy. "How's the tail coming?"
Fluttershy started. "Hm?! Oh, i-it's done." She had actually finished combing all the tangles out of Skywishes's tail a good several minutes before the coral-colored pegasus had asked. While the other ponies told their stories, she had been so deep in thought she had just continued combing the tail automatically.
Now she set the comb down and pulled Mache Max out from under her wing. The parrot was preening his paper feathers, and Fluttershy reached up to fluff the still soggy ones on his head while she mentally readied herself for what she felt she must do.
"Everypony."
Two pegasi, one unicorn, and one earth pony all looked at her.
"I ... I need to tell you something important. But before I do, I need you to—" She broke off mid-sentence.
Screwjob raised his intact eyebrow. "You need us to what?"
Fluttershy gulped. "I was going to ask you to ... Pinkie Promise not to set your charms off when you hear what I have to say ... but I just realized that might not have any binding power if ... if Pinkie's..." Though she couldn't bring herself to say the last word, the other ponies seemed to get the gist of it.
Screwjob sat up a bit straighter. "If you're not sure about the Pinkie Promise, we could always make the Screwjob Stipulation instead."
Fluttershy, Skywishes, and Dinky all gave him questioning looks so he recited: "Cross my heart, hope to die, may High hit me right in the eye, if I lie." He winced and rubbed at his bandaged eye. "Which given my current condition, could be fatal."
Skywishes raised both her front hooves. "I'd promise, but I haven't got any charms ("You got that right." "Shut it, Jobs."), so I couldn't set them off even if I wanted to."
Fluttershy turned her attention to Dinky and Highflyer.
"Would just straight-up promising be enough?" asked Highflyer.
Fluttershy considered. "I ... suppose so."
The teenage unicorn and the masked wrestler both promised.
Fluttershy drew in a deep breath. "Okay. I'm not quite sure how to say this, but ... Dinky ... your family's still alive."
Dinky sat up as if she had just been jabbed with an electrical prod. "What? How? Where are they?"
"Amethyst teleported your mother to a hospital." Fluttershy swallowed hesitantly before going on. "I'm afraid your mom's ... still inside out—but the good news is the doctors have a way to keep her alive while they figure out how to safely reverse the spell."
"And what about Amethyst? Is she all right?"
Fluttershy hesitated again. "Well, she's ... Dinky, she overstrained herself doing that teleportation spell, similar to how you did when you—"
"Are you saying she's dead?!"
"No, no, Dinky! She's not dead, but she's ... well ... she's ... in a coma."
Dinky just sat there looking stunned, clearly not sure whether to be relieved that her family was alive or worried that they were still in such precarious positions.
Then Highflyer reached over and stroked her singed forelock before looking back up at Fluttershy, his blue eyes as sharp and cold as icicles. "And how exactly do you know all this?"
Fluttershy couldn't really blame him for being suspicious of this new information, but hearing the distrust in his voice still hurt. Well ... time to test those promises they made.
"Discord told me. He flashed himself into my room earlier this morning and—"
"I knew it!" Screwjob shouted, causing her to flinch. "I knew I heard a guy's voice in there! Ha! I never quite swallered that 'you-talking-in-your-sleep' non—Oof!" Highflyer had just kicked him hard in the side. Screwjob coughed, cleared his throat and turned back to Fluttershy. "Eh-hem! Continue."
"Well..." Fluttershy started, trying to regroup her thoughts after that interruption. "You were right. That was Discord you heard in there—But just hear me out before you do anything!"
That last part had been directed at Highflyer, who had shifted position almost as if he intended to slam one of his front hooves down hard on the floor. The tiny wrestler looked up at her, his eyes still icy cold. Then, in a decidedly deliberate manner, he got up, walked to the wall, pushed himself up onto his hind legs, and leaned back against the wall with his front legs crossed over his chest. If the position put pressure on his injured wings and back, he didn't show it. He just glared at Fluttershy from under hooded eyelids.
"I'm listening," he said in a frosty 'you'd-better-have-a-real-good-reason-for-making-me-promise-not-to-use-that-charm' tone.
Fluttershy drew in a deep breath to settle herself. "Okay. I admit I tried to hide his visit from you earlier. Maybe I shouldn't have, but I was afraid that if you knew he was here, one of you would set off the alarm before I could explain anything."
"Uh-huh," said Highflyer in a 'keep-talking' tone.
Fluttershy proceeded to tell them what she knew about how Discord was no more guilty of Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash's murders than he was of Derpy's current situation, and about how he had discovered he was being framed to keep attention away from the real threat.
"That's quite a story," said Highflyer when she finished. "But if you got all that from Discord, how do you know he wasn't just lying when he claimed the eye-witnesses lied?"
"Because what he said fits with what the rest of you told me and with what I've seen for myself. Think about it, Highflyer. Didn't you find it odd that Rainbow Dash would have a Wonderbolt meeting scheduled on the same morning she was planning to spend with you, and wouldn't tell you about it?"
This seemed to catch Highflyer off-guard, and the cold look in his eyes thawed a fraction. "Well ... I suppose that was a bit ... odd."
"I bet there wasn't even a meeting that day. I bet that changeling just said that to explain why he was there."
"Hmm..." Highflyer looked away from her, and Fluttershy suddenly wished he wasn't wearing that mask as she couldn't read what little of his expression was currently visible through it.
She turned to the other ponies. "Dinky, you spent a whole day with Discord. Did he ever give you the impression he would murder somepony?"
"Well ... no..." Dinky said uncertainly. "But he might have just been putting on an act."
"I don't think so, Dinky. Discord could have easily killed any of us Element Bearers back when he first got out of his stone prison. But he didn't. He may have been cruel and treated us like his playthings, but cold-blooded murder wasn't his style even back when he was evil."
But he did kill those two changelings back at Sweet Apple Acres, a small voice in the back of her heard pointed out.
That was different! He didn't mean to kill them.
So he said—
"Shy." The raspy voice was soft, but still managed to startle her. She spun back around to meet Highflyer's blue eyes with her turquoise ones. "I believe you."
Screwjob was stretched out on his stomach with his hooves pressed over his eyes as if the light was paining them, but now he lifted the hoof covering his unbandaged eye. "Well, if that's good enough for High, it's good enough for me."
As Fluttershy turned to give him a grateful smile, she heard Skywishes and Dinky murmur, "I believe you too." "Me too."
"But where do we go from here?" Highflyer asked. "Sure we believe you, but what are we supposed to do about it?"
Fluttershy's face promptly fell. "I ... I don't know," she admitted. "We have to clear Discord's name and let everypony know what's really going on..." she turned back to Highflyer. "You and Dinky are the only ponies who saw what really happened to Derpy. Screwjob might back you up—"
"Roger that," Screwjob muttered.
"—but—"
"But there's also the fact that a bunch of changelings currently want the three of us dead, and they can disguise themselves as pretty much anypony they want to?" Highflyer guessed.
"Yes," Fluttershy breathed, involuntarily shuddering as she remembered how close she might have come to unwittingly getting these three ponies killed.
Noticing this shudder, Highflyer's eyes suddenly narrowed behind his mask. "If they used that retired Wonderbolt to get close to Ray, and the Cake family to capture Pinkie ... do you suppose they've been doing the same thing with other ponies as well?"
Fluttershy gulped and nodded. "That's what I'm afraid of." Was this what it was like for Applejack? Wanting to get the word out, but not sure who to trust, when anypony could be a disguised—? "Wait a minute! The changelings can't disguise themselves as Discord! They openly admitted that! He's the one we can trust not to be a fake!"
Skywishes let out a wry laugh. "Unfortunately it sounds like they were counting on that little factoid to make the case against him seem ironclad. Plus even if we could trust him, we don't know where he is."
During this conversation, Fluttershy had stopped stroking Mache Max's wings, and now the parrot nibbled gently on her pastern, apparently wanting her to resume the activity. Glancing down at him, a new wild idea occurred to her. It was a long shot but...
"Mache Max?"
He cocked both his heads up at her.
"Discord made you, didn't he?"
The parrot grabbed a long lock of her mane in each beak and began bobbing each head alternately up and down.
Fluttershy decided to take this as a yes. "If you knew how to lead Skywishes back here to me, do you think you could lead me to Discord?"
Mache Max paused in playing with her mane. Then he flew up into the air, tugging her mane in the direction of one of the windows. When Fluttershy stood up and leaned in that direction, he let go of her mane, dropped to the floor, and hopped to the window, where he turned back and watched her expectantly.
Fluttershy glanced over at Skywishes. "Do you think that means he can find Discord?"
Skywishes's eyes flicked from Fluttershy to Mache Max and back again. "Considering what he's managed to do so far, I wouldn't be surprised."
Behind them, Highflyer cleared his throat. "Shy, you do know that even if you do find Discord, it won't change the fact that as far as most of Equestria is concerned, he's a killer whose word isn't worth spit?"
Fluttershy sobered at this. "That's true ... But if the four of you back me up, maybe we can convince the rest of my friends that he's innocent as well."
"But what if the changelings already got to them?" said Dinky. "How in the world would we know—?!"
"Hold on," Skywishes cut in, turning to Dinky, Highflyer, and Screwjob. "Just yesterday, you three managed to expose several disguised changelings, and I—with Max's help—managed to get tipped off even before that. What could we use from those situations to spot changelings in other situations?"
"Well, if a pony's wearing clothes, you could try ripping them off," Highflyer suggested. "I decided to try that with you, since when I tried to rip my changeling-double's mask off, I couldn't since that was part of its skin."
Screwjob smirked at his best friend. "I knew making you wear a mask twenty-four seven would pay off someday."
Skywishes however, was not so amused. "Hmm. That might work in some cases." To the wrestlers she added under her breath, "Like with you two. But unfortunately most ponies don't seem to wear clothes on a regular basis."
"True," said Highflyer. "And if we go that route, we'll probably just end up with a bunch of honked-off ponies if it turns out they're not changelings."
"Hm. That kinda makes me want to do it now," Screwjob muttered under his breath.
"Fluttershy, you mentioned animals can sense the windigo-essence in these changelings," said Dinky. "What if we got a bunch of your animal friends and see how they react when you put them near different ponies? If the animals try to get away from the ponies, that could mean they're disguised changelings."
"Yes ... but all my animals have either gone south or are hibernating now. That's one of the reasons the changelings waited as long as they did to set this up." Fluttershy rubbed her forehead. What can we do?! Those changelings seem to have thought of everything!
"What about him?" Dinky gestured to Mache Max who had started strutting back and forth in front of the closed window. "He could tell the real you from the fake one."
"Don't think that'll work too well, kid," said Skywishes. "He might treat the real Fluttershy a lot nicer than a fake one, but when it comes to other ponies, real or fake, Max seems to be an equal opportunity annoyer."
Screwjob sighed. "In other words ... he's about as reliable a changeling-detector as Big Tim."
Fluttershy frowned at him. "Who?"
"His aunt's pet rattlesnake," said Highflyer, and Screwjob shuddered violently.
At the mention of a pet snake, Fluttershy suddenly remembered two other pet reptiles: Tank and Gummy!
"That's it," she murmured.
"That's what?!" Screwjob squawked in alarm. "You can't seriously be thinking of using Big Tim! Trust me, even you wouldn't want anything to do with that ... 'snake.'" He almost gagged on the word.
"What? Oh, no, I wasn't thinking of him. I was thinking of Tank and Gummy. I don't think either of them are in hibernation yet, so they could help us tell real ponies from fake ones. Let's see. Tank is with Scootaloo, and Applejack mentioned that either she or Big Mac was going to take Gummy to the Pie family Rock Farm..."
Screwjob immediately brightened. "I volunteer to go get Apps and Gummy!"
"Oh, that's gonna work out great," Highflyer muttered. "Jobs, if you so much as show your face around that farm, she'll throw you out on your ear."
"You might not have noticed, High, but we ain't exactly overburdened with options."
"Unfortunately he's right," said Fluttershy. "We need to get Applejack from Sweet Apple Acres; Twilight and Spike from Canterlot; Rarity and Apple Bloom from Amberlocks' Orchards; and Discord from wherever he is."
"There, ya see," said Screwjob. "Plus, if any of the rest of you volunteer to get Apps, I'll deck you. I don't care if it makes me look like a bully. I'm a heel. I can get away with it."
Highflyer responded to this with a snort and an eye-roll.
It took some discussion but it was finally decided that Fluttershy and Mache Max would look for Discord; Skywishes would fly to Canterlot to get Twilight and Spike; and Highflyer would go find Tank and Scootaloo, before sneaking on a train to the Crystal Empire where he would collect Rarity and Apple Bloom.
Which of course left Screwjob to go round up Gummy and the remaining Apple siblings at Sweet Apple Acres.
Dinky was still too drained to travel, so it was decided that she would stay at the cottage to let the other ponies in when they arrived.
"But how will I know if any of you are ponies or disguised changelings without Tank or Gummy?"
"We'll need something else to identify ourselves," Fluttershy mused. "Some code word, or name, or something..."
"Cardinal," said Skywishes.
"What?"
"That'll be my code word." She turned to Dinky. "If you look through the peephole, and see a pony that looks like me, don't trust her if she says 'It's Skywishes.' Only trust her if she says 'It's Cardinal.'"
Dinky frowned at her. "What's Cardinal have to do with anything?"
"Nothing. That's why I'm using it." She turned to the other ponies. "And Cardinal is only going to be my code word. The rest of you will have to come up with your own."
"Hmm." Fluttershy paced about, trying to think of a code word. It would have to be something easy to remember, but not so easy to guess. Butterfly? No, no, that's too obvious. But what's similar to butterflies? Moths? Then she remembered how in her dreams Discord always seemed to have moths tattooed on his neck rather than the wasps he had in real life.
"'Wasp' will be my code word," she said aloud. When the other ponies looked at her curiously, she added, "I don't think it's something most ponies would immediately associate with me."
"Ha, that's for sure," Screwjob muttered, then grinned at Highflyer. "Hey, High, here's a good one for you: High-senberg."
Highflyer seemed less than impressed. "How'd you come up with that?"
Screwjob shrugged. "I don't know, I just heard it somewhere. So what do you think?"
"Nnno," said Highflyer flatly.
"Well, what else would you use?"
"Falcon."
"Falcon? You can't use Falcon! It's too obvious! It's practically your trademark! You've got falcons on your shirts, your pants, your masks! You've even got a pendant of one on a chain tattooed around your neck for crying out loud!" He thunked Highflyer in the chest, right where said pendant was tattooed, for emphasis.
The tiny stallion didn't even flinch. "I'm still using Falcon. We've got to throw a few obvious ones in there to keep them guessing, and if you want Highsenberg so badly, you use it."
"Hmm, maybe I will."
"And my code word will be 'Whistler,'" said Dinky. "Because I'm hopeless at whistling."
This was met with uncomfortable silence from the older ponies. Under most circumstances, Dinky's comment might have earned some amused laughs, but now it only highlighted the fact that even though she would be staying in the cottage, she was still—in her own way—facing every bit as much danger as the rest of them.
Then Mache Max—who had been impatiently pacing back and forth in front of the window—suddenly let out an ear-piercing shriek that startled all of them. Jumping down from the window, he bounced away into the kitchen, screeching all the way. Springing up onto the counter, he grabbed a loaf of bread that was sitting there, and hurled it at the ponies. They all ducked behind the cot, except Dinky who flattened herself against the top of it. The bread thumped against the wall and fell behind the couch. Then Mache Max followed up the bread with a plastic honey bottle.
"Alright! Alright! We're hurrying! Quit being a brat!" Skywishes snapped, poking her head over the edge of the cot.
The parrot responded with another loud shriek, then began looking about for more ammunition.
Fluttershy darted out from behind the cot, snatched him off the counter, and began shushing him frantically. Once again Mache Max immediately settled down, but the five ponies stayed tense, straining their ears to catch any sound outside; any sign that possible enemies had heard the parrot's hollering. Then Skywishes padded over to a nearby window and peeked cautiously outside.
"Okay," she finally said in a low voice after several long minutes of peering outside. "It doesn't look like anything is coming to investigate his screaming. Where were we? Oh, yeah." She turned back to the ponies. "I'm Cardinal."
She pointed to Fluttershy. "You're Wasp."
To Dinky. "You're Whistler."
To Highflyer. "You're Falcon."
"And you?" she asked Screwjob.
He shrugged. "Highsenberg."
"Okay. We know how to identify each other. Now we need to figure out some way for the three of us," she gestured to herself, Highflyer, and Screwjob, "to convince your friends," she turned back to Fluttershy, "that you sent us, that they can trust us, and that we're not disguised changelings."
"Maybe you could tell us something about them we wouldn't normally know," suggested Highflyer. "Like when I quizzed you about Moonshine."
"Let me think..." Fluttershy murmured. It sounded like a good idea, but she didn't know how much Rainbow Dash had told Highflyer and how much of that he had shared with Screwjob. And she also couldn't remember exactly how much she and her friends had told Skywishes.
Then Mache Max stretched his beaks toward the counter, and Fluttershy automatically stroked his back while she looked to see what he was trying to reach. It was a pile of apples and at the sight of them a new idea occurred to her. Tucking Mache Max back under her wing, she grabbed several of the apples, and began peeling them with a nearby knife.
"What's going on?" Dinky asked, leaning out of the cot to try and see.
"Shy's ... peeling some apples," Highflyer reported.
"Just give me a minute." Once Fluttershy had finished peeling three of the apples, she arranged the peelings into the rough shape of roses and tucked them into three small jars. "When you're sure you've found my friends," she said, turning to face Highflyer, Screwjob, and Skywishes. "Give them these." She offered each of them a jar. "And tell them: Fluttershy said to tell you, 'It's happening again.' They'll understand."
Skywishes studied the jar she'd been given. "Might be a good idea if we each had a saddlebag or something to carry these in."
Which prompted them to start searching the cottage for saddlebags.
"And while we're at it," Skywishes added. "We might want to find some way to disguise ourselves too. Just because changelings are looking for us, doesn't mean we have to make it easy for them."
Several minutes later, Fluttershy stepped back to study her work. Not only had she found saddlebags for the other three ponies, but she had dressed them in three of her cloaks—blue for Skywishes, and green for the two wrestlers—in hopes that it would make them harder to identify while outside.
Skywishes was similar enough to Fluttershy in size and build that outfitting her hadn't been a problem, but the two stallions had posed a challenge. Screwjob's cloak hid his muscular body and broad sloped shoulders, but did little to conceal his long legs.
Skywishes tilted her head down to study them. "That sports tape is drab enough not to catch one's attention, but the same can't be said for those purple-and-turquoise tights."
"Well, I ain't ditching the tights. I may need them later." And with that, Screwjob rolled up the cuffs of said tights until they resembled short shorts—which Highflyer snickered at—but no longer showed under the cape.
"Hey, this ain't a fashion show," he muttered to Highflyer. "Plus, it's not like you don't have wardrobe problems of your own."
Highflyer's snickering faded at this. He was so small that Fluttershy's cloak hid him completely from the neck down with extra material even pooling around his hooves, but unfortunately it did nothing to conceal his most prominent feature above the neck, aka his mask.
Fluttershy frowned at him. "Can't you just take the mask off? Or keep the cloak's hood pulled up far enough to hide it?"
Highflyer pulled the hood up over his head. "I could, but this thing is so big, I'm worried about it slipping off if I have to move fast."
"But that shouldn't be a problem if you take off the mask, considering nopony," With the possible exception of Screwjob, she added in her thoughts, "has seen you without it for years."
"True, but not a lot of ponies seem to go for the shave-headed look like High does," Screwjob pointed out. "And combine that with the shrimpy size, even with that cloak hiding the muscles and tattoos, someone might put two and two together..."
At that moment, Mache Max jumped down from Fluttershy's back, walked around to her tail and began plucking at it, weaving it into a sort of braid. Watching this sparked a new idea in Fluttershy's mind.
"How about this?" Reaching down, she gently took her tail away from Mache Max, who surprisingly made no fuss about being deprived of his toy, and simply scampered off to explore another section of the room. Unfastening her tail extensions (which drew a couple of raised eyebrows from the observing ponies and an embarrassed blush from Fluttershy herself. "Yes, I wear tail extensions."), she held them out to Highflyer. "If you took your mask off, you could tuck these into the back of your collar and use them as a sort of makeshift wig."
Now it was Screwjob's turn to snicker. "That I gotta see."
"Ha. Ha." Highflyer deadpanned, then added under his breath to Fluttershy, "Though just between the two of us, I think that disguise might work."
Fluttershy gave him a grateful smile, then turned to survey the other ponies. There didn't seem to be anything else that needed to be—
"Fluttershy?" Dinky suddenly croaked as she struggled to sit up. "Before you guys go, could I ... could I have a knife from the kitchen? In case the changelings get in here and—"
"I'll get it," said Highflyer, reaching under his cloak to tuck the extensions into his borrowed saddlebag. While he moved to the kitchen, Fluttershy went to the cot to examine Dinky. The young teenager's horn still felt warm but the forehead around it was cold and clammy.
Then Highflyer was there with the same knife Fluttershy had used to peel the apples.
"Thanks," said Dinky, taking the knife and tucking it under her pillow. She started to lie back down, when Highflyer caught her by the shoulder.
"Show me how you'd pull that knife out, if a changeling came at you." He and Fluttershy both stepped back to give Dinky some room. She resumed lying down, and shifted about to get one of her front hooves under the pillow. Then she suddenly shoved herself upright and brought the knife up in front of her, ready to jab it forward.
Highflyer took one look at the knife, and immediately shook his head. "Nope, you're holding it wrong." He deftly plucked the blade from her hoof. "Do it like this." With surprising ease considering his lack of fingers, he spun the knife around so that the blade was parallel to his foreleg with the sharpened edge outward. "Trust me, this way you can inflict more damage, but it's also harder for them to turn the blade on you."
How do you know that? Fluttershy wondered as the masked stallion flipped the knife back around so that the handle was now extended toward Dinky. "Try again."
She tried again and Highflyer gave her some more pointers, but even these did little to hide the fact that Dinky was still badly weakened from her magical overexertion. In just a few moments, even though she had done little more than lie down and scramble up a few times, she was already trembling and breathing hard.
If any changelings find her, she won't stand a chance! Fluttershy fretted. She's too weak—!
"You having second thoughts?"
Fluttershy started and turned to see Skywishes watching her with those flat dead eyes.
Fluttershy sighed and looked back toward the cot. "I'm not sure about leaving Dinky alone anymore. Maybe one of us should try to take her with us. I mean, even with that knife, she—"
Skywishes halted Fluttershy with a hoof on her shoulder. "Considering what's out there, if we tried to take her with us, we'd probably just be taking her into a lot more danger than we'd be taking her out of. I know leaving her isn't an easy or pleasant option, but it's the best one we have out of a long list of bad ones."
You know she's right, a small voice in the back of Fluttershy's head pointed out.
Yes, but maybe... "Dinky?"
The teenager looked questioningly past Highflyer to Fluttershy.
"Dinky, if you think you hear any of us outside, don't trust it's us unless we give our code names before anything else. In fact, don't even call out to us unless you hear those code names."
"And if you think you hear Scootaloo out there," Highflyer added. "Don't trust her unless she uses the word..." He paused a moment in thought. "'Kestrel.' You got that? Kestrel."
Dinky nodded grimly. "I'll do that, but I need you guys to promise me something too." She looked around at the four older ponies. She swallowed uneasily, but then her resolve seemed to harden and she took the plunge. "If you make it back here, and give your code names, don't come in unless you hear me give my code name back. If I say anything else, or if you don't hear anything, don't come in. Assume I'm already dead, and get away fast."
"Dinky—"
"Promise me you'll do that!"
Hearing the desperation in the young unicorn's voice, Fluttershy found herself nodding, and making the terrible promise. She was vaguely aware of the other ponies around her doing the same.
"Okay," Dinky sighed, seeming to relax now that she had gotten the promise they would abandon her if necessary. She scooted further under the covers and lay down. "I'm going to ... try and get some rest. You should ... probably get going now."
The fact that the young unicorn was facing the possibility of being found and killed with this almost stoic resignation was somehow more troubling to Fluttershy than if the teenager had dissolved into a terrified sobbing wreck. She felt a sudden urge to go to Dinky, to pull her into a hug, and tell her everything would be all right. But she just couldn't seem to make her limbs move, or her lips form the lie.
Then Skywishes's hoof pulled on her shoulder to get her attention. "Come on. She's right, and we're wasting time." Fluttershy turned numbly to face Skywishes, and was startled to see the expression in those dead eyes soften a fraction. "We can do a lot more to help her out there, than we can in here."
Fluttershy nodded and pushed herself up onto all fours. As Skywishes turned from her and headed for the front door, Fluttershy murmured, "Take care of yourself, Wishie."
The coral-colored pegasus suddenly flinched as if the words had been a physical blow, and looked back over her shoulder at Fluttershy, something unreadable flickering in her dark green eyes. Then Fluttershy realized that she had unthinkingly used the nickname Pinkie had given Skywishes the first—and now unfortunately the last—time they had met.
Skywishes's mouth moved as if she wanted to say something, then she looked away from Fluttershy toward a corner of the room. "Max."
The paper parrot had his rear end in the air, and his heads buried underneath Fluttershy's borrowed camouflage coat. At Skywishes's voice, both his heads popped up to face her.
"You keep Fluttershy safe or so help me, I'll hunt you down and set you on fire. You got that?"
Mache Max just swung one of his heads around and around while letting out a long drawn-out "Wahhhhhh!"
"Well, you better." Skywishes muttered before pulling her hood up and throwing the front door open. Cold air rushed in and Fluttershy felt a sudden rush of déjà vu as she remembered that time over a year ago, when she had braved the cold to search for an enemy and had returned with an ally. Now she was once again heading out in hopes of finding that same ally.
"Well, guess that's our cue to exit," said Screwjob as Skywishes took off flying toward Canterlot. Turning to Highflyer he added, "Take care of yourself, you pint-sized palooka. I want to mock your pretty pink hairdo for years to come."
Highflyer let out an amused snort, and cracked a faint smile. "Yeah, you take care of yourself too, Jobs. You know I look awful in all-black, so don't make me have to wear it."
"Ah, there might be an idea for a future feud in that. Me throwing all your clothes in tar."
Despite its light-hearted tone, this banter brought an unexpected tightness to Fluttershy's throat. When Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash had died, there had been no warning, no chance to prepare for the fact that she would never see them again. But now—in that odd read-between-the-lines way of theirs—Highflyer and Screwjob were acknowledging the fact that this might be the last time they would see each other alive. She felt a sudden urge to do ... what? Pull them into a hug and tell them she loved them? She had known them for only about a day or two, maybe three at the most. Yet in that brief time she had come to regard them as friends. But before she could decide what to do or say, Screwjob was already out the door and moving away in a sort of half-canter, half-stumble. Watching this, Fluttershy suddenly remembered how he had kept dropping off to sleep without warning. Granted he had held up pretty well since Skywishes had shown up; he had rubbed his head on-and-off as if he had a headache, but had still stayed conscious the whole time. But what if he dropped off on his way to Sweet Apple Acres, and just lay there in the open for who knew how long, completely defenseless? And even if he did make it to Sweet Apple Acres without passing out—
"Highflyer?"
The tiny stallion had turned away from her so he could remove his mask unobserved, but now paused in unfastening the straps.
"D-do you think it was a good idea to send Screwjob to find Applejack? I mean it seemed like our only option earlier, but—"
"No," he said, pulling his mask off, and tucking it into his saddlebag before pulling out the tail extensions. "Considering how she feels about him, that mission was pretty much set up for failure."
Fluttershy gaped at the back of his shaved head as it disappeared under the extensions. "Then why didn't you say anything earlier?!"
Securing the extensions, and tousling them to make them look more natural, he pulled the cloak's hood up before turning to face her, keeping his head noticeably bent so that she couldn't get a clear view of his face. "Because it's the same situation as leaving Dinky alone here, Shy. It's a bad idea, but it's the best bad idea we have."
The best bad idea we have, Fluttershy mused as she flattened herself against a large boulder, straining her eyes to try and catch the faint shimmer that would indicate a semitransparent changeling was nearby.
Yes, that about summed things up.
What was that?!
She tensed as she thought she caught a glimmer to her left, hoping the camouflage coat she was wearing would live up to its name. Then her muscles relaxed as she realized she had only seen a beam of sunlight poking through the cloud cover. False alarm.
But how many more of those false alarms would she face? And what if the next one turned out not to be false?
She glanced wearily over at Mache Max. Ever since they had left the cottage, he had been leading her in a winding journey around the edges of Ponyville with frequent pauses to hide behind trees, bushes, and rocks. Wearing the camouflage had actually been his idea. When Fluttershy had gone to get some of her more conventional winter clothes, he had screeched and tugged on the camo, giving her the impression he wanted her to wear it. She had done so, but had also chosen to keep wearing Discord's scarf underneath it. Now she unconsciously reached into the coat's hood to stroke a section of the scarf around her neck, thinking about the note that Discord had left her.
Thanks for being my friend.
The phrase seemed innocent enough on the surface, but it troubled her. Did it mean 'being my friend' in the past tense? As in he no longer considered them friends? It would explain why he had avoided her so thoroughly the past year. But if that was the case, why had he bothered to come back at all?
She was jerked out of these thoughts when Mache Max suddenly shot up into the air and darted away. Scrambling after him, she had to start flying to keep up. They were heading toward Foal Mountain. Mache Max landed on a high ledge and waited for her to reach him. Fluttershy landed next to him, and looked back to see the way they had come.
Her cottage was no longer in sight, but she could still see most of Ponyville and the surrounding landscape. It looked so peaceful, such a contrast to the events that had happened over the past few days. She tried to spot any telltale shimmers but the now-overcast sky made that almost impossible. She also could see no sign of Highflyer, Screwjob, or Skywishes. Did that mean they had managed to stay hidden, or that they had been caught? There was no way to know.
Then Mache Max suddenly bumped her hoof, startling her so badly she almost fell off her perch. Turning toward him, she saw him fly to a ledge higher up and look down at her expectantly.
You can't do anything to help the other ponies right now, Fluttershy thought as she flew up to the next ledge. Not until you find Discord.
But what if you find him, and he just flashes away from you? For that matter, how do you even know if Max is leading you to him and not just on some ... wild parrot-chase—?
She had just pulled herself up onto the ledge—which turned out to be more of a path leading toward a cave—when Mache Max suddenly shot forward and seemed to collide with an invisible wall. There was a startled "What the—?!" as the parrot seemed to perch in midair and began whooping like a siren. Then there was a single sharp snap and Mache Max's noise was promptly cut off as he rolled into a ball of crumpled paper that fell to the path and lay motionless.
That startled "what the—?!" had been all Fluttershy needed to identify the voice's owner and she ran forward, expecting—hoping—to slam into an invisible body. But she ran right past the crumpled ball that had been Mache Max without bumping into anyone or anything. Skidding to a stop, she looked about wildly. "Discord? Where are you?"
Then she looked toward the cave. Could he be in there?
She took a few cautious steps toward it, when she was yanked off her feet by an unseen force and hung suspended in midair. "Discord?"
"What are you doing here?!"
How did you find me?! Discord mentally screamed as he stared at the pony paddling her limbs in the air as if treading water. He had thought that last message in their note would be suitably free of clues to make her stay put until he returned. Unless ... wait a minute. What if this was some sort of changeling trick? But how could they know he had trailed them here when he had taken care to stay invisible the whole time?
"I followed him," said maybe-Fluttershy, pointing down at the crumpled ball of paper. "You made him, didn't you?"
His gaze flicked down to follow the direction of her pointing hoof. He hadn't given that six-winged, two-headed piece of origami so much as a thought since it had gone skipping off across the water just seconds after he had made it. How was it possible that...?
"Didn't you?" Fluttershy repeated when there was no answer.
Then she heard a low coughing sound, as if he were collecting his thoughts. "Never mind that now." His voice hardened. "How do I know you're the real Fluttershy?"
How do you know that's the real Discord? Fluttershy suddenly thought. The changelings can't mimic his shape, but what's to stop them from imitating his voice while staying out of sight?! No sooner had her brain asked this terrifying question, then it immediately produced an answer. There's no aura around me even though I'm being held magically. Changeling magic produced a glow just like unicorn magic did, but Discord's magic didn't always follow this rule. Sometimes it was as flashy as that of the showiest unicorn, but it didn't seem to require this anymore than Discord really required his wings to fly.
No. Out of all the things she now had to worry about, the idea that the being currently immobilizing her wasn't her former partner thankfully wasn't one of them. But how could she convince him it was really her...?
"I'm missing my tail extensions," she whispered in what she hoped was his direction. "If I was a changeling, I could just make it look like I still have them. Take off my coat and see."
She heard a snap of claws and her coat pulled its sleeves off her front legs, stood itself up on her back, turned around and swan-dived off to splat itself comically on the path.
That's definitely Discord, she thought, a small amused smile tugging at her mouth in spite of everything. She had yet to meet anyone else who would use their magic to animate clothes to remove themselves when simply stripping them off would have been easier.
But his next words immediately wiped the smile from her face. "You shouldn't be here. I'm sending you back home."
"Don't you dare!" she shrieked. I didn't come this far, and abandon a weakened filly just for you to throw me back there! "Not unless you come back with me!" If the changelings had broken into the cottage by now, Discord would be her only hope of possibly getting herself and Dinky out alive.
"Keep your voice down!" he hissed in a fierce whisper.
But Fluttershy had had enough! Grief for her murdered friends, anxiety for the ones still in danger, fear that they would be killed, fear that they might already have been killed, and the conflicting emotions she had been feeling toward this maddening draconequus for the past year had finally reached the boiling point!
"Stop hiding and face me, Discord! If you dare teleport me away, I'll fly back here! If you take my wings away, I'll walk back! And if you take my legs away, I'll find some way to crawl back, but so help me, I'm not leaving unless you go with me!"
She heard him sigh. "In that case, sorry to have to do this, dear."
Then there was a glowing ball of light floating right in front of her. Blinking, she threw up her hooves to shield her eyes. The light zipped toward her and she saw the outline of a taloned hand in the middle of it. Then the hand clamped over her forehead, and she was overcome with dizziness.
Discord! What are you doing?! She tried to shove his hand away, but it stayed put. She tried to fly backward but his magic still held her in place!
"Stop!" she cried out, her struggles becoming more desperate as she felt even more overcome with vertigo. "Please stop!"
"Fluttershy!" His voice sounded pained. "Don't ... fight me!"
Then her eyes rolled back in her head, and her wings went limp as darkness closed over. The glowing hand withdrew from her forehead and disappeared. Unconscious, she began to fall toward the ground far below. But before she could fall very far, an eagle's claw and lion's paw appeared beneath her. As they caught her, the tattooed arms attached to them appeared as well, followed by a chest and shoulders. Below them a long body began to take shape, while a long neck did the same above them. Finally Discord's head appeared, his pierced face right above her unconscious one.
Having her in his arms like this was the closest they had been in over a year, and yet he was completely unable to enjoy it. Not after the way she had struggled against his spell.
"Darn it, Fluttershy!" he cursed, no longer caring if he might be overheard. "Why did you have to come after me?! Why couldn't you just stay put until I fixed everything?!" He couldn't get the sight of her frightened face out of his mind. A fear and desperation his actions had put there!
But what other choice did he have? It was for her own good. He couldn't risk her getting hurt if he took her with him to face the changelings, and he also couldn't risk sending her away. The fact that she had even found him like this in the first place had planted the nagging worry that she might find other ways to bypass any other obstacles he put in her path.
No, no, putting her temporarily to sleep like this was much better.
Right?
Of course it was.
Then why didn't it feel right?
Tucking her into the crook of one arm, he used his free hand to brush her mane back out of her face. Her expression wasn't peaceful, as he had been hoping for. True, her facial muscles had relaxed, but they still seemed etched with the fear he had seen there when she was awake.
And she still had his first Hearth's Warming gift with her. He had noticed it earlier back at the cottage, and though he hadn't commented on it, the realization that she had retrieved and kept the thing even after he had callously thrown it in the trash managed to make him feel simultaneously better and worse.
Groaning, he slid his paw up under her head, lifting it so he could press his forehead against hers. Considering what his magic was capable of inflicting on a pony, knocking her out like this had been a fairly minor thing so why did it feel like he'd committed some sort of terrible violation against her? Even though he knew she couldn't currently hear him, he felt an urgent need to justify himself.
"I didn't want it to be this way, Fluttershy! Can't you understand that?!" He pulled his head back to get a clearer look at her face. "I wasn't trying to hurt you! I—!" His voice suddenly dropped into a choked whisper. "I love you." Yes, he realized. Even after all this time apart, I still love you. Deep down part of him had been secretly hoping their time apart would cause his feelings for her to lessen, if only so that the idea of her rejecting him wouldn't seem so painful. But now he was finally forced to admit he had been deluding himself with that idea and her power over him had not weakened in the slightest.
As he gazed down at her unconscious face, it occurred to him that he could kiss her right now, right on her mouth. He could find out what that would feel like. It would be so quick, so easy...
But something held him back. He wanted to do it so much, yet at the same time he just couldn't bring himself to. Then he noticed his dragon tattoo was trying to sneak closer to Fluttershy, and he smacked it back into its proper place with his free hand before wrapping his arms more possessively around the pegasus. The tattoo promptly retaliated by kicking him in the rear end with its back feet, and whether by intention or by accident, this kick in his nonexistent pants made the draconequus realize that just floating there, bemoaning the situation would fix nothing.
It was time to get to work. He snapped his talons and a shimmering bubble appeared in front of him.
He looked back down at Fluttershy. He still couldn't bring himself to kiss her on the mouth, but at the same time he couldn't just leave her without some form of goodbye. So he kissed her softly on the forehead before gently shoving her through the bubble's membrane. Once he was sure he had her settled comfortably, he pulled his hands free of the bubble and allowed it to drift down onto the path. Once it touched the ground, both it and the pegasus inside seemed to vanish, but Discord knew they were both still there. Now Fluttershy would be safe until he had dealt with things. As long as she was in that bubble no one would be able to see or hear her. Not until he came back to let her out.
Now he turned and straightened to face the cave entrance. After all the yelling and him shedding his invisibility, the changelings he had followed here probably knew he was now outside their hideout. But that idea only brought a sadistic smile to his face as he rubbed his palms together. Just let them try and stop me.
It was time to end this.
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YES! NEW CHAPTER!!!!!!!
i'll have to read it later though... 
Yes I have been waiting for this! I love it! best way to end a long day of college lol
Is it bad I might be shipping Highflyer and Screwjob?
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*Chuckles* Hopefully you won't have to wait too much longer to read it considering how long I already kept you waiting on this chapter.
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Yay!
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Hmm, it depends. *Glances over at Highflyer and Screwjob* Boys, what do you think? They said: Shipping them as best friends gets a Yay! Shipping them ... romantically gets an Eww.
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yeah... As best friends... Sure........*backs away and runs having been exposed*
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Highflyer: "*Chuckles* Believe me, CloverStarshine, at this point in time I've spent roughly a decade getting flattened under Jobs's sweaty body in the wrestling ring on a routine basis and have never found it even remotely arousing."
Screwjob: "Touché. I'm only interested in lovely feisty flaxen-haired farm girls, not bald, tattooed, muscle-bound midgets."
Highflyer: *smirking* "Just say the word, Applejack, and I've got the clippers and ink ready to go. Not sure how we'd make you shorter though."
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You see what I am saying!!!!
(You two are responsible for my sins)
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*Chuckles* Trust me, they're just bros (in all but blood) being bros.
8771997 i did, finally. Had to re-read the previous chapter though, because i couldn't remember Skywishes coming in. SO GOOD! Wow, just a few chapters left, huh? And it just gets more mysterious and exciting....
Oh my fricken gosh, Discord! I love the chapter really I do but omgsh Discord he could've at very least let her speak!! Uuugdhdudi...next chapter is truly going to be interesting. Great job!
Honestly, I had read this late at night, expecting to get a nice, interesting read before bed. But by the end, I was just so agitated and thinking to myself "Goddamnit, Discord! I'm so sick of your shit! " Just.... ugh! Discord, you're just the Worst. With a capital W. When will these two learn to communicate like normal folk? The answer is probably never and I'm okay with that and also not okay with that.
Because on one hand, it fits so well with Discord, the stubborn fool that he is, and also Fluttershy, who is also almost as stubborn, but no one can beat Discord at that, I think. But on the other hand, I just want them to reunite properly and hug and kiss and all that fluffy goodness. And we're only three chapters until the end, apparently! You're killing me here, Shark!
Although, your chapters are wonderfully lengthy, so really anything can happen in just one chapter.
And we're absolutely at the climax, it seems, since everyone's going off on their own. So I imagine the next chapter is going to be... intriguing, to say the least. Like I said, anything can happen, which is what makes it so interesting.
Definitely looking forward to the next chapter. Don't be too stressed about time; I'm sure many of us can eagerly wait for whatever you give us.
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Good point, this does bring some good questions, but based on how media portrays shapeshifters and creatures that shapeshift, it seems like they are limited to what they can see and fully take in and if anything distorts that image and person, then the shapeshifter can't fully get in the full appearance of that person or object. It might be possible that changelings can go beyond what is seen in order to make their disguises flawless in order to truly make them powerful creatures, however because your changeling hybrids are, well, half changeling, I can imagine their powers being half of a changeling's full power and potential. But that's just me and my little conspiracies;) Lol!
Haha lol right exactly!XD You have failed good changeling if you did thatXD!
Haha lol oh Screwy, High is going to mess you up and oh Screwy, you never lighten up do you?!XD ;) Lol!
Oh no reason;) *walking away whistling* Da de la la:p ;) Lol;)
Right, onto the Ch.11 review that I should have done A LONG TIME AGO!:D
Haha yes! I knew that Discord was too smart to just let them go and believe them!:D Yes, that's our Discord!:D Not that I doubted you or thought you were stupid or anything like that, okay I need to stop talking now 0-0 LolXD
*shaking my head and laughing* Haha lol oh my gosh Discord, just oh my goshXD!
Daww lol I love how unexpectedly Mache Max, not only got a name, but became his own cute but feisty and peckersish little character^^ Love his name, fits him well because of the cuteness, not just the paperness of it;) LolXD
Ah! Attack of the feels! Nooo! And all because Pinkie reminds Wishie of her sister, oh my heart!X0
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Haha lol so hard againXD!
Haha lol Screwy knewXD! See that AJ, he's both brains and humor;) He's the whole package;) LolXD
Ah ha, clever;)! Clever girl;) LolXD!
Haha lol so hard, Big Tim, lolXD! That's all that I can say;) Lol;)
Oooo, clever once again, we can use Tank and Gummy!:D Clever, clever, clever^^ Also, this part of the chapter with Screwy has to be the funniest partXD Lol it really made me laugh out loudXD! Ooohh, I can't wait for the next chapterXD I can't wait for all AppleJobs shipping in the next chapter!XD Yes, my body is ready BD My body is ready;)
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Oh the next chapter is going to be soooo much fun;)
Daww lol yes^^ :3 <3
Haha lol yes, yes to all of thisXD LolXD
Haha lol, shaking my head, perfect just perfect thenXD Lol!
Wow, oh my gosh, what a way for these guys to make a come back:D! Bravo, bravo:)
[quote"How about this?" Reaching down, she gently took her tail away from Mache Max, who surprisingly made no fuss about being deprived of his toy, and simply scampered off to explore another section of the room. Unfastening her tail extensions (which drew a couple of raised eyebrows from the observing ponies and an embarrassed blush from Fluttershy herself. "Yes, I wear tail extensions."), she held them out to Highflyer. "If you took your mask off, you could tuck these into the back of your collar and use them as a sort of makeshift wig."
Now it was Screwjob's turn to snicker. "That I gotta see."
"Ha. Ha." Highflyer deadpanned, then added under his breath to Fluttershy, "Though just between the two of us, I think that disguise might work."]Haha lolXD
Dawww poor Dinkey:'(
Ouch! Nooo, my feels!X0 Again!X0
Even though I don't watch Family Guy and not a fan of that show, this meme and gif was the only that was appropriate:
m.popkey.co/68e54b/GzLGX.gif
Haha lol he said it!^^ He finally said it!^^ Now, say it to Fluttershy, when she's awake^^ Lol;) He has to take baby steps ladies and gents;) LolXD
Woah!
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Save it for when she's awake and after you two confess your love for one another, okay big guy?XD Lol!
Oh yeah! Let's go! Let's do this! Let's do this Boss Discord!:D This has to be the most boss that Discord has been in this entire series, and that's saying something!:D Let's go, Boss Discord for the win!:D
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Oh man, I can't wait for the next freakin chapterXD
Having finished this chapter makes me feel like there are knots tied up in my chest.
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*Laughs nervously* Is that a good sign or a bad one?
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and the fact that they have had so little chance to interact even after their reunion 
and overall I have deep sense of foreboding for what comes up next.
Discord forcing Shy asleep just fills me with
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Hey, everyone.
First I wanted to say thanks both for the comments and for your patience these past months.
Second I am happy to report I've sent the first half of Chapter 12 to my editor, and am currently polishing up the second half to send him soon. Which means it will likely be posted at some point this month, depending on how much editing it needs. So thank you once again for your patience.
*Laughs and shakes head* He just has too much fun ribbing his little buddy to let up.
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*Nods sympathetically* Yeah, it's definitely going to be interesting to hear people's thoughts on the next chapter. Which I hopefully won't keep all you wonderful readers waiting on for too much longer.
The Authors notes said there are only 3 chapters left, will we be getting much character interaction from them between Fluttershy and Discord in them? because their separation for most of this one has left me wanting.
I reeeeeeeaaaaaaaaalllllllllyyyyyyyyyy wanna punch discord now