A Series of Unexpected Events

by LeoValkenhein

Chapter 6: Unexpected Changes

Chapter 6: Unexpected Changes

Rain Flare hovers above the frozen farm, watching as the magic of friendship converts the world's most despicable creature into a force for good. The grey bat-pony lowers himself into the orchard as a burst of magic from Discord reverts the farm back to its original non-flooded and non-frozen form. Alighting on the ground by Big Macintosh, the guard helps the large earth pony out of the apple barrel he is stuck upside down in. The red stallion shakes himself.

"Aha, thanks. Ah felt like a turtle that got rolled over," the smaller pegasus chuckles in response, "Now, would somepony mind explaining to me what the hay is going on here?"

"I do believe Fluttershy just turned Discord into one of the good guys. Though I don't know the whole story, perhaps we should go talk with your sister?" Big Mac nods and they trot over to the group of mares. Applejack notices them approaching and meets them halfway.

"You boys alright?"

"We're fine sis. Just a bit confused as to what's happening 'round here."

"Ah'll tell you and the rest of the family the whole story over dinner tonight. But basically, Celestia wanted us to reform Discord so he would use his magic for good. Fluttershy befriended him and that did the trick more or less," the two stallions look at her, expecting more of an explanation than that. The orange mare sighs, "Alright, Ah'll tell you everything now," so she does, from Celestia bringing Discord to Ponyville, to Fluttershy taking him in, to Discord eating all of Twilight's reformation spells, to Fluttershy's spinning cottage, to the dinner party, to the flood and the freeze of Sweet Apple Acres, to Discord realizing how much he truly wants a friend and changing his ways to keep Fluttershy as one.

Rain Flare's mind immediately goes to the fact that Twilight had been in danger all day and he hadn't been around to protect her. He breaks away from AJ and Big Mac as they continue to talk about the ridiculous events of the day and seeks out his marefriend. He spots her talking with Discord, Spike, and her four other friends, and completely ignoring them, tackle hugs her, kissing her fiercely. The purple unicorn blushes brightly under him, but makes no move to push him away. The others, except for Discord, pretend to find something very interesting to look at in the opposite direction, all of them blushing slightly as well. A cackle breaks the moment and the two separate. The god of chaos smiles down at the couple.

"You two are just so cute together! Celestia's favorite student and Luna's favorite guard. Now, tell me, did you two find each other yourselves, or are their highnesses behind this match up?"

Rain Flare glares at the mismatched mad-man, he snorts and scrapes his hoof on the ground.

"I have sworn to protect Twilight because my princess' sister asked me too. But that is not the only reason. I have sworn to protect her because I love her. Because if anything were to happen to her, I would never forgive myself. So I suggest you stay in line and keep your mischief at a minimum, or I swear that I will do far worse than turn you to stone, without any magical artifacts."

"Whoa there Romeo," Discord flashes next to the guard, putting an arm around him, "I have no intention of harming your precious little Twilight Sparkle or putting a wedge into your relationship. I was merely curious as to what brought the two of you together."

The guard snorts again and pulls away from his arm .

"I doubt you've changed that much in so little time, Discord," he spits the name, "Perhaps, given time, if you can prove you've truly changed for the better, then we can enjoy each other's company, but for now, you'd best stay away from Twilight and her friends," the pegasus' tail crackles with static electricity and the sky begins to darken. Discord looks up at the gathering clouds, shrugs, and walks over to his new friend, Fluttershy. Twilight looks up at the sky as well, then turns her gaze to her stallion.

"Rain Flare? Are you alright?" her cheeks are still red from his previous actions, but now they are even redder due to his words.

"No..." the word comes out a growl as he stalks away from her, his mane beginning to crackle with static like his tail. He makes his way over to Rarity and steps menacingly in front of her. The white mare takes a half step back.

"R-Rain Flare, is there something I can help you with?"

"What's your problem, huh? What do you have against my relationship with Twilight?"

"Why I nev-"

"Don't lie to me!" his leathery wings flare and sparks are visible arcing through his fur, thunder echoes from the thickening clouds. She backs away and cowers slightly.

"I-I-I," she swallows hard to compose herself. "I was worried you didn't truly love her. I know Luna tasked you with becoming her special somepony, so I was just afraid that you were faking your affection for her."

"Princess Luna did not task me with becoming her special somepony, she asked me to find her one because her sister believes she is ready to advance in her training. The first step was friendship, the next is love. I had developed an infatuation with Twilight on the way to Canterlot. Over the past couple of months I have turned that infatuation into love. I love her immensely and I will let nothing, nothing, come between us."

"D-don't worry. I won't do anything to hurt your relationship," Rarity swallows again, her legs shaking.

"Good," he walks away from her and towards Pinkie Pie. The pink earth pony bounces over to him.

"Hey there Rain Flare," she looks up at the storm clouds following the grey pegasus, "Um, is everything alright?"

"I understand you're the element of laughter, so you're not the most serious pony around, but a bit of respect every now and then wouldn't kill you."

"Wha-what?" her mane deflates slightly, "Did I do something wrong?"

"No, well, yes. I don't appreciate the lack of respect you show me. I am a member of the Royal Guard, not just some random townspony. A bit of control is expected to be practiced, which you apparently lack."

"Oh, I'm sorry... I never meant to be disrespectful," her puffy mane goes flat, she hangs her head, and plods away. Having spoken his mind, the clouds above Rain Flare's head dissipate, but his tail and mane still crackle with built up static. The pegasus makes his way back to Twilight and, draping a wing over her, leads her away from her friends.

"Could we go back to the library for some privacy?" he whispers seductively in her ear. She smiles and nods shyly, pressing close to him, unaware of the episode he'd just had with two of her best friends. She also fails to notice his turquoise eyes flash, for an instant, to an iridescent green.

********

Princess Celestia glances up at the darkening sky and at her sister's beautiful moon. Smiling to herself, she trots towards her sister's chambers. The past ten centuries without Luna had not been kind to the sun princess, she had cried many a night while raising the moon, something her beloved sister should have been doing. Luna's return and the defeat of the Nightmare that had taken her over brought great joy to Celestia, and she plans to make up for all the years lost and the wrongs done. Reaching the moon princess' chamber doors, Celestia gently knocks on them with a hoof before pushing them slightly open and poking her head inside.

"Sister," she calls into the moonlit room, "may I come in?" Luna emerges from the balcony, returning her sister's smile as she catches site of her.

"Yes, of course. Thou may enter," Celestia can't help but giggle softly at the midnight colored alicorn's use of the archaic tongue. Luna notices her sister's amusement and her cheeks redden.

"Don't be embarrassed, my dear sister. I find your way of speaking quite cute," Celestia tries to reassure her as she enters, closing the door behind herself with her magic, but she only manages to make the other mares blush darken. A small wave of pleasure passes through the white alicorn as she drinks in that sisterly love, and she detects a trace of some taboo feelings hidden without that love. Her smile turns more menacing and she licks her lips, a pleased purr echoing in her throat, "You're quite the tasty specimen, Princess Luna," she steps closer to her sister, who cocks her head.

"Tia, are you-" she stops mid-sentence with a gasp as her sister's eyes shift to a glowing green, her own following suit as she is blinded with her love.

********

Applejack carries a load of apples to the barn, dropping the baskets with the others in a large pile against one wall. Rainbow Dash flies in above her with a smaller load and, dropping the load on the pile, hovers in front of the orange earth pony for a quick kiss. Big Mac enters in the middle of this "quick" kiss with his load, causing the two mares to jump apart, blushing, rubbing the backs of their necks awkwardly. The large stallion chuckles to himself as he drops his baskets.

"That should be the last of the apples swept away in the flood," he stretches and yawns exaggeratedly, "Ah'm gonna hit the hay, Ah imagine you two will do the same, in your own way," he winks at them and chuckles again as he leaves the two mares to their own devices. Applejack opens her mouth to make a witty retort, but her brain is turned to mush and all of her senses dissolve as Rainbow Dash kisses her again, wrapping her sky-blue hooves around her lover's strong neck and pulling her close. After several enjoyable minutes, they are forced to break by the necessity to breathe. AJ takes this opportunity to go close the barn doors, giving them more privacy. As she is about to return to her awaiting lover, a noise catches her attention. She disappears around the corner to investigate.

Rainbow Dash begins to grow impatient.

Where could she have gone off to? she thinks to herself as she gets up from the bed of hay she's prepared and trots to the sliver of moonlight coming in through the mostly closed barn doors. She hears a scuffling and pokes her head out of the barn, "AJ? What are you doing out here?" When she's about to go out and investigate further, the orange mare comes around the corner of the barn.

"Sorry Dash, thought Ah heard somepony, Ah wanted to make sure we didn't have any peepin Toms, though Ah know how much the danger of being caught excites you," she smiles at the pegasus' reddening cheeks. AJ locks lips with her and, placing a hoof on her chest, gently pushes the other mare back into the barn and over onto the bed of hay. She stands over the pegasus dominantly, smiling down at her, her eyes changing to a luminescent green.

********

Rain Flare wakes slowly, blinking sleep from his eyes. When his vision clears, he looks around. The first thing he notices is that he is in a cage, never a good way to wake up. The second is the searing pain shooting up his back from his broken wing. The pain blurs his vision again and he collapses to the floor of his cell. The room stops spinning and he tries to figure out how he got here. The last thing he can remember clearly is hovering over a frozen Sweet Apple Acres, then something slamming into him from out of nowhere and, being too low to recover from the unexpected blow, sending him plummeting into a grove of trees.

"Well," he mutters to himself, wincing as he tries to stand, "that explains the broken wing and overall pain from moving. I must have hit every damned branch on the way down," continuing the inspection of his prison, Rain Flare notices two other cells in the cavernous chamber. His cell is situated on a rock outcropping, overlooking a seemingly endless abyss. One of the other cells, quite a bit larger than his own, hangs over said abyss. The third cage is on an outcropping on the opposite side of the hole, this one roughly the same size as his own. Empty outcroppings along the sides of the hole and empty chains suggest that the prison can hold many more prisoners, and likely will if he can't figure out what exactly is going on and how to stop it. In the midst of his plotting an escape plan, a low buzzing echoes from above.

Ahh shit. I should have guessed. Movement in the suspended cage catches his eye, a rainbow colored mane undulates on the other side of the bars. The mane is attached to a white alicorn, By the moon, no... Princess Celestia stands in her cage as the Changeling Queen descends. The pain in his wing and the sheer terror from his realization are too much for the poor guard, he blacks out as a maniacal cackle reverberates around the hive's prison.