At the outskirts of the Everfree forest, there was a small cottage, in which lived a Pegasus. Not just any Pegasus, mind you. This particular Pegasus was one of the six ponies to restore Princess Luna and return Discord to his stone prison. The Pegasus was the Element of Kindness, Fluttershy. But Fluttershy was feeling something she did not often feel. Guilt.
Being the ultimate embodiment of kindness, Fluttershy didn't often do anything cold enough to merit guilt. But this time, she had done something that was driving her mad with it. She had actively helped imprison another being in stone until the end of time.
Fluttershy didn't think the other ponies would truly understand what she was going through. Loyal Rainbow Dash, her loyalty to her friends and the kingdom would blind her to the true nature of Discord's fate. Laughing Pinkie Pie, too happy to be brought down by the cruelty towards their foe. Honest Applejack, who would believe that Discord had to be stopped, which was the honest truth, but wouldn't pay much attention to the method of stopping him. Generous Rarity, who believed it was generous to simply trap him, not kill him. And Magical Twilight Sparkle, whose love for the Princesses would remove any doubts of Discord from her mind, since, as Celestia had said, he was evil. It was only Fluttershy, whose kindness allowed her to try and see the best in everyone, who could see that stone was truly too harsh a punishment.
Meanwhile inside the Canterlot gardens, the statue of Discord had been put back to where it was before. Cheerilee's class were revisiting the gardens, since their field trip had been ruined by Discord's escape last time.
"So, class, here we are again. Back at the statue of the draconequus, who we all know is actually which character from history, who escaped not too long ago?" Cheerilee asked her class.
"Discord!" piped up Sweetie Belle.
"Yeah!" Scootaloo exclaimed, "Rainbow Dash totally kicked his butt a few days ago!"
"Yes, and what does he represent?" Cheerilee questioned.
"Disharmony!" exclaimed the class, deciding not the let the Cutie Mark Crusaders take this one, everyone remembering what occurred last time.
"He looks kind of scared…" Applebloom commented, looking up at the statue.
"Why do you think that?" Sweetie Belle asked her friend.
"Look at his face. He looks really scared!" Applebloom pointed out.
"Hey, you're right!" Scootaloo exclaimed.
"Hey, Miss Cheerilee? Why does he look so scared?" Sweetie Belle asked.
Cheerilee paused. "I'm… not that certain, actually. Perhaps you should ask one of the ponies who beat him?" Cheerilee suggested.
"Yeah! Rainbow Dash will defiantly tell us!" Scootaloo cried out.
"No! My sister can tell us!" Sweetie Belle countered.
"What about mine?" asked Applebloom. Foreseeing the fight that was about to occur, and remembering where they were, Cheerilee swiftly intervened.
"Why don't you ask someone else? Someone not related to or idolized by any of you." Cheerilee suggested.
"Yeah! How about Twilight Sparkle?" Applebloom suggested.
"Nah. She'll take ages. How about Pinkie Pie?" Scootaloo asked.
"No, she'll get off track, or tell us an entirely different story." Sweetie Belle pointed out.
"I guess that means we ask Fluttershy!" Applebloom exclaimed.
The pony in question was currently beating herself up. She felt horrible for encasing another living being, even one as dangerous as Discord, inside stone. She remembered her encounter with a cockatrice, a rare creature that could turn all who it looked upon into stone. It felt horrible when her lower body was turned to stone. She couldn't move it, she couldn't feel it… she couldn't do anything. And Discord was trapped from head to toe. As her guilt festered in her mind, miles away, in Canterlot, the necklace representing the Element of Kindness glowed briefly, then faded back to normal.
"Ok class! Let's move on!" Cheerilee exclaimed. The students agreed and left the statue of Discord, with the Cutie Mark Crusaders lagging behind. Suddenly, Sweetie Belle stopped.
"What's wrong?" Applebloom questioned.
"I dunno. I though I heard something." Sweetie Belle explained.
"It was probably just the wind." Scootaloo commented.
"Yeah, you're probably right." Sweetie Belle agreed.
As they left, they didn't look back at the draconequus statue. But if they did, they might have noticed a very thin crack, snaking across the statue's back, that wasn't there moments prior.
Discord had been trapped in his prison for a few days when it happened. Now, when you are trapped, immobile, with no-one but yourself for company, you will be alerted to any occurrence immediately. Which is why he noticed the air. It was barely there, it could only be detected if you were completely alone with no distractions. Any newcomer to the prison might have shrugged it off, but Discord knew the statue was completely flawless. No part of him would be left free.
Discord mentally smirked to himself. He didn't know exactly what was aiding his escape, but he might be able to sense it, if the statue was cracked some more. He had been too excited when he first escaped, trying to immediately plunge the world into chaos, needing to see some fun after over a thousand years of solitude. Maybe he could find a way to cause some chaos and not be imprisoned for it.
If he could have laughed, Discord would have. He would be free soon, and this time, there was no way he was going back.
Meanwhile, in Ponyville, a familiar trio of ponies were heading for Fluttershy's home. The Cutie Mark Crusaders wanted there question answered, for both the sake of curiosity, and the very off chance it might lead to a cutie mark. Either way, they wanted answers.
Fluttershy looked up immediately as she heard a rapping on her door. Getting up, she quickly dashed over and opened it, revealing the Cutie Mark Crusaders. "Girls?" Fluttershy asked, in her usual soft manner, "What can I do for you?"
"We wanna know about Discord!" Scootaloo exclaimed.
A brief look of sadness and shock passed over Fluttershy's face, but she quickly shook it off and let them inside.
"Ok, so… what do you want to know?" Fluttershy questioned.
"We want to know why he looks so… scared!" Applebloom exclaimed.
Another look passed over Fluttershy's face, but met the same fate as the first. "Well… I can't imagine stone would be very nice, now would it?" Fluttershy pointed out.
"Well, yeah, but why wouldn't it be?" Sweetie Belle asked.
"What do you mean?" Fluttershy replied, obviously confused.
"Well, why would you imprison him in stone if it's so bad?" Applebloom queried.
"Umm…" Fluttershy was at a loss for words. Why was stone the only option? "I… don't know. Why don't you ask Twilight for help? She'll know." Fluttershy pointed out.
"But she'll go on and on…" Scootaloo complained.
"Well, she's the only one who could tell you…" Fluttershy informed them.
"Awww…. Fine…" the three Crusaders groaned in unison.
"Now, now, run along. You need to ask Twilight your question, after all." Fluttershy said.
"Ok. Thanks Fluttershy!" Sweetie Belle cried as the three fillies dashed out of Fluttershy's house.
Fluttershy let out a sigh. That meeting had left her with a new topic to ponder. Why was in necessary to imprison Discord in stone? If he broke out again, he would just cause even more chaos due to the boredom inside stone. 'That was probably what set him off when he escaped', Fluttershy reasoned. Fluttershy felt tired all of a sudden, no doubt the days stress getting to her. Stumbling to her bed, she mentally promised to give this greater thought tomorrow. Flopping onto her mattress, she had no idea of exactly what her guilt-stricken thoughts were doing.
Discord could feel more cracks forming over his body, air being blown into the thin lines beginning to snake over his body. He sincerely hoped it wouldn't take long to break free, since Celestia could notice at any time. Thankfully, the cracks were too thin to be found unless anyone was looking for them, but Celestia might think he was up to something and check.
Suddenly, Discord snapped to attention. He could feel the Elements. His prison had finally cracked enough for him to sense his jailers. And what he found was confusing. He had expected some injury, or a quarrel betweens friends to weaken the magic of friendship keeping him bound. What he found, was five perfectly normal Elements, and one who was emitting more guilt than he had ever felt before.
Discord realized, with a jolt, that the one excreting the guilt was the Element of Kindness, Fluttershy. He remembered their encounter in the maze, when her acceptance of her faults and her firm belief that her friends were always going to be there for her made her immune to his mind-tricks. In anger, he simply used a touch of magic to corrupt her. He had felt a slight stab of guilt for twisting such a sweet, innocent soul, but brushed it away, having more pressing matters to deal with. Discord realized that, unlike when the two Princesses were sharing the six Elements, now the Elements were shared between six ponies. Meaning that instead of Kindness being shared between two, it was given to the kindest soul in Equestria. And sealing someone in stone was very, very cruel.
Discord sighed. He wasn't evil, just chaotic. He would have to find a way to help her. Of course, that could wait until after she freed him.
