> Discord's Little Butterfly
>  by Fluskie
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Chapter 1: Love
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thunder crashed loudly and lightning shot through the sky as rain from dark storm clouds hovering over Canterlot covered the city, forcing ponies to hide within their homes and seek safety. It was particularly a horrible storm this chilly night and it showed no signs of stopping or even slowing down a little. Either the pegasi were having issues with controlling the weather or this was suppose to happen. Nopony knew for sure. Screams of terror soon answered them though as the streets of Canterlot began to flood, picking up fences, pools, even helpless ponies who were trying to get inside. This was clearly not intended.

The princesses would have to answer soon as well to their helpless subjects. They had a slight advantage from where the castle stood considering it was a bit higher up from the actual city but it still remained in the same area. It would as well flood if they waited too long to assist. Princess Luna had seem to have made that urgent considering she was already gone while Princess Celestia prepared herself, staring out at the violent waters enveloping the city.

“Utter madness...Chaos.”

Celestia said silently to herself, turning her attention out to the castle gardens. The plants would definitely be over watered at this point but that was the least of her worries. She had her attention on the hedges over where many statues stood, holding much history of the past. Her eyes specifically fell on the most unique one of all..Discord. The Lord of Chaos and Spirit of Disharmony..Even in these circumstances he remained in the same position laughing at almost what seemed no one but himself. Celestia knew exactly why he remained that way however.

“You love this don’t you? If you were free you would be laughing at them all struggle and perish. As if you weren’t cruel already.”

Her eyes blazed with fury at the statue in the distance as if she was angry with some stranger injuring her children. The ponies were basically her children anyways. It was her duty to protect them. She would not let that terrible creature ever harm them again!

And then she took a deep breath. She was getting a little too angry..Now was not the time to be angry at past things that had be done. She had to focus on the present now and focus on using her powers to restore Canterlot, not be bitter with a creature of chaos who was harmless and encased in stone.

She trotted over to the exit of the throne room, quietly opening it for herself and pausing, allowing herself one last look at that vile monster.

“It would be horrible to ever think you would be able to love anypony else other than yourself. You have no love in your heart to give and be given.”

Her eyes narrowed on the statue, waiting for him to for some reason give her a dumb response back but of course, nothing. She shook her head and exited the throne room, shutting the door behind her.

***

Meanwhile, a lightning strike struck not too far from the castle gardens letting out a loud crash sound. With it came the shriek of a baby and loud crying from what sounded like to be in the area of the tall hedges. The storm continued on as the baby continuously cried, seeming to be frightened of the storm when it suddenly stopped.

A baby yellow pegasus with a long pink mane suddenly emerged from the hedges in a small cradle being levitated by some foreign magic that seem to have come from nowhere. The young one was staring down at the sparkly magic enveloping her cradle as it carried her away from the lonely hedges and somewhere else she hadn’t seen before in her short life span.

The young one sucked on her hoof as she was soon face to face with the large hybrid creature whom was in stone. Her cradle was suddenly gently dropped beside him, allowing her the ability to look up at him and be curious of his strange appearance. The little pegasus stopped sucking her hoof and reached her hooves out to him, making small baby babbling noises as if he might respond to her back.

“You poor thing..Left out in such a terrible storm to fend for yourself..How awful.”

A disembodied voice spoke calmly all around her, sort of putting her at ease. The little one seemed happy to hear him speak back to her, babbling back to him in her own baby language.

“I love to see ponies struggle and try for impossible things but somehow I can pity you, dear.”

The small one felt something touch her face and stroke her cheek, making her smile a bit and lean into the touch. She felt there was something physically there but she couldn’t see it. It felt like a warm paw of a kitty cat. Soft, warm, calming...She let out a small sigh, closing her eyes letting herself lean into the touch of the invisible paw.

“I can’t believe I’m doing this..Am I really doing this? Caring for one of them? Caring for the kind that put me in stone in the first place?” The voice spoke to itself, sighing. “Fine, I’ll provide you shelter but only just this once. I can’t do much from here but I can try.”

The young one felt the warm paw leave her face as she opened her eyes. She reached out for it with her little hoof, trying to grab it again to put it back on her face but she couldn’t seem to find it again. She whimpered a little when suddenly a small umbrella poofed out of nowhere and softly levitated over her cradle. The rain immediately stopped falling on her as the small patter of rain was heard on the umbrella instead.

“There you go. I’m assuming you don’t want to sleep in a puddle. Although..You might already be.”

There was another poof as the soaking wet blankets the young one was lying in were changed out with dry warm ones that felt like they almost hugged her.

“Alright, that should be good. I’ve already done enough for you as it is. You better be grateful because I’m never doing this again!”

And with that the voice was gone. The young one seemed to be confused though to not hear the voice anymore and she searched the stormy sky with her little eyes and then the statue, waiting to hear from it again. Did it leave?..Why would it leave her alone? She already got left behind..Why would another pony leave her?

She started to cry again, a loud rumble of thunder sounding soon after she started again.

“Alright, alright! What is it now? Seriously, I invite you here to stay here with me and you won’t even shut up. Stone draconequus have to sleep too you know!”

Her crying immediately stopped upon hearing the voice again and she giggled a bit, reaching her hooves up to the sky.

“What do you want!”

“Up, up!”

The voice sighed as the pegasus was enveloped in the strange aura again and lifted into the air. The strange magic tingled on her tiny body and put little sparkles on her as she giggled, being lifted up to the statue’s face.

“There, happy now?”

The pegasus suddenly reached forwards for his face, holding it with her small hooves and smiling.

“Hey, stop that. I can still feel that you know.”

She fluttered her tiny wings as she pulled herself up on to his face, climbing up and using his  eyebrows as stepping stones. She pulled herself up on to his head, gripping his large antlers. She then proceeded to curl up on top of his head and yawn, resting her head on her hooves and closing her eyes.

“Seriously, on my head? Ugh..”

But, even though the voice seemed annoyed, a blanket was levitated from her cradle and lied on top of her along with a small pillow underneath her head. A spell seemed to of been casted on her as well that made a small force field, preventing the rain from getting on her. That night seemed to just drift away as the sounds of thunder and the flashes of lightning did so with it.

***

“A search party for one foal who’s probably already dead? They’ll never find her at this rate. That storm was way too strong for her to survive in.”

“It doesn’t matter, Luna. If there’s still a chance of her being alive, I’m taking it. As princesses, it’s our duty to protect them and protect the innocent and the weak.”

The little one opened her eyes as she yawned softly, looking ahead to see two large alicorns trotting through the nearby gardens which seemed rather flooded with water from last night with a few flowers tossed everywhere and a few fully grown carrots and turnips. On the bright side, it was no longer storming and a warm sun shined on the statue and the little pony. The little foal moved a little backwards on the statue’s head, trying to hide behind its antlers so she wasn’t very visible as she watched the two princesses.

“Waste our time chasing after someone who’s already dead? Ridiculous..” The one named Luna said.

“You don’t know that!”

“Anyone who has any logic of a deadly storm knows she’s dead! The only one who doesn’t know is obviously you.”

The darker alicorn stomped off back into the castle. The lighter alicorn presuming to be Princess Celestia lowered her head and folded her ears. She stayed there for a moment just staring at the ground. She seemed to be lost in thought and rather sad. Why was that?..

“I don’t know what’s got into you Luna but it has to end somewhere..Our relationship has already strained itself enough. I’m worried for you...I wish you would talk to me about what’s on your mind so we can resolve whatever this is.”

Celestia raised her head again, small tears starting to form in her eyes as she looked ahead into the distance. She then turned away and trotted back into the castle herself. The little one waited until she was fully gone to stand up on the statue’s head and trot around on it freely.

“A lost foal, aye? I don’t suppose they’re looking for you?..” The voice suddenly spoke.

The little one babbled as she pointed towards the castle and then to where the two alicorn were standing before they took their separate ways.

“Oh, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna? Bah, don’t bother with them. They’re a couple of grumps who don’t even know how to sustain a relationship. They’ve been fighting like this for almost..Has it almost been a thousand years since I’ve been imprisoned?..I think so. That’s rather eye opening.”

The little one babbled again seeming to be in response to him.

“I said don’t worry about it! I really don’t care if the younger one snaps on Princess Celestia. She deserves it! She ended my beautiful reign of chaos! Sure, the younger one did it with her but that’s different. She was most likely manipulated by her. I sense a lot of anger in the younger one and I can tell she’s as fond of Celestia as I am.”

The foal babbled back again.

“No I’m not being too harsh. If you were imprisoned in stone for the time it took for thirty generations to go by, you’d be angry as well. Or is it forty?..Oh dear, is my math failing me now as well?”

The little foal made a small scream of anger as she punched her hoof into his stone antler. Though, of course it didn’t do anything and she stumbled backwards clutching her hurt hoof. She started crying as she rubbed her little hoof.

“See, that’s what you get for arguing with me! You have no idea who I am and who you’re messing with! If you truly knew who I was and what I’ve done to your ancestors, you would be at my feet begging for my mercy!”

The little foal wailed at this point as she rolled on to her side, clutching her hoof tightly to her chest.

“Ugh..You’re not even listening. You’re just using that annoying noise to make me feel bad for you and say the dumb ‘s’ word. Well not happening, hun. Not now, not ever. Never have I ever used that stupid word. You won’t get the Lord of Chaos to feel sorry for you!”

There was a moment of silence except for the little foal’s constant crying as the voice seemed to just think to itself, trying to restrain from saying anything else to the little one. The crying kept up for a solid five minutes before the voice finally gave up.

“Alright, fine, just shut up already!”

The little foal stopped crying as she stared down at the statue confused.

“If I say the ‘s’ word will you please shut up?”

The little foal smiled and made a happy noise as she reached her hooves up to the sky.

“Alright..” The voice took a deep breath as if this was the most important moment of its life. “I’m...S-S...I’m..S-So...”

“Gah!” The little foal said.

“I’m trying okay!...I’m s-s..I’m..”

The little foal suddenly smacked him on the head.

“I’m sorry!”

The little foal clapped her hooves together and giggled, now nuzzling the head of the statue.

“Wow, and your hoof is perfectly fine now isn’t it?”

The foal only giggled in response as she hugged his head now. The voice simply only sighed, unsure if this was enjoyable or not but not complaining. As the little foal hugged him, a crack noise was heard below her which she didn’t seem to notice at all.

***

“Princess, come this way, I noticed a few things by the statue!”

A guard pony and Princess Celestia galloped over to the statue of Discord. Everything seemed to look normal as always and a lot more normal considering a lot had been restored since the night of that terrible storm. It had only been a week and those ponies seemed to have everything in order again. Though, a few things were off.

“There’s a abandoned cradle right here beside the statue!” The guard pointed out.

The princess approached it, staring down at the empty cradle and then up to the statue of Discord. Her eyes narrowed between his stone antlers, thinking she saw something pink shift around.

“How long has this cradle been here?” She asked.

“A week is what some of the guards said. I work inside so I never noticed.”

She softly glided her hoof through a soft blanket inside and turned back to the guard.

“Continue the search, that foal is definitely here.”

The guard nodded and trotted off. Celestia turned back to the statue.

“You better of not done anything to that foal. I know your powers reach further than your stone prison and that you’re more than capable of wreaking havoc. I don’t trust you and I never will.”

Celestia stared at the statue for a moment more with stern eyes and turned away, following the same way the guard went.

A babble of a foal was suddenly heard.

“Yes, yes, you did well and all that. It really isn’t hard to hide on a giant mismatched statue.”

The foal was suddenly levitated off the statue’s neck and placed on the ground in front of the statue.

“Let’s get this straight though, I’m not your parent and I never will be. I also most definitely won’t be associated with you. You’re going to have to find some other free care taker because I’m not doing it anymore.”

The foal looked up at the statue confused and made a noise.

“You have to get out of here or let yourself get caught. Those are your two options. Although, clearly it seems like you want to take the first one because your parents were sooooo ‘abusive’ to you.”

The foal folded her ears and babbled angrily.

“Oooh nooo! My toy rabbit got taken away, now my parents are the worst in all of Equestria!” The voice mocked the foal.

The foal suddenly started to scream in anger.

“Ah yes, scream your little lungs out and get the guards to hear you, perfect plan! I don’t even know why I’m talking to a tiny baby who has no idea what she wants or what she’s saying.”

The thumping of galloping was suddenly heard on the other side of the castle gardens. The foal didn’t seem to care though as she continued to scream.

“Perhaps they’ll make you into a stone statue like me! After all, your screaming could disturb all of Equestria. You’ll be seen as nothing but a nuisance.”

The guards heads could be clearly seen over the flowers now and the foal continued to scream. 

“Would you..SHUT UP!”

A shockwave suddenly burst from the statue, exploding outwards and utterly destroying flowers and crops as it traveled away. The young foal toppled over and nearly went flying as she gripped the ground somehow by only a stray flower survivor. The guards however got it hard as they all were knocked over and a few went flying. The shockwave was even strong enough to shatter a few windows on the castle as small pieces were flung into the grass below. Everpony in the castle area had to have felt that. 

“What in Equestria was that?”

“A magic surge?”

“A magic surge..Really? There’s no unicorns around here that could manage to do that!”

“Who cares, some of the others are hurt, let’s go!”

The guards that remained replied to each other as they all soon dusted themselves off of grass and galloped off to go help the wounded. This gave the little foal a chance to get up and recover. She lifted her now bruised arm and sniffled, tears dripping down her cheeks.

“This is why they keep me in stone..”

“G..Gah?..”

“This is why they keep me in stone!” The voice repeated.

The foal fell over, frightened by the voice..Well, ‘raising its voice’.

“I can’t be trusted to not hurt anypony. Especially somepony as delicate as you. I don’t even trust myself quite frankly..I’ve gone mad.”

The foal shook her head and seem to babble some comforting words in her own little language as she inched closer to the statue, still cautious. 

“Why don’t you just leave? What do you exactly see in me that’s so great?! You’re only a child!”

When she knew he wouldn’t harm her again, she freely walked over, carrying confidence within her and knowing she’d be fine. She climbed up from his stone tail and then all the way up to his face. She sat on his muzzle at this point when she suddenly hugged it, closing her eyes.

“Love..” The young foal suddenly said.

“W-What?..Love? What’s that suppose to mean?!”

“Love.” She pointed towards his chest and smiled up at him.

“L-Love?..” The voice said, seeming like it was trying to touch its own nonexistent chest.

“Love...You.”

That was the moment that changed everything for the both of them. Although it was very short and less meaningful to an outsider, it meant everything to Discord. Even within his stone prison, he could feel tears welling up in his eyes, trying to escape the stone encasing him.

He had the urge to embrace the young one suddenly..Something he had never felt before in his many years of life. The stone restrained him from moving his arms around the young one but he could visualize it happening within his mind. He didn’t even understand what he was feeling right now..He just felt warm..Happy? 

“I..I don’t know what to say.”

The foal only grinned and nuzzled his muzzle. A foal of little words but such hard hitting meaning. 

“I’ve never had anyone who’s loved me before..And maybe you don’t know if you love me or not and you’re only saying that to be kind but..All I know is you’re worth more than the ponies I’ve tortured in the past and..



“I will protect you.”

A blinding light exploded out as loud cracking noises sounded throughout the castle gardens. Celestia has just arrived to assist the fallen guards when she saw the sudden light, immediately following it. When she arrived she only stood there staring in utter disbelief. 

The pedestal that held Discord’s statue upon it was now empty with no large draconequus statue to be found anywhere. The only thing that seemed to be left behind was that same cradle from before..Untouched.
> Chapter 2: Her Name
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

A poof noise sounded throughout the empty space of Discord’s dimension. Well, it wasn’t entirely empty. What else existed in the dimension other than the foal and Discord was floating islands with small exotic flowers growing on them scattered around in the air and some weird floating creatures that none of the pony kind had ever seen before. Except for the foal of course..

There was a big island in the middle among the strange wavy sky that carried a seemingly normal house on it. That definitely couldn’t be right though. This was Discord, why would he have a normal house in a dimension of absolute chaos?

The foal and Discord had poofed in the air and were now gently gliding down to the house Mary Poppins style as Discord carried an umbrella in his claw and the foal in the other. 

When they reached the ground, Discord did a rather graceful landing and sighed, wiping at his eyes. He seemed a little emotional still from the beautiful child he held in his arm that had shown him a powerful emotion he had never felt before until now. He had a feeling of wanting to fight for her life and fight for her happiness till the end. It was a powerful emotion that almost overwhelmed him. He could handle it though.

“Well, I never really thought I’d get this far.” He said as he stared at his home in front of him, not really acknowledging the fact that he was no longer encased in stone.

He stared down at the little foal who was looking around at her new surroundings in wonder. This was probably any child’s dream come true to see such ‘impossible creatures’ brought to life in front of their very eyes. Then again, she was being held by Discord who was a mix of many animals. Was it really a surprise? Discord was just happy to have her and couldn’t help but smile.

“Well, I guess I’ll just have to make it work. Besides, it seems like I have my full chaos magic back now,” He said, snapping a tiny bunny with a top hat on and dancing tap dance. “Nothing a little chaos magic can’t do!” 

He carried the foal inside, opening the door for himself and shutting it behind him. With a small snap, the lights turned on and immediately it was clear this house wasn’t completely normal like it looked on the outside. Discord and the foal were on the ceiling upside down! The foal seemed to notice it pretty quickly too as she started to cry. 

“O-Oh dear, what did I do this time?”

The foal continued to cry as he stared down at her confused, unsure why she was upset.

“Can’t you just tell me what’s wrong? I was able to understand your baby language before but this doesn’t tell me anything!”

But she continued to cry. It started to tick Discord off once again as he sighed, rubbing his face. 

“Do you want less chaos?..”

He snapped and suddenly it seemed like gravity shifted as both Discord and the little foal fell off the ceiling and hit the floor. Luckily, Discord broke the foal’s fall and she only bounced and landed on his stomach. Discord however fell on his head and now looked rather dizzy from the impact as little stars seemed to shoot around in a circle around his head as his eyes spun around.

“Woooo..That..Wasn’t a good idea…” He said, soon slamming his head back to the floor. “I’m just..Going to take a..Q-Quick..Nap..Yeah..I think I see Mommy over by those trees..”

The little foal climbed off Discord’s stomach and crawled over to his head. He had his eyes shut as he seemed to have fell asleep to go see his..’Mommy’. He wore a goofy grin on his face as he snored, mumbling a few things in his sleep. The foal wasn’t having it though. She suddenly slapped him particularly hard for somepony of her strength and yelled in her baby language. 

“Ahh, Mommy!..Oh.”

He sat up and rubbed his head, seeming like he caught a headache falling on his head.

“Gee, thanks for letting me sleep..” He complained, rubbing his eyes.

A sudden growl came out of nowhere which startled Discord from his sleepiness. He looked over to the foal to see her curiously staring down at her stomach, gripping it with her hooves and looking up at him confused. And then..Discord’s favorite noise..She started to cry.

“Oh shush, you don’t need to cry over everything! You’re just hungry, calm down!” 

He scooped up the foal into his arms and began..Furiously shaking her?

“Shut up, please! I can’t stand that stupid noise!”

But his efforts just made her cry even harder as presumed. 

“Okay, fine! Just wait a second, I’ll snap you up something.”

He placed her on the floor as he snapped, now grasping some cotton candy on a stick. She stopped crying, amazed by the fluffy pink food on the stick. 

“Here you go, I’m sure you’ll enjoy this.” He said, giving the cotton candy to the little foal.

The foal giggled as she took a small nibble off the cotton candy, her eyes immediately lighting up after the first bite. She started to take bigger bites off the cotton candy now, enjoying it perhaps a little too much. By the end of it she was covered in sticky cotton candy from head to hoof. She did a small burp and yawned. 

“Seriously, ugh, must I do everything?”

And, in fact he did as her new ‘parent’. He had snapped her and him into a bathroom which was surely not in Discord’s house before. He gave her a bubble bath with many toys such as little boats that floated above the water and even some sea creatures like a little seal and some ducks and fish. And since it was Discord, they even came to life and moved around like they would if they were real. 

The bath was a lot easier than Discord had first thought and he was soon figuring out how to put a new diaper on the young one. He struggled a bit but he was able to get it on her nice and snug. 

Eventually, he was cradling her in his arms singing her to sleep and rocking her. He waited until he could only hear the soft and gentle inhales of her asleep to finally lie himself on his back on the couch with her asleep on his stomach. He sighed, closing his eyes and lying his head back on the couch. 

“I’m definitely never doubting a parent’s job ever again..Parents have a right to be grouchy after these little monsters..” He mumbled to himself.

He placed his lion paw on her back, gently stroking it as he felt it slowly fall and rise a little with each breath.

“I’m never letting those ponies get a hold of you..My dear, Fluttershy.”

Fluttershy..He had never thought that word would ever come out of his mouth. Where did it even come from? He had never heard anyone say that in his life..Yet..It felt so familiar and right to say. Like that was the name she was meant to have. Yes..Fluttershy. It was perfect.
> Chapter 3: Three Butterflies
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Many years had passed since the news of the Lord of Chaos, Discord, had somehow found a way out of his stone prison. And while it didn’t seem like he’d ever target the ponies at this rate, others still feared the chance he’d still come back silently and reign in chaos once again. No one knew how the princess felt about this but it didn’t seem like she was too bothered anyways. Her focus seems to be more toward her younger sister at this point. Unless she was hiding her feelings. Discord however seemed to be enjoying his freedom quite well.

Ever since he had been freed, he and the young foal had taken to living in his small chaotic pocket dimension by themselves. They didn’t really have much choice anyways. Discord had to remain in hiding for now just in case. 

He had completely adopted the title of her guardian and took care of her. And although they seemed perfectly happy together, they still had their differences and small fights such as the young one arguing with him about harming ponies with his chaos magic and him disagreeing with her being too soft on others. But, that didn’t hurt their relationship at all.

Presently, Fluttershy had grown bigger with long legs and bigger wings. Along with her learning to speak in sentences and being better at expressing herself. The little one was getting better alright.

“And then..You just put your hoof out.”

“I don’t have a hoof, I have an eagle claw and a lion paw.”

“Well..Maybe use your lion paw then.”

Discord rolled his eyes and stretched out his lion paw, his palm open. He waited for a moment when suddenly a small butterfly fluttered into his paw and stood on it, idly flapping its wings.

“There you go, you did it!” Fluttershy grinned.

Discord suddenly closed his paw, trapping the butterfly inside.

“Discord!”

“Whhhaatt..Doesn’t this work like fishing? You catch the butterfly and then you get to eat it?”

“Absolutely not! Give me the butterfly!”

He opened his paw again to reveal the butterfly completely unharmed but rather frightened. It quickly fluttered out of his paw and landed on Fluttershy’s head.

“Oh you poor thing..I’m so sorry he did that to you. I promise I won’t let that happen again.” Fluttershy comforted the butterfly, petting its wings gently with her hoof.

“Yes, I’m such a monster aren’t I?” Discord grumbled.

“Don’t say that, you’re not a monster.”

“The fillies at your school think so and so does everypony else. I’m not even sure why I sent you to school anyways..That stupid carriculum they teach there will make you turn against me.”

“You’re in Equestrian history?”

“Yes, of course I am! I told you about how much damage I did. That definitely marks a moment in history that your little bratty class peers need to learn about and judge me on.”

“Discord, you need to learn that not all ponies are bad. I’m an example of that. And even if they do teach me that, I won’t listen to the bad things that are said. I’ll take it as somepony else’s opinion, not mine.”

“Alright, fine.”

Discord crossed his arms and gently levitated in a sitting position in the air, looking down at the floor frowning. There was a long silence until Discord finally said something, changing the subject it seemed.

“You know..I don’t think you ever learned how to fly even though you’re a pegasus..I guess it’s my job now.”

“To..Fly?”

“Well, I’ve seen you use your wings before when you were smaller to hover a little off the ground but you didn’t get that far. You don’t know how to fully fly. You’ll definitely need it. Hm..How about I take you up near Cloudsdale and teach your how to fly?”

“I..I don’t know. I mean, flying sounds amazing but..I’ve seen others in my class do it and..A few of them got hurt.” Fluttershy folded her ears, shyly looking away. 

“That’s only because they’re not doing it right. Besides, they’re young, they’re screw ups then.”

“Discord!”

“Fine..’Happy little accidents’? I don’t know any other way to put it.” 

He leaned his paw down to Fluttershy suddenly. “Shall we?”

She hesitated but then took it. The moment her hoof made contact with his paw, they were poofed somewhere else. They were now on a big fluffy cloud in the big blue sky seeming to be far away from Discord’s dimension. Not too far away, the big cloud city, Cloudsdale was in the distance. You could even see small colorful dots which were pegasi flying above it and within the city. 

“Wow, you got a lot closer to ponies than I thought you would.” Fluttershy said, admiring the cloud city. 

“Well, I had to obviously. They steal all the darn clouds and claim them as there’s when none of this is any of ours. Greedy creatures..”

“Discord, you’re out in the open as yourself!” 

“Oh, right. That’s where the disguise comes in.”

With a snap, the draconequus disappeared with a flash of light and was suddenly replaced with a grey pegasus stallion with a black mane. He had a tornado cutie mark and even blue eyes.

“Call me, Tornado Twister!” He striked a pose dramatically.

Fluttershy gasped and giggled when the stallion joined her side by side on the cloud. 

“Alright, I’ll show you the basics first. I think this will be easier to demonstrate as a pony anyways because I’ll have both pegasus wings.” 

He trotted to the end of the cloud and spread out his wings. He bent his legs and suddenly took off, flapping his wings and kicking out a little puff of cloud. He did a little loop in the air and then landed back on to the cloud again. 

“Did you get that?”

“Uh..That..Doesn’t look very basic.” Fluttershy said.

“Right, I guess I’m going to do have to do a step by step. Maybe leave out the little loop at the end as well..”

‘Tornado Twister’ began teaching Fluttershy how to fly. A lot of it started out with Fluttershy face planting right into the cloud or only getting up into the air by a few inches. ‘Tornado Twister’ was able to get her hovering over the cloud though after a few tries and fails. She was soon enough happily flying above the cloud.

“Perfect. Now, why don’t we try it without the cloud below you?”

Fluttershy didn’t have the time to reject him removing the cloud because he had already shoved it out of the way and let it float off harmlessly. She looked down and immediately regretted it.

Her wings locked to her sides as she folded her ears, her eyes widening in fear. And just like that, she was falling from the air at an alarming speed. She screamed and waved her legs through the air uselessly as if she would be able to grip on to some invisible tree branch or cliff. ‘Tornado Twister’ and the cloud harmlessly floating off were already starting to turn into nothing but floating blurs.

“Fluttershy, flap your wings! Remember what I told you!” His voice could be heard quite muffled over the fierce winds. 

She looked over to one of her wings that was locked to her side and shut her eyes tightly, trying with all her might to unlock her wing from her side. But, it was no use. She stopped trying and panted as she wasn’t very far from the ground now. She had to prepare for the worst..

She saw ‘Tornado Twister’ dive downwards to try and catch her but she was sure it was too late for that now. He wouldn’t reach her in time. She put her hooves over her eyes as she simply let go, accepting her fate. Her life was short and rather uneventful but she was grateful she met Discord..He made her life better.

“Fluutterrsshyyy!!...”

She could hear his distant screaming as the rushing of air finally stopped. She died..Didn’t she? There was no pain though..What happened? She could feel soft fluttering underneath her and her back and flank being supported. She opened her eyes and gasped at what she saw holding her. Butterflies? 

There was a group of pink butterflies softly hovering underneath her and supporting her up a few inches from the ground. They saved her! 

“Oh my goodness, you all saved me! I can’t thank you enough.”

The butterflies one by one dropped her hooves gently to the ground and helped support her back on to her hooves. Once they did their job, they flew away from her and gathered up beside a nearby bush, softly flying in front of each other  and almost seeming like they were having a small conversation. 

“Thank you all, I could have injured myself if it weren’t for all of you.” 

She heard the trees rustle as little squirrels hopped out of them and crowded around Fluttershy along with tweeting birds, buzzing bees, and even a big fluffy bear who at first scared her but seemed to mean no harm as he sat down beside all of them, eating a small berry from a bush. 

“Wow, there’s so many of you all and you all seem so very nice!” 

“Fluttershy, Fluttershy, Fluttershy!” ‘Tornado Twister’ called out and instantly stopped when he came out from behind a tree.

He saw Fluttershy sitting there on the ground giggling surrounded by animals. Some birds were braiding her mane and two squirrels were holding a big brush and brushing her tail together at once. What surprised him the most was the fact she was having a casual conversation with a large bear in front of her and eating small berries from a little bucket. (Presuming the bear brought some for them to share.) ‘Tornado’ seriously thought his chaos magic was messing around without his command or that something strange got slipped into his breakfast this morning and he was seeing things.

“Oh, there he is right now! Hey, um, Tornado. Come see my new friends! They’re all very nice.” 

‘Tornado Twister’ gave her a really weird look as he trotted over and stopped in front of two bunnies who were casually nomming at some carrots scattered amongst the ground. They looked up and him and immediately ran away, seeming to be frightened by him.

“Huh? Why are they running away?” ‘Tornado’ asked.

“I’m not sure. Maybe they were done eating and wanted to go play?” Fluttershy said.

But that simply didn’t seem to be the case. A different critter would look up at him and look like they saw a ghost as they as well followed what the bunnies did and ran away. Eventually all that was left was the large bear enjoying his berries.

“Why are you all running away? What’s the matter?” Fluttershy asked.

The bear finished off his handful of berries and looked up at ‘Tornado’ and screamed in some odd kind of bear scream, running off as well.

“Oh no, come back!” Fluttershy said, galloping off the way the other animals went.

“Right..I know why they’re scared.” ‘Tornado’ said to himself, frowning at the ground.

Meanwhile Fluttershy was seated at a tree of a family of squirrels. It seemed the ones that were brushing Fluttershy’s tail also lived with their mom and their other siblings. The mother squirrel currently was petting her children’s heads and holding them close as the other siblings stared down at Fluttershy a little frightened. 

“Why are you all so scared?” Fluttershy asked.

The mother squirrel yelled at Fluttershy in squirrel language, grabbing a shell of an empty peanut and throwing it at her. She flinched as it only softly hit her in the forehead and then fell to the ground like a little feather.

“That was not very nice words to say, would you really want to say that in front of your children? What if they learn to say that as well!” Fluttershy said, gesturing to the squirrels hugging her. 

The mother squirrel looked down at her children with a bit of a concerned look, taking in Fluttershy’s words. She then hugged them back, nodding at her.

“I’m glad you listened. Look, I’m not here to hurt any of you anyways. I just want to know why you all ran away.”

The mother squirrel pointed towards where ‘Tornado Twister’ was standing alone, kicking up some dirt and looking particularly upset. 

“What’s wrong with him? He hasn’t done anything to you all.”

The mother squirrel then began speaking for a very long time, making small gestures with her paws while doing so. 

“You’re all scared of him because your ancestors were tortured by his chaos and lost their homes? It also killed many of them?!”

The mother squirrel nodded.

“Wait, how did you know it was him? He’s in disguise.” 

The mother squirrel then spoke again, making gestures for Fluttershy to follow.

“You can all feel his magic and his presence from miles away?”

The mother squirrel nodded.

“That’s really interesting.” Fluttershy said, rubbing her chin with her hoof thinking. “Well, It doesn’t matter now because I promise he won’t hurt you all, I’ll make sure of it. He wouldn’t do anything to upset me.”

The squirrels all looked to each other and then Fluttershy when suddenly they all climbed out of the tree, giving little smiles up to her.

“Come on, let’s go find the others!” 

Fluttershy had a small trail of squirrels behind her as they searched for the others. They searched in bushes for the many pink butterflies and soon found them as well. They also joined the ever growing trail behind Fluttershy. Fluttershy was even able to use her new learned skill of flying to fly up to the trees and talk it out with the birds. The last was the bear and she was able to calm him with some berries and reassure him. It wasn’t long before ‘Tornado Twister’ saw Fluttershy coming back with a big group of animals, perhaps even more than the last time.

“You got them all to come back?” ‘Tornado’ asked.

“Mhm, all it took was a little talking and some love.” Fluttershy smiled.

Fluttershy giggled as a few squirrels hopped into her mane, tickling her a little. Something bright ‘Tornado’s’ eyes however when he saw a flash of light starting on Fluttershy’s blank flank.

“Fluttershy, watch out! Someone’s going to shoot you!” 

‘Tornado’ leaped in the air from where he was standing and used his wings to glide over, instantly jumping in front of her and blocking her from whatever was going to harm her.

“Huh?” Fluttershy looked down at her flank and gasped. “My cutie mark!” 

She pranced around all excited as there were now three tiny pink butterflies on her flank on both sides. ‘Tornado’ only stared at her confused.

“What’s a..’Cutie mark’.” ‘Tornado’ asked.

“I learned about it in school. My teacher said that when somepony gets their cutie mark like this,” Fluttershy said, gesturing to the three butterflies. “It means they discovered their special talent!”

“Really, your teacher taught you that? What a bunch of garbage.” ‘Tornado’ laughed. “They’re really putting a lot of misinformation in your head.” 

“No, it’s true! It looks likeee...It looks like my special talent is speaking to animals! I got it when I helped them all out from not being scared of you!”

Fluttershy then gasped and ran over to ‘Tornado’ embracing him.

“You gave me my cutie mark by being here! Thank you, Discord. Uh..I mean, Tornado.” 

‘Tornado’ looked down at her hooves now wrapped around his back and chest and hesitantly lifted his own hooves, putting them around her. That familiar warm feeling he felt when she said her first word came back. He liked the feeling..The feeling of love as he called it. But the hug wasn’t very long as Fluttershy soon pulled away and trotted off towards the animals again.

“How about we have a picnic. Wouldn’t that sound like fun?”

The animals cheered as she giggled. ‘Tornado’ only stared at her. The feeling of ‘love’ he once felt was gone and replaced with an empty cold feeling he knew quite well. Loneliness and sadness. He knew quite well those ponies were trying to convert Fluttershy to their horrible ways and one day she would leave him behind, abandoning him because of his chaos. It hurt him..It felt like he was being stabbed in the heart a million times just thinking of her walking away with Princess Celestia side by side, crying and giving him angry looks at every chance she could get to look at his ugly face..His little butterfly would have to be set free..His little sunshine. 

The ground suddenly shook as a rainbow exploded out through the sky behind him and shot around in a circle. It took the attention of the animals and Fluttershy but ‘Tornado’ couldn’t look at it..All he cared about right now was Fluttershy.
> Chapter 4: Melted Emotions
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Ah, let’s see what those silly ponies have to say now.”

Discord grabbed a rolled up newspaper off his step, shutting the door behind him as he unrolled it. It seemed the mail pony had come by recently and somehow had made it through his chaotic dimension to his home. He always internally applauded them for making it through all the obstacles there were on the way and at least surviving to deliver his mail and other things. There was always a new mail pony so he assumed it was him making all the previous ones quit. How surprising that none of them had complained to the management and got word to higher authority such as Celestia yet.

“Blah, blah, boring bake sale, boring fashion, boring birthday parties..Ugh! Is there really no juicy drama in here? Nothing that could be going wrong? Nothing that’s worth reading?” Discord complained, flipping each page after reading the headline. 

One page caught his eye though and made him pause and look at it. It was a picture of two little fillies running a little lemonade stand on a hot sunny day. That wasn’t what he was interested in though whatsoever. 

In the corner of the page was a little black and white picture of a foal who seemed to be not much of a newborn foal but rather young at the same time. She was all snuggled up in a cradle smiling with a little bunny plush in her hoof. Underneath was a bunch of text which seemed to be saying they were looking for the foal and whoever found her would be rewarded. There also seemed to be a warning that she might be accompanied by..

“Hold on a second..That’s Fluttershy!”

He snapped on some reading glasses and brought the page right up to his face, squinting sort of and making sure he was seeing right. It was indeed Fluttershy. He’d recognize her even through some black and white printing. 

“Oh no..This isn’t good..I think I’m going to have to pull her from school..Would they really recognize her though as a filly now? I think I’m overreacting..”

Discord slumped into his arm chair and let himself slide downwards lazily, letting the newspaper fall out of his claw and become nothing but a limp noodle. He closed his eyes, taking a large exhale. The stress was getting to him and he couldn’t help but just let himself be consumed by the chair. Perhaps a little literally as his magic influenced the chair to slowly swallow up his tail and the rest of his body.

“Discord, I’m home!”

His eyes immediately sprung open as his head poked out of his seat. His daughter was home! He proceeded to pull himself out of his chair’s grasp, yanking his tail out.

“Let go of me, I’m done being a lazy potato!” He said, finally getting his tail free.

He ran up to the door as he met up with Fluttershy who was just putting up her school bag on to a hook. As soon as she finished, he grabbed her and swung her around.

“Woooah! Diiissscoooorrddd, aaa liiittllleee tooo faaasstt!” Fluttershy said, being swung around and around.

“Whoops, sorry! I’m just so happy to see you!”

He stopped, setting her back down on to the ground after as she wobbled around all dizzy, her eyes spinning around and around just like she was a few seconds ago.

“E-Everything’s spinning..”

“Just give it a few moments, dear. It’ll wear off.”

He was right as she soon found herself on stable ground again and a non-moving world. She took a deep breath and smiled, unzipping her bag and grabbing a small book from it. She soon joined Discord at a little coffee table with a vase of dandelions which seemed to be producing little sparks of fire. The sparks didn’t seem harmful as they fell off the dandelions and floated for a moment before disappearing within the air. 

“What are you doing there, kiddo?” Discord asked, sipping some coffee and casually brushing aside the newspaper he was previously reading.

“Some homework.” Fluttershy answered, scribbling something into a little blue book. “Ooo, I almost forgot. Miss Daffodil told me she wanted to speak to you sometime soon.”

“Miss Daffodil?”

“Yeah, she’s my teacher.”

“Uh..Why does she want to speak to me?” Discord asked, fidgeting with a pen now.

“I don’t know. She just said she wants to set up a meeting to speak sometime soon.”

“Fluttershy, you do realize that I can’t talk to her, right? If I just showed up as myself, I would not only freak her out but I would literally be dragged out of her classroom possibly by Princess Celestia’s guards and then sent back to stone. You know how everyone feels about me being free. I don’t exactly feel safe exposing myself just yet.”

“Well, why not use your disguise you used when you teached me how to fly? Um..Tornado Twister?”

“Right, so, I’m just going to have to be him whenever in public. I hate having hooves! What if you have some kind of school concert that I’m forced to go to. I’ll be stuck like that for hours!”

“It won’t be forever. Just pretend to be my normal pony dad while you both speak.”

Discord sighed, setting down his cup of coffee. 

“Fine, but this meeting better not be about bad grades.”

“W-What! Of course it isn’t, I’ve been working really hard!”

Discord burst out laughing, hitting his paw on the table.

“I’m just kidding my dear. Like I would ever care about bad grades.”

He grinned, gently stroking her head and combing through her mane with his paw.

***

“Alright, is this fine?”

Discord was now in disguise of Tornado Twister. He looked a little more decent now as he had his black mane slicked back and a unicorn horn instead of pegasus wings. He gently walked alongside Fluttershy now as they were approaching the school a little into the evening of the next day.

“I think you look perfect.” Fluttershy smiled.

“Oh stop it.” He smiled back at her, truthfully not wanting her to stop the compliments.

They approached the door as ‘Tornado’ put his hoof on the handle and then turned back to Fluttershy.

“You owe me for this..Big time. I hate all ponies except for you so it better be good.”

“Alright fine, I’ll make you a dozen peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.”

“A dozen? I’m doing it!”

‘Tornado’ adjusted his mane and put on his professional face. He then proceeded to turn the knob and walked in with Fluttershy shyly following behind. 

Miss Daffodil was adding some water to some flowers she had set to the side at a window sill when she noticed them come in. She was a very kind looking pony who seemed rather obsessed with flowers as they decorated her room and even lived there. Her name fit her well. She gave a kind smile to the both of them as took a seat behind her desk while they sat in front of her.

“Good evening, Miss Daffodil. I am Tornado Twister, Fluttershy’s father. Please, call me Tornado.” He held his hoof out as they shook hooves.

“Sunsetta Daffodil. It’s very nice to meet you at last!”

“You as well.”

Fluttershy was shocked at ‘Tornado’s’ perfect acting. It all seemed to be going well and ‘Tornado’ was showing such professionalism. It was very unlike him and almost frightened her at what he had become.

“So, I just want to make it clear that I didn’t ask you here today to discuss Fluttershy’s grades. She’s doing extremely well and she’s a very hard worker.”

Fluttershy smiled proudly as ‘Tornado’ patted her on the shoulder. 

“I asked you here today for a little bit more important matters.”

Miss Daffodil searched through her desk, shifting through a few papers and pencils. She finally put a stack of papers on to her desk and grabbed one out of it. She placed it on the table as ‘Tornado’s’ eyes immediately widened.

“So, I didn’t want to discuss this with the kids because I’m sure they don’t care much and are a little too young but the princess has wanted me to share this around in hopes maybe the young one will be found. They’ve been searching for her for years so she might be around this class’s age group now. I just wanted to know if maybe any of you had seen her. I kinda thought she looked like Fluttershy a little honestly.”

Miss Daffodil giggled as she stared down at the paper placed in front of the two of them. It was the same picture of young Fluttershy except bigger and it seemed to be an actual article on her. ‘Tornado’ looked like he was about to lose it.

“Wow, she really does look like me!” Fluttershy said innocently.

“N-Nope! Never seen her in my life!”

“Really? I thought maybe Fluttershy had a younger sister or something.”

“Nope! Just me and Fluttershy!”

‘Tornado’ was clearly losing his cool at this point as he felt himself starting to sweat. He smoothed back his mane as his breath quickened.

“Woo..Sure is hot in here, isn’t it? M-Me and Fluttershy better get going before we turn into melted ice cream! Literally.”

‘Tornado’ laughed awkwardly as he yanked Fluttershy out of her seat and headed for the door.

“O-Oh, well, okay! It was nice talking to you Tornado and Fluttershy!”

But ‘Tornado’ didn’t stop to hear the last bit she said as they were already galloping into a hidden portal back to Discord’s dimension. They poofed on to the lawn and ‘Tornado’ galloped inside looking like he was about to have an accident.

“Discord, wait!” Fluttershy called out, following him inside.

She entered the house and paused when she heard puking noises. She folded her ears and trotted over to the bathroom, peeking in. ‘Tornado’ was over the toilet puking particularly hard. Fluttershy flinched every time he did it more as she trotted in, sitting behind him and gently rubbing his back.

“You should of told me you weren’t feeling well. I wouldn’t of told Miss Daffodil that we were ready to talk today.”

“No..It’s not that..”

‘Tornado’ wiped his mouth with his hoof sighing. He turned around, looking Fluttershy in the eyes. He looked very pale and definitely sick.

“I puke sometimes when I’m overly stressed. I’ve noticed it now and that I used to not do it before. Perhaps I didn’t have as much on my plate before and I was too busy having the time of my life to care.” He then laughed suddenly. “My puke is even ice cream.”

Fluttershy hesitantly peeked over the toilet to indeed see there was many flavors of melted ice cream in the toilet slowly mixing together. At least it wasn’t normal puke. That would have been more disgusting. 

“But..Why are you so stressed?” Fluttershy asked.

“It wouldn’t be very fair to you if I answered that question.”

“..I make you stressed out?..” 

“U-Uh..Not y-you in particular b-but..”

“You stutter when you’re scared or lying..Discord, are you sure?”

He stopped and just stared at her. She was making this turn on her and he didn’t want that. He didn’t want her to feel guilty for his own decisions. 

“Fluttershy, I don’t want to discuss this anymore. Please respect that..I..I’ll be fine. I think I just need some rest.”

He got up, transforming back to his original form and making his way out of the bathroom. He felt his claw suddenly be grabbed by her hoof though as he turned around and looked at her again. She had tears forming in her eyes now as she sniffled.

“I-I’m so sorry Discord..I-I don’t mean to make you miserable. I just w-want to see you smile..Y-You’re so a-alone..A-And scared..I wish y-you could have l-lots of friends like I can..T-That ponies liked you..A-And that I don’t e-ever make you upset again! I-If that’s what I do to you..I..I can l-leave..If that’s truly what y-you want..”

He dropped her hoof, his eyes widening. She started to sob on the floor as he quickly ran over and embraced her. It was suddenly as if he could feel the same heartache Fluttershy felt for him as tears started to form in his own eyes.

“No, no, no! I don’t want you to leave. That’s the complete opposite of what I want. You do make me happy, Fluttershy. More than you could ever know. I didn’t like who I was before and the pain of others that I lived on. You’ve made me better..Don’t ever doubt yourself, okay?”

“B-But..”

“Don’t..I don’t want you to go..”

At this point tears were falling down Discord’s cheeks as he held her tightly, never wanting to let her go again. Fluttershy suddenly started to sob into his chest, hugging him back. This moment was different from any other one he had ever experienced with her..This one was sad..He didn’t like feeling sad..He wanted to just ball up all his emotions and throw them out the window..But not even chaos magic was able to do that..
> Chapter 5: Graduation Disaster
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Discord, I’m leaving!”

Discord suddenly poofed behind Fluttershy, carrying a bag of chips and crunching on them.

“Oh no you’re not, missy. It’s too late for you to be going out at this hour. And that’s saying something as the Lord of Chaos. I’m quite easy on the rules since I myself do not follow rules and you know that.”

“But I have to go. I told you that I’m requesting a dress from my friend for the graduation dance.”

“Who is this..’Friend’ and why do they need you to be out so late? Can’t you do it tomorrow?”

“It’s that unicorn from Carousel Boutique! Her name is Rarity. I’m pretty sure I told you about her before. She gave me a discount on some clothes a while back and we’ve been friends ever since. I’ve even met one of her other friends who is a pegasus and runs the weather in Ponyville and other places. Her mane is amazing!”

“Well this Rarity sounds like a Canterlot snob who is trying to manipulate you  and the other one sounds like she’s nothing but selfish just by the thought of her ‘amazing mane’. Don’t hang with them, Fluttershy. Hang with me! I’m the most fun after all. You know you can trust me more than you can trust them.”

“Discord, I’ve heard your lectures about ponies many times before and they haven’t changed. I’m older now and graduating from school anyways. I can take care of myself and watch out for toxic friends.”

Fluttershy turned around, making her way for the door when she felt her back leg being pulled on. She turned around to see Discord hanging on to her leg and giving her puppy eyes. He looked like he was almost in tears. Clearly he was acting though.

“Don’t go Fluttershy, I’ll give you all the puppies in the world if you stay!” He pleaded.

Fluttershy giggled. “While that’s a very tempting offer, I have to say no. I’ll be back soon though and I’ll even show you maybe a rough draft of the dress I’m getting for graduation. You promised you would be there as well.”

“I..Well, um…”

“I hope you don’t bail on me because you’ll have to be in disguise and be around tons of ponies.”

“Of course not! Why would I miss out on my daughter’s most important moment of her life?”

“I wouldn’t say it’s the most important but it’s pretty special to me.” Fluttershy say as she turned the door knob, opening it and beginning to trot out. “See you later!”

“Don’t come home too late!”

“I promise I’ll be back by ten at night in Equestria hours!”

He watched the almost adult pegasus disappear through a nearby portal at the end of the front yard with a small flash. Once he was sure she was gone, he sighed and slumped into a arm chair. Time to sleep his alone hours away.

***

“Discord, I’m home!”

He immediately sat up in his seat as he watched his daughter enter through the door, a small notebook in hoof. He got up from his arm chair and greeted her, his eyes falling to the little notebook she carried.

“What’s that?” He asked, pointing to it.

“Oh, I told you that I was going to show you the rough draft of the dress. Rarity sketches out what she plans on making first so she gets an idea of what it’s going to look like and how to make it. This is both my ideas and hers combined together!”

She flipped open the notebook to the first page and held it out to him grinning. It was a very detailed looking dress (aside from the poor messy coloring) that looked like a flower itself. It looked like a bunch of pink petals were sewn together to make a dress that flowed to the ground and would most likely drag behind whoever wore it. On the sides of it, little sunflowers and other types of flowers were hung by a hot pink ribbon which tied together at the back. It was perfect..It was like it fit both Fluttershy’s interests and personality perfectly well and that only she could wear it. It would only fit her. 

“Wow..That’s..Well, I’m sure it’ll be more beautiful once I see it myself since this is just a messy drawing but..Wow.”

“I know! Rarity did such a good job. I wanted it to be nature looking and feel like I was wearing the animals and plants of the Everfree with me since..You know, they’re not allowed to be with me.” 

“Who says they’re not allowed to be with you? I can rearrange that in a simple-“

“No!” 

Discord had his claw held in the air ready to snap when Fluttershy grabbed it quickly.

“Oh! Sorry..It's not that I don’t want you to help, I just don’t think it’s a good idea. I don’t want anypony to get hurt and I’m sure the animals or well..The flowers wouldn’t enjoy being around so many ponies at once. It’s not their ideal place to be.”

“Oh, I see. No problem.”

Fluttershy released his claw as he gently rubbed it now with his paw, thinking to himself. 

“Perhaps I could plan a special graduation for just you and me and your animal friends.”

“For just us?..What do you mean?”

“Well, I could make a little party in the woods and graduate you myself with all the animals watching. That way they wouldn’t miss out. You could still go to the pony one if you truly desired. You’d just have two graduations to do.”

Fluttershy gasped, her eyes lighting up. “Discord, that’s a great idea! Well..I mean, if it isn’t too much trouble?”

“Of course not my dear. Anything for you.”

Fluttershy clapped her hooves and squealed, giving Discord a hug and trotting away giddily. He only chuckled and sighed. He had a lot to do tonight and perhaps some compromise making with the animals.

***

“Ow!”

“Oof!”

“Watch it!”

“Watch the tail, sir. Ya’ coulda’ poked my eye.”

Ponies in a row of seats complained as ‘Tornado Twister’ hurriedly made his way to his seat for the pony graduation. When he sat down, he had already made the entire row grumpy with him as he finally sat down beside a mother who was feeding her baby a bottle of milk. She didn’t seem to notice as she only smiled at her little offspring. It reminded him of when Fluttershy was small..The good times..

He had made it just in time as he heard someone walk on stage, presumingly the principal who stopped in front of a microphone and looked out at the crowd and the many ponies below dressed in blue. The soon to be graduates. He couldn’t see Fluttershy in there but he knew she had to be somewhere in there. He’d soon see anyways.

“Good evening soon to be graduates and their families. I am very pleased to have you all here today and to be able to assist your young mares and stallions into the next stage of their life. It feels….”

Annndd that’s when ‘Tornado’ stopped listening. Nothing but a boring old speech he didn’t need to hear. Instead he thought about Fluttershy and chaos and for some odd reason Princes Celestia crying over her castle being turned to cheese. What a great idea for the future..No, Fluttershy would scold him for that. She was fine with harmless little jokes but not ‘pranks’ that would ‘harm’ ponies. She cared too much..Way too much. 

It seemed the muffled speech he didn’t listen to was over as he now heard names being called out as ponies trotted up to the stage to claim some kind of rolled up parchment. The principal would move some kind string attached to their hat on to the other side while they were there. The ponies cheered and clapped after as most of the now graduated ponies exited the stage with nervous smiles as they waved to their family in the audience. He also tuned that out after the first few ponies as he only listened for Fluttershy to be called.

“Rarity!”

Hold, on what?! He opened his eyes from attempting to sleep through this to look and see a white unicorn with a twirly looking purple mane approach the principal on the stage. She had big eyelashes and light blue eyeshadow on as she was also dressed in the graduation attire. She looked rather proud as she accepted the parchment and smiled at the crowd as they cheered. He could see a few stallions drooling and cheering particularly hard for her. Stallions..Of course they couldn’t control themselves.

Somepony cheering caught his eye though as he saw two light yellow hooves from the graduation group in the air. He could swear he could hear soft cheering as well. Was that Fluttershy? Rarity soon sat down again as she joined beside the light yellow hooves. He could only see her purple mane as the hooves soon disappeared back down into the crowd.

 Well, now he knew who this Rarity gal was and he was sure she was nothing but rich. Somepony who would use Fluttershy and pretend to be her friend..He would destroy her..

“Fluttershy!”

He immediately stood up upon hearing her name as a big smile came upon his face. Fluttershy nervously trotted up on to the stage, forcing a smile on her face as she accepted her parchment while her hat was adjusted. She hesitantly turned to the crowd, her eyes searching around. The crowd cheered for her but ‘Tornado’ made it his job to the loudest of them all as he yelled over them and clapped his hooves. It didn’t take long for her to find him. She smiled and giggled, waving at him.

“That’s my daughter! That’s my Fluttershy! Woooo!”

She trotted off the stage smiling and took her seat. He then sat down again, panting slightly from the amount of energy he just used to cheer her on. It was worth it though. Exhausting but worth it.

***

“Are you sure I can’t come with you?”

“Yes, I’m sure. It’s a dance for just the graduates. Besides, it’d be weird to go with my father anyways. Nopony else is. We will get to dance tonight for the private graduation party you're planning anyways. The animals will have lots of fun I’m sure.”
 
Fluttershy and Discord were back home as Fluttershy carefully tucked a little pink flower into her mane as she peered into a mirror. She was wearing her dress and Discord had to admit, she looked gorgeous. He carefully fixed a strand in her mane and clapped his paw and claw together.

“Perfect! You look wonderful my dear!”

“Thank you, Discord.” Fluttershy said, grinning as she posed a bit in the mirror.

She trotted towards the door, her long flower dress dragging behind her. She turned back to Discord.

“I won’t be gone for too long. Bye, Discord!”

“Bye, Fluttershy!”

He waited for her to fully leave his dimension before doing a girly squeal and a little dance in place. He snapped as he teleported from his dimension to what seemed to be the Everfree Forest.

 Normally ponies were terrified of this forest because of the many rumors of the weather that did its own thing without pegasus assistance and the animals that also lived on their own. Its trees also blocked out most of the sunlight from entering the forest so that was another factor. This didn’t bother Fluttershy and Discord however. Fluttershy had played in this forest since she was first able to walk and they both had never had issues. Heck, she even got her cutie mark within this very forest. What was there to be afraid of? 

Discord walked a little into the forest before whistling loudly, pausing and listening as his whistle echoed against each tree within the forest. It wasn’t long before he heard a tiny stampede of animals coming his way. The whistle worked just like Fluttershy said it would. He soon had small bunnies and squirrels sitting down in front of him, confused that he wasn’t Fluttershy. Many birds flew over, tweeting and flying all about and Fluttershy’s bear friend came walking over, giving Discord a weird look. 

“Is this everyone? I have an important announcement about Fluttershy!” Discord said, cupping his claws and yelling over the animal chatter.

The animals abruptly stopped excitedly talking to one another and looked around at each furry face and bird beak around them. It seemed everyone was here. A squirrel gave him a thumbs up with its small paw.

“Alright, good. As you all might know, Fluttershy is graduating from her pony school. You might know what a school is..You might not..Doesn’t matter. You all know what a party or a celebration is, right?”

They all nodded. They probably had experience from Fluttershy having little parties for them or perhaps they found their way into Ponyville. There was a lot of talk about parties there and planned ones.

“Well, we’re going to plan basically a party for her. I’ll show you all what we need to do and how this will happen. First though, I need to assign jobs.”

And so it began. The squirrels were assigned to hang ribbons and tiny lamps in the trees, the birds to throw small rose petals on a small rock path that was currently being built by the bear, a stage and a dance floor was being made by Discord currently, and the bees and the butterflies were setting out chairs of all sizes around the stage area. Discord had to admit, it was a little unfair to give tiny creatures such as butterflies and bees the chair setting up job, but every other animal was busy and they couldn’t exactly do much else. They seemed to figure it out though as they grouped up to carry large chairs. 

It wasn’t long before the party really started to look like a party. It seemed the animals even decided to add their own idea as there was a small table carrying bird seed and other foods of the small creatures. Discord decided to make his own for Fluttershy and him as he snapped up a table full of little snacks and beverages for them to share during the night. 

It was a few hours before midnight when the last detail was added and it was confirmed that the party was ready.

“Alright, that looks good! I can’t believe I’m saying this to a bunch of animals but..You all did great!”

The animals cheered as they gave each other high fives and some kind of secret handshakes. Discord chuckled a little as he clapped his paw and claw together.

“Now, first off, I think it would be best if you all sat in the chairs and waited for her to come and I’ll stand to the side at the entrance of the party. Once the small graduation part is done, then the party is on and you all can do what you want. Now, hurry, hurry, she’s coming soon!”

The animals scurried to get a seat as Discord snapped his claw, teleporting a black tuxedo on and leaning against a little flower archway. He checked a watch that seemed to be drawn messily in marker on his arm as he watched for Fluttershy to make her way over.

It wasn’t long when the animals spotted a pony figure in a long dress flying over. Discord noticed as well as he adjusted a tie he had on, knitting his claw and paw together behind his back. His calm relaxed face however soon turned to a look of pure fear in a matter of seconds.

“She wasn’t lying? Are you kidding me!”

The pegasus that was flying over to them was not the pegasus they expected. A blue pegasus mare in a long rainbow dress was staring at the whole party in shock. She mostly had her eyes on Discord though who was trying to hide behind the flower archway so she wouldn’t see who he was but was clearly failing. 

The rainbow maned pony softly landed on the ground as she started to make her way over, cautiously. 

“I can’t believe you’ve been with Fluttershy all this time. They only said you went into hiding and that was that. This is unbelievable.”

“If you get any closer to the party and me, I’ll make sure you suffer a punishment worse than just memory erase. This was for Fluttershy and Fluttershy only..You were not invited and are not welcome.”

“If you did that Fluttershy wouldn’t be very pleased. Besides, we have a friend who’s a student of Princess Celestia. They contact each other almost everyday. I’m sure you being locked back in stone again can be arranged.”

“A student..Of..Princess Celestia?” Discord now poked his head out from behind the flower archway.

“Gee, you must be really out of whack with the time right now. I guess that’s what you get for hiding away with a pony for years. Are you her boyfriend or something? I don’t know how Fluttershy would choose such an ugly old man.”

“Boyfriend?! Absolutely not!” 

“Then what are you doing with an innocent pony such as herself?! Are you planning to eat her later?”

“No!”

“Are you going to use her like a puppet with your chaos magic and make her do everything you say?”

“No!”

“Then what is it then? I swear, if you hurt her, you’ll be sorry. These hooves do more than just trot.” The mare threatened, bringing her hooves up into a punching position.

“Like you could even do anything to me. You’re nothing but a puny little pegasus.”

The mare’s face quickly changed to one of anger as she gritted her teeth and zoomed at an alarming speed towards Discord. His eyes followed the rainbow blur zooming right for him as he casually lifted his claw. The mare suddenly came to a halt in the air as her entire body was being held still by his magic. He levitated her right to his face now as he simply smiled.

“Only wings and hooves and you think you’re so great. I have wings, magic, and the ability to get whatever I want. And what I want will be what you want as well..”

He brought his lion paw to her face as her pink eyes suddenly turned into colorful swirls that swirled around and around endlessly. Her body suddenly went limp as all her inner defenses surrendered to his power.

“Let my voice and my magic consume you little pony..You won’t have to fight no longer and tire yourself out if you do..Just listen to me and let me be the only voice you-“

“Discord! Put Rainbow Dash down at once!”

He looked beyond his controlled pony to see a purple unicorn also wearing a dress and staring him down. He definitely wasn’t expecting another one to show up. 

“How many friends do you have?” He said, looking down at the rainbow pony.

“Ten..Perhaps more I cannot recall.” Rainbow Dash answered, her tone sounding robotic and emotionless.

“Well recall them already! I don’t have all day!” He said, shaking her furiously. 

“Discord!”

He immediately looked up to see his daughter Fluttershy galloping over, having a rather frightened look on her face. 

“Fluttershy! There you are, I was starting to worry that you weren’t going to show up. Now, what are all these ponies doing here? You know that I can’t be exposed like-“

“Release Rainbow Dash now!” Fluttershy yelled over him.

“Alright, fine! There’s no reason for you to yell. You’re lucky I’m nice to you..”

Discord’s magic released Rainbow as she started to fall. The purple unicorn quickly caught her with her magic and brought her into her hooves. Her eyes were still swirling as she stared into the distance.

“Rainbow, are you okay?” The purple unicorn asked.

“I do not respond to anyone who is not the Lord of-“

“Snap out of it, Rainbow!”

Rainbow closed her eyes and shook her head suddenly. When she opened them, her eyes were back to normal and she blinked several times as she stared up at the purple unicorn confused.

“Twilight?..What happened?..W-Why..Ow!”

The blue pegasus flinched as she brought her hoof up to her forehead, rubbing it as she squeezed her eyes shut. 

“Hey, take it easy. Whatever Discord did to you must have been pretty powerful. Here, lay your head down.”

The purple unicorn named Twilight began to slowly lower Rainbow down onto the ground, supporting her head and her back with her hooves. A small pillow poofed under Rainbow’s head as it was softly lowered onto the pillow. Rainbow sighed, letting her muscles relax and her wings go limp at her sides. 

“There you go. I’ll get you in a bed in Canterlot as soon as possible. For now, stay here.”

Rainbow nodded as Twilight trotted away from her, joining Fluttershy’s side.

“Of course, you told them about me didn’t you. You just couldn’t leave it alone. You couldn’t have just enjoyed the nice party me and the animals organized. Just screw everything up for me, right?” Discord said, gesturing to the animals who still remained in their seats, watching whatever was going on right now with interest.

“That is not what I intended and you know that. Trust me, I did want to attend the party just you and me and the animals..But..Some plans changed.” Fluttershy said, looking down at the ground now and frowning.

“What she means is, the Princess has called all of us to the castle as an emergency and you messing with Rainbow Dash like that is wasting time and wasting my patience with you.” Twilight answered rather sternly. 

“Yes because I care about your precious patience.” Discord responded sarcastically.

“You will when I send a scroll to Princess Celestia to turn you back to stone.”

Discord eyes widened as he stood there in shock and realization. This little unicorn was the one called ‘Rainbow Crash’..Rainbow Crash?..Yes, Rainbow Crash was talking about. A tiny unicorn who acted all high and mighty?..And why wasn’t Fluttershy doing anything about this? Why was she just standing there letting him take it?..

“Look, Fluttershy told us that you’re a ‘friend’ of hers and that you’re not bad anymore. I highly doubt it but I trust Fluttershy’s judgement. That display that you showed there with Rainbow will not happen again or I will tell the Princess where you are. I know who you are and what you’ve done a thousand years ago. I’m not afraid to take action..Got that?” 

“Sure.”

“Twilight, there’s no need to be so harsh.” Fluttershy said.

“There is if he’s hurting my friends..Our friends. Harming ponies is not acceptable and it shouldn’t be to you either.”

Fluttershy only frowned as Twilight trotted back over to Rainbow.

“Come on, we don’t have a lot of time to waste. The others are waiting for us.” Twilight said as her horn began to glow, seeming to be preparing a teleport as her purple aura started to envelop Rainbow on the ground.

“Discord..I-I have to go. I’ll..I’ll see you back home later..”

“Fluttershy, wait!”

Fluttershy turned her back on him and galloped over to Twilight. She made it just in time as Twilight casted the spell. They all disappeared with a poof as only a few sparkles were left behind, flying through the air and disappearing as well.

Discord sunk to his knees as he lowered his head. Was his fear coming true?..Or, was this a small attempt for the ponies to get to know her and she would decline later on..But, why would Princess Celestia need her?..Perhaps she knew something Discord didn’t want her to know..
> Chapter 6: Harmony Isn't Always Peace
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Almost...There..Phew..Still haven’t changed the castle much have you, Tia?”

Discord was currently hanging from a window on Canterlot Castle, his noodle-like body just dangling in the air as he held himself there with suction cups. 

One would normally scream in fright upon seeing a rather giant ‘monster’ hanging off Canterlot Castle but Discord had it covered. He was using an invisibility spell to make himself not visible. As well as a spell that would mute all sounds of his moving and speaking. Chaos magic was truly a treasure like no other. 

He grunted as he pulled himself up so he could sit on the very tiny windowsill and peered inside. It seemed his memory hadn’t failed him in the number of years he was in stone as he found just the room he was looking for, the throne room. And there was his greatest enemy seated in her royal throne, Princess Celestia. All high and mighty looking as usual..Pathetic.

She was levitating some scrolls, frantically looking them over as her eyes moved over each letter as quickly as possible. Despite having a rather serious and calm look on her face, the Princess still looked a little unsettled. She was the type to fake her smiles and emotions for her subject's delight and seemed to have a lot of training in keeping herself calm in intense situations. Discord could understand why since she had to be a role model to the ponies but it still disgusted him that she did that..You know what, everything about her disgusted him. She was a pretty pony with a lot of awful secrets..

“Princess, we’re here!”

Princess Celestia’s head jolted upwards as Discord heard the throne room doors slam open and shut. A small stampede of hooves made its way up to Celestia before stopping in front of her. Rarity, Twilight, and two other ponies he had never seen before stood in front of her. An orange earth pony wearing a western looking hat was carrying an unconscious Rainbow Dash on her back while his daughter Fluttershy stood in the back of the group, looking rather uncomfortable. She didn’t seem like she wanted to be there at all and would rather jump out a window than be here. If only he could snatch her from them..

“Good, thank you Twilight. I’m happy to know you all made it here together safely..Or am I mistaken..”

The first time in many moons, he had heard her calm voice once again. It brought back many memories such as his first meeting with Celestia when she was preparing to become Equestria’s ruler or when she had made a fool of herself in front of a bunch of fancy Canterlot ponies. Yes..He did know her personally before he was turned to stone..But those were memories he’d rather forget. They were nothing now. Nothing after what she did to him.

“Oh, Rainbow Dash? Yeah, she’ll be fine. Just took ah’ hittin’ from a tree. Ah'll  take her to go lay down when we’re done here.” The orange pony said, seeming to have a southern accent. 

“I see. If she has any other issues, don’t refrain from taking her to a doctor. There’s plenty of nurses and doctors here in the castle.”

The southern pony nodded.

“So what did you need us all here so urgently for?” Twilight asked.

Celestia seemed to hesitate to continue as she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Something was clearly bothering her as she stood up from her throne and trotted down onto the red carpet, facing away from all of them.

“I need to show you all something very important. You cannot tell anypony else you have seen or have these. Follow me.”

The other ponies seemed to give each other weird looks as they all followed her, Fluttershy still trailing behind. Discord shifted a bit and jumped over to the next few windows until he could see them clearly again. They approached an odd door that had no handles but rather a hole. Celestia bowed her head, pushing her horn inside it as she used a spell on it. Her horn and the outlines of the hole glowed as she removed her horn, the magic travelling through different lines and patterns on the door until each and every one was traced with her magic. The door suddenly opened as a huge dust cloud flew at the six ponies, making them all cough and rub at their eyes. When they opened them again they were in pure shock at what they saw.

The room in front of them was filled to the ceiling with gold and jewels, even treasure chests spilling out with bits on to the floor. The Princess simply walked inside as they all followed looking around in amazement.

“Darn it, did they really have to go into a room with no windows?”

Discord quickly sneaked in through an open window and tip-toed right into the treasure room. He couldn’t believe how loaded Princess Celestia was when he got inside. He almost had to refrain himself from grabbing a handful of gold and jewels himself despite being able to easily snap them up with his magic.

“Ooo, do you think the Princess would let us have some gold?” The pink pony asked.

“Absolutely not. It would be disrespectful to steal from her without asking.” Twilight replied.

“Yea, so why don’t we ask?”

“Just leave it alone, Pinkie. It’s hers.”

The one named Pinkie pouted as she eyed a pretty necklace with a large jewel in the middle before turning away from it and following the group again. 

Twilight trotted in front of the group now as she walked alongside Princess Celestia.

“Is there anything wrong, Princess? You seem particularly quiet..Well, there’s nothing wrong with that obviously but-“

“We’re here.”

Twilight looked in front of them as they now stood in front of a pedestal at the end of the room. There was a small blue box on the pedestal just sitting alone. Just a basic old blue box..

“Ooo, boxie!”

Pinkie gasped, running out from behind the rest of the ponies and heading straight for the little box. Twilight was about to say something when Pinkie suddenly smacked her face right into an invisible wall, falling on to her back. 

“Ouchie..” Pinkie said, rubbing her forehead.

“A force field..Good choice.” Twilight mumbled to herself.

“It’s not just a force field.” Celestia replied.

Celestia’s horn glowed as she lowered the force field. It wasn’t very visible but the ponies could see a thin wall shrinking and getting smaller and smaller until it was as if it was gone. Celestia then stood aside and pointed to the tiny little box.

“There is one more enchantment on it that must be broken. It requires the six of you to place one hoof on the box. This will tell me if my predictions were correct and you all can use them.”

“Use what?” Twilight asked.

“You’ll see, go ahead.”

The ponies all glanced at each other as Rarity was the first one to put her hoof on the box. She felt the box vibrate softly under her hoof as if there was some kind of powerful magic within it waiting to be released. It was almost like her touch had given whatever was inside more of a chance of escape.

The others soon joined after Rarity, placing their hooves on the box. The box suddenly started to vibrate furiously. A bright light started to shine out of the cracks of the box as the ponies grew more curious of what was inside. But..Nothing happened. They did just as Princess Celestia told them to..Why wasn’t it working?

“Princess, was the box supposed to do something?” Twilight asked.

“Oh, horse apples! Sorry y’all, ah’ forgot to put Rainbow’s hoof on the box.”

The country pony apologized, blushing with embarrassment as she moved Rainbow’s limp hoof to the box as Rainbow continued to snore loudly on her back. 
 
That was all it took for the box to do something as it suddenly exploded open, letting out a blinding bright light. The ponies shielded their eyes with their wings and their hooves as Celestia shielded her own with her large alicorn wings. The blinding light wasn’t for long as it shortly disappeared after. When they all opened their eyes they were amazed at what had come out of the box. 

Six colorful looking gems came out of the box and floated in the air in a little circle. There were five that were shaped like diamonds and one that was in a star shape. There was a blue diamond, a light pink one, a red one, a orange one, and a purple one. The one gem that didn’t look like the others was hot pink and floated a little higher than the other ones while still remaining in a little circle. 

“Woah, what are those thingies?” Pinkie asked. 

“They’re-“ 

“The Elements of Harmony..” Both Princess Celestia and Discord said together, interrupting Twilight.

Discord’s eyes widened as he may have said that a little too loudly. He could see the Princess looking around the room out of the corner of her eye as he quickly ducked out of view behind some gold. His heart pounded as his mind raced, wondering if she saw him. There was a long pause however as he waited until someone finally spoke again. 

“Princess? Are you alright?” He heard Twilight ask.

“Yes..Yes of course. Forgive me, I was lost in thought for a moment.” 

Celestia composed herself as she stared up at the floating elements.

“These as I once said are the Elements of Harmony. They are ancient relics that carry powerful magic within them that can only be unlocked by its users. Only the ones who are connected to the elements may use its power. And just as I suspected, you all are connected to them.” 

“We are?” Twilight asked.

“Yes. If you weren’t, you wouldn’t have been able to open the box. I’ve been storing them away for years until I found its next wielders. It seems you all have been chosen.”

“Chosen?..For what?” Applejack asked.

“I can’t exactly answer that right now but I can tell you that these elements will be very important to you. I would recommend getting used to them for the moment.”

“And how in Equestria do we do that?” Rarity asked.

“Pinkie Pie seems to have the right idea.” 

The other ponies all turned to look at their pink friend who was currently inspecting a floating blue element. She batted at it with her hoof like a cat when it suddenly glowed. She backed up, a little startled by it as all the elements including that one began to rotate in a slow circle and glow one by one. 

“Pinkie, what did you do?!” Twilight asked, seeming a little frightened.

“I don’t know!”

The elements suddenly all flew in different directions, each one of them heading straight for one of the six ponies (except Celestia of course). When it reached the pony it chose, it stopped a few inches from her face, idly floating there allowing the pony to see her own reflection in its shiny surface. Fluttershy flinched when the light pink element stopped in front of her, covering her face with her hooves and shaking.

All the elements were suddenly enveloped in bright light, covering them entirely as they each got closer. The diamond looking elements floated to the ponies necks and suddenly transformed into wearable necklaces with the actual gem part in the middle. The star looking element had floated up to Twilight’s head and transformed into a crown, softly resting on her head. 

Celestia seemed rather surprised and Discord on the other hoof couldn’t believe his eyes as they all noticed that not only did the elements become wearable accessories, but they changed shapes. It seemed the elements had become similar to its owner’s cutie mark as Rarity’s was a more detailed purple looking diamond, Fluttershy’s a light pink butterfly, Rainbow’s a red lightning bolt, Pinkie’s a blue balloon, and Applejack’s an orange apple. The only element that stayed the same was Twilight’s and that one already seemed to resemble her star cutie mark even before she knew it was her’s.

“T-They changed?..” Twilight gasped, touching her hoof to her new element crown.

“I’ve never seen this before..It must be because they belong to somepony now..” Celestia muttered to herself.

“They didn’t belong to somepony before?” Rarity asked. 

“Not really..They were connected to me and..My…” 

And then Celestia stopped. It was like she couldn’t continue her sentence..Something was stopping her. There was a look of fear and sadness on her face now as she turned her head away from the ponies, using her long flowing mane to prevent them from seeing her expression. 

“Princess..I know there’s something wrong. I’ve known ever since you called us here. The way you’re acting shows it even more. Would you please tell us what’s wrong?” Twilight asked. “I have a feeling you gave us these elements right now because of a bigger reason and it connects to why you’re acting like this.”

There was a long silence as Twilight watched Celestia worriedly while the others stood there waiting for some kind of response. Finally, Celestia sighed and finally looked Twilight in the eyes. Twilight could see great pain within her eyes which made her even more concerned. 

“I was originally supposed to give these to you all later on as you all got more use to your new adult lives. However, that isn’t possible anymore..”

Celestia looked over to the throne room where her large throne sat along with a smaller one beside it. Luna’s throne..

“My sister has been disappearing during the day a lot more than usual without telling me where she’s going. If I ask she simply tells me to mind my own business and goes off on her way. I’ve tried to follow her but I always lose track of her. She returns at night time to do her night duties in the dream realm and as soon as I raise the sun, she leaves again.”

“I’ve walked in on her once looking at a book about dark magic and other evil creatures. I’m rather concerned that she might be tampering with something she shouldn’t be and possibly cause harm to herself and others. If that comes to pass..” 

Celestia hesitated and then started again. “I need you all to use the elements on her.” 

“Wait..But, she’s a princess!” Pinkie gasped.

“I give you permission to use the elements on her. I promise you that you will not be in trouble for it. The element's main objective is to bring harmony and peace to others. I think they will bring her a sense of inner peace and stop her feelings of anger and pain.”

“But, what if we don’t need to use the elements on her?” Twilight asked.

“Then I will try and help her myself. It's the least I can do for how I’ve made her feel all these years..”

There was a pause as it seemed Celestia had finished her speech and Twilight turned to her friends with a proud look on her face and then to Celestia again.

“Alright, will do our best princess! Right, guys?”

“Right!” The other ponies cheered except for Fluttershy who was just shyly hiding behind the rest of them still.

“Wait, before you all leave, I need to tell you someone else you should look out for.”

Discord suddenly felt a bad feeling in his gut. He knew she was going to talk about him..

“I’m sure you’ve all heard of Discord at this point since it's widely known that he was let out of stone around when you were all born, right?”

The ponies all nodded except for Fluttershy as her eyes widened with fear. She really hoped that the princess wasn’t going to make them use the elements on her very own father. He wasn’t evil anymore..Well..Celestia didn’t know that. Her friends seemed to not believe her very much as well but trusted her for the moment.

“With my sister possibly in trouble like this, he may use this time to strike and wreak havoc on Equestria once again. Use the elements to turn him to stone..Permanently.”

Fluttershy gasped behind all of them, her breath caught in her throat. She couldn’t believe what Celestia just said as she could feel fear taking over her and multiple scenarios of Discord being turned to stone zooming through her head. She felt like she couldn’t breathe as she stared down at the shiny floor. Her body was shaking in her reflection as she tried to calm herself down.

“Use the elements to turn him to stone..Permanently.”

“Stone...Elements..Permanently..”

“Permanently.”

“Are you alright darling?” 

Fluttershy looked up to see Rarity with her hoof on Fluttershy’s back, looking down at her concerned. Her eyes fell on Rarity’s sparkling blue eyes and then on her diamond element on her neck.

“Wait, no, don’t do it! Please, he’s all I have!”

“DISSSCOOORDDD!”

She could hear her own screams echoing in her head mixed with his screams of pain and the sounds of the stone cracking and forming on his body. It was unbearable..

“Fluttershy, wait, where are you going?”

Fluttershy galloped out of the room and slammed right through the throne room doors, leaving them swinging behind her. She heard the distant yells of her friends trying to get her to come back but she refused..She wouldn’t. She was not turning her father to stone no matter what anypony else wanted.

“Fluttershy, wait. Fluttershy!”

She suddenly stopped as she realized she was now outside of Canterlot Castle in the same gardens Discord once found her as a baby. She turned around to see Discord standing there in his normal form. 

“D-Discord?..” 

“Yes, it’s me. Sorry, I probably should have put on my disguise but I noticed you ran out of the castle and- oof!”

Fluttershy had flung herself at him which almost knocked him over but he somehow kept his balance. He looked down to see his daughter hugging him tightly and crying. His ears flattened to his head slightly as he put his arms around her, crouching to hug her back. 

“I-I won’t turn you to stone!..I..I won’t!” She whimpered.

“It’s okay..You don’t have to.”

They stood there for a while as he felt her sob into him and hug him tightly. It soon came to Discord’s attention that they were out in the open and that her friends might come looking for her soon..And possibly see him. 

“You want to go back home?..” He asked softly.

“Yes..” She sniffled.

That’s all he needed to hear as he snapped and they poofed far away from the castle, leaving behind the others.
> Chapter 7: Setting The Butterfly Free
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Fluttershy, dear,” Discord called out, knocking on her door. “Would you like a refill on the fudge and chocolate ice cream?”

Fluttershy suddenly lifted her head from her tangled mess of a mane and looked towards her door between a few strands of her pink mane. She then looked over to an empty bowl sitting on her bedside table with a pool of melted ice cream at the bottom of it and a few tiny chunks of fudge within it.

“Sure..” She replied, sounding rather emotionless.

“May I come inside then?”

“Sure..” She repeated.

Discord then attempted to turn the knob on her door to check if it was locked but thankfully it wasn’t. It didn’t really matter however since he could magically just unlock it himself but he didn’t want to intrude on his daughter’s privacy. Especially not right now in the state she was in.

He slowly swung the door open and peeked inside. She looked worse than he had expected. Her once beautiful straight pink mane was full of knots and tangled and now covered her tear-stained face. She had dark circles under her eyes and she clearly looked like she had been crying for days. She easily looked like she hadn’t slept for days either even though it had been only a few days since that whole “catastrophe” happened. 

“Fluttershy..Have you..Came out of your room in the last twenty-four hours?” Discord asked, snapping up a refill of chocolate ice cream and fudge into her empty bowl.

“Well..I came out to use the bathroom and get a glass of water..Also a tiny snack.” Fluttershy answered, grabbing her bowl and digging into the dessert.

Discord frowned. This wasn’t good for her at all. Was she even eating? If it weren’t for his magic, she probably wouldn’t have eaten today. Staying cooped up in her bedroom for hours on end wasn’t healthy either. This wasn’t the Fluttershy he knew a few days ago. 

He had been hesitating upon addressing her bad hygiene and behaviour but it was about time to say something. This was getting out of hoof.

“Fluttershy, you need to come out of this bedroom. You can’t stay in here forever. I’ve been comforting you and doing all I can but this isn’t good for you. At least come out and take a bath. Your mane is a mess and you need a wash.”

“I just don’t feel like I can right now..I’m sorry, Discord.”

He stared down at her as she shoved a piece of fudge and ice cream in her mouth, slowly chewing it and staring down at the floor. If his words wouldn't do anything then it seemed he had to force her.

“Alright, that’s it. You’re going to take a bath and you're going to take it now.” He said sternly, grabbing the small pegasus and carrying her in his arm like a football. 

“H-Hey!”

He walked with her in his arm, exiting her bedroom and into a hallway. Fluttershy surprisingly didn’t squirm or object to what he was doing as he soon made it to the bathroom, setting her down on a little mat.

“I’ll be nice to you and even make you a nice bubble bath. You have to take the bath though, alright?”

“C-Can..You make the bubbles...Bubble gum?..Like old times?” 

“You still remember that?”

“Of course I do..I remember a lot of things from when I was a filly..”

“Well, alright then. If that’s what you want.”

Instead of simply just turning on the faucet like any other pony, Discord snapped up some warm water in the bathtub along with lots of pink bubbles that seemed to be the bubble gum bubbles Fluttershy was talking about. They floated in the air and popped, making the bathroom smell like sweet-smelling bubble gum.

“Thank you, Discord.”

“It’s no problem, my dear. Now, enjoy your bath. I’ll go make you some lunch.”

“Lunch?” 

“Yes, of course. You can’t expect to just eat ice cream and fudge all day now can you?”

“I..I suppose not..”

“Right. Enjoy your bath dear.”

Discord grinned to himself a bit as he exited the bathroom, closing the door. He was finally getting Fluttershy to do something else! Perhaps all he needed to do was give her a little nudge in the right direction here and there and she’d be back to her normal self again. Even if he couldn’t get her back to feeling the same way, she was at least taking care of herself now.

He walked towards her bedroom again, studying her messy blanket and misplaced pillows upon her bed. He used his magic to straighten her blanket and place her pillows back at the top of her bed, cleaning her bedroom a little for her. 

“Ow!”

He flinched as he was suddenly kicked at the back of his leg. He turned around to see Fluttershy’s ‘devil’ of a pet bunny, Angel. He was thumping his paw furiously on the floor as he stared up at Discord with a very unimpressed look. Discord questioned why he allowed this ‘thing’ to live in his house if he was such a pest. 

He was just a simple bunny Fluttershy found in the Everfree Forest one day as a filly and brought home, asking if she could keep him as a pet. Since Fluttershy had so many animal friends already, Discord didn’t see why she needed a pet. However, the cute puppy eyes and begging for him to stay couldn’t keep Discord from refusing. What a mistake that was..Such a self-entitled brat. He still wondered to this day why she called him Angel when he was far from an angel. Discord simply just resorted to calling him Devil instead (not when Fluttershy was around though of course.)

“What do you want, Devil? I’m busy if you couldn’t tell. Oh right, I’m sure you CAN tell, you just think your wants are much more important than what I’m doing, right?”

The bunny scrunched up his nose and pointed at a small little bed that was stacked up on a shelf beside some books.

“Oh, is that your bed? Whoopsie, I guess you don’t have one now.” He grinned mischievously as he snapped up a broom, sweeping the walls instead of the floor.

The bunny made a noise that was close to an angry squeak and grabbed a pencil off Fluttershy’s dresser, throwing it at Discord. He was currently faced towards the wall sweeping it with his broom when his claw suddenly swung out and grabbed the pencil before it could hit him. He slowly turned his head and looked at Angel with an amused smile.

“You’re going to have to try harder than that. I have eyes at the back of my head you know.”

After he said that, two eyes appeared at the back of his head and stared down at Angel. They didn’t even need a mouth paired with them to know that the other face was smiling down at him with amusement. Angel only looked up at them with disgust as Discord continued sweeping.

Angel began to do a bit of parkour on Fluttershy’s things as he attempted to get up to Discord’s head. He jumped on a bird feeder, making it swing back and forth with his small bunny weight on it as he crouched down and got ready to make his next move. He suddenly jumped off, going soaring through the air and straight for one of Discord's antlers. The face obviously had been watching all of this and Discord used his paw to grab Angel from the air and threw him towards his bed on the shelf. The bunny landed perfectly on his bed but now he was stuck up there. 

“There, you have your bed now. Happy?”

Angel clearly wasn’t happy as he looked around for something else to throw at Discord. He spotted a small vase with colorful butterflies on it up there with him and got an idea. He hopped over to it and suddenly kicked it off the shelf. Discord snapped and made the vase idly float in the air like there was no gravity in the room.

“Really..Trying to destroy Fluttershy’s favorite vase? You really are a terrible pet. The worst I’ve seen anyway.”

That statement only made Angel angrier as he continued to throw Fluttershy’s things to the floor as Discord continued to save them with his magic such as spawning wings on objects, making them float, placing them back where they were, and saving them with his own paw and claw.

“Um..Discord? Do you know where my brush is?” Fluttershy called out from the hall.

“O-Oh! Hold on my dear, I’ll be right there! I just have to take care of something first..” 

He snapped as he tied up Angel’s arms and legs with a nearby ribbon, trapping him in it as he wiggled and squirmed, trying to break free.

“Now you better not cause any chaos here while I’m gone or I will turn you into an immobile potato.”

Discord snapped as he teleported in the hall where Fluttershy was standing with her mane wrapped up in a white towel. She definitely looked a lot better and smelled like bubble gum as well.

“Your brush? Oh, I actually teleported it away because I wanted to give you a beautiful mane style myself!”

“You?..But..Why?”

“A beautiful mare deserves a beautiful mane style.” 

“But...I’m not going anywhere today.”

“Who cares. That shouldn’t be the reason why you can’t look nice.”

There was a sudden crash noise from Fluttershy’s room which made both Discord and Fluttershy look.

“W-What was that?..” She asked.

“Oh nothing, come along!” 

He quickly shoved Fluttershy out of the hall before she could go and look herself at whatever mess Angel was making in her room right now. He would definitely deal with him later but not at the moment. Right now it was father and daughter time for Discord and Fluttershy.





“Lunch is ready!” Discord called out.

Discord seated himself at a long dining table as his daughter slowly trotted out. Her pink mane was in beautiful braids along with her tail as she sat down at the table. It was only a few snaps of his claw and a few brushes here and there but he was able to give her a pretty mane style that she seemed to adore as she smiled, crunching on some of the salad Discord had set out for lunch.

“This is delicious. Thank you, Discord. I must thank you again for the pretty braids you put in my mane as well. The squirrels and birds said they were very pretty too.” 

“It’s no problem. I’m just happy to see you smiling again.” He smiled back at her as he dug into the salad.

There was a pause as the both of them chewed on their salad as Discord was about to say something again when there was a poof noise as a scroll fell on to the dining table, almost in the salad bowl. 

“What the..Are the mail ponies too scared to deliver mail to my door now?” Discord asked.

Fluttershy reached for the scroll, studying it. There was a little star stamp on the outside of it which immediately made Fluttershy’s eyes widen. Only one pony she knew used that kind of symbol on their mail and that was Twilight Sparkle.

“So? Who’s it from?” Discord asked.

“Uhhh..Hold on, I’m sure it says a name in the letter.” Fluttershy lied as she opened it, reading the writing inside.

“Dear Fluttershy,

It’s Twilight Sparkle if you couldn’t tell. I know this seems a little informal but I’m more concerned about you than I am about the formality of my letter. Are you alright? I’m not even sure if my letter will get to you but I really hope it does. I and the other girls hope you’re okay and that you’re safe. Rainbow Dash is okay as well. She was taken to Ponyville Hospital the other day and was told she just needed rest. She hopes that you’re safe too. Maybe we could plan to see each other soon and talk perhaps? Please respond to this letter and send it back if you get this. The scroll is enchanted with magic so when you’re done writing, it’ll teleport back to me so no need to worry about sending it back. Be safe.

From, Twilight Sparkle.”

Fluttershy was left in a bit of shock as she finished reading the letter. Discord was just drumming his claws on the table as he watched Fluttershy closely.

“What did it say?” He asked.

“U-Um..Do you have a quill and some ink perhaps?” Fluttershy asked.

“Sure but..What for?”

“I..I just need them right now if you don’t mind..”

He stared at her for a moment, watching her concerned expression as he snapped up a white feather and a little bottle of ink on the table.

“Thank you.”

She grabbed the tip of the feather with her mouth as she slid the bottle of ink towards herself. She dipped the end into the ink and began to write at the blank part at the bottom of the scroll. 

“Hi, Twilight. I did get your letter. I’m alright, I promise you that I’m not lying when I say this. I’m really truly sorry that I ran off a few days ago on you all with no warning. That wasn’t very nice of me at all and I promise that I won’t do it again. I’m glad Rainbow is doing okay and I wish her a fast recovery and that I apologize for what Discord did to her. He doesn’t think with his head sometimes when he does such things. I’m not sure when we’ll be able to talk again but I do hope soon. I hope you all are doing well too.”

As she placed one last period at the end of her writing, the scroll suddenly glowed with pink magic and disappeared with a poof. She assumed that meant that it was teleported back to Twilight. 

“Woah, where did it go?”

“I’m not sure..” Fluttershy lied once again.

“..I think you do. Why were you writing in the letter anyways?..Why won’t you tell me what it said? Is there something in it you don’t want me to see?” 

“No! I..I um-“

A poof noise sounded again as the same scroll bounced back on to the table. Discord reached for it himself when Fluttershy quickly snatched it before he could grab it.

“Fluttershy!”

“I-I’m sorry! I just need to read this myself, okay?”

She didn’t even wait for his reply as she quickly opened up the scroll again, her eyes moving across all the words quickly.

“Oh thank goodness! I’m glad to hear you’re okay. Listen, is it possible you could come to talk to me sooner than I previously mentioned? I know you said you didn’t know when you could but it’s kind of an emer-“

“Discord, no! Give it back!” 

Discord had snatched the scroll out of her hooves, looking down at her angrily.

“No, it’s clearly something bad that you’re trying to hide from me. If you can’t show me then obviously you can’t be allowed to read it.”

“I don’t have to show you every single thing of mine that came from the outside world just because you’re scared of me being in contact with other ponies! Other ponies like me! I am a pony!”

“You’re not like them though. Fluttershy, you have no idea what they could do to you. They’re-“

“What are they going to do then? Accept me? Make me feel normal and wanted? Twilight and her friends are the only friends I have! You’re trying to take away my only connection to my kind and that isn’t right at all.”

“I am not! I’m only trying to protect you.”

“From what? Your fear that I might up and leave and decide to live in Equestria instead?”

Discord eyes widened as he stared at her in silence.

“Honestly I’m considering that now because you just won’t give ponies a chance. I’m sure my friends would help me find a place to stay for now. At least they support me in my decisions..”

Discord folded his ears as he felt tears forming in his eyes. His worst fear was coming true?..Fluttershy..Turning on him?..No...This couldn’t be real.

“Fluttershy?...”

“I’m sorry Discord..I have to go.”

Fluttershy folded her ears as she galloped out of the room, tears falling down her faces as she suppressed herself from fully crying. She couldn’t even hear Discord’s yelling and cries for her to wait and come back over her own thoughts in her head. 

She felt fear and slight anger as she entered through the portal to Equestria at the end of Discord’s yard. But most of all she felt sadness...More than just sadness in fact. It was as if there was a giant hole in her heart that she couldn’t mend or fix no matter how hard she tried..
> Chapter 8: Mistress of the Night [Part 1]
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Oof! Ouch…”

Fluttershy groaned as she popped out of a random portal that formed out of nowhere, rubbing her head as she was now lying on some grass. The colorful portal soon disappeared behind her as she sighed, dusting herself off. 

“Okay..Now I just need to find Twilight’s house and..Wait..It’s night here? I thought it was supposed to be day right now in Equestria. Unless I’ve got it all wrong?” 

Fluttershy stared up at the shimmering moon in the sky and then to the nearby town, Ponyville. There seemed to be a lot of ponies out at this time of night which made her curious. Was there some kind of event going on that she was missing? Twilight didn’t mention anything in her letter except an ‘emergency’ of some type. That was all that she was able to read before Discord took the letter away from her. At least now maybe she could figure it out.

She shyly trotted into Ponyville, looking around at the many open shops still. There really must have been some kind of event going on. But what? If there was one going on then wouldn't her pony friends invite her to join? What in Equestria was going on?

“Sooo..We’re not going to get milkshakes then?”

“No, look how dark it is! They’ve definitely closed now.”

“But it’s not even the Summer Sun Celebration today! How is it already night time?”

“I don’t know. I’m just as clueless as you are.”

Fluttershy overhead the two unicorns behind her speaking to each other and got an idea. It would take a bit of self confidence on her part but maybe she would be able to get a bit of information.

She took a deep breath and put on a smile, trotting over to the two unicorns. She took into account their outside features as she approached them. A dark unicorn mare with a short blue mane and purple eyes and a light blue unicorn stallion with a brown mane and green eyes. 

“U-Um..Excuse me? D-Do you two know if there’s an event going on t-today in Ponyville?..I..I happened to notice that everypony is out right now and I was curious.” Fluttershy asked, stuttering a little in her speech.

“Not that I know of. The moon is not supposed to be out for another five hours. Maybe the princess had a mishap with the moon and sun or something. Although, I don’t think that’s ever happened before..” The light blue unicorn replied, scanning the dark sky with his eyes.

“I’m telling you, it’s the Mistress of the Night!” The dark unicorn replied.

“No it’s not. There is no such thing as the ‘Mistress of the Night’, Flusk. It’s a stupid story you were told when you were a foal. Give it a rest.”

“Not all stories are made up and I know that one is true. It’s predicting what’s happening right now! The sky showered with darkness in the middle of the day and a mare made from the stars and darkness brings eternal night forever!”

“Don’t listen to her. She’s delusional.” The light blue unicorn whispered to Fluttershy.

“I heard that and I am not!” 

Suddenly while both the unicorns were bickering, Fluttershy spotted a pony running away screaming. They looked particularly frightened for some odd reason and she wanted to know why. Should she just up and leave these two without a word?

“Hey! You three, I’d recommend getting out of here. Something odd is going on in Ponyville near the town hall. The mayor has asked everypony to evacuate immediately!” A pegasus said, flying above them looking rather worried.

“What’s going on?” Fluttershy asked.

“From what I’ve seen, the ground is cracking in random places around the town hall. It definitely isn’t any earth ponies doing it, that’s for sure. The cracks are quite large though..The town hall might just fall into the ground if it doesn’t stop.”

“Oh my..That’s awful!”

“I bet the Mistress of the Night is reshaping Equestria to fit her own kingdom..” The one named Flusk mumbled to herself.

“Oh shut up, Flusk!” The light blue unicorn shouted.

“You shut up!”

And thus the arguing began once again as Fluttershy sighed in frustration. However, their arguing was soon drowned out by screams of terror and cries from other ponies as they all pointed towards the mountain where Canterlot Castle was..It was falling!

Fluttershy’s jaw dropped as the two unicorns and the pegasus watched in horror as the castle simply broke off the mountain and began splitting into pieces as it descended from the air all the way into the valley below. She could have sworn she saw ponies falling with it and fighting to stay in the air as well as it disappeared out of sight. The mountain now was left bare where the castle once was.

“Did..Did that really just happen?..” Fluttershy asked in shock and disbelief.

“Yup..I’m sorry, I have to go.” The pegasus said before flying towards the direction of the fallen castle.

Many questions ran through Fluttershy’s mind as she watched the pegasus become nothing but a flying dot making its way towards the valley. Were the princesses in there when it happened? Was anypony in there when it happened? What could have caused this? Was anypony hurt? And what was going to happen to the castle now?..Surely they would have to rebuild or do something..Wait, what if Twilight was there when it happened? What if she fell as well?..

“Do you feel that?” The light blue unicorn asked.

“Feel what?” The darker unicorn asked.

The ground suddenly started to shake, almost knocking Fluttershy off her hooves. What in Equestria was going on? She looked anxiously at the other two as they themselves were trying to keep their balance against the violent shaking going on.

Houses around them began to crack and crumble as a giant piece of somepony’s roof fell right beside Fluttershy, making her squeak and jump back. She and the others had to get out of here now!

“We need to leave!” Fluttershy shouted.

“Where?” Flusk asked.

Where..That was a good question. Her mind immediately went to Discord’s dimension but..That wasn’t an option anymore. It might have been safe when her and Discord were getting along but she couldn’t go there now. She had to think of something..Anything!

She looked around at the many houses crumbling and falling apart around them along with the many ponies frantically trying to escape. She wished she could save all of them but she was one pony..If she came back with her friends then perhaps she could. 

She flexed her wings anxiously when she suddenly got an idea. 

“I’ve never carried anything lighter than a tiny bunny so you’re just going to have to trust me in this..”

“What do you mean, ‘trust you in this’?” The light blue unicorn asked.

“Get on to my back..Both of you. If the two of you can’t fit then try and hold on to my tail or something.” Fluttershy replied, bowing her head to them and lowering her back.

“Wait, wait, wait..You’re going to fly us out of here?!” The light blue unicorn asked.

“Yes..Well, I’ll try to find a safer place than here. All I know is we have to go now.”

Flusk was quick to jump on her back as she flinched and made a bit of a groan noise from her weight. She rested on her back after a bit of shifting and grinned at her unicorn friend mischievously.

“Come on, Drizzle! It’s not that bad. Unless you’re too scared.” Flusk snickered.

“I’m not scared! I’m worried because she’s never carried anything more than an animal before. What if she drops us because we’re too heavy?”

“You worry too much and that’s coming from me who always worries. What other choice do we have anyways? Get crushed by a giant house or escape and get a higher chance of survival?”

Drizzle thought for a moment as sounds of crashing and screaming continued around them. Fluttershy spotted the bakery, Sugar Cube Corner, beside them starting to tilt toward them. It seemed like it was going to fall on them any second now if they didn’t move. She stared at Drizzle hopefully as her heart began to race with fear.

“..Fine, make some room.”

Flusk cheered in success as she offered her hooves to Drizzle, pulling him up as well. Her legs shook a little with the added weight as she bit her lip, refraining from possibly collapsing or just kicking them off herself. 

She heard the bakery behind her starting to fall as she quickly spread her wings and took off into the air. The weight hit her pretty hard as she found herself slowly inching to the ground again from the air as the bakery fell right where they were standing before.

“Wow, we made it just in time!” Flusk said.

“Yeah..How are you doing down there uh..Fluttershy, was it?” Drizzle asked.

“I-I’m..I’ll be fine!” Fluttershy forced out as she began to tilt sideways while flying through the air before correcting herself again. “W-Where should we land?..”

“There’s a big hill just south of Ponyville. I’m sure that would be the safest place to go for the moment. We’re usually told to gather there if there’s a catastrophe in Ponyville. Although..I don’t think I’ve ever seen you here before. Are you visiting from Cloudsdale?” Drizzle asked. 

“C-Cloudsdale?..N-Never heard of it..” Fluttershy replied.

“You’re a pegasus and you’ve never heard of Cloudsdale?..Truly odd indeed.”

“Oh wow, there’s lots of ponies down there already!” Flusk pointed towards lots of colorful ponies down below on a big green hill.

Finally, somewhere to land! Even though she hadn’t been in the air for too long with the two ponies, she was looking forward to being able to just carry her own weight again and being allowed to fly as free as a bird. 

She circled above for a bit before softly landing on the grassy hill, already feeling the weight on her back become less. Once the two ponies were off of her, she sighed in relief and stretched her sore back out a bit.

“Fluttershy! Oh thank goodness you came!”

“R-Rarity?”

A white and purple unicorn came out of a crowd of ponies and embraced the pegasus. Shortly after they let go, their other three friends came trotting up with small smiles on their faces. Although they seemed to be missing one. Where was Twilight?..

“Twilight told us that you responded to her letter and I’m so glad you did. We were really worried about you.”

“I’m so sorry that I ran off like that..That isn’t something a friend should do and I’m really sorry..” Fluttershy apologized.

“It’s alright, we forgive you.” Applejack replied.

“Yeah! At least you’re here now.” Pinkie said.

Fluttershy noticed Rainbow Dash in the back nodding in agreement. She looked a little beat up..Probably from Discord’s magic. She remembered from Twilight’s letter that she had been taken to Ponyville Hospital for it and had been told she just needed rest. It surprised her that she was up and about today after that.

“Hey..Speaking of Twilight, where is she?” Fluttershy asked.

The others frowned and looked to Rarity to say something. She sighed and looked to Fluttershy once again.

“She said something earlier about wanting to study the moon and the stars and disappeared off to her house to do some kind of research. We went to go get her when we all were told we had to evacuate from town but she wasn’t there. We tried to look for her elsewhere but we had to leave before we could continue and eventually made our way here. We still haven’t seen her.” Rarity explained.

“Oh my..That’s very concerning..”

“It is. I’m hoping she shows up soon before something else happens.” Rarity replied.

“Oh no, it’s happening again!” A pony yelled out.

“What’s happening again?” Another pony asked.

“I think it’s way worse this time..” A third pony replied.

Fluttershy and her friends looked at the panicking ponies pointing out towards Ponyville and gasped.

Large cracks were forming in the ground all around Ponyville like cracking ice. They could see ponies trying to flee and get out the danger as houses continued to fall and crumble and the ground broke into even larger gaps. 

Out of nowhere, broken chunks of land began to float in the air idly, carrying whatever was on them with it. This included helpless ponies trying to escape and crumbling buildings. It was like nothing Fluttershy had ever seen before. It was like..A dream. This was the kind of things you would see while dreaming. Her point was confirmed even more as she watched beautiful flowers she had never seen before sprout out of the ground from the floating islands and open their petals, showing off their many colors and shapes. She almost suspected this was Discord’s doing until she remembered that Discord’s kind of chaos was more destruction than beauty.

“I don’t mean to sound like an egghead, but this is seriously defying the laws of gravity..” Rainbow said.

“Ya’ think this is Discord’s doin’?” Applejack asked.

“No..I know it isn’t him. I’ve seen his chaos with my own eyes and this isn’t him.” Fluttershy answered.

“Does that mean he’s secretly wreaking havoc without anypony knowing?” Rarity asked. 

“No, that isn’t what I meant.” Fluttershy replied.

“Anypony else seeing that weird swirling dark cloud over there?” Pinkie asked, pointing towards a swirling dark blue cloud that was rotating right above Twilight’s house.

“What’s it doing near Twilight’s house?” Rainbow asked, squinting a little to see.

“Ah’ don’t know but ah’ think we’re about to find out.” Applejack replied.

Right after Applejack said that, the cloud started to take the form of a rather large pony figure. It was about the size of Princess Celestia, perhaps even taller. The figure levitated in the air as the cloud continued to create its physical features such as a flowing dark blue mane that reminded the ponies of the night sky above. Two large wings were formed at its side and armor began to form on its chest area, head, and hooves. A horn that could easily pierce somepony right through was the last thing to be created as the dark figure began now flapping its wings to stay floating in the air.

The figure wasn’t very clear to see from where they were all standing but it definitely resembled a alicorn mare as she gently landed on the grass of Twilight’s yard. One detail Fluttershy noticed in particular was that all the other parts of Ponyville were now floating islands in the air while Twilight’s home remained untouched. Why was that?..

“Ah’ see Twilight in the window!” Applejack said.

They all looked very closely to see and indeed saw a unicorn mare with a straight mane peering out from a window, looking a little startled to see a dark alicorn figure right by her house. 

“Come on, we should go to her. We don’t know if that thing is dangerous or not.” Rainbow said, spreading her wings and flying upwards.

“Wait! Weren’t you told to take it easy by the doctor?” Rarity asked.

“Yeah, but I don’t have time to ‘take it easy’. Twi might be in trouble and us stalling right now might put her in even more danger!”

“You have a point, Rainbow. However, the only flyin’ ponies here are you and Fluttershy. Sure, y’all might be able to carry me and Rarity but what about Pinkie?” Applejack asked.

Rainbow thought for a moment as her eyes darted between Fluttershy and the other three ponies. 

“Alright, I think I can carry two at once. Who’s the heaviest here?” Rainbow asked.

The three ponies on the ground looked at each other for a moment before Pinkie Pie waved her hoof excitedly in the air.

“Go figure..You can go with Fluttershy.” 

“M-Me?..But I’m not that strong.” 

“Yeah right, I saw you carrying two unicorns on your way here. Besides, once I’m carrying Rarity and Applejack, it’ll add up to the same weight I’m sure. Depending on how much sweets Pinkie eats on a daily basis..”

“Well, if you’re really curious of my diet, I eat three full cakes, five cinnamon rolls, a dozen cupcakes, eight glasses of milk, lots and LOTS of icing, cho-“

“Alright, you can stop now Pinkie.” Rainbow interrupted.

“Alrighty! I’m ready for take off Fluttershy!” Pinkie put her hooves up. 

Fluttershy was already cringing because of Pinkie’s meal choices and now she was going to have to carry her? She questioned now more than ever how that mare maintained such a fit figure.

“You ready?” Rainbow asked.

“Ready as I’ll ever be..” Fluttershy replied, sounding very unsure.

And with that, Rainbow heaved the two mares on her back as she easily took off and headed for the direction of Twilight’s home. Fluttershy..Not so much. 

She was already prepared for the weight she would experience considering Drizzle and Flusk had already given her a pretty good idea. She was NOT expecting this from only one mare and perhaps even worse than the two ponies she carried before. She had a rocky start and struggled to get off the ground with the pink pony on her back, but was able to make it into the sky, not too far behind from Rainbow Dash. 





The purple unicorn cautiously trotted onto her tree house's balcony with a book in hoof, staring down at the dark figure below. She couldn’t decide if this was the ancient type of magic she had been reading about that came from the night or if it was just some very tall pony she had never seen before. The first option seemed more reasonable at this point as she now realized that it had alicorn wings and a long horn. 

“Who are you and what are you doing here?” Twilight asked, a tiny bit of fear within her voice.

The ground suddenly shook as she was almost knocked off her hooves as her tree home began to rise in the air like all the other floating islands. She could hear the crackling and ripping of the roots of the tree as the entire thing was pulled right out of the ground. She held onto the railing of her balcony as she stared down fearfully at the dark figure below. She could see its horn glowing a dark blue as it flew right up to her, giving her a chance to see its cat-like eyes. 

“Are you..Princess Luna?..” Twilight asked hesitantly, noticing a bit of resemblance between this creature’s eyes and Celestia’s sister.

“No..Not anymore.” A demented voice came from the dark figure.

Twilight found herself beginning to rise in the air just like her home as she was enveloped by the magic of the dark creature. She was levitated right up to her face as she struggled in her magic’s hold.

“Come now, there’s no reason to struggle and fight no longer. You were so manipulated by that sun loving princess that you’ve lost your way and who you truly are. I can help you if you allow me to. Princess Luna has already allowed me to help her so why not let me help you?”

“What are you talking about? Princess Celestia never manipulated me! She only wants peace and harmony for all of Equestria. What you’re doing is destroying it!” 

“I’m not mad at you for not seeing the truth, Twilight Sparkle. That ‘thing’ you call your teacher is all you have ever known. The night isn’t something that should be feared because all you fear is what is in it. The night and darkness are far more powerful than whatever lingers within it. WE are more powerful than the light.” The dark figure explained.

“I..I don’t follow..” Twilight replied, rather confused.

“I want to transform the land of Equestria into a world of peace and darkness. I want to rule it and take care of the ponies here that Celestia has mistreated badly for centuries. And I want you by my side.”

“M-Me?”

“Yes. You have a very powerful gift in magic you don’t even realize that you have. By my side, you can unlock it and assist me in bringing eternal peace and prosperity for all of Equestria. You will be recognized and loved by thousands, live in a wonderful kingdom of night far better than this old tree she gave you, and you will be my pupil..My star student.” 

“B-But I..”

“There is nothing else to worry about no longer. I will take care of everything..What do you say, Twilight Sparkle?..” 

The figure held out her hoof and smiled reassuringly at Twilight. Twilight knew this was all wrong but somewhere in her mind, she wondered what an Equestria ruled by the moon and night would look like. What would her life look like as somepony else’s apprentice? 

“Twiiiligghttt!”

She turned and looked to her left to see Rainbow Dash flying towards her with both Rarity and Applejack just barely holding on to her back. The dark figure looked as well and her calm behavior seemed to switch to one of anger as Rainbow Dash crashed landed into the hole where Twilight’s house used to be.

“Rainbow, Rarity, Applejack?..” Twilight asked.

The three girls got up groaning as Rainbow was quick to fly up to Twilight and the odd figure levitating her in the air.

“Put her down or I’ll make you!” Rainbow threatened.

“Of course..I should have known you had very clingy friends..” The mare said, sounding rather annoyed.

“Anypony would be if they saw someone like you threatening their friend!” Applejack called out from below.

“For your information, I was doing nothing of the sort. I was striking a deal that would change your very lives and hers as well. It would be for the greater good of all of Equestria.”

“Judging from what you’ve done to Carousel Boutique and the rest of Ponyville, I think not!” Rarity yelled.

Fluttershy panted as she finally arrived with the others, plopping on the ground with Pinkie Pie on her back. Pinkie casually hopped off her.

“Thanks for the lift, Fluttershy!” Pinkie said

“No..Problem..” Fluttershy said tiredly as she laid her head on the ground and closed her eyes, feeling like she could just fall asleep any minute now. 

“Ugh..I can't take this anymore. If you won’t take my deal yourself then I’ll make you take it!” The figure yelled. 

The figure’s horn glowed brightly with dark blue magic as she sent a large beam of magic right towards Twilight’s home harmlessly floating in the sky. Everypony gasped as they watched as the beam hit her home and the house exploded into nothing but pieces of wood, burnt and destroyed books, and leaves falling all over the ground. Twilight’s Element Of Harmony fell out of one of the broken branches left from her home as the figure grabbed it with her magic and smirked.

By now Twilight was already in tears as she couldn’t believe what just happened. Now her element had been taken and she still didn’t know what to do.

“W-Wait..P-Please don’t..”

There was a very loud shattering noise and what almost sounded like to be a cry of pain from the element as it was suddenly split into two halves. Tears rolled down Twilight’s cheeks as her mouth hung open, watching the hot pink star element just fall apart into many pieces on the ground..Nothing but pink shards.

The figure released Twilight as she landed back on to her hooves and galloped towards the broken element. She scooped up the broken shards into her hooves as she felt her body start to shake upon seeing such a sight. 

“N-No..This can’t be right..I-It can’t be broken..I-It can be fixed! I-I’m sure Princess Celestia accidentally dropped them before and repaired them..Y-Yeah! I-I can fix it! I-I just need to find a repair spell is all..” Twilight continued to mumble to herself as tears dropped onto the ground from her cheeks. 

“Continue to tell yourself that all you want..I know you’ll give in sometime and see the truth..All of you will..”

The figure disappeared as the others just looked around in complete shock. Twilight’s sobbing suddenly broke the silence however as they watched the purple unicorn completely break down into gasping and cries. Pinkie folded her ears and wrapped her arms around Twilight. Rarity did so next, then Fluttershy, Applejack, and finally Rainbow Dash as she remained flying and joined the group hug.

“It’ll be okay, Twilight..I know we’ll find a way to fix this.” Fluttershy said.
> Chapter 9: Mistress of the Night [Part 2]
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

All six of the girls were now at Applejack’s barn, not too far from Ponyville. Her barn was about the only thing left untouched by the dark figure’s magic and about the safest place currently. Canterlot Castle was gone, Twilight’s home was destroyed, the other ponies houses were simply floating islands in the air, and nopony even knew where Princess Celestia was. 

Twilight was currently lying on a couch with both Fluttershy and Rarity at her side, rubbing her back in comfort as she stared down at the pink shards of her element in her hooves. Applejack was reheating some leftover potato soup from the night before for her family and the others while Pinkie and Rainbow looked through an old album of the Apple family, occasionally pointing at a photo and snickering a little. 

“Hey, AJ!” Rainbow called.

“Yeah?” 

“Since when did you have your mane up in a ponytail?”

Applejack sighed and dropped the soup ladle back into the pot of warm soup, trotting around the corner to see Pinkie and Rainbow with her family’s photo album.

“Where in Equestria did y’all get that from?” Applejack asked, her eyes widening at it.

“Granny Smith gave it to us to look at!” Pinkie said.

“Graaaannnyy!!” Applejack yelled, staring up at the ceiling above.

The three ponies could hear an old mare chucking up there as Applejack sighed, a look of annoyance on her face.

“Alright, alright, y’all have had your fun. Give me back the book.” Applejack held her hoof out.

“Awwww, come on Applejack, we haven’t even got to your recent family photo yet!” Rainbow whined.

“Nope, give it back.”

The two frowned and gave Applejack the photo album. She trotted off to go put it away as the two ponies glanced at Twilight. 

“Is she doing any better?” Pinkie asked.

“I would say it’s an improvement from when she was crying in Ponyville but she’s still upset.” Rarity replied. 

“I-I feel like a disappointment to everypony..To Princess Celestia..I failed in keeping my element safe..I let Ponyville fall apart to the hooves of her sister..I don’t think she’ll want to see me ever again..” Twilight stuttered.

“You’re not a disappointment, Twilight. She knows this wasn’t your fault. She still loves you as a friend and as her student. We just have to figure out a different way to stop Princess Luna.” Fluttershy explained.

“B-But how?..The elements were the only way to return her back to normal.”

“Maybe we can use the elements without yours.” Rainbow suggested.

“It doesn’t seem likely. She gave them all to us together for a reason. Why would there be six of them if they could be used separately?” Rarity replied.

“Dinner’s ready y’all!” Applejack shouted.

“We’ll talk more about this after dinner. Maybe we will be able to think better after a little food.” Fluttershy said.

Twilight nodded as Fluttershy and Rarity helped her up on to her hooves as the other five ponies made their way to the dining room.





“Wow, this still tastes as good as it was yesterday!” Applebloom, Applejack’s little sister said excitedly as she dug into her bowl of soup.

“Eeyup.” Big Macintosh, Applejack’s big brother agreed.

“Well, I’m glad. But, I do want to apologize for the lack of fresh cooked dinner. We usually just eat leftovers if there is any so hope y’all are alright with that.” Applejack said.

“Tastes good to me!” Pinkie said, slurping her food loudly.

“Twilight?..Are you going to eat any?” Rarity asked.

“No..I’m not hungry.” Twilight answered sadly.

“Come on, Sugarcube. Ya’ gotta’ at least eat somethin’. How are we supposed to save Equestria on an empty stomach?..” Applejack asked.

“I don’t think we can save Equestria..”

All the ponies stared in silence as Twilight looked down into her potato soup, seeing her own reflection in the water.

“But y’all have the Element’s of Harmony! You might not have Twilight's element but Princess Celestia chose the six of you to save Equestria. If anypony knows best, it’s definitely her.” Applebloom said suddenly.

“How does she know about this?” Rarity asked.

Applejack sighed. “She must have been listenin’ to me and Big Mac last night.”

“You know..She might be onto something..” Fluttershy mumbled to herself.

“Like what?” 

“Princess Celestia said we never really needed to use the elements on her. She said if we didn’t she would just talk to her on her own. But since she’s not here, perhaps we can talk to her instead.”

“You really think she’d listen to us?” Rainbow asked.

“What other choice do we have? Twilight’s element is shattered and I don’t think anypony else has any other ideas..” 

The six ponies looked at each other, waiting for anypony else to suggest something but nopony did. 

Rarity who was sitting next to Fluttershy rested her hoof on Fluttershy's, giving her a encouraging smile.

“I’m ready for whatever plan you have, Fluttershy. Shall we?”

Fluttershy smiled back as she found another hoof resting on her and Rarity’s, Rainbow’s hoof.

“Let's do this!”

Pinkie put her hoof down next. “Crazy plan to save Equestria? I’m totally in!”

“Ah’ guess it couldn’t hurt to try.” Applejack said, placing her hoof down.

They all looked up to Twilight now who was watching them place their hooves down on the table. She folded her ears and stared at them, unsure if it was even worth it to try at this point.

“Even if we fail, what is there left to lose?..” Fluttershy asked.

Twilight stared at Fluttershy for a moment, thinking over what she just said as she stared down at the floor.

“I suppose you’re right.”

Twilight’s hoof joined the other’s as the ponies smiled and cheered. The rest of the Apple family just stayed seated at the table with smiles on their face as the six ponies planned their attack on Luna.





The six ponies now found themselves doing something they never thought they would be doing except for in their dreams, hopping across mini floating islands.

It was like a dream they had somewhat control of as they used different ways to cross the now broken Equestria. Sometimes the two pegasi, Fluttershy and Rainbow would carry the wingless ponies individually across. Other times Twilight would use a spell to make a bridge of magic so they could all safely trot across. And if they were lucky, they would come across two islands that were close enough to jump to. There was a few scares they had where somepony wouldn’t make it fully onto the island and they had to pull them up by their hooves but nopony fell off or was injured.

They sometimes met ponies who were unfortunately stuck on the islands since they were too far up in the air and the girls just had to tell them that Ponyville would be restored soon. Although, they weren’t very sure of that themselves but it kept anypony from panicking at least.

As they continued their travels, they found themselves getting closer to where Twilight’s house normally would be but since it had been destroyed, there was now..A floating castle?

“What’s that castle doing there?” Twilight asked.

“I think Princess Luna put it there..” Fluttershy said.

They stopped now to look at the castle. It looked somewhat similar to Canterlot Castle but different. It was many dark colors of blue and purple with flags of the moon and stars waving in the wind. The ponies even thought they saw that the castle had its own protection as strange pegasus looking ponies seem to fly about and dive back into the darkness where they had come from. 

“Are you sure about this?..We can think of another plan. We still have plenty of time to do so.” Twilight asked.

“No..Look how fast she was able to put this castle here. There’s no more time. Besides, it’s always better to confront a friend first about their wrong actions before taking any drastic measures. It gives them a chance to think about what they have done.” Fluttershy said.

“No offense but..I wouldn’t exactly call her my friend after all she’s done..” Rainbow replied.

“Well I would.” 





A light blue pegasus looking pony suddenly landed on the grass below the castle, her orange slit eyes scanning both the starry sky above and the surrounding darkness. Oddly enough, instead of feather pegasus wings at her sides, she had dark blue bat wings instead. She also had fluffy ears that twitched at every sound she heard around her. This pony didn’t seem like a regular pony as the girls originally thought when they saw pegasus like ponies flying around the castle.

She wore dark blue armor with a dark moon in the middle as she stood guard in front of the castle. Her head jerked to the right when she heard sudden movement from the nearby bushes, her fluffy ears twitching in response. 

“Hiyah!” 

The guard went flying to the ground with a loud crack. The mare hissed in pain as she now held her injured arm, folding her ears and looking towards her attacker. Pinkie Pie was now doing a hop dance from each hoof to the other hoof, seeming to taunt the guard on the ground and distract her. The guard only looked at her confused when she was suddenly yanked in by a rope tied around her midsection, her arms being trapped behind her back as she squirmed, trying to get out.

“Got em’!” Applejack shouted.

“Nice work, AJ!” Pinkie cheered.

Now knowing the guard was defenseless against them, the ponies came out of the bush and watched her squirm in the rope from a distance. 

“Are you sure we should just leave her here? She looked like she hurt her arm when she fell..” Fluttershy asked.

“She’ll be fine. I can probably use a healing spell on her when this is all over.” Twilight said.

“Uh..You might want to make that rope thicker, miss bat girl here apparently has sharp teeth.” Rainbow said.

Twilight looked down again to see the guard biting at the rope tied around her with very sharp teeth poking out of her mouth. The rope seemed to be already fraying where she was constantly biting as Twilight’s horn glowed, shooting a beam of magic at the rope as it noticeably became thicker and the fraying disappeared. When the guard tried again, it did nothing to the rope as the mare furiously wrestled with it now.

“That should keep her occupied.” Twilight said.

“Alright, who’s first?” Rainbow asked, flying up into the air and staring down at her friends.

“Ah’ think Twilight should go first. She’s the strongest in magic here so we’ll need her if we find ourselves in a bad situation.” Applejack said.

“Alright.”

Twilight felt a pair of hooves grasp her sides as she felt the ground leave from her hooves, turning her head up to the sky and where the floating castle remained in the air. As they got closer to the entrance, she started to see there was more than just the castle waiting for them..More ponies who had bat wings. Twilight immediately felt herself starting to panic as her and Rainbow got closer to the entrance and more visible to the waiting ponies. She hoped maybe Rainbow would see without her saying anything but it seemed she didn’t.

“R-Rainbow..” 

“Yeah, Twi?”

“T-The ponies..”

“Ponies? What pon-..Oh..Those ponies..”

Rainbow folded her ears, floating in the air as she watched in terror at the many ponies slowly inching closer to them with bat wings. Some of them wore the same armor as the guard they took down earlier and others seemed to be simple citizens of whatever ‘kingdom’ Princess Luna had created here.

“I’m not going down to a bunch of bat weirdos!” Rainbow shouted, flying the other way, downward to the rest of her friends. 

As soon as she flew away, she heard the beating of many wings and hissing of the bat winged ponies as the large crowd flew after her. Twilight was just praying in her head that Rainbow wouldn’t drop her as they tried to escape the large group.

“Twilight, change of plan, I’ve got another idea on how we can get into the castle.” Rainbow said.

“We can’t just change the plan, we don’t have time!” Twilight said.

“Oh yes we do.” Rainbow grinned.

A rainbow colored trail suddenly zoomed past their friends, making them all shield their faces from the harsh wind. Then came the bat ponies who zoomed right over them producing more gusts of wind. 

“Eww, bats!” Pinkie yelled.

“Those aren’t just any bats..” Rarity said.

“There’s more of em’?!” Applejack asked.

“Alright Twilight, the next time we get close to our friends, pick them all up with your magic if you can. We’re gonna’ make our own entrance!” Rainbow said.

“This better be safe..” Twilight said.

“It’s as safe as you can get!” 

Twilight already knew she was lying. When was Rainbow ever safe? Well, there wasn’t really any time for her to object since Rainbow was diving towards their friends again as her horn began to glow. All five of the ponies, even Fluttershy who had wings herself and probably could just fly were all picked up and taken for the ride. 

“Brace yourselves everypony!” Rainbow shouted.

“For what exactly?” Rarity yelled back.

“Is she..” Fluttershy began.

“Rainbow, ya’ better not be flyin’ straight for the windows!” Applejack shouted.

“Sorry AJ but that’s exactly what I’m doing!”

Everypony was soon screaming except for Pinkie who was having the time of her life and Rainbow who had her eyes narrowed right on a particular stained glass window with a large moon and stars decorated all over it. There was a loud smash noise all around them as Rainbow broke right through the window, dragging pieces of the window with her. It felt like slow motion as they all hit the ground and either bounced into a wall or slid across the floor.

“U-Ugh..” Twilight groaned, lifting her head from her hooves as her purple eyes searched the room, looking around to make sure her friends were okay only for them to fall on Rainbow Dash. “Rainbow!”

She galloped over to where Rainbow lied. Her face was pressed into the floor and her wings were spread out from her sides, lying beside a bunch of her blue feathers which still floated down from the air and joined a pile. There was a bit of blood dripping from her multicolored mane and it looked like she had sprained something in one of her wings. 

“R-Rainbow! Oh no, oh no, oh no..” 

Twilight repeated over and over as she held the pegasus in her arms, turning her over so she could see her face. Her eyes were closed as more blood dripped onto the floor and a few feathers fell off her wings. Twilight hugged the mare to her as tears formed in her eyes.

“Come on Rainbow..You have to wake up..I-I know you’re okay. I-I just need you to look at me..O-Okay?..”

The pegasus continued to lay there limply in her hooves as their friends began to get up, watching Twilight continue to try and wake her up.

“Come on, Rainbow. You’re stronger than this..I-I know you are..You just got out of the hospital from last time..You’re the strongest pony I know..Wake up, please.”

They began to surround Twilight, watching Rainbow in concern. Fluttershy felt herself begin to tear up as well, wishing..Hoping...Hoping that Rainbow would just open her eyes and say something...Wake up Rainbow...Wake up!

“R-Rainbow..P-Please..” Twilight began to cry, her tears falling onto her face and mixing with the blood drops on the ground.

“This is what happens when you continue to fight for something you can’t win back..”

Twilight looked up, tears still falling down her cheeks as that same dark mare slowly trotted over to them. She was wearing her same armor yet..Something was different. She looked more powerful now..More intimidating. Maybe it was the fact that she knew that this evil version of Princess Celestia’s sister had done so much damage already and claimed so much..Or perhaps it was the fact she wore Celestia’s crown right on her head.

“W-Where..D-Did you..” Twilight began, her eyes widening at the crown on her head.

“I took what was rightfully mine back from her and proved I was more worthy of the throne than she is...All while you and your friends planned to fight against me. What a failure that was, wasn’t it, Twilight Sparkle?..” The dark mare asked.

Twilight only avoided her gaze, frowning at the ground.

“You’re too proud to accept you endangered your friends and possibly killed one..I see..Such qualities I absolutely do not look for in a student of mine.”

“You’re wrong, I know this was all crazy..I know I was stupid for thinking this would work..But..I just wanted to do what my ruler wanted me to do..No..Not you. Princess Celestia is my ruler and my teacher..That is why I will not be your student.” Twilight said firmly, staring angrily with a few tears still in her eyes.

“I see..So naive..And..For once I thought I had found somepony who understood..” A bubble with an image of Twilight standing beside the dark mare proudly in what looked like to be the castle appeared, idly floating above her hoof. “But no..You’re just like everypony else!”

The bubble was suddenly crushed by her hoof, popping and disappearing as if it never existed in the first place.

The ground began to shake as the ponies looked fearfully at each other and then the mare standing in front of them. Her eyes were glowing furiously as she bared her sharp teeth, her mane becoming a swirling storm above them as lightning crashed and thunder rumbled. Twilight continued to hold on tight to Rainbow just as the castle began to crack into two halves, pieces of it floating in the air idly like the houses from Ponyville.

Twilight reached out to the rest of her friends just as they all floated away from her, being seperated from her. The only friend she had left in her hooves was Rainbow Dash and she wasn’t even responsive. She had forgotten about Rainbow in all of the chaos going on as more tears formed in her eyes, shutting her eyes tightly, wishing so badly this would all end and she would wake up in her bed knowing this was all just some silly dream..It had to be..

“You will remember the mistake you made, Twilight Sparkle...You will regret it..I will make sure you feel as much anger and pain and sadness as I do!” The mare’s angry voice echoed all around her.

She suddenly heard a small shriek behind her as she looked up to see her friend Fluttershy being levitated off the floating piece of ground she was previously holding on to, her yellow hooves waving through the air trying to go back. Twilight only watched in horror as the storm above them crackled loudly as a large lightning strike was headed straight for the small pegasus. Her turquoise eyes widened and only watched it flicker in front of her, almost like her life was just passing by within that one flicker..Every memory she had ever carried just gone by in a flash..Discord..Everypony..Her life just gone in a flash..

She heard a poof noise and a loud bang as she had her eyes still tightly shut, waiting for the instant pain only to find it never came in the first place. She hesitantly opened one eye and gasped when she saw the last creature she thought she’d ever see shielding her with his body...Discord.

“D-Discord?!” Fluttershy shouted.

All hair was standing up on his back and the rest of his body as he continued to hover over her with his noodle like body. Everything was hurting and his mane and beard seemed to be particularly ‘crispy’ from the lightning strike but other than that, he was doing just fine. 

A weak smile appeared on his face as he turned his head below him to smile at his precious little pony who he called his daughter. “I-I said I would protect you the first time I met you..A-And that will never change.”

There was a snap noise as Fluttershy was now softly dropped back on to the floating island she was once standing on as Discord now stood in front of her, his chest puffed out confidently as he stared down the mare who intended to harm Fluttershy.

“I’d suggest you stop now. You won’t like what I do to you if you touch Fluttershy or any of her friends one more time..” Discord threatened, his eagle claw raising from his side and flexing as if he was preparing to snap at any moment.

“Hah! Like I’m scared of what you can do. You should have stayed in stone and saved us all the trouble of your weak tactics in trying to take over Equestria.” The mare said.

“I’m not worried about your opinions, missy. I really could care less about what you have to say about me. I’m more concerned about what you do to the ponies behind me.”

“Is that so? Well, I’m so glad you mentioned them. I’m sure they would just love to join the little confrontation we’re having here..Isn’t that right, Fluttershy?”

Before she could even levitate Fluttershy to her again, Discord snapped and the ceiling above the dark mare began to break and crumble. A large chunk suddenly fell on top of her and crushed her underneath it. Fluttershy gasped, putting her hooves to her mouth in shock as Discord only grinned, getting ready for more in case she somehow recovered from that.

She surely did as her starry mane simply flicked it off her as she got up. She panted as her eyes blazed with fury at Discord, her armor slowly cracking and falling apart as her anger seemed to get even worse.

“My, my, you’re a lot more weak than I thought you were. You’re looking pretty rough there, Lulu.” Discord smirked.

“Don’t you ever say that name again!” The mare yelled.

The mare charged at him, slamming into him and sending a shock wave across the broken castle. 

The others could only watch as the Chaos Lord and the Mistress of the Night battled one another, causing massive destruction every time they sent an attack at each other. Neither of them ever seemed to get tired either as each time one of them fell down, they always got up and sent an ever stronger attack at their enemy. The ponies felt like they were almost playing a game of dodge ball just because of how strong they both were and how strong their magic was. And every second this went on, Fluttershy got even more anxious thinking something awful would happen. There was only a little bit of the castle left when the mare suddenly fell to the ground on her side, not getting up as Discord stood in front of her.

“I-I am s-stronger than you..Just y-you wait..” The mare struggled to speak as she tried to get up again, simply falling down.

“You’re not showing me much strength here. I could finish you off any moment and you wouldn’t be able to do anything about it..”

“Y-You wouldn’t dare!”

Discord raised his lion paw right in front of her face, it glowed a yellow aura as his mouth twisted into a crazy smile. It was like he had lost all self control and respect he had for trying to be good for Fluttershy..Trying to put his past of controlling Equestria with his chaos behind him..Nothing mattered anymore except for getting back at this self entitled mare for trying to harm his daughter.

“Discord, stop!”

Discord recoiled back a bit when he saw Fluttershy standing in front of the mare lying on the ground, looking at her rather confused.

“Fluttershy, get out of the way. I need to teach her a lesson..I don't want to hurt you.."

“No you don’t! You don’t need to hurt her to fix this..To fix all of this. I’m not hurt right now, am I? You can see that I’m not injured.” 

“But she can’t live..She can’t live after all she’s done!” 

“Discord, look at me!”

She placed her hooves on his cheeks and forced him to look at her. She folded her ears as she sighed.

“I get it..I get that nopony gave you a chance when you wanted to make friends..I get that nopony wanted to try and reason with you and show you a better way when you first tried to take over Equestria..You’re angry, you’re hurt, you’re upset, you’re everything at once..You want to protect the one pony you thought was different from all the other ponies you’ve met and prove to her and everypony else you really are worth keeping around..But, you already are without doing this. You always were to me. You don’t need to do something you will regret for the rest of your life to prove to me that you are worth being loved and wanted.”

“B-But I..”

“You picked me up and saved me when nopony else did on the night of the worst storm in all of Equestria..You will and always will be my father and my family.”

Fluttershy hugged Discord tightly, tears forming in her eyes.

“I love you, dad…”

Discord felt like his entire world stopped once again..Just like the day his young one told him that she loved him. This was real..And she..She called him ‘dad’ for the first time..Discord couldn’t keep it in anymore as he shut his eyes tightly, hugging her back. He began to cry..Really cry for the first time in a really long time. Fluttershy only smiled as she as well gave out a few sobs but not from sadness, from pure happiness. 

Her friends watched with smiles on their face as Rarity dabbed at a few tears in the corner of her eyes. The mare behind them also watched but not with anger. She seemed to be curious and almost moved by the display of family affection in front of her. 

When Fluttershy and Discord finally got a hold of themselves, they sniffled and smiled at each other in silence for a moment before Fluttershy then turned her attention to the mare on the floor. She trotted over to her, stopping a few inches from her face. She held out her hoof to her, giving her a reassuring smile.

“It’s not too late for you to change either. If my father can, you can too.” Fluttershy said.

“Why should I..If I go back to old pathetic Princess Luna, nopony will pay attention to me again and Celestia will pretend I don’t exist. Everything will just go back to normal and I will be forgotten..Nothing but a lost princess..” The mare said, looking down sadly as she fought back tears.

“I will make sure that won’t happen again, I promise. If you let me in and let me be your friend, I will make sure others notice you and listen to you as they should. And I’m sure by now Princess Celestia will be more than willing to listen to you and hear what you have to say.”

“Indeed I will.”

A bright light suddenly shined in the room as a tall white alicorn revealed herself, trotting towards Fluttershy and the mare.

“P-Princess Celestia?..” Twilight mumbled.

“Sister, I am so very sorry I never listened to you before and allowed our ponies the chance to recognize you as their princess as well. We were always supposed to rule together and I should have been better to you. Please, allow me a second chance to make up and change everything to the way it should be with you by my side.” Princess Celestia said.

There was a moment of silence as everypony waited for a response when the dark mare suddenly stood up and embraced Celestia. 

“That’s all I ever wanted..T-Thank you, Tia..”

There was a flash as the mare suddenly transformed back into Princess Luna. A dark magic cloud swirled around her legs and then exited out of the smashed window the six ponies once all came through. The two sisters then let each other go as Luna levitated the others back to the ground again. As Luna did so, Celestia trotted over to Discord who nervously straightened himself out, standing quite tall over Celestia.

“So here you are at last..” Celestia said.

“I-Indeed..Its uh..Been a long time, hasn’t it?” Discord asked.

Celestia nodded.

“So Fluttershy was the young foal who went missing all those years ago and she was the one who set you free as well, correct?”

“Y-Yes?..” 

“Hmm..” Celestia thought to herself. “Well, as long as she keeps you in check, I’m fine with letting you be free from stone.”

“R-Really?! I didn’t think it’d be that easy.” Discord said, rather surprised.

“Fluttershy seems like a capable and caring pony who I can trust. You raised her yourself as well, did you not?”

“I-I did.”

“Well, you raised a wonderful young mare. While taking sompony’s child is not exactly acceptable, I do applaud you for taking her in such dangerous times. If you didn’t, I fear she may have never survived if it weren’t for you. I’m proud of you, Discord.” 

Discord smiled as Celestia trotted off to go talk to others. He felt a sense of pride and happiness for not only being recognized for taking care of Fluttershy but as well being given the green light to remain free and not imprisoned in stone. This could possibly be the best day of his life.

“Twilight, where are you going?” Celestia asked.

All of their friends turned to look to see Twilight galloping off towards the exit of what was left of the castle. She turned her head to look back at them all.

“I’m taking Rainbow Dash to the hospital!” She called out.

“We’ll meet ya’ there in a little bit, Twilight! Watch over her for us, alright?” Applejack shouted back.

“Got it!”

Although Fluttershy was concerned about if Rainbow was going to be okay or not, she had a good feeling she would be and that everything was going to get better from here. She just had to wait and see..
> Chapter 10: Reunited At Last
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Dear Diary,

I feel like it’s been years since I have laid a hoof on this book. It sure does bring back many fond memories of me lying outside, listening to the birds chirping, and writing about my day in here. Perhaps I should take some time to look back on old pages once I’m done here. 

I’m going to do something different this time. I’m not going to write just about today but also write a recap on the many events that have happened since Princess Celestia’s sister has returned. I don’t think anypony else will read this but myself. (Unless dad decides to take a peek which he is NOT allowed to!) I think this will be interesting to look back on in the future when all of this is in the distant past.

Rainbow Dash was finally awake when I came to visit her today at the hospital
and we talked for a good few hours. It seems like she’s finally starting to turn back into her old self again. The doctor said she needs to stay there for at least a few more weeks, perhaps a month more to recover but I can’t wait to see her out of the hospital and walking again. She was advised not to use her wings once she is released from the hospital for a little while so she was pretty upset about that but I think it’s for the best right now. She’ll find other hobbies and things to do that don’t involve flying.

Dad has changed quite a lot now as well. He actually has loosened the rules in me leaving the house and seeing other ponies. He even tags along with me sometimes. Now that ponies are seeing him freely walking around, they seem to be a bit unsure and scared of him. I’m hoping they warm up to him soon and see that he really isn’t bad anymore. This could be a great way for him to make friends and give himself things to do. I know he doesn’t really care about that stuff but I know it would benefit him a lot.

Princess Celestia and Princess Luna invited me and dad the other day to something called “The Grand Galloping Gala”. It sounds very fancy and delightful. According to Pinkie Pie, it’s a big dance party at night where ponies dress up in formal attire, enjoy desserts, and most of all, chat and dance all night long. Dad hasn’t confirmed if he wants to go but I hope he does. I heard that they’re hosting the gala at the newly built Canterlot Castle and I really would love to see it. Ponyville has also been making a lot of progress in rebuilding so I hope to see more than just the new castle soon.

Twilight has also been doing a lot of research into the elements as of recently and sent a scroll to me earlier saying she might have found a way to repair her element. She told me to drop by Rarity’s boutique and give my element to her so she can study it along with the other elements. Twilight doesn’t currently have her own home so Rarity has offered her to stay there for now. Which reminds me..

I better go now. Me and dad are off to go meet my real parents. Princess Celestia was somehow able to get in contact with them and asked if I wanted to meet them. I said yes but now I’m feeling a little nervous..What if they don’t like me? What if they think badly of me for having the Lord of Chaos as my father? Perhaps I’m just overthinking..

Well, I suppose it’s time for me to go. Wish me luck, future Fluttershy!”

Fluttershy put her pencil down as she reread what she wrote in her head, checking for mistakes.

“Fluttershy, it’s time to go! Are you ready?” Discord called from the other room.

“Yes, I am! I’ll be down in a minute!”





“This is the first time I’ve actually been in Cloudsdale like this. Last time I told another pony that they looked at me like I was crazy.” Fluttershy giggled.

“This is my first time as well. I have to say, living in the clouds doesn’t seem that bad. Perhaps you should be looking up here for a future home.” Discord replied. “Not that I’m saying you have to move out anytime soon of course. I enjoy your company, my dear.”

“I think I prefer the ground a little better. There’s not many animals up here apart from birds. I would miss my furry friends down below too much. Besides, I don’t think I’m ready to move out any time soon anyways.” 

Fluttershy and Discord walked across the soft clouds for a little more, taking in the many sights of pegasi flying about and cloud houses.

“Did you know that the only type of pony that can walk up here is pegasi? If a unicorn or an earth pony attempted this they would just sink through the clouds until they started to fall through the air. I think it has something to do with the fact pegasus have wings..I’m not quite sure. Then again, I’m walking on clouds and I’m not even a pony myself!”

Discord laughed to himself as he looked down at Fluttershy who was being particularly silent suddenly. His smile disappeared as he saw her frowning down at the clouds, her head lowered with her ears folded. 

“What’s wrong, Fluttershy? Was it something I said?” Discord asked.

“No, no, you did nothing wrong. I just..I’m kind of..Scared about meeting my..Um..My real parents.” 

“I don’t think you should be scared. I’m sure they’ll love you.”

“M-Maybe but..T-They don’t know that you have been taking care of me for all these years..They might think I’m weird or something..”

“My dear, if they think that then maybe they’re not worth getting to know. Some ponies just aren’t able to accept the truth and if that happens, they’re not worth your time. However, they’re not my parents, they’re yours. What you decide to do is up to you and you alone.”

Fluttershy nodded, thinking on his words as they continued to walk.

“How close are we to their home?” Fluttershy asked.

“I think we’re almost..Ah, I think that’s it!”

Discord pointed with his lion paw to a cozy little purple house on top of the clouds. It oddly enough wasn’t like all the other houses where they were fully made of cloud. This one seemed to be a real house sitting on top. Perhaps her parents had somewhat the same interests in living in a normal house as she did? 

Discord and Fluttershy approached the house, walking up to the door. Fluttershy stayed behind Discord as he went to go knock on the door with his eagle claw, stopping it a few inches from the door and looking back at Fluttershy.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Discord asked.

“Y-Yeah..I-I..Um..Could you talk first?..”

“That’s what I’m planning on doing..Although, it might be best if you do it. They might be rather frightened by my appearance.”

“You’re right..” Fluttershy sighed, trotting up to stand beside Discord. “I can’t just hide and expect somepony else to do my responsibilities for me anymore.”

“Uh..Draconequus.”

“Right, ‘draconequus’ to do my responsibilities for me anymore.” Fluttershy corrected herself.

Fluttershy’s yellow hoof moved hesitantly up to the door as Discord backed up behind her. She paused and took a deep breath, doing two quick knocks on the door before backing up a little. She swallowed, watching the door as her mind raced, thinking about different scenarios that could happen any moment now. She suddenly felt Discord’s paw rest on her back as she looked up to see him smiling reassuringly. 

“Coming.” 

She heard a soft voice, similar to hers, call out from inside the house and hurried trotting. She held her breath when suddenly the door opened and a yellow pegasus with a dark pink mane and teal glasses peeked her head out. Her eyes widened when she spotted Fluttershy, her mouth hanging open a little as she stared at her.

“A-Alice?..Is that you?” The mare asked.

“Alice? There’s no Alice here but I could ask the Mad Hatter for you.” Discord replied, grinning smugly as he tipped a top hat on his head to the pony.

“D-Discord?..O-Oh no..” The mare began to shake in fear as she bowed her head to them. “I-I’m so sorry for anything we did..P-Please don’t hurt me!”

“Dad..” Fluttershy said sternly.

“What? I didn’t do anything.”

Fluttershy sighed, trotting up to the mare and crouching a little. “You don’t have to worry, he’s not going to hurt you.”

The mare looked up now. “H-How can you be so sure?..”

“Because he’s my father..Well, sort of. I um..Think you’re my real mother?..”

The mare placed her hooves on Fluttershy’s cheeks, looking into her teal eyes and her face. She stroked her cheek softly with her hoof before suddenly pulling Fluttershy into a hug.

“W-Woah!”

“Oh, Alice..I knew it was you..Me and your father were over the moon when the princess told us you were coming here.” The mare said, starting to cry.

“Alice?..Is..Is that my real name?” Fluttershy asked.

“Of course..You’ve had that name since you were born.”

Her mother suddenly stopped hugging her, looking into her face a little confused. “You don’t remember your name?..”

“No..I was..Named Fluttershy. I don’t remember ever being called Alice.” Fluttershy replied.

“Alice is here!” A male voice shouted, not exactly sounding as calm and soft as the mother.

Fluttershy was nearly knocked over when a stallion rushed into her, wrapping her up into a tight embrace. He was slightly taller than her and had a yellow mane that was tied up in a messy bun. He was a pegasus just like her and seemed to be rather more forward than the mother. 

“I finally got to meet my older sister, what a treat.” The stallion said, letting her go after a short hug and rubbing her mane with his hoof, messing up her light pink mane.

“Alice, this is your younger brother, Zephyr Breeze.” The mother said, pointing to the stallion.

“U-Um..Hi.” Fluttershy said shyly.

“You’re a lot smaller than I thought you were. Ponies are definitely going to mistake me as the older sibling.” Zephyr said, grinning smugly.

“Alice!”

Fluttershy prepared herself for another pony to almost knock her off her hooves, scrunching her eyes tightly closed when she was surprised to find herself being gently hugged instead. This time it was her father. He was a light teal pegasus with a white pinkish mane and a mustache. One thing seemed to be sure with both of her parents, they were gentle and perhaps a bit shy like she was.

“It’s so good to see you again..I’m so sorry for what happened to you back in Canterlot. Me and your mother were so heart broken when we weren’t able to find you again.” Her father said,

“Look, I don’t mean to be the elephant in the room but Fluttershy is not named Alice. That may have been her name back then but she goes by Fluttershy now.” Discord said abruptly.

“What’s he doing here?..” Fluttershy’s father asked, rather uneasy after noticing Discord was here.

“I’d suggest we sit down for this..This might be a bit of a long story.” Fluttershy said.

“Oh, yes, yes, we have some freshly made cookies and tea inside. Please come in.” Her mother said.





Soon the ponies and draconequus were inside seated at a dining table set up with tea and cookies. Discord had a particularly hard time getting in considering how tall he was but with his chaotic powers, he was able to shrink himself down a little so his antlers wouldn’t get caught on the ceiling. Fluttershy’s family seemed rather uneasy with him around but seemed to trust Fluttershy when she said he wasn’t there to harm them.

As they enjoyed the tea and cookies, Fluttershy explained everything that had happened after Discord had found her in the Canterlot Gardens on the night of the big storm. Everything from her breaking him free from his stone prison with her love, her going to school and him being anxious about it, to even her being an important part in Princess Luna’s return to normal. Her folks seemed pretty impressed with everything she had accomplished and how well Discord had taken care of Fluttershy (even if he hadn’t been the best father sometimes) and seemed to gain somewhat of an appreciation for Discord.

“Wow..I can’t believe you did it all on your own..Especially after being so evil for so many years.” Fluttershy’s mother said.

“Yeah well, certain ponies just seem to have an effect on me.” Discord grinned at Fluttershy.

“Well..Thank you, Discord. Thank you for taking care of our sweet..’Fluttershy’ when we weren’t able to. Although you weren’t the most ideal parent we had in mind to watch over her, you still did your part and cared enough to take care of her. For that, I have more respect for you than I did before.” Fluttershy’s father replied, softly smiling up at Discord.

“So..What does this mean now?..I have you all now but..What about, Discord?” Fluttershy asked.

Both her parents looked at each other and then at Fluttershy.

“Well, we’re all reunited now...What does it mean to you A-..I mean, Fluttershy?” Her mother asked.

Fluttershy looked at her brother and her parents for a moment and then up at Discord. This was one of those difficult life choices wasn’t it..One that would determine her future forever..Well, she already knew what she wanted to choose.

“Discord was the one who raised me from a young foal to a full grown mare..I consider him my father and not only that but my best friend too. He will always be my father just as you all will always be my family. You all played a role in my life so you both and Discord are still my parents and always will be to me.” Fluttershy said.

“Phew, that’s a relief!” Discord said, wiping away some sweat off his forehead with a handkerchief. “I thought you were going to only choose one over the other.”

“Of course not. That wouldn’t be fair to either of you. I love you all.” Fluttershy smiled.

The whole family was suddenly wrapped up in a big group hug, even Discord who seemed a little uncomfortable by all this sudden affection but seemed to warm up to it after awhile. 

As the family hugged, Fluttershy could only wonder what the future would bring for her, Discord, and her family. Would it be more jealous younger sisters or something bigger? Fluttershy only knew that she would be alright as long as she, her friends, and Discord were all together to face it.