Labyrinth: Return of Discord

Fluttershy gently flapped from shelf to shelf, scanning the books they contained to make a mental catalog of where things were.

"Let's see here..."  She lowered herself to the ground.  "That one looks like history, and, um, oh, no, that one was history, the other was...  Or was it..."  She bit her lip.

Somepony knocked on the door and started to open it.  Fluttershy squeaked as she ducked behind the table in the center of the room.

"Hello?  Princess Twilight?"

Remembering that she was in charge for the day, the pegasus tentatively leaned around the table to peer at the owner of the voice.  "She's not here, it's just... me."

"Oh, hello Fluttershy!"  Cheerilee smiled at her.  The mare walked with a bit of difficulty as her pregnancy was beginning to show, her stomach somewhat swollen.  "I didn't expect to see you here."

"It's okay, I wouldn't expect me, either..."  She kept her gaze low, though she tried to smile.

It had not been too long ago that Cheerilee and Big Mac were wed.  It was a simple wedding at Sweet Apple Acres, but of course every Apple across Equestria came for the occasion, so despite its simplicity it took up the entire farm.  Fluttershy was certainly happy for them, but at that particular moment it was yet another reminder of how she was standing still.

"Where is the Princess Twilight?"  She started to look around the library.

"She's not here.  She had an important meeting to go to, so she left me here... in charge...  I guess."

"I see!"  The ever-friendly pony smiled.  "Well, I'm looking for a book on raising foals."

They stared at one another for a moment before realization struck Fluttershy and she flapped her wings to lift off the ground.  "Oh, yes, um, that should be around here somewhere..."  As she scanned the books, she gasped.  "I found it!"

"Great, thank you!"

Fluttershy turned to look at her.  A red flush showed through her yellow coat as she covered some of her face with her hooves.  "I'm sorry, not your book...  I'm still looking for that, but I found a book I was looking for."  She retrieved the book in question, flew down to set it on the table, then returned to her searching for the other.

Cheerilee took a few steps forward to look at the book.  "Oh!"  She smiled brightly and raised a hoof to open it and flip through the pages.  "Oh, this is one of my favorites."

The pegasus paused.  She slowly turned to look at the other mare.  "It... it is?"

"Yes, it is!  I have a bit of a fascination with rare creatures.  Some ponies call them mythological, but I'm of the opinion they really do exist."

"You do?"  Fluttershy started to hover closer.

"Call me a silly filly, but with dragons and alicorns, how can anypony be so sure that anything in this book isn't real?"  She looked up from the book.  She blinked, somewhat startled by how close Fluttershy suddenly was, but smiled nonetheless.  "Why are you interested in this book, if you don't mind my asking?"

Fluttershy landed on the ground and shyly stepped forward to look at the book with her.  "I had a dream about a creature, and I wanted to know if he was real.  I thought maybe he would be in this book..."

"He?"  Cheerilee tilted her head, but didn't push it further when Fluttershy avoided her gaze.  "Well, what did he look like?"

This gave the pegasus a long pause.  She sat on her haunches and waved her hooves in small gestures.  "Um, he was made up of different creatures, with a lion's paw, an eagle's claw, and-"

"-a goat hoof and a lizard's foot!"  The pony's face was glowing with excitement.  "You dreamed of a draconequus!"

"A dragon-what?"  She pulled her hooves close to her chest as her heart started to pound.

Cheerliee frantically flipped the pages of the book.  "One of my favorite creatures!  There's a legend, you know, or I suppose you don't, since I haven't met a pony that knew of it.  A legend that a thousand years ago, before our dear Princess Luna was banished to the moon, Equestria was taken captive by a creature known as a draconequus by the name of Discord."

Her heart stopped at the name.

"Together, the princesses trapped him in a stone...  Or so the legend goes!"  She tapped her hoof on a page.  "There's a statue at Canterlot of a draconequus that is rumored to be his stone prison."  After a moment, she giggled.  "I don't know much about any of that, but they're fascinating creatures!  Nopony knows where they come from."  She turned her head to look at Fluttershy.  Her smile fell into a concerned frown.  "Are you all right?"

The pegasus tried to speak, but she realized all too suddenly that she hadn't been breathing the whole time the pony spoke and she had to gasp for air.  "I-I, I'm fine, really..."  She felt herself breaking into a cold sweat.

He was real.

"So there is a statue of Discord at the royal gardens?"

"Oh, well, of a draconequus, at least."  Cheerilee smiled.  "I'm sorry to talk on and on like that!  If you don't mind, I'll just borrow that book and be on my way.  Big Mac is waiting for me back at the farm."

Fluttershy jumped into the air and moved frantically from bookshelf to bookshelf until she found the book in question.  After seeing the pony off, she hurried over to the book, still open to the page Cheerilee had found.

There was a sketch on the page that, although somewhat faded and lacking in detail, she recognized instantly.  "Oh, Discord..."  Tears welled up in her eyes as confusion gripped her mind.  "You just wanted company after a thousand years, and I rejected you."  She sniffed and held he head high, hardening her resolve though her heart was still aflutter with conflicting feelings.  "I'll go to Canterlot!"  She put her hoof on the sketch.

The day was rather slow with only a few ponies dropping by to borrow books.  A bookworm of a mare asked if she could buy one, as it was her favorite story with far-off places, daring sword fights, magic spells, and a prince in disguise.  As the mare rambled, Fluttershy could only nod absently and stare down at the bits tossed her way.

"How strange..."  She blinked a few times and smiled wide when Twilight walked through the door.  "Oh, welcome home."

"Was that who I think it was?"  Twilight paused at the sight of bits.  She sighed and put her hoof to her forehead.  "It was.  She bought it?  Doesn't she know she can just borrow it whenever she wants?"

Fluttershy handed the bits over with a meek shrug.  "I don't know, but, um, I would like to go to Canterlot, if you think that's all right.  I mean, if they're awfully busy, I understand."

"That's perfect!  I was just about to ask if you wanted to go."  Her ears fell back and she grinned sheepishly.  "That is, uh, well, there's a flower festival, and it seemed like the sort of thing you'd want to see.  And..."  She walked past her over to where she kept her parchment and quills.  She continued as she started to write, "I'll ask Princess Celestia to have a room prepared for you!"

"Oh, there's no need for that..."

"What?"  The alicorn looked over her shoulder.  "Where are you going to stay?"  When the pegasus had no response, she laughed and finished her letter.  "It's no trouble at all!  Look, I've already written it.  Here you go, Spike."

He took the letter from her and sent it away with a puff of his magic-imbued fire.

"Now, as a return favor for watching my library, Spike will watch your animals.  You haven't been on a vacation since we last went to the Crystal Empire, and that was on business, so it wasn't really a vacation at all!"

"Hey, why do I gotta do it?"  The dragon scuffed his foot against the ground.

"Because you don't have any other plans since Rarity's not in town."  She smiled a little cockily, much like how an older sibling looks at a younger teasingly.

Though Spike were older now, Rarity still only had eyes for the fashion world.  He had resigned himself to the position of her "bestest dragon buddy", as he only had eyes for her.  He flushed some and avoided both of their gazes.

"Yeah, okay, I'll do it.  But I'm not going to fluff Angel's tail."

Fluttershy smiled.  "That's all right, I already took care of that."  She trotted forward and hugged the dragon with both forelegs.  "Thank you so much, Spike!  You're a good friend."

"Aw, shucks,"  He returned the hug.  "It's not like anyone can say no to the nicest pony in all of Equestria!"

"Oh, you can't say no to her, but you can ignore me when I say 'Hey, Spike, don't pull on the phoenix's tail'?"

Spike let go of her to face Twilight with an indignant frown.  "I can't help it!  He was making fun of me!"

"He's the royal pet of Princess Celestia!  He can do whatever he wants!"

"Obviously, since you didn't stop him from trying to singe my scales off!"

Fluttershy slowly backed away from the arguing pair.  She glanced at the book on rare creatures still sitting on the center table.  "I'm, uh, just going to borrow this..."  She grabbed the book and put it in her saddlebags.

"I don't have time for this, Spike!  Look, just next time, try to think before you act, okay?"

"I do think!  I'm not a baby anymore, Twilight!"

"Okay, so, I'll just go now..."  She continued to walk backwards, not wanting to get hit by a book like that morning.  She paused at the memory and looked at the door.  "Oh, dear."  She had said she wouldn't use the door, so what was she going to do?

While the two argued, the pegasus stood up on her hind legs to push open a window, out of which she started to climb.

When she struggled halfway through, Twilight noticed the rather odd sight and questioned,  "Uh, Fluttershy?"

She leaned her head back to look at her with a weak smile.  "Y-yes?"

"What... are you doing?"

"I didn't want to open the door and interrupt."

"... Oh."

Slowly, Fluttershy climbed all the way through the window while the alicorn and dragon stared at her with bewilderment.  Perhaps next time she'd just wear a helmet and use the door like normal ponies.  She gently closed the window behind her, then trotted home with a merry little hum as she prepared a mental list of what she needed to pack for her trip.