Labyrinth: Return of Discord

Fluttershy stood and turned to face the statue with a small smile.

"How could I forget?  I came here to find you, but I got distracted by all those flowers..."  She inclined her head.  "I'm here, Discord."

There was no response.  She tapped on the statue's base with one hoof.

"I guess I didn't really think this through."  She sat back on her haunches.  "Um...  Please come out?"

She squeaked when the sun was briefly blocked by two large shadows that drifted over her.  Above, Celestia and Luna swooped down like eagles stalking prey, their forelegs extended, and they landed on the ground with a thundering impact.

"Fluttershy!"  Celestia commanded in her royal voice, the force of which caused Fluttershy to bow low in fear and hide her face behind her forelegs.  "Step back from the statue!"

She glanced up from her trembling legs.  "Wh-what?"  She raised her head, now more confused than scared.  "Why?"

The princesses' faces were frighteningly serious.  They remained a safe distance away, but safe from what?  She slowly got up to her hooves and looked between them and the statue.  Safe from him?

"Fluttershy, your heart is in the right place, but you are unaware of the situation you are in.  Please, join me and my sister," Luna said, oddly opposite of her sister in the voice she used.  She almost sounded apologetic.

Fluttershy focused her gaze on the princess of the night.  "But, why?"  She took a step closer to the statue.  She had to protect him.  He needed her, and she wouldn't let him down this time.  "You should understand, Princess Luna.  You were trapped for a thousand years, just like Discord...  Why doesn't he get a second chance?"

Luna turned her head to the side and said nothing.  She watched with desperate eyes as both princesses' serious expressions were briefly replaced with ones of hurt.

Tears began to fall down Fluttershy's cheeks.  It was such a painful subject for them, but she had to bring it up.  They had to understand.  "It's not fair...  It's not fair if you don't even let him try.  Please..."

Finally, Celestia angled herself to shield her younger sister from sight, protecting her just as Fluttershy was protecting the statue.  The princess's voice remained strong as she said, "These situations are gravely different, Fluttershy.  It bears no resemblance to what happened to my sister back then.  She had a good heart that was overtaken by a dark force.  Discord...  He is a dark force.  There is no good in him."

Fluttershy shook her head and stomped her hoof.  "Every creature, big and small, has good in them!  Isn't that what you taught Twilight?"  She hiccuped over her words.  Her mind and heart swirled with the fear of standing up to the princesses and the fear of letting Discord be rejected.  Again.  She shook her head again as the pain returned, though this time it was gripping her heart.

"Fluttershy, please try to stay calm..."  The royal voice subsided to her normal, gentle tones.  "I need you to remain calm."  She glanced between the pegasus and the statue as her ears swiveled back.

Unbeknownst to Fluttershy, the statue behind her had a faint glow around it.  Although the aura was white in color, it radiated the dangerous power of chaos.

"How... how can I be calm?"  She sniffled.  "I've been crying for moons, and everypony told me just to forget it, to forget him, when he's been sitting right here, alone for a thousand years without any compassion..."  She stood and raised a hoof.

"Fluttershy, no!"  Celestia started to gallop toward her, her horn starting to glow as she attempted to stop Fluttershy by force.

"Alone," she continued, ignoring the princess not out of contempt, but because her mind was buzzing with so much noise and confusion.  Celestia had known all along, but kept it a secret.  Twilight probably knew, too!  After all, they always kept in touch.  It hurt her deeply to think that one of her dearest friends was keeping such a secret from her.

She lifted her gaze to look at Discord's frozen face and before Celestia's magic could stop her, she touched the statue with a hoof.  "But not anymo-"

A bright flash erupted from the statue and burst forth like a sonic wave, knocking all three mares off their hooves and skidding them back across the grass.  The stone shattered and flew in all directions.  Some of the debris landed on Fluttershy, as she was the closest, and a large piece trapped one of her hind legs firmly to the ground.

"Ahhh, finally!"  Discord's voice slithered through the air, both sinister and playful at the same time.  He stood where the statue had, stretching his limbs to impossible lengths before they snapped back to him like rubber bands.  "That conversation was getting so boring!"

With a snap of his talons, he appeared above the princesses.

"Tia!  Luna!"  He extended his arms and lifted them both up in a tight hug.  "So~o good to see you two looking well!  What?  How have I been?"  He dropped them to the ground, his grin dropping with them into a scowl. "Ohh, you know, the usual, just trapped in stone for a thousand years with an unbearable itch in the middle of my back.  Speaking of."

He wriggled in the air, stretching with all limbs toward the middle of his back.  As he contorted to try and reach an unknown itch, he bent over backwards and spied Fluttershy lying helpless on the ground.

"Oh, my dear, look at you."  He snaked through the air toward her and lowered his head to hers.  "Trapped, are you?"  He flicked the debris off with his tail.  "There, now, that's better.  Now we're even."  He cackled and spun upside-down.  "Thank you, by the way, for that.  You have no idea how hard it is to use magic when you can't move, but your mind was just begging for a little chaos, so you made it so easy."

He patted her on the head like a dog and she squeaked, to which he laughed.

Fluttershy looked up at him with a weak smile.  "I...  I don't understand..."  She stood on three legs, her wounded hind leg raised some to keep the weight off it.  "You're... so different from my dream."

His laughter ceased.  He let out a groan that seemed to emanate from his very depths and he shuddered.  "Don't even mention that!"  He sat up straight and shook his head.  "No, no, my dear.  I played my role, and you played yours.  You wanted a Goblin King and I gave you one.  I wanted out and you got me out.  Can't we just leave it at that?"

Her gaze darted around, seeking answers from the princesses, but they were still shaken from the earlier blast.

"Oh, don't worry about them."  He waved his paw dismissively.  "They'll be fine in the morning with a bit of rest."

A large bed appeared from nowhere, shaped like Discord's head with brown sheets and yellow pillows.  Celestia and Luna were neatly tucked under the blanket with masks over their eyes to block out the light.

"Shh."  He put a claw to his lips.  "Let's not wake them.  Don't they look so cute together?"  He disappeared and reappeared behind Fluttershy, now standing on the ground rather than hovering above it.  "Now, I have a whole millennium of chaos to catch up on.  Toodles!"

He disappeared and this time did not reappear.  Fluttershy stared at nothing for a long while before her vision blurred with tears.

"But...  it can't be a lie."  Her body shook as she started to cry again.  "How can it be a lie?"

With Discord no longer nearby, the princesses regained their strength and sat up.  Celestia lifted the mask from her eyes and looked at Fluttershy with pity.

"I am sorry, Fluttershy.  We realized too late that he was manipulating you.  If I had known sooner, I could have prevented this, but Twilight did not bring it up until yesterday."

The pegasus turned her head away from them.  "I'm sorry."  She trembled.  "I'm so sorry."  Despite the pain in her hind leg, she broke out into a run, not sure where she was going, but content with wherever but there.

Luna lifted her mask and looked down at the sheets.  "Is it too late?"  she asked softly.

Celestia slid out of the bed.  She took a deep breath, then let out a long, heavy sigh as her head fell.  "I do not know, sister.  I cannot read her heart.  Her actions were under his influence, but they were still fueled by kindness, so I believe she is not beyond the Element's reach yet."  She closed her eyes.

"I pray that is true."  Luna stepped out of the bed and put a hoof on her sister's shoulder.  "You tried, Tia.  You did the best you could have done."

The older princess was silent for a moment.  Finally, she opened her eyes halfway and looked sideways at the other.  "I am to blame."

Luna blinked.  "Blame?  How?"

"I...  I let her suffering go this long, just as I let yours.  Again, I have neglected somepony in need."

She bit her lower lip, then stepped forward to wrap her foreleg around Celestia's neck and nuzzled their cheeks together.  "You are not to blame.  You could not have known what was happening to her."

Celestia fell silent and closed her eyes again.  They remained there for a long, quiet moment.  "We must warn Twilight and the others," she finally said.  "We must prepare them for what is to come, if it hasn't already."

Not too far from there, Fluttershy had stumbled from the weakness in her leg and crumpled to the ground in a sobbing heap.

"You're such a silly foal, Fluttershy," she said bitterly to herself, her face buried in the grass.  Images flashed through her mind, all of Discord from her dream.  Slowly, she lifted her head and looked up to the sky.  "What was real... and what was a lie?  Was all of it a lie?"

"E-excuse me?"

She winced and glanced in the direction of the voice to see one of the royal guards approaching her.

"Are you all right?"  He extended a hoof to her.  "What happened?  We heard the blast and came to investigate."  He glanced at her leg.  "You're injured!"

She turned her head away from him.  "It's... fine."

"I insist.  Please, let me take you to a doctor."

When she said nothing, he hesitated for a moment, then bent down and nosed his muzzle under her side, lifting her up and over his head to land on his back.  She laid there limp, so he trotted at a quick pace to and inside the castle.

"Doctor!"  he said as he reached the room where the castle's doctor worked.  "She was injured in the blast."

"Oh, my."  The stallion trotted to one of the empty beds.  "Please, set her down here.  Thank you."

The guard did as he was commanded, bowed his head respectfully, and left the room to resume his duties.

The doctor examined her leg carefully.  After a while, he finally said as he began to gently bandage her leg, "The good news is that it doesn't look broken.  There is some damage, though, so I'll need you to stay here until it has healed."

Fluttershy stared at the ceiling, no longer crying, but not smiling, either.  Her expression was void of any emotion at all, as was her voice as she said, "That's fine."

"Now, get some rest."  He pulled the curtain that gave her bed some privacy from the rest of the infirmary.  "Doctor's orders."

"That's fine," she repeated, quieter this time, and said once more in barely a whisper as the bright pink of her mane started to fade, "I'm fine..."