Chapter 1
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Labyrinth: Return of Discord

Chapter 1

Fluttershy sat on the couch in her cottage, looking out the window at the quiet, lazy morning outside. The birds were just beginning to rustle from their nests. She took a long, slow sip of the herbal tea she had prepared for the morning, just as she did every morning before and would every morning to come. The thought gave her pause and she stared down at the tea. Her watery reflection returned the stare.

"Oh..." She sighed heavily and set the tea on the table beside the couch. A bit of the warmth from the mug lingered on her hooves. "Nothing ever changes." As her gaze drifted from the mug, it landed on her favorite bunny sitting on the floor, arms crossed and foot thumping. This brought a small smile to her lips. "Good morning, Angel Bunny."

The bunny turned and wiggled his rump, pointing at his unfluffy tail.

"Oh, yes, of course. It's time to fluff your tail." She giggled and slid off the couch. She walked with the bunny hopping alongside her upstairs to her room, where she kept Angel's beauty supplies.

The bunny hopped up onto the vanity and sat facing the mirror. While the pegasus set about getting the curlers ready, he dabbed his face with a cotton swab.

Her smile started to fade as her hooves moved of their own accord, having more than memorized the steps to care for the bunny's tail long ago. This allowed her mind to wander freely.

So much had changed for all of her friends. The biggest and most life-altering change for them had been Twilight's coronation. She was an alicorn princess now! Fluttershy sighed as she wondered what it was like to be a princess. Every filly dreamed of such a thing, but Twilight was always busy and had so many responsibilities. She never complained about her duties, but she never really seemed to speak too much about them, either. It was as if the alicorn wanted to pretend she was still the same unicorn she once was, but with her attention divided between Ponyville and all of Equestria, that was nigh impossible.

Rarity had become Sapphire Shore's personal designer. She was often away on tours with the pony star, and when she was home, she was holed up in her shop coming up with new designs. Every once and a while, they found time for their usual spa days, but those were growing less and less frequent. As Fluttershy coiled Angel's tail around the curler, she tried to remember how long it had been since she had soaked in the herbal waters or had a dab of lotion put on her cheeks.

It was no surprise to anyone, but Rainbow Dash had made it into the Wonderbolts. The headstrong pegasus had worked her hardest to get in and was still working hard to progress through the ranks. She had achieved her goal and replaced it with a new one: to replace Spitfire as captain. They had all told her it would take time, just as getting in had taken time, but she assured them she'd be captain in zero seconds flat. Other than making trips up to see her in Cloudsdale, they rarely saw her anymore. She had even moved her cloud-formed home to be closer to the academy.

Sweet Apple Acres was growing in popularity every day. After Trendhoofs had written a glowing review of the farm, ponies from all over were travelling just to sample some of their fresh baked pies and squeezed apple cider. Apples from other towns moved to Ponyville to lend a helping hoof, as the supply quickly buckled under the demand when Celestia announced Sweet Apple Acres as the official food supplier for the upcoming Grand Galloping Gala. Applejack was truly enjoying all of the work, but it left her stuck on the farm for days at a time.

Lastly, Pinkie Pie was touring with Cheese Sandwich as a "super duper pony party duo". She sent letters frequently with updates about the parties they were throwing and all the places she had seen. At first, Fluttershy and the others were concerned about Pinkie travelling alone with a stallion, but none of them had a right to stop her. From her letters, the two didn't seem to be romantically involved, just friendly competitors trying to one-up each other's party tricks.

Her mind returned to her own situation, one which was the same as it had always been. She tried to smile and assure herself that she was happy. After all, she had never had any aspirations or goals. She had wanted to work with animals and that was what she received, nothing more, nothing less. Shouldn't that make her the luckiest of all her friends, since she had achieved her dreams first?

Angel hopped down from the vanity and started down the stairs. Fluttershy didn't follow after him, instead lounging on her bed and closing her eyes. A breeze drifted by outside, dragging a tree branch along her window with a tick, tick, tick. The ticking grew consistent, and she started to count the seconds by it.

"One, two, three..." she muttered under her breath.

Tick, tick... tock, tick, tock, tick, tock...

"You're running out of time, my dear," whispered the ghost of a voice in her ear.

She jumped out of bed and looked around, her heart racing, but she saw no one. A shiver ran down her spine and she crawled back into bed, this time under the covers.

She knew that voice.

"Discord," she said in a tiny, broken squeak.

Moons ago, just after she had woken from her fever and had regained her strength, she had told Twilight everything. The unicorn-at-the-time had assured her it was just a dream and that she needed more rest. During their regular spa day, she told Rarity, but she too said not to spend her time worrying about dreams. In desperation, Fluttershy had even braved the Everfree Forest to seek Zecora's advice.

"If it seems real to you, then it might as well be true," the zebra had said. "Let it plague your mind and only chaos you will find."

So she had tried to forget. She busied herself with the critters of Ponyville. She even took up some hobbies for a while, like knitting and baking. However, somehow, her mind always circled back to the sad face, the lonely voice, the final words... "As you wish." How could she ever wish for someone to be alone?

None of her friends had ever even heard of a mismatched creature like the one she described. She jolted upright at a sudden thought. Of course! The library! There had to be a book, something to ease her weary mind on the subject. She trotted down the stairs, grabbed her saddlebags, and made her way to and through the town.

Arriving at the library, she tentatively pushed the door open. "Um, hello? Twi-" She ducked just in time to avoid being hit in the head by a flying book.

"Oh, ponyfeathers!" Twilight rushed over and offered a hoof to her friend. "I'm so sorry, Fluttershy! I was so focused on trying to get everything prepared that you startled me and I lost control of this one." The book floated up and joined a group of books that were being sorted simultaneously by her magic.

"I'm sorry, I'll... try not to open the door next time." Fluttershy glanced at the door, wondering how she'd get in from then on, but saved that concern for later. "What is going on?"

Twilight groaned. Her wings twitched with irritation as she guided books in every direction. "I was trying to pack, and someone had another growth spurt right into my bookshelves!" She glared at the dragon in question.

Fluttershy looked at him with a small smile. He too had been changing. He was clearly no longer a baby dragon, now about the height of a pony. His torso and limbs were relatively thin, the cute pudge long gone, replaced by lean and slowly developing muscles.

He grinned sheepishly and grabbed his tail, which was longer since she had last seen him. "Yeah, and now I'm banned from doing anything but handling the checklist."

"Speaking of," Twilight interrupted. She put away the last of the books and trotted over to her bags. "did you triple-check that I have everything? What about the sign? Is it ready?"

"Uh, yeah, um..." Spike looked over at a wooden sign waiting to be hung. "Yeah, I finished that while you were packing. And, yes, Twilight, I triple-checked. I even quadruple-checked."

The corner of the alicorn's eye twitched. "But I didn't write down for things to be quadruple-checked! What if you were so concerned with checking things over and over that you weren't paying attention to the actual checking! Triple-checking is proven to be the perfect amount of checking!"

Fluttershy cleared her throat. "Um, if I may, I wanted to borrow a book..."

"A book?" This distracted her from her ranting. Twilight looked over at her. "What kind of book?"

The pegasus pressed her wings to her sides and shrunk back. If she said outright what she was looking for, she was sure her friend would smile, pat her on the head, and tell her to stop worrying over nothing. Her eyes darted around the room searching for an answer. "I... well... just... a book on... rare creatures?"

"Sure, I have lots of those," the other said and turned to a bookshelf, not giving the request a second thought.

She gave a small sigh of relief. "Oh, that's wonderful. I'd just like to borrow one, please."

"Let's see, it should be... no, not there..." Books lifted off the shelves and dropped back down as she scanned their spines.

"Twilight, we're going to be late," Spike said, tapping the clipboard with one claw.

This startled the alicorn straight into the air. "Oh, gosh, you're right! I don't have time for this! And we still need to close up the library for the day!"

"Close it up? Oh, no." Fluttershy pawed at the ground with a hoof. "If you want, since you're so busy, I can watch the library for you..."

"Would you?" The alicorn beamed at her. "That'd be great! I hate having to close it up and prevent other ponies from learning as much as they can! Are you sure you don't mind?"

"No, not at all." She smiled. "You do so much for Ponyville, it's only fair that one of us does something for you."

"That'd be great! Okay, Spike, let's go so we don't miss that train!"

They hurried to the door. Spike tried to give her instructions on how to find things but was pulled away by an overeager alicorn. Fluttershy waved after them, then trotted back inside.

She looked at the towering bookshelves with a slowly fading smile as she realized she had no idea where anything was. Her ears drooped. They loomed over her with books of all different shapes, sizes, and colors. She tried to look at the names on the bindings to get an idea of what shelves contained what, but the titles made little sense to her. The Way of the Stallion? Was that a historical book? What about Colts, Fillies, and Friendship? What was that even about? Her head began to spin.

"What have you gotten yourself into, Fluttershy?" she whimpered to herself.

Chapter 2
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Labyrinth: Return of Discord

Chapter 2

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.

Chapter 3
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Labyrinth: Return of Discord

Chapter 3

Fluttershy took the last train to Canterlot late that night. The moon illuminated the countryside as the train slid past, rolling along at an even, steady pace that gently rocked the carriages. The cart she was in was empty, as few ponies traveled at that hour.

She closed her eyes for a moment to refocus her thoughts. Discord was real. He was trapped in a stone prison for a crime he had committed a thousand years ago. Slowly, her eyes opened and her gaze lifted to the moon hanging low in the starry sky. If Princess Luna could return, be accepted back into society, and have her crimes forgiven, then why not him? He had already been forgotten by nearly all ponies, while the infamous Nightmare Moon had scared countless foals for centuries. Shouldn't that make it easier for him to be forgiven?

She rested a hoof on her bags, which contained a few necessities for the trip as well as the book. Carefully, as though someone might be watching, she retrieved the book and set it in her lap.

"A draconequus," she murmured under her breath as she opened to the page Cheerilee had found for her. "Not much is known of the legendary draconequus. Although technically a chimera by definition, a draconequus is a distinct race of its own by the chaotic magic it possesses. Only one notable draconequus has emerged in Equestria's history: Discord, a spirit of chaos whose taste for disharmony won him a short-lived tyrannical reign of the kingdom."

She paused, flipping the page back and forth, her lips falling into a pouting frown. On the backside of the page, a different creature was featured. She frowned. "That's... that's it? That's all there is? Oh, dear..." She sighed and put the book back into her bags. "That's not very much at all."

The rest of the ride continued in silence, save for the clicking and clacking of the wheels on the tracks and other usual sounds one hears on a train. The cart swayed back and forth, gently rocking her into a calm, relaxed state as the journey continued further into the night.

The moon was directly overhead when the train pulled into the station. Fluttershy slid her saddlebags onto her back and trotted out of the cart, gasping when she nearly walked straight into Princess Celestia.

"P-Princess!" Her knees buckled from the surprise and she tried to regain her composure by bowing low.

"Please, Fluttershy, there is no need for such formalities." Celestia smiled. "We have known each other for too long." She put a gentle hoof to the pegasus's shoulder. "I received Twilight's letter that you were looking to partake in the flower festival." They began to walk away from the station. "I am surprised you did not come sooner. Did you hear of the breezies' arrival?"

Fluttershy had been walking with her head low, but she perked up at the mention of the equine fairies. "The breezies are here? Oh, they are so adorable... And it's so rare to get to see them!"

Celestia smiled softly, her regal air never wavering. "Yes, it is quite the honor to have their presence at our gardens. However, you must be tired from such a late train ride. I will show you to your room."

The pegasus walked alongside the alicorn, just a few steps behind hers so that the princess was clearly ahead of her. As she did so, the alicorn slowed her own pace to match Fluttershy's. They went back and forth until Celestia stopped walking at all and looked at her, a strange look of concern on her otherwise flawless face.

"S-sorry." Fluttershy trotted forward and stayed directly beside her. She glanced up at her to see the concern still present on the princess's expression. This caused her to panic. Was something wrong?

Her fears were solidified when the princess spoke in a low, rolling voice. "Fluttershy, it has been many years since Twilight left my care to meet you and your friends at Ponyville. I have known for a long time that she was special, and I knew she would meet other special ponies that would join her as the Elements of Harmony. Each one is vitally important; however, I do not know if you are aware how truly unique you are.

"There is no creature, pony or otherwise, with as much kindness in their heart as yours. Even I have fallen victim to cruelty to those I hold dear." She winced at the painful memories that sprung forth from just the vague mention and finally looked down at the other. "Kindness such as yours is a gift to all who know you, but it can be dangerous if you do not guard your heart, lest it be taken advantage of by those with ill intentions."

Fluttershy couldn't meet her gaze, suddenly feeling as though she were on pins and needles. The speech seemed to be brought on by something, but what? What did Celestia know that she didn't?

Celestia seemed to sense the other's uncertainty and put a gilded hoof on her shoulder. "I have faith that when the time comes, you will choose the right path as you have always done. Now, we are at your room." She smiled and stepped back. "May you sleep well and have sweet dreams, Fluttershy."

"Thank you, Princess... I will."

Stepping into the room and shutting the door behind her, her worries were washed away when she collapsed on the bed. It was covered in the finest of silks and she sunk into the many layers of comfort as though she were lying on a cloud. The soft hues of green decorating the room lulled her into the feeling of being surrounded by a quiet forest. Her mind heavy with too much noise from Celestia's speech, she slid off the bed and walked through the drapes that covered the entryway to a balcony.

In the cool of the night, it seemed as though she were looking out into a dark ocean. The vastness of the shadowed lands overwhelmed her for a moment before she could focus on the gentle light of the Breezies as they tended to the nocturnal flowers. Whenever the majority of them paused at their flowers, their light held still, and it seemed like a reflection of the starry sky above. At first, she marveled at the beauty of it, but a throb of pain shooting from one temple to the other overtook her. She rubbed a hoof to her forehead and retreated back to bed, curling up under the covers.

Outside, Celestia remained by the door, the muddled expression on her face again. She turned her head at the gentle hooffalls approaching and tried to smile at her sister, but the corners of her lips could hardly lift under the weight of her worry. "You have no knowledge of the dream of which Twilight spoke?"

"No, my sister." Luna looked between her sister and the doors. "If Fluttershy truly had such a distressing dream, I would have aided her straight away."

Celestia sighed heavily and began to walk with her down the hall. "I wish Twilight had written of this dream when it had happened. I hope it is not what it seems, and that we are not too late. I fear for the safety of Fluttershy... and Equestria."

In the morning, Fluttershy was awoken by a chorus of small birds singing on her windowsill. She felt completely refreshed from the solid night's sleep and sat up. The aroma of flowers drifted in on a breeze. She took a deep breath to inhale the delicate but lovely scent and was startled by a knock on the door.

"Miss Fluttershy? Your breakfast is ready."

"M-my what? Oh, dear." She pulled the blankets up to her shoulders, though she hadn't a clue why she felt compelled to do so. "Um, okay."

The door opened and one of the servants walked in with a covered plate balanced on his head. He gently set it down on the bed beside her, bowed his head, then left the room with the door shutting behind him.

"Oh, my." She lifted the cover with one hoof and gazed at the food underneath.

It was a light but divinely prepared breakfast of a mixed fruit salad. She recognized some of the fruits as local produce, especially the slices of green and red apples, but there were some bits and pieces of exotic fruits that she didn't recognize but, when she tried them one by one, thoroughly enjoyed.

The speech from last night had faded from her mind. Even her worries about finding the statue had drifted away. She looked toward the balcony with a small smile, only thinking of her present situation in that moment. She put the finished plate with the cover back on outside the door, then trotted over to the balcony.

The green drapes blew back from a brief gust of wind to expose the balcony and the view of the gardens below. The sight she gazed upon was different from but just as beautiful as the one of the gardens at night. Flowers of all shapes, sizes, and colors were growing in every inch of the garden, crawling up walls and blooming along pathways. Below, ponies stopped to marvel at each and every one.

Hardly able to contain her excitement, she hurried at a pace above her own but still slower than average, making her way to the gardens. Two guards pulled back the doors and a wave of color and scents flew in from outdoors. She bowed her head in thanks to the guards before stepping outside.

Birds flew through the treetops singing of the wonderful festival while butterflies danced across the colorful petals. She hardly noticed the ponies around her while she walked down the stairs to the garden. She paused when a trio of breezies fluttered over to her.

"Oh, hello!" She beamed at them. "Isn't it a wonderful festival?"

They chattered their agreement in their own language, though the meaning was clear from the smiles on their little faces. Two broke away to pluck a soft blue rose from a nearby bush and carried it over. They delicately laid it atop her pink mane while the third began to weave the stem into her tresses.

Unfortunately, the breezies had neglected to notice a couple of thorns along the stem, one of which scraped along the side of her ear and pricked her. She winced, but did her best to not move, not wanting to startle the little darlings. The closest breezie noticed her ear flinch, however, and cried out when it saw the cut. It flapped over to the other two breezies and they all began to whimper and whine their apologies.

Fluttershy giggled and shook her head. "There's no need to apologize. Little breezies like you could never hurt a soul on purpose! Besides, it was the flower that bit me, not you..." She trailed off, her smile fading some as she felt another throb of pain, much deeper in her head than the little scratch on her ear. When they looked at her with curious concern, she lifted the smile back onto her lips. "Oh, I'm fine." She smile regained some strength. "Thank you ever so much for the flower."

Satisfied, they waved their tiny hooves and fluttered away to tend to the various flowers in the garden.

Fluttershy found a stone bench nestled between some bushes and sat down. She rubbed a hoof to her forehead, trying to soothe the pain away. "What's wrong with me?" she muttered under her breath.

Chapter 4
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Labyrinth: Return of Discord

Chapter 4

Once the pain had subsided, Fluttershy slid off the bench and continued on her self-guided tour of the gardens. She paused to admire each and every new type of flower she found, giving each a proper examination of sight and smell.

"Ooh, I've never even heard about this flower," she commented to herself as she spied a group of flowers, each sitting atop their own thin green stalk.

The flower had tall white petals that rose upwards and out in all directions, with two petals exceptionally longer than the others. The longest petals curled out and around themselves to trail beneath the rest of the bloom, which was slightly drooped from the weight of them. Each different bloom seemed to be in its own unique shape: one looked like a grasshopper in flight, another looked like a pegasus dancing upright on its hind legs, and a third had its long petals hooked at the end to form a delicate heart.

"It's so lovely." She smiled as she gazed at each one.

"I would hardly say that," came a male voice beside her.

She was startled by the sudden closeness of a tall stallion as he leaned over one of the orchids she had been complimenting. He had a dusty brown coat with a bright red mane and tail. His mane was slicked back and cut short, as was his tail. She tried to steal a peek at his cutie mark, but a long black tuxedo coat covered him from his shoulders down to his flank. Not knowing anything about the stallion, she simply smiled.

"After all, how can such tiny flowers compare to the loveliest in this garden?" He turned his head to look at her with striking golden eyes.

Her ears fell and she took a step back. One hoof quivered, begging to run, but the other three remained firmly planted on the cobblestone. "Wh-what do you mean?"

He raised a hoof and reached toward her face. She squeaked, but her fear subsided when he pulled the rose out of her hair. He held it between them with a smile, one brow raised.

"You, of course, found the best flower of all. Though I do believe nopony is permitted to take from the garden?"

Fluttershy's eyes darted as she took another step back. "Oh, is that so? I didn't know that, I mean, I didn't take it, a breezie gave it to me... Three actually, and, um... Oh, please don't tell Celestia I took it!"

The mention of the name caused the stallion to drop the flower and clear his throat. "The Princess? By her glory, why would I approach her with something so trivial?"

"Because I don't want her to get mad and lock me in the dungeon... Or kick me out of the room she gave me, and then lock me in a dungeon!" The mental image of Celestia's wrath, though she had yet to actually incur such a thing, terrified her nonetheless. The imagined was much more frightening than reality.

"The room... she... gave you?" the stallion repeated slowly. A smile broke across his lips and he took one of her hooves in his. "Why, of course I wouldn't do such a thing. Come, now, let's look at some more flowers. Oh." He picked up the rose and set it back in her hair behind her ear. "There you go. Now, let's see..."

He practically dragged Fluttershy alongside him. He started to ask all sorts of questions that made her head spin, such as how long had she known the princess or how long had she lived in the castle. Finally, she dug her heels in and pulled her hoof out of his.

"Wh-who are you?" she said with a false sense of courage.

"Who am I? How rude of me!" He put his hoof over his chest as he gave a small bow. "I am Crimson Kipper, at your service, my lady."

"I see..." She tried to be polite, though she wanted to be left alone to enjoy the serenity of the flowers. "My name is Fluttershy..."

"Fluttershy?" His head lifted with a suave smile on his face. "What a lovely name. It suits you."

The compliment made her uncomfortable. Why was he being nice to her? What did he want?

"Now, if I may treat you to breakfast, I would be quite honored. They are serving samples of nectar from the more savory flowers growing here."

"That sounds nice, but..."

He didn't seem to hear the 'but', instead taking her by the hoof again and leading her down a path to a stall where a pony handed out small tasting cups of different nectar. He politely sat her down at a little table for two and went to get a plate of the samples.

She looked at her surroundings with a small sigh. She was feeling on her guard again as she remembered Celestia's speech.

"It can be dangerous if you do not guard your heart, lest it be taken advantage of by those with ill intentions."

The hairs on the back of her neck stood and she glanced at Crimson Kipper. He was offering the serving pony a dashing smile as he gave her a couple of bits in exchange for the samples. His eyes seemed to catch the sunlight in a way that made them sparkle, and not a single hair strayed from his slick mane. In all ways, he was perfectly prepared.

Fluttershy's eyes narrowed just slightly. Too perfect! She had no idea that Celestia's warning would be regarding something so soon, but this was no ordinary stallion, or so she convinced herself. She started to plan how she was going to escape from this clearly nefarious pony when a familiar voice called out.

"Why, Fluttershy, darling! I am not surprised to run into you here."

Her thoughts dissipated and she turned to smile at the unicorn. "Oh, Rarity, it's so wonderful to see you." The timing was perfect. She slid out of the chair and trotted over to her. "There are some lovely flowers that I've never seen before that I want to show you."

"Of course! That's exactly why I'm here. After all, Sapphire Shores's new line calls for some... Floral inspiration, and where better to get it than during a festival all about flowers? Though, I do say, for a festival it's rather drab, don't you think? Everypony is so awfully quiet." She sighed.

"Well, that's because of the breezies." She smiled as she watched one flutter by. "They don't like loud noises."

"Hmm." The unicorn eyed the passing breezie. "They are absolutely darling, but... Now, where is this flower you wanted to show me?"

"Oh, right here." Fluttershy leaned her head down in front of the delicate and unusual orchids.

Rarity was perfectly still for a moment, saying nothing, which made the pegasus's smile fall. Finally, she cried out, "They're absolutely perfect! Oh, I can see it now!" She willed a pencil and sketchpad out of her saddlebags and began to furiously sketch her thoughts. "Imagine, that as a headdress, with ribbons... No, no, ribbons are last year. Feathers. Feathers! Yes, and..."

Fluttershy smiled as she listened to her friend ramble. It was just like old times, when Rarity would need inspiration and she would do her best to help. They used to be a great team that way. The smile slowly faded as the unicorn put away her sketchpad and started to trot away.

"Thank you, darling! I have to begin making a prototype right away! To- oof!" She had been so distracted by calling to Fluttershy over her shoulder that she bumped straight into another pony. "Why, I'm terrible sorry, please..." She trailed off, gazing up into golden orbs. "... forgive me..."

"It's no trouble at all, my lady. Are you hurt?"

Rarity nearly fell over herself giggling and waving a hoof. "Oh, by no means! I'm quite all right! Better, now, in fact."

"That's good to hear." Crimson Kipper inclined his head to look over at the pegasus, who was trying to back away slowly and froze when she was caught. "Fluttershy, my dear, I was worried when you had vanished."

Rarity's ears fell back as she glanced at Fluttershy. "Fluttershy? My dear?" She broke into another fit of giggles and side-stepped to try to catch his eye. "Oh, yes, Fluttershy is rather adorable. She's like a little sister to me. Now, why don't we let her enjoy her flowers while you and I talk about how cute she is, among other things?"

The stallion's gaze flickered between them before it settled on the unicorn before him. "A little sister to you? Then, I suppose you also know the princess?"

"The princess? Why, of course, darling! I would dare to say that she and I are close!"

He gave her a dashing grin and hooked his foreleg with hers. "Is that so? Well, then, I just bought some nectar. Would you care to try some with me?" He began to lead her away.

"I would be delighted!"

From behind the flowers, Fluttershy squeaked in a meager voice hardly above a whisper, "But... wait... he's evil..." No one heard her, so she whimpered and whined as she watched the stallion take her friend away. She took a few deep breaths to try to calm herself.

As they started to turn the corner, Rarity glanced over her shoulder at Fluttershy with a strangely protective glare. Though she said nothing, Fluttershy could hear the unicorn's haughty voice in her head saying, "Why don't you keep your eyes to yourself, missy?"

She winced as the throbbing pain returned to her head and she had to sit down for a moment. Should she be worried? Was she worried, and that was why her head suddenly hurt? Should she go to the princess about it?

No, Celestia had only warned about her own kindness being taken advantage of, not Rarity or any of her friends. Besides, Rarity often mingled with stallions, but she was rarely ever serious about any of them, and those with no intention of treating her like the lady she was were cast aside. After all, if she could turn away Prince Blueblood, it would be easy for her to reject a normal stallion.

Her breathing returned to normal as the pain subsided. On the plus side, she was saved from trying to protect herself. She slowly relaxed and a smile returned to her lips. She trotted through the gardens, opposite of the way Rarity and Crimson Kipper had gone, allowing her gaze to wander across the flowers.

To her right, the cobblestone path broke off to a defined dirt trail, leading between some hedges. Fluttershy tilted her head to try to peer down the road. Flower vines grew along the sides, so it seemed to her as a continuation of the flower garden and, with a careless smile, she trotted away from the main path to take it.

Once through the hedges, she found herself in a wide open field with only local flowers growing here or there.

"Oh, I suppose this isn't a part of the festival." She shrugged and turned to go back the way she came, only to find that there was no path at all. "Huh?" She blinked. "How strange..."

She took a few steps back to survey the hedge wall where the path had been. It towered above her, dauntingly so, but not so much that it could impede a pegasus. She flapped her wings to lift up off the ground and gently rose above it, gasping when she realized what was before her.

It was not the hedge wall that surrounded the gardens. It was a hedge maze.

A sharp pain shot through her and she fell back to the ground, now in a panic. Where was she? What was going on? She backed away from the hedge maze and bumped into a cool, stone surface. She slid down to the ground and propped herself against the stone.

"No, Fluttershy," she whispered. "You just got carried away and walked further than you thought. It's perfectly normal. You do that, sometimes. You get lost in your head." She paused. "And you talk to yourself. Aloud. That's normal, too."

She sighed and leaned her head back to gaze upward at the sky, then cried out in surprise when she found herself staring up at a familiar stone face, "Discord?!"

Chapter 5
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Labyrinth: Return of Discord

Chapter 5

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..."

Chapter 6
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Labyrinth: Return of Discord

Chapter 6

Fluttershy was left alone in the quiet, and she was thankful for it. The last thing she wanted was to be around anypony right then. She just wanted some privacy, some time to sort out her thoughts, which were muddled and heavy with the realization that kindness was a horrible thing.

Unfortunately, at that moment, the curtain surrounding her infirmary bed was thrown back with a dramatic flair.

"Oh, Fluttershy!" Rarity cried. She threw herself forward, forelegs landing on the edge of the bed. "I was so frightened when that dreadful earthquake happened, and then I couldn't find you anywhere! Then I heard you were here, and..." Her lower lip trembled. "Oh, I'm so glad you're all right!"

Fluttershy rolled her eyes and turned onto her side, putting her back to the unicorn. "Uh-huh."

"It was horrible, darling. I heard that it wasn't an earthquake at all, but that something terrible happened to Princess Celestia and Princess Luna! By her name, what happened? How did you get injured? What was that earthquake really?" The tremble was gone, her lip tucked back into place, her watery eyes now gleaming with interest.

Fluttershy noted all of these things when she glanced over her shoulder. She rolled her eyes again and dropped her head back down. "Really, Rarity? You want to gossip? That's all you really care about, isn't it?"

The unicorn pulled back to stand on her hind legs. "Excuse me?"

"You heard me. Oh, boo, hoo, hoo, Rarity was so scared, but how could she be when she was with a big, strong stallion?" Her voice was still soft, but it was laced with venom. "Didn't it give you the perfect opportunity to get closer to him?"

"Fluttershy!" The unicorn dropped down onto all fours and took a step back. "I don't know what you're trying to say!"

The pegasus sat up and looked down her muzzle at the other with a darkness looming in her gaze. Her ears were pinned back flat against her mane, which could hardly be considered pink at that point. It was dusty and pale in color, like her once-vibrant coat. "Gossip and stallions and high society. That's all you care about. You're so generous with your time when it gets you something! When was the last time you stopped by? When did you try to schedule a spa day?"

Rarity's lip was trembling again, though this time with full sincerity as she fought back tears. "I... I just assumed, well, with all of our lives getting so busy-"

"Oh, that's right, everypony is busy except Fluttershy." She slid out of the bed, and walked past her toward the door. She ignored the pain from each step of her hind leg. "Thank you for so generously reminding me of my place. I'll just go back to my cottage so I won't be in your way anymore."

Rarity tried to stop her, but the pegasus brushed her off and left through the doorway. She stood there a moment before she dropped her head low and cried freely. "I-" she sobbed, hardly able to speak. "I had no idea... th-that you felt that way..." She closed her eyes. "Oh, I am a h-horrible friend..." Slowly, the color drained from her as she began to doubt herself.

The guards watched as Fluttershy walked past them, though none commented on her sour expression or her sickly colors. One of the figures in the many stained glass windows watched her with glee.

"Oh, how perfect," Discord said to himself in the second dimension. To the nearby guards, his words sounded like distant echoes that none of them could quite make out. He slid along the multi-colored glass panes. "How perfect! She's taking care of everything for me. I don't even have to lift a claw."

He cackled and coiled around a figure of himself, depicting when Celestia and Luna had trapped him in stone. "You poor, sad thing," he cooed, gazing into his own eyes. "It won't happen again, don't you worry. Now, let's see what I've missed... Really, I should thank Celestia for these windows. I don't have to read a history book!"

He slithered his way to the next window and had to pause. He stood in the center of six ponies, all rearing up with magic beams shooting upward. Following the beams, his gaze landed on a dark alicorn.

"Huh." He stroked his beard as he pondered the scene. "Perhaps a history book would be more... clear. Ah, no matter. Someone did something and these-" He raised his paw and claw to gesture air quotes as he finished sarcastically, "wonderful ponies saved the day."

Discord walked along the green glass to examine each pony more closely. The angle made it difficult to really get a grasp for how they looked, but... "How odd," he muttered, interrupting his own thoughts. Why did he recognize them? He knew had seen them before. His gaze flickered to each of their ever-smiling faces.

Who were they?

Hating the feeling of confusion, he walked off to one side and slid into a different window, only to be faced with the same six ponies and the Elements of Harmony.

"Great! So they have the Elements, too?!" He slumped down to lean on one of the edges of the shard most of him was in. He rubbed his temple with his paw. "Think, Discord... Think! Who are they?!"

The corners of his lips twitched with irritation and he jumped out of the second dimension to stare at the scene in its entirety, hovering outside of the castle. Able to see it this way, his eyes widened with recognition. "Wait... Wait, yes." He moved closer and put his paw near the image of a yellow pegasus.

It was her, along with the friends she had brought with her from her memories into his realm.

His lips curled with a wicked grin as a dark expression overtook his face. What a lovely coincidence! Perhaps that was why he had been drawn to her. "Oh, my dear," he cooed, scratching a talon along the surface of the glass, snickering at the awful sound it made. "I suppose I still have more use for you yet."

He withdrew from the glass and twirled around to face the kingdom of Canterlot below. "But first thing's first!" He stretched his arms, joints popping. Sparks of chaos shot from the tips of his claw and fell below to cause havoc even he couldn't control once they sprouted. Chaos magic was not something that could be controlled; it just sort of happened. "I think Equestria could use a little fun!"

Elsewhere, at the train station in Ponyville, Fluttershy stepped off the platform. At that point her hindleg was throbbing from her walking on it, but she scowled and ground her teeth to walk through the pain. Nopony tried to approach the sickly-looking mare and she was content with that.

She was nearly halfway through the town when she spotted Applejack and Apple Bloom at their stall, selling some of their produce that didn't meet the standards for shipping out to Canterlot. The residents of Ponyville were just happy to continue to get Sweet Apple Acres' attention despite their widespread popularity and didn't mind that Canterlot got their finest apples.

Fluttershy tried to walk at the back of the crowd to avoid being noticed, but Applejack spotted her immediately.

"Hey, Apple Bloom, ya mind watchin' the stall fer me? I ain't seen Fluttershy in weeks!"

"'Course, big sis." The filly puffed her chest with confidence. "I got this!"

"Uh-huh. No shady business practices, now, ya hear?"

The confidence deflated some, but she grinned sheepishly. "Yes, big sis."

Applejack trotted through the crowd toward Fluttershy. "Hey, Fluttershy!"

Her wings twitched in both acknowledgment and irritation and she otherwise ignored the pony.

"Fluttershy?" She noticed the bandages on her hind leg when she got closer. "What happened to yer leg?" When the pegasus quickened her pace, she paused, a little startled. "Sugarcube?" She galloped forward to get in front of her and stop her by blocking her path. "What's wrong? Ya don't look so good."

Fluttershy lifted her head to stare at her.

There was something dark in her eyes, drowning the turquoise behind a shadowed veil, startling Applejack.

"Pointing out the obvious isn't the same as honesty, you know." She dropped her head back down to its sulky, brooding position and bumped the other with her shoulder as she brushed past her.

"Now hold on there a minute! What's gotten into you?" The pony reached out her foreleg to stop her.

The pegasus groaned and pushed the hoof away. "You just can't take a hint, can you? Why don't you leave me alone? You were so good at that before, so why change things now?"

Her eye twitched. The corners of her lips threatened to fall into a frown, but she gritted her teeth and forced a smile. "I don't know what's got bees in your bonnet, but-"

"Oh I'm so sorry, was that too mean?" She reared her head up to look her straight in the eyes. "I'm just being honest. Don't you appreciate that? Aren't the elements supposed to be good things?"

"Now there's a difference between honesty and being just plain mean! This ain't like you, Fluttershy."

The pegasus rolled her eyes. "How would you know anymore? You spend so much time at Sweet Apple Acres that I'm actually surprised you even recognize me." A cocky smirk crossed her lips as she eyed the other up and down. "It's hard to recognize you without all that dirt and sweat all over."

That was the last straw. Applejack stomped a hoof and pushed her face into the other's. "You listen here, missy! I'm sure there's a perfectly good explanation fer what you're doin' here but I just don't see it! If ya ain't got anythin' nice to say, then just go on!"

"Finally," she muttered with a dragged out sigh and trotted onward.

Applejack's breathing was staggered as she tried to calm herself. She closed her eyes, raised her hoof, and extended it as she exhaled. Slowly, her eyes opened again, though only halfway. "Somethin' ain't right with her. I gotta tell Twilight 'bout this."

After informing Apple Bloom that she would be in charge a little longer, she ran as fast as she could to the library.

"Twilight!" she exclaimed, throwing the door open. "We've got a problem!"

Twilight looked up from the pile of books surrounding her. "Tell me about it!" Her hair was a mess. Her eyes had a slight twitch to them, a half-crazed look tugging her lips into a weak grin. "I've been searching all day for a book and it's nowhere! Nowhere at all!"

"Look, I know yer books are important to you, but Fluttershy's actin' real strange. No, there ain't a word strong enough for what just happened. It... It was just downright wrong."

The alicorn jumped to her hooves. The grin was gone, as was the twitch, replaced by a serious look that froze Applejack where she stood. "It's already happened?" Her ears fell. "Then I'm too late... Oh, by Celestia, we're in serious danger."

They stood in silence for a few moments before Applejack broke it by saying carefully, "Twilight... Is there somethin' you wanna fill me in on?"

Chapter 7
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Labyrinth: Return of Discord

Chapter 7

Twilight avoided Applejack's gaze, but the earth pony stomped a hoof to draw the other's attention back to her.

"Look, I know bein' a princess has made things complicated fer ya, but she's our friend! She was our friend 'fore you were a princess. So sit yer plot down and tell me what ya know."

Obediently, she plopped her rump down onto the floor. Her tail curled around her hooves and her head hung low with guilt pressing on her shoulders. "It was yesterday that Celestia called me for an emergency meeting... I had no idea why."

That day prior, Twilight had arrived at Celestia's castle with Spike running to keep up with her frantic pace.

"We're late, we're late, we're late!" She cried. "Spike, I thought the trains always ran on time?!"

"I thought so, too!"

She groaned. "You're on your own, Spike!"

Her horn glowed and she teleported herself ahead in frequent bursts. Ponies were startled by the rapidly appearing and disappearing alicorn, calling out "Excuse me!" and "Coming through!" each time she reappeared.

Reaching the castle gates, she trotted in place. "Come on, come on!"

The royal guards paid her no heed, opening the doors at their normal, proper pace according to protocol. She rushed in as soon as there was enough room for her to fit through. She beamed when she saw Celestia standing at the top of a flight of stairs, but even from the distance she could see the serious look on the princess's face. Her pace slowed until she came to a complete stop, her wings drooping some, ears folded back.

"Princess Celestia?"

"Come, Twilight. We have very important matters to discuss." She turned and started to walk, not waiting for the other, who hurried to catch up with her.

"What's wrong, Princess?"

Celestia glanced at her, then looked straight ahead. "For a while now, I have sensed a darkness growing in Equestria. It was weak at first, and I was unable to determine where or what... or whom it was coming from." She stopped halfway down the hallway of stained glass.

Twilight ran her gaze along the windows. Each scene depicted in them triggered memories, either of the stories she had heard or the experiences of actually being there. She paused at one in particular, the oldest in the sequence, which brought forth nothing in her mind. Of course, she recognized Celestia and Luna, so she knew it had to be over a thousand years old, but they were encircling a strange, unfamiliar creature.

She had seen the window many times during her life in Canterlot, but there were no stories in the history books she had read over the years. The curious, knowledge-seeking side of her felt ashamed that she had never made an effort to learn more, or to even ask about it. For some reason, it had just never seemed important, which was particularly odd to her, as she normally thought everything was important.

Celestia's voice brought her back into the moment. "A few moons ago, I felt it very strongly emanating from Ponyville for a brief moment. You did not write of any particular occurrence, however, and I did not want to alarm you until I knew more."

The younger alicorn lowered her head and her gaze fell to the floor. "But if you had asked, Princess, I could have looked into it. I could have-"

"I made the decision to investigate more quietly. Unfortunately, none of my guards gathered any reports from anypony about anything out of the ordinary. I... I had hoped that perhaps I was wrong."

Her eyelids slid halfway closed. She appeared to look at nothing in particular, gazing off into a distance Twilight could not imagine.

"It has grown stronger, to the point that I can no longer keep this from you." She finally looked down at her. Her serious but calm expression never wavered. "Twilight, are you absolutely certain that there has been nothing to report? Anything at all that you have left out of your letters?"

Twilight's gaze darted around the hallway. She finally focused on a statue of no consequence that served as a blank slate for her to stare at while her mind worked overtime.

At that moment, Spike burst into the room, panting and gasping. "Twi-light..." He straightened his back and tried to look nonchalant, though his heavy breathing gave him away. "I... I'm here."

She spun around. "Yes! I brought... I tried to bring everything, Princess, since I didn't know what to expect."

She ran over to Spike and the pack on his back opened with a flick of her horn. Scrolls flew out and she expanded them all around her. Her gaze hurried over each one.

"I have my notes on the events of Ponyville. Of course, most of them aren't very important, just all the things that don't seem worthy of being put in a letter, but just in case I need to remember later. Hmm... There was the time Mayor Mare came down with a terrible cold. The school got overrun by parasprites... Someone replaced Sugarcube Corner's sugar sacks with salt... Oh, um..." She hesitated.

"What is it?" The princess stepped forward. "Did you find anything?"

"Well, maybe? I mean, no... Yes?" She glanced between the scroll and her mentor. The rest of the scrolls rolled up and returned to Spike's pack while she walked over, bringing the scroll in question with her. "I don't know."

Celestia tried to look over the scroll, but there was too much written to know what exactly the other was referring to. "I will be the judge of that. What happened?"

Twilight drew a small circle on the ground with one hoof. "It fits with the time you said, but... It was just a dream."

She looked down at her with a raised brow. "What sort of dream did you have?"

"No, it wasn't me; it was Fluttershy. She had a pretty crazy dream and was upset about it for a while."

"Tell me about it." Celestia's gaze wandered again.

As Twilight began to explain the dream, the seriousness on the elder princess's face shifted to concern, then to worry.

"- and... well, that's the gist of what she told me, but that-"

Celestia closed her eyes. "This is far worse than I feared, but no less than I expected. So, he is returning."

"Uh... Who is returning?"

"Discord," she said much quieter than normal, as though the name had special power of its own.

"So, wait." Twilight raised a hoof. "It wasn't just a dream?"

"Luna did not report such a distressing dream to me, and she takes extra care to ensure the wellness of you and your friends." She sighed heavily. "We are blessed that Fluttershy was able to escape whatever trap he had waiting for her in this false dream. There is no telling what would have happened to her if she fell for his deceit."

Slowly, Twilight's hoof lowered back to the ground. She blinked a few times as hot tears stung her eyes and she turned her head away. "I-I-" She choked. "I had no idea it was so serious... And I just brushed her off. I-"

"Twilight." Celestia stared at her with compassion, placing a hoof on her shoulder. "You must gather your friends. I know they are all very busy, but this is of the utmost importance. I can still sense his power lingering in the air. Please, do what you can to protect Fluttershy, as she is in the most danger of us all... But tread carefully. I fear that Discord will not give up on using her to aid in his escape. Come with me, Twilight... There is much I must tell you about the dangers we now face."

Back in the library, Twilight's eyes were closed tightly shut. She was silent for a while after she had finished recounting what had happened. Just as Applejack was asking a question, she continued.

"When I got back, Fluttershy asked to go to Canterlot. I was going to ask her to go anyway, since there's a flower festival at the royal gardens, and where else is safer than the castle? Celestia told me of the statue and I knew it was there. But I thought..."

Her head dropped low.

"I thought she would be safe, so I tried to find a book that might have more about him so I could learn even more. But if what you saw is true, then... I sent her right into danger while I wasted time here trying to find a stupid book. I was so focused on learning that I neglected to make sure she was safe... What kind of friend does that make me?"

Applejack's eyes widened as she saw the color seep from her friend, then frowned. "Sorry, Twilight, but..." She grabbed the alicorn by putting both hooves on her shoulders and shook her rather vigorously. "I don't know what in tarnation is goin' through yer head but you cut it out right now! Snap out of it!"

The color returned to her from the sudden jolt and she looked at Applejack with momentary fear. "Wh-what was that?" She withdrew from the other and put a hoof to her forehead. "What happened?"

"Don't know. All I know is ya started turnin' pale like Fluttershy." She dropped her hooves back to the ground to stand on all four. "So how are we goin' ta get a hold of Pinkie? Last letter we got, she was in Manehattan."

"Says who?!" A cheerful pink head popped out from a pile of books, startling both Applejack and Twilight into screaming, albeit briefly. "I'm always here, watching..." She grinned as she lowered back into the books, then popped out beside Applejack. "So let's go save Fluttershy!"

The other two glanced at one another, then smiled and shrugged. Questioning Pinkie was like questioning how magic worked. It just did, and that was that.

"I already sent a letter to Cloudsdale to tell Rainbow Dash to meet us in Canterlot. That just leaves..."

"Rarity." Applejack sighed. "Now how are we gonna find her?"

Spike paused halfway down the stairs. "Huh? You guys don't know?"

They all turned to look up at the dragon with curious gazes. He blushed and finished descending the stairs.

"While you were meeting with Celestia, I ran into her at Canterlot. She's here doing some research for a new fashion line for Sapphire Shores. We, uh, had lunch."

Twilight's spirits lifted and she started to run toward the door. "Then we have no time to waste! Let's go get Fluttershy and catch the next train!"

"Oh, goody!" Pinkie hopped after her. "It's been so long since we went on an adventure! This is an adventure, right?" She scrunched up her nose. "Or is it a rescue? A rescue adventure? Do those exist?"

"Sure, Pinkie," Applejack commented as she ran to catch up. "Whatever you want t'call it."

"Really? Whatever? Well, then I think it's an ultimate amazing rescue showdown!" She snorted as she giggled.

Twilight was silent, her focus entirely on the mission. She felt responsible for everything: for sending Fluttershy to Canterlot, and for not taking her seriously in the first place. The pegasus had come to her two or three times before she gave up. She had to make up for all of it. It was the least she could do.

Chapter 8
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Labyrinth: Return of Discord

Chapter 8

Twilight and the rest arrived at Fluttershy's cottage in no time at all. The alicorn was the one to knock on the door.

"Fluttershy?"

"Go away!" the pegasus's voice shouted from inside. "You're the last pony I want to talk to right now."

Twilight winced. "I... I understand that, but you're the only pony I want to talk to right now, so please let me in."

"Well, I refuse. I want to be alone."

Applejack rolled her eyes. "Fluttershy, we ain't got time for this! Yer only actin' this way 'cause of that Discord character."

There was a pause. They could hear her hoofsteps draw closer, but the door remained closed. "Discord? So now you want to acknowledge he was real? A little too late for that, don't you think?"

Pinkie flopped down onto the ground and nosed a flower with her snout. "It's never too late for friends!"

"Except I don't have any friends." The hoofsteps withdrew. "Go away."

Twilight put her hoof against the door. "Fluttershy..." She paused to take a deep breath and said as quickly as she could, "I'm really sorry that I ignored you when you came looking for help and I'm sorry I sent you to Canterlot and let this happen to you but I really need you to come out so we can go back to Canterlot and stop Discord before he does any more harm to anypony, including and especially you!"

"Stop Discord?" They heard a laugh, and though they knew it was Fluttershy, the unfamiliar tone gave them chills. "If I went to him, it would be to thank him. He had the decency to care enough to not lie to me. He made it very clear that he wanted nothing to do with me!"

The words lifted Twilight's spirits. She smiled, which caused the others to look at her strangely, but she ignored them. "That's not true!" She hopped on her forelegs, alternating lifting and dropping them, suddenly excited. "Fluttershy, I know I didn't take it seriously enough at the time, but I remember what you said. I listened to every word because I really do care about you!"

Her weight shifted to her hind legs as she put both of her forehooves on the door.

"He did lie to you! You told me how he danced with you, how he sung to you... How he begged you to stay with him. You told me about the way he looked into your eyes! But if he wanted nothing to do with you, then why would he do all of that?"

Her smile faltered some when she heard a stifled sob from the other side.

"Fluttershy... Why don't you come with us and tell us how you really feel?"

Twilight dropped back down onto all fours and stepped away from the door, hopeful that it would open. When a few moments passed and it remained shut, they started to look at one another helplessly and were startled by a soft creak of the door slowly opening.

Fluttershy peeked out from behind the door. Fresh tears stained her still pale cheeks.

"Why... Why would you remind me of that, Twilight?" she asked in such a delicate voice that none of her friends could help but rush forward and embrace her. She struggled against them. "N-no! Let go of me!"

"Not until ya agree t'come back with us to Canterlot!" Applejack squeezed the pegasus's foreleg.

Twilight hugged her other foreleg. "Please, Fluttershy."

"I can't handle our first ultimate amazing rescue showdown being a failure!" Pinkie held on tight to Fluttershy's middle. "But more importantly, I can't handle you being a big ol' meanie!"

Finally, the pegasus broke free of their hold and hurried back a few steps to put some distance between them. Her eyes were filled with distrust and a lingering pain, but she lowered her head. "I... I will go with you..." Her strength returned and her head lifted again. "But when we're done, I never want to talk to any of you again." She started to walk past them to leave the cottage.

Applejack put a hoof on Twilight's shoulder just as the alicorn started to speak.

"Ya know that ain't our Fluttershy talking. Once we take care of Discord, we'll have her back."

"I... I know." She sighed.

Pinkie hopped after Fluttershy. "I can't wait to meet this Discord! He must be awfully special to make Fluttershy act like this!"

Applejack raised her brow and trotted behind her. "Run that by me again? We ain't goin' t'meet him. We're goin' to defeat him."

"Meet, defeat, they rhyme, so they're close enough, don't you th-"

"Besides," Twilight interrupted. "He's not special. He's powerful. And evil."

Rather suddenly, startling all of them into silence, Fluttershy whirled around to face them and yelled, "He is not evil! He's just lonely!" She scowled, turning back away. "I wouldn't expect any of you to understand how he feels the way I do."

Applejack was the first to move after the outburst. She hurried to walk alongside the pegasus. "But Fluttershy, we've always been here for you. So have yer animals. When have ya ever been alone?"

"My whole life." Bitterness made her voice cold and distant. "I had thought Rainbow Dash was my friend, but she cared more about racing than noticing me when I fell from Cloudsdale. Nopony did anything to save me or even noticed that it happened. Nopony cared when I decided to stay in Ponyville." Her pace quickened as the anger built within her chest. "Nopony has ever cared about me!"

They walked the rest of the way to the train station in silence. The air was thick with conflicting emotions. Though they knew Discord was to blame for her current state, none of them could shake the feeling that not all of it was his doing.

Because of Twilight's presence, they were given their own private cabin.

Fluttershy sat down first. Twilight sat beside her, but the pegasus scooted to the very edge away from her. Applejack and Pinkie sat in the booth across from them. Spike sat in a booth of his own with a book he had brought along and quietly read.

It was awkward at first, but Applejack broke the silence by turning her head and smiling at Pinkie. "So, how was yer super duper party tour?"

The pink pony's eyes glittered with glee. "Super duper amazing! Cheese Sandwich sure knows how to throw a party!" She put a hoof to her chest. "It makes me so proud when he uses one of my tricks. I'm like his party mama!"

Applejack's smile fell lopsided. "Err... That's, uh, good?"

She giggled. "Well of course it is!"

The southern pony turned her gaze to Twilight. "And what 'bout you? Ain't seen you much lately."

"Oh, nothing out of the ordinary." She tapped her hooves on her knees. The normalcy of the conversation only made her more nervous as she tried to avoid looking at Fluttershy. "At least, not for me these days. Meetings with ambassadors, planning meetings with ambassadors, planning to plan meetings with ambassadors..."

"Well, as long as yer happy." Applejack paused before she leaned forward. "Hey, have ya heard anything 'bout the Gala yet? What kinda stall are we gettin'?" She grinned. "Come on, I've been dyin' t'know!"

While they discussed the Gala, Fluttershy looked out the window on the other side of the cabin to avoid giving any of the three her indirect attention. Her ears remained facing forward as well. Her mind was a storm of chaos: anger, pain, sadness, frustration, and... loneliness. These ponies she once called friends only wanted her as the Element of Kindness.

There was a cry of surprise from Spike as his bag rustled on its own and out from the top popped a little white furry head. All four mares looked over to see Angel Bunny climb out, dragging an orange carrot plush with him.

"Angel?" Fluttershy blinked, startled. "What are you doing here? Didn't I tell you to pack your things and leave?"

The other ponies and dragon turned their surprised expressions to her. "You told him to what?!" they all cried.

"But you can't- Angel is- What?!" Spike watched the bunny hop along the floor over to the pegasus.

Fluttershy sneered and turned her head away. "He's the one who got me into this horrible mess in the first place... If it weren't for him, I would have never met Discord and could live happily in ignorance of the lie of kindness."

Angel chittered sadly. He sniffed and held up the plush toy.

She kept her gaze elsewhere, but her ear swiveled to acknowledge him. "... What?" She glanced briefly at him. "Say that again?"

The little bunny hiccuped before he squeaked again.

Her ears fell. She turned her head and slid down off the booth. "But, it's yours..."

The bunny shook his head. He pushed the toy toward her. Fluttershy was silent and unmoving.

Finally, Pinkie exclaimed, "What is going on?!"

The pegasus picked up the toy in one hoof. "He says... I need it more than he does..." Her expression was muddled. "But, Angel, it's your favorite."

He shook his head again. He ran toward her and tried to wrap his little arms around one of her hoofs and squeezed as best he could.

"I'm your favorite? But..." Her voice trailed off as she choked. She squeezed the plush toy and flinched when it gave a loud squeak.

Twilight felt a burst of hope rush through her when she saw a spark of color run through Fluttershy. It shot down along her back like a flash of lightning, but faded away just as soon as it appeared. The hope vanished with it.

"Fine, I'll keep it, but I'm not keeping you."

The bunny pulled back, tears in his beady black eyes, and ran to Spike for comfort. Spike was the closest thing the bunny had to a friend other than Fluttershy, as he was the only one who could petsit him. The dragon reached down and picked him up.

"Hey, it's okay, little guy. She's just under a spell. We'll bring her back."

The bunny buried its face against the scales on his chest. Spike rubbed his back and looked to the others sadly.

"To make her reject everything she used to love..." Pinkie slumped down in her seat. "He must be really special."

Applejack nudged the crook of her foreleg into Pinkie's side. "Would you cut that out?"

"What?" She frowned. "It's gotta be true! Whenever I lose faith in laughter, it's because of something super important to me!"

This caused Applejack and Twilight to glance at one another. The alicorn's gaze drifted over to the yellow back facing her and she reached out a hoof to gently touch her shoulder.

"Fluttershy, did he cast a spell on you... Or did he hurt you that bad? What really happened?"

Her wing twitched to try to push the hoof away, but it was a weak attempt. "Let's just make it to Canterlot." She sighed. "That's all I agreed to."

The others fell into silence and looked out the window, though each one glanced at Fluttershy with worry and uncertainty.

Fluttershy kept her back to them, but Spike could still see her. He watched as she stared down at the floor and hugged the toy to her chest. He watched as her lip trembled and her eyes grew darker. He stroked his claw gently down Angel's back.

"It's going to be okay," he whispered to the bunny. "At least, I think so..."

Chapter 9
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Labyrinth: Return of Discord

Chapter 9

When Twilight stepped off the platform, her hoof slipped and she lost her balance. Her wings stretched out to try to keep herself steady, but it was a lost cause.

"Wh-what?!" She skidded forward and spun in a circle. "What's going on?!" She looked down and gasped.

The cobblestone was covered in slick oil, which bubbled and spat little black droplets onto her purple coat, clinging to her hooves and making it impossible to stay on all fours. She slid into a post and fell forward. Her magic flared and she teleported herself a few feet into the air, wings still stretched to catch her before she could fall.

"Girls! Be careful. Something is wrong here!"

Her magic strained against the bubbling oil. It quivered, trembled, and ultimately split to make a safe path through for the others.

"Hurry!"

Spike, Pinkie, and Applejack ran forward, taking the path that led them through and away from the oil. Fluttershy stood there a moment before trotting after them, her head hung low.

Once they had all made it to the grassy area where there was no oil, Twilight dropped her magic and the oil quickly moved to reclaim its territory. She lowered herself to land beside them.

"He's already taking over. Spike, do you have any idea where Rarity is?"

Spike was momentarily distracted by checking his bag where he had stored Angel. The bunny seemed perfectly fine, albeit a little jostled by the run. He looked back up at Twilight. "Well, knowing her..." His gaze fell. "She's probably wherever a stallion is."

Fluttershy snickered. "Of course she is. Poor Spikey-wikey," she mocked in an exaggerated attempt at Rarity's voice. "You'll never be good enough for Rarity, superstar designer."

"Fluttershy!" Applejack glared at the pegasus, who stuck her tongue out in return.

Spike sighed heavily. "It's all right, Applejack. I mean, she's right, so..." He tried to smile. "The kind of stallions she likes are at the castle, and that's where we need to be, anyway."

Twilight gave him a consoling hug with her foreleg around the neck, then ran up the grassy hill. "We have no time to lose! We have to-"

"Have to what?" Applejack followed and also skidded to a halt.

"Oh! Oh, is this a new kind of game? My turn! Have to what what?" When Pinkie crested the hill, her bouncing ceased. She stared with slack-jawed, stunned surprise. "Uh oh..."

Spike tentatively climbed the hill. When he, too, froze at the top, Fluttershy rolled her eyes.

"It can't be that bad," she muttered and lifted herself off the ground with a gentle flap of her wings. She floated upward and, upon spying the castle made of swiss cheese, broke out into laughter.

The others glanced up at her with surprise, then were surprised that they were surprised. Twilight sighed and started through the town, avoiding the oil-covered roads as best she could.

"Help, Princess!" cried a Canterlot citizen. "I can't stop dancing!"

"You- haha! - can't stop dancing - hehe! I can't stop - snirk - laughing! Hahaha!"

Pinkie surveyed the citizens afflicted with her favorite activities: singing,dancing, laughing, baking, and more. A grin broke across her face. "Did you say this Discord guy was bad? 'Cause he sure seems like a pony who likes to par-tay!"

"Pinkie, please be serious!" Twilight looked at the pink pony with a small frown. "Do they look happy?"

The pony's grin deflated some. "I guess not..." Her gaze fell. "But aren't these the things I make people do?" She sat down with infected realization. "Aren't I just as bad as him?"

Applejack groaned. "Not you, too!" She reared up and pushed Pinkie over in a fit of frustration. "Ya don't force anypony into laughin'! They do it 'cause they want to! It's completely different, all right?"

Pinkie blinked a few times, then giggled and squirmed on her back in the grass. "Hey! Did you guys realize?" She rolled over to lie on her stomach. "This isn't grass! It's candy grass!"

"Candy... grass?" Spike reached down to pluck a leaf of the grass and ate it. "She's right! It's sweet!"

"We don't have time for this! We have to find Discord and put a stop to this!"

"Oh, okie-dokie!" Pinkie got up after taking a big bite of the grass. She followed after the others, bouncing around to take a bite of everything in search of more candy.

Fluttershy floated above them. Her head turned this way and that to survey the results of Discord's magic with a smug grin. "Well, it's nice to see that he's having a good time." Her grin fell and she began to lower as her flapping grew weaker. "It is nice... that he's happy..." She landed a little harder than expected. "That's all I wanted..."

In the castle, Discord was haphazardly splayed across Celestia's throne.

"I'm so bored!" he whined. He writhed and scratched his talons along the arm of the throne, then flopped to lie on his stomach. "I've won, so why am I bored?"

"Because you've won nothing, Discord, and you know this to be true," Celestia said with bitterness in her voice from her spot a safe distance away. Her horn and legs were encased in green gelatin.

Luna was beside her, almost fully surrounded by the gelatin save for her face so that she could breathe. He was chaotic, but not that cruel.

"Twilight and her friends will arrive soon and they have the Elements of Harmony with them. You will be defeated again."

"Oh, but Tia!" He slid off the throne and floated over to her. "That would require all of her friends to be in the right state of mind, and... Oh, you don't know, do you?" He snickered. "Yes, you were too busy to notice, weren't you..."

Celestia narrowed her eyes. "Notice what, Discord? What have you done?"

"What have I done?" He put a paw to his chest. He hovered upside-down in front of her. "What have I done? I'm not the one that filled her head with sweet little sugarplums." He reached out and stroked her cheek with his claw. "Don't think I couldn't sense it. You tried to make her forget, didn't you?"

The alicorn's gaze flickered away. Guilt lurked in their endless depths and he grinned.

"I did what I thought was necessary," she said in a low voice. "It was for her protection. I had to keep her calm so that-"

"So that she wouldn't free me. But you led her straight to me, and now here I am."

The flaps of cheese that replaced the doors to the throne room flew open. Twilight stood at the front of the group, her chest heaving with ragged breaths.

"And there they are!" He stretched his arms outward to gesture to the ponies. "Your valiant rescuers!" He snapped his talons.

He disappeared and reappeared in the middle of the group. His arms snaked through the air, wrapped around each of their necks, and pulled them all in for a big hug.

He grinned at Celestia. "Do you notice now, Celestia? Do you see it now?" He hugged them closer despite their struggling.

Twilight's horn started to glow, but he clicked his tongue.

"Tsk, tsk, little princess. Twilight, I believe?" With another snap of his talons, her horn turned into a banana, which he plucked from her forehead. "Let's keep our magic to ourselves."

After recovering from the shock of losing her horn, Twilight scowled. "And what about your magic, Discord?"

"My magic?" Discord asked with mock offense in his voice. He let go of them and floated up into the air. "It's not magic. It's chaos! Completely different." He peeled the banana to take a bite. "Besides, that's the least of your concerns, don't you think?"

Twilight didn't take her eyes off him. "What does that mean?"

"There are six Elements, but I only see three ponies."

Spike frowned. "And a dragon!"

Discord rolled his eyes. "And an inconsequential dragon. So what does that mean?"

A silent moment passed before Twilight lifted her head high to scowl at him. "What have you done with Rainbow Dash and Rarity?"

"They're safe. For now." He teleported to sit on the throne again.

"That throne is not yours to sit on!" She stomped a hoof.

"Ooh, is that your royal Canterlot voice? I'm trembling!" He wobbled like gelatin, then broke into laughter. "That hardly reached across the room, Princess!"

Twilight growled, then looked at the trapped princesses. Her ears fell back. "Princesses!"

"Do not worry for us, Twilight. You must find your friends."

"That's quite enough out of you." His talons snapped and an oversized ribbon appeared. It wrapped itself tight around her snout. "Now, then, Twilight. What do you think you can do without your magic and without your friends? Without all of that, what use are you?"

Pinkie bounced forward to stand at Twilight's side. "Hey now! You're being an even bigger meanie than Fluttershy, and she's pretty mean right now!"

Discord's lips curled into a grin. "Yes, where is the little pegasus?"

Applejack looked over her shoulder. "Now where in tarnation did she wander off to?"

"Why don't you all have a nice cup of tea while I go find her?" A gignatic teacup appeared and the princesses, the ponies, and Spike were teleported inside. "Play nice, everyone!"

The teacup was a third of the way full with gelatin, each one of them up to their chins. Applejack struggled with all of her farm-raised might, but it was no use.

Though they couldn't see it, they heard the snap and knew he had disappeared.

Elsewhere in the castle, Fluttershy had found the room she had stayed in the night prior. She walked out onto the balcony. As she gazed out over the royal gardens and the hedge maze beyond it, her head fell and her eyes closed.

"Well, hello my dear!"

Fluttershy flinched, but didn't open her eyes. "What do you want?"

"Only to check on you, of course. Your dear little friends are worried about you." He slid through the air and put a paw to her chin to lift her head, but she jerked away from him. "Now, that's not very nice."

She took a step away from him. "You have what you want."

"Yes, I do, don't I!" He lowered himself to stand on the ground. With a regal pose, one arm behind his back and the other across his chest, he gazed out from the balcony. "I am quite pleased. Not even a day out of that prison and I already rule Canterlot! It won't be long before I have Equestria."

"And that..." Her voice faltered. "That's what you want?"

Discord conjured a glass of chocolate milk. "Of course. It's what I've always wanted."

Fluttershy made a strange sound that caused his confidence to waver. It was a meek, strangled sob. She covered her face with her hoof.

"Why me?" she asked in a soft voice. "Why did you have to use me?"

"Isn't it obvious? I needed someone so foolishly kind that they would believe anything I wanted them to." He turned his head to look at her, but saw that she was gone. "Fluttershy?" He stepped through the drapes into the room which was equally empty. "I-" He choked.

A throb of pain shot through his chest, unlike anything he had felt before.

His paw raised to his chest and his claw grabbed the nearest drape, yanking it from the wall. He growled and threw the cloth to the ground. "What was that? Am I having a heart attack?!" He took a few slow, deep breaths. "I can't have a heart attack... Can I?"

Chapter 10
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Labyrinth: Return of Discord

Chapter 10

Once he was calm, Discord closed his eyes. He slowed his heartbeat simply by willing it. The air around him seemed to hold still, waiting for him to move, for an exhaled breath to push it into a current, but for that moment he did nothing.

His heart squeezed. Tha- In that beat, he sensed her. She was running out of the castle into the garden. His heart squeezed again to push the blood through. -thump.

As his eyes opened, he was no longer in the castle, but floating in the air. He looked down to see her below. Her pale, hardly pink hair ruffled in the wind as she ran across the candy grass toward the chocolate maze. His brow knitted together as he watched her with curiosity.

"Where are you going, little pegasus?" he asked softly and slithered through the air to follow her.

She hesitated outside the once-hedges. Her trembling legs shook before she collapsed and cried. Her salty tears clung to the sugary green licorice, causing it to melt and grow sticky. When she felt it get stuck in her coat, she shook one leg to try to shake it off, and when it clung to her she just dropped the leg back down.

This confused Discord further and he landed quietly behind her. "And what are you trying to accomplish by running away, exactly?" When she didn't move, he nudged her with one hoof. "Come now, it really is no fun if you don't at least try. Your friends certainly expect you to join them to defeat me, after all."

Fluttershy curled up. Bits of green got stuck in her mane and tail, which she wrapped around herself. "I don't want to defeat you."

Confusion was no longer the word to describe how he felt. Despite his feelings, he continued on as normal and lifted his feet off the ground to sit on the air. A notebook and a pencil appeared in his paw and claw while a sofa appeared beneath Fluttershy.

"Hmm. And how long have you been feeling this way?"

Finally, she looked at him. It was hard to decide on how to react once he saw her face. Although she was crying, sticky globs of candy grass were smeared on her cheeks and snout. He just grinned lopsidedly.

She returned his grin with a frown. "I hate you."

The grin fell.

"What?"

"I hate you," she repeated, her voice louder this time. She stepped off the couch. "I hate you for making me care about you!"

His brow furrowed. "But that's what evil villains do, my dear. They lie."

"I... I felt so guilty for rejecting you, and-"

A twitch coursed through him. Nearby, a bird turned into a waffle, which fell from the sky and landed on her head. The tense moment was broken by Discord's laughter. He regained his composure quickly, however, and wiped a tear from his eye.

"Oh, sweet little Fluttershy." He tossed the notebook and pencil and moved closer to her. "Why should you feel guilty? You followed my plan exactly."

She stared up at him. Her eyes were cold and dark. The near-empty stare chilled him to the bone and he withdrew as though he had been bitten, a startled look on his face.

The heavy fog around his mind lifted from that stare that seemed to bore into his soul. He blinked a few times as he felt the freedom to think without his own laughter echoing in his ears. Chaos magic was powerful, but it came at a heavy cost: sanity.

Briefly, he recalled how she once was days ago. No, moons. Time was such a fickle thing when trapped within the confines of one's own mind. He tried to look at her and see the mare she had been when he brought her into his realm of chaos, which had been carefully reconstructed from her memories.

He scowled. She was so different, and suddenly, he hated it. He snapped and the beautiful white dress from the ballroom wrapped itself around her. Ribbons pulled themselves through her mane and the silver trinkets dangled from the woven tresses.

"There. That's better." He paused, then his scowl darkened. It wasn't better.

Her previously canary yellow coat was almost as pale as the dress. She looked down at the dress in confusion and disgust. What had happened to that gentle blush when he had first conjured it for her, or the way she looked in the mirror and gasped with awe?

The chaos within him started to churn. The clarity of his mind started to fade. His lips twitched slowly into a smile as he lost control again. He laughed and waved his hand, the dress turning into a straitjacket that wrapped tightly around her, causing her to fall to the ground without the use of her forelegs.

"Well, my dear, this has been fun, I must say!" He loomed over her as she struggled against the jacket. "But I have a kingdom to rule, after all."

She looked up at him with anger. Frustration. Sadness.

The last one wrenched his heart and he reacted out of instinct to the pain. He growled and teleported himself away.

The straitjacket seemed to loosen its grip before it disappeared, but Fluttershy remained still. She stared at the horizon she could see from where she laid on the ground, then slowly closed her eyes.

"No more tears," she muttered to herself. "Come on, Fluttershy. Get yourself together."

Her foreleg trembled as she raised a hoof and planted it firmly on the ground. She started to lift herself up with great strain, then fell back down. The weight of her own depression was too heavy, but she was out of tears.

"Oh, who am I kidding? It's useless. I'm useless. I cared about a monster. Now Equestria is doomed, and it's all my fault."

The last bit of color that still lingered in her coat faded, leaving her in a monochrome state of different shades of grey.

In the castle, Discord reappeared in the throne room near the teacup. He took a deep breath and roared, "Celestia! I know this is your doing!"

He threw his claw forward and shattered the teacup, all of the ponies - and the dragon - inside falling to the floor. The shattered bits of the china and gelatin melted away into the stone floor. The ribbon still around Celestia's snout unwrapped itself and fluttered away.

Discord paced around them with a predator's hunger. His eyes were narrowed and a sneer was on his lips.

"What happened, Discord?" Celestia held her head high with regal grace. "What did you do?"

"I do? What did I do? No, Celestia, I am asking what did you do!" He stormed up to her. "Are you messing with my mind, just as you messed with Fluttershy's?"

Twilight and the others looked at the princess with confusion, save for Luna, who looked away with knowing guilt.

Celestia's gaze didn't waver, nor did she flinch back when Discord drew near. "I cannot do such a thing. You are the one who trapped my magic, after all."

He twitched. He pulled away and started to pace again, then laughed. "Of course! The other unicorn must have recovered and done this."

He snapped and a cage with Rainbow Dash and a sullen Rarity appeared. At the sight of her, his laughter faded.

"Rainbow! Rarity!" Twilight tried to run toward them, but Discord put a paw on her head and stopped her. "Discord, let them go!"

"No. Not until one of you reverses what you've done." He snapped them all into the cage, which grew in size to accommodate them, and snapped himself to the throne. He tapped his talons against his paw pads. "And you all can just stay in time out until one of you fesses up."

Twilight embraced Rainbow Dash and Rarity.

"I'm so glad you two are all right!"

Applejack eyed the grey unicorn. "I'm not so sure 'bout that, Twilight. Looks like Rarity's sufferin' from whatever Discord did to Fluttershy."

Discord flinched. "Me?" He smiled with innocence. "I didn't do that to her. She did that to herself!"

Twilight stepped to the bars to make eye contact with him. "Of course you did it to her! You're the one that begged her to love you! What did you expect to happen when you broke her heart?"

"Broke... her... heart?" he repeated slowly, as though she spoke a foreign language. "Broke her heart? Now, isn't that a bit over-dramatic?" He tapped his talons on the arm of the throne.

"Discord," Celestia interrupted in a soft voice that was somehow louder than all of theirs. "What exactly are you afflicted with that you believe one of us caused?"

Discord's gaze flickered to meet hers. He grinned. "You want to know, dear Tia?" He snapped.

Celestia cried out suddenly and her knees buckled. She dropped to the floor of the cage.

"Celestia!"

Twilight and her friends, save for the depressed Rarity, moved toward her, but Luna was there before any of them.

"Sister!" She put both of her hooves on Celestia's. "Sister, are you all right?!" She jerked her head. "What has thou done?!" As she yelled, her royal voice shook the bars of the cage.

"Only what she did to me."

"Reverse what thou has done!"

"No," Celestia said in a weak, trembling voice. She lifted her head. "You are mistaken, Discord. I know this pain." Despite her tears, she smiled. "Only one pony caused this."

Discord disappeared and reappeared by the cage, grasping the bars. "Then reverse it!"

"I cannot." She put her head over her sister's neck and pulled her close for a comforting hug. "When I felt this pain, the only cure was the return of my sister." She closed her eyes. "You, like Fluttershy, are suffering heartbreak."

Silence fell on the room.

Pinkie was unsurprisingly the one to interrupt it with a cheer. "I was right! I said he was Fluttershy's special somepony!"

They all looked at her in varying expressions, ranging from Celestia's gentle smile to Spike's light disgust to Applejack's annoyed scoff.

"Pinkie, ya never said that!"

"Yeah-huh." She giggled. "I said he was special."

Discord took a few steps away from the cage. "That... would suggest that I cared for that weak little pegasus!" He laughed. He grabbed his sides and flipped over in the air as his laughter seized his whole body. "Th-the mere... idea of it... You're killing me!"

Rainbow Dash groaned loudly. "Would somepony please fill me in?!" Her wings twitched with irritation. "Your letter said to come here, and when I did, that... that thing trapped me in here with Rarity!" She glanced at the unicorn. "And don't get me started on her!"

Celestia wiped the tears from her eyes and lifted her head. "Discord, where is Fluttershy?"

His laughter ceased. He leaned his head back to look at her upside-down. "Oh, somewhere or another."

The elder princess's gaze remained steady. "Summon her here."

"And why should I do that?"

"Because even without my magic, I can still sense my subjects. And I can no longer sense her presence."

Chapter 11
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Labyrinth: Return of Discord

Chapter 11

Discord's mind went blank for a moment. The other ponies and Spike were yelling, but their voices were distant echoes.

Celestia raised a hoof to silence the others as Discord raised his claw.

Snap.

In a flash of light, Fluttershy appeared in between him and the cage. His hearing returned when she sat up and looked at nothing in particular. He frowned at the inhabitants of the cage.

Twilight stared at the monochrome pegasus. "Oh, Fluttershy..."

"It's quite impolite to lie, you know, Celestia!" He lowered to the ground and walked over to Fluttershy. "Look, she's quite alive."

Celestia shook her head. "Can you look at her and say that again, Discord?"

Discord glanced at the pegasus. She continued to stare straight ahead. "She's alive." He leaned down closer to her. "You're alive." He looked back at the princess. "There, I said it."

"I was not lying." She stood and walked to the bars. "I cannot sense her. She has given up, and now she is gone."

"Forever?" Pinkie whimpered.

"Forever?" Discord echoed softly. He coiled around the pegasus and tried to meet her gaze. "No. This is a trick. You're just trying to make me give up the throne!"

Celestia gave a heavy sigh. "I believed that keeping her from you was the way to save her, but I see now that the opposite is true. I am sorry, Twilight." She looked at the young alicorn. "I am to blame for this."

Applejack tried to distract herself by shaking Rarity. Spike did his best to help console Twilight. Luna hugged her sister. Rainbow Dash remained confused by the whole situation, which irritated her, so she kicked one of the bars.

Pinkie leaned against the bars. "Kiss her!" She grinned. "You're her prince, so kiss her!"

Discord looked at the pink pony with a frown. "I am and will do no such thing."

Twilight's head lifted rather suddenly. "That gives me an idea!" She jumped to her hooves and looked up at Celestia with hope. "Fluttershy is this way because her heart is broken, right?" She started to beam. "Then maybe Cadence can help!"

The elder princess raised one brow. "I do not think her magic will be of use."

"Of course it will! I've seen it do amazing things!" She looked back at Discord. "Discord, you have to take Fluttershy to the Crystal Empire to see Cadence!"

"Take who to the what?" He frowned.

Twilight rolled her eyes. "Just go!"

"But how can I- Oh, right." Rather anticlimactically, he snapped and both he and Fluttershy disappeared.

Discord took a moment to look around his new surroundings. He whistled. "Well, this is... different. The Crystal Empire, huh?" He grinned. "I'll have to keep this place in mind for when I take over Equestria."

"For when you what?"

His head twisted at an impossible angle to look at an alicorn standing behind him and he frowned. "What? More alicorns? Tia and Luna sure must have been busy!"

The pink alicorn's cheeks reddened. He sensed her magic flare and he jumped to his feet, paw and claw displayed in a sign of peace.

"Hey, hey, I'm here on official business!"

The alicorn raised her head and eyed him with suspicion. "What sort of..." She gasped when she saw Fluttershy behind him. "Fluttershy?!" She ran forward. "What has happened to her?!"

"That's what I want to know." He rolled his eyes. His arms crossed over his chest. "I was minding my own business, when Tia said something about a 'broken heart'." He looked at her. "I suppose you're Cadence."

"Princess Mi Amore Cadenza." She looked at him with growing suspicion. "Who exactly are you?"

"Who am I?" He feigned shock. "Why, I am the magnificent, the glorious, the wonderful Discord, spirit of chaos!"

"And why are you here?"

His superior air faded and he slumped forward. "Because Tia told me to."

She stepped toward him and pressed her horn to his chest.

"Hey, watch where you point that thing!"

Her eyes narrowed. "Why did Princess Celestia send you and not Twilight?"

"Because... Well, you see..." A tuxedo appeared on his torso and he tugged at the tight collar. "My, my, it's awfully hot in here! Have you thought about opening some windows?"

The room they were standing in had floor to ceiling openings to the outside. A breeze swept through as if to accentuate that fact.

"Well, if you must know." The tuxedo disappeared. "Twilight and her little friends are trapped, and I was the only one who could bring poor little Fluttershy to you."

Cadence's suspicion remained in place, but she returned to Fluttershy's side. "What exactly happened to her?"

"What's with all the questions? Just fix her so I can take her back!"

"Discord..." She nosed her head under one of Fluttershy's forelegs. "Help me carry her to the couch."

"Carry her? Why would I do that when she's already on the couch?"

Cadence blinked, a little startled when the pegasus disappeared and reappeared. She looked over at the draconequus with a light frown. "Now, would you like to explain exactly what is going on?"

He returned her frown with a strained smile. "Is it necessary to fixing her?"

She eyed him up and down, then raised a hoof to point at him as realization spread across her face. "Did... you break her heart?"

The smile fell. He put his paw to his chest. "What is with you ponies and your accusations! All I did was merely fool her, use her, and leave her. Now, how is any of that a cause for a broken heart?"

She stared at him.

He stared back.

"Are you serious?"

"Hardly ever, but I'm not sure what that has to do with this." He leaned back into the air and floated above the ground.

She sighed and walked over to sit on the couch. She lifted Fluttershy's head, put it in her lap, and stroked the light grey mane. "Discord, why don't you have a seat."

"I'm fine where I am, thank you."

"Then I hope you are comfortable, because there is a lot to discuss. First... I can't 'fix' her."

He frowned and inclined his head. "Then why did they send me to you?"

"Because I am the princess of love."

There was a pause before he asked in a voice mocking hers, "Are you serious?"

"Yes." She gently coaxed the sticky green candy out of the pegasus's coat. "I am."

"Well, then that makes you rather useless, doesn't it?" He snorted. "She's not in love."

"No, you're right." A soft sigh escaped her. "But she could have been." Her hoof lowered to touch the barely moving chest. "I can sense the seed of love within her, but it is crippled. Something has corrupted it, and her."

His gaze darted away. He idly picked at his paw. "And I suppose you're going to blame me for that corruption."

"Shouldn't I?" Her horn glowed and a light blue aura surrounded the pegasus in her lap.

Discord couldn't help but turn his head to watch as the magic aura fluctuated, then lifted into the air. Music flowed from it. Music from the ballroom. His face appeared in varying hues of blue, looking down, clearly from her perspective.

"This is where it started." She looked at him with a small frown. "Surely you remember this."

"I..." He trailed off.

The sudden burst of emotion chased away the buzzing in his head and for a moment, he only heard the gentle music swaying through the room. Slowly, he lowered to the floor.

"As the world falls down," he murmured as his vision sang the words.

He shook his head and reeled back, paw and claw raising to grab his forehead.

"No!" A low growl erupted in his chest. "What are you doing?"

"I am not doing anything other than showing you." The blue aura started to fade. "That is where the love in her heart began."

Just before it faded completely, it lifted from Fluttershy and shot through the air, encircling Discord.

"Now, what about you? Celestia would not send you if you were not involved."

"What are you- Hey, that tickles!" He tried to wave the glittering aura away, but it was too late.

A soft, warm embrace squeezed him tight, then shot through his chest and came out the other side. There was no pain, however; only warmth. He turned to look at where it escaped from him and saw darkness. He frowned.

"See? There is no 'seed of love'. It's just black."

Cadence frowned. "Black? Why would you see nothing?"

"Oh." He waved his paw dismissively. "Well, I've been trapped in stone for a thousand years or so. That may have something to do with it." He paused, then gave a vigorous shake of his head and turned to look at her. "Oh, look at me, following along with your little game! Are you trying to suggest that I have a little-" He waved his paw and claw to gesture air quotes. "- 'seed of love' in me, too?"

Before she could respond, sound fell out of the blue and black aura floating behind him.

"My love, I have seen you in the middle of a dream

My love, such a sweet dream is an omen of love

Let us refuse, both of us, that our hereafter be dreary and grey

We will await our hour of joy

You, my destiny, I will know to love you

I have dreamed it..."

Discord slumped forward. His gaze fell to the floor.

Of course he remembered that enchanting, delicate voice which had wandered into his dark loneliness from such a distance. It had taken all of his trapped energy to seek it out, to hear more, but by the time he had found it, the singing had stopped.

The memory of the voice continued.

"Oh, good morning Angel Bunny."

He remembered how much he seethed to hear that voice talking to something else. He had at that moment hated whomever 'Angel Bunny' was.

"I'm sorry, did I wake you? I was just singing... Oh, yes, I'll get your breakfast ready right away."

Chaos magic had originally driven him mad. Centuries of nothing but his own thoughts, his own insane rambling, trapped and unable to release the turmoil boiling within him... It all had driven him madder. And yet that voice, somewhere in the distance, calmed him. It stilled the raging disorder of his mind.

For a length of time that was unknown to him, he strained against the magic that trapped him until he found a way to her. He had wanted to bring that calming presence into his madness.

His chest burned with the emotions that stirred there.

But she had rejected him. She had turned him away. Was he supposed to simply forgive her?

His gaze lifted from the ground and moved across the floor, raising until it landed on the weak pegasus.

The better question was, how could he not?

Chapter 12
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Labyrinth: Return of Discord

Chapter 12

"Discord?" Cadence asked softly, pulling him back to the current moment. "Do you want to talk about it?"

He gritted his teeth and swiped at the floating aura with his tail, dispersing it. "And how would a princess of love understand loneliness?"

She looked down at Fluttershy with a sad smile. "There are many misunderstandings regarding my magic. I spent my fair share of years with an unrequited love at a distance, too."

He eyed her with wary suspicion. His arms crossed over his chest. "Then, to the more pressing matter... How does any of this help Fluttershy?"

"She has lost her faith, Discord. Fluttershy is the Element of Kindness. It is in her very soul." Her eyes narrowed. "I don't know exactly what you did, but it's clear you destroyed the very one thing she believed in above all else."

"You want me to believe that simply because I hurt her delicate little feelings, all of this happened?!" He gestured wildly at her. "That's preposterous!"

"Then leave and forget about her."

"I..." There was a brief pause. "I can't do that."

This gave her a bit of hope. "Why not?"

He said nothing. He stepped forward and crouched down to the floor, reaching out his paw toward Fluttershy. "Because I, well." He moved her mane out of her face. "Because."

They all sat in silence. Finally, Discord lifted himself back up.

"Use your magic."

Cadence raised her brow. "Excuse me?"

"Use your magic on me, I said!" He stretched his arms out to the sides and braced himself. "If you make me love her, then she'll be happy, right?"

"Well, I- I don't know about that, but I can't do that."

"I thought you were the princess of love!"

"I told you." She shook her head. "There are misunderstandings about my magic, and that is one of them. I cannot simply change someone's free will and force them into love. As cliche as it may sound, love is a flower... It cannot be forced to grow."

"Of course it can." He snapped and a flowerpot appeared. Out from the soil popped a white daisy, which waved a leaf at her. "See? I forced it to grow."

She paused, then smiled lopsidedly. "Well, yes, I suppose you're right, but it's not a real flower, now is it? It took no effort or time. You have no attachment to it or reason to care for it. I can't just force you to be in love, Discord. It's something you have to choose for yourself."

"It's not that easy!" he roared.

The rage surged through him. He growled and flung the flowerpot at the wall, then watched as the shattered pieces and dirt disappeared. The flower remained and, with a twitch of one of his talons, it jumped up onto its roots and ran away. It wasn't enough. He raised his paw and faced the couch. A wicked grin spread across his lips and the cushions turned into balloons.

"Discord!" Cadence cried. The balloon she was on separated her from Fluttershy, who was draped over another balloon. "What are you doing?!"

"Why, I'm showing you, just like you showed me, Princess!" He clicked his tongue and examined his talons idly. "It's impossible for a monster like me."

"Does Fluttershy think you're a monster?" She stared at him.

The balloons froze. Time itself seemed to freeze, but clearly it did not, as a distant clock chimed rather ominously, and he remembered to breathe.

Her stare seemed to go right through him. He turned away to shield himself from it.

"How could she not? Look what I've done to her! If she doesn't think I'm a monster, then she's an idiot."

Cadence hopped down from her balloon. With her magic, she lifted Fluttershy up and lowered her back down to the ground. "They say love is blind, but I know better." She started to walk to the door. "True love is not blind at all. It sees everything of another: their faults, their flaws, their mistakes... and accepts them." She paused just at the doorway. "I cannot help you, Discord, if you're not willing to help yourself."

"Fine, then leave!" he whined with an exaggerated, nasal voice and stomped a foot. "Poor little princess, afraid of a challenge!" He rolled his eyes.

The suspended balloons turned back into cushions and fell onto the couch. He stepped toward Fluttershy. He hesitated.

"Oh, come on, Discord. You've done scarier things." He scooped her up with both arms and set her back on the couch.

At their new level of closeness, he discovered something new about her.

It was faint, likely because she had spent so much time crying into the candy grass, but as he breathed he inhaled the distinct scent of strawberries.

He took a deep breath and held it. His eyes closed as he exhaled, then they snapped back open and he glanced around. Once. Twice. Three times, just to be certain.

"Well, it probably can't hurt..." He leaned in and placed a quick, light kiss on her lips, quickly withdrawing. He stared down at her, eyes wide.

Nothing happened.

"Idiot. You're no prince."

His body twisted so that he could lean his back against the couch, staring out into the room with a sour expression, arms crossed over his chest.

Unbeknownst to him, Cadence stuck her head back into the room. It took everything that she had not to giggle so that she remained undetected. Her horn glowed for a moment, producing a stream of little red hearts that fluttered silently through the air. One by one, they landed on Fluttershy's lips like little droplets of rain. The pink marks left behind glowed, then started to expand in size to encompass her whole frame. Cadence quickly disappeared around the corner right as Discord detected the magic.

"What was-" He froze when he looked over his shoulder and spied Fluttershy. "What?!" He stared in awe as the pink turned to yellow on her coat and a darker shade of pink on her mane until she was her normal colors again. "... What?!"

Cadence finally released the bottled up giggle once she was a safe distance down the hall. As if on cue, Shining Armor came around the hall and smiled at the sight of his beloved.

"Cadence?" They brushed their necks together in a loving embrace. "What has you in such a good mood?"

She beamed at him with clearly feigned innocence. "Me? Oh, just the magic of love."

He raised one eyebrow. "Is that so?" He smiled. "Well, why don't you tell me all about it after our meeting with the Trottingham representatives?"

"Certainly." She walked alongside him. "I think you'll enjoy this story."

Inside the room, Discord was still frozen in place. The glow faded, leaving Fluttershy as she once was, and slowly, her eyes fluttered open. "H-huh?" She blinked a few more times. "Where am I?"

Their gazes met and Fluttershy gasped. Finally, Discord broke out of his dumbfounded stupor and jumped to his feet, exclaiming, "I am a prince!"

"What?" Her gentle voice soothed him. "What happened?"

He cleared his throat. "Well, that depends on what you remember last."

"Remember... ?" Her gaze flickered away.

He caught a glimpse of sadness and regret in her eyes just before she looked away, one he couldn't let linger. He couldn't risk having her disappear again.

"Ah, it doesn't matter! What matters now is that you're here, safe and sound." He stretched his arms out behind him. "And the timing couldn't be better!" A sincere smile crossed his lips and he extended his claw to her. "Rule Equestria with me, Fluttershy."

"R-r-rule Equestria?!" She jerked her head up to stare at him with wide eyes. "Discord! You can't do that!"

The smile fell, as did his claw. "Why not? I already have Canterlot. The hard part is already over."

"Because..." The sad look crossed her face again and remained in place. "If you do, you'll be put back in stone."

"Not with you by my side, Fluttershy. Without the Element of Kindness, nothing can stop me!"

"Discord, please." Her forelegs tucked closer to her chest. "Don't make me choose between you and my friends, again."

He scowled. He turned on his goat hoof and faced his back to her. His tail lashed somewhat violently. "Choose? Oh, it was so easy for you to choose before! Why would it be any harder now?"

She gave a strangled cry as she lunged forward off the couch and wrapped her forelegs around his middle. "Because I- I really-" Hiccups kept interrupting her words. "I really care- about you!"

There was a hesitant pause. He had thought Cadence's magic was what a hug felt like, but it was nothing like the real thing. His eyes closed to briefly enjoy the embrace before he murmured, "Then choose me."

Her tears were hot against his back. "But how c-can I trust you?"

The warmth of the embrace was overtaken by a frigid pang through his chest. He had no response, and she knew it.

"I know h-how lonely you were, Discord. I'm lonely, too." She let go of him and dropped down onto all fours to walk around him and meet his distant gaze. "I still love my friends. But they've all moved on with their lives..." Her ears fell to the sides. "I'll be the one to ask you this time, Discord." One of her hooves raised toward him. "Equestria, or me."

His gaze lowered to her hoof. Of its own accord, his paw twitched toward her, but he stopped it with his claw. "You expect me to choose between ruling an entire kingdom and... You? A meek little pegasus of no real consequence?"

She flinched from his words. Despite, her hoof remained in the air. "Yes."

They stared at one another, her with hope in her eyes, and him with suspicion. He felt the bubbling of magic stirring in him, and before he lost his mind, he grabbed her hoof. "You win." His claw raised and snapped.

Back in Canterlot, the cage disappeared. The castle returned to its non-dairy appearance. The oil seeped into the ground and the grass became plant material again. Even Rarity was her normal self again, though that was more due to Applejack's stubborn reassurances. All was put back in its proper place.

"There," he said. "I've removed all of my wonderful chaos. Happy?"

"Yes, thank you." Rather suddenly, she frowned and pulled her hoof away. "But don't think you're off the hook, mister! You caused an awful lot of pain and trouble."

He looked at her with surprise that was both sincere and playful. "I don't know what you're talking about!"

Fluttershy's eyes narrowed. She flapped her wings to raise herself up to his height. "I may forgive you, but that doesn't mean I've forgotten what you've done. You'll have to work hard for me to call you my friend."

"F-friend?!" His whole frame wobbled with disbelief. "I gave up Equestria... and you just want to be friends?!"

She blushed and said in the softest voice, "Well, I mean... For now..."

He groaned. "This is not what I agreed to!"

Her blush growing a deeper shade of red, she glanced down at the floor. "I-I just..." She tapped her hooves together. "I want to be sure I can trust you first. Okay?"

There was a faint hint of a blush under his grey-brown coat and he scowled. He felt irritated, which riled him up and would only lead to something bad happening.

However, before he had a chance to lose control, she leaned in and pecked him on the cheek. The storm inside settled and he waved his arms wildly.

"Oh, fine! Fine! Have it your way!" He turned away from her to smile in private. "I'll play nice. For now."

Fluttershy gracefully descended. "I know you will." She nuzzled her head against his back, this time with a smile instead of tears. "Thank you, Discord." She paused, then withdrew and touched her hoof to her snout. "Oh, dear..."

"Now what!"

"I don't know how Angel Bunny will-"

That dreaded name hit him like a ton of bricks and he spun around, waving his claw. Her mouth was replaced by a zipper, which zipped shut to muffle the rest of her sentence.

"Mmf? Mmfmf!" She narrowed her eyes and pointed a hoof at her face. "Mmfmfmm mff?!"

Discord smiled sweetly. "I'm sorry, my dear, you'll have to speak up." He put his paw to his ear. "Hmm?"

"Mmff!"

"You what? You wonder how that nasty little rabbit will do living on his own once you kick him out?"

"Mm?!"

"Oh, I'm sure he'll be fine. You'll be fine as well. After all, you have me to take his place!"

Fluttershy sighed through her nose and shook her head. The zipper of a mouth lifted into a small smile.

It would take a while, and it would take effort, but deep in her heart she knew things would eventually work out.