Children of the Night

Chapter 13

Discord

In one of the dungeons cells, a grey stone statue stood, an expression of disbelief on it's face. The mismatched wings, were extended as if it wanted to flee, while it's claw on one side, and paw on the other were raised in defense. The snake like body was curled up on the end, like a viper in the grass, ready to strike. Everything was quiet in the cell, no guards stood before it, and no camera had been installed to keep watch over the mismatched thing... Why should they? It was just a statue....right?

A cracking sound ran through the cell, as loud as a thunderclap in the stillness. Small chunks of the statue began to fall to the ground, as a living being came into view beneath the stone, that matched the image of the now destroyed statue.

Discord stretched his limbs... It had only been a few weeks this time, but being turned to stone always made him stiff all over. He chuckled at this.

"Stiff all over!"

He broke out in loud laughter, rolling on the floor while clutching his belly. For a few minutes he continued to roll around, until his attention was drawn to the events, that had led to him being turned in the first place. Five weeks ago, he had found his first friend ever, and promised never to use his magic to harm anypony ever again.... not to much atleast. Since she wanted to make sure, that he was indeed reformed from his evil ways, Celestia had given him a bracelet. He looked down on his front paw, at the golden bracelet. Embedded in it, where small shards of the jewels of the elements of Harmony.

It was not that she didn't trust Fluttershys oppinion on him, but, or so she had told him, it would be better to be safe then sorry. She would remove the bracelet, once he had proven himself in her eyes. The bracelet was weak, compared to the actual elements, so it could only turn him to stone for so long, but it was still annoying. It was supposed to be a reminder, and a punishmnet, that he was indeed on probation. Discord frowned.... Sure... He had used magic against something that LOOKED like a Pony, but certainly in best intention...

Three weeks prior

Discord was studying friendship reports, in Celestias private library. The Princess had told him that, just because he had managed to make ONE Pony his friend, he was not off the hook yet. He needed to understand what friendship was all about. For that reason he had been stuck in there for days, studying the reports of Twilight Sparkle and Celestias former students on the matter. It was boring... But he really didn't have much choice in the matter. The only Pony he COULD work his magic on, was a Pony that called him a friend, and he would never do something.... fun to Fluttershy. Discord sighed... These last two weeks had been so boring... Celestia was showing him more and more reports of students, she had over the years. He needed something more entertaining for a change. Leaving Celestias room, he made his way to the royal Canterlot library to get a good book.

"There surely is no harm "diving" into a good book for a while..."

He thought as he looked for a funny one on the shelfs. Suddenly he heard somepony swear a few rows down. His annoyance returned in full force. Ofcourse, he was the spirit of chaos, but for Celestias sake, this was a library, something even sacred to him. So he called out to the one who had disturbed the silence.

"This is a library for Celestias sake! Be quiet!"

"Oh... ehm sorry."

Came a weak and irritated reply. He knew the voice, but couldn't place a hoof on it immideatly. So he continued to look at the little Ponies section of the library, looking for a funny story that would fit his tase. Soon, he had found the one he was looking for. A childrens book about his adventures and the chaos he had spread, during his short reign over Equestria. Discord walked back, to the reading room of the library, when another figure passed him. A pure black figure, as big as a fully grown Allicorn, with green eyes and a mane that hang down her face, as if it hadn't been washed in years.

"Oh hi Chrissy!"

"Hello Discord."

The two greeted each other, before both of them stopped in their tracks, their eyes wide in suprise. Almost simuntainusly, they shouted at each other.

"What in the world are YOU doing here?"

"What me? You first!"

"No! YOU first!"

Chrysalis shook her head irritably.

"Stop that Discord. So what is the spirit of disharmony doing here in my capital?"

"Oh I beg your pardon Chryssi, but this is still Celestia and Lunas capital. You'd better get out of here, before they discover you again."

She sighed.

"Where in the hay have you been? Equestria fell to my hooves yesterday. Celestia and Luna are on the run. I am now the ruler of Equestria."

Discord needed a moment to process, what Chrysalis had said. Celestia on the run? That was bad. He had suffered a little under her, for the last two weeks, and had more then once tried to get his reign over Equestria back from her, but this wasn't good. Especially one point made the usually cheerfull Discord look at the Changeling Queen, as if he was ready to rip her apart.

"What about the elements of Harmony? Have you harmed them?"

"Oh you don't have to worry, Discord. As long as you don't threaten my reign, you can roam free once again. I don't care about your chaos. The elements won't be able to harm you ever again."

"What have you done with them?"

Even the sometimes pretty dense Chrysalis now heard the anger in his tone. Without meaning to do it, she took a few steps back. What was going on? She knew Discord. He had once caused quite the rucuss in her hive, but it had been entertaining, which is why she didn't expect this reaction from him. Why was he concerned about the elements of harmony?

She gulped. Chrysalis knew that, if it came to a match between the two of them, she would have no chance. Discord was just to powerfull. Even more then Celestia and Luna combined... She decided it would be the best to tell him the truth. Lies were a part of chaos, and he surely would see through it right away.

"Well, they are in the dungeon, undergoing torture like they deserve."

"You did WHAT?"

Discord, usually not one to exchange physical or magical blows, felt something that he had never felt before in his entire life. Boredom, disappointment, amusement... All those feelings he knew, but now he was in rage. His eyes burned, litteraly, the book he had gotten to enjoy himself, lay forgotten on a table nearby.

He snipped his fingers, intending to make Chrysalis talk with his magic, but the moment his spell connected... the Changeling queen had changed herself into a mirror image of Celestia.... The bracelet on his paw had begone to glow, since he had worked his magic against a pony, turning him to stone for a while....

Discord sighed in his cell. He should have known that Chrysalis would have done her homework. But there were more imortant matters now. Where was Flutterhsy? Where were the other elements of Harmony? His magical senses reached out through the walls of his prison. There, a few floors down, he could sense a familiar aura. Using his magic, he vanished into the floor, looking for the familiar presence.

Rarity lay near her sleeping friend, warming her. The dungeons were pretty cold, and Applejack was in pain every moment she was awake. She had tried to call upon some magic atleast, since her horn was not completly gone... it's root had remained, but it had been no use. The amount of magic it could hold, was just not enough anymore. Her coat was bloody, and some of the cuts on her sides had infected themself. The conditions in this prison where far from sanitary afterall....

They got three meals a day and a blanket for each of them, but that was as far as the care they recieved went. Only sometimes two or three of them would come in, torturing her by doing horrible things to her, or stepping on Applejacks still healing legs. They were cruel, and there was absolutly nothing she could to. Once again, she tried to pull some arcane energy into herself. A fire spell came to mind, but only sparks errupted from the stump where her horn had been. She sighed and lay her head back on her forelegs, when she heard a snip, and a brizzeling fire was floating in mid air in front of her. Had she actually succeded? No. There was something else...

"Better?"

Rarity jerked her head around, seeing Discord sticking his head in her cell through one of the walls.

"You! Have you come to mock us aswell? You have something to do with Equestrias fall, have you not?"

Discords heart fell... He could have healed both the injured mares in an instant, but if he did it, he would be turned to stone again, unless they called him their friend and meant it.

"No Rarity... I am a prisoner like you. I want to help you, but you have to trust me."

"Likely story! If you can walk through the walls, why then didn't you come and help us, when they tortured us?"

"Let's just say Celestia took a precaution to prevent me to harm anypony. I got into a fight with Chrysalis and that precaution triggered, turning me to stone..."

Rarity blinked with her remaining eye.

"But then you can help Applejack and the others, if you are free now! So get to it!"

"I can't... Not unless you truely trust me and consider me your friend. THAT is Celestias precaution. If I use my magic on somepony that doesn't, I am turned to stone."

"Fluttershy trusts you. Go help her then! We are in here for so long, I have lost track of time."

"I would... but I can not sense her anywhere... I only sensed you trying to do that firespell. But since you're hurt, you couldn't complete it, so I thought to myself: Discord... you can atleast cast a spell to warm them. It wouldn't be a spell targetting them, but only expose them to warmth."

"But...then you CAN help us."

Discord blinked and thought for a moment. It hit him like a hammerblow. Ofcourse he could help the two. Sure he could not cast any spells ON them but he could cast spells FOR them. He nodded.

With a snip of his fingers, the cell around them changed. There were two beds, a fireplace, a fridge filled with food and a cabinet full of medical supplies. Even a bookshelf with several medical references was summoned by his spell.

"There. Will that be sufficent for now?"

"Well..."

Rarity prodded the floor in front of her with a hoof, clearly uncomfortable that she had accused him before, and now accepting his generosity. She had something on her mind, but didn't want to ask for more.

"Come on. While I am here, is there something else?"

"Well... can you seal that door so they can't get in here again? Also a... shower would be nice..."

Discord looked at the Unicorn in disbelief, and broke out in laughter. With another snip of his fingers, the door to the cell disappeared completly, leaving only a stone wall in it's place. He wouldn't set them free just yet. It wouldn't be good. both mares were clearly in no state to make an escape, nor to fight their way through the dungeons.

Rarity looked up at the Draconis, a tear in her remaining eye.

"Thank you, Discord... Now be on your way... the others will need you more then we do..."

Discord nodded and disappeared into the wall again, but not before hugging the now standing Unicorn and assuring her that everything would be fine. Discord made his was through the dungeon. Cell for Cell he searched. He was eager to find his friend. He was smart, and he had already formed a plan on how he could help the elements of harmony. HE could not cast a spell on them....

He found Pinkie Pie, and Twilight Sparkle in another cell. The elements seemed to be the only occupants of the dungeon, which seemed a big waste of space for him. It was huge, but no other cell he had seen, had been occupied. After providing the two mares with everything they asked for, and also sealing their cells door, he removed the torture belt from Twilight Sparkle. The silencer was beyond what he could do, since it would involve casting a spell on her directly, and he could still see a shimmer of distrust in her eyes. What stroke him as odd however, had been Pinkies request to him. She wasn't as bubbly and energetic as usual, but had asked him for weights for training, and tramplers of the kind the royal guard wore on their hooves. He had shrugged and summoned the items for her, even so he hoped that his favorite after Fluttershy would not actually try to fight the Changelings.

After a few more hours of looking into each cell, Discord finally discovered the mare he had been looking for. She lay in the corner of her cell, her coat dirty from dried blood. She was sleeping obviously. In another corner, there were some animals resting on a shallowly breathing skyblue Pegasus he also knew. From the stink of rot and the dried wings, that hang in a corner of the room, he could deduct what must have happend here. For some reason unknown to him, Rainbow Dash had torn off her wings. He shivered at the thought. Both mares looked like they had barely gotten any food, and as he touched the sweating Rainbow Dash, he felt that she had high fever. He frowned. This was more then cruel... He could have erased the infection from her body in an instant, had it not been for the restraint Celestia had put on him.

The noise of him moving around, was enough to wake up Fluttershy, who immideatly looked up, ready to defend herself. The look Discord saw in her eyes, made his heart ache. It was one of somepony who had suffered for a verry long time. Now he realized why he hadn't been able to sense her. Her bloodshot eyes rested on him for a moment, and he could see the insanity in her gaze.... Fluttershy.... HIS Fluttershy was still in there somewhere, deep down, but the mare he was looking at right now, was not her. She flinched back as he approached her, like a dog that is cornered by a stronger predator.

"S...Stay back! I... I warn you!"

"Fluttershy... I am so... sorry... I am late... I am so sorry, I couldn't come any sooner...."

"LIES... Illusions! Go away! There is no way you are real! Discord is dead! They told me!"

"No.... Fluttershy... I.... I was turned to stone.... I was not dead....Nopny can return from the dead."

A shimmer of recognition flickered in her green eyes, as he put both his arms around her, hugging her tightly. They stayed like this, for several minutes, before he felt her tremble against his chest. She was crying. Soon Fluttershy returned the hug he gave her, crying her heart out, dampening his furr. Discord stroke her head with his paw, as gently as possible. She told him everything that had happend... She told him that they had tried to trick her with Changelings, disguised as her friends, what had happend to Rainbow, and that they had only provided her with enough medical supplies to bandage her. There was nothing she could do to stop the infection from spreading, so she was doomed to watch her friend die. She had given up food and water rations in favor of Rainbow Dash, but her condition just didn't get any better. She begged him to save her if he could...

"Fluttershy.... Would you be willing to give something up, that is part of you, to save your friend?"

"Eh? Of...Ofcourse!"

"You might loose it forever... I can not promise you, that you will get it back later. I have never done something like this."

"What... What are you talking about Discord."

He sighed... Something he did much more then he liked to admit lately.

"Fluttershy... You will loose your wings. You might never be able to fly again."

"I don't care. I don't like flying anyway! Do what you need to do, if it means saving Rainbow Dash."

Fluttershy had thought that her friend might give her wings to Rainbow Dash, but that wasn't what happend at all. Instead she felt that her wings.... shrank? They pulled back into her body, while her forehead began to hurt abit. There was something... growing there. Her hooves raced up there and felt... a horn? As the pain supsided, she looked at Discord. Her friend had shrunk a little... much to be honest. Discord was now barely her own size.

"What..."

"Oh Fluttershy. I have made you a Unicorn and infused my magical power into you. That caused my... shrinking. But don't worry, I'll be back to normal in time. Now... I think you have some work to do...."

With that Discord began to teach Fluttershy, how to use magic, together with several spells for healing and transfiguaration. She didn't get all of them at her first try, but soon had the hang of it. It was hard for her, to draw in the magical energy, but that was just to be expected. She was a fully grown mare, but had not been born a Unicorn. Sensing the magic all around her all of a sudden, was messing with her senses. But soon enough, she was already treating the infection in Rainbow Dashs body, the skyblue Pegasus floating in the air, held by a golden magical aura.

Discord was pleased that his plan had worked out. Fluttershy was a natural for the use of his magic. Her shyness and selfcontrol, were just what was needed for this kind of thing. She meassured every single strand of energy carefully, before releasing it. After the skyblue Pegasus floated gentle back to the ground, and opend her eyes, the mare looked at Fluttershy, her muzzle dropping open.

"Fl...F...Fluttershy?"

"Yes Rainbow?"

"You... you..."

"Yeah yeah, she's a Unicorn... Been there, done that, now get over it, it's just the only thing I was able to help you guys..."

"DISCORD?"

Rainbow looked at the.... unusually small Draconis that sat on a soft looking sofa. What was Discord doing here? Why was Fluttershy a Unicorn? And why in the hay was she feeling better? Not quite good again, but much better then before.

"He... he gave me his magic."

Fluttershy said, blushing a little. The intimacy of the act of having part of Discord inside her, being a little emberassing.

"B...But how? And why?"

Discord sighed, waving his paw. He was tired from transfering that much magic to his friend, but explained the situation to the confused Rainbow Dash.

"And THAT is why Fluttershy here was able to fight of your infection. With her natural... well... with her Unicorn abilities alone, she would never have been able to. She has not enough training to draw in enough power. But with my energy inside her, even a spell that would be weak with her own magic, grows verry powerfull. Next up, will be your wings. Come on Fluttershy, envelop her in your magic."

Fluttershy nodded, and did as she was told. Rainbow on the other hoof, tried to protest. Her friend was not yet fully used to the use of magic, so she didn't trust her abilities fully yet. But that was when Discord stepped forward, looking at Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash in turn.

"Well then... Let's get started. You won't be able to fly just yet, give them two or three years, and they should be the same as before."

He said, snipping his fingers. Rainbow felt a warmth run through her body, like nothing she had ever felt before. It surged through her, concentraing on the places, where her wings had been. She felt the scars there heal, and something... from deep inside her.... pushed it's way to the surface. Once she dared to look at the place, where the energy had worked on her, she saw two wings. Small as a foals, but they were there. Discord had made her wings regrow, instead of trying to reattach her old ones. Relucantly she flapped her them, and they were weak, just as she thought. Not at all like she remembered them. These were the wings of a newborn foal, not of a fully grown mare. Just as she turned to snap at Discord for this, she froze. There, in the middle of their cell, Discord stood, a wide grin on his face.... and turned to stone...

"Well... it is better then never being able to fly ever again I guess...."

She thought and turned to Fluttershy. They had to find their other friends, and with Discords magic Fluttershy should be able to do just that....