What had just happened?! Fluttershy was sure she had to be there to make the Elements of Harmony actually work, so how come this had happened?
A speckled hoof touching her shoulder distracted the Pegasus. She turned to its owner, who was looking at her sadly.
"I'm sorry. This is just how it had to be."
The yellow pegasus with pink, flowing locks smiled as she read the letter in her hooves while the many animals in her cottage ate their lunch happily.
Dear Fluttershy,
I'm pleased to tell you Discord has been keeping himself well behaved here in Canterlot! He does occasionally still pull pranks on the ponies with his magic, but after he has a laugh he usually fixes whatever havoc he's caused, and sometimes the ponies laugh along with him. He can't be expected to us magic for good all the time, since he is indeed the sprit of chaos itself. I suppose that's a good thing, however, since it keeps balance between harmony and chaos. However, there is a radical improvement in him since you gained his trust. I'm very grateful for your help, and I'm sure Discord appreciates it too.
Signed, Princess Celestia
The little pony flipped the paper over to see the color-changing ink that formed a second letter, giggling to herself. After Discord had taken one of the princess' past letters and wrote his own on the back as a prank, it had become a bit of a silly tradition to send and receive two-sided letters to each other. Fluttershy wondered if Princess Celestia noticed, or if Discord got the letters first and wiped the side that was for him before she got a chance to look at it.
Fluttershy,
Honestly, this whole "being good" thing is so BORING! How does Celestia expect me NOT to make havoc? It's the only thing keeping me insane! Oh well, at least curious ponies looking for a laugh and some excitement wander into my favorite hedge maze from time to time. That's always a hoot, especially because since they don't know what's coming, so they never know how to react! Think you can find your way?
Discord
Fluttershy smiled and took a quill in her mouth, looking at the maze Discord had drawn under his own letter. She carefully put the tip down and drew a line taking a left corridor, before an illustrated Cerberus magically appeared and bit away part of the line! The mare jumped with a squeak and nearly dropped the ink-tipped feather, before giggling and continuing the small puzzle. She quickly realized that by following the "walls" there was no way to get to the center between the monsters and ink, no doubt a purposeful construction by the chaos spirit. She grinned to herself, spotting a spot where the ink making the borders seemed slightly faded, and sure enough, the puzzle let her quill go through as if it were a pony squeezing through a gap in the hedge. After turning past the temptation of a hammock for a nap and avoiding one or two "monsters," Fluttershy's pen found its way to the center of the maze, where when her ink connected with the dot, it morphed into a star with a silly little "You Win!" message popping up.
The pegasus giggled as a knock came from the door. She rolled up the letter, putting it in her saddlebag before answering, expecting one of her friends. She wasn't entirely wrong; a pink pony with really poofy, magenta hair and balloons on her flank was standing on the other side, but she wasn't the one who had knocked.
"Heya Fluttershy!" Pinkie Pie smiled, gesturing to the pony besides her. He was a dark blue stallion with white speckles all over his body, and his black mane and tail were flat and combed neatly back, making his horn poke forwards rather prominently. The mark on his flank looked to be a checklist. "This is Levi List! He just moved here, and he asked me to introduce him to the neighbors!"
Fluttershy put her head down and tried to avoid eye contact. She was quite uncomfortable with new ponies, and only just barely managed to mumble an audible "Hello."
"Nice to meet you!" Levi List said with a smile. "Pinkie Pie warned how shy you were. But I insisted; I made a checklist to ensure I'd meet all my neighbors, and I hope to check off every one." Fluttershy simply nodded in response. "I hope to get to know you better over time!"
As Pinkie Pie bounced off with Levi List behind her, Fluttershy lifted her head and went back inside, intending to write back to Discord and Princess Celestia.
"Ohmygosh, ohmygosh, ohmygosh, is he here yet?" Pinkie Pie's voice came in the darkness of the room.
"Pinkie you've asked that for the past three minutes. The answer's still no," a western accented voice replied. As the pony finished her sentence, the darkness was punctured by the scraping of hooves on a doormat. Everyone fell silent as the pony outside repeatedly ran his hooves over the mat several times, seemingly more times than necessary. After a tense 30 seconds, the pony outside opened the door and flipped on the lights.
"SURPRISE!" everyone yelled, popping out from behind furniture, under tables, what have you. Levi List was standing stunned in the doorway, looking around at the various groups of balloon, streamers, the snacks on the table.
"This is your official 'Welcome to Ponyville' party!" Pinkie Pie said, bouncing circles around the stallion. "Everyone's here to say hi! I was so excited when I saw you because I'd never seen you before so that means you don't have any friends here yet, but that made me sad, but then you said you wanted to meet everypony and so I took you to meet all my friends, like Twilight Sparkle, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and of course you met Fluttershy!"
"When she threw me my party, I overloaded a punch cup with hot sauce to have an excuse to go upstairs," a light purple pony with wings and a horn said, her tri-colored mane straight as she regarded the shell-shocked stallion in front of her.
"Yeah...I can see why," Levi List replied, looking around. He took a balloon from a batch of six and moved it to a group that only had four using his magic.
"Noplace parties like Ponyville," a blue pegasus with a rainbow mane smirked, flying above the unicorn as he made slight adjustments to the room.
"'At's 'cause no place but Ponyville has somepony like Pinkie Pie," an orange pony with freckles, a blond mane, and a Stetson hat said, voice matching that of the western pony that had spoken in the dark.
"Canterlot had a few good parties," Levi List offered absentmindedly, looking around to count that all the bundles of balloons had five each.
"Oh! You've been to Canterlot?" a white unicorn with a curly purple mane asked, immediately appearing at his side and startling him. "Oh, I simply adore Canterlot! Such high fashion, such glamor! Perfect for a pony of my trade, dressmaking!"
Fluttershy didn't offer anything to the conversation, still feeling insecure around the stallion. She'd only broken out of her shell with Twilight Sparkle, the purple alicorn, because she had a baby dragon with her named Spike. She instead walked towards the table with food on it, where the aforementioned pony and her pet dragon were taking a cupcake each.
"Hi Fluttershy! Not going to greet the new guy?" the purple dragon with green scales in a line from his head to his tail asked.
Fluttershy shook her head. "I just don't feel comfortable around him yet," she said quietly as they drifted a few steps away. Apparently not a moment too soon, since Levi List walked over to the table and started magically organizing it.
"I'm sure you'll get more comfortable once you talk to him," Twilight Sparkle offered, tucking and untucking her wings to her sides as if she couldn't decide what felt more comfortable; the wings were a fairly new addition to her person, and it was showing. "After all, you weren't comfortable with the idea of being Discord's caretaker at first, but then you warmed up to it."
"I suppose that's true," Fluttershy said. "Oh! I got another letter with his progress earlier today! It seems he's behaving himself just as well as I had hoped."
"That's great news!" Twilight Sparkle said with a smile, tucking her wings in and keeping them there. "It's been a little while since we've last seen him, so the fact he's keeping your lessons close at mind is really promising!"
Fluttershy nodded. "Yes, I'm very proud of him. I don't know if it shows through in my letters, though."
"I'm sure it does," her friend assured her.
"GUYS! Time to cut the cake!" Pinkie Pie called as she appeared on the food table, making everyone jerk their heads to her. Fluttershy thought she saw Levi List looking at her before he turned, but it was so fast she couldn't be sure. Pinkie Pie grabbed a knife that seemed larger than life and expertly cut the cake into several pieces. Everyone grabbed a plate and a piece, retreating away from the table after taking their share. Fluttershy was about to bite into hers when the new stallion came over to her.
"Hey. Sorry to be a bother, but I noticed today that you had a lot of animals in your care. Is that your talent?" he asked.
Fluttershy actually picked up her head and smiled at him. "Yes! I take care of all the little animals in Ponyville. Why?"
"Well, I was actually interested in asking you a few questions about one animal in particular. Not tonight, of course!" he hurriedly said, seeming to think he was overstepping his boundaries. "I still have to do a little research on the animal in question, but if you wouldn't mind, I'd like your insight."
Fluttershy smiled. "I'd be happy to help! Oh, and if you need books to do your research, Twilight Sparkle could help you!"
The unicorn nodded his speckled head with a grin. "Of course! Thank you!"
"A draconequus?!" Fluttershy asked in shock.
"Weird question?" Levi List asked, hoof scratching the back of his head awkwardly. It was the next afternoon, and the unicorn stallion had come to Fluttershy with a book in both of his saddle bag pockets and one very odd request.
"Well, you can't really have one as a pet," Fluttershy mused, a hoof to her mouth. "Why do you ask about them?"
"Well, I like to read up about different kinds of magic and magical beings," Levi List replied. "I've seen quite a few too. But I don't have much experience with any draconequus. I'd just like to learn how they work, you know?"
"Why do you think I have any experience with them?" the pegasus pony asked curiously.
"I just figured if anypony had any personal experience, it'd be you. If you don't, I won't bother you further."
Fluttershy stared blankly at the stallion. Discord was a draconequus, but he wasn't exactly popular. Most ponies liked their peaceful, orderly lives, and it was no secret Discord caused the entirety of Ponyville to become the Chaos Capitol of the world for a short time, and it was truly a mess. However, upon special request from Princess Celestia, Fluttershy had spent some time with the chaos-loving creature, and eventually managed to win him over, convincing him to use his magic for good instead.
"Well, yes, I did have some personal experience," Fluttershy finally said, deciding to tell the curious unicorn enough to give him the information he was looking for while not mentioning Discord by name.
"Oh, good, I didn't bother you for no reason!" Levi List joked, inciting a giggle from Fluttershy. "I'm mostly interested in what kind of magic they use."
"It's...interesting," Fluttershy cautiously worded. "A draconequus can change reality quite easily, just by snapping his fingers. If you don't expect something to happen, that's probably what will happen. It's very powerful magic. That being said, though, it seems like he uses his magic more for his own enjoyment than to be mean. The draconequus I've met mostly used his magic as a way to get a laugh, though he did do a few things that were a little more mean."
Levi's eyes were wide and he was listening to Fluttershy attentively. "What sort of 'unexpected things' did you experience?"
"W-well..." This was fast becoming dangerous territory. Discord had come very far from the way he was when she and her friends first met him, when he made Ponyville pretty much the upside-down and backwards version of itself. Unfortunately, that first meeting was when he showed the widest range of his magic. Thankfully Levi List seemed to think her flustering was because he was staring too hard at her. He turned around and started staring out the door.
"Sorry. This better?" he asked.
"O-oh, yes, thank you," the pegasus said, deciding to just roll with it. "Well, the draconequus I met could make ponies think something was there that actually wasn't. Like, making a pony think that a rock was a diamond, or a small patch of clouds was actually Cloudsdale. He also could make ponies act exactly opposite than they usually do."
Levi List let out a quick breath. "That sounds nearly more powerful than Princess Celestia or Princess Luna," he gasped.
"I agree," Fluttershy nodded. "But most of his magic was rather harmless, like making clouds cotton candy and rain chocolate milk, or causing corn to pop like popcorn while still on the stalk. He could also make the animals look different, change the roads to soap, and all kinds of things."
The unicorn shook his head, and slowly let out a deep breath. "Is there anything that can tame one?"
"Well, the elements of harmony can turn one into stone," Fluttershy offered.
"Oh yes, the most powerful magical artifacts in Equestria, that figures," Levi List nodded. He turned back around to Fluttershy with a smile. "I know a whole bunch about those!" He produced a checklist from his saddle bag and looked at it. "I believe that's all the questions I had for you. Thank you very much for the insight, Fluttershy!"
"Oh! My pleasure!" she replied. The stallion nodded his farewell to her and turned back to the door, picking up the saddleback from where he left it and carefully placing it over his back. Once he was fairly certain it was symmetrical, he departed. Fluttershy cocked her head at the unicorn's back. Such strange questions, and on such a strange topic! Shrugging it off, she went back to caring for her animals.
A few days had gone by in Ponyville, and Levi List had gotten along pretty well with his neighbors, despite a nearly obscene need to keep things extremely ordered. Fluttershy was spending the day with her friends at Sweet Apple Acres, Applejack's home. It was prime apple bucking season, and her friends were helping out with a game Pinkie Pie made up.
"Let's see how many baskets we can each get from a tree with just one buck!" the pink pony suggested. "The one with the most baskets wins!"
"Well, that hardly seems fair," Rarity said. "Applejack will win every time."
"How about we see how many trees we can FULLY clear in a minute? Not just bucking either, magic and flying are allowed too." Rainbow Dash suggested.
"Now THAT sounds fun," Twilight Sparkle replied, cracking her neck in preparation to use her magic. She also stretched out her wings, but track records had shown she wasn't great with them yet.
"Y'all ready?" Applejack asked. "In three, two, one, GO!"
All the ponies ran off to start raiding the trees of their apples, Levi List walking down the road to buy some himself and seeing the spectacle. He also saw something else that nearly made him loose his saddlebag, but the girls hadn't noticed it quite yet.
Fluttershy began flying into the tree leaves, ramming the branches and shaking apples loose. She wasn't going to win, she knew that. It'd probably come down to Rainbow Dash, Twilight Sparkle, Applejack, and maybe Pinkie Pie if she didn't get distracted. Still, she wanted to help her friend out with her chores, and it was fun besides! However, something happened that made Pinkie Pie effectively drop out...as well as shock the rest of the competition to a halt.
"OH MY GOSH! YUMMY CHOCOLATE MILK RAIN!"
"WHAT?!" Everyone stopped mid-motion after hearing Pinkie Pie's yell. They ran to one edge of the orchard, and sure enough the pink pony was sitting in a chocolate milk puddle, mouth wide open to catch as much of the liquid as she could. Everyone else looked up, following the brown drink to its source. Fluttershy couldn't stop a smile spreading across her face, though she knew she probably should be a little frustrated. She couldn't help it though; that cotton candy cloud could only mean one thing.
"Pinkie Pie, laughing as always," a voice echoed off of seemingly nothing. With a white flash, a creature appeared next to the mare with magenta hair. His head looked somewhat like a pony's, but he had one deer antler and then an antler that alternated between being wide and thin until it reached its point. He had a lion paw and an eagle claw, a lizard foot and a mule's leg. He had one feathered wing and one bat wing, and his body was long and thin, ending in a snake tail. It was a draconequus, and a very familiar one.
"Discord!" Fluttershy exclaimed, unsure whether to be elated, confused, cautious, or all three.
"Well hello my little ponies!" he crooned, one large tooth protruding out of his mouth as he smiled widely. "Long time no see! Well, not a thousand years, but regardless."
"What're you doing here, Discord?" Twilight asked, obviously most confused about this. "I thought you were helping Princess Celestia!"
"Oh, well, I was, but she said I could take a visit here, see you six again," he said. He disappeared in a flash of light and ended up reappearing under Applejack's hat, his head and neck carrying the hat skyward before his arms and anything lower stepped out from behind her neck. The pony seemed a little urked, but ultimately didn't have a reason to be distrusting of him yet.
"Uh-oh. Better go get the Elements of Harmony right now," Rainbow Dash groaned, slapping a hoof to her face.
"Oh, don't be so glum," Discord said, slapping the hat on Rainbow Dash before pulling the cotton candy cloud out of the sky. He balled it up in his hands before handing it in a pony-sized mass to Pinkie Pie, who ate it in one giant gulp. "I came here to cause some mischief, yes, but I'll keep it contained. I have some fond memories of this place, I don't wish to cause it harm."
"You turned Ponyville into the Chaos Capitol of the world!" Rarity exclaimed. "I believe that constitutes 'harm'!"
"No, that constitutes good memories," the draconequus countered, pulling something that looked like a sheet out of his ear. Upon straightening it, it showed a moving image of Ponyville under his rule. "See, I keep the memories I like in my left ear."
Fluttershy giggled. "Well, I'm glad you came to visit us. Just behave yourself, okay?" she asked, flying up to his face.
"Oh Fluttershy, I wouldn't DREAM of misbehaving," he said, twisting his head upside-down and giving her puppy eyes.
"I still don't trust you all that much, no offence," Rainbow Dash honestly replied. "I'm going to go get -"
"These?" Discord asked, pulling out several necklaces and a crown from behind his back, all six having a central, differently shaped gem with gold supports. The rainbow mare gawked, then lunged for the one with a red lightning bolt. Surprisingly, he didn't pull his hand away as she neared like she had expected, though that did result in her crashing into him after grabbing it.
"Wait..." Rarity said, narrowing her eyes suspiciously. "Are you just...giving us the Elements? No tricks, no hoops to jump through?"
The draconequus feigned an offended look. "My dear Rarity, what would EVER make you think there were strings attached? Unless, of course you wanted strings, because I can do that." He snapped with his other paw, and black strings with marionette handles appeared on the other five elements. The handles started floating, dancing the elements on the air and over to their designated owner. The ponies all took their accessories cautiously, and once they secured the necklaces in place (and Twilight Sparkle put on her crown) the puppet-like appendages simply vanished. Fluttershy took hers in her hooves, but she was about to give it back when Twilight Sparkle spoke up.
"Um...Discord, do you mind if we do a little test with these?" she asked.
"Don't you trust me?"
"No!"
"Not really."
"Not particularly, no."
"Um...sorry."
"I trust you."
"I just want more chocolate milk rain!"
The responses of Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Rarity, Twilight Sparkle, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie were all very different. Discord actually looked slightly miffed at the mixed reactions.
"Well, so long as you don't turn me to stone again, I suppose I have no reason to object," he huffed.
"Oh, don't worry about that, Discord," Twilight Sparkle said, offering an encouraging (if not somewhat awkward) smile. "I planned to use the spell we used to release you from stone. The spell will activate, but since you're not stone, nothing will happen to you. Formation, girls!"
The ponies gathered in a circle around the draconequus, and Discord didn't even try to mask his irritation.
"Don't worry," Fluttershy whispered next to his ear, "I trust you. I'm sure there's nothing to worry about."
The chaos spirit grinned slightly at that as the yellow pegasus retreated to her place in the circle. Twilight set her horn alight while the girls focused their energy into the Elements. The central gems began to pulsate their shapes outwards; rainbows started to stretch between the gems, before circling around Twilight Sparkle several times, finally connecting with her tiara. The pink star gem on the golden crown gave a multicolored starburst effect towards Discord. He flinched away from it at first, and Fluttershy gasped in horror. However, the draconequus in the center soon opened his eyes, wriggling his fingers around as if to test that they were still there; finding that they were, he stood with his arms crossed in the starburst until the spell finished.
"Satisfied now?" Discord asked, obviously frustrated that the girls felt the need to test the Elements of Harmony.
"Ah reckon so," Applejack said, looking at hers with surprise. "Ah'm sorry we didn't trust you, Discord. It's just, well, ya don't have the best track record with these things."
"Applejack's right," Twilight said, head slightly lowered. "We didn't mean to be offensive. I hope you understand why we had to make sure, since you are the embodiment of chaos. Though, your improvement hasn't been lost on us." The alicorn smiled. "Celestia's been sending letters keeping us updated, and it sounds like you're not only behaving yourself, but your pranks are actually encouraging some laughs from the ponies living nearby too!"
"Oh yes, those letters," Discord said, snickering to himself and casting a side glance at Fluttershy. The yellow Pegasus put her hooves to her mouth, giggling as well. Twilight raised an eyebrow, but didn't question it. Anything to lighten his mood was a good, since when the draconequus was mad, he was much harder to reason with or control.
On top of the hill, overlooking the scene below, Levi List was gobsmacked, after the distraction of a grey pegasus asking for directions allowed him to look back at the grove. Did that...did the Elements of Harmony just FAIL?! He grit his teeth and glared down at the draconequus. Probably because Fluttershy had a soft spot for him, believing him to be reformed. Well, Ponyville was going to stay the nice, orderly place it was now, he'd make sure of that! The unicorn dashed off, not noticing the way the seven were interacting.
"Oo! Oo! Discord! Discord! Can you make the corn pop like popcorn again?!" Pinkie Pie asked, bouncing.
"NO!" Applejack exclaimed. "We need our crops ta eat an' sell, ya know."
Discord smirked, obviously plotting some kind of mischief. "Well, fine, I'll leave the corn alone," he said. With a grin he snapped his fingers, causing the nearest tree's apples to flash to white. As Applejack prepared to berate Discord, the light faded, showing the apples had become covered in caramel and were already on sticks. The pony gawked at the tree for a moment, then slowly began to grin.
"Ah guess caramel apples 're on me, y'all!" she said with a smile. "Help yourselves!"
"Oh, I'd love to, but I have to make myself at home," Discord said, smirking as he started to walk off. "Arrivederci!"
"Oh, oh! Discord, wait!" Fluttershy called after her friend, flying up to him. She fiddled with her necklace, the pink butterfly gem glinting in the light when she finally managing to take it off and hand it to him. "I promised I'd never use my Element of Harmony against you, and I intend to keep that promise. Besides, from what I just saw, I don't think I'll even need it."
The draconequus blinked at the Element before smiling. "Thank you, Fluttershy. But I did steal that from Twilight's room, so..." With a snap and a flash, the necklace was no longer in his paw. Instead, with an accompanying flash, it appeared around the alicorn's neck. Twilight startled a bit and looked at the Element before turning a confused face towards Fluttershy and Discord. The two shared a chuckle before Discord used his teleportation to leave the apple orchard.
Most of the citizens of Ponyville were not very happy with Discord coming back to their town, not having fond memories of the last time he'd been there. Although many actively avoided the draconequus, a few of the more outgoing ponies (mostly rambunctious foals) did approach him, and came back from their adventures no worse for wear.
Three of such foals were a group of fillies, none of which had earned their Cutie Marks yet. An orange pegasus with purple hair smiled as she removed her hemet, getting off her scooter. Her friend, a yellow earth pony with strawberry hair and a pink ribbon, jumped out of the attached red wagon, a white unicorn with pink and purple curls following.
"Are ya SURE this is a good idea, Scootaloo?" the yellow pony asked. "Ah mean, Discord made our sistahs and even Rainbow Dash act like...well, somepony else!"
"Apple Bloom's right. This idea is worse than zip lining or skydiving!" the unicorn added.
"Sweetie Belle, you don't think anything's a good idea!" the pegasus said. "Come on, Fluttershy told us it was totally safe! She's spent the most time with him."
"Fluttershy can also stare down a cockatrice," Sweetie Belle pointed out.
"Well, big sistah Applejack said Discord's been behavin' better than before, but she still ain't sure she trusts him yet. Ah dunno about this."
"Oh, my little ponies, so nice of you to visit," a voice echoed, making all three girls converge into a fearful hug. With a flash, a giant creature they'd only seen once as a statue appeared in front of them, grinning nearly from ear to ear. All three fillies began shaking, but Scootaloo swallowed and stepped forwards.
"D-Discord, we came here to defeat you!"
The chaos spirit raised an eyebrow, then exploded into a howling laughter.
"YOU came to defeat ME?! HA! What do you have? The Elements of Tiny? HAHA!"
Apple Bloom lost her fear in the face of being called small. "We can beatcha without elements! We're the Cutie Mark Crusaders! We ain't afraid of anything!"
Discord halted his laughter, though he kept smiling, and tried to hide snickers behind his hands. He seemed to have an idea.
"Oh? The Cutie Mark Crusaders, eh? I've heard of you."
"You HAVE?!" Sweetie Belle asked.
"Oh, yes. The bearers of the Elements of Harmony have said you three have potential. Perhaps...more than them? Oh dear! That means you really COULD defeat me without any help!" The draconequus put his hands on his cheeks, as if he was suddenly extremely worried. Any adult pony could see he was faking it, but the fillies at his feet were too excited at the prospect of being able to defeat Discord without help to notice.
"Really?!" Scootaloo asked. "I-I mean, of course! We're going to use nothing but each other to beat you!"
"Well, that's all well and good, but you'll have to find me first," he dared with a grin. He snapped his fingers, and the ground began to rumble. The fillies grabbed onto each other again as a hedge maze began to rise behind the smiling chaos spirit. After the ground stilled again, Discord snapped once more, and suddenly Sweetie Belle was left without a horn and Scootaloo without her wings.
"Hey! What gives?!" Sweetie Belle asked.
"Well, your older contemporaries didn't have their wings or horns while doing this. So to give them at least a fighting chance, I have to disable yours as well," he explained. "Then again, they did lose...perhaps it's not possible to make it through the maze without horns or wings?"
"Really?" Apple Bloom asked. "Well...then we'll just do the impossible, right gals?"
"That's right!" Scootaloo called.
"Absolutely!" Sweetie Belle agreed. "Wait...how do we get through the maze?"
"Oh, that's quite simple," Discord said with a grin. "No magic, no wings, avoid the monsters. Find the center, and you win! Just like your elders!" With a snap and a flash, he was gone, leaving his voice to echo. "See you there, if you can make it. Hahaha!"
The three fillies looked at each other, then grinned. They all rushed inside, immediately coming upon a split.
"Left!"
"Right!"
"Left!"
All three shouted out answers at once.
"Well, majority rules, we go left," Sweetie Belle said, starting down the chosen pathway. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo followed, giggling.
"We're gonna get through the maze all by ourselves!" Apple Bloom snickered. "Jus' wait 'til Ah tell Applejack!"
"Yeah! And when I tell Rainbow Dash - "
Scootaloo was interrupted by a deafening roar. Mere steps ahead of them, a giant, three-headed dog stood in their path, sharp teeth dripping with saliva as he looked at the trio of bite-sized ponies in front of him. All three girls shrieked and ran the opposite direction, past the entrance and smack into a hedge wall, collapsing on the ground. Only then did the girls stop and look behind them. The Cerberus growled, but it seemed trapped in a small area of the maze. The fillies took a moment to try to catch their breath, and Discord's face melded out of the hedge walls.
"Getting adventure in early, I see!" he smirked.
"Are you nuts?!" Scootaloo asked, bolting upright. "We could have gotten eaten!"
"Oh, but what fun would that be?" the leafy draconequus asked. "Besides, I like you girls so far. Maybe you can make it to the middle."
"Darn tootin', we will!" Apple Bloom said, jumping to her feet. "Come on gals, we gotta win this game!"
"Yeah, and we're going to follow the rules all the way!" Sweetie Belle nodded, sitting up.
"And in record time!" Scootaloo added. All three girls took off running, Discord's lookalike chuckling behind them. The ponies started taking random turns and directions, eventually coming across a three-way split. Each girl started to go a different direction, then noticed the discrepancy.
"Which way should we go?" Sweetie Belle asked, turning around. Before either of her friends could respond, hedges popped up, blocking their way to the crossroad just steps away, and keeping them from each other.
"Oh, I forgot to mention, your elders had to get through part of the maze alone. For them it was the very beginning, but better late than never, yes?" Discord's voice asked, echoing around.
"Well...fine!" Scootaloo yelled. "Girls, everyone get to the middle as fast as you can; nopony stop until they find a friend!"
"Sounds good!" Sweetie Belle responded.
"No problem!" Apple Bloom called. All three girls darted off down their different pathways. Discord smirked, wanting to see each one-on-one.
Apple Bloom trotted down her pathway, cautiously looking from side to side for anything that might show her how to get to the center or her friends. Spotting a clearing a little ways away, she galloped over to it. Upon entering, several different images that looked almost like clipart began to circle around her.
"What in tarnation?" the filly asked.
"What do you mean, Apple Bloom?" Discord's voice echoed just before a flash appeared next to her, causing the draconequus to materialize with an arm around her shoulder. "Don't you recognize what a Cutie Mark looks like?"
"These are Cutie Marks?" Apple bloom asked, looking around with wide and admiring eyes.
"Yes, and I'll make you a deal; you can pick whichever you feel." He smiled at her, plucking one of an apple and a flower out of the air. "One with apples, like your family? Or is there something else you see?"
Apple Bloom looked around at the swirling images. She could have any one! And it'd be her very own Cutie Mark! Maybe she could have... the filly shook her head around violently and closed her eyes. She had promised Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle she wouldn't stop for anything until they won!
"Sorry Mr. Discord, but Ah have to say no," Apple Bloom respectfully replied.
"And why's that, my little pony?" the draconequus asked. "Isn't that what every little foal wants? To be special?"
"Well...yes. And it's a kind offer, but Ah promised mah friends Ah'd get to the center so we could win!"
"I'm sure your friends would understand. After all, they don't have theirs either, right?" Discord asked as a final bid.
"W-well..." Apple Bloom looked longingly at the marks circling her again, but looked back at the chaos spirit. "No, they don't, but that's why we're helpin' each other find our Cutie Marks by being Crusaders. And after the Cutie Pox hoopla, Ah'd rather have them help me find whatever Cutie Mark Ah'd have normally than just to pick one up. 'Cause that's like...sayin' the Cutie Mark Crusaders aren't important to me. So...thank ya, but no. See ya in the center!"
The filly galloped off, leaving Discord looking after her with an amused smirk. There was a time when he would have resorted to cheating after the third verbal attempt for derailment, but this was basically Celestia's Maze: Easy Mode. Besides, he wanted to see just how far those fillies would get.
Sweetie Belle shakily hummed the Cutie Mark Crusaders theme under her breath, cautiously peeking around corners for monsters. She was by far the least brazen of her friends, though she still got into more than her fair share of trouble. Peeking around one particular corner, she spotted something that drew her attention. Cautiously approaching the clearing, she checked for anything big and scary before creeping up to what she had seen before.
Peering closer, she saw it was a pool of water with a crystalline surface, reflecting her face back to her as if she was shimmering. However, looking closer, she realized she wasn't just shimmering in the image; she was older! Maybe Rarity's age! She immediately turned her back legs towards the pool, trying to see what her Cutie Mark would be. However, it seemed whatever angle she put herself in, a glare blocked her flank.
"Interesting place for you to find," Discord said, appearing besides her. His reflection looked exactly the same in the pool. "Applejack found one very similar, I'd have thought Apple Bloom would stumble over here."
"Mr. Discord, what is this?" Sweetie Belle asked, putting her face close to the water.
"That is a pool that can show you the future. From that little preview, you look like a dazzling young mare. But you also look...alone, standing there."
"Isn't that because you're the only one besides me looking in here?" the filly asked.
"Maybe, but maybe not. Maybe the pool's trying to tell you you're not as close to Scootaloo and Apple Bloom as you might think," the spirit of chaos mused.
Sweetie Belle gasped, looking back into the pool. "But...no, we three are going to be best friends forever, I know we will! After all, we formed the Cutie Mark Crusaders, and we're always letting in new members and doing stuff together. I mean, we even made a part where if one of us gets our Cutie Mark before the others, she's still a Crusader as long as she helps any current members find their Cutie Marks!"
"Well, there's always a way to make sure," Discord tempted. "Going inside the pool will let you see anything you want from the future. But as I warned Applejack, sometimes the truth will make your heart ache, and a lie might be easier to take."
Sweetie Belle bit her lower lip and reached a hoof towards the pool...
"Sweetie Belle?! Scootaloo?!" Apple Bloom's voice rang out from somewhere beyond the hedges. Sweetie Belle gasped sharply and pulled her hoof back in, coming to her senses.
"Thank you, Mr. Discord, but I promised my friends that I'd get to the center with them. And that's a promise I intend to keep." With a polite nod and a very purposeful turn on the pool, the white unicorn walked towards where she heard her friend's voice...and ended up at a hedge wall.
"Apple Bloom! I'm right on the other side of the wall!" Sweetie Belle yelled.
"Sweetie Belle! Did ya see a way to - "
Both girls were interrupted when the ground started to rumble, startling them both. After a second or two, the hedge they were yelling through promptly broke into several squares and flew in all different directions, making both fillies cover their faces in fear of getting slapped with leaves or scratched with branches. Once everything calmed down, the girls chanced a look to see if the coast was clear, and ended up staring at each other's faces.
"Hey! The maze let us through!" Apple Bloom exclaimed, standing back up with a grin. "Wonder how that happened?"
"Oh! That must have been Mr. Discord! Mr - " Sweetie Belle turned around in a circle, trying to spot a draconequus that was no longer there. The pool wasn't there either.
"Sweetie Belle?" Apple Bloom asked. "Ya lookin' for Discord? Did he talk ta you too? What'd he say?"
"Um...I'll tell you while we're walking," the unicorn filly replied, starting to walk down the path newly opened to her.
Scootaloo ran at full speed down the corridors as the sky turned red, dodging anything dangerous looking, though most of them were either harmless or too far away to matter. Getting to the center as fast as she could was her first priority. It would have been easier to use her wings as propellers, but that crazy draconequus took them away. While Scootaloo looked to the right, around a corner, she ran into a wall, dizzying her for a moment and making her stop to steady herself. After shaking her head, she noticed she was looking into a clearing with a box in the middle. Curious, she wandered over. Before she could touch it, however, a flash caught her eye behind the box.
"Oh! Hello, Scootaloo!" Discord said, sitting on a cloud hammock. "No wonder ponies call you a miniature Rainbow Dash, you found the exact same dead end in almost the exact same manner as she did."
"Wow, really?!" Scootaloo asked. Anything that made her more like Rainbow Dash was a welcome compliment to her.
"Yes indeed, little foal! And Rainbow Dash also had a choice to make here, just like you do. She had a box as well, and they contained her wings. She had to choose between staying in the game to try and find the Elements of Harmony, or taking back her wings to make sure Cloudsdale was safe."
The pegasus filly's eyes bulged. "That seems like such a hard choice though! What'd she pick?!"
"Are you sure you want to know?" Discord asked, smirking as if he knew something she didn't. Scootaloo paused and decided to ask Rainbow Dash herself about it later.
"Eh, not right now. But what's in the box for me?" she asked looking at the orange package with a purple ribbon around it.
"The box contains your wings, of course. But also with some...added force." The chaos spirit smirked at Scootaloo's obvious confusion. "You haven't learned to fly yet, hm? Well, now your wings have extra zoom."
The filly's eyes practically boggled out of her head. "So if I take my wings from this box, I'll be able to FLY too?!" She suddenly stepped back. "Wait, what's the catch? Rainbow Dash said with you there's always a catch."
"Smart mare," Discord mused with a smirk, eyebrows raising for just a moment. "Well, I may have stated it in a roundabout way, but you're following the same rules as Rainbow Dash and her friends did. It's only two rules, very simple. Rule one is no wings and no magic. And rule two is all ponies must play, or the game ends and I win."
"So...if I take my wings, all three of us lose?" Scootaloo asked. Discord's smile while drumming his fingers together was more than enough of a "Yes," for her. She was torn, though she didn't particularly want to be. On the one hand, she and her friends had all agreed that they were going to win this game. But on the other hand, she was a very late bloomer when it came to learning to fly, and many other foals at school (including two particular bullies, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon) never let her forget it. Besides, she couldn't be like Rainbow Dash if she was grounded!
"...Thanks for the offer, Discord," Scootaloo said, looking longingly at the box, "but my friends are counting on me! Rainbow Dash always tells me I have to be loyal to my friends, so that's what I'm going to do!"
Discord opened his mouth with a smart smirk as if he wanted to say something about that. Scootaloo's eyes widened and her ears fell, seeming to give the draconequus pause. He closed his eyes and smiled again.
"It shouldn't surprise me that she'd say that, since her element IS Loyalty," he smartly replied. With a snap, the hedge behind her opened up like a set of double doors, revealing Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom only steps beyond as the box disappeared.
"Oh hey! There's Scootaloo, and Mr. Discord too!" Apple Bloom called, running over to the orange filly.
"Sweetie Belle? Scootaloo? Apple Bloom? Where are you girls?" Fluttershy's voice came from the red sky as the timid pegasus came into view. She looked down and cupped her hooves around her mouth, calling down. "Discord! Have you seen three little fillies come this way?"
"Hi Fluttershy!" Sweetie Belle called up. Startled, Fluttershy flew down to the maze.
"There you girls are! What happened to your horn, Sweetie Belle? And Scootaloo, your wings?"
"Oh, Discord took them away because we wanted to try to defeat him, and we have to follow all the rules you did." Scootaloo stated matter-of-factly. Fluttershy gawked slightly. Discord smiled mischievously and shrugged.
"O-oh, well, it's time for you girls to go home, you know," she gently smiled.
"Aww! But we haven't found the center yet!" Sweetie Belle whined. "And if we get our horn or wings back, we lose!"
Apple Bloom put a hoof to her mouth to think, then got an idea and turned to Discord. "Mr. Discord? Could we...could we come back some time soon and try ta defeat ya again?" she asked.
Discord raised an eyebrow before smiling. "Well, since you three were such good sports, when you come back, I'll teleport you right here so you can pick up where you left off, how do you like that?"
The three fillies all started shouting out thanks and agreements, making the draconequus smile wider before snapping and teleporting all three of them, himself, and Fluttershy back to the entrance. Once they all reappeared, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo had their horn and wings respectively.
"All right!" Scootaloo called, flapping her wings to make sure they still worked. "Thanks, Discord! We'll see you soon!"
"Yeah! We'll come back as soon as we can!" Sweetie Belle offered, crossing her eyes to make sure her horn was indeed on her forehead.
"We'll try ta come tomorrow, but since we all have to be together, we might not be able ta. But we'll definitely come back super soon!" Apple Bloom smiled. The three fillies took off, running back towards the center of town. Fluttershy hung back.
"It's nice to see you playing with the girls," Fluttershy said. "But I hope you're not planning to use the same magic on them that you used on us back then."
"Me?" Discord asked, feigning a hurt look. "Oh, Fluttershy, when would I ever do that? Of course not! I've just been having good chaotic fun with some of the magic IN the maze."
The mare flying besides him smiled. "I didn't think so, since the girls looked so happy and not...well, grey. But I'm glad you're having fun during your stay here! I was a little worried since most of the ponies seemed angry about you coming."
"Mm, seems nopony appreciates a good, fun amount of chaos," the draconequus mumbled.
"Well, that might be true, but know that I'll always appreciate your company. I'm sure the girls do too." Fluttershy flew over and gave Discord a hug around the neck, surprising him slightly, though he didn't complain.
"Well, I have to see that the girls get home without getting into more trouble. Good night, Discord!" Fluttershy called, flying off and waving over her shoulder. The draconequus returned the wave as she followed the trio of energetic fillies.
Levi List was walking home in the early twilight from town hall when he was crashed into from the side, knocking him over and sending his saddlebag askew.
"Oh! We're really sorry, Mr. List!" a yellow earth filly with a big pink ribbon cried as the stallion got to his feet. He recognized her as Applejack's little sister, and next to her was Rarity's younger sister, and that random filly that hung out with Rainbow Dash all the time.
"What are you ponies doing that's kept you out so late?" Levi List asked, trying to straighten out his saddle bag.
"We got a bit lost in Discord's maze. He said he was putting us through the same think our big sisters did when they first met him," Sweetie Belle said, grinning.
Levi List stared at the girls blankly. He had read several documents on Discord and the events that transpired in Ponyville because of his appearance since first becoming aware of the draconequus' presence. How anyone could be grinning after having their personality reversed and enduring the senseless commotion of Discord's cartoon physics was beyond him.
"You know, Rainbow Dash always made out Discord to be a jerk," Scootaloo said, picking herself up off the ground from where she had fallen after the crash, "but he didn't seem bad at all! He gave us a...a checkpoint, I guess, and he didn't treat us like babies."
"Girls?" Fluttershy's voice came, the pegasus flying up behind them. "Oh, I'm so sorry Levi List. I hope the girls didn't cause you any trouble!"
The speckled unicorn shook his head to clear it and smiled. "Oh, not at all, Fluttershy. We actually had an...interesting conversation while waiting for you."
"Well, I guess that's good," Fluttershy flustered, helping the girls get themselves collected from the crash. "Again, I'm really sorry, but I have to get these girls home."
"I completely understand," Levi List replied. "Good night you four, see you sometime soon."
Fluttershy slowly opened her eyes, looking at the sunlight lightly streaming through her bedroom window. She smiled and stretched, getting out of bed and going downstairs to tend to her animals. However, before she could grab any food for their breakfast, a frantic knock came from the door.
"Coming!" the Pegasus called. She trotted over to the door and opened it, getting a full Rainbow Dash to the face as the blue mare tackled her to the ground.
"I knew we shouldn't trust him!" she growled.
"Trust who? What happened?!" Fluttershy asked as Twilight Sparkle trotted into the room. As an answer, the purple mare passed Fluttershy a letter.
My faithful student, Twilight Sparkle;
I regret to inform you of a somewhat strange predicament that consists of both good and bad news. Discord seems to have disappeared from Canterlot without my knowledge. This is obviously the bad portion of the news. The good news is that he doesn't seem to be causing any havoc anywhere. While this is encouraging in the respect that he's keeping himself well behaved and not using his magic for evil, at the same time, it makes him much harder to locate. If you find him, I'd like to know immediately.
Signed, Princess Celestia
Fluttershy felt her heart drop, sitting up so suddenly she actually shoved Rainbow Dash off of her. Discord had said Princess Celestia allowed him to come! Had he just lied, or was there some kind of miscommunication?
"Now, Fluttershy," Twilight Sparkled interrupted her thoughts, "I came to you to ask what you think we should do about this situation. Rainbow Dash thinks we should reply to the princess and tell her to take him back to Canterlot immediately."
"No!" Fluttershy cried out, jumping into the air and her wings sustaining her. "I mean...yes, he left without permission. But he hasn't been doing anything bad! He's actually been doing good things! Like just yesterday, he was playing with Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, and Apple Bloom in the hedge maze he made a little ways away from Ponyville! He hasn't done anything that we need to punish him for."
"I'm inclined to agree," Twilight nodded. "So what do you suggest we write to the princess?"
"Um...nothing?"
The purple alicorn's eyes bulged. "N-nothing? Did you just say 'nothing'?!"
Timidly the yellow pegasus nodded. This did not go over well with Rainbow Dash, who tackled her out of the air and to the ground.
"NOTHING?! Fluttershy, Princess Celestia specifically said in that letter that she wanted us to tell her IMMIDATELY when we found him!" she burst out.
"I know that," the pegasus under her nodded. "But don't you wonder why Discord would come here without permission when he know it might get him in very serious trouble? Princess Celestia and Princess Luna probably have spells and things ready in case he gets out of hand in Canterlot. Don't you wonder why he'd risk that?"
"What do you have in mind, Fluttershy?" Twilight asked.
"I think Discord might have been lonely," she answered honestly. Rainbow Dash looked like she had just been slapped in the face by the timid mare. "I'm serious, Rainbow! You might not think of him as anything other than a chaos-causing draconequus, but he has feelings too, you know. Think about it! In Canterlot, the only ponies he kind of knows are the princesses, and they probably don't really spend time with him because of all their other royal duties. They just check up on him once in a while to make sure he's behaving and to give him words of encouragement. He doesn't have friends like you or me there. Why else come to Ponyville, where he knows we have the Elements of Harmony?"
"I didn't think about it that way..." Rainbow Dash admitted. "But why wouldn't he just ask the princesses if he could come?"
"Maybe he was afraid of them saying 'no'?" Fluttershy offered. "That part I'm not really sure about. But I am sure Discord just wanted to have some fun with his friends for a little while. I'm just afraid that Princess Celestia might want to bring him back to Canterlot if we told her he was here, and he's only been here for three days. Please, Twilight, can we just give him another one or two days before we write back? Then he'll be able to stay here for three or four more days, at least."
The purple alicorn tapped her chin with her hoof, before sighing. "I'll write a letter today, but I'll wait to send it to the princess until tomorrow. And to give him a little extra time, I'll send it via Pony Post instead of having Spike send it."
"Oh, thank you Twilight!" Fluttershy exclaimed, wriggling out from under Rainbow Dash and hugging her friend. "I really appreciate you doing that, even though you don't quite trust Discord yet."
"Well, like you told him," Twilight sheepishly replied, "friends cut each other slack."
"Hmph, fine. But if he does something with that crazy magic of his, it's YOUR job to deal with it!" Rainbow Dash sharply replied, poking a hoof at Fluttershy. The yellow pegasus smiled and nodded as her two friends left. The quiet pony hummed to herself while giving her animals their breakfast, and once that was done she went to the Sugar Cube Corner to see what her friends were up to. On the way, she ran into Levi List...quite literally. He came out of the door just as she tried to walk in.
"Oh! I'm so sorry, Mr. List," Fluttershy apologized quietly, helping him pick up the several books and his saddlebag that had flown more or less everywhere.
"Arg, my head...N-no problem," he groaned, carefully placing his saddlebag over his back. "I didn't get enough sleep last night, so I'm a little groggy."
As they tried to gather up the spilled reading materials, voices floated through the open doors. They must not have known Fluttershy was there, because she could hear their every word.
"Darling, are you SURE?" Rarity's voice nearly demanded. "I feel the princesses should at least know his whereabouts."
"I personally want to know his whereabouts so I can get more of that chocolate-filled cotton candy!" a bubbly Pinkie Pie called, voice accompanied with the slight clapping of hooves she was known for when she was pleased with something.
"Ah just dunno, y'all," Applejack muttered. "He's played nice with us before, and still he pulled somethin' or another."
"I think I should write back to her immediately as well," Twilight's somewhat angst voice confessed, "but Fluttershy's so sure it'll be fine, and it's hard to argue."
The yellow pegasus actually felt herself getting a little frustrated. It seemed no matter what she said, or what her friend did, the other five ponies couldn't or wouldn't move past their first meeting. She helped Levi List, who had also been quiet the whole time, put the books in his bag before she walked inside. Everyone awkwardly halted their conversation as she walked in.
"I heard everything you guys said," Fluttershy opened up with, making the other ponies look at each other uncomfortably, "and I understand what you're saying, I really do. But it's just... I know you might not see it, but now there's something...something sweet, and almost kind about Discord now. Yes, he was mean, a little course, and unrefined but... now he's just such a dear, and maybe even a little unsure. There's just... there may be something there that wasn't there bef-HMPH!"
Fluttershy's sentence was cut short by Pinkie Pie shoving her hoof over her mouth. "Fluttershy! Don't finish that sentence! We don't have copyright to that song!"
"We don't have what now?" Applejack asked. Rainbow Dash shrugged. Pinkie Pie's nonsense was something they long ago stopped trying to explain.
"Fluttershy, we know Discord's been doing well lately," Rarity told her friend. "It's just...there is something inherently wrong with not telling Princess Celestia where he is. He's a bit of a hard read, you know."
Fluttershy gave an exasperated sigh as the giggling of fillies came through the open window. The chuckles of the foals actually gave Fluttershy an idea.
"Girls...I can't really explain what I mean in words, but...I think I might be able to show you why I feel the way I do," she said with a smile. She gestured for them to follow her outside, and after a confused glance between them, they all followed. The yellow pegasus lead the other five out of the center of Ponyville and to a slightly more remote location. Spotting a few ponies playing catch with a baseball, she ushered her friends behind a small row of bushes to watch.
"Uhh, Fluttershy, what are we doing?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"Showing you what I can't quite put into words," she quietly replied. Before more questions could be asked, the baseball flew off-course and into a small tree, landing in its branches.
"Oh, bummer!" a grey pegasus with a blond mane and bubbles for her Cutie Mark pouted, eyes crossed but looking up at the ball. "You were doing so good, Screwball!"
"I don't know what happened," a pink pony with a white and purple mane mused, her crazy swirls of eyes looking up at the ball as well, the propeller on her hat spinning in the slight breeze. "I'm really good with baseballs!"
Before the pegasus could fly up to grab it, the tree moved slightly. Not an "in the wind" kind of movement, but a movement that made it seem as if it were a pony. It tossed the ball up and caught it again in the same branch, before reeling back and chucking the ball full-speed at Screwball. The adolescent mare panicked and ducked, but the ball abruptly halted just before her face, leaving her blinking at the floating object.
"A game of catch?" Discord's voice echoed before with a flash he appeared behind the once-moving tree. "Interesting, but quite boring, don't you think?"
"Ah!" the pegasus yelped, a bit delayed of a reaction but surprised all the same.
"But I like catch," Screwball said, cocking her head. "Baseball pitches are my special talent."
"Really?" Discord asked, hand appearing to pluck the ball out of the air before it re-appeared on the end of his arm. "Well, can you do this?"
The draconequus reared his arm back and threw the ball, making it spiral in a screw-like manner before rocketing up into the sky and plummeting back down towards the grey pegasus. She ducked, covering her head, but the baseball lightly bounced off her head and rolled over to her, bouncing slightly in one spot as if saying "throw me!"
The pegasus looked at the baseball and giggled. "Wow, Mister! That's pretty cool!"
"But you used magic," Screwball pointed out. "Watch what I can do without it! Mister! Keep your arms out like a 'T', please!" she snatched the ball and started spinning it on her nose. After getting it up to high speeds, she threw it up and used her back legs to kick it towards Discord. He put out his arms just as she asked, and it rolled from one finger across his arms and shoulders to the other. He grinned.
"Not bad!" he smirked.
Applejack looked over at Fluttershy. "Is he...are we...Discord's playin' catch?!" she whispered. The pegasus smiled and nodded.
"Well, I have an idea," Discord said with the face he had when plotting. He gestured both ponies closer and began to whisper something to them. After a few seconds, they both giggled and staggered themselves on the ground. Screwball took the ball in on her nose and began to spin it, prompting the pegasus to jump up and start flying above them. Once the ball was going fast enough, the mare tossed the ball up slightly, where it started spiraling like a screw up to the flying pony. When it was near enough, the grey mare caught it in her wing and let the momentum spin her full circle before pitching it back at the ground. Screwball was ready, and slammed both back legs into the ball as hard as she could, sending it towards the hiding place of the girls. All six panicked and ducked, but the ball soared clear over them and into a duplicate Discord that had a target painted on his forehead. The clone was hit right on the bulls-eye and shuttered with the impact, falling backwards. When it hit the ground, it poofed into confetti and a flashing "HOME RUN!" that lingered in the air. Both the pegasus and Screwball fell into uncontrollable laughter on the grass, Discord chuckling as well.
"Mister?" Screwball asked, gasping as she looked up at the draconequus, her friend still rolling in laughter next to her. "Could you teach me how to throw my balls to go like a screw even without magic?"
"Well why not?" the chaos spirit smirked. "You could cause some excellent chaos for the other team."
Screwball convulsed into laughter again, Discord even full-on laughing as the six hiding ponies walked a safe distance away.
"I do believe I see what you mean now, Fluttershy," Rarity said with a smile.
"Discord looked like he was having so much fun with those ponies!" Pinkie Pie giggled, bouncing in place. "I wanted to run over and start playing catch too!"
"Ah reckon Discord ain't all that different from us ponies," Applejack nodded, looking back over her shoulder. "He just likes a good time."
"So, do you see why I'd rather not tell Princess Celestia right away, if it means she'll take him back to Canterlot?" Fluttershy asked.
"Yeah, I get it now," Rainbow Dash said.
"As do I," Twilight Sparkle smiled. "He truly has changed somehow."
Fluttershy felt like her chest would burst with relief and joy. "Oh, thank you girls! I'm so glad you understand! I'm sure Discord will prove he's changed for the better!"
"FLUTTERSHY!"
The yellow pegasus was scared right out of her bed by Rainbow Dash's angry yell as the sun just barely started to rise. She hurried downstairs and opened the door. What she saw made her stop and stare in horror.
Behind Rainbow Dash was a scene of complete chaos. And it wasn't unfamiliar either. Dirt roads were now soap, cotton candy clouds rained chocolate milk everywhere, the ground was a pinkish-purple checkerboard instead of green grass, town hall was floating upside down, several ponies were doing things that simply shouldn't be physically possible, corn was popping like popcorn, apples had become giant, and animals now had extremely long legs. It looked almost exactly the way it had way it had when Discord made Ponyville the Chaos Capitol of the world.
"But - How - Why - "
"Looks like our old 'pal' decided to pull out a few of his old tricks," Rainbow Dash scowled, interrupting Fluttershy's stuttering. "We should have known this would happen!"
"I've already sent a letter to Princess Celestia," Twilight Sparkle said, coming up to Fluttershy's door with the rest of their friends and surprisingly a very tired Levi List in tow. "She'll be on her way shortly, but we need to go take care of Discord now."
Fluttershy was left shell-shocked in her own doorway. She couldn't believe this was happening! It had literally been the day before when they saw Discord spending time with Screwball and that other pony!
"FLUTTERSHY!" Rainbow Dash yelled, making the yellow pegasus jump. "Come on! Get your Element on and let's go!"
The timid mare cast her eyes down, shifting them slightly as her thoughts continued racing. "No...no. You said that if Discord pulled something that it would be my responsibility to deal with it, so I'm going to go talk to him myself first, see if he can't listen to reason."
"Reason?!" Applejack asked. "Fluttershy, Discord doesn't even know what REASON is!"
"Well I have to try!" she stubbornly replied, dashing out the door and taking off. Her friends watched her go.
"What're we gonna do if Fluttershy refuses to use her Element?!" Pinkie Pie panicked.
"I think I might have a solution for that," Levi List offered.
Fluttershy quickly flew over Ponyville, scanning the ground for the draconequus in question. Not spotting him anywhere inside the town, she changed her search to the outer parts of it. Eventually she realized he was making his way out of his own hedge maze, and she swooped down.
"Discord!" she called, reaching him.
"Hello Fluttershy," he said with a smirk, making it hard for Fluttershy to tell what he was thinking or feeling. "How may I help you today?"
"That!" she growled, pointing out over Ponyville as they came around the bend leading to the exit. Discord actually stopped and stared at the town for a few moments.
"You need to put Ponyville back to normal," the pegasus sternly stated. Doing little more than cocking an eyebrow, the draconequus snapped in the direction of the settlement, causing town hall to start spinning at high speeds in place where it was levitating. After a pause to look, he tried again, this time materializing a giant pepper shaker over a pony, shaking grains on her until she sneezed, making several buildings that looked three dimensional fall over, flat as cardboard.
"This isn't funny, Discord," Fluttershy warned in a low voice. He turned to her, anger flashing in his eyes.
"Oh, come now Fluttershy! Do you really think - !"
"I don't know what to think!" she burst out. "First you lie about coming here with Celestia's permission, then you go and do THIS!"
Something else replaced the rage in Discord's eyes, something Fluttershy couldn't quite place. "Well, yes, I did lie about that first bit, but I didn't cause any of this!"
"Why should I believe you?" Fluttershy asked. "You also claimed you weren't controlling the gravy boat or the soup tureen the last time you stayed, but we knew you were!"
"W-well, that was..."
"Discord, you're the only one we know with magic this powerful who would do this!" Fluttershy berated. "You need to take responsibility for your actions!"
"I didn't do this!" the draconequus repeated with a hiss, once more becoming angry.
Fluttershy turned away from him, grinding her teeth together. After a moment, she seemed to lose all energy and fell a bit, sighing. "I'm sorry Discord...but I don't believe you anymore."
Discord was left speechless as Fluttershy halfheartedly flew away from the maze and back to Ponyville.
Author's Note
Notes:
• Title's a play on "The Return of Harmony, Part 1/2"
• Levi List has serious OCD and is slightly paranoid when it comes to Discord. His talent is organization/planner.
• Spike only gets one appearance. I kinda forgot about him, plus he wasn't particularly useful for this plot.
• When Levi was distracted by Derpy, Discord handed the girls their Elements, so he didn't see that.
• Pinkie Pie saying they didn't have copyrights for that song references Fluttershy's lines are similar to the lyrics of "Something There" from Beauty and the Beast: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nwZEcdBMLLU
• Derpy's the one playing with Screwball.
"That's complicated magic," Twilight Sparkle said, looking at the spell book in front of her. "I don't know if I could concentrate on that while still using the Elements of Harmony."
"No need," Levi List said, making her look up to him. "I was rather high in my magic class, thanks to my attention to detail. All you would need to do is channel what you know about her personality."
"Well...alright," the alicorn reluctantly agreed. "But remember, this is only a last resort. First we have to see if Fluttershy will use it of her own free will."
Rainbow Dash flew through the open door at top speed and nearly rammed into Levi List, though she screeched to a stop before that happened. "I can't find Fluttershy anywhere in the sky," the mare reported as the rest of their friends ran into the Golden Oaks Library.
"I checked the inside of Ponyville," Rarity said. "What's left, anyway. I didn't see her at all."
"Ah looked all around the outer parts o' Ponyville," Applejack added. "She ain't anywhere."
"I talked to everypony I could find. A few said they saw her fly over to Discord's maze, but after that NOPONY saw her!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed, making Twilight bite her lower lip with the complexity of the matter at hand.
"If I may?" Levi List asked, making the ponies turn to him. "I don't think we have another moment to waste."
"He's right!" Rainbow Dash agreed. "We need to stop Discord before he starts using that hypno-nonsense on ponies and making them act all wacko!"
Twilight Sparkle put a hoof to her forehead and sighed. "You're right girls. I hope Fluttershy will understand. Do you still have that feather, Mr. List?"
The speckled unicorn nodded, pulling a yellow feather out of his bag.
Fluttershy paced just inside the Everfree Forest. Normally she wouldn't even go near the spooky area, but she wasn't ready to go back to her friends just yet.
Discord was the only one with nearly enough magic to make such a mess out of Ponyville, she knew this very well. And he had lied to her about Princess Celestia allowing him to come. All reasonable evidence pointed to the fact he was playing her for a fool. But still...the change from rage to that other emotion wasn't lost on her. She just couldn't put a hoof on what emotion it had been. That's what she was dwelling on. What was that expression he'd had? She didn't remember ever seeing that face on the draconequus before, though something about him in that moment did seem familiar. She ran back all the times she'd interacted with Discord in her mind, trying to filter out what that expression had been. It hadn't been that moment of explosive rage when she didn't fall willingly under his hypnosis, and it wasn't the joy at her and her friend's misfortune when they were all arguing with each other. So that left...
Suddenly it hit her. And she felt like she wanted to cry.
Trotting out of the Everfree Forest, Fluttershy wildly looked around to see if her friends were anywhere nearby. A large flash of light caught her eye to the left, and she couldn't believe what she was seeing. Putting as much speed into her legs and wings as she possibly could, she started dashing towards it.
Twilight Sparkle looked around, spotting the draconequus in question sitting with his back against the hedge maze, looking like he was napping. She turned to her friends (all wearing their respective Elements of Harmony) and Levi List, who was holding the Element of Kindness and a light yellow feather.
"Again, this only works for a short time," Levi List warned them, placing the feather on the ground but keeping the Element around his neck for the time being. "But it might just be enough time to get it done."
His horn began to glow a light grey color, encircling the feather. Twilight added her own, magenta glow to the mix, and the feather started to stretch and bulge. After a few tense and strenuous seconds, there was a small "Pop!" and suddenly standing in front of them was a perfect copy of Fluttershy. Twilight Sparkle let her magic subside, but Levi List kept his horn glowing to sustain the spell as long as possible. He took the Element off of his neck and put it around the yellow pegasus'.
"Alright," Rainbow Dash said, hitting one front hoof in the other. "Let's do this."
All six mares stepped out of their small hiding space behind a row of bushes, Levi List remaining in the bush so as to concentrate his magic into the fake Fluttershy. They stepped up in their formation, ready to use the Elements of Harmony to turn their target into stone.
"Discord!" Twilight Sparkle growled, making the draconequus lazily open one eye. "We're going to give you one chance; turn Ponyville back to normal!"
The spirit of chaos growled. "As I told your friend Fluttershy, I didn't do this! And since I'm not responsible, I don't feel I should have to fix it."
"Suit yourself," Rainbow Dash growled as the Elements of Harmony began to glow. Very soon they began shooting energy shaped like their central gem at the draconequus, making him duck and weave to avoid them. The energy blasts corralled him into one space, and a rainbow shot out from Twilight's tiara, arching upwards before slamming down onto him. Discord yowled in surprise and possibly pain as his lower body began to be encased in stone, freezing it in place. The effect rapidly climbed upwards, across his wings and arms and up his neck. Just a few more seconds and his head would be -
CRASH!
A loud thump came from the bush Levi List had been hiding in, causing the unicorn's magic to fail. Fake Fluttershy's Element stopped glowing, making the rainbow suddenly fizzle out. Discord looked as if he was straining, and cracks appeared all over his frozen body. The stone shell shattered, sending pieces everywhere and letting the draconequus move again. With a growl, he snapped his fingers and disappeared in a flash of light. At the same time, the hedge maze behind him grew much taller, thorns protruding from branches as the leaves turned dark and prickly, grey clouds covering the area as a final touch.
"What in tarnation?!" Applejack asked, looking around. The fake Fluttershy was on the ground, fading out of existence a moment later and only leaving her necklace. Much to everyone's shock, the real Fluttershy exploded out of the bush Levi List had been in, landing next to a shattered piece of stone.
What had just happened?! Fluttershy was sure she had to be there to make the Elements of Harmony actually work, so how come this had happened?
A speckled hoof touching her shoulder distracted the Pegasus. She turned to its owner, who was looking at her sadly.
"I'm sorry. This is just how it has to be."
Fluttershy did something very uncharacteristic of herself; she tackled the unicorn to the ground.
"Just the way it has to be?!" she demanded. "Discord had changed! He'd been good! I don't know what's going on with Ponyville right now but he said he didn't do it and I...I believe him!"
"Believe him?" Rarity asked. "Sweetheart, why would anyone else do this? HOW could anyone else do this?"
"I don't know," Fluttershy admitted, getting off of the very surprised Levi List. "But I know for a fact Discord has changed! He's good now, he's - "
"He's the embodiment of Chaos!" Levi List exclaimed. "I'm sorry Fluttershy, but he CAN'T change! It's not possible! That's like saying you can tame a timberwolf and make it a pet! He can move the moon and sun, for Celestia's sake!"
"Wait a minute!" Fluttershy abruptly realized, eyes widening. "If Discord had done this, why is the sun still following its normal course?"
All the ponies present stared at the pegasus. That oddly made sense. Last time Discord had decided to make Ponyville a living cartoon, the sun and moon had been abruptly and randomly changing their positions.
"Come to think of it, why would Discord make Ponyville exactly the same as before?" Pinkie Pie asked. "He never does the same thing twice!"
"But who could do this besides Discord?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"Somepony with a whole lot of magic," Twilight Sparkle mused. She turned to Levi List, who awkwardly looked away.
"Mr. List...that spell you pulled off was extremely complicated, and requires a lot of magic power. It takes years of hard study to do something that advanced. With that much experience...you could pull off many manipulation spells at once." The alicorn narrowed her eyes at him. "And you've been reading a whole lot about Discord's last visit here. Enough you might learn how to make Ponyville the Chaos Capitol of the world. But a regular pony can't move the sun or moon, now can they?"
"A-are you accusing me?" the speckled unicorn asked. "I despise anything that's not orderly! Why would I make Ponyville so chaotic? Besides, I've had nearly no experience with any draconequus."
"You said you had been to Canterlot," Rarity mused. "Perhaps you moved here from there? Where Discord had been?"
Fluttershy gasped. "Are you trying to frame Discord?!"
"I have to!" the unicorn burst out, jumping to his hooves and surprising everyone. "It's only a matter of time before he tries to take over Equestria again! The country's only safe with that menace in stone! I can't sit idly while that happens! I can't move at all when I think of what he'll do! I curse his name! He's the one behind all things chaotic! He's DISCORD!"
"We don't own that song either, but I don't think we'll get sued for it," Pinkie Pie babbled. "But still, YOU MEANY-PANTS! Framing ponies isn't nice!"
"He's not a pony!" Levi List growled. "He's a...a...a tyrant! He can't change his ways, it's simply not possible!"
Twilight Sparkle growled at Levi List. "I'm going to give you a chance to fix Ponyville yourself. If you don't, I'll change it back with my failsafe spell and then tell Princess Celestia EXACTLY what you did!"
"Your failsafe spell won't work, I've put a magical force field around Ponyville so any magic that isn't mine will either not work or simply cause more havoc."
"I'll make sure to mention that, then," the purple alicorn threatened.
The unicorn in front of her scowled before his horn flashed brightly. Once they got their vision back, Ponyville looked utterly normal. The hedge maze still looked evil and looming, seeing as that was Discord's doing, but the grass was green again, the roads were dirt and not soap, the animals were back to normal, etcetera. Twilight Sparkle sighed with relief.
"Girls, we need to go find Discord and apologize," she said as the Cutie Mark Crusaders began to trot over. "I'll bet he's in the maze, so we'd better see if we can find him."
"You're going in the maze?" Scootaloo asked, drawing attention to her and her friends.
"If y'all are, don't go left!" Apple Bloom piped up.
"Yeah, we took a left from the entrance, and we ran into a big three-headed dog!" Sweetie Belle added.
Fluttershy's eyes bulged slightly. Could that...?
"Girls, I have to run back to my house really quickly, please don't start without me!" she said, beginning to run off. Her friends were left staring at each other in confusion, but the pegasus came back in a very short time, a scroll in her mouth.
"What's that?" Rainbow Dash asked as her friend unrolled the paper. Her friends could see the letter Princess Celestia had written, but Fluttershy was studying the other side.
"I send two-sided letters to Princess Celestia," Fluttershy explained, scrutinizing the paper. "One side is for Princess Celestia, and one is for Discord. He takes her letters before she sends them and writes his own on the back to me. This one had a maze under it, and when I took a left, I ran into a Cerberus!"
"So that maze might be a map through this maze!" Rarity concluded.
"Awesome! We'll get through here in record time!" Rainbow Dash said.
"But that's like cheating!" Apple Bloom piped up, making the ponies turn to her.
"Sugar cube, we ain't playin' a game," Applejack told her little sister. "We need to find Discord and say we're sorry for somethin'."
"We were being meany-mean-mean pants," Pinkie Pie said.
"We made him upset," Twilight Sparkle admitted. "And that reminds me, girls, he's hard to read when he's angry. Keep your Elements on at all times, just in case we end up needing a little extra protection."
All the girls nodded, Fluttershy fixing her necklace around her neck. She didn't think she'd need to use it, but Discord had a nasty temper at times. Better to be safe than sorry.
"Alright girls, let's follow Fluttershy," the alicorn said. The yellow pegasus nodded and stepped into the entrance of the hedge maze. As soon as all the girls were inside, the opening behind them was closed off and their wings and horns disappeared.
"Hoo boy," Applejack groaned. "Here we go again."
"Seems some ponies have come to play again," Discord's voice echoed. There was something more malicious about his tone than last time they'd been in a similar situation. "Trying to imprison me in stone again? Don't think it'll be easy!"
"He sounds furious," Rarity quietly whispered.
"Well, we kind sorta said we didn't trust him when we really shoulda," Pinkie Pie pointed out, smiling awkwardly.
"No time for that, girls," Twilight said, looking over Fluttershy's shoulder. "We need to reach the center."
"Alright, follow me," the yellow pegasus said, starting off down the right corridor. There were more monsters in the actual maze than were marked on the paper, most likely because of the draconequus' increased rage. The girls were forced to dodge around a small pack of timberwolves, a patch of Poison Joke flowers, and even a parasprite swarm.
"Are we THERE yet?" Rainbow Dash asked, thinking their pace was obscenely slow.
"Almost," Fluttershy assured them, looking at the hedge walls. "We have to take a left."
"Uh...what left?" Applejack asked, not seeing anything but a straight corridor that led to a right hand turn at its end. "There ain't any lefts 'round here."
"Exactly," Fluttershy nodded. The ponies looked at each other, confused, before Fluttershy gasped in delight and trotted over to a spot in the wall. When her friends followed, they saw there was a small gap, just barely large enough for a pony to crawl through.
"You must be joking!" Rarity exclaimed. Her answer was Fluttershy getting down on her stomach and wriggling through the tiny gap, getting scratched everywhere with the thorns. Rainobw Dash went next, pushing the branches aside and getting a few gashes as a result.
"Don't worry, sugar cube," Applejack offered as Twilight made her way through the gap, hissing in pain. "If ya go last, it'll be bigger for ya to get through."
"I suppose," Rarity groaned as Pinkie Pie did a somersault through the hole, getting her mane and tail tangled. Applejack crawled through next, her hat getting stuck in the brambles but not much else. Rarity pushed the hat through when she delicately squeezed herself through the gap, appearing no worse for wear on the other side, though her friends had varying about of scratches and tangled manes. Fluttershy had the most and worst gouges, but she continued to concentrate on the task at hand.
"Okay...we'll go straight until we see a hammock on our left, then take the next right," the yellow pegasus said, looking at the map again.
"A hammock?" Pinkie Pie asked. "Why not a trampoline? Or a pool?"
"Maybe the hammock's to tempt us to take a rest," Twilight offered. "It might transport us back outside, or we might just not wake up."
"If it's a cloud hammock," Rainbow Dash growled, not having great memories of cloud hammocks in the maze, "I'm kicking it to next Tuesday."
"That's tomorrow!" Pinkie Pie said with a smile and a bounce. Rainbow Dash put a hoof to her forehead and shook her head. Sure enough, they soon found a hammock, but it wasn't a cloud. The girls kept going, turning right and avoiding waking an ursa minor.
"One more turn and we're there, girls," Fluttershy said, taking the next left but stopping abruptly. When her friends caught up to her, they saw why; a small army of black, pony-like creatures was standing in front of them. With flashes, they all took the appearance of one of the six mares.
"Changelings?!" Twilight asked, looking at the morphed forms.
"I count 18 of them," Rainbow Dash said, getting in a fighting stance. "This oughta be a piece of cake!"
The changelings jumped at the ponies, and confusion began to run rampant. The girls could only kick and punch for attacks, and sometimes they hit their friend instead of an enemy. At one point, all the changelings took the form of Fluttershy, causing many of them to be defeated, but earing Fluttershy a few new wounds. One of the changelings kicked Fluttershy hard enough to send her out of the hallway and into a clearing.
"Fluttershy, ya okay?!" Applejack called, bucking one of the last two enemies as Pinkie Pie somehow grabbed her party cannon out of thin air and blasted the other.
"Well, bravo, bravo," a voice sarcastically crooned, clapping punctuating the words. Fluttershy's ears shot straight up and she tried to jump to her feet, but one of her legs buckled and sent her face-first into the ground. "Seems you found the center."
"Hiya, Discord!" Pinkie Pie called, smiling widely. The chaos spirit didn't seem amused. If anything, that made him even angrier.
"Discord, we came to - "
"I know exactly what you came here for!" he yelled, cutting of Twilight and actually sending her back a few steps with the volume of his shout. "You're trying to finish what you started outside!"
"You're wrong!" Rarity tried. "We came here to apologize!"
"Pfft!" the draconequus hissed. "Don't make me laugh. You don't seem to trust me, so why should I trust you?!"
"Look, would you just - "
Rainbow Dash never got to finish her thought. Discord sent out a blast of energy that knocked all the ponies back a good three steps. Fluttershy's friends were forced back into the corridor before a force field came up, trapping them out of the courtyard and her in it.
"Discord! What're you doing?" the pegasus asked, managing to stand on three hooves as her friends began to pound on the barrier, trying to yell into the clearing but their words getting muffled.
"Cheating, of course," he said with a malicious grin as Fluttershy's necklace gem began to glow. She was dragged along the ground by it and up into the air before it flipped so the gold part was pressing against her throat, making her feel like she was being strangled. "So I can deal with YOU! Any last words?"
Fluttershy gasped for air, struggling to somehow relieve the stress the unbreakable item was placing on her neck. She managed a look at the furious draconequus. His rage was burning like an inferno in her eyes, but behind it something else was there. The same emotion she hadn't been able to place before, but knew what it was now. Sorrow.
"N-no," she managed, still fighting for air. "B-because...n-nothing will...s-set it...r-right."
Her friends stopped pounding on the barrier, as if they could hear her and Discord clearly even though she couldn't hear them. The shock factor of that statement was enough to make even Discord loose his concentration and drop her. She hit the ground on her bad hoof and it buckled under her again, this time feeling like it snapped. She grit her teeth and tried to shift her weight off of it.
"...What?" Discord finally managed. The yellow pegasus at his feet began to tear up. Not from pain, but from genuine sadness.
"Nothing I say to you will fix what's happened," she repeated, sniffling. "I broke my promise to you; I said my Element of Harmony would never be used against you, but it was. I said friends cut each other slack, but I didn't give you any. I just jumped to the first conclusion, that you were playing innocent with me. But I was wrong."
"What's she talking about?" Applejack asked her friends. "She didn't use her Element, Levi List's phony pony did!"
"I'm not sure," Rarity confessed.
Discord was left staring stupidly down at Fluttershy, not sure what to say or do. He'd been absolutely furious he was almost turned to stone again for no apparent reason, but now he was just plain lost.
"Mr. Discord!" a filly's voice boomed, sounding like it was coming out of a gigantic megaphone and penetrating the barrier. "Can you hear us?!"
"Sweetie Belle?!" Rarity exclaimed.
"Mr. Discord, if ya can hear us, we just wanna ask a question!" Apple Bloom's voice came in the same manner. "We know our sistahs are in there right now, and ya closed off the maze! But we wanna know if we can keep playing too!"
"You said we could pick up where we left off!" Scootaloo called. "It was a couple days ago, so if you don't remember, we were near that cloud hammock, with the box that had my wings in it! When I turned them down because of what Rainbow Dash said, you said you weren't surprised, remember?!"
Rainbow Dash felt her eyes bulge slightly. Discord'd had the perfect opportunity to crush Scootaloo's perception of the blue Pegasus by telling her the truth, that Rainbow Dash had abandoned her friends. Even though that sort of thing was in his nature, he hadn't.
"We really had fun going through the maze!" Sweetie Belle yelled. "But we're sorry if us saying we wanted to 'defeat you' made you upset! We'd thought you were bad, because other ponies had said you were the spirit of chaos, but you're not bad at all! And by the end of the day, we were just playing when we said that!"
"We're sorry!" all three girls called out as loud as they could. Then there was a crash and slight commotion, as if their giant megaphone had fallen over.
Fluttershy struggled to her feet, necklace still on backwards as Discord kept staring the direction the three voices had come from. "Discord," she panted, making him turn to her. "Those girls...I think they say it...best." The pegasus faltered on her feet and collapsed back to the floor.
"You...you're supposed to be chaos in a body," she continued, starting to feel dizzy from a combination of blood loss from the scratches she had thanks to the thorns, and the pain her broken foreleg. "You're not suppose to...be able to change. But...you...you did. You...w-wanted to...spend time...with your friends. You were f...furious and...sad when...we doubted you. You sh...shouldn't be able...to feel like that. Th-that friendship...is like magic. You've ch-changed...dr-drastically. You found...s-something...fantastic."
"That song was meant for them," Pinkie Pie said with a smile. "Too bad we don't own that either." Her friends rolled their eyes at the nonsense she was spouting before turning back to what was going on.
"D-Discord..." Fluttershy struggled to speak, eyes trying to close. "I d-don't...expect...you to...f-forgive me, but...I-I'm...sorry..."
Twilight began pounding her hooves against the barrier again, seeing Fluttershy fading fast. "DISCORD!" she screamed at the top of her lungs. "FLUTTERSHY NEEDS HELP! LET US IN!"
The scream of the purple pony seemed to knock Discord to his senses. He quickly snapped his fingers, and in a bright white flash the ponies found themselves at the hospital with their wings and horns back. The nurse present was quite surprised by their sudden appearance, especially that of a very beat up yellow pegasus.
"No time to explain!" Rainbow Dash said before the nurse could ask any awkward questions. "Broken leg, blood loss, go!"
The nurse nodded and called over another nurse with a gurney. They lowered it almost to the floor before picking Fluttershy up and gingerly placing her on it. They raised it up again and went into the operating room, recruiting a doctor on the way who had fixed Rainbow Dash's wing once when she broke it.
"Poor dearie," Rarity groaned in sympathy. "She got positively pummeled!"
"And pounded, and pushed, and-and...are there any other words that start with 'P'?" Pinkie Pie asked.
"I just hope what she and the little ponies said brings Discord to his senses," Twilight mused.
"Oh yeah! The girls!" Rainbow Dash remembered. "We better go see if they're still there."
"Smart call, Rainbow," Applejack said, charging out of the hospital. All five girls ran back to where the hedge maze was, but the pony that first caught their eye wasn't one of the fillies.
"Princess Celestia!" Twilight exclaimed, making the white alicorn with flowing, rainbow hair and a sun on her flank turn to the five.
"There you are, girls!" the princess exclaimed, making Levi List turn from where he had been sitting next to the Cutie Mark Crusaders. "I'm sorry it took me so long to get here, but it seems like you got it under control in the meantime."
"When did you arrive?" Rarity asked.
"She came down right after our giant megaphone fell on us," Apple Bloom said, pointing to the crumpled cone of several sheets of construction paper laying on the grass a few paces away.
"Did you turn Discord into stone, like Princess Celestia thinks?!" Scootaloo asked. "Was he really being bad?"
"He'd been so nice to us!" Sweetie Belle exclaimed, looking like she might cry.
"Uh, well, no," Applejack admitted. "He's still in the middle o' that maze."
"And he wasn't being bad," Rainbow Dash said, landing next to the fillies. "We just thought he was."
"Oh?" Princess Celestia asked. "How did that come about?"
"Because someone was being a meany-mean-mean pants and making it look like Discord make everything go all wibbly-wobbly timey-whimy crazy-daisy!" Pinkie Pie explained.
"Um, yes," Twilight admitted, trying to think of a way to get around the fact the culprit was sitting right there. "You see, a unicorn - "
"I'm sorry, Princess Celestia," Levi List spoke, bowing his head. "I had thought Discord came here to put up a good image so the bearers of the Elements of Harmony would think he was good. I thought the only way to convince them otherwise was to make it seem as if he changed the entirety of Ponyville to be nonsense."
The princess' eyes widened slightly. "Oh my. I knew you had been top of your year at my school for gifted unicorns, but I didn't expect that. Especially since you had a nearly obsessive need to keep everything ordered."
"I thought disorder was a necessary evil at this point," the speckled unicorn sheepishly replied, scraping his hoof against the ground awkwardly. "And I'm very sorry."
"Hm, seems a great deal of miscommunication led to a rather large series of problems," the white alicorn observed.
"Yeah," Twilight Sparkle reluctantly admitted. "Fluttershy managed to apologize, but none of the rest of us had the chance."
"Speaking of which, where is Fluttershy?" Celestia asked. The ponies awkwardly glanced at each other.
"Um...the hospital," Rainbow Dash muttered.
"We went inta the maze ta apologize," Applejack explained, making the princess turn to her, "and Fluttershy was leadin' the way. She got scratched up with the thorns when we had ta crawl through a small gap ta reach the center, and then when we found Discord, he got in a bit o' a spat with her. Ended up gettin' a busted leg."
"After the girls used their big cool megaphone to talk to Discord, Fluttershy apologized and passed out! Twilight started pounding on the crazy force field Discord set up and gave a yell LIIIIIKE THIIIIIIS!" Pinkie Pie continued, nearly breaking everyone's eardrums. "And then he poofed us all out of the maze and into the hospital!"
"Well, in that case," Celestia said, turning to the three fillies, "girls? Can the older ponies use your megaphone?"
"If ya can fix it," Apple Bloom pointed out. The princess smiled and used her magic to levitate it off the ground and straighten out the folds and creases. She floated the giant craft over to the five ponies. The girls glanced at each other, but Pinkie Pie bounced right over and tapped the opening she was supposed to speak into before starting.
"Hello? Testing! One two three seven! Hehe! Don't worry, I know seven doesn't come after three!" The pink pony giggled before growing serious. "Just like I know we were being really meany-mean-mean pants to you, Discord! You didn't do anything wrong, and we should've made sure of that before doing anything! I wouldn't blame you if you never ever ever ever ever wanted to be friends with us again! That's like, four 'ever's! Never forever!"
"We shoulda listened to Fluttershy," Applejack said into the funnel, knowing Pinkie Pie would keep talking until someone took her spot. "She told us that ya'd changed. She even showed us! We watched when you were playin' catch with Screwball and her friend, and we saw exactly what she was talkin' about."
"And my darling little sister knew you were nice too," Rarity added, seeming uncomfortable with the idea of looking silly in public but brushing it aside. "She came home so happy after she and her friends had decided to try to conquer your maze. She told me that you opened up a path for her to get to Apple Bloom, and that's something the old Discord would never do."
"Speaking of things old Discord would never do," Rainbow Dash said, almost shoving Rarity out of the way, "the old Discord wouldn't think twice about what he said to a little filly that looks up to somepony. He would've just outright told the ugly truth." The blue pegasus looked at Scootaloo (who cocked her head in confusion) then smiled and turned back to the megaphone. "Instead, you encouraged her after she made the right choice. I owe you one for that."
"When Ponyville looked the way it did, we didn't even consider other possibilities," Twilight confessed, making her way to the megaphone. "Even though we'd been told you'd changed, and even though we saw it for ourselves, we couldn't see past the past. So...I guess what we're trying to say is..."
"We're sorry!" all five girls called into the megaphone. They tensely waited for some form of recondition, but the thorny hedges stayed exactly the same.
"Maybe he didn't hear us," Pinkie Pie said. She grabbed a different megaphone out of thin air and turned it on, yelling into it.
"TESTING! ONE TWO - " Rainbow Dash knocked the electronic megaphone out of her hoof, sparing everyone around her from becoming deaf.
Celestia chuckled and walked over to the giant paper megaphone herself. "Discord, I do believe you heard these five," she spoke into it. "I realize you might need some time to decide whether you accept the apology or not, but at least let them know you heard them."
After a moment, a white flash appeared inside the megaphone. Twilight used her magic to withdraw the piece of paper left there, and turned it over to see it simply had "Heard you" written on one side.
"Well, at least I don't have to repeat everything you all said again!" Pinkie Pie chirped. "I'm sure the readers would get pretty annoyed!"
Applejack just shook her head at the peppy pony. "Y'all think we should check on Fluttershy while we wait ta see if he forgives us?" she asked.
"I think that's the best course of action," Rarity agreed.
"You coming?" Rainbow Dash asked the three fillies still on the ground. They looked at each other and shook their heads.
"We want to stay here until Discord either lets us in, or comes out," Scootaloo said.
"We wanna give him a big ol' hug!" Apple Bloom nodded.
"Yeah, because being picked on, even by accident, is no fun at all," Sweetie Belle concluded. The blue pegasus smiled and nodded, then rushed off to the hospital, friends following. Princess Celestia stood up and began to follow them, but stopped and turned back to Levi List.
"I hope you realize you didn't only hurt Discord, but those fine ponies as well," she berated.
"I know," the unicorn said, ears falling. "I'll try to make it up to all seven of them...someday."
Fluttershy groaned quietly as she began to regain consciousness. Slowly opening her eyes, she saw her friends and Princess Celestia standing around her bed. She gasped and bolted upright.
"You didn't turn him to stone, did you?! Or send him - " the yellow pegasus broke herself off when the suddenness of her movement caught up to her brain, making her head swim and nearly black out again. She blearily registered a light blue glow encasing her and gently laying her back down.
"Discord hasn't been punished in any way," Celestia said, glowing horn fading after Fluttershy's head was safely on her pillow again.
"We actually just finished apologizing to him with the Cutie Mark Crusaders' ridiculous megaphone," Twilight Sparkle said. "But are you alright?"
"Oh, yes," Fluttershy nodded. "It was just a few scratches and a sprained hoof."
"Just a few - ! Darling, you're covered head to hoof in bandages!" Rarity pointed out. Fluttershy looked down past her now forwards Element of Harmony, noticing she had small white pads secured to her fur with medical tape nearly everywhere, many of them stained red with the bleeding. One of her forelegs was also in a stiff cast.
"Oh...I guess it's a little more than I thought."
"'A little'?" Rainbow Dash asked. "I've never seen so many bandages on a pony! Well, besides my roommate when I broke my wing."
"Are ya sure you're alright, sugar cube?" Applejack asked. "Ya don't pass out lightly, ya know."
"I'm fine," Fluttershy said. "I'm sorry you had to carry be all back through the maze."
"Actually, Discord did his little snappy dooda and magically put you back here!" Pinkie Pie smiled. "Us too! That's how we got to use that cool gigantic megaphone!"
Fluttershy blinked then smiled. "That's wonderful," she said.
"I hate to ask, but Fluttershy needs her rest," a doctor said, having been awkwardly standing in the doorway for a few minutes.
"Of course," Celestia nodded, beginning to walk out.
"We'll come see you soon, Fluttershy," Twilight Sparkle promised. Her friends all began affirming and calling back farewells as they exited the room. The yellow pegasus looked out the window, noting the sun was nearly ready to set. Quite a day. She watched as the giant ball of light slipped below the horizon, the moon and stars rising to take their place. She closed her eyes, snuggling further down into the blankets before falling asleep.
The yellow mare woke up to the sound of someone smashing their head against the ceiling. There was a quiet "Ow" as Fluttershy groggily opened her eyes. It was still dark out, though it wouldn't be for long, seeing as the moon was nearing the opposite horizon it had been on when she fell asleep. She rubbed her eyes and lifted her head, spotting who made the noise.
"Oh, I didn't mean to, uh..." Discord awkwardly trailed off, looking around the room as if to avoid eye contact. "I'll just come back some other time."
"Don't be silly," Fluttershy smiled, sitting up. "I told you, I always appreciate your company."
The draconequus' eyes roamed the bandages across the mare's body. "Even though it's my fault you were hurt?"
"It's not your fault at all," Fluttershy replied, shaking her head. "It's my fault I didn't push aside the thorns, and landing on my leg the way I did was a complete accident."
Discord managed a small smile before it fell again. "Well, I... it's..." he took a breath and closed his eyes. "I was thinking about what you said and... you said friends cut each other slack, and you were sorry you didn't do that. Well...I didn't do that either. Could you forgive me?"
"I already have," she assured him. He opened his eyes again and managed that same small smile. The mare gestured for him to come closer, making him move his head over to her. Fluttershy reached out her good hoof and hugged him as best she could, making the draconequus' smile widen.
"I hope you can forgive my friends, too," she said, letting go of him, "even if you can't forgive me."
"I think I will forgive them," he mused, putting his hand in his paw as if he had to seriously consider it. "I suppose that's another lesson in friendship, hm?"
Fluttershy giggled. "I suppose."
Discord chuckled as well. "And while I'm at it, I may as well forgive you too."
The yellow pegasus smiled. "You don't know how happy that makes me."
Once morning actually started, Princess Celestia went to the hedge maze looking for Discord, saying she thought it was time for him to return to Canterlot. Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom, and Scootaloo rose a mighty protest, wanting to finish their run through the maze before it disappeared. The alicorn chuckled and agreed, and right before her eyes the fillies were transported inside the maze. Pinkie Pie had been bouncing by at the time, and passed her knowledge on to her friends, including Fluttershy. She began to beg and plead with the doctors to let her out just to say goodbye, but that amounted to nothing. Once the fillies "defeated" Discord, he snapped to give the girls their wings and horns back, as well as making the entire hedge maze disappear.
"Ready to go?" Celestia asked the draconequus.
"I suppose so," he said, getting out from under the dogpile the Cutie Mark Crusaders made on top of him. The princess nodded as five of the six bearers of the Elements of Harmony trotted up.
"I'm sorry Discord, but the doctors aren't letting Fluttershy out of the hospital," Twilight Sparkle apologetically announced.
"Ah suppose that's for the better, but it's still mighty sad," Applejack admitted.
"I'll bet she sends her best, though," Rainbow Dash offered. Discord nodded, seeming a little disgruntled.
"It was an interesting few days," Rarity said. "And while at first I was skeptical, it was delightful to see you again."
"And tons of fun, too!" Pinkie Pie laughed with a bounce. "Hedge mazes, those yummy clouds, it was great!"
Discord smirked mischievously and snapped, causing a Pinkie Pie-shapped cotton candy chocolate rain cloud to appear close to the ground. She licked her lips and tried to chow down, but it bounced away from her, making her bite on thin air. She giggled and turned to the draconequus.
"Thanks!" she said. "I'll chase it down later."
Celestia chuckled and nodded, spreading her wings as if to take off -
"Wait!" a small voice called. "Please don't leave yet!"
"Fluttershy?!" Twilight asked as the pegasus flew over to them, panting before landing on her three good legs. "I thought the doctors wouldn't let you leave."
"They didn't, I snuck out the window," she admitted. Rainbow Dash smirked as Fluttershy turned to Discord.
"I'm sorry your visit to Ponyville wasn't all that great," the mare apologized. "But I'm still really glad you came. I hope you can come again, sometime."
"Oh, that reminds me," Celestia said, tucking her wings back in. "Did any of you learn a new lesson in friendship because of this?"
Fluttershy smiled and glanced back at Discord, who awkwardly averted his eyes. She giggled.
"Well, I know one of us learned that forgiving your friends is a big part of friendship. After all, everyone makes mistakes." The yellow mare winked at the princess and gestured with her head towards Discord. Celestia chuckled and winked back.
"And I'm sure we all learned that just because some pony...or rather, some draconequus," Twilight corrected with a smile, making Discord turn to her, "wasn't necessarily a friend the first time you met, that doesn't mean they can't change and become one. Everyone deserves a second chance."
All the girls next to Twilight nodded, adding in phrases of agreement.
"And I learned that since this is a fanfiction, copyrights don't matter all that much!" Pinkie Pie chirped. Everyone stared at her before collectively shrugging. Pinkie Pie would always be Pinkie Pie. They didn't have time to dwell on that, however, as a baseball came spiraling through the group a high speeds, making them jump and duck out of the way. The ball nearly collided with Princess Celestia's forehead, but it abruptly stopped in mid air, then jumped back to its source; a pink earth pony and a grey pegasus.
"I'm really sorry, Princess Celestia!" Screwball called out, catching the ball in the propeller on her hat. "But thanks for the save, Mister! Did I do good?"
Discord produced a sign that said "Grand Slam!" out of mid air, making the two mares laugh and hop away. Celesita chuckled as well.
"Thank you, girls. It's time for us to be going, however. I hope to hear from you soon."
The white alicorn spread her wings and flew upwards, Discord following on his own mismatched pair. The girls below shouted farewells and waved, Pinkie Pie taking off after her cotton candy look alike just before they went out of sight behind the clouds.
"Oh, Discord?" Celestia said, making the draconequus turn to her. "Next time you want to visit those six, all you have to do is ask."
The chaos spirit rolled his eyes with a grin. "Oh, but what fun is that?" he asked. The princess chuckled, turning her eyes back to Canterlot.
Author's Note
Notes:
• Fluttershy's realization comes from the tone of voice Discord had while saying "Well played, Fluttershy," in "Keep Calm and Flutter On". If you remember, she didn't see his face during that time.
• Since Fluttershy's DNA was used in that spell, the Element of Kindness recognized her as the bearer, even though it was technically a fake.
• Pinkie Pie saying they didn't own that song but wouldn't get sued for it references the fact Levi List's lines were similar to the fan-made song "Discord", specifically TheLivingTombstone's remix: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPfMb50dsOk
• Pinkie Pie saying a song was made for Discord and Fluttershy but they didn't own it either references the fact Fluttershy's lines were taken from the fan-made song "Something Fantastic" by ElectroKaplosion and Chi-chi: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzuYufES8cA
• Levi List moved from Canterlot after Discord was reformed, and before that graduated from Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns some time before Twilight Sparkle did.
• Pinkie Pie was seriously going to repeat every word they said, because she either has an eidetic memory, or a script.
• Pinkie Pie saying no one cared about copyrights was a joke about her fretting they'd get sued; Hasbro would be more likely to sue me than Disney or any of the fan composers.
