Chapter 6: A Discovery

Chapter 6

A Discovery

The three mares stood in disbelief. They looked at the stallion, baffled. It was all they could do. He didn’t look anything like Fluttershy. He was tall, and he had a short mane, a short tail, and a square chin. The stallion looked up at each of them, hoping that they would believe him.
Rainbow Dash was pondering the stallion’s words carefully. Suddenly, she was overcome with a sudden sensation. Breaking the tension, Rainbow Dash rolled on the ground and started laughing. Twilight and Applejack were utterly confused, while the stallion’s eyes were full of fear and worry.

“Help!” Rainbow Dash shrieked in merriment, “I can’t breathe… it hurts… my stomach!”

“Rainbow Dash!” Twilight said in disapprovingly.

“Come on Twilight,” Rainbow Dash said after getting over her fit of laughter, “Even an egghead would know that the real Fluttershy is a mare!”

“But I am Fluttershy,” said the stallion shyly. Rainbow Dash walked towards the pony and looked him straight in the eye.

“Prove it!” Rainbow Dash demanded. The stallion put his head down, utterly terrified.

“This is my home, and I take care of the animals,” he said, hoping the ponies would believe him.

“Big whoop!” said Rainbow Dash, “Everypony knows this is Fluttershy’s house!”

The stallion gave out more facts that sounded like things the real Fluttershy would know, but Rainbow Dash was still not convinced.

Minutes passed until the stallion gave out a sorrowful sigh.

“It’s hopeless,” the stallion announced, close to tears.

“Then why are you trying to convince us that you’re somepony you’re not?” Rainbow Dash growled bitterly.

“Because I am Fluttershy,” the stallion pleaded in a quiet scream.

“Alright, alright!” Applejack interjected, “Break it up you two.”

She then glanced at Twilight.

“Twilight, do you know what we should do?” she asked.

“Well…” Twilight said, thinking it over before looking at the stallion again, “Tell me about something that only the real Fluttershy and I would know.”

“Ummmm…” said the stallion hesitantly before having a sudden, startling realization, “Oh my gosh! I’m so sorry! I meant to tell Rarity about the blankets, but I just forgot, I’m so sorry!”

“Fluttershy?” Twilight asked observing the stallion ever so closely.

“That’s what I've been trying to tell you guys this whole time,” said the stallion with a sigh.

“But, if this is the real you, then how did you become like this?” Twilight asked.

“I don’t know,” said the stallion desperately.” I just woke up like this.”

“Why did you hide from us?” Twilight asked, intrigued and a little hurt.

“Well…” the stallion began when Pinkie’s voice boomed through the cottage.

“GUYS!” she yelled urgently. “We haven’t found Fluttershy, but you might want to check this out!”

“We better go see what it is,” suggested Apple Jack.

“Alright Pinkie, we’ll be right there,” Twilight yelled in reply. She then turned back to Fluttershy and said, “You can answer my question on the way. Come on, let’s go.”

As they walked to the cottage, Fluttershy explained to them why she had been hiding. Since the change had been so sudden, she was afraid of what might happen next. That, and she was afraid of how they would react. So in fear, she hid in the most seclusive spot she could think of: the chicken coop. While she was talking, Rainbow Dash was examining her from head to tail. One part of her kept telling her that this was really Fluttershy, but another part refused to believe such a notion.

The part telling her it was Fluttershy was listing all the fun they could have together. They could race all around Ponyville, and Fluttershy would be one of the first stallions that wouldn’t mind if she did something “un-marely”. The other part, however, listed all the dangers that the mysterious stallion could bring. He could be a changeling or somepony else who wanted to ruin the good name of the Mane Six.

Both Applejack and Twilight kept this danger in mind as well. If it turned out that this stallion was just using them, it was still in their best interest to act like they believed him, at least for the time being. This was changeling Applejack, who had begun figuring out ways to explain herself if Fluttershy asked whether she trusted her or not. As Pinkie held the door open for them, they walked inside cautiously.

“Who’s this handsome stallion?” Pinkie Pie asked excitedly after noticing Fluttershy.

“Believe it or not, that’s Fluttershy,” Twilight answered for Fluttershy.

Pinkie Pie eyed the stallion very closely and said, “Yep that explains it,” before closing the door.

“What did ya’ll find?” Applejack inquired.

“Come up here and see,” yelled Rarity from the upper level of the cottage.

“You won’t believe it!” added Spike. Twilight rolled her eyes; Fluttershy’s transformation into a stallion was unbelievable by itself. What more could there be?

The five ponies walked up the stairs and stopped next to Rarity and Spike, who were standing next to Fluttershy’s bathroom door.

“Who’s this oddly charming fellow?” asked Rarity staring at Fluttershy.

“It’s Fluttershy,” Twilight answered again.

“Fluttershy?” Spike asked in curiosity, “No way!”

“Well that would explain it,” Rarity said, mirroring Pinkie’s reply.

“That’s exactly what…” but before Twilight could finish her sentence, a loud, pleasured moan came from the door.

“Oh look at you,” said the voice, “So smooth…mmhhhhhhhh…ahhhhh-and….ooooooo… elegant. My, my, my, I can definitely work with this…”

The voice sounded dry and raspy, but at the same time, it was skin-prickling smooth that it could give anypony the chills. With Fluttershy’s permission, Twilight slowly opened the door. The ponies peeked in and went pale with shock. The whole room was covered in white goop, like someone had taken a giant fire extinguisher and sprayed it all across the room until there was nothing left uncovered.

Off to the side, there were two legs that, oddly enough, reminded the ponies of Discord. Suddenly, a head popped out of the white slush. It was like Discord’s, except it was rounder and smaller than Discord’s, and it also had eyelashes and a gray mane. Its body was skinnier and had more curves than Discord’s as well.

The towering creature gave out a long, contented sigh and said, “I love being a female!”

Twilight’s mind sparked, it all made sense now.

“Discord!” Twilight yelled with anger.

“The one and only,” he said jubilantly. “Though I’m thinking of changing my name, how does Mistress Discana sound to you?”

“What the hay is all of this stuff?” asked Apple Jack.

“Why, it’s ice-cream! A girl can never have enough,” Discord answered in his new monotone, feminine voice.

“ICECREAM!” Pinkie Pie yelled before diving in.

Out of the pile of the frozen treat came a tiny little rabbit.

“Angel Bu-” Fluttershy was about to say before realizing that the rabbit looked nothing like Angel Bunny. Its tail was too puffy, and its cheeks were rosier than Angel’s. She deduced that it was a female rabbit, and Fluttershy knew that Angel Bunny was a male. But any doubt that it was, in fact, Angel was shattered when his signature expression of sheer disapproval formed on the rabbit’s shapely face.

“Is that really you?” Fluttershy asked. The rabbit shook its head in approval.

“Discord! Turn everything back to normal, NOW!” demanded Twilight.

Discord gave a sneaky smile.

“You don’t think I’ve already tried?” Discord asked, amused, “Besides, why would I? I’m having too much fun…horsing…around.”

His grin grew ten times wider, showing off the glint in his sharp teeth.

“Discord!” Twilight growled.

“Fine,” he said crossing in his arms. With a huff he snapped his fingers, and to the ponies’ surprise, nothing happened.

Twilight was still not convinced, and Discord knew this. With a snap, extra hands covered his entire body and snapped together in unison, but still nothing happened except that all the extra hands disappeared.

“See,” Discord said,” I told you so.”

“This doesn’t make any sense!” Twilight confessed in defeat. She had no idea how to explain or fix any of this, a situation which she despised.

“Twilight?” Apple Jack cautiously, “Remember when Trixie came to town and you made it look like we swapped genders? Is there an actual spell for something like that?”

Twilight remembered clearly all the times Trixie had visited Ponyville. The first time the unicorn came to town, she would show off her magic just for show, making Twilight a little bit jealous. But, when an Ursa Major threatened the town, Trixie was too scared to use any of her magic. Luckily, Twilight was able to the Ursa Major back where it came from. Ever since then, Trixie had an ever-growing grudge against Twilight.

That grudge grew so large, in fact, that during one of her later visits, Trixie had stolen a special magical amulet, and used it to banish Twilight and rule over Ponyville with an iron hoof. Luckily, Twilight was able to get back into Ponyville and deceive Trixie into trading her amulet for a fake one.

One of the tricks was “transforming” Applejack into a stallion. However, it wasn’t actually Applejack, but her big brother, Big Macintosh, disguised as her. The charade worked, and Trixie traded the magic amulet for the fake one. Her excitement was short lived, however, when she discovered that the new amulet wouldn’t work. Twilight revealed it to Trixie that it was an all an act to get the amulet back, and she was shocked and dismayed. She apologized to Twilight, her friends, and all of Ponyville for her behavior, and she promised not to harm them again. And that was the last time any of the ponies had ever seen Trixie.

“Yeah, I remember that,” Twilight said with a sigh. “But those weren’t even spells; those were, just little illusions that I’d thought up on the spot.”

“Does that mean I’ll never change back to normal?” Fluttershy asked, worried.

“Why?” Discord asked resting his palms on Fluttershy’s back, “I think you’re deliciously stunning just the way you are.”

Fluttershy’s back shivered, which was odd. She never felt this way to Discord before. What was going on?

“Plus,” Discord pondered thoughtfully, “I haven’t seen you for three days! Back from your little trip?”

“Trip?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“Oh yes,” Discord said, nodding his head and removing his dainty little hands from Fluttershy’s back, “She came back one day, reduced to nothing but tears, and said that maybe life would be better for her friends if she’d just disappeared! Well, I thought she actually did disappear, and that was when I noticed this…luscious…and…”

“Ahem,” Twilight interrupted, “Your point?”

“Oh,” Discord said, snapping from his self-hypnosis. “Well, I thought she actually did disappear, and now she’s back.”

“What was troubling you?” asked Rarity.

“Nothing really,” said Fluttershy, not really wanting to tell the long story. Plus, she didn’t want to make Rainbow Dash feel guilty for what she’d said three days ago.

“Where did you run off to?” Applejack asked with concern.

“Nowhere, really,” Fluttershy said nervously.

“Ah, ha! I got it!” Twilight said with start, “Maybe there is a gender-swapping spell; it’s just that I’ve never come across it in my studies.”

“I know what that means,” Spike said chipping in, “To the library!”

“To the library,” Twilight confirmed. Without a moments delay, Twilight went out of the bathroom and was followed by her friends outside of the cottage. It was going to be a long day for Twilight and the crew. But researching and finding new spells was what Twilight loved best.