All was quiet in Canterlot as Luna's moon stood high in the sky and the stars shone brightly. The ponies calmly slept in their homes, content as the Princess of the Night guarded their dreams.
However, near the castle, in the Canterlot Statue Gardens, not all was so calm.
A cloaked figure raced through the fields, easily passing by guards without them knowing of their presence. By the build up of the pony, it was shown to be a mare, the figure too small to be a that of a stallion.
She heard the sound of voices up ahead and stopped behind the statue that represented victory and panted softly, taking the moment to catch her breath. She began to listen in to the voices to see who they were, able to tell that they were female.
"Sister, are you sure that this is such a good idea?" The figure recognize the voice of Luna. "I mean, holding a week long festival in Ponyville for me?"
"It's quite alright Luna." The other voice that was easily recognized as Celestia's responded. "You are finally getting what you wanted, for ponies to appreciate both you and your night. Speaking of which, your stars are shining so beautifully."
"Thank you Tia." Luna said. "But it is not the respect of the ponies that I am worried about."
"If not that then what?" Celestia questioned.
"Sister, I will be spending a whole week in Ponyville..." Luna began. "Don't you think that some of our enemies may see this as an opportunity to attack?"
"Relax Luna." Celestia reassured. "Everything will be fine. But for now, let's head back to the castle, it is getting late."
The sound of hoofsteps retreating was heard and the figure sighed, looking out from her hiding place to see if the coast was clear. When nopony was spotted, they approached the statue in which they had been looking for.
The draconequus stood tall above her on his pedestal, looking like an ordinary statue. Though, the way that he was posed made him look as if he was singing, making the fact that he was a former tormentor of Equestria less terrifying.
That and there was the fact that he was the former fiance of her close friend Chiaroscuro, who seemed to usually avoid the topic. In fact, she never seemed happy when she did talk about it, she seemed really sad about it and said that it was because she missed him.
That was why the hooded mare was here, she was going to set the draconequus free. That way, Oscuro could be happy again.
The mare sighed and closed her eyes, a faint pale blue glow shining out from the hood. The statue began to glow to same color as it was surrounded in the unicorn's magic.
Slowly, the statue began to crumble as cracks began to appear in it. A deep laugh was heard as the mare worked her magic, but she didn't deter with her spell.
Soon, the statue began to completely fall apart, chunks of concrete breaking off of the draconequus's body and falling to the ground until he was fully free. The mare smiled at her success as her magic died down.
The draconequus stretched and yawned, his yellow and red eyes blinking open as he did so. He took a good look around and his surroundings and sighed.
"Wow, the place sure has changed a bit." He mumbled before his eyes landed on the mare in front of him. She took a few steps back as he hopped down from the pedestal. "Now what do we have here?"
"Greetings, Discord." The mare stated. "I am the one who set you free."
"Hmm, that you are." He nodded. "But just why did you free me from my oh so uncomfortable prison? You could be charged with treason."
"I did it for her." The mare sighed. "For Oscuro."
"Oscuro?" Discord gasped. "You know my bride to be?"
"Yes... I do..." The mare pulled down her hood, revealing her pink coat and her purple and green mane to the moonlight, and exposing her neck to the draconequus, who quietly observed it. "My name is Starlight Glimmer, one of Chiaroscuro's best friends."
"Oh are you now?" He questioned and she nodded. "Well, you will definitely come of use as a bridesmaid then."
"Wait, bridesmaid? What do you mean by that?" Starlight inquired as he took a hold of er face in his hands and stared her directly in the eyes. "Wh-what are you... you...?"
"Shh... don't fret little mare." He said as he began to work his hypnotic powers, slowly putting the mare in a trance. "Relax... I will not hurt you..." He felt Starlight's body go slack. This was rather easy. "Now... you are going to do as I say, is that clear?"
"Yes Master..." She replied in a soft, yet monotone voice. "I shall do whatever you say, as I am your faithful servant."
"Good." He smiled as he continued his magic on the mare. "First, you are going to help me get my bride, since you are her best friend. Second, I am going to make you into a bridesmaid and you will do whatever my bride or I say. And finally, unless they are under my control, you are to keep the princesses and element bearers away from my bride. Got all of that?"
"Of course Master." Starlight's voice was no longer monotone, but Discord could tell that she was still under his control. "Your wish is my command."
"Perfect. But first." Discord let his fangs descend. "A thousand years in stone is enough to leave anyone thirsty, and I can do with a drink."
Without given a command, Starlight removed her cloak and presented her neck to Discord. He smiled with a purr and leaned forward, sinking his teeth into her neck and beginning to feast on her blood.
Oscuro hummed to herself as she helped Fluttershy set up her stand in the center of Ponyville where the main festivities for the Lunar Festival were to take place. While the yellow pegasus worked on the stand, Oscuro was busy setting up the fence, making sure that it was properly secure so that the animals wouldn't be able to escape.
She used her magic to firmly plant the posts in the ground before nailing the planks of wood to them to connect the posts. Then as a safety precaution, she put a magic barrier that only ponies and herself could go through.
Once she was sure of the security of the fence, she sighed and stretched a bit, having worn herself out from working on the fence for nearly three hours. There were going to be quite a few animals and Fluttershy wanted them to have some space to roam around, so that meant building a large fence.
She stopped as she heard snickering behind her and sighed, rolling her eyes as she knew who it was.
"Look, Silver, Fluttershy already has one of the animals out." A rather annoying voice said, belonging to none other than Diamond Tiara. "The freak made of different animals."
"I hope you know that I'm a lot bigger, faster, and stronger than you." Oscuro stated. "And I have limitless magic unlike you talent-less bullies."
"Talent-less?" Diamond Tiara scoffed. "As if! We are the most talentful ponies in all of Ponyville!"
"Talentful isn't even a word." Oscuro rolled her eyes. "And what talent? Last time I checked, Cutiemarks define your talent, and I can think of no talent that has to do with a tiara or a spoon other than acting like spoiled little brats. You two don't even have the natural talent of your race. Pegasi are fast and handle Equestria's weather, unicorns can use magic and help keep the world's magic in balance, and earth ponies are strong and help to till the land. Neither of you have any of those abilities. Face it, with the way that you act, you are nothing other than useless and that is what you will always be."
"Hmph, in your dreams, you freak." Diamond cackled. "That's what you are is a multi-animal freak."
"Well, I'm going to tell you something that you don't know." Oscuro chuckled. "We draconequui can eat anything that we want, but we prefer to eat something that the animals that we are made up of would eat."
"Yeah, so?" Silver finally imputed. "What's your point?"
"Hmph, have you even noticed what animals make up the majority of me?" Oscuro questioned the teenage mares. "I'm made up of wild, vicious canines, and big feral felines. Bottom line is, I'm practically a carnivore. And that means that I can eat ponies. I can very easily make it so you two go missing and make you a nice meal of mine. I can destroy and erase every single trace of your existence from both physical record and the memories of ponies, so no one will ever have known who you were or even that you existed. Now, I suggest that you leave before that happens."
Oscuro smiled as she heard the sound of frantic hoofsteps retreating and yawned, noticing that the sun was setting. She walked over to Fluttershy to see that she was struggling with putting up the sign and naturally decided to help, lifting the other side of the sign up and helping to nail it down.
Once they were done, Fluttershy finally noticed that it was getting late and that the sun had already set.
"Oh, my , is it that late already?" She gasped. "I guess that we can put the finishing touches on it tomorrow. Thanks for the help today Oscuro. Goodnight."
"Night Flutters." Oscuro yawned again, completely exhausted.
She teleported to her bedroom in her castle within the large cavern in the Everfree Forest. She lied down on the bed with a sigh and pulled the covers up, closing her eyes and slowly drifting off to sleep.
* * * * * * * * * *
Fluttershy sighed as she walked along the bridge to her house and looked around cautiously. Something didn't feel right. It felt like someone had been watching her ever since she parted ways with Oscuro.
She squeaked as an owl hooted and surprised her, but was she saw what it was, she calmed down.
'Calm down Fluttershy.' She mentally talked to herself. 'It's only and owl, nothing is wrong.'
"Fluttershy?" Fluttershy turned around to see Starlight approaching her. "There you are, I've been looking for you."
"Oh, good evening Starlight." Fluttershy greeted the unicorn. "What is it?"
"Oh nothing..." Starlight answered. "There's just someone that wants to meet you."
"Can't this wait until morning?" Fluttershy asked. "I'm really tired."
"I know, but it'll only take a second." After a moment the pegasus agreed. "Oh good."
The unicorn turned around and called out for someone, a serpent like body sliding out from behind a tree. The figure walked over to reveal that it was a draconequus. A male one at that.
He smiled down at Fluttershy before conversing with Starlight, two menacing looking fangs gleaming in the moonlight. Fluttershy looked at Starlight to see that she was still turned away from her. But something seemed wrong with the unicorn.
Upon closer inspection, Fluttershy noticed three marks on Starlight's neck. It took the pegasus a second to realize that the marks matched the shape of the draconequus's two fangs and snaggletooth.
She quickly looked back at the draconequus to see that he was staring at her with a hungry gaze, his tongue slowly sliding over his fangs.It was then that Fluttershy realized what was going to happen.
Before she even had the chance to squeal, let alone scream, the draconequus lunged at her. A sudden pain filled her neck as she slowly lost consciousness due to panic and fear.
Discord growled as he fed from the pegasus, who he had felt grow limp in his arms, and felt the thousand years worth of hunger slowly begin to satiate. He closed his eyes and thought about his beloved Oscuro.
He had watched her build that fence for this mare, and how she had sent those mares running in terror just by talking. Something told Discord that in the thousand years that they had been separated, Oscuro had definitely changed.
But he didn't care, not matter what, he would still be his one true love, his bride, his Chiaroscuro.
