My Little Ponybots

As usual, Fluttershy woke up to the sound of birdsong in her small cottage. Her sky-blue eyes opened slowly, still heavy with sleep, and she was greeted by a blue-jay on her window sill. The small creature burst into song again, as if to welcome her back from the land of sleep. Fluttershy smiled as she recognized the tune.

“That's the special song I taught you for the wedding! Very good!” She whispered as she sat up, pulling the covers with her to hold in the warmth. She cringed as her wings rustled against her sides, and she became aware of a blunt-but-potent ache in her wings. She was puzzled for a moment, but the events of the previous day came rushing back to her mind. Oh, right. It makes sense that I would be sore, I must have flown across Ponyville two or three times yesterday when we were looking for Scootaloo. She shook her head and smiled, thinking back to all of the crazy escapades the “Cutie Mark Crusaders” had created to find their cutie marks. They don't understand, a cutie mark comes when you're doing what you love, not when you're looking for it... She gently kicked off her blankets and turned, admiring her own cutie mark: three pink-winged and blue-bodied butterflies, the kind that had saved her life many years ago. The most delicate and fragile creatures had cared for her in her moment of need, and now she cared for creatures of every kind.

“Speaking of which...” she muttered to herself. “I need to get to work if I want to have any time to celebrate today!” She rolled out of bed, landing solidly on her hooves. She quietly trotted down the stairs and made a pot of tea to drink with her breakfast. After she had finished eating and the last of the tea was gone, she washed and replaced the dishes, and moved on to feeding the animals. Worms for the baby birds and their parents... Fish for the otters... Seed for the chickens... Her list of chores soon dwindled and disappeared. The animals were all comfortable, fed, and (in a few cases) medicated, and she had the rest of the day to join in the festivities!

“It certainly was nice of the princesses to declare a holiday to celebrate getting rid of the changelings. Candence and Shining Armor are heroes in Canterlot!” She smiled as she remembered her own treatment after the Elements of Harmony had defeated Discord once again. I didn't really enjoy it much, but ponies like Rainbow Dash eat that kind of attention up, so it was nice to see her happy... I'm sure Cadence can deal with it. Fluttershy took off into the air, keeping herself at a leisurely pace with gentle, periodical beats of her wings.

As she got closer to the main part of town, she shuddered at the sight of Discord's statue. Princess Celestia had decided to leave it in Ponyville after he was defeated, saying that the spell would be stronger if he was closer to the element bearers. Fluttershy didn't like it, though. To keep something so dangerous here, in Ponyville. I feel like it's a time bomb just waiting to go off again. She shook her head in denial at the thought of his possible escape. But the elements sealed him for good this time, right? To reassure herself, she flew down to take a closer look at the stone figure. For the fun of it, she landed on top of his head, placing her hooves carefully between his horns.

She bent down, staring the stone draconequus in the eyes. The irony was lost in the fact that she was here, and not Twilight, but she tried to enjoy it nonetheless. She gently stomped one of her hooves on the rock, and received a very solid thud in return. She smiled and hovered down to eye level, once again keeping her eyes trained on his. She focused on the eyes only because the rest of his face was so horrible. Contorted into a horrid shape of fear, Fluttershy hated to see it, just as she hated to see any creature in fear or pain. She wished that she could show him a little kindness, but he had made his own fate.

“Well, I had best be going...” she whispered as she glanced over the rest of the frozen body. “It's obvious that you're still stone, and I don't want to be late.”

Well, then go! By all means, don't be late on my account! Discord lacked his usual playful tone, sounding far more agressive, and his statement was punctuated with a loud crack, like a firework going off.

Fluttershy felt like her heart had stopped when she heard Discord's voice in her mind again. When the loud noise followed after, she ran for cover, dashing for the nearest bush in a cream-colored streak. When she peeked out again, she could see that the statue was still there, but it had changed in a few ways. Now, jagged silver lines ran through in several places, including his eyes and arms. Not only that, but his pose had changed. Instead of cringing in fear, he was lunging forward, mouth curled in a fierce snarl, wings flared to the sides, and arms in front and reaching outward, rather than close to his body. Fluttershy inhaled deeply to stop herself from panicking, but her breath came in ragged shudders. That's where my throat was... For a split second, the image of herself, helpless and limp, dangling from Discord's cold, stone claws flashed across her mind. She whimpered in fear and curled into a tight ball, keeping her eyes on the statue and watching it like a hawk. I- I have to tell somepony, but I'm too scared to move...

Alright, letting my anger get the best of me wasn't the smartest move I could have made... Discord thought to himself. But she was standing on my head! How am I supposed to deal with that! It's only funny when I do it to somepony else! He let out a long mental sigh, trying to relieve himself of the stress. Besides, the look on her face was *priceless!** Ha ha, what's scared stiff and clueless, Fluttershy? Your face!* His prank/attack finished, he realized that he had lost any and all focus he had mustered to speed up the process to free himself.

I'm just going to have to hurry up a bit. The cracks are almost open, so the spell is almost compromised... He wished that he could just snap his fingers and be free, like he would if he was caught in a steel cage or some other prison. Feeling relatively sure that Fluttershy wouldn't be going anywhere, he turned his mind back to his work. Time is running short... Either for me, or for Equestria...