A missing Draconequus and a broken mind.

"45 minuets my goodness, Twilight if you don't mind can I borrow Mortem one of these days do you." Twilight was slightly taken aback by the request as she always was when one of her friends spoke frankly about sex. She had assumed up until her and Flash had consummated their relationship that all her friends where virgins. Up until recently she had been right about two of them and still was about one the other though had died when she had looked through a telescope to see Dash panting for the Wonder Bolt that had mounted her. Rarity, Apple Jack and even Pinky however had all done it before her. She supposed she shouldn't have been to surprised being the latest edition to the friendship group that became the elements and was twenty when she joined them in ponyville three years ago. That stacked with the fact that the the closest in age to her ,Rainbow Dash, was twenty three at that point. It had however never struck the purple alicorn that some of her friends might have been with colts before she had come to town. That was the main reason why she was shocked at the lack of an extreme reaction when she spilled the gossip to them all at a previous weekly friendship meet that her and Flash had made that leap. Even though she knew her friends have been up to such things in the past it still never quite stuck in her brilliant mind and thus when ponies like rarity where vulgar and frank about a topic she assumed would be taboo she was still thrown for a loop.

Mortem however had no such inhibitions about his activities in the bedroom with Twilight and as such keenly cut into the conversation. "I am flattered really but no thanks rarity, killing is one thing. Infidelity is quite another." He said it with blatantly fake sweetness. He would not deny that Rarity was an attractive mare, from Ponyville to Canterlot via Manehatten, Rarity held the idealised spot light with her elegance, carved face and smooth body. Mortem didn't care about that though, he found such things slightly obnoxious especially when in a pony like her's hooves and whilst he would never shun the mare for her constant attempts at beautifying herself, he would also never have her as more than a friend because of it and the vanity it inspired. 'Twilight however, another level. Natural beauty, amazing brains and the best friend a stallion could ever ask for.' He was slightly touched by that thought and as such the sneering voice in his head decided to ruin it with, 'and as much a freak in the bedroom as you.' He cringed at the vulgarity which was not a usual thing for him as he was far from prudish but found he held Twilight in much to high a regard for such base prosaic depictions.

Twilight was utterly shaken by both Rarity asking essentially if she could sleep with her colt-friend and the fact that apparently they had. A) been going for over half an hour, 'oh how time flies when you are having fun.' And B) That her friends and old teacher had been timing and apparently discussing it freely. 'Well I suppose they could probably hear, oh god what if they keep teasing me for it when Mortem isn't around.' Such fears where a small spark in Twilight's paranoia vulnerable brain as she knew her friends may like to be mischievous at times but they would not go out of their way to upset her. Having finally processed the situation she found after exiting her bed room somewhat flushed after her antics, she decided to enquire about a slight gap in her knowledge she could use as leverage if and when they started to rib her in the future. "You where all listening in and timing us? Perverts."

All of the present company looked shiftily about bar spike who appeared to be sleeping in Celestia's lap. Twilight found that quite cute and had she not been slightly scandalised would have commented on it. She made an insistent gesture around the room demanding her question be answered until finally the Princess in Twilight's own throne spoke up. "Well we had to bring down the sound wards I put up for you occasionally to see when you had finished. Speaking of time of finishing spike here owes me twenty bits when he wakes up." Twilight looked not for the first time today in complete shock at Celestia finding it slightly hard to believe that Equestria's perfect ruler had made a bet with a baby dragon about how long his mother figure would be in bed with some pony.

Dragons where naturally greedy creatures and whilst Twilight may have raised spike correctly to be a positive character and to resist the snares of greed the mention of bits was still enough to wake him from his light stress educed slumber. "He what, seriously they kept at it for over forty minuets. What!" With that said he hopped of Celestia's lap and trudged off presumably to fetch some coins to pay off his sex betting based debts to the ruler of the lands. A silence settled slightly awkwardly as every pony waited for the dragon to return which he fortunately did fairly quickly tossing a small pouch at Celestia

"Shouldn't have bet against me little buddy." Teased Mortem apparently unaffected by the knowledge a dragon and the goddess of the sun had been betting on his sexual endurance. 'Then again he is probably slightly proud of it,' Twilight thought checking her indignation before putting on an angry mask to make the offenders squirm.

"You where betting on us?!!!" Twilight exclaimed aloud the to the present company having used the delay to sufficiently put up the act that she was stunned offended and annoyed hoping to shame her friends for the embarrassment they had caused her.

"Well we had to find some way to amuse ourselves darling, we have been waiting quite a while for you two to prise yourselves away from one and other." Rarity chimed noticing a perfect opportunity to press Twilight's mostly fake embarrassment which she was ashamed to admit was something of a guilty pleasure. "At least it isn't as bad as Apple Jack over there who was handing me ten bits after the five minuet mark." Twilight could feel her irritation building despite the outburst being an act and was lucky Mortem was taking this so well and thus lending her some of his calmness.

"T'was quite an effort to last a long time with a mare as beautiful and skilled as Twilight here but really five damn minuets minuets? what do you think I am some sixteen year old welp who's never seem a plot before?" His tone was jovial and demanding as he spoke to Apple Jack but in reality he was deadly serious, not in the defending of his honour but in the want to defend Twilight. After she had received some less than glowing reviews from Flash in the bedroom as a way to try and wound her confidence in a perverse scheme to trap her in a relationship with him. Mortem assumed as much, as to say Twilight sparkle wasn't a fantastic lover without lying could only mean Flash was a closet homosexual dreaming of some muscle bound stallion rutting him. Regardless of the bastards motives Twilight was left with some undeserved confidence issues with things like sex and for play. Whilst these may have been worked around when in a private setting between the two of them which had consisted of Mortem assuring her she was the best he had ever had by far despite having slept with a mare who's sexual performance was legend still now several centuries on. Mortem could still tell that the mare was made somewhat uncomfortable having both of their roles in the act discussed casually thus Mortem felt the need to make sure she was aware that he lasted the time he did through will power and want to please her several times as opposed to her being bad which was so far from the truth it was hard to fathom.

This seemed to work as the blush and slight lowering of Twilight's head remedied itself and she spoke with new confidence . "Anyway I feel we really should discus what you suggested earlier Princess." Twilight knew that as an alicorn and a princess herself she shouldn't really refer to Celestia as Princess any more but had always looked up to her and thus it still felt right to call her by a title of a higher station then to stick to familiarity.

Celestia groaned inside at Twilight's wording. 'For goodness sake the girl is effectively a God and has one of the biggest hands in Equestria's fate in all of history and she still thinks herself below me.' She shot a look to Mortem about such a thing which he having now alighted himself on a summoned love seat and seemed to be trying to coax the self discrediting alicorn the join him, returned with full shrug and sigh of empathy. "Twilight you and your friends really must call me Celestia, after all you have saved my hide and the rest of Equestria more times than I care to admit. However you are right we must form some kind of plan to defeat this serpent, if a creature like that gets to Equestria we are going to have a much bigger problem to deal with very quickly."

Twilight had finally noticed Mortem gesturing for her to sit beside him and as such completely missed the Princess beseeching her for a more down to earth point of reference only resurfacing to the discussion at the mention of the serpent creature. "It at least seems to be confined there for the moment Princess but you are right we need to know how to defeat it. The elements maybe?" Twilight leaned non intentionally against Mortem who in turn leaned against the slate arm of his own custom built sofa. It was truly a weird creation that Twilight had seen may a time before whenever he needed a chair. It was a solid black steel frame with Slate sides and arm rests alongside a deep fluffy purple padded pair of seats that fit them both together as well as the colour fit Twilight's fur which she was almost sure was on purpose.

Celestia's felt a certain numbing in her head when Twilight called her "Princess," which could only be compared to the morning after the day  when her and Discord had tried and completely failed to drink Mortem under the table centuries and centuries ago to see if they could get some social-blackmail material. Celestia and Discord where not big fans of the poison however Mortem taking full advantage of being impervious to the health denigrating effects of heavy drinking was partial to dropping into random bars under heavy disguise and flooding the room, and his stomach, with the strongest alcohol the region had to boast about. Thanks to this his tolerance was far higher than both of Discord and Celestia's put together so despite downing over twice what the two managed together he had only been a little merry whilst both of the other gods where completely and utterly beyond their right state of mind. Celestia decided not to dwell on the embarrassment of her drunken attempts at Discord related debauchery which had taken some serious covering up so addressed Twilight and Mortem frankly. "Twilight it is Celestia, not Princess. Anyway I need to know everything all of you know about the creature you encountered."

The mood in the room visibly hardened as the discussion and procrastination came to its inevitable conclusion. Fluttershy looked as if she wanted to speak up but wasn't sure if she should or not. Apple Jack, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash and Rarity all sat quietly having nothing to say that they weren't sure Twilight would say far better. Both Twilight and Mortem readied to speak and caught each others intentions, a few quick looks past between the two of them and Mortem relaxed allowing Twilight to speak first, bowing the the voice he respected above his own. "It was a serpent like creature in appearance but seemed to be made of some kind of living umbra-magic. It could control a huge amount of power enough to over come even my strongest ward." Twilight was slightly ashamed to admit to the pony that had thought her magic that her much doubted and praised magical talent had been defeated.

Mortem could sense exactly what Twilight could feel and knew how much she hated to fail especially when Celestia was involved so he quickly cut in. "The magic was on a level above even you and me, Celestia. If I didn't have Lucerne to brake the spells and empower myself their is no doubt. I could not have stopped the creatures attacks." Mortem hoped that this would repair any hits that the confidence of the incredible mare had wrongfully taken. In truth Mortem was slightly concerned about how much of his energy had been used in vain during the fight, outside of maybe Discord a few time he had never put that much effort into attacking another creature and to have it make as little effect as a child with a wooden sword might have against a royal guard was disconcerting especially when his back up attack, the lightning bolt had only served to empower it.

"Well if that is true we may need the elements to defeat this creature." Celestia looked pensive for a while as she considered what options she had at her disposal. "Can you tell me anything about it that might allow us to understand it?" The reaction was much the same as Celestia's last question with Fluttershy fidgeting even more than before.

"It could speak, it wasn't very expressive or enthusiastic to do anything outside of get rid of us but it did speak to us." Twilight was trying to wrap her head around that strange sand paper like voice having sworn she had heard it before.

"Hm... If it is sentient maybe we can reason with it." Celestia was incline to use diplomacy before risking any pony's life fighting against such a potentially powerful foe.

"Doubt it." Mortem jumped back into the conversation without mirth. He may have been cocky and slightly overly self assured but he could tell that the times for jokes and causality was gone and they needed to find some kind of plan. "If only we had seen something like this before or knew anything about it's origin. Nothing like it in hell to my knowledge." Mortem had a reasonably good idea what their was in his own plane even if he despised spending much of his time there since his return to Equestria. He had chosen his words carefully as he could tell by the quieter than her normal quietness from Fluttershy that the pegasus had something that she needed to say and couldn't find the bottle to do it.

"Nor has anything like that lived in Equestria as far as either I or Luna know. It could potentially originate from the dimension but only Discord is an authority on that place and as it is directing everyone away from where he likely is we cannot seek help from him." Celestia much like her sister only to a lesser extent had an archaic way of speaking which often lead to her over-wording things and failing to leave the obvious to be filled in by the people she was talking to. Mortem knew this came from the older forms of the pony language which had naturally evolved under her as she had been in charge for longer than ponies have realised the concept of years. Mortem also saw how patronising by today's standards it came off as and was sure if she was not as well beloved and unconditionally respected by her subjects as she was she would have been given much more abuse for it over the aeons.

Fluttershy was squirming within her own head at both the situation and Mortem's wording which she had no doubt was deliberate. Part of her knew she needed to reveal what she knew for the good of Equestria and possibly Discord but at the same time she was reluctant to connect both the serpent and Discord as he had a rocky reputation as a newly reformed good-guy and she doubted it would do any favours to his public image if word got out that he could summon immortal chaos monsters that came fairly close to destroying both the elements and the spirit of death. She was determined that she would be subtle in revealing what she knew to take Discord as far as possible from the grey light of blame.

Unfortunately for Fluttershy Twilight had noticed her repression and figured she knew something about this creature and was hiding it for some pony's sake. 'Discord's no doubt, we really need that information if we are going to deal with this thing.' As much as Twilight hated the pressure this would inevitably put on Fluttershy she needed to press her sooner rather than later if they where to safely deal with enemy. Promising to feel guilty about it later she locked eyes with the mare, "Fluttershy you know Discord well, very well. Do you know anything we might not about that serpent." The guilt she had promised set itself in pushing on her mind for some breathing room as she saw panic and fear fill the mare's eyes.

'Oh no.' Was all that Fluttershy's mind could manage, she supposed she knew that Twilight would think to question her about it eventually but it didn't make having to potentially condemn the creature she loved any easier. Especially when she could feel Celestia and Mortem's even gazes on her being blocked by the pink shield of her mane. "Erm... maybe..." Everyone watched intently hoping she would actually say something but where sadly disappointed by the complete lack of an actual sentence.

"Fluttershy you need to tell us sugar cube, we can't save Discord otherwise." Apple Jack decided she should speak up to the mare due to the fact that she was likely the most intimidating of them all and was the embodiment of genuineness and honesty. As much as she knew what she said was necessary it wasn't forced. Neither her or any of the other Elements of Harmony had ever made it known but they did all care somewhat about Discord, not as much as Fluttershy who wore her care for the Draconequus on her hooves and was bar a stormy association with Mortem was his only outward friend. Apple Jack hadn't realised how counter to the idea of the elements that was and felt a slight guilt make its bed in her heart. She was not aware but all of the other elements felt the same effect at her words partially surrendering themselves to scornful self reflection.

Fluttershy was glad to here that some pony other than her cared about what happened to Discord and wanted to save him as more than just a duty to Fluttershy herself. This however did little to relax her trepidation about what she had to say but she was at least able to force out the memory.

After the conclusion of the Tirek incident she had invited Discord to her house for some tea hoping that she could clear out some of the rather obvious tension between the two of them. Discord had happily accepted the invitation but could tell he was faking the relaxed appearance he had regained after being forgiven. When they had gotten to her house Fluttershy let her assertiveness of its leash somewhat and shoved Discord bodily onto her sofa before sitting on top of him and locking eyes with him.

"We all forgive you Discord." She had sounded a tad more stern than she had intended and noticed the flinch in the Chaos Lord's eyes. Fluttershy dropped her voice to a softer tone and looked with as much warmth as she could summon to the Draconequus. "So you can stop pretending and tell me what is wrong." Fluttershy was not entirely sure what she was expecting in terms of a reaction from her friend, a steadfast and stoic denial or a simple pass off maybe. She was not even considering the one she got.

Discord quickly wrapped himself around Fluttershy holding her closely to him and sat what felt to Fluttershy, completely still his neck reaching his head over her shoulders to near the point where her wings joined her body. "Oh Fluttershy I am so sorry." Discord wasn't sobbing or shifting at all but Fluttershy could tell from his voice and the tears falling onto her and dampening the fur of her back that he was crying heavily and felt her heart grow heavy at that.

Fluttershy had to reassure him and could only think of one thing to say. "It's okay Discord, you realised your mistake and we forgive you for it." Her voice was complete with a level of tender love that only the element of kindness would be able to create without any kind of magic. Fluttershy was in truth slightly surprised and worried by how much the Draconequus was hurting due to his mistake. She knew her friend to be emotional when he was happy or content but she had never seen Discord either furious or desperately sad like now and was worried he would fall into the trap of self hate. Fluttershy had spent to long on that road before she had met her personal knight with Rainbow hair and under her leg fur she had scars to prove it so wanted to keep Discord out of that water as much as possible.

Despite the good feeling the voice brought him and the fantastic comfort the body against his gave, Discord still did not feel a glimmer of true happiness."But it isn't is it Fluttershy, I knew I would fall to his temptations as much as I tried to stab him in the back. That's why I gave you girls the marked diary hoping whatever was in that chest would be able to stop both me and him." Discord actually did start to lightly sob, anything greater would have caused Fluttershy some great discomfort due to the fact he was wrapped around her like a loving if emotionally unstable boa constrictor.

Fluttershy was taken aback by what Discord had said. She did not know the order of events from both her own and Discord's perspective so wasn't sure when exactly he had turned on them but was surprised to hear his treachery was originally a plan to be able to strike Tirek from the shadows at a more adventitious time. Fluttershy to be honest didn't care when Discord had turned she only wanted the genuinely sorry and repenting creature that currently was crying in her embrace to be happy again. "Discord, Dissy. I know what you did was wrong but you where tricked. Tirek played on your insecurities and fears going after the fact that you don't have much experience in Friendship and didn't know how much it could hurt to turn on those that matter to you. Even if you did something bad you learned from it and I trust you will never turn against me again." Fluttershy honestly believed what she said to him. She would never admit it to anyone but she was slightly annoyed with Celestia for sending Discord against someone she knew to be manipulative and evil all on his own. As much as she resented the disastrous decision of her ruler she could see that this time Discord's reformation was genuine and complete with little to no chance of him ever siding with a threat again.

Discord was greatly moved by her words and could find nothing to say that would match the brilliance of the mare he held close to him. One word in particular was bouncing about his head, "Dissy." Discord couldn't remember anyone, not even Mortem in Discord's pre evil and pre statue days calling him that. He absolutely loved it and was so glad it was Fluttershy who choose it as her pet name for him. Feeling slightly better thanks to the words of Kindness Discord relaxed which in turn caused Fluttershy to relax and they both realised just how tired they where. "Thank you Fluttershy, you really do deserve to be the elements of kindness. I don't deserve the chance you are giving me but I will not squander it." With that they had broken into a normal conversation that Fluttershy skipped telling as it wasn't to relevant to stopping the serpent and they had enough context from that already.

In her retelling Fluttershy had woken up to Discord who only had his arms and not his whole body around her quietly crying and fidgeting in his sleep. Fluttershy was next struck by how cold she was, she was sat in what felt like a physical shadow and it was chilling her so much she had awoken. She tried to turn on a light to cast the shadows away but found that the cold remained. She knew Discord would have a better chance against whatever was happening and she also needed to wake him from the nightmare. "Discord," she whispered into the cold as she placed her hooves on his chest and started to shake him slightly. Fluttershy had intended to wake him up but instead saw that she had only managed to alter his dream as the tears stopped alongside the fidgeting as a happy smile set itself on his face. Fluttershy was about to try again to wake him but instead felt the cold being knocked away radiating warmth from the smile on his face. Fluttershy knew she aught to ask him about that but with the new warmth and having a sleeping Discord to use as a bed she couldn't hold off sleep for long. She then ashamedly admitted that she hadn't had the bottle to ask about it when they woke up in each others arms the next day.

Finished retelling the events Fluttershy noticed all eyes where on her and was especially worried by Mortem's. He looked pensive and self absorbed, the normal carefree peace that he carried himself with was replaced entirely with an expression that was rare. Twilight was also worried by his actions, whilst she doubted her was liable to attack anyone here she had only seen that look used on Flash once before Mortem had hurt him very badly. Both where surprised when the expression faded to one of slight realisation and he spoke up. "Sounds like Discord's had his heart broken."

There was an audible silence in the room to the extent that had a pin dropped every pony would have made rapturous applause at the small spikes performance just to alleviate the tension that drew the room like hide on a tanning rack.

Finally after almost a minuet of the deafening silence Celestia took the helm conversing as it became clear no pony else would and Fluttershy looked close to tears. "Well then if we are going to beat this creature we are going to need Discord back." Celestia felt as if she was stating the obvious but needed it as a sentence starter for the actual identified crux of the issue. "Now we just need to figure out how to get Discord out of that box. Assuming he is in there which seems like a safe bet." Every pony including Spike and Mortem looked around to the others for suggestions except Twilight who was sat looking as if she was trying to work something out.

Twilight had an idea but needed to be sure it would work as it would be risky and disastrous if it didn't work. "Mortem, you said nothing could stop that magic, how literal where you being." She had her curt at work voice and demanded a snappy answer. Mortem was familiar with this Twilight and he saw it most commonly when he was forced to rouse her from her studies.

"It was just an expression but considering even Lucerne couldn't stop it outright and only divert it there is a decent chance I was right." Again Twilight fell into a pensive silence.

"After you used lightning on it, was it just me or did it's attacks start to incorporate lightning?"

"It did, I could feel the extra power when I was defending."

Twilight looked as if she had had a small Eureka moment. She quickly seemed to run through a mass amount of calculations in her head before a slightly worried look dropped itself onto her face. "Mortem... would you fight for me if I had a really stupid but potentially brilliant idea."

Mortem was thrown off by that question, he had once told her directly after he had made a pledge to defend Equestria upon his return that he would fight for her sooner than Equestria's throne and even against the latter if need be. He failed however to see the significance to this issue, he had fought the serpent before and lost nearly dying in the process. "I wasn't lying when I said I was your sword Twi however as much as I doubt you have a stupid idea as you never do 'stupid but potentially brilliant' does have me worried." In reality he wasn't worried just unenthused. Twilight would never feel the need to bend his arm like that if she wasn't about to ask him to do something she knew he wouldn't like.

"I want you to give that thing your death magic." Again the pin was waiting in the wings for potential tension spurred adoration. The silence was so thick Discord probably would have literally cut into it with a knife and tried to eat it if he where here.

"You want me to do what?" Mortem finally said, his tone was even and whilst it did not hold any aggression it was somewhat intimidating.

Twilight forced herself not to flinch at the implied scorn. "I know it sounds crazy but think about it like this, the creature already has a lot of power from Discord so much so that once it got your lighting magic it was able to defeat you. If you handed it a lot of your power and then we baited to attack the cube it could brake it open and then you, Discord and the elements would be enough to defeat it." Twilight left off starting to doubt weather this was actually a sane idea or if stress and constant disregard of her mental well being during long study binges had finally taken it's toll and caused something to brake in her mind.

"And if it doesn't work or afterwards we cannot stop it?" The same level tone but Twilight could sense something more and was inspired to answer truthfully.

"It will become unstoppably powerful, likely escape the Chaos Dimension and destroy all of Equestria laying waste to any pony who tried to stand in it's way." Twilight finished the grim note and there was again for the third time a tense silence. A pin did drop this time but it made no noise as it fell from Rarities pocket outfit repair kit onto the seat with her and as such earned non of the potential adoration.

Finally with all eyes on him Mortem smiled wide and said with a much happier tone. "That is the most ridiculous suggestion I have ever herd..." Twilight started to hurt over the insult and Mortem got a few angry looks when the others noticed this so he decided to finish his sentence. "And that is exactly why it will work." Twilight met his eyes and smiled back to him glad he wouldn't need to be cajoled into the idea which was the only potential solution they had at this stage.