The New Problem

Moonlight Gleam sat upon a hill the day after the party had happened, this was her favorite place to sit and think. The wind blew threw her mane and her hair as she sat under a tree. It was a peaceful day and she was alone just like she wanted to be. She had to admit that the party was nice, but she couldn't allow herself to get close to anyone. A familiar sound popped off next to her to interrupt her good day.

"My my, I heard that you were rude to my dear Fluttershy," an unfamiliar voice said to her.

Her head snapped to face the voice, it was the strangest mishmash of creatures she had ever seen. It didn't take her at all long to figure out who this was, "Discord, I presume?" she asked.

"My my, you are the studious little investigator." the draconequus replied.

This unsettled the mare, her guard was instantly thrown up and if she could figure out how to cast a spell, she'd raise a barrier around herself. She didn't trust this creature and she wasn't shy about showing it.

"I see, you're right to not trust me. You were mean to Fluttershy and no one is rude to Fluttershy on my watch!", Discord threatened.

For a reason unknown to her, Moonlight's confidence vanished. It was replaced by fear, she wanted to run and she turned to try. A snap of the draconequus' fingers turned the ground into a thick mud. "You aren't going anywhere until you apologize to Fluttershy!" was the next threat from the spirit of chaos.

Moonlight tried to track her way through the thick gunk, but another snap caused it to solidify around her hooves, only giving her enough room to not harm her. She struggled to get out to no avail, only finding the ground around her legs tighten around them. The investigator was truly stuck. She gripped at the ground with her teeth trying to dig it up, she didn't like the taste of it, but a snap from Discord made her mouth vanish.

She struggled to make any sort of noise, but when the red eyes of the draconequus stared into her own, her heart stopped beating in her chest. Time seemed to stop for her. She couldn't breathe, she couldn't so much as twitch. The fury from the creature in front of her gripped her in an icy cold grip. She was paralyzed with fear. "You want your mouth back, don't you?" he taunted in a voice that made ice form around her.

This confused her, but her mind had no time to dwell on the facts. The cold was getting to her, she was shivering. She was terrified and she tried to look away from Discord, but he kept moving to where she would turn her head. She eventually gave up and her eyes pleaded to the spirit of chaos to stop this madness. "Oh fine, but only because you need it to apologize to my dear Fluttershy," he said, annoyed.

A snap returned her mouth to her and she had a gasping breath, she could feel her heart slam in her chest. She looked down and away from the draconequus, "P-please, let me go. I'll do whatever you ask me to," she sputtered.

"Excellent!" Discord exclaimed, happy to hear what he wanted to hear.

Another portal open and a soft and gentle voice yelled, "Discord! You let her go right now! When I told you that she was a bit rude to me, this wasn't necessary!"

"But, Fluttershy! She agreed to apologize to you!"

"I don't care! You promised not to do this anymore!"

"Fine!"

A snap from the spirit of chaos freed Moonlight who immediately started to gallop away in fear of all that was happening. She had encountered aberrations who were more monster than they were human and she encountered people who were just inherently monstrous within. But this was something different, it defied all the laws of physics and the theory of magic that she had learned. It was chaos, pure and simple.

Adrenaline surged through her and she kept running, constantly checking behind her to see if she was being followed. During one of these moments, she didn't notice a portal open up in front of her and she ran into it, slamming face first into a wall and disorienting herself.

"Oh my, are you alright, Moonlight?" a voice behind her asked.

She shook her head, she wasn't alright. She was in pain and disoriented. Everything seemed to be doubled for her. She stood up and tried to take a step, but she came crashing to the ground. "I think I might have a concussion, I don't know how bad. Hey how come there are two of you right now, Fluttershy?" the investigator asked, obviously dizzy as she stood back up.

"Oh no no! We have to get you to bed right away! I'll go get Zecora as soon as possible!" Fluttershy said as she tried to wrap one of Moonlight's hooves around her.

"Leave that witch out of it!" the unicorn exclaimed, fearful of the Zebra.

Fluttershy was not having any of it. She carried the injured unicorn to her couch and helped her on it. The pegasus put a cover over her guest, "You're going to have to stay awake for a bit and don't try to move. Discord will be here to make sure that you stay awake," she said.

Moonlight's heart sank in her chest as the yellow Pegasus left the cottage. The Draconequus was very opportunistic. He approached the wounded unicorn with a smile on her face, but was shocked when instead of the fear that he saw in her eyes earlier, it was a death glare. The unicorn was furious at him, "You caused this, you arrogant freak!" she hissed.

"Oh it was all in good fun, you needed to learn a lesson anyway", the bored draconequus replied.

"Is that all you have to say? You want me to apologize for being rude to your pegasus friend and yet you think it's okay that I'm nursing a concussion!?" the investigator snapped back.

The two of them looked each other in the eyes closer, both of them sporting a glare. It was apparent that neither of them liked each other. "Get out of my face, now," threatened Moonlight.

"Or what? I don't know if you noticed, but I am the Lord of Chaos. You wouldn't be able to do anything to me if you tried. I mean look at yourself, you're not even really threatening to begin with. Oh I'm so scaaared of your glare. Get over yourself, Investigator. This isn't your home where some random aberration lives in fear of you because you hold a device that lets you use light magic," Discord taunted.

A cruel smile crossed the draconequus' features. Moonlight was taken aback, she was left on the back hoof as it were. How could this creature know so much about her, how could he know about her world? How could he know about what she did? She had to press further. "How do you know about my world, how do you know about me?" she asked, her frustration with the creature rising.

"Oh, just a lucky guess is all. You're not very hard to figure out anyhow," Discord taunted again.

The unicorn wasn't at all amused by this, she turned around to face away from the Lord of Chaos. She was annoyed by his antics, no longer afraid now that her mind could work out what was going on. The creature that was near her used chaos magic, it was a branch of theoretical magic that defied everything they knew about magic. A spell that was intended to turn something into a teacup would instead create a hippo. No one was allowed to practice it where she came from because no one could control it. At best it would fail spectacularly, at worst it would cause the end of the world as they knew it.

She shut her eyes as she could feel drowsiness take hold, but cymbals slammed together loudly next to her ears. This startled her awake, "Ah ah ah, I promised Fluttershy that I would keep you awake til she got back," Discord said to her.

She wanted to argue, but he was right, even if she didn't like his methods. She couldn't risk going to sleep with a concussion like she had, she had to remain awake until she was cleared by a doctor to go to sleep. She looked up at the ceiling and held out one of her hooves to see her vision was clearing, The two hooves that she saw were merging back into one. She groaned and held her head, it was still pounding and she still felt a bit dizzy. "Just... leave me alone, I can stay awake on my own," she said with a moan.

There was no response to her, much to her delight. She stared at the ceiling, focusing on the wood of the cottage. It wasn't much but it allowed her to try to at least focus her vision to stop the double vision issue. Her eyes started to focus properly again as the vision problems faded, but her headache didn't. The unicorn sighed a bit as she looked towards the window across from her. She didn't have anything to keep her occupied. Not even a book.

The door opened and Fluttershy entered with Zecora, "She's on the couch," the yellow pegasus said panicked.

The zebra walked over to the unicorn and looked her over, "She is bigger than I last saw her. Maybe she is moving past her flaws," she stated.

"Headache... won't go away. Still dizzy. Want to vomit. Please, get a bucket," Moonlight said quietly.

"You took a blow to the head. Perhaps next time you should take things slow?" Zecora stated.

"Hate you... so much right now," The unicorn replied.

Fluttershy retrieved a bucket and placed it next to the couch, the investigator leaned her head into it and she threw up into it. A potion was brought out by the shaman leading to fear in the unicorn. "Relax my pony friend, this potion will tell me what's wrong. Depending on how bad you are, you might need to take a pill," she rhymed.

Moonlight nodded, she didn't want to resist. The potion was poured on her and spread all over her body. It started to glow around her head. "Ah, I see. There is no reason to worry. A little rest for her would be the best," Zecora cheerfully stated.

"Are you sure, she was in really bad shape when I left," the pegasus asked, curious as to why her friend said this.

"She is healing on her own. She will need to rest for a few days, but once she's done, it will probably be best for her to return to her studies," the shaman reported.

"Thank you, Zecora," Fluttershy said to the Zebra with a smile.

The two of them shared a smile with each other, confusing Moonlight. She looked down to the ground which got a gasp from the yellow pegasus. "Are you alright, Moonlight?" she asked concerned.

"Zecora, thank you for checking up on me. And Fluttershy, I'm sorry for being rude to you a few days ago. It was uncalled for," she said quietly enough to where only the two of them could hear her. Unbeknownst to her though, Discord heard it as well. The Draconequus appeared out of nowhere with a smile and winked at Moonlight who growled when she felt it. "Oh you don't have to be such a sourpuss," Discord replied.

"You are very welcome, my pony friend. You are however looking a little bony, perhaps Fluttershy can feed you better," the zebra said with a smile.

Zecora left the cottage and the pink maned pegasus walked over to her guest, "If you ever need anything, just ring the bell next to your couch. I'll be here to help you in any way you need," she said with a smile.

Moonlight nodded her head and Fluttershy started to turn around. The unicorn quickly grabbed the pegasus who turned around with a smile. "Thank you for being so hospitable towards me despite everything," the investigator said with a weak smile.

"It's nothing, I'm sure if given half the chance, you'd do the same for me," the pegasus replied.

The dark blue unicorn let go of her host. She was left staring at the ceiling with that comment as doubts entered her mind. She wasn't entirely sure if given half the chance or even a whole chance to do the same that she would. She looked at her hoof and quickly came to realize that no, she wouldn't have. She was unable to sleep as her thoughts quickly turned to who she had become. She was confused as to when she changed and how slowly it was for her to not notice it. A chuckle escaped her lips, if anyone was going to be able to help her, it'd be that Discord creature. He knew more about her than he let on, that wasn't a lucky guess. But she didn't know of any way to make him talk. She rolled over and closed her eyes, quickly drifting off to sleep.