Loud knocking woke her, finding herself back in the guest bedroom. The door creaked open, and the low voice of Prim Bright soon followed. “Good evening, Ms. Applejack. I have orders to take you and your partner to the dining room. I trust she’s here?”

Getting up with a yawn and stretching her wings, Rainbow Dash called, “Yep! I’m here.” She moved towards the door, seeing Prim Bright waiting with a satisfied smile. “So, dinner’s ready?”

“Indeed,” Prim affirmed, giving a nod. Turning, he began walking away, ordering, “Follow me, please.”

Obeying, both Rainbow and Applejack began following the butler. Walking for a bit, they eventually made it to the stairwell to the first floor and began descending. “So, uh, how long has this place been here?” Rainbow asked, attempting small talk.

“The estate has been here ever since Discord moved in,” Prim explained, not once glancing at either of them. “He didn’t wish to occupy any of Ms. Fluttershy’s space, so he made this place to act as his living quarters. Though, he might as well bought a house in Ponyville, seeing the size of this place.”

“How long have you worked here, then,” Rainbow questioned, scratching the back of her neck. They finished descending the stairs and took a right into another hallway.

Prim sighed and answered, “Soon after he moved here. You see, due to Ms. Fluttershy’s mental problems, Discord was having trouble keeping track of her. She’d wander all over the place, so it was our job to make sure she stayed inside the estate and to keep her clean and healthy. Jobs that, about a week before her death, we failed at.”

Their walking soon came to a stop as they approached the end of the hallway. In front of them were two giant doors with golden handles. Prim cleared his throat and announced, “Here we are,” opening the doors.

Inside was a long spruce wood table with a live edge. There were eight seats at the table: three on two sides, and one on the other two sides, where all of their other friends sat. On the side closest to the door, Rarity sat on the far left. The opposing side had Twilight sitting on the right and Pinkie in the middle.

On the left, however, was that thing Rarity mentioned. There before Rainbow was the hoof-stitched doll of Fluttershy. Its eyes were made from cyan buttons, and its mane from a solid fabric. It drooped in its seat, its head resting on the table. Surprisingly, it was about the size of a younger foal. And it too had a plate.

“Rainbow! Applejack! Come in, come in!” Discord’s voice beckoned. Entering, Rainbow and Applejack took their seats, Rainbow sitting furthest from the doll. “I’m so glad to see you two. How have you two been?”

“Well, uh, Rainbow and I moved in together about a month ago,” Applejack responded, looking over at Rainbow Dash. “Oh, and we just had our thirteenth date just last weekend!”

“How fascinating,” Discord commented. The door to the dining room opened again, and a servant entered. They swiftly poured out a glass of red wine for everypony, even the doll, only to leave seconds later. “And what about you, Pinkie Pie. Still, on that vow of silence, I take it?”

“No,” Pinkie mumbled, taking a small sip of her wine. “I… I don’t want to talk about it…”

A bit baffled as to what caused Pinkie to give in, Discord took a few seconds to process what she said. Rainbow expected he’d try and get her to talk or blow up at her for quitting. Instead, he cleared his throat and moved on. “So, uh, Twilight,” Discord questioned, “How is running Equestria going?”

Sighing, Twilight leaned her head on her left forehoof and replied, “It’s been quite busy lately, since Hearth’s Warming being just around the corner. Heck, I barely even was able to-” Before Twilight was able to finish, all of Pinkie’s glass spilled onto her coat.

Rainbow’s attention shot to Pinkie. Her ears twitched, and her left foreleg shook heavily for only a second, and Pinkie stammered, “S-Sorry, Twilight!”

“Oh, dear,” Discord commented. “Um, Prim?” He snapped his claws, but instead of bringing Prim to his location, he thoroughly cleaned off Twilight.

The large doors opened, and Prim rushed in, prepared for anything. “Sir! Do you require something?” he panted.

“Just stay here and attend to the guests,” Discord ordered. “Pinkie, would you mind accompanying me in my study?” Receiving a nod, the two left the dining room with a snap of his talons.

Rainbow looked over at the now unoccupied seats. Rainbow? Turning to see who called her name, she saw only her friends, who had moved on, seemingly without her. As she continued to look, however, something caught her eye. The doll’s head was now tilted upward, leaning back in the chair. Had somepony moved it when she wasn’t looking?

“-and you expect me to forgive her for that?” Rarity shouted. “She called my sister a murderer! In fact, she called your sister a murderer too!” Rainbow’s ear caught her yelling.

“Rares,” Applejack scolded, “she apologized. Can’t ya forgive her? Let bygones be bygones? Discord did with me, and I did with Rainbow. And vice versa.”

“I did move on,” Rarity corrected. “We’re still friends, and we still talk normally. If it’s forgiveness you desire, I’m sorry to say I can’t give it to her. She broke my little sister’s heart, and probably your sister’s too. She had no right to do so.”

Though she didn’t say a single word, Rainbow Dash silently agreed with Rarity. After all, she couldn’t forgive the Crusaders, so why should they forgive her? “But Rarity, she wasn’t in the right mindset,” Applejack explained. “None of us were!”

She felt a warm, fuzzy feeling grow in her body as she came to realize just how much her girlfriend cared for her. It had been two months since the funeral, yet here she was, Applejack defending her tooth and nail without hesitation. She honestly couldn’t have found a better partner.

Their arguing slowly faded from Rainbow’s attention, her eyes meeting once again with the doll. It moved. Not when she wasn’t looking. It moved its foreleg up and supported its head with it as soon as her eyes met its button ones. Rainbow? Can you hear me?

Her heart sank. “F-F-F,” She kept stuttering, starring at the doll, with its unblinking, button eyes. Whispering so nopony could hear her, she asked, “Fluttershy?”

Rainbow! Please, you have to help me! The doll had an echo in its voice. It was no doubt very similar to her, but it couldn’t actually be her, could it? I’m trapped! I can’t leave! Nopony will let me leave!

The doll moved its hoof away again, sitting up in the seat. A waterfall of chills ran down Rainbow’s spine. The doll was practically shouting, though, to be fair, it kept Fluttershy’s passive voice. Yet, despite this, nopony noticed this. Nopony could observe this.

She knew for a fact what she saw was happening. After all, she was observing it. She thought for a moment, trying to figure out how this was happening. Discord had super crazy magic, so he must’ve been manipulating it somehow. Rainbow! Please, get me out of here! Discord was playing a sick, twisted game with just her, whether intentional or not. She was sure of it.

Taking comfort in her explanation, Rainbow chose to ignore the doll’s ranting. The doll whimpered, slumping down into the chair lifelessly.

“Dinner is served,” Prim announced, the doors swinging open. Around five ponies, all in the same uniform, carried trays of food. Swiftly, they each placed the items on the guests’ plates.

A whole banquet of food slowly filled the table, most certainly being cooked by a professional. Mouthwatering cherry pie, piping hot tomato soup, gooey five-cheese sandwiches, doughy baguettes, and so, so much more.

Everypony gawked at its beauty, their eyes glaring at the flavorful food greedily. Twilight took up a fork and knife, cutting a small piece of pie for herself, the others grabbing food for themselves as well. Taking a small bite, she remarked, “This is better than what they make at the castle!”

Hearing the chime of a wine glass, everypony turned to see Prim holding an empty wine glass. “Attention, attention,” Prim called. “Master Discord wished to relay a message to you. Seeing he’s busy with Ms. Pie, I shall perform this task. He wished to thank all of you for taking the time out of your schedules to join us during these troubling times. After such trials and tribulations, it was no doubt hard to work in time, not to mention Hearth’s Warming on top. Here’s to you, and to another year of friendship to come!”

While everypony raised their glass to Discord’s message, Rainbow noticed something she hadn’t before. Looking over to the doll, who at this point was limp again, she noticed a small red stain on her left shoulder that trickled about halfway down her foreleg. “Creepy,” Rainbow muttered, setting down her glass.

***

An hour of eating later, everypony found themselves stuffed to the brim. Discord, about halfway between the meal, returned along with Pinkie Pie. Whatever occurred had been solved, as far as Rainbow knew.

The doll stayed limp for most of the dinner, only occasionally moving its head to face a different direction. Throughout the whole dinner, it begged and begged for Rainbow to listen to her. It whined loudly, little echoed sobs following its words.

Rarity and Applejack spent the time continuing their debate as they ate, the former making numerous attempts to move away from it. At one point, Rainbow was dragged into their conversation but ducked out of it by the time Discord returned.

Twilight stayed silent until Pinkie came back, not eating much. She sat, slumping in her chair, twiddling away with her food, lost in thought. Finally, Pinkie managed to engage in conversation, a new benefit of quitting the vow she made. It wasn’t anywhere near the old Pinkie Pie, her depressed attitude still showing prominently, but Twilight seemed to enjoy talking to a friend she hadn’t in so long.

Discord made small banter among all of them, and even Prim a few times, but was mostly silent during the dinner. Rainbow quickly picked up on the changes in him. He was too reserved, and his manors had increased drastically. She didn’t notice a single jab at somepony, quite the opposite.

During Rarity and Applejack’s ranting, Discord attempted multiple times to de-escalate the argument, even though the two ignored it. He really had changed since Rainbow last saw him, which brought up why he controlled the doll.

Fluttershy had acted similarly during the latter half of her mental spiral, continually thinking the world was against her. Perhaps he wanted a redo on what happened, a second chance at protecting her from her mental state. Or maybe he just wanted her, and the part he remembered most was when she was spiraling.

Rainbow Dash concluded he wasn’t trying to mess with anypony. In the past, maybe, but not now. Currently, Discord was too distraught by her death to do that. He was different, and she just needed to accept the strange coping mechanism, which was easier said than done. Though it stayed silent, the constant stare of the doll’s unblinking, button eyes kept Rainbow on edge, and the permanent smile only added to it.

She just needed to get through the dinner and the night. After that, she could go home, back to Sweet Apple Acres, and pretend like she never saw it. She’d struggle, but she was a confident, strong pony. If anypony could power through the unsettling nature of the doll, it was her.

Rainbow, please! Listen to me! Please! The doll whimpered to her, its echoing voice bouncing off the walls. The voice was as uncanny yet distorted as Rainbow remembered. Please don’t leave me here! Just an hour more, and she’d be away from that doll. Rainbow! “Just shut up already!” Rainbow shouted, clenching her eyes shut and yanking her ears with her forehooves.

Everypony froze, looking back at her. A second passed without a word before Rarity scoffed, “Well, I never!” Rarity huffed and turned away, Applejack looking back at Rainbow.

Another moment passed before Applejack quietly muttered, “Sorry.” Lifting her glass of wine to her muzzle, she took a long sip before setting it back down.

“So,” Pinkie started, trying to move away from the awkward exchange, “uh, Twilight. How’s… Spike doing?” As she finished, she attempted to smile, though the corners of her mouth barely turned upward.

Rainbow! Please! Just pick me up and leave! Please! “I said, shut up!” Rainbow slammed her hoof down on the table, her eyes glaring at the doll. Twilight opened her mouth to talk but was interrupted. Rain- “Shut up, shut up, shut up!” But-

Having been fed up by the doll’s annoying begging, Rainbow threw her ceramic plate at it, growling with frustration. It smashed down onto the doll’s head. What she could only assume was blood splashed everywhere, staining the chair it sat.

“What in the world?” Discord asked, shocked at Rainbow’s outburst. He snapped his claws, and the smashed plate repaired itself. Pinkie’s ears began twitching again, this time at a much faster rate. Her left foreleg shook violently, accidentally knocking into Twilight hard.

The doll whimpered in pain, crying in loud sobs. The blood slowly began to fade into the chair as the doll recovered. Rainbow wasn’t in the mood for sympathy. She knew Discord was behind this and knew he was messing with her. Now it was clear.

Rainbow stood up from her chair and turned towards the two double doors. She walked up to them and took a deep breath inward, exhaling thereafter. “I’ll be in my room,” she muttered, opening the door. So much for putting up with the doll, she thought.

Author's Note

Hi! It's certainly been a while. After a long hiatus, I am glad to say that the next chapter is in the works! I've completed edits on this and the prior two chapters, and hopefully will have the next chapter posted before Halloween. Stay tuned!