Nightmare Night

Chapters

Chapter 1: Invitation
Chapter 2: The Nightmare Begins(?)
Chapter 3: Survival
Chapter 4: The Nightmare Ends

Chapter 1: Invitation

The autumn air was crisp and cool when Fluttershy ventured into Ponyville for supplies. Her animal sanctuary was running low on a number of things, but she had avoided going to town for several days, knowing Nightmare Night decorations were appearing, and having no desire to see any of them.

But venture she did, slipping about the narrow lanes and alleyways between shops, hoping no one would stop and talk to her in case the query about attending Nightmare Night festivities arose again.

Dusk was upon them when she finished her errands, and she was going to drop by Twilight’s castle before returning home. She was surprised by the invitation to the party a week earlier, but Discord had spent half an hour explaining in detail how nothing at all scary would occur and even taken to inviting her closest friends. She felt almost relaxed.

She took the invitation from her coat pocket and read it again.

Discord’s Not Scary or Frightening-in-Any-Way Nightmare Night Party

Where: Discord’s house
When: Nightmare Night, 7:00 p.m.
Who: YOU

Smiling to herself, she nearly bumped into Twilight, whose head was down, reading a long scroll as she walked.

“Oh, Twilight,” Fluttershy said. “I was just coming to see you.”

“Fluttershy," Twilight said, stopping short. "I didn’t expect to see you out this late.”

“Oh, no.” Fluttershy drew out the invitation. “I just wanted to see if you were coming to Discord’s Nightmare Night party. You haven't said anything about it.”

Twilight laughed. “Of course! I wouldn’t miss it for anything.”

“Oh,” Fluttershy blushed. “You really don’t mind spending Nightmare Night with just me and-“

“Discord? Fluttershy, it’s amazing! I’ve never been to Discord’s realm before. None of us have, except for you. What’s it like?”

“Uh-“

Twilight snapped her fingers. “Spike, when did you go to the post office? How much was the postage?"

"Huh?" Spike said, looking up at her.

"The post office. You went there, right?"

“What for, Twilight?”

Twilight frowned, turning to Spike. “You did send my reply, didn’t you?”

“You didn’t write one, Twilight,” he said quickly. “First you made a comment about the weather, and then you said how nice it was for Discord to throw a not-scary-or-frightening-in-any-way Nightmare Night party for Fluttershy, and then-“

“All right.” Twilight frowned. “Well, please RSVP for us today.”

Spike dutifully began scrawling on a new scroll of parchment.

"So, Fluttershy, do you have a costume?" Twilight asked.

Shaking her head, Fluttershy's eyes strayed in the direction of Rarity's boutique. "I wasn't sure I should dress up at all. Are you?"

A glint passed over Twilight's eyes as they narrowed. "Ha-ha! I've been working on it all year!" Surprised by her own outburst, she cleared her throat and then said, more quietly, "I just have to iron a few parts, but it's ready to go. I hope you feel as though you could dress up a little, if you really wanted to. I'm sure Rarity- no, I know Rarity has been waiting for you to show up at her doorstep for years for something like this."

"Really?"

"Of course! Remember when you used to model? But then Rarity was jealous over your fame and fortune and you didn't even like... sorry," she added when she saw Fluttershy's face fall. "Eheheh. I just mean, sewing is her life. She loves making things for us. She'd have made mine, but I had, er, very specific plans."

"I suppose it wouldn't hurt to see her."

"I'd love to go with you, but I'm late for... nine different things. Um. Now ten. Discord's party. Heh. I'll see you, Fluttershy," she called as she strode away, Spike nearly running to keep up with her.

And so it was that Fluttershy found herself at Rarity's boutique, just before closing time. She had half hoped Rarity would be too busy to help her, but she was ecstatic.

"Do you have any ideas about what you'd like to be? A bunny, like Angel? Or a dragon, now you're not scared of them anymore?" Rarity asked, chuckling when she said the latter.

"I'm not sure about this, Rarity. You know I don't feel comfortable in costumes. Not on Nightmare Night."

“Well, you did dress up as Princess Celestia for that play. You were positively darling in that.”

“I don’t know…”

Rarity squealed. “Oh, I’ve just had the most perfect idea! I know just what to make for you, darling.”

“N-now, I don’t really-“

“Yes, yes, I know. Let me see, now, no masks, nothing at all terrifying, nothing you can’t run away in… you leave it all to me, sweetie.” Rarity briskly took Fluttershy’s measurements and shooed her out of her boutique so she could get started, leaving Fluttershy dizzy in the street.

The very next evening, Rarity summoned her to the boutique to have her fitting. Fluttershy felt rather badly that Rarity had slaved so hard for the past 24 hours just to make an outfit for her for Nightmare Night of all nights, but her guilt was replaced with admiration when she saw her friend's creation. It consisted of a tea-length pleated black skirt, black tights, and boots. The top was a tucked-sleeve sweater in muted orange, with a smiling black bat in the center of the chest. A matching orange hair ribbon completed the look.

“Rarity, it’s beautiful,” Fluttershy gushed as she looked at herself in the mirror. “Thank you.”

Rarity squealed and pranced in place on the balls of her feet. “I knew you’d like it! It took me quite a long while to get the right shade of orange for your hair, but once I figured that, it was all a breeze.”

“I do hope you’ve had time to make yourself a costume.”

“Darling, please. It’s what I live for." Rarity stuck in a handful of pins here and there, to get Fluttershy's measurements exactly. "I'll just take a little more in here and take out a little there. All right. Go ahead and change back."

Fluttershy took the outfit off much more carefully than Rarity had helped her put it on, but Rarity snatched it from her and said, "Now, don’t mind me. You go home and rest up for tomorrow."

***

Fluttershy did not sleep easily, though she reminded herself of Discord's promises of a fright-free night. She closed her eyes and tried to imagine the fun she'd have with him and their friends, the interesting things she might see in his house, and, of course, Discord's companionship.

Nightmare Night morning dawned clear and cold, and Fluttershy did her best to think of the upcoming party rather than cringe at the crunch of a leaf outside or scream when a breeze rattled the windows. It turned out to be a long day. Angel was, somewhat surprisingly, comforting to her as the hours ticked by and the party loomed ever closer, but by seven o'clock she was dressed and primped and felt a bit exhilarated to be with Discord again and see what he had done to his place.
Discord had placed a portal in front of Fluttershy's cottage for guests to arrive by, but when Fluttershy and Angel stepped near it, they were suddenly at Discord's front door.

Knocking on the door, Fluttershy's nerves resurfaced. The door cracked open by itself and Angel kicked it open when she hesitated. They were the first ones there, but the living room was a splendor of color and gaiety that neither could take their eyes from. Angel immediately spied a bowl on the floor filled with carrots and other fresh vegetables and hopped away as Fluttershy slowly turned about the room.

There were three long tables, firmly bolted on the floor. One was covered with candy; the other two were covered with appetizers, cakes, treats, and entrees of food. Everything was in black, purples, and blues. There were glittering gold and silver stars and crescent moons scattered on the tables, floor, and floating unobtrusively in the air Game stations were placed all about the room.

A large wooden bucket with water and bobbing apples hung upside-down from the ceiling, and there were two silvery spiderwebs in one corner, but when Fluttershy drew near, she found several of her spider friends from Ponyville relaxing in them. She smiled in spite of herself and took in the room once more when she heard a commotion outside.

The front door opened and Pinkie Pie, her sisters, Rarity, and Applejack came in. Fluttershy made to greet them, but they were too busy fixing stepped-on costumes and making comments about Discord's front yard to notice her, and then more people came, followed by more. Angel, having stuffed his face with the entire bowl of vegetables, let Fluttershy hold him again so he could rest.

The crowd heated the living room, and though Twilight and a few others waved to her and complimented her outfit, her brother Zephyr Breeze was the first to strike a conversation. He was wearing a heavily-studded black pleather jacket over a torn black tank top. Studded braces covered his wrists and his hair was a spiked and slightly shaved and a rainbow of greens and blues.

Fluttershy coughed when she saw him. “Zephyr, you're here? What are you?”

“A metalhead, sis. You didn’t think I’d do all this to my hair and supple, moisturized skin without extensive planning, did you? ‘Cause let me tell you, this kind of perfection takes hours of hard work.”

"But what are you doing here?"

"I was invited. Really, sis, you act as if I had no friends."

“I’m glad to hear you’re still working hard.”

Seemingly assuaged, Zephyr Breeze straightened his jacket, smoothed his hair, and sauntered toward Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow was less than thrilled to be in attendance, for just hours before, Discord had appeared beside her on a cloud and told her that if she did anything to frighten or tease Fluttershy in any way, he would never invite Rainbow Dash to another party of his for as long as she lived.

“Shoot, Rainbow Dash,” Zephyr drawled as he oozed around her, “if I’d known you were going to be a Viking, I’d have done the same. We could’ve pirated the seas together.”

Rainbow Dash peeled herself from him. “Uh, that’s okay, Zeph.”

“Come here on your lonesome?”

“I came here with my friends. Look, can’t you talk to some other girls for a while? Pinkie’s sisters, maybe? Limestone? I’m, like, sixty percent sure she’d love to talk to you.”

Zephyr’s eyelids fluttered as he looked sideways at Pinkie’s sisters, who were dressed as rocks and grouped near the largest punchbowl and in varying states of revelry.

Fluttershy milled about, snugly holding Angel in her arms. From thin air, Discord appeared beside her, startling her into a quiver, but Angel’s warm, comforting body kept her from bolting. Discord was dressed as something she couldn’t identify, with a long red cape tied at his throat and matching red horns on his head. He leaned down and lay his arm across her shoulders. “Fluttershy! So glad you could make it.”

“Of course,” she said, catching her breath. “I told you I would.”

“And look, here’s Angel, too,” he said with less affection. He grinned and snapped his fingers. A tiny crooked witch’s hat appeared on Angel’s head, tied under his chin with an orange bow. Fluttershy was too astonished to react at first, then stifled her laughter and set the squirming Angel on a chair.

Angel tore the hat from his head and threw it on the floor. Fluttershy knelt to pick it up. “That wasn’t very nice. I could have saved it for next year.”

Angel stuck his tongue out at her and stalked away to hide under the tablecloth of the candy table.

“And what are you dressed as?” Fluttershy asked Discord.

“Just a little someone from another dimension. I’ll explain it to you later. Punch?”

“Yes, please.”

Discord puffed out his chest like a bird about to sing and marched to the candy table while Fluttershy clasped her hands with a slight case of nerves and gravitated to Celestia, who had just stepped through the portal. She was dressed immaculately as a fairy princess.

“Fluttershy, it’s so nice to see you out on Nightmare Night at last,” the princess said.

Fluttershy blushed. ”Nice of Discord to throw a party I’m not too scared to attend, rather.”

“I can’t stay long myself. I’m afraid the sun still needs to be brought up at the usual time tomorrow.” Her eyes crinkled with silent laughter. “Time here seems a little... different.”

“I’m glad you could make it for a little while.”

“You’re almost in costume. You look beautiful.”

“Thank you." Fluttershy turned modestly. "Rarity made it for me.”

“She really is something, isn’t she?”

Fluttershy looked at her black patent shoes. “I’m not half as beautiful as you are, though. Did you make your costume?”

“Luna helped a lot,” the princess said. “If you’ll forgive me, I’ve got to say hello to the others.”

Discord returned in time to bow slightly to Celestia, who in turn nodded before turning away, but his eyes narrowed slightly at someone just behind Fluttershy. “Who is that?”

“What? Who? Oh! Discord, meet my brother, Zephyr Breeze,” she said, waving her brother over.

Zephyr swiveled his head around and tossed his hair back so he could look up at Discord through the strands. “So you’re him, huh?”

“’Him’?”

“The- the- ‘Discord’, you know. The real Discord, master of chaos, and so on.”

Discord was still, seemingly torn between turning to Fluttershy for help and throwing Zephyr out a window, but Fluttershy stepped between them. “Zephyr, this is my friend, Discord. Weren’t you going to say something?”

“Say something?” Zephyr blinked.

“About thanking someone?”

Zephyr cleared his throat and grabbed a note out of one of his many leather pockets before reading, stilted, “Er, thank you for the invitation, uh, Discord. Sounds like you’ve been quite a friend to my sister.”

“Yes,” Discord sniffed. “Yes, I have.”

“Yeah. So, what is it you do again?”

Discord reeled back. “Do? I don’t have to do anything. I am chaos personified.”

“Ah, well, it’s just, when you’re a working man such as myself, you hardly have time to throw these little soirees and get-togethers, for fun, you know.”

“’Soirees’?”

“Sure, sure. Flutter-Butter told me you never invite anyone here, is all.”

Discord smiled. “Funny. She never mentioned you to me, ever.”

Fluttershy thought Discord’s smile was perhaps a bit too sweet. “Of course I did,” she said. “I told you about him when he finished school, remember? Didn't you send him an invitation for this?”

“A-ha. So you did, dear Fluttershy. How absent-minded of me.”

“Zephyr, why don’t you go say hello to Rainbow Dash?" Fluttershy said. "She’s over there in the helmet.”

Zephyr’s eye twitched. “I did. She needs some space. I think I’ll go say hello to that kite over there. ‘Scuse me, sis. Uh, Discord.”

Fluttershy smiled at Discord. “I forgot you’ve never met before.”

“I suppose you did mention him a while ago. He didn’t seem very… my.” He blinked at her and her smile faltered.

“Is something wrong?”

Discord shook his head. “You look lovely. Rarity’s handiwork?”

“Of course.” Fluttershy looked down at her outfit and held her skirt out to show it off. “I couldn’t bring myself to wear a costume even if this isn’t a scary party.” She sighed. “It must be who I am now.”

“I should tell you that costumes are overrated, but I love dressing up! I get to be a whole new me!”

“Why should you want to be a whole new you?” she giggled.

A lightbulb appeared and disappeared above Discord’s head. “I’ve never thought about that before. I’m almost certain my adoration of dressing up has nothing to do with a negative view of myself.”

Fluttershy took a sip of her punch, then spluttered and coughed. As Discord hit her back, she indicated the far corner. “Zephyr,” she gasped through a coughing fit. “Oh, he’s blowing it.”

Discord hesitated before snapping his fingers. A two-dimensional skeleton with a red scarf around her neck and pale lavender hair appeared next to Zephyr, who, when he turned to face her, was immediately smitten. Starlight's clouded face cleared and she returned to the company of Sunburst and Trixie.

It seemed everyone was there now, all in fantastic costumes. Sunburst, Starlight, and Trixie were dressed as a lightning bolt, a kite, and the North Wind, respectively. Rarity made an uncanny imitation of Coco Pommel, while Rainbow Dash sported a dramatic Viking ensemble and Applejack was a green and orange dinosaur. Even Big Mac and Sugar Belle were there, dressed as a pumpkin and a slice of pie. Twilight Sparkle was dressed as Starswirl the Bearded yet again, but had modified the costume a little after meeting the man himself. Spike was a skeleton and Pinkie Pie was an elaborate pink and blue jellyfish with tendrils sticking out almost everywhere.

Luna was dressed as Nightmare Moon, but was so wide-eyed and laughing as she played games that Fluttershy forgot to feel nervous at all, and she soon found herself laughing as she watched Rainbow Dash try to bob for an apple upside-down. Discord had probably tied the apples to the bottom of the barrel, for Rainbow could not tug an apple from the water despite her efforts.

She felt Discord lean his shoulder against hers and murmur, “Now, see, the old me would have invited you here an hour earlier, so I could have you all to myself."

Fluttershy smiled. “You’re so kind to invite everyone. I’m not so afraid when I’m with friends.”

“You don’t have to be afraid with me, either. It’s just another night, just another party like we always have.”

“Maybe… but somehow I know it’s Nightmare Night, even when I tell myself it isn’t.”

“The holiday doesn’t even exist where I’m from. How could anything bad happen? And if anyone here tries messing with you, I’ll snap them back home so quickly you won’t have time to say-”

“Discord, there you are,” an imperious voice called out.

“Right. Discord, there you… huh?” Discord blinked and found Luna walking stately toward him.

"I had been meaning to ask you about something. It has to do with that small door that is half-hidden by the black lace curtains of that window," Luma said, pointing behind her.

Discord glided to her and turned her away from Fluttershy so they could speak in private, so Fluttershy joined Pinkie, Rainbow, Twilight, and Applejack at the toss-a-spider beanbag game. The beanbags were fluffy pink spiders with smiling red mouths and gentle blue eyes. Perhaps it was something to do with Applejack's farming background, but she was always a perfect shot, even better than Rainbow Dash.

"Are you all having a good time?" Fluttershy asked when they finished a round.

"Fluttershy, this is great!" Pinkie shrieked, bounding into the air so her jellyfish costume floated around her. "The upside-down apple-bobbing, the pink-spider tossing, the rainbow lollipops spinning!" She finished her list with Fluttershy's face gripped between her hands.

Prying her face from Pinkie, she said, "I just mean, it isn't very 'Nightmare Night'. I mean, not the way you're used to."

"We do kind of the same thing every year," Twilight said. "It's fun to change it up a little."

"Sure, " said Applejack. "I already helped Granny with the corn maze. For the little ones, you know, before it got dark. I always wanted to know what Discord's house looked like."

"Yeah, you never tell us anything," Rainbow said. "I thought it'd be more... chaotic than this."

"Oh, he's just being nice." Fluttershy laughed quietly. "Usually his furniture is floating around all over the place. We even drink our tea upside-down."

Rainbow and Applejack glanced sideways at each other; Applejack grinned. "Tell you what, sugar cube," she said to Fluttershy. "The next time Discord wants to invite us over for anything, you tell him we'll be right over."

"Yeah, he only ever invites you, like you've got special privileges or something, but- ow!" Rainbow rubbed her arm where Twilight had hit her.

"This is Discord's home. He can invite whomever he wants." Twilight smiled apologetically at Fluttershy.

"I'm sure he means to have you over more often, but he's... kind of absent-minded," Fluttershy told them, glancing at Discord, who was subtly turning different colors while still speaking with Luna. She did not see Rainbow Dash roll her eyes.

"I confess, I might be a bit jealous," Twilight told her. "I'm so used to Discord being... discordant, that I hardly stop to think about how powerful he really is. I'd love to pick his brain about magic and chaos."

"I'm sure you-"

"Attention, everyone!" Discord said, rapping on a triangle with tiny silver stick. "Gatherers and wandered and friends. I would like to thank you all for attending. I hope you're having fun. I have a little announcement now about even more fun we can have. I have made... a house!"

Fluttershy was the only one who smiled at his words, as the rest of the party fell silent.

"What... kinda house?" Applejack finally asked.

"A not-haunted haunted house!"

Fluttershy paled. “Haunted…?”

“Not haunted. Oh, I left a few spiderwebs for our friends, but I cleared out all the ghosts myself. There’s nothing in there now.”

“Er…”

“Then what’s the point?” Rainbow Dash said.

Discord lay his arm across Fluttershy's back and squeezed her shoulder. “Now you can say you’ve been in a haunted house, even though it isn't haunted."

"I... thank you," she said weakly, her hands absently clutching for Angel.

A low hum of conversation rose from the party as they talked amongst themselves. Fluttershy , still feeling numb, jumped when Discord took hold of her wrist. "I've got it all planned out. There's a surprise for you at the end."

"Sur-surprise?"

"Of course!" He squeezed her in a brief hug. "The house is for the rest of them, but the prize is for you."

"Discord, I don't know if I want to go into a haunted house. Or a not-haunted house. Um. Is it... just a house?"

Discord linked his elbow with hers and led her to a small door by a window. "You'll see when we get inside. We'll all go together. Don't worry. I only say 'haunted' for the benefit of everyone else here."

The party amassed at the tiny doorway and Discord and Fluttershy entered first. They were in a cool, dark stairwell that may have made Fluttershy nervous but for the pleasant glow of flower sconces along the walls. At the bottom, they stepped into a large stone foyer; the far wall was wood with faded floral wallpaper and cream wainscoting, but the rest were of ash-gray granite.

Discord cleared this throat. "Let's break into two groups. Fluttershy, you'll be with me. Any other takers?"

Twilight, Pinkie, Applejack, Zephyr, and Marble joined them as they headed through glass doors on the right, while the others banded together to go through the wooden door on the left. Fluttershy, without realizing it, had taken Discord's hand and was gripping it ever tighter, but if he found it painful, he didn't react.

Once in the room, warm light flooded it from an unknown source. They were in the dining room and the faint sound of birdsong was coming from outside the curtained windows. Fluttershy's grip relaxed.

"This," Discord said in what the others thought could have been an attempt at a creepy voice, "is the dining room. Beyond it... who knows?"

Rarity and Applejack locked eyes, trying to hide their grins. Fluttershy felt brave enough to let go of Discord entirely and look around. She enjoyed looking at details of the oiled oak sideboard carved with tulips and the rosette-trimmed tablecloth. "Isn't this pretty?" she asked her friends.

"Uh, sure is," Applejack said. She and the others were making a good presentation of interest, but all were unimpressed by this ordinary tour of an old house.

It was just as Twilight was about to cover a yawn with her hand that the room began to shake. A second later, a sound like a metal clock ticking against the pipes in the walls was heard all around them, and then a blinding white light flashed like lightning. Fluttershy ran back to Discord, terrified.

“W-what are we going to do? Discord, what’s happening?”

When Discord looked concerned, Fluttershy worried even more. “Just stick close to me," he said. "I won’t let anything-“

Fluttershy looked up in terror when Discord stopped talking. She began shaking when she realized she was alone and turned in circles to try and fathom what had happened. Perhaps Discord was still in the cheerful dining room, but she was in a rusted old bathroom without him. Tears began streaming down her face and she did not try to hide them, for no one was with her.

Pull yourself together. Pull yourself together, Fluttershy! her mind screamed. She took two big breaths to try and stop her shaking body, but on the third she felt a cold hand grip her shoulder and let out a blood-curdling scream.

Author's Note

This story idea came about from a random fan art I made last summer (2019). It was Fluttershy in her Nightmare Night outfit holding Angel bunny, with Discord in his Devil costume, right after he had made the witch hat appear on Angel's head. I really liked it and it inspired me to come up with a story around it, but I lost the painting about a month later (broken hard drive) and was too defeated to work on the story again until now. I still haven't recreated the painting, but perhaps someday I will so I can attach it to this story.

Chapter 2: The Nightmare Begins(?)

Fluttershy's ear-piercing shrieks hovered in the air long after the icy touch had disappeared. She could not open her eyes even if she wanted to, in case something was there behind her. There was something there. There had to be. Her shrieks fell into sobs, and after a while even those was too tiresome to continue.

Pull yourself together, Fluttershy! You’ve faced far worse than this! She told herself those words like a mantra, over and over. If she couldn’t climb her way out, she’d break out, if it was the last thing she’d ever do. For a minute, she did not notice the translucent spectre hovering partially out of the far corner of the floor, but when the wisp caught her eye, her heart threw itself against her ribcage and she sat down hard.

“What have you done to my house?” a quiet voice whined.

“Y-y-y...”

“Stay still.”

She bolted out of the room and ran with such ferocity that she slammed face first into the opposing wall and ricocheted from it to the landing of a short stairwell heading down. She gripped the banister and raced down the stairs until she reached another floor and burst through a half-open door into a drawing room.

Backing up against the far wall, amongst several vases and broken statues, she saw the ghastly glow of an apparition materialize and wiped her bleeding nose with her sleeve.

“No, no, no!” she screamed, turning away and trying fruitlessly to scrabble up the wall. “I don’t like ghosts, and I don’t like creepy things, and I don’t like feeling unsafe, and I don’t like you! Get away from me! Stay away! I don’t like-”

“'Trespasser! Even in the backseat? You're gonna meet concrete.”

Fluttershy blinked. “What?” she asked quizzically, before wiping her eyes. “Never mind, just please don’t hurt me. I’m not supposed to be here. I’m not up to anything! I’d never hurt a g-g-g-”

“Stop talking. Good god. You’d think I was about to hack your leg off with a rusty saw.”

At ‘saw’, Fluttershy bolted for the nearest window, but a crash of thunder and several bolts of very dramatic lightning outside stopped her from jumping out. A fire roared to life in the blackened fireplace, and she sank to her knees, shaking.

“You won't leave," the spectre said. "Not unless we let you.”

“Wh-why are you doing this? He said it wasn’t a haunted house! I mean, he said it was, but then he… he-”

“Exorcised most of us. Therefore, I’m going to exorcise all of you.”

“Please, don’t. I’m not dead yet. Oh, please don’t kill me. I’m too young. And dull! So boring, really. I have animals that need me! I have a family-”

“Will you shut up?” the spectre cried, covering its ears.

Offended, she turned back to face it, but her lower lip quivered too strongly for her to speak, and she gulped back a sob. Was it some sort of test? Did Discord mean to put her into just this kind of situation so she could prove how brave she actually was? He’d done that sort of thing before. But after he promised her so faithfully…

“He wouldn’t do that,” she whispered.

“Wouldn’t do what?”

Her face was red and wet; she scrubbed her sleeves over it, smearing her mascara. "Trick me."

"He's not human. What is he?"

"My f-friend," she blubbered through fresh tears.

"The spirits who hid from exorcism want revenge. How dare you all take over a house that isn't yours."

Fluttershy was yanked violently to the ground by her hair. She cried out and landed on her back, the wind knocked out of her. Before she could catch her breath, a window flew open and a ghostly face peeked its head in.

"Jesus, Carl, what are you doing?" its raspy voice said. "Leave the girl alone. We're planning something big. Head to the attic."

The spectre next to Fluttershy began to dissipate, and at last she was alone again, holding herself tightly in a ball. She sang to herself, off-key from nerves, until her heart rate slowed and she got back to her feet. She couldn't bring herself to look out the window to check for a fire escape or trellis. All she knew was she was high up and needed to get down to get out of this house before she ended up a ghost herself.

***

Discord was not alone in the cellar. Some force had propelled him and, it seemed, everyone else to different areas of the house, and he had to lean against a wall to ease his dizziness. He snapped his fingers when his head cleared. A tiny star appeared, illuminating the cellar, and he almost gasped when he caught sight of a trembling, ghostly figure with multicolored hair.

He scowled. “Zephyr Breeze.”

Zephyr winced at Discord’s words and pressed himself against the opposite wall. “Oh… Discord! It’s just you. I thought... heh. Never mind.”

Discord dimmed the star and let his eyes adjust. “Where’s Fluttershy?”

“Don’t you know?” Zephyr asked, tensing again.

The walls around them had no door, despite Discord sending his eyes to inspect every inch of the room. “She’s surely in this house. It’s fine. I never needed doors, anyway.” He snapped his fingers again, but nothing happened. He snapped them again and again, to no avail, then stared at his fingers as if he did not recognize them.

“Trouble?” Zephyr asked, his eyebrows raised.

“No. Not really. Let’s just break through… aha!” He was able to conjure a hammer and chisel and began chiseling away at the stone wall.

Zephyr sighed. “This is gonna take forever.” He jumped up as high as he could, trying to touch the ceiling, but could not quite reach.

“I’ll send her a message right now,” Discord said hastily as he chiseled away.

“With what?”

“I can do anything I want to. There. It’s already sent.”

Zephyr held his head. “So, this is it? This is what you do when my sister's around?"

“I didn’t do this,” Discord retorted. “Even if it’s my nature, I don’t always go out of my way to ruin things, you know.”

“Always putting people’s backs up,” Zephyr ripped in, “turning people against each other, endangering my sister-”

“What?” Discord said, and Zephyr saw his wounded expression.

“You’re always dragging her into something. At least Twilight and the others don’t go looking for trouble.”

Discord stopped chiseling. “Fluttershy… told you this?”

“She doesn’t have to. I hear about it all soon enough. You know how she is; she can’t complain. She trusts you too much.” With each word, Zephyr grew more emboldened. “You’ve got some hold over her and she runs into things without worrying about the consequences once you’re there. It’s disturbing. I don’t get it.”

Discord looked at the stones underneath their feet, lost in thought, while Zephyr jumped several more times to try and hit reach the ceiling.

“I threw this party for her," Discord reasoned.

“You threw it for yourself. You know how much she hates Nightmare Night.”

“She doesn’t have to hate it. Not when I made sure it was just an ordinary party. Which it was."

“She never talks to me about you, but I learned all about you in school. You're a monster."

The word triggered something in Discord and his uncertainty turned into outrage. "Listen here, you... you..." He looked Zephyr up and down, struggling to define him. "... I'm not a monster."

"Your whole life revolves around chaos. I don't know why she likes you so much. Did you see that pillow on her sofa?"

Discord sniffed. "She sewed it herself."

"You must be controlling her," Zephyr said, laughing shakily. "It's the only explanation. You missed a ghost or something and now it’s ruined everything, and who knows where she is right now.” He caught sight of his straggling, dye-running hair and was horrified. “Even my hair is ruined! You… you ruiner!”

“She was having fun until now, wasn’t she?" Discord murmured. "Perhaps I did go a little too far.”

“Could be,” Zephyr said sardonically, squeezing out some of the green dye from his blonde hair. “I thought it was strange she never introduced you to our folks, but now I get it. They'd have heart attacks if they knew she was consorting with something as disturbing as you.”

Discord was silent, but Zephyr held up his hands. ”I know she’s a grown-up and can make her own decisions. If she actually likes being around you, I won’t tell her to ditch you. But she’s too little and too nice to keep getting mixed up in things like this.”

What a little punk, Discord thought. “I think she’s actually quite tough.”

“Which is why you have to be careful. What do you think’ll happen to her after years of this kind of trauma? She’ll get hard and cold. You know, you haven’t always been there to save the day. And when I’m old and feeble, I want my kindly sister to look out for me, and not some soul-hardened, bitter old harpy.”

Discord shrugged Zephyr’s words away, still chiseling madly at the stones.

“I want her to stay the way she is,” Zephyr told him firmly. “Since you seem to like her so much, I guess you want the same thing."

Discord did not trust himself to say anything that would be unbecoming; not when it was to be directed at his dear Fluttershy's brother, or whatever he was. He didn’t want to think about whether or not Zephyr was right, either. What did this brat know? Didn’t he still live at his parents' home?

He continued working on the wall, teeth gritted, and after another minute heard and felt an occasional thump from the other side of the wall. On the ninth thump, combined with Discord’s chiseling, cracks appeared in the stone. As he was changing his grip on the hammer, several stone blocks from the wall became electrified and blew up in pieces into the room.

Rainbow Dash wriggled through the damaged wall, barely able to catch her breath. “I thought it was you two arguing,” she said, annoyed. “Zeph, Fluttershy will never turn into a soul-hardened, bitter old harpy. And Discord, Fluttershy’s fine.”

“You’ve seen her?” Discord asked, clasping his hands.

“No,” she said, batting at a cobweb that had stuck to her face, “but when push comes to shove, she can pull through. She’s probably looking for Angel. What’d you do to this place?”

“Nothing,” Discord said. “Perhaps I missed a ghost while I was cleaning house? My magic isn’t one hundred percent. Could be the physics of this reality are beyond even my control, unimaginable as it is…”

Rainbow was about to reply, but Zephyr moved in front of her and leaned back seductively against the broken wall. “Rainbow! Somehow I knew it’d be you. So resourceful. So strong.”

She backed away from him, glancing at the ceiling. “There’s a stairwell on my side of the wall. It just keeps going up and up, but maybe with your help, Discord, we can get somewhere. I don’t like closed spaces. Why’d you have to go to another dimension for this dump?”

“There aren’t any haunted things in Equestria!” he almost wailed. “I had to look elsewhere.”

“Why’d it need to be a real haunted house?”

“Why, for all of you. I couldn’t very well use a normal house as a haunted house that became no longer haunted.” Discord was positively appalled by the idea. “Where’s the fun in that? No fear? No inkling that something terrifying couldhappen?”

“But you didn’t want to scare Fluttershy!”

“I was going to be right by her side. She would be too busy looking after Angel, anyway, to think I’d hoodwink her, which I didn’t.”

She gave up and turned her attention back to Zephyr, who had settled on the floor, barely quivering. “Well? Don’t you have any ideas?”

“Ideas? About what? Of course I don’t have any ideas.”

“Ugh, what is wrong with you?” She turned her attention to Discord. “No house is built like this; I don’t care what dimension it comes from. Are you sure your chaos magic, or whatever, didn’t do this?”

“If it did, I don’t know how. My powers are mine.”

“How’d you get rid of the ghosts in the first place?”

“I sent them to a third dimension. It’s a beautiful dimension,” he added when Rainbow glared at him. “Lots of stars. I promised them I’d return them. I’m not as heartless as I used to be, and anyway, Fluttershy would never forgive me otherwise.”

“Well, something went wrong, like it always does,” Zephyr said under his breath.

Only Rainbow noticed the lethal look Discord shot at him, and stepped between them. “Don’t fight. We need to find everyone and get out of here. Good grief.”

Zephyr, put out, sat on the floor again, his arms crossed. “Get to it, then.”

Rainbow touched her forehead. “Zeph, we could really use your help. Maybe if you stand on Discord’s shoulders, and I stand on yours, then-”

“Hey,” Zephyr said, “I signed up for a party, not a struggle for survival in a drug-induced hallucination of a house.”

“Speaking from experience?” Rainbow raised an eyebrow.

Zephyr avoided looking at her. “Discord, if anything happens to me or my sister-”

“I know, you’ll glare at me with those pink eyes forever.” Discord rolled his eyes. "I'm already shuddering."

“Really?" Zephyr asked, surprised, then cleared his throat. "Good. I mean, whatever. If you don't put this right-”

“She’s your sister. Why are you sitting here trembling and leaving us to do all the work?”

“And she’s your…” Zephyr began with a vehemence unlike him and clenched his teeth.

Discord grinned. “Say it,” he snarled.

“Say what? I don't-”

“Say it!”

“Stop!” Rainbow’s arms were outstretched, one hand on Zephy’s shoulder and the other on Discord’s chest. “No more. No more. I can’t take anymore. Zephyr, stop being lazy and help us. Discord, stop feeling sorry for yourself. I can’t believe poor Fluttershy has to put up with both of you. Maybe she wants to be lost.”

Discord and Zephyr exchanged brief but savage looks before filing through the hole in the wall. They found themselves standing on the narrow bottom landing of a narrow, polished-oak staircase. On each side were walls covered in faded floral paper, and above them was sunken ceiling. The landing at the top of the staircase was just in the shadows ahead of them.

“I guess we’ll just have to get through every room in the house until we’ve all met up again,” Rainbow said. “I think I heard Applejack’s voice from the ceiling, but these stairs won’t end. I ran for, like, five minutes straight.”

“They look normal enough to me.” Discord could just touch the ceiling with his fingers, if he stretched.

“Yeah, until you start going up.”

He set his jaw and snapped his fingers three times. “Tch. Something’s still blocking my power.”

“Blocking, now?” Zephyr asked, just as Rainbow said, “What’d you do?”

“This is unusual.” Discord rapped his knuckles along the banister. He crept up the stairs, Rainbow following.

“I, uh, I’m just gonna stay here. Let me know if there’s something scary up there," Zephyr said, leaning on the banister.

“Stop shaking,” Rainbow hissed back. “The whole banister’s moving.”

She followed Discord for several seconds up the stairs, but, as she had said before, the steps were endless. "Just stop, Discord. There's no way out up here."

He was about to retort when an unseen force grabbed his arm and pulled him through the wooden wall to his right, breaking through it. His vision was blurred, but he struggled to his feet again, swaying between the staircase and a new room.

"Wh-what happened?" Zephyr piped, creeping up the steps. "Did you do that? Did something pull you th-through the wall?"

“Well, that’s one way through,” Rainbow said as she began stepping through the jagged hole that Discord had so unceremoniously made. Zephyr made to follow her, breathing a sigh of relief, but was partly trampled by Applejack, who grabbed Rainbow in a hug.

“Golly, I thought we were gonna be alone in here for hours,” Applejack said. Big Mac, dazed, trailed after her onto the stairwell. He sniffled, but before Discord could ask, she said, “Don’t mention you-know-who, or he’ll sob for ten minutes straight.”

“You-know-who?” Rainbow asked. “You mean Sugar-”

“No,” Applejack hissed, covering Rainbow’s mouth with her hand. “Don’t say it. I just got him calmed down.”

A blood-curdling scream came from the next floor up; Discord sprang to the steps and ran up, yelling, “Fluttershy!”

Rainbow ran half-heartedly after him, but called out through his screams of Fluttershy a moment later, “Just stop, Discord! These stairs won’t end. There has to be a way to the next floor through the ceiling.”

Applejack, Big Mac, and Zephyr lagged after them, eyes wide and taking in every angle of the staircase. When they caught up with Rainbow, who had almost caught up with Discord, Applejack gripped Rainbow’s and Big mac’s arms.

“Do y’all hear… music? Comin’ from… far away?” she whispered.

Discord turned his ears into bat ears and heard quite clearly a dramatic concerto being played on an organ.

“I knew there had to be a ghost here,” Rainbow said. “Maybe more than one.”

“Wha-!” Zephyr hugged the banister, alarmed. “There’d better not be.”

“Poor Fluttershy,” said Big Mac, causing Discord to glance at him sharply.

“There’s no ghost here,” he said. “It’s just the wind.”

“That ain’t the wind.” Applejack said. “I can clearly hear the melody of ‘It’s a Pony Kind of Christmas’.”

“It’s just the organ that was on the third floor when I first came by. Anything could be playing it. Rodents, for example.”

Big Mac shook his head once. “Nope.”

“You left a creepy organ in this house?” asked Applejack. “After you promised Fluttershy there was nothin’ weird left in it at all?”

The organ music crescendoed and shook the ceiling, but Discord was disgusted. “This is too stupid, even for me. I’m coming, Fluttershy!” He detached his arm and it shot up to the ceiling, splitting the floorboards in half.

The others crouched down and covered their heads as detritus fell around them. Big Mac tried to cover Applejack, but his pumpkin costume was too portly for him to get close enough.

“I forgot, uh, you could do that,” Rainbow said breathlessly as she kicked floorboards out of the way.

Zephyr remained on his knees, his eyes so wide the whites were showing. He anxiously glanced between Discord and the hole, and back again.

Discord was stony-faced, only staring at the hole in the ceiling and paying no regard to anyone. He snapped his fingers and a rickety pink ladder appeared on the stairs and led up into the hole.

“Ladies first,” he said.

Applejack swallowed hard and began climbing the ladder, but Big Mac took rainbow's place. "She's my sister," he said, but could not climb the ladder in his costume and began whimpering before Discord snapped his fingers again so that the pumpkin around him vanished.

Zephyr remained huddled on the stairs. “You go," he told Rainbow.

"I already am."

“Fluttershy might be up here," Applejack called from the top of the ladder. "Is this how you want her to see you?”

“She’s seen me this way a hundred times.”

“Oh, no, you don’t,” Rainbow said, leaning from the ladder and grabbing the collar of Zephyr’s jacket. “As much as it tortures me, we can’t lose you in here.”

With a high-pitched yelp, Zephyr clumsily shook his way up the ladder. By the time he was halfway to the top and actually looked up, he realized he had a wonderful view of Rainbow’s armored bottom and climbed the rest of the rungs with ease.

Discord evaporated the ladder once everyone was upstairs and then vanished himself, to reappear with them. He produced a lit candelabra to illuminate the room, but before they had a chance to get their bearings, the escalating sound of soft, fast footsteps took over the silence.

“It’s a g-ghost!” Applejack cried, grabbing Rainbow again. Rainbow’s face bore a story of emotions, starting with annoyance, then slight fear, followed by violence. She tried to stand straight, ready to pummel whatever ghoulish creature was heading their way, but, shackled by Applejack, was unable to move.

A small white object ran directly at Discord and leaped up, kicking him in the shin. Zephyr screamed before they realized it was only a bunny.

Angel stood on Discord’s shoe and slapped his ankle a few times, chittering angrily.

“W’ll, hey there, Angel,” Applejack said, her voice shaking.

“Angel, where’s Fluttershy? Have you seen her?” Rainbow said, crouching down.

Angel shook his head and stuck his tongue out at Discord, who merely looked down at him passively. Angel finally gave up his attack and pointed into the darkness.

Discord walked into the dark, letting Angel ride his shoe, and his candles illuminated the warped organ they had heard. Two small windows stood behind it, but did not offer anything but darkness and rain behind them.

A ball of red and pink bobbed near the keys, and in a flash, a terrible red-covered humanoid jumped up, arms outstretched, screaming, “Discord!”

Even Discord flinched before he saw what looked like Pinkie Pie in a red sock puppet costume and sombrero striking the organ keys.

“Pinkie?” Rainbow said, lowering her plastic viking sword.

“Yep! It’s me!” the sock puppet cried, playing a new song.

Applejack crossed the room to reach her. “Are you and Angel stuck in here alone?”

“And what happened to your costume?” Rainbow asked, joining them. “Weren’t you a jellyfish half an hour ago?”

“I couldn’t just bring one costume to Discord’s dimension, silly,” Pinkie laughed. “And, yeah; just me and Angel. Where’d everybody go?”

“Fluttershy’s missing,” Zephyr said, shooting a dirty look at Discord. “Someone’s magic messed up, and now everyone’s stuck in this maze.”

Discord narrowed his eyes. “My magic isn’t messed up-”

“No!” Rainbow jumped between them again, arms outstretched. “For the love of Equestria, can you two just focus on finding everyone else so we can go home? Duke it out later! This is not the place!”

“Isn’t it, though?” a new voice whispered around them. The air turned to ice and they could see their own breath as a ghost materialized before them.

Author's Note

Angry ghosts? Discord's magic? One or both?

We'll see more of Fluttershy's side of things in the next chapter. Also, a blast from Discord's past.

Chapter 3: Survival

Fluttershy kept running until she ran through an open doorway into a large library. Bookcases set into the walls reached at least twenty feet high. She forgot her fear momentarily as her eyes adjusted to the dark, but rather cozy room.

Twilight would love this. She made her way to the far wall so nothing could jump out from behind her, or so she hoped. She hesitated, then withdrew a book from a shelf and opened it, squinting at the text, but the language was one she did not recognize.

Half-melted candles in candelabras on either side of a narrow window were suddenly lit, allowing her to see the corners of the room. A strong gust of wind blew in from nowhere and rustled her hair. She crouched and covered her ears, eyes shut, waiting for the wind to stop. Not for the first time, she wondered how she always ended up in one of these predicaments. Discord seemed the only variable.

As she shook her head, she imagined Discord; tall and slender, with his wild brown hair juxtaposed by his white eyebrows and beard. At first he had terrified her, but as their friendship grew, she learned to appreciate even the little things about him; how he always put her first; the troubled storm in his red eyes when he felt guilty about something, and the sparks in them when he didn’t; his tiny fang that could not always be hidden by his lips.

No doubt he was having the time of his life right now, though she supposed he may be trying to help her despite it. Perhaps she could try harder to be more of a sport, but she was still scared of too many stupid little things.

A small book hit her arm and she was jolted from her daydream, and she said, without thinking, “Stop it. Leave me be.” Horror hit her as soon as she spoke and she sat on the floor holding her arms up to protect her face.

An ethereal wisp was floating several feet in front of her. She let out a weak scream and curled into a ball. "Please don't hurt me. Please don't, please don't."

The wisp sank to the floor and its white, smoke-like form turned slightly more blue. Fluttershy heard what she thought might be the sound of someone crying and was soon overcome.

“Oh," she said sadly. "Are you left all alone here, too?”

It let out a cracking sob, startling her, but the sound of crying tugged her heart. “It’s just an awful feeling, isn’t it? Feeling abandoned? Feeling…” she let out a tiny hiccup-sob and covered her eyes with her hands.

A cool touch on her arm made her skin undulate, but when she wiped her eyes and stared at the wisp, she relaxed. It composed itself and drifted to the wall on Fluttershy’s right.

“You want me to follow you?” She crept toward the wisp, which directed her to a narrow window and faded through it. She pressed the glass with her hands and the pane swung out. Rain from the blackness outside shot in and startled her.

The wisp reappeared and hovered just outside the window before floating downard. Fluttershy saw a precarious trellis below her from the window, covered in vines.

“Oh,” she said. “Um. Down there?”

The wisp circled just outside the window.

“I don’t know if I can do this. I’m not very strong.”

It pushed at her.

“And I really don’t like heights…”

The wisp pushed at her again and, quivering, she climbed over the spider web-covered sill and began her painstaking descent. enough for her to move quickly, but, inch by inch, minute by minute, she worked her way down the trellis. She had begun to relax slightly when she was halfway down, but then felt the wood under her weight break away and she fell with a whispering scream to the balcony below.

It took her several minutes to catch her breath again; she was disoriented and bruised and looked up at the broken trellis as if not quite realizing what had happened. She rolled over onto her hands and knees and saw a set of glass doors opening into another room. She peered inside before stepping in and found herself in a large bedroom, complete with a massive four-poster bed and draped in spiderwebs.

The wind rose again, almost violently this time, and the doors behind her crashed shut. She bolted for the nearest door she could find and ran head-first into a broom closet. It was mostly bare, but for a worn-out broom and several dirty rags. She gripped the broom in both hands and turned to face the room again, ready to defend herself if needed, but the wisp was gone and she was alone.

The only thing worse than trying to find her way out of this horrible maze was staying where she was, so she inched her way out of the closet and around the room to the door. She raised her broom as she flung the door open, but the hallway, too, was empty, at least initially. Movement from the far end of the hall caught her eye and she backed into the room again, running into an armoire. She was so terrified, not knowing what had touched her, that she ran out of the room and into the hallway before catching herself.

A darkness appeared further down, and with some astonishment she realized it was Princess Luna. "Oh," she called out, picking up her pace. "Princess! Princess Luna! It's me!"

As she drew nearer, it was apparent Luna did not, or could not, hear her. Before she reached her, Luna had drifted into another room, and the door had shut. Fluttershy tugged on the knob, but it was locked, then banged on the door as loudly as she dared, but Luna did not answer. "Oh, what is wrong? Princess! Princess, please let me in! It's me, Fluttershy!"

The air around her was growing cold again, and she fought against the panic rising in her. Oh, sweet Celestia! I’ve died! She leaned against the wall, staring at her battered hands as if expecting to find them invisible. I fell off that trellis and died! Tears welled in her eyes again; she didn't know what else to do. She didn't mean to always cry, but ended up doing it anyway.

A brick, flung through the air, hit her stomach and she doubled forward from pain. "All right," she whispered, "not dead." When a book hit her shoulder, she cowered behind the bed, whimpering, "Please stop hurting me."

The wisp had reappeared and let out a series of cacophonous sobs, followed by a long, heart-wrenching wail.

Fluttershy dried her own tears and reached for her broom. "I'll help you, but I have to get out of here. I know Discord will put things right. You don't have to worry."

***

Discord and the others were still, trying to understand what they were witnessing.

“You are, after all, stuck here," the ghost that had just materialized told them. "Maybe for a long time. Maybe forever.”

It flinched as a rock was thrown through it, compliments of Limestone, who had just walked through the open door of the room.

“Limestone!” Pinkie shrieked, hopping to her sister.

“Hey, Pinkie. The hell is going on?”

Twilight Sparkle, costume awry, staggered in behind her.

“Twilight!” Rainbow and Applejack cried.

“Don’t touch me,” she said, thoroughly finished with everything. “I ran through five ghosts and feel like I’ve waded through a pig trough.”

“Golly, I’m glad to see you,” said Applejack, giving Twilight a hug. “Things’ve been… weird.”

“I know.” Twilight groaned, inspecting the dangling bells half-ripped from her costume. “What is happening?”

Pinkie squeezed Twilight’s face in her hands. “Discord tried getting rid of the ghosts here so we’d be kinda scared but not that scared because Fluttershy can’t be scared, and the ghosts got mad and it’s all from an alternate reality so his magic is all wonky and the ghosts are taking control of it to harass us and keep us here forever!”

“Wow,” Twilight muttered, “way to impress a girl. Where is Fluttershy?”

“Missing,” Zephyr said. “Discord lost her.”

“She’s just misplaced,” Discord told them. “We’re almost all back together now. She can’t be far.”

The ghost, who had been impatiently waiting for them to stop talking, bellowed, “Stop! You’re here because you’re being punished! Only in the depths of Hell shall you pay-”

Discord snapped his fingers and the ghost vanished.

Rainbow pushed past Zephyr. “What’d you do that for? It could've helped us find Fluttershy! Or get us out of here!”

“Yeah, I thought you swore all the ghosts were gone,” said Applejack.

“They were. I think. Anyway, I think I'm getting the hang of it now." He snapped his fingers, his smile turning dark. “It seems like something is trying to use my power against me, so I just have to outsmart it."

"No kiddin'," said Applejack.

"We've got to get out of this music room," said Rainbow.

Twilight shook her head. "We heard the organ music; it led us here. Who was playing?"

"That was me," said Pinkie, hopping back to the organ. As she sat, she pressed a discordant chord on the keys and then began an eerie rendition of We're not Flawless.

"We should wait a little," Twilight said. "Who knows who else-"

A rock-like figure ran into the room so fast it skidded along the dusty floorboards and almost into the organ itself, and as the others stood back with bated breath, Pinkie grinned and said, "Hi, Marble."

Marble held onto the organ, head bowed, her head spinning. Her rock costume was smashed in on one side, but before she could take too much of their attention, a shadow eased into the room, belonging to Maud.

"Hi, Pinkie," she said without emotion. "Marble. Limestone. Everyone."

"See?" Twilight brightened. "Keep playing, Pinkie."

Big Mac was staring dejectedly at his feet, and Applejack patted his shoulder. Discord and Rainbow paced. Pinkie and her sisters were chatting over the sound of the organ music, and Zephyr was circling the group like a shark. He settled next to Twilight.

"So, you like books, right? I like books."

At first, Twilight did not understand who was speaking to her, and then she did not quite understand why. "Um. Hi, Zephyr. Yes. I... like books."

"What say you and me go to the library one day and see where the words take us?"

"Uh," Twilight said, her eyes darting around for an escape. "Are you hitting on me? Now?"

Zephyr batted his eyelids in answer.

"Zephyr, I am not going to go on a date with you." She turned her attention to the others and began counting them. "Who are we still missing? Still no Fluttershy. And no princesses or Rarity. No Starlight and no Sugar-"

"No," Applejack hissed, waving her arms and eyeing her brother. "Don't say her name!"

"Uh... okay. Um, and no Sunburst or Trixie. Where could they be? What rooms have we all been in?"

"Anywhere," sighed Rainbow. "All over. This is getting old. I just want to have some punch and scare some people and go to bed!"

"Maybe they're already together," said Applejack.

"I hope so."

Discord was still snapping his fingers with little success, for his expression grew darker with each snap. Only Pinkie and Limestone and Maud seemed unfazed, and Zephyr, at least, had his own drive to occupy his time.

“Hey there,” Zephyr said, sidling up to Maud.

“I have a boyfriend,” said Maud. “He’s not you.”

Zephyr's smile faltered. “We could change that.”

“You should talk to my sister.”

“Uh,” Zephyr nearly shuddered as he looked at Pinkie. “Sprinkle?”

“Marble.”

“The... no.”

“She’s really very sweet,” Maud said with deadpan sincerity. "Although I'm not sure I want her going out with you."

Zephyr glanced at Marble. “Uh, a little too close to home, know what I mean?”

“What about Limestone? She works the rock farm like nobody else.”

He was already smoothing back his hair and straightening his jacket and was ready with a grin by the time Limestone turned to face him.

“The hell are you looking at?” she rasped.

Zephyr felt a warmth in his heart and lowered his eyelids. “So,” he said, looking her up and down, “you like rocks? I like rocks.”

Even Limestone was unable to cope, and it was Pinkie who rescued her. “Let’s sing a song! 'Rock-a-bye-Rocky'? 'The Fields of Desperation'?"

"Don't wanna sing," Limestone said.

A flash of light forced everyone in the room to shield their eyes, and when it dissipated, a fully-formed ghost hovered in the middle of all of them. It was mostly human, but for its lack of legs and pincer-like hands. With one pincer, it sliced open a hole in the wall and a mist began forming around it.

“Look, Discord,” the entity said in a voice like ice. “Here’s what life would have been like if you’d never been born.”

“The hell?” Discord said, squinting at the portal.

“Don’t look!” Rainbow Dash screamed, the latter word stretched out for the entire length she was leaping through the air to stop him. She crashed into his side and they tumbled to the floor together.

Discord spat and brushed rainbow-colored strands of hair off of his face as he got back to his feet. “A simple ‘no’ would have sufficed.”

“They’re obviously using your chaos magic, or whatever, against you. Just ignore all these weirdos and find Fluttershy! Fluttershy, remember? Your favorite?”

He walked past her. "Then let me out of here. The rest of you can wait for anyone else who shows up."

"Uh, the ghost?" Rainbow grabbed his wrist to hold him back.

He rolled his eyes, but when he snapped his fingers again, the ghost remained and a door appeared directly in front of him. "How convenient."

The door made no sound as it opened, but Discord inhaled a long, high-pitched breath when he saw the figure on the other side. In front of silvery falling stars stood a woman with a long, thin tail with a puff of fur on the end. She was a little shorter than Discord with curling, dark hair, and two narrow pupils in each green eye.

“And there he is,” she sneered. “Lord of Chaos, was it?”

Discord tried to clear his horrified expression. “... Alice?”

She peered inside the door, taking in the music room.“Hiding out in this creepy old house? Is this where you ran off to?”

“Hiding… no. I don’t live here. How did you… what are you…”

“Hanging around all these young women? Should I be jealous?” Alice’s voice was both melodic and acidic. “What a slime.”

“I haven’t done anything!”

“You left me!”

“Of course I left you,” Discord said quickly. “I can’t be tied down."

Alice eyed the rest of the party and her eyes narrowed further. “You worm.”

Discord said even more quickly, “I’m not with them! I was hosting a party and we got lost in this stupid un-haunted haunted house.”

“You leech. So I’m supposed to believe you, am I? Never.”

The others had been watching the exchange with interest and disbelief, but at last Applejack said, “Hold up a minute, Discord. Who is this? An ex-girlfriend?”

“‘Girlfriend’ is a strong word,” Discord began, but Alice’s roar encompassed the room.

“I knew it! You, gutter trash, two-timing me!”

“Alice, Alice,” Discord tried to placate, “it’s been a thousand years. Can’t we let bygones be bygones?”

“Not after leaving me at the altar! Everyone was there, even little Rolond, my ex-boyfriend’s third wife’s baby. Remember?”

“Whoa,” Applejack said under her breath, her eyes on Discord.

“I wish I could say it’s lovely to see you again, Alice,” Discord said, with a disapproving glance at Applejack, “but I really am in the middle of a crisis.”

“So nothing’s changed,” Alice said. She took in the others, including Zephyr Breeze, and relaxed. “What’s with the harem?”

“Harem? No, no; they aren’t with me.”

“No? Not even one?”

“If only you had sent me a letter,” Discord lamented, “we could have forgone this awkward reunion.”

“I’ve been waiting for this door to open all night! Which one is it? The purple-haired baker? The pink-haired crier?”

“You’ve seen her?” Discord lost his animosity and almost grabbed her hands in hope.

“I knew it," she said, stepping back. "Cad."

"Where is she?"

"How would I know? I'm not in that house. I only saw a vision of you all when I was told to stand by this door."

“Er, Alis-Avaran of the Netherlight,” Discord told the others, clearing his throat. “Let’s just call her Alice. We, uh, went out for a while. It was a long time ago. I was a different man then.”

Alice snorted.

“Alice,” he pleaded, “heave a heart-”

“You deserve everything you get. You tormented those innocent ghosts out of their own home to pander to a little floozy. What is wrong with you?”

Discord stopped cold as he was turning to face Applejack. “‘Floozy’?”

Alice laughed. “What’s a creep like you want with a thing like that?”

“Am I to understand you just called my friend a- a doxy?”

Alice was surprised. “Well, what else is she hanging around you for?”

It was only Rainbow’s lightning reflexes that stopped Discord from attacking Alice; she held Discord back with all of her strength. “Don’t,” she cried. “We’re trying to find Fluttershy and the others and get out of this place, remember? She’s not worth it.”

“You called Fluttershy a hooker?” Discord bristled, ignoring Rainbow’s words.

“‘Hooker’ is a strong word,” Alice said. “I was thinking more ‘concubine’ or ‘mistress’. You do have your needs, Discord. Big brute that you are, it’s no wonder you’re still alone.”

Applejack slid her dinosaur hat from her head, wincing. “Yeah, I’ve heard about all I wanna hear.”

“Discord, can we please get out of this room?” Rainbow begged. “I can’t stay holed up in places; I get claustrophobic.”

Discord whipped his head around to implore her. “But she called Fluttershy a whore-”

“Yeah, well, you’re the one who keeps saying it. Can you two give your relationship problems a rest?”

Shaking his arm from Rainbow’s grasp, Discord all but glared at Alice. “Tell your little ghost friends to let us out of here. All of us.”

“They're not mine,” Alice said. “I was just finishing a kill when this door appeared. Get yourself out.” The door shut itself, leaving Discord gaping.

“Nice going,” Rainbow barbed. “Way to step up.”

“Oh, bother you,” Discord said, trying to ignore her so he could focus on finding Fluttershy. The musical angle seemed to no longer be working and he was growing impatient. Where was she? For the first time, he worried she might actually be hurt, or even trapped somewhere by accident or against her will. Perhaps he'd have to exorcise all the ghosts, after all.

He rubbed his forehead and eyed the ghost, who seemed busy chanting something, no doubt attempting to do something else with his magic. Furious, he grabbed the ghost's neck and, miraculously, made contact. The ghost kicked and clawed with its pincers at Discord's arm, but Discord did not feel it.

"Where is Fluttershy?" he said, and even Twilight inadvertently took a step back.

The ghost gurgled and kicked and clawed. Discord pushed him against a wall. "Where is she?"

"I dugn no," it gurgled, its face pressed to the wall. "Who's that?"

"Young woman? Rosy locks? Doe eyes? The most beautiful girl to walk the planet? Wouldn't hurt a fly?"

"Oh, her," the ghost said more clearly, as Discord had loosened his grip. "Carl was beating her up, but I-"

Discord's grip tightened again and ghost gasped, "Stop! You're hurting me! How are you hurting me?"

Alice's door still stood, and he dragged the ghost to it and, once opened, threw him into the falling stars and slammed the door closed.

Rainbow had little patience for him. “Not again. Don’t just snuff things you don't like! We were supposed to be having a party. Get out of this room and do something.”

“I can’t do anything! My magic-”

“So keep trying the doorway, or we'll find another. Fluttershy is probably all alone. She’s probably crying, just like Alice said. Don’t you care?”

He caught Zephyr's scowl and, head drooping, he tugged on the door again, flinching for the next cavalcade, but Starlight and Spike tumbled out of tiny closet, tangled in an old mop and two buckets. Spike's skeleton costume was intact, but Starlight's kite was completely broken.

“Oh, thank you,” Starlight said, helping Spike up. “I thought we’d be stuck in there forever. My legs are cramping. That closet is not big enough for two.”

"Spike," Twilight said, rushing to him and lifting him into her arms. She squeezed one arm around Starlight. "Are you two all right? Have you seen Fluttershy? Or Rarity? The princesses? Trixie or Sunburst? Sug... uh... anyone else?"

Starlight held on to Twilight to steady herself, but shook her head. "Just me and Spike. We were in that closet the whole time! It was locked or stuck or something, but we could hear you. Didn't you hear use calling out?"

"We didn't hear anything but Pinkie playing," Rainbow said.

"It just popped open," Spike said, trembling. "Maybe a ghost took pity on us?"

Twilight held him tightly. "I'm just glad you're all right. I'm glad all of you are all right. But we have to keep on our toes. I think some of us should stay here and wait; Pinkie, you keep playing the organ, as loudly as you can. The rest of us should look for the others in case someone needs help."

Discord looked at the ceiling, not particularly enjoying Twilight's seizure of the situation, but at least now he'd be able to focus on finding his beloved Fluttershy and no one else. "I'll look for Fluttershy," he told them. "The rest of you split up and stay here or look for the rest."

As he tried to step out of the room, an invisible force stopped him, then repelled him back. He tried three more times, with the same result, and sighed.

“What the hay is goin’ on now?” Applejack murmured to Rarity and Twilight, her teeth clenched.

Discord tried to hide his frustration and leaned against the wall. He could clearly see Fluttershy in his mind; pink hair so long it reached past her knees; gentle, blue-green eyes framed by long lashes; her reticent smile and voice. He sighed, a dreamier sigh than the one before, and did not notice at first when Pinkie tried getting his attention.

“Discord!" she screamed. "Stop daydreaming about Fluttershy; we’re in dire straits!”

He looked around just in time to see the floor beneath them turn into a swirling vortex of black and green clouds before they fell through it, their screams drowned out by cracks of purple lightning.

Author's Note

Sorry this chapter came out so slowly. I had it in bits and pieces, but putting it together just took me forever. Should be just one more!

Chapter 4: The Nightmare Ends

It took several minutes for Discord's eyes to adjust after the blinding light. He and the others found themselves in a small, musty room with a high ceiling. They had ended up in a heap on top of another heap of people. As they untangled themselves, they found Marble, Sugar Belle, Rarity, and Sunburst beneath them, struggling to breathe.

"There you all are," gasped Rarity, dragging herself from under Marble. Her costume was decidedly ruined and her hair stuck out every which-way. "Um... where are we?"

"Guess we're in the attic now," Starlight said, dusting herself off.

"We were all just in the root cellar," Rarity said coughing. "Horrible, damp place."

"Sugar Belle!" Big Mac almost sobbed, pushing Zephyr, Starlight, and Maud out of his way. Sugar Belle was huddled on the floor, wide-eyed, and only seemed to register her surroundings when Big Mac kneeled beside her.

"Big Mac?" she asked, then buried her face in his shoulder. Big Mac held her tightly and Applejack heaved a sigh of relief as she leaned against a wall.

Discord's giant smile turned sad when he felt a pang of jealousy, and he scanned everyone in the room to make sure Fluttershy was not there. How typical, that the one he wanted most was the one not safely with him. What had he been doing wrong to deserve this? What had Fluttershy done?

"Don't get all mopey now," Applejack said to him quietly. "We gotta get out of here."

The room was almost empty, save an old, wooden, child's wheelchair, a broken oil lamp, and tattered curtains covering the two small windows on each end.

"This place gives me the creeps," said Spike.

"And the rest of the house doesn't?" asked Rarity, and Spike blushed and stammered so he could agree with her.

Angel seemed the most dazed of all of them, turning in circles and looking helplessly at everyone. Zephyr crouched down and held his hand out for him and he grudgingly hopped over.

"Everyone's here," said Twilight. "Except for Fluttershy. And the princesses."

"Y'all see Fluttershy?" Applejack asked Sunburst.

He shook his head as Marble joined her sisters, who hugged her and then each other.

"I'm getting worried about her," said Twilight, biting her nail. "I mean, I was before, but... where is she?"

"I wish I knew," murmured Discord, sinking half his body through a wall.

"Stop that," said Rainbow.

"I'll tell you," a guttural voice said from the far end of the attic.

***

The wisp was trying to tug Fluttershy through the narrow bedroom window, though she had fought against leaping out another one. At least there was a part of the roof several feet below her. She pushed and pushed her lower body through the rectangle until she was out of breath and the wisp tugged on her arms to get her through.

She crawled onto the curved roof, about to sigh with relief, when she felt herself slipping and silently tumbled off. Instead of hitting concrete below, she landed in the kitchen pantry. Her breath left her once again, and it was several minutes before she could think. When she got to her feet, she kicked at the door until it opened, grabbed her broom, and crept into the kitchen.

"Where's the Beast?" an icy voice whispered, and she jumped.

"Beast?" Fluttershy squeaked.

Five ghastly spectres hovered just behind her. "Discord," they said in unison.

Her throat constricted, but she managed to squeak again even higher-pitched than before, “Please don’t hurt him.”

“What?” a ghost asked, floating close to her.

When she squeaked for a third time, a squeak was all it was.

“You know him?” it asked.

“Doesn’t matter,” Carl shrieked. “He’s toast!”

The ghosts flew past her; she was hunched over now, nearly on her knees, with only her broom to support her. When it had been quiet for several seconds, she peeled one eyelid open and found Carl right in front of her.

“What are you gonna do with that broom?” he asked, grinning.

Without thought, Fluttershy stood and brought the broom down through the ghost’s head with a scream. It must not have expected retaliation, for it looked around itself, startled.

“What the…” It backed away before lifting a broken crate from the pantry and hurling it at her.

Fluttershy barely deflected the worst of it with her broom.

What followed was a parade of abandoned and broken kitchenware being hurled through the air toward Fluttershy, who did her best to protect herself. She did rather well for someone so weak and helpless, but a broken jar cut across her left eyebrow.

She stumbled back and sat on the floor. Her right eye opened just in time to see Carl swoop down on her, but the formless entity had helped her through the window grabbed Carl in a headlock and their own brawl began.

Fluttershy used the distraction to scoot backward along the floor with the broom until out of harm’s way, then bolted from the room.

Blood spilled from her face and she covered her hand with her sweater sleeve before pressing it to her eyes. She lurched around the dining room furniture and skidded into the foyer of the house.

She tried the front door, but it was locked or blocked and would not budge. Further in was a large, ornate stairwell, but the second floor was only darkness. Carl and the other ghosts floated into the foyer and she squeezed her eyes shut, pressing herself against a wall.

“Come out, come out.”

Oh, what can hurt a ghost? Besides Discord… maybe? She sighed. If he could get rid of ghosts, he certainly would have done it by now. Unless he was getting a big kick out of everything.

“Payback.”

Her eyes flew open and she saw Carl, inches from her face. She let out a blood-curdling shriek and brought up her broom to defend her from anything, but Carl was dragged away from her.

“What the hell, man?” another ghost asked, exasperated. “Stop picking on her. We want the Beast!”

“She hit me with a broom!”

“It can’t hurt you, dumbass.” They looked at Fluttershy, cowering on the floor. “Does that look like a fighter?”

“...”

“ Let’s go. Winston and his cronies pulled the others into the attic. It’s time.”

“Wait,” Fluttershy called out quietly. “Please don’t hurt my friends. Discord tried to send you on vacation. He didn’t try to exorcise you.”

“‘Discord’, is it?” Carl grinned.

“Please don’t hurt him. He doesn’t want to upset you.”

“What a freak of nature. What is he?”

Fluttershy opened her mouth to protest, but could not exactly argue Discord was not a freak of nature; his very existence relied on it. “He’s really very gentle," she finally said. "I’m sure it’s all a misunderstanding.”

“Gentle? He’ll get what’s coming to him.” Carl darted away, joining his ghostly comrades.

Fluttershy picked herself off the floor and, using her broom as a crutch, hobbled after the ghosts. I’ve got to try and stop them, whatever they’re doing. As she crept her way in the ghosts' wake, she considered Discord's honesty again, and believed he must be very truthful indeed, for not only would he never hurt her, he wouldn't torment someone else; he knew she would never approve.

Although she mostly wanted her legs to stop moving, she ran after them and caught up with them halfway up the main stairwell.

"A-all right... ghosts! Stand back. Discord's my best friend, and nobody attacks him. Nobody!"

As soon as she said the words, she regretted them; Carl dragged her by her hair up the rest of the stairs and into a cleaning closet. She stumbled and tripped over her broom, landing on her face on the floor. She heard the closet door slam shut behind her and in her panic whispered, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!"

After several minutes of quiet outside, she stopped quivering and rubbed her head; being dragged by the hair was excruciating. She sat up, wiping her eyes, and set her shoulders. She had to help her friends.

Trying the door, it was unsurprisingly locked, and in her frustration she began kicking it with all her might, which was hardly any. She used the broom handle to aid her and vowed she would not stop until she broke free. Even if all her friends were nothing more than ghosts themselves now, she would not fail them.

***

Loud bangs sounded from within the far attic wall. They grew louder and louder until one terrible crash left the boards splitting apart. Rainbow Dash and Applejack clung to each other while Big Mac stepped in front of Sugar Belle, and Zephyr fainted.

When the boards fell away and the dust cleared, Fluttershy stood in the wall, almost hyperventilating. She was holding her broken broom out in front of her as splinters and broken spider webs fell on and around her. Her manic eyes were wide and bloodshot and her entire body was shaking.

"Fluttershy," said Twilight and Rarity.

“Calm down, sugarcube,” Applejack said, laying her hand on Fluttershy’s shoulder, but the touch made her jump.

Fluttershy hugged herself, trying to stop shaking, and Discord enveloped her in his arms.

“I’m so sorry,” he told her.

“F-f-fu-”

“Uh,” said Applejack quickly, “anyway. All’s well that ends well, right?”

“We knew you’d make it out okay,” said Pinkie.

Discord let her go so she could gather herself just as Angel hopped to her and jumped onto her shoulder. His warm little body took her out of her stupor and she cuddled him. “W-what an awful place,” she told him, scratching him behind the ears. “Was it bad for you, too?”

Discord cleared his throat. “I really thought all the ghosts were gone. I didn’t think any could stay behind. This house is from a strange place... I’m sorry.”

Fluttershy attempted to look up at him and find comfort from his eyes, but Rarity rushed between them, crying, “Oh, darling. What did those ghouls do to you?”

“Um… actually, most of it was my fault.” She touched the cut over her eye. “Except this. And some of the bruises.”

“What happened?”

“Some terrible ghost kept after me. The others called him Carl.”

“Carl?” Discord said, his eyes narrowed.

“What a strange name,” Starlight said. “Where did this house come from?”

She and the others looked expectantly at Discord, save Fluttershy, who was quivering too much to focus on anything besides Angel.

“Uh, ‘Earth’,” said Discord. “Very far away. Time-space, you know."

“Oh, Zephyr,” Fluttershy gasped, crawling to his still form. She patted his cheek. “Wake up. It’s only me.”

“He went down right before you broke through the door,” Rainbow said.

“He’s not hurt, is he?”

Rainbow touched Zephyr’s arm with her boot. “Too scared of loud noises, I guess.”

Zephyr’s eyes moved beneath their lids and he stirred. Peeling back one eyelid, he croaked, “Sis?”

“It’s me,” she told him. “I’m all right. We’re all fine. Can you sit up?”

She helped him upright, where he leaned, limp-limbed, against her. “I feel weak.”

“You fainted.”

“Am I alive or am I dead?”

“Alive,” Rainbow said with a slight edge of disappointment.

Fluttershy helped him to his knees. "Feel better?"

Zephyr could not answer, and she and Rainbow had to help him back to his feet, where he attempted to recover his cool façade.

A violent wind shot in from the hallway and into the room; even Pinkie’s curls, sticking out from under her costume, were fluffed, becoming even more precarious. Five ghosts materialized on the wind. They looked human despite their near-transparent, wispy forms, and none looked pleased.

“Your magic has threatened us,” a tall, gangly ghost with a long mustache said. “Your attempts to dispel the last of us from our home have backfired. We will fight.”

“Whoa, whoa,” said Discord, holding up his hands. “I sent you on-”

“Enough!” a raspy-voiced ghost wailed. “We have taken control of your corrosive, dark magic. You wanted in so badly, so here you will stay. Vengeance is ours.”

“We just wanted to walk around a haunted house,” Big Mac said. “We haven’t hurt anyone. Let us out of here so we can leave you alone like you want. This is ridiculous. Why, never in my life have I met such a cruel bunch of whiners. And what do you mean by beating on our friend? She never did anything to you. Why ya'll into vengeance this and vengeance that? You're dead!"

Even Discord was momentarily distracted by Big Mac’s diatribe, but was forced to return his attention to the ghosts when they circled him.

"Fellas," Discord began, holding up his hands. "This is all a misunderstanding. If you let me and my friends out of here, I can fix everything."

"Silence," the raspy-voiced one cried. "I am Winston. I am the leader of this house. Any last words, Discord?"

Discord was torn between anger and annoyance; he'd snapped plenty of ghosts away before, and was confident he could do it now, but he wasn't sure he could get everyone out safely; himself and Fluttershy, sure, but not the others. "Yes," he said, dejected. "I have last words. Do whatever you want to me, but let the others go."

"Never."

"No one here has hurt you. You're attacking everyone for no reason."

"You disturbed our home. Our place of peace and rest-"

"Peace?" Twilight said. "You call this peace?" She surveyed her frightened friends and the dark, cramped attic.

A glowing, translucent wisp materialized, floating several feet off the floor in front of Discord, who raised his hand to strike.

“No, no,” Fluttershy said, wobbling to him. “This one is nice. It helped me. Except when it threw a brick at me, but-”

“Brick?” Discord’s eyebrows shot up.

“I’m fine,” she told him, more confidently than before, and their eyes met and lingered until Winston spoke again.

"That’s Stillwell. Not quite right while living, either.” He cleared his throat. "Don't try and fight us again, Stillwell. What do you want? Do you want to lie down? Is it time for your nap?"

Tendrils curled down from the wisp and ripped one of the wheels off the wheelchair before hurling at Winston and the other ghosts.

WInston sighed. "As you can see, he's not all together up here." He tried to tap his finger against his head, but it went straight through.

“I do see," said Discord. "So which one of you is Carl?” To anyone but Fluttershy listening, he sounded amiable.

“He’s me," Carl said, emerging from the group. "And you’re this… Discord? Been looking for you this entire hour. You’re-”

“For hurting my girlfriend,” Discord snarled, snapping his fingers.

Carl let out an anguished cry and slowly faded away into smoke. The other ghosts looked about themselves nervously.

“Girlfriend?” Applejack said, glancing at her friends. “I miss somethin’?”

“A lot of things,” said Pinkie, jumping up.

It remained a mystery whether Fluttershy had heard him or not, but she collapsed against Twilight and Rarity and they helped her sit down, but Zephyr had heard and scowled at him. For Fluttershy's sake, and hers only, did he ignore Zephyr completely.

"Sorry," she said weakly. "I can't quite stop shaking.”

Discord tried to join her, but the ghosts blocked her from him.

“This attic is locked by magic,” a portly ghost told them. “If you escape through a wall or door or window, you’ll step right back into this room. You’ll starve here and die of despair.”

“We’ve been studying this strange power,” said Winston. “I know you did not predict that as ghosts we are able to use it for our own gain.”

“You tried to exorcise us,” another said. “You, not even of our world.”

“I didn’t exorcise you,” Discord laughed. “I tried to send you on vacation. If you hadn’t fought it, you’d be sipping cocktails with your buddies right now.”

“We’ve heard every trick in the book, old man!” Carl spat.

“But I mean it. Stars everywhere. Three moons! Sunsets to die for.”

Beside him, Applejack covered her face with her hand.

“Anyway,” Twilight said, “he’s going to put it right. Aren’t you, Discord.”

Discord looked at the ceiling. “It already is. Mostly."

“Then let’s get outta this house,” said Applejack, her hand on the knob of the attic door.

Discord grabbed her arm, pulling her back. “Not that way. Let me do it.”

"You can't leave," Winston screeched. "We've taken over your magic-"

"Not all of it. I was really just trying to find Fluttershy. I wasn't going to abandon her here with you monstrosities."

"Wait," said Twilight. "What about Celestia and Luna? We can't leave them here, either."

Discord rolled his eyes. "They're trapped in a mirror on the first floor."

"You knew where they were all along?" said Rainbow.

Limestone doubled over laughing, while Rarity, Rainbow, and Twilight stood horrified.

Discord did not have a chance to reply, for the wall of ghosts produced a variety of weapons, ranging from an awl to a fountain pen. "It's time to meet your maker," Winston said.

"Just let me outside and I'll bring back all your friends, honest!" Discord backed away, pushing Fluttershy behind him. "I'm not terrible anymore! I'm trying to help!"

Two nameless ghosts slashed their weapons at him, which he did his best to dodge while protecting Fluttershy. A new purple vortex appeared in the middle of the room, growing larger and more terrifying with cracks of red lightning.

"Go ahead and go in," Winston said. "If you dare. You might end up in the basement this time."

"Stop this nonsense," Discord said. "This is getting out of hand."

"Getting?" Rarity mumbled, stepping backward.

The ghosts attacked again, and Discord blocked their blows with his arms. Unlike their ethereal selves, the objects they held were very real, and twos lived from the awl split his left forearm. Fluttershy, in fear of being pressed against the wall behind him, slipped to the side.

Sunburst looked from her, to the others, to Discord. "This isn't good. Stuck here? Being stabbed? Jumping through house portals forever?"

"I have to get them out of here," he whispered through gritted teeth. "If I can get them all outside, well be out of the house's dimensional... whatever. I might be able to get more control."

"How? We can't even get out of this room," Sunburst whispered back.

"We'll have to trick them. Just follow me and the others will, too. I'll grab Fluttershy."

Before Sunburst could blink, Discord scooped Fluttershy, who had just sat next to Pinkie and Rarity, into his arms and flung her over one shoulder. With two snaps of his fingers, he broke through a wall and jumped through it. He had no idea where he would end up, but his magic at least could do that.

"I promise I'll make it up to you!" he yelled at the ghosts, desperate and shrill. "Come and get me, all of you!"

He heard others follow him, and the ghosts did, as well. They were an exodus of flailing limbs and thundering feet as they appeared in a bathroom and then ran down the hall to the stairwell. Discord was too stressed to give Fluttershy any words of comfort, and colorful bursts of lightning followed them in long strands as he dragged the magic from the portal with him.

She felt for him, but there was little she could do hanging across his shoulder. Behind them she saw the pale forms gaining on them, but she was not as terrified as she had been earlier. Now she was with her friends, and with Discord. As long as he did not let her go, she knew she would be safe.

Discord ran at breakneck speed, his long legs giving him advantage. He snapped his fingers as he ran by a cracked, dust-covered mirror just before reaching the foyer, and Celestia and Luna tumbled from it.

"Go," Rainbow screamed as she jumped over the princesses, and they followed suit.

"Out the door, out the door, out the door," Discord cried, shattering the door with his magic and leaping down the front steps. Once the ghost flew out of the house, a portal appeared in front of them and he threw Fluttershy into the air and into the swirling vortex.

Fluttershy felt herself falling, then floating, and felt a sensation of waking up. The light in the room where she was was too bright, and she shielded her eyes as she heard loud cracks and pops all around her. Her friends appeared, one right after the other, and skidded or fell on the floor.

"I never want to do that again," Rainbow said, panting. "What the hell?"

Discord was the last to appear from the ether, and immediately looked for Fluttershy to ensure she had made it safely. His house was bright and cheery, and the rest of them sadly picked apart the remnants of their costumes. Only Spike's costume remained unscathed.

Celestia and Luna sat next to each other on the sofa, their eyes darting around the room every now and then as Twilight and Starlight filled them in.

Discord was running around the living room, snapping his fingers and turning things upside-down or different colors. “Hah! Hah! Hah!” With each exclamation, a cascade of pink and white flowers, each bigger than the last, dropped around Fluttershy; she was nearly covered to her eyes when he finished.

She pulled her arm from the stems and petals and brushed the flowers out of her face. A small blue spider crawled onto her hand and she smiled at it. “I’m happy for you, Discord.”

He grabbed her from the flower pile, squeezing her against him. “And I’m happy for me, too.”

"Hey, sis," said Zephyr, "I'm glad you're okay."

She pulled away from Discord and hugged her brother. "You had me worried when I saw you on the floor."

Discord's jealousy reared up again, but only for moment. Despite his personal opinion of Zephyr Breeze, he was Fluttershy's brother, and she loved him. Discord supposed he had to at least accept him, too.

"All's well that ends well, isn't that what you say?" Discord said, massaging her scalp with his fingers. She smiled up at him and held his hand over her shoulder.

"I was just tired," Zephyr said, smoothing his ragged hair back.

"Very," Discord said, grinning at him.

Zephyr smiled back, strained.

“Oh, I’m so glad you two got along. I was worried you might not,” she said to them, not noticing their shared grimaces.

Discord held his hand out for Zephyr, who looked repulsed, but a glance at his sister made him sigh. He took Discord’s hand and shook it once, crisply, before both turned away.

"But you still look pale," Fluttershy told Zephyr.

“Lost your girls, have you?” Discord said wickedly.

“You know?” Zephyr said, clearing his throat. “I’m thinking I’ll take a little ‘me’ time and just… adore myself for a while.”

“What a great idea,” Fluttershy said, smiling warmly. Zephyr pulled her aside.

“You sure about this guy, Flutter Butter? He’s creepy. He even exorcised that mean ghost after he said he wouldn't."

"He hurt me. Anyway, Discord won't leave him exorcised forever."

"How would you know?"

She was watching Discord, smiling. “Because I know."

"He's a train wreck. He's a natural disaster."

"And he's mine."

Zephyr was stricken, but said no more.

Discord refreshed the tables of food and candy, adding loaves of pumpkin bread and mugs of cider to the spread. "We didn't lose much time," he told them. "Relax and enjoy yourselves."

"No more haunted houses?" Starlight asked, her face stern. Every other face around him was just as stern, save Fluttershy's.

He glanced at the ceiling. "Um, of course. No more haunted houses. Cross my heart and hope to die, stick a cupcake in my eye."

Starlight, mollified, reached for a slice of pumpkin bread.

"Well... that was interesting," Discord said as he rejoined Fluttershy.

She had an iron grip on his black sleeve, but let out a trembling laugh. "Yes, it was."

He smiled down at her and she returned the expression; his smile got bigger. He had half a mind to snap everyone else in his house back to Equestria and keep her for himself, but he thought she might not appreciate it.

“Hey, what’s this prize you had for Fluttershy?” Rainbow asked, gulping cider. The others looked at Fluttershy, who felt her cheeks warm.

“Oh, I don’t need a prize,” she said shyly. “Besides, being with all of you is all the prize I need.”

Fluttershy’s sincerity made Discord’s heart melt; he could never, ever be as good as she was, but he was determined to try.

“Why don’t I make us all some tea before you head back?” he asked everyone. “Something to take the edge off.”

The party murmured in agreement, and Discord took Fluttershy’s hand and entered the kitchen. Fluttershy’s closest friends followed to help.

“The prize? Why, it’s me,” Discord said, almost horrified she had not realized the obvious. But even to his surprise, Fluttershy laughed out loud and jumped into his arms, pressing her lips to his.

She closed her eyes and relaxed completely in his arms as she heard Rainbow Dash choke on her candy apple, followed by the pounding thumps from Twilight and Applejack as they hit her back to dislodge it. Applejack then took her dinosaur hat off in a sign of respect, and Rarity quietly left the room, beckoning the others to follow.

“Woooow!” Pinkie said as she stepped from the room. “She kissed him. She kissed him!”

“Of course she kissed him,” said Rarity. “She’s in love with him.”

“What?” The unison shriek of Rainbow and Celestia could be heard even by Discord and Fluttershy, and they untangled themselves from each other to look through the doorway.

“Maybe not in love, but they like each other,” Pinkie screamed, almost crying from emotion. “Isn’t that enough?”

Rarity blocked Pinkie from bouncing back into the room and leaned her head in. “We’re so sorry. Please excuse us.” She shut the doors to give them privacy and Fluttershy shook her head at Discord, trying not to laugh.

Discord held her at arm’s length. “What? Is that true?”

“I don’t know,” she said, feeling shy again. “Maybe I do. I’ve never been in love before. How do I know?”

“Do you feel sick to your stomach every time you look at me?” he asked, breathless with hope.

“No,” she laughed.

Discord made a face. “Then perhaps not. Well. Ahem. That’s okay. We’re still best friends.”

“We’re more than best friends.” She hugged him around his waist, leaning her cheek into his chest. He ruffled her hair and tried to walk, but she dragged on him like an octopus and he stumbled around the kitchen.

***

Two days later, when Discord paid a visit to Fluttershy, the air was colder and rain threatened them, but she lit a fire in the fireplace and they curled up next to each other on the loveseat while Angel, passed out asleep from too much candy, lay on his back before the fire.

Discord held out a crumpled paper. "A letter from our spectral friends."

"The ghosts? Are they angry?"

"Au contraire. They thank me for my hospitality, and even the mean ones who stayed behind have forgiven me.” He leaned close. “It was the rum chocolates I sent, I’m sure.”

She hugged him. “I'm sure."

"And, look. Photos." He handed her a faded picture of fifteen ghosts of varying transparency and size, with tropical flowers around their necks, sun hats, and colorful cocktails with tiny umbrellas. Even Stillwell, what was left of him, floated in the background holding a sign that said Fluttershy, with a heart underneath. "I promised you I promised them."

"I know." She settled her chin on his arm and smiled. "Discord?"

"Yes?"

"I actually kind of had fun. In the haunted house, I mean. Once I knew I was safe and thought about it."

"You liked it?" He sank further into the loveseat and tucked her next to him. "Weren't you terrified?"

"Of course I was terrified. But once I realized you really tried to help them... and that they couldn't really hurt you... it was sort of exciting. Sometimes. Well..."

Discord laughed. "I'm glad. That's all I wanted for you."

She closed her eyes, relaxing against his warm, comforting body. "Discord?"

"Hm?"

"Zephyr really fainted when I was trying to break through the wall?"

"He did."

She grinned. "I tried not to laugh. Once I knew he wasn't hurt, of course. Please don't tell anyone."

He wrapped his arm around her. "My lips are sealed."

She traced his chest with her fingers. "Discord?"

"Hm?"

"I am in love with you."

Author's Note

Happy Nightmare Night!