I Dreamt I was a Monster

Chapters

Chapter 1: Shattered
Chapter 2: The Price
Chapter 3: Blood

Chapter 1: Shattered

The classroom was as silent as a tomb besides the occasional scratch of a pencil. It did nothing to defeat the silence deafening Silver Streak. His heart raced as he held his head in his hooves. No matter how hard he stared at the test, he couldn’t summon the answers from nothingness.

Silver had been so sure his plan was flawless. The last few tests were easy. He had even answered a few questions wrong. But this wasn’t the right test. Did Starswirl know?

Silver gazed over his hunched classmates towards the front of the room. There behind an oak desk as ancient as the teacher sitting behind it was Starswirl. The bearded grey stallion’s eyes burned like azure fire. They bore deep into him, sending Silver’s heart thundering like a drumroll in his ears.

It was too much. It was as if Starswirl read him like an open book. Silver knew he had to look somewhere else or he would blurt his crimes just to get the teacher to stop staring. Silver could feel himself melting under that gaze.

Silver wiped sweat from his brow as he broke from the impromptu staring contest.

“Meet-” Starswirl mouthed, catching Silver’s attention before he could gaze back to his paper.

“-me-” Starswirl continued. Silver knew the next words before his lips formed the dreaded words. “-after class.”

Minutes… hours… days later - or at least what it felt like - Silver turned in the test. With a cautious look behind him, he realized he was the last in line, and the only one still in class. Sheepishly, he faced the old unicorn teacher.

Silver’s stomach was wound tight enough to be used as a bowling ball. It certainly felt like he had swallowed one.

Starswirl took one glance at the blank test and gave a tired, sad chuckle. “So all it took was one pop quiz?”

“Pop quiz!?” Silver blurted. “But you sai-”

“I said a big test could be today. But that was before I noticed a pattern,” Starswirl said with a curt snort. He rose from his seat to loom over Silver. “Young stallion, how did one of my C- and D-grade students ace the last three tests?”

Silver took a step back. His tongue fumbled in his mouth to let noise, any noise, escape. Silver’s efforts were coming undone. They were already undone. There was no chance of lying his way out. Silver hadn’t even considered the possibility of getting caught. With no good excuses prepared all that was left was, “I cheated.”

Starswirl inhaled and sucked the air from the room. Silver closed his eyes and waited for the yelling.

Silver shifted from hoof to hoof as his heart raced and shoulder’s ached. A scoldinging rebuke or the orders to just leave and never come back wouldn’t compare to just waiting. When the tirade never arrived, Silver peeked his eyes open to a neutral Starswirl.

“And how?” Starswirl asked after a moment, calm and collected. Silver hadn’t expected that question. “An answer key is impossible, I don’t reuse tests. Your pop-quizzes and in-class work are still C grade at best. But your homework and scheduled tests are past even my best students.”

“Past… your best?” Silver asked, struggling to catch his breath. He had to play this safe. Just one signature from Starswirl, and he would be expelled.

“This is Advanced Magics and Arcane Theory, not magic kindergarten. Of course no one is making above an A-minus. Even with your grades, I still think you’re a good student. Why cheat? And you still haven’t answered how.”

Silver grit his teeth. “Magic is impossible to learn from dusty, boring old books. I can follow along just fine with the practical and hooves-on stuff… but give me a book and I freeze.”

Silver’s horn flared as he pulled an orb from his saddlebag. It was about the size of a large orange. It was perfectly smooth and made of stone that was milk white. It shone with pearlescence under the light. “So… I made this.”

Starswirl reached out with his magic to examine the orb. As soon as he made the connection, his eyes shot wide open. “We’re going straight to the Princess. This is incredible.”

Princess Twilight’s massive throne room echoed with the sound of laughter. The spread of food on the checkered cloth in the middle of the room was as wide and varied as the friends joining her. There were cakes and sweet treats courtesy of Pinkie Pie. Rarity had provided a marvelous array of dainty desserts. Fluttershy and Applejack had worked together to fill an entire basket with apples and cucumber sandwiches. Then there was Rainbow Dash’s contribution.

Twilight hadn’t expected the alcohol. Twilight wasn’t a fan of it, but had grown a taste for the wine other nobles insisted on bringing to events. And as far as Twilight knew, none of the girls were heavy drinkers outside of holidays. But not today. Everypony had a drink with the exception of Pinkie Pie. The pink mare with a frizzy darker pink mane was content with a large wine glass full of cream soda and a curly straw.

Much like a holiday, though, it was an exceptional day. Ever since ascending to the throne as Princess of all Equestria nearly three years ago, Twilight found herself living for the exceptions. With the monotony that came with keeping a kingdom running, there was little free time to spend with her friends. And what time she did spend with them became shorter and shorter and far too infrequent for her liking.

“So, there I was,” Rainbow Dash said as she stood up among the sitting girls, tipping into Fluttershy who propped her up with a wing. Rainbow gave a nod of thanks and flicked an errant string of rainbow mane out of her face with a hoof. “Just me and AJ-”

“AJ and I,” Twilight corrected with a polite smile, sipping the last drops of wine from her glass.

“Right, yeah, but still... Just AJ and I, in the middle of the west field in the dead of night.” Rainbow Dash looked to Applejack who was wiping fritter crumbs off her muzzle. “Was this before or after the part where you broke your leg… no, wait, my version is better. Anyways, Applejack’s leg is super busted. Then we hear it… pause for dramatic effect.”

“H-heard what?” Fluttershy asked, letting her wing drop from Rainbow’s side so she could cower behind Rarity.

“AWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!” Applejack howled as she leapt to her hooves. The other girls leapt with her.

Rainbow Dash took to the air and shouted over the howling, “The BIGGEST timberwolf ever! It was THIS huge!”

Twilight was utterly entranced by this version of the story. It had certainly grown in scale from the last retelling. It went from wagon to almost barn sized from how high Rainbow Dash flew.

Twilight figured a few more retellings would warrant installing a skylight. Though, she wished she could have seen it herself.

But while she was running the royal court, her friends were having adventures like old times.

“What I wouldn’t give for just one more,” Twilight muttered under her breath, looking into her empty glass.

“What was that?” Rarity asked. Her gaze swayed just as much as her hips. She was levitating an open and nearly empty bottle of bourbon. She eyed Twilight’s empty glass and tittered. “Darling, it’s simply a faux pas to drink your home liquor when someone else brought such a wonderful brand. Here.”

Before Twilight could object, Rarity nearly filled the wine glass to the brim with bourbon.

“Thanks?” Twilight said in a tone that was more of a question. “How much have you had to drink?”

Rarity chuckled, hugging Twilight with one foreleg and drinking straight from the still open bottle. “Oh, just somewhere between a little and a lot. It is a party after all. And it’s dedicated all to you. Now, let’s hear the ending, that’s the best part.”

Rarity broke from the hug as Rainbow Dash landed on the floor. Rainbow did her best expression of a timberwolf yelping and cowering like a puppy before boldly claiming, “And the moral of the story is don’t mess with the Dash.”

Twilight rolled her eyes. Dash was still Dash, no matter how infrequently Twilight saw her. “I guess some things never change.”

Twilight sipped the liquor, frowned, and decided it wasn’t for her. Squinting her eyes, Twilight focused on a spell she had learned recently. When she opened them, both the glass and the liquor it held were gone.

“Not to your liking?” Rarity asked.

Twilight shook her head and looked to the rest of her friends. She spotted Applejack and Dash side by side. Applejack turned her head towards Dash and kissed her cheek.

That was certainly new.

“Dash?” Twilight asked, catching her attention. “Did AJ just kiss you?”

Rainbow Dash swiftly flew over to land near Twilight, and Applejack joined them. “Yep, me n’ AJ aren't exactly keeping it a secret. But we aren’t announcing it everywhere we go.”

Rainbow Dash shrugged and threw a foreleg over Applejack, pulling the orange mare close. “We’ve been talking about moving in together so I can help on the farm.”

“Didn’t anypony tell you?” Rarity asked. Twilight responded no.

“Oooh, oooh! Should I throw a ‘Welcome to the farm!’ party?” Pinkie Pie quickly asked, popping between Applejack and Rainbow to force a group hug.

Rainbow Dash snorted and pulled away from the unexpected appearance of Pinkie. “Heck yeah. And there’ll be cider for sure.”

Pinkie Pie rubbed her chin. “Alcoholic or regular?”

“Alcoholic,” Rainbow said. “AJ and I even brought a whole mini-keg for you, but you haven’t touched it all day. Something wrong?”

Pinkie Pie’s ears folded back as she looked away, rubbing a foreleg. The other girls in the room had walked over to join the conversation. “Well, you see… oh, good, everypony’s listening. I’ve been keeping a secret from you girls for a while now. I was waiting until we all met up.”

Twilight rolled her eyes. “Pinkie keeping a secret, that’s…”

Twilight’s mouth slackened as things began to click into place. No alcohol, and every time she had seen Pinkie since her inauguration as Princess, Pinkie had mentioned her husband Cheese Sandwich.

A stunned silence fell over the throne room before Pinkie giggled. “Yep. I’m pregnant.”

“You’re what?” Twilight asked in bewilderment. Most of her friends had shouted the same thing.

Pinkie looked at them and smiled. “Well, Cheese and I both love kids and think it’s a good time. With Twilight running the kingdom, when isn’t it?”

Fluttershy squealed loud enough for everypony to look at her as she pranced on her hooves. “Oh my goodness! This is so exciting! Discord and I were just talking about kids the other day, and now you’re pregnant!”

“Wow,” Applejack said. “Yer a right mighty excited there, Fluttershy. Heck, I’d wager you seem more excited than Pinkie right now.” Applejack tipped her large stetson hat. “Congratulations by the way. Got any names planned?”

“Well, I have a couple,” Pinkie said, “but I’m keeping it a surprise until we find out if it’s a colt or a filly.”

Twilight was about to join in on the congratulations but was cut off by a flash of magic behind her that made them all jump. The unmistakable voice of Starswirl echoed out, “Princess Twili- I’m standing in potato salad.”

Twilight had already turned around by the time he spoke to face Starswirl. She was tall enough to meet the mage eye to eye. Beside him was a young silver stallion barely older than a colt. Looking at Starswirl’s hooves, he was indeed correct. He had teleported into the potato salad bowl.

“Starswirl, hey,” Princess Twilight said, backing away a few steps. “The girls and I are in the middle of something. Is there an emergency?”

“Oh come on,” Rainbow Dash complained. “Work on your day off? Don’t you have people to handle emergencies for you now, Princess?”

Starswirl gave a stilted laugh as he wiped his hooves on his robes. “My mistake, but I must get this to the Princess. It’s an amazing and powerful discovery.”

Using a bit of telekinesis, he pushed the silver stallion forward, who himself levitated an apple-sized sphere of polished white stone. “Feel the magic in that orb. This young stallion built it.”

Twilight slowly took the orb in her magic, feeling the surprising resistance to her spell. Whatever material it was made from was dense. Focusing on it, she could feel it thrum in response to her probing. It was practically as powerful as an artifact of ancient Equestria.

“He built this?” Twilight asked, looking to the stallion. He blushed and looked away. “It feels like one of your constructs. What does it do?”

Starswirl opened his mouth, then closed it. He scratched his beard before admitting with a shrug, “Actually, I hadn’t asked for details. He just used it to cheat on my exams.”

The sound Twilight made was like somepony had tackled her. “What!? Cheated on your exams?”

Starswirl shut Twilight’s mouth with a telekinetic grip before she could go on a rant. “We can discuss that later. Silver Streak, could you please explain to the Princess how you made this, and what it does exactly?”

Silver Streak gave a slow nod, levitating the orb over to himself. With a flourish, Silver waved a forehoof. “I call it the ‘Mirror Marble’, all you need to do is focus on an idea or concept.”

Silver sat in front of the girls and held the crystal between his forehooves, bowing his head. “When you concentrate, it will show you reflections of other worlds… hence the name, Mirror Marble.”

Twilight saw Starswirl nodding in thought in time with her own nods as she listened to the explanation. She grinned. “Sounds like a certain mirror I’ve fallen through.”

Silver smiled up from his seat on the floor. “Oh yes. I based the enchantment off what I learned from Starswirl’s notes. You can find fragments scattered all over the archive. That place really needs some organizing.”

Starswirl let out a humph. “And this is from the young stallion who said you couldn’t learn from old books.”

Silver blushed, setting the orb aside to rub the back of his head. “Y-yeah. I guess so.”

Twilight levitated the orb over to herself, admiring the gleam of the polished stone. “I’m amazed you put so much effort into not putting in effort.” She set the orb aside and placed a gentle hoof on his shoulder. “Taking the short road, no matter how easy you think it is, isn’t worth it. In the end you’ve shown you have the capability to do great feats of magic. And to make this, you had to put in a lot of time and effort, right?”

Silver nodded.

“Wouldn’t it have been easier to study for the tests?” Twilight asked.

Silver turned almost cherry red. “Well, you see… there are other reasons to want an orb that can show you any reality you can imagine.”

With the alcohol and excitement fogging her brain, it took Twilight a second to realize what the young stallion meant. Stepping back, her lavender face was cherry red. Silver was a young stallion. A young stallion around that age. “Right… right.”

“But be careful with it,” Silver said in a low, hushed voice. “There are some things you can’t unsee.”

Starswirl cleared his throat. “Well, with that said, it appears I’ve interrupted your picnic. Silver and I need to get back to class to discuss some things. I trust you to keep the orb safe for now. In the meantime, this young colt needs a lesson in, er, modesty. Farewell.”

“Goodbye, Starswirl.”

In a flash of magic, Starswirl and Silver disappeared.

Rainbow Dash’s laugh reverberated off the walls. “Did you see the look on your face when you realized… hahahahah! Priceless.”

Twilight rolled her eyes. “Oh ha-ha… you’d probably use it for the same-”

“Yep,” Rainbow Dash said. Twilight put a hoof to her temple and groaned.

Rarity eyed the orb with a sparkle in her eyes. “I could observe the fashions of strange new realms and get some inspiration for my own. Twilight did say the people from the world she was sent to were dressed all the time.”

“Oooh, oooh,” Pinkie Pie said, bouncing in front of Twilight as she flailed a hoof in the air. “Can I try it? It looks like fun. I want to see a world where everything is candy.”

Fluttershy smiled a gentle smile and said in wonder, “Or you could see what your child will look like.”

“That would just ruin the surprise for me,” Pinkie countered. “This is a little gift to me. I plan on waiting nine whole months for it, and not a moment sooner.”

Twilight bit her bottom lip, looking between her friends and the orb. “I mean… what if it’s dangerous? We don’t know much more than ‘Mirror Marble’ and it’s based on Starswirl’s Magic.”

Rainbow Dash scoffed. “Come on, Twi… that colt was using it like a swimsuit magazine. It can’t be that dangerous. He’s just embarrassed that his mouth was working faster than his brain. We’re all adult mares here, raise a hoof if you ever were caught by your parents when you hit that age?”

Rainbow was the first to raise her hoof, followed by everypony else one after the other.

“See,” Rainbow laughed, “and we also won’t know if it’s dangerous if we don’t do the sciency egghead thing.”

“You do have a point,” Twilight said with a defeated shake of her head and a smile. “We could run some tests.”

Twilight considered all the scientific breakthroughs that could be made. “And it’ll be fun to observe how different types of ponies interact with it. If earth ponies and pegasi can interact with it… there are so many questions to answer.”

Twilight’s smile fell at the tipped over bowl of potato salad. “After we clean up, of course.”

Twilight paced back and forth in the middle of the waiting room. Every breath of the cold hospital air smelled of cleaning chemicals and disinfectant. Combined with the grating buzz of the overhead lights, Twilight could barely keep focused.

Blood pouring from the eyes, ears, nose… so much blood.

“She’ll be fine… she’ll be fine… there are plenty of good doctors here. This is Canterlot. We have the best.” The knots in her stomach made her sick, even as she pondered who they would need.. Were there any specialists they could call in? And Canterlot Medical had psychiatrists… or would she need brain injury specialists?

Twilight nearly fell over as her head rushed with the fresh memory of screams of pain and blood. Shaking it off, Twilight spoke to herself. “She was the last to go… I even used it. Why did it go so badly?”

“I dunno, sugarcube,” Applejack said. Twilight jerked in fright. She had forgotten her friend had sat so close. Applejack was on a bench hugging Rainbow Dash who hadn’t stopped crying. From their seats on benches and chairs, Twilight could see the other girls were just as upset.

The jiggle of a door handle nearly gave Twilight whiplash. The door to the intensive care unit swung open, and Twilight met Discord’s red eyes. The large draconequus had a scowl dominating his long dark grey face. His mismatched shoulders were drooped like overweight tree limbs as he loomed in the doorframe. He spoke softly, and seriously. “The doctors have moved her into the room now. They told me to tell everypony that they’re doing everything they can.”

Twilight asked the question she had been hoping to ask for the last three hours. “Were you able to help?”

Discord’s shoulders tensed and nostrils flared like a bull. He shook his head, teeth bared.

“But your magic is-”

Twilight was cut off as Discord launched forwards and slammed her into the wall by the throat. The heavy impact caught her off guard and pain roared through her back. It had been hard enough to send plaster chips raining down like snow. She tried to shout out for him to stop, but she could barely swallow in breath as Discord made a noise that was something more primordial than a snarl. It was more felt than heard.

“Fluttershy could have DIED!” Discord seethed. “I’m oh so powerful and I can’t do anything to help her. The magic is chaotic, but it’s beyond me. I could try something, but 'Princess', sometimes when you fight fire with fire, all you end up with is a bigger fire.”

Twilight understood Discord’s rage. She was the Princess of a whole kingdom and a master of magic. Yet she was just as powerless. She beat her hooves against the lion arm pinning her to the wall while choking and coughing.

Twilight tried to get words out and let him know how she felt, how she was just as scared of being so powerful and ageless and unable to save the ones she loved.

Streaking like a lightning bolt, Rainbow Dash flew in between her and Discord, slamming a hoof into his face. “Let her go, you mismatched lizard!”

Discord dropped Twilight and held his nose. He looked between Twilight and the rest of the girls with sudden realization. “I’m sorry, I didn’t… I love her… and..”

Twilight rose to her hooves, rubbing her throat. “I know. And I know you feel just as scared and confused as I do. More than you expect. But we can’t stand out here and fight with each other. What did the doctors say?”

Discord snapped his fingers, fixing the wall and cleaning all the plaster off of Twilight in a flash.

“Thank you,” a stallion said from behind Discord as he entered. He was a dark purple, almost black unicorn with a washed out rainbow mane. The white coat he wore covered his cutie mark. Adjusting his glasses with his magic, the middle aged stallion said, “I can answer that.”

“I’m Dr. Wide Scope. Fluttershy has already been moved from the ER to the ICU beyond this waiting room. She’s stable, but still unconscious and being monitored. We’re doing all we can to provide her the best care available.”

Pinkie Pie pounced from her seat on the couch, grabbing the doctor by the shoulders and asking right to his face, “When can we see her?”

Dr. Scope gave a small frown and gently pushed Pinkie Pie back with a hoof. “I know all of you are going through a tough moment. Fluttershy is in a state we want to monitor her. Unfortunately, that means you need to wait until tomorrow before we’ll be comfortable enough to allow visitors. ”

Twilight shook her head slowly. She still had duties in the Palace to attend to. And a mess to clean up. “Can my friends sleep overnight here?”

Dr. Scope nodded. “Yes. We’ll even provide pillows and blankets.”

Walking over to Twilight’s side, Applejack asked, “So yer not stayin’? I noticed ya kinda said ‘my friends’ instead of ‘us’.”

Twilight let out a long sigh. “Today was the one day I set aside for just us girls. I have to go back to let important ponies know I need a few more days off. But I’ll be back as soon as I can. Promise.”

Twilight stood in front of the double doors to her throne room. Trepidation rooted her to the spot. Taking a deep breath, she steeled herself to go back in.

The doors were immensely heavy in her magical grip. Just pulling them open was a monumental task in her distracted state. Entering her throne room, Twilight laid eyes on the half-dozen or so fragments of the orb scattered on the floor.

Past them was where Fluttershy had fallen. Twilight could still see it… Fluttershy calmly sitting down with the orb to take her turn. It went wrong from there. At first came a single shrill yelp of pain before she dropped the orb and it shattered. Then Fluttershy was gasping for breath between agonized groans of pain. Not even seconds after that she wept and coughed blood, with even more gushing from her nose.

Fluttershy had collapsed by that point. That was when she lost control of her bowels. Twilight would have thought Fluttershy was dead if she hadn’t screamed like she was being burned alive.

The lightheadedness hit Twilight like a brick as the fresh memory wormed its way to the front of her brain in all its gory, crisp details. It was harder to forget with the smell still hanging in the air from the blood and waste.

Pools of both stained a large patch on the floor and the long royal carpet that led to her throne. There was a faint outline of a pony in the center.

“I should have teleported her to the hospital sooner,” Twilight said through clenched teeth. “I shouldn’t have panicked. I’m the Princess of Equestria, not a foal. It’s not like the life of my friends hasn't been in danger before.”

Still, of all the adventures and dangerous situations Twilight had been in, nothing she had encountered had been that visceral. Today was supposed to have been a special day. From Pinkie’s announcement to all the girls being together again.

“I should have known it would go downhill,” Twilight growled at herself. “How could I be so stupid?”

Twilight looked at the mess with a deep sigh. Most of her staff and servants had been given the day off so Twilight could enjoy just one day alone with her friends. Even Spike, her dragon assistant, was out of town. Memories of past adventures and days off like this played in Twilight’s mind as she tried to distract herself with cleaning one spot over and over again.

Even as Twilight burned the stains out with magic, she knew that the memory of the stains would linger far longer than the physical ones.

“I need to talk to Celestia and Luna,” Twilight told herself. She tried to make a mental note to tell Spike to send a letter to the former rulers when he returned. “They might have advice.”

Seeing that the spot she was focused on cleaning looked almost new, Twilight quickly cleaned up the rest of the mess. That just left the fragments of the sphere.

Sweeping them into a box for later solved the problem. At least until Twilight could get some sleep. Collapsing into the plush cushion of her throne, Twilight looked out at the vast empty room.

The magical lights had dimmed themselves, giving the room an eerie atmosphere Twilight hadn’t noticed until sitting down. The smooth, polished walls were decorated with stained glass mosaics dedicated to past adventures with her friends.

The tempered windows only served to make Twilight feel even more alone.

She had felt alone since her coronation as Princess of Equestria. The staff and servants were here, sure, but they were just employees. They weren't her best, most trusted friends.

The weight of her mental exhaustion kept her anchored to the cushion until she drifted into a restless sleep.

Twilight sat on a dune overlooking a vast desert. The smell of magic filled the air. It was calm and comforting. The moon overhead was large and full, but there were no stars in the inky black void. As Twilight realized this, a large lavender scarab crawled past her with a horde of small red scarabs in tow.

She followed the group as they marched over the desert sands to the top of a taller dune where the scarabs took flight. The glimmering red shells twinkled and lit up the night as each scarab became a star.

Enraptured by curiosity, Twilight lay in the sand to look up and count each one.

“...nine-hundred and ninety-eight, nine-hundred and ninety-nine, one thousand.”

A thousand stars joining the moon to light the galaxy aflame.

Chapter 2: The Price

Light rain fell upon Discord as he stalked away from the hospital.

As the cool rain drenched him, Discord took a moment to stand still and look to the overcast sky. He untensed his shoulders as his breath came out in an explosive exhale.

“What happened with Twilight was just a fluke,” he said. Deep breaths and the raindrops helped ease the rage bubbling inside him. But it was still there, chipping at him.

Discord ignored it the best he could as he craned his massive neck to peer ahead. Squinting, his destination was a few blocks away. It was a tall cylindrical cobblestone tower with a sharply pointed conical roof. He could barely see it through the thicker rain ahead. The shower was growing more intense and coming his way.

“Will that old bastard even help me?” Discord asked, absentmindedly stroking his goatee with a paw. His body tensed in anger, but the feeling passed as he sighed. “You can do this. For Fluttershy.”

Even if it would take every bit of self control he had learned over the last few years not to wring the neck of that self righteous—

“Calm down,” Discord told himself with a growl. He rubbed the back of his neck, trying to ease his frayed nerves. “This much aggression isn’t you. You’re a spirit of disharmony, not violence.”

Unease sank into Discord as he looked to the ground. Despite not being a spirit of violence, he had nearly choke-slammed Twilight through a wall. “At least Miss Tough Alicorn Sparklepants wasn’t someone more… squishy.”

A shudder ran up from the tip of his tail to the base of his neck. What if it had been Applejack that had set him off? Or Pinkie?

“Just get a hold of yourself,” Discord said, staring into a nearby window. His reflection stared at him while tapping a wristwatch.

“I know, okay?” Discord said, shaking his head at the reflection. It simply glared at him. “Fluttershy is stable... but we don’t know how long that will last.”

The reflection held up a popsicle stick with a poorly drawn picture of Twilight’s head glued to it.

“Yes, I lied to her. But it was a lie of omission. Twilight would be the biggest threat to Equestria if she knew about that kind of magic. Moonflank and Sunbutt would do more than stone me. No, we... I, have to work with Starswirl.”

The reflection collapsed into a lounge chair with an overdramatic wave of its arms.

“Yeah, you and me both.”

Starswirl knelt in a respectful bow. He was almost kissing the marble floor. The scent of smoke was so heavy in the air it was pungent even low to the ground.

“You have done well, Starswirl,” she said to him. “Rise.”

Starswirl looked up to the mare addressing him. Her face was splendid and plain at the same time. A face both inviting and unapproachable. A simply complex contradiction.

A series of heavy knocks rocked Starswirl out of his dream. He took a moment to stare at the inky blackness of the ceiling above him as the real world reasserted itself.

“Who was that mare?” He asked, rubbing his eyes with a foreleg. He leaned out of bed and magically lit a candle. Light cast long shadows about his bedroom. The knocks came again.

It was his bedroom door, within his tower.

“Just a moment!” Starswirl shouted. He was sure he had locked the front door. If it was a burglar, then why would they knock? Throwing off his covers, Starswirl hopped onto the cold wood floor. A shudder made its way from his hooves to the tip of his horn as the chilly air gripped his old bones. He floated over a thick linen jumper, four wool slippers, and a thick cloak.

“Let me don some night clothes,” Starswirl called out loud enough he hoped to be heard through the door. “While I do so, explain your intrusion on my home.”

“It’s me,” replied the last voice he had expected, or wanted to hear this late at night. Or any time for that matter.

“Discord,” Starswrl scoffed, pulling the last slipper over the long leg of his jumper.

Floating the candle beside him, Starswirl latched the clasp of the cloak around his neck. He opened the door with a flick of telekinesis.

Rather than the giant serpent he had expected, a grey pony stood in the doorway. The white mane, red eyes with yellow sclera, and a crooked horn were dead giveaways as to who it really was. Starswirl stopped in his tracks and ground his teeth.

“Do not offend me by taking the guise of a pony. I have no patience for late night tricksters.”

“It’s about Fluttershy,” Discord said. In a near blinding flash of magic, Discord’s body expanded to it’s true height, allowing the immense draconequus to glower down at Starswirl.

“What happened?” Starswirl asked, blinking out afterimages of the flash. Something was wrong. Nothing nearby had spontaneously grew sentience and extra limbs. Discord was never one for a serious conversation. If one of the Princess’s friends needed his aid, then he would help.

As Starswirl waited for a reply, he pushed past Discord to the living room where he cast a small orange bead of magic towards the fireplace. When it struck, it instantly ignited into a raging furnace.

Starswirl smiled at the crackling logs within and sat down to warm his hooves.

“I know we hate each other,” Discord said.

“Celestia may have had a thousand years to dilute her memory of your terror, but mine is still fresh,” Starswirl interrupted. With a flash of his horn, Starswirl pulled over a large high backed wooden chair with red cushions.

As Discord made his way towards the chair, Starwirl rose from his spot by the fireplace and sat in it.

“Apologies if I’m an ungracious host, but you did break in.”

“Right,” Discord said with a forced grin. His hands were clenched into shaking fists. “Clearly a thousand years in stasis isn’t the same as a thousand years in stone.” He paused as if the next words were poisonous. “Fluttershy nearly died.”

Starswirl’s head jerked up to meet Discord eye to eye.

“What?” Starswirl asked. “How did it happen? Is she okay?”

“That’s why I’m here,” Discord said, pinching the bridge of his nose. “I’m not here to settle our old score, as much as I would like to. Fluttershy was using that orb your student made and somehow… THAT magic got involved. I need you to remove a curse.”

“I scanned the orb myself,” Starswirl said, worry evident in his voice as he sprang to his hooves. “It was purely equestrian magic. Powerful, yes, but not what you’re implying.”

Discord glared down at Starswirl. “No, it most certainly is that kind of magic. The kind of magic that you refused to teach the former or current Princesses. The magic you had in reserve if Celestia and Luna failed to stop me with the Elements.”

“Unrestricted chaos,” Starswirl said, grinding his teeth. Discord gave a curt nod.

Starswirl looked between Discord and the fireplace, ears folded back before he stomped the ground with a hoof.

“No. I won't unleash that kind of power onto the world for your selfish obsession,” Starswirl said, glaring back at Discord. “And that's what it is. Nothing but you in the end. Do you come in here begging me to cast dark spells when children's lives are at stake? No. It’s only when the mare you love is in danger you ask me. Would you come in here for Twilight Sparkle? Rainbow Dash? You are still nothing but a self-serving serpent!”

"That's rich,” Discord said, throwing his head back to bellow a laugh. “And that is coming from the wizard who actually knows the dark spells to begin with."

"It was a different time, a different age,” Starswirl said. He looked to the floor. “I was young and stupid."

"And just as selfish as I. Just how many '-mancies' did you try. Let’s list them off, astromancy, chronomancy... necromancy," Discord finished in a low, insidious tone.

Starswirl’s lips curled into a frown of pure disgust. He slammed a hoof into the floor hard enough to splinter the wood.

"You black-hearted spawn of a brothel wench! She was everything to me!"

"AND JUST LIKE HER, FLUTTERSHY IS EVERYTHING TO ME!" Discord yelled back, his voice booming loud enough to rattle the stone walls of the tower. The sheer volume sent Starswirl backpedaling until his flanks hit the wall.

“How is anything different from then?" Starswirl asked, quickly pouring over his mental catalogue of spells. Discord was a spirit with a body. Bodies could be hurt.

"Because,” Discord said, slumping onto the high backed chair and resting his face in his hands, “Fluttershy is still alive. But not for long. I could feel the magic eating away at her... I know you’ve hated me ever since I escaped that summoning circle, but I'm the one asking you for help this time. No tricks, no breaking reality. Would the old me do that?"

"She really means a lot to you then?” Starswirl asked. Cautiously, he took a step towards Discord, a spell still at the back of his mind. “Something orderly that a spirit of chaos like you wants to keep as is?"

"Yes. Please,” Discord said. His eyes reflected the roaring fire so effortlessly. Shimmering even. Brimming with tears. Starswirl could scarcely believe it. “Help me. I don't know what I'll be if she isn't there."

"I can't,” Starswirl said. He gently shook his head, staring at the floor. “I want to help, even after all that shouting, I really do. But I’m old, and I've already used that magic too much. It'll kill me. I don't have the ingredients or time to make a simulacrum to cast the spells in my stead."

“Then it’s hopeless,” Discord said. His immense body sagged like a deflating balloon.

“I never said that,” Starswirl said. “There is an alternative… but it’s outrageously dangerous. Princess Twilight is a capable mage.”

Discord winced before slowly shaking his head. “Even I’m not foolish enough to let Twilight learn true chaos magic.”

"I’m not talking about teaching her everything,” Starswirl said. “Just enough to save Fluttershy. Twilight’s the only other unicorn I know who could possibly even learn how to cast the spells from just one reading. I’ll be there to guide her through it.”

“So,” Discord said, looking up from the fire, “where are the books hidden from the royal bookworm?”

A flickering candle on the writing desk illuminated the blank piece of parchment Twilight stared down at. The low light of dawn shining through her bedroom window wasn’t bright enough to write by.

Seven previous drafts and two broken quills lay crumpled in the nearby bin. They taunted her at the corner of her vision. A niggling reminder of how as soon as ink touched parchment, her mind ground to a halt. It made her feel like a lead weight was right where her heart should be.

Twilight slumped in her chair. A sick feeling squirmed in her stomach as her memory drifted back to Fluttershy.

Twilight knew this was all her own fault. She had agreed to let everypony play with the artifact. And that’s what it was, play. After so many adventures and escapes from danger, what was the worst that could happen?

“Hubris,” Twilight muttered.

Her hangover and too little sleep left her too drained to cry.

“You okay?” Spike asked, snapping Twilight out of her dour thoughts. He patted her shoulder with a taloned hand. The young dragon had grown a lot in the last three years. He was almost as tall as a pony now. “Need this?”

He offered a handkerchief, but Twilight shook her head.

“I’m fine,” she replied. His frown was as clear as a mirror in showing her how ‘not fine’ she was.

“Twilight,” Spike said in that familiar, placating voice, placing a hand on her forehoof and giving a tender squeeze, “you didn’t know it was dangerous. We’re going to the hospital after you write this letter, right?”

Twilight nodded, then shook her head.

“Yeah, at least if I can find the words I’m looking for. How do I break the news to Celestia and Luna?”

“Maybe explain it to them like you did with me. It doesn't have to be all royal and fancy. Celestia and Luna are Fluttershy’s friends too.”

Twilight knew Spike was right. She smiled down at him and rubbed the spines on his head with a gentle hoof before kissing his forehead.

“Mommmm, stop it…” Spike pleaded, pulling away. “I’m not a baby anymore.”

“Thank you, Spike.” Twilight said. “Let’s see how this draft goes.”

“Dear Princess Celestia–”

The ICU echoed with the sound of a steady, rhythmic beep and the slow, shallow breathing of Fluttershy. Twilight stood in the doorway watching the wires and tubes keeping her friend tethered to the living world.

Four wires ran from the beeping machine to Fluttershy’s still form on the bed, hidden by a lime green blanket. A bobbing green line on a display screen danced in time with the beeps. Another smaller machine pumped fluid from a bag into an IV line taped to Fluttershy’s forelegs which rested above the cover. A tube ran out from under the cover and connected to a bag hanging from the side of the bed to let fluid back out.

The weight of everything that had happened so far came crashing down onto Twilight. She felt like a ship lost in a sea of doubt, tossed back and forth by waves of worry.

Step by agonized step, Twilight approached the bed. Spike silently followed along beside her with a hand on her shoulder. Behind them were Celestia and Luna, a female doctor in hospital scrubs, and the other four girls.

Twilight wanted to stay strong for Fluttershy. But she also wanted to break down and bawl like a newborn foal. Twilight settled for a numbness worming its way through her as both desires battled each other with equal ferocity. She held back tears as she gently brushed Fluttershy’s hair, careful not to mess with the small plastic hoses feeding air into her nose.

“Fluttershy’s going to be okay, right, doc?” Pinkie Pie asked from behind her.

Dr. Mended Wing stood across from Twilight on the opposite side of the bed. The dark grey pegasus pushed her full-moon glasses up with the pinyons of her right wing.

“I cannot accurately say right now,” she said, before addressing Twilight, “Fluttershy’s condition appears stable, your majesty. We’ll know more when the results from her Magical Resonance Imaging come back.”

“Thank you, Doctor,” Twilight said. “What about the bleeding?”

“It appeared to be a temporary effect of the magic and stopped when she was sedated. No signs of any wounds inside her, but her body had lost that blood.”

Without any prompting from Twilight or the doctor, the other girls approached the bed. Applejack walked up to Twilight and shook her head slowly.

“Twi, my heart can’t take another moment of this hospital stuff… Rarity ‘n I are gonna stay in town a while. She’s gotta hotel room down the road most of us girls are gonna stay in.”

Applejack removed her hat, and set it on Fluttersy’s chest.

“I don’t have much to say,” Applejack said, staring down at Fluttershy with her ears splayed back, “so I’m just gonna ask ya to gimme my hat back soon. You’ll do that, right, ‘Shy?”

Applejack quickly stepped away, wiping her face with a foreleg.

Rainbow Dash was next as she put a hoof onto Fluttershy’s foreleg.

“Hey there, don’t know if you can hear me or not, but I just wanted to let you know I’m going to be right in the next room. I’ll be the first one you see when you wake up. Junior speeders stick together… right?”

Rainbow Dash reluctantly pulled her hoof away and turned to leave.

Pinkie Pie took her place. Her hair had lost its poof. She gently placed a hoof onto Fluttershy’s shoulder before forcing a smile.

“I’ll be throwing you a ‘glad you’re out of the hospital’ party soon. I know it.”

Rarity stepped up beside Pinkie and forced her own smile.

“And I know just what to get you as a present. I think a spa day is in order? Oh, and a new dress of course. Something from my upcoming spring line.”

Rarity and Pinkie both hugged each other and walked away fighting back tears.

Celestia stood tall in the middle of the room and looked to Twilight’s friends.

“Could Twilight, Luna, and I have a few moments alone with Fluttershy?”

They gave Celestia a wary look before each one agreed. Each one filed out of the room, leaving Twilight alone with the former princesses, the doctor, and Fluttershy. Twilight took a moment to look around, seeing the one person she had expected to be guarding over Fluttershy wasn’t here.

“Have you seen Discord?” Twilight asked the doctor. “He wasn’t in the waiting room.”

“He left last night,” Dr. Wing replied. “Though, I haven’t seen him since I started my shift. Dr. Scope was the attending physician last night.”

“Poor guy,” Twilight said. “I can only guess how he’s feeling.”

Her eyes met with Celestia’s. The former princess’s calm reassuring smile was a ray of hope that calmed her sea of doubt. But Celestia’s smile faltered.

“I know you’re worried about your own immortality,” Celestia said in a calm, almost motherly voice. Twilight’s heart skipped a beat. She had wanted this conversation, but she hadn’t expected Celestia to start it. “Living so long makes it hard to love the ones around you. I’ve met the great-great grandsons of some of my closest friends. But letting yourself become jaded is simply filling the hole in your heart by removing it. It’s no fix at all. Cherish and love the time you have with who you are with.”

Twilight looked down and shook her head, her body trembling with a restrained sob.

“I’m just going to outlive one group of friends after the next,” she said bitterly. “This is a curse.”

Celestia’s slow, solemn nod was all Twilight needed to understand the centuries of experience Celestia had over her.

“When Discord returns we should all discuss our feelings on the issue. For now, let’s focus on Fluttershy. You wrote of an orb and magic even Discord could not fix.”

“Yes,” Twilight said, glad for the change of subject. Out the corner of her eye, Luna stepped around the bed to join the doctor, but Twilight mainly focused on Celestia who rubbed her chin with a wingtip in thought.

“Magic he wasn’t able to fix… Does he know what type of magic it was? I have a hunch, and if it’s correct, then getting your friends involved would likely end up harming them. Possibly even worse than Fluttershy.”

Just imagining that had Twilight nauseous.

“I think she might be dreaming,” Luna said, catching both Celestia and Twilight’s attention.

“Really?” Twilight asked, hope in her voice. If Fluttershy was dreaming, perhaps Luna could help.

“Indeed. I’ve worked with sleeping ponies all my life,” Luna replied. A trace of her old accent slipped back as she continued. “Dost thou wish for me to try and awaken her?”

Twilight considered the possibility of Luna making it worse by poking around in Fluttershy’s head. Then again, Discord was a spirit of disharmony, not dreams.

“Maybe,” Twilight said after a several seconds of thought. “But be careful. Discord said that the magic affecting her was chaotic in nature. Neither of you saw just… just how awful it was. She was weeping blood, coughing it... had it running from her nose.”

There were a dozen other horrible things that Twilight dared not remember or say. She hoped that she had said enough to get the point across.

“Intense magical feedback?” Luna asked the doctor.

“That’s what we think,” Dr. Wing said. “However, I can’t let you cast any spells on my patient without express written permission from the current royal surgeon. I would lose my license if I let anyone, even a former princess, start casting spells with no actual medical training.”

“Would a decree from me override the royal surgeon?” Twilight asked.

The doctor was about to reply before a blinding light filled the room for a millisecond. Twilight blinked in an effort to recover her sight. The fuzzy silhouette of Discord took up a large portion of the room. He glared down at a pony shaped smear.

“That is the last time I ever go on an adventure with you,” Discord snarled.

Twilight blinked one more time. Her vision sharpened, and she watched Discord rip an arrow out of his shoulder. He stared at a rune-engraved broadhead before throwing it down onto the floor and clutched his bleeding wound.

“That might have actually been able to kill me,” he groaned. “Anti-magic enchanted silver arrows?”

Twilight wondered where Discord had gone to get injured by magical weapons as she looked to the pony grumping beside Discord. She raised an eyebrow in confusion as she saw Starswirl the Bearded. He was glaring back up at Discord, dusting char off his cloak as he held a dark black-leatherbound tome in his telekinesis. The symbols on the cover of the tome made Twilight’s eyes water just looking at them.

“I told you ‘no magic’,” Starswirl griped back. “It’s not my fault you tried to brute force that vault open.”

“We were taking too long,” Discord growled. His serpentine body bent to arch over the mage. “You said you had clearance to the archives.”

“It’s been a thousand years. If Celestia didn’t update the security, I would have been shocked. I never expected it to be THAT different.”

“Starswirl? What’s going on?” Twilight asked. Discord and Starswirl jerked their heads to her so fast their necks audibly popped.

They didn’t have time to answer as Celestia took an aggressive step forward into a combative stance. She scowled at them as her horn danced with crackling gold magical energy. She lowered it to point at the two newcomers.

“I’d like to know as well,” Celestia said in a low, threatening tone Twilight had never heard from her before. “Especially because—and correct me if I’m wrong, Starswirl—I had most of those tomes destroyed after I ordered the author burned at the stake.”

Twilight jolted to attention. She had never heard of Celestia ordering executions before. Sure, they had happened in the past. But never by Celestia’s decree, or as violent as burning.

As Celestia took another step forward, Discord raised his hands above his head while Starswirl simply frowned, keeping the tome locked in the air with his magic.

“We couldn’t wait for permission,” Starswirl said, ignoring Twilight to answer Celestia. “Discord, tell them.”

Discord nodded, the wound he had been clutching was now closed.

“Fluttershy is dying from a magical curse based heavily in the brand of chaos I can’t use. If it’s not fixed soon, it’ll kill her. Starswirl and I spent too long dealing with the Dark Archive to debate.” Discord let out a long sigh. “Please, Celestia, you can turn me to stone again after this all is over, but let me save Fluttershy. I need Twilight’s help.”

Celestia raised her horn, the magic dissipating as she eyed Starswirl. Her scowl was still on her face, and was much darker. Twilight never wanted to see that directed at her.

“And you're sure you need dark magic for this?” She asked, pleading for it not to be true.

“Unfortunately,” Starswirl said with a slow nod. “It’s the only thing strong enough to counter itself. Twilight’s the only one who can master magic of that power with just one read.”

Using chaos to fight chaos. Twilight knew she had heard this before.

“Discord,” Twilight asked, “didn’t you say something about fighting fire with fire?”

“Yes, because I knew just how easy this could turn into a bigger fire,” Discord said with a slow shake of his head. “And I was worried you’d be more than willing to pay the price for your friend.”

“Price?” She asked.

Discord gave a grim nod. “I bend and sometimes break reality… but this can rewrite it. Magic that powerful comes with a price. It’s why I’m not made of that type of chaos. It's like the difference between a Unicorn’s magic and an Alicorn’s magic. But we’re wasting time.”

“Alright, so what is the price?” Twilight asked. Everything was happening so quickly. She could barely keep up. Now there was a price to pay for the magic? A newfound worry welled up in her chest.

“We don’t know,” Starswirl said. The answer was far from calming. “It’s different for each spell and user. There is a reason chaos magic was banned.”

“As well as pony-leather covers with blood used as ink,” Luna muttered as she walked around the bed to join Celestia. Her scowl was just as fierce as Celestia’s.

Twilight felt her stomach churn. The fact the spell tome was leatherbound at all had been sickening.

She looked to Fluttershy. The pony with many friends and family waiting for her to recover. Her animals too. The trepidation melted away. She could do this. She could save her friend.

“I won’t let Fluttershy die. I saw how bad off Fluttershy was before I got her here. Damn the price, I’ll pay it. What spell do I need, Starswirl?”

Starswirl presented the book and flipped it open to a page that had been bookmarked.

“Here. Just the two pages that are open.”

Twilight took the book in her magic, nearly recoiling at the almost slimy sensation feeding back to her from the connection. She grit her teeth and pressed on. This was to save Fluttershy’s life.

Twilight read the dark red writing she tried to convince herself was colored ink and not blood.

Within moments, Twilight realized the contents of the pages were simple to understand. Despite the sloppy, almost crazed chicken-scratch of quillwork on display from the writer. They had been skilled with anatomy from the diagrams crammed into the margins. Or occasionally interrupting paragraphs.

But Twilight understood it. It was almost too easy. Like it WANTED her to understand it, but that was preposterous. Magic wasn’t a living thing. Then again, she had seen first-hoof what it did to Fluttershy.

Reading it again to make sure she had the countercharm fully understood, Twilight looked towards Doctor Wing who had backed up into a corner.

“Are you okay?” Twilight asked.

“Y-yes, Discord is just a lot bigger than the other doctors described,” Doctor Wing said with shaky breath. “Then you all started talking about dark magic, and I have absolutely nothing to contribute to all of this.”

“Glad you’re okay, but by royal decree, I’m going to have to ask you to take an oath that you will not speak a word about what’s happened here,” Twilight said, punctuating it by shutting the tome.

“Yes, your majesty. I promise not a single word or recounting of the events within shall leave this room. Should I leave for good measure?”

“No.” Twilight gave the book back to Starswirl. “I want a physician here just in case something goes wrong.”

Twilight stretched her wings out, took a deep breath, and closed her eyes to concentrate.

When she opened her eyes once more, they were as dark as a pool of ink and as deep as a void. Purple smoke curled from her lips as she spoke incantations in a language that was impossible to speak by any natural means.

Grey lightning crackled off Twilight’s horn to strike the floor. Each bolt burned a new section of a rapidly forming circle around her. The tiled floor beneath her hooves began to smoke, then melted as runes that hurt to look upon rose up from nothingness.

Finishing her incantation with a scream, Twilight cast the spell.

Fluttershy stirred. Her head was throbbing. She tried to speak but couldn’t move her lips right.

It wasn’t true. She couldn’t be awake.

Fluttershy opened her eyes to look at the sweet, sweet sight of a hospital roof. The nightmare was over. She didn’t have to kill anypony anymore.

She heard somepony saying words nearby. It was so hard to think with the pounding headache.

Her head didn’t want to move. Grunting in effort, she just managed to roll her neck just enough to see Twilight standing in the middle of a smoking circle on the floor.

Fluttershy wanted to smile and tell her friend she was okay. That she was better.

Then she realized Twilight’s right eye was oozing down her face as arcane smoke billowed from the empty socket. She found the strength to scream once again.

Chapter 3: Blood

It worked. The magical spell had worked. It may have cost Twilight an eye, but it worked.

Discord stared down at his love. His heart had leapt into his throat, keeping him silent as Fluttershy stirred awake. He wanted to rush to her side and embrace her. He restrained himself while clenching his teeth. He didn’t want to cause Fluttershy to somehow slip away again by jinxing the moment.

Then Twilight looked at Fluttershy.

Discord’s mix of joy and relief at seeing Fluttershy awake was shattered by her terrified scream. His heart dropped into his stomach as her scream turned into a snarl of rage.

“LIES!” Fluttershy yelled loud enough the word was nearly lost in a raw, bestial roar of fury. Discord stood locked in place as she leapt from her bed, ripping out various tubes running to her. As her hooves crashed onto the hospital floor, a stream of blood was trickling down her foreleg from the ripped out IV.

“What? Fluttershy, calm down, please!” Twilight pleaded, the lost eye apparently not causing her too much pain to speak. Discord wanted to say the same, but his tongue was as numb as his body. It wasn’t going to plan. This was supposed to have a happy ending. Twilight was involved.

“Witchcraft! Sorcery! I am not your puppet, Stardust!” Fluttershy yelled, stomping and flaring her nostrils. She staggered like a drunkard for a few moments before propelling herself with her wings towards Twilight. The burst forward turned into an acrobatic twirl as she neared the Princess to fly upside down underneath her.

Fluttershy’s kick upwards launched Twilight so suddenly and forcefully her head crashed into the ceiling. She fell back down with a heavy thump before Fluttershy had righted herself to land. She was taking fast, deep breaths that rumbled with a low growl.

Discord choked down a gasp when he looked into Fluttershy’s eyes. The normal kind and beautiful grace was replaced with a feral bloodshot rage. Her mouth pulled back into a sneer that showed teeth.

“F-fluttershy?” Celestia asked slowly. She reached a hoof out towards Fluttershy, like she was trying to calm a growling dog. Fluttershy had her eyes locked on Celestia and Luna.

Behind her by the bed, Doctor Mended Wing quickly worked to prepare a syringe full of something. Maybe a sedative. Discord was too busy asking why this was happening to focus on the doctor. He kept his eyes on Fluttershy.

She stood in place, still taking quick deep breaths. Discord could almost hear her teeth grinding as she clenched them.

“N-no… this has to be fake. The cyclops sorcerer is here casting her damned magic,” Fluttershy said. Spittle flew from her mouth like the froth of a rabid animal. “I’ll never escape the killing. I’ll drag you all to Tartarus with me!”

Fluttershy half laughed, half wept as she paced with her head held low and shoulders tensed to pounce. Discord had never seen Fluttershy like this before. What was she even talking about? Her stance reminded him of a wild cat or a wolf about to strike.

Discord caught a flash of movement out the corner of his eye. Doctor Wing had the syringe ready in her hooves as she flew towards Fluttershy.

Fluttershy twitched in her direction. Using her wings, she launched up and turned herself as if on a ten-cent bit to grab the doctor into a bear hug. She pressed the doctor’s wings to her back using her legs. Legs Discord had seen haul around fifty pound bags of animal feed multiple times a day. Fluttershy was strong despite how she looked.

He tracked Fluttershy’s flight to the ceiling where she spun around towards the floor and suddenly dove hard. The pair fell almost in slow motion as Fluttershy beat her wings to put all the force she could muster into slamming the doctor’s head into the tile floor. The doctor’s neck snapped with the sound of a tree falling.

Flutterhsy rolled away from the corpse and stood. The syringe was gripped in her snarling jaw. The room fell silent as Discord stared at the corpse. There was no doubt it was a corpse. Mended Wing’s head wasn't supposed to be at a ninety degree angle to her shoulders.

Discord snapped to Fluttershy as she used the stunned silence to fly into Celestia’s face. She slammed all four hooves against the alicorn’s head as she took the full brunt of Celestia’s magical bolt of golden energy. It only seemed to enrage Fluttershy further as she slammed the needle into the side of Celestia’s neck.

“Celestia!” Starswirl and Luna both yelled. The former sent a bolt of magic slamming into the back of Fluttershy’s head. It only made her jerk as pink strands of singed hair fell away. She glared at Starswirl and dropped the unconscious form of Celestia who still had the syringe pricking her neck.

“Oh shit!” Starswirl exclaimed before he teleported away. Fluttershy crashed down onto where he had been a millisecond after he was gone.

“Discord, do something!” Luna yelled. Discord was rooted to the spot. Fluttershy had just KILLED someone. This couldn’t be real. Fluttershy would cry over accidentally hurting a fly. He stared at the corpse of Mended Wing. Any second now she would get back up and everything would be okay.

When his mind finally let him snap back to the fight, Luna and Fluttershy were tangled together like alley cats. They punched, slammed, and even bit at one another until Fluttershy rolled under Luna and grabbed her right foreleg with her own.

Luna screamed in pain as Fluttershy pulled down with her forelegs and pushed up with her shoulder, leveraging the limb until a bloody white spear poked through black fur.

Luna sat and stared slack-jawed at the bone jutting from her hide, the leg flopping limply. She didn’t even flinch as Fluttershy jumped, spun, and kicked her in the side of the head, sending Luna sprawling to the floor in a heap.

She stood between the three unconscious Alicorns. Her gasps for air filled the silence hanging over them. Her snarl of rage softened to a look of shock as she glanced to the body of Mended Wing. Her eyes wandered to Twilight, then her breath hitched at seeing Luna’s mangled leg, until her horror-stricken gaze fell to Discord.

“What have I done?” she asked, her voice breaking.

The door to the room slammed open as Rainbow Dash shoulder charged through.

“I heard screaming! What’s going… oh my gosh!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed, taking several steps back. The other girls had run in behind her. They all stared at the Princesses, and then Fluttershy. Blood still leaked from the IV wound,multiple magical burn marks across her fur, and a few good strikes from Luna’s hooves.

“I’m sorry… the nails,” Fluttershy said, her body shaking. She let out a snarl of rage and launched towards the window. With a resounding crash of breaking glass she disappeared out of sight.

Discord finally moved. He ran to the window to see Fluttershy nearly crash into a building before haphazardly correcting her sloppy flight away into the early afternoon of Canterlot.

Rainbow Dash watched as Fluttershy launched herself out the still closed window. Her shoulder slammed into the glass and shattered it. Rainbow had crashed enough times to know that you didn’t go through glass without getting cut.

What was going on here? There had been screaming, and she swore she had heard magic being cast. Then Fluttershy was awake and throwing herself through a window.

Taking flight, she surveyed the room quickly in a panic. She wanted to rush to Fluttershy, but Discord stood in a daze in front of the window.

Celestia was on the floor, unmoving and with a syringe jutting from the side of her neck.

Twilight groaned and stood up, looking at her with an eye completely missing.

Luna was whimpering on the ground. She clutched at her leg where bone poked through skin.

Then she saw the body of the nurse or doctor. Rainbow pushed the thought out of her mind as she flew to Discord’s side and hovered there, looking at Fluttershy flying down the street through the broken window.

“What happened!?” Rainbow frantically demanded, her heart thundering in her ears. “Tell me everything fast so I can go after her.”

Discord’s eyes were vacant. They were the deep wells of a shell shocked soul that stared into the middle distance.

“I don’t know…” He said in a pitiful, trembling whisper.

“Alright, then you help the Princesses. I’ll go after her to get answers,” Rainbow said before flying through the glassless window frame into the city beyond. Fluttershy had just rounded the corner of a building. It wasn’t an issue for a member of the Wonderbolts to catch up. Fluttershy had never been the strongest or fastest flier. With how wounded she was, it wasn’t even a race for Rainbow.

Rounding the corner into the alley Fluttershy had turned into, Rainbow flew next to her friend and balked at the sight. Blood was dripping from multiple cuts in her shoulder and a few on her face. It nearly painted Fluttershy red in places. One eye was starting to swell closed with a bruise, glass shards visibly jutted from her fur in places, and then there were the charred and bleeding wounds.

What could have burned Fluttershy? Just what had happened back there? Had the princesses used combat magic against her? How had Fluttershy, of all ponies, taken down three Alicorns?

Rainbow Dash was about to ask those questions racing through her mind as hooves crashed into her side and flank. It sent her into a reeling spin. It would have been a challenge to escape the distorting tailspin but Rainbow drew on all the training she had as a Wonderbolt and righted herself.

Fluttershy had gained a lead and turned around to face her. She hovered in place. Drops of blood fell from her, glistening in the afternoon sunlight before hitting the floor of the alley below. They were like the first drops of rain that signaled a coming torrent.

“Don’t follow me, I’m dangerous,” Fluttershy said in a panic. Her eyes were wide and wouldn’t stay focused on one thing. She kept darting her gaze around like a pony expecting dangers to leap out of every shadow.

Even as Fluttershy landed she kept her eyes peeled.

“What’s going on Fluttershy?” Rainbow Dash asked, landing a good fifteen or twenty hooves away from her. She stared at her friend who wouldn’t stare back.

A million questions raced through Rainbow’s mind. Was Fluttershy the one who killed that mare? That was impossible, but why was Fluttershy acting so paranoid? Why did she run away? Rainbow wanted to help Fluttershy but she didn’t know where to start.

“I—” Fluttershy started, “Where am I? Is this Equestria?”

Rainbow stepped back like the question had the weight of a punch to it. It had taken Rainbow by surprise, but she answered her friend.

“Yes, it’s Equestria. You’re in Canterlot,” Rainbow said in a low, placating voice. She had seen Fluttershy calm down aggressive animals with soft words. Maybe it would help? Rainbow Dash hoped so.

Fluttershy looked to the sky then to the buildings around her, before finally looking Rainbow in the eyes. There was no malice of a killer in those teal eyes. She looked lost and confused as tears welled up in them.

Rainbow was about to say something but Fluttershy choked out a sob.

“I’ve gone insane. I can’t tell what’s real or what’s not. I’ve seen too much to trust that this is the real life of a mare I barely remember. It certainly hurts enough. Are you Rainbow Dash or Thundermane?”

“It’s me, Rainbow Dash,” Rainbow replied. Who was Thundermane? Rainbow took a slow, cautious step forward. “What’s going on, Shy? I don’t think you’re insane.”

Fluttershy laughed, stumbling to lean against a wall. She was pale with blood loss but it didn’t stop her from grinning maniacally.

“I do. I got everything and nothing I asked for… a reality ruled by Chaos,” Fluttershy said, choking out a laugh. “The orb sucked me into the life of a mare who was made for the insanity, and I went insane with her. So... much... blood. I couldn’t stop killing… the moment I stopped the nails would dig deeper.”

Fluttershy let out a weeping sob.

Rainbow Dash knew she should have guessed Fluttershy would have wanted to see something like that. She loved Discord to the point she married him and spent time in his chaotic pocket reality. But a whole world that ran on chaos like that?

No wonder Fluttershy acted strange. Rainbow Dash rubbed her blurry tear-filled eyes and swore to find that colt who made that defective magic ball. She would make him pay. Or at least fix what he broke.

Taking a breath to calm her own nerves, Rainbow approached Fluttershy.

“Come back with me,” Rainbow said, placing a hoof on Fluttershy, careful not to touch any of the glass still embedded in her. “The doctors will fix you up.”

“I’m a murderer,” Fluttershy babbled as she slid towards the ground, too weary with blood loss to stay standing. Rainbow Dash caught her, keeping her upright.

Fluttershy slumped her head over Rainbow’s shoulder and cried.

“Come on, Shy, I’ll get you back to the hospital.”

“Is she sedated?” Luna asked, staring at Fluttershy on the bed. Luna had her injured leg tucked protectively under her. Even with the cast it hurt to walk on. As if it reminded her, she asked sternly for emphasis. “Fully sedated?”

“Yes,” Dr. Wide Scope said with a nod, pushing up his glasses. “And as you can see, she’s strapped to the bed.”

Indeed she was. A thick leather cuff for each ankle secured to the bed by just as thick straps. Long wide straps ran across Fluttershy’s stomach and chest to keep her from sitting up. Luna thought the muzzle was excessive, but Luna wasn’t making any concessions for friendship.

Bound to the bed was a murderer.

“Isn’t this too soon?” Twilight asked hesitantly. She sported an eyepatch. “Fluttershy’s just out of the ER… again.”

“Getting out of the ER didn’t stop her from taking all three of us down,” Luna said in a hasty rebuttal, glaring at Twilight with a hard expression bordering on fury. “She snapped my leg like a twig and killed a doctor, Twilight. I’m going in to find out why one of the mares who saved me from my own insanity turned on all of us. She was speaking nonsense about nails and calling us different names.” Luna’s expression softened. “I fear what Rainbow told us may be true. She could be insane. If so, then the law will be lenient at her trial.”

Luna watched Twilight bow her head and clench her eyes shut. There was no need to say it, so it hadn’t been discussed yet, but Fluttershy wasn’t exempt from murdering a mare. A part of Luna hoped Fluttershy was indeed insane. It would make all the difference if an insane mare was defending herself while deluded rather than a sane pony maliciously lashing out.

“Can you fix her?” Twilight asked, a little hope creeping into her words. “While you’re in there, you can fix it, right? Like we did with the Tantabus?”

“I’m not sure,” Luna said honestly. She looked down in shame, remembering the engine of despair she created to torture herself in her own dreams. One she recklessly had let escape to haunt the dreams of others. “I will try. Failing that, I will have a first-hoof account of her mental state.”

Staring down at Fluttershy, Luna’s horn flashed as she dove into her mind.

Luna opened her eyes on the other side. She drifted like a spectre above a large stadium open to the blazing hot sky above. Awnings protected the immense crowd of hundreds of ponies as they stared into a sandy pit dominated by a stepped pyramid. The top of the pyramid was high enough to barely extend out of the lip of the pit.

Drawn by the clamor of the stadium crowd, Luna allowed her shimmering formless body to drift closer. She didn’t need to fear being seen. The dreamer or the entities of the dreams wouldn’t see her if she didn’t want them to.

Luna neared the top of the pyramid and looked down at the rim of the stadium’s pit. Every few dozen hooves, there was a portcullis-like metal gate allowing entry and exit from almost every angle of the slightly ovular pit.

The crowd of ponies watching the pit was vast. Far larger than Luna originally thought. Rather than hundreds, it was possibly the low thousands. Many sat on cushioned benches or lay on oversized pillows. She caught sight of one very overweight pony snacking on stadium food. They practically shoveled it into their mouth, chewing with an open gluttonous mouth.

Turning away from the sight, Luna looked up to spot dozens of shiny round orbs hovering around the stadium. They moved to congregate at the top of the pyramid where she hovered. The profile of the orbs was only broken by a protruding lens array like that of a camera. Luna could even see and faintly hear shutters clicking on the lenses as the orbs hovered around her, then dispersed to get multiple angles on one gate in particular.

Flying cameras were hardly the weirdest thing to dream of.

The gate the cameras stared at rumbled open with a loud screech of metal sliding against metal. Dozens of fillies, colts, and a few young mares and stallions entered the stadium, eliciting a cheer from the crowd that sounded like a stampede with the number of stomping hooves. None of the ponies entering looked older than eighteen or younger than nine by Luna’s guess.

As she narrowed her eyes to focus on the contestants, she noticed that the unicorns had silver rings on their horns while the pegasi had their wings bound by thick coils of rope.

As the final contestant entered the pit, the portcullis closed, keeping the contestants for whatever game would happen in this stadium from leaving. Was it a race to the top of the pyramid? The top tier of the stepped pyramid looked only large enough for a single pony.

Luna looked over the children again and her heart nearly seized with a mix of sadness and rage. The children had been abused. Large welts decorated their hides like someone had whipped them. They were also covered in a collage of bruises while ribs were visible from starvation. She cursed herself for seeing the shiny horn rings first and not the state the children were in.

But Luna reminded herself that this was a dream, and she was here to see if Fluttershy was insane or not. Messing with the dream with her powers would just skew things. She didn’t even see Fluttershy here in either the crowd of very healthy and often overweight stadium viewers or the abused children.

An announcer spoke in a language Luna had never heard before. The crowd cheered again for several long moments while the children visibly shook from the force of the noise. This was already insane. Thousands of adult ponies were spectating a pit of abused children and cheering.

The crowd’s cheering fell silent as dark, nearly green water leaked into the pit from all the portcullises that rimmed the pit. The water crept closer and closer to the children but they didn’t flee from it.

That was until the water touched the hooves of one filly and she screamed like she had been set on fire and raced away on smoking hooves.

“Climb, children!” Luna screamed in horror as she realized that the pit was being filled with some sort of acid.

As if the children had heard her yelling from the top of the pyramid, the children swarmed it in a panic. Many of them helped one another scramble to reach the first tier of the pyramid. As soon as everypony was safe they stood there and watched the acid finish filling up the bottom of the pit.

There was nearly no sound for several heartbeats as the acid finished covering the bottom of the pit. Then it rose, slowly at first but then whatever mechanism was holding back the acid was opened and the flow became a torrent.

The children screamed and rushed to reach the second tier, and with even more profound horror Luna realized the dark truth. If the acid kept rising there would be too many children and not enough space. The children seemed to realize this too as they began biting, shoving, and ramming one another in a blind race to the top tier.

The screams of those who didn’t make it ripped at Luna’s heart and crushed it as she sat there at the apex of the pyramid. Frozen in horror she watched open-mouthed as children murdered one another to save themselves.

Despite the speed of the acid’s flow, the dark contest went on and on. Luna turned her head away after one young colt slipped into the acid. He went under and fought his way back to the surface. But his fate had already been sealed, even as he resurfaced; blind with his face melting away until he was practically a screaming skull.

Luna’s brain shut off after that, trying to block out the agonized screams of the failures as they mixed with the cheers of the crowd. It was a roaring cacophony that bludgeoned her soul.

Tier after tier the acid rose up. The screams and cheering continued until one contestant remained. Luna watched as she kicked away a mare much older than her right into the acid.

A terrified, soft yellow teal-eyed pegasus with a unicorn horn, and no cutie mark on her flank.