Rarity entered AJ and Dash's apartment to find Dash dressed in a trench coat and hat. She froze as she saw Rarity step in. "Oh, are you going somewhere?" she asked politely.

"Uh, maybe. I actually have something I got to go do, so I’ll see ya soon, okay?" Dash said and quickly walked past Rarity, only for her to catch her by the arm.

"Dash, these past few months you've been kind of quiet. Where are you going?" she asked, this time a bit more concerned.

"Doesn't matter, Rarity."

"Really? Because you've been acting like this ever since you joined Chaos Vill."

"Chaos Vill, Rarity—those are the bad guys! You know I'm just a spy."

"Yeah, a spy that hasn't come back with any intel at all. What have you been doing, Dash?"

"I, uh..." she stuttered, not knowing what to say.

"You've been avoiding everyone, especially me lately, and I'm pretty sure it's not because of a guy like Fluttershy."

"That's not..." Dash shook her head. "Wait, Fluttershy’s got the hots for a guy? Since when?" she asked in disbelief.

"You're changing the subject. Tell me what you know about Chaos Vill that you're hiding from us."

"I told you everything I know."

"Really?"

"Yeah, really."

"I don't believe you."

"Well, I'm telling the tr—" Just then, a ringtone went off. Dash went to go pick it up, but Rarity slid in and picked it up for her. She looked at it and saw the name Tempest Shadow. "Who is this?" she answered.

"Zap! Get your butt over here now! That cat is on the move and I need backup!" yelled Shadow.

"On my way! Got a situation!" she yelled back.

"WHO the hell is the cat?" demanded Rarity. "Who are you? Are you a member of Chaos Vill?"

"Chaos—Zap! Who is that on the line?!"

"It's no one, just a friend, Mom," Dash lied.

"Mom? You're her mom? Hi, I’m Rarity Shine, one of her best friends from college." Rarity immediately cheered up. "Nice to meet you, Tempest."

Tempest Shadow's eyes widened. "Uh, yes, I am Dash's mother. Uh, how do you know my name? Did Dash tell you?" she said through gritted teeth.

"Rarity! Give me back my phone!"

"No, it's on your contact."

"Con—" Tempest nearly had a car wreck. "Dash, you seriously put my spy name as a cell phone contact?" she grumbled as she tried to follow the cat's trail without looking suspicious.

"And so who is the cat? Your brother or something?"

"Uh, yeah, yeah, my, uh, brother."

Rarity smirked. "Ha! Got you in a lie. Fluttershy already told me your mother's name, and I know you're an only child. Who is this really? Are you a member of Chaos Vill?"

"Dash, you imbecile," Tempest grumbled and hung up the phone.

"Great," she gritted her teeth and pulled the car around, letting go of her track on her target.

Fluttershy was as happy as could be in that moment as she walked down the hallway, following Mr. Ghost to his apartment.

Mr. Ghost stopped at the door, unlocked it, and stepped back with a slight bow. "Ladies first," he grinned, to which she smiled and entered the dark room. Discord turned on the lights, revealing the strange place he called home.

Fluttershy had been here once before, but this time she was actually invited in by the man himself, and she smiled at the thought as she asked, "What's for dinner?"

"Sorry, my place isn't exactly ready for a nice dinner or anything. I wasn't expecting company; I never do—except Capper."

"Oh, no, I don't mind."

Mr. Ghost smiled. "Anyway, I have pasta and garlic bread. Would you like to help in the kitchen?"

She nodded, and the two headed to the kitchen together. As they soon began preparing for dinner, the entire time Fluttershy couldn't help but feel happy about it. "So pasta, huh?" she asked with a sly smile.

"What? I like pasta. Besides, it's a simple dinner to make."

"I suppose," she replied. "It's just, I remember a certain movie with two dogs and pasta," she smiled.

Mr. Ghost almost lost it. "Ha! I assure you, Mrs. Breeze, there will be two plates! After all, this is just a friendly dinner. Right?" he asked.

"Hmm, right. Since when am I your friend?" she asked in a small voice.

Mr. Ghost set the pot on the stove just before he answered her. "I don't know," he replied before he walked over to the dining table in his home and poured a glass.

"Oh, uh, you know I'm not that good of a drinker," she said.

"Oh, don't worry. Yours is grape juice. Mine is... well, a little stronger," he shrugged.

"Now have a seat," he said and pulled out a chair for her. She sat down and smiled as he pushed her in. "Dinner will be only a moment; I cooked most of it this morning before I left."

She giggled at that and looked around the room. She'd only been in here twice before. Hung over the fireplace was his signature artwork—a predatory beast that looked to be injured, surrounded by prey animals.

Nothing above his piano, but over the table sat his uniform from back in the army, sitting in a shadow box.

Other than that, the room usually seemed dark and dreary, yet tonight it seemed brightly lit and cheerful—although it could have been just her.

Soon he brought out the plates and placed a basket of garlic bread in the middle of the table before he sat down.

She took a bite, and he asked her, "How is it?"

She nodded in approval, making him smile as he started diving in. While he had meatballs, she only had sauce on hers. She took a bite of the bread, and her eyes shot open. "Wow, that's good! Where did you get your bread?"

"Baked it this morning," he replied as he took another bite of his dinner.

"You made this?"

"The dough and everything. The spaghetti, too, actually."

"Wow, you really can cook! Who taught you?"

"Living alone, you gotta be able to survive. I wasn’t going to just eat ramen for the rest of my life. I taught myself at an early age."

"Well, for someone self-taught, you really have outdone yourself," she complimented before diving in to eat a bit more.

He smiled at her compliments and watched her for a minute.

"What is it?" she asked.

"Oh, nothing. It's just I can't remember the last time I ever actually sat down and ate dinner with someone fun. I enjoyed being around. I'm invited to things all the time," he took his drink, "but I normally can't stand anyone. You are the exception."

She grinned and continued eating.

"Well, Dash, who is she?!" Rarity yelled.

"A super spy!" she yelled back. "Not just any super spy, but Daring Do herself, okay? She’s helping me get down to the bottom of who the Chaos King is."

"Really? And why don’t we know about this then?" Rarity threw the phone, smashing it.

"Because!"

"Because why!?"

"Because we're in so over our heads, Rarity, and it's scary, alright? I'm terrified every freaking day, and yet here I am on the front lines infiltrating a known criminal organization. You really think this is easy for me?"

"Daring Do is the only one who knows what they're doing, unlike a bunch of amateur mutants who don’t know what we’re dealing with!"

This sudden outburst from Rarity's friend made her gasp in disbelief. "You don’t think I don’t know what we’re up against!"

"He killed them, Rarity! He killed Daring Do's whole family—her three kids and husband. I heard her say it."

"I am not gonna lose any of you, any of my friends, or any of my family!" She huffed and walked right past Rarity. "So stay out of it for your own safety!" she yelled, only to bump into a bewildered Twilight with a shocked, crazed smile on her face and a pile of dragon books in her hands, muttering, "Dragon ponies, we’re dragon ponies. Haha, hahahahahaha."

The two mares stood staring at her. In unison, all they could say was, "Uhh?"

Still eating dinner, Fluttershy thought of some small talk to start a conversation. Just as always, it was her to begin the small talk, much to their surprise. "So how long have you been able to cook like this?"

"Since I was very young, actually," he replied in a reminiscing voice.

"Your mother must've been proud."

He narrowed his eyes, and a look of disinterest crossed his face. "No, I grew up in an orphanage. Not a very nice one either."

Fluttershy's eyes widened. For the first time since the night they first met, he actually said anything about himself or his past.

"I ate alone for so many years... And even after I was invited to parties and outings, I just never really wanted to hang around," he told her before continuing to eat.

"Well, it's nice to see you've grown out of that then," she told him. "So you were an orphan. But you were adopted, right? What was it like growing up with Pinkie? She’s such a nice girl, but she definitely has a lot of energy."

Mr. Ghost's muzzle twitched a bit at that.

"She adopted me as her big brother. I was never adopted by her family. For three years, I couldn't get rid of her until I went into the military." His expression changed to one of a faraway distance.

"In hindsight, I'm actually rather thankful for it. It felt nice to have someone want me to actually come home from the war. She wrote to me every week and sent plenty of care packages full of little gift boxes to me over my time there." He grabbed his glass. "Still, I never wrote back to her or anything. It wouldn't have been right to do so since she is not my sister, adopted or otherwise," he sipped his wine.

"Well, I think that's a very sweet thing to do, and she still brings you muffins from Sugarcube Corner. Between the war and the event at Sugarcube, you're quite the hero."

"Event... What event?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Oh, Mr. Cake told me the story of how you stopped those gangsters from ruining the shop." With every word she spoke, his muscles seemed to tense up. But she never noticed. "I can't believe you survived being stabbed, and then all those gunshots. I'm so happy you're alive."

At that, his eyes widened. It was clear from his expression she completely caught him off guard. "Oh. Oh, I didn’t mean... I mean, I just... you're a hero," she tried.

Once again, his expression fell to one of disinterest—his usual poker face. "Yes, well, that was long ago."

"Perhaps, but it's clear Mr. Cake is thankful for it... And to think you kept them from going out of business. I think that's..."

"Enough," he grumbled, startling her in the process. "Let's talk about something else." He then grew a sly smile. "How did you get into modeling?"

"Oh, that," she nervously chuckled, a bit embarrassed. "Well, you see..." As she went into the story, Mr. Ghost relaxed into his chair again and began finishing his dinner.

"Dragon ponies, dragon ponies," she repeated crazily as her hair became frizzled by the minute.

"Twilight, what are you muttering about?" Rarity asked, only for the door to open up and Shining Armor to come out. "What's going on out here?" he questioned.

"Dragon ponies!" Twilight tossed her books in the air, and they conveniently opened to the right pages. "Look, look! A lion's mane, a fish tail, a goat horn!" She pointed at the illustrations. "We're not just any old chimera; we're dragon ponies! We're draconiqui!" Twilight shook and shivered and laughed to herself, scaring everyone around her.

"Okay, maybe you should switch to decaf, Twily. Pinkie, don’t let her eat sugar!" Shining called back to the table behind him as Twilight walked in through the door.

"Oh, oh, don’t worry! I won’t—not if she’s acting like that." Pinkie smiled.

Dash picked up a book and looked at it. The claws on one of the dragons resembled hers, as did another's beak. "Sooooo... we're dragon ponies? Yeah, I'm gonna stick with chimera because I don’t know, that just sounds twenty percent cooler," she shrugged.

"Twilight, I know this is huge and all, but we got bigger issues," Rarity told her crazy friend. "Dash here is working for someone called Shadow Star and is trying to go solo on us."

"No, no, let me explain! Look, I found out that Daring Do author, A.K. Yearling, is actually a super spy, and she's been trying to track down the Chaos King for years, seeking revenge for her dead family."

"Oh, and what organization is she part of?" asked Rarity, not buying it.

"I, uh... I can’t tell you, Rarity. Sorry." Dash winced.

"Hmph. Likely story. You trust them more than your own friends."

"You don’t know what we’re getting into; trust me, Rarity. This is for the best," Dash explained. Twilight set a hoof on her chin as Dash finished her story. "What's ya thinkin', Twi?" asked Dash.

"The question is can we trust her? How do we know she's not involved? How do we know she's not the Equalizer?"

"Or Lord Chaos in disguise!" Pinkie shouted.

"She's like a super spy for the agency. What more proof do you need? She also handed me this phone and said she'd call when she needed me."

Twilight's eyes widened. "Dash, that could have a tracker on it. If she's working for the enemies, she could know our position."

"Don't worry; I already broke it," Rarity boasted.

"Hey, I told you she's one of the good guys! Why don't you trust her?" Dash asked.

"Because I don't trust anyone!" Twilight yelled.

At that, the room grew silent. Dash's expression was filled with a look of hurt as she asked, "So do you trust me? Do you trust your friends?"

"Trust you? You're all chimera. I'm in charge of you!" Twilight tried to grab her.

Dash moved out of her reach, spun around, and kicked Twilight into the floor—not enough to hurt her, just enough to send her back.

"Dash!" Shining exclaimed!

"You should trust your friends! You should be loyal to your friends!"

"Friends? Do friends kick friends into the floor?!" Twilight yelled, her eyes beginning to glow.

"You speak of trust, yet you didn't trust us!" Rarity called her out.

At that, Dash stared at her in disbelief, but soon her expression turned to one of anger as her own eyes began to glow. "Fine then; I guess we're not friends."

Pinkie, upon hearing that, dropped her jaw. "Now hold on a minute!" She stepped in the middle of the two. "Everyone just needs to calm down and think this through."

"Think? Think? No, no! We've been working together for how long? And here I ask her to give me some trust, and she tries to claim I’m the bad guy here. No, I'm out of here!" Dash said and walked toward the door.

"Leave, and we'll hunt you down."

"Twilight," gasped Spike.

"No, Spike! Now that I know what we are, I know how dangerous this is. If my theory is correct, if we truly are dragons, one wrong move and we could be playing into the villains' hands. Dash, as your leader, I'm telling you this one time: stand down."

"Ha! Some leader! From the start, you never actually worked with any of us! So what if I say no?" Dash grumbled.

Mr. Ghost and his friend finished their dinner, and she even helped him clean the dishes. The two of them seemed to be getting along, at least to her. But she learned very quickly that unless he gave it away, anything about his past was a subject off-limits for the most part. Still, she did learn a few new things about him. It was a start. He told her more about what he did for work and how he was studying the chimera disease himself to find a cure. The one thing he talked about most, though, was the trips he often took on his bike. Turns out he's been all over the world, not just Equestria. His favorite thing was his mode of transportation. The entire time he had a genuine smile when he explained his travels.

"I once rode on the back of my bike through the jungles of Zeefrica. I was there visiting on a business trip with a politician. You would never imagine the size of the trees there and the many strange creatures who lived there."

"I always wanted to visit there one day. I love elephants."

"Saddle Arabia is a good place to see elephants, believe it or not."

"You've been there too?"

"Absolutely," he boasted. "Probably the most fun I've had on a trip. I can tell you one thing: the drinks there are something else," he shook his head. "You can't take the ones we have here; you wouldn't be able to handle anything back there, believe me," he chuckled.

"So you seem to have been on a lot of business trips. Ever just taken a vacation?" she asked.

He shook his head. "Far too busy. Mostly my job consists of business transactions. I only go because someone wants to meet with me about money and trade. Otherwise, I never leave this town." He sighed with another look of disinterest. "Always on the constant move. Despite having this setup, I actually barely stay here, never having a home to be honest," he finished.

Seeing that look again made Fluttershy's frown deepen a bit. They were having such a good time, and she didn't want him to close up again. She had to think about something—anything—to change the subject. Luckily for her, something came to mind.

"Umm, what interesting art," she said as she pointed at the piece over the mantle.

"Yes, that happens to always be a conversation starter," he replied.

The art was of a strange beast, a predator judging by its fangs and claws. It had a serpent-like tail and a skull-like pony head, yet there were no eyes or much detail to its face at all. There was a lot of detail, however, depicting its large bat-like wings, which it seemed to be using to hide its face. Yet on the wing, it appeared to be bleeding. The gruesome detail to the bloody wing was what made Fluttershy uncomfortable.

Surrounding it was a bunch of prey-like animals: rabbits, deer, squirrels, and other small rodents and creatures.

"Um, so what is it?" she asked.

Tensions ran high in the room as the two chimera with glowing eyes stared daggers at each other.

Finally, Dash blinked and took a more aggressive stance as she said, "I'm out of here." She reached for the door, and as soon as she did, Twilight pulled from her door her tranquilizer gun. "I don't think so," she said confidently.

"Twilight, what are you doing?" Shining tried to grab the gun, but Twilight used her abilities to not only evade him but knock him onto the floor. She'd been training, and so far it seemed to have paid off.

Dash looked at Twilight over her shoulder. "You know the last time we did this, I remember you walked away with a broken rib."

"Sprained, actually, and this isn't like last time." She said as she cocked the gun.

Spike and Pinkie took a step back just in time as Dash growled.

"Well, see." Suddenly, she jumped and was so quick that she almost kicked Twilight's gun out of her hoof.

Twilight wasn’t the fastest of the group—definitely third behind Dash—but nevertheless, she dodged her and brought her own hoof up into the rainbow griffon's jaw.

Dash stepped back, rubbing the end of her jaw. The knee definitely hurt, but it was nowhere near enough to take her out.

Twilight readied herself for another attack as Dash recovered, looking for an opening herself.

"Hmm, what about the painting?"

She gave a slight nod.

"Oh, well let me ask you this: What would a dragon and a pony look like if you combined the two?" He smirked.

She tilted her head at that. "I guess a dragon pony. Like your bar."

"Correct. This here is a painting of it. I painted it myself," he said, examining his hoof.

She took a look at the painting of the beast. "So why is it hurt?"

Mr. Ghost's eyes widened as he heard those words.

Dash found her opening and lunged at Twilight, who dodged it and came back for a back kick, only for Dash to throw her through the window. But this did not stop Twilight; she quickly got on her feet as Dash came in for another punch. Twilight used her horn to create an ice shield that made Dash slip over it and hit the wall face-first.

"Stop it, you two! Pinkie, do something!" Spike panicked.

"But what? I don't want to hurt my friends."

Just then, Dash growled and created a burst of wind that sent her flying toward Twilight, who used her ice powers to ice skate her way to safety, though she did slip on her own powers.

"If you don't do something, they're gonna kill each other," Shining told Pinkie, who quickly bit her lip in fear. "Please!" Rarity yelled out.

"Hurt?" he asked.

"Yeah, you see his wing? It's bleeding."

Discord narrowed his eyes at that. "And how do you know this creature didn't kill?"

"Because if it did, then there would be blood on another animal," she twitched an eyebrow. "But it seems to me the dragon pony is scared because of his injuries, and the other animals are only glaring because of how frightened they are of the obvious predator in their sights—injured or not."

He stood stunned, his mouth opened at the surprisingly insightful comment made by the mare. "Congratulations! I think you're the first to ever dissect that photo and be right."

"Huh, I'm right?"

"Yes," he said with his eyes narrowed. Yet there was something sad in his expression. "The dragon pony is definitely hurt in that painting."

Fluttershy watched him, curious about what he was going to do next. Seeing his expression, she quickly wanted to change the subject. Oh, but to what? She didn't want to lose him—not after learning so much and breaking down so many barriers with him. Then her eyes widened with an idea. "So, uh, you said you had a jellyfish tank once?"

Mr. Ghost nodded.

"Umm, can I see it then?"

He smiled at her and gave a slight nod as he walked over to the stairs. "The jellyfish are in the back of the lab. Come, I'll show you." He held his hoof out to her.

She took it, thrilled to touch him, if only slightly.

Pinkie stood in place, watching her two friends tussle as she struggled with what she was going to do.

"Pinky!" the boys shouted at her to do something.

The two went from the nicely set, almost romantic atmosphere of his apartment down to the sterile, white, cold, clean lab.

Fluttershy had seen part of the lab before, but she never got to see all of it. She gasped as she saw the large round fish tank in the back corner, full of colorful jellyfish.

She marveled at the sight of the majestic moving creatures in the water. Some were pink, some white—almost clear—and some were dark blue, almost hard to see in the fish tank.

"Amazing, are they not?" he said with a dreamful sigh, letting go of her hoof.

She wished he had held onto it, but didn’t fight it when he let her go.

"Why do you have so many?"

"Oh, well it's, uh... They're actually my test subjects."

Fluttershy's eyes widened at that.

Mr. Ghost gave a slight nod. "You see, these creatures have no brain, no heart, or really any pain receptors of any kind. It's delicate work due to their jelly-like texture, but due to their transparency, it's also easy to see what happens on the inside to them during an experiment. The best part is I can get what needs to be done, whether that's implanting an organ or something in the jellyfish, or simply seeing whether or not the experiment would kill the creature without causing any pain to them at all. Most people use lab rats, and while it's far easier, I actually don't like the idea of harming any creature. By using jellyfish, I've eliminated that issue."

Fluttershy was a bit stunned by this but then slowly came around to the idea. It was true that jellyfish had no brain, heart, or pain receptors. She didn't like the idea of any creature being experimented on, but one without feeling any pain would be acceptable in some odd sense, right? The question was, what kind of experiments did the Lord do on such creatures? Still, it was one question that she decided she didn't want to know the answer to.

"And here I thought you said you weren't one for animals, Mr. Ghost," she gave a slight giggle with his name.

"That doesn't mean I like seeing them in pain. They didn't do anything to deserve it."

The way he said "deserve it" made Fluttershy raise an eyebrow, as if there was another question she wanted to ask but decided she didn't want the answer to. Still, the question remained: Did anyone deserve it? And somehow it seemed like he believed there were those who did, the way he spoke.

"Some of them have turned into quite unique creatures due to my experimentation. Normally many do not survive, and I dispose of them, but one in particular I've come to keep as a useful pet. You just got to meet him. I think you'll rather enjoy this, seeing as to your liking of animals." He said as he walked down a ways from the fish tank. She followed him, never taking her eyes off the beautiful jellyfish in the tank until she bumped into him, not watching where she was going.

She quickly turned to him. "Sorry," she said, as he stood still, hardly moving.

"That's quite alright. Now look," he told her as he held out his hoof to a glass box sealed with a big black lock on it.

Inside of the box was a purple substance that filled the entire container. She looked into the box, expecting to see a jellyfish swimming in the ooze, but there was nothing. She raised an eyebrow and only snickered at her look as he pulled out a rusty black key. He slipped it into the lock and opened the latch.

"Come now, Smoose, you have a visitor."

The purple substance began to bubble and expand, making Fluttershy a bit worried. It continued to expand and bubble until it overflowed out of the container, making her eyes widen more, unsure of what to do.

He just watched her reaction with an amused look on his face.

The substance boiled, bubbled, and expanded until it was at least three times its size, and then it literally all bubbled out of the container and seemed to collect itself into a pile of goo. No eyes or anything, but it seemed to have a mouth not unlike that of a jellyfish. It finally stopped bubbling and sat there, almost as if it were staring at the two of them.

"That's it, that's it! Come here, buddy," he cooed as he reached his hoof out to it. The Smoose seemed to approach it and almost sniff it before it bubbled over Discord's hoof. As it moved, it left a slimy substance in its path as it ran up his arm and almost seemed to cuddle with it. A strange sound, which almost sounded like a cat purring underwater, came from the slimy substance now all over Discord's arm.

He then turned to the still unsure and slightly frightened Fluttershy. He snickered a bit before he spoke. "No need to fear. It's harmless—well, mostly harmless," he said as he held out his arm to her.

As he did, the slime seemed to come to life on its own as it continued to move around bubbling as it did.

Fluttershy very cautiously built up the nerve to reach for the creature, if you could call it that.

She did shake in fear a bit when the substance finally moved off of his arm and onto hers. It was a strange substance. It felt as if a bag of hot water was on her arm—hot but not uncomfortable. It seemed to sway back and forth on her arm, and the more she had it, the more used to the strange creature she got. As she warmed up to it, she began to play with it, poking it and brushing it. Funny enough, the creature seemed to like the interaction since it continued to make strange sounds—a cross between a dolphin and an excited dog-like sound.

"See? He likes you. Or it, I suppose," Mr. Ghost shrugged.

"What is this thing?" she asked.

"It was one of my first experiments. I don't know why it survived. Every time I try to recreate the thing, it never does. It started out as a jellyfish and somehow gained not only intelligence but the ability to well do that," he shrugged. The creature then made a sound that almost resembled a stomach growling. "Oh, he's hungry. The funny thing is he's not actually making noise. Somehow he's able to repeat sound. Believe it or not, that's my stomach he's mimicking whenever he's hungry."

"He eats?"

"Yeah, though he has one of the strangest diets," Mr. Ghost said as he headed to a fridge. "He eats metals. The problem is that when he eats too much, he grows too fast, so don't let him eat your jewelry or anything, okay?"

He pulled out a pouch of what looked to be old, rotting blood.

"I keep him around since he's great for disposal. Watch this," he replied, opening the blood that reeked of decay and placed it on the counter.

The creature seemed to know the scent well, even though it had no nose, and it began to bubble and move off of Fluttershy and over to the bag.

"I thought you said it eats metals."

"Oh, but it does! There is plenty of iron in a blood cell and other metals in the body. Smoose will eat it all, leaving only water to remain."

He said as the bag of red turned into a cleaned, clear liquid. The creature was half in the bag, absorbing the red stuff and leaving it clear. It bubbled and seemed to begin to boil the blood as it did so.

"It won't harm anything, but you might notice that wherever he touched, dead skin might be gone due to him eating it."

Fluttershy looked at her arm, and he was right. There wasn't much of a trace of dandruff or anything on her arm where Smoose had touched.

The strangest part of Smoose, though, wasn't the fact that it was alive, but the fact that it seemed she once saw something like this before. This color, at least. But she couldn't figure out where she had seen the color before. Something to think about later, she supposed.

The creature finished its dinner and made what sounded like a burp noise.

Mr. Ghost laughed a bit nervously at that. "Ahh, mimicking me. Believe it or not, I can get it to mimic my voice too." He cleared his throat. "Smoose, say something."

The Smoose seemed to move and twist, as if curious like a puppy would move its head when trying to figure out a command.

"Something!" it said, mimicking Discord's voice but squeaky.

"Good boy, Smoose. What else can you say?"

"What else can you say?" the creature said.

"Oh wow, that's incredible," Fluttershy gasped.

"Yes, even if he's only mimicking. He can also dance." Mr. Ghost clapped his hooves, spun around, and slid a little to the left with his hip out.

The creature, to the best of its abilities, copied his movements.

Fluttershy giggled at the sight of this as Discord continued his dance moves with the pile of goo copying him. Mr. Ghost smiled at her laughter, not realizing just how much he enjoyed hearing it.

"It's only too bad it leaves such a mess when it moves around; otherwise, I'd have it follow me like a dog or something."

"A dog or something," it repeated and stopped dancing when he did.

"Well, it sure is a strange one. But I love it."

"I knew you would," he smirked. "This one's a survivor, that's for sure... Just like me," he said the last part under his breath. Fluttershy did hear it and raised another eyebrow but decided not to pry.

"Love, love. Love it, love it," the Smoose said which made the tall pony tense up a bit. Hearing his own voice, whether squeaky or not, say such a thing in front of her made him uncomfortable. "Um, okay, now the hard part. Smoose, it's time to go to bed."

He said as he picked up the glass box it was originally in and placed it next to him. The Smoose didn't seem to want to go in at first, but Discord grabbed a little jar and sprinkled something in it.

"Iron shavings," he told Fluttershy, who looked at it curiously. The creature, along with its treat, got into the container and settled back down, shrinking into every inch of the box before Mr. Ghost closed it and locked it tightly.

As the fight came to a close, Twilight raised her gun at Dash, who came in for a finishing blow. One way or another, this fight was going to end in the next two seconds. In that time, Pinkie watched, scared of whatever was going to happen.

A gunshot went off, and a flash of pink ran past them. The two mid-fighting eyes didn't register at first what had happened, but as their minds caught up, it was all too clear what had occurred.

Pinkie ran in between the two as Twilight shot her tranquilizer. It hit Pinkie and not Dash, sending both her and Dash flying. "Pinkie!!!" shouted the two.

"Look at what you did!" Dash yelled.

"It's a tranquilizer; she's gonna be fine. She'll sleep for... a few hours."

"Hmph!" the griffon snorted. "You've got your priorities twisted, Twilight." She picked Pinkie up.

"Where are you going?" asked her opponent.

"Where do you think?" she replied.

Twilight wanted to follow but knew she had no more ammo and decided to let them go. She lost this round, and she knew it. She then walked right into the window of the apartment. Just then, AJ walked in. "Oh, guys, I'm back! Did I miss any—" she stopped just as she saw the mess around the room.

Twilight didn't even hesitate walking past her and going straight to her room, slamming the door shut.

"Things..." AJ finished her sentence with a look of shock.

"Well, this was nice," he smiled.

"Yes, yes it was," she blushed.

"So, uh, perhaps we could do this again sometime then?"

He was asking her on another date. She saw the clock on the wall and knew he was ending the night. "Uh, yes, I would like that very much. Umm, are you busy tomorrow?”

"No, I mean yes, but I always come home for dinner," he said, a bit out of breath, pleased with her response.

A moment of awkwardness began to settle in as silence came between the two of them. "Umm, so."

"So," he repeated after her. "It's a date then."

"A date? Yes, we're dating now," she grew a sly grin of her own. "Since when was this a date?"

He chuckled, "For a shy pony, you're not very shy."

"I'm not around my friends. If I am, at least you're my friend."

He looked at her with a smile on his face. "Very well, friends, if nothing more."

"Goodbye then." She finally said and began walking to the door. Of course, it was behind him, so she was walking toward him.

"Y-yes, good, uh, goodbye for now." He said, not wanting to admit how much he wanted her to stay.

As she was about to walk right past him, the two exchanged happy looks. A question on both of their minds that was never asked or answered: "Are you going to kiss me goodbye?"

But no such gesture came from either of them. It was too soon for that. As soon as she was out of the door, Mr. Ghost dropped his facade, a look of bewilderment on his face. Did he really just have a nice date with someone he actually got along with? And wanted another? Did he actually hope for a kiss goodbye from her? He could not answer; all he could do was shake his head. "What did I get myself into?" he said just above a whisper.

Fluttershy ran into the bus, and when she sat down, she hid her face with her hair as always. She had a smile on it, though. One she couldn't hide.

Author's Note

Continuing off my last author note I was telling how I came up with this story. Thought I be a cool idea.

So my ideas were many. Some I might turn into a full fan fic later. One ide was what if instead of multiple villains, MLP was about twilight vs one villain. Of course they'd be side villains but one big bad guy to take over everything. Discord being my fav obviously took this spot. And I started a rough out line of that story... In it I thought it be cool to have all the ponies be a bit difrent. We'd have Alicorn twilight, unicorn rarity, seapony pinky, I know wierd. And shy flutterbat. They'd come together as knights of the round table to fight off thire true enamys discord. Except being a flutercord fan I wanted discord to eventually fall for flutterbat and in the end give up his right for her... Good idea right... Well problem was flutershy became the main lead. Something I didn't like because twilight is the main lead . And no I am not doing twicord. Not the worst ship ever I just like fluttercord. Twilight is the main lead of the show. And I wanted to focus on her as the main lead. But Everytime I try to introduce flutercord that all fell apart. And I gave up.

Ok more on this later 😂👋