Chapter 20: Traps and Springs
Lights flickered on and off as he ran through a broken laboratory. His breath came in heavy gasps. Suddenly, something jumped out at him from the shadows. He couldn't see exactly what it was despite his chimera eyesight.

Suddenly, he woke up in a pit of sweat, shivering, his breathing erratic. Discord gritted his teeth, feeling his heartbeat faster than he could control. Immediately, he reached for the lighter and cigarette on his nightstand. But just as he was about to light it, something jumped on his arm.

He didn't know what or who it was. In this state, he wasn't Discord Ghost the Pony with everything; he was the pony who had just come out of a war zone. Whoever this was could have been an enemy ready to take his life. He immediately turned to them with intent to kill but stopped as he saw her gripping his arm, his entire body still trembling.

She stayed mostly under the covers, a nightshirt laid on top of her fur. She opened her teal eyes. "I don't want you to smoke anymore. It's bad for you."

Who was she? He could not remember; the recollection of her was not in his mind. Still, he could tell by the way she held him that she actually cared for his well-being. Slowly, he dropped the cigarette from his claw as he asked, "Who are you?"

She only snuggled into his side and mumbled, "Someone who loves you." As she rolled over onto her back, she began to hum Rara's song.

**May 10 — 5:54 am**
This was the morning Discord knew what he must do as he looked at her. Her name finally came back to him. "Fluttershy."

At the same time, Fluttershy was on the other side of the room, shaking a bit herself. A look of happiness filled her face, but there was worry in her eyes as she questioned in her own mind:

"What am I going to do? What will he say when he finds out?" She began to think of the possibilities.

"I'm done. This is too much for me; I'm sorry," the Discord in her mind said. Or will he say, "Why, this is fantastic! I know, why don't we get married?" He smiled at her with his sly grin. Or maybe he'll be romantic: "Oh my dear Fluttershy, you are the love of my life. This... this is only a sign of that love." Discord in her mind grabbed her by the hoof and got down on one knee. "I ask you, no, beg you, sweetheart. Please be mine and run away with me." He pulled out a ring.

She giggled at that last thought; the likelihood of that happening was never going to be. "It just wasn't him." But she did like to think of him in that way from time to time.

"What are you laughing at over there?" he asked smoothly.

"Oh, oh nothing. Come on, I think it's time we get some breakfast," she told him as she got out of bed.

"Would love to, but I actually have to go into work early this morning." He lied, not wanting to spoil the surprise he had just thought of. "Tonight, I will make you mine forever," he thought. "I will see you tonight, though," he told her.

She yawned. "Alright, but tonight I have something with my friends, so I'll be a bit late."

This made Discord stop in his tracks. "Tonight?" he questioned. He already knew what was going on tonight. "Fluttershy, there's something I must tell you." He turned around, seeing her fixing her hair.

"I'm listening," she said tiredly.

"Umm," he tried, wanting to tell her everything. "Umm," was all that came out.

"Yes?" she asked.

"I, uh, I care about you... you know that?"

She smiled. "Love you too," she replied playfully before she grabbed her purse from the chair in his room and headed out.

Discord stood, staring at the door for a moment after she left. He sighed. "Tonight everything will be revealed. *Tonight.*" He smiled a bit evilly. "I will **win everything tonight,**" he said as his phone rang. He looked at it and saw it was Capper.

Answering it, he asked, "Well?"

"Trap is ready, sir."

"Good, everything is going according to plan." He hung up the phone.

Capper hung up his phone as he looked around, watching members of Chaos Vill put the final touches on the caged Ariana in the middle of the warehouse. His eyes drifted to the doorway where he saw Pinkie and Dash enter.

He smirked at the thought of the events tonight, not caring about the two others who walked right past him.

Little did he know, the two were planning their own tricks to hopefully capture the chaos king themselves. Once they were away from the many ears around them, Junior asked his sister, "Are we ready for them?"

"Yep! As soon as we see Dad, you clobber him with the bat, I bag him, and we use our chimera powers to escape."

"You know everyone's gonna try to shoot us, right?" her brother reminded her.

"Luckily, we have our ways to deal with that," her eyes shone a bit yellow.

Fluttershy walked into her and Twilight's apartment. The first to greet her, surprising her, was not any of her animals or Twilight, but Rarity instead.

"Hey Fluttershy, where have you been? You look as if you just got home."

Fluttershy smiled nervously.

"Oh, you got to give me the details!" Rarity urged her.

She giggled. "Not gonna say a word," she told her friend.

Rarity giggled herself as she looked at her. Fluttershy was no longer as shy as she used to be, and it showed just by her hairstyle. In the past few months, she kept her hair up, revealing her entire face. She stood with more confidence, smiled more confidently, and spoke more confidently. It was a sudden change you wouldn't notice if you hadn't paid attention to her like her friends did. Rarity could only smile at her bravery.

"So when are we going to meet him then? If you two are starting to get serious, as your friend I want to see him."

"Oh, he's quite busy, and really, we're not all that serious," Fluttershy blushed, knowing she was lying as she laid a hoof on her stomach.

"And what's his name?" demanded Rarity in a happy tone.

Fluttershy sighed blissfully as she thought of his name. "I'm sorry, Rarity, but due to his line of work and mine, we both decided to keep that from our friends and family."

"Oh now, I bought that excuse before, but now, you must tell me," Rarity said enthusiastically.

Fluttershy giggled at the sight. "Sorry, no can do. Besides, it's kinda nice just having this between us." She shrugged.

"Yes, and what of, well, you know?" Rarity asked, a bit concerned.

"He knows; I told him what I could. We're not keeping secrets from each other. But he knows I can't tell him everything, and I know he can't tell me everything. We both agreed to let it go and just be happy."

"Well, so long as you're happy, then I'm happy for you." Her friend smiled.

Just then, Twilight entered the living room from her bedroom. Along with her were her brother and cousin.

"So today's the big day, is it?" he asked her.

"Yep, the plan was to have Dash sign up as a new contestant for Chaos Vill. Now that she's gone, I'm afraid I'm just going to have to use hair dye and join myself."

"You think Dash is going to be there?" asked Fluttershy.

"Most likely, and working for our mother no less," Twilight smiled.

"So what's the plan then?" asked AJ, who was sitting on the couch already.

"The plan is to go in, find Dash, and work with law enforcement and the ESA to catch the Chaos King, or at the very least, his second-in-command. Once we do that, we'll win."

"Do you think Dash is even going to want to help?" asked Fluttershy, concerned.

"Once I make up with her, she'll need it. Dash has to see reason," Twilight smiled sadly. "Besides, if she doesn't, I know my mom will."

"Alright, well, it sounds like a plan to me..." AJ smirked. "And to think when tonight's over, you'll have your family back—possibly even a third sibling. We'll find Luna, get Dash and my cousin back, and end this whole story on a good note with the Chaos King behind bars."

The group all laughed happily at that, all except Fluttershy, who oddly felt a pit in her stomach. Instead, she only smiled but couldn't shake this bad feeling.

Discord sat in his lab, fiddling with his hooves as he stared at a small black box with a dazed look in his eyes. He sighed happily at the thoughts of his plans tonight. He would take her to Sugarcube Corner first and sit down for a nice cup of tea, then offer a ride on his bike, and they would drive up to his thinking tree. Then when things were at their best moment, he would pull her in for a kiss; the wind would blow sweetly through her hair, and when he parted her lips, it would finally be at the perfect moment. "She'll never see it coming," he told himself, giggling a little at his own fantasy.

Just then, as he leaned over his right hoof, he heard a tiny voice similar to his own: "Fluttershy, Fluttershy."

He chuckled happily at the name. "Yes, Smooes, my pet, this is indeed a gift for Fluttershy—a very special gift at that. If all goes well tomorrow..." He opened the caged box, letting Smooes slime his way out of it. "You and I will never be alone again," he smiled softly. "I will never be alone again." Then he noticed the creature bubbling its way over to the box, and he snatched it up. "Na-ah! I know you like gold and can probably smell it, but this is for Fluttershy. You can't eat it." The slimy form seemed to retreat a bit.

"Gold can be quite expensive; I know it is your favorite treat. But soon, after the tournament tonight, I will have more than enough money to treat you, alright?" He said as he took a blood sample labeled "chimera" and placed it under his microscope. "Besides, there's plenty of gold in chimera blood to suit you, isn't there... there..." His eyes widened as something occurred to him. He ran to the back refrigerator and grabbed a blood pack—one frozen, but it would have to do—before racing back to his pet. "Smooes," he said as if teasing a dog.

"You want a treat? You want gold, don't you?"

The odd creature of pure science bubbled in response. "Yes, yes. Well, what if I told you I wanted you to do a new trick for me?"

The Smooes seemed to flop over as if it questioned what its master wanted.

"Yes, yes, I know, Smooes, I know. Tell you what, boy: how about you only eat the gold? Can you do that for me? Can you? Oh, can you?" he repeated as if the puddle of slime were a dog. Strangely, it seemed to wiggle as if happy to try, just like a dog would wag its tail.

"Okay then, Smooes, eat up." He placed the blood pack down. The creature didn't hesitate to surround itself in it and bubble up.

"Ah, ah! Remember, Smooes, only the gold," he reminded his pet.

The strange creature seemed to stop digesting it all and soon turned its focus to what it wanted most. As the gold compound fed into its system, the purple substance that made up Smooes's body began to shift to a greenish tone. Finally, when it was done eating all the gold, it left a puddle of blood in its place. Discord smiled and decided to take a sample of it. He planned to look at it through a microscope. He continued his work. When he found nothing—no gold anywhere—his jaw dropped. He leaned back in his chair as he returned his gaze to the pile of green goo. "You've done well," he smiled, taking a syringe from a drawer and drawing some of the ooze from the Smooes, chuckling somewhat evilly. "Ah, Smooes, you've done it. I've been researching for years, but this..." He turned back. "Who knew I had the answer all along?" He set a hoof to his chin and stroked his beard. "Hmm, this might be an incredible breakthrough, but to fully cure a morphed creature would be quite a difficult task, but not impossible," he grinned as he stroked his beard some more. "We have work to do," he said as he stared at the black box in front of him.

As the clock hit seven, Smolder walked up on stage inside a fighting cage.

"Alright, folks!" she announced into the microphone. "Welcome, welcome one and all to the annual street fighter tournament!!!" She yelled out to the cheering crowd. "You all know the rules: no weapons of any kind except your fists; other than that, anything goes. The goal is simple: much like a wrestling tournament, pin down your opponent for 5 seconds, and you win the match. Now, this is one of the biggest tournaments on this side of the country, with participants—some new, some old, and some straight out of the country—ready to give it their all and win the prize of ten grand. So let's start the match!" She yelled, exciting the crowd.

Among the crowd, sitting in his own booth, was none other than Capper, who nodded approvingly before taking a bite of his nachos.

Dash and Pinkie watched him as Smolder introduced the first match: a girl named Swiffle and a big dude named Bulk. Little did they know that Swiffle was indeed AJ in disguise.

By her side, a green-colored pony patted her on the shoulder. "Alright, you ready for this?" asked the green pony in a familiar voice.

"Yeah, Twi—uh, I mean Grennie." AJ smiled at Twilight's announcement. "The fights I have no problem with; it's after that that I'm worried."

Twilight bit her lip. "Just find Dash, my mom, and kidnap the biggest bad guy of them all. No biggie," Twilight said sarcastically, trying to hide her own nerves and failing to do so.

"In this corner, we have the mighty Swiffle Soundra!" announced Smolder. "That's your cue! Go get 'em," said Greenie as she turned her head to the crowd. She couldn't see them, but she knew that Shining, Rarity, and Spike were there, watching the fight. Spike even had a bag of popcorn.

Round 1 went pretty quick, as did Round 2. It wouldn't be until Round 7 that Dash would finally fight.

Dash had a good fight and ended up with a bloody nose thanks to her opponent kicking her in the face, but due to her chimera abilities, she was able to flip her opponent down into a chokehold, pinning him to the floor and winning the match.

Greenie was relieved to finally find her friend and headed to her booth. It was also Pinkie—a huge relief for the green pony.

"Way to go, Dash, Pinkie!"

Dash's eyes widened, knowing that voice all too well. "Twilight! Figured you'd show up." She turned to see a green pony. "Oh, oh sorry, Greeny, thought you were—"

"No, you're right. I'm in disguise," she smiled.

Dash's eyes narrowed. "Ready for round three then?" she grumbled.

"Dash, I'm here to help."

"Help who? Yourself?"

"You were right, alright!" Twilight announced. "I know why you did this. Rarity's dad is Shadow's boss. He ordered you not to get her involved, am I right?"

"And let me guess, she's here tonight, isn't she?" Dash replied, crossing her arms.

"Yeah, we're all here! We're a team, remember?" Twilight pleaded.

"Oh, that's rich coming from you! Some team we turned out to be!" She then pulled out a walkie-talkie.

But before she could say anything, Greenie kicked it out of her hand and caught the talkie.

"Give that ba—"

"Listen, our stupid squabble doesn't matter. What matters is stopping Dis—"

"And we will! You're just a lone wolf that doesn't know how to play fair," Dash snarled.

"You're right," Greenie spat, but then sighed.

Pinkie, who had been sitting back watching the whole fight, smiled. "Ha! Let's get the band back together. Let's finish this and bring the baddie down! What do you say, Dash?"

Dash, whose nose had finally stopped bleeding, fixed her fake nose and stared at them. "I can't be a lone wolf anymore; I need your help, Dash. We can do this together."

Dash's eyes narrowed, but she gave a reluctant nod. "Fine, but we are not friends."

"Fine, but where's your boss? I need to see her."

"Why?"

"Because I think," Twilight chuckled, "she's my mother."

Dash's eyes widened in surprise as Pinkie gasped. "No way, your mom is Sha—"

"Quiet, Pinkie!" the two mares told her, trying not to let the enemies know. Pinkie crossed her arms with a pout, but not much of one, since she had a smile on her face.

"Well, Dash..."

Dash cracked her neck and her hooves. "The idea is to get close to that cat; he's the Chaos King's second-hand man. We capture him, we get his location, and the police force already has air support ready to fire on the building. Surrounding this place, both in the crowd and out, is law enforcement ready to move on Shadow's signal, which she'll get from me or Pinkie."

"Alright, I'll let you take center stage. Just know we're here to help if you need it," Twilight smiled.

"And now we got the big mean green Greeni tree! Give it a hand!" announced Smolder.

"Well, that's me." Twilight said apprehensively as she turned around.

"Greenie," Dash shouted to catch her attention. Dash looked away, still cross, but uttered the words, "Good luck."

Greenie smiled and gave a nod. "You too," she replied before heading into the ring.

The crowd went wild for the newcomer as Twilight jumped for a backflip kick, hitting her opponent in the jaw and flinging him to the ground, knocking him out cold.

"Wow!!!" the crowd shouted. "One-hit knockout! Dash, you got some competition!" Smolder patted her on the shoulder before heading out on stage to announce the next match. Two more matches came down to Dash and AJ, who let Dash win. Greenie forfeited the match, her excuse being that her foot hurt after that last round.

"Well, I'll be darned! I didn't see it coming, folks! But here we have Dash, the winner!" Smolder said as Dash flung her arms up in victory.

"Now your prize," Smolder announced as Capper began to walk towards them with a suitcase full of cash. "Ten thousand cash prize!" announced Smolder as Capper opened the case to show off the big win. He held out his paw to congratulate her.

Dash smiled and went to shake Capper's hand, only for her to jump him, knocking over the cash prize. Capper was caught off guard but was able to raise his knee into her gut, flinging her off. He rolled over and stood up cautiously, only to have several members of the crowd jump up—some Chaos members—but they were quickly subdued by officers of the law.

One of them even went for Smolder, but she punched his head and turned to Capper. "We're trapped," she announced.

"Oh, you think?" he said sarcastically and somewhat panicked.

Dash fell so hard that her fake muzzle fell off, revealing her beak. In seconds, as she raised her wings, her facial feathers came out as well. The crowd was scared, but the cops quickly got a hold of everything. On the ground now, most of them shouted at those in the crowd. Chaos members tried to fight back, but Rarity and Fluttershy jumped into action, taking their mutant forms and supporting the cops.

Fluttershy dived for Smolder, but she was quick on her feet. She wasn't expecting a chimera, but she held no fear, fighting back against the creature before her. She was quickly able to get under Fluttershy's legs and twist her down, taking her out of the fight for good. Only when she rose did she find herself at gunpoint. "You," she growled as she saw Shining.

Capper wouldn't stand still; he was quick on his feet—too quick for most others. However, a green pony jumped in front of him. A blue horn emerged from her head, and her eyes went red. Twilight quickly engaged him, trying to knock him off balance. Smolder was able to knock a barrel of beer at her, ruining her disguise—not that it mattered, as it washed away the makeup and hair dye from her. She shook it off, hating the smell of beer all over her.

"You," Capper said, a bit astonished.

"Ready for round 2?" she asked. This time, she's not alone, Dash said as she flew at Capper. He dodged her attack and then side-kicked Twilight, who caught his foot and went for a punch, giving him a black eye and knocking him to the ground. However, with his tail, he knocked Twilight off her feet. As he hit the ground, he quickly came up for another round, only stopped when he heard the click of a gun at his head.

"Don't move," said Shadow.

"Dash, who is this?" asked Shadow.

"Yeah, uh, that's my friend Twilight Sparkle." She smiled, knowing all too well who Tempest was.

With that name, Tempest's mouth dropped wide. "Twilight?" she whispered in a pleading manner. "Could, could it be?"

"Yeah, it's me! And that over there," she pointed at the guy who captured Smolder, "is my brother, Shining!"

Shining turned his attention to Shadow. He was serious about not letting Smolder get away, but he couldn't help but let his expression fall to one of hope. Hope that they were right— that Tempest Shadow recognized them.

"I know it sounds crazy, but—"

"We know Mom," Shining said.

"We read your files," Twilight uttered in a half-cry.

"Oh, great! A happy family reunion," Capper said, running the moment. That snapped Tempest out of her daze. "Alright! Tell us where your boss is! Where is Discord!" she shouted.

Fluttershy, who was being held by Pinkie because of her leg injury, had her jaw drop along with her friend. "Discord? But that's—"

"Like I'd tell you! You're never gonna get anything out of me or any of those who are loyal to him! You might as well just shoot me and get it over with! Long live the Chaos King!" he shouted.

His voice was unmistakable. Fluttershy grew cold at the very thought. "No, no! Discord's not a villain!" she shouted.

"Fluttershy, how do you know him?" asked Twilight.

Fluttershy felt sick to her stomach as she placed a hoof over it. "Please, there must be some mistake!"

"You know where he is?" asked Tempest.

"Probably at his house on Elm Street!" Pinkie said, sputtering nervously. "Last house on it! Why don't we go there and ask him?"

"Oh god, no," Capper muttered.

Tempest didn't hesitate to call in the strike team. "Elm Street, last house! Take him down now!" she shouted.

"Copy that."

"Wait, you're not just gonna bomb a civilian house!" Dash stuttered.

"This is the Chaos King! We must take him out now!"

"Bomb!" Pinkie repeated in a panic. "No, no! Not my brother!" She yelled, turning into a chimera herself, only to be subdued by a dart shot by Tempest.

"I've come too far now; we have to take him out. The orders have already been made."

"Yeah, like mother, like daughter," Dash uttered.

Fluttershy fell to her knees despite the pain in her leg. The pain in her heart was unspeakable.

Two helicopters equipped with explosives flew over a house. They dropped their payloads, letting the building explode to smithereens.

"Target neutralized."

At the sound of that, Fluttershy collapsed into grief.

"Am I missing something?" asked Twilight.

Then Capper gave a chuckle.

"What's so funny?" Twilight asked him.

"Oh, you think you won. Granted, my performance has been almost as good as his. Was I a bit too convincing?"

"Huh? What performance?" asked Dash.

"Um, does anyone hear that?" asked Rarity as a sound of a motorcycle could be heard. Fluttershy's head shot up, tears still streaming down her face. "Discord," she whispered as a bike jumped over a train sitting by the warehouse. As it hung midair, Discord muttered something to himself.

"500 psi at a third-degree angle, two bullies, 12 targets." He pulled out his gun, and as the bike landed, he shot one bullet and then another that ricocheted off the wall, smashing into the other. With it, the two bullets flew around, disarming and freeing every Chaos member in one go.

But that wasn't all. Another train, this time led by Sunburst, came screaming to a stop, a hundred members of Chaos Vill all gathered, surrounding the entire building and taking it hostage.

"Late to the party as always, boss," Capper chuckled. As he quickly spun around, he back-kicked Shining’s gun up in the air before catching it for himself.

Discord chuckled slowly at first, before it built into maniacal laughter. Shining's eyes, as well as Twilight's, went wide. Tempest stood staring at Discord, dumbfounded.

"Oh, what's with that face sparky, I'm beginning to think you're not glad to see me. After all mother we are blood, aren't we, hhahhahahahah."

Author's Note

And the meaning behind the title of the story is revealed. 🤯

IVE BEEN BUSY, my apologies but with the holidays and me getting back to work I barely have time to write. tho this story has been done for months I need to spell check it and other things, and that just takes time.

Continuing my author notes on how I made this story.

So I had one major issue that I couldn't overcome. It's the same issue I had with all my fan fiction ideas and why the others were scraped. 😮‍💨 How to keep Twilight relevant as the MC, despite having a fluttercord story. And I wanted to connect her to the mystery of the tale as well. Well, this was my solution. Make Twilight Discord's brother. That kept her involved the entire way through. Once I had this down, I needed to go back and change half the story to make it work.

Then the title of the book. I needed something that was relevant to the story. Before this change I thought of calling it beast or mutant mayhem. Or heroes of harmony. I didn't want to call it power ponies. That name, I'm sorry sounds lame even to me who loves that episode.

But once I figured out Twilight was Discord's brother I figured naming something like Family of the Beast.

Didn't like how that sounded. And one random Tuesday ... Why Tuesday 😆I looked up Discord and read somewhere he was some type of chimera.

...

Yep. Family of chimera... Not edgy enough... What's another word for family? Blood . Ding ding ding we have a winner. And once again I went in and changed everything again. I even called the. mutants chimera. 😏

More on this later 😂👋