"Wasn't it?"

"Wha-?!" I jump in surprise from the voice in my ear, my body tumbling painfully from my usual resting spot in the hive. "Ow..." I begin to unsteadily climb to my hooves, but wince as a spike of pain shoots up my side. Groaning in frustration, I look down to see jagged rocks and sharp branches spread on the ground where I landed.

"What the..." I stamp my hoof furiously in the dirt, looking around at the surrounding trees for a culprit. "Okay, who did this?! Pharynx, if this is you, it's not... funny..." I trail off as my brain catches up to my eyes.

Where there was once the twisting structures of my hive, huge towers of wood and leaves now loom over me. Through the thick branches above, I can barely make out the moon's silvery glow.

When did I get outside? I whip my head around for anything familiar to latch onto, but find nothing but trees stretching endlessly to the horizon.

"Hello?!" I cry out to the darkness, hoping for some sort of response. The forest is quiet. But not the normal nighttime quiet of nature.

It's quiet. Not a single sound pierces the silence, leaving me with my own nervous breathing for company.

I sigh in annoyance. What was that word ponies use again? Sleepwalking? Did I really do that all the way out here? I sigh in annoyance as I turn my eyes back to the slivers of sky poking through the forest canopy. Might as well head back already.

I slip my wings from under my elytra and crouch down, feeling them buzz on my back as they pick up speed.

I leap.

A flash.

A weight manifests on my back and I crash hard to the earth. I shake my head and spit out some dirt from my mouth. What was that? I turn around, where a pair of crudely-colored purple cardboard wings block my sight.

My eyes widen in shock. I reach back to pry off the offending objects, but it's like they're glued onto my wings. I fumble to get them off, and in my struggle, I find myself stumbling into a patch of moonlight streaking through a hole in the trees, allowing me to examine my back.

They aren't glued to my wings. They are my wings, ugly, brown boards emerging from where my shimmering wings proudly stood, flailing uselessly as I flap. I lean back, grasp one of the cardboard pieces in my mouth, and yank hard. A searing wave of pain sends me gasping, my legs failing me as I collapse to the floor.

"What, you don't like them? Tsk tsk, and I worked so hard on those."

The voice from earlier echoes from everywhere. It comes from the trees, from the ground, from the rocks. My heart quickens as I stumble backwards until my back hits a tree. The cardboard wings fold on impact, twisting from under my carapace. I feel something snap and I cry out in pain. I squeeze my eyes shut, feeling tears well up. I didn't even know we could produce those. "Who are you?!"

The voice gasps mockingly. "Don't tell me you've already forgotten moi! It feels like yesterday that you last talked to me! Oh wait, that's because it was."

Icy venom drips off the last word, sending a chill through my spine. I gaze up to the hole in the canopy and focus my thoughts towards the form of an eagle.

"Ah ah ah. Not so fast."

Green flames erupt around me on command, but my body doesn't feel different. I look down and see familiar, hole-riddled, black carapace covering my foreleg.

"Much better. Yeugh, all those colors, I would've thought you were poisonous. Though, I guess that would mean everypony in Equestria would be filled to the brim."

"This isn't funny!" I screech, my eyes darting around for any sign of movement. "What do you want?!"

A loud creaking erupts behind me, and I turn around just in time to see the entire tree twisting and warping. In a single stroke, its thick trunk dives down and wraps around me, pinning my hooves down and lifting me with ease. I kick and flail uselessly as the wood crushes around me harder. I feel multiple things break inside me, but I no longer have the air to scream.

The tree branches fold inwards as the structure morphs like liquid, until a horrifyingly familiar face emerges from the mass, with mismatching horns, and glowing yellow eyes. "Y- you?!" I sputter out.

"Congratulations, we have a winner!" Discord's body unwinds rapidly, flinging me painfully towards another tree, where I crumple to the ground, too exhausted to move. "Do you know how much asking and poking around it took me to discover it was you? That you were the one who took Fluttershy and impersonated her at the hive?! Honestly, Twilight should give me an awar-"

"Why are you doing this?!" I cry out, coughing up green blood. "Aren't you good now!?"

"'Good'?" Discord cackles, then glares down at me. "I do good now to protect my friends, but that doesn't make me good." His grin vanishes. "For a thousand years, I have been nothing but Chaos, yet Fluttershy gave me a purpose for the first time." His eyes glow brighter. "Something you almost took from me. No, stole from me."

He pauses. "In a millennium, you're the first creature to ever really hurt me. There should be a prize for that, you know."

"Please, I was just following Chrysalis's orders! I-"

A snap, and my mouth is gone.

"Oh, don't give me that, I remember your grin. Your nasty changeling trick. I think you'll come to find your tricks pale in comparison to the fun I have in store for you..." Discord growls. He leans closer, raising a claw flowing with black and yellow energy.

"You're about to learn what a real trickster is capable of."

His talons snap.

Author's Note

Personally I don't really know if Discord would be one to do this, but it was too interesting an idea for me to pass down. Hope you enjoyed!