Discord's eyes glowed as he slowly stood up. He had an evil smile spread across his face as he looked at the Crystal Empire.

"Discord...you okay?" Twilight asked.

"Ha ha ha, oh Twilight...I've never been better," he laughed mischievously. He snapped his lion paw and turned the ice on the ground into soap, and the snow filled clouds into cotton candy. Twilight took a deep breath.

"Discord you need to get into the Crystal Empire! It's very important."

"Why would I want to get into the Crystal Empire?"

"Be...because...," she had to think, she had to give The Lord of Chaos a good reason to break into an Empire... "Because Sombra wants to take over Equestria...he is planning on attacking you so that nopony gets in the way!" that should reach him...right?

"Ha, Sombra thinks he can beat me at my own game? I will be the only one taking over Equestria here!" Discord said proudly. He put both of his hands on the forcefield and closed his eyes.

Sombra was walking around his castle, towards Fluttershy's room with her 'lunch'. He knocked on the door but didn't wait for a response and walked into her room. She was laying on her bed, awake. She didn't give any sign that she knew he was there, but of course she did.

"Here is your...food," he said ignorantly as he tossed it to the bottom of her bed. He walked towards her, just noticing how thin she looked, not that he cared. He waited for her to move or at least look at the food, but got no such satisfaction. He started walking towards her window.

"So...have you given any thought to the offer I m-" he stopped short as he noticed five colourful mares and a draconequus standing outside his forcefield. Sombra panicked for a brief second but then realized that they'd never get through the force field anyway. He just watched them stand there helplessly, not giving notice to the cotton candy clouds or soapy snow. He was about to turn back and face Fluttershy when he realized what was actually happening.

The shield slowly started to melt in the area that Discord put force on. He could feel his paw and claw start to slip through, his arms, his body, his tail...he was through.

Sombra's pupils shrank. He went to Fluttershy's bed and yanked her off by her wings.

"What are you doing!?" she resisted.

"Come NOW!" he demanded. They were here for Fluttershy, he was sure of it but he needed her magic! Fluttershy was struggling as Sombra dragged her out of the room. He started sweating, knowing that this could be it.

They arrived in the library. Fluttershy was thrown into the middle of the room.

"What do you want now!?" she asked angrily.

"Oh shut up," he said. Sombra used his magic to encase Fluttershy in chains that appeared from the floor. Chains wrapped her hooves, wings and neck. She cried in pain as the chain around her neck put pressure on the necklace that Sombra had placed on her. Tears welled up in her eyes.

"What are you doing!?" she gasped in pain as she crouched towards the ground.

"Waiting."

Discord was through the barrier and looked back at the five mares who were still on the outside.

"Where are you Sombra?" he snarled. He hovered above the ground slowly towards the castle, as he turned his head to look at his whereabouts he couldn't help but feel a pang of something uneasy inside him.

He climbed the stair case that led to the first floor. It was dark but the hallways were lit with torches that shone green flames. Discord didn't know which way to go but his ears caught the soft sound of a seemingly familiar voice. The voice was feminine and sounded in pain, Discord felt another pang of emotion within him. The screams came from the hallway to his left. Discord stood on his two mismatched feet and slowly walked down the hallway, cautiously for something didn't seem to sit right within him.

Discord kept continuing down the halls but stopped when he came to an open door to his left. He took a peek inside it and noticed the scattered feathers and empty pillow case on the ground. Why did this look familiar? Another pang hit him, but this time he felt that it was closer to his heart.

He kept continuing down the dark hall and soon enough came to two large doors that had been left open. He slowly poked his head inside the room only to find it to be pitch black. He stepped inside, suspicious. Suddenly, lights flared in the room and showed a buttercream pegasus, who seemed unconscious, laying on the floor surrounded in chains. Discord felt another pain, but it was much bigger and attacked his heart greatly. He didn't understand why this was happening but this pegasus looked so, so...familiar. He then noticed that there was a small amount of blood around her neck.

*crack

Discord grabbed his head and looked to the ground as he felt a great amount of evil lift from inside him. He could feel the stone around his heart break. He opened his eyes wide as he looked around himself, realizing he had gotten through. He was about to sigh until his eyes fell upon her.

"Fluttershy?" he whispered. The realization didn't seem to hit him yet, until...it did. "FLUTTERSHY!" he tried to run to her side but was stopped by a blast of unicorn magic.

"Uh uh uh...I'm afraid it's not that easy Discord," Sombra grinned evilly, revealing himself from the shadows.

"Sombra," Discord glared.

"Hello, Discord. Is there anything I can do for you?"

"Fluttershy's release," he demanded.

"Ooh that's a hard one," Sombra said. He used his magic to release Fluttershy from the chains and pulled her over to where he stood.

"Fine, you won't do this with words? Then how abut with actions," Discord said as he stood in a battle stance. Sombra created a glass looking semi circle around Fluttershy. Discord used his magic to blast Sombra with cotton candy. Sombra got sticky but evaporated it with his magic. Sombra drew a surge of magic and tried to hit Discord with black crystals but Discord just slid backwards, dodging them.

Discord took plunder seeds from thin air and threw them at Sombra's feet, quickly using a spell to make them grow faster. Sombra watched as he was imprisoned in pokey thorns. Sombra lit his horn and vanished them instantly.

Sombra threw hundreds of small crystal shards from his horn, aiming them at Discord. Discord quickly made a shield appear and blocked them.

Attack after attack, Discord and Sombra fought until the entire library looked like a bomb had gone off. Neither of them had noticed that Fluttershy had started to awaken. Her eyelids fluttered and she slowly raised her head. She felt around her neck to find that it was so sore. Her attention then gazed upon the two magical beings battling in the same room. Her eyes fell on Discord and she could feel a small smile inside her. A small bit of hope.

Sombra and Discord kept dueling, getting more and more agitated. Sombra turned to see that Fluttershy was awake. He smiled menacingly as Discord was about to hit Sombra again. He quickly undid his glass barrier spell and pulled Fluttershy in front of him.

Discord noticed just in time and stopped the attack.

"Fluttershy," Discord said with a small grin.

"Discord," she returned the emotion.

"Now Fluttershy I want you to remember that little proposition I made for you."
Fluttershy's eyes widened and she began to shake her head wildly.

Sombra used his magic to keep her hooves trapped in the same place.

"Don't hurt her!" Discord said bravely.

"No Discord, don't worry about me! Run!" Fluttershy yelled.

"No, I'm not leaving you!" he said confidently. Sombra began to smile wickedly.

"Please, he's going to hurt you!"

"No I can't!"

"I'm not worth your life, don't give up what you have!"

"Don't you understand, you're worth more than anything I could ever care about. You are worth far more than my life!"

"You don't mean that, you'll forget about me! Please Discord, I don't wanna see you get hurt! Please run while you still have the chance!"

"I'm not going anywhere!"

"Why, why can't you run?!" she cried through tears.

"Because I can't lose you again!"

The room went silent.

"Fluttershy I...I Ahg!" Discord yelped in pain as Sombra hit him in the chest with a blast of strong dark magic.

"NO!" Fluttershy wailed. Discord was on his knees panting.

"So Fluttershy, what will it be?" Sombra turned towards her with his back facing Discord. Fluttershy looked towards the injured draconequus as they shared eye contact. Discord shook his head.

"I'm sorry Discord," Fluttershy sighed with tears in her eyes.

"Sombra, I...I agr-"

"No!" Discord yelled as he threw a ball of immense power towards Sombra. Frighten for his life, in the spilt few seconds Sombra had, he performed a spell. Sombra aimed his horn at Fluttershy as a stream of magic seemed to link the two but then disappeared. The ball of magic hit Sombra right on impact and it seemed to effect him deeply.

In his rage, Discord was about to throw another blast of magic until he noticed that the effect of his magic had also greatly impacted Fluttershy. She lay on the floor, alive and awake, but in deep pain.

"Wh...what? Fluttershy!" he tried to run to her but was stopped by another one of Sombra's attacks. Discord was about fire back.

"Ah ah ah," Sombra said out of breath as he shook his head. "Wouldn't want to hurt Fluttershy now would we?" he taunted.

"What did you do?!" he said enraged.

"Just a simple spell that links Fluttershy and I. Whatever pain or threat effects one of us, will also effect the other. So...you can kill me but..." Sombra ended his sentence to let Discord figure out the rest. Sombra stood up slowly and weakly. Fluttershy was on her knees.

"I've won, theres nothing you can do. You wouldn't dare hurt, let alone kill, her just to vanquish an enemy," he grinned wickedly. Fluttershy looked to Sombra.

"You're right, he wouldn't," she turned her gaze to Discord, "because his heart is too pure now, I made sure of that a long time ago," she smiled at him.

"...but I can," Fluttershy pulled out a crystal shard from behind her back that had been left on the floor from Discord and Sombra's battle. She raised the shard high and then...Fluttershy's stomach and the shard made contact as she was impaled. Discord's pupils shrank. Fluttershy yelped in pain and then ripped the crystal out and threw it across the room.

"No!" Sombra cried. Sombra crumbled to the floor and whined in pain. Soon enough, Sombra turned to ash and was carried off in the wind, never to be seen again. The castle and the entire empire returned to its natural state, as well as the barrier disappearing.
Discord ran to Fluttershy's side with tears in his eyes. He picked up her small figure and held her in his embrace. Fluttershy pushed her head against Discord's fur. She was still alive because of her magic that kept her breathing for a little while longer. Discord tried to use his magic to heal her but it wouldn't work.

"No, no, no, no, no!" Discord cried.

"Fluttershy, Fluttershy...no, no, no," he kept repeating.

"Discord," she said softly, "I'm so sorry," the words tumbled out weakly.

"Why, why d...did you-"

"Shhh, it's ok. I just couldn't let you get hurt. None of this was your fault, you didn't deserve to get caught in the crossfire."
Discord smiled weakly. Suddenly there were loud trotting noises coming from the hallway.

"Fluttershy?!" five familiar voices called. Rainbow, Applejack, Pinkie, Rarity and Twilight burst into the library. They all looked upon Discord who was holding their friend in his arms. His fur was soaked with tears and Fluttershy was bleeding. The five mares ran to her side.

"Fluttershy!" Rainbow yelled. "Wh..what happened," she said holding back tears.

"I...I defeated Sombra."

"But it cost her, her life," Discord said bluntly with no emotion.

"You...you're gonna...die?" Twilight asked, her eyes watered.

"I'm sorry," she said calmly. Each of her friends came in for a group hug.

"I'm sorry girls, I...I wish there was another w...way but..."
Her friends backed away a few hooves and crowed together, weeping.

"I'm sorry, but I thought this would be l...less painful for y...you," she said weaker and weaker.

"Well, you're sadly mistaken my dear. There is not amount of physical pain that...that could some close to this."

"W...why?"

"Because you are the only one whose ever been able to *sniff, actually make me feel like I have a heart that's alive instead of one made from stone."

"Well...life should be easier then, shouldn't it?" she said grimly.

"B...but I need you."

"I'll always be with you Discord, I...I...ahg!" she cried as she felt a tug at her heart. Discord's eyes widened.

"No, please! Please stay with me! I love you," he sobbed as he touched his forehead to hers. She softly touched his cheek and made him face her. She weakly lifted up her head and touched her lips to Discord's and whispered in his ear.

"I love you too," were her last few words before she fell faint and lost any sign of life. Her friends all crowded around her with their heads down.

"No...no! Please!" he sat there with her in his arms sobbing. He kissed her forehead and combed her pink strands of hair.

"I loved you, and I always will, I love you so damn much you have no idea!"

The room appeared grey and depressing as the six creatures mourned their friend. It was silent, until the faint sound of magic could be heard. Everyone, except Discord, looked towards the necklace that Fluttershy was wearing and watched as it turned blue. Colour returned to the room and to Fluttershy's body. The necklace now had a golden chain with a crystal blue heart in the middle.

Fluttershy's eyes opened as she took a breath of air. Her chest began to rise and fall. Her friend's eyes were wide and their smiles were wider. Fluttershy looked up at Discord who still had his head bowed. Fluttershy slowly wrapped her hooves around his neck and pulled him closer to her. Discord's eyes now flung open as he looked at the beautiful, breathing and alive buttercream pegasus that was Fluttershy.

"Flu...Flutter-" he was stopped as Fluttershy smacked her lips to his. He felt his heart flutter as he shared the moment with her. They soon broke apart and looked at each other longingly. Discord put his paw and claw under her armpits and stood up tall and gave her a tight hug.

"Oh, my dear. You'll never know how much I truly love you," Discord said happily.

"Well however much that is...I want you to know the feeling is mutual...Mr. Lord of Chaos."

Authors Note: Whoo hoo! 2 Chapters in less than 24 hrs! I really hope you guys enjoyed that. There will be about 1 or 2 more chapters until The End.