Chapter 25
"I gotta say Fluttershy, I take back everything I said, you're one tough pony" Screwball complimented with a smile as she looked at Fluttershy levitate herself. She was the one to give compliments where it was due.
"Thanks, but can you help me down?" Fluttershy asked, feeling happy that she proven herself at least to one pony.
"Sure" Screwball laughed as she focused her magic on Fluttershy. Screwball didn't respond as she kept focusing her magic, Fluttershy wondered what was wrong.
"Are you ok?" Fluttershy asked, still levitating.
"Weird, your magic is preventing me from using my magic on you" Screwball replied.
"So I can't get down?" Fluttershy asked, trying to flap her wings but didn't budge, the blue parasprite was flying near her head.
"Yeah you can, just focus your magic on moving down" Screwball instructed.
"Um, ok." Fluttershy agreed, she actually had no idea how to do that. It's not like she had magic before. She closed her eyes and focused really hard. When Fluttershy felt her hooves touch the ground she was relieved but then Screwball began laughing.
"I said focus on moving down, not bringing the ground up" Screwball laughed. When Fluttershy opened her eyes she saw she brought a chunk of the ground up to her feet, but she was still levitating.
"Oh I can't do this" Fluttershy sighed.
"Just imagine yourself being brought down to the floor" Screwball instructed.
"Alright" Fluttershy responded, closing her eyes again. She kept her eyes closed as she focused on moving down. She didn't feel anything change though.
"Nice job" she heard Screwball say. When she opened her eyes she saw that she and the chunk of ground was back on the floor, making her sigh in relief.
"I don't think I like levitating, unless it's Discord doing it" Fluttershy said, at least they had control over their levitation.
"Mmmhmmmm, I wonder why you like my dad so much" Screwball taunted, making Fluttershy look away to hide her blush. "But you're right, levitation is pointless if you have wings" Screwball added.
"So, what other things can I do now" Fluttershy asked as she nuzzled the blue parasprite.
"Nothing high leveled like a unicorn, unless you want to train with my dad, but you should be able to do the basics" Screwball told her, the green parasprite then landed on Screwballs head.
"What are the basics?" Fluttershy asked.
"Well that depends on the pony themselves, for me I knew how to change object's colors, which I absolutely loved doing" Screwball laughed.
"So, what are MY basics then?" Fluttershy asked again.
"Well we will experiment to find out" Screwball said. She remembered how it went for her so she could only imagine how it'll go for Fluttershy.
"You sure this is a good idea?" Sweetie Belle asked, eyeing the cliff carefully.
"Yeah, 'ah don't want to break anything" Applebloom added.
"C'mon girls, wouldn't a cliff diving cutie mark be amazing?" Scootaloo encouraged. Both Applebloom and Sweetie Belle looked at each other with a worried expression on their faces.
"Maybe we should try somethin' else" Applebloom suggested.
"I don't this this equipment will help up" Sweetie Belle added, adjusting her cardboard 'helmet' and blanker 'parachute'.
"Just think about it, we would have the most amazing cutie marks in the school! Nopony can mock us for having cliff diving cutie marks!" Scootaloo tried. Unaware to any of the Cutie Mark Crusaders there was a pink cloud above them and a draconequus watching them.
"These hooligans always come up with the best ideas" Discord thought to himself, he loved watching them doing their stunts. Discord secretly loved children, their endless supply of energy and their nature of causing trouble because '"they don't know better" made them practically chaos beings. Well, at least till they grow up and they turn out boring like all the other ponies. Or so Discord thought, maybe they'll be like Pinkie.
"Alright fine, but next time 'ah decide what we do" Applebloom sighed.
"Fine" Scootaloo responded.
"I have a bad feeling about this" Sweetie Belle added.
"Alright girls, on the count of three. One." Scootaloo counted off. Discord wasn't one to worry.
"Two." Sweetie Belle whimpered. Discord was leaning on the edge of the cloud, was he worried for them? No, he just wanted a better view of the soon-to-be chaos.
"One." Applebloom counted. Discord knew that a jump that high wouldn't be a pretty sight.
"Jump!" Scootaloo yelled as they all jumped. Discord sighed.
"I guess Fluttershy is rubbing off on me too" Discord thought as he hopped teleported down.
"Deploy the parachute!" Scootaloo instructed as they pulled out the blankets they had.
"'Ah don't think it's working" Applebloom yelled when the 'parachutes' didn't slow down their fall. Sweetie Belle was just screaming as they fell.
"Uh oh" Scootaloo thought to herself.
"'AH TOLD YAH' THIS WAS A BAD IDEA!" Applebloom yelled.
"Wait, look!" Sweetie belle yelled when she looked down.
"Are those, pillows?" Scootaloo asked. They each landed on a soft pile of (pink) pillows, then they all stood up a little dazed.
"Ya'll alright?" Applebloom asked.
"Phew, that was close" Scootaloo responded.
"I'm fine! But where did these pillows come from?" Sweetie Belle asked and looked around.
"Did you put them down here Scootaloo?" Applebloom asked.
"Nope" Scootaloo responded. They all looked confused but none of them saw the invisible Discord nearby.
"Gah, what a waste" Discord thought to himself. He sighed at himself, maybe he really was going soft. Discord then teleported away.
"Hey wait, look at the tags on the pillows!" Scootaloo yelled when she saw they had small white tags on them.
"Hmm? 'Chaos Incorporated?'" Applebloom read out loud.
"Was it Discord who saved us?" Sweetie Belle asked.
"Yeah, I think so, I mean why else would the pillows be pink?" Scootaloo asked.
"Heh, 'Ah didn't think he had it in 'em" Applebloom responded.
"Discord?" Sweetie Belle called out. No response.
"Well, I guess we owe him one" Scootaloo told them.
"AHAHAHA! YOU'RE KILLING ME!" Screwball laughed just as Discord flashed in.
"Hello my little abomination, what is so funny?" He asked.
"HAHAHA! Just ask Fluttershy!" Screwball laughed. Discord looked around but didn't see her.
"Where is she?" Discord asked. Screwball responded by pointing down.
"Um, hi Discord" a small voice said from below. Discord immediately looked down and saw Fluttershy standing on a flower, she was ant sized. Screwball laughed but Discord just shook his head disapprovingly.
"Daughter I thought I told you not to prank Fluttershy" Discord said as he snapped his fingers. Nothing happened, which made Screwball laugh harder. Discord snapped again, and again, and again until he was snapping as fast as he could.
"HAHAHA STOP! THIS IS TOO MUCH!" Screwball laughed, now she had stomach pain from all the laughing she was doing. Discord eyed Screwball.
"What did you do?" Discord asked, arching an eyebrow.
"I didn't do anything" Screwball laughed, putting emphasize on the 'I'. Discord was confused and shrunk down to Fluttershy size.
"You alright Fluttershy?" Discord asked.
"Yes I am, this was my fault" Fluttershy defended.
"Yeah I'm sure it is, you probably used your magic to shrink yourself huh?" Discord sarcastically joked and waved his hand.
"Yup that's exactly right" Screwball's voice echoed.
"Don't be silly my dear, Fluttershy is a Pegasus" Discord yelled back up.
"Well she's a Pegasus who can use magic" Screwball responded. Discord turned to Fluttershy, looking confused.
"Um, I asked Screwball to use her magic spell on me so I could use magic" Fluttershy admitted. Discord's jaw (literally) dropped to the floor.
"Magic amplifier?" Discord asked, his jaw now leaving the floor.
"Yes" Fluttershy responded. A flash and Discord had a doctor outfit on.
"Are you hurt?" Discord asked as he circled Fluttershy, checked under her wings, and began checking her hooves.
"She's fine, the pain immediately leaves remember?" Screwball whispered down, but with their size it sounded like she was yelling.
"This is our dear Fluttershy we're talking about" Discord yelled back up, not taking his eyes of the hoof he was inspecting. Fluttershy was hiding her blush with all the attention Discord was giving her.
"I'm fine, really" Fluttershy reassured, hiding behind her mane.
"Our 'dear' Fluttershy? What does that mean?" Screwball whispered back.
"What, is Pinkie the only one who can give nicknames?" Discord yelled back. Moving to the next hoof and using his magnifying glass to check for cuts.
"'Dear' isn't a nickname, it's a title" Screwball whispered back.
"I'm fine Discord" Fluttershy said, she didn't want to continue this conversation. Discord looked at Fluttershy in the eyes while still holding her hoof in his hands.
"Are you sure?" Discord asked, looking genuinely worried. Fluttershy was a little shaken by the fact that he was still holding her hoof while asker her that, as if she almost died.
"Yes, I'm sure" Fluttershy said with a smile, not realizing she was blushing.
"Jeez, get a room you two!" Screwball whispered loudly and snickered. Fluttershy then turned her head to try (in vain) to hide her blush again.
"Don't be silly sweetheart" Discord called back as his doctor outfit disappeared.
"Yuck I sure hope you were calling Fluttershy 'sweetheart' because I'm not sweet" Screwball joked. The idea of Discord calling her 'sweetheart' made her shrink, literally. Discord noticed her shrink.
"Looks like you're magic is unstable, typical for filly unicorns, or in this case Pegasus" Discord said as he began stretching his hands.
"What're you going to do?" Screwball whispered down.
"I can handle this" Discord responded as both his paws took aim at Fluttershy and a wave of magic shot too Fluttershy, making her flinch. Within a few seconds she grew back up to normal size to her relief.
"Psst, you're still blushing" Screwball whispered to Fluttershy then giggled. Fluttershy shook her head to try to get her mind out of the clouds.
"You should've asked me first missy, you're just lucky Fluttershy wasn't hurt" Discord said as he teleported near Screwballs ear, but was still small.
"I tried to tell her but she insisted on it, but I have to say she took it WAY better than me, it only took her 7 minutes and she didn't fall over in pain" Screwball complimented.
"7 minutes?" Discord asked, flying in between Screwball and Fluttershy.
"Yup, only 7 minutes. Man was she tough about that." Screwball complimented again. Fluttershy smiled in response.
"Thanks" Fluttershy thanked. Discord giggled at Screwball.
"You aren't the one to give compliments my abomination" Discord said as he grew back to normal size. Screwball shrugged.
"I said that too" Screwball responded.
"So how do I learn to control my magic?" Fluttershy asked. Discord turned to Screwball as if he was waiting for her answer.
"I thought you knew" Screwball told Discord.
"Oh I do, but I think it's best YOU train her, my methods are very harsh" Discord reminded her.
"Trust me, she can handle it" Screwball responded.
"Can she?" Discord asked.
"Yes I can, believe me if I can handle you Discord then I can handle anything" Fluttershy joked, making Screwball fall over laughing.
"Hey I'm not reformed, I'm simply easing up on my chaos, for now" Discord whined.
"Fluttershy, that sounds very wrong out of context!" Screwball laughed, then Discord slapped the back of Screwball's head. "Ow!" Screwball yelled.
"What do you mean?" Fluttershy asked. Discord waved his paw in dismissal.
"Nothing at all" Discord lied. Screwball snickered.
"Right. So my training?" Fluttershy asked.
"I guess we will both train you" Discord guessed as he grabbed Screwball in his hands.
"Joy" Screwball sarcastically said.
"Alright Spike, now take a deep breath and blow as if you were yawning" Twilight said.
"Remember, warm air using the back of your throat, do not use your fire yet" Luna instructed.
"Ok" Spike agreed as he took a deep breath and did as he was instructed. He hoped he was doing it right.
"Alright, now try to use your fire" Luna instructed. Spike took another deep breath. He was worried that his fire would burn her a little but he knew better than to disobey them. He finally slowly released his fire into Twilight's cut.
"Hehe, that tickles" Twilight giggled.
"Do not lose focus Spike, keep using your fire" Luna instructed. Spike kept slowly using his fire, he didn't want to use up all his breath immediately. He began feeling his body tense up as he was running out of breath.
"Do not let up Spike" Twilight cheered. Spike was beginning to feel lightheaded and his shoulders were aching from all the tension he had. He wouldn't' be able to hold out much longer.
"That's enough" Luna said. Spike immediately stopped and took a deep breath, he felt a little dizzy.
"Wow, my cut is gone!" Twilight exclaimed, she moved around a bit, she didn't feel any pain at all.
"Looks like Discord's theory was correct" Luna said as she inspected Twilight's hoof.
"That's. Great." Spike said, still spinning a little.
"Great? Spike this is amazing! Not only will this be very helpful to us, but just wait until the hospital find out, they'll be begging to hire you!" Twilight cheered. For some reason Spike's dizziness wasn't getting lighter, in fact he felt it getting worse.
"This is an interesting development, we should inform my sister immediately" Luna said.
"The Princess will be so proud of you!" Twilight cheered.
"Yeah. Proud." Spike said, as if he was running out of breath.
"Are you ok?" Luna asked.
"Yeah. Proud." Spike repeated as he collapsed.
"and I think he is a big ol' meany but that's only what my cousin told me and I mean what would he know since he's never been in the Everfree forest" Pinkie quickly concluded.
"Right, and you're telling me this why?" the green mare asked.
"Warn you friends because you don't want them to get hurt from the-" Pinkie quickly started.
"Alright alright I get it, I'll be sure to tell them" the green mare quickly responded.
"Thanks! And happy early birthday!" Pinkie cheered as she bounced away. The green mare smiled and rolled her eyes. Just being Pinkie Pie she guessed. Meanwhile not very far away Applejack was talking to another stallion.
"Really? Did you actually see it?" he asked.
"Nope, but that doesn't mean he isn't real" Applejack responded.
"Well then why don't you go after it?" he asked.
"Because he knows about us and hides to make sure we can't capture him, so we need everypony to be on alert" Applejack responded.
"I'm not sure I buy this, but I'll warn my brother just in case, besides I'm sure he'd love to try and capture him for the bounty" he responded.
"That's a great idea" Applejack agreed as the stallion left. Unfortunately there was 3 fillies eavesdropping on Applejack's conversation.
"Did you hear that?" Scootaloo whispered.
"Yeah, we should stay away from the Everfree forest" Sweetie Belle responded.
"No we shouldn't, we can totally get our cutie marks in bounty hunting" Scootaloo whispered.
"What?" Applebloom and Sweetie Belle asked.
"C'mon, that skydiving attempt was a total bust so we need to make up for it" Scootaloo whispered.
"But it's dangerous, we barely got out of skydiving alive" Applebloom pointed out.
"Yeah, you're right, we will need some insurance this time" Scootaloo agreed.
"'Ah didn't think you knew that word" Applebloom giggled.
"Hey I'm not dumb" Scootaloo hissed.
"Yeah, you're a chicken remember?" Applebloom taunted back.
"Why can't anypony let that go?" Scootaloo sighed.
"Well, what about Discord?" Sweetie Belle asked.
"Discord? He's the last pony I expect to let that go." Applebloom responded.
"Wait, techniqually Discord isnt' a pony so what do we call him?" Scootaloo asked.
"No, I meant what if Discord was our insurance" Sweetie Belle suggested.
"What?" Scootaloo and Applebloom asked.
"He saved is last time so if he comes with us I'm sure he can keep us safe" Sweetie Belle pointed out.
"You make a good point" Scootaloo agreed.
"But how will we convince him to help us?" Applebloom whispered back.
"Easy, we will just give him a cut of the bounty" Scootaloo whispered back.
"Alright, but how do we even find him?" Applebloom asked.
"Maybe my sister knows how to contact him" Sweetie Belle suggested.
"Rarity are you home?" Sweetie Belle called.
"I'm in my room Sweetie" Rarity called back down. Sweetie Belle walked upstairs and saw Rarity working on a new dress. Typical.
"Where were you? I had to eat your breakfast yesterday." Sweetie Belle said.
"Sorry Sweetie I didn't expect to stay overnight" Rarity apologized.
"Oh it's alright, but I got a question" Sweetie Belle started.
"Hmm?" Rarity asked, not turning from her work. Sweetie Belle noticed the cool looking outfit.
"Are you planning on becoming a super hero?" Sweetie Belle joked.
"What do you mean?" Rarity asked.
"Well that outfit over there has a mask a weird symbol on the sides, it reminds me of a superhero outfit" Sweetie Belle said as she pointed to Discord's soon-to-be outfit. Rarity froze and turned to her sister with a fake smile.
"Um, one of my clients asked for it" Rarity lied. Sweetie Belle knew Rarity was lying but then remembered why she came here in the first place.
"Right, another question then" Sweetie Belle started.
"Yes?" Rarity quickly asked.
"You're friends with Discord right?" Sweetie Belle asked. Rarity's face of fear turned into an annoyed expression.
"'Friend' is a strong term" Rarity annoyingly said.
"Well do you know how to contact him?" Sweetie Belle asked. Rarity thought to herself.
"Well the Princess gave Twilight and I a spell to summon him, why do you ask?" Rarity asked.
"We need his help with something, can you summon him for us please?" Sweetie asked.
"Absolutely not, I can't stand him" Rarity stated, going back to her dress. Sweetie Belle knew Rarity wouldn't budge, but she also knew she was lying about that outfit.
"Well if you won't summon him, can you tell me what the outfit is really for then?" Sweetie asked, putting on an 'innocent' smile. Rarity froze and turned.
"You wouldn't" Rarity hissed.
"Sorry, but we really need him" Sweetie Belle said, her smile not leaving.
"Fine" Rarity annoyingly agreed.
"But I thought that the best way to train someone was to knock it into them!" Screwball whined.
"That is true for most beings, but not for our Fluttershy" Discord defended. Fluttershy felt weird because Discord said 'our Fluttershy'.
"Aww c'mon, you didn't let up when you were training me!" Screwball retorted.
"That is because you were too nice back then" Discord responded.
"I wasn't even going to be that harsh, a few lightning spells never hurt anyone" Screwball tried.
"No, you are not to harm Fluttershy" Discord stated. Fluttershy smiled at Discord's kindness.
"But Dad!" Screwball whined. Discord closed his eyes and held out a finger.
"No, so long as I'm here you are not to ha-" Discord started as he was flashed away all of a sudden, startling Fluttershy and Screwball.
"Discord?" Fluttershy called.
"Dad?" Screwball called out. No response.
"What happened to him?" Fluttershy asked.
"Beats me" Screwball responded as she sniffed at the air. "I think somepony used teleportation magic on him" Screwball said.
"Maybe it was Twilight, the Princess gave her a spell to summon him" Fluttershy guessed. Screwball smiled wickedly.
"Now that Dad isn't here to hold me back, we can get to some real training" Screwball taunted. Fluttershy gulped.
"Discord please hurry" Fluttershy thought to herself.
"-arm Fluttershy, she is very fragile" Discord concluded, not opening his eyes.
"Hiya Discord!" Sweetie Belle brightly said. Discord opened his eyes and looked around.
"Woah, when did I get here?" Discord asked.
"Well Sweetie Belle, a deal is a deal, now if you'll excuse me I need to get back to work" Rarity harshly said as she eyed Discord. Discord stuck his tongue out at Rarity as she went inside.
"Now who do I owe the honor of this summon?" Discord asked as he petted Sweetie Belle.
"Well we need your help" Sweetie Belle said as she signaled her friends to come out of the bushes.
"Yes everyone knows I absolutely LOVE helping out" Discord sarcastically said.
"'Ah don't think he'll help us" Applebloom said.
"Well maybe I can consider it if I knew what I was helping" Discord taunted.
"Alright look, there is this criminal in the Everfree forest who is terrifying ponies and we need your help to capture him" Scootaloo plainly said. She wasn't entirely happy with Discord being on board.
"Criminal ehh? I like him already." Discord joked.
"Will you help us?" Sweetie Belle asked. Discord pretended to think.
"Sorry, but I think I'll pass" Discord said. He knew they were going to hunt his alternate persona.
"Told ya'" Applebloom said.
"Please?" Sweetie Belle tried, putting on her best puppies eyes. Discord laughed.
"If Fluttershy's stare didn't work then what makes you think yours will?" Discord asked, summoning a chocolate bar and eating it whole without chewing nor removing the wrapper.
"C'mon, we will give you a cut of the reward" Scootaloo tried.
"Oh yes I'm definitely in desperate need of money" Discord sarcastically said. He then coughed up the chocolate bar without the wrapper and tossed it aside.
"Pretty please?" Sweetie Belle asked.
"Why would you want me to come along? I'm sure there are much better options than little ol' me" Discord joked as he flew around them.
"Well because you saved us" Applebloom stated.
"I did?" Discord asked.
"Don't pretend to not know, we know it was you" Scootaloo said. Discord held up his hands.
"Alright judge I'm guilty" Discord joked as he summoned handcuffs on himself.
"We wanted you to come as a way of thanking you" Sweetie Belle said.
"How is bringing me on a life threatening mission 'thanking me'?" Discord asked, easily bending the handcuffs off him.
"He has a good point" Scootaloo agreed.
"Besides, I don't think I'd be the best of help" Discord plainly said.
"Well you did help us before, so you gotta be ah' little good right?" Applebloom asked. Discord shrugged.
"I guess" he joked.
"If we go alone, we might get hurt again" Sweetie Belle pointed out. Discord pretended to think again.
"C'mon, help three fillies out" Scotaloo tried.
"Alright fine, but only because you three actually think I'll be helpful" Discord plainfly said. The three of them cheered and high hoofed each other, earning a laugh from Discord.
"This should be fun" Discord said out loud. None of them were aware that Rarity was watching from her window.
"I don't know what I find more surprising, the fact that Sweetie Belle wants to go to the Everfree forest, or the fact that Discord actually saved them" Rarity thought to herself. They had to be lying, right?
May Screwball have mercy on Fluttershy. Not sure why I had the idea to have the CMC and Discord together, let us see where this leads them. :D