Chapter 36
It was overwhelming quietness to Fluttershy, it was the kind of quiet response you feel when someone is ignoring you, she had always liked things being quiet and peaceful, but this wasn't quiet nor peaceful, it was harsh silence. The kind of silence that stirs a feeling of something being wrong, and Fluttershy didn't like it at all.
"Discord please" Fluttershy tried again, still no response. She could understand why he was ignoring her, but that didn't make it any easier for her. She was fighting the urge to break into tears, she didn't want to make a scene or make Discord look like the bad guy.
"Discord I know you're mad at me, but-" Fluttershy began as she carefully picked up the gem.
"GAH!" Discord shrieked, making Fluttershy drop the gem in surprise.
"Discord? I'm so sorry! Fluttershy yelled as she picked up the gem again, this time getting a good grip on it without holding it harshly, not that it mattered since Discord didn't feel anything.
"Don't scare me like that Fluttershy, I was in the middle of something" Discord informed. Fluttershy looked into the gem and could see Discord's startled face, she didn't think she could scare him like that.
"I- I'm sorry" Fluttershy whispered.
"Sorry Fluttershy but I really need to get back to-" Discord began.
"I'M SORRY!" Fluttershy yelled, making Discord flinch.
"You're sorry?" Discord asked for clarification.
"I am! I should've believed you when you said you weren't doing that magic. Now look at you, you're stuck inside a gem and it's all my fault." Fluttershy said with a pained tone in her voice.
"How is this exactly your fault?" Discord asked in a teasing tone.
"I made you run off, and now this Havoc person is free" Fluttershy said as her ears dropped.
"Fluttershy my dear you have it all wrong, if anyone is to blame for this it's me" Discord said with a little tone of sadness, but it wasn't noticeable. Fluttershy shook her head, maybe from the fact that Discord called her 'my dear Fluttershy', or maybe from what Discord said.
"You weren't the one who-" Fluttershy began.
"Fluttershy I was the one who didn't sense what Havoc was trying to do, I promised Celestia and Luna all those years ago that I'd keep Havoc in check and look what happened, I failed them and I failed you. I'm sorry Fluttershy." Discord said, now with a noticeable tone of sadness. Fluttershy couldn't believe what she was hearing, she was shocked, confused, amazed, upset, happy, so many things. So why was she chuckling a little?
She tried her best to stop her chuckle but she couldn't, she was laughing at this point and she didn't know why. Fluttershy began to hear Discord laughing also, they were both having a laughing riot. Eventually they both eased up on their laughter and Fluttershy held up the gem to her face.
"I guess we both messed up huh?" Discord asked, his pained expression completely vanished with the laugh he and Fluttershy shared.
"Yes, we did" Fluttershy said with an embarrassed smile and a light blush. Out of happiness she hugged the gem with a satisfied look on her face. Discord knew he couldn't feel anything because of the gem, but he could've sworn he actually felt Fluttershy's hug. Even though they were in a lot of trouble, for the moment, everything was alright. No Havoc, no chaos, no harmony, no nothing. Just them.
"Hey Trixie? You got a spare room for these two?" Screwball asked loudly, snapping Fluttershy back to reality. She realized that everyone in the room had their eyes glued to them the whole time, even Trixie who had at some point stopped the cart.
"I… Um…" Fluttershy said, looking down at Discord's gem with an embarrassed blush on her face, Discord felt lucky none of them could actually see anything but his gem at the moment. Screwball was laughing loudly, until Trixie pulled on her ear again.
"Ow! Ow! Hey!" Screwball whined as Trixie pulled on her ear to silence her laughter.
*A few minutes earlier*
The huge creature tried its best to slash the draconequus with all her might, but she couldn't lay a palm on him. Whenever she swung he'd either dodge it with ease, or hold up something to block the attack.
"Now now, it's rude to interrupt gods when they're talking" Havoc said, wagging a finger at the Ursa Major. The beast responded by swiping again at Havoc, to which he dodged again with a bored expression on his face.
"Please don't make me try, you brainless animal" Havoc harshly said. The Ursa's eyes widened at the insult and turned into a frown as the beast lunged to Havoc. Havoc yawned as he held up a paw, instantly stopping the creature before it made contact. Havoc heard whimpering below him.
"Your mother needs to learn respect" Havoc said in a low tone to the Ursa Minor below him, who looked worried for his mother. Havoc had put a barrier between him and the Ursa Minor, not really to protect him but more to taunt the Ursa Minor.
"Well I was hoping you creatures would make good pets, but it seems I've suddenly had a change of mind, you might make for good rugs though" Havoc said as he thrust a hand back, launching the Ursa Major back and crashing onto the trees. The Ursa Minor yelped and ran after his mother as Havoc smiled at the chaos he just caused.
"See that Discord? That's how you cause chaos." Havoc thought, still no response. Maybe he did kill him after all like he initially intended, then again it felt too easy for him to just die during the transfer. Havoc had the hunch Discord wasn't dead like he assumed.
"Discord, if you don't respond then I'll just have to go after all your friends" Havoc threatened, he knew if Discord was really alive and well then he wouldn't ignore that.
Don't you dare!
"Hi Discord" Havoc snickered, his bluff worked. Havoc didn't need to see him to know he sighed.
How'd you know I was alive…?
"Simple, I didn't try to kill you" Havoc responded, hovering over to the unconscious Ursa Major and the frightened Ursa Minor.
What? Why not?
"Well two reasons really, which one do you want to hear huh?" Havoc teased, once again lifting up the Ursa Major, it cringed in response because it was obviously in pain from the first launch.
Just tell me.
"First reason is that I wanted you to know how it was being trapped in that annoying gem" Havoc said, thrusting his paw again and sending the Ursa Major flying.
Wait, you knew I retreated to the gem?
"Of course, I planned on you doing that" Havoc said, smiling at the distress in the Ursa Minor's face as he ran over to his mother again. Man was he enjoying himself.
You planned? How did you kno-
"I also planned on you waking up Twilight Sparkle, let me guess, you're hiding with them somewhere right now?" Havoc asked, once again hovering to the Ursa Major.
I… No… What…
"For the record I planned all of this, I sabotaged the firework show in hopes of making you kill them but it failed, then I gave the impression I was growing stronger because you weren't spreading enough chaos but the funny thing is the opposite is true, and finally I'm now letting you all escape" Havoc explained wickedly as he picked up the Ursa Major without his magic this time.
You were the one…! You…! I can't believe that…!
"I hit a few bumps along the way, like I didn't expect you to get Screwball, nor did I expect for Celestia to unlock all your powers but in the end it worked out, for me that is" Havoc said as he shook the Ursa Major a little to make it opens its eyes.
Why are you doing this!?
"Simple, I want you to realize how pathetic the attempts of stopping me is, I'll let you do whatever you plan on doing then once I thwart it, I'll kill them all" Havoc said, grinning evilly at the Ursa Major who at this point looked terrified.
…
"Oh don't be so down, this was bound to happen eventually" Havoc said, both to Discord and the Ursa Major, who was whimpering along with the Ursa Minor.
I lost… completely…
"Yes you did, but hey you did a great job at keeping me in check for all this time, and I have to admit that trying to take over Ponyville was delightful to watch" Havoc complimented, harshly throwing the Ursa Major straight down at the Ursa Minor.
I…
"You ready to hear the other reason I kept you alive?" Havoc asked, finally deciding to leave the Ursa duo alone and began hovering towards the Changeling Empire.
…
"I actually thought of this up right after I took your body, you see not a lot of beings will recognize me both because of this body and because it's been thousands of years, all my past supporters and empires are dead, I'll need new allies" Havoc said, holding up a paw to his ear as if he was on the telephone.
I won't help you…
"Sure you will. When the time comes for me to kill your friends, and you know I will, you'll have no choice but to join me. It isn't a question of IF you'll join me, it's a question of WHEN you'll join me." Havoc harshly said, as if he was trying to ram it into Discord's head.
…
"Run all you want but you'll know I'll get you eventually. But if we make a deal, I'll spare them. I'll even give you your body back." Havoc said.
A deal...
"Here's my deal: You do everything I say and in exchange I'll make sure they don't die, I won't harm them physically nor mentally, I'll give you back your body, and I'll even throw in your magic too." Havoc said, he'd just flash himself into the gem temporarily to shake hands with Discord when he accepts.
I can't… I won't…!
"This is me being generous Discord, I personally admired how you spread chaos BEFORE you were 'reformed' by Fluttershy. I just want you to go back to that along with me. Join me Discord." Havoc tried.
GAH!
"Too much to process? Would you like some time to think this through?" Havoc asked
No response, which is something Havoc wouldn't have guessed. If anything he'd probably stutter or something, or agree on the time thing. Oh well, maybe he's better at manipulating than he thought, or maybe Discord was more of a push over than anticipated. Havoc then finally flew over the Changeling Empire, oh what fun he would have.
Fluttershy felt herself shrink as all eyes were on her, she had realized that most of the things she said weren't whispered anymore, he past attempts to not make a scene had failed.
"Woah! Fluttershy!" Twilight flinched as she placed her book down. Fluttershy realized that she literally shrunk down with her unstable magic.
"Oh great, not again" Screwball sighed as she casually walked over to the Fluttershy, she had shrunk herself to the size of a parasprite. All of them immediately ran over to Fluttershy with shocked expressions.
"Fluttershy! What!? How!?" Twilight said with an amazed expression.
"What happened?" Applejack asked, this reminding her of the poison joke incident.
"A really small Fluttershy! Wow!" Pinkie said as she carefully picked her up, making her give a small squeal in the process. Pinkie held her in the middle for the rest to see, well the rest minus Discord.
"Fluttershy how did this happen?" Twilight asked in disbelief. Fluttershy responded with her usual small whisper, which usually happened when she was embarrassed, but with her size it was completely silent.
"Speak up Fluttershy, we can't hear you" Rainbow said, earning the slightly loud whisper from Fluttershy, but they still couldn't hear her even though the room was silent.
"Ugh this is annoying, hold up" Screwball said as her body began to glow lightly, the same aura then surrounded Fluttershy and with a bright flash, she was back to her normal size. It took gravity a few seconds to take effect, or maybe it took Pinkie a few seconds to place Fluttershy down, but Pinkie quickly swiped her hand away and Fluttershy landed safely on the ground beneath her.
"T-Thanks" Fluttershy thanked, still looking embarrassed from all the eyes on her.
"Fluttershy, did… you do that?" Twilight asked.
"Well… not on purpose" Fluttershy said, scratching behind her hoof.
"Darling, you can use magic?" Rarity asked, looking both confused and happy at the same time.
"Yes, I can" Fluttershy responded, doing her best not to whisper and shrink at the same time, she focused herself on trying to remain the same size.
"But… Pegasus and Ponies can't control their magic!" Twilight exclaimed, Pegasus used small amounts of magic to help them fly while ponies had little or no control of their magic, which meant they usually didn't even realize they had it at all.
"Yeaaaaah… I sort of unlocked her magic for her" Screwball nonchalantly said as she raised her hoof to gain the attention of those around her.
"You did!?" Everyone except Fluttershy, Screwball, and Discord exclaimed. Screwball was somewhat startled by this, she knew that usually only unicorns used magic but she expected them to know at least one who could.
"Well yeah… I mean didn't you wonder how Discord could use magic with a horn?" Screwball asked.
"Hey I could have a horn if I wanted to" Discord said from his gem.
"How did you do it?" Twilight asked, pulling out a notebook from out of nowhere, she looked like Pinkie a little with her smile.
"Well I used a spell Dad taught me, it's not really that hard to cast actually" Screwball admitted, Twilight and Trixie were focused on Screwball while the rest of them were focused on Fluttershy, well except for Pinkie who was picking up Discord's gem.
"Psst Dizzy, you think you can unlock my magic too?" Pinkie whisper with a hopeful smile while holding the gem up to her face to make sure Discord saw her. To her surprise Discord was looking down with a worried expression.
"Dizzy is something wrong?" Pinkie asked.
"Huh? Oh. No, I'm fine." Discord lied. Pinkie gave Discord a frown and caused him to sign and shake his head.
"You wouldn't like the answer" Discord said, closing his eyes.
"Oh! Oh! Do you like-like Fluttershy?" Pinkie whispered as she eyed Fluttershy, who was still being swarmed with questions and praises, she looked so little when everyone was surrounding her. Discord frowned at her guess.
"This is serious, I'm worried about how you'll all react" Discord said, how could he tell them? He would basically be telling them that Havoc knew their plan and could easily track them down, he would be saying there's no hope for victory.
"Don't worry Dizzy, I'm sure Fluttershy will-" Pinkie began.
"This is much bigger than any of us Pinkie. It's about Havoc." Discord said. Without any warning Pinkie turned around and pulled out a megaphone from nowhere, she then turned it on and took a deep breath.
"Girls! Dizzy would like our attention! This is important!" Pinkie shrieked into the megaphone, successfully gaining everyone's attention, and a few mini heart attacks.
"Pinkie, what did I tell you about using your megaphone!?" Twilight exclaimed, putting a hoof to her chest to make sure she could still feel her heart, some of the others doing the same.
"Sorry girls, but this is important. Dizzy said so." Pinkie declared as she put her megaphone away somewhere and held up the gem for the others to see. Discord was a bit startled by this but then sighed, why hide the truth from them?
"None of you will like what I'm going to say" Discord began.
Sunset Shimmer was snickering to herself, now she had two puppets with her and ready to do her biding. She was headed downstairs towards where (she thought) the gem was, she knew at this time either Havoc had stuffed Discord in there or he had held off and was waiting for her.
It's not too late.
"Hello?" Sunset called out as she opened the door. No response from Havoc or Discord? Whoever was stuck in the gem now? Sunset coughed a bit at how dusty the place was and decided to look for a light switch. Once she turned on the lights she gasped.
"What the…! The Gem! It's gone!" Sunset exclaimed when she realized the case was open and the gem was gone. Did this mean Havoc broke out of the crystal? Did this mean Discord broke out of the crystal? What happened? Wait, Twilight is gone!
"Gah, I knew I should've tried the spell on her first" Sunset growled to herself, she didn't want to risk the spell accidently killing Twilight, so she instead tried it first on her brother. Once she was successful, she decided to go after Spike. It seemed like she was purposefully trying to avoid Twilight after their encounter, she could remember everything about their battle. The spells they cast, the ponies that got involved. The questions she asked her.
Maybe she's right, they're probably looking for me right now. Maybe they realized…
"No!" Sunset yelled out, silencing her thoughts for a moment. She wasn't about to go back to them, she had made her decision the moment she accepted Havoc's plan. Even if she wanted to go back it didn't matter because she had already helped him, the others would never forgive her now.
That's not true! They forgave Luna and Discord right?
Sunset growled to herself, why couldn't she keep these doubts in check? Whatever, right now she needed to find Havoc and tell him that Twilight possibly ran off with Discord in the gem. No, he can handle it himself, Sunset knew what her part of the plan was and she was ready. Although she'd like to have Twilight as a puppet it didn't matter now, she knew the princesses would be hesitant in fighting Shining and Spike. She had the advantage and she wasn't going to lose it.
The others, maybe they realized that they were wrong. Maybe we can go back.
"Ugh!" Sunset growled as she headed upstairs. She had no idea where Havoc was, nor what the others in Canterlot High were doing. She had nothing to go on. She had nothing.
"…and now he told me he'd let us do our plan, right before he killed all of you. I think… we lost" Discord concluded, he would be sitting down if he wasn't inside the gem. The others were listening closely, their facial expression changing every now and then, well except for Trixie who had a stern look.
"So you mean to tell us that, Havoc wanted us to escape?" Rainbow asked in disbelief. Discord nodded, but then realized they couldn't see him.
"Yes, it's all part of his plan." Discord said. Twilight and Screwball looked like they were lost in thought, but Twilight had a worried expression, the others just looked shocked or upset. Trixie on the other hand just had a deep frown on her face.
"Aww c'mon Dizzy, you're much stronger than that mean Havoc right?" Pinkie asked with some sweat going down her face, like she was very worried for his response.
"Everything he's done so far looks like he's done it without any effort, I doubt I'll be able to do any real damage to him" Discord said with a sad tone to his voice. Pinkie's ears dropped in response to this.
"Dad weren't you the 'all powerful Spirit of Chaos'? You can totally take him!" Screwball said enthusiastically with a smile. Discord didn't respond to this.
"So what? We're just going to give up? Rainbow Dash doesn't just give up!" Rainbow yelled in frustration.
"Try all you might, but-" Discord began.
"Havoc is too cocky, he believes he has the upper hand but that'll be his downfall. He said it himself, he will let us do our plan, we just need to be sure the plan will work." Trixie said, earning a smile from both Pinkie and Screwball.
"He's only cocky because he's much stronger than any of us" Discord suggested.
"But don't forget, you said Princess Celestia restored all your chaos magic!" Pinkie reminded with a smile. Discord would've disagreed, saying Havoc's magic is still stronger, but in reality he has only compared Havoc's magic with his limited magic. Also he hasn't really tested out to see the extent of his magic.
"That is true" Discord agreed.
"The Princesses may not be able to do anything, but that doesn't mean we can't win. We just need to figure out how to get him back into his crystal." Twilight said, her worried expression had since turned into a happy one.
"I'm sure that ruffian Havoc knows little to nothing about what us ponies can do, he'll never know what hit him" Rarity agreed, adjusting her hair a little.
"Yeah, we beat Discord and we can beat Havoc also!" Rainbow announced enthusiastically as she pumped her hooves in the air, she ignored the frown Fluttershy gave her.
"There's nothing the power of friendship can't overcome" Fluttershy said, turning to the gem because she knew Discord was the only one in doubt at this point.
"Our friendship bonded us together' and it'll get us through Havoc' too" Applejack agreed. Discord couldn't believe any of this, how could they be so enthusiastic about this? They should be worried out of their minds, they should be figuring out how to avoid Havoc. Why is he agreeing with all of this?
"You're right, he has to pay for humiliating me like this!" Discord agreed, he would've clench his fist is he could actually see them.
"And I know just where to go first, the Crystal Empire!" Twilight announced.
Don't worry, they'll figure something out. Right? You'd think Cadence would know if Shining Armor is in danger, but I'll explain why she didn't later. Also, take note on who is on what side, like the Changeling Empire Havoc is going to visit.