AN: Here is Chapter 4 for all of you! As per usual, I do not claim to own ponies, Grey Poupon, or music that was written by Danny Elfman (you'll know it when it happens).

Chapter 4: Timberwolf Tea Party

Dear Princess Celestia,

I am sorry to say that your faith in me was misplaced.

I will not deny that everything that happened is all my fault. And I fear that I need your help to make everything right. I have hurt my friends worse than I could ever imagine, and now need your help.

Perhaps I should start from the beginning.

That spell that you sent me, that Star Swirl the Bearded did not complete, I cast it to find out what happens. It seemed like the logical choice at the time. How was I supposed to solve the problem without seeing what the problem was?

Little did I know that it would affect all my closest friends. It changed all their cutie marks, their very purpose in life, their destinies, making them think that they were supposed to be someone else within our group.

I have been fixing it, and have almost all of my friends back to normal. While I am thankful that they are all so kind and generous, and do not blame me for my mistake, I fear that I have caused one of them to leave Ponyville forever.

When Fluttershy changed she thought that she was supposed to bring laughter to the other ponies, something that Pinkie Pie would normally do. It was later, when she could not fulfil what she thought was her destiny, that she left the town!

We do not know where she has gone. When she left she took the hot air balloon from out town, stating that she was going to go to Cloudsdale, but we fear that she may have been swept out to the Everfree Forest, and would like your help and advice on what to do next.

Always trying to be your faithful student,

Twilight Sparkle

Twilight sighed as she watched Spike send the letter. It hurt, knowing that this was all her fault.

"Don't worry," Rarity said from her side, giving her a soft smile, "I'm sure she'll understand. It's like Applejack said, it's not like you purposefully cast that spell to leave us in that miserable existence."

"I know," Twilight sighed, "Sometimes asking for help just...hurts..."

"There there, Twilight," Rarity cooed, hugging Twilight close, "We'll find her, then everything will be well again."

"Twilight!" came a shout from outside.

"Rainbow Dash!" Twilight, cried out in excitement, running over to the door and opening it. It had only been a day at best since everything happened, and the sun was beginning to set in the distance.

"Please tell me you have some good news," the purple unicorn continued, looking at the pegasus with hope.

"Sorry, Twilight," Rainbow said softly, avoiding her gaze, "She wasn't there. Nopony over in Cloudsdale has seen a balloon for weeks. I even asked all the ponies that I found on the way there and stopped by the landing pad in Canterlot! No one has seen her, Twilight."

"Oh," Twilight muttered softly.

"Any-any word from Celestia?" Rainbow asked, hoping for some good news on from their side.

"Not yet," Twilight sighed.

"We only just sent the letter," Rarity offered.

"Just sent it?" Rainbow asked in confusion, "I've been gone for hours!"

"It took a few renditions," Twilight admitted.

"More like ten," Spike muttered softly, shaking his aching hand.

"And I wanted to get a head start on research so that Rarity could have a direction to go!"

Rainbow Dash gave a look of disbelief, eyes almost flashing in anger, "Research…."

"How about we go back inside so you can see?" Rarity offered, seeing the frustration flash across Rainbow's face, "Perhaps continue searching those books of yours for a location spell? Or...what else was it you were looking for?"

"Mainly maps and plans for the weather for this time of the year," Twilight lead the group back to a table where she had been checking on the notes from Cloudsdale's archives of the planned weather events for the year.

"What is all this?" Rainbow asked, looking at the chalkboard that Twilight had set-up in the middle of the room. The floor was littered with open letters and maps, with so many sets of numbers it made Rainbow's head spin, "I thought we were finding Fluttershy, not solving math equations."

"We are," Twilight looked slightly offended at the thought she wasn't doing any work, "I was just looking at the most probable statistics of where Fluttershy's balloon may have traveled with this year's weather and past reports. By taking the average of the wind-"

"She has been at this for the last few hours," Rarity gave Rainbow Dash a bored look from where she was looking through her own book, "I finally convinced her to take a break by writing that letter to Celestia."

Rainbow looked appalled at the idea of so much work, "What good does all this do? I always thought you unicorns had a spell for everything!"

"That's what I have been looking into," Rarity added cheerily as she went back to her small pile of books stacked neatly by the pillows she was laying on, "There is this one spell I was thinking of that could work. I had read it in story once! This mare fell in love with this knight and then the kingdom went to war. Oh, it was oh so romantic and tragic, as you see they had just fallen in love when-"

"Get on with it Rarity," Rainbow groaned, not wanting to hear this lovey, gushy stuff. They had a friend to save, not stories to read!

Rarity looked annoyed at being interrupted, sticking her nose in the air, refusing to look at Rainbow, "Anyways, she used a spell that when cast upon reflective surfaces allowed her to see where her lover was to check upon him. I was thinking that if we could find this….oh, what was it, scurrying spell? That maybe we could look at and find Fluttershy!"

"They have spells like that!" Rainbow Dash asked in amazement.

"It's called Scrying! And they are only an old pony's tale!" Twilight sounded annoyed as she looked up from her latest equations, "While some have made spells that they claim to have work, it just sounds too...convenient. No way they actually work!"

"I thought we went over this, Darling," Rarity sighed, rolling her eyes, "We need to prepare for any situation. Even if it sounds ridiculous!"

"She's right, Twilight," Spike said as he brought back down another pile of books and scrolls, "I know you don't like to think that magic is the cure-all for everything but...hasn't it solved almost all the problems you've had so far?"

"When has magic, especially magic from old pony tale's, solved anything," Twilight scoffed.

Spike gave her a bored look before listing off, "Let's see, there was your magic duel against Trixie, or when you were all being the "Mysterious Mare Do Well," or that time you used your magic to allow everypony to see Rainbow perform in the Best Young Flyer competition…."

"Yeah," Twilight interrupted, "But those were all well thought out and practiced spells! None of them were from old stories or myths."

Spike kept the same look of disbelief on his face and said in a bored voice, "The Elements of Harmony."

Twilight opened her mouth to argue, only to close it again. She struggled as she tried to argue against what he said, but there was honestly nothing she could use against that.

"He has you there, Twilight," Rainbow laughed from above.

"Fine," Twilight sighed, "I give up. If you are wanting chase some crazy lead, be my guest. But I'm going to keep making a plan with these maps."

Rainbow flew over, smiling as she hovered above Twilight's head, "What do you need me to do? I am ready for anything! Just say the word and I am there!"

"Well," Twilight said slowly, thinking over what else they may need, "Could you go start looking around Ponyville for information? And we'll need a balloon! Sooner or later we may need to follow her tracks."

"On it!" Rainbow said with pride, speeding off across Ponyville, stopping to interrogate any and all random ponies on the street.

"Well, at least she is enthusiastic," Rarity provided as they watched Rainbow fly from pony to pony. As she began to yell at an old pony trying to shakily cross the street a frown crossed her face, "Oh, I do believe we have released a monster upon Ponyville."

Twilight looked at her friend, so eager and determined, and chuckled softly despite everything, "It does seem that way. We need to get back to work if we want to keep up with that!"

"Right!" Rarity and Spike called out at the same time, both diving back into their respective tasks.

Fluttershy stopped to sit on a nearby rock. The forest seemed to go on forever in all directions. It was starting to feel like she was only walking in circles. As much as she tried to keep calm, it did not help that she could have sworn she had passed that same tree an hour ago...or at least what felt like an hour ago. Time worked funny when you couldn't quite tell what time it was.

She was getting tired and thirsty, not to mention hungry, and no matter how much she convinced herself to move on, she was slowing down. Maybe this forest didn't end? Maybe she was trapped in here forever! Maybe-

But those were just maybes and she was letting her fear get the better of her! When she left this forest she would throw a giant party filled with balloons and streamers and cake. Oh there would be so much cake! And all the ponies would be there! And the laughter! Oh, how she could hear their laughter already! And they were all so happy and...and...

And there was that push again. It just didn't feel natural. It didn't feel...right. If she was completely honest with herself, she just wanted to go find a nice warm bed and sleep, hiding herself away from the rest of society.

Shaking her head to get rid of all the images, Fluttershy sat up with renew determination. She would get out of this forest! And when she did, she would find the fluffiest, warmest bed she could find and then sleep for a week! Then she would contact her friends and apologize and then party-

Fluttershy stopped with a frown. There she went again. Why was she pushing these party things so much? Especially after what happened in Ponyville!

"Come on, Fluttershy," she said to herself, "You just need to keep going! I'm sure that you will get out of this forest soon!"

Her hike continued on uneventfully for another hour until a strange sensation of dread began to sink into her gut. Looking around she could not find a source of such anxiety. The sun still shown up in the sky, though perhaps a little lower than she was comfortable with. The sounds of the light breeze filtered over the treetops, leaving small patches of light scattered rarely across the floor, giving the trees and shrubs angry looks.

Backing away from the mean looking plants, Fluttershy glanced around nervously, finding that nothing was around her. As the breeze died down she realized that she was hearing absolutely nothing. Like the forest decided to suddenly go still in anticipation. Earlier there had been distant sounds of birds and insects that seemed to have the strength to live in such a location. But now it was almost silent. It was as though the forest itself was holding its breath, waiting for something to happen.

Fluttershy shuddered in fear, looking around her, before slowly trying to walk onwards. Anywhere but here, she kept telling herself in her head, Anywhere but here.

She didn't make it more than a dozen steps before the snapping of twigs and soft growling reached her ears. Turning around, Fluttershy found herself face to face with a group of Timberwolves. One by one they removed themselves from the nearby shadows, growling the whole while.

"O-oh," Fluttershy stammered in fear, "Hi th-there! I-I-I promise I wuh-won't be here long. j-just looking for a w-way out. Would y-you happen to kn-know which way to g-g-go?"

The leader of the group snapped at Fluttershy's words while the others kept with their chorus of growls.

"W-well then!" Fluttershy giggled nervously, "Did you hear that? I must be going now! Bye!"

Not even bothering to see if they were following, Fluttershy ran as fast as her legs would take her. Dodging trees and bushes, the boulders and logs, she pushed herself to make it out of the forest alive. Braving a chance to look over her shoulder she noticed the timberwolves gaining ground, or maybe she was slowing. After everything that had happened, all the hits, falls and breaks, the lack of water, the physical and mental exhaustion, she wasn't going anywhere very fast.

"HELP!" Fluttershy screamed to the trees above again and again. If she was lucky, maybe somepony would be nearby.

Maybe Princess Celestia or Princess Luna would be close! Or even Zecora on a long walk into the woods! Even that one pony from home, Ditzy or Derpy or whatever her name was, would be a welcome sight right now! She didn't care who it was, so long as they helped her get out of there.

Dashing through a small clearing in the forest, Fluttershy let out one more shriek of terror before diving into a large thorn bush at the opposite side of the small opening in the woods. Anywhere to hide was better than no place.

As she felt the thorns bight into her flesh, she wiggled forward, trying to get deep enough into the bush to escape the vicious creatures.

"Help me! Please!"

Discord floated lazily over the far eastern side of the Everfree Forest. He had only recently been allowed to leave the Canterlot Castle. Oh, for months there Princess Celestia had gone on and on about how wonderful it was he was reformed, and how friendship and caring were magical and blah, blah, blah.

Sure, Princess Celestia was kind the whole time, but he could always tell that she didn't quite trust him. It was her eyes. They spoke volumes of her distrust, and maybe some bitterness at his previous actions. But as time went on it got better, until she finally allowed him more duties than basic palace chores or helping the locals with their problems.

"Oh, no! My farm was ruined due to drought!"

"Please help! My house was ravaged by parasprites!"

Well, boo-hoo!

He was-is!-the Lord of Chaos, and just because he didn't have to make up some complex spell to fix things, and often could get what he wanted with a snap of his fingers, did not mean that he should have to deal with all their problems. It wasn't his fault that natural disasters happened...well, except for that one time where he might of helped release a bunch of pigeons into Manehatten with the promise of never ending french fries...

All that aside, he wouldn't deny he loved it when he got to work with the younger ponies. Their laughter, imagination and lack of corruption by their parents, always made his day! Visiting them was always fun! At least until their parents would take them away in disgust...

But at least now Celestia was finally allowing him true freedom! Right away he set up a small area for himself off by the Everfree. Ponies weren't likely to happen upon his small gingerbread house in the middle of a hot chocolate lake, and he got some privacy that was sorely lacking within the palace!

It wasn't that he wasn't allowed his own room or that cameras were watching him everywhere he went. He had been given his own office in the palace where ponies could find him and his own space in the study rooms to work on his "friendship training." The princesses even went so far as to allow him his own tower to stay in and decorate as he pleased! Yet even with all of that, it went without saying that Celestia had to keep tabs on him. Couldn't risk the "reformed" Chaos Lord going crazy and hurting everypony again, now could we? But at least the chain had finally been loosened from his neck and he was allowed to travel a bit more freely.

With a sigh he glanced around the clouds in boredom. He was currently in the process of returning from a trip of visiting Saddle Arabia, again, and helping with the peace talks there. Again. To be honest he really didn't want to go there. Just what was Celestia playing at? She had him moving all over the place like some sort of trophy on display. Or maybe some sort of weapon? For as much as Celestia promoted peace and goodness, she certainly did have a large army under her command. And how long had she been ruling these ponies?

And they kept calling him a power hungry overlord...

A shout from below broke his internal monologue. It sounded like somepony was lost in the Everfree and had met some of the forests citizens in the process.

Luckily the friendly, neighborhood Discord was here!

Hovering in place, he glanced around for a sign of the distressed pony. A high pitched scream caught his attention as he watched some yellow coated pony run across an opening in the forest below, followed closely by five timberwolves. With cries for help, the pony jumped into a thorn bush, out of sight.

Snapping his fingers, Discord appeared down in the clearing behind the wolves, yet the creatures seemed to take no notice of him. Well now! That would have to change!

"Pardon me, good sir," Discord stated in a stately voice, tapping the closest wolf on the shoulder, "But you wouldn't happen to have any Grey Poupon now, would you?"

The creature stared at him blankly before growling and turning his attention on the draconequus.

"Oh," Discord sighed, suddenly looking bored and shining his lion paw nails upon his chest, "I didn't think so."

With a snap of his paw, the whole group found themselves in a very different environment. The wolves in question glanced around in confusion, finding a long table that was completely set for tea. Each wolf wore a decorative dress and bonnet, and was sitting in chairs that floated with the table a good trees length above the ground below.

At the head of the table Discord sat, wearing his own tea dress and lipstick, speaking a high falsetto, "Now you know I love a good tea party! Please pass the cookies!"

The group as a whole sat in shock for a few seconds before they attempted to righten themselves as the top predators of the forest. A few of the wolves growled, while another of their group tried to remove the bonnet that had been attached to its head with it's hind legs, falling to the ground below in the process.

"Oh! Don't tell me we are out of chocolate doodles!" Discord cried in anguish as he opened a cookie jar on the table, ignoring the glares from the group.

One of the larger wolves jumped up onto the floating table, only to blink in shock when the teapot turned around and began to spit tea in its face. To the surprise of all the wolves at the table, the wolf froze solid, trapped inside a giant ice cube.

"Now that is no way to behave at a tea party, young lady!" Discord admonished, "Don't you know that your tea must go in a teacup! Not on your face! You may be made of wood, but you are definitely not made of cups!"

The other wolves looked on in shock at their newly formed friendsicle.

"What?" Discord asked to their shocked expressions, "Have you never heard of iced tea?"

A loud scrape brought their attention back to their trapped friend. The large ice cube was sliding off the table, making a sound akin to nails upon a chalk board. With a final loud note, and a cry of "TIMBER" from the draconequus at the head of the party, the ice cube fell over the edge of the table and onto the wolf struggling with the bonnet below. The frozen wolf shook its head as it found itself released from its icy prison, and did not spend another second before it rushed off into the woods with a frightened cry, ignoring his flattened companion still trapped in the bonnet below the frozen mess.

"Now that was rude," Discord muttered theatrically, watching it run off, "He didn't even say goodbye!"

The other timberwolves watched as well, almost calculating what they had gotten themselves into.

"Oh, no, ladies!" Discord cried, drawing the attention of the remaining three wolves to him, "It looks like rain, does it not?"

Pulling out a small umbrella from behind his back, Discord snapped his fingers again, causing chocolate milk rain to fall upon the three remaining at the table. Within seconds the rain drenched the three remaining wolves.

"You do know what they say about summer rains," Discord sighed in happiness, "Here in an instant! Gone in a flash!"

Glancing up, he gasped in mock horror, "Oh, but do look at your dresses!"

The wolves eyes bulged in horror as they felt their dresses began to shrink in the sunlight.

Discord clicked his tongue, taking the moment to appear behind the wolf to the right. Lifting the wolf high in the air, ignoring its strangled yelp, he turned the collar inside out to study the care tag,

"Do not wash with chocolate milk or you risk shrinkage," Discord read out loud, "Oh! How terrible!"

The other wolves struggled to remove the outfits, their eyes bugging out to comical proportions as they twisted back and forth before finally falling down to the ground below. After a series of whines, the two finally escaped from the dresses enough that they could breathe in panting breaths.

"So much for my little tea party," Discord muttered.

With a grin he floated down to the couple below, "I do apologize for the dresses, but would you like to come over next week? We can try something else! Perhaps soda?"

The two wolves below stared at the draconequus in horror before running back off to the woods.

The wolf still trapped in the bonnet finally freed itself from the ice, only to find himself face to face with the draconequus still holding their packmate by the collar of their dress.

"Perhaps some cider!" Discord called delightfully, "I know it's more a pony thing but that could work!"

The creature yelped in fright and turned on the spot to escape only to run straight into a tree. Shaking its head to straighten its vision, the timberwolf dashed in a circle around the clearing and darted off in a new direction, away from the crazed magical creature.

"Perhaps chocolate milk then! We can all meet at my house!" Discord asked with a mock pout, pulling the wolf he was still holding up to eye level.

The creature only whimpered back in horror.

"Yeah, I didn't think so," the draconequus grinned, "Chocolate milk is only reserved for the most important of occasions and should never be wasted!"

With a small flick of his wrist the final timberwolf found itself sailing through the air and into a large thorn bush out in the forest. A loud howl of pain echoed across the clearing back to the Chaos Lord.

Discord could only chuckle. It had been a while since he really cut loose like that! Sure, the occasional chocolate rain or candied halls that lined his tower, but nothing as elaborate as this. He really needed to do this more!

The soft sound of a pony crying brought him out of his thoughts. Slowly lowering himself to the ground, Discord made his way over to the quivering bush.

"Now, now my dear pony!" Discord said with pride, posing himself theatrically. He bent down and picked the bush like a berry, bowing the whole while, "I am Discord, the Lord of Chaos, at your service! No need for applause or thanks! It is my duty-Nay! My honor to help the kindly ponyfolk of Equestria! Now please, feel free to worship me!"

A whimper below caused him to pause and look at the pony that lay before him. His brain seemed to freeze for a second as he studied the familiar pony before him. Eyes widening in surprise, he gaped for a second before his mind finally remembered how to talk.

"F-Fluttershy!"