AN: Sorry this is later than I would have liked. Two jobs have a tendency to kill you over time. This would be the chapter that I have reserved my Creative License for but for now, enjoy!

Chapter 5: Pinkie Promise!

To My Faithful Student Twilight Sparkle,

Please know that I did not send you this spell as a test of skill or proof of your ability. I have always believed in you and your abilities to the highest degree.

I do not blame you for what has happened.

Even I, after all these years and training in magic, cannot tell what a spell may or may not do. Some spells even react differently with the various users, further compounding the difficulty of magic and the reason for unicorns to be trained with their powers.

Please know that I did not know how this spell would react with the elements of harmony. Only that I believed you could finish Star Swirl the Bearded's work.

I have already informed guards, the train conductors, the balloon coordinators, and my fellow princesses of dear Fluttershy's disappearance. My sister Luna plans on trying to contact her in her dreams tonight, and both Cadence and your brother have been sent messages to keep an eye out as well.

We will do all we can for your friend.

Know that asking for help was the wisest, and perhaps most mature, decision you have ever made. Never turn down help. It is not a sign of weakness, but strength.

I will contact you as soon as we find any more information.

Always proud of you,

Princess Celestia

Twilight read and reread the letter. Then after a few minutes rereread the letter.

It was encouraging that Princess Celestia did not immediately send her away and punish her for her mistake, but it only made the agony of the situation more real. Perhaps it was just bruised pride, but it hurt to actually have to ask for help in this instance.

"Twilight," Spike's voice rang uncertainly in her ears.

Looking up, Twilight noticed Spike staring between her and the floor in nervousness.

"Yes?"

"Look, I know you're worried and all. I mean, we all are. But I don't think if Princess Celestia's letter had anything the first time, there will be anything new a second, or, well, fifth time."

Twilight froze for a second. Spike must have noticed this as he immediately backtracked.

"I mean, Celestia is doing everything she can, right? So all we can do is keep searching for stuff and then search for Fluttershy. A-and it'll all turn out ok! And-"

"It's alright, Spike," Twilight interrupted the little dragon, "You're right. I'm just upset. I hate feeling like I have ruined one of my friendships with such as stupid little mistake. It's frustrating that Celestia has nothing new, just as it hurts to feel like I have failed her."

Spike smiled sadly at her, "I'm sure Fluttershy is just fine! And she'll forgive you for everything! Just you wait and see! Fluttershy isn't the type to hold grudges, let alone get angry!"

"You're right Spike," Twilight smiled, "Let's get back to work, shall we? Here, can you find me some of those maps we made of the old palace in the Everfree? And perhaps A Complete List of Midlevel Spells I have up by my bed? I was also thinking more on Rarities books, and I think that The Path to the Future by Stary Shimmers and Destiny's Line: The way to divine what destiny has in store for us by Cloud Gazer might help her with what she is looking for."

"Right away, Twilight!"

Twilight watched as Spike ran around the corner, before she looked over at Celestia's letter one more time. Maybe if she just looked at it again….

No. Spike was right, she couldn't worry so much about what Celestia had said, or, perhaps, not said. She needed to figure this out and then find a way to help her friend.

Sighing, Twilight Sparkle turned her attention back to her list of wind patterns, which was quickly looking more and more hopeless. While she could get the statistics and most likely path for the balloon on a regular day, there was no way for her to account for how Rarity's weather magic could have affected the flight path. But at least it would give them a place to start.

"F-Fluttershy!"

Discord smiled a large, toothy grin, before picking up the trembling pony.

"Dear friend Fluttershy!" He cried out with glee, "How long has it been! Too many long months! I have missed you so much! We must catch-up! We must have a sleepover and share everything and-!"

Discord stopped when instead of a flustered and stammered response, which he would have ignored in favor of embarrassing and frustrating his small pony friend, he heard whimpers of pain and fear. Frowning, he stopped to look at the shaky pony in his claws.

His eyes went wide in surprise as he studied her small shaking form, "Oh, dear Fluttershy! Why did you not say you were hurt? We need to get you healed up right away!"

The area before them suddenly changed to that of a basic hospital room. While the sky was still above, and the forest still surrounding them, a surgical gurney lay upon a small space of tile that covered the majority of the small meadows floor. Surgical tools lay around on nearby cart while magically floating images of plants and sunsets hung on what could be invisible walls completing the small little room.

Fluttershy suddenly found herself staring at the sky as she was laid upon the hospital gurney while Discord had mysteriously dawned doctor scrubs in the seconds she had been looking away.

"Now!" Discord said with glee as he snapped gloves into place over his paw and claw, "Let us fix everything!"

"Stay-Stay away!" Fluttershy yelped, quickly trying to back away, only to fall off the gurney in the process.

Discord stopped suddenly in confusion, removing the doctors mask in the process, "Now Fluttershy, you know I was only kidding, right? I wasn't going to harm you. It goes against my Hippocratic Oath!"

"H-how can I kn-know that! After what y-you did! Making us all our o-opposite selves a-a-and-"

"Now there is no need for that! You know I worked really hard to change! I have been doing great! Even Celestia trusts me now," Discord pouted, looking heartbroken at the thought that Fluttershy would suddenly not want to be his friend, "What changed your mind?"

"W-well, Rainbow Dash may have "reformed" you, b-but I-I-I don't know if I can fully trust you!"

"Rainbow Dash?" Discord asked in confusion.

A large, teasing grin donned his face as he laughed lightly, "My dear, you simply must leave all the jokes to Pinkie Pie. Yours are confusing and have no punch line. How about a better joke. Like, ummmm...Oh! Oh! What's brown and sticky?"

Fluttershy's confused face looked like she was going to respond, but could not before Discord interrupted.

"A STICK! Get it?! Get it!" Discord laughed hysterically at his own joke. Fluttershy frowned at the Draconequus who floated in circles, laughing uproariously.

"But in all seriousness my dear," Discord continued, suddenly straight faced, "What has gotten into you? Here I thought that we were friends!"

"W-what are you talking about?"

Discord snapped his fingers together once more, making Fluttershy appear back on the gurney. Holding her head still, he began to look into her ear with an otoscope.

"Don't you remember? Your cottage, the dinner party, the ice skating at the Apple Family Farm?"

A machine appeared around her head, slowly spinning and circles before stopping and printing a detailed x-ray of her head. Discord looked at it in all seriousness, clicking his tongue here and there.

"Apple Family Farm? B-but Applejack runs the dress boutique, and Pinkie Pie works the Apple Farm," Fluttershy practically whispered in confusion, before giving him a look of distrust, "Is this...is this some sort of trick?"

Discord dropped the x-ray in shock. As the image broke on the ground like glass, he stepped back and took at full look at the pony before him. Something was seriously wrong with her. How could she not remember the great times they had together? The skating? The spinning cottage? The Discord-In-A-Tutu Lamp? Well, most of that was forgivable, but how in all of Equestria could she forget the lamp!

It was with this, truly looking at the pegasus in front of him, that he got a good look at one thing that was not supposed to be there.

"Fluttershy, if you do not mind my asking, what has happened to your cutie mark?"

Discord disappeared with a flash.

"M-my cutie mark?" Fluttershy asked, looking around for Discord, only to shiver when she felt like what was cold water moving across her fur.

A two dimensional Discord moved across her fur, poking at her balloon marks. Fluttershy couldn't help but giggle with each poke.

"You know, not this one," Discord called out, "The one with the butterflies!"

She gave a puzzled look as she desperately tried to look at his figure moving across her fur, "I-it has always been this way. Ever since I-I found the joy of other ponies laughter-"

"What?" Discord asked in confusion, appearing before her once more, "No, no, no! No! Nonono! That is all wrong! You are the pony of kindness!"

Transforming into a small rabbit, with his normal horns, wings, and his fangs, he looked at her with large eyes and spoke in a squeaky voice, "The carer of small animals!"

Changing again, this time Discord looked of a poorly made tree for a school play, complete with a fake trunk wrapped around his torso and branches held high in each hand.

"The pony who wishes to be a tree!"

Transforming back to normal, he looked at her with pleading eyes, "My first true friend!"

"What?" Fluttershy whispered, her eyes wide in confusion. Her head was hurting and her brain barely comprehending the last day of her life. Following Discord's confusing and bouncing conversation was getting difficult.

"You don't remember our time together?" Discord whispered in dismay.

"I-I don't remember any of that," Fluttershy looked at him with her large eyes that looked on the verge of tears as she grabbed her head, "P-please. Can't you just send m-me somewhere? I...I hurt. I just want to sleep."

Discord looked at her trembling form with a frown. How could he have lost track of her injuries? What sort of friend was he if he couldn't remember his friend was hurting!

"Of course," Discord said softly, "While I could use my magic to teleport you places, it is not recommended when you are injured. It has a tendency to act up on occasion. Why once, I ended up on the bottom of the ocean where I rediscovered the lost city of-wait, that doesn't matter right now! My powers just sometimes have a mind of their own, and to sum it up, I do not want to hurt you more than I already have."

"C-can't you just heal me before we go then?" Her voice barely above a squeak.

Shaking his head, Discord muttered something under his breath.

"W-what?"

"Ineverl-," his voice dropping out of hearing range before she could understand.

"I'm sorry. I don't-"

"I never learned those spells, ok?" Discord let out in a huff, "Healing spells require a concentration of magic mixed with a knowledge of the anatomy of the subject! I know little to nothing about a pegasus body, let alone all the muscles and tendons and bones that I might misplace if I tried that spell!"

"B-but you took away my wings! And Twilight and Rarity's horns-"

"That is easy!" Discord said with pride, "Making something disappear to another dimension! Oh, it is still very much a part of them, but simply not here. My own little pocket universe, where I send everything I ever need at a moments notice. Mostly chocolate and candy and so on…."

"Now healing?" he continued with a serious look in his eyes, "That is a different magic altogether. My magic is good for wants and desires. It's Chaos! I can hypnotize creatures and move things to my own will! I can bend reality with my magic!"

Fluttershy's eyes widened as he wildly gestured around him, changing their surroundings at will. A nearby shrub became a multicolored atrocity, as the neon orange berries upon plaid leaves upon argyle branches and roots plain and simply clashed horribly. A duck that was three times the normal size appeared outside of the tiled area, quacking with a deep and frightening force that lightly shook the earth around them. A tree was transformed into a light post that was made of a peppermint candy cane.

Discord paused his crazed magic show to look at Fluttershy once more, "But to fix...to heal...that would require knowledge that never, well, stuck." He bounced his brain out of his head and onto his hand to demonstrate putting a sticky note labeled "healing" upon it, but it fell off regardless of where he placed it.

With a sigh, he placed his brain back in his ear, "I never really did use my magic to help until recently. And healing requires a special touch. A gentle touch. And not the wrecking ball that my magic is."

Fluttershy nodded slowly, wincing slightly to herself at the pain that throbbed through her side.

The Draconequus sighed as he noticed the pain she was in, "Look, I could just make your wings disappear tonight, maybe even help wrap them if you'd like that instead, and I'll find you a doctor to take care of them. It is getting late enough as it is. I could take you back to Ponyvil-"

"No," Fluttershy urged, her eyes looking desperately up at him.

"What?"

"Not Ponyville," she whispered desperately, her eyes filled with fear.

"My dear, why would you not want to go to your home? Surely your friends must be worried!"

"I-I can't go back yet," Fluttershy looked away, tears threatening to fall.

"Fine," Discord sighed in frustration, "If you won't return to your home, where would you like to go?"

"I...I don't know," she looked at the ground, "I had been thinking Cloudsdale-"

"One ticket to Cloudsdale, coming up," Discord happily began to push up imaginary sleeves before he noted Fluttershy's rapidly shaking head.

"No!" she looked terrified, "I said I had been thinking about it! But after then I realized that with how everything has been going, maybe I'd be better away from anypony. Maybe some cabin in the woods. Or-or a new country that I haven't visited yet."

"Surely a hospital would be a better place," he frowned, looking at her disheveled form.

Fluttershy winced slightly at the reminder of her injuries.

"Maybe," she whispered, "But...well…."

"Well," Discord asked with a raised eyebrow after a moment of silence.

"I've been getting these weird moments where I just...well, am not me. I'm worried that they will just lock me away, or worse, just send me back home if they heard that."

Seeing that he was getting nowhere fast with the pony, Discord sighed heavily. He could just send her away to her friends or to Princess Celestia in Canterlot and be done with it. Surely whatever made her leave couldn't have been so bad. But while the old Discord would not have cared about what others felt or thought, he was the new Discord now! He couldn't go against his friends wishes now, could he?

"Well, if you won't go to Ponyville or a hospital or anywhere else," he muttered softly, a small grin growing upon his face as an idea came to mind, "Then perhaps...perhaps you'll come to mine instead?"

The look on Fluttershy's face spoke volumes of distrust and fear at the mere idea.

"Look, I promise no harm will come to you," Discord said, waving his hands in the air theatrically, "I'll even do that crazy promise you ponies like to do."

"I...I don't know," her voice barely reaching his ears.

Discord rolled his eyes as he took a step back, then proceeded to theatrically work out the whole of a Pinkie Promise.

"Cross my heart!" He began, an X appearing above his heart.

"Hope to fly!" He flapped his wings to float lightly in the air.

"Stick a cupcake in my eye!" Leaving one eye open, he looked at Fluttershy before a cupcake flew out of nowhere straight into his open eye.

Fluttershy stared at the display in shock before she began to giggle despite herself.

"Glad you liked it," Discord muttered in annoyance, "That stung a bit, I hope you know! But now will you please go with me?"

"Do...Do you have to take away my wings again?" She asked softly.

"Well, I don't have to," he sighed, pinching between his eyes as he tried to ward off the headache of distrustful ponies, "BUT it would take away any pain you have right now. And would allow you to relax a bit before we can take care of it properly."

Fluttershy bit her lip in nervousness. The thought of losing her wings again was like a nightmare turned real. But the pain...

"A-alright," she whispered before looking at him seriously, "But if you do anything-!"

"If I do anything," Discord continued softly, looking more sincere than he had in a long while, "I will willingly back out of our deal from earlier and purposefully turn myself over to your friends for you all to turn me back into stone with those elements that you all love so much."

Fluttershy studied his face with surprise. She had not expected him to be so serious about all of this. Maybe he had changed….

With a soft gulp, Fluttershy nodded to Discord.

Discord smiled softly down at the shaking pony, snapping his fingers and willing the wings to his little pocket universe. Fluttershy gasped in both fright and relief as the weight and pain of her wings left her body.

The feeling of being lifted up into the air made Fluttershy gasp.

"Off to my place then," Discord's smile spread across his whole face, "Oh! You'll just love it! I have a hot chocolate moat and I keep a small supply of cotton candy clouds overhead and-and! OH! There is this-"

Well, maybe not completely changed...

AN: I felt like the idea of Discord simply healing Fluttershy at this time would be too convenient and wouldn't allow me to really write out what I wanted to later. Honestly any distrust just wouldn't be enough for Discord to not magically solve everything right here and now. So I came up with an explanation that I felt would work. While I recognize that Discord and even Celestia are depicted as almost god-like characters, I like it more when a character isn't able to solve everything at the drop of a hat.

The idea of the pocket universe just seemed too fun and a great way to tie things together later. Perhaps not the most creative of explanations but it works.