AN: Ok...to anyone who cares, 50 hour work weeks suck and drain the life from you.

Anyways, inside this chapter you will be introduced to what is probably the stupidest pony name to have ever been created. I kept it that way for two reasons:

First, the ponies of My Little Pony have a tendency to have dumb names to begin with. I think they had fun with that in Tanks for the Memories with the whole Clear Skies bit.

Second, name grew on me over time and I was too lazy to change it at the end of the day. Let's face it, the pony names typically reflect that ponies future, as if the parents get some sort of vision of what their foals destiny will be from day one.

At the end of the day, I guess there are worse crimes than creating an uncreative character name...

Anyways, I don't own My Little Pony, which is probably good, as all the pony names would be terrible...

Chapter 6: Hide and Seek

The trip to Discord's house had been surprisingly relaxing. Discord made sure to keep her stable and not move her too much if possible. He talked excitedly the whole way over, like a child going to their first party, or an old friend who had not been around in a while.

"Oh! And we shall play games! I recently got a new one called-"

"And we can make waffles! Perhaps some blueberry and a few chocolate with kiwis! And then-"

"What about a movie?! You like movies, right? Well there is this one I was thinking about remaking, starring yours truly of course, and-"

And on and on he went with her only getting the chance to nod or mutter a slight yes or no as seen fit. Lucky for her it did not take long to find their destination.

It truly was a hot chocolate moat, having large green cattail like grasses around the edges that seemed to have marshmallows along the ends of their stick-like protrusions. Across the moat was large globs of whipped cream that floated lazily to and fro.

In the middle of the chocolate mess was a gingerbread house, not too unlike what Fluttershy had seen Mr. and Mrs. Cake make in the past, only this one was large enough to fit a fully grown stallion inside! Even a small family of stallions could fit there. It was after looking closely at the design of the cottage that Fluttershy felt like she had seen it before. As a matter of fact, Fluttershy thought it looked an awful lot like the one Rainbow Dash lived in….

"Now then!" Discord's prideful voice interrupted Fluttershy's thoughts. Placing Fluttershy lightly on the ground before him, he continued, "Welcome to my cozy little getaway! Do you like it?"

"W-well," Fluttershy said softly, looking around uncertainly, "The ma-marshmallows seem to look rather...um...well toasted."

"Yes!" Discord gleefully declared, "I made them self toasting! As they age they reach wonderful levels of toastiness! Just watch out for letting them stay out too long." He looked at her wide eyed, leaning in close to her and stating in a conspiratorial whisper, "They have a tendency to catch on fire if they go past their prime."

Fluttershy nodded hesitantly, not knowing the words to say.

"Now then!" he smiled, all seriousness from a second ago forgotten, "Let's get you inside, give you a chocolate milk," he paused for a second, muttering, "and perhaps find a doctor?"

Opening the door and ushering her in, Fluttershy was welcomed to the site of what had to be the most conflicting colors ever. Lime green walls, accented with bright orange trims surrounded a floor of a bizarre patterned black and white tile that reminded her of a snowstorm. The dizziness from the floor alone made Fluttershy feel sick.

"Oh. Right," Discord hissed to himself, muttering something about ponies and their inability to handle the beauty of static as a floor pattern. A finger snap later and the floor was at least a basic black and white checkered pattern, allowing Fluttershy to not lose what little she had still left in her stomach.

Able to finally look around the room, Fluttershy noticed half of the furniture floating around through the air, with only a handful of items actually staying in one place on the floor. Somehow Fluttershy couldn't bring herself to trust said accessories to not do anything if she touched them.

"Well," she began, "It's...nice?"

"Nice? Only nice?" Discord asked worriedly, "Not amazing or stupendous or so full of chaos that I think my brain might explode!"

"W-well I'm sure I would enjoy it most of the time, b-but..." she trailed off, looking at where her wings would normally be.

"Oh, forgot about that," Discord muttered, "Might be a bit difficult to reach flying furniture like that."

With that the furniture slowly drifted back to the ground, and if Fluttershy wasn't going too crazy, the other furniture that was already on the floor seemed to straighten out a bit and freeze, as though it was alive and priming to attack mere seconds before.

"Now," Discord stated, turning to look at her, "About that wing of yours?"

Fluttershy stiffened and turned so that her back was as far away from the draconequus as possible, "I-I thought you wouldn't do anything to it!"

"I said that I wouldn't do anything to it," Discord tisked, "That we would get a doctor for it? Remember."

"W-well I'm fine now," Fluttershy declared trying to sound brave, but failing. She didn't want that pain to return quite yet, "I'll just go to sleep for a bit and we'll take care of it later."

Discord growled low in his throat as he looked at the scared pony before him.

"I already promised I would not do anything to harm you," he said slowly and impatiently. She trusted him this far, why would she not trust him further?

"And I can see that," Fluttershy said, "B-but you already said yourself that you know nothing about pegasuses medical needs. So-so why don't we leave it alone now and we can find a doctor first thing in the morning!"

"Fluttershy," Discord felt a headache coming on, "We need to take care of this…."

"I-I know."

"So why not take care of it now?" Discord stared at the pony, trying to get her to accept his help, while Fluttershy glanced around the room, judging her options.

She could accept his offer for help and let some random medical pony help her. But then it could make things worse when said pony returned to society. Discord had been caring so far and was acting like he truly had been reformed. Slightly insane, but reformed. And she didn't want him to look like some sort of foal-napper and bring the wrath of Celestia on him if he truly was helping!

Fluttershy mused for a second on demanding to be dropped off at a hospital and left alone from there. But she feared that the doctors may commit her to the insanity ward due to her issues with her cutie mark and her time with Discord. Or worse, they'll send her back to Ponyville where she'd have to confront the town and her friends. The thought of their betrayed looks made her shudder.

On the other hoof she could decline his offer. Tell him that she was fine for the night and they could deal with the situation in the morning. But Discord would probably use his magic on her to make her comply. And that alone scared her more than anything else in the world.

Fluttershy sighed to herself as she really looked at all three options readily available. She supposed that there really wasn't a good choice, no matter which way she looked at it.

"Alright," she said after a minute, "Get a doctor."

"Then I shall be back posthaste!" Discord declared before disappearing from view with a snap of his fingers.

Fluttershy sat down, fearing what would come of all this.

Doctor Strong Bones happily walked away from her final check-up for the day. The little filly that came in had her wing broken during fall on the playground at one of the schools in Manehatten, and was currently being checked on to see if they could begin removing the cast or not. The poor dear did great, and was given the chance to go home with a sticker of her choice and return next week for her next check-up and final removal of said cast.

In her office she sat down with a sigh. She enjoyed her job here at the hospital, helping other ponies with their various issues. Finding her fascination with bones as a young filly, she quickly discovered her destiny of helping other ponies take care of themselves and their bones. She took to becoming a doctor like a fish to water and had never looked back.

Doctor Strong Bones sighed happily to herself as she slowly began to pack up her items for the day. It really had been a good day, and that little filly was just too cute and so sweet. Humming a light tune to herself as she walked to the door she found herself stopping suddenly. She swore she just heard some laughter. Putting her ear against the door she heard a light giggle from the hallway.

Frowning, she slowly opened the door. The pediatrics wing was close, and it wasn't unheard of for some small foals to try to escape their rooms when their parents or nurses weren't looking. But she wasn't that close.

With a glance up and down the hallway she called out, "Hello? Is someone there?"

In all honesty, she usually did not stay this late in the day herself. Most days she was gone by 6 o'clock, but she stayed late today as a favor to the family with the filly she checked on just a little while ago. It was now closing in on 8, meaning that the offices were going to be inhabited by janitors at best.

Snapping back into the moment, she noted how the hall was all but abandoned, with most of the staff having left for the day hours ago. She had to have been hearing things. Why would a child be this far away from their bed?

Strong Bones turned to head back inside her office for her bag when the sudden sound of small hoofs running across the floor to her left made her jump.

"Now-now young one," she called out to the hall, "You are a little ways from bed, are you not? Just come out from hiding and we'll get you back to your bed!"

Her response was silence.

With a sigh she walked out down the hall. Within a matter of seconds she had made it to the end, only to hear scampering from the next corridor that lead to the stairs. A door ahead creaked before slamming shut. Making her way to the end of the corridor she made sure the check on the random doors along the walls just in case. All had been locked, leaving only the stairs.

"Come on," Strong Bones urged in exasperation. She may work well with the foals, but that did not mean that she had the patience of a saint. This may take a little longer than she thought.

"Are you down there?" she called into the stairwell. The distant sound of hoofs shuffling around answered her. They sounded like they were a few floors away.

As the door creaked open, she began walked out onto the landing. To be completely honest she was beginning to be creeped out by everything. The lights felt like they were dimmer than normal in the stairs tonight. Almost as if the shadows were eating away at the fluorescent glow.

A loud bang sounded behind her. Jumping, she turned around only to spot the door she had just used had slammed shut. Something in her was screaming at her to turn back and call pediatrics about the child. Maybe they could take care of it. But the sense of responsibility would not leave her alone. She couldn't just leave a small, injured and possibly frightened filly alone in the hospital now, could she?

So down the stairs she went. Down the darkened steps, following only the sounds of giggles. All too soon she found herself down on the first floor. With a quick thought of the front desk, she realized that she didn't have to hunt this child alone.

Feeling a slight bit of relief at the thought of help, Strong Bones tried the door, only for it to not budge. With a frown, she fought with the door some more.

Strange, Strong Bones thought, This door has never been locked before.

The sounds of giggling made her stop. They sounded slightly muffled, but were definitely coming from behind her. Slowly turning around, she spotted a door. Now she may not be an expert on wayfinding, but she could have sworn that there was no door there before.

Strong Bones gulped softly as she studied the strange new addition. This was just getting down right weird. Like some sort of horror story they played late at night on the television.

Hesitantly she approached the door, poking it open softly. The soft giggles seemed to be closer, but the stairs that dug deeper into the earth seemed to be devoured by the darkness of the shadows. She felt lucky to see only a few paces before her face.

"Little one," Strong Bones called softly, "My little pony. Time to come out! You need to go to bed now!"

Her only reply was the soft pattering of hoofs.

"Of course you run further into the darkness," she mutters to herself.

Looking longingly at the door that held the front desk and the promise of help behind it, Strong Bones strengthened her resolve and pushed forward, heading down the steps once more. The way around her was dark, as though there were no walls, just infinite space. But the soft lights that rested upon the landing ahead gave her just enough to see otherwise, showing only ghostly outlines of the edges of the stairs ahead of her.

Making it to the first landing, she looked around. The stairs seemed to go deeper into the earth around her, holding a few oddly spaced doors on the same floor as her. Trying the handle of one she found it to be locked. The whisper of footsteps below made her glance further down to the next landing with it's dim, ghostly lights only hinting at another level to go.

Glancing back to the entry door, she steadied herself and went down once more. After a couple of landings down she began to notice even more oddities to the stairwell. Each landing had the the dim lights that seemed to be devoured by darkness of the walls around them. The doors on each level had not rhyme or reason, being oddly spaced, sometimes seeming to be right on top of each other. Even the half level landings held doors that would have to be janitors closets lest they interfere with the rooms on the floors above them. She had even run across doors to rooms on the steps that just hung off the floor at chest level. Whoever had made this place had to be insane.

Making to the fifth level down, she stopped. It had gone from being a sense of duty to an overall feeling of doom that now rested heavily in her gut. Looking up the stairs in dread, Strong Bones recalled one specific detail of the hospitals layout. It had but only two basement levels.

Oh, the doctors and nurses always liked to joke around about how things were haunted and spooky at night. Even ghost hunter groups liked to travel into their old building to investigate Manehatten's oldest hospital. But she had never really believed in any of that. At least...until now.

Taking a deep breath, Strong Bones tried to ignore the omnipresent feeling of terror that the place was giving her and pushed on. There was a filly down here that she now had to rescue, and she wasn't going to let anything stand in her way!

Yet after about twenty flights of stairs, a good eight floors further than where the building should have stopped, she stopped. Why was she doing this? She should go back up now and get help! This was too weird, too crazy. Doors were starting to appear on the ceiling, and now the stairs started to curve instead of the usual straight flights that they normally were. Even if this was just some old, abandoned portion of the building, how could she be certain that it was safe to continue down these steps? This constant feeling of danger just was not going away! There could be a gas leak, or some strange contaminant! She could even be hallucinating right now! Not to mention the fact that she was shaking in her fur.

Terror and fear finally overwhelming her, making the doctor decide it was beyond time to turn around and head back. If anypony asked, she had decided on her own personal safety. Yeah, that's what she would call it. I mean, she reasoned to herself, Emergency responders cannot just run out into the middle of an accident without some official telling them it is safe for them, right?

Strong Bones turned around. It was for her own safety, she kept telling herself. With help they could rescue this lost filly and laugh about this whole incident in the morning. Putting her hoof on the first step back upwards, she started to ascend.

She made it no more than two steps before the soft sounds of giggling made her freeze in place. Turning around slowly, Strong Bones noticed a single door on this landing, and the laughter sounded like it was coming from inside.

This is ridiculous! she argued with herself, Just go back the way you came, no issues! You call for security and it will all be good! You know the foal is down here, so you can head back up and get help in looking and-

The sound of a door opening from somewhere up above Strong Bones made her veins turn to ice.

Maybe it's security checking the area? she thought desperately, trying to remain calm and rational and not think about all the horror movies she had seen over the years.

Strong Bones opened her mouth to call out to the new comer but stopped. Something wasn't right. She knew one thing from her training in survival scenarios, and that was follow your gut as it was usually right. So instead she just sat, and listened. Heavy hoof-falls echoed across the stairs, but they were wrong. They were off. They sounded heavier, with every other step sounding more padded with soft clicks accenting it. Oh, the first step was definitely a hoof, but the second? She couldn't place what in Equestria that could be. Taking a deep breath, she finally came to a conclusion. While she couldn't be certain of any one thing about this place, she was beyond certain that that sound was not coming from security.

Looking around, Strong Bones assessed the area. She could go further down the steps, but she didn't know how much further down they went. And this foal, if it even was a foal, she thought darkly to herself, was more than likely in the room behind her. As much as she wanted to find a better room to hide in, the thought of leaving a youngling to an unknown...thing!...just made her stomach churn.

So she could either face whatever was coming down the steps, or could go and hide with the small filly and hope for the best. Tears leaked down her cheeks as she came to realization that no option was a good option.

Strong Bones snapped herself into action and tried to enter the room as quietly as possible. Hiding really was their best scenario. But even with all her efforts, the soft creak and click of the door locking into place must have been heard, as the footsteps paused for a few heartbeats, before they continued at a faster pace.

Strong Bones looked around the darkened room in a panic. A dim light shown at the far side of the space, giving the entirety of the room a shadowed and haunted look. It seemed like some abandoned break room, but everything was cloaked in darkness. Only a faint outline hinted that furniture might be in the room.

"It'll be alright," she muttered softly to herself, "It's going to be alright." But she could not bring herself to believe it.

Strong Bones bit her lip and began to look around the room again. The little pony had to be hiding in here. If she could simply find them, then they could hide from whatever was in the stairwell. How would it even know they were in this room to begin with anyways? Right?

"Are you in here?" she whispered, her voice coming out shakily, "I'm here to help! Where are you?"

"You'll give us away!" a small voice, so soft, she almost missed it, came from her right.

"I can't see you. Where are you?"

"Over here," came the reply, and a slight bit of movement caught her attention. Moving softly over, her eyes finally caught sight of a small form hiding beneath a table.

"What are you doing here? Where are we?" she whispered quietly as she kneeled down to meet the filly's eyes. Judging by the voice, it was a young colt.

"Aren't you playing too?" the small voice asked.

"Playing what? With whom?" Strong Bones whispered fearfully.

"Hide and find," the colt stated in a confident whisper, "With the Stitched-up Stallion!"

"S-Stitched-Up Stallion?" her voice was barely above a whisper. Oh no. This was just like that horror film she watched the other night, where the monster took limbs and guts from a group of teenaged ponies to gain more power so it could conquer the world!

"Well, he's, you know, made up of different parts and stuff," the foal stated as if it explained everything, "But I like to call him the Mismatched Phantom! As he can float and walk through walls and stuff!"

"Walls?" her voice was a squeak.

"Yeah! We like to play with him all the time here at the hospital whenever he visits!"

"Playing, hmm. Is that what we are doing?"

Strong Bones froze. The voice came from right behind her.

Shaking, she slowly began to turn around and see the looming form above her. She couldn't make out what it was in the darkness, only that it had a pony-like face, a long form that hulked over her, and large, glowing red eyes that sat not even a foot from her face.

"If we are playing, my dear, you are not doing a very good job," the thing tisked at her.

Doctor Strong Bones didn't even bother to respond, instead electing to scream.

Discord looked at the screaming pony before him. He didn't even know how she got in here to begin with, but it was probably that little brats fault. It was stupid of him to trust the little one!

Oh, he had tried talking to a doctor at a previous hospital first. But they had just screamed! It may have had something to do with him entering the building with a portal made of flames that levitated in the middle of a long hallway. Or maybe it was when he informed them in a deep voice that their mortal soul had been chosen, and that they had to prepare themselves for their final destiny. Or maybe it had to do with the fact he was wearing a green tie instead of the mandatory blue for Thursdays. Yeah, that was it, it had to be the tie. Either which way, he was pretty certain that their screams constituted as a no, especially when they called in security with their dogs. So he left for a new hospital and recruited the help of one of the little foals.

Discord would not deny it, he had visited the hospital a few times before to play with the younger ponies. Many of them were there for small things, like small illnesses and broken bones, but some of them were there for much larger and sadder reasons. Reasons that would most likely mean that they would not be going home again.

So he liked to stop by and play games with the little ponies. Sometimes he would open a portal that opened to other rooms. And they would play hide and seek through portions of the hospital and other rooms of his creation. It seemed that this little colt had chosen a staff break room as his hiding place on the stairwell, hoping to play a little game instead of helping him with talking with a doctor to help Fluttershy.

Discord sighed. He couldn't blame the kid for being chaotic. He was the Lord of Chaos! He should applaud the child for being so impulsive that he led a grown filly on a crazy chase through a wormhole of insanity! Oh, the thought of it all brought a tear to his eye.

Looking at the doctor, she was right now in the process of screaming her head off and trying to place herself between him and the foal. Discord rolled his eyes.

"Please, please, ma'am," Discord tried to say, "Ponies are trying to sleep!"

"STAY AWAY!" she kept repeating, "DON'T COME OVER HERE! STAY BEHIND ME! YOU STAY AWAY!"

"That's it," Discord muttered, snapping his fingers. A zipper appeared over the pony's mouth, effectively shutting her up. Looking around, he snapped he paw again, turning on the lights in the room. Unfortunately the light only served to make the doctor scream more if her muffled sounds were any consideration. Was he really that scary to look at?

"Now," he said calmly, looking at the quivering form of the doctor before him, "I am not here to hurt you, I am just here to get your help."

Eyeing the small colt before him, he added, "Right?"

"Yeah," the small pony said, looking at his hooves. Looking up, the youngling added, "I didn't mean to cause any trouble! I just wanted to play a game!"

"I know, I know," Discord stated nonchalantly, waving his claw through the air, "I forgive you, and whatnot. Now, will you please help me explain this to the nice doctor?"

Doctor Strong Bones watched the entire exchange with fear. What was he doing with the all the children? This-This thing was going to kill her, wasn't it?!

"Miss Doctor Lady?" the child next to her began. She turned her head slowly to stare at the young colt that looked sheepishly at his feet.

"Sorry about scaring you and stuff," he began, "I was just wanting to play with Mismatch here and I didn't know you were following."

Somehow it calmed her nerves a bit. Maybe it was the apology, or maybe it was being back in the light, but she felt the child was sincere about his apology.

Looking back sharply at the strange creature before her, she felt like she should know this being, but couldn't place it. It just...scared her.

"B-but Miss?" the colt caught her attention again, "Mismatch here says he has a friend who is hurt and needs a bones doctor! Are you a bones doctor?"

She paused for a second, uncertain of what would happen if she lied and said no. Deciding against finding out, she nodded her head slowly.

"Then you can help Mismatch's friend!" he claimed in glee.

"What he is trying to say, Miss," Discord filled in, "Is that I am in need of help, and would love it if you would come along with me to help a dear friend of mine. She broke her wing, you see, and while I have these powers," he demonstrated by turning the sofas bright green, making the colt giggle, "I am no doctor. Would you be willing to help?"

A soft snap of his paw, and Strong Bones found herself able to speak again. A small part of her still wanted to take the small foal and run, but something about this situation, while probably the strangest dream she had ever had in her life, felt real. And how could she not go help somepony who was in need of help?

"I-I'll go with you," she began, "But how do I know you will let me go home again?'

Discord stared at her with his wide eyes, like she had grown a second head. A good idea, but he didn't have time for that now!

"I have no desire to harm you or any of the ponies in all of Equestria," he stated as if offended, "I just need you to help a friend's broken wing! I can provide you with all the supplies necessary! Do I have to keep doing these crazy pony promises everywhere?"

She had no idea what promise he was talking about.

"Fine," she muttered, "Just, please, I'll see this pony you are talking about. And then I want to go home."

"Great!" Discord exclaimed, jumping into the air and doing a backflip in excitement, "We shall leave right away!"

"Wait! What about the child!"

"Oh, right,"

"I thank you for your help, little one," Discord smiled at the small pony, "Now here, have some ice cream and it is off to bed!"

"Ice cream?" Strong Bones asked.

"Why not?" Discord stated.

Strong Bones took a deep breath. She honestly had no idea what she was getting herself into.