AN: Soooooo...it's been what? A month...or two... Either way, here is another chapter that's been ready to post for a while now.

As per usual-I don't own My Little Pony, nor do I own the line from Skyrim or a quick reference to The End of the World (if you squint your eyes).

Chapter 8: Breakfast

Fluttershy found herself floating around Ponyville. Or, at least, she was pretty sure it was Ponyville. It was as if it was and was not her home at the same time. She could not explain it. It didn't look like Ponyville exactly, but she knew in her heart that it was her town.

As she floated into the town proper, she took note of all the other ponies. All around her the others moved around as if in a trance. They all walked slowly, none of them acknowledged her or even looked her way, simply going through the motions of life.

"Hello?" she asked timidly.

The other ponies stopped in their place, as if turned into statues by her single uttering of a word. One of the closer ponies turned their head towards her, his eyes glaring at her, glowing as if on fire. Fluttershy gasped and took a step back, bumping into another pony in the process. Turning around to apologize, she noticed the same glowing eyes on this pony as well. All around her, one by one, the citizens of this other Ponyville lifted their gazes to onto her form.

"Fluttershy," came the creaky whisper from all the ponies as one.

The pegasus gave a gasp of fright, jumping to the air to fly away. Yet instead of the freedom of the air around her body, she found herself stumbling straight to the ground. Fluttershy shakily got up, glancing at her back to find that her wings were absent. Heart racing in her ears as she desperately tried to remember if her wings had been there moments before or if they had never existed at all, she turned to look at the group before her. The ponies from all around were now staring at her, with the one closest to her growling out her name once more, this time taking a heavy step towards her.

Fluttershy gave a shout of fear, dashing off through the crowd into the town proper. Her sudden movement seemed to activate the paralysis that was on the other ponies, making them give chase. She ran as fast as her hooves would take her, dodging the incoming ponies that tried to stop her.

"Fluttershy," they growled out to her again and again.

"Go away!" she called back at all the voices, closing her eyes in fear, "Goaway, goaway, GO AWAY!"

Opening her eyes she got only a glimpse of a pony in front of her before she tripped over them.

"Fluttershy," a familiar voice whispered to her. Opening her eyes, she noticed that she had tripped over Twilight Sparkle.

"Twilight!" she said, pulling her friend close in a hug, "I am so glad you are here! I-I don't know what's gotten into everypony! Please! You have to help!"

But instead of her friends familiar, cheery voice, she only had the same croaked whisper of her name.

"T-Twilight?" Fluttershy whispered, pulling back to look her friend over.

Twilight Sparkle stared up at her, an empty look in her eyes, her voice remaining emotionless, "You left us, Fluttershy. You left all of us."

Looking up, Fluttershy noticed her friends all around her, each with the same empty, dead look in their eyes. Beyond them stood the townsponies, their eyes still glowing with an unworldly gleam.

"Fluttershy," her friends seemed to say as one, circling her and Twilight, "You left us. You left us all alone."

"I didn't mean to!" Fluttershy cried out, her eyes going wide as the townsponies slowly began to morph. Each pony was forming large, wooden bodies and claws, only keeping a rough outline of a pony shape and hair. It was as if they were becoming a combination of pony and wolf.

"You left us," her friends repeated in their synchronized monotone.

"I didn't want to," she begged her friends, eyes glancing nervously at the changing ponies, "But-but I can't do it! I can't make ponies laugh or smile or anything! I-I couldn't stay! Everypony hated me! I couldn't stay!"

"You left us," they kept repeating, their eyes taking on a similar glow to the other ponies, their bodies becoming larger and more shadowy, slowly morphing, "You left us, Fluttershy. How could you?"

"I-I don't know why!" Fluttershy was crying now, "I-I just can't! Please! I don't want this! I don't want this!"

"Fluttershy," came the growl-like voice of the Twilight-wolf, "If you can't make us laugh, then what good are you to us?"

Turning around, she saw as the now fully formed Twilight-wolf stood tall above her, casting a long shadow across her and the other transformed ponies. Her changed friend gave a dark laugh as she lifted her claw high in the air and brought it crashing down onto the ground mere inches away from Fluttershy's trembling form. The ground shook and cracked at the center of impact, when bit by bit, like pieces to a puzzle, it began to fall down away from the earth.

Fluttershy watched in shock, feeling like she was moving in slow motion as she attempted to get away. Yet no matter how fast she urged her muscles to pull her, the pieces of ground falling away caught up to her form. First it was her back hooves, struggling to find a wall to pull against, only to flail in the air. Looking down over her shoulder she saw the dark expanse of the Everfree Forest hundreds of feet beneath her hooves. Then the ground cracked away from her chest, forcing her to look up at the crowd before her. All around the once friendly smiles of Ponyville had become twisted as they seemed to excited for the final moment. She screamed at her friends for help, but found only the strange hybrid monsters staring back at her, smiling as she slid down the ledge. And then the last piece gave, pulling her down through the trough the hole.

With a final slip, Fluttershy fell through the growing hole. She screamed as the ground rushed up to meet her.

Above her, in the hole in the clouds that led back to Ponyville, she could swear that she heard someone calling her name.

Fluttershy gasped. She kicked around blindly, not recognizing her surroundings. Where was she? What was she doing here?

"Fluttershy!" a voice cried nearby.

Looking around, she finally began to remember the day before. The fall, Discord, the doctor...

"Fluttershy," the voice revealed itself as Discord, "Are you alright? What is wrong?"

"I-I'm fine," she offered after taking a moment to yawn, she got very little sleep the night before with the constantly being woken up for check ups, "I am fine, thank you. Just...just a bad dream."

Discord stared at her in silence, watching her every move. Fluttershy shifted softly under his gaze.

"D-did you spend your whole night in here?" she asked softly, studying his ruffled hair and blanket on the chair he was sitting in.

"I don't want to lie to you so I'm not going to say yes!" Discord smiled down. Fluttershy opened her mouth to comment but stopped to really contemplate what he actually said.

"Well then," Discord continued after a few moments of confused silence, "If all is well, perhaps a breakfast? It is about time for a sunrise!"

With a grand showmanship only known to the most high class of actors or salesmen, Discord produced a hat in one hand and began to remove breakfast items from within.

"So perhaps a basic egg dish? A quiche? Scrambled eggs?" Fluttershy watched as said items were plucked from out of the hat and began to float through the air.

"Or is it the baked goods you like? You ponies do hang around that silly cake shop quite often! Perhaps croissants? Or muffins? Ah, but we forget some of the greatest of breakfast staples, pancakes! So then, would you like pancakes? Topped in whipped cream and bacon? Or waffles? With bananas and pineapples! Or perhaps blintzes? Or a cinnamon bun topped in peanut butter? Oh-oh! I know! Strawberry crepes topped in a mixture of chocolate ganache and cream and layered like a parfait in a giant fish bowl!"

Fluttershy watched as the stacked mess floated towards her, the chocolate and cream mixture threatening to spill off the plate and onto the bed.

"Wrong on all accounts, aren't I?" Discord asked with a frown.

"Perhaps just some oatmeal with honey," Fluttershy whispered shyly, "If that is alright?"

Discord stared at her, before frowning. Even the plates of food looked slightly depressed as they lost altitude and floated slower, "Well, I guess...it just seemed so...plain."

Moving toward the door to the room, he opened it to reveal a kitchen with a second Discord working at an oven with a pink apron and chefs hat on.

"You hear that? Bowl of grain topped with bees!"

"What!" the chef Discord whined, "After all those pancakes I made? I thought you said panc-"

"Nevermind that!" Discord commanded, "We needed the order five minute ago! No questions asked!"

"Fine! Fine! But I demand overtime for this!"

Discord rolled his eyes and slammed the door shut.

"Some days I don't know what to do with that guy," Discord rolled his eyes, before a bowl of the desired breakfast popped out of the hat and floated towards Fluttershy.

"Please! Please! No applause! I know my chefly skills are bar-none!" Discord dramatically called. Fluttershy stared at the bowl and back at Discord in uncertainty, before timidly taking a bite. With a soft smile, and relief at the lack of surprises, Fluttershy began to eat at a normal pace.

"What are you doing now," an exasperated Strong Bones asked, walking into the room, eyeing all the floating plates in irritation.

"Why, breakfast of course!" Discord cried gleefully, grabbing the plate of strawberry crepes from the air and removing the bacon and whipped cream topping from one of the other plates. Taking a bite, he sighed in lustful joy at the food on his plate.

"Ah, breakfast. Yes. Great," she said as if on autopilot, choosing to ignore the insanity in the room and focus on her patient, "So, how is my patient doing this morning?"

"Better," Fluttershy offered, "Tired. Will I be allowed to sleep again soon?"

"Maybe. How are you feeling? Any headaches as of late? Or at least any that were not caused by this one here?" she asked, gesturing towards Discord who floated over her shoulder.

"Hey!"

"No, not really," Fluttershy glanced down at her breakfast bowl in nervousness, "Like I already said, I feel a bit sleepy, but I didn't get much sleep last night."

Strong Bones snorted at that, "Yeah, I suppose you wouldn't. But you're not feeling dizzy? No abnormal moods? You feel...well, normal?"

Fluttershy stopped to think about it for a second, "W-well...not that I can tell. I mean, I don't feel dizzy or abnormal. Unless you are referring to my cutie mark. Then I don't know how I feel."

"Hey!" Discord exclaimed, a lightbulb appearing above his head, "Would a concussion have changed her cutie mark? It would explain why she isn't fully herself!"

Fluttershy glanced between the two. She still wasn't too sure if Discord was correct in saying her cutie mark was wrong, but it was a valid question.

"Well, I don't think so," Strong Bones face contorted into a frown as she thought over years of medical knowledge, "I have never heard of such a thing happening before at the very least. Anyways, weren't you telling me that your cutie mark had been this way before your fall?"

"Yes," Fluttershy nodded, frowning at the memory of Ponyville.

"Don't worry, Fluttershy," the doctor smiled, putting a hoof on her shoulder, "I'll help you figure this out. I was planning on looking things up today when I return to the hospital."

"Wait! You want to return already!" Discord exclaimed.

"Yes. Fluttershy, aside from her broken wing, seems to be healing just fine. It seems that the concussion was not so severe that she will need to be brought into the hospital."

"So her concussion is bad!?" Discord seemed ready to freak out.

"Well, yes. All concussions are bad. They are brain injuries, and the brain is the most important organ in the body."

"Well, yeah, look at what's telling you that," Discord rolled his eyes.

"As long as she takes it easy," she continued as though Discord had not interrupted, "She does nothing straining mentally or physically, she should be fine." Her gaze then returned to Discord to give him a hard look, "Though I would expect you to get me immediately if anything were to happen."

"Like what?" Fluttershy asked nervously.

"Bouts of headaches, or dizziness, having issues with balancing, sleeping too much or too little, acting out of normal for yourself; things along those lines. Though I suppose acting abnormally may not be a symptom this time, considering this whole cutie mark issue."

Discord nodded, having donned a pair of glasses, busy writing down everything the doctor just said into a small notebook.

"But if you would, Discord," she continued, "I need to get back to my regular shift at the hospital. If you want, I can meet with you tonight and I can let you know if I found anything. Otherwise I'll stop by in a few days to check on your wing?"

"That sounds good," Fluttershy nodded.

"Great," Strong Bones smiled at Fluttershy, "Now if you would, Discord?"

"But what about breakfast?" he whined.

"Fine," she rolled her eyes, "A quick meal. Then we take me back home!"

"Yes!" Discord cheered in victory, before removing the options from the air around them back into the top hat to do the whole practiced choreography again.

Twilight shuffled nervously back and forth in front of her tree house. She had received a note from Princess Luna not even minutes before saying that she had made it into Fluttershy's dream, but was unable to contact her.

But what she did find in the note scared her.

As you know, the note had read, dreams are made up of one part reality and one part imagination. What I had discovered in Fluttershy's mind leads me to believe she may be in grave danger.

Her dream had the townsponies transforming into wolves, leading me to believe that she was being hunted at some point in the last day. There was also this detailed fall into a dark forest that looks alike to that of the Everfree.

Please be mindful that the mind loves to play with inner fears, and all this could be a simple misreading of the dream. But based on how vibrant it was, I would advise that you set your sites on the Everfree to start.

Twilight shifted nervously. None of what was written was reassuring or good. But at least they had a place to start looking, right?

"Hey, Spike," Twilight called out.

"Yeah!" he responded, his head popping out of a large stack of books.

"I need you to go to the weather pony and get the measurements from the wind these last few days. We might be able to track Fluttershy's balloon."

"On it, Twilight!" With a salute, Spike rushed out the door to gather the information. Twilight hoped that this would at least help narrow their search.