Maria tottered about in the hall that lead to the guest rooms, trying to fly over and over again. The guards who were stationed there watched her, and some dove to catch her when she fell. Her wings flapped with the speed of a dragonfly and the grace of a dodo, and her landings weren't overtly spectacular, either. Katie and Flash watched, with the latter smiling at the foal's attempts and the former just shaking her head whilst sighing dejectedly.

"It's tragic," Katie remarked as another guard snatched Maria out of the air before she could meet up with the floor. When she saw Flash turn to her in the corner of her eye, she elaborated before he could speak, "Whoever taught her that just madly flapping and jumping would get her somewhere along the lines of 'out of flight school' should be ashamed of themselves."

"Do you know who taught her how to fly?" Flash asked, his smile fading.

Katie slowly turned to the orange pegasus and sighed again. "Let's just say hippogryphs who hated cutie marks with a burning passion… very bad hippogryphs," she answered. "Weren't worthy of keeping foals around, much less mares—pieces of, pardon my language, horseshit."

"Poor parents, I assume?" Flash inquired, garnering a shake of the head as his answer.

"They… the very bad gryphs... took hers out," Katie whispered as Maria fell into the hooves of another guard, using her ear to gesture to the foal in question for emphasis. "And all of the other foals, and their mothers, for that matter."

She watched as Flash's eyes widened considerably, to the point they started rivaling small saucers in size. She said nothing more, feeling that the orange guard got the barest idea of what had happened, and returned to keeping her orbs locked on Maria.

Flash did likewise with his eyes, and for a few minutes they stood there, watching the filly as she kept trying to fly only to repeatedly fail at it. This brief routine only stopped in its tracks as one of the doors of the guest rooms swung open, revealing a cloak-wearing Lance as he trotted out. Maria, who'd been stopped from landing in the floor, squirmed out of the forelegs of the guard that caught her and cantered over to the general. "Daddy, can I fly yet?" she asked, and the reaction she got was instantaneous.

Lance's eyes widened, and his pupils shrank. His lips pulled into a wide frown for approximately one second before his jaw dropped open and a choking sound came out. "G-guh?" was all he could manage, disbelief and shock lacing his tone. Katie turned to Flash as Lance stood there dumbfounded, her jaw also hanging open. She rose a hoof and pointed it at Maria, orbs wavering as if on the verge of spinning in their canvases.

"Daddy?" Maria asked again, and Lance shook his head rapidly.

The general started spluttering for a minute before he rose a hoof and coughed into it. "I just woke up, ask me again later," he grumbled after regaining his composure.

"Okay," Maria chirped, and she sent him a smile before bounding over to Katie.

Katie turned to the two, orbs darting between the filly and the stallion as the former came up to her. She closed her jaw for a few seconds before speaking, "Uh, Lance, I think you've just found yourself saddled with a kid. I'm not sure if that's good or bad."

Lance let his head drop, sighing dejectedly. "Help me," he murmured.

"Afraid I can't do that, no matter how hard I try," Katie replied, grunting as she found herself getting a rather tight hug from Maria as soon as she turned back to the filly. "Stop, you're squishing me," she groaned.

"Who's getting squished?" Anna asked as she trotted out of the room, going around Lance so as to not directly bumble into him. The instant she spoke up was the same instant Maria relinquished her hold on Katie and bounded over to the archer like a bullet fired from a pistol.

"Mommy, can I fly now?" Maria asked. Anna seized up, jolting to stand on her back legs with her face turning a shade of purple in seconds. The archer began spluttering as well, though this time she shook so much that Flash and Katie got the impression she wouldn't stay upright for long. The filly reached up with a talon and grabbed a small mound with a darker tan nub between Anna's rear legs. "What's this?" she questioned.

Anna looked down and flushed another layer of beet red as soon as she realized what the foal had grabbed. She batted the small claw away with a flash of magic, before using both of her front hooves to cover up her crotch. "Do-don't t-touch th-that!" she barked, ears flattening against her head as she started backpedaling into her room, and on just two legs.

She wasn't the only surprised one, she found, as her eyes darted to both sides of the hall. "D-did the foal just grab her by the teat?" a unicorn guard asked, his eyes wide.

Lance gaped again, before he shook his head and rose one of his front hooves to hit himself on the bridge of his muzzle. "For fuck's sake…" he groaned, eyes screwing shut as his ears also fell against his head. He too started backing up, but stopped when he felt his rear bump right into Anna's hip, causing her to stumble sideways. He cracked an eye open and averted it to her, watching as she thrust both front hooves out to catch herself before the floor could greet her. "You first," he murmured as she hauled herself up.

Anna nodded and galloped back into the room, her face still purplish-red in color as she went. Lance sighed, lowered his hoof and turned to the guards, before stopping upon seeing Flash and Katie just stare at him slack-jawed. "You two, make sure Maria doesn't molest anypony else." The two nodded, and the general fixed his gaze onto the foal in question. "You're grounded for a week. No flying," he said curtly, and he trotted into his room backwards. When he reached the door and made to close it, the filly began to bawl.

"Bu-bu-but, daddy—" Maria began as the tears began forming in the corners of her eyes.

"No 'buts,' young filly," Lance said in a reprimanding hiss, eyes narrowing. "You did something you knew you weren't supposed to do—do not make me send you to your guest room." With that, he closed the door, and let his head drop.

"It's not fair!" Maria cried on the other side of the door, her fit immediately accompanied by the harsh, shrill sound of little claws as they repeatedly raked against the door. Lance forced himself to stay put, biting his lip to keep himself from snapping at the foal. He listened as she complained about how it wasn't fair, that she wanted to fly, before her words became a big jumble the longer she pouted. He waited until both the tantrum and the scratching ceased minutes later before he turned to Anna to find that she just crawled back into bed and shielded herself with the covers.

He trotted over to her and sat next to the side of the bed she had taken, sighing dejectedly. Lance didn't speak until Anna poked her head out of the covers, "Is it just me, or are things taking a turn for the strange?"

"Between being visited by Mythos's lunar alicorn in our dreams, and me being called 'mommy' as soon as I leave the room… honestly, I don't really know," Anna replied, frowning. "With how angry you sounded… I'm impressed you didn't just straight-up drag her to her room."

"There is a fine line between being firm, and being abusive," Lance retorted with a shake of his head.

"Coming from the guy who hit one of his changeling soldiers, and stuck said soldier into a maid's getup," Anna pointed out, her frown deepening.

"Me smacking Armin was to keep him from being torn a new one by Sarah," Lance groaned, turning to Anna with a frown of his own. "And the maid's getup... don't lie, you saw why. A fully grown changeling who fucks up despite knowing better is one thing; an abused filly that seems to think molesting grown-ups is okay is an entirely different ball game."

Anna nodded in agreement, and her shoulders slumped. "Do you think grounding her went… too far? She sounded pretty upset," she murmured.

"No. But her squalling about it… maybe her biological folks grounded her. She screamed like she was awfully familiar with the concept," Lance replied, shaking his head. "And that's not even my—" he stopped to clear his throat before continuing, "—our kid anyway. Grounding's the most I can do without going overboard."

Anna sighed and threw the covers off with a hoof, shifting into a sitting position. She rubbed one of her forelegs with that same hoof, her frown softening a little. "Well, now that I think about it… she may see us as her new parents because we remind her of her old ones. That isn't so bad…"

"True, and we don't know much about what her folks did or didn't allow," Lance agreed with a thoughtful nod of his head. His frown also eased up, and he sent the archer a straight face. "I mean, what's the worst that can happen at this rate?"

"Maybe a flub helping Shining scour his library, but that's about all I can see happening," Anna replied with a shrug.

~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~

Twilight and her companions disembarked at the train station when the sun reached the apex of the sky, with Discord among them and he was disguised as a pony. This time, his sclera was white, and his irises were a dull orange. He gave the mares accompanying him a sly, if toothy, grin. "So… where to, Twilight? You know the Empire better than I do," he stated coolly.

Twilight sighed. She turned to the others and asked, "Alright, girls, before we head off, do you want to see any particular thing in the Empire?"

"I want to see how Maria's doing," Pinkie piped up, jittering in place.

"I'd like to buy some crystal berries," Applejack stated with a nod of her head. "Maybe me and my family could make a zap apple recipe with them."

"Um, I think I should find NoLegs and Fenrir," Fluttershy murmured with a small smile.

Rarity's horn glowed, and a trio of pony-shaped mannequins appeared in a flash of magic, with balls of light surrounding them and obscuring much of their features. "I have three dresses that I desperately need to deliver," she chirped, turning to look at the individual garments and flashing a smile at them, almost as if they were living beings. She made the mannequins and dresses vanish before anypony could look through the light balls and at the garments for more than a few seconds, and she turned to Twilight, still grinning.

Twilight stared at Rarity with an incredulous look. "Why did you have light surround the dresses? Is it some sort of surprise?" she asked.

Rarity nodded curtly. "It's a surprise—one that I will only spoil when I have the recipients actually try them on," she replied.

Twilight nodded back, and turned to look at Rainbow Dash. "What about you?" she asked.

Dash spread her wings and began flapping them, quickly becoming airborne. "I dunno about you guys, but I think I'm gonna just kick back and relax for a while," she chirped in reply. Her eyelids partially drooped, like she was getting bored and fast as she added, "That, and I don't want to see any fireworks today."

Twilight's brow rose, but before she could open her mouth, Discord spoke up. "Dearest Dash, what do you mean by fireworks, pray tell?" he asked, turning to the airborne pegasus with the toothy grin still on his face.

Dash turned to him and rolled her eyes. "What if the crystal ponies find out what you really are?" she retorted, crossing her forelegs. "And don't get me started on the Fantasians."

"The crystal ponies… I'll admit, you do have a valid concern there," Discord agreed, nodding his head thoughtfully. He proceeded to cross his forelegs together, and he didn't fall over in spite of the fact that he did not rear up on his back legs for balance. "But the Fantasians probably don't even know who or what I am, much less my capabilities. If I just kept this form and my lips sealed around them, then there's no harm done."

"But didn't you want to, I dunno, summon clowns and flying pigs last night?" Twilight questioned, turning to Discord with a frown.

"I was very tired last night—you could say I wasn't thinking at the time," Discord argued, keeping his forelegs crossed. "But then again, I still do derive some of my joy from not making sense—part of my many quirks, after all."

Twilight opened her mouth again, only to close it and sigh through her nostrils when she considered his point. She turned to the road that gleamed, stretching out all the way to the Empire. "I suppose we should get a move on," she murmured.

"Now, now, there's no need for roads when you have me by your side," Discord chirped. "Now then, envision in your mind's eye the spot in the Empire you girls wish to congregate at."

He waited until they complied before separating his forelegs and wasting no time performing the act of clapping his hooves thrice, and mana burst from his hooves before jumping from one mare to the next. When it came back to him a minute later, he got a vision that he immediately began to discern. Upon seeing in his mind the overhang with the twirling Crystal Heart, he grinned. "Alright ladies, brace yourselves now—we shall arrive at the place of congregation shortly," he warned, clapping his hooves one more time.

Before any of his companions could make a single noise of protest, a flash of pure white light enveloped them on the spot, and they felt themselves hurtling at speeds that quickly made everypony but Twilight and Discord woozy. It felt like it spanned hours, yet lasted only seconds when five of six ponies flopped onto a piece of crystalline street like the drop of a dime, eyes wildly spinning in their sockets. The sixth swayed in place for a moment, but quickly shook off her disorientation after a few seconds had passed.

Twilight turned full circle to absorb her surroundings, before stopping as soon as she saw the Crystal Heart. She blinked as it changed from teal to red, prior to going yellow and then green. She turned away from it when she heard hooves hitting crystal, and found two guards and a small red-maned filly with a set of clawed horseshoes approaching from one of the legs of the palace structure. The trio wasted no time in rushing to the new arrivals.

"Okay, I wasn't expecting to see you six here… like, a day or two after me and mine left Ponyville," Katie remarked, her ears twitching as soon as she and the guards accompanying her halted close to their unexpected guests. Her faux eyes turned to Discord and she added, "Who in hell is that dude? I could've sworn I've never seen him around these parts before."

Discord's ears twitched, and he shared a glance with Twilight. "Are Fantasian foals known for cursing?" he asked, using a hoof to gesture to Katie.

"I'm not a foal—I only look like one at this time," Katie replied before Twilight could speak. Discord's brow quirked, and he stared intently at the filly—only to find that it wasn't a filly who answered his inquiry. His eyes grew to the size of saucers, and he turned to the other mares as they hauled themselves up with pained grunts.

"Are any of you girls seeing what I am seeing?" Discord asked, and when the mares shot glares at him, he proceeded to point a hoof at Katie for emphasis. They followed his limb, and one by one, all five slowly nodded in perfect sync. Then, he turned to the guards, opening his mouth to ask, only to close it when they nodded to him before he could utter his question a second time.

"We are well aware of what she… happens to be," one of the guards stated.

"We cannot do anything to her, so long as she behaves in our premises," the second added. "And so far, she has behaved very admirably."

"So… where are the others?" Twilight asked, looking at Katie.

Katie pointed up with one of her clawed hooves. "Guest rooms, third floor, a little to the right of the palace," she responded. "I've been stationed to play watchmare with these two," she added, using the same hoof she pointed at the overhang with to gesture to the guards, who then nodded as soon as her limb had dropped.

Pinkie shook her head rapidly before darting over to the wraith, all of her disorientation forgotten. "How's Maria doing?" she asked, a wide smile forming on her face.

That smile dropped when Katie flinched prior to answering, "Uh… let's just say she's in trouble right now, and is being disciplined. I don't think you need to know the details."

"Is she being spanked?" Pinkie pressed, eyes widening.

"Fortunately, no," Katie replied, shaking her head. "At most, time-out."

Rarity tottered over to Katie, looking at the guards with a bit of a pleading look. "Um, my good stallions, would it be alright if I… erm, took your extra watchmare away for a bit?" she asked, using a hoof to tenderly pat Katie on the head.

The guards exchanged looks, then turned back to Rarity. "What for?" one of them asked.

"Oh, she ordered a dress from my Boutique before arriving at the Empire, and I need to have her try it on to make sure it fits her… unique contours," Rarity explained, donning a rather shaky smile.

The guards turned to Katie, who donned a wide-eyed look on her illusioned face. "Holy—how could I forget?" she cried, false pupils shrinking to the size of pinpricks. She turned to Rarity and asked, "Um… can it wait a bit? I need to fetch Anna and Maria so they can try theirs on, and that won't be until after I make a round with the guards."

Rarity put a hoof to her chin and hummed, considering Katie's remarks. After a minute had passed, she dropped her limb and nodded in understanding. "Very well. Just be sure to see me once your rounds are done, alright?"

"Can do," Katie answered with a nod of her own.

"Can I ask, why are you making rounds with the guards?" Twilight interjected, also coming over to the wraith with a puzzled frown on her face.

"Lance decided to deploy me, even though I'm not a soldier in his army," Katie answered, tilting her head slightly.

Twilight's brow rose slightly. "Because… why, exactly?" she ventured.

Katie crossed her forelegs together. "Long story, but the short of it is your brother's keeping a hawk's-eye on the area, and so are his stallions and mares. I'm just helping," she stated.

Twilight turned to the guards, eyes glinting in askance. One shook his head, while the other uttered, "You'll have to ask him yourself, ma'am. Or perhaps one of the other Fantasians."

Twilight nodded and turned to Pinkie and Fluttershy. Her eyes flicked between them, before settling on Discord. "You, you, and you," she started, lifting a hoof to gesture to the three she looked at for emphasis, "we're visiting the other Fantasians."

One of the guards turned to Katie and gently nudged her with a hoof. "Go ahead and escort the lot. You know where the guest rooms are," he said.

Katie sighed begrudgingly, turning to Twilight as the lavender mare in question turned back to her. "Sounds like we have a change in plans…" she murmured, turning around and cantering over to the leg she left from just moments ago. Reluctantly, Twilight and her chosen companions followed her after a minute's worth of hesitation, while Applejack, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash tottered off to do other things.

They found and proceeded to climb up a staircase nestled within that leg single-file. As they cantered on their way up, Twilight asked, "Um, is the Crystal Heart supposed to be changing colors?"

Katie shook her head as she passed a door on the side of the flight, ignoring the frame altogether in favor of ascending a few more steps. "According to Shining and Cadence, no," she answered. "What's worse is Cadence straight-admitted that she knew next to nothing of the Heart itself. But… I can't fault her for that. I know next to nothing of the Godcat-damned thing, much less Mythos in its entirety."

"Did anypony touch it…?" Twilight continued, her brow raising higher.

"Not that I know of. Me and the others were specifically told to not lay so much as a strand of mane on it," Katie answered with a shrug. She passed a second door without paying it heed, still going up the flight with the others still trotting after her. "Seriously, who's that stallion with you?"

"Me?" Discord asked from the far back.

"You're the only stallion I've seen with a horn whose color doesn't match that of your face, no offense," Katie retorted with a huff.

Discord took on a grin with a sly cast to it. "I shall tell you who I am when I meet with your fellow Fantasians," he answered, his remark causing shudders to run up the spines of Twilight, Fluttershy, and Pinkie. If Katie had bothered to look behind her instead of just trotting onward at that point, she'd have seen that their pupils shrunk to pinpricks in seconds.

In a few minutes, they reached a third door that marked the end of the flight of stairs, whereupon their wraith-turned-usher halted abruptly. Katie turned to the door and opened it with a hoof, barely glancing over her shoulder to confirm that the four who followed her were still present, before trotting down a hall and rounding a bend. The quartet followed after her, shifting to trot shoulder-by-shoulder, and as they caught up to her Discord noticed their guide's slight limping gait.

"Pray tell, did you suffer an injury to the back legs?" Discord asked, garnering a sigh from Katie.

"No, but I did suffer a guitar to the hips," Katie answered nonchalantly, nostrils flaring as she snorted. "And a marble column to my face."

Discord blinked. His eyes narrowed slightly as he asked, "Just how were you able to get out of taking a marble column to the face without your skull cracking? Wouldn't that have caused, say, a flattened muzzle at the very least?"

"Beats the fuck out of me," Katie replied with a shrug. She rounded another bend to the left, ears stiffening upright for a few seconds before dropping again as Twilight and her company continued to dawdle after her. They went down a few more halls without exchanging words, and silence settled in said halls they stalked upon until they came up to the place with the guest rooms. One of the doors opened, from which Spike and a red-faced Maria emerged, and Twilight took two steps forward before hearing the filly sniffle.

"Just say you're sorry, don't grab anypony in that place anymore, be extra good, and maybe Lance'll unground you early," Spike murmured, patting Maria on the back when she hiccuped.

"R-really?" Maria whimpered in a trembling voice, raising a claw to wipe her nose with it. She looked at Spike with hope gleaming in her eyes, but also a faint spark of dread.

"Yeah." Spike nodded, a small smile accompanied by the tiniest hint of worry burning in his eyes. "Like I said: apologize, be really extra good, and play it cool. If you do that, I'll bet ya ten bits you'll be ungrounded before the Crystal Faire." His eyes widened, and both he and Maria turned to find Twilight staring at them as she cleared her throat.

"Um… what happened, exactly?" Twilight asked, a frown on her face.

Spike rolled his eyes. "Maria got in trouble, so I'm trying to cheer her up," he replied.

Twilight shot a glance at Katie, who merely narrowed her eyes and mouthed, "Do you really want to know what happened?" When Twilight nodded slowly, the wraith took off one of her front horseshoes and slapped herself right under her horn-stump with the bared hoof. She began grumbling indignantly as she lowered said hoof back down to put her shoe on after sliding it along the bridge of her muzzle.

Fluttershy piped up, looking at Twilight the entire time she spoke, "Um, I don't think it's a good idea… if you don't mind me speaking out, that is."

Pinkie decided to stick in her two bits, but not before she bounded over to Maria and scooped her up in her front hooves. "I know ways of making being grounded not so boring," she chirped. "But," she continued when Maria brightened a little bit, "you have to promise me you'll be super-duper-extra good. Pinkie promise?"

Maria's smile fell. "What's a Pinkie promise?" she asked.

Pinkie's eyes went wide. Then she donned an awkward smile. "Just Pinkie promise for me, alright?" she asked, her tone bordering a bit on the shaky side. Before Maria could answer, the two heard a door open, and they turned to another door swinging brazenly into the hall. From behind that door, Lance and Anna trotted out into the hall, and both turned to the gathering that had formed only ten or so feet from them.

"What's all this hubbub about?" Anna asked, trotting over to Pinkie upon noticing she and the others were present.

"What she said," Lance added, also trotting over. Pinkie noticed that the general had a straight face, while Anna possessed a slight frown on her muzzle. "We weren't expecting you and yours to show up."

"We were just checking up on things," Twilight answered, tottering over to Spike and patting him on the head with a hoof. "Like my adopted dragon, for instance."

Lance nodded in understanding. "I see," he murmured, his eyes shifting to the orange-eyed stallion that had still stood next to Fluttershy. "And… who's he?"

Discord began to grin again, and when he blinked his eyes, the sclera turned yellow while the irises became a bright, bold, blood red in color. He rose a hoof up and held it to the barrel of his chest, and Lance's eyes widened as that same hoof quickly turned into an orange cat's paw. Then the changing stallion vanished in a flare of light, only to reappear in front of Lance in a cloud of smoke.

"Well met, General Boltwing! I've heard so much about you," Discord chirped, his smile widening. He wasted no time grabbing one of Lance's hooves with the paw and shaking it hard enough to leave the Fantasian pegasus with his eyes spinning in their sockets.

Lance promptly landed on his haunches as soon as his hoof was released, swaying back and forth like a pendulum that was caught in a rising tide of water. "H-hello to you t-to," he murmured. "Who th-the fuck're y-you?" His inquiry went unanswered as Discord snapped the digits of his paw, and an accordion appeared in a flash of light before landing square on the general's head, right between the ears. The sudden thwack-to-the-head was somehow accompanied by a loud honk that only sounded at the precise moment of impact.

This caused Pinkie, Spike, Maria, and Anna to jump in surprise. "Di-did-did that accordion… honk just now?" Anna asked, pupils dilated and voice laced with disbelief.

Lance shook off the accordion, which honked as it fell onto the floor before vanishing from sight. He leveled a stone-cold glare at Discord. "The fuck was that for?! What did I ever do to you to deserve that?!" he cried, eyes narrowing to thin, crimson slits. Discord guffawed and snapped his digits again, causing a clay-potted plant to appear and crash into Lance's head. The ceramic shattered and scattered into thousands of pieces, leaving just a wad of dirt with a flower heaped on the general's cranium.

Discord rose the paw and adjusted the little bloom so it stood upright. Then, he picked it, brought it to his nose, and took a hearty whiff of the plant. His eyes went wide, and he stared at the plant. "Goodness me, it reeks of metal, smoking powder, and… something most unpleasant." He sniffed the flower again, seemingly unaware that Lance was still trying to drill a hole into him with the glare he cast. "Hrm… yes, that's quite a bizarre scent if I've ever smelled one." The cat-armed stallion tossed the flower aside, whereupon it vanished alongside the mound of dirt and scattered bits of smashed clay.

"Who are you, and what was all that for?" Lance demanded, his face just starting to turn a twinge of red. His pupils dilated as the odd unicorn before him morphed into a chimera and stared into his eyes with a wide toothy grin on his face.

"Name's Discord, Spirit of Chaos, only draconequus in Equestria, was petrified twice over and the one who decided to mess with your head by making illusory objects land upon your skull. Pleased to make your acquaintance," Discord replied, offering his paw to Lance. The general stared for a moment or two, the color draining from his face, and his eyes rolled into the back of his head as he proceeded to collapse into a heap on the floor.

Discord's paw fell, and his shoulders slumped. "I was expecting something more of a stallion whose cranium I've just smashed objects upon…" he grumbled, his smile immediately turning into a sullen frown.

"Is daddy okay?" Maria asked worriedly, eyes wide as she stared at Lance's out-cold form. Discord turned to her and smiled.

"Oh, don't worry, little one. He's alright as can be—after all, illusory objects falling on heads only gives mild concussions," Discord replied, his smile faltering for a bit.

Katie looked at Twilight, her orbs dimming. "Somehow, I'm not convinced," Katie mouthed, using a hoof to gesture to Discord and Lance for emphasis.

"Discord, that was very wrong of you to do," Fluttershy interjected, giving Discord a cold glare on par with those of Shining and Lance. The glare caused Discord to falter for a bit, and his smile fell again as he stared into her eyes. Her eyes gleamed, and her voice turned cold, reprimanding, and angry to reflect it as she went on, "You could have… made Lance want to tear your wings off or something. When he wakes up again, you're going to make it up to him. You're going to apologize."

"But why would I need to apologize to him?" Discord asked, his ears flattening against his head. Fluttershy's eyes narrowed, and she flapped her wings and flew right up to his face so fast he couldn't react.

"You're going to do it, or… or… or be turned to stone again!" Fluttershy hissed, whereupon Discord's pupils shrank. "And you don't want that, do you?" Discord shook his head, and slowly, Fluttershy descended until her hooves touched the crystal floor.