"Ah really appreciate ya'll comin' here. Ah need all the help Ah can get."

Applejack had asked what was left of her friends, Spike and the CMC over to help her get all Fluttershy's animals to Sweet Apple Acres. They all thought the farm pony would be the most capable to take responsibility over them, now that the butter-coloured pegasus was gone.

"Oh, it's no problem AJ," Pinkie said. She had been in need of something to do other than wallow in sadness that wouldn't make her even more sad. The pink pony noticed something and cocked her head in thought. "Hey; where are Twilight and Rainbow Dash?" she wondered aloud.

Rarity spoke up, "I went over to the library earlier today, and she seemed in no condition to go out." She lowered her voice, "She isn't coping well at all, and she really needs somepony to comfort her, but every time you approach her...it's like...it's like..."

"It's like you can sense she wants to be alone," Spike finished for her, earning a grateful smile from the white unicorn.

"Exactly! Like she doesn't want anypony near. It's strange...maybe she put up a spell, or something..." She shook her head. "Anyway. As for Rainbow Dash, she's probably just late, as usual."

The others nodded in agreement.

After waiting a few awkwardly silent minutes that passed far too slowly, Applejack broke the silence, "Maybe we should just get started without her; it's not like she's not gonna miss out on anything important." She said impatiently.

They nodded again and got to work.

Even with all seven of them, the sun was setting by the time they had finished.

"I'm hungry," Scootaloo moaned; none of them had eaten since lunch.

"Me too," Sweetie Belle admitted.

"Me three," Apple Bloom nodded, her stomach grumbling right on cue.

Applejack wiped some sweat from her brow and said, "Ah think we should all get some grub. We sure have earned it."

Angel hopped up to Rarity and started to tug on her tail. "We should get some food for the animals too." She turned to the farm pony. "Applejack, are you completely sure you can take care of all these animals? I mean, after the...events of last week, your farm isn't in it's top most state, to say the least."

"Well, y'all could come n' help again tomorrow, if you're offering." The cowgirl replied with a tired smile, yawning as she did so.

Pinkie and the CMC nodded immediately, but Rarity bit her lip, eyes darting around at all the mud. Finally, her generous nature got the best of her and she said, "Of course we will. Shall I tell Rainbow and Twili-"

Applejack snorted. "If them gals can't get their flanks over here to help me for one day, what're the chances they'll come any other time?"

They all gasped at the mare in unison.

"Ah am sorry, but admit it: all of ya were thinking it; Ah just said it, Element of Honesty and all."

"That's not an excuse," Rarity growled, though she couldn't deny that the thought had crossed her mind.

The farm pony now had a look guilt on her face. "Admitted, Ah may be goin' too harsh on Twi, 'cuz she can be real insecure sometimes," She forced a laugh, but soon had a deadpan expression again, "But Rainbow ain't one for lockin' herself in her house. Ab'm guessing she's already back to constantly practicing her flying."

"Or maybe...maybe she's just so upset that...that she just doesn't wanna come out of her house...?" Scootaloo suggested, trying to defend her beloved sister but only succeeding in trailing of into another awkward silence. It would be a reasonable point, had it been anypony other than Rainbow Dash that they were referring to.

Luckily, a loud grumble of Pinkie's stomach reminded them all of their earlier topic of discussion.

"So," Applejack said, as if nothing had happened, "Who's for a round of zap apple jam on toast?"

Fluttershy lay on her bed, as usual.

She wasn't crying. She was too tired to make the effort.

Even her Element of Harmony seemed a heavy burden for her neck.

Frankly, she was so tired that she should've been asleep hours ago, but other goings-on kept on shaking her awake.

Her obnoxious roommate was satisfying his chaotic impulses by bouncing an object against the wall that changed form every time it hit something whilst also changing the cell's center of gravity every now and then.

The pegasus lifted her head up - or down; she had lost track of which way was the right way up now.

It felt as if the cell was shaking. Granted, Discord was changing it's center of gravity and she was so dizzy from it that it may just be her mind playing tricks on her, but something about the movement seemed non-magical and very real.

Discord must have noticed it to, because he stopped abnormally affecting the cell and put it back to normal.

Luckily, the center of gravity wasn't changed; it must have already been in it's original state. Thank Celestia, for otherwise Fluttershy might have really hurt herself.

She didn't stay in one place for very long though; the cell shook violently and she ended up on the floor.

She had been correct about the cell being moved by non-magical forces, and would've laughed, had it not been for the sore bump arising on her head.

The pegasus sat up, rubbing the bump to reduce to pain.

Once again, something that stromgly resembled sympathy came accross Discord's face, for more than just a fleeting second. However, the difference to the initial instance was that Fluttershy didn't see it.

He sighed silently, then forced the pity out of the way so that his 'normal' expression.

"Well would you look at that; your friends want to forget about you so much that they can't even bear to look at your statue anymore," he jeered.

So that's what's happening; the statue is being moved Fluttershy thought.

For once, something he said was actually believable. And, as Fluttershy suddenly realised, that meant all of what he said.

She knew she shouldn't let it get to her. He was just saying that to spite her.

The day in the Canterlot Labyrinth, when he had tried to manipulate her into being cruel, he hadn't come close to succeeding. Sure, in the end he had just cast a spell on her to make her the opposite of her Element, but up until then she had been able to discard his words as false.

So why was it almost working this time around?

She kept trying to tell herself to ignore it, but he had planted a permantent seed of doubt in her mind and, no matter how hard she tried, she knew it would stay so decided to leave it that way. After all, his verbal manipulation didn't work on her before, so why should it now?

This managed to comfort her a little, so she smiled - making the draconequus very confused.

He rolled his eyes and resumed bouncing various objects against the wall.

Fluttershy would've liked to continue her train of thought, to make new ways to comfort herself. But, yet again, the cell lurched upwards, making her do a complete 180 and land with her hind legs dangling awkwardly over her head.

Discord, who was unaffected because he had been hovering in mid-air, immediately saw her new position, and he laughed.

And he laughed.

And he laughed, digging up old memories from the back of Fluttershy's mind.

Of colts and fillies sniggering as she failed to fly.

Of landing in similar awkward positions that removed the little dignity she had.

Of leaving all that she knew behind to move to a seemingly alien new town.

She knew she missed her friends dearly. She knew she wanted to go home.

But she felt something disappear: her hope. She hadn't even realised it had been there until she felt it dissipate.

Fluttershy didn't like giving up, especially not on other ponies - or, in this case, draconquuses. But, though she hated to admit it, she could now easily accept that he was evil, and that he didn't wish to be her friend.

This relaxed her mind, no longer having any conscious trace of responsibility to reform him. Fluttershy lay her head on her hooves, wondering if she could finally get some sleep. She looked around, and fortunately saw no signs that would prevent this.

She smiled a little, before finally allowing her mind drift into sleep.

Author's Notes:

Well done to anyone who spotted the 'Lord of the Rings' reference in this.
I know I said this chapter would be longer than the others, but I had to divide it into two because otherwise it would have two separate 'topics'.
Forgive me if I don't update for a while however I will post a one-shot around Christmas.