Lying on your bed doing nothing is boring.

It's a well-known fact.

But, for Fluttershy, it felt like the best thing in the world.

Discord had fallen asleep at some point during the previous day, and still thankfully remained that way.

Despite insomnia almost inevitably being the result of chaotic goings-on, Fluttershy chose to remain awake and relish in the peace and quiet, feeling herself become properly, genuinely calm for the first time in days.

She took a deep breath in through her nose, then let it out through her mouth; doing this always made her feel refreshed, which was a wonderful feeling, given her circumstances.

However, just outside the cell, she heard hoofsteps approaching, followed by the sound of somepony sitting down. This interrupted her train of thought, but the pegasus got up anyway and listened intently for speech.

Soon afterwards, she heard the distinct voice of Twilight on the other side of the stone walls.

"Hi, Fluttershy..." She said, and the aforementioned mare struggled to contain her happiness and was about to yell, 'OH MY GOODNESS!' when a snore reminded her that that might not be the best of ideas. Instead, she pressed her right ear up against the cold surface in hope that it would enhance the audibility of her friend's voice.

Twilight forced a laugh. "I don't even know if you can hear this. I mean, I shouldn't trust that Discord was telling the truth, but how else would he have known that Princess Celestia assigned you to reform him? And what if...sorry, I'm rambling. Anyway, if you can hear this then that's great...if Discord is listening too that's less great, but..."

Fluttershy failed to stifle a small giggle as Twilight continued to talk.

"...I just wanted to say that your friends miss you. I...miss you...we all miss you, a lot. I mean, up until today - well, yesterday to be exact - I hadn't even left my library, not until the Princess set me the task of completing 'the unfinished spell of Starswirl the Bearded.' Oh, and that's another thing: I'm a Princess now."

Fluttershy gasped.

"I've got wings, a crown, and I think I'm even a couple of inches taller. I don't feel like a Princess though. I mean, how does somepony adjust to something like this?" She let the question hang awkwardly unanswered in the air until it sounded almost rhetorical. "I hope you're alright. It must be horrible, stuck in stone. If you remember, I was once turned to stone by that cockatrice, but it just felt like I was asleep, and I wasn't conscious of any sound at all, so it must be different if you're able to hear this...I guess I'm just concerned for you.

"Everyone of us is dealing with it in their own way. Spike and Rarity are helping each other. Pinkie shifts from one mood to another with a wave of a hoof. Applejack is constantly occupying herself with work and Rainbow is pretending she doesn't care. Everything's been so abnormal lately, even without Discord free to wreak havoc. Nothing really makes sense anymore. Speaking of which, Starswirl's spell - the one I completed - it affected your statue...which doesn't really make sense but...I suppose, if it affected you too..."

This caught Fluttershy's attention. In what ways could it have affected her? What if it had happened during the section of her memory she couldn't recall?

"...then maybe, but I'm not sure. I should be sure soon however, because Princess Luna told me about a spell that could set you free and we're going to look for it tomorro-today, but you might not even remember it. I mean, Rarity thought it was a dream that somehow became reality, and Pinkie simply remembered nothing since she woke up. Then again, you might remember, or you just have no idea what I'm talking about, so I'm gonna stop here."

She heard Twilight yawn before continuing.

"I need to get some shut-eye; it's been a really long day. Goodnight, Fluttershy."

"Night." Fluttershy replied for no reason, before sliding down onto her haunches.

She would've loved to be sad that she could no longer hear the sound of Twilight's comforting voice. But, try as she might, a different, unwanted topic barged its way into her mind:

She had been wrong.

To the average onlooker, she would have sounded extremely cocksure, but Fluttershy was no stranger to being incorrect, and it wasn't that particular fact that bothered her. What bothered her was that she had wrongly accused Discord of casting a spell on her.

Now, Twilight had said that memory loss didn't occur with any of her other friends except Pinkie. But it seemed unlikely for it not to be the case, for she shared the exact same symptoms as her pink earth pony friend - she couldn't remember a thing since the moment she woke up.

Fluttershy didn't trust Discord. She hadn't forgotten nor forgiven him for bringing her here, and they most certainly weren't friends.

But that didn't provide as a barrier for the surprising amount of guilt that flooded the poor pegasus as she glanced at him.

Not to say that he deserved all of it - Fluttershy was just one to feel emotion such as this deeply - but it in no way felt out of place.

And then she felt a pang of dislike for him making her feel this way. He had torn her away from her friends, just so he could have someone to play with.

Yet still the guilt remained, feeling like it belonged even though it didn't.

It was an odd mixture, guilt and dislike. A very odd mixture.

"Twilight, can you please stop pacing around the floor!"

The purple alicorn had returned to her library and was frantically awaiting for Princess Luna to arrive, so they could search for the spell.

"Spike, don't you get how important this is? The spell Luna was talking about can reverse the effects of the Elements of Harmony...we could get Fluttershy out of stone!" She exclaimed.

"Yeah, I'm equally as happy...I mean we all miss her, but don't you think you should calm down a bit? I hate to be a party pooper, but...what if you can't do the spell? What if you can't even find it?"

The damper put on Twilight's mood was abrupt and Spike immediately wished he hadn't said anything.

He began to apologize, "Sorry, I just-"

"No, you're right," She interrupted, "If I let my expectations get too high, any disappointment will only be greater. Thank you." She ruffled his spines before hugging the little dragon.

He returned the hug, then pulled away and turned towards the door. "Well, I'm going to Rarity's. See ya."

"You two have been getting along so well recently." The lavender alicorn grinned.

Spike gave a grin back before shutting the door behind him.

Just minutes later, Twilight heard a knock at the door and didn't hesitate to answer.

Both princesses smiled at one another as soon as the doer was open. Twilight trotted outside as Luna spoke. "Are you ready to go?"

"Quite."

A thought occurred to the alicorn. "How are we getting there, exactly?"

Luna paused to think before replying, "Well, we could fly there. If you're feeling up for it, that is." She added after a moment's hesitation, remembering that one day isn't an awful lot of time to grow accustomed to two extra limbs.

Twilight bit her lip, glancing at the Everfree Forest. If nothing else, it would be better than walking through it.

She nodded.

"Are you quite sure?" Luna asked uncertainly.

Twilight repeated the action.

"Alright then, but first, just practice flapping your wings simultaneously." The navy alicorn said.

Twilight did as she was told. It was surprisingly hard at first, but she soon got the hang of it. She looked at Luna to confirm this.

"Now, you need to run, then leap as high as you can."

Again, Twilight followed her demand. She felt very subconscious while galloping and jumping childishly about the place, and the fact she was now a Princess made it feel even weirder.

A laugh rose in her throat and came spilling out her mouth. And, as she continued to giggle, she realized that she was enjoying herself.

Her laughter spread to Luna, like the contagious disease that it was. They laughed so hard that it hurt, and they had to sit down.

They only quietened down when it became hard to breathe. "So, what's next?" Twilight beamed.

Luna grinned too. "Do both at the same time!"

Both got onto their hooves. The young alicorn made sure she was focused before galloping forward, wings flapping furiously. As she bounded upwards, her eyes squeezed shut. It had been a big leap and she was unsure about the impact it would have when she hit the ground.

Except she didn't hit the ground.

She opened her eyes again, to find herself hovering two meters or so above the ground. This motivated her to beat her wings harder, so she soared even higher.

The fear of falling didn't bother her. When Luna flew up to join her, she felt just a little bit safer. She didn't need an explanation on how to go forwards, backwards, side-to-side, up or down because - the latter two she had already experienced, and it all instinctively came to her when needed.

They both set off over the Everfree. Twilight still had to concentrate profusely on flying, but it was a wonderful feeling; the wind ruffling your mane, the clouds beneath you wings. Suspended in the air felt - to her, anyway - like being free.

Not to say she was trapped in any way when on the ground, of course.

Sooner than expected, The Castle of the Two Sisters came into view and the two princesses made their way down to the ground.

Descent in flight proved a little difficult, and Twilight did pretty much a crash-landing. But she wasn't hurt and her good mood remained.

"Are you alright?" Luna asked, clearly concerned.

Twilight realized how deprived of air flying had made her and sucked in a deep breath. She nodded.

It felt nice to have somepony concerned for her well being, albeit unnecessarily. The responsibility recently dumped onto her shoulders that came with being a princess had made her feel like there was no one to look after her; only those for her to look after.

For once, she felt grateful that she had been wrong.

Fluttershy stood in the Everfree Forest, with no recollection of how she got there.

Despite living on the doorstep of the very same forest, she could feel fear growing inside her as her breath quickened. Looking around, she spotted a clearing and ran towards it. However, as she neared a large cave, an all-too-familiar creature emerged from it's mouth:

Discord.

As her heart started to beat even faster, Fluttershy backed away into the trees as quietly as she could. She sincerely hoped he hadn't spotted her, and it appeared that fate was working in her favour.

She watched the draconequus yawn and stretch his arms; he must've just woken up. He was mumbling to himself; something about a dream-mare telling him to go to Equestria and make some friends.

She noted how he said 'friends' as if it were an alien upon his tongue, and realized the 'dream-mare' must have been Princess Luna. It was common to have others appear in dreams, but the way he said the word friends implied that he didn't have much knowledge of ponies.

And the fact he was living in the Everfree meant this could be from the past.

A sudden flash of light made Fluttershy realize that he had teleported elsewhere, and - to her immense surprise - she teleported along with him.

They now stood just outside their previous destination. Fluttershy breathed a sigh of relief; she was still concealed by some trees.

Where Ponyville should be, there was nothing but plain, flat, desolate land for miles around. Though odd, it confirmed about this happening sometimes during the past and - by the looks of things - it was quite a large amount of time ago.

The mare snapped out of her thoughts as the scene around her changed once more. This time they were in a familiar-looking place: Canterlot. The buildings were a little different, but recognizable nonetheless. Seeing ponies walking past the alleyway where they stood, Fluttershy wanted nothing more but to run up and talk to one of them, despite not necessarily knowing any of them.

However, her hooves were stuck to the ground, and not just by her fear of Discord spotting her; some unknown force was preventing her from moving from that spot.

Because she had little else to do but stand there, Fluttershy decided to observe what the draconequus - who was now cautiously approaching one of the snobbish ponies.

He sauntered over to a unicorn who was trudging home bearing countless bags and started to talk to her.

Quite understandably, his appearance startled the mare and made her drop all her bags. Then, to both the unicorn and Fluttershy's surprise, Discord snapped his fingers to make the bags appear as they originally were in his arms, before handing them back to their rightful owner.

Fluttershy couldn't hear a word of what they were saying, but it looked like...it almost appeared as though...as though...

As though Discord was offering to help her with her bags.

It confused and shocked Fluttershy, the latter accompanied with guilt.

If she looked really closely - which proved a little difficult, for they were on the opposite side of the street - she could just about see the look in Discord's eyes.

And they shocked her too.

They weren't teasing, gloating or evil, they were...calm and...sincere, exactly like the look she saw in most ponies' eyes when they were performing an act of kindness.

As soon as Discord stopped speaking, the unicorn forced a smile whilst she blatantly declined his offer and pushed past him.

Fluttershy would've felt sorry for him, if she hadn't known she would've most likely done the exact same thing.

Although...

The unicorn mare didn't know a thing about what he'd done - because he hadn't even done it yet. She had only turned his offer down based on his appearance, and possibly his magic, too. That wasn't fair at all. More than ever now, Fluttershy wanted to move forwards, just so that she could erase the sad expression Discord bore.

She continued to watch as he tried and failed time and time again to help somepony in some way, each time her pity for him growing.

It wasn't fair for him. He hadn't done anything bad. This wasn't that same creature Fluttershy knew in the present; the one who had taken over Equestria a total of three times.
Granted, his magic and species was weird, but everypony he talked to denied him only because of that, not one of them giving him a single chance.

Suddenly the ponies around Fluttershy started to speed up. The sun was hastily approaching the horizon, the moon soon taking its place and journeying rapidly across the night sky.

Time reverted back to it's standard speed once the sun was once again in the sky, hanging directly above Equestria; midday.

To her right, Fluttershy could hear the sound of two mares chatting, so she peered round the corner of the alleyway. There, sitting outside a posh cafe, was the unicorn she saw yesterday - moments before - and another she didn't recognize. She was close enough to hear what they were saying.

"Gorgeous day today, don't you think, Cassandra?" said the unfamiliar unicorn.

"Certainly beautiful," the other - Cassandra - replied.

"My, that hat you're wearing is simply divine. Where did you get it?"

Cassandra levitated the teacup in front of her and took a sip. "I bought it yesterday when I was shopping. The oddest thing happened to me on my journey back home."

"Oh yes? Do go on."

Fluttershy's heart began to beat quicker as she realized what Cassandra was talking about.

"As I returned, the strangest creature came up to me and deliberately made me drop my bags!"

The yellow pegasus pursed her lips. Discord's appearance may have startled the unicorn, but he surely didn't intend for that to happen.

She shook her head; why was she defending him? It was in her nature to defend creatures regardless of who or what they are, but...surely Discord was an exception?

"Strange?" The unnamed mare asked, looking puzzled. "How so?"

"Well Josephine, if I do remember correctly, it - whatever it was - had a eagle claw, a lion paw, a snake tail, a leg with a cloven hoof, a dragon leg, a bat wing, a pegasus wing, a freakish grey pony head, a deer antler and an odd blue horn." She started laughing; the sound of her laughter was snobbish and forced, sounding like somepony had pinched her nose.

Her companion - Josephine - laughed along with her, and her laugh sounded eerily like Cassandra's. "My goodness, that definitely does sound incredibly freakish!"

Fluttershy gritted her teeth in order to prevent herself from shouting at the two mares. It didn't matter who Discord was; they were making fun of his differences, and Fluttershy didn't tolerate that sort of thing.

She heard the sound of a chair scraping on stone from another cafe table. Turning her attention towards the noise, she saw a grey stallion with a black mane and tail getting up from his seat. He was looking at the two mares, and - just for a second - his eyes flashed red and yellow:

The stallion was Discord in disguise.

Fluttershy fought back tears as he walked away, his head lowered. He had obviously overheard their conversation. Discord had most likely realized that his appearance was startling for other ponies, which was why he had transformed into a pony. And yet these two unicorns were criticizing his natural form even when he wasn't in it.

They might as well have been saying that to his face.

Having been bullied repeatedly as a filly, Fluttershy had first-hoof experience of how it felt to be the odd-one-out. That feeling was brought to the front of her memory, perfectly remembered in every detail.

Then another, real emotion bubbled forwards; she felt undeniably sorry for him. Fluttershy couldn't help it.

While getting lost in thought, her eyes had slid shut. Upon opening them again, she noticed she was once again in a completely different area. This one, however, she held no recollection of at all.

It was a small town not all that different to Ponyville, with mares, stallions and foals wandering about the streets. The pegasus stood between two thatched-roofed houses; the draconequus only hoofsteps away.

He was watching the ponies pass by just as she was, intently observing before acting.

Fluttershy noticed a colt talking casually to a filly, and another creeping up behind. The latter roared and jumped on the filly playfully as she screamed, clearly startled.

They all started laughing, then the filly held her hoof out to the colt who had scared her. He took it and was immediately zapped with electricity, which - as the filly then revealed - came from a shock hoof buzzer she was wearing.

Their laughter resumed as they walked away, and Fluttershy smiled at the adorable playfulness of them. But then something caught her eye. A literal idea lightbulb had appeared over Discord's head, hovering like a halo before disappearing again.

She could only guess what his idea was. But she knew, no matter what it was, it would end badly.

He only started by doing a few harmless pranks, similar to but a little bigger than the ones the foals had played.

The first few times, the ponies on the receiving end laughed as a result, though still noticeably cautious due to his appearance.

However, as he continued, the laughter ceased and quickly turned into insults. Fluttershy had long since looked away, unable to bear watching any longer. But she could clearly make out the shouts of 'freak' and 'weirdo' and even the occasional 'monster'.

She dreaded to think of how he must've felt, what sort of expression he was wearing. It would be hypocritical to say she wouldn't dream of calling him that herself, for she had done so directly only a couple of days before, and she had really meant it then.

But suddenly she couldn't summon a reason why she would now.

He was only trying to have fun. Sure, he had no sense of boundaries, but he blatantly thought this was the way to go about making friends, if that was his aim.

Which would seem odd, but once again Fluttershy compared the Discord she knew to the one here and they didn't appear the same creature. The target of making friends seemed rather fitting for the latter.

Something made her look up at him, standing alone as ponies walked away bearing revolted expressions.

She saw the playful, harmless look in his eye change to the one she was used to seeing, his expression following their lead by contorting with anger. However, for the first time ever, Fluttershy saw some things behind the fury: pain; sadness; despair.

Because she was stuck on the spot, she was forced to watch this friendly yet friendless draconequus transform into the Master of Chaos she knew in a matter of minutes.

And it was heartbreaking.

The land around her hastily became more disorderly, more chaotic, and all she could do was stare, forehooves frozen in a silent, prolonged gasp of pure horror, while tears streamed down from her eyes.

She wanted desperately to be elsewhere, and her wish was unexpectedly granted. She was standing in front of an all-too-familiar flooded-and-frozen apple farm.

She spotted her friends at the base of the hill, and willed herself to move forwards to join them, but once again remained in the exact same place in which she started.
The sound of her own voice made her jump and turn her attention towards the center of the ice rink.

Seeing herself toss ice skates at Discord then stomp away made her dizzy with déjà vu, and it wasn't long before he had teleported away and dropped her onto the ice.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a flash of light emitting from between some nearby trees that hadn't been swallowed up by the flooding.

Discord was looking back at the scene he just left, his expression so devastatingly sad that it stabbed at the heart - which was exactly how Fluttershy felt once she laid eyes on him.

The image surrounding the pegasus faltered and faded into black, and she sat up immediately to find herself back in the stone cell.

All that she had just witnessed became hazy and threatened to disappear entirely, but Fluttershy clung onto it until it settled into her memory.

It had been a dream. A crazy, abnormal dream.

But the memories didn't feel like they really belonged. They were obviously her own, but the place in which she gained them didn't ring as her own brain.

She heard a noise to her left. Turning towards it's source, she saw Discord stretching his arms, having just woken up.

The draconequus she saw in her dream and the draconequus before her were indeed like two separate creatures, but - as she continued to look - they started to bleed into one.

As his eyes snapped open, the draconequus caught her staring. He gazed back for a second, contemplating whether to stare longer but opting against it in the end.

"What are you looking at?" He snapped, causing her to flinch.

Fluttershy averted her eyes from him, but her thoughts refused to do the same. All that had happened in her dream, everything that was supposedly produced by her own imagination, it felt real, as if it genuinely had occurred at some point during the past.

And, despite the creature of topic barely ever seeming to do so, it all made perfect sense.

Author's Notes:

I had way too much fun writing and describing the Canterlot ponies
Not much further to say about this. I hope you enjoyed chapter five!