Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo looked at the familiar building in front of them. Their tired, drooping eyelids made it hard to see properly, but several rubs later and both were able to hide their exhaustion as the door to the structure swung open.

"Hi Rarity! Have you seen Apple Bloom anywhere?"

The aforementioned unicorn felt slightly dizzy from the way her sister and Scootaloo were gazing up at her expectantly from her doorstep.

"Err...no, I'm afraid not. Hold on a second and I'll ask Spike for you, alright?"

The two fillies giggled, but Rarity seemed not to notice. "Spike, have you by any chance seem Apple Bloom lately?"

The purple dragon walked within visual range of the two Cutie Mark Crusaders, holding a ice-cream tub in one hand and a spoon loaded with the frozen treat in the other. "Sorry, haven't seen her. Are you sure I can eat this Rarity? I don't want Twilight to get annoyed."

The unicorn ruffled his spines. "Of course you can, darling. Im sure Twilight won't mind. Enjoy!"

Dropping the spoon into the tub, Spike embraced Rarity with his free hand. She placed her foreleg on his back, paying no attention to the sticky, sweet substance he was accidentally plastering onto her pristine white coat.

Sweetie Belle, awaiting no further comment on their search, closed the door because she was feeling uncomfortable and impatient.

"So...should we check the apple farm again?" Scootaloo suggested.

The unicorn yawned, nodding; if nothing else, at least they could crash at the farm and continue the search tomorrow.

"What's the deal with Rarity and Spike, then?" Scoots prompted, jostling Sweetie with her elbow.

"Oh, nothing really. Their just..." She yawned again. "Friends. One-way dragon-crush thing, as always."

"You okay? Do you need carrying?" The flightless pegasus joked.

Sweetie considered the offer anyway, but opted to shake her head.

There was no further conversation on the way to Sweet Apple Acres, just the occasional yawn or stumble in the dimming light.

As they approached the barn, both fillies were startled by a small crashing sound close by. Automatically curious, they investigated.

To their relief and disappointment, it was Apple Bloom who, by the looks of things, had just climbed out her window and conveniently landed in a hay stack.

Scoots lent her a hoof to help her get up and asked, "What's that about?"

Apple Bloom sniffed, tilting her head as if her shoulders couldn't muster a shrug.

And that's when they saw it: glistening in the light at her head's movement, tears stained her cheeks. She had red eyes from crying and a messy mane and bow. She looked absolutely exhausted.

"Wh...what happened?" Sweetie whispered, not daring to raise her voice over the quiet.

The farm filly opened her mouth to answer, but her lower lip wobbled and she sucked her teeth to fight back tears.

Scoots put her foreleg around her. "Hey, it's alright. You don't have to tell us right now."

The earth filly shook her head.

"You sure? No offence, but you look like you're about to burst into tears."

Inhaling and exhaling deeply, Apple Bloom began to speak, "I was helpin' my sister in the orchard today from the crack of dawn. She tried to reject me and Big Mac's help, but we did it anyway and she eventually accepted it. Whenever I accidentally tipped over a bucket of apples or got in the way of her buck's aim, she shouted at me. I didn't really like it, but I knew it was just a result of her grief and insomnia. By the end of the day, we were all tired out, especially AJ. She hadn't done much work, dozin' off every now and then, which she denied of course. But...then I told her I was sorry about what happened. About Fluttershy. I...I meant to try and ease her conscience, but...she yelled at me. Worse than before...do y'all remember that day we went to the Canterlot Sculpture Garden?"

They simultaneously nodded.

"And...you know the statue was..." She gulped. "Discord, right?"

The two repeated the previous motion.

"We were...I-I mean, AJ said that...that...that we were the reason he escaped." She blurted. "She said the argument we had fuelled his magic and...allowed him to break free...and she said...she said it was our fault, th-that it would never have happened if we didn't..." She trailed off, tears and sobs choking her words.

The other two looked like they might start crying as well; the impact of Apple Bloom's information was sudden and unexpected.

The earth filly swallowed so she could continue. "My sis...she locked me in my room, so I-I couldn't cause anymore trouble, she said. An' she was right, too, if you think about it..."

Apple Bloom averted her eyes to the ground. Sweetie Belle, walking over to the filly, gently moved her head to face her. "Don't blame yourself for what happened. None of us interfered with anything that day, so we had absolutely nothing to do with it. It's Discord's fault." She smiled grimly. "I think I'd rather spend a day with Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon than Discord."

The farm filly sniffed. "Really?"

"Yeah. We can take them, and neither of them have the capacity of power that Discord does. It is his fault, that big bully, not ours." The two embraced.

Scootaloo looked unimpressed. "So your sister's blaming you, and you're blaming Discord. Is anyone gonna blame Fluttershy?"

They stared at her in disbelief.

"Come on, think about it! From what I can tell, Fluttershy paid no heed to anyone's warnings, not even Rainbow Dash's; her best friend! It's her naïvety and obliviousness that got her put in stone."

The other two had their mouths hanging open, gaping incredulously, until Sweetie suddenly burst out laughing. "Looks like your vocabulary has improved since we went to the Canterlot Sculpture Garden. Dodo." She smirked.

They giggled along with her. "Know what that means now?" Apple Bloom asked. "I think we ALL need sleep, otherwise we'll all become grumps like Applejack."

Scoots grinned. "Better crash soon, because I'm already half way there. How's your place, Sweetie? RD's is up in the sky, and I don't think Apple Bloom fancies the idea of returning to her bedroom."

The unicorn yawned. "Rarity will be fine with that, even if it adds two to the list of three guests sleeping at Carousel Boutique."

"Three?" Apple Bloom said as the three got going.

"Oh, yeah." Scootaloo rolled her eyes. "Spike's staying at Rarity's 24/7 these days. But, you know, they're 'just friends' aren't they?" She jostled Sweetie.

The filly's head snapped up straight from its drooping position. "Huh? What?" She asked sleepily, obviously having zoned out and therefore not heard the question.

"Nevermind." The pegasus replied, sucking in a giggle while Apple Bloom failed to do the same.

She was staring at him again.

Ever since her dream, her eyes focused on him whenever possible, as though trying to analyse the draconequus from the new perspective her mind had given her.

It was incredibly confusing. She didn't know why she was putting so much faith in her dream. It could have easily been just that; an abnormally realistic dream.

But it seemed so...so right, somehow. It worked, it explained a lot, and it gave her hope.

So much hope.

So she kept staring - partially fascinated, partially pondering on how she could figure out the truth.

And, quite understandably, Discord was beginning to be weirded-out by it.

Her eyes were intent, like they were seeking an answer from an unvocalised question. He tried to force her to look away by giving her a piercing, threatening look - which she paid no attention to -, then moved his claw in a circular motion to make her bed levitate upside down, Fluttershy remaining on the mattress.

Discord honestly hoped that she would scream or cower or flit around frantically, but none of these expectations came even close to being met;

All she did was smile, like she had somehow proven a point.

Turning the bed the right way up and slamming it back down, he demanded, "What in Equestria is wrong with you?"

This time, she did flinch, finally averting her eyes.

He continued. "I took you away from your friends! Your family! Your life!" As he spoke, he ignored the small amount of guilt creeping into him. "I brought you here as a thing to play with for the next eternity, and what do you do? You smile. You...you just...smile." He threw his arms in the air, asking an explanation. "Congratulations, my dear. You've officially baffled The Lord of Chaos." Discord crossed his arms and pouted, turning away.

Fluttershy looked down at her hooves, forcing worried thoughts out of mind. "Can I...can I ask you something?"

He spun around, looking like he was going to yell at her, but unexpectedly relented. "You know what? Fine. Ask me your stupid question; humour me."

The draconequus sat down, awaiting her question.

The mare fumbled with her words. "Well...I-I was just wondering...why did you take over Equestria?" She glanced up at him briefly.

He raised an eyebrow. "That really is quite a stupid question. It's blatantly obvious that I did it for fun."

She but her lip. "Really? Nothing...pushed you into doing it? Nothing prompted anger, enough to want to take over the land?"

He hesitated. "You're being quite specific. And no, of course not. I'm simply a creature born to wreck havoc." He replied grandly.

Her face fell in disappointment, her mane tumbling over it. "Oh..."

"Why? I know you were supposed to try and reform me, but anypony with any sense whatsoever would've give-" He was distracted when he heard a sniff. "Are you...crying?" Discord hoped not. Her tears, for whatever reason, made him feel weirdly guilty and uncomfortable; two feelings he despised to associate with.

"N-no!" She assured, wiping her cheeks, grateful for her curtain of hair. "I-I just...I had th-this dream...I mean...nevermind." Fluttershy tossed most of her hair out of her face, though a few locks remained stuck to her wet cheeks. "C-carry on with y-your chaos."

"Okay." He poised his hands, about to do just that, but paused. "Dream, you said?"

The pegasus sucked on her teeth. "Y-yes, well...it...it doesn't matter."

"Tell me."

"Why do you care?!" She retorted, suddenly defensive.

He pursed his lips. "I don't. I'm just..."

"Curious?" She finished tersely, looking at him wearing a deadpan expression. "Yeah, figures."

She sniffed again, hanging her head. She had been so sure that her dream meant something. A sign, of some sort...

Fluttershy gasped, and her eyes shot back up to him. "When we first got trapped here, you said...you said I 'deserve it, just like the rest of them.'" She knew she was being desperate, grasping at hopeless pieces of evidence, but she didn't care.

He paused before responding. "Yeah...so?"

Her eyes narrowed. "So you obviously think I - and other ponies - deserve to suffer for something. For affecting you in some way."

He shook his head, laughing. "You ponies and your desperate little theories. So naive, so blind, so stupid."

Her heart began to plummet, yet another pretty-much-hopeless idea stopped it. "What did you dream about last night, Discord?"

"Nothing of your concern."

"Please tell me." She pressed. She usually hated being persistent, but knowing the truth could change everything.

"No."

"Please?"

"Not even with a cherry on top."

Fluttershy felt her bottom lip begin to quiver. "Fine then." She mewled, tears welling up in her eyes. "Don't tell me. It's not like I want to reform you, or befriend you, or anything. It's not like I want to see good in you. N-no, of c-c-course n-not..." She failed to keep a steady tone as sobs strained her voice.

Discord watched as the crying mare curled up into a ball and faced away from him. He blocked out the painful sound of her sobs as best as he could and contemplated what she had said: did she actually want to befriend him? It was possible, since she was the only pony to ever show any kindness to him...

No, no. She didn't want to be his friend. She had said so herself, and even tried to throw ice skates at him while at it. She hadn't really cared, she just saw it as an opportunity to prove her worth to her friends and the Princess.

She hasn't looked back, saddened and dismayed at the site of their tarnished 'friendship'.

Not as he had.

Twilight's head hung close to the pages of her book, her hooves half supporting its weight and half stretching her heavy eyelids open.

Luna sat, poised elegantly next to the consecutive bookshelf, seemingly unaffected by their long day of reading; Twilight guessed the Princess was far more used to being awake this long than she was.

Letting out an exasperated breath, the lavender alicorn used her magic to hastily flick through the remaining pages of her book, too frustrated to read them.

It slammed shut, and the princess moved it aside as she searched for yet another potentially useful book. A thick, blue book with silver bands wrapped around its spine caught her attention. After levitating it over, she read the title, 'The Legends of the Elements of Harmony.'

Twilight rolled her eyes, for she had already read this countless times in her own library beforehoof, and it contained nothing of use.

She got up on her hind legs to place it back, and couldn't help but caress the pink embroidered gem on the cover as she did so. The mare found herself staring, an unanswered question she had pondered upon before coming to mind.

She slotted the book back, then turned to Luna. "Princess..." Luna looked up at her. "How do the Elements...work, exactly? It's confused me for quite a long time, for none of my theoretical explanations for their use have been completely consistent, nor felt accurate."

The Princess of the Night smiled. "I had a feeling you would ask that sooner or later." She composed herself, recollecting her thoughts. "As you probably already know, the Elements' job is to restore Harmony to Equestria. As well as that, they search for harmony in the source of the disharmony. If said source has enough good inside it, the Elements will bring it forth and 'reform' it. If there is not enough however - or even none at all - they will find a way to contain the source, giving the Element bearers enough time to figure out a hopefully non-magical way to reform the source of disharmony. They may also contain it if the bearers themselves do not share complete harmony between one another, and will give them time to resolve their disharmony."

Twilight nodded, slowly devouring the new information and arranging it in her mind, a question slowly forming. "Discord was turned to stone three times. Do you know the causes of each time?"

Luna nodded a once. "I don't know for sure. But I think the first time around, I had already started to become jealous and envious of my sister. When you turned him to stone, well...the only explanation would be some hidden form of disharmony, or...the Elements couldn't find enough good in Discord to give him a chance." Her expression was grim, showing she sincerely hoped the latter was false. "The third time, however..."

Twilight had caught on and finished for her. "There wasn't complete harmony between us. I think we all felt a little betrayed by Fluttershy."

The Princess of the Night half-smiled. "Please know that it is in no way your fault; there is no way we can know what would've happened even without the small mistrust."

The lavender alicorn narrowed her eyes a little. "But...how do you know that Discord wouldn't have been turned to stone even without disharmony?"

Luna sighed. "One can only hope for the best, Twilight Sparkle."

Twilight smiled with one cheek, not fully agreeing. "Luna, what Elements did you represent?" She asked.

The princess smiled. "Laughter, Honesty, and...Kindness. Previous bearers of the Elements feel a certain...connection with the next, corresponding bearers, and vice versa, which is one of the reasons I feel so obliged to help Fluttershy. It is also what drew Celestia's attention the day of your entrance exam."

"Huh. Everything makes a lot more sense suddenly."

"Twilight, do you understand that...consequences may accompany the spell?" Luna inquired.

"Of course!"

The navy alicorn beamed as Twilight began to turn away. "Oh, and Twilight?"

She looked up, awaiting further speech.

"I've found the spell."

Author's Notes:

Does anyone else completely LOVE Fluttercord arguments?
Then I hoped you enjoyed this one!