Shining looked out through the window of his suite, staring blankly at the landscape beyond Canterlot for what felt like the millionth time. The rain had slowed to a drizzle now, and the sheen of persistent sunlight was slowly but surely perforating the cloud layer above, casting the odd ray or two across the land below. He remained still for quite some time, until another fissure opened above, allowing an errant beam of light to shine directly onto him.

Grimacing, and raising a hoof to cover his eyes, Shining waited, hoping that the light would soon fade or move elsewhere. He had no such luck, and after a few seconds of standing his ground, came to the realisation that this was not a battle he could win. Sighing, he turned and lowered his hoof, examining the nearly bare suite around him. Bare was relative, of course, considering the vast array of items that were provided within each of the castle's luxurious suites, but all the possessions that Shining had brought with him - save for a select few - were already packed in preparation for tomorrow's journey.

His horn shone as he pulled the curtains shut, denying the offending beam of light the right to irritate him further, though doing so only caused the room to take on to take on a more dingy atmosphere. He shortly contemplated simply sitting in the relative darkness of the room as he pondered over his predicament, but decided against it, his horn glowing briefly as he switched on the lights.

Satisfied that he would no longer appear to be sulking to anyone that might enter, Shining allowed himself to slump into a plush chair, closing his eyes and tilting his head backwards as he attempted to collect his thoughts.

'What else would staying achieve? The trail's just about gone cold, and we've yet to hear anything useful regarding the Smokey Mountain incident...'

An image of his sister made its way to the forefront of his thoughts.

'But I could lose everything if I'm wrong...'

He opened his eyes, staring up at the ceiling without so much as a twitch in his tired expression.

'I can't stay here forever though. The Empire needs me, Cadence needs me.'

He remained there, lost in his thoughts for what felt like hours before tilting his head to the side, catching sight of the single framed photograph that remained standing on his work desk. He levitated it with his magic, smiling to himself as he glanced over each mare in the picture. His mother, his sister, and his wife; the three most important mares in his life. All beautiful, all smiling, all happy.

He remembered the photograph being taken during his wedding reception, and lost himself to the memory for a moment before snapping back to his senses. He scanned over it again, but felt his attention drawn to Twilight and Cadence in particular, his gaze flickering between the two constantly.

Pursing his lips and frowning, he shook his head to himself, 'Why does it feel like I have to choose between them?' He glanced around the room, noticing how much more spacious it seemed now that it was mostly bare of his personal belongings, 'We're prepared to go, and there's work to be done. There's no element of choice involved.' He focused on his sister's face, shaking his head in disapproval this time, 'After everything that's happened, I don't know whether I should leave your safety in Celestia's hooves, but you've left me no choice, Twilight.'

He frowned, placing a hoof against his forehead as he continued to stare at his sister's smiling face, 'Nopony expected this, Twilight. Nopony expected you to betray us and slink away into hiding with that monster and your friends. I didn't expect to have to pursue you myself. I certainly didn't expect that you'd be willing to kill good ponies in order to escape.' He scrunched his eyes shut as he felt them watering, hardening his heart as he glared back at an innocent Twilight from a more innocent time. He spoke aloud now, if for nothing else than to make certain of his own line of thought, "Things can never go back to how they were, Twilight, not now; not after what you've done."

Smiling and unblinking, a carefree look on her face, Twilight stared back as if to say, 'So what?'

Shining furrowed his brow further, "Even if we found you, what's waiting for you here? A dungeon? A prison? Even after all the good you've done, the public won't just overlook everything you've been a part of; the princesses certainly won't. Maybe it would be better if you didn't come back at all..."

He ground his teeth in anger, at his own failures as much as Twilight's wrongdoings, "But still, a prison's better than a graveyard, which is where you'll end up as soon as he doesn't need you any more."

The image of his sister before him quickly morphed, aided by his mind's eye, into one of a corpse bearing her resemblance. Pale, unblinking, unmoving. Cold. Twisted in several places. Discarded like dead weight in the middle of nowhere. Thoughts of how she had died, and whether or not it was quick, raced forth. Had she even been killed directly, or was she simply left to die of exposure, her broken body denying her any means of escape? In her final moments did she think of him? Of her family? Or was she simply snuffed out, like the flame of a candle? Quickly, without remorse or pity or warning, not a single thought given to her passing by her killer after the deed was done?

Shining shook his head, forcing his eyes shut as they glistened with tears. He growled, grasping the picture tightly and hurling it across the room with a wounded roar, "NO!"

He briefly remained where he was as he collected himself, breathing deeply for a few seconds before standing and making his way over to the remnants of the frame by the far wall. He sighed, holding his frown for a moment until his features softened. He levitated the object towards himself, paying little mind to the tinkle of broken glass and dented frame, though he did feel slightly grateful that the wall appeared to have been undamaged. The picture itself seemed to have been completely unaffected, save for a few shards of glass sitting atop it.

Voices and hoofsteps could be heard from the hall outside of Shining's suite, causing him to briefly hang his head in an attempt to calm himself before the guards inevitably entered. Tentatively, he reached out, placing a hoof against the shattered glass surface, closing his eyes as he did so. Exhaling slowly, he murmured under his breath, "I'll be with you all soon enough, I promise."

There was a hesitant knock at the door.

"Prince Shining!? Are you alright!?"

"I'm fine. You may enter."

The door swung open, and a single crystal guard stepped into the room, though Shining took note of at least another four standing outside. He watched the guard surveying the room for any disturbance before noticing the shattered frame, giving the Prince a confused look for a moment before becoming expressionless, "Sir, if I may, what happened? Was there an intruder?"

Shining smirked and shook his head, "No, Gleam, nothing of the sort. I just dropped this." He shook the frame.

Despite the lack of expression on the guard's face, Shining watched as Gleam glanced at the smashed glass, and then at the soft, plush carpet beneath. If he noticed the discrepancy, he didn't show it, "I see. My apologies for the disturbance, Sir, we heard the noise and assumed the worst; the castle's not as safe as we'd like it to be, if the last few weeks are anything to go by."

Shining nodded, "I understand. Really, I'm the one at fault here, it's only a picture, after all. That being said..." He set about cleaning up the mess he had made, but gave the picture one last look, "It's very precious to me."

The guard nodded and saluted, waiting for Shining to dismiss him before leaving without a word.

Twilight and Fluttershy murmured to one another, as they had for the past half hour or so. Every so often, one of them - usually Twilight - would glance in Discord's direction before quickly turning back to the other, whispering in hushed tones.

Discord had noticed, of course, and was eyeing them warily, though he found it difficult to decipher exactly what they were talking about. Throughout their ongoing exchange, Discord had watched as Fluttershy remained calm with Twilight, whereas Twilight seemed to have struggled to keep her voice at a low whisper on multiple occasions, often scowling or shaking her head as she did so.

Discord folded his arms, drumming the fingers of his right hand against his left arm as he observed them for a few more minutes, making no comment at their constant glances in his direction, despite meeting them dead on.

After five more minutes of such, Twilight span for a final time before turning back to Fluttershy with apparent resignation on her face. Fluttershy placed a reassuring hoof on her shoulder and gave her a somewhat pleading look, causing Twilight to nod before hanging her head.

Fluttershy looked up at Discord now, though Twilight spoke before doing the same, "Discord?"

Discord kept his expression passive as he glanced at her, continuing to drum his fingers as he did so, "Yes?"

Twilight looked to Fluttershy momentarily, who nodded back at her encouragingly, "We... We need to talk."

Discord furrowed his brow, but pointedly let the silence hang in the air for a few moments before focusing on her, "Is that so? Might that be down to the two of you sharing your secret little conversation without including us?" He gestured to himself and Pinkie, who was sitting with her eyes closed, presumably speaking with Pinkamena.

Twilight glanced at Fluttershy once more before answering him, "Yeah, something like that."

Discord caught the nervous glances that Fluttershy shot in both his and Twilight's direction, and found himself drumming his fingers faster in mild anticipation, "Alright then, spill the beans, what is it?"

Twilight fought the urge to grimace, "It... might be better if we discuss it in private."

Discord examined Twilight closely before regarding his surroundings, "Whatever it is, Twilight, I'm sure it'd be easier just to discuss it here." He gestured towards Pinkie, "Besides, after all the times Pinkie's allowed you to be privy to some of her rather personal information, I doubt she'd be impressed to learn that you don't trust her with your own."

Twilight shook her head and frowned, "It's not like that!"

Fluttershy cut in, surprising Discord somewhat, "Discord, please." She gave him the same pleading look she had given Twilight, "It's just... Y-You and Twilight really need to figure this out between yourselves."

A moment of silence passed before Discord gave a resigned groan, "Fine, since the two of you seem to want to hold me in suspense." He gestured for Twilight to come closer and turned to Fluttershy as she did so, "We'll be close by."

Fluttershy nodded, and the pair disappeared in a flash of light.

"So, what was all that about?"

Fluttershy took a startled gasp at the voice of Pinkamena, and promptly span to see the mare sitting with what seemed to be a curious expression on her face, or at least she thought it was; it was difficult to tell the mare's expression due to her mane hanging over her face, "O-Oh, uhm-"

"Oh wait a second..." Pinkamena elongated the word into something of a purr, brushing her mane from her face as she did so, "Why am I wasting our time asking something like that?" She stood from her seat and stretched, arching her back but keeping her eyes locked on Fluttershy the entire time without so much as blinking.

"W-What do you mean, P-Pinkamena?" She asked, attempting to return a smile but failing miserably as she began trotting towards her. It took all the willpower she had to not step backwards in turn.

"What I mean is..." She licked her lips and smiled an almost predatory smile, "Wouldn't it be much better if we used our time alone together more... productively?"

Fluttershy barely muffled a squeak as she imagined what Pinkamena was alluding to, causing a deep blush to creep onto her face. Despite her best efforts to the contrary, she took a reflexive step back and averted her eyes from the unnerving smile that Pinkamena still held.

Pinkamena couldn't help but giggle to herself at Fluttershy's reaction. She had almost reached the mare now, but stopped as she heard a loud clinking sound from the side. Turning towards it, she met the gaze of an apparently disgusted Angel Bunny, who had slowly raised his head from Fluttershy's saddlebags, followed promptly by the scalpel he now brandished. She held her questioning stare upon him, but the rabbit simply squinted back, narrowing his eyelids and pointing at her with his free paw before drawing the scalpel through the air near his throat and shaking his head disapprovingly.

Pinkamena raised an eyebrow at him in amusement, "Is there a problem, Angel?"

The rabbit quickly dropped the scalpel as Fluttershy turned to face him, but gave Pinkamena a wary look, as if to say 'we'll see' before ever-so-gradually sinking back into the depths of the bag.

Fluttershy turned back to Pinkamena with a hint of confusion on her face, and despite her current predicament, found herself apologising, "S-Sorry, Pinkamena. He gets l-like that sometimes..." She trailed off as the mare in question began smiling as she had beforehand.

"Oh, no need to apologise, Fluttershy. He's just trying to protect you is all." She stopped before her and glanced up and down the pegasus' body, causing her to hide behind her mane, feeling as if she were being judged like fruit on a market stall. Pinkamena lowered her voice somewhat in response, tilting her head so as to meet Fluttershy's eyes through her mane, "I can see why. I'd certainly do everything I could to take care of a body like yours, if you'd let me..."

By this point, the entirety of Fluttershy's face had turned beet red, and she seemed completely incapable of coherent speech, "I-I-I... t-ta-... y-y?" Despite Pinkamena's ongoing attempts to meet her gaze, the pegasus found herself unable to glance at the mare for any more than a few seconds at a time, and as such quickly elected to hang her head instead, her speech trailing into a nigh-inaudible murmur.

Pinkamena's grin widened immensely at the sight, even as she attempted to force it flat. It took her nearly half a minute before she was able to regard Fluttershy with anything less than a small smirk, "Fluttershy?" The mare seemed unresponsive at this point. "Fluttershy? Look at me."

After a few moments, Pinkamena watched her hesitantly raise her head. After waiting a moment to ascertain that she wouldn't lower it again, Pinkamena reached out, brushing Fluttershy's mane to the side, eliciting little more than a sharp gasp from her this time as she stared back in the same fashion as the startled animals she had so often treated in the past, "You really shouldn't hide that pretty face of your-"

The only warning Fluttershy gave was a slight sway on her hooves before she toppled over, unconscious, with what seemed to be her entire body's worth of blood rushing to her face.

Pinkamena lunged and caught her before she hit the floor, giving a slight grunt due to the awkward angle before gently setting her down. Once she had done so, she found herself torn, shaking her head and chuckling to herself slightly, yet somehow not finding the sight as amusing as she had anticipated. After ensuring that the mare was still, in fact, breathing, Pinkamena stood, staring down at what she could see of Fluttershy's face through her mane. Now apparently dreaming, Fluttershy whispered something under her breath before curling into a ball and rolling over, smiling to herself as she huddled against the floor.

A moment's deliberation passed before Pinkamena reached down to brush Fluttershy's mane from her face, but she hesitated at the sound of the same clinking from before. She turned to see Angel, once again brandishing the scalpel and fixing her with a look that could have killed. Although she didn't know exactly what the rabbit was trying to convey, she caught the general gist of it.

'Don't even think about it.'

Rolling her eyes, she withdrew her hoof from the sleeping pony's face and began making her way back to her seat. As she reached it, however, a slight sense of dread began to creep up on her as she paused. In her head, she began to piece together their situation, aided in part by Pinkie, who had up until this point been berating her.

Discord was absent.

Fluttershy was asleep.

Dreaming.

Luna.

"Oh, shit! Fluttershy!"

The pair flashed into existence upon an outcrop overlooking the land far beneath the mountain. Their destination was now within sight, though difficult to see due to being partially hidden within the trees below. Twilight assumed that the large body of water she could just make out in the distance was the Neighagra Falls. A harsh, cool wind intermittently stripped her warmth away from her as it swept across the face of the mountain, but it was relatively infrequent and certainly not unbearable, just uncomfortably cold.

"Alright then, what exactly is it that we need to 'figure out'?" Twilight switched her attention from the scenery to him as he continued, "And why just the two of us? I hope you're not planning on confessing any intimate feelings, Twilight; they certainly aren't mutual." He stared blankly at her, but his eyebrows were raised ever so slightly.

Despite Discord's expectations, Twilight didn't retort immediately. Instead, she simply shook her head and looked up at him with an expression he couldn't quite read as she spoke, "No, Discord. It's not that." Her voice held hints of tiredness, resignation, and confusion, though none of them seemed to take precedence over the seriousness she was evidently trying to maintain.

Her behaviour served to dissuade Discord from pushing her further, instead piquing his interest as his own voice took on an equally serious tone, "What then?"

Twilight scanned over the landscape for a second, taking a deep breath before speaking, "We... We need to stop."

Discord furrowed his brow and pinched the bridge of his nose in exasperation, "Twilight, we've already decided on our plan of action. Regardless of whether or not you want those ponies brought back to life, it's happening."

She shook her head, her tone remaining the same as beforehand, "That's not what I meant."

He raised his claw to his chin, scratching his beard, perplexed, "Care to explain, then?"

She swallowed, clearing her throat loudly before finally speaking, "Us. Me and you. We need to stop constantly fighting."

Discord hummed in surprise, "What's with the sudden shift in perspective?"

For a split second, Discord caught her clenching her jaw, but she regarded him neutrally once she began, "Fluttershy. She's growing worried, Discord, and after talking it over with her, she's probably right." She caught his questioning expression, "Our cohesion's going to slip. We can't ever properly work together if all we do is snipe at each other at every given opportunity."

He lowered his voice somewhat as he began stroking his beard, "I see..."

She scowled to herself as she looked down at the stone beneath her hooves, then off out into the distance. She didn't turn back to face him as she next spoke, though she had to wait for a moment as a particularly strong gust of wind sapped more heat from her body, "I mean, I understand, Discord. You're the 'Master of Chaos', or whatever you want to call yourself. You've explained it to me before, I know you have to cause chaos somehow, and I can handle a passing comment, or a small jab, but you consistently take everything too far; on purpose. I need you to be honest with me." She turned back to him, "Of all the stupid little arguments we've had, how many did you start with the intention of collecting the chaos into your... store?" She grimaced, unable to find a correct term for the ball of chaos energy that Discord had earlier presented.

A moment of relative quiet passed, disturbed only by the wind, "Very few, admittedly."

Twilight clamped her eyes shut, giving an irritated growl, "I knew it."

Discord felt his lips curling down at the corners, but kept his tone flat, unwilling to begin another of the arguments that Twilight spoke of, "You have a point, Twilight, I'll admit it. Most of the time it was just a game, to see how far I could push you before you snapped." He glanced at her, taking note of her significant lack of anger at the revelation, "But I'm not the only one to blame, Twilight; it takes two to tango. You've brought it upon yourself, on occasion."

He watched as she took a visibly deep breath, "I know."

Discord waited for her to continue, but she simply turned back out to the view below once again, standing in silence.

His gaze followed hers towards the town that they would soon be visiting, "So what do you suggest?"

She sat on her haunches, but glanced at him from over her shoulder, "We just... need to try. If not for the two of us, then for Fluttershy and Pinkie." She sighed, hanging her head so as to look down towards the base of the mountain, "After everything they've given up, they can do without it, you know? Pinkie's still trying to figure things out with Pinkamena, and Fluttershy... Well, you know..."

"She still hasn't forgiven herself." He nodded despite her being unable to see it, his voice becoming somewhat pensive as he recalled the event, "Still cries in her sleep on most nights... It's always quiet when she does, but... still there."

Twilight shook her head to herself, "She never deserved any of that..."

Discord made his way to the edge of the outcrop, electing to stand beside her, as opposed to sitting. He joined her in staring out over the landscape, "No, she didn't..."

Twilight glanced up at him, though his gaze remained on the scenery as she addressed him, "What about Pinkie? How's she?"

Discord gave a single, humourless chuckle, "I honestly don't know. She's hard to read, that one. I don't think she's as happy as she makes out to be, though."

"Why's that?"

"Guilt over locking Pinkamena away, leaving everything she loved behind, knowing that she might be responsible for the leadership of thousands of ponies in the near future, to name a few."

Twilight frowned, scalding herself for asking such a stupid question, "Oh, right..."

"She makes light of most of it. It almost makes you forget that she has anything to worry about, but we've both seen that she takes it seriously underneath."

"Yeah, she does." She shivered as another breeze rolled by, though the partial cover that Discord provided did help slightly, "I wouldn't trade them for the world, especially after everything they've stuck by me through."

Discord actually laughed this time, "Well I should bloody well hope not! That'd be wrong even in my eyes."

Twilight smirked, despite her best efforts to remain sombre. She allowed a moment of comfortable silence to pass before sighing to herself, "It's trust that's gotten us this far, you know."

He glanced down at her, "Hmm?"

She met his gaze, "All of us. Despite everything that's happened, we've made it this far by trusting one another. Especially by trusting you."

Discord stayed silent but remained facing her.

Twilight shook her head, "I don't know if I'll ever be able to call you a friend, not after knowing the part you played in Spike's death, but it'd be stupid of me to say that I don't trust you. I do. Not completely though, never completely, I know there are things you haven't told me, but you haven't stabbed me in the back, either. And you've looked out for us, especially Fluttershy, and the others trust you too." She managed a small smile, "Even Angel."

Discord turned away, shaking his head and chuckling to himself, "Even Angel, eh? You could've fooled me."

Twilight smiled, "It wouldn't be that hard, honestly." She couldn't help but giggle as he gave her a nudge with his leg.

"You instigated that one."

Almost immediately, Twilight wiped the smirk from her face, "Right, sorry."

Discord chuckled in response, "Don't be. Moderation seems to be what we're after here. As long as we don't take our... banter too far, or too seriously, we should be just fine."

Twilight nodded, "Moderation. That sounds... reasonable."

They remained where they were, one sitting, one standing, for a few minutes, before Discord broke the silence, "Well, at least we'll have some good news to bring back with us."

Twilight raised an eyebrow incredulously, "You're not really going to tell them everything we've just said?"

"No. Look over there." He pointed towards Hollow Shades, waiting for Twilight to follow his gaze, "You probably can't see it, actually."

"See what?"

Discord snapped his fingers, materialising a small telescope for Twilight to look through. As she did so, she took note of the few ponies she could see milling around the town, "I can't see anything out of the ordinary."

He snapped his fingers again, causing the telescope to disappear as she withdrew from it, "I've been observing the town and the surrounding area remotely ever since we arrived. There haven't been any guard patrols in quite some time. I think my diversion's managed to spread their forces thin."

A look of mild relief spread across her features, "Good. Facing up against the guards again is the last thing any of us want."

Discord nodded, "Indeed. Still, they have our wanted posters down there, we're going to have to enter in disguise, for a while, at least. Remember this?" He snapped his fingers, holding up the hooded cloak that Twilight recalled wearing back in Dodge City that had shadowed her face regardless of the surrounding light.

She nodded back but gave him a perplexed look, "Yeah, but how do you intend to disguise yourself? I don't think one of those is going to cut it."

Discord winked at her mischievously, "I have an idea, don't worry. I believe you and the others will be pleasantly surprised with the results."

Twilight rolled her eyes, smiling and speaking with mock enthusiasm, "Oh boy, more vagueness. Just what I wanted from you."

Discord gave an exaggerated sigh, "Oh boy, more sarcasm. I honestly never expected it from you." He cracked a smile at her before glancing out over the horizon, "We've got maybe another hour before sunset, we should head back soon."

Twilight followed his gaze, noting the sun's position in the sky, "Yeah..." Though she didn't dare to stare at it for any length of time, she frowned in the sun's general direction regardless, "We're going to make her pay, aren't we?"

Discord's voice took on a flat, grim undertone, "Celestia? That was always the plan, yes. But after what she's done to us, to Fluttershy?" He turned to Twilight, and the unicorn couldn't help but shiver at the thrashing, barely constrained malice in his eyes, "She'll pay interest. I'll make sure of it."

He looked away, and it took Twilight a moment to collect herself, blinking away the white hot flashes of madness that Discord's eyes had branded into her retinas. When she had, she hesitantly moved closer to him and gave him a nod, though her voice trembled slightly as the flashes took their merry time to dissipate, "L-Let's go."

Without a word, Discord balled the fist of one hand and snapped the fingers of the other, whisking them back into the mountain itself.

The two returned to see Fluttershy sitting with her back leaning against the far wall, twiddling her forehooves and hiding her face behind her mane. Angel was crouched in front of her defensively, facing them with a baleful expression. However, before either of the pair could enquire as to what was wrong, the familiar voice of Pinkamena sounded up from behind them, "Discord, we have a problem."

Twilight and Discord span simultaneously to see Pinkamena with a displeased look on her face. Without pause, the mare raised her hoof so as to point at Fluttershy, "Fluttershy... passed out, whilst you were gone. I think she was dreaming."

Discord, still seemingly piecing the situation together, raised a quizzical eyebrow, "Eh?"

Pinkamena scowled at him, "You weren't here to ward against Luna. What if she found her dreaming?"

Discord sighed and rolled his eyes, "It's fine. We were only on the mountainside, and after all the spacing out you and Pinkie do whenever you talk at length, I thought it best if I kept the spell running constantly. As long as I'm nearby, you shouldn't need to worry about Luna."

"It might have been nice to know that beforehoof." Pinkamena flicked at her mane irritably, glowering at her hooves as she did so, "So we're safe?"

Discord shrugged, "Relatively speaking, we're safe, yes." He turned his attention to Fluttershy, who was clearly conscious but had yet to raise her head or cease twiddling her forehooves, "Passed out, you say? What brought that about?" Discord watched keenly as Angel effectively threw himself in Pinkamena's direction, owing to the fervour with which he repeatedly pointed at the mare, "Pinkamena?"

Pinkamena growled under her breath, fixing Angel with a sharp look, "I may or may not have said one or two things that had her heart racing a fair bit."

"Not helpful." Discord murmured, flashing over to Fluttershy's side in an instant, kneeling down beside her and speaking quietly, "Fluttershy?"

The pegasus lifted her head to meet his gaze, "Y-Yes?"

"Could you tell m-"

He stopped abruptly, causing Fluttershy to tilt her head slightly in confusion.

Discord was fixated on her face, or, more precisely, her cheek, which was now slightly swelled and bright red in colour, in contrast with the deeper shade of red the rest of her face had taken. It took him a moment to break his gaze from her, instead shifting it to Angel, then to Pinkamena, before he came to fully comprehend the situation.

Fluttershy watched as the look in his eye changed from concerned to cold at a moment's notice, "D-Discord?"

When he spoke, he didn't move, and his voice escaped as barely a whisper. Despite the laws and conventions of acoustics, the whisper rumbled and reverberated throughout the room, sounding loudly in the ears of all listeners, "Pinkamena."

The mare in question closed her eyes and inhaled deeply, 'Shit...'

Discord didn't wait for a response, "Did you hit her?"

Twilight span to examine Fluttershy before fixing Pinkamena with a suspicious look, though she still glanced uneasily at Discord from the corner of her eye.

Pinkamena shook her head, speaking quickly and with a surprising sense of urgency, "I slapped her. I didn't have a choice, I thought I had to wake her up!"

Discord rubbed the fingers on his right hand together, discharging a few sparks with a loud series of cracks, "Indeed?" He turned and gave Fluttershy a questioning look, "Is that really what happened?"

Fluttershy, having raised her head during the commotion, nodded back, "Y-Yes." She rubbed her cheek absent-mindedly, "It's my fault, Discord, I-I overreacted."

He sounded unconvinced, regarding Pinkamena with a disapproving squint as he drawled his words, "If you say so." He gestured to Fluttershy, "I believe you owe her an apology regardless, Pinkamena."

The mare scowled, but Discord's repeated near-snapping of his fingers in conjunction with his stern glare served to coerce her relatively quickly, though she spoke quickly and flatly, putting little to no effort into making her apology believable, "... Sorry, Fluttershy."

Fluttershy gave a single nod, "It's okay."

"But don't do it again." Discord added, turning to Fluttershy and inspecting her cheek once more.

Pinkamena smirked, glancing at Fluttershy before murmuring under her breath, "Well, I can't make any promises."

Discord span, fixing her with a piercing gaze similar to the one that Angel had worn since Fluttershy had first fainted. He waited for a moment to ensure that the message sank in before standing at full height and stretching his arms outwards with a groan, his popping joints giving birth to a symphony that would have moved even the hardiest of hearts for generations to come, were the notes not a dissonant mess, "Well, my little quadrupeds, I'd say that it's nearly time. The moment the sun goes down, we're off!"

He was met only with quiet, save for the expected shuffling of three ponies and a rabbit as each moved to collect their things or, in Angel's case, climb into Fluttershy's saddlebags. Each remained quiet, holding varying degrees of worry or contemplation on their faces as they lined up before Discord, evidently preparing themselves for what was to come.

The draconequus shook his head to himself, offering an amused smile as he prepared the teleportation spell, "Liven up a little, will you? You all look like death warmed up; it's quite uncanny, given the circumstances."

The mares shared a brief look, though Pinkamena gave the slightest hint of a smirk, "Cheeky b-"

They vanished with a flash.

In an instant, all found themselves upon the mountainside, and Twilight noted that they seemed to be upon the same outcrop as before. All promptly looked down at their destination as Twilight pointed it out to the others, though after a few seconds Discord shook his head, tuning out and instead directing his gaze towards the distant horizon, watching as the sun made its gradual descent and taking note of the orange hues that it painted across the landscape below. As the remaining light of day stretched across the forest housing Hollow Shades, flashes of distant memories promptly returned to him, the orange lights of sunset substituting themselves for towering flames, the forest - and the city within - burning to ash and billowing choking, acrid smoke into the heavens. Screams could be heard in the distance, and if he looked carefully, he could just make out the tiny outlines of fleeing refugees, scurrying away from the forest like ants from a burning anthill.

"Discord?"

He blinked, looking down at the pegasus to his right as the memories vanished, returning the landscape below to its normal state, "Yes, Fluttershy?"

She gave him a concerned look, "A-Are you alright?"

Discord felt the corner of his mouth tug upwards into a small smile, and patted her mane briefly as he also took note of Twilight's curious expression from behind her, "Never better, My Dear. Just reminiscing, is all."

He watched as Fluttershy gave him a small smile before turning to speak with Twilight, though the unicorn held her gaze upon him for a second longer before turning to her friend. Pinkamena appeared completely disinterested, having seemingly paid no attention to the exchange whatsoever, instead electing to stare down at Hollow Shades from her position on the edge of a protruding rock.

Discord hummed briefly to himself, turning back to the horizon as his old memories slowly returned to the forefront of his mind. He found it ironic that, when they were on the verge of waking the long dead, he unconsciously envisaged the very event that took their lives in the first place. He looked towards Hollow Shades, and once again, the forest was ablaze.

Despite his best attempts to remain aware of his surroundings for fear of being caught off-guard by the others once more, his mind began to drift back to the memories. It wasn't long before the vivid images had returned in full, and the reality he saw before him gradually melded with his memories until the two were indiscernible from one another.

He heard the screams, witnessed the brutality and the suffering. Saw the wounded, the maimed, the dying. The dead, and the soon to be so. And Celestia, and all the terrible fury she brought with her.

But most of all? He remembered the flames.

Towering, engulfing, mesmerising.

Unquenchable.

Unstoppable.

Vividly, he remembered the day when everything burned.

Author's Notes:

I missed the deadline, again. I know. This time, however, there was little I could do to avoid it; I've had to knuckle down and study hard, and will be doing so until June/July, otherwise I run the very real risk of not getting into university. Still, my apologies for making you guys wait.

I'm also going to take take this opportunity to ask something of you guys. As you might have seen in the description, ATF has a TVTropes page, but it's been a while since any new entries have been added. Call it vanity (because it is), but I really enjoy seeing what tropes people attribute to this fic, be they good or bad. As such, if any of you know the intricacies of that site, I'd be exceptionally grateful if you could any additions to it; it would certainly help to alleviate my boredom between soul-crushing psychology study sessions. (Link here)

Other than that, I just want to thank you all for your patience with me, I know missing my deadlines is probably irritating. Hell, it annoys me and I'm the one who sets them.

Anyhow, have a good day, folks.

- Mike, studying hard.