As always, a big thank you to Nightwalker for his suggestions and editing on this story.

*Sucks in a deep breath* And ... here we go.

Chapter 14

"And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love."—1 Corinthians 13:13

The little equine's frozen eyes watched as the strange mismatched creature collapsed. She saw his claws kneading at the ground and his arms trembling as if trying to push himself back up onto his feet, while the cave around them seemed to tear itself apart.

For the first time in her life, she found herself wondering desperately if the force field imprisoning her might protect her from the outside world rather than simply cutting her off from it.

Finally the strange creature stopped struggling to rise and turned his bloody face in her direction. Every nerve in the little equine's body screamed to move! To get out of his line of sight before he transformed her as he had their surroundings!

But of course as always she could do nothing, nothing but hang there suspended and helpless to defend herself.

Yet the expected attack never came. Instead the strange creature's eyes closed and he seemed to go limp. Was he dead? She hoped so if it meant that the chaos around her would stop.

That's when she felt a tremor snap through her prison, one far stronger than any of the ones caused by the changelings' blows! The force of it knocked her back, spinning her helplessly in the force field.

At that very same moment, Fluttershy was jolted awake as if she had been slapped. She found herself staring up at an overcast sky and wondered what she was doing outside. And where exactly outside was she? She sat up, blinking and rubbing at her eyes.

Looking around she saw that she was on a mountain path leading toward a cave opening. Then her confusion was suddenly replaced with terror when she saw the dark shape of the changeling queen shoot out of the cave. Right behind the queen were the shimmering outlines of semitransparent changelings. All heading straight toward her!

Fluttershy sprang to her hooves and tried to flee, but she bounced off an invisible barrier. Scrambling back up, she felt frantically about with her wings and front hooves to figure out where the barrier started and ended. It seemed to curve all around her. She looked fearfully back at the approaching changelings, but they just flew over her like they hadn't even seen her. Maybe ... maybe they couldn't see her? But how—?

Then she remembered. Discord! He must have done this! Put her to sleep and encased her in this ... this ... whatever it was!

She looked back up to see the shimmering swarm of almost-see-through changelings and their much-more-visible leader disappearing into the distance, when a tremor from behind her shook the ground under her hooves. Turning back toward the cave entrance, she saw its dull stone changing to bright garish colors while plant roots erupted from the ground, and unusual-looking plants sprouted from its ceiling.

She had a pretty good idea who was behind those alterations, and who had also caused the changelings to flee from the tunnel.

The little equine felt nauseous as another blow struck her prison and caused her to spin about yet again. Was this what was finally going to kill her? She had been wondering earlier, almost hoping, that her captors would finally just let her die. But now when faced with the idea that that might be about to happen, all she could think was: I don't want to die! I don't want to die! I Want To Live!

As her body mercifully steadied, she saw a spider web of cracks race over the surface of the force field.

Then it shattered!

The little equine plunged toward the floor and when she struck it, her world went black. For a brief terrifying moment, she thought she had gone blind. Then she blinked and the truth dawned on her.

She had shut her eyes! She could open and close her eyes! Could she move anything else? Was she actually ... free?! She tried to move her skeletal limbs. They were stiff and painful from over a decade of forced inactivity, any movement sluggish and jerky, but her muscles met none of the resistance she had felt in the force field. She wasn't trapped anymore! She was finally free at long last!

But her delighted wonder promptly turned to terror when the ground underneath her ripped free of the cave floor and floated upward, bringing her back to the reality of the chaos around her.

For the first time since the changelings had imprisoned her, she made a noise.

She made the harsh rattling trill that was the closest thing she could produce to a scream.

At the very moment the little equine had been set free, the bubble around Fluttershy turned opaque and shattered as well.

Fluttershy took a few experimental steps over the now-dissolving bubble fragments and when nothing halted her progress, she spread her wings and flew straight into the cave. Ordinarily she would have had reservations about flying blindly into an unknown cave with strange things happening to it, but this time she was sure Discord was in there, and she was determined to find him. As she flew, she found herself seething at her former partner.

The nerve of that draconequus! Putting her to sleep, and now goofing around while three ponies were risking their lives to find her friends, two more ponies were lying helpless in the hospital, and a weakened filly was trying to stay hidden at her cottage! Didn't he realize what was at stake?! She couldn't remember ever feeling angrier at him, not even when they were enemies.

The little equine clung to the drifting chunk of earth as it wove around the cave. She cringed as she was bombarded with icy blasts and waves of heat. She flinched as great, glowing rips appeared in midair, displaying images she had never seen before and didn't understand. How could she possibly escape this?! She might be free of her old prison, but now she would almost have rather been back in there than in this new chaotic one.

That was until she noticed one of those glowing rips opened onto darkness. Her instinct to hide in the dark kicked in, and she made a lunge for the opening. As she shot through it, her direction changed sharply and she landed on damp spongy ground. Looking back up at the glowing rip above her, she saw it close, erasing all trace of her old prison.

Fluttershy fumed as she raced down the tunnel. Oh, just you wait till I reach you, Discord! I'll—!

But her mental rant died mid-thought when she finally did see him—not floating about, reveling in the anarchy he was creating, but collapsed on the ground, unmoving with his face covered in what could only be blood.

The sight was so unexpected that for an instant Fluttershy froze in midair. Then she dropped to the floor and landed in a stumble. Her right front hoof accidentally went into a puddle of unknown liquid that had oozed up from a crack in the floor. She yelped as the liquid burned her hoof and shot back into the air. She flew to Discord's side, and landing next to him, gently nudged his neck.

"Discord?"

There was no response, so she shook him harder.

"Discord!"

She was desperately hoping that he would suddenly jump up with a "Gotcha!" That the stone encrusting his body, and the wounds on his head, shoulder, and hip were all just show. After all he had always seemed so much more resilient than she. He had been completely encased in ice, and he was back on his feet seeming none the worse for wear in less than a day, while she had taken much longer to recover from her stint in the cold. And that was not even counting all the other things she had seen him able to do that she would normally consider impossible.

But when he still didn't respond, she began to think of how he could also be hurt if he was caught off-guard, like when he teleported half through something by mistake. But he always treated that like it was a minor annoyance, not like it was a serious danger! she thought, frantically trying to convince herself that his injuries weren't as bad as they looked. After all, his magic wouldn't still be affecting their surroundings if his life was in danger. Right?

It was at that moment that she heard a sharp hissing sound and she looked down to see the liquid she had stepped in earlier flowing uphill and eating into the side of Discord's neck, down near his chest!

Spurred into action, she hoisted his neck over her withers in a sort of firepony's carry. Beating her wings wildly, she managed to get off the ground, and half-carried, half-dragged the much larger draconequus away from the burning liquid. While she was still in midair, struggling under his weight, Discord's paw suddenly shot out and clamped onto her shoulder! With his claws out.

Fluttershy cried out in both pain and surprise before she felt his magic surge down into the base of her wings. Then her wings vanished and she fell back to earth! As she scrambled out from under Discord's neck, she saw that he had landed on his back. His eyes were open, but they were rolling about drunkenly in their sockets, and she wasn't sure if he could see her. And his claws were still stuck tight in her shoulder as his grip crushed it!

"Discord, you're hurting me!"

At her desperate cry, the fingers on her shoulder suddenly sprang open. She gasped as the claws pulled free of her flesh. Looking back down, she saw Discord blinking up at her through the blood on his face. He seemed to be trying to focus on her. His paw came down on her shoulder again, but now he only caressed it gently, and though Fluttershy winced as it touched her puncture wounds, she couldn't bring herself to fully jerk away.

"Discord?" she breathed as she felt his paw move to the back of her head, pulling her closer to him. His mouth moved as if trying to form words, and she quickly leaned in to better hear them.

She thought she heard her name on his lips, but then his eyes drifted shut.

"Oh, no-no-no-no-no-no," she whimpered, fighting back tears, as she felt his paw's wrist for a pulse. It was there, but it was frightfully weak and erratic. Then his head dropped back to the ground, and his grip on her loosened. Pulling the scarf from around her neck, she pressed it against his head, trying to stop the bleeding. But as she applied pressure, she could already tell this wound would require a lot more than just a bandage.

Please no! she begged as the tears ran hot down her cheeks. Please, I just got him back! I can't lose him again! Not like this!

And it was in that moment that she acknowledged a truth she had been wrestling with for the past year.

She loved him! She had known all this time that she loved him as a friend, but now she was finally forced to admit that she not only loved him, she was in love with him! His leaving her hadn't changed that, as much as she had tried to convince herself that it had. Now she knew that even if he no longer wanted anything to do with her, it didn't lessen her love for him, and because of that, she didn't intend to abandon him now.

But what good can you do him now? a little voice in the back of her head sneered. You can't fly, you can't carry him out of here, you have nothing apart from that scarf to treat his injuries, if you try to go for help, he'll likely die in meantime, and you wouldn't even be able to tell if the help were real ponies or disguised changelings! Besides, considering that they currently think he's a cold-blooded murderer, it's not like anypony would even want to help him!

I know all that! Fluttershy mentally snapped back, raising her right hoof to swipe at her tears. The gesture sent a jolt of pain through her hoof and she pulled it away to examine it. The hoof looked almost blistered, and it was at that moment that she remembered it was the one that had landed in that burning liquid.

But those blisters weren't the only thing she noticed on that hoof. There was also something pink on its underside.

She stared down at the heart-shaped charm. She hadn't dared use it earlier, because Celestia had never told her what would happen to Discord if she did. But now...

"I'm sorry, Discord," she murmured to him. Then she raised her hoof and slammed it down on the ground, willing the charm to break!

"Alright, Skywishes," whispered Twilight, as they landed on a bookshelf near the medical section's entrance, away from the gathering crowd, and she lowered Spike from her back. "What exactly is going on?"

Skywishes checked down either side of the bookshelf to make sure there was no one else nearby, before turning back to the alicorn. "Okay, I know this is probably going to sound crazy, but those two guards back there were disguised changelings, and I think they were trying to capture you and Spike."

"What?!"

Skywishes instantly clamped her hooves around Twilight's muzzle, shooting the princess a stressed, angry glare, a silent admonishment to be more quiet. She let go after Twilight's sheepish nod and reached under her armor, wrestling her saddlebags around so that they looked more like a combination of backpack and fanny pack. She reached into the front pouch and fished out the jar of apple peelings. "Fluttershy said to give you this and tell you—"

At that moment there was a blaring alarm. Both ponies ducked down reflexively, and Spike groaned, curling up and burying his head under his arms.

"Five more minutes!" came his muffled voice from under his arms.

"What is that?!" Skywishes demanded, stuffing her ears down inside the helmet's earholes in an attempt to block out the noise. This time she didn't care that she was shouting; the blaring alarm was loud enough to cover up anything else.

Twilight held up her right hoof, exposing a heart-shaped charm that was now flashing pink and white. "I think somepony's found Discord."

"Oh boy," muttered Skywishes. "Twilight, Fluttershy wanted me to tell you we found out Discord was framed. He didn't kill your friends." She held up the jar again. "She said to give you this jar of apple peelings and tell you 'It's happening again.'"

"What is?" Spike asked, uncurling and rolling into a sitting position with his head in his claws. He had scarcely gotten settled in this pose when Twilight lifted him onto her back with her magic.

"Hang on, Spike," she directed, and as woozy as the small dragon seemed, he still had the presence of mind to obey. Turning to Skywishes, Twilight added "Come on, Skywishes. We need to let Princess Celestia know about this." She jumped off the bookshelf, spreading her wings to slow her fall.

"Twilight, wait!" Skywishes called, as she wrestled her saddlebags back into their proper position. "There's still more I have to tell you!" They couldn't be sure the changelings hadn't gone after the other princesses yet. Better to regroup with the few ponies she could identify by their code words and figure out a plan from there.

"Tell me on the way!" Twilight called back, and Skywishes had no choice but to jump down and fly after her.

They emerged from the library to see unicorn, pegasus, and earth pony guards dashing about in every direction. At a first glance, it looked like complete chaos—especially with the alarm still blaring—but on closer inspection Skywishes noticed that there seemed to be a pattern to the guards' movements, as if this were a drill they had rehearsed.

"What are they doing?" she asked Twilight, who had stopped to take in the sight as well.

"I don't know. Celestia didn't say what would happen when somepony used their charm, but she must have given the guards some order when I wasn't around."

"Get in formation, soldier!" a male voice behind them shouted, and they whirled to see a pegasus guard glaring at Skywishes.

She shot Twilight a panicked look, and Twilight quickly put a wing over her armored back. "This soldier is my escort, Captain. She stays with me."

For a moment, Skywishes was afraid the guard would call their bluff, but apparently the princess's orders out-ranked his, because he nodded, told her "Very well, your highness," and moved past them to join several other pegasi.

Twilight was about to take off to continue her search for Celestia, when Skywishes grabbed one of her wings, halting her. "Wait, Twilight!" she whisper-shouted, even though she was pretty sure any passers-by would be unlikely to hear her over the alarm. "If you go to Celestia, how are you going to know she hasn't been replaced with a disguised changeling?!"

Before Twilight could respond, Spike suddenly tapped both ponies on their heads. Well, Twilight on the head, and Skywishes on the helmet.

"Uh, guys." He pointed out a nearby window and they looked to see Celestia and Luna flying at the head of a fleet of pegasus guards who were towing chariots and carriages bearing unicorn and earth pony guards.

"Come on," said Twilight, moving as if to fly out the window, only to get jerked to a stop by Skywishes still hanging onto her wing.

"But how do you know—?" Skywishes started to ask, when Twilight turned back to her.

"I don't know if that's really Celestia and Luna, but we'd probably be wise to keep them in our sight until we can figure out a way to make sure it's really them."

"Fair point," said Skywishes, releasing Twilight's wing, and following her out the window.

The alarm must have been linked to the hoof charms because Twilight, Spike, and Skywishes could still hear it blaring even when they had left Canterlot Castle. They followed the troops at a discrete distance, so they could keep an eye on all of them as well as the Royal Sisters. The trio saw the group flying toward Foal Mountain. Then the Royal Sisters split away from the rest of the group. They flew up the mountain side, while the troops flew down toward its base.

Skywishes glanced toward Spike and Twilight. "Well, what do you say? Do we follow the princesses?"

Twilight nodded and they flew up the mountain side in time to see the princesses disappear into a neon-colored cave opening with strange plants twisting all around it. Twilight was about to follow them, when she saw Skywishes dive down toward the path in front of the cave. The coral-colored pegasus picked something up off the path and Twilight dropped down to get a closer look. It was a bundle of camouflage material similar to the coat Skywishes had been wearing when they met at Sugarcube Corner. Suddenly a rough-looking pebble on the path a few feet away from them twitched, shot into the air, and zipped right under Skywishes's helmet.

"Hey!" she shouted, dropping the camouflage, and yanking her helmet off to see what had flown under it. What had flown under her helmet did not come off with it. Instead it stayed buried in her mane. Skywishes slapped a wing over her head, and raked the primary feathers through her hair, removing the offending object. Jamming the helmet back on her head, she looked down at the object, only to have several paper wings smack enthusiastically against her own larger one.

She glared down at the owner of those wings. "Max," she gritted through clenched teeth. "Where. Is. Fluttershy?"

Fluttershy clung to Discord as the chunk of earth they were on floated this way and that. The instant after she had smashed her charm, it had crumbled off her hoof into dust, leaving her with no options but to pray and continue using her scarf to put pressure on Discord's head wound.

That is until she saw the dark and pale shapes of Luna and Celestia respectively, flying toward her.

Knotting the scarf around Discord's head to keep it in place on his wound, she wrapped one foreleg around his head and waved the other wildly toward the princesses. "Over here! We're over here!"

As they flew closer to her, she began babbling, "Your majesties, we were wrong about Discord! He's innocent! He didn't—!"

"There's no time to discuss that now, Fluttershy!" Celestia cut in. "Right now we have to stop him before he tears all Equestria apart! Quick Luna!"

And with that, each princess used her magic to open a small pouch strapped to her chest that Fluttershy hadn't noticed until just now. They each lifted out what looked to Fluttershy like some sort of gold bracelet or bangle. The two bracelets, one encased in gold light and the other in periwinkle, flew through the air to snap around Discord's wrists.

Immediately Fluttershy felt a strange sensation, as if some magical faucet that had been running full blast had suddenly been turned off. Then she and Discord were both surrounded by the princesses' magic and lifted off their floating island. She clung to Discord's head, partly to keep the pressure on his wound, and partly because her new lack of wings had doubled, if not tripled her fear of falling.

Suddenly the blaring alarm that Twilight, Spike, and Skywishes had been hearing since they were in the library's medical section went silent. The three all shook their heads and felt their ears to make sure they hadn't just gone deaf from the sound.

Then they saw a limp mismatched figure encased in gold and periwinkle light float out of the cave. Clinging to his head was a butter-colored pony with a long pink mane, and an extremely short tail.

At that moment Mache Max literally tore himself out of Skywishes's grasp, leaving her holding one of his six wings, and shot toward the butter-colored pony, wrapping his stained and ragged wings around her head.

Skywishes grabbed Twilight's shoulder. "That's got to be Fluttershy," she whispered.

Then the Royal Sisters emerged from the cave. If they were surprised to see Twilight, Spike, and an unknown guard on the path, neither of them showed it.

Celestia just nodded, and used her magic to shift Discord's head. "See to your friend, Twilight."

Scarcely had Fluttershy registered the fact that something had landed on her head, when she felt herself being pulled away from Discord. She tried desperately to hold on, but was jerked magically away and zoomed through the air to smack into an armored chest. A pair of forelegs went around her, holding her fast.

"Take him away," she heard Celestia say, and looked up to see several guards coming up the path with four stretchers bound together into one long one. The guards murmured their assent, and the unicorn ones used their magic to take Discord from the Royal Sisters.

Fluttershy cried out in protest as the guards flung the injured draconequus onto the stretcher, making no effort to be gentle about it. Then the ponies around the stretcher were strapping him down with a ferocity that showed they felt no more compassion toward this murderer than their fellow guards did.

Fluttershy struggled blindly against the forelegs holding her, desperate to reach her partner, when the guard holding her grabbed her face and turned it so they were muzzle-to-muzzle.

"Cardinal," the guard snapped out, albeit in a low voice.

For a brief moment the word confused Fluttershy. But then she met the flat dark green eyes under the guard's helmet, and remembered her own code word.

"Wasp."

Skywishes nodded, then reached down and swung the discarded camouflage around Fluttershy, murmuring, "I don't know what happened to your wings, but we better hide your present lack of them."

Fluttershy nodded numbly, then gave a little jump as she felt Mache Max crawling down the side of her head, gently nibbling at her cheek. With her brain still in too much shock to register the fact that he was back, she automatically reached up to lift him from her head, and holding him in one hoof, began stroking both his paper heads with the other.

"Are you hurt bad, Fluttershy?" she heard Twilight ask, and vaguely felt herself shake her head, though the truthfulness of that head shake was debatable.

Bundled in the camo, with Mache Max in her hooves, and Skywishes's forelegs still around her, Fluttershy felt her gaze being drawn back to Discord. As she watched him being dragged away, she began to wonder if she had made the right choice in sounding the alarm that had led to his capture.

"A friend loves at all times."—Proverbs 17:17

*Laughs nervously* And you thought the ending to The Draconequus with the Dragon Tattoo was bad... I promise this is the last time I leave you with such an unsatisfactory ending. Yes, The Ponies who Played with Fire ends here, but once again Fluttershy's and Discord's story doesn't. Please stay tuned as that continues (and is completed) in The Pegasus who Kicked the Changelings' Hive. (Hmm, I wonder which pegasus that could be as we currently have at least three pegasi in action.)

I'm going to taking a bit of a breather during December, partly to go over the next story's outline, and to enjoy Christmas with my family, but will start working on TPwKtCH in January next year.

So until then, may you all have a Happy Christmas and Merry New Year!