The Captive of Discord

      Absolutely normal day in town. Fussy passers-by are hurrying to work, to visit, to go about their business. Young people - some with their parents, some with friends - were in a hurry somewhere in the direction of the park in the town center. In the center, beautiful colored posters announcing the opening of a new place for entertainment were hung on almost every wall. "Hurry up! Hurry up! For the first time this spring! The magic show of the Chaos Bros! Don't miss it!" - read the inscriptions on all the posters. Everyone who was going to come there was looking forward to an amazing performance. Among them were mane 6. So that you do not guess, I will write below their descriptions: Twilight Sparkle is a girl with light violet skin and dark straight hair; dressed in a lilac vest over a white shirt and a short skirt with pleats; white socks and black shoes on her feet. Rarity is a beautiful girl with white skin and beautiful, dark purple curled hair; she was dressed in a beautiful, white evening dress, white high-heeled shoes on her feet, and diamond earrings hung in the punctures on her ears. There was also a very colorful gold necklace around her neck. Pinkie Pie is a cheerful girlie with pink skin and bright bright pink curls; she is dressed in a pink T-shirt with image of three balloons and blue breeches with the same pink sandals. Applejack is an inveterate tomboyish girl with orange skin and cute freckles on her cheeks; she is dressed in a simple white shirt and jeans tucked into brown boots with the image of red apples. Rainbow Dash is an impudent athlete with blue skin and disheveled rainbow-colored hair; she is wearing a white T-shirt with an image of a tricolor lightning striking from a white cloud, a blue windbreaker and the same colored sweatpants, white sneakers on her feet. And finally, our universal favorite Fluttershy is a timid, sweet girl with yellow skin and pink hair, the tallest among her friends; she is wearing a yellow sweater and a long crimson skirt with the image of three pink butterflies on the side. Her yellow ballet flats are well covered with a skirt. She was looking forard to this show like no one else. Maybe it was due to her kindness and craving for everything new? Who knows. "This is something completely new in our town. I'm sure this show will be..." "The most fun in the world!" Pinkie interrupted, jumping up merrily. "Honey, don't react like that," Rarity tried to calm her down. "It's okay, she didn't mean to," Flutty smiled. "One thing bothers me," Twilight said thoughtfully, "Their posters are all over the city, everyone keeps saying they're celebrities. But there is no information about them or their biographies in any source known to me." "Nah, you're bothering too much, Twi!" Dash tapped her on the shoulder, "This is the PREMIERE, of course there are no articles about them." "Hm... maybe you're right." "Guys, we seem to be in right place. Lookie here."       Applejack pointed to a huge purple circus dome, on top of which was a small flag fluttering in the wind. Our heroines were right at the exit, flanked by strange figures in raincoats, possibly guards. The group walked past them inside without hindrance. It was dark, but you could still see the seats for the audience. The girls got to the front row and took their seats, to which Flutty reacted negatively. "T-this is the first row. In full view of everyone in the arena. The chances that we will be taken for tricks with volunteers are terribly high!" "Don't worry, Flutters," Rainbow waved her hand, "We don't really stand out from the rest. So sit down." "O-okay. I think you're right," Fluttershy took her seat. And as soon as she sat down, pitch darkness hung, and then a spotlight turned on, illuminating the middle of the arena. An obese man of medium height, with light green skin and green hair, partially hiding his eyes, with a blue hat on his head, tied with a blue ribbon, came to the center. He was wearing a green tailcoat over a shirt, dark green trousers and brown shoes, and a red bow tie was on his neck. A crooked but sweet and sincere smile stretched from ear to ear on his face, just like on the poster. Spreading his arms out to the sides, he announced: "Ladies and gentlemane! Oops, did I misspoke?" A wave of laughter swept through the stands. "Hehe, sorry. Gentlemen! You are very lucky today! For today will be the first performance of the magic show of the Chaos bros! Applause!" "The Chaos bros..," Twilight said to a roar of applause, "Something isn't right here." "And now let us call the main star of our show - the great magician Strife!"       The ringmaster pointed with his hand to where the great magician was supposed to come out, as he said. The eyes of the audience rushed there along with the spotlight, but there was no one there. "That's weird... My dear br'er does not want to appear in front of an audience that is silent. Let's start summoning him immediately! Shout "Strife! Come! Out!" "Summoning?" Twilight said in confusion.       The audience shouted "Strife, come out!" in chorus, looking at where the magician could well appear. But there was noone so far. Fluttershy became worried and suddenly felt someone's gaze behind her. Turning around, she almost screamed. Behind her towered a huge, scary silhouette with red shining eyes, resembling the silhouette from the poster (yes). In a voice choked with horror, the girl whispered: "S-Strife..." At the same moment, the silhouette shot past other spectators who also noticed it, then, like a snake, the shadow darted into the center of the arena to the light and, as soon as the shadow straightened to its full height, a tall, thin man materialized in this place, arms outstretched in greeting. His black hair stood on end in different strands. On his head was a terribly high orange hat-a top hat, the magician himself was dressed in a funny-looking tailcoat: the brown base, the right hand is completely yellow, the left one yellow from the elbow to the wrist; red trousers were on the legs, from under which two different and unusual-colored shoes were clearly visible: green with a white sock and heel on the right foot, orange with a black sock and heel on the left. Both pupils of his red and yellow-white eyes were different in size and there were circles and wrinkles under each, as if he hadn't slept for days. On his face was a white goatee and a wide smile with a protruding right fang. The skin was painfully gray. "Ah, how nice it is to find yourself back in the ordinary human world! So, who summoned me here?" He said in a mysterious voice, "You, an incredibly cute guy with your equally cute girlfriend? No? Then," Discord began to slowly approach the seats of the main six, "maybe you, the beautiful, magnificent five?" "Ahem!" Twi reminded of her presence. "And Miss Smarty-Pants. No? What an interesting twist. This means," Discord returned to the center, "you all together wanted my appearance, am i right? Well. The law is the law."       The magician took off the ringmaster's hat, which, by the way, was half the size of his hand. After taking a closer look and examining it completely, Strife put his hand there up to his shoulder, as if groping for something. Five seconds later, under the drum roll, he abruptly pulled out his hand and threw up the flowers extracted from there, which in an instant flew to everyone present on the podium. Then he returned the hat to his "brother" while the crowd clapped in admiration. "Is everybody ready for my unforgettable magic show, Smoose?" "Ready more than ever, br'er!" "Exellent! For my first number I'll need some volunteers."       As Flutty had predicted, his gaze fell directly on her. Her knees trembled as soon as the magician began to approach. Here he is already a couple of centimeters away from her and, bowing slightly, took her gently by the hand. "Would you do me the honor, Miss...? " F-Fluttershy," Fluttershy mumbled, blushing with embarrassment. "What a wonderful name. And you're coming out too, curly pink lady. Both of my favorites have to get into the arena," with these words, Strife led Flutty into the arena, and Pinkie galloped after them.

***

      The performance is over. All the viewers go home in high spirits. Especially the mane six. "This performance was just awesome! How does he even do it??" "Dash, obviously, he was just pretending. All these are illusions." "Twilight," Dash snorted, "you're just jealous that he called all of us adorable and you smarty-pants" "But no!" Twilight insisted, "Don't you understand? These are all the usual tricks! There is no magic in them! Trixie's aren't even that obvious!" "Whatever! Fluttershy and I liked it," Pinkie smiled, "Especially how he swapped our clothes in the first issue with a wave of his hand and made us fly under the dome, accompanying us in the air! Right, Fluttershy?" "Yeah," Fluttershy nodded, walking behind the others with the show's signature poster. And then she stopped. "Fluttershy?" AJ noticed her stop, "What's the matter, sugarcube?" "Nothing. You go without me, and I'll run to get an autograph. See you tomorrow! " Then Flutty ran away faster than anyone had time to say anything back. She quickly found the dressing room where the main artist of the show was located. It was easy, that was the only door with a star on it. The girl was very nervious, thinking over what she would say when she asked for his autograph, so she immediately decided to open the door and go in to him. But before she could even open her mouth, she froze and screamed in horror. Everything was fine, Discord just stood facing the mirror, with his back to the door, but something was wrong with him. He wasn't wearing his hat, it was lying on the table next to him, and on the very top of his head there were two absolutely asymmetrical long horns, which he felt with his hand, as if checking something. Hearing the scream, the magician turned around sharply. The shadow partially hid him and Fluttershy again saw that terrible silhouette with glowing eyes. The girl hurried to escape from there, but as soon as she took just a couple of quick steps, suddenly someone grabbed her by the shoulders from behind and held her firmly. Flutters struggled, but it was all in vain. Someone turned her around to face the ill-fated door, from where a strange silhouette already appeared, whose eyes in an instant began to shimmer with different colors from the edges of the eyes to the center. The poor girl looked into those eyes in fear, mesmerized, and slowly fell into sleep. The body went limp, the legs no longer held. The last thing she saw was the clawed hand of a terrifying figure with mesmerizing eyes reaching straight for her.