//------------------------------// // Chapter 9. // Story: Equestria Girls and The Golden Bell // by Sparky Brony //------------------------------// “Goooooooooooood Morning Fluttershy!” Comes Pinkie Pie’s voice right next to her ear. Fluttershy’s eyes open wide, seeing nothing but pink. Pinkie is hugging her. She shakes off her dream, it was so peaceful, and to wake up to Pinkie Pie’s exuberance, is a bit jarring. She rubs the ear of the ferret down by her hip before dragging her hand out from the covers to wrap around Pinkie and hug her back. Two of the owls on the edge of the bed hop towards her, hooting a greeting. She smiles at them as Pinkie stands up. Then Pinkie rips off her covers while yelling, “Time to wake up!” Fluttershy watches some of the birds take to the air, and she clutches her arms around herself. Pinkie cocks her head to the side, “You aren’t sleeping nude, Fluttershy.” Fluttershy giggles, “Oh yeah.” She looks at her pajamas, a creamy yellow onesie, the ends of the sleeves and the cuffs look like hooves. And soft wings hang from the back. She puts her feet on the floor and gives Pinkie Pie another hug, “Thanks.” Pinkie bounces away as Fluttershy heads down out of the bedroom so she can freshen up for the day. And before too long, she’s dressed along with her friends in the Hogwarts robes that they had gotten at Diagon Alley. One of the smaller owls is perched on her shoulder, a small scopes owl that had been the source of all of this. He bounces up and down on her shoulder as they make their way through the old castle. “Got a new friend there Fluttershy?” Applejack says as they walk down the stairs. Fluttershy looks at the small owl, “His name is Pigwidgeon. And he’s rather hyper.” “Now, that’s a name.” Applejack says. Fluttershy nods, “Oh, he’s really sweet. He’s supposed to be in another tower, in the schools owlery, but he would rather be where people are.” Her friend hip checks her as they walk, “You mean, wherever you are, Fluttershy.” She says gently. Fluttershy nods as they make it into the great hall. The food doesn’t seem to be ready yet, so her and the rest of the American girls find seats. Though before too long the food magically appears before them. Fluttershy smiles as she grabs some fried eggs, along with bacon and some fresh fruits. She slices a fried egg into quarters and gives a piece to the little owl, who gobbles it down greedily. She takes a sip of her pumpkin juice and continues eating, the ferret hanging out in the hood of her robes getting a morsel from her every so often. Soon enough, she’s done eating. And an owl’s call announces the incoming post. Dozens upon dozens of owls make their way into the great hall, dropping their burdens to the different students. One owl hops up in front of her, a copy of a newspaper in its beak. She picks it up and thanks the owl, which doesn’t immediately leave, but instead pecks at a second owl dropping something off for her. She glances at the addressee and it simply says Hogwarts student. Her eyebrows arch as a third, then a fourth owl all hop up and down in front of her, vying for her attention. “Now, you have to do your jobs first,” she admonishes the owls, where a couple hop down the table to give their parcels to other students. A loud call gets her attention, a large winged owl is gliding right above the table, he extends his talons, and hits a pitcher of pumpkin juice, spilling the juice and causing the owl to flip end over end and finally come to rest in front of her. She reaches out, “Oh you poor thing,” she murmurs. Ron Weasley leans over, “Poor thing? Blimey, he’s a bloody menace.” Fluttershy takes the letter from the owl’s beak, the owl flips onto his talons and chitters a few times. She turns on Ron, her face red, “You should be ashamed of yourself, he can barely see, and he works so hard to take care of his family. But he has eye problems, they really should take better care of him.” Ron flushes, “That’s my family’s owl, Errol.” Fluttershy’s eyes widen, she turns to the owl, who blinks and hops over towards Ginny. Errol then chitters a bit, getting Fluttershy to look at the envelope in her hand. She glances at Ginny, who smiles and waves for her to open it. She slides a finger underneath the flap, and pulls out the note. She looks up, “It’s from your mother.” Ginny giggles, “I gathered that, since Errol brought it, go ahead.” Fluttershy clears her throat, “Thanks so much dearie for the photos from the first challenge. Those dragons were scary, though I was aware that Charlie was involved in acquiring them for the Ministry. I didn’t realize how threatening they really were. Make sure to congratulate Harry on his success in the challenge. And Ginny, make sure to keep an eye on Ron. Him and Harry tend to make a mess of things when they are together, so they really need you to hunker down and keep them on the straight and narrow.” She looks up at Ginny, who’s smiling. She hands the letter over to the younger girl. Ginny looks at the letter, “I sent mum some pictures I took of the challenge.” She glances at Harry, who is busy shoveling food into his face, “I’m glad she likes them.” Her face turns bright red as she puts the letter into robes. Fluttershy rubs the owl’s cheek for a moment then stands up as the loud gong finally sounds, she can’t wait until the afternoon class she’s got coming up with that wonderful Hagrid. But this morning is going to be quite different. She walks with Rainbow Dash through the main stairwell, then they start climbing, once they get into one of the taller towers, then they start climbing the tower itself. As they climb, small windows are spaced in the stairwell, and Fluttershy watches how high they are getting. Though she can see the astronomy tower, which is even higher, this one is pretty large by itself. Finally they get to a wooden door, Rainbow pushes the door open, and they move into the large class room. Circular in shape, with a high ceiling. That ceiling is enchanted similar to how it is in the great hall. The bright ascending sun is quite visible, and the various desks for the students are placed around the room. Rainbow and Fluttershy settle into adjoining desks as the other students make their way into the classroom. “Good morning students.” The teacher says jovially. “Good morning Professor Thalumanimbus.” The students intone solemnly. The willowy slim witch with bright white hair, yet a very youthful appearance prances around the classroom. She smiles wide, showing beautiful white teeth, “Remember students, wand work is going to be far later in the class, so don’t bother pulling out your wands right now.” She doesn’t notice Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy’s soft sighs as she continues, pulling out her own wand, “Now, you’ve learned about the basic cloud types, but I’m going to show you some of the basic ways to manipulate the weather.” She points her wand and white wisps start to form in the room. She twirls her wand and the wisps grow and move in response to her gyrations, and in a matter of minutes the cloud she’s building ends up gray and ominous. “Now students, this is a thundercloud, you’ll likely encounter it on fairly long distance flights on your broom. Note the airflow patterns, the upwells and downdrafts. All of this can make flying very dangerous for broom flight.” She points, “Today, we are going to be closely examining one part of the cloud effect, the microburst pattern here.” The cloud continues to roil darkly in the room, “This type of wind has caught many a wizard unawares.” Slowly, she walks around the cloud, holding her wand like a pointer, "The cloud itself stores massive amounts of energy. Air from around the edges is drawn up like this." With a flick of her wand, she highlights the airflow patterns, then continues, "If however... Fluttershy, wand away, this is informational not practical." Fluttershy jumps, “I wasn’t.” She squeaks. The teacher steps forward, “Then what do you have in your hand?” Fluttershy holds out her hand, holding a tuft of cloud, “I…just…” She stammers. Rainbow Dash giggles as she reaches out and grabs a sizeable chunk for herself, "Yep, they’re clouds, soft and fluffy." Balling the cloud matter up a bit, she smiles, "Almost like a cross between cotton candy and silk thread..." With a glance around at the other students, Dash clears her throat, "Not that I have much experience with silk." The teacher arches an eyebrow, "Well this is unexpected." With a glance towards the other students first, she looks back down to Fluttershy and in almost a mothering voice, "Continue what you are doing, lass." “Yes, professor.” Fluttershy says softly, she starts to fold the water vapor of the cloud, molding and shaping it. She can feel the power inside her as folds the shape to form wings. In a matter of moments, she’s formed the cloud into the shape of a sparrow. She holds the cloud before the wide eyes of the teacher as a pegasus pony shaped cloud floats by. She glances over at Rainbow Dash, “Showoff.” She mutters, getting a giggle from her friend. "Mon Dieu, this is incroyable. How you do this?" Says the girl sitting behind Fluttershy, she looks back at the girl. She’s actually slightly older than Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash. She has white blonde hair and is extraordinarily beautiful, Fluttershy takes a moment to identify her accent. Fluttershy reaches out and draws some more of the cloud material to her, "There's sort of an energy... in the cloud, or a difference of energy. I guess... you can sort of feel it, when you’re holding it... It’s different than the feel of the air around it. Because of the water I think." She plays with the cloud material, and pulls on the energy inside her as she does so, the cloud slowly grows as she plays with it, though it stays puffy and white as she makes it larger. Drawing her wand to help her, Fleur tilts her head, "Ah, I see, it is, how do you say, subtil." Fluttershy smiles and nods as she holds up the cloud for the other girl to work on it. After a few moments she puts her wand down and holds out a hand, “"I am Fleur Delacour of Beauxbatons Accademie." Fluttershy grasps the proffered hand gently, "Umm… Fluttershy of... Canterlot Academy... I guess... umm, and this is Rainbow Dash." Fluttershy stammers quickly as she motions to Dash. "Mmmm.... Fluffy..." Dash mumbles. She had formed a piece of cloud tuft into a pillow and was now resting her head on it on top of the desk. "Canterlot? I have not heard of dis." "Its a small school in America." Fluttershy squeaks. The teacher’s voice comes from across the room, “Well, it usually takes a wand to be able to make something as insubstantial as water vapor to be shaped and molded.” She draws out her own wand once again, “Let’s show some of the students without a natural aptitude to handle this. Remember, students, this class is about affecting the weather, and in ways to keep muggles unawares.” She gestures with her wand, drawing a piece of the cloud to her, “For most mages, you need to use your wand to affect the clouds. And muggles do sometimes notice when a mage has spent time forming a cloud into a pleasing shape.” She giggles as she forms the piece of cloud she had brought to herself into a kitten. She taps it with her wand and the cloud kitten scrubs it’s ear and licks it’s paw. “But one must always be careful to not be too detailed when it comes to cloud forming. Though, it can be a very fun pass time.” Fleur looks at the snoozing Rainbow Dash, "Your friend, she is not one for class?" "She's, more the athlete, action adventure type. She'd rather be on the cloud than reading about it." Fleur giggles as she plays with the cloud with Fluttershy. Rainbow Dash is snoring softly as the two stretch the cloud and wrap it up into fanciful shapes. *** Fluttershy and Fleur walk slowly towards the Great Hall, Rainbow Dash had taken off for places unknown after the first class of the day, but Fleur had joined her in her second morning class. Though her grumbling tummy is telling her that food is a really good idea right now. Her and Fleur sit together, Fleur smiles as the lunch food appears before them, grilled cheese sandwiches, along with thick tomato soup. She pulls a sandwich to her, along with a bowl full of the soup. She picks up the sandwich and takes a bite. Fleur nudges her, “That odieux petit boy again, he is, how you say, up to something?” Fluttershy glances up, Draco Malfoy has a few of his friends flanking him as he slowly walks over to the table, he settles down before Ginny and a couple of her friends. He reaches over and picks up quarter of a sandwich and stuffs it in his mouth, swallowing quickly, “So, little miss Weasley.” She looks down, “Malfoy.” “Must be nice to have real food at school.” She cringes. He looks at one of the boys next to him, “I wonder if her clothes are hand-me downs from her brothers.” “Shut it Malfoy.” Ginny growls. That gets a laugh from him, he looks over at Ron, who’s oblivious to what’s going on, “Well, given how much of a man Ron is, even his nickers are likely hand-me-downs,” He looks pointedly at Ginny, “so everything you wear must be.” Tears sprout in her eyes, “I said shut it.” Malfoy raises his voice, “Their mother must be so happy for them to come to school. That means she doesn’t have to spend the galleons feeding them while they are here.” He picks up another sandwich, “Feed them,” he laughs, “This is probably the first real food she’s seen.” Fluttershy cringes and Fleur tenses. Malfoy finishes his piece of the sandwich, “At my house, all of our meals are prepared by a proper chef.” He picks up another piece, “Something she will never understand.” The tears start to fall from her eyes, he leans forward, “What do you do for meat back at home? Horse?” “Oh, just shut it!” She screams and leaps up from the table, Malfoy smirks as he walks off. Fleur leans over, “If his father weren’t who he was, I’d beat him senseless.” Fluttershy looks up, Applejack is walking in the direction that Ginny had gone, she nudges Fleur, “Applejack's going to help Ginny, if anyone can make it right she can. She's a true true friend at times like this.” “How cruel, it is, incroyable that this is allowed.” Ron Weasley had gotten up and is walking with a purpose towards the Slytherin table, and with a loud bang, he’s covered in confetti. Pinkie Pie bounces up to him and puts an arm around him, Fluttershy smiles and shakes her head. *** Fluttershy walks towards the forbidden forest. Being called forbidden seems to be simply the name of the forest rather than its status. She giggles as she walks through the knee high brush at the very edge of the forest. Hagrid is seeing the young unicorn back to her herd, and will be catching up to her in a bit so they can see something he’s really excited to show her, then they can have some tea. She almost wants to skip, all the creatures all around this magical area has been such a thrill to her. And talking to them has been a wonderful experience. A slight rustling ahead of her gathers her attention. She stops in her tracks to look. A glance around shows she’s alone. She cocks her head to the side, “Hagrid?” she calls out. There is no answer. Keeping her eyes on the rustling she walks to the side, Hagrid has warned her that there are plenty out here that would not be friendly towards her. Though even the centaurs running through this forest have been quite nice to her. A small explosion causes her to gasp and freeze. She looks around, then back at the rustling bushes, what’s going on here? One of the bushes moves, could it be some animal in distress? She takes a tentative step forward, then a second. The bush moves back and a black form slides towards her, and another slides out of the bush to trail behind. A loud rustle gets her to whirl to look back at the school. There's nothing there. Perplexed, she whirls around again and Applejack is standing there, Fluttershy puts her hand to her chest, "Oh, Applejack, I'm so glad to see you." “Oh, it's just you Fluttershy. Who needs you anyway?” Comes from Applejack’s lips, she sneers, “You can’t even do anything to help your friends.” Taking a step back Fluttershy blinks, "What? Why would you..." "Not even worth our time. We should have dumped the dead weight long ago." Applejack goes on darkly. “No!” Fluttershy whispers as she turns away, a dragon is coiled before her, ready to strike. Applejack’s voice rings in her ears, “You are such a failure, Fluttershy, useless.” "So many fears, so crippled, you can't even save yourself. All the animals you help end up dead anyway." Applejack goes on, stepping towards Fluttershy. "Its not true!" Fluttershy says, putting her hands over her ears. "And one by one your friends will die too...or leave you...but who cares?” An evil grin shows on Applejack’s face, “you like to be alone." “No, my friends will help me, carry me through.” Fluttershy mumbles, she shakes her head, hard. There’s something wrong here, this isn’t Applejack, this isn’t her friend. “Useless Fluttershy, afraid Fluttershy, terrified Fluttershy, you are nothing, you are a failure.” Hisses Applejack as Fluttershy whirls around on her. “No!” Fluttershy screams. She turns towards the vision of her friend and extends her hands. Her body glows as her wings shimmer, a magical wind tossing her mane and filling her with energy. She can feel the power, the equestrian magic that first touched her not all that long ago. She draws deeply on it and the power extends from her hands, and it coalesces into a form. Fluttershy opens her eyes, and watches a yellow pegasus pony made of light and magic leap towards her friend, its own wings spread wide as light forms a dome in front of it like some kind of magical shock wave. The creature that was Applejack loses its ability to keep its form and fades into black mist. The screech of an owl heralds the arrival of her friends and in a moment the sky darkens with birds. Owls from the roost meet up with crows from the wood and fields. The birds flock from everywhere, attacking the dragon, each bird with its own fears. Alternating attacks so fast that the creature has no time to fixate on one. No time to find a single fear to drive them away. The first form slinks away morphing and changing constantly as it disappears into the woods. Fluttershy now turns towards the dragon, the pegasus head turning to face it too. With no words, no need for them, the form lashes out, flying at the dragon, the birds scattering just as the energy hits the creature. Caught between the energy of Fluttershy's attack and the relentless birds the dragon does its best to hold its form and ground turning to snarl at Fluttershy again, "You can't defeat me, your fears are to strong." In that instant a raccoon leaps onto Fluttershy's shoulder using her as a spring board to fly towards the dragon. Several smaller animals, badgers, skunks, and even rabbits charge from the woods followed by a large brown bear. Rearing up the bear uses his front paw like a massive club on the dragon. Unable to concentrate, to focus, or even see its primary target, the dragon looses its shape, reverting into morphing mists and flees into the forest in the direction the other went. Even then, several of the animals pursue it, continuing to harass and make sure it doesn't return anytime soon. The pegasus pony turns bright blue and fades away as Fluttershy collapses to her knees, the birds start to take off to where they had come from, and the bear comes up an nuzzles her momentarily before shambling slowly into the woods. “A patronus. Without a wand.” Come’s Hagrid’s voice. Fluttershy looks up to the big man, he kneels down next to her, “You didn’t even say the spell.” He says in wonder. “Please, Hagrid. You can’t tell anyone.” Fluttershy sobs as her magic fades, “Not even the headmaster.” Hagrid frowns, “But why? That was wondrous.” Fluttershy looks up at him, tears streaming down her cheeks, “Please, I’m not a mage, you know that.” He nods, she continues, “I can’t do your magic, but I’m different than the muggles, they don’t need to find out about this.” She gathers herself, standing slowly and drawing out the fake wand, “I can’t use this. I’m not a witch.” She shoves it back into its pocket in her robes as she looks around at the animals slowly leaving, the racoon comes up sits down next to her reaching out with its claws. She picks it up, “I will do whatever I can here. But, I’m no mage. Please, Hagrid, keep this to yourself.” Hagrid scratches the racoon behind an ear, “Fine lass, I’ll keep your secret.” *** Fluttershy reclines in her chair, flipping idly through a book. She’s still working to calm her nerves after the boggarts from earlier. Hagrid has been explaining them to her for the last hour or so. “Are ya feelin better” He asks softly as he refreshes her tea. She nods, “Thank you Hagrid, if you hadn’t come along. I don’t know what I would have done.” He almost chokes, “What you would have done? I’ve never seen anyone take on two boggarts without the riddikulus charm. And you made a patronus work against them.” She pulls her hair behind her ear, “Well, I did have help.” He chuckles, “In about a thousand birds, a bear, squirrels, a racoon, and a half dozen other creatures.” She nods, scratching under the chin of the racoon, who is happily munching on a scone. “Animals are important to me, they make me happy.” “And what about the ears, and the wings?” She looks down, “You know how Professor Dumbledore has said about Sunset’s origins, and the magic we’ve done?” He nods. “Well, when those things were attacking me, I knew I needed help, I couldn’t do it all on my own. So, I felt that magic, and I called for help.” She giggles, “I didn’t know how many around here would answer my call.” Hagrid snorts, “Probably about half the forest.” She giggles. “Magizoology” Hagrid says as he leans forward. “Magi what?” Hagrid smiles, “Magizoology. That book you are holding was written by one of the best magizoologists in history. One Newt Scamander.” She flips through the pages, “There are so many.” He nods, “Newt was pivotal in cataloguing so many creatures. Before he pushed for us to care for the magical creatures in our world, they were either used for what they could do, or worse yet, neglected and allowed to simply fend for themselves. Woe be it to any muggle that came across a centaur or a boggart.” They both sip their tea, finally he puts his tea down, “I’ve got something to show you, Fluttershy,” he says as he stands up, “I think you’ll find it interesting.” He offers her a hand to help her up, then recoils as the snake wrapped around her arm hisses at him, “Boy, a bit touchy isn’t he?” She giggles, “Just a little protective.” She holds her arm out and the snake slithers off, Hagrid keeps an eye on the venomous reptile as he exits the cabin, “He’s hungry anyway, but he likes body heat.” Hagrid shakes his head, “Well, the dragons are just about to be shipped back home. They couldn’t find anything more with the one Harry was against.” Fluttershy sighs, “I saw Sunset battling Grogar, Hagrid. He scared me.” Hagrid’s eyes widen, “Oh, I have no doubt in what you girls have told me, along with what Professor Dumbledore has said. This monster is dangerous. I just hope we can stop him.” Fluttershy takes his proffered arm, “I have faith in Sunset and Twilight. And also your Professors here. Together, we can beat him.” “I hope you are right, Fluttershy.” She nods smartly, “I know I am. Together, we will win.”