//------------------------------// // Chapter 17: Maybe I'm a Fluttershy // Story: Memories of the Stone // by WanderingPony //------------------------------// "Prepare yourself.", Sombra spoke in a low voice. "This one is more dangerous than the others, and must be captured quickly and restrained. If her horn begins to glow, crush it- but I must have her ALIVE. Is this understood? While it sounded more like the torment of small, furry animals being squeezed to death in a vice, the tone was affirmative. Sidling around to the very edge of the dragon's den, he held up a hoof. "One.....two....THREE AND CHARGE!", bringing it down in a chopping motion. A half-dozen Kindred raced around the corner and pounced on the winged form before them. There was a brief squeak before the demons returned, a few wisps of a pink tail poking out between a cage of interlaced claws. Something clicked repeatedly from where the prey was trapped... The Kindred bearing their prize seemed to have developed a bit of a cough in the process. Prying two interlocked talons apart, he peered inside. A petrified Fluttershy looked back at him, teeth chattering. The coughing fit developed into a gale of laughter and talon-pointing at the "most dangerous" opponent their fearless leader had sent them after as the rest of the squad saw what they'd managed to snare. The pegasus managed to blush hard enough to banish the evening chill from her surroundings. "ENOUGH.", intoned Sombra. The laughter instantly was replaced by a few brief coughs and the shuffling of clawed feet across dirt. Fluttershy managed to shrink even further into her captor's claws, flattening herself against the back of the cage just to get out of the dark unicorn's view. "HOLD HER HEAD STILL. OPEN HER EYES. I WILL KNOW HOW CELESTIA'S LITTLE PETS HAVE GROWN SUCH FANGS, AND THIS PATHETIC WINGED CREATURE WILL GIVE ME EVERYTHING SHE KNOWS..." Fluttershy suddenly found herself presented nose-to-nose with Sombra, a grey fist wrapped around her neck as two claws delicately peeled back her eyelids... "ONCE I'VE TORN IT FROM HER SKULL." Two lances of greenish flame wormed their way into the gentle creature's eyes and drove themselves without mercy into the brain behind it. A delicate gasp managed to escape past the crushing grip on the back of Fluttershy's skull. Her wings stiffened and spread from the shock, hindlegs pawing helplessly in mid-air. Drowned out by the flaming stare of Sombra, a pink butterfly stone glowed and began to move it's crystalline wings. The flames did not slacken, but Sombra's jaw did. A faint noise whistled from the back of his throat, his mane began to stand on end, and inside his mind's eye, he realized far, far too late what a foolish thing he had done. The adorable eyes he had forced his will into narrowed into the stare of a predatory beast, one that had found itself unexpectedly cornered in it's den and furious beyond what any pony should be capable of. His spell splashed against an iron wall of indignant willpower and shattered like glass, leaving Sombra clutching his head from the backlash. "You....you MEANIE! You're the meanest mean meanie that ever meaned and you're a BAD UNICORN!" The outburst actually caused a few of the Kindred to step back, scenting a dragon in sheep's clothing. "Just....just....goawayandleavemealoneplease?" Laughter rumbled from all directions as Fluttershy's outburst became a begging whisper, both at the pathetic creature and the even more pathetic failure of their master to tame the bunny quivering in a claw-filled grasp. A tiny, winged creature settled on the tip of Sombra's horn...well, fluttering a bit as it caught a stray breeze. Then another landed atop a Kindred's head. Then a dozen more. Then two. A vertiable swarm of butterflies settled down on any nearby surface and calmly perched, pink as the cutie mark on the flank of their prisoner. The Kindred holding Fluttershy suspended in mid-air shook her irritably as one tickled it's nose with a stray antenna, eliciting a pained squeal as the rough treatment left thin lines of blood dripping from her muzzle and neck. As one, every butterfly's wings snapped out in perfect unison. The cloud of insects floated delicately into the air and began to swirl in an unseen wind, brushing their ephemeral touch across Fluttershy's captors... ...and a thousand-thousand rosy lines bloomed across their hides as the dusty scales cut into flesh like razors. Tendons torn in dozens of places, Fluttershy's jailer let the pony slip to the ground, where she cowered and shivered at the monsters surrounding her. Bellows and wails rose to a deafening volume as the swarm slashed across eyes and limbs and every inch of exposed flesh with nothing more than the most delicate of breezes propelling their attacks. Weapons found no mark as the winged tormentors simply swirled around them, swats and crushes became gaping wounds and severed claws when they met the seemingly fragile bugs. Sombra crawled on his belly away from the rain of ichor and demon chunks, only getting a few stray cuts for his trouble. The sight of his monstrous companions being butchered by butterflies only served to further encourage him to back away, back away...on the other side, Fluttershy mirrored his departure, black and yellow scootching backwards from each other in a d'aww-inducing retreat. Mostly unattached to one another, hundreds of oozing pieces of what used to be roughly a dozen Kindred lay in a heap of carrion. The flock of butterflies danced along the draft of air leading back to the ruined grate and settled in a pinkish ring around it, spindly legs finding an easy purchase on the stony surfaces. They huddled together seemingly for warmth in the evening's chill...with the glowering eyes of Fluttershy the only light behind them. Pupils narrowed to a feline's slits, she turned and slunk on her haunches back to the wounded ponies she had been caring for. "All shall love me, or despair..." might have been heard, if you'd been close enough to dare the butterflies when she murmured it. "Aren't you so pretty there, watching for Mommy Fluttershy...."