//------------------------------//
// Corrupted Guilt 
// Story: Luminous Atonement 
// by Metool Bard 
//------------------------------//


Luminous Atonement Chapter 12:
Corrupted Guilt


In the blink of an eye, Princess Luna and the others found themselves on dry land, in the forest that the Kraken described.  Fluttershy looked over her body, and found that it was back to normal.

"See?  I told you I'd change her back," Discord told Angel. "Of course, it would've been funny to see Twilight have a conniption fit over one of her friends becoming a sea pony..."

Angel folded his arms and raised an eyebrow.

"I'm just kidding," said Discord with a sigh. "Seriously, Fluttershy.  Doesn't that rabbit of yours know how to take a joke?"

"This is no time for your jokes, Discord," Luna said sternly. "We have to find the Furies before they try to flush us out."

Philomena squawked.

"Huh?" asked Fluttershy, giving the phoenix a quizzical look. "What do you mean we don't have to worry about that?"

Before Philomena could answer, the sound of wings flapping could be heard from above.  Fluttershy looked up and gasped.  Descending from above were three bat-winged pegasi, each one cloaked from head to hoof.  They landed and bowed to Princess Luna.

"It has been a long time, Your Luminous," said one of the pegasi in a familiar rasp.  Fluttershy's eyes widened as she recognized the voice.

"Wait.  I-I know you," she said, trotting up to the wizened old mare. "We met at the Gates of Tartarus."

The pegasus looked up, and her eyes seemed to gleam. "I'm glad you remember me, child.  Allow me to formally introduce myself."

The pegasi then removed their cloaks.  Each of them were dressed in Shadowbolt uniforms.  The center of the trio wore a powdered wig and had some sort of gavel hanging on a string around her shoulder.  The mare to her left had golden bracelets around her forelegs and a bandage hanging over her left eye.  The mare to the right was bulkier than the other two, and still wore a black hood over her face.

"I am Judge, the Fury of Observation," said the pegasus with the powdered wig.  She then pointed to her wingponies. "And these are my colleagues: Jury, the Fury of Verdict, and Executioner, the Fury of Punishment.  Together, we stand for the divine justice of Equestria."

"Does that include tarnishing my good name?" said Luna, glaring at the trio.

"As much as it pains me to say so, it does, Your Luminous," said Judge with a sigh. "A crime is a crime, no matter who commits it."

"What?  What crime?" asked a confused Luna. "I thought you were mad at my sister for sending me to the moon."

"Oh, we still are," said Jury. "And she'll be getting what she deserves in due time.  But for now, you are the one to be punished.  You brought this upon yourself, Your Luminous.  It's nothing personal."

Executioner then raised her hooves, and a small black cloud formed between them.  When it was fully formed, she pounded the cloud with her hoof, and a lightning bolt shot out.  The illumination from the bolt caused Luna to cast a long shadow.  The shadow remained for a time before something seemed to emerge from it, as if it were a pool of water.  Luna's eyes widened in horror as the figure took on a more definite shape.

It was a tall black alicorn donned in sinister purple armor.  Her mane was dotted with sparkling stars, just like Luna's own.  Her eyes were sinister; her grin even more so.  And to top it all off, her Cutie Mark was the same as the Princess of the Night.  There was no mistaking who it was, but Luna still couldn't believe it.

"Th-this is impossible," she stammered. "I-it can't be.  Wh-what kind of trickery is this?"

"It is no trick, you impudent foal," said the sinister alicorn. "I am who you truly are.  I am Nightmare Moon!"

Luna shook her head. "N-no.  No, I'm not Nightmare Moon anymore.  You're not real."

"Tsk tsk tsk.  We both know that's not true," Nightmare Moon admonished. "Orthrus's return; the rumors; the curse.  All of it is because of you."

"What do you mean?  I didn't wish for any of this."

"You created Orthrus.  Do you deny that?"

"Well, no.  No, I don't deny it.  But..."

"Then this is all your fault," said Nightmare Moon, cutting across the frightened princess. "Equestria is right to fear you.  You are no different from me!  This night shall last forever!"

"CEASE THY VENOMOUS SPEECH, FOUL SPECTER!"

Luna had heard enough.  She shot a magical blast at Nightmare Moon, who merely deflected it with her own magic.  Nightmare Moon chuckled nefariously.

"You little foal.  You think you are a match for me?" said she. "I represent your guilt, Princess Luna.  You cannot escape me any more than you can escape your own shadow.  Fight me if you must, but in the end, I will consume you!"

With a maniacal laugh, Nightmare Moon fired a beam of her own.  Luna deflected it with her own magic, but the force from the blast caused her to lose her footing.  She stumbled back, granting Nightmare Moon an opening.  She charged forward with speed that seemed impossible, tackling Luna with the full force of her body.  Wide-eyed, Luna fell to the ground.  Philomena screeched and quickly flew over to the lunar princess's side.

"Princess Luna!" exclaimed Fluttershy, rushing in to join the battle herself.  However, her path was cut off by the Furies, who all leered at her with hungry eyes.

"You have your own crimes to answer for, child," said Judge. "And don't lie to me and say that you don't."

"Cerberus d-doesn't blame me for a-anything," said Fluttershy, trying her best to sound brave. "I-it wasn't my fault."

"Is that so?" said Jury with a sneer. "Well, we'll have to see about that, won't we?  Executioner?"

The bulky mare complied, pounding another thunderbolt out of the storm cloud.  Just like with Luna, the bolt caused a long shadow to spring out of Fluttershy's body.  From the shadow, a figure emerged.  Discord was the first to notice what it was, and his jaw dropped.

"You have got to be kidding me," said he.

The figure looked very much like Fluttershy.  The same mane, the same wings, even the same Cutie Mark.  But instead of Fluttershy's yellow coat, her coat was grey.  In fact, there was not a bit of color on her body whatsoever.  And while Fluttershy's eyes reflected warmth and kindness, this new mare's eyes showed nothing but coldness and cruelty.

"Wh-who are you?" Fluttershy stuttered.

"Why, Fluttershy.  I'm hurt," said the grey Fluttershy with a sinister grin. "Don't you recognize your own guilt when you see it?"

"M-my guilt?" asked Fluttershy.

"Did I stutter?" the grey Fluttershy spat, walking up to her colorful counterpart. "I am a physical manifestation of everything you hate about yourself.  Including your Element."

"My Element?" Fluttershy inquired, blinking in confusion. "I don't hate my Element.  If you don't mind, I'd really appreciate it if you didn't make such wild assumptions."

"Well, as a matter of fact, I do mind," said Fluttershy's Guilt, her voice slick with venom. "After all, we both know it's true.  Being a goody-goody two-horseshoes is such a cumbersome burden, don't you find?"

"Oh, not at all," said Fluttershy, shaking her head. "I like being kind."

"Yes, kind," said Fluttershy's Guilt, stroking her chin with her hoof. "Not good, not bad, just kind."

"Huh?"

"Oh, don't you 'huh' me," Fluttershy's Guilt chided. "You let ponies pressure you and push you around because you're kind.  You freed Orthrus from Tartarus because you're kind.  You kowtow to the whims of an ungrateful little bunny rabbit because you're kind!"

"Hey!  Don't talk about Angel like that!" Fluttershy snapped. "He's my friend!"

Fluttershy's Guilt scoffed. "Your friend?  Oh, that's a laugh!  Face it, Klutzershy!  You don't have any friends!  Nopony really gives a flying feather about you!  They just want to use you and manipulate you, just like you were manipulated into freeing Orthrus!  You are nothing but a little puppet who forged her own strings out of her so-called 'kindness!'"

Those words hurt Fluttershy like nothing else had before.  It was as if this shadow of her ripped her heart out and began squeezing it between her hooves.  Tears began to flow freely down her face as she sank to the ground.

"Aw, what's the matter?  Is the poor wittle baby gonna cwy?" Fluttershy's Guilt taunted. "You think whimpering and sniveling like a child is going to make all of your crimes just magically disappear?  'Cause it's not!  I will consume you, Fluttershy, and you know deep in your heart of hearts that nopony can stop me!"

As if answering to a direct challenge, Angel ran up to the doppelgänger and gave her a piece of his mind through his pantomime.  Fluttershy's Guilt sneered.

"Aw, isn't that cute?" she said mockingly to Fluttershy. "The master puppeteer is upset because I'm breaking his favorite doll."

"S-stop it," Fluttershy mumbled, still weeping heavily. "I-it's not true.  N-nothing you say is true."

"Deny it all you want.  It just makes me stronger," said Fluttershy's Guilt.  She then smacked Angel away with her hoof and lifted Fluttershy's head, forcing the frightened mare to stare the shadow in the eye.

"You are mine now," said Fluttershy's Guilt, licking her lips. "Whether you deny me or accept me, I'm going to keep haunting you until I get bored, and then I'll take my sweet time draining every last ounce of kindness from your puny little heart.  A fitting punishment, don't you think?"

Discord looked over the scene in stone silence.  Seeing the pain and anguish Fluttershy was going through made his own heart ache.  He felt that she didn't deserve this fate.  No, it was more than just a feeling.  It was more like an undeniable fact.  His best friend was being hurt.  Not only that, but the one hurting her was a specter that he was all-too-familiar with.

You've been kind for far too long, my dear!  Time to be cruel!  Arrivederci!

Despite her claims, this impostor was not a manifestation of Fluttershy's guilt.  Not in Discord's mind.  It was nothing but a twisted apparition whose only point of existence was to make Fluttershy feel miserable for no good reason.  Or even worse, it was meant to corrupt her, just as he once did.  The very idea stirred up something fierce within the draconequus's heart.  He clenched his mismatched hands into fists, wanting nothing more than to wink the horrid shadow out of existence.

"You're next, tyrant," said Judge, bringing Discord back to reality. "Your record is far from clean."

"And don't think your tricks will save you," added Jury. "We will be sure to fix anything you break.  Just like with the timberwolves."

Discord said nothing, but inside, a light bulb was going off in his head.  Everything made sense now.  His powers weren't being countered.  Someone else was just cleaning up after him.  Or rather, they were breaking what he was trying to fix.  No, making the specter of Fluttershy vanish wouldn't really solve anything, would it?  He had to get rid of the real problem.

"You bring your doom upon yourself, just like Her Luminous and the pegasus," said Judge. "As long as guilt exists in your heart, justice will always trump chaos!"

Discord's face darkened as he turned to the Furies.  A small, sinister grin appeared on his face.

"Oh ho ho ho, I would not make that bet," he chortled.  Then, just as Executioner pounded the cloud and summoned another lightning bolt, he snapped his fingers.