//------------------------------// // Act One, Part Three // Story: With the Best Intentions // by that guy from that thing //------------------------------// Act One, Part three The sun was beginning its decent from the top of the sky as evening drew near. The orange glow came through the windows and provided the only light in a dark room in the Ponyville local hospital. Twilight sparkle leaned over a bed that was occupied by an unconscious pink pony covered in gauze from her eyes up. The doctors had told them that the wound was not fatal, her brain had suffered very little damage and seemed to be recovering from the blow quickly. Her forehead had needed to be stitched and she had almost lost a critical amount of blood from her gaping wound. In the end, they had to have Rarity donate blood for a transaction and Pinkie would have to stay for continued monitoring. " Miss Pie is a very lucky pony." The doctor had said. The others had left for home when they heard that Pinkie hadn't knocked herself dead. Twilight had stayed. She needed to think. The others hadn't seen it. They had not seen, in the half second it was there, the eyes of the party pony glowing bright red. Pinkie had not simply smashed her head against the ground on her own accord, that made no sense.' Maybe she had no control over herself.' As soon as this thought entered her mind, Twilight felt silly. 'Twilight, your being ridiculous. You actually think somepony made Pinkie Pie smash her head into the ground?' It was ridiculous, but so was the idea of Pinkie just up and trying to give herself a concussion. She looked at her curly haired friend. Her eyes were covered by the gauze , now stained brown with dried blood. She was breathing peacefully through her nose and her lip hung ever so slightly open. 'Oh Pinkie, if only you were awake to tell me what happened.' But she wasn't and Twilight was not going to get any answers by sitting around here. Her mind turned to Fluttershy. She had done just as Twilight would suspect her to do, run into the bathroom and puke at the sight of Pinkie's injury. What kept ringing in her head was the thing she had said just before that. "I didn't do anything." Twilights thoughts were interrupted by Nurse Red heart. "I'm sorry Miss Sparkle but visiting hours are over." She said from the open doorway. Twilight got up and left without a word. 'I think it's time I paid Fluttershy a visit.' - - - - - Princess Luna stood on her bedroom balcony and watched the sun as it began to fall. She spoke to the light brown pony, who was nervously sitting behind her, without even looking back."And you said you tracked him to the Everfree Forest?" "Yes. Um, we couldn't follow him through the foliage, unfortunately, but we do know that he was heading due west." "Toward Ponyville." "It would seem so." " Mr. Sands?" "Yes princess?" "Get me in touch with the best pony we have." " Right, I'll send for the top agents in Cloudsdale academy an-" "Better." She snapped. As she turned her head to look at him she blocked the light of the sun from his view. Ever since they had gotten word of this strange snake creature, Luna had been obsessed with finding it. For what reason, nopony knew, but they dared not question a princess, especially when she was like this. "Princess there is no viable option better than th-" "Get me the Arch Angel." "Ma'am, with all due respect, the Arch Angel is unpredictable and-" "Just do it Sands!" The earth pony's legs felt weak. He stood in silence for a few seconds. "Y-yes, Princess Luna." - - - - - Fluttershy had been pacing in her living room for so long she had walked a small rut into the wood. She had locked the door and barricaded it with her sofa. Every time she looked into the mirror, it seemed her mane and coat were growing more and more red. "What do I do? What do I do? Why is this happening to me?" Angel bunny hopped up to Fluttershy with a look of concern. She quickly turned toward him and snapped. "This is all your fault you stupid rabbit! If you hadn't been so spoiled I wouldn't be in this mess right now!" Angel cowered before this monster that had replaced Fluttershy. As he lay on the ground ,trembling ,she contemplated disposing of the annoying little fuzz ball. It took a few seconds for her to get a grip on her thoughts again. 'I really am becoming a monster.' She returned to her pacing with a groan. "Alright, I need to tell somepony about this. Somepony who can help me." She instantly rejected that thought. ' Oh yeah. Let's visit Twilight and ask her for her help with this predicament shall we? Guess what Twilight. I accidentally signed a contract with a demon/snake monster and now I'm turning into a villain. Do you have a book on that? Oh and I may or may not have made our friend kill herself.' Fluttershy had not yet heard anything about Pinkies injuries but ,from what she saw, it didn't look good. She suddenly heard a knocking on her door. "Fluttershy, let me in, I need to talk to you." It was Twilight. Fluttershy didn't want to talk to anypony right now. She wanted to be far away from her friends so they didn't get hurt. 'Maybe if I'm quite she'll think I'm not home.' Fluttershy stood stock still and waited for Twilight to go away. "Fluttershy, I know your there, I saw you in the window." She sighed. " I'm sorry Twilight, I can't let you in." "Why not?" 'Because I moved that sofa ,running on reserve panic energy, bitch.' Fluttershy slapped herself for that thought. "I just- It's a matter of your own safety." " Fluttershy, open this door now." Twilight's tone caused Fluttershy to growl a little. "Fine. If you aren't going to open this door then I will." A purple glow emanated from the lock on Fluttershy's door. The knob turned slowly and the door flew open... a few inches. Twilight leaned her head into the room thru the crack to see the sofa blocking the door. She looked at Fluttershy with a look of annoyance and got a smug grin in return. Twilight's horn glowed and the couch began to move to the side. "Argh. You just don't give up." Twilight was now closing the door behind her. She finally turned to have a good look at her friend. 'Strange, Was Fluttershy's coat that dark this morning?' Twilight approached her friend with some apprehension. Fluttershy was staring daggers at her. "Fluttershy, I need to know what happened at Sugarcube corner." at the mention of the events of the morning, Fluttershy instantly underwent a change in stance. Her face became recognizable to Twilight as the face of the most loving mare in town. "Oh twilight, is Pinkie okay?" "She's going to be fine." Fluttershy's eyes were beginning to tear up. She jumped at Twilight and hugged her tightly. Stunned, all Twilight could do was return the hug. 'Well this is quite the mood swing.' "I-*sniff* I thought I-I-" Twilight began to stroke the distressed mares mane. "Twilight. I didn't mean it, I didn't." Fluttershy's tears flowed upon her shoulder. 'This mare is having a total meltdown.' She thought as she shooshed and stroked her mane. After she seemed to have cried herself out, Twilight held her by her shoulders and looked her in the eye. She tried to hide the shock of seeing that her irises were bright red. Fluttershy averted her eyes. "Fluttershy, I need to know what's going on." Fluttershy couldn't help it, it all came spilling out. "After we fought I went into the Everfree and I met a snake called Slither who offered to make everypony do what I wanted and I signed a contract and now my eyes are red and I can't control my thoughts and I'm going to turn into a villain." She covered her mouth with her hooves with a small 'eep'. It was too late though, Twilight had heard it all. The lavender mare stood like a deer caught in a cars head lights. "So you made a deal with a strange creature to be granted powers that are now making you turn into a villain. Is that right?" Fluttershy nodded her head up and down. "Okay then. We need to tell the princesses about this, they will know what to do." Twilight began to move toward the door. "I need to send a letter to Celestia, I'll be right back." Twilight stopped halfway to the door. She couldn't move. She forced her feet to respond to her brain but nothing happened. "W-we don't have to tell the princesses, right?" Fluttershy said nervously. "Fluttershy, let me go." Twilight felt her muscles release and she fell to the floor. Fluttershy moved in front of her and got on her knees. "Please Twilight, Don't tell the Princesses." Twilight coughed some dust out of her throat as she got up. "Why not?" Fluttershy struggled for an answer. "Uh... w-well I... I don't-" "Fluttershy. You need help, serious help." Twilight pushed her face right up against Fluttershy's. This proved to be a mistake when she found she could not pull away from Fluttershy's eyes. "I will handle this my way and no other way." Twilight began to feel a burning sensation. She could not close her eyes, she couldn't even move. Fluttershy's eyes burned into hers and seemed to be welding her into place. " Now you will do as I say. You will stay here and you will not interfere." Twilight's lips moved without her command. "I will stay here and I will not interfere." Fluttershy Looked her over once and headed for the door. "I'm sorry Twilight. I promise, by tomorrow morning I'll have this whole thing fixed." - - - - - Applejack walked calmly along the road to Fluttershy's house. At least, she was calm on the exterior. She knew, from the moment the words left Shy's lips, that something was wrong. It was probably nothing, she had just witnessed her friend smash her head against the ground hard enough to draw blood. Knowing Fluttershy, she was probably just scared and confused. Still, A.J. felt that she had to make sure her friend was all right. It seemed something was going haywire in everypony's minds today. When she got home she found Big Macintosh staring down the road and shivering. He had said he was helping somepony by the road and he fell into the puddle and afterward he just felt like staring down the road. Applejack didn't have to be the element of honesty to know her big brother was keeping a lot from her. She didn't push though, it had been a tiring day and the morning had only just ended. Applejack walked up to the front door of Fluttershy's home. She knocked lightly. "Fluttershy, It's A.J. Can ah' come in." The door opened at her touch, creaking on its hinges. Applejack poked her head inside. "Shy? You home?" Applejack's eyes came to rest on a peculiar sight. " Twilight, what are you doin' here?" She closed the door behind her and walked up to the lavender mare. "I will stay here and I will not interfere." Twilight said in the voice of one hypnotized. Her eyes stared into oblivion. Applejack waved her hoof in front of her friends face. "Twi', are you okay." This elicited the same response. "I will stay here and not interfere." Applejack gasped. "Somepony musta' hypnotorized yah. Don't worry Twi' I've got an idea." Applejack ran to the kitchen and rummaged through the cupboards to find a cup. When she located one to her liking she filled it with water from the sink and ran back to Twilight. "Ah'm sorry about this Twi'." She threw the cup of water in the lavender unicorn's face. The results were favorable. Twilight sputtered and coughed as she wiped the water from her face. " Twilight, what happened? Who did this to yah?" It took a moment for Twilight to answer. " S-something has happened to Fluttershy." Applejack was confused. " Do you mean to say that Fluttershy did this to yah?" "Yes. well, kind of. She's not in full control of herself and- I-I'll explain it on the way. Right now, we need to find Fluttershy." Twilight threw the front door open and began to gallop down the road. Applejack followed, leaving the door hanging open behind her. - - - - - Fluttershy walked through the dim foliage of the Everfree forest purposefully. She did not bother to look behind her back for assailants. A fly buzzed around her head noisily and landed on her flank. Fluttershy took no notice as it burst into flame and fell off. She had been walking for at least a half an hour by the time she found what she was looking for. A small clearing stretched before her, surrounded by a circle of chard grass. She walked to the middle of the circle and stood. Around her, the forest stood like a crowd, watching and waiting, holding their breath. The trees leaned toward her in anticipation. "Slither!" Fluttershy called to the sky. "I know you can hear me you cold blooded wretch!" Fluttershy was graced with no answer. "I'm here about that contract." She said more quietly. "So, you still want a refund huh?" She turned to see the ruby backed serpent lying, coiled up across from her. "Look kid, I gave you the powers, you signed the contract and there is nothing you can do about it." The contract appeared once more. "You are mine unless I give the word, case closed, no ifs, ands, or buts about it." " You are going to give the word then." She stated this as a fact rather than a suggestion or question. Slither laughed a single, cruel laugh. "Ha! And what makes you so sure about that sweetie?" Fluttershy displayed a vicious smile at this comment. "Because I'm going to make you an offer that would be suicidal to refuse." Slither looked uninterested. "So what? Your gonna kill me if I don't rip up the contract?" Fluttershy entered a fighting stance. "That's about the size of it." With that, she launched herself toward him as fast as her wings would carry her. She landed in the leaves of a short tree. 'Idiot. That didn't work the last time and it's not going to work this time.' Fluttershy attempted to fly out of the tree only to find that she had caught herself in a mess of vines. Each movement she made only served to entangle her more. Slither made his way calmly toward the trapped pegasus. He nimbly maneuvered through the branches and vines until his face was inches away from hers. "Oh, Fluttershy, Fluttershy. You disappoint me so." He whispered to the mare who was attempting to bite through the vines to free herself. "I should have known you would want your gifts back in the first place. What else could you expect from such a hopeless goody-two-shoes." Fluttershy was now struggling to get close enough to bite him." All you want is to help the poor little ponies who take advantage of your kindness and mock your fears. And when you finally decide to stand up for yourself you go soft again in the blink of an eye. I should do us all a favor and end you here and now." Fluttershy roared like a tiger defending its territory as the vines around her began to crackle and smoke. - - - - - Twilight trotted with Applejack through the thick bushes and vines of Everfree forest. Applejack paid the foliage no mind as she followed the trail left by Fluttershy. Twilight did not handle the environment as well. She let out a groan of frustration as she tripped over the fifth root this afternoon. "Are you sure she went in here?" Twilight said to Applejack. " ah'm pretty sure." Twilight was breathing quickly from all the running. She had never been the athletic type. "Applejack stop. I can't run any further." Twilight collapsed against a tree as Applejack walked over to her. "Come on Twilight. We need to catch up to Fluttershy. If what you said was true then we need ta' keep her from hurtin' anypony." Twilight couldn't answer her. She was desperately trying to catch her breath. She lifted her head when she smelled a strange scent on the wind. "Do you smell that Applejack?" Applejack took a deep breath and went into a coughing fit. "Somethin's burnin'." She said between coughs. "Twilight, we need ta' find Flutter-" Twilight was no longer leaning against the tree. "Come on A.J." Twilight call over her back as she ran along the tracks in the ground. - - - - - Fluttershy stood across from Slither in the clearing. The fire was beginning to spread from the tree she had been trapped in. She had the power to control fire, who knew. She didn't have time to celebrate though. "I must say Fluttershy, you got much more powerful much quicker than I had anticipated. It's such a crime that you don't want to use it for anything useful." Fluttershy refused to let the reptile get inside her head. She had enough odds stacked against her without throwing careless rage into the mix. Slither disappeared in a burst of flame and reappeared behind her. Fluttershy turned and lashed out toward him. He quickly relocated to a spot a few feet away from her. "To slow." He mocked. She ran toward him only to reach smoke where a serpent had been. "I can keep this up all day you know." This was getting frustrating. Slither once again appeared in front of her, leaning down toward her. "Notice how I haven't even fought back." Fluttershy jumped and swung her hoof. He casually dodged the blow and it grazed the tip of his face. "You have your own powers." He wrapped himself around her body, quickly, and began to squeeze. He lowered his head so he was only an inch away from Fluttershy's face. "Use them." His grip became tighter with each passing moment. Fluttershy struggled to escape the constricting coil, to no avail. Flames licked at her vision. 'flames.' Fluttershy felt hot, she felt like she was surrounded by flame. She could hardly breath for the pressure on her lungs. She tugged at something inside herself, desperately, she found a small, cool flame and let it grow. She closed her eyes and thought of escaping the serpent's grasp. She opened her eyes to find herself standing a few feet away from her adversary. "Very good Fluttershy. But you still have a ways to go. Lets continue, shall we?" - - - - - Applejack was the first to reach the clearing. Twilight followed closely behind. They stared, mouths agape at the sight before them. Fluttershy had gone through a drastic change. Her coat was light red and her mane was bright red with dark black streaks in it. Her eyes blazed with the look of a mare who was powerful and knew it. She was engaged in a battle with a huge snake. "That must be Slither." Twilight said. It was very hard for them to follow the fighting with their eyes. It seemed that the two were teleporting around the battlefield. The battlefield was also ablaze, of course. It was absolute, fiery chaos. "Well, what do we do?" Applejack asked. Twilight didn't have an answer. If they went anywhere near that inferno they would be turned to ashes. They could only wait and watch. - - - - - Fluttershy studied the patterns of Slither's teleportation. She watched where he went when he evaded her blows. And she waited for the right moment to strike. The world did not exist anymore. All that was real to her was the fire, herself, and Slither. She would not be beaten. she would not be weak. She would be the victor today and every day from now on. And then the moment came. He appeared behind her. Just as she had anticipated. She had already begun to turn when he began his transition and when he appeared he was instantly met with the force of her back hooves. Slither hit the ground with the force of a train wreck. His vision was blurred and his head was fuzzy. Fluttershy appeared on top of him. "So, was it good for you to?" She growled in response. She reached out toward a rock a few feet away. It began to glow red and soon transitioned to bright orange as it melted down. The superheated stone slithered across the ground toward her. It slid up her leg, onto her arm and outward to form a fine edged, white hot blade. She pointed it at his throat and he quickly underwent a miraculous recovery. "My goodness. You certainly are powerful." Fluttershy looked him in the eye. "Say the word." Slither did not acknowledge her. "It felt good, didn't it? To have all that power at your command." He grinned at her and winked. Fluttershy faltered. 'It did feel good. I have powers beyond imagining. Nopony can tell me what to do now, and nopony can ignore me.' She looked at her blade and then to the blackened landscape around her. 'This is just the beginning.' She looked at Slither and she smiled back. End Act One