The light of Luna’s moon washed over the small town of Ponyville as the inhabitants lay in their beds sleeping, not all of them however. There were the usual places, the inn, the guard station, and the castle, where Princess Twilight was busy in one of her all night study sessions. Sweet Apple Acres was dark as everyone in the apple family was asleep, the Carousel Boutique was black as Rarity was asleep, and the same went for Rainbow’s home and Pinkie’s home. There was one other home however, the home resided a fair distance from the town, just a short walk away from the Everfree forest. Light shone through the windows and a silhouette of a pony moving around could be seen.
That pony was Fluttershy, and as she walked around her house making sure all of her animal roommates got into their hovels and nests she hummed a soft lullaby. On her back stood a white bunny, Angel, and as he munched on a late night carrot he directed the yellow pony in what she had to do. Fluttershy, after putting all her animal friends to bed, she walked over to Angels little bed that she had set up for him.
“Angel, its time to go to bed if you want to,” Fluttershy said. Angel let out a series of angry squeaks meaning he didn’t want to.
“Oh- uh- ok you don’t have to if you aren’t sleepy, oh but try not to stay up too late please- if you wouldn’t mind.” Fluttershy responded in her usual quiet tone. She gave the little bunny a smile before going over to her bedroom and turning out the lights to the living room, the only room lit up. She knew for a fact that while Angel might not go to bed soon, he wasn’t going to turn out the lights when he fell asleep. She tucked herself in and let the dream world take control of her.
Two hours later all was quiet in the little cottage, even Angel had finally fallen asleep. Nothing stirred inside the house not even the mice. Outside strange winds started picking up from the Everfree forest. The winds were strong but they didn’t do much to the little house besides blow a few loose branches off. No one inside was disturbed from his or her sleep.
Out of nowhere there came a loud explosion sound from the Everfree. This sound immediately woke everyone in the small cottage and sent Fluttershy diving under the covers, scared out of her mind. She made whimpering noises as she heard a few more explosions. Being braver then Fluttershy, Angel looked out the window. He made a squeak and motioned for her to come over to the window. Fluttershy inched her way towards the window. She was still scared but she knew that Angel wouldn’t call her over unless it was important, and what she saw was definitely important.
Fluttershy gazed at what looked to be like a tear in the air itself. It didn’t touch the floor or any of the trees it hung near. It seemed to be just on the border of the Everfree. A bright blue glow radiated from the edges of the tear but the actual inside was completely white. To Fluttershy and all her animals, this tear looked completely alien to them. The sight of the tear made Fluttershy want to go hide under her blanket again and pretend she never saw it, but something about the tare seemed somehow familiar to her, something deep down told her to go to it. However the fear in her had her frozen in place.
Fluttershy simply starred at it. However a new explosion occurred which caused Fluttershy to flinch, ducking down under the frame of her window with a yelp. She was lucky she did, because a medium sized object, about the size of a foal, shot out of the tear and smashed right through the window where Fluttershy last stood. Fluttershy quickly hid under her bed. She didn’t see that the tear had vanished from view, like it was never even there.
Fluttershy glanced at what had crashed through her window, but it was hard to see in the dark. She whispered to Angel to turn the lights on, and the white rabbit jumped up and hit the switch illuminating the room.
Fluttershy gasped at what she saw lying in a pile of glass and blood. It was a foal and from what its mane and figure looked like it was a filly. Forgetting her fears she quickly went over to inspect the filly to see if she can do anything. The pegasus filly had cuts all along her sky blue body and legs. The wings of the young foal looked terrible, cuts and feathers missing in many places. While she could bandage the cuts, Fluttershy couldn’t do much about the feathers. They would have to grow back in on their own.
“Oh, Angel, who could of done this to such a sweet looking filly? She doesn’t even have her cutie mark yet,” Fluttershy said to her rabbit companion. The bunny responded with a series of gestures and squeaks which Fluttershy understood as “Will she be ok?”
“She should be. Nothing was that bad, although I’m not sure if I should take her to the hospital or not.” After a few moments, she decided that it would be best if she did. However, seeing how she had already taken care of the issue, she would wait until the morning, to give herself some sleep and also not to bother the doctors and nurses of the hospital with what she thought would be just a checkup.
Fluttershy lifted the filly carefully and brought her to the couch in the living room. However, before she could set the filly down on the couch, Fluttershy got a feeling about the little filly, like one of the feelings she gets with her animals.
“Oh Angel, what if she wakes up? I don’t want her to be scared seeing herself in a house with nothing but animals she doesn’t know, even if they are all such wonderful animals. She’ll sleep in my room,” Fluttershy Explained. She brought the filly upstairs and laid her in bed. Fluttershy got an extra pillow and blankets from her closet and set herself up just off her bed, so she was close just incase she was needed. Fluttershy looked at the filly with a smile and put her head down and drifted off to sleep again.
Fluttershy opened her eyes and she noted she was not in her cottage any more. It seemed she was in a throne room like the one in Canterlot. She looked around the hall seeing banners adorning the pillars and walls with her cutie mark inside a shield on banners. Two royal guards walked into the hall dragging a stallion in shackles between them. The guards, a stallion and a mare, both wore the armor that was standard to Celestia’s royal guard. The stallion between them looked roughed up and disheveled.
Fluttershy smiled at this. She didn’t want to but it was as if she didn’t have control of her body. “This is just a dream,” she thought to herself. She willed herself to open her mouth to tell them to let the stallion go, it was her dream, she should be able to change it, right? To her relief her mouth opened and she inwardly smiled. That lasted about two seconds as she heard what she said.
“Ah, the prisoner is here, are you ready for your trial, TRAITOR,” she snarled. In her head she was surprised but it was clear that she wasn’t controlling herself now.
“I have nothing to say to you, you tyrant, the rebellion will live on even if I die,” he replied to her with a grin.
“HA! How noble of you. Well if that’s it then I shall ask you one question before I give my verdict.”
“And what’s that, your Highness,” he spat.
“How much did you reveal while spying? I know you contacted your leaders already. How much am I screwed?” She asked. He responded by laughing. “What’s so DAMN FUNNY?”
“The fact that you and your cronies have maybe a week left to live. Oh and don’t worry about your daughter, she wont get a public execution but a nice private one. We do have to eliminate your lineage after all,” he chuckled.
“YOU STAY AWAY FROM MY DAUGHTER,” she seethed. Fluttershy was getting worried about the unfolding events that she was witnessing, she didn’t know what it all was about but she knew it wasn’t good. She had a feeling that the stallion wasn’t leaving this the room alive. But as much as she was horrified with the thought of having to witness the stallion die, something in the back of her mind kept saying he deserved it, he threatened her daughter! Wait no… not her daughter, she didn’t have a daughter, she’s never even liked another pony in a coltfriend, marefriend way.
“Queen Fluttershy, what is your verdict on the traitor?” A guard asked, halting Fluttershy’s thoughts like a freight train. Did he say “Queen Fluttershy”? This dream was rapidly turning into a nightmare and all Fluttershy wanted to do right now was just wake up.
“Well that’s obvious, death by decapitation, bring in the executioner.” Queen Fluttershy announced. DEATH? Fluttershy was ashamed her other self would even think of something like that let alone sentence the stallion to death. She had to wake up she just had to, this was getting too much for her. She thought about waking up, anything to just-.
“Maris, sweetie come over to watch with your mother,” Queen Fluttershy said, interrupting Fluttershy’s thoughts. Her eyes went to the left of where they were as Queen Fluttershy looked towards her daughter who had appeared from a doorway. She was a perfect match to the filly sleeping in her bed in her cottage. Maris walked up obediently and sat next to her mothers throne.
“Mommy? Why do I have to watch all the executions you do? I don’t like watching them. If it’s all right with you… I want to go back to playing,” Maris said, suddenly very interested in one of the floor tiles, even pawing at it with her hoof. Queen Fluttershy smiled down at her.
“Sweetie, its important for you to experience this kind of thing, when you rule over Equestira you’re going to need to do stuff like this, and believe me I don’t like them either, but –“
“Your whorse of a mother LOVES them kid!” The stallion awaiting his execution interrupted. Both Fluttershy and Queen Fluttershy apparently forgot he was even there.
“Why isn’t he dead yet?!” Queen Fluttershy snapped. As if on cue a pony in black executioner walked in with an axe and a box.
The box was placed down in front of the stallion. Without prompting, the stallion kneeled down with his head over one side of the box. He had the same smile he’s had all that time and he stared directly at Queen Fluttershy. The executioner asked him if he had any last words. What he said seemed to anger Queen Fluttershy, “Glory for the Rebellion.”
“DIE!” Queen Fluttershy snarled. At her order the axe dropped and a moment later steel met flesh.
Fluttershy woke up with a small yelp. Fluttershy shook her head trying to rid herself of the dream and then looked over to the filly. She yelped when she saw that the filly was looking back at her. She had the most beautiful emerald eyes Fluttershy had ever seen. However she didn’t concern herself with how the filly’s eyes looked. She hadn’t expected the foal to be awake by this point.
“Good morning Maris, that’s your name right?” Fluttershy asked trying to be brave and polite.
“Yes mommy, my name is Maris Thalassa, and that wasn’t a dream, it was a memory,” The filly replied with a soft voice, almost sounding like Fluttershy’s.
“A dream, but whose? They couldn’t have been mine!”
“They are yours, it’s a special enchantment you put on me so we can share memories while we sleep, you first did it so I could have happy dreams at night when I was a baby.”
“But I don’t even know you, how could I be your mother?”
“You’re my mommy because the spell worked. It only works between my mommy, and it works between you and me so you’re my mommy, simple logic. I think.”
Fluttershy looked at her, thinking about what Maris said. After a moment she replied, “We’re going to go see Twilight. I’m supposed to meet her at Surgarcube Corner.”