“And that was how we became a couple” Twilight finished her story. She was telling Slash Wing how they became a couple, and just a while ago, she was told how they first met and how she got Bunny as an apprentice and companion.
“That sounds beautiful” Slash Wing said, her tone gone smooth. No surprise there, as Twilight’s wing was draped across her body and the Pegasus nuzzled Twilight’s neck.
“Okay, you two lovebirds” Rainbow commented. “This is adorable”
“Ya’ll didn’t say anything when we told that to each other every night before going to sleep” Applejack commented.
Rainbow blushed. “Applejack!”
“Here it is” Pliant said, handing over a vile of pink serum in a bottle. “It can be induced in as either in a ray, a needle, or just drank down as though it were ordinary drinking water”
“She’ll just drink down like water” Bunny said, taking the vile from Pliant. “Thank you, Pliant”
“Are you ready for this?” Twilight asked.
Slash Wing nodded. “I want my real life and memories back, and my identity” she nuzzled Twilight’s neck again. “I’ll see you after, as the real me”
Bunny smiled as Slash Wing approached her. “Take it, I checked and it really is the antidote”
Slash Wing smiled at the little alien. As she took the vile from her paws, she pet her on the head. “And I’ll remember you too”
Slash Wing started to drink the vile down. And soon enough, it was all gone. She felt it at first in her stomach, then it went through her hooves, her wings, her neck, and finally reached her head. Bit by bit, memories began coming back to her. The feeling of them coming back was so strong it caused the Pegasus to pass out. All she heard before falling into the dark abyss were voicing calling out her name. Her real name.
________________________________________
“She’ll wake up in a bit” Bunny explained the temporary after effects.
Then they heard a rumble. It was scary at the moment, like the way an earthquake would start. All of that was answered when the lab door swung open and an angry Aero marched in with a gun. He still looked hurt from the punch Slash Wing gave him.
“Give her back! Slash Wing is MINE!” he yelled at full volume.
He flew towards Twilight as fast as his wings can carry him, pinning the Alicorn to the wall. He was determined to kill her already when he noticed a yellow Pegasus unconscious. And he could’ve, if it weren’t for a certain rabbit-like alien to jump on his head and began to bite him. Bunny’s fangs weren’t even out of their canines yet when Aero sent her off to the shelf. She hit her head on the shelf as something fell on her head. The sound caused everypony else, even Aero, to turn their attention to her.
Act the part, child. The alien opened her eyes at the sound of the voice. She recognized it as Nathaniel’s, the Angel who turned her into a Servant. But she had a small question in her head, act what part? It all became clear when she felt something liquid-like on her. She raised her paw up to see, only to pull it down and find some reddish serum had dropped on her head.
Bunny began to feel a twitch as the potion seeped in on her. Then something started to grow on her. She looked to her back to see a teapot handle on her back. She felt her paws turn into metallic claws. Within a few seconds, she began to morph from normal to Eyepot hybrid!
The others only looked on in fear.
It barely looked anything like Bunny, only scant resemblances from the alien. It looked almost entirely like an Eyepot, but there were carvings of stripes on where Bunny had them. Its spider-like legs were replaced with metallic claws. Its red eye became cerulean.
“What…” Spike shook from fear at what happened to his friend. “Bu-Bu-Bunny?”
“That’s not Bunny” Twilight said. “That’s Bunpot!”
Without warning, the Bunpot swiftly scurried to Aero, before stomping on him with her claws. Aero only survived due to armor, but was now wounded. He then tried flying in the air, thinking that a teapot can’t move up to fly anymore. But he was so wrong when Bunpot began to make a boiling sound, and shot hot tea at him! He fell on the floor due to the scald, only to see the creature again. He didn’t like what he was seeing; just one moment there was a small rabbit, now it was a crazed creature. It became even impossible for him to think something this adorable would become something so monstrous.
Without warning, as Aero was paralyzed, Bunpot turned towards the others. She then levitated them in mid-air and carried them away with her spell, even Fluttershy, away from Aero.
Aero just laid there, slightly dazed. “And she left me here”
________________________________________
Bunpot was very fast for her pace. She wasn’t expected to be very speedy if she was a giant teapot on claws for legs. But then again, she was not only an Eyepot, she was Bunny. And she had to be speedy if she was gonna get her friends to safety while she was in this form. She calculated the amount of time she had left before it was time to change back. Her pace speeding up as she felt time passing, she neared for the tower.
“Bunpot, watch out for that…” Spike called to her, but the potion wore off and Bunny changed back, hitting her head on the door. The others fell with her as her levitation stopped. Luckily, Twilight caught Fluttershy. Spike hurried and caught Bunny as she fell from the door.
“Are you alright?” Spike asked worriedly. “That’s gotta hurt!”
Bunny rubbed her head with a paw; she was quite shocked at what her paw brought with her.
“Oh my…” Spike began to worry. “Is that…blood?”
Bunny was shocked too; Servants don’t normally bleed at pain. They only bleed or feel huge pain when doing a spell or something strong. This just wasn’t natural for her species.
“The potion left me vulnerable for bleeding” she stated. “Don’t worry; I’ll heal along the way”
“Thank goodness. But be more careful, okay?”
“I will. Um, Spike?”
“Yeah?”
“Can you put me down now?”
“Oh! Sorry!” without hesitation, the dragon let the alien down. Bunny wobbled a bit, but regained her balance as her wound healed.
“We gotta run up tower! They’re catching up to us!” Rainbow yelled as she noticed the army of military ponies heading for their way. Right infront center, was Aero. And, boy was he mad!
Everypony ran as fast as their hooves could carry them. Twilight carried the still unconscious Fluttershy on her back. Rainbow had applejack cling tightly on her as she flew as fast as she could to the top. Pinkie just bounced and hopped while Rarity just ran. Spike saw Bunny was still slightly bleeding on her head. No way was he gonna see his best friend bleeding with vulnerability. He tried to reach for her to carry her, but they were levitated instead by Twilight.
“Twilight, I could run too, you know!” Bunny claimed, wiping off the excess blood.
“Bunny, your head is bleeding, you were wobbly and having a hard time trying to stand. And Spike, I don’t want to see you turn into a flat box from those army’s hooves”
Spike just crossed his arms.
“My head is fine, Twi!” Bunny protested. “It just…takes a while to heal from a potion”
“Nonetheless, I don’t to see Fluttershy freaking out about her apprentice being injured”
“YOU’LL HAVE A LOT MORE TO WORRY THAN HER WHEN YOU’RE DONE!” Aero yelled. He and his army were already climbing up the staircase.
“OH, JUST TELEPORT US ALL TO THE TOP!” Bunny yelled; she wasn’t feeling like herself from the after-effects of vulnerability.
Twilight, having gotten frightened by Bunny’s change of attitude, did indeed teleport all eight of them to the top of the tower. Once at the top, she let them both out of the spell.
“Good, we’re at the top. Now what?” Rainbow asked.
“I don’t know anymore” Bunny mumbled.
“Right, cause you’re weak from the potion”
“When I’m strong again, I’ll make you spin in a tornado for ten minutes”
Rainbow then went silent from that.
“No time for chit-chat! They’re probably right behind us!” Rarity said.
“How could that be?” Pinkie asked. “They’re here now”
They all saw Pinkie was right. The army was already in front of them, Aero at the front center.
“Well, were done” Rainbow said.
Bunny looked down for a second. There was one last resort for them to win. This was something she didn’t want to do. But she had to do it for her friends. She took a small vile of red potion in her paw.
“Bunny, what’s that?” Spike asked.
The alien just gave them all a smirk. “Just cover your ears”
Without any more hesitation, Bunny began to drink down the vile. She drank it all as her friends watched. What was this potion gonna do this time? They just witnessed her turn into a giant Eyepot-hybrid, and now what? They plugged their ears in anticipation, ready for what may happen.
Finally, the concoction was all gone. Bunny still had her eyes closed for a second, before slowly opening them. Somehow, her eyes shone in grey color before a smirk went across her face. She took a big breath, and released it all in one big roar. It was loud and terrifying and made the entire army fly away from the sound waves. All the while, the mares and dragon covered their ears to avoid being blown away. Twilight casted a shield spell on Fluttershy because she was still out cold.
Finally, the army was gone. And for Bunny, she just fell on her paws before she collapsed. She pretty much awake, just feeling a little weak. To make things weirder, her head began to slightly bleed again. She began to get up, but her wobbly paws wouldn’t allow it. Spike watched his friend struggle for a while, before deciding that he went up to help her. Bunny appreciated the gesture, but she always somehow hated bleeding, even a little.
“Are you alright?” Spike asked.
“I’ll be fine, Spike” she said before she grumbled. “I hate potions now. I hate bleeding”. Truth be told, Servants were designed to be resistant for various things. But, like everyone else, they have a few dislikes. One thing Bunny hates on her list of Dislikes was feeling vulnerable, and bleeding. She just wanted to walk now. To run, or float. Not feeling like she was nothing more than a plush doll.
“Speaking of which, what was that you took? That roar was so loud; you could scare away a lion!” Pinkie exclaimed.
“It’s just a normal potion, which I added with Roar Lion Petals to allow me to do that. Still, being a potion from Equestria, there’s always a weakening after effect once you used it up, although the part with the Eyepot was just plain acting” Bunny explained while Spike helped her to the others.
“Wait, you were only acting as an Eyepot?” Spike asked.
“Yep, though I had to time myself on how long I had before the potion was supposed to wear out. And my bleeding was no act. And I made sure that I used Hum-Roar to not only blow them away, but also put them to sleep for as long as I want”
“Great, what do we do with all those mares and stallions?” Rarity asked.
“We’ll think about that. How’s Fluttershy?”
Twilight stared at the sleeping Pegasus. She couldn’t wait for her to wake up and be with her again. Twilight couldn’t help but caress her mane. As she did this, the yellow mare began to stir.
Fluttershy felt Twilight holding her close. She felt her lover caress her mane. She also quite managed to retain her lost memories, and some were even from after the fire. She managed to also remember what happened while she was in that “Slash Wing” status. It scared a lot that she hurt those who were the closest to her, but atleast she could talk to them now. Before long, she opened her eyes to meet with Twilight’s lavender ones.
“Fluttershy?” Twilight said. “Is that you, I mean, really you?”
Fluttershy just gave Twilight a long kiss on the muzzle, she didn’t want to let go. When she did for air, she left her eyes closed for a minute before opening them to see Twilight’s reaction. The Alicorn just stared, wide-eyed and blushing. She chuckled. “I’m sorry for what I did earlier, Twilight. Can you ever forgive me?”
Twilight snapped out of it, she giggled before planting a kiss on Fluttershy’s muzzle. “Of course I do, Flutters”
Before they knew it, both mares were pulled in for a group hug by the rest of the eight. Fluttershy took a while before she finally spotted who she was looking for, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, and Bunny. She was aware of what she did to all of them earlier, most especially her apprentice. When they were finally out of the hug, Fluttershy approached the three one by one.
“Rarity, I’m so sorry about ramming you into a wall. I wasn’t myself, can you forgive me?” Fluttershy asked, in her normal timid tone.
The marshmallow mare approached the Pegasus. “Darling, it’s alright. I know you would never do that on purpose”
“Still friends?”
“Best friends. Though, it would take some getting used to about your new manecut; it contrasts with your personality”
Rarity and Fluttershy shared a hearty giggle, though the Pegasus felt slightly different from her manecut. She just wasn’t used to it. Fluttershy then turned over to Rainbow Dash.
“Rainbow, I’m sorry about ramming you into a wall too and even almost letting you die from falling down”
The cyan mare chuckled. “It’s alright, Fluttershy. We’re still friends. Besides, I should really learn how to control my temper or I could always end up flat on my face, right?”
Fluttershy chuckled before she and Dash shared a hug. Shy finally turned over to the last one she attacked, her companion Bunny.
“Bunny, I…” the mare couldn’t finish her sentence when her apprentice hugged her. The alien was quick now that she was nearly fully healed, and her head stopped bleeding that she ran to her Mistress and didn’t let go. If Fluttershy didn’t know any better, she could have sworn that look on Bunny’s face was that of a niece who was just reunited with her aunt. She then realized Bunny had really grown on her.
“I missed you” the alien said when she broke from the hug.
“I missed you too, forgive me?” Fluttershy asked.
Bunny nodded before hugging her Mistress again.
“Bunny, before anything else, why were you crying like that a while back? You never cried so hard like that before”
“I was just reminded about my old Master”
“Poltrust?”
Bunny nodded before she was nuzzled by Fluttershy. The mare, with her apprentice in her hoof, then walked to see an unconscious Aero on the floor.
“What do we do with your ex-lover?” Rainbow asked.
Fluttershy groaned. “Rainbow, he is not my lover, Twilight is. And second, I want a little payback for what he made me do and what he did to me”
Twilight started to notice Fluttershy’s slight change. “Flutters, are you alright? You’re acting a little different”
Fluttershy smirked before giving Twilight a quick peck on the cheek. “Why not? After what he put us all through, I just gained back some of my lost courage”
“You’re still you, right?”
“Of course, I just got more confident. Now, who’s up for a little Life Reset on an army, and a burning down of a building?”
________________________________________
“How’s your head?”
“One more word and I’ll make you dance the Hokey-Pokey upside down!”
Aero heard a weird conversation as he woke from his sleep. He had no idea how long he was out or why didn’t he wake up earlier. All he remembers was a rabbit drinking a potion, and a roar that made him fly to the ceiling. Still groggy, he opened his eyes to see the situation.
“Ah, Aero! You’re awake! Finally! Now we can begin!” a familiar voice rang out.
Aero’s eyes swam to focus and he noticed a familiar face. Well, eight familiar faces.
“Slash Wing! What’s…?”
“For the last time, my name is Fluttershy” she said. “And you caused us all misery, Aero”
“Ooh! He’s in for it now!” Pinkie said intimidation in her voice.
“He already was” Bunny’s voice rang out, she crossed her paws together. Aero noticed that she was in Fluttershy’s arm. “Or should I say his army?”
“What did you do to them?” Aero demanded the rabbit. “Pliant! Lieutenant Bark! Anypony?!”
Fluttershy chuckled. “They’re all gone now, away with their new lives. It took some work for some of us, but it was worth it”
“You erased their memories of this place?!”
“And gave them each a new life, telling them they fell into a comma and practically sleepwalked. Now, it’s your turn”
Aero shook in fear. “What are you gonna do?”
“Aero, there is another thing that separates you from Twilight. She fought to keep me, while you let my memory be erased and turned me into a shut pony for over ten years. I want you to feel that pain that you should’ve rot in that decade ago”
Aero then realized that Bunny and Spike already opened a window to escape, and Aero himself was tied up. He then saw that Fluttershy gave Twilight a nod before the Alicorn pulled out a fire lamp.
“No! Don’t!”
It was too late; six left out the window while Twilight, Spike, Bunny, and Fluttershy stayed one last time.
Fluttershy said one last thing before she dropped the lamp and left with them. “And so we’re clear, we are long over, Aero”
Aero could only scream in pain as the fire burned him.
________________________________________
“Finally, it’s over” Spike said.
“Tell me about it” Pinkie added as they all watched the building burn down.
“So, what’s gonna happen that army Aero once had?” Rarity asked.
“They’re gonna have a nice new life and move on with it” Bunny answered.
“So, what should we call you now?” Rainbow asked the yellow mare.
“What do you mean?”
“Well, let’s face some facts. Your real name is Slash Wing, but you now call yourself Fluttershy. Plus, you gained some courage after that whole ordeal. So, what do we call you now?”
Fluttershy sighed. “Rainbow, no matter what my past is, Slash Wing is no longer me. That mare has been long dead. I’m just your animal caretaker, Bearer of the Element of Kindness, Mistress of Bunny Katsuma, and Marefriend of Twilight Sparkle. I am Fluttershy”
And for a moment, they all stayed silent at their friend’s proclamation. They knew she was acting a little out-of-character, but that was because she regained what she lost. With all that lose returned, she was made whole again. And although they would have to get used to her new courage, she was still their friend. The truth was all and true. She is no longer Slash Wing; she is Fluttershy.
They all took all this in as the last of the building burned down in flames.