The Next to the Last Unicorn

by Hivemind

Part 4

A/N: I apologize in advance if this chapter seems of less...quality than anything else I have written. My brain hates me for not getting enough sleep.

~~~~~~~~~~

A chilly breeze surged through air and whistled around the corners of homes and shops left and right. Amalthea adjusted the cloak over her neck to try and cover her face, but to little avail as another surge of ice pick wind slammed into the left side of her body. The pearl colored unicorn and her canary pegasus friend halted their advance until the winds died down, leaving their coats dotted with flakes of crystalline snow. The cloak was now an even darker shade of blue, damp with melted ice shavings. The bone chilling fabric made her quiver where she stood, her hooves already dug deep into a thin layer of soft snow underneath. Her hooves were fine, but her face felt like it was dunked into a pail of stinging cold pond water, the frozen moss brushing against her muzzle. The thought itself was terrifying to say the least.

Fluttershy splayed her wings out and shook them frantically, letting the snow drop off from her coat and onto the icy ground beneath her hooves. After flicking her tail once to free it of spare flakes, she moved to adjust the purple scarf wrapped around her neck.

Amalthea felt a sneeze coming on. The thin, somber air nipped at her nose like a hungry lizard. She held her breath to try and contain it, but her muzzle was already beet red and solid as a rock. There was no stopping the rough vibrations that surged their way up the back of her neck, racing to meet the nostrils. Thinking quickly, she wrapped the cloak in a veil of magic and brought it around to her nose, just in time to meet the vibrant surge. She released a great sneeze, baying with bone chilling apathy as the cloak became even more saturated with cold water.

Frantic with sudden worry, Fluttershy turned her head and gasped silently when she got a look at Amalthea’s dismal state. The white mare lowered the dripping wet cloak in front of her nose and let it fall to the ground.

“Amalthea!” Fluttershy gasped before turning around to face the sickly unicorn. She took notice to the wet cloak on the ground, her need to show kindness raised by the fact that her strange unicorn friend was now exposed to the winter elements. “Oh you poor thing. Are you sick?” Fluttershy whimpered.

Before Amalthea could open her mouth to reply, Fluttershy was already unwrapping the scarf around her neck and brushing away the stray snowflakes left behind. The telltale twitch of the frost white unicorn’s nose signalled the coming of another sneeze, but by some strange miracle, it went away, as if her own body was playing tricks on her, a feeling similar to the early times where Amalthea thought that seeing a sky blue pegasus with a multi-colored mane was an act of humor played by her mind.

Fluttershy moved to wrap the scarf around Amalthea’s neck, but her kindly offer was refused when Amalthea nimbly shifted back a few feet, kicking up a small tuft of powdery snow, which splayed out on her lower neck, only adding to the problem.

“Thank you for your charitable offer, Fluttershy, but I’m alright, really.” said Amalthea.

Fluttershy stepped back and looked at the unicorn with eyes of worry. “A-are you sure? Your nose is awfully runny, and the sneezing-”

“Trust me Fluttershy. I’m alright. Just an after effect of the snow is all. Nothing to worry about.”

“Oh...”

The two continued to stare awkwardly at each other for several minutes more, the only thing breaking the silence being small gusts of chilled wind that blew through their manes.

Fluttershy was the first to snap out of her nerving trance when brought her gaze down to the wet, blue cloak lying in the snow, a thin blanket of crystals having already covered most of it.

“But, I don’t want to leave the cloak out here in the snow, and I would feel just awful if you get cold and start sneezing again...” Fluttershy worryingly murmured.

Silence fell over the scene again, but only for a short moment. Amalthea sighed, defeated, and lowered her neck to the ground, giving in to the strangely unbearable kindness of the one who cared for her. Fluttershy, smiling warmly with revitalized tolerance, moved closer to Amalthea’s head and draped the scarf down the unicorn’s neck, tying it into a spaghetti knot to secure it in place. The canary pegasus dug the cloak out from the snow and slung it over her back. She turned down Amalthea’s offer only moments later to take the scarf back, and the two ponies continued down the snowy forest road, passing by tree after tree, stripped of their leaves and grey with frostbite.

~~~~~

“Fluttershy...they’re staring at us...” Amalthea whispered at a barely audible level.

“It’s alright. Just stick close, and follow me.” Fluttershy whispered back as she and the unicorn mare rounded a stack of barrels and zipped past the corner of a winter fruit stand.

As they crept alongside the plaster walls of the marketplace buildings, ponies everywhere stopped and stared at the sight of the unusually tall unicorn stalking the streets, some with mouths agape. Amalthea squeaked silently and repositioned the scarf closer to her face.

“Fluttershy?” Amalthea worryingly whispered.

“It’s alright, just keep close.” said Fluttershy. “This isn’t the first time they’ve seen somepony strange come into town before.”

“Strange?” Amalthea asked, slightly hurt by the use of the word.

“Oh! Sorry about that, but it’s just something that has happened over before. There’s a zebra that lives in a dark forest near Ponyville, and--”

Fluttershy stopped mid-explanation when more of Ponyville’s curious populace turned their heads away from market stands, some of them continuing to loudly spread the social disease that was gossip to everypony that crossed their field of vision.

In the background, a filly and her mother rushed through the crowd, the mother determined to get her foal safely away from the impending chaos. Amalthea watched through the corner of her eye as they darted through the narrow openings in the sea of multi colored coats garnished in winter clothing. As the mother and daughter moved off to the side wall, they passed by Fluttershy and Amalthea, the mother bearing a toothy grin, her filly staring at Amalthea, wide eyed and full of wonder. The filly broke away from her mother’s side and stopped in front of Amalthea, still staring up at the nervous unicorn’s covered face, while her mother continued forward, oblivious to her filly’s sudden absence.

“...hello.” Amalthea whispered, smiling nervously. The crowd in the marketplace fell silent, scopic eyes trained on the unusual white unicorn of their curiosity.

On her words, and to great surprise, the filly dropped to her knees and splayed both of her front legs on the ground, head bowed and eyes closed.

Like flame to gunpowder, the crowd exploded into a wild fit of banter, wild accusations, and a much broader version of gossip, their words carrying on for what felt like miles in every direction. Somewhere within the frost covered crowd, moved three black shadows, darting underneath everypony’s legs. One of them crouched underneath a tall, brown stallion and pulled out a large, bulky-looking apparatus from somewhere unknown. A bright white flash engulfed Amalthea’s vision, blinding her for a short time. When her view became clear again, the three shadowy figures were nowhere to be seen.

“Ohmygoodness, ohmygoodness.” Fluttershy stammered, shaking like a leaf.

“Oh boy, we’ve gotta get out of here. Maybelline, where--Maybelline!” the mother gasped when she turned around and noticed her precious filly laying flat on the ground, motionless. She darted to the filly’s side and swiftly forced her to her hooves.

“Maybelline!” shouted the tan-coated mother, provocative stare bearing down on her child. “You know that I hate it when you wander off somewhere without telling me first!”

“B-but mom-” the filly stuttered.

“No buts, Maybelline!” the mother cut in. The filly folded her ears back and crouched low to the ground, slowly retreating into herself as her worrying mother continued to scold her in front of half of Ponyville.

After giving the filly a stern talking to, the mother turned to Amalthea, keeping her gaze focused on her unruly child.

“I’m terribly sorry that you had to see that.” The mother slowly turned her head away from the filly, starting from Amalthea’s hooves and slowly making her way up to meet her face. “It’s just-”

The mother stopped mid-apology, and gasped when her eyes reached Amalthea’s face, eventually moving to glance at her majestic horn.

“Princess Celestia!” gasped the mother mare.

The white unicorn cocked her head to one side as the mother quickly dropped to her knees, positioning herself in the same bowing position that the filly had done only a few minutes ago.

“Please forgive me, princess. I just didn’t know that you would be visiting Ponyville today. Honest!”

Princess? Amalthea thought.

“Please forgive me for my behavior! It’s just that my daughter tends to stray away from me sometimes. I promise, it won’t happen again!”

“I-I still do not-”

Suddenly, Fluttershy pounced onto Amalthea’s front leg and pried her away with unusually great strength, quickly dragging her away from the pleading mother. Eventually, she released the unicorn’s hoof and started galloping towards the start of a long, winding road that stretched over a tall hill leading to Sweet Apple Acres. Amalthea, still dazed from recent events, had no choice but to give chase, leaving behind a confused crowd of ponies plus one frustrated, sobbing mother.

~~~~~

“I knew it! I knew that if we went through Ponyville we would attract too much attention! I knew it!” Fluttershy profusely scolded herself.

The travelling pair trudged through the thin snow of the midday winter and stalked past the front gate of Ponyville’s renown apple farm. The light snowfall had let up for the day, but the chilly temperature certainly had not. To see Fluttershy suffer for the benefit of another was something that Amalthea simply could not let pass by without notice. She knew that the unrelentingly courteous pegasus was only doing what she thought was right, but then again, for as long as she had been alive, she also knew that a border line had to be drawn eventually in one’s life. There’s kindness, and then there’s punishing yourself for not being kind enough, a lesson so rare in life that just about every creature in the world had adopted carelessness as a way of solving their problems.

Amalthea was not careless.

“-and the market of all places! Why did I ever think that a place as crowded as the market-”

Fluttershy’s words were cut off when a familiar looking scarf was draped over her head, then wrapped around her neck with a veil of magic. Confused, she turned her head back to face Amalthea, whose keen horn was glowing at the tip with a silvery white ball of light. The horn brightened and dimmed as the charitable unicorn magically tied the scarf into a simple, doubled-over knot around her neck. When she was finished, she took a step back and examined her work, smiling.

“Amalthea?” said Fluttershy.

“Don’t try to give it back, Fluttershy, for I owe you so much already.”

“I don’t understand...”

“Fluttershy, even though we’ve only known each other for a few days, what you have done for me, I could never pay back.”

“What?”

“You shouldn’t punish yourself just because you made a mistake. So far, everything you’ve done has been for my well being.”

Amalthea resumed walking, her uncovered neck bobbing slightly with each forward motion of her slender legs. Fluttershy, biting her lower lip and still frantic with inner guilt, bounded to her side and joined the strangely calm, satin unicorn as they slowly trudged through the three inch high fields of snow towards the Apple family home.

“But it’s my fault that half of Ponyville now thinks that you’re Princess Celestia!” Fluttershy protested.

“Me? A princess?” Amalthea replied, a small thread of inaudible chuckles to follow.

“It’s just that-...well, now that so many ponies have seen you...”

“What would make them believe that I am their monarch?” Amalthea asked, head cocked to one side, curious.

Fluttershy looked away, blushing.

“Well...your horn...”

“What about my horn?”

Fluttershy said nothing, keeping her focus turned away from the all too interested unicorn, her upper lip still bright with sondering discomposure.

“Flutter-”

“Well howdy there, Fluttershy!” shouted an orange-coated mare garnered in a brown and green scarf and wide brim hat tilted up high over her straw-like mane, stopping in front of Fluttershy with cheerful expression on her face.

“Hey, Applejack.” Fluttershy murmured.

“Well hey to you too, sugarcube! Who’s your tall friend he-”

Upon looking up at Amalthea’s face and getting a look at her long, regal horn, the orange mare stumbled in her pose.

“Princess Celestia!” Applejack exclaimed before dropping to her knees and bowing to the white unicorn, keeping both eyes closed to show respect for Her Supposed Majesty. Fluttershy just stood there, mouth hung open slightly, worried as to how Amalthea would react.

Applejack peeked one eye open and grimaced up at Fluttershy. The canary pegasus could only stand there, feeling the weight of the awkward situation slowly sink in.

“Psst! Fluttershy! That’s the princess!” Applejack hissed between clenched teeth.

“Umm...Applejack?” Fluttershy spoke softly. Applejack rolled her eyes.

“What?” The cowpony hissed again.

“That’s...not the princess.”

“Wha’? What do ya mean?” Applejack asked, still hissing.

Feeling the need to get the point across, Amalthea lowered her head to meet Applejack face to face, putting on a warm, welcoming smile to accompany the orange mare’s bashful stare.

“Well, you must be Applejack, right?” Amalthea asked.

“Y-yeah, I’m Applejack...” Applejack replied, turning her gaze back to Fluttershy.

“Fluttershy? Are ya sure that-”

“I’m sure, Applejack.” Fluttershy replied, smiling.

“Oh, well...” said Applejack as she slowly rose from the ground. “That’s...a relief, I guess. Sorry about that, miss...?”

“Amalthea, but the miss is not needed.”

“Phew! That sure takes a load off ah’ my shoulders, hehe.” Applejack laughed, sheepishly. “Ah’ don’t think I’ve ever seen anypony ‘round here like you before, ‘cept for Princess Celestia. Where ya from?” Applejack asked.

“I live in a forest, far, far away from here. Farther than the eye can see anyway.”

Applejack tipped her Stetson hat to Amalthea. “Well, nice ta’ meet you, Amalthea. I’m Applejack, but I’m pretty sure you’ve heard of me already.”

“A pleasure to meet you, Applejack. Fluttershy talked about you on our way here, even though there was wasn’t much to learn, pardon the offense.”

“None taken.”

Off to the side of the introduction, Fluttershy grunted loudly into her hoof, although a little rude, still attracting Amalthea’s and Applejack’s attention.

Fluttershy blushed. “S-sorry, girls, but umm...Twilight.” said Fluttershy, pointing a hoof over by the barnyard fence, where the brainiac of a unicorn trotted through the snow up to the three girls, wearing hoofmits and an oversized fuzzball cap that bounced up and down with each step she took.

“Hey there Fluttershy, Amalthea, Applejack.” said Twilight.

“Hey there, Twi’” Applejack replied, tipping her Stetson hat again.

“Hello, Twilight.” said Fluttershy.

“Very nice to see you again, Twilight.” said Amalthea.

“It’s nice to see you too, Amalthea. Listen, I’ve got great news! Princess Celestia answered to my letters about you, and she wants to come all the way to Ponyville to meet you personally!” Twilight happily exclaimed.

“Your monarch? Coming to your town just to see me?” Amalthea quizzically asked.

“But that’s not all! She also wrote that Princess Luna is coming along with her! Doesn’t that sound exciting?”

“Princess...Luna?” said Amalthea, head cocked to one side.

Fluttershy moved to Amalthea’s side, staring up at the confused unicorn.

“You know, Princess Celestia’s sister? The one I’ve been telling you about?” said Fluttershy.

“Oh...”

“The Princesses comin’ down to little ole’ Ponyville? Why the sudden appearance? Can’t ya’ just quote Amalthea’s answers to their questions and send em’ off to Canterlot in a letter or somethin’?” Applejack asked.

Twilight shrugged her shoulders. “Beats me, but I’d rather not question them just yet. Amalthea, the princesses could arrive at any moment, so I need you to come with me to the Ponyville library, just in case.”

“Why a library?” Amalthea asked. “With the way they treated me in the town marketplace earlier today, I wonder as to why no other place would seem safe enough for a princess.”

“Wait, what?” said Twilight, sneering quizzically. “What happened? In the market I mean.”

“Well, a little one-”

“I’ll explain it later, Twilight.” said Fluttershy in a hurry, knowing it wholey and truly that she rudely cut Amalthea off, but only for the sake of situation.

“Ooook then...” Twilight replied. “Anyway, ready to go, Amalthea?” The white unicorn nodded her head in reply.

“Do you mind if I come along?” Fluttershy hopefully asked. “I-if that’s alright with you of course...“

“Care if I tag along with you gals?” Applejack asked. “I wanna hear more ‘bout Amalthea’s whereabouts. Sounds pretty interesting to me.”

“Sure. I don’t mind.” Twilight replied before leading the girls in a sluggish trot down the frosty dirt road leading back to Ponyville.

“So, Amalthea ain't’ it? Care to tell a little more ‘bout where yer’ from?” Applejack asked.

“Of course, Applejack. Now, where do I start...”

Comments

[frutineo]

Ah, the memories from that movie, I loved it and... now I want to bet 50 bits that the Red Bull will make an appearance in 3 to 5 chapters from this one.

Great work it really makes me remember.

[Hivemind]

598470

This will probably be the shortest, SHORTEST multi-chapter story I have ever done. 12 chapters at most.

[CaptRicoSakara]

So far, so good.

Can't wait to see where this one goes.

[Laichonious the Grey]

I like how this is developing. The meeting between Amalthea and the Princesses is definitely going to be interesting. Yay for more Princess Luna! I like how nopony noticed the lack of wings or the multicolored hair... then again, you don't see tall unicorns with long horns either, so I can see why they would make the assumption, and they likely don't get to see Celestia very often.

[Fireheart]

599026only 12?

[Hivemind]

601098

At most

I know that sounds like a very short, multi-chapter story, but I'm trying to grow out of multi-chapters and move on to one-shots, where the air of fame points in the direction of most readers.

[bcsnakeeyes]

this is pure gold keep up the good work and keep writing your really really good at it, im desperatly anxiosly awaiting to see what happens next, and to see if she got sent to an alternate dimension, or just the future/ past.

[Rainbow Sparkle]

This was a very good chapter. I enjoyed reading thru it. I'll admit I'm a bit surprised that they assumed she was Princess Celestia...

Also, just our of curiosity, will Schmendricks ghost show up at any point?

[Hivemind]

679262

Actually....yes. This story only has a few chapters left, which I'm thankful for, but the next chapter, is gonna be a little...off.

I'll give you a hint:

It's cliche, involves both princesses, and is going to confuse the hell out of the some people when they first read it.

[Rainbow Sparkle]

680619
Confusion? I like. Cliche? Eh, that's so cliche these day's its not cliche :p

And huzzah for including Luna!

[lavender]

I only just found this story today, I like it so far.

Just a little nitpick though, Fluttershy's house has been shown in show to be rather close to the Apple's Farm.
Both sit roughly south of Ponyville and it seems you take the same road on the most part to get to either from town.