The Phantom Pony of Everfree

by LightningSword

Fluttershy's Gambit

Fifty yards or so into the Everfree Forest, a groove was being worn in the grass and dirt. It had been a week since his second battle with the Lamia, his old childhood enemy, and Nocturne felt as though he’d spent the entire week pacing, muttering angrily and wracking his brain over what had been happening to him. It felt as though that was the event that opened the floodgates for more trespassers to waltz in and do what they wanted. Fluttershy’s friends, those three stupid fillies, those two mares he’d scared off the next day, who’d looked a bit too intimate to be friends . . . .

And to add insult to injury, that purple Alicorn had come back to ask for a favor. As if she had any right to ask anything of him at all. He’d already sent those three brats home alive, what more did she want?

What was most aggravating: her request was one he wanted to oblige. And obeying one of those townsponies make him feel sick.

Five minutes, he thought furiously as he trudged through his well-worn path, which was now a completely grass-free strip ten feet long and a foot wide. Seems like I can't get on with my life for five minutes without being tormented by one of those little burrs under my saddle!

Nocturne had had little pony contact for most of his life, including all of his stallionhood. But it seemed as though, in that seven-day stretch alone, he'd more than made up for all the interaction he'd missed not living in Ponyville. It had all started when that clingy Pegasus had learned first-hoof not to cross the “Phantom Pony”, and the snowball effect continued ever since. She’d returned over and over again, with company more often than not, trying to pry him open like a stubborn oyster.

And the worst part was that Nocturne was getting used to seeing Fluttershy and her friends.

No, he thought as his thudding steps left clear hoofprints in the dirt. I can’t get used to these ponies. I’m used to being isolated. Have been since I was a colt. Now, they come in and ruin the life I’ve made. Trying to drag me back into the place I left behind. I can’t do this! I can’t let them get inside my head! I’ve worked hard to forget that life, and now everything is crumbling down around me . . . .

Again . . . .

Nocturne’s ears twitched as he heard a sound in the distance. A sound in the direction of the edge of the wood.

Hoofsteps.

Not again . . . .

---

Fluttershy’s hoofsteps crept closer to the rotted trees that lined the edge of the Everfree Forest. Her heart raced, and she felt a tingle of anxiety, but was otherwise level.

“I can’t back down, now,” she muttered to herself. “I’ve seen the real Nocturne. So I can’t let him think he can scare me away this time.”

The nervousness she felt from her own words notwithstanding, Fluttershy felt a different kind of tingle. A tingle of inexplicable excitement. This was her chance to make things right with Nocturne, and help him see the light.

“I just hope Nocturne won't mind a little ‘assertive friendship’.”

---

“I won’t back down now.”

Nocturne’s whole body tensed, ready to move if he had to. There was no movement in the trees or underbrush, so there was no reason to move just yet. Still “the Phantom Pony” needed to be ready.

“I won’t let you mess up my life anymore,” Nocturne growled to himself, almost surely knowing who this intruder was. “No more. You have no power over me.”

---

“You’re a good pony,” she said firmly. “I know you are.”

---

“You’re a menace,” he growled. “I won’t stand for your insolence.”

---

“The next time we see each other . . . .”

---

“The next time we see each other . . . .”

---

“I will show you friendship.”

---

“I won’t show you mercy . . . .”

---

“Umm, Nocturne?”

Fluttershy spoke up louder as she entered the woods. Her heart raced even faster, but she stayed steady. Now was the time.

---

There it was. That soft, unobtrusive voice. That vexing, irritating, “oh-I'm-ever-so-sorry” voice. She really was back.

Nocturne began to move, crushing leaves and scattering branches with every step. Her voice was quickly accompanied by more rustling and scratching in the trees—the sounds of trespassing.

“Umm . . . Nocturne!”

Her voice was getting closer, and not just because of Nocturne’s fast approach. She was approaching, too. Much faster than usual. She didn’t just stop right inside the border. She was much deeper in the darkness this time.

Not for long, Nocturne thought before leaping over a fallen tree. A family of frightened rabbits came scurrying out from inside the hollowed trunk.

“Hello?” her voice came up again as her silhouette began to take shape in the dark. “Could I talk to you? Please? Pretty please? Pretty please with a che—oh!”

She was clearly visible to him in the dark; her teal eyes aimed directly at him, as his red ones glowed like two raging infernos. He slipped out from between the bushes, staring her down as if to melt her simply with his stare. His teeth bared like a jungle animal, Nocturne felt anger grip him as he saw her there, staring at him with wide eyes and shaky legs. Why such a wimp would wind up right back in the same place, in the same position as when she'd been frightened off before, was beyond his imagining.

But it filled him with such red-hot anger as to rival the fiery glow of his eyes.

“How dare you?!”

Fluttershy flinched as Nocturne snarled his words, still approaching her as if hunting her.

“How many times have I warned you to stay away?!” he continued screaming, his teeth glinting in the faint traces of sunlight from above. “And here you are again! Who do you think you are?! What do I have to do to you to keep you away!?!”

Fluttershy still shook as she stood in the glow of his red eyes, unmoving otherwise. Nocturne seized his advantage and spread his draconic wings, the sight akin to a veil of smoke billowing up and out in the shadows like an unholy beast. This had been enough to scare her away before, and it wouldn’t be long before she ran crying again.

But something about her was different this time. This time, the tears did not come. Her eyes weren’t dinner-plate wide. She still shook, but even that seemed to be fading away. After only a few seconds, the shiver was barely noticeable at all. Fluttershy was different now. Nocturne was sure of it.

Surer still when the mare took a deep breath and spoke in a firm, unwavering voice:

“Nocturne . . . I'm not afraid of you anymore.”

The sheer resolution of her words were a mountain before Nocturne. His wings drooped slightly, and the glow dimmed in his eyes as he stared back at her.

What . . . what is this? Who is this?

One lingering, clinging pause later, Nocturne regained his footing. His edge was slipping quickly, and he knew it. Quickly, his wings picked back up and his eyes burned at full brightness once again.

“Big mistake,” he replied with a deep growl, and resumed approaching again, wings spread wide.

His intimidation was back at full strength. She wouldn’t stay standing this time. She would back down. She would run. And the Phantom Pony would make sure she would stay gone, even if he had to chase her to the ends of Equestria and beyond, and damn to Tartarus what that self-important Alicorn had to say. Even now, her next deep breath would be swiftly followed by a piercing scream of terror.

What actually happened was, to Nocturne, nothing short of the ultimate game-changer.

At the crest of her breath, Fluttershy jumped and hovered two feet off the ground, stared down at Nocturne with uninhibited rage, and had her say.

“Now, you listen to me, mister! You have no right to go around acting so cruel to everypony just for walking around in the woods! You may have big scary wings and glowing eyes, but just because you can scare the living daylights out of somepony, doesn’t mean you’re allowed to! The whole town thinks you're some kind of monster because you keep scaring them! Scaring ponies to get your way is mean, and selfish, and wrong, and just plain . . . well . . . inconsiderate! And you should be ashamed of yourself!!”

Nocturne froze where he stood, his anger slowly fading into confusion. Finally, he just stood there, dumbfounded at what he was looking at. That was the first time anypony had ever spoken to him like that. He’d turned creatures three times her size inside out for less, and many of them couldn’t even speak.

And yet this whiny, wussy, spineless little peon was actually . . . scolding him?

“Umm, I'm sorry,” Fluttershy said as her features settled and her hooves touched ground. “But . . . it had to be said.”

Now, the glow in Nocturne’s eyes had completely dissolved. It’s like she hadn’t even said a word!! he thought, those words the only coherent thing in a massive ever-shifting pile inside his mind. There was another lengthy, cumbersome silence in which the two stared at each other, not speaking another word. Nocturne used every second he could to try and figure out this walking, breathing enigma of a pony that stood before him.

Finally, coherent thought found Nocturne again, and, almost unconsciously, the first questions he could think of tumbled out of his mouth, his voice strained with the failed effort of remaining strong:

“Why are you doing this? What do you want from me?”

Fluttershy took one step towards Nocturne, and saw Fluttershy glance down at his hooves when he took a step backwards. The stallion couldn't even remember taking that step. It was that buried instinct, that feeling deep down that never went away, that moved him without thought. That tightening, strangling feeling that kept him rooted to his territory in the Everfree Forest for two decades. He hated to admit it, but it was painfully, ironically true.

Nocturne, the so-called “Phantom Pony”, was afraid of Fluttershy.

“I . . .” Fluttershy began, and Nocturne had to consciously refrain from flinching, “I just . . . I’m just trying to help you . . . .”

Nocturne continued to stare at her, his mind drawing a blank once again, if only briefly.

“Nothing you do makes any sense to me,” he muttered, again partially without realizing it. “I scared you. I threatened you. I hurt your friends. I don’t understand why you care.”

“What’s not to understand?” Fluttershy asked simply. “I want to help ponies in pain.”

“I’m not in any pain,” Nocturne said sharply, knowing it was a lie. “And even if I was, you shouldn’t help me, or want to help me. You shouldn’t even be here. I’m . . .” he turned his head away before he said it, “. . . I’m a monster.”

“I don’t believe that,” Fluttershy soothed, taking another step towards him (Nocturne stepped back again), “and I don’t think you do either. I think you just want us to think you’re a monster just to be alone.”

“I hurt your friend, the rainbow Pegasus. I could do the same to you if I wanted to.”

“But you haven’t yet. In fact, I bet you’ve saved more ponies than you’ve hurt.”

Nocturne sighed, trying with all his might to make it sound menacing. “Is this about that day with the Lamia? Look, I did what I had to do! Like I told your friends: we’re even. You wasted your time coming here.”

“But you helped my friends, those three fillies you met that day. If you wanted to be left alone, why not just leave? Why help my friends and me if you could just as easily walk away?”

“That Lamia has been a pain in my flank for years! It was time for some revenge, and your friends just got in the way.”

“Well, what about that squirrel?” Fluttershy pressed.

“When are you going to let it go?! So I made sure some rodent got an extra day! What’s the big deal?! I’m not a mons—”

Nocturne froze mid-word, but he could see that the damage was done. Fluttershy looked back at him with a warm—if a bit triumphant—grin.

“You’re not a monster, Nocturne,” Fluttershy spoke even softer than before. “Everypony only thinks you are because they don’t know the real you. I'll bet if you showed them, you could make some friends, and you won't be so lonely anymore.”

“I’m not lonely,” Nocturne snapped back, his strained voice losing all defiance. “I’ve lived out here for over twenty years. I didn’t have anypony, because I didn’t need anypony.”

“But don't you at least want to come out of this dreary old forest once in a while?”

“No. I don’t need to go out there. I never did. I just want to be left alone.”

At this, Nocturne heard Fluttershy sigh, but with none of his earlier roughness. She almost sounded like a tired, yet amused mother reacting to a precocious child. “You know, you might just be as confusing to me as I am to you,” she said, her voice still low and relaxed. “Why wouldn’t you want friendship? You can’t predict how ponies will treat you, so why choose to be so lonely?”

“It doesn't matter!” Nocturne roared, his wings shaking slightly, finally taking a few bold steps toward Fluttershy. “I'm in here, and they're out there! That’s all I care about! That’s all I ever cared about! So just let it go! I don’t care what you say, or how much you think you know me! I just don’t care! Just walk away and never come back! Turn around, walk out of my forest, and leave me alo—”

Stopped mid-word once again, Nocturne’s whole body stiffened when Fluttershy stepped up and did the last thing he expected her to do. She hugged him.

Fluttershy wrapped her forelegs around Nocturne and held him tightly for a good few seconds. The longer it went on, the more awkward Nocturne felt, as though he were suddenly the only thing in this scenario that was out-of-place. Self-awareness stabbed at him from all sides like dull knives, but Fluttershy’s soft fur, her sweet fragrance, her very presence, seemed to lessen the pain. Words could no longer express the bizarre feeling. Here he was, a pony that many considered a demon, being hugged—tenderly, lovingly, as if by an old friend—by a pony that even Nocturne had to admit showed the qualities of an angel.

By now, the awkwardness had forced Nocturne to speak, but Fluttershy’s gentle hug seemed to strangle the pugnacious attitude right out of him. The strain in his voice heightened his pitch slightly, making him sound genuinely confused and uncomfortable:

“. . . What are you doing?”

Still pressing herself tightly to him, Fluttershy’s voice was as serene as ever:

“Sometimes, all a pony needs is a big hug.”

Finally, the two parted, and Nocturne finally felt his rigid body slump in relaxation. He felt something he'd never felt before as far as he could remember: warmth. True warmth of the body and spirit that covered him from mane to hoof, as if Fluttershy were still pressing her soft fur against his, as if he could still breathe in the fragrant aroma of her mane. He had no words for it, but he now knew what it truly felt like. And now that he knew, he questioned why he'd struggled to avoid it for so long.

“You hugged me . . .” Nocturne drowned in his shock, “you . . . actually hugged me . . . no . . . nopony has ever hugged me before . . . .”

Fluttershy looked back at Nocturne as she answered, her face and voice just as soft and delicate as her fur and mane.

“You're not a bad pony, Nocturne. You've just been lonely for a long time. I know you'd feel so much better if you had a friend.”

Nocturne slowly sat down in the grass, still incapable of speech. She’d braved his wrath and called his bluff without so much as flinching. She’d had him figured out better than anypony before her. And she was still willing to be kind to him.

After everything I’ve done to her. After everything I put her through—scaring her to tears, hurting her friends, trying every second of the day to keep her away from me—she still feels this way about me. She’s still willing to reach out to me like this. After everything . . . after everything I’ve done . . . .

I’ve been wrong. I’ve been so wrong . . . .

“Umm . . .” Fluttershy finally spoke after a while, the pause seeming to force her, “. . . well, you must have a lot to think about, so . . . I'll just go now. Please remember what I said, Nocturne. I . . . I hope you feel better. I really do.”

Nocturne’s mind was blank. He didn't answer her. He didn't acknowledge her as she left the Everfree Forest. He did nothing but sit in the grass, staring at a knot in a tree and looking back on all the times he'd scared ponies away from his forest just for being there. Out of all those times, the day he met Fluttershy stood out in his mind the most. The way she'd looked, the way she'd shaken, the way she'd screamed, the way she'd shed walls of tears: every detail about that fateful day came back in vivid detail, more vivid than ever since it happened.

It was only now that each and every horrible detail sent an agonizing, inexplicable jab of guilt deep into Nocturne's heart. All Nocturne knew for sure was that the question was no longer about why Fluttershy did what she did. It was no longer about how Fluttershy could still struggle to maintain kindness after all she'd been through.

Now, at last, the question was:

How could I treat her so shamefully after all she's done for me? She doesn't even know me.

All she knew was that he needed a friend. Fluttershy knew that better than anypony. She even knew that better than Nocturne himself.

And now, he knew too.

Comments

[CaioCoia]

BRAVO BRAVO BRAVOOOO!

Lightning, you did a most perfect chapter I ever read in this fiction. I can't wait for more.

[ConfettiColored]

7522516 My favorite is still the chapter where Rainbow Dash wasn't an asshole.

[L0rd0f7hund3r]

D'awww!

[Grekoy]

7522627 Double D'awwww.

[Necron Lord]

Hey, does anyone else wanna be an American idiot?

[TheOneAJ]

That's more like it ^^
Not kiss, kiss!

[EchoWing]

Fantastic. Letter perfect, this chapter.

[The A I]

more! please!

[ThePieBeam]

It's about Fukien time!