Chapter 2: Initial Recoveries
Applejack, Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie stood watching Twilight and Spike walk off toward the castle, and Fluttershy toward her cottage.
"Wal," said Applejack, looking down the southwest road. "Ah'd better get me down to Sweet Apple Acres. It's been almost a week since Ah've seen the ol' family farmstead. Ah'm sure there's work there a-waitin' for me." She took a half-hearted step in that direction, then turned back to look at her friends again, her expression wistful. She felt strangely unwilling to part from her friends tonight.
"I told the Cakes that I'd be gone the whole week," said Pinkie Pie. "I'm sure they can wait till tomorrow for me. I could come with you and keep you company while you're working -- maybe even help a little?"
"Ah don't know," Applejack said, "It's Sweet Apple Acres -- we Apples can handle it all by our own selves ..."
"Why Applejack, I'm an Apple too!" said Pinkie, bouncing right up to Applejack's nose and staring down her muzzles at her. "At least a fifth cousin twice removed, maybe? And I'm one of your best friends. That means I get to help!"
"Yeah," said Rainbow Dash, trying to look casual, "and with Pinkie helping ya, you'd better have me to help you clean up after her help!" She smiled. "Cloud Kicker's in charge of the Weather Patrol the rest of the week. It's not like I'm doing anything more important ..."
A broad grin spread across Applejack's face. "Wal ... sure, why not!" She looked at Rainbow Dash narrowly. "But Ah really do want you helping, then," she said. "Not just sleeping on clouds when there's work to be done." She started walking down the road, Pinkie Pie bouncing and Rainbow Dash flying slowly beside her.
"Eh," said Rainbow Dash. "I work so fast that I run out of work to do. I bet I get all my part of the chores done before you're nearly finished. If I do, you do all the chores next time!"
"Yer on," said Applejack, giving her Pegasus friend a tight little smile. "And if you don't, you do twice as many next time."
"Ain't gonna happen," said Rainbow Dash. examining her own right forehoof as if it was the most attractive object she'd ever seen. "I'm just that much more amazing than you. Beat you every time, and with time to spare."
"We'll see about that," said Applejack. Despite her doubting words, her tone was warm. She wanted Pinkie and Dashie with her when she was reunited with her family. They both understood what she'd been through. Her family couldn't. She didn't want her family to have to understand. Bad enough they'd experienced the Day of Discord; they'd been lucky in that Tirek hadn't gotten to Sweet Apple Acres before she and Twilight and the others had beaten the monstrous centaur. She was really glad they'd never have to suffer the Sameness.
"How come Pinkie isn't doing this challenge?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"Heh," said Applejack. "You don't rightly want her to. Pinkie's almost as hard-working as me, and she can move mighty fast when she's doing something."
"Yep!" said Pinkie cheerfully, bouncing all around the road, running up trees and poking her head down from the foliage. "I'm super speedy!" She began humming some song to herself, singing stray snatches of it, including the refrain 'Filli-Second.'
"You really liked that enchanted comic book," observed Applejack.
"Yeppers!" affirmed Pinkie, bouncing between trees like a living pinball. "That's why I do her sometimes. Filli-Second."
"Ah'm not even sure how that's possible," commented Applejack. She often found herself saying that around Pinkie Pie.
"It's Pinkie-possible," laughed Rainbow Dash. "That's why she's so cool."
The three mares laughed as they went down the road to Sweet Apple Acres, enjoying each other's friendship.
Rarity reached the door of the Carousel Boutique. Am I being followed? she wondered, and cast a look behind herself. All there was were the lights of Ponyville, shining wan through the cold mist. As she stood there, the mist thickened, and it began to sprinkle.
Good gracious, she thought, I'll catch my death of cold standing around out there. She opened her front door, stepped inside, and with a sigh of relief closed the door behind her and uncapped the soft magelights.
As always, the multi-spectral glimmer of the magelights off the lovely clothes surrounding her reminded her of why she'd stayed with magelights even as Ponyville electrified. Magelights were more expensive than electric lights, but electric lights were harsh, and distorted colors seen under them. With magelighting, Rarity could see the fabrics in their true colors as they would look by daylight, and thus work more accurately and precisely even when the Sun went down.
She drank in the beauty around her. Her clothes looked wonderful on the poniquins, and would look even better adornng the right Ponies. That was her job and her joy; to spread beauty around her, to make the whole world more fabulous. Anypony could clothe a Pony, if all that was needed was material to retain body warmth in a layer of trapped air between coat and fabric. It took skill and talent to clothe a Pony in such a manner that her hidden and beautiful dreams became apparent to all who viewed her.
Rarity remembered those hideous sacklike cloaks at Our Town, and shuddered. When she'd first seen those, she'd known deep in her soul that there was something very wrong with the place. Her rational mind had told her that it was just a little, out-of-the-way village, which couldn't attract a competent clothier. She really should have paid more attention to her instincts about the clothes, and the still, small voice within her that had been telling her that the social pattern of the place was all wrong.
She should have warned Twilight. But she hadn't wanted to be too finicky. Rarity had a strong sense of beauty, was easily repulsed by rather minor squalor, and when she went on missions with Twilight Sparkle, often found herself in places which were far from ideal. Rarity was an aesthete, but no coward: she would not let her friends down because the surroundings she had to enter were unpleasant. Everything couldn't be pleasant summer picnics in White Tail Park, or garden parties at the Palace at Canterlot.
Pity they can't be, she thought. Maybe someday, I can make the whole world beautiful.
Memory lashed at her. Such arrogance! she chided herself. I can't even make my own life beautiful! She walked into the room, pulled over a couch, and collapsed upon it. What was I doing to Spike? I was so needy, so hungry for his love, as if I were some sort of Changeling. Or something less mentionable. I terrified the poor dear little drake. That look he gave me, as if he were horrified. That's not what I want to see on somepony I'm about to kiss.
I finally showed him my true self, and he was revolted. And why not? I was behaving revoltingly. That's not how one behaves when one wishes to share a first real kiss with a beloved. That's more like a debauched old roue attempting to corrupt some innocent young schoolfilly. Which is, of course, what I really am, despite all my pretensions. I was corrupted when I was an innocent young schoolfilly, and now all I can do is spread my misery. She buried her head in her forelegs.
Spike thought I was better than that, but now he's finally seen the real me -- pathetic and desperate, selfish, and of questionable morals. A corrupter of innocence. I am not a good Pony. He's seen the real me now, and he'll never respect me as he did before.
It's a good thing that he's seen it at last. That silly, self-destructive crush of his on a Rarity who never really existed can end, and he can move on -- grow up, find love with somepony his own age. Somepony who can love him back as he deserves to be loved. And as for me -- perhaps I'll just lie on this couch forever, until I waste away to a mummy, and then blow away in dust when somepony opens the door! She rolled on her back, threw all her legs out in a helpless posture, wallowed in self-pity.
Well, I suppose not, she finally decided. I have orders to fill, work that's piled up while I was gone. I can't get the dresses done if I'm wasting away to a mummy. She rolled back onto her belly, sat up, contemplated the Boutique. I might as well get started tonight, she reflected. I got more than enough rest on that long train trip.
So comforting her sorrow with routine, Rarity went back to work.
Fluttershy flung open the door to her cottage. "I'm home!" she declared joyfully.
As she stepped in her animals flocked around her. Spike had been caring for them, and they were healthy enough, but they were never really happy when they'd been too long without seeing her. She was their most trusted friend, their leader, their Queen -- and in a very particular sense that sometimes worried her -- but not for long because she was too glad whenever they were around.
Angel Bunny hopped up and chittered at her, chiding her for spending so long away from home.
"I'm glad to see you too," Fluttershy said, "and I'm very sorry that I couldn't get back sooner. I was being just a little bit held prisoner by a very mixed-up mage," she explained. "I was really worried about all of you."
Angel Bunny hopped up and down, furiously declaring that he would rip that mage to bits for daring to keep Fluttershy from him.
"I don't doubt that you would," replied Fluttershy. "And I don't doubt that Starlight Glimmer would have had a fight on her hands."
Fluttershy was actually glad Angel hadn't been there -- she imagined that Angel would really have attacked the warlock, and perhaps gotten badly hurt, or worse, in the process. Angel was sometimes a bit too brave for his own good, though also too brave for the good of anyone at whom he was seriously angry. "Heh, you don't have a Cutie Mark for her to steal."
Fluttershy nuzzled Angel Bunny, and he calmed down, hugging her. It was obvious that he had been badly worried about her, which is why he had been so upset. Angel could be difficult at times, but his heart was most definitely in the right place.
The other animals clustered around Fluttershy, forming a rough circle around her. Birds came out and flitted about her head. Ferrets, rats, mice and a couple of badgers were all companionable in her presence, which brought peace between all species, even those who normally saw one another as predators or prey. All those who were her special friends were hereafter friendly to one another, for their loyalty to their Queen transcended any previous considerations. Fluttershy was herself barely aware of the psychic radiations by which she made this so, though she was glad of it.
Fluttershy warmly greeted each new arrival, reaffirming their special connections with her. Finally she closed her eyes and stood there in perfect happiness, eyes closed, drinking in the love from each tiny soul. She could have easily destroyed them, but it did not even occur to her that this was a possibility, for she felt love for them fully the equal of the love they felt for her. She would never have harmed any of them, not even the least.
She tapped only a little energy from each soul, gauging it by her empathic bond with them, making sure never to drain any dangerous quantity. She paid and would pay for it by feeding them and tending to them, ensuring that they would enjoy happy and succesful lives, far beyond that of those of their kinds who did not share this symbiosis. On her own, out of kindness and caring, long before she had realized what she was doing and why she was doing this, Fluttershy had formed her own Hive and Reconciliation; and hers would long outlast the cruel and dark domain that her parent was building hundreds of miles to the southwest.
As she did this, something huge and hairy came through the door. She could sense his soul, his life, and without even turning, her own soul reached forth and caressed her large dear friend. Harry, a full-grown male brown bear, reached out with his mighty clawed forepaws, either of which might have ended her life in a single motion, and swept her up into a loving embrace. In that embrace she happily nestled as if a foal in the arms of her parents, and in his great strength she knew herself to be entirely safe.
The love flooded into her from Angel, from Harry, from all sides, feeding her and fully-restoring her powers.
You meant to take this from me, she thought to an absent Starlight Glimmer, not grasping what you were taking. I'm sure that you thought you were doing good, thought that you were being nice and helping me make friends, that friendship was only possible between creatures that were all the same. But I and my animal friends are all very different from one another. And yet we are true friends. So I know you're wrong about that.
I wish we could have been friends. Sometimes the strangest people can make the best friends. She smiled briefly, thinking of a pair of red-and-yellow eyes and a mismatched body and very strange soul which had, against all expectations, become very dear to her. But you won't let me be me. And you hurt my friends. And if you try to hurt my friends again -- I will fight you. I don't really want to, but I will.
I am Fluttershy, and I am free.
She basked in the love of her Hive.
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It figures that Rarity got hit the hardest and feels the worst. She might look like the pony she thinks she is but when you get right down to it, Starlight is more a shadow archetype of her than she is Twilight's. She wants to make the world better by enhancing who ponies are, not by taking it away 'for their own good.'
6448475
"Amatovoric" = "love eating." Fluttershy can gain psychic power by consuming Love.
I'm not sure I understand what Pinkie means by "doing" Filli-Second. Imitating? Imagining herself in her place once more? Just singing fan songs?
In any case, Rarity's definitely going to need to confront this more directly. She's slapped a bandage on a sucking chest wound; this is something that needs friends to take care of it. One specific friend in her case, though I'm not sure if she'll be able to work up the courage to face him on her own. I find myself hoping he can take the initiative.
And Fluttershy... Starlight has made a very powerful enemy this day. Well, several powerful enemies, but Fluttershy really stands out. On a lighter note, it amuses me how blurry the line is between Disney princess and changeling queen.
And Twilight is conspicuous in her absence. What's she up to? And does it play into her imminent discomfort with her castle?
6448638
Manifesting her power set. Which should be impossible, as Applejack points out.
There is a part of Rarity that loathes herself. One of the reasons she loves Spike's company so much is that Spike reassures her that she's a good Pony. That's why she feels so bad about having hurt Spike. She fears that Spike now despises her. And she despises herself for having given him cause.
Yes, she overdramatizes things. But then, this is Rarity. To some extent, being melodramatic goes all the way down to her core.
I probably shouldn't tell you Spike's opinion, as it's technically a spoiler. But I think you can guess it.
Remember, Fluttershy started out by liking Our Town. And, by extension, Starlight Glimmer. I actually think that if Starlight Glimmer hadn't gone mad years before they met each other, they might have become friends.
The Changelings used to be the Flutter Ponies, defenders and managers of the Earth's ecosystems. They are eusocial and require the inspiration of positive affect to survive. Their own fear is what forces them to live in the shadows; the obvious alternative of symbiosis exists, and impels them to help rather than harm their hosts.
Chrysalis is brilliant, an extremist and innovator. In the main worldine she has become insanely aggressive, evil and predatory. In another world, we have this Changeling Queen
img07.deviantart.net/ed13/i/2014/228/5/7/reflection_chrysalis_by_f_nar-d7vd4b2.jpg
who is a lot more like Fluttershy, and who is that world's Element of Love, a benevolent and honorable being who acts for the benefit of all life on Earth. In that case, Chryssie's brilliance and extreme innovations have brought the Changelings out of the shadows, into an earlier Reconciliation with Ponykind, much as Fluttershy will do in the Shadow Wars Story Verse.
"Heh, you don't have a Cutie Mark for her to steal."
I still imagine foals raised by Glimmer would end up with NATURAL Equal marks.
6449109
... and bizarre psychological problems.
Oh, poor Rarity. She's been emotionally devastated by what Glimmer did to her, and she's going to need a LOT of support to get through this, if she can bring herself to accept it. Thankfully she's got her friends and Spike and little Sweetie. At least she has someone.
I do wonder though what may happen with the other Our Town ponies. Depending on how much damage was done, they may end up going back to Glimmer so she can remove their Cutie Marks again.
And yeah, it takes work to make Fluttershy angry at you, but once you've done it you've made an unforgiving enemy.
Her what now? When did that happen?
6452449
At birth. But the reason why is explained in Fluttershy Is Free. Which you don't need to read either Dragonshyness or A Robust Solution to understand, as I actually wrote those stories in inverse chronological order.
6452469
Apparently I'll need to read something at least to understand what's even going on in this story... Sorry, it was nothing personal, it's just one of situations that always end up throwing me for a loop. It's the reason I really hate author canon. I always end up reading a story that's otherwise written perfectly well, but where I don't get what half of what it is actually about because it's chock-full of callbacks and constantly referring to other stories that I also haven't read yet. It makes for a really frustrating reading experience, you know?
6452490
I don't know what to say, except that while that particular piece of my fanon is probably not what the writers of the show mean to be the case, it's well-supported in Fluttershy's actual abilities and personality as shown in canon -- especially if one considers that the most famous representative of her paternal Kind is very atypically aggressive for that Kind.
6452501
Sorry, I wasn't really expecting anything, just venting a bit. This is like the third story I've stumbled over this week that apparently has God knows how much background to it that I'd need to read first to actually get any of the references. I wasn't really commenting on the backstory, by itself that makes as much sense as anything, I suppose.
6452523
I will point out that every single story I've written on this site takes place either in the same background, or in alternate universes which have the same background. World of Illusions takes place in my main EG universe, and Substitute Mentor partly in the main EG universe and partly in an alternate EG universe. Getting Stuck and An Epistolary Legal Consultation Between Princesses in an alternate of my main verse where the one POD is the appearance of the Human Charlie Yu (a fool). Some stories take place in the future, notably Love Amongst Monsters (a few years in the future), Love Starved and The Fall of Hive Hunger-Prime (about ten years in the future) and Twelfth Equestriad Interview (about forty-three years in the future). Some take place in the past, notably Corruption At Midnight (about about a millennium and a half before Luna's Return) and Collateral Damage (nineteen years before Luna's Return). They mostly make reference to one another.
6452683
I'll be sure to remember. And thanks for that list, by the way. This would all be a lot more convenient and less bothersome if more big story collections at least had a decent index or glossary like that.
6452726
Thank you. Well, the main list is actually on my page -- but I need to update it -- I don't have some of my newest work (including Post-Traumatic itself) on that list.
6452744
Well, that's helpful anyway. I'll admit, looking at your user page wouldn't have occurred to me. In my defense, most authors don't actually ever seem to put much there, nevermind a decent list of which of their stuff goes where.
So Fluttershy is Chrysalis' daughter...all i can say is, media.giphy.com/media/HtBKcjpHfD7s4/giphy.gif
But does that mean she is a changeling or only part? Guess im gonna read on to find out
so flutters is part changeling
memecrunch.com/meme/9FAPL/dafuq/image.jpg
that came right out of no where
a little exposition next time or is this part of an alternate universe that is already establised
Okay, so your fanon is in full effect here I see, with Fluttershy being Chrysalis' daughter (have I got that right) and Rarity having a dark and trouble past. Interesting. Again, very well written. I'm not entirely sure whether Fluttershy is bouncing back the best because she's naturally resilient or because she's emotionally succubusing her animals for support.
. . .
WOW Fluttershy with a grudge. . . .
I'm not sure how to feel about that.
6452744
*long slow blink*
I... am a moron.
Back on topic, how badly did Thorax and the Restored Flutter Ponies throw a wrench in your Future stories? Stories set in the future, that is. I think one of your posts on this chapter mentioned that one of them was Changeling related.