Act IV - Ch. 36 Willful Resistance
Chapter 36 Willful Resistance
***
The train’s shrill call shrieked through the station. The attendant, idly hoofing through a magazine, barely looked up. Her drooping-eyelids didn’t even twitch, at least not until she glanced lazily at the platform, just as the sound of metal shod hooves reached her. The noise preceded the formation of soldiers that streamed from the train. Their suspicious eyes scanned every inch of the station, including the attendant. The desk between her and the outside world felt much less sturdy against their intrusive stares.
Pinkie Pie bounced out, her own shrill call outdoing the train’s. She paused for a moment, and to the ponies around her, it seemed as though she was simply soaking in the air of Ponyville.
“We’re ho~oooooooome!” she sung, her voice unusually off-beat.
“I didn’t think I would be back here again anytime soon,” Octavia mused. The little station, to her eyes, looked identical to the way it had been on her last, ill-fated trip.
Vinyl gave her a grin, following her ‘friend’ off the train. “Welcome back to paradise then. I guess we’ll be staying at my place again.”
Suppressing a ‘minor’ twinge of jealousy - Vinyl made enough to own a home in Ponyville while renting with her in Canterlot - Octavia made way for the pair behind them on the station platform. Paladin and Fluttershy wasted no time clearing the platform, leaving Shining Armour to bring up the rear.
“We’re going to secure the town, set up patrols and organise for keeping an eye on all of you,” he informed them as they strode from the station. “I’ll be at the mayor’s office if you need me. Tell Twilight she can find me there.”
Paladin nodded. “We shall. We’re going to the hospital. I would wager she’ll be there, if any of the others are. Knowing Rainbow Dash…”
Shuddering, Fluttershy nodded. “Oh my yes, Rainbow Dash…”
“Rainbow Dash!” added Pinkie, just to feel included. She peered at them curiously. “Why are we saying Rainbow Dash and trailing off meaningfully?”
It was a stroke of good fortune that Shining Armour interjected with, “Let me just assign you your guards and you can be on your way.”
Brow furrowed, Paladin felt a moment of clarity. “That reminds me. The guard from before, he said I was a ‘superior officer.’ Why?”
“...because you are?” Eyebrow raised at Paladin, Shining Armour turned back to the orderly formation. “Lieutenant Steel Watch! Sergeant Fixed Sight! Private Critical Hit! Front and centre!”
Three ponies, among them the guard who had ignited Paladin’s questions, a rather familiar unicorn who made Paladin wince guilty, and a pegasus mare, stepped forth.
“Steel, you’re with Knight-Commander Paladin. Private Critical Hit, you’re with Pinkie Pie.” Shining Armour was far too professional to openly smirk at the look on Critical Hit’s face. So instead he did it on the inside. “Fixed Sight, you’re with Fluttershy. They are not to be out of your line of sight or presence, and you are to be vigilant at all times.”
Paladin kept his silence long enough for Shining Armour to detail who would replace who, and when, and all the other very important details the pegasus found he didn’t care about. It rather surprised him, that he was seeing the Equestria military at last and right now he just didn’t care. At all. He waited with as much patience as he could muster for Shining Armour to be done, and led the captain far enough for some privacy.
“Being named a knight came with a military rank?” Paladin asked, wasting no time. “I don’t remember being informed of this. Or being asked.”
Shining Armour hesitated, caught by surprise. “Well, given what I’ve been told, I didn’t think you would find it much of an issue, or a surprise. I was actually expecting you to try talking me out of the guards, honestly.”
“The attacks are clearly planned and deliberate. Guards will be intrusive, but I can’t really argue about that. I’m sure at least one of the others will, however,” pointed out Paladin.
“We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. For now, I need to talk to the mayor and get this organised. Ponyville will not be taken by surprise, not again.” A fierce light shone in Shining Armour’s eyes as he spoke, and Paladin had little trouble imagining why.
There was a sinister motive behind the corruptions and attacks. Whoever was after the angelic essence was using the friends or contacts of his friends as though in dark mockery of them. Of those attacks, all had been clearly directed or linked to different ponies. Only two were left unmolested by the dark plot.
“Nopony will touch her,” Paladin growled. He paused, blinking at his own tone.
Shining raised his eyebrow again, a small smile tugging at the corner of his lips. “Well, if I can sound half as determined to protect Twilight as you are to protect Fluttershy, I don’t think we’ll have anything to worry about.”
The valiant Captain refused to delay Paladin any further, promising to go into more detail about the responsibilities of his rank. Privately, Shining Armour felt it would be unneeded. All he had heard and seen of Paladin so far had indicated that he was a pony who would, and could, shoulder great burdens. The burden of command was unlikely to be a particular alien weight upon him.
***
“I can’t believe this worked.”
Twilight poked the empty shell. Her aura flickered about it for a moment before dissipating. She wasn’t sure who to glare at; the shell, Rainbow Dash, or the tortoise.
“Why did you even consider it?” she demanded.
Cool as the proverbial cucumber, Rainbow Dash shrugged nonchalantly. “Just came to me.”
Shaking her head, Twilight heaved a weary sigh. “Just asking Tank shouldn’t have worked! He doesn’t have any angel magic left in him. It makes no sense, none at all.”
Rainbow Dash eased a leaf of lettuce into reach of Tank’s mouth. She failed to react to Twilight’s mini-freakout, instead enjoying the peace and relaxation of shovelling food at her wonderful pet.
“I’m getting bored,” she said, yawning. “I’ve had way more peace and quiet than I can handle!”
“Rainbow, you fought a possessed Gilda, your pet grew into a giant, and you ended up trapped in a half-shell that somehow negated all magic and came off because you asked your pet to let you out of it.” Twilight fixed her friend with a flat stare. “How much peace and quiet could you have possibly gotten?”
“Too much, duh,” came Dash’s reply. The smart answer just got her a glare from Twilight. “Pfft, calm down, Twi’, geez. You’ll work it out. You’re super smart, and your brain is all super-charged by angelness.”
Twilight sighed, and shook her head at Rainbow’s complacency. “I want to, but I can’t. Now that you’re out of the shell, I have other things to focus on. Like getting the essence out of Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom, and the mare coming down from Canterlot.”
Dash’s ear flicked towards Twilight. “That reminds me…” She didn’t look up as she spoke, her attention focused on Tank. “You weren’t sure about the spell you used, right? That’s why you didn’t use it on the girls?”
Nodding, Twilight didn’t notice the way Rainbow Dash tensed. “Yes. There’s a risk of doing damage if I remove the essence incorrectly.”
Twilight blinked, and suddenly Rainbow Dash was right in her face.
“And you used it on Tank?!” Rainbow Dash stared into her eyes, hard, mouth pressed into a grim line.
Yelping, the unicorn backed up. “Uh, well, yes! It was much less-”
“Important?”
“No!” Twilight shook her head. She pressed a hoof to her chest. “Rainbow Dash, I swear, I didn’t just do it on Tank because I considered him ‘less important’. I promise I wasn’t using him as a test subject. He lacks natural magic, and he has a lot less spiritual energy, so I was able to do it with very, very little chance of hurting him.”
Rainbow Dash’s disgruntled expression didn’t fade, but she nodded. “So, there was still a chance, huh?” She rolled on, ignoring Twilight’s attempt to interject. “You could have hurt Tank?”
“I...yes. Yes, I could have.” Taking a deep breath, Twilight’s expression steadied with resolve. “Something could have gone wrong. But if I did nothing, even more could have gone wrong. I promise, I Pinkie Promise, that I didn’t risk it because I thought Tank was unimportant. I did it because it was safest option we had.”
They stared silently at each other, Rainbow Dash’s gaze intense, until at last the pegasus grunted and went back to feeding Tank.
“Alright. Cool. Just...ask me, or something, before you use weird angel magic on Tank, okay?” Dash’s voice could, if one were willing to venture a guess, have held a faint note of concern for the tortoise happily munching on his lunch.
Twilight nodded. Right now wasn’t the time to remark that she didn’t have much way of doing so at the time, she decided. Instead, the scholarly mare just smiled reassuringly at her friend.
“I’ll do my best, I…”
Rainbow Dash didn’t ask why Twilight had trailed off. They both stared, their eyes glazing over as a queer sensation washed over them. For a moment, concern, hope and relief flooded them, a confusing mix of emotions that came from neither of them. The moment passed, a feeling of a lock sealing shut cutting off the tide.
“Fluttershy!” They cried at the same time. Rainbow Dash barely stopped to pick up Tank, sweeping him onto her back before she launched from her bed and out into the hall. Twilight galloped after her, at least until a shout to stop running in the halls slowed her down.
Rainbow Dash, of course, simply opted for a much more direct method. Her wings began to glow, the hospital entrance forming in her mind, only a step away.
“And no teleporting!” added Nurse Redheart, scowling. She got an eye-roll back from Rainbow Dash, who just zoomed past her. She looked to her other patient, and the stack of paperwork in front of him. “At least you never tried to teleport into the staff room because you wanted your lunch sooner.”
Big Macintosh nodded, his mouth occupied by the quill that danced across the paper. He had rather beautiful mouth-writing, nopony could deny that, even while filling out detail after tedious detail on release forms.
Fluttershy was not, in fact, at the entrance. Rainbow Dash looked around, confused. She beheld no nervous, worrying pegasus, nor her oversized stony-faced shadow. She did find a pair of guards, taking position flanking the doors and eyeing everypony in sight like they were about to sprout mismatching horns and snapping fingers.
“Wow, Fluttershy sure knows how to bring back souvenirs!” she cackled, trotting up to one. The guardsmare did nothing, simply continuing her constant vigil. “So, where’d she get you? Palace gift store?”
Evidently of the opinion that Rainbow Dash was less of a comedian than the pegasus thought, the guardsmare‘s expression didn’t even waver. A putout frown spread across Rainbow Dash’s muzzle, and she sighed with a roll of her eyes.
“Geez, fine, no fun. Since we’re at a hospital, maybe you guys could see somepony about getting those sticks removed from your-” Dash went on until a loud cough surprised her.
“Operating with your usual tact and good grace, I see.” Paladin raised an eyebrow at her. “Scootaloo caught us as we came in, and wanted us to meet your ‘awesome friend’. I decided to wait for the inevitable. Thank you for making it worth it.”
Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes again. “Whatever happened in Canterlot can’t be that bad, if you’re grinning like that.”
The slight upwards twitch at the corner of his lips that constituted ‘grinning’, relatively speaking, fell down. “I’m not grinning.”
“Aw, come on, you so-”
“RAINBOW DASH!”
The guards very nearly smirked at the bird-like squawk of surprise Dash let out. Pink hooves fastened to her from behind, keeping Dash from taking off. Pinkie nuzzled her, holding tight.
“I WAS SO WORRIED-”
“Volume,” Paladin cut in.
“-about you! Whoopsy, my bad,” giggled Pinkie. She let go of Rainbow Dash enough for the pegasus to clamp her hooves over her laid-flat ears. “I can’t hear myself right, so I kind of shouted and don’t worry, your ears probably still work better than mine!”
“Wha-” Rainbow Dash shook her head, clearing the ringing. “Celestia you’re loud. What was that about ears?”
Pinkie’s reply took a moment too long, though Paladin doubted Rainbow Dash noticed the way Pinkie leaned forward to make sure she could hear, or the look on her face that screamed to him that she wasn’t sure if she had heard right. The glimpse of Pinkie’s uncertainty quickly vanished, though, behind a wide smile.
“Nothing! Don’t worry! I’m just glad you’re okay. Every time something big happens lately, you seem to get beaten up! Like some sort of punching bag! That every big evil thing punches. Or kicks. Or throws into things. Or gets tail-whipped. Or-” Pinkie fell silent, thanks largely to the hoof jammed into her mouth.
“Yeah, I get it.” With an irritated huff, Rainbow Dash pulled her hoof back out. “Come on, let’s go inside. Hey, Vinyl and... whatsherface.”
Octavia, lingering off to the side with her friend and their own escorts, unnoticed in all the fuss, grimaced. She gave Vinyl a shove when the DJ snickered.
“Yo, Dash.” Vinyl Scratch smirked. “We were gonna go in, but Tavi got all nervous and wanted to wait out here.”
“I just said we don’t need to go in there,” snapped Octavia. “We need to find Twilight Sparkle, not random doctors.”
The doors swung open, and the inexorable pull of Octavia’s words yanked Twilight into their presence. It could have been easily mistaken for Twilight walking out the hospital to find them all clogging it up, of course. She broke into a wide smile.
“Pinkie! Paladin!....you two…” Twilight’s expression dropped into badly concealed uncertainty. “Uh...Octavia! I’m so sorry, my mind was elsewhere. Octavia and Vinyl Scratch! I’m so glad you could make it, I got the Princess’s letter, and I already think I have a lead on how to go about removing the essence.”
“That’s the...thing, inside me?” Octavia fidgeted, suddenly finding herself feeling far too exposed outside.
Pinkie was already dragging Rainbow Dash inside, insisting her Pinkie Sense was telling her something really good was happening. Paladin left Twilight with a small greeting, leaving her to take charge of Vinyl and Octavia, and a promise to give her a full description of what had happened.
He wondered who, exactly, it was Fluttershy had hurried off to see. Whoever it was, he was going to find out why such a reaction had been caused. He strode in, too deep in his musing to think to ask the nurse Fluttershy had overheard before bolting off.
***
Gilda cracked open one eyelid, peeking out. She sealed it again at the sight that greeted her, suppressing a shudder.
‘Just hope really hard, and it’ll go away,’ she thought desperately. The shift of weight on her bed told her that despite her very fervent hopes, her tormenter wasn’t leaving her be. ‘What did I do to deserve this sort of punishment?! Oh, right...’
She peeked again, and got an eyeful of curious filly.
“Uh...is it time for the next story?” Scootaloo asked. She sat perched there patiently, an expectant look on her face.
‘Please go away.’ “Sure,” Gilda groaned, sitting up. “How about…”
“Uh…”
They looked at the door at the same time. Fluttershy jerked back, nearly shutting the door. After a moment, she eased it back and shyly leaned in.
“G-Gilda?”
“Fluttershy! Do you know her too? Gilda has been telling me all these great stories about Rainbow Dash! Some of them were really funny too.” Scootaloo jumped off the bed, and trotted over to pull Fluttershy in.
The older pony let it happen, barely paying attention to Scootaloo’s eager chatter. She could read Gilda’s expression well enough that she didn’t extend her angelic gift. Fluttershy focused on keeping it contained as she approached the griffon. Another loss of control would be rather embarrassing, but hopefully she wouldn’t wander past a pair of nurses discussing a surprise griffon patient.
“...yes, I know her,” Fluttershy said with a nod. She took Scootaloo in hoof and gently pushed her towards the door. “Could you do me a favour, and check on Rainbow Dash? I’m sure she’ll want to see us.”
“Aww, okay. Thanks for all the stories, Gilda! It was nice meeting you, you aren’t nearly as mean as everypony says!” On that happy note, Scootaloo scurried from the room with a wide, happy smile.
“...I can’t believe that was a compliment…” Gilda muttered. She ran a talon through her head feathers, very carefully avoiding meeting Fluttershy’s gaze.
Fluttershy sat next to the bed. Try as she might, she couldn’t help detecting a faint touch of Gilda’s emotions. “I think it was very nice of you, taking the time to talk with her.”
“Dash dropped her on me. Guess she was getting back at me.” Still, Gilda didn’t look up. She just kept her eyes trained away from Fluttershy. ‘Come on, just say it….say it, before she says something else...’ “I...uh...I…”
Fluttershy patted her talon. Gilda twitched, and managed not to claw her bedsheets.
“It’s okay,” said Fluttershy, her kind words like a knife right in the heart. “You don’t have to say it.”
“I do!” Rage brought the words boiling out of Gilda. Her head snapped up, but the glare in her eyes wasn’t for Fluttershy anymore than the anger was. “I should say it! And don’t say anything stupid like you’ve forgiven me for screaming at you last time, and bullying you whenever Dash wasn’t looking. I don’t deserve it, and I don’t want you to just throw it at me out of pity.”
Taken aback, Fluttershy pursed her lips for a moment of thought. Whatever had happened to Gilda, it had certainly changed her. The Gilda she knew had never apologised, save for the rare exception when Rainbow Dash had caught her being mean to Fluttershy. Of course, though she would always deny it, Rainbow Dash was far more soft-hearted than she let on, and in her eagerness for her two friends to get on, she bought every excuse.
“And don’t get me started on Rainbow Dash! Apparently she thinks leaving me with the midget will convince me she trusts me, that I deserve to be her friend or some shit, but she’s wrong! I was trying to kill her last night, how much more does she need? I got turned into a monster hunting one friend, abandoned the first new friend I’ve made in years out in the middle of nowhere, and she still thinks I should be her friend?” Gilda looked to be on the verge of ripping her feathers out. She panted as she vented her feelings in a most explosive fashion. “Is she just stupid or something?”
“Gilda, that’s not at all nice to say,” Fluttershy didn’t realise she was saying it until it was out. Once it was, she couldn’t take it back, so with a gulp she went all in. “I came to see you as soon as I heard you were here. I forgive you, Rainbow Dash forgives you, and nothing you can say will change the fact that she wants you to be her friend. I might not know them, but I’m sure your other friend will do the same.”
Now it was Gilda’s turn to be taken aback. She stared with blatant shock at Fluttershy, trying to reconcile the meek filly she had known with the mare now watching her with determination and kindness in her eyes, her voice firm and so certain Gilda almost believed her.
“I-”
“You,” went on Fluttershy, adding ‘interrupted’ to the list of things she had never done to Gilda before. “Are frightened and guilty and want to make up for what happened so badly, and that’s why you do deserve friends.”
Passion filled Fluttershy’s voice. Her focus centred on Gilda, she beheld for an instant the depths of Gilda’s guilt, and the conflicting fear of rejection that struggled with a self-conscious desire to not be alone. She knew Gilda was sorry, and that nothing in the world would stop her from finding a way to make amends for whatever she had done. That was all Fluttershy needed to know.
Shaking off her surprise, Gilda marshalled her final defense of self-loathing. “Yeah, well, find him, and maybe when I hear that he still wants to be my friend, I might buy it, dweeb. Heck, I’m not even sure he was my friend, just some guy who put up with me for a day or two.”
Fluttershy couldn’t help that some of her frustration escaped her control. Paladin’s reassuring presence grew stronger as he approached, reaching out to her. Tentative though their progress together had been, the bond between them left some things unsaid, and no need to give them voice.
“I don’t think that. Whoever he was, I’m sure he was your friend. Please, Gilda, give yourself a chance. We will.” Despite her effort to reach Gilda, Fluttershy could see the griffon had closed up, adamantly shaking her head.
“I told you. Why don’t you go search the whole countryside for him, then I’ll ‘give myself a chance’.” Biting out the caustic reply, Gilda folded her arms stubbornly. It was so easy to just close up, to spew abuse until Fluttershy came to the realisation that she really wasn’t worth the time. She groaned, burying her face in her claws. “Get lost, Klutzershy.”
With a faint sigh, Fluttershy stepped away. ‘I just need to give her a little bit more time.’
It turned out, that time was exactly the time it took Paladin to arrive. She opened the door for him, her intent simply to leave. Only Paladin’s bulk kept her from leaving, the bigger pegasus frozen in the doorway.
He stared past her, his shock bleeding into his marefriend, and his mouth dropped open. Paladin didn’t even respond when Fluttershy gently poked him.
“Uh…” She craned her neck, looking back at Gilda. “Is something wrong?”
“Well, you’re still here…..” Gilda’s voice fell away, her beak hanging open. She recovered, but her voice shook. “...n-no way, that’s not fair! I didn’t think you’d actually have him right outside!”
Fluttershy stared at her uncomprehendingly. Gilda was holding the sheets as though she was about to pull them over her head to hide, gripping them so tightly her talons were biting into the fabric. She looked back to Paladin, and he collected himself at a soft prod.
“Gilda! I feared the worst.” Paladin stode in, giving Fluttershy a grateful smile. “I never thought I would see you here.”
Gulping, Gilda lowered the bedsheet. “Uh, hey, dude...I’m sorry! Okay, there, I said it, go away!”
He paused, frowning, and looked at Fluttershy. “I’m certain it’s not normal to scream ‘go away’ after being thanked.”
Fluttershy put her curiosity aside to nod in agreement. “She’s just feeling a bit guilty right now.”
“I’m also right here!” Gilda squawked in protest.
“I see. She seemed much the same the last time I met her. I ran into her while travelling north, during Ardleon’s attack. Very guilty about having done a wrong to a friend, and missing her. Did she mean you?” he asked.
Fluttershy shook her head, gesturing to the door. “No, that was Rainbow Dash. She came to Ponyville, and they fought and….”
He looked back to Gilda, one eyebrow raised. “And you hid away in the mountains?”
“Oh, is that where you were? That must have been awfully lonely.” Fluttershy approached her again, her wide, kind eyes sparkling pools of worry. “Did you have enough food? Maybe I should tell the doctors, I hope they check your vitamins-
“Vitamins?!” Gilda threw her arms up, clamping her beak shut to contain a shriek of frustration. “What the hell is wrong with you ponies? I bullied one of you to tears, abandoned the other and lost your scarf, and I nearly killed the one, single pony I’ve thought of as my best friend! You’re not supposed to worry about my ‘vitamins’, you’re supposed to break out the pitchforks and torches! You don’t worry about me, you shouldn’t care about that, just hurry up and kick me out! Turn me out! Be angry! Do something and stop being so damn nice and caring because I don’t bucking deserve it!”
They endured her tirade with twin looks of alarm. She panted as her fury began to began to abate, the adrenaline fortifying her as she glared at them. The sheet hung in two pieces, ripped apart at some point she couldn’t quite recall.
“....I see. Fluttershy, if I may?” At her nod, Paladin cleared his throat. “Gilda, we discussed anger and guilt before. I don’t think-”
“Wait, was Klutzershy the mare you were running from?” cut in Gilda. She pressed her advantage while the remark had Paladin off balance. “Dude, not like you have to run far. She’d trip over herself after two steps.”
He fought down a flare of anger. “You’ve played your cards, Gilda. You can’t rant about how we should be angry at you, then try to make us angry. Believe me, you can not out maneuver me.”
“We’ll see about that!...not that I’m actually doing that, I mean!” Hunching her shoulders, Gilda attempted to rearrange her torn sheet for a few seconds before giving up and throwing it away in disgust. “Even the beds here suck! Get the mob so I can get out of here.”
Even as she began to protest, Fluttershy’s thoughts slipped to the letter she had received hours ago. Iron Will’s new seminar tour, to help bring out the best, to make a pony assertive without aggressive, which he boasted could help a pony who was timid or aggressive, and even offered anger management assistance.
‘I hope he didn’t mean just ponies...’
“Paladin.” She nudged him. “Maybe we should let Gilda rest? She’s endured so much. We can talk again later.”
For a moment, she feared he would refuse and continued to butt heads with the stubborn griffon. She breathed a sigh of relief when he nodded and, though clearly reluctant, let her lead the way out.
“I’ll be back, Gilda. You will forgive yourself, and realise you do have friends.” Though he didn’t intend it, there was a definite sense of ‘or else’ lingering unsaid at the end of the sentence. She scowled and let them go, arms crossed.
Fluttershy nuzzled him the moment the door shut behind. “Don’t worry,” she murmured. “I have an idea.”
He returned the gesture, saying nothing as they shared a little moment. Unfortunately, a loud snicker and exaggerated kissing sounds made his eyes snap up. Rainbow Dash continued to make the ‘kissy kissy’ sounds at them for a few seconds before exploding into even louder laughter.
“Let’s discuss that somewhere else,” he suggested, huffing a loud sigh. “Without the nut galley.”
“...um...I think you must have misheard that. Peanut gallery.” Despite her red cheeks, despite Rainbow Dash being a vicious moment killer, Fluttershy nuzzled him again. “I’m sure this will work.”
***
“No.” Shining Armour stood before the pair, his expression stern. His refusal echoed through the makeshift command centre he had turned the town hall into and was empty save for the three of them, making it feel even more empty. “I can’t allow that.”
Paladin leaned forward, almost defensively overshadowing Fluttershy. “We came to inform you out of politeness. We weren’t here for permission.”
“And I still said no. My responsibility is to set up my guards, organise to have all of you under constant guard, and ensure the next time this Scorpan monster attacks, he won’t be turning anypony in town into a monster.” Shaking his head, Shining Armour kept his voice neutral and his manner calm. He wasn’t here to fight them. He was here to protect them.
“B-but Gilda needs help, and I really think Iron Will would really be able to do that,” Fluttershy protested, her soft voice wavering. Paladin’s bulk shifted at her gentle insistence.
“Then you can send a letter to him,” replied Shining Armour. He shrugged. “I don’t see why that won’t be enough.”
She shook her head, a small frown forming. “I’m asking so much of him, when he has all his seminars planned. I can’t just ask him to leave all that in a letter. Please, it’s not far away.”
Fluttershy glanced at Paladin, and prayed he would do as he promised. Everything Shining was saying, he had said, and yet her heart warmed at his assurance he wouldn’t fight her on this. After all, as he’d said, he wanted to see if Shining Armour would stay the line on his own.
“Every minute further you and your guard are from reinforcements, you’re in even more danger. You could be attacked halfway between here and there, and nopony would be able to help.” Shining’s eyes narrowed. “For all we know, they could replace your guards and you would be completely helpless.”
He scanned the empty hall for a moment, his eyes intense, before calming from the odd bout of paranoia. Shining cleared his throat, his cheeks colouring when he saw the perplexed looks directed his way.
“So, yes, no, you can’t go.”
She gulped, butterflies in her stomach. Just thinking about Gilda’s emotional sense, what she had said, and even more what Rainbow Dash shared - after she had stopped making kissy-kissy sounds at them - about how Gilda had reacted to her, were enough to galvanise Fluttershy. Her face taking on a look determination, she shook her head.
“I... I could just go, and you couldn’t make me not.” The defiance gave her a little thrill, despite her nerves. Here she was, standing up to the Captain of the Guard! Granted, having seen him with the dull-witted expression of a changeling thrall made it a little bit easier to stave off intimidation.
More than anything, his reaction was surprise, and then, a chuckle. “Right. And I could erect a shield over the whole town to make sure you can’t. That would inconvenience a lot of ponies though, especially me. I’m meant to catch a train and be back in Canterlot in a few hours to report and get more preparations underway. So I would prefer not to have to do that.”
That brought Fluttershy’s frown back. “Oh my…well…”
Shining continued to watch her, his posture laid back but his vigilant gaze piercing her. It was harder to think of that dull-witted expression now.
She sighed. “I...guess I can just send a letter.” Fluttershy smiled weakly at Paladin, and his reassuring nuzzle did make her feel a bit better. Mostly, it just made her feel guilty.
“I’m sure he’ll still come,” he assured her. Paladin inclined his head to Shining Armour. “Captain. The shield won’t be necessary. Thank you for your time.”
He smiled, nodding. “It’s fine. Ah, but, I would appreciate if you stayed. I have some things to discuss.”
Paladin hesitated, glancing at Fluttershy. His ears laid back guiltily, but she nodded and gave him another nuzzle. Her cheeks lit up at doing it again so...so...so publicly! Some irrational little part of her whined that Shining was going to arrest them for public indecency, nuzzling like this all the time.
“It’s alright,” she said. “I know it must be important. I’ll see you later…”
‘Say it! Go on, say it! We’ve been on, well, it started as a date, so we’ve been on it. I can do it, just call him ‘dear’, or something, go on!’
“...”
The stallions watched, not understanding, as Fluttershy trailed off and her mouth moved silently. The red in her cheeks slowly grew, glowing through her yellow fur, until at last she gave up.
“B-bye!” Fluttershy squeaked, bolting.
“...goodbye?” Paladin called uncertainly. His mouth creased into a flat line, attacked by his own guilt. He wanted go after her, but….he doubted she would listen if he told her not to feel bad about not being able to convince Shining.
Their guilt overlapped through their bond. Outside, Fluttershy drew to a stop, panting and cringing in embarrassment. She flushed at the clop of her guard coming to a stop behind her. At the very least, her embarrassment might dull his sense of her guilt, guilt which only grew because she knew he was misunderstanding the source.
‘He’ll understand,’ Fluttershy told herself. ‘I mean, I didn’t actually say I wouldn’t go see Iron Will.’
***
“No. Way.” Rainbow Dash’s mouth hung open. “Noooooo way!”
Fluttershy cringed. “I’m sorry for asking, I guess I shouldn’t have-”
“Whoa! I didn’t mean no!” A blue hoof shot out, trapping Fluttershy in the room. A wide, excited grin to match any Pinkie had ever worn made Dash’s cheeks hurt as she giggled in excitement. “I mean, ‘no way, Fluttershy wants to break curfew’! That’s the most awesome thing ever!”
Fluttershy flinched. “W-well, it’s not like it’s a legal curfew or anything. I’m not breaking any real rules.”
Rainbow pulled her in with an arm around the neck. “Those are the best kind to break! Unwritten rules mean they can’t punish you, but you get to break them anyway!”
“Shhh!” Fluttershy surprised them both; her hoof shooting out to cover Dash’s mouth. She looked nervously at their guards. Neither appeared to have overheard, and she took her hoof away.
Immediately, a muffled squeal made Fluttershy jump in shock. Rainbow Dash caught her, squeezing in a tight hug.
“Oh my gosh oh my gosh oh my gosh, you want to trick the guards!” Despite her excitement, obvious as the moon at noon, Rainbow Dash kept her voice quiet. “You! Whoa, nopony will ever believe that you wanted to do something like this.”
“Well, I’d prefer you not tell anypony, please.” Fluttershy checked on the guards again. She hoped she didn’t look guilty, because that was certainly how she felt. “I already feel bad.”
Rainbow Dash’s reply was less than reassuring. “You’ll get used to it!” she said cheerfully. Dash rubbed her hooves together, a giggle of excitement escaping her. “Oooh, this is gonna be great! Okay! I need a zeppelin, fifteen Neighponese, and a dog that can lick it’s own-”
“Rainbow Dash!” hissed Fluttershy, cheeks flaring with mortification.
“-tail. What’s wrong, ‘shy? Thought I was gonna say something else?” Dash wore a shit-eating grin, and she barely held back a fit of laughter at the glare Fluttershy shot her way. “Okay, okay, seriously, we can do this. You and me, we’ll get Iron Will to help Gilda. You really think he can help?”
Fluttershy nodded, smiling once again. “Oh yes, I’m sure he can help her! That’s why I need to ask him myself; I’m asking so much of him, he deserves to know how important it is.”
A grin, far more kind, came to Rainbow’s face. She nodded, a sigh of relief slipping from her. With a wave of her hoof, she pushed Fluttershy towards the door. “I hope so. She won’t accept my help. Maybe a huge bellowing minotaur will be enough. Heh, I hope he doesn’t do too well again, he might turn her into a griffon shaped you.”
“I’m sure that won’t happen.” Fluttershy obliged Dash, but she gave her friend a flat look for the joke. The clop of their hooves were soon matched by the clank of their guards following them. “Uh, where are we going?”
“Ugh…” Rainbow Dash’s smile fell entirely. “I know how we can do this. I just wish I didn’t.”
The answer that wasn’t really an answer was, needless to say, perplexing, and remained so as they made their way through town. Only when the spa came into sight did Fluttershy understand Dash’s idea.
“I’m gonna have to go punch a bear in front of everypony or something after this,” Dash mumbled sourly.
“Oh, no, you can’t do that!” protested Fluttershy, hooves over her mouth in horror. “Mister Bear doesn’t deserve that.”
Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes, and raised her voice as they approached the spa, “Just this once, got it? And you have to promise not to ask me again for, like, ever!”
It took a few moments of dull staring on Fluttershy’s part, and a nudge on Dash’s, for the meek mare to get it. She blushed. “Oh, uh, I-I, uh, I promise, Rainbow Dash. Thank you for coming, just this once.”
“Only today, and only because Rarity is too busy trying to keep Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle from getting cabin fever at Twilight’s to come along.” Dash paused at the door to glare back at their guards. “And you two! Wait out there!”
Fixed Sight, Fluttershy’s guard, raised an eyebrow. “We don’t take your orders, Miss Dash. We need to be with you at all times.”
“Well, you can’t come in now! This is gonna be embarrassing enough with just the frou-frou sisters and Fluttershy there,” whined Rainbow Dash.
“I’m sorry. Uh...maybe a private room? So long as we can still hear, it should be fine,” suggested Rainbow’s guard. He shrugged nervously, trying to remember what the Captain had said about dealing with his charge. It was a foregone conclusion that if she wanted to get away from him, she could.
With a groan of defeat and a roll of her eyes, Rainbow Dash stormed into the spa. “Alright, fine! Hey, hi, Aloe, I’m here for….for…for a….” She shuddered, closing her eyes as she forced the words out. “A….makeover.”
Aloe, frozen halfway through some paperwork at the desk, stared at her with wide eyes. Slowly, one of her hooves gravitated to her mouth. Her expression showed the shock she couldn’t verbalise. Papers spilled from her hooves, and a bell tolled ominously.
“Auch! Aloe, why ever did we agree to use the grandfather clock until Mister Turner has finished repairing the clock? Aloe? Sister?” Lotus peered from a side room, brow furrowed in confusion. “Ah, Miss Fluttershy! What can we do for you?”
“For us,” cut in Rainbow Dash, scowling. “I’m here too, you know.”
Lotus blinked. “Oh? Did you want another hoof massa-”
Nopony was quite sure, after the fact, whether Rainbow Dash teleported or just flew that fast, but she was across the room and had Lotus muffled before she finished the next word.
“Ah ha, heh, I have no idea what you’re talking about!” The shrill, desperate tone matched the redness on her cheeks. “None at all! Nope, nothing at all up here!”
Lotus gingerly extracted her hoof, resisting the urge to smile at her embarrassed client’s reaction. “Well, your hoof certainly tastes clean,” she teased.
The red grew, and for a moment Lotus feared she had gone too far. Was it possible for a pony’s face catch fire from sheer embarrassment?
“Makeover!” Attention was suddenly diverted to Aloe. Her shriek echoed through the room, silence following in its wake. “Makeover!”
“...sister? What do you mean?” Lotus looked around in confusion. She pointed at Fluttershy. “Miss Fluttershy is here for a makeover?”
“Oh, um…” Fluttershy floundered.
Aloe shook her head frantically.
“Her?” Lotus pointed at the guardsmare.
Again, Aloe’s shaking said no.
“...well, it has been a while since I’ve given a stallion a proper makeover…” admitted Lotus, looking over the guardstallion thoughtfully. He went red, and gave Fixed Sight a discreet kick when she didn’t stop snickering.
“Nooo!” whined Aloe.
“Well, sister, you are being very confusing!” Her patience spent, Lotus looked for her smelling salts. “You need to clear your head a little, I think. I am very sorry you had to see her this way, I do apologise.”
For some reason, Rainbow Dash was scowling even harder. She leaned forward, her expression ugly. “Me. She means me.”
Again, Lotus blinked slowly. “...pardon?”
“I’m here for a makeover,” clarified Rainbow. She rolled her eyes. “Come on, it’s not that hard a concept to- oh buck me, she’s fainted!”
***
“Please, accept our full apologies. I am so very embarrassed!” Half an hour later, Lotus gave yet another profuse apology. Her hooves worked eagerly, or perhaps desperately, on Rainbow’s back.
Face down, Rainbow rolled her eyes before giving a sigh of pleasure. “Dude, I told you, I don’t care. Forget about it. Oooh~ just keep up that. Damn, this feels good!”
Rainbow Dash relaxed, closing her eyes at the insistence of the skilled hooves at work on her muscles.
“Anyone standing around all day in armour like a statue must feel super jealous,” she drawled with a snicker.
“Rainbow Dash, don’t be mean,” Fluttershy scolded her before trailing off when Aloe’s hoof began to work on a particular knot of muscle. “They’re just doing their jobs.”
“Yeah, well, when we go into our private room, you two ain’t following. Not unless you want to hear the life story of the most awesome pony ever. Obviously you do, anyway, but this is exclusive stuff.” The bragging came so easily, Rainbow barely had to even make an effort. She rubbed her chin thoughtfully. “Actually, for a modest fee you could come in and hear the thrilling tales about the formative years of the one and only Rainbow Danger Dash.”
“We’ll be right outside,” said the stallion wearily. He exchanged a look with his colleague, and she took the spot right next to the private room’s door while he circled the building.
Shutting the door, Lotus and Aloe exchanged excited smiles. Though not to the same extent as Rarity, they certainly believed Rainbow Dash’s refusal to frequent the spa was a dreadful waste. Their smiles faded somewhat when they turned to find Rainbow Dash entombing her wings in towels and bedsheets.
“Start talking,” she instructed. “You know, go through all the stuff you’d do for a makeover, loudly, and don’t react when I do something really cool. I hope the light isn’t too bright now.”
The twins shared an expression of bewilderment, especially when Rainbow Dash hooked a leg around Fluttershy’s neck.
“Uh, yes, well, first we will begin with our patented coat beautification formula,” Lotus began nervously, looking to her sister for support. After a moment, the other confused mare joined in.
“Next town over, lemme think...just outside, so we don’t attract attention. After all, when I make an entrance-”
With the glow muffled by her makeshift flare-mufflers, Rainbow Dash vanished, dragging Fluttershy away before the spa ponies’ stunned eyes.
***
“-I make an entrance!” Rainbow Dash’s declaration fell on the attentive ears of several squirrels, a few birds and Fluttershy, who automatically tuned it out with a “oh, that’s nice” in reply. “Good thing I’ve been here before, hate making blind ‘ports.”
Fluttershy looked around them, finding the inoffensive trees and healthy green grass beneath their hooves rather pleasing. She gave Rainbow Dash a hug before her friend could push her off.
“Thank you very much, Rainbow Dash. I promise I won’t take long!” Fluttershy smiled at the exaggerated sigh of relief Rainbow gave when she was released. “You better go back now, before they notice.”
“Sure.” Dash nodded, then added; “I’ll come back in an hour, right here. Don’t be late, I really don’t want Paladin coming after me for losing you somewhere.”
A delicate blush lit Fluttershy’s cheeks. “I’ll be fine, don’t worry. Hurry back, I’ll see you in an hour.” She sought distraction from her blush in reaching out, skimming the surface emotions of the town. A hint of a yawn struck her, the muted radiating emotions calm and rather placid.
“Gotcha. Good luck!”
Rainbow Dash teleported away, leaving Fluttershy alone on the edge of the town. She began to trot towards town, pausing a moment to wonder if Rainbow Dash realised what was in store for her for the next hour.
***
“-I make an entrance,” repeated Rainbow Dash the instant she reappeared, never one to waste an opportunity for making herself look awesome. She shucked her impromptu wing covers. “Heh, I love doing that.”
“Ah, Miss Dash! Perfect! We have been doing the talking, as you asked.” Aloe took Rainbow by the hoof, her voice low. “And now, we are ready to begin!”
The hold, Rainbow Dash found, was surprisingly strong. “We’re just covering for Fluttershy. Sorry for not explaining, but this is really important. I don’t actually want a makeover.”
“Oh, that is no problem.” The smile Lotus gave her was wide and slightly worrying. “Luckily, we are more than happy to continue this little ruse for you, Miss Dash. And the best way for a ruse to go undetected…”
“Is to make it real,” continued Aloe, her iron grip pulling her victim towards the padded bench. “Now, Miss Dash, I hope you are ready to be beautiful!”
The grin on Rainbow Dash’s face had long since drained away, and she gulped nervously. “But...but I don’t do makeovers,” she whined.
“Today-”
“-you do!”
***
Rarity looked up, a squirming filly floating in her magic as she stared into the distance. She could feel something in her bones. She could sense it.
“I’m missing out on something fabulous!” she declared with a flip of her beautiful mane.
Sweetie Belle squinted at her. “Rarity! I need to pee!” she announced.
Sighing, the fashionista forgot about the tingle in her Fashion Sense. Surely whatever it had been wasn’t too important. Unfortunately, she had a pair of fillies to keep contained in the library.
“No, Twilight, let me do it, you have to see to Rainbow Dash and Gilda,” Rarity muttered to herself. “I don’t mind missing Photo Finish, not at all, it’s not like she’s passing over Ponyville completely for another town instead!”
“Uh, Rarity? Is something wrong? asked Sweetie Belle between doing her floating version of the potty dance.
Rarity forced herself to smile at her. “Yes, yes, completely fine. You know, if I can convince Photo Finish to come to Ponyville again, you would make the perfect little model…”
Sweetie Belle groaned, wishing she had never brought it up, and that the library toilet wasn’t so far away.
***
“Uh, excuse me, sir? C-could I, um, get some directions, please?”
“Huh?” Blinking sleep from his eyes, Vendor Trash did his best to pretend he hadn’t been napping. His chin jerked off his hoof, the oddly contemplative posture for a sleeping salespony feelings completely natural. “Directions?”
The beautiful mare in front of him fidgeted, shoulders hunched self consciously. “Um...yes please. I’m looking for Iron Will. He’s very...easy to spot.”
He rubbed his chin, trying to think past the haze. “Er...big fella? Horns? Camera crew?”
“Ye- uh, wait, no, not that last one. Camera crew?” asked Fluttershy. She began to look around, her nerves fraying quickly as she contemplated cameras appearing from around every corner.
He nodded. “Yeah...yeah, wait, that was...the funny foreign mare, kept going on about magic, taking pictures…” He yawned. “Of everypony. Even me. Didn’t seem too happy when she...couldn’t find the minotaur. Oh, right...uh, he’s…”
Fluttershy waited for him to finished. His eyes closed first. Each breath made his chest move, but otherwise there was...nothing. His presence, his dull emotions, faded further from her sense.
“...o-okay…” She retreated a few steps. “Thank...you?”
The wind blew, and she could imagine a tumbleweed bouncing down the quiet streets of Shelbyseed. Perhaps the wheat fields to the north of the town would provide something suitable. She chewed her lower lip nervously, stopping to check the clock tower in the middle of the town.
‘I still have most of the hour left, I’m sure I’ll find him. If only everypony wasn’t so tired.’ She peered again at the empty streets, a frown marring her delicate features. ‘I wonder if the fight in Ponyville kept them all up last night.’
“E-excuse me, miss?” She approached a mare leaning against the wall of a house, her pose stiff, looking for all the world like she was attempting to lean rakishly. “Are….are you awake?”
“Hrn?! I’m up!” The mare jerked, shaking her head. “I’m...I’m-” she yawned. “I’m awake. Did she take it yet?”
“Take what?”
“My picture!” For a moment, the mare seemed to revive herself. She beamed. “Photo Finish wanted to take a picture, of me! How amazing is that?”
The name set Fluttershy reeling, but she managed to nod regardless. “O-oh my…” ‘Oh no, not her!’ “Do you know where Iron Will is? He’s a minotaur.”
“You mean...ngh…” Struggling to keep her eyes open, the mare yawned and slumped against the wall. “The...thing out in the southern clearing? Was gonna go….but a nap...would be better…”
Fluttershy retreated from the dozing mare, her concern spiking. Alarm bells began to ring in her head.
“...I should have sent a letter..”
As she spread her wings, something smashed behind her and ruined the attempted take off. Her wings snapped shut as she leaped up in shock, quickly hiding behind the nearest cover. In this case, it was the dozing mare slumped against the wall.
“No no no! Zis one does not have...ze magicks!”
A shudder ran down Fluttershy’s spine. She could see the ponies mobbing her, feel the weight of their attention and the scrutiny in their gazes, the memories of her first encounter with Photo Finish washing over her. Fluttershy gulped, cowering behind her unknowing cover.
Photo Finish came marching down the street, discarding a shattered camera. Another came out, and was already hard at work in her hooves. The photographer worked with an unusual rapid-fire, maniac air to her, stopping randomly and snapping shots. Trees, buildings, animals, it really didn’t seem to matter to her.
“Where are ze magicks?!” demanded Photo Finish, her words hanging unanswered. There was nopony to answer her, yet she asked anyway. “I come to zis town for ze magicks in the great bull, and yet zere is none! Come out, bull, come out so I, Photo Finish, may take your picture!”
The moment Photo Finish’s back was turned, Fluttershy darted from behind her cover. Light of step as only a pegasus could be, she slipped behind Photo Finish and down a building dividing alley way. Breath held, heart pounding, Fluttershy crept away, and she was almost willing to believe she could sneak free.
“Vait! I see you, over in ze alley! Come, let me take your picture!”
Abandoning stealth, Fluttershy bolted. As rude as it was, she couldn’t stand the idea of that same fame being inflicted upon her again by Photo Finish. So she did what any sane mare would do and ran for her life, and did her best to ignore the pleading for her to come back, to slow down, to let her ‘magicks’ be photographed.
“No thank you!” Finally remembering she was a pegasus, Fluttershy fled into the sky. She flew as hard and fast she could until at last she vanished into the cloud cover, slipping from sight a moment before a bright flash shone from below.
“No! No no no!” Photo Finish glared, teeth grinding. “I recognise you! Bring me back ze magicks! Zis is what happenz when my assistantz sleep on ze job!”
She took another picture, and even in the day it’s light was startlingly bright. Throwing down her camera in disgust, Photo Finish glared from behind her sunglasses at the unnaturally quiet town.
“I vill find ze magicks,” she hissed. She slunk through the streets, hidden eyes peering at the world with an insatiable hunger. She drew forth another camera, and gave no thought to where it came from. She was Photo Finish, and everypony wanted to give her their magic.
***
Fluttershy sighed, hooves touching down on a cloud. She looked over the southern outskirts of the town before her eyes passed them by, zeroing in on the clearing not far from them. The half-built stage, even at this distance, reminded her of Iron Will’s seminar in Ponyville.
‘I hope I can make it back in time.’
She descended, and the scene of destruction unfolded before her. The stage wasn’t half-built, it was half-destroyed. Thick planks lay splintered across the clearing, and it slowly became obvious it wasn’t just half destroyed. Fluttershy landed in the midst of a battle long over, and she had no way of knowing the victor.
‘...maybe I shouldn’t have done this.’ This realisation came far, far too late. Fluttershy nudged the wreckage, peering under it with a nervous gulp. “H-hello? Is...is anypony here?”
Only the rustle of leaves in the wind answered her. She soon found that little more in the way of answers were to be found in the mess before her. Alone, she stood at the centre of what should have been Iron Will’s stage.
‘I should go back to meet Rainbow Dash. There’s probably a monster waiting here...’ Yet she made no move to go. Slowly, Fluttershy’s eyes drifted shut and her mind began to push beyond the meager boundaries of her body. She reached within first, and upon a wave of light her senses expanded. The bonds that ran from her, seven lines of love and light and power entwined with a force she could barely reckon with, glowed before her mind’s eye.
The primitive emotions of the smallest animal became song and light before the otherness of her empathic sense. From the tiniest cricket to the birds in the trees, she could feel them. Her breath was stolen, and she began to retreat from it. It was too much. It was too deep, too close to them to intrude or comprehend.
‘No. I need to find him. Twilight endured Ardleon filling her with his memories, I can do just this! I have to find Iron Will!’
The bubble of her awareness paused, shrinking no more. Again, it began to reach the wildlife around her. With growing confidence Fluttershy stretched, and opened herself. The wall of her denial and refusal faded. In came the flood of foreign emotions, and in came-
Hate.
Hate them all. Hate and fury and the urge to let it free, to let the rage rule, lash out and destroy-
Capture.
Take it in. Immortalise everything. Capture them all in still frame and seal their future for an unending eternity, make art that would never fade with life bound to it-
Waves of emotion lashed at her from every direction. Fluttershy cried out, crumbling to the ground only to force shaking legs to hold her up. They burned, the fury of their emotions translated into maddening litanies. Litanies whispered in oh so familiar voices.
Eyes opening, Fluttershy spared only a single glance back to town. The moment of that glance passed, and she went on the hunt, seeking the pained being she knew, without a shadow of a doubt, was Iron Will.
***
“She dares!”
Scorpan was ripped painfully from his dreams, the fleeting images fading as he slunk from his shadowy dwelling. The arcane space collapsed without him, and the tired minion already missed its safe embrace.
“Who dares, master?”
Burning eyes turned on him, glowing with rage. “The mortal! She has acted too soon! She dares disrupt my plans. The minotaur is not yet purged of his memories of the attack.”
Hesitant, Scorpan crept closer to his enraged lord. Blackness hung before the towering demon, a rent in space hungrily sucking in a flow of foulness. The sack clutched in Tirek’s hand writhed with unnatural life, pulsing as it spewed forth its corruption.
“The minotaur never saw you, master,” he dared to venture. Scorpan growled in alarm, ducking the hoof that nearly caved his skull in.
“I am aware of that, you fool. Do you understand what it takes to corrupt even a mortal so quickly? Every time I have sacrificed my prizes for these tools, and every time I am disappointed.” Tirek snorted, his expression drawn in anger.
“Perhaps…” Scorpan flinched back. The ache in his hands grew, and he itched to draw on his own prize. “Perhaps you should select more powerful targets, master, and spend longer corrupting them.”
Scorpan found himself wrenched into the air, thick fingers clamped around his neck.
“Betrayal cuts deep. No weapon is as potent. No wound flows so freely as that of a so-called friend.” The hand tightened. “Do you question me, Scorpan? Was it not you who denied your father his rebirth for so long? Did you not prove how painful a wound betrayal is?”
Gasping, his withered hands pulling feebly at Tirek’s, Scorpan wore an expression of fear to hide the rage within. He wore it until Tirek threw him to the ground with a contemptuous snort.
“I will not be lectured, Scorpan, not by you.” With a gesture, Tirek resumed his casting. “My plan will proceed. Go now, to Canterlot. Prepare the last. This foolish mortal will serve my purpose.”
Scorpan hacked, rubbing his neck as he withdrew with eyes ablaze with fury. “Y-ack-yes...yes, master. I live to serve your will.”
The shadows consumed Scorpan, and the dark clearing was left with only Tirek’s burning magic to illuminate it. The flickering, hellish light lit up the wide, malevolent smile and his smug laughter rang out only moments later.
“Yes. Even traitors serve.”
***
A thousand angry voices whispered in his ears. Their imploring cries had been pitiful and pleading for some time now. He wondered if it had been days, or just seemed like it. Not that it mattered, he just wanted to know. Exactly how badly he wanted to know rather surprised him.
His arms throbbed, jerking against their restraints. He got pain for his efforts, a dreadful clawing sensation in his veins that made him want to...to...punch something. Someone. Maybe even somepony-
“No! Don’t manipulate, pontificate!’ He winced. ‘Okay, that one could use a little work!’
No restraint. Hate them. Break free and let loose your fury.
“No…” Iron Will panted. “Means….no. And Iron Will…”
He roared, bursting into sudden violent thrashing.
“Said no!”
The tide overtook him. Blind fury swept through him, and he bellowed and screamed and roared his anger as he fought to retain control. The darkness seeped in through the furious open gates, sibilant voices fading yet a thousand more waiting to take their place with each drop of shadow magic that sunk into his flesh.
Iron Will roared, but heard nothing. His cry was lost in the depths of his dark prison. Every second that passed he could feel it soaking into him. His emotions betrayed him, no matter what they were.
Traitors, filthy traitors. Your emotions make you weak. Give them up. Let the rage free.
Conflicting messages ran through his mind. Iron Will knew one thing, and the voice told him another. It had been the same when he wrote the letter. He had been intending to write. It had been half-written before he…
“Y-you try to make Iron Will….betray,” he groaned. “Instead, Iron Will will….slay!”
Obey. Be mine. By right, you are mine. Be hated. Destroy my foes. Bring terror to them.
It was winning. The voice chipped away, and Iron Will’s iron will bent beneath the constant heat of the furious power besieging him. He grunted, twisting his head, trying to escape the sudden spike of pain that drove it’s way into his head.
“Nnnnghargh!”
The ground buckled beneath him, his knees carving furrows as he fell. Hands suddenly free slammed down, catching his fall before he could land face first. He looked up, and the world spun chaotically around him.
‘When did...what am I doing here?’ His mind scrambled to find the last thing he remembered. ‘Was that a...gargoyle?’
Rise.
He staggered to his hooves. Something was wrong. His balance was off. Iron Will swayed, trying to focus on exactly what was wrong, but he could grasp nothing. There was only air when he tried it, air and pointless, nameless hate.
Go forth.
Trees trembled with his first step. Leaves were shaken from the branches with the second. Iron Will marched through the green rain, snorting and grunting. His hands clenched and unclenched, cycling through the only gesture available to him.
Slay.
So he went, to slay.
***
“Come out, come out, wherever you are~,” sung a heavily accented voice that ran like frost down Fluttershy’s spine. “I, Photo Finish, am ready to take ze magicks! Ah, you must want your picture taken by me so badly again! Come out, and you will be famous once more!”
‘How did she find me? Why did she find me?’ Fluttershy had little time to dwell on these thoughts. She scurried into the trees, hoping to keep out of Photo Finish’s sight. ‘She can’t want to take more photos of me that much.’
“Ah ha! Got you!”
Fluttershy eeped, and dived into a bush. The camera flash lit the little woods, illuminating a tree at it’s centre. Her face scrunched up, her focus turning inward. Uncertainty, a feeling she was so very familiar with, began to flow from Fluttershy in waves. She forced it out, concentrating it from a wave into a single projection. In answer, as Photo Finish stared around, she felt the photographer’s certainty in seeing her waver.
“Vhat?! Vere did you go? I saw you! ..didn’t I? Ze magicks of ze tree are not enough! So meagre! So...unmagick!”
Something was wrong. She had felt it when she touched Photo Finish’s emotions before. They were consumed by something otherworldly-
‘Oh buck.’ Even thinking that made Fluttershy go red. ‘Photo Finish too? How? Why?! Angelic Crusaders, angelic Tank, and now her?’
When she got back to Ponyville, she was going to spend some genuine time at the spa. This willynilly appearance of angelically possessed ponies was beginning to wear on her. With that thought in mind, and Photo Finish thankfully moving away, she slipped from the bush and made like a tree.
Leaves obscured her vision, forcing her to wave her hoof to brush the orange things away. She came to a stop a moment later.
‘...orange?’
More orange leaves rained down around her, falling with all the flurry of a tree in Autumn being circled by Applejack and Rainbow Dash. She watched the tree wither, something draining its bark of colour and leaving it’s branches bare.
She slunk away, fighting her fear at the sight, but she couldn’t suppress her mind’s eye when it considered what being caught would have meant. She shuddered, continuing towards the conflicted rage of Iron Will. It was….approaching? Despite the fear that shot through her, such strong fear she was certain Paladin must have felt it too, Fluttershy didn’t stop.
The bellow reached Fluttershy’s ears before the attack did, but only just. Her hooves dug into the dirt, halting her in time for the thick trunk that came swinging at her. From nowhere came a monstrosity. It should have been visible long before it arrived. The roar should have struck her ears long before it shook her without warning. Aggression cast in mortal flesh brought a makeshift club down at her.
Iron Will couldn’t remember having come this far. He had gone from surrounded by trees to just a few little ones that broke so easily under his stride. He brought his weapon down, and it amused him, somehow, the ease with which he wrought destruction. Except it wasn’t his amusement. It wasn’t what he felt or thought. It wasn’t him that wanted to hurt her.
Obey!
The voice shook him down to his bones, resonating painfully with the energy woven through his body. His fist closed on the trunk. The minotaur groaned, raising his hands to his head only to stop when he caught sight of them. The muscles of one bulged, swollen and creaking, while the other was as it should be, veins of black burning across the surface of the first and only a glimmer on the second.
It burned. How he hadn’t felt it before? How had he come all this way and felt nothing of the foul burn? Nothing was all he felt, too, as his scaled, over-muscled fist descended on Fluttershy. He missed only by some spark of defiance, yet it drained him to even twitch his body away from a deadly blow.
Dirt flew around her as she recoiled. The thick, dark fist curled around the trunk tightened, and a splinter from the shattering tree bit into her cheek. Her cry of pain stifled, Fluttershy ducked below the next swing by reflex more than intent.
“Stop,” she whimpered, trying to reach out with her power while her hooves took her backwards. “Please...Iron Will…”
The thing towering over her was barely a minotaur. Scales lined one of its arms, and Iron Will’s blue fur had been twisted into a far darker colour where it still remained. She saw his body, and only had more questions she didn’t have time to answer. No shadows swirled around him. No darkness cloaked him.
Half-minotaur, half-monster, Iron Will glared down at her with one eye that burned with tormented fury, and the other with torment. He didn’t know what he was doing, and yet he was doing it. His arm rose, fist pulled back, muscles trembling. Frozen by his stare, transfixed by his half-mutated form, Fluttershy couldn’t move.
‘Nopony can save me. He’s going to do it and nopony can save me.’
“Sorr..ri’,” he grunted, the tremble of his resistance fighting to retain control.
Terrible guilt rolled off Iron Will. His control broken, his pride in his own discipline shattered, he could do nothing as an alien force continued to warp his body and will.
‘No.’
The fear that froze Fluttershy melted away. A single word, a single thought, were all she needed. She stood straight. She stood tall. She stood proud. She stood defiant.
“No.” She stared into Iron Will’s eyes. “You don’t have anything to be sorry about.”
The golden threads that bound her in unbreakable bonds to her friends glowed within her. Fluttershy grasped them and pulled. She pulled from her heart everything she felt. Love for her friends, and for everypony she met. Love for the pony who had once frightened her, who seemed so alien at times and who, even now, needed a guide to living as a mortal did. Around this core of emotion she gathered her hope and her joy, her delight in a day with friends, her compassion that she shared freely.
All this and more, Fluttershy took from simply innate emotion and she made it something more. She made it a gift, one she gave freely.
Strike her! End her threat! Break her!
‘Don’t break, when you can shake!’
He stopped, entire body freezing up. They were his own words. Shake hands- no, hooves, he’d had to change it for ponies, he could remember, hooves - instead of reacting with needless hostility.
Her eyes bored into his. The flood of emotion came in through them, and the burn began to fade. A wretched, wet cough exploded from his lips. He collapsed, chest stretching out with each pained breath.
“Iron Will? Are you alright? Well, not alright, but, uh, are you...you?” The soft voice whispered through one ear. He was too tired to jump in surprise. Iron Will just groaned. “...I’m sorry, I don’t know what that...just hold on, okay?”
With a great effort of will, he gave her a single thumbs up. His thumb dropped back down, going limp. Fluttershy patted him, her hoof tingling unpleasantly as the shadows passed under his skin beneath her hoof. She pulled away, and projected another wave of soothing emotions. The shadows ebbed, but didn’t fade. The darkness lurked within him still, and if her first attempt had failed, she wasn’t sure another would do it. The incomplete transformation clung to him stubbornly.
‘Okay, um, what do I do? I can’t do this alone! I don’t know how this works!’ She paced around Iron Will, her wide eyes gleaming with concern. Magic was Twilight’s thing. She knew how to fix these things.
“Hold on,” she repeated. “We’ll get you back to Ponyville, and Twilight can help. Can you stand?”
He grunted, pushing himself slowly upright. “Iron Will...has the will...to succeed!” With a roar he forced himself up, swaying but standing. Looking down, he gave as friendly a smile as he could with his mind and body besieged from within.
“Alright, we need to get to the other side of town. My friend will meet us there in….oh no, we don’t have long!” Rising on spread wings, Fluttershy took his normal hand and gave it a tug. “We need to hurry! I’m trying not to let her feel anything from me, if I do she’ll just teleport here and try to find us so we’ll keep missing each other.”
Iron Will let her guide him, each step sending a shake through the earth. His mind thrummed, settled only by the constant flow of warmth from the little pony holding his hand. It held back the tide, let him think, but it did little to halt the conflict. The darkness had its hooks in too deeply, incomplete though they were.
“It won’t take long. I promise my friend can help you, we just need to get you to her.” She fluttered along, pegasus magic holding her aloft with her slow pace.
Kill!
“Grah…” Iron Will’s hand tightened on her hoof. “Iron Will’s head hurts…that voice...”
“I know, it’s alright.” She let her heart speak for her, flowing to him. She saw it in her mind as golden bindings the held back the evil flood. “Just focus on the good things, please. They’ll help. Think about your seminars, and how much you’ve helped so many ponies. I bet you can’t wait to start off your new tour!”
He nodded, a small smile slipping onto his face at the thought. His chest puffed out, and his steps became a little more sure. Pride shone in his eyes, and he stood straighter.
“Yeah! My new tour! Gonna help all the ponies!” he boomed, strength flooding him. “Gotta get back in shape! Show this bad magic who the boss of this minotaur is! Answer; Iron Will!”
“Iron Will!” repeated Fluttershy, her feeble cheer enough to send his spirits soaring. She smiled, and her relief drew him further from the corruption staining him. “You can do it!”
“There’s nothing Iron Will can’t do! Where there’s an Iron Will, there’s an iron way!” His voice thundered through the countryside. Iron Will pulled his arms back, bringing them to his hips as he stood tall and strong. The little yellow hoof clutched in one went unnoticed, as did Fluttershy’s yelp as he pulled her along. With another whimper, she was in the air above him as Iron Will posed, arms up and bent, tensed like a circus strongman.
“E-excuse me-” Her eyes burst with pain before she could stop him. The bright flash that blinded her knocked the wind from Fluttershy, and she hung limp above him.
“Ah ah! All ze shoutings and ze bellowing! I, Photo Finish, have heard your calls for fame!” came the call as Photo Finish stalked into the open, her camera floating before her despite the fact she was no unicorn. It rose to her face once more. “Another! Show me ze magicks!”
Terrible weakness sapped at Fluttershy’s limbs. She hung limp in Iron Will’s grip, gasping like a suffocating fish. Her will focused on maintaining her flow to him, she could do nothing else. Her fur still felt as though it burned from that light, like something had been pulled away from her.
‘Fluttershy!’
There was no real words to the cry. It wasn’t even a cry. There was nothing physical about it. It was her mind that translated the burst of emotion into her name. Fear, worry, shock, they struck at her through that ironclad bond, yet she did nothing to reassure Paladin. She had attention only for Iron Will and the surge of wickedness within him.
The light flashed, but she felt nothing. Hot air ran through her mane. Opening eyes she hadn’t realised she had shut, Fluttershy stared into the dark fur in front of her. Up and up her eyes ran, until they met Iron Will’s.
“Out of ze way, you oaf! Ze magicks, ze they perfect!” Click click click. “Move!”
Iron Will grunted, long and drawn out, but he remained where he was. His eyes blazed with unnatural rage. One hand pushed Fluttershy gently further down, until she found herself in the light once more. Iron WIll rose up, shielding her with his body.
“If you don’t ask permission, you aren’t worth the price of admission!” It sounded good, though he couldn’t quite remember what the context was. “Iron Will says you better step off, before he sends you off!”
Photo Finish snorted. “I do you a great favour, I come to zis puny little town, to take pictures of your little show, and you stand in my way? No no no! You vill stand aside!”
His snort of derision was pained. “Iron Will won’t move, buster.” His skin burned oddly with each click, but he ignored it. He was Iron Will for a reason. “Not an inch.”
“...yes, yes!” Her mouth spread in a demented grin, her manner changing in an instant. “Zat is perfect! Half-monster, half-minotaur! All defiance! Let ze magicks work, oh yes!”
Her camera began to shudder with the rapid fire snapshots. It’s flash shone like a solar beacon, it’s touch locking Iron Will’s muscles. His breath hissed out, but he couldn’t move. Another shot burned him. Fire ran through his veins, and he dimly noticed Photo Finish getting closer, her mad expression apparent even with her glasses.
Destroy he-
Click!
The weight upon his mind faded. New speed and life came blazing back, connections it had barely been able to make finally making themselves known.
Obey-
Click!
“Ah ha, yes, ze magicks! Ze magicks!” She chanted. “You will be famous! A perfect picture, forever showing ze world ze magicks of you!”
Click!
Another layer peeled away. Her camera’s lense shuttered, and it dragged the dark essence away. The metaphysical sludge that oozed through his body sizzled and popped. His hands, Iron Will noticed, were the same size! This was good, but he couldn’t quite remember why.
Click!
The burn was good. The burn was making him feel cleaner, purer, like a nice hot bath. The burn was the camera. Photo Finish’s camera. He hoped she kept taking photos of him. He felt so strong, so perfect, standing there defending….somepony. He had been defending somepony?
“Stop!”
Why was Fluttershy telling her to stop? Couldn’t she see, Photo Finish was just taking the perfect picture. He was fine. He was perfect. Everything was so simple, because everything was going into the photo. His photo. The perfect photo, filled with everything that was Iron Will.
He didn’t resist the hooves pulling his head up, his empty gaze passing over the mare in front of him.
“...Fluttershy…” he yawned. “How’s...things?”
“They’re going to be fine,” she promised, her smile sour. She looked up, meeting the opaque shades shielding Photo’s eyes. “You’re done. That’s enough.”
“Enough? Enough?!” Photo Finish scoffered. She brandished her camera, advancing a step. “I deign to take a hoof in such things myself, to use a camera with my own too hooves, and you tell me to stop? You are simply jealous! Ze magicks are with you, do not worry, I vill take your picture once again.” She gestured. “Let me finish with Iron Vill. He has much of ze magicks! I must take more!”
Terrible guilt clawed at Fluttershy. She landed before him, staring Photo Finish straight in the eyes, more or less. “No.
Photo Finish cocked her head to the side. She repeated Fluttershy, voice faint with confusion. “No?”
“No.” Wings spread like shields, Fluttershy took a deep, steadying breath. “You’ve taken enough. You can’t take any more, or you’ll hurt him.”
Scoffing, the older mare took a step forward. “Nonsense! Move, little girl. I vill take your picture next.”
A bubble was how Fluttershy saw the range of her gift, and she breathed life into it. The consuming, devouring touch of Photo Finish’s photography faded into a dull ache as she reached into the world. It all felt so flat, horrifying now that Fluttershy finally understood what was happening.
“You have to stop. You’ve been cursed. You’re not just taking their photos, you’re taking them! Every picture has taken their thoughts, their feelings, everything about who they are. You saved Iron Will where I couldn’t, so please, stop,” pled Fluttershy. Within the dome of flat, empty emotions, she reached for the buzzing mass of energy and boundless certainty.
“Bah! I am taking nothink! I am Photo Finish! I bring joy to all ze ponies! Zere is nopony who does not want to have zere picture taken by me!” She swelled with pride as she advanced. Her camera hung on invisible strings before her, slowly rising into position. “I have taken nothink! Zey beg me to take zeir picture, and none can deny zat!”
Fluttershy didn’t move. She gave not an inch before Photo Finish’s advance. “I didn’t,” she murmured. The memories of their first, and she had hoped last, encounter rose unbidden, and she let them come. Fluttershy grasped them, held on tightly. The light flared, the first shot taken.For a moment, her thoughts gew fuzzy, threatening to loosen her hold on them.
‘No. Iron Will is helpless. I won’t give up.’
“I never wanted you to take my picture. I never wanted to be famous,” she went on, and into Photo Finish, Fluttershy poured it all. Her fear for failing Rarity. Her fear, each time she had gone outside, of being recognised. The panic and the worry each photo had brought with it in fresh droves of jittering nerves.
“I...zat is not true! Everypony vants to zeir picture taken! Even you! My masterpiece, Fluttershy, ze moe who captured a thousand hearts!” Her tone faltered, though, her certainty shaken. The wave of foreign emotions washed over her. How could anypony live, so frightened to even leave their home? How could this mare survive? “I am creating art! My work brings joy to all ze ponies! None can see what I have made and know anything but awe!”
“Your photos are amazing. Beautiful,” conceded Fluttershy. She reached out, both with her hoof and with her gift. She let her awe when she saw the masterful photographs out, and shared it. “But you’re sick. You’re not giving ponies anything to love. You’re not giving them beauty. You’re just taking it from them.”
Now she gave nothing of her own. Fluttershy formed, for an instant, a bond as she had done among the poor frozen ponies in the north. She linked every feeble, empty aura she felt to the blazing inferno of pride that was Photo Finish. It wasn’t anger she let the possessed mare feel. There was no rage, no fear, no sorrow. There was nothing to make a pony shudder in dismay.
There was nothing.
No joy for beauty. No love for another. It wasn’t even apathy that overwhelmed Photo Finish. It was a void, an utter lack so deep that it seemed as though Fluttershy had turned emptiness into something she could grasp and control.
“I...I was giving to them…”
Fluttershy shook her head sadly. “No. Before now, you were. Please, Photo Finish, you’ve taken it all. Just let it go. You can’t feel it, but you’ve taken everything about who they are and turned it into something else.”
Fluttershy’s words pierced a veil drawn so tightly Photo Finish had never known it was there. It was a heat in her chest, an inferno of power. Images rose from it, stills of a strange, perfect world. Familiar, yet not. She could see them as she had a thousand times in her dreams, and this time she did not forget. This time Photo Finish saw these strange, perfect sights with their bizarre, flawless beings and she wept. She wept, because she knew she could never replicate it. A thousand souls would not have been enough to remake such perfection.
Her glasses fell away. Photo Finish shared at Fluttershy numbly, at the shy, hopeful smile of reassurance and faith.
“Ze moe…”
They burst from her, a hundred stolen emotions and more.
“It is too strong…”
Fluttershy leaped forward, a single flap of her wings propelling her just in time to keep Photo Finish was hitting the ground. It took her only a moment to see the photographer was unconscious, and another to sense the change sweeping the town. As it should have, the town glowed with emotions of all spectrums.
Her smile faded. Fluttershy looked over the pair, struck by a sudden realisation. How, exactly, was she going to get an unconscious pony, and an unconscious minotaur, to meet Rainbow Dash? It was a problem, but not really the one that took her attention. It was her bond, opened on every front to those she was linked to, so distant and yet so close, that made Fluttershy cringe. Most were confused, uncertain about what was going on. Rainbow Dash was panicked and guilty, and from the strength even closer. Paladin was…she shuddered.
For the first time since the aftermath of the Gala, Paladin was angry. No, she realised with a gulp, he was furious.
“Uh oh.”
All in all, Fluttershy had mixed feelings when Rainbow Dash finally appeared overhead, descending so fast she nearly crashed, and very nearly damaging her lovely new braids. On the one hoof, she wanted go home.
On the other....
Paladin was very upset.
***
The train rattled along, and Shining Armour sighed again. Everything had been left in the hooves of his capable guards, and in Paladin’s charge, yet he still found worry worming its way into his mind.
‘I’ll be back tomorrow with more guards,’ he reminded himself. ‘Paladin is supposed to have more experience than I can possibly imagine. If he can’t handle things for just one night, nopony can.’
The Captain forced himself to relax, silencing visions of the paperwork that surely awaited him. The rattle of the train, a constant, repetitive beat as it hurtled from Ponyville to Canterlot, eased his thoughts, letting the constant repeat lull his eyes shut.
Time passed, and the noise faded into the background. It became so familiar, he almost didn’t notice when it cut out. Shining slowly opened his eyes, scanning the carriage. His horn’s glow came just in time to illuminate it when light ceased pouring through the windows. He pressed his hoof to the floor, feeling the vibrations of the train. They began, minutely, to calm.
Standing, Shining Armour tensed. He listened, quieting his own breath. In the stark silence, he could hear his heart’s beat in his ears and air rushing in with each breath. A deadly calm could only bely a devastating storm.
The windows shattered, a dark tide rushing in like the foulest of swamp waters risen in flood. They crashed against the magenta dome around him. swirling from liquid shadow into a dark hurricane that battered and pushed in from all sides. Shining Armour was gone from sight, his carriage filled with a living pitch.
Shining ducked under the carriage, peering up into the darkened globe through the perfectly circular hole with glowing, heated edges. He slid off the disc he was seated on, smirking. The disc of cut metal and flooring rose back into place, a quickly conjured arcane super glue holding it in place.
“I imagine you think yourself cunning.” Groaning, the entire carriage began to rise. A burning, infernal light was cast over the pony, the source blazing before him. Tirek chuckled. He flicked his fingers, the train crashing onto the other side. “Perhaps against a lesser foe.”
“I thought I did pretty well,” Shining replied, sounding almost bored. Despite his tone, his thoughts raced with frantic speed. It looked like some sort of bizarre minotaur, but far larger, with more than just a pony’s hind legs. The sphere of coiling infernal magic between its horns pulsed dangerously.
“You should feel honoured, mortal. Time demands I come for you myself.” The magic burned brighter, the orb swelling. “Give in to me or know des-”
Shining’s blast of magic went straight into the seething energy. Magneta shone between the magma-like hues, disrupting the delicate balance of power for an instant, and that was all it took. Tirek roared amidst the detonation, his head emerged smoking and his eyes lit with fury.
A hunk of metal, torn free of the train, hurtled at him before he could recover. The metal twisted as he backhanded it, which is when the one just behind it nailed Tirek in the jaw. Shining fired a ray of refined magic that scoured across the demon’s chest for a few seconds, the sizzle of burning fur and skin continuing for a moment longer. Clutching his chin, Tirek’s baleful glare narrowed in on the defiant pony and a point of fire appeared between his horns.
Shining Armour’s shield caught the blast of hellfire, faint energy turning opaque against the attack. It shone, another layer cutting off the heat as the attack continued, unrelenting and unending.
“You will die, mortal!” The flames grew into a torrent that splashed in every direction. Dirt became molten, melting away into a great crater around the protective sphere. “Surrender, lest the fires of hell consume you!”
His breath came in short gasps as Shining held his shield up. It was getting harder and harder to breathe, but he held on. ‘Fire’s eating all the oxygen. When I drop, so will my shield. Can he control his fires enough to keep from killing me?’
His vision began to dim. The shield held strong, resisting the attack but unable to conjure him more air to satiate his lungs. Death or surrender...either way, he was damned.
‘Unless...’ Slowly, Shining’s shield began to fade. The heat grew, sweat running into his eyes. ‘Not yet. Gotta...cast...’
Tirek stepped closer, his chest shaking with laughter. “I have you. I thought you would last longer. It seems my servant overestimated your shield. Such weakness…”
The fire became living shadows, seven shades of darkness that whirled around him, pressing into the shield. Cracks formed, linking and spreading with every second until only the strength of Shining’s will kept it intact. His horn burned with power, the glow building.
‘Nearly...’
“Ha!” Tirek boomed, bringing his hands together and the shadows closing together. His shield broken, shattered and fading, Shining was slammed from every side. It twisted around him, binding and spreading as it wrapped him in its embrace.
“Argh!” The glow exploded into brilliance, the spell released flaring with power and potency as it emerged into the waiting claws of the shadows. The light was dragged back down, swallowed by Tirek’s Rainbow of Darkness, winking out within the globe of smothering shadows.
***
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Dash: "I just got here and there's a pony and a minotaur passed out from exhaustion... Didn't know you had it in ya."
I must say, Iron Will certainly has a *put's on a pair of sunglasses* will of iron.
Well I didn't, so I'd say it's a fair guess that if only 2/3 editors get it without looking it up, then at least a fair number of readers won't get it either...
5331889
YEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH
I really enjoyed the Spa ponies' reaction to RD wanting a make up and how flustered Fluttershy was throughout the chapter, especially he hen she nuzzled Paladin and blushed. Fluttershy helping Photo Finish and Iron Will was amazing and the ending is quite the cliffhanger. I can't wait to see more of this story.
Let's see:
1: I want to slap Fluttershy, but this is normal.
2: Dash got a makeover. This is hilarious.
3: "Taking a picture steals your soul." Photo Finish is the reason why the Amish hate cameras?
The next chapter will show Paladin's ability to wield guilt like a mother. Nothing ever cuts as deep as when you hear someone who loves you say that they're not angry just disappointed with you.
Good
Poor Shining Armour, he just can't catch a break in this story, can he?
5333509
To be fair, he did pretty well against an old demon lord without any sort of angelic boost.
5332768
Yes. Photo Finish is exactly the reason. The Amish used to have heaps of moe, but Photo Finish stole their souls so they got all antsy about it and went totally 'no photos!'
5332864
"I'm not angry. Just...disappointed."
/dies-on-the-inside
5332672 And more is coming!
5333522
I'd like to add how impressed I am with this arc, particularly in how you make each case of corruption and how it is handled unique and distinct from each other. We've had big fight scenes, enchanted operas, giant tortoises and now Fluttershy won a 'fight' all by herself simply through feeling. It's all very nicely varried and it keeps things interesting. Even though technically every chapter has been a repeat of "someone close gets corrupted" => "the pony close to him/her brings him/her back", you barely notice because each case has been given its own spin. Very nicely done, truly.
5333522 When you hear those words, I'm not angry just disappointed, you know. you know its gonna be bad.
5333522
Sounds legit to me! I think the textbooks will need to be changed to reflect this new truth of history.
Act 1 Chapter 3:
As I start working my way through Act IV, I begin to despair that the other half of this will never pay off, at least not until the very end of this story. What's it going to take to make Tyrael a freaking Archangel again? I'm getting tired of his de-powered self. His mortal body is rather whiny.
I think I figured out how Paladin is going to get his angelic badassery back...
This was another great chapter. A little tense trouble at times and a few sentences that looks like they were modified without removing all the extraneous bits, but great as always.
I was a little confused at the exact way Tirek vs Shining actually happened, I didn't understand all of the action. More importantly, I didn't really understand whether Shining was alone in a single car or if we are supposed to be really worried about any other passengers that might be in the train. Did I miss something? Same goes for what Shining said at the end. Did he fail to do what he wanted or not?
One last thing. I will admit it has been ages since I last watched the show, but didn't Dash end up being slightly OK with the spa? I can't seem to find it but I just have this image in my head of her being at the spa without it being under protest later in the show. Not that she'd ever be a frequent customer but I just have this impression that her dislike of the spa getting exaggerated in fandom.
Still, nitpicks all. This was great fun to read and I kinda love Photo. So hammy, so funny, oddly fitting that she was the one to save Iron Will. Ham to ham combat, though oddly restrained considering they were both kinda out of it.
As soon as I read this, I heard Shy gasp, covering her mouth. I didn't even see the next line, with how it was on my phone, but you just KNOW what her reaction is going to be... Thank you