Awakening Fluttershy's Dark Sky

by Misty Shadow

Maud Pie May Cry

Later that morning…

At Celestia's castle, the sun princess was having a mature conversation with Twilight Sparkle's friends in the throne room as Twilight and Spike arrived. Walking up to the throne room doors, Twilight could overhear the conversation. She wondered whether to listen in on it or not…

Decision #4: Should Twilight overhear the conversation?

Stay by the doors to listen in

Enter the room, eavesdropping is wrong

Stay by the doors to listen in

Choosing to listen in on the conversation, Twilight put her head closer to the door…

"I'm gonna pretend I didn't see or hear this…" Spike thought as he turned his head the other way.

Twilight heard better what the others were talking about...

Hmm...what could they be talking about, I wonder. I think maybe you know...So what do you know? That is the question.

Explanation on Questions: At certain points of the story, you, the reader, will be asked questions on how you've been reading the story. Questions are essentially a follow-up to decisions. Your answers to them don't affect the course of the story, but they help keep the story consistent with your decisions. To put it more simply…

You are asked what the conversation is about. You will be provided answers that correlate to a prior decision. For example, if you chose to unleash demon wrath on Pinkie Pie earlier...

Ex: She unleashed demon wrath on her

That's how you should answer, look under the appropriate section in the chapter. What exactly Twilight overhears in this conversation won't impact the story, but it should be different depending on what you did earlier in order to be consistent and make sense. Essentially, you're reaping extra rewards for your decisions, and thus, there's no motive to lie. In fact, being honest should help you enjoy the story more. There's no joy in just reading everything in one go either, the joy is in making a path for yourself that you love!

Now then…

Question #1: What did Twilight do to Pinkie Pie back at her castle?

She unleashed demon wrath on her

She let her go

She unleashed demon wrath on her...

Twilight listened to Pinkie Pie talking about the scar she gave her as a demon...

"That's how I got this scar on my face…" Pinkie Pie explained. "But I don't hold anything against Twilight, I can understand how hard it can be. I struggled to control myself too when my demonic powers were first awakened."

"So it's not just Twilight, you've got a demon in you too…" Celestia said solemnly. "I'm so sorry…"

"Thanks for the sympathies," replied Pinkie, "but it's not all bad. I actually like the idea of being able to produce cake frosting every time I get cheesed off. *gasp* It's like…"

"We get it Pinkie," intervened Rainbow Dash, "you like ice cream cake topped with cheese spray. Now I know it's cool and all that Twilight and Pinkie have demon powers (no, I'm not being sarcastic, it's WAY cool), but I think the bigger concern is where the hay Rarity and that Discord weirdo went."

"Rainbow's actually got a point for once." Applejack followed up. "Where in the world have they been? Literally. They didn't come to the funeral and we've even stopped by Rarity's house multiple times and not found her or even Sweetie Belle there...it's scary, I tell ya."

"Even my sister Luna has vanished…" Celestia said with concern. "We have to solve this mystery. I have assigned you three and Twilight to search for Equestria's missing residents, under the aid of a special detective who is experienced in this kind of field. The detective has told me that she'll introduce herself when Twilight gets here."

She let her go

Twilight listened to the others talking about what had been going on in Equestria lately…

"It's been all over the news…" Rainbow Dash announced, showing Celestia the morning newspaper. "Octavia's dead...and now Tree Hugger, Vinyl Scratch, and even a news reporter have gone missing...shit like this never happens in Ponyville, heck, even Equestria!"

"Something's definitely rotten in Denmark…" Applejack said.

"No kidding," said Pinkie, "you'd think Discord would have something to do with all this chaos going on, but I haven't seen him at all...I even stopped by his place earlier and he wasn't there. Rarity's not been around anywhere either!"

"This is very strange and unsettling…" Celestia remarked. "We have to do something about this. Even my sister Luna has gone missing now. If we allow this to continue the way it is, the results could be catastrophic. That's why when Twilight comes, I am sending you three, her, and a special detective on a mission to find the cause of all this."

"Special detective?" Rainbow asked curiously.

"Yes," replied Celestia, "she doesn't like to talk much about herself, but she is one of Equestria's highest-ranking officers, notorious for going even as far to delve deep into worlds unknown to solve a case. She's an enigmatic figure. She accepted the case, but only under the condition that Princess Twilight Sparkle and all of you agree to come with her on it. She was even here a little while ago, but I have a nagging feeling that she's waiting for Twilight to come to introduce herself so she can meet you all as a group…"

"Hmm…?" Twilight said in puzzlement. "Who in the world could that detective be?"

Just then, Maud Pie came up behind Twilight, and taking a black marker, she drew a line across her throat.

"EEK!" Twilight screeched as she lost balance and opened the throne room doors as she tripped and fell on the floor.

"Sorry I'm late," apologized Maud Pie, "Twilight took her sweet time."

"W-wuh…" Twilight said. "Hey! That was not cool!"

"And eavesdropping was?" Maud replied.

"She's got you there Twilight," said Spike, "even though I don't like the way she used that marker on you. The only naughty thing I do with markers is draw mustaches on other ponies when they're asleep. ...Okay, I also sniff them every now and then."

"Twilight…" the other ponies in the room said, giving her frowns of disappointment.

"I-I'm sorry." Twilight apologized as she gave a sigh of defeat.

Twilight walked over to the other ponies while Maud stood in front of everyone, getting ready to explain the reason for her presence while the others took note of her new flashy red coat.

"This is the case." Maud Pie said. "I'm Maud Pie and I'm a supernatural detective. I shall join you on your adventure. That's all."

Enter the room, eavesdropping is wrong

Choosing to enter the room, Twilight pushed the throne room doors open and she and Spike walked in, the doors shutting behind them.

"Um...hi everyone…" Twilight greeted, feeling worried that the others were talking about what she had done to Pinkie Pie as she saw nervous frowns on Applejack and Rainbow Dash's face.

Twilight's friends and Celestia turned to face her…

Question #2: Did Twilight go down the path of Nothing in her dream?

Yes

No

Yes

"Oh, hi Twilight…" Rainbow Dash greeted, grinning nervously as she noticed Twilight's unusual attire. "You look…"

"Dashing?" Applejack intervened to try and make it quick. "Like a...Cloudsdale news reporter from the 80s?"

Dash facehoofed.

"I was going to say stylish like Spitfire's feminist brother coming home from ComicCon!" Dash exclaimed.

"Oops…" Applejack said, realizing her mistake.

Twilight couldn't help but feel just a little irked.

"Seriously?" she thought. "I've had this outfit for a while! They're acting like I just pulled it out of the closet!"

No

"Great to see you again, Twilight!" Pinkie exclaimed, just being happy to see her. "We were talking and going over a lot of big stuff before you came over here, but I'll just give it to you straight. Celestia invited us all over here to play "Who Went Where?" with a special detective!"

Twilight just stared at Pinkie and Celestia awkwardly.

"Uhh...I can explain." Celestia said, dotting her eyes about nervously.

"Don't worry," said a familiar pony in a red coat who stepped out from behind Celestia's shadow, "I shall do the explaining. I'm Maud Pie and I'm a supernatural detective. I shall join you on your adventure. That's all."

Supernatural Detective Maud Pie has joined the party!

The room went silent for a moment and Twilight, Applejack, and Rainbow were all like, "WHAT?!". Pinkie Pie, however was all like, "Oh, awesome!", and Maud was all like "Yeah, it's shocking and cool.".

"We never knew you were a supernatural detective!" Rainbow exclaimed as she, Applejack, and Twilight all looked at Maud weirdly.

"I've always known!" Pinkie proclaimed, looking at her friends like they were crazy. "Have you guys seriously never heard of how Maud single-hoofedly solved the case of the sailing stones last year?"

A flashback began playing, in which Maud Pie was just staring apathetically at these two giant boulders.

And staring...and staring...and staring...

After a while, the boulders began to sweat and one of them cried to the other…

"SHE'S ONTO US, MAN! I CAN'T TAKE THE PRESSURE ANYMORE! LET'S JUST COME CLEAN AND EASE THE SUFFERING!"

The flashback ended…

"It turns out that those moving rocks were actually possessed by demons who had a plot to run over and crush innocent civilians just for the fun of it!" Pinkie elaborated. "Ponies everywhere were paranoid about what other rocks may have been possessed! Candy stores all across Equestria made a mass recall on rock candy for a while! But thanks to Maud, many lives were saved!"

"Don't thank me, thank the Powers That Be that work through me." Maud said humbly. "Honestly, that whole case was just a stone I couldn't leave unturned."

"Oh, Maud!" Pinkie exclaimed with a goofy grin and laughed.

"Ha, hee, ha, hyuk, ho." Maud said, trying to laugh with her. "These are the words of a laugh."

Twilight, Applejack, and Rainbow kept their awkward looks on, still not being convinced.

"I know we live in a magical world, but...really?" Rainbow thought. "I know fucked up stuff happens in our world but...that was just...fuck."

"Something feels wrong, like this just doesn't fit…" Applejack thought.

"No, I just can't believe that Maud Pie would become a supernatural detective...I just can't!" Twilight thought.

Spike had no thoughts to share, for he was lying on the floor asleep. Maud Pie noticed, and gave a weird look of her own as she looked above him…she then glanced at the others and saw their expressions of disbelief before she turned to Pinkie.

"It seems your friends don't believe us." Maud said. "I think they need proof…"

"Proof?" Pinkie asked. "What kind of proof?"

Maud took off her red coat and dropped it on the ground, creating a clattering noise and revealing that she had a sheath that contained a saber with a silver blade and a gold, cross-shaped hilt on her back. On the edge of the blade was engraved the initials, "M.M.".

"If they don't believe our words Pinkie," replied Maud as she pulled the saber out from the sheath, "they'll believe through a baptism...just like you."

Twilight, Applejack, and Rainbow froze in fear as Maud held out her sword, pointing it in their direction.

"Maud, wait!" Pinkie shouted. "We don't need to do that!"

"What in God's name are you doing?!" Celestia rightfully declared. "I was promised you wouldn't hurt anyone!"

"Promised?" Twilight thought.

Maud ignored Pinkie and Celestia as the cross on her sword's hilt began to emanate a glowing white light. She then tossed the sword at...what she had seen above Spike.

"AAAAAIIIIIEEEEE!" screamed what sounded like many ponies crying all at once upon being hit in the chest by Maud Pie's sword. One particular cry echoed thrice. In the crying, five voices everyone in the room recognized could be heard, the voices of Octavia Heartstrings, Tree Hugger, Vinyl Scratch, and the last two that would strike Twilight and Celestia especially…

"!" Twilight went. "...Fluttershy?!"

"!" Celestia went. "...Luna?!"

Knowing that her cover had been blown, what had been above Spike became visible as a dark robed figure with a hoodie covering her head and face hovering in the air...it was the Goddess of Death. Having been hit in the chest with Maud's sword, she was bleeding blood and ectoplasm onto Spike from her stab wound. Spike didn't wake up, however, even as the blood and ectoplasm dripped on him and was absorbed into his scalish skin…

"So," said Maud, "you put a sleep spell on him. Just what I'd expect from the guardian of dreams."

"Guardian of dreams?" Celestia said as she pondered and soon realized what that meant. "No…"

"Scoundrel…" the Goddess of Death said to Maud as she grabbed Spike under her right front leg. "Next time we meet, I'll pay you back on my home turf! If you ever want to see your friend alive again, you'll come to the Arc Rising graveyard at 5:30 PM tomorrow evening! I'll be waiting!"

"Stop!" Twilight yelled as she and all of the others ran towards the Goddess of Death as fast as they could, only for her to start teleporting away by wrapping herself and Spike in a sphere of darkness. Everyone except Twilight was unable to follow her into the sphere of darkness, and even Twilight could only faintly make out the Goddess of Death in the darkness as she entered. Nevertheless, Twilight prepared to fire a magic laser blast from her horn at her.

"GIVE HIM BACK!" she cried as she shot the laser beam at the Goddess of Death. The Goddess of Death flung off her robe, rolling and ducking while grabbing Spike under her front legs. Having taken off her robe, the Goddess of Death's face was revealed to Twilight. Twilight paused when she noticed her face…

"I knew it…" Twilight thought to herself. "It's just like in the book...everything in it that's been written has come true…"

Then, the Goddess of Death finished her teleportation. She and Spike disappeared along with the sphere of darkness, but her robe, oddly enough, was left behind. Twilight clutched it with her hooves and knelt her head in despondence.

"Am I...powerless to it?" she asked herself as small tears rolled out of her eyes. "Will it all end...how they want it to?"

That depends on who "they" is, Twilight. If "they" is Trey and that bus boy from the restaurant with the really good sushi, then I'm sure everything will be fine!

"Twilight…" Applejack said as she and the others came over to Twilight, looking somber. "I'm sorry we couldn't help…"

"Please…" Twilight replied. "Don't apologize. I'm the one who failed...and for that, I am…"

Twilight turned to the others and gave them a look of great anger.

"UNFORGIVABLE." Twilight said as her demon aura and fangs became visible.

Spooked upon seeing Twilight in such a state, Twilight's friends kept silent.

"What's happening to you, Twilight?" Applejack pondered. "First what you did to Pinkie and now this...it's like you're completely different…"

Maud Pie was also pondering something...

"Even Pinkie and I couldn't pass through that darkness…" she thought. "I wonder…"

Celestia was looking at Twilight and thinking too…

"Did she hesitate to apprehend her...because she was Noava Falling's mother? Or...does she know that it's been scripted for her and her friends to go to the cemetery named after my son and fight...that prince..."

"Twilight, I know it's sad what's going on…" Celestia said, heartbroken seeing Twilight like this. "It's even sadder how helpless it makes us feel trying to comprehend all this...but right now, what's most important is to do what we can to help Spike. I beg all of you...please go to the Arc Rising cemetery tomorrow's eve and rescue Spike from the Goddess of Death!"

"Aren't you going to come to?" Dash asked, assuming Celestia would definitely want to join them to confront the Goddess of Death after hearing Luna's voice come from her.

Celestia then looked over at Maud, who shook her head in response.

"No…" Celestia replied with a crestfallen sigh. "I have to stay here and watch over the citizens of Equestria, in case I have to protect them from harm with the recent outburst of chaos. As for you, I'll have to be with you in spirit. Please, take care."

"We have time before we have to meet the Goddess of Death." Maud reminded everypony. "In that time, I want to take you guys somewhere and show you something important."

Maud walked to the doors of the throne room, only to look back and see the others still giving her those awkward looks.

"Don't worry, I will explain." she said. "I know what the death goddess wants, a battle. That's why I need to get you guys prepared for war…please follow me..."

Not seeing any other options, all the other ponies, excluding Celestia, obeyed. They followed Maud Pie out of the throne room of Celestia's castle, the doors ominously slamming shut behind them…

End of Part Three.

"That's the end of the third part!" Boss shouted. "So, how did you all enjoy it?"

"I guess it was a little better than the first two chapters," said Dumb-bell, "at least the story is picking up a bit."

"It is a bit better than the first two chapters," concurred Hoops, "but it's still not great by any means. I also find the twist of Maud Pie being a "badass hero" to be cliche."

"..." Score silently expressed a similar opinion.

"Incoming combo breaker," said G.R.D., "this chapter was just as bad if not worse than the first two. Already, this story is starting to become what I predicted it to become (OMG WE HAVE THIS DEEP SERIOUS STORY WHERE TWILIGHT HAS A BOOK AND THESE GODS OR WHATEVER ARE MAKING STUFF HAPPEN EVEN THOUGH IT MAKES NO SENSE BEST STORY EVER IF YOUR 12 YRS OLD!1!), and even disregarding that, in no way was this chapter entertaining at all. It was just dull exposition and crappy comic relief. Seriously, it literally was just five lines of exposition, nonsense joke, five more lines of exposition, sex joke, introducing a completely out of character Maud Pie, Family Guy cutaway gag?! Just...what the fuck?"

"Combo breaker breaker!" Derpy exclaimed. "This chapter ruled! This new version of Maud Pie is awesome! That part where it looked like she was going to baptize the ponies but was really just trying to attack the Goddess of Death was so cool!"

"Glad everyone except Derpy loved it!" Boss said happily. "Trust me, the next chapter is where the story starts getting really good!"

Clue #3: Hit thrice