Dawn of a New World

by KingBrony

Fluttershy 5 - Hope

The three continued their journey, although Pinkie Pie was in no condition to keep moving. Fluttershy had thought her friend was gone when she didn't respond, but Pinkie Pie moved around, giving Fluttershy some more hope. The air was stiff and cold, although it did warm up a little as they pressed on. Discord helped in any way he could; he even offered to carry Pinkie Pie for a while. At least he is trying.

However, the day came where Pinkie Pie never woke. Fluttershy had gone out to find some fresh fruit for breakfast, leaving Pinkie Pie in Discord's care. When she returned, Discord only looked at her with a frown.

No.

"Pinkie Pie??" Fluttershy tried shaking her friend. She was as cold as ice, her mane flat and pale, her fur even paler. Pinkie Pie didn't respond to the pegasus's calls, and after a while Discord pulled her off of the dead mare.

"Why couldn't you do anything!?!?!?" Fluttershy yelled at the draconequus. She should never have came.

Discord only folded his arms. "There was nothing I could do. Even the best powers of chaos couldn't save your friend. I'm...I'm sorry, Fluttershy."

Pinkie Pie's burial was short and quick. Discord was generous enough to dig the hole while Fluttershy gathered as many flowers as she could find, hidden away under the snow. Two flowers were all she could find, both withered from the cold. Pinkie wouldn't care, the pegasus thought to herself. She could make anything happy. As the flowers dropped onto the lifeless pony, Fluttershy could have sworn she saw the flowers return to life on contact. Even in death, Pinkie Pie can bring joy to everything around her.

As the pegasus stared into her friend's grave, Discord laid a hand on her shoulder. "Fluttershy-"

The pegasus ran off, as fast as she could. She could hear Discord calling after her, but she ignored him. Fluttershy was truly alone. Discord was with her, but he could never understand. There were six of us. We were supposed to help each other get through anything. Without her friends, Fluttershy felt like a shell of a pony. No more purpose, no more reason. She had an ancient gift, but what good was that if she had nopony to support her?

Fluttershy had gone south enough to see the snows fade away, to be replaced with grass and rolling hills. The chilly wind was met with warm breezes. Her blood was warm, flowing through her body. Her joints didn't ache anymore, which only made her want to go even faster. However, even she had her limits. Rushing forward, she found something that could be of use.

Before her was a great cliff. Below, a vast forest followed by mountains in the distance. The view was magnificent: a plethora of trees filled the land under her. Mountains were in the distance, staring right back at the pegasus. I've tried this before at Manehatten, but my friends were with me then...I'm alone now. Alone. All she wanted was just to walk right off the cliff, keep her wings tight against her body, and fall to her fate. End everything now. There was no point in fighting a world alone.

The pegasus didn't care anymore. She just wanted to die. The pony she was now was not the Fluttershy her friends knew. The old Fluttershy was gone. The one who would hide behind her friends, the one who would get walked all over by everypony. That Fluttershy died multiple times: in the Everfree Forest at the hands of a manticore, along a river in the south from some ponies, in a volcano surrounded by dragons, in a small cave near the Griffon Kingdom, and far to the north of Equestria, in the form of a Pink mare named Pinkie Pie. The old Fluttershy died alongside each of her friends - each one promising her that everything would be okay. She couldn't let them down now. Fluttershy could feel it: Rarity and Rainbow Dash were gone, Pinkie Pie as well. She could even feel Applejack's presence fade away. Every time she closed her eyes, Fluttershy could only see that white room. It was only her and Twilight now, only two of the six. Twilight would always be farthest away from the pegasus, and neither would move. Frozen in place, tortured at the loss of friendship. She closed her eyes and took one hoof off of the cliff...

"Fluttershy!"

The sudden voice made her jump back. It can't be, I know that voice. The pegasus opened her eyes to see a pink pony standing right in front of her. She had a poofy mane and three balloons on her flank. Fluttershy didn't believe it, didn't want to believe it. Pinkie Pie stood right in front of her, as clear as the orange skies above.

"Pin-Pinkie Pie?" Fluttershy rubbed her eyes with her hooves.

"Who else would it be?" Pinkie Pie said, bouncing in place.

"How? How did you...?" Fluttershy stammered, not believing it. I'm going crazy.

"Yer not crazy, sugarcube." Applejack's voice, as strong as ever, came from right next to the pegasus. She turned and saw more than the orange mare, to her shock.

In front of the pony stood four of her friends, four ponies she thought - no, knew - were dead. Rarity, Applejack, Pinkie Pie...and even Rainbow Dash, who hovered above the rest. Fluttershy couldn't hold back the tears in her eyes. She was about to jump forward and hug them, but something held her back.

She turned again to see the green dragon, Durango. He had a claw on her shoulder, keeping her in place. I can feel it, he's real. She looked back to her friends and noticed they were standing at the cliff edge. If she had jumped, she probably would have fallen right through, not realizing in time to spread her wings and fly to safety. Her friends didn't seem malicious, but Fluttershy didn't want to take a chance.

"I don't understand...I thought you were all..."

"Darling, our friendship is so strong that not even death can part us." Rarity spoke, approaching Fluttershy. She placed a hoof on the pegasus's head. It feels so warm.

"We know you are strong enough." Rainbow Dash said, flying right over Fluttershy. "Stronger than any of us were."

"No, don't say that." Fluttershy's tears clouded her vision. She wiped them away, still seeing her friends standing right in front of her.

"How can you be here? I don't understand..." Fluttershy said quietly, looking at each of her friends' faces. They all looked as real as they could be, but Fluttershy knew they were all gone.

"Fluttershy," Princess Celestia's voice echoed in the air. That made the pegasus cower, but she quickly picked herself back up. I'm stronger than that now. The princess herself emerged right before Fluttershy's eyes. She looked as radiant as ever, with her flowing mane glistening in the twilight sky. She towered over Fluttershy, but the pegasus did not back down.

"We are with you, always." The princess said, lifting the pony's muzzle up. Celestia's eyes were twinkling. "You must never give up, no matter how hard things may get. You have the motivation. Each of us."

"You are a very courageous pony. There is nothing you can't do!" Durango's voice echoed, feeling warm and fuzzy to Fluttershy's ears. She remembered him saying something similar back under the ocean. Visions of her adventures with all of her friends came flooding back to her.

The six figures in front of Fluttershy all lined up. She looked to each one, who simply smiled back. Each one began to glow faintly. Fluttershy nodded, smiling as she did. Celestia stood directly in front of Fluttershy. "You'll take care of Twilight, won't you? She will need you, and you will need her."

"And the fillies too!" Applejack, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash all said.

"I will." Fluttershy said as she closed her eyes.

"You'll what?"

Discord was right behind her. For once, she didn't jump, or squeak, or even yell. She opened her eyes to see that the figures were gone. Shadows in the wind. Fluttershy shed a tear, but she kept her head held high.

"I will...survive. And I will help as many others survive too."

"That is a pretty bold statement."

Fluttershy shook her head. "I know I can. My friends told me."

Discord looked puzzled. "Right...well, did your friends tell us where we're going next?"

"Canterlot." The pegasus said immediately. I will find the Sleipnir, and we will get through this. For everypony I've lost. For everypony I have to save.

"Well, we're not going to get any closer standing around. Let's go!" With that, Discord was off.

Fluttershy turned to follow him, but looked back at the cliff edge. Her friends were gone, but they didn't leave. They never left. She understood that now. As scary as the world seemed, Fluttershy wasn't scared of it anymore. She was ready to take it on, and create her own ending. Her own story.

*********

Faster.

The air whistled past her, trees flew by, all behind her now. Her wings flexed and flapped, cutting through the air like a knife on butter. The entire world came to meet her, and just as quickly fell behind. Tree after tree, rock after rock, she kept going. She just had to keep going. For Pinkie Pie, for Rainbow Dash, for the princesses. The sky was still orange, the future still uncertain, but she kept going. There was still a chance she could fail, a chance that she was flying for no reason. Every turn she made, she risked a chance of death, of failure. Her own life was on the line multiple times, and she figured it would be for as long as she were still alive. One day would come where she cracked, and her time here in the world would come to an end.

None of that mattered.

Fluttershy kept flying, indifferent to any risk of failure. She had to keep moving south, back to Equestria, back to whoever remained. It was Pinkie Pie that motivated her. Back in the cave, when the pink mare lay in Fluttershy's hooves, the pegasus realized her purpose. You can speak their language, Mae's words echoed in her head as she held her dying friend. You should have never came with us, Fluttershy thought as the last drop of life fell from the pink pony in the shape of a tear. Pinkie Pie died, but she died peacefully. She wasn't killed by a Sleipnir, or a Changeling, or even another pony. She died from the weather, from exhaustion, from depression. And she died in the hooves of her true friend. That's more than a lot of ponies could ask for in this new world. That's when Fluttershy knew; she found a new purpose in this world.
All the pegasus could think about was Berry Bunches, the filly she saved in Manehatten. When she was on the brink of death, hope emerged. As long as there is even a shred of hope, everypony must fight on. Fluttershy realized this as she covered Pinkie Pie's grave. She had a gift - a knowledge of the ancient language. She didn't know why or how, but she knew she had to use it. If there was a chance for peace, Fluttershy didn't want to gamble it away.

She couldn't forget the others as well: Durango, Berry Bunches, even Discord and Mae. They all helped Fluttershy in a way, to change her and help her adapt to the world. No matter what would happen from here on, Fluttershy would be ready for it. The pegasus was sad that it took the death of one of her best friends for her to realize it. I've always been weak, she thought. But, that was just an illusion. Fluttershy had to be the strongest pony she knew, strong for each of her fallen friends. She remembered the day she got her cutie mark, when she fell off of the cloud during one of Rainbow Dash's races. It was an unexpected event that led her to her destiny. She knew this was the same thing. Her true destiny had to be in this world, or else she would simply die. And Fluttershy did not want to accept death. Not now. Her true destiny was at Canterlot.

But, how to do it? Fluttershy planned on busting right into Canterlot and confronting whoever was in charge there. She knew that wouldn't work out, no matter how strong her desires were now. No, I have to be smart about it. Her other option was to go back to the Crystal Empire and find Twilight first. It's no use to stay at the Crystal Empire and hide. Discord soon caught up to her, panting from the distance he had flown.

"Doesn't this twilight sky get annoying after a while?" Discord smirked as he raised his arms up over his head. Fluttershy looked up at the sky.

"It isn't twilight." She said. "No, it's more than that. It wasn't the end of the world; it was the beginning of a new one. This is dawn." She flew ahead of her draconequus companion. Discord might not understand, but I am well aware. I might be crazy; in fact, I probably am crazy. But, if the world has any chance of getting better, I must keep going for that chance. I must have hope.

Author's Note:

This is it for Dawn of a New World, but not the end of this story. Because what happens next would be too much of a focus shift from the chapters in this story, I will be writing a sequel soon to continue it.