> Evanstallion: Neon Friendship
>  by Short-tale
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Episode 1: Potential of a Blossom
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ponyville was a quaint, little town nestled in the hills of Equestria. It contained a small market where the ponies of the town would gather to sell their goods. It was there a small, grey pegasus was shopping for her best friend. He was a doctor: a doctor of science. She had accidentally flown into one of his models of the universe and fractured the small round orb representing the moon. 

The pegasus stopped by the flower stand and smelled the sweet fragrance of the lilies. They were always her favorite. She asked for a bundle to bring to her friend as an apology and promised herself not to eat them along the way this time. The flower stand pony handed her bouquet and she flew to find the Doc excited by the delicious smell of the lilies. 

“Ooh my gosh!” a voice shouted behind her. “The horror! The horror!”

The grey mare turned her head to see the flower salespony pointing in her direction, who fainted and collapsed on the ground. The pegasus looked forward again only to smash into something incredibly hard. She slid down the hard thing to the ground. 

The grey pegasus looked up at the large thing in front of her. Its shadowy form loomed over her but her eyes wouldn’t focus and the thing blurred and doubled. She shook her head and looked again to see a huge, beaked monster in front of her. It stood on two legs and towered over her and the closest buildings. The gray mare began to run away but turned and found her lilies had been crushed. Saddened, she resumed her course away from the menacing beast. The monster bellowed and began smashing nearby buildings. Ponies from the town ran towards the Everfree forest for safety.

***

Far in the distant city of Canterlot, the tall, radiant ruler of Equestria, Princess Celestia and the guards of the UP, United Ponies, watched a magic monitor. The monster bellowed as guard pegasi converged on its location.

“Tell them to use their magic missiles,” ordered Commander Shining Armor. “Aim for the head.”

The screen displayed a cascade of colored rockets and projectiles all aimed at the horrid beast. The creature looked up at the pegasi army pelting it with prismatic weaponry, then resumed its course.

“It doesn’t appear to be effective,” observed the concerned Princess. 

“We shall try something else at once,” Shining affirmed. “Use the bubble based mortar rounds.”

The mountains surrounding Ponyville began to unleash a barrage of multicolored bubbles. The creature slowed and turned its white, crow-like head towards the delicate display. The bubbles collided with it and began to explode in a large ball of fire. Layer after layer of bubbles exploded around it. Undaunted the monster continued its trek to a nearby town. 

Behind the Princess, Discord and Mud Briar watched as the UP’s efforts were wasted as they attacked again and again. Discord’s long draconequus body pitched forward so that his head leaned on his mismatched claws. He wore a long black jacket and red-tinted shades. He placed his white-gloved hands in a steeple and peered broodingly over them.

Discord’s companion, Mud Briar, was an emotionally stunted earth pony wearing a grey suit. His mane was cut in a mod type fashion. He watched the screen with a disinterested glance.

“Their efforts are futile,” Mud Briar droned. “That creature has an impenetrable hide as well as an AT field.” 

“Well we know that,”responded Discord with a wicked grin,” but it’s amusing to watch them learn.”

“Only the Evanstallions we have created have capacity to stand up to such a creature.”

“Just let the army play with their little toys. They will realize they need us soon enough.”

Discord peered greedily from behind the opal shining princess. She ignored him. 

“At least I hope they do,” the draconequus added sucking on his one tusk in impatience. “Otherwise this will be a much shorter story.”

***

Fluttershy, a small yellow pegasus, stood in a phone booth in the nearby town of Ponyville 3. She cringed as each explosion echoed out across the valley that separated the two villages. Fluttershy wondered why they would name a town Ponyville 3, when the original was a mere field away. What happened to Ponyville 2? She cringed at the thought at what could have happened and shook the scary thoughts from her head.

The cringing pegasus frantically pressed the buttons on the phone to the number she was given. The phone rang and rang but no pony answered.

“Oh, dear,” Fluttershy thought, ”what am I going to do?”

The yellow mare looked at the phone number again to check if she had remembered it correctly. It remained the same as the last 10 times she had rechecked it. It was written on the back of a photo of a pink earth pony smiling at the camera wearing a black dress named Pinkie Pie. She was hugging two balloons to her chest and a hoof drawn arrow pointed to them and stated, “look at this!” 

Fluttershy snickered as she looked at all the other arrows on the photo that pointed to various things in the background. Each subsequent arrow commanded her to look, “here”, “and here”. The amount of arrows threatened to over take the image. 

Fluttershy giggled at the strange correspondence the two had recently. Pinkie Pie seemed like a fun pony that enjoyed parties. Fluttershy had many tea parties in the past and wondered what kind of fun tea parties she would have. She looked down at her drab, off-white, buttoned down shirt and plain,beige khakis and wondered if she should have dressed up for the event. But as she looked at the desolate streets of Ponyville 3 she felt the bitterness of disappointment.

“Oh, it doesn’t look like Pinkie is coming. Perhaps I should get to a shelter. But if I go to a shelter and she shows up looking for me then she’ll think I left. That would feel awful to be abandoned by a friend. Maybe I could…”

A large impact shook Fluttershy off her hooves. She noticed the power lines above her twist and sway. Suddenly a flash caught her eye. She looked down the street to see a gray pony with a purple mane. It had a sullen look on its face. 

An “uh?” escaped Fluttershy’s lips. Then the other pony vanished.

The ground next to the confused pegasus exploded as a large foot crashed through the pavement. The chunks of road tore up the phone and buildings around her. She let out a little “eep” then stiffened like a board and fell to the ground. She tried to stay as still as possible. The huge monster continued on its way. 

Fluttershy closed her eyes tight and thought about becoming invisible. She tried desperately to control her breathing which had quickened to a rapid pace. She visualized herself as hollow or see-through. Her ears rotated towards a strange rumbling sound. She tried to become smaller. The rumbling increased until it sounded like it was right in front of her. 

“Fluttershy?” a voice shouted at her. Now the monster was calling for her by name! She pulled into a tighter ball. “Fluttershy, come on,” said the voice again. Fluttershy hoped the voice would go away. 

“Fluttershy this is no time for a nap,” scolded the bubbly voice. “We need to get out of her or that monster could flatten us.”

Fluttershy’s eyes popped open and she flapped to her hooves. In front of her was the same bright pink pony in her photo on top of a bright blue cannon. Fluttershy hesitated at the sight of the cannon. 

“Get on, we have got to get out of here now,” Pinkie shouted. 

Fluttershy jumped on and the cannon sped off. “Um, how is this cannon rolling on it’s own?” 

“No time for questions, silly,” Pinkie responded. Pinkie lowered her body to the cannon’s enormous muzzle and it picked up speed somehow. Fluttershy clung to the large cylinder as best she could. She flapped her wings to keep herself from sliding off any further.  

The cannon sped out of town while another squadron of pegasi engaged the giant. They fired more rainbow rounds and threw more explosives. The monster was momentarily phased at their persistence and didn’t notice the cannon roll onto the main roadway out of town. The little cannon put great distance on the monster and soon found themselves approaching a scenic overlook. 

“How did you know where to find me?” asked Fluttershy.

“My Pinkie sense has never failed me yet,” answered Pinkie with a large grin. Suddenly her face became very serious. “Wait a minute. Ears flapping. Eyes crossing. Tail twisting. They’re going to drop an N2 mine! Get down!”

Pinkie flung her body over Fluttershy to cover her as the ground violently shook and the air exploded around them. Fluttershy quickly glimpsed a rainbow colored ring stretch out across the sky. Dust and small debris scattered past them as the concussive wave knocked Pinkie’s cannon over. Fluttershy silently prayed to whatever deity was in control that she would survive. 

***

The UP headquarters exploded with cheers as the magic monitor displayed nothing but debris. 

“Wait,” commanded Celestia. The cheers began to die out except for a single pony who didn’t hear. He found the nearby ponies staring at him and quieted. 

The guards stared back at the screen. The room gasped and groaned as the looming, gaunt form of the creature stood still and tall in front of the buildings. 

“No effect at all,” gasped Shining Armor.

“There’s nothing more we can do,” Celestia stated with great finality. She turned her eyes to Discord behind her, who waved with a pleased smile. “The fate of Equestria is in your hooves now.”

“Technically he has hands,” answered Mud Briar. 

“It’s ok, Mud Briar. Thank you, Princess,” Discord said bowing cordially. “This is the reason why CAKE exists. To the Discord copter!”

***

Pinkie and Fluttershy stood with their backs to the cannon. They placed their front hooves under the cold barrel and began to heave. Fluttershy felt the strain immediately on her back hooves. Her thighs feel like they were about to explode. Sweat poured off of her head and she felt a little faint. The cannon finally began to lift off the ground. 

Pinkie dug her hooves into the ground and gave one mighty lurch. The cannon caught the implication and righted itself. 

“Thanks Fluttershy. It would have been impossible if I had to push this back up myself,” beamed Pinkie. 

“Yes, you um welcome,” Fluttershy quietly said to her hair. “I just um wondered why you didn’t use it to fight that monster back there.”

“Oh, it’s not that kind of cannon,” Pinkie explained and patted its side. A large clang echoed from the barrel as she did. She pulled the cannon’s string and confetti mixed with streamers rained from the sky. 

“It’s a party cannon. I brought it here to properly welcome you to Ponyville 3 and your new job at CAKE.”

“CAKE? Is that where my friend Discord works?”

“Yeah, he runs it. It’s a secret organization,” she shouted. “So don’t tell anypony about it, ok. Speaking of which, I have to get you there. Discord is going to want to see you right away.”

“Oh dear, does he need me for something?”

“Probably. I haven’t been there very long myself. All I know it’s super dooper important.”

Fluttershy’s heart sank. She hoped he would be able to explain why she couldn’t remember what happened between them. But it sounded like he called her for some sort of job. She quietly climbed back on Pinkie’s party cannon.

“Aww,” cried Pinkie. “Don’t look so down. It probably won’t be that hard to do. It’s not as though the fate Equestria rides on it or anything.”

***

Discord stood in front of his desk in the command center of CAKE.  The room was a large circle with computers and screens lining the front wall. Trixie, Lyra, and Bon Bon sat behind their terminals while Twilight marched into position in front of them emboldened in her white lab coat. She took a breath and addressed the group.  “Ok team. We are a go. Celestia is counting us to make this machine work.”

Lyra waved her hoof in Twilight’s direction. “Um, how is this thing going to fight if we don’t have a pilot?,” she asked. “Isn’t the first filly hurt?”

“Good question,” commended Twilight and pulled a note card out. “It says here a new pilot is being delivered to us and please sit up.”

Lyra shifted from her normal slouched position on the chair to a more appropriate one.

“I want Unit-01 up and running in anticipation for her arrival,” commanded Twilight expertly.

“Yes, Ma’am,” the three mares answered in unison. 

Twilight strode over to Trixie’s station. She sighed disapprovingly at the cyan unicorn’s large star printed hat on her head.

“Trixie,” she hissed quietly. “We talked about this. You can’t wear your hat in the office.”

“Sorry, Twi..ma’am,” Trixie apologized for the countless time. 

“Are all the preparations made, Twilight?,” asked Discord as he sat in his chair. 

“Yes, Commander Discord.”

“Good. I want the pilot taken right to the Evanstallion. We need to get into this fight as soon as possible. Oh and bring me some green jello they didn’t have any on the Discord-copter.”

***

Pinkie and Fluttershy rode the cannon into CAKE’s entryway and took a large elevator down. 

“So you don’t even know what your good friend has been up to all these years?” asked Pinkie brightly. 

“No” Fluttershy admitted. “I kind of lost contact with him some time ago, I think. To be honest I am having trouble remembering what happened between us but I know it must of been something awful. Every time think about him I feel a little nervous and sad.”

“That’s weird, are you missing memory too?”

“Yes. It’s the strangest thing.”

Fluttershy tried to remember her earliest memory but was jolted by the elevator. The large open platform started to descend into the complex. Pinkie, Fluttershy and the cannon all coasted down together. Fluttershy moved closer to Pinkie for fear of falling off.

“So what sort of things does Discord do here?” Fluttershy asked trying to sound like she wasn’t envisioning the elevator chain breaking and crashing to their deaths.

“He’s in charge of the safety of all Equestria. We have these huge robot things that are kind scary but not as scary those angel things we saw back in town. They’re trying to hurt ponies. So it’s our job to stop them. Right now we have an angel right above us wrecking things and hurting ponies. We have a huge robot to fight it but we need a pilot. They said Commander Discord called you here to pilot.”

“Really? I’ve never done that before.”

“I know but the Commander thinks you can help us defeat the angel over head.”

“Defeat the Angel? Me? How? I can’t do that?”

The two made their way through the steel lined labyrinth to the Evanstallion holding cell. Pinkie pronged while Fluttershy looked about nervously. The tense pegasus tried to imagine what fighting a beast like she saw before would be like. The very thought made her feel faint in terror. What could Discord be thinking? How could a small meek pegasus that could hardly fly fight a huge angel? She didn’t see anyway she could do it. 

“I’m sorry, Pinkie but I think you have the wrong...,” Fluttershy began. She stopped when she noticed a purple unicorn in a lab coat waiting for them by a large orange lake. 

“Hello Fluttershy, my name is Twilight Sparkle,” it said reading from a card. “ I helped design the Evanstallion as well as the spells that aid them.”

Fluttershy stared at her quietly as she finished. Twilight seemed a bit flustered by the silence and hurriedly pulled the next card. 

“This is Evanstallion Unit-01. Or just Unit-01 for short. This will be your Eva.” 

Fluttershy remained completely still and continued to stare at the ground.

“Umm she does talk right?” asked Twilight to Pinkie.

“She seemed pretty fine to me,” shrugged Pinkie. “Maybe she’s afraid of unicorns.”

“Oh, it’s ok,” said Twilight softening her tone like she was talking to a small foal. “Unicorns are nothing to be afraid of. We’re regular ponies just like you.”

“Except for the crazy magical horn,” injected Pinkie.

“Not helping.”

“Oh, I’m not afraid of unicorns,” explained Fluttershy in voice that both ponies strained to hear. “I’m scared of bmm.”

“What was that?” asked Twilight. “Was that Ponish?”

“I’m afraid of giant robots,” shouted Fluttershy. “And orange lakes.”

“Oh that’s not so bad,” laughed Pinkie. 

“She’s here to pilot a giant robot. How is she going to do that if she’s afraid of them?” demanded the exasperated unicorn.

“Oh, I guess that is kinda bad. What if we just bring her to the robot blindfolded? Then she doesn’t have to be afraid of the orange lake.”

Pinkie wasted no time and quickly pulled a blindfold from her mane. “It’s for surprise party emergencies,” she explained to Twilight’s inquisitive look. They lifted Fluttershy onto the boat and crossed the orange lake.

It wasn’t long before they approached the large equine form of Uni-01. A large horn protruded from its head. It was covered in purple and lime green armor. Its mane and tail was a mass of wires. A purple plate of armor sealed its mouth shut. It stood stories tall and looked down on them with darkened eyes. 

Pinkie Pie shuddered involuntarily. The Evanstallion unnerved her. She was supposed to bring smiles to all the ponies of the world. The Eva was only there for destruction.

The little boat arrived at a small catwalk in front of the dominating robot. Twilight and Pinkie helped carry the petrified Fluttershy off the boat and in front of the Eva. Fluttershy struggled to get the blindfold off then immediately wished she hadn’t. The monstrous metal head of the Evanstallion stretched three ponies tall above her. The darkened sockets of the Eva suddenly awakened with two pin points of harsh blue light. They narrowed at her as she approached. 

“Are the eyes supposed to do that when it isn’t on?” asked Pinkie uncertainly.

“No,” whispered Twilight. “It’s never done that before.”

Fluttershy saw behind the unnerving machine a large observational window . She could make out the sleek form of Discord observing her through it. Heat rose to her face as anger over powered her fear in that moment. 

“Is this why you brought me here, Discord?” she demanded. “To pilot this horrid machine? To fight monsters for you? If you thought I was going to do that then you don’t know me at all.”

“But Equestria needs you Fluttershy,” responded Discord calmly. “All your pony friends and all the cute little animals need you. They’re getting hurt and their homes are getting wrecked by those angels as well.”

“I don’t know if that justifies hurting another creature.”

“But no pony else can do it right now. And you came all this way. I set up all this for you. Why don’t you give it a tinsy pilot? For me?”

“I’m just don’t think I can”, she mumbled, “I’m sorry.”

“Well this a fine kettle of fish,” said Discord kicking an unseen rock and adjusting his red tinted glasses.”I’m not entirely sure what to do now.”

“We could try Maud again,” suggested Mud Briar as he arrived behind him.

“I suppose we’ll have to. Just a shame really. I had hoped my good friend would help us out. After all, when all of life hangs in the delicate balance isn’t that when true friends step up the most? Oh well. Bring out Maud.”

A team of medical ponies wheeled a stretcher with the same pony Fluttershy saw in the street lying in it. She had bandages on her right eye and shoulder. Fluttershy couldn’t believe that Discord would be so cruel to make this poor pony fight in that machine.

“Maud, you will do it again,” instructed Discord as turned to leave. 

“Ok,” responded the dead tone of the pony in the bed. 

“That’s not fair to make her pilot that thing,” Fluttershy blurted to Discord, her eyes brimmed with tears of sympathy. “She’s hurt.”

“I’m sorry to ask this of you, Fluttershy,” Twilight said placing her hoof on her  shoulder,” but if you won’t pilot it, she has to. We have no other pilots and no pony else can do it.”

Before the little pegasus could respond the entire complex shook. One of the light fixtures in the ceiling shook loose and plummeted towards the wide-eyed Fluttershy. She ducked and placed her wings over her head. Fluttershy cowered waiting for the dull thud of the lamp and splinter of bone that never came. She peeked one eye open and noticed the light fixture floating above her in a shimmer of lavender. She followed the light and saw Twilight straining to hold the fixture with her magic. The sweating unicorn threw it into the orange waves. 

“Thanks I..,” Fluttershy began then her pupils shrank in shock. Maud had fallen out of the stretcher. “Oh my goodness,” she gasped and rushed to Maud’s side. 

Fluttershy began to place her hooves on Maud’s body to check for injuries. 

“Ow,” said Maud in a dead monotone, as Fluttershy pressed on her side. Fluttershy pulled her hoof back and revealed bright red blood on it.

“Oh you poor dear,” gasped Fluttershy. “No pony should make some pony do something when they’re hurt. Alright, Discord, I’ll pilot it.”

Discord merely nodded but a small grin appeared on his face. 

Twilight pressed a series of buttons on a nearby control panel. Behind the monstrous metal pony’s head a large hatch opened and a large white tube ejected. 

“We need you to climb in,” explained Twilight.

Fluttershy found herself in a small cockpit filled with dials and displays. There was a large seat with pedals that strapped to her hooves. She placed her hooves on the pedals and felt the clamps lock on. Then the top of tube closed. Darkness filled the space for an instant only to be vanquished by yellow light. Fluttershy could see the bottom filling with the pale orange liquid from the lake.

“Not the orange water again,” whined Fluttershy.

“It’s ok,” cooed Twilight. “The liquid will fill your lungs and exchange air directly. You’ll be ok. Now the Evanstallion runs off of magic that enters through a cable attached to your Eva’s tail. If the power is cut you have only five minutes left before the magic runs out.”

Twilight finished the initial steps then returned to the control center with Pinkie pronging in tow.

“Ok, ponies this is for real,” she declared to her team as she entered. “Clear the entryway. Open the exit tubes. Remove the restraints.”

“Biometrics in sync,” informed Bon Bon.

“Amazing,” cried Pinkie,”it’s like we found the most super duper pony for the job.”

“It is impressive on her first try,” confirmed Twilight.“Ok everypony, we’re as ready as we’re ever going to be.”

“Eva launch,” screamed Pinkie pulling the cord on her party cannon. It exploded over the  control center coating their work stations in multicolored confetti scraps.

“Is she going to do that every time?” asked Trixie covered in confetti. 

The Evanstallion shot up a metal launch duct. Fluttershy felt crushed as the G forces pushed her further in her seat. The tube’s interior vanished from view and was replaced with the images of the outside. Fluttershy watched with trepidation as the surface rushed down to meet her. The blinding light of the sun caught Fluttershy by surprise as the machine breached the city. 
> Episode 2: Roommates and Head Trauma
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The horrid angel watched as the Evanstallion appeared. It lumbered over closer but noticed the angry glare that came from the Eva’s deep set eyes. It stood ready to attack at the moment’s provocation. Fluttershy fought to keep her breath still as the tension from the mighty being hit her body like a wave. 

“Just focus on trotting, Fluttershy,” Twilight’s voice came from a speaker in the Eva. 

“Trotting? There’s a monster staring at me right now,” whispered Fluttershy. “I can’t, I can’t move.”

The Eva stood on the launch hatch and trembled. 

“You can do it, Fluttershy!” Pinkie Pie screamed with pompoms in her hooves. 

“Ok, I’ll try. Trotting,” Fluttershy squeaked as the Eva started to wobble forward. It took a single hesitant step then collapsed to the ground.

“Awww,” responded a dejected Pinkie Pie. 

The huge creature stomped its way toward the fallen Eva and picked it up by the face. Fluttershy could feel the long, thin fingers as if it was wrapped around her own face. Warning buzzers sounded in the cockpit as the Eva pitched at an unnatural angle.

“Oh, thank you for helping me,” Fluttershy said gratefully.  Then her Eva was thrown through the air. 

The angel chased the Eva as it flew and jumped on it before it landed. The alien monster leapt on its back and tried to kick it into motion with spiny heels.

“Excuse me,” Fluttershy squeaked. “That isn’t very nice without asking permission first.”

The angel laughed a strange dark laugh. 

Fluttershy lifted her haunches and the Eva reared it off. It flew through the air and crashed into a large tower. The angel growled, stood, and grabbed the Eva by the face again. Fluttershy noticed a strange purple light glowing from its hand.

“Get out!” cried Pinkie through the intercom. “Get out of there now!”

The light increased until a long thin lance erupted from it and slammed into the Eva’s head. It knocked the Eva through the air into more buildings, which severed the tail cable. A small clock in Fluttershy’s cockpit began to run down from five minutes.

Fluttershy could barely think as she grabbed her forehead. To her surprise she found no wound despite the pain. 

Fluttershy shakily pushed Unit 0-1 onto its hoofs. The damaged head grinded on its neck as it looked for its query. Fluttershy saw the angel in the air mid leap as it descended upon her. 

“Oh no, help!” called Fluttershy as she tried to shift her Eva out of the way to no avail. 

The control room watched on as Fluttershy pleaded but was pounced upon. The angel launched its lance into the Eva’s forehead again and again. 

Fluttershy could feel each stroke as if it was her own skull. Bright sparks of hot, white pain ran through her entire body. She felt sick and scared. No pony was around to save her. No pony was around the help. 

Fluttershy lifted her hooves uselessly to fend off the incoming blows. The angel ignored the feeble attempts and focused on continuing the onslaught.

A large crack echoed through the empty city as the purple beam tore through the Eva’s skull and erupted out the other side.

The Eva stumbled into a building and collapsed. The timer had run out. Fluttershy shrieked as the angel approached. The Eva couldn’t move.

***

Suddenly, Fluttershy woke up in a hospital bed. She squinted as her eyes were assaulted by the stark lighting. She groggily looked around. It was an empty room with starchy stiff sheets. She noted that her normal khakis and button down shirt was missing and were replaced with a hospital gown. She sighed as she lay back down. 

“I don’t like this place,” she said to herself. She stared at the ceiling for a few more minutes, then sat up and shouted, “Wait, what happened?.”

***

Pinkie Pie and Twilight trotted down the streets of Ponyville 3. Rubble and debris lined the cobblestone streets and teams of construction ponies worked hard to clean up the mess. 

Pinkie watched them while Twilight took a phone call. She thought they looked a little down, so she found her emergency balloon animal kit. She was about to walk over and cheer them up when Twilight excitedly returned. 

“Good news,” she exclaimed, ”Fluttershy is awake.”

“That’s incredaexcitmently great news! I just made that up. It’s a mixture of...”

“I can figure it out, Captain Pinkie,” groaned Twilight.” But seriously, these pilots are under your care. It might behoove you take your responsibilities more seriously.”

“Whenever I try to be more serious my mane gets all ttthhhpbb,” Pinkie exclaimed, sticking her tongue out.

“Thhhppbb?”

“Yes, thhhppbb,” Pinkie reiterated. She reached into her purse and pulled out her favorite food in the world. “Cupcake?”, she asked and offered it to Twilight.

“Thanks,”Twinkle nodded as she thoughtfully bit the cupcake. “It seems Fluttershy has no memory of the event.”

“Good, that way she won’t be scared or sad.”

“Pinkie! That could mean she’s sustained any number brain injuries.”

“Oh. I was hoping she could go back to a not sad Fluttershy.”

“It’s not possible. The events of life affect you no matter how much you want to ignore them.”

“I don’t ignore them,” Pinkie said, puffing her cheeks indignantly. “I just let them go by without thinking too much about them. If they change me then they did. It’s too late to go back. The change has already happened. No sense in worrying about it.”

***

Fluttershy stood up and tried to walk on weak legs. She slowly made her way out of the room. Some part of her felt numb. She wished she knew how she’d ended up here. 

A nurse with white hair and mane pushed a stretcher with Maud lying on it. Fluttershy wondered what had injured her so badly. Then she wondered what happened to herself. 

***

Pinkie and Twilight watched as the armored helmet of the Evanstallion was hoisted out of a large helmet-shaped crater. The massive crane strained under the weight and creaked unnaturally. 

“So do you think she’ll pilot it again?” asked Twilight. 

“She has to,” insisted Pinkie. “Although, it didn’t seem like she had the funniest time ever. But we need her. All we have to do is show how much fun piloting the Eva is.”

“How do we do that?,” Twilight curiously wondered.

“Umm,” Pinkie placed her hoof to her chin. She hadn’t thought of how to make a death machine fun and exciting to anypony before, and the prospect of the challenge excited her. 

“Well, don’t think about it too hard,” Twilight said dismissively. “Hopefully she understands how crucial she is.”  

***

Discord sat at an illuminated table in a darkened room with color coded copies of himself.  Most of them looked bored and disappointed. Commander Discord seemed to distinguish himself from the others by not being neon colored, and by wearing his rose colored glasses. 

“I hope you know what you’re doing,” said a purple Discord. “You put Fluttershy in that awful situation.”

“Now, now, it’s all part of the plan,” explained Commander Discord. “It’s the reason CAKE exists.”

“We know, but we don’t have to like it,” whined blue Discord.

“That’s how the scenario works, gentlemen,” the Commander reminded them. 

“I know you’re enjoying this role, ‘Commander Discord,’ but don’t get too caught up in it,” demanded white Discord. “You must still push the Pony Instrumentality Project forward.”

“Oh, pish posh,” dismissed Discord.” After all, that is why this world exists. I’ll do my part. Even if it’s not the most vaulted role.”

“Well, just remember that this is for her, not for yourself this time,” warned blue Discord. 

“Humph, who do you think I am?” huffed Commander Discord. 

“We’re going to leave now to make you feel excluded,” explained Orange Discord.

The lights went out along with the other Discords, leaving the Commander to grumble by himself. 

***

“Wait. You want Fluttershy to live by herself?!” demanded Pinkie Pie of the CAKE agents. They stood in the admissions office. Pinkie had led the bewildered Fluttershy to the office to help get her new place.

The admissions clerk looked at Pinkie with a flat expression. “What do you want from us, miss? The commander said to put her in this cottage home on the edge of town. It sounds like a nice place if you ask me.”

“But it’s empty and lonely and way outside town. What if she needs a hug, or a cupcake, or a hug from a pony dressed as a cupcake?” demanded Pinkie.

“It’s ok, Pinkie,” explained Fluttershy. “I’m used to being by myself.”

“But that sounds so empty and lonely. I couldn’t bear seeing you all sad and by yourself. You’re moving in with me, and I won’t take no for an answer.”

“Ok,” sighed Fluttershy. She didn’t know if living with Pinkie would be such a good idea. She seemed to be such a loud and boisterous pony that it made Fluttershy cringe a little. But she seemed sad and lonely somehow. Fluttershy couldn’t bear to watch creatures in pain. So she agreed to live with Pinkie despite her reservations.

“You’ll need this necklace as well, ma’am,” said the CAKE agent. Fluttershy took the small necklace and nodded. “It’ll glow when we need you back at headquarters.”

“Thanks,” the yellow pegasus said, admiring the butterfly design that matched her cutie mark.

***

“You did what?” demanded Twilight. Pinkie and Twilight sat in the CAKE cafe at headquarters. The two liked to share hayfries together during their lunch break.  “You asked Fluttershy to move in with you? Why would you do that? Fluttershy might be the type of pony that likes being alone. What if she hates the mess you leave, or your constant baking? She could leave and we would be without a pilot.”

“Stop Twilighting, Twilight,” Pinkie commanded indignantly.  “I can’t just watch some sad pony live all by herself with no friends.”

“You let Maud live alone.”

“But Maud is totally fine with it. She doesn’t want anyone around.”

“What if Fluttershy is like that too?”

“It doesn’t feel the same. Sure she says she wants to live alone but her eyes say something smaller and sadder. Don’t worry, I won’t corrupt her and make her eat cupcakes all night with me until she gets sick or anything.”

“Of course you won’t. No pony has a stomach like yours. We need her in top shape if more angels come.”

“It’s already a done deal. She’ll be fine, Twilight, I Pinkie Promise. Cross my heart and hope to fly. Stick a cupcake in my eye.”

“Ok, but don’t forget not every pony lives like you do. You have to let her be who she is.”

“Okie Dokie Lokie.”

***

Pinkie lived on the fourth floor of a large apartment building. It was a modern style building with a very sleek look. Fluttershy had a hard time connecting any of its sterile appeal and monolithic appearance to Pinkie. 

She followed Pinkie to an outdoor hallway that helped to separate the different apartments and gave it a more of an open feeling. Pinkie found her bland door at the end of the long open hallway. 

They stood by the door to the apartment as Pinkie fumbled to get the keys ready. Somehow she was able to hold them with a tuft of her mane. She looked at Fluttershy nervously. “It might be a little messy. I was making cupcakes for your ‘Congratulations on defeating your first angel, too bad you don’t remember it’ celebration,” she explained hesitantly. Her earlier certainly felt like it was starting to evaporate. “Now it can be a welcome home party.”

Fluttershy stopped outside of the door. “I don’t want to be a bother, are you sure you want me living here?”

“Ppppthm,” said Pinkie spitting all over,” it’s nice to have friends to share your life with, roomie.”

“Ok,” she hesitantly stepped into the apartment. “I’m home...”

But before she could finish her sentence Pinkie pounced on her in a death grip hug. Fluttershy felt the life giving air leave her lungs and hoped she would pass out before she felt her ribs crack. 

“Welcome home,” said Pinkie. She let the little yellow pegasus go and watched excitedly as she gasped for breath. Pinkie always felt that a good hug should leave you breathless. 

“Oh my,” exclaimed Fluttershy in disbelief as she surveyed the apartment. “This is... nice.” 

The kitchen was covered in all manner of used pots and pans. Sugar, flour and sprinkles were splattered on the walls and ceiling. Somehow Pinkie had powdered the oven. Yet in the middle of the chaos sat two trays of perfectly delicious looking cupcakes.

“Well I had to get ready for your welcome home party, of course.” Pinkie emphasized the party with confetti and streamers falling from the ceiling. 

The confetti landed on Fluttershy’s nose and caused her to sneeze. “Umm, who else is coming to this party?” she asked as she glanced about. She didn’t like surprises and prepared to run and hide at the slightest provocation of one.

“Just us today,” sighed Pinkie. “No pony has that much time for parties anymore. But now we can have a just-the-bestest-roommate party ever.”

“So we have a tray of cupcakes each?”

“Yeah,” giggled Pinkie. “Did you need more? Cause I can make more.”

“No, no, it’s...fine.” 

Pinkie jumped to the table with the speed of a pouncing hungry animal. Half the tray was devoured in a single strike. She sat down and chewed merrily as Fluttershy began to clean the kitchen. 

Fluttershy washed off the bowls and mopped the floor. Then she flew up to the ceiling and began to scrape the hardened frosting off. Shefinally wiped her brow and looked at the shining kitchen. She felt oddly content to have helped. She sat down and giggled as she noticed two of the cupcakes of her tray were missing. She glanced around the kitchen and cupboards and noticed a theme to its prior madness. 

“Do you have any food that isn’t cupcakes?,” asked Fluttershy tentatively. 

“Of course silly, there’s cake, and pie, and muffins, and mini muffins,”the pink roommate listed. “ I tried making mini cake and mini pie as well. Mini cake looked more like a cupcake but it’s actually just small cake.”

“Is there any oats or hay?”

“We have instant oats. It’s super yummy.”

“Oh ok.”

“You just take the box and throw it in the microwave and bing. Instant hot oats. “

“I see.”

“It’s super easy and gives me time to bake more. You know what would be fun? A bath! You should take one. They’re nice and relaxing especially after the cleaning you did around here. I hope you enjoyed it.”

“Enjoyed it?”

“Yeah I left the kitchen super messy so you can enjoy cleaning it up. You look like you’re the type of pony that really likes to help out. I thought it would be super fun to make you feel part of the home by helping clean. I didn’t want to make you feel like a burden or something.”

“Oh,” gasped Fluttershy as she realized her plan. “That really was nice to let me help. I do feel better and more at home.”

“Good. I’ll make many many messes around the home so you can help clean up.”

“That would be… nice.”

“But now go relax in that bath and soak your troubles away.”

“That does sound lovely, but I don’t want to take all your hot water.”

“It’ll be fine. After the day you had a nice soak will be good for your coat. And don’t forget the bubbles!”

Fluttershy found the bathroom surprisingly spotless. “I guess she really didn’t clean to help me,” thought Fluttershy. She ran the water and took off her well worn clothes. As the temperature of the water increased she decided to try the bubbles that Pinkie suggested. She found a pre-measured cup of bubble power next to the tub and added it to running water. Within seconds the bath and the room seemed constructed of bubbles. 

“Oh my, perhaps that was just how much she had left,” she worried. Then she noticed a few stacked boxes of Supple Bubble bubble mix. The bubble bath topped off and Fluttershy slid into it. Soon the soaking warmth of the water caused her to finally relax. She had no idea how much tension she had been holding onto until that moment. Fluttershy gazed up at the strange ceiling and wondered what had happened before she woke up in the hospital bed. 

Her thoughts were interrupted by the feeling of something hard brushed by her leg. She slowly looked up and found a green face amongst the bubbles. Fluttershy shrieked. She leapt out and scrambled out of the bathroom. She tore into the kitchen and found Pinkie casually drinking her cider. 

“There’s an alligator in the bathtub!”

“What?,” responded Pinkie. “Oh, that’s Gummy. Awww, he likes you.”

“What do you mean?” mumbled Fluttershy as she turned and found Gummy dangling from her tail by his mouth. She screamed again and ran out of the room.

“You’re also naked,” called Pinkie after her.

She returned to the bathroom and slipped on the bubble soaked floor. The force of the slip caused the little gator to fly off her tail and land back in the tub. Fluttershy was able to flap her wings enough to keep from flopping on the floor. She stood on the slick floor and took large gulping breaths. As she breathed the little gator reappeared through the bubble wall of the tub. She looked at him while he slowly looked at her. His tongue whipped out across his eye. 

“Oh, why you’re just a little gator,” Fluttershy said, calming finally. She carefully moved to him and began to pet his spines. “Awww, so cute.”

Gummy calmly turned his head and latched on to her hoof with his mouth. Fluttershy fought her natural urge to shout and noted that there was no pain in his bite. She could feel that his maw was empty of teeth. She sighed and relaxed again. Then she began to try to remove him from her arm. Try as she might the little gator would not budge. She sighed and found her room, with a gator attached and all.

Fluttershy laid on her bed surrounded by her moving boxes. She placed her headphones on and found the play button to her walk pony. She pressed play and was greeted by the cheerful chirps of a choir of birds. This was her favorite album. After the world-altering second impact in which a meteor impacted Yakyakistan and shifted the whole climate of Equestria, most of the birds disappeared along with the critters. Fluttershy always felt a twinge of sadness when she thought of that, even though she was so young when the second impact occurred. 

The chirping birds began to mix with a curious sound in the distance. She strained to hear it but knew instinctively what it was. The chirping grew dimmer and dimmer as a loud metal clanging incessantly overwhelmed all her other senses. The sound became louder and louder until it was all she could hear. Then she remembered.

*** 

The Evanstallion leaned on a building as the angel approached.  Fluttershy screamed “Please, mister angel, I don’t want to hurt you. You’re just hurting my fellow ponies and we just want you… eep!”  

The Evanstallion suddenly reactivated with a lurch and lifted its head. The angel walked towards her. The Eva growled and got off the ground on wobbling legs. It felt shaky and its movement felt unnatural. Fluttershy could feel the anger and hostility it carried inside it. She shuddered as it lumbered toward its foe.  

“Unit-01 is awake!,” cried Trixie. The rest of the command center gasped as the armored creature they called the Eva began squirming across the ground like a rabid dog. 

“It’s not supposed to do that. All its magic was used up!” cried Twilight.” It shouldn’t be able to move.”

“Tell it that,” pointed out Lyra as they watched the Eva roar.

“It’s out of control,” shouted Twilight.

“It’s healed all its previous wounds,” cried Trixie.

“It’s horn is activating,” called Bon Bon.

“Is that an antiAT field?,” cried Twilight.

“What is an AT field? I blinked during the opening sequence!,” screamed Pinkie. 

“After all my presentations on it?! Really Pinkie. An AT field stands for Absolute Terror field. It’s a field of magic that angels release to protect themselves.”

“The Eva is breaking through,” announced the bewildered blue unicorn.

Unit-01’s horn began to glow. The glow intensified as it pressed it against the thin vibrating wall that encapsulated the angel. The angel shrieked as the long unicorn lance pierced the AT field. 

“Stoooppp,” screamed Fluttershy in anger.

Both Unit-01 and the angel stopped in their battle.

“You two need to calm down,” she shouted. 

She pointed her hoof at the irate angel. “You need to stop attacking ponies or somepony could get hurt. You might be big and mean and scary, but that doesn’t mean you should hurt others. And you, Evanstallion. I know the angel tried to hurt you but that is no excuse to attack and try to rip apart his soul. Remember I am in here. You should be more considerate. Perhaps you frighted him when all he was doing was looking for a friend.”

The command crew stared at the two dejected looking beings in awe.

“Now Mr. Angel why don’t you leave the city so you can stop crushing other ponies, and I’ll talk to my friends in CAKE and we can figure this out.”

The angel backed away a few sad paces. Then it looked over at the Evanstallion with tears in its eyes.

“Flapping ears! Crossing eyes, twisting tail,” screamed Pinkie Pie. “Fluttershy, it’s gonna blow itself up!”

“What?! No,” shouted Fluttershy. The Evanstallion ran toward the angel with a hoof outstretched to stop it just as it exploded. 

“Fluttershy!” shouted Pinkie.

***

Fluttershy woke up in her bed again. She had tears running down her face. 

The door opened to her room and Pinkie walked in. Her Pinkie sense told her that Fluttershy had just remembered everything. She wasn’t sure what to say but felt she had to say something. She licked her dry lips and tried.

“Hey Fluttershy. I know we had a great party and everything, and we are going to be the bestest roommates ever, but I am worried about what happened earlier. I mean the angel went all kablooie and hurt the Eva as well. Twilight thinks it’s best to let you come to terms with it on your own, but I just feel super awful about it. But I am really happy you tried so hard to get them to be friends. It was very brave. I’m not sure these angels want to be friends though. Anyway, you are my best roommate friend ever and if you want to talk I’m right here ok?”

Fluttershy didn’t move. The shock and horror of her own memories caused her muscles to freeze. She could only let out an inaudible whimper. 

“Ok, goodnight,” Pinkie finished and left Fluttershy to her thoughts. “Oh, and I signed you up for a class on the second impact to help you make some friends.”
> Episode 3 : Bugs and Hedgehogs
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Pinkie Pie and Twilight stood together at the control terminal. The fear from the events of a few days ago had worn off. After the first true angel attack, the mood around headquarters became more serious. Most of the rubble from the attacks and explosions had been cleared. The lives of the citizens had returned to normal. Twilight and Pinkie watched Fluttershy as she practiced with a virtual Eva.

“Well she seems to be doing better than before,”  Pinkie commented.

“What do you have her training to do?” asked Twilight.

“Baking a cake, of course.”

“I’m not sure that’s going to help against the next angel attack, Pinkie. We might have to prepare for a fight.”

“Fight?! Why would we want to do that? That would make the angels all sad and you saw what happened last time they were all sad.”

“I’m not sure that happened because they were sad. I don’t think angels are able to exist in the same environment as us for very long.”

“Then why are they coming here?”

“I don’t know. I’ll have to do more research. How is Fluttershy fitting in with that class I recommended and at home?”

“Well, even though we are the best of room-mates ever, I kind of thought we’d be a bit more chummy. I try to make her feel special and important with confetti cannons and surprises that go off everyday, but she doesn’t seem to like them much. She also doesn’t talk much either. She keeps waking up looking for an angel but then gets all sad when she sees me.”

“It sounds like she’s struggling. She might suffer from the hedgehog’s  dilemma.”

“Hedgehog? Don’t be silly Twilight. Fluttershy isn’t a hedgehog.”

“No Pinkie, it's a metaphor. The hedgehog’s dilemma is a mental problem ponies face. It means they feel pain the closer they get to others. They fear they are causing others pain at the time. Hedgehogs are covered with spines that can hurt as others get too close.”

“So we have to wrap Fluttershy in bubble wrap so she doesn’t get hurt or feel like she’s hurting others.”

“Again metaphor. She just feels like that.”

“So what do we have to do in order to make her feel super comfortable?”

“I don’t know. I think it might be best to just let her settle in.”

***

Fluttershy sat at her desk at school, in the same class as the other pilot, Maud, as it turned out. She didn’t feel like going to school after the terror she had been through, but the researchers thought she could use more social interaction. 

The yellow pegasus glanced over at Maud. Fluttershy had tried talking to the unusual grey mare before, but never got  more than a blank stare or maybe a blink or two in response. She sighed and resigned herself to silence. 

 The silence broke when an orange earth pony in a black tracksuit and cowpony hat sauntered into the room. Flutteryshy   watched the pony give a hoof bump to an orange unicorn wearing glasses and clothes just like Fluttershy’s. She knew the unicorn’s name was Sunburst. She couldn’t help but turn an ear towards their conversation.

“Where have you been, Applejack?”asked Sunburst. “You’ve been gone nearly three days.”

“Ma sister, Apple Bloom, got hurt in that stupid robot fight,” replied Applejack. “She’s stable, but can’t leave the hospital yet. Ma Grannie doesn’t have time to visit her so Ah have been staying with her.”

“Oh man, I’m sorry to hear that.”

“To make matters worse, it was that bucking robot that caused her to get hurt. Ya know the one that’s supposed to be protectin’ us. It was that stupid pilot. If Ah get ma hooves on them Ah’m going to give them a talking to.”

“You might have your chance. Have you seen the new student? She transferred in around the same time as the robot battle.”

Fluttershy could feel Applejack’s eyes shift to her. She tried to ignore them and shrink until she disappeared. Instead, she just stood out even more.. 

An old grey stallion walked into the classroom. His face was a bag of wrinkles underneath thick black glasses. His eyes were set in so deep that they all but disappeared. A pink pony dressed in the traditional school sailor uniform with a green school sash stood up. Fluttershy heard her name was Starlight Glimmer. 

“C’mon guys, show some respect for our teacher,” Starlight scolded the stallions in the corner ogling some poor filly.  

The old pony tapped his tail against the desk for attention. He jumped into the lecture as if their interim was only a few minutes rather than an entire day.

“Around that time Yakyakistan was frozen, then a large meteor struck it and melted the ice and changed the land of Equestria. One third of the pony and griffon populations were completely eradicated. The yaks were almost completely destroyed.”

While the old pony droned on, a small note floated onto Fluttershy’s desk. Fluttershy opened it carefully with her wing. The note asked,“Are you a robot pilot?”

Fluttershy stared at it wide eyed as if it just asked if she was a werewolf. She looked around at the class trying to pick out the masked questioner. Maybe it was supposed to be a secret. She didn’t want to lie to anypony or let them down either. A light blue unicorn with a darker blue and silver mane caught her eye. Fluttershy could see the askance on her face and figured she wrote the note. She looked at the unicorn and gave a little nod. The unicorn gasped and placed her hoof over her mouth. The class erupted as ponies assaulted her with a barrage of questions. She tried to answer as many as she could while trying to find a way to escape as fast as possible.

“What’s it called?” asked one voice.

“They call it Evanstallion Unit-01 but I think class is still…,” Fluttershy tried to answer.

“How did you become a pilot?” another voice asked.

“My friend Discord asked me to pilot it, but class…,”Fluttershy desperately tried to redirect. 

“What was it like fighting that angel?”asked the teacher. 

“Scary and terrifying, I think  class is… hey why aren’t you teaching?”

The bell rang its soul-freeing tone as Fluttershy caught Applejack and Sunburst exchanging glances. Fluttershy ran for the door tailed by large mass of questing ponies. All the sounds and expectations would surely overwhelm her. She shrank into  the fetal position when a voice called out.

“Alright everypony move,” shouted Applejack. She made her way through the crowd. Most saw her expression and wordlessly backed away. “Me and her need ta talk.”

Fluttershy suddenly missed the crowd as the orange mare loomed silently over her. Applejack directed Fluttershy outside with a commanding hoof. Fluttershy’s ears drooped and she obeyed.

Applejack, Sunburst and Fluttershy walked out of the school into a nearby field. No other pony dared to follow. Applejack turned and measured up the diminutive pegasus. Fluttershy could feel Applejack’s eyes piercing her soul .

“So yer the one that piloted that robot,” Applejack guessed. “Ah’m sorry ta make yer acquaintance but ya have to take responsibility fer what ya did.”

Applejack nodded once then suddenly pushed the pegasus over with very little effort. Fluttershy immediately curled into a defensive ball. Applejack was about to shove her again but found she hadn’t gotten up from the first attack.

“Do ya realize what ya done?,” the orange cow pony began to scream. “Ma sister is sittin’ in a hospital wit’ a tube down her throat ‘cause of you. That buckin’ robot o’ yers done crushed the entire building she was in. What were you thinkin’? What kind of pilot are ya?”

Fluttershy didn’t say anything. She looked miserably at the ground. If her robot had hurt another pony then she felt it was deserved. She hoped that the pony would feel better after hitting her. 

“She’s not that tactful,” explained Sunburst,” but she doesn’t hide her feelings.”

“I didn’t want to do it,” whispered Fluttershy. 

“What!? What did ya say?,” asked Applejack angrily. 

Fluttershy was too nervous to respond. She opened her mouth and very little came out.

“Seriously, what did ya say?”

Fluttershy tried to respond but even less came out.

Applejack pushed the little pegasus down again and walked away. Sunburst looked at Fluttershy hesitantly, then ran off after his friend.

Fluttershy felt that the ground was the best place to stay. It was cool and refreshing. She had never been bullied like this before and wasn’t sure how to respond. It seemed like Applejack had a good reason to be angry: if she, Fluttershy, had a sister who got hurt by a giant robot, she might feel differently about Eva pilots as well. 

Fluttershy looked up at the sky and watched clouds float by to calm herself. The clouds were so far removed and so complacent. She wished she could be like the clouds just slowly floating along wherever the wind carried them: no monsters to fight, No ponies to hurt. If Fluttershy were a cloud, she might even see a real bird.

A silhouette blocked the sun as Maud appeared above. Her necklace dangled in Fluttershy’s face with a bright blue glow.

“We are called,” Maud said coolly.

“Oh, ok,” nodded Fluttershy as she rolled to her hooves.” What are we called for?”

“An angel attack,” answered the  grey mare’s flat tone.

The two pilots made their way to CAKE headquarters. Fluttershy tried to think of something to say, but the guilt and anger over hurting some pony’s family weighed heavily on her mind. It wasn’t something that she wanted. She told herself that she would fight harder to keep ponies from getting hurt.

***

“We’ve spotted the target about 30 miles away and closing,” informed Bon Bon to the eager Twilight and Pinkie Pie. 

The command central bustled with activity. The normal staff were at their posts while Pinkie and Twilight oversaw.  A large purple bug-like creature hovered into Ponyville 3 on invisible wings. It seemed to head straight towards headquarters. 

“It looks like a giant bug,” said a disgusted Lyra.

“Bbb...bug?,” stammered Twilight instinctively backing away from the screen. “Wha, wha, what kind? How many eyes does it have?”

“Umm maybe one, kind of like a giant cicada. Those annoying bugs that make screaming noises all the time.”

“Fluttershy are you ready to party?,” asked Pinkie through the intercom. 

“Party?,” asked Fluttershy in confusion from inside her Eva. 

“Eva launch,” screamed Pinkie and fired her party cannon.

“This is going to get old very fast,” snarked a confetti covered Bon Bon. 

***

 Meanwhile in a secured bunker Applejack and Sunburst sat and waited. They had made their way to a shelter after the sirens sounded. It was a small room where ponies huddled together in terror. Some pony kept screaming, “the horror the horror,” with each shake of the ground.

“Come on AJ,” pleaded Sunburst. “I just want to see one in action. I’ve read what I could in books but I always wanted to see it up close.”

“Are ya sure?,” Applejack wondered and rubbed the back of her neck with her hoof. “Ah mean it might be a fright dangerous up there. Ah never even heard of these evanstallions before.”

“What if that pony you pushed earlier loses her nerve and refuses to fight?”

“Why did you bring that gold darned thing up for? It ain’t my fault the pilot is yella.” Applejack couldn’t help but feel a pang of guilt. She wondered about her actions now that the heat of righteous anger had burned off.

“But yellow or not if she doesn’t fight we’re history. If she saw us out there cheering her on she might feel better and fight harder. It works in sports doesn’t it.”

“Ya got a point there. But this is still dangerous.”

Sunburst and Applejack crept away from the crowd and officials. The curious unicorn snuck to the exit hatch that led to the surface and slowly opened it. He peered outside and nodded to his orange companion. Together they crept outside. 

They found themselves on a large open hill overlooking the city. The sound of metal scrapping announced a large portion of the hill had opened next to them. Unit-01 rose from the hole.

“Oh my goodness, there it is,” screamed Sunburst excitedly. 

“Oh land sake’s, there that is,” Applejack said as she pointed at the angel. The earth shook as the massive body landed in between two buildings. The multi-segmented thorax rose up like a praying mantis. Its large concave eye turned towards the Eva’s direction.  It began to walk on its large spindly legs towards the hill sending debris and refuse into the air. Wire shaped antennae whipped up on top of its head and began to touch the buildings around it. They sounded like the flapping of a flag on a flag pole.

“Go get them, new pony,” shouted Sunburst. 

“Umm is that such a good idea?,” Applejack questioned.

“We’re supposed to be cheering her on, remember.”

“But that insect might hear us!”

***

Unit-01 lumbered towards the giant insect. The gait was a lot smoother than Fluttershy’s prior attempt. She let out a small squeal of triumph with the improvement. Then she focused on her new plan. She knew it was foolhardy but she had to try. She crept closer to the creature who watched carefully, its antennae waved wildly. As she got close to the angel she lifted one fore hoof then the other. The insect responded in kind. Large purple ropes of electric bands unrolled in place of its forelegs. Then Unit-01 hugged the monster.

“Whaaa fool thing is she doing?” asked Applejack.

***

“What are you doing?”, shouted Twilight into the intercom. 

“What sort of creature would turn down a hug?” Fluttershy asked earnestly.

“Yeah! You hug him Fluttershy!” cheered an excited Pinkie.

“No! Pinkie, the Angel is trying to hurt Fluttershy and the rest of the city. Also the proximity to Unit-01 might cause the Angel to explode again.”

“New plan, don’t hug him Fluttershy,” reprimanded a stern looking Pinkie.

“Then what am I supposed to do?” asked Fluttershy.

“Remember your training. The cake ingredients are in that building over there,” the party pony shouted. 

Twilight facehoofed and said, “How did you get that much ingredients into..? You know what? Never mind. You’re supposed to fight, Fluttershy, for Equestria.”

“Fight! I’m not sure I..”, the timid pilot began.

The large bands of electricity wrapped around Unit-01’s rear leg and threw her toward the hill with Applejack and Sunburst on it. Fluttershy screamed as the Eva crashed next to them. Applejack and Sunburst found themselves right next to a house sized hoof.

“Ah told you this was a bad idea,” berated Applejack as she clung to Sunburst. 

“I didn’t mean to get this close,” wailed Sunburst.

The angel wrapped its electric arms around Unit-01’s power cord in its tail. Current arced as it burned through and separated it from its main source of magic. 

“Oh no that cord thingy is cut,” pointed out Pinkie.

Fluttershy noticed her classmates by her rear hoof as they clung together in fear as Unit 0-1 sat up. She leaned Unit-01’s head closer to make sure and noticed it was the angry pony from earlier.

“Oh my,” she said through the loudspeaker with a voice that sounded like she was talking to a small animal. “I hope you’re feeling better Applejack but I don’t think you should be here. It’s dangerous.”

****

Twilight beheld the quivering pair on her monitor.  

“Who are they?,” asked Twilight.

“I think it’s the classmates we just met in the last scene,” explained Pinkie.

“What?”

“They are in Fluttershy’s class.”

“What are they doing there?” cried Twilight.

“Ooh maybe they’re the Fluttershy cheer squad.”

“They need to get out of there. They’re in danger.”

“Then Fluttershy wouldn’t be able to hear them cheer, silly. I have the best idea ever,” Pinkie said and bounced to a intercom. 

A speaker on the back of the Evanstallion back crackled to life. “Hey, Fluttershy cheer squad,” squawked the cheerful voice of Pinkie.

“Is she talking ta us?”, asked Applejack.

“Yeah, get in.”

The back of the Evanstallion opened and the entry plug slid out. The hatch opened invitingly. Applejack and Sunburst glanced at the approaching angel then scrambled into the entry plug. 

“Yuck it’s wet,” complained Sunburst as he slashed into the orange water.

“What is this stuff?,” demanded Applejack. 

“Quit whining and get in,” growled Pinkie.

They held their breath and plunged into the orange liquid. The hatch closed and the plug inserted into the matrix again. 

Sunburst unconsciously opened his mouth in awe as the panels and display simmered to life. He suddenly realized he wasn’t drowning and looked at his orange companion in wonder. Applejack was fighting for dear life as stars appeared in front of her eyes. 

“Applejack breath!”, commanded Fluttershy as she noticed the two behind her. “The liquid doesn’t hurt at all but it does take a little getting used to.”

Applejack finally opened her mouth and found she was as safe as one could be plugged into a giant battle robot about to fight an angel.

***

“Pinkie, what are you doing?,” demanded Twilight.

“Now they will be safe and she can hear them,” explained Pinkie with a satisfied nod. “Now you don’t have long Fluttershy. You should come back here with your new friends.”

“I don’t think I can make it,” explained Fluttershy.

The bug crawled in between the Eva and the launch hatch. Fluttershy’s Eva tried to climb to its hooves but started to slip in the muddy hill.

“No,” cried Fluttershy. “I’m slipping.”

The angel laughed as the legs of the Eva fell forward towards it.

“Wait, I can’t keep it..”, whined Fluttershy.

The Evanstallion continued forward and fell right into the angel. The angel had no time to deploy its AT Field but felt the Eva’s horn pierce the large crystal in its chest. 

“Noooo! Backup! Backup!” screamed Fluttershy. She started to strike various buttons in an effort to right the Eva. A loud screeching noise filled the air as the horn began to drill further into the crystal.

“No, no, stop, why is it drilling?” Fluttershy asked her cheer squad in a panic.

The screeching continued as Fluttershy frantically looked for the off switch. A loud crack told her the crystal had shattered. The Eva’s power failed and the drilling stopped. The bug stood still. Its arms hung limp. The crackle of energy that rippled off them ceased. The large multifaceted eye of the beast turned cold and lifeless. 

“No, no, no, I hurt it. I think I killed it. Why? Why couldn’t I stop it?” the yellow pilot bewailed.

Fluttershy had tears streaming down her face as she moved her controls again and again in an effort to back away from the horror. Sunburst and Applejack looked at each other uncomfortably. 

“Isn’t the point of this thing to fight and hurt the angels?,” asked Applejack.

“I was going to try to convince it to leave,” Fluttershy sniffled.” Not everything is solved by fighting.”

“Sometimes things unfortunately can’t be talked over, Sugarcube. In those times ya have to look for what’s best for all.”

“But I killed it. I killed it,” the gentle pegasus sobbed.

“Ah’m sorry but ya saved Sunburst and me. That’s gotta count for somethin’”, reassured Applejack. 

Fluttershy collapsed in a heap of sadness. She wailed and weeped in a small fetal ball.

Sunburst and Applejack looked at each other uneasily. 

***

Three days passed since she was  in the back of the Eva and Applejack felt worse about the situation. She hadn’t meant to mentally scar the little pegasus. She had such anger in her and it seemed that Fluttershy truly was the cause of it. But it turned out she hadn’t meant to hurt Apple Bloom and it was hard to stay mad at some pony for an accident. 

“Still no Fluttershy,” sighed Sunburst and looked at the empty desk.

“It’s been three days,” replied Applejack. “Ah don’t know if she’s coming back. Ah just feel awful.”

“Then you should apologize,” explained Sunburst.

“I suppose I’d better at that. But how? What if she doesn’t come back to school?”

“You could ask the class rep for her address,” teased Sunburst knowingly.

“Ya know she is yer childhood friend,” Applejack blurted defensively. “Why don’t you ask her?”

“I think this is something you need to see through yourself.”

“Consarn it,” Applejack threw her hooves out in defeat. “Alright, alright, Ah’ll go.”

Applejack sauntered as casually as she could over to Starlight’s desk. Starlight’s face lit up as she approached. 

“Oh, um,  hi Applejack, lovely day we’re having hehe,” she began nervously.

“Umm right. It’s ok, Ah reckon. But Ah was wonderin’ if you have Fluttershy’s address.”

“Oh,” Starlight sighed letting her enthusiasm out. Applejack rubbed the back of her head with her hoof. “Here,” she coldly gave Applejack a large paper packet. “And you can drop her papers off while you’re at it.”

***

Applejack and Sunburst found the address easily enough. “This is the place according to class rep,” said Applejack. 

“You mean Starlight,” teased Sunburst but was cut short by the loud rap of Applejack’s hoof. Minutes stretched on but no answer came.

“No pony is answering,” sighed Applejack,”guess we’ll have to come back sometime.”
> Episode 4: Lost and Found
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Pinkie Pie stood at Fluttershy’s door. She sighed. She tried everything she could think of to get Fluttershy to come out of her room but nothing had worked. Cakes, cupcakes, pies, parties, and all manner of gags had all fallen on deaf ears. 

Pinkie wanted to help the pony inside smile. She felt Fluttershy needed to, but she knew mere distractions weren’t going to be enough for this one. She took a deep breath and spoke from the heart.

“I’m sorry that things didn’t work out,” Pinkie started. “I know you want to win every conflict with these things through conversation, but it’s going to get harder to do. Things are going to get tougher. I know you’re a lot stronger than you think, Fluttershy. You can’t beat yourself up for the way life turns out sometimes. But I bought something to cheer you up.”

Pinkie vanished from the door and reappeared wearing a hedgehog costume. 

“This will help you get over your dilemma,” Pinkie declared hopefully. “Don’t think of me as a pony but as a fellow hedgehog. We can be like sister hedgehogs that ride off against the world on a party cannon. Right? Right?”

Fluttershy continued to lay there and failed to react. The song bird cassette switched sides. She barely acknowledged it.

Pinkie hung her head and shuffled away sadly. She felt defeated once again. Sometimes her need to make ponies smile overtook her need to be a good friend.

***

Pinkie’s sullen feeling followed her to work. She tried to figure out the best way to get Fluttershy to smile, but was at a loss. She found Twilight in the Cafe and explained her dilemma.

“Of course that didn’t work, Pinkie!” scolded the exasperated Twilight. “I told you it was a metaphor! She doesn’t actually feel like a hedgehog.”

“But hedgehogs are cute and Fluttershy needed something cute and cuddly,” explained Pinkie.  “Most of the actual animals disappeared after the second impact. All that’s left are cicadas everywhere. They can be kind of a nuisance.”

“But the point was to approach Fluttershy carefully. Not attack her when she’s psychologically in shambles. How is she doing?”

“Still all moopy-loopy. She just sits there with those headphones on listening to bird songs. I don’t know where she got those things anyway.”

“So how about when she’s at school?” Twilight inquired after a sip of coffee.

“She hasn’t been going lately.”

Twilight spit out her latest sip.

“You left her at home! Alone!” she shouted. “Pinkie! She's in a highly unstable mental state. She has to be supervised. What if she needs some pony to talk to and you’re not there? You have to go home. Now! Otherwise she could leave.”

“Oh no!” shouted Pinkie and rushed toward home. She was most of the way there when she noticed a bake sale at the corner. Try as she might she couldn’t resist its call. 

Later she returned home with a stack of cakes.

“Fluttershy,” shouted the excited party pony after she opened the door with the cakes. “I figured tonight would be a good night to find out which cake is your favorite. So I bought them all.” 

The room echoed painfully as Pinkie spoke. She quickly trotted over to Fluttershy’s room but her Pinkie sense told her she was already gone.

“Oh horseapples.”

***

Fluttershy found herself wandering around the desolate city. She had her headphones in to help calm her but the birds chirping seemed empty in this place. Everywhere she turned she found rubble and destruction that reminded her of her recent battle. She felt like the very city’s buildings were swarming her and threatened to crush her under their weight. After a few streets it became overwhelming and she took off and flew a foot or two above the ground to the train station.

Fluttershy needed to get away. She needed the city to be quiet and to stop telling her how mean she was. She had killed some poor creature. Another one had exploded next to her. She even hurt a pony. Some pony’s sister. She couldn’t face that. So she ended up on a train leaving Ponyville 3. 

Fluttershy locked herself in the furthest part of the train and listened to her headphones. Other ponies saw her but could tell she wanted to be alone and respected it. Soon the building-marred landscape turned to green grasses and meadows in the window. 

A small part of her started to open up once again. She could feel the draw of nature redress the tension in her. The train stopped and Fluttershy had to get off. She flew to the platform and found the road that led to the closest forest. The little pegasus flapped her wings as fast they could go but ponies still strutted easily beside her. 

She found a small opening into the woods and sailed through. As soon as the woods encompassed her she felt their warm embrace. She laid down in the leaf litter and smelled the deep scent of the soil. It felt like it rejuvenated her soul. She excitedly looked up in the trees to find them teaming with cicadas not birds. Fluttershy shrugged and tried to interact with all of them. She tried to apologize to them for the giant insect she killed but cicadas weren’t known for holding grudges. 

Fluttershy noticed the light from the sky starting to fade and started to feel selfish. Pinkie had tried so hard to make her feel better and welcome, and she had run away. She toyed with the idea of returning but then shuddered when she remembered the Eva. 

The guilt gave way to a wave of frustration and resentment. The Eva pilot tried to shout her anger out but only a little squeak emerged. It shocked her that she displayed such open hostility. 

She decided to explore the woods a little further. 

Fluttershy gently walked through the crunchy loam. Her ears caught the sound of something running. She slowly snuck to the edge of the woods and found a large open field. The wind wiped past and threw some leaves in her face. 

To the timid mare’s surprise she was greeted by a familiar face. She watched an orange stallion galloping through the tall grass with a long wooden sword in his mouth. Sunburst swung it fiercely from side to side. Then to her further surprise, he began talking to himself using different voices for different characters.

“Little colt you have been given the great responsibility of uniting the kingdom in peace. In order to do so you must prove your battle prowess, ironically enough,” Sunburst cried in a brave sounding voice.

“How can one battle for peace?,”the orange colt asked himself in his regular tone.

“Peace comes at the cost of giving into fighting. One has to fight in order to obtain peace. Now go, you foal.”

“But master, no!”

Sunburst ran away from his invisible master with deep determination on his face. He seemed so serious after his conversation that Fluttershy couldn’t help but giggle. 

The sound quickly reached his ear and he ducked behind a small sapling that offered no cover whatsoever. He held his sword up in an awkward stance until he noticed the bright yellow pegasus peering at him.

“Oh it’s you,” Sunburst sighed in relief. “What are you doing here?”

Fluttershy tried to duck behind some nearby foliage but got stuck with her flank sticking out. 

“Oh, I was just looking for, ummm, some birds in this bush,” the stuck mare said, sounding less convincing with every word.

“Birds? I’ve never seen them in these parts. Are you sure you’re ok?”

The khaki covered rump shifted and shook but remained where it was. 

“Are you sure you’re not stuck?”

The back legs gave one solid useless kick outwards then remained stuck.

“I think I might be,” Fluttershy finally admitted. 

Sunburst wrapped his hooves around her waist and pulled the light pegasus out.

“There. Are you hurt?” he asked with true concern.

“No, thank you. What are you doing here? Some sort of one pony theater?” Fluttershy timidly asked her hair.

“Oh,” Sunburst said, rubbing his neck with a trembling hoof. “I just like to fool around sometimes. Knights and magic and battles sound really fun to me. But not like the ones you were in. I’m, uh, sorry you had to go through that. But thank you.”

“For what?”

“For saving Applejack and me. We would have been horse meat if you hadn’t fought.”

“Oh, uh, you’re welcome,” mumbled Fluttershy to the ground. 

“Did you want to join my camp, Sir Fluttershy?” Sunburst giggled.

“Sure,” she smiled with a nod. 

****

“The dragon is coming Sir Fluttershy, what must we do?” asked Sunburst with a wooden sword held close through telekinesis.

“Move the army of fuzzy wuzzy bunnies to the north flank to protect the fighters,” commanded Fluttershy with a stick as a wand.

“Oh no, the dragon is coming!”

The nearby foliage rustled in response and startled the two gamers. A group of grey ponies appeared wearing suits and fedora hats. They looked annoyed but calm. 

“Ms. Fluttershy, could you come with us?” one of the larger ones asked.

“Ok,” Fluttershy, mumbled, looking at the ground. She recognized the CAKE security uniforms. “How did you find me?”

“We have to keep tabs on you ma’am,” the grey pony calmly explained. “You’re important to Equestria and CAKE. Sorry we couldn’t let you “play” longer but headquarters wants you back.”

Fluttershy turned and waved to the forlorn-looking Sunburst. She followed the group as they led her out of the woods towards the train station. 

Sunburst watched them go and sighed. He meekly picked up his larping equipment and headed home.

***

At headquarters Pinkie ran over to hug Fluttershy. Her eyes were red and her normally perky hair hung limply. She placed on a strained smile and asked,” “How was your trip? You had us sooooo worried.”

“I’m sorry,” Fluttershy admitted, looking at the ground. She couldn’t handle that puffy pink face of Pinkie’s.

“Do you feel better now?” Pinkie asked, and wiped a stray tear from the corner of her eye.

“I still feel pretty awful, but I understand that in order to be more useful I have to make harder choices. I will still pilot the Eva.”

“But does it hurt you? Does it make you feel all frowny?”

“Yes, it does. It’s a moving death machine. How could I be happy in something like that?” Fluttershy shouted. 

“I can’t make you do something that makes you sad. It goes against everything I stand for. You don’t have to pilot anymore,” Pinkie said determinedly. “Go home and get ready to leave.”

“But what about…”

“Ahh ahh no buts. Don’t worry about the rest of us, we will manage.”

“Ok then, if you’re sure,” Fluttershy said uncertainly.

“I’m surely surely sure,” Pinkie emphasized by stomping her hoof. 

Fluttershy left the complex confused. She thought she had been needed here but now it seemed she wasn’t wanted after all. She felt like she’d missed something. How could her friend Discord really not understand her that well? She still couldn’t remember why he left in the first place, but felt he had come to know her better than that. She shook her head and trotted home to pack. 

She thought the burden of protecting Equestria would have fallen off by now, but it clung to her harder than ever.

***

Pinkie sat in the CAKE Cafe and stared out the window. Her hay fries and burger were barely touched. Twilight sat across from her still trying to comprehend how the situation had fallen apart so badly.

“So you let her go?” demanded Twilight.

“What choice did I have? She’s miserable,” muttered Pinkie.” Why would I keep a pony here who is miserable?”

“Because we need her, Pinkie. She is one of the few ponies in the world that can pilot it.”

“But it makes her so sad. Have you seen her sadness Twilight? It’s all moopy and droopy. It hurts my heart.”

“And that’s how Fluttershy feels normally every day when she’s around ponies,” explained Twilight. “It’s hard for her to connect with anypony. The Eva gave her a reason to talk to others. I know you’re upset because you couldn’t get her to smile, but ponies need time to process tragedy. You don’t have to go out of your way to make her feel better. You just have to be there.”

Pinkie gasped. “And I’m not! I have to go!”

Pinkie ran out of the cafe. Twilight smiled a little then reached for a hayfry on Pinkie’s tray only to find them gone. She blinked and noticed that all Pinkie’s food had been eaten. No matter how long she studied and how much tests she performed she would never understand how Pinkie did that.

***

Fluttershy arrived at the train station with a group of grey ponies to find Sunburst and Applejack there. She saw Applejack and looked at the ground.

“What are you two doing here?” Fluttershy asked meekly.

“We were worried ya might be heading home. After seeing ya so upset, Ah didn’t think you would want to pilot again,” answered Applejack sheepishly. She looked away, trying to not not look Fluttershy in the eye.

“It’s ok, Fluttershy, you did the best you could,” consoled Sunburst. 

“But before you go,” demanded Applejack, puffing her chest out,” ya gotta push me.”

“No, I couldn’t possibly,” Fluttershy gasped, placing her hooves out in refusal.

“It’s only fair. Ah didn’t give enough benefit to your sufferin’ and now ya have ta make it right.”

“Once she gets like this there is no arguing with her,” explained Sunburst. 

“But...” whined Fluttershy.

“Do it now,” the cow pony demanded.

Applejack stood rigid awaiting her fate. Fluttershy steeled herself and pushed with all her might. 

The force slightly moved Applejack’s hat. The orange mare remained still but when nothing harder touched her she shook her head.

“I did it,” Fluttershy said excitedly. 

“Right, well, good for you,” congratulated Applejack as a mother congratulated a foal on their first miserable looking art. “Ya show that same spunk whereever you go next, ok?”

“Yeah, Sir Fluttershy,” asserted Sunburst. 

“Ok, time to go,” said the tough looking ponies in grey.

Fluttershy turned and started to leave with them.

“Wait,” Fluttershy shouted and turned,” I’m a coward and a doormat and...”

“We have to go, ma’am,” one of the grey ponies interrupted.

“Oh, okay...” the pegasus said as the force of her outburst completely disappeared. 

Then Fluttershy left for the train. Applejack and Sunburst watched her go.

“What the hay was all that coward stuff ya reckon?,” asked Applejack as she adjusted her hat. Sunburst shrugged. 

Suddenly Pinkie Pie screeched to a halt in the street on her party cannon. 

“Who... who’s that?” shouted Applejack,” and why is she riding a cannon?”

“Run,” screamed Sunburst. The confused friends ran. 

Pinkie ignored them as she saw the train pulling away. “Oh no,” she shouted, “I missed it!” She pulled out a bullhorn and shouted,” Fluttershy! Don’t leave!” The earth reverberated as the force of her voice shook it.

Pinkie put down the horn and looked at the platform. There stood a frazzled Fluttershy frozen in surprise. 

Pinkie felt her body begin to run to her but remembered what Twilight said. Perhaps some ponies don’t want hugs. Instead she waited and watched Fluttershy for her reaction.

“Ok,” Fluttershy said as she smiled at Pinkie. 
> Episode 5: Tests and Trials
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

One week before Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy’s arrival, Twilight watched as Commander Discord strode through the secondary command center. He briskly paced back and forth as he glanced out the observation window. Unit-00 stood still and motionless. Nothing about its exterior gave the impression that a pilot was inside. 

Twilight knew this was a big moment for them. They had never turned the Evanstallion on with a pilot inside before. Twilight scrolled through her mental checklists of the things that could go wrong. She could feel the hair in her mane start to curl and quickly matted it back. She refocused on the trial at hoof. She had already placed many contingency plans in motion if anything went wrong. 

“Unit-00 is connected to Maud,” informed Bon Bon. 

“Sync ratio is nominal,” Lyra said and pointed at her display.

“What is the status of the pilot?” asked Mud Briar.

 Twilight checked the various displays. “The pilot is fine,” she confirmed.

“Techno babble is done,” cheered Lyra.

“Wait, something is wrong!” shouted Bon Bon. 

“Increased techno babble!”

“The sync rates are dropping!”

“It’s going berserk!” screamed Trixie. 

The Evanstallion started whipping its head back and forth. It twisted its neck in anguish and trembled violently.

“End the test! Get Maud out of there!” shouted Discord with a disturbingly serious look on his face.

“External magic cut!” confirmed Bon Bon.

The Eva bashed the walls with its head and rammed the observation window. Glass shattered around the control room occupants. Trixie fell from her chair with a long slice across her left foreleg. Twilight immediately rushed in and placed pressure on it.

“Release the comforting EZ cheese,” commanded Discord.

The chamber began to fill with cheesy goodness. Unit-00 started to slow as the substance began to congeal around it. The entry plug fired out of the Eva’s back but struck the ceiling of the chamber and plummeted. It slammed hard onto the uncheesed portion of the cold metal floor. 

“Maud!” shouted Twilight as she wrapped Trixie’s hoof.

Mud Briar rushed out the command center and into the chamber. He found the discarded  entry plug as Unit-00 finally went limp. The large wad of congealed cheese kept the robot upright. 

Mud Briar reached the hatch and pressed the opening mechanism. Two long levers rose out of it. Mud Briar took them in his hooves and began to push them open. A sizzling sound filled the air with the smell of burnt hair and hoof as he placed his hooves on the superheated levers. He ignored the pain and tried twisting the levers to open the hatch. As much panicked strength as he could muster he couldn’t open it.

“Discord! Assist me!” Mud Briar demanded.

“But it looks really hot,” whined Discord behind him.

“For Maud!”

“Alright, alright.”

Discord hesitantly placed his fingers on the ends of the levers and put the barest amount of strength into them. The valve slowly turned and the hatch opened.

“Maud!?” Mud Briar whispered in fear.

Maud looked up at him with a slight smile. Her face and right eye were bleeding from the impact with the floor. Her shoulder also oozed blood. He scooped her up with his raw hooves and carried her out of the plug.

“Ouch”, shouted Discord as they emerged. “Now my pinkies are scarred.”

They stared at him blankly.

“What?”

***

Twilight finished her tale and looked at the command center’s occupants. Pinkie and Fluttershy sat in front of her wide eyed. Pinkie Pie had somehow acquired popcorn during her story. She munched away happily.

“So that’s how Commander Discord burned his fingers,” gasped Fluttershy. “I’m glad he’s helping some pony.”

“Sounds horrible, oh poor Maud, she must have been devastated,” cried Pinkie then placed another wad of popcorn in her mouth. “Nom. Nom.”

“Actually, I couldn’t really tell,” thought Twilight aloud, “she didn’t have that much of a reaction.”

“So what about this angel I hurt?,” Fluttershy said, ending in a whisper.

“That is really fascinating,” Twilight excitedly regaled. “You were able to preserve the specimen really well. The nearest I can guess it looks to be a magical construct. So it really wasn’t alive at all, Fluttershy.”

“Oh thank goodness.”

“You broke the central magical battery in it.”

“But who built them and why?” Fluttershy asked.

“Well the magic signature is identical to a pony. So somepony is out there creating these things,” Twilight concluded.

Pinkie nodded then downed her cup of cocoa and offered Fluttershy some popcorn.

“Aside from that it’s going to take a lot longer for us to really understand more,” continued Twilight, annoyed she didn’t get offered popcorn.

“So I heard that we are going to try Maud in Unit-00 tomorrow,” said Fluttershy as she tried to shift her guilt away.

“Yupper doodle,” Pinkie shouted, bouncing in front of Fluttershy and spraying her with popcorn bits. “She’s going to do so spectacularly awesome that she won’t even remember all the scary traumatic things that happened to her before.”

“I hope so, I didn’t have nearly as hard a time as she did and I’m still terrified of that thing,” Fluttershy whimpered.

“Relax, Maud’s the pinnacle of calm,” assured Pinkie. 

****

Fluttershy felt the fear for Maud’s re-activation trail all day. She couldn’t help but take little peeks to make sure Maud wasn’t equally nervous. Her new friends Applejack and Sunburst took notice.

“Ya been doing that all day,” observed Applejack. “What’s up?”

“Oh it’s nothing,”mumbled Fluttershy looking at her hooves.

“Oh I get it, it’s “nothing”, snarked Sunburst teasingly.

“What do mean?,” asked Fluttershy.

“Oh we know what nothin’ means,'' took up Applejack. “You’re just sittin’ there, starin at her, thinkin’ of “nothin’”.

“Sweets nothings,” winked Sunburst. 

“You’re sweet on her, aren’t ya?” Applejack declared.

“What?” gasped Fluttershy turning red. “I just wondered if she was nervous. She has an awfully important trial coming up. The last time she was injured. But she looks so calm. I don’t think I could be so calm.”

“I’ll tell ya why, cause she’s a weirdo,” commented Applejack. “She doesn’t talk to nopony and never smiles.”

“That’s so sad,” said Fluttershy.

“It’s her own choice.”

“Maybe..”

Fluttershy watched as Maud stared at the ground absently. Fluttershy felt she should say something to her but couldn’t think of what. She didn’t want to bother her.

***

Later on that night Twilight came over for dinner. She found Pinkie and Fluttershy at the diner table which was covered in baked sweets.

“I was invited here for dinner,” said Twilight and itched her snout with a hoof. “I don’t see a dinner.”

“Cupcakes are a type of dinner,” suggested Pinkie.

“No they are a type of dessert, Pinkie. You have to eat more than sweets otherwise you’ll get fat.”

“Impossible, I prong everywhere to burn the most calories and eat at least some veggies.”

“Covering your broccoli in frosting does not count.”

“Awww.”

“Next time invite me over when Fluttershy makes the meal. Oh Fluttershy,” Twilight’s eye twitched as she suddenly remembered her errand, “could you do me a favor? I have a new magic entry card for Maud I forgot to give her. Could you drop it off for me please?”

Fluttershy took the card with her wing but found herself staring at it idly. It felt so odd that they both did the same job yet reacted to it so differently. She marveled at the stone faced Maud in the ID and envied that conviction.

“I know Maud’s beautiful Fluttershy but staring at her picture like that in front us could be embarrassing,” exclaimed Pinkie with a large smile. “We might say things like,” are you sweet on Maud?” or “are you thinking about “nothing” again?” or “now you have an excuse to go to Maud’s house and stare at her in person.” That would be super duper embarrassing if we said stuff like that. Good thing I warned you.”

Fluttershy immediately turned red at Pinkie’s jeers. She didn’t understand why everypony thought she saw Maud as anything other than an admirable pony. Yet once again the stinging teases flew at her. She was more than a little annoyed and thought it best to complete her mission then.

She marched to the door. Then hesitated. It was awfully late. And awful dark. There could be sneaky ponies that might jump out and scare yellow pegasi. “I guess I’ll get it done ..tomorrow. It is quite late now and I wouldn’t want to bother any pony this late.”

Pinkie nodded as she watched Fluttershy talk herself out of going anywhere and returned to her room instead.

“Umm is she going to be alright with this assignment,” asked Twilight uncertainly. “She seems a little nervous.”

“Fluttershy will be fine,” assured Pinkie. “She has to come out of her quills on her own.”

“Hedgehogs don’t come out of their quills.”

“Oh.”

***

The sun rose with bright golden promise. Fluttershy was up with it. She cleaned the kitchen as always from Pinkie’s “diner” party and wondered if it was too early to go to Maud’s yet. She didn’t want to wake Maud up on the day of her test. Then she nervously envisioned that Maud could wake early for a pre-jitters jog. She would run all the way to headquarters without her card and couldn’t get in. She might think they didn’t want to come in at all. Oh, how awful. Then she would doubt herself and do badly on her test and be told she couldn’t pilot any more and it would all be Fluttershy’s fault. Fluttershy couldn’t let that happen to Maud so she set out early after all.

Fluttershy fretted and worried the entire way to the address listed on the card. Before she knew it she found herself in front of Maud’s door. She knocked quietly. No pony answered. She tapped a little harder with her wing. Still the door obstinately remained closed and betrayed no inner movement. She began to dance back and forth. She knew Maud needed her card but she didn’t know what to do. Perhaps Maud was still asleep. She didn’t want Maud to oversleep. She decided she would just peek in to see if she was ok. She slowly turned the knob with her wing.

“Maud?” Fluttershy’s whispered voice barely entered the home. Then she noticed the pile of bloody bandages in the corner of the apartment. “Oh my,” she gasped and rushed further in. “Maud is everything ok? I saw the bandages and was worried.”

Fluttershy looked around the apartment but couldn’t find Maud anywhere. Then she noticed a small rock sitting on Maud’s dresser.

“I didn’t know Maud liked nature,” she thought and took the rock with her wing. As she examined it, an annoyed snort caught her ear. She slowly turned and found a naked Maud in a towel behind her. The nude pony calmly walked over and reached for the rock while the embarrassed Fluttershy tried to retreat. She slipped and fell under Maud knocking her legs out.

“I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I’m sorry,” the klutzy pegasus whispered while she squeezed her eyes shut.

Maud calmly got up and began to place her clothes on.

 Fluttershy had her wings over her eyes while sage said, ” I’m not looking. I didn’t mean to slip. I was trying to give you your new CAKE card.”

The little pegasus peeked between her feathers to find Maud gone.“Oh no!” she shouted, “her card won’t work.”

The room became a blur as the yellow mare rushed through to the door outside. She missed the grey mare in the corner still slowly getting ready for the test.

“Oh no,” Fluttershy gasped as she looked around outside. “She must have left already.”

The panicked Eva pilot flew off toward headquarters looking for her on the way. “I didn’t know she was that fast,” she thought. She flew down all the major streets that led to headquarters. She approached the main gate to headquarters, landed and looked around. Maud was nowhere to be found. She sighed. “I must have passed her after all. I guess I’ll just wait here for her.”

Fluttershy stood in front of the entrance for what felt like hours. The sun moved slowly across the sky. Finally she saw the form of Maud shimmering in the heat walking towards the headquarters.

“Oh thank goodness,” Fluttershy sighed in relief. “Umm should I run back to her now? What if I do and startle her? I think I’ll just wait here instead.”

Maud slowly made her way to the terminal. She passed Fluttershy without a glance, focused only on the test. Her mind was temporarily confused as she swiped her card in the terminal only to have it beep angrily. Maud calmly swiped again and the reader admonished her. She looked at the offending card. Suddenly another card was thrust at her from the third foal. It had her picture on it.

“Maud,” began Fluttershy, “hi, here is your new card. Sorry about earlier.”

Maud took the card and swiped it instead. The reader happily beeped admittance. Maud didn’t blink an eye and walked inside. 

“Oh,” Fluttershy followed. She still felt awful for breaking into her home this morning. “So today is your retest in Unit-00.”

“Yes,” came the deadened answer. 

“Aren’t you nervous?”

“No”

“I would be horrified if something like that happened to me.”

“Ok”

“How is it you’re so calm?” cried Fluttershy desperately.

“I don’t know.”

“Oh I see,” Fluttershy said and began to wilt. Maud was a difficult pony to get to know. 

“Do you like Commander Discord?” asked Maud, breaking Fluttershy’s melancholy.

“I’m not sure. I used to but I don’t remember what happened now.”

Maud turned and looked Fluttershy in the eye, stopping her short. She bonked Fluttershy in the head with her hoof.

“Ouch! What was that for?”cried the startled third filly.

“Sometimes a strike to the head can jog one’s memory,” Maud calmly explained.

“Umm thank you?” Fluttershy said, rubbing her head.

“Your welcome.”

Maud nodded then walked down the corridor towards her Eva. Fluttershy stared after her and tried to figure out if she had been honestly trying to help or making fun of her. She shook her head and returned to the task at hand

***

Fluttershy joined Twilight, and Pinkie in the command center. Discord and Mud Briar sat behind them. The computer mares were in their normal positions at their desks. 

“Here we go again,” whined Lyra. A stern look from Bon Bon hushed her.

“Ok, Maud we are starting the test,” informed Twilight. “How do you feel?”

“Fine,” responded Maud monotonously. She sat in the entry plug of Unit-00. Fluttershy could see her bored expression through the monitor. Fluttershy marveled at her stoicism.

“It’ll be ok, Maud,” assured Pinkie. “I know you're nervous but we have things truly in hoof this time. Plus I’m here to make sure you're safe.”

“Is she nervous?,” whispered Twilight.

“Of course she is Twilight can’t you see how scared she looks?”

“Oh uhh of course I was just distracted by my preparations.”

Twilight looked at Trixie in confusion who shrugged in response.

“Initiating connections,” began Bon Bon.

“Sync levels normal,” called out Lyra.

“No biofeedback,” informed the great and powerful computer mare.

“Cupcake levels sufficient,” saluted Pinkie as she placed a cup cake in her mouth.

“These results are good, Maud,” excitedly reported Twilight. “We have successfully reactivated Unit-00.”

“Wonderful,” exclaimed Discord with a great sweeping hand movement. 

“Well done, Maud,” stated Mud Briar with a lot less drama.

Maud nodded in her cockpit. 

“Wheh,” sighed Fluttershy, wiping her brow.

“Warning! Warning! The 5th Angel has been spotted,” gasped Bon Bon.

“What!” shouted Twilight. “But we’ve no time to plan!”

A massive octagonal diamond appeared on the screen. It hovered noiselessly in the air as it moved forward by an unseen force. 

“Code Blue,” exclaimed Bon Bon. “It’s definitely an angel.”

“Hooray an angel,” shouted Pinkie. “Now Maud can show her stuff.”

“No, it’s too early for her,” commanded Discord. “Send Unit-01.”

“Awww,” pouted Pinkie. “I wanted to see Maud in action.”

Fluttershy flew to her Eva. The entry plug was open and ready. She quickly changed into her plug suit and climbed in. She signaled to Pinkie who shouted “Eva lunch!”

After blank stares Pinkie retreated and sheepishly stated, “I didn’t eat much for lunch. Ok, Eva launch!” She pulled a cord that released a banner printed with the words, ”go Fluttershy” and a heart framing her silhouette. 

***

Large metal spires shot out of the ground in Ponyville 3. The ground opened up and the Eva rose out and shone in the gleaming sunlight in front of the angel. Fluttershy had a few seconds before she was struck in the chest by a bright blue particle beam. She screamed as the liquid around her boiled. Fluttershy could feel the pain in every limb as the liquid churned. 

“Oh no,” shouted Pinkie with a mouth full of sandwich. “Bring her back! Bring her back.”

The platform quickly lowered with the charred Evanstallion back into the safety of headquarters. Fluttershy’s body felt like a pulsing sponge of pain as she fell from consciousness.
> Episode 6 : Rocks and Confetti
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Oh geez! Oh geez! Oh geez,” shouted Pinkie as she rushed out of the control room. She ran breathlessly through the hallway, cursing all the cake she ate that morning. She quickly found the infirmary. Fluttershy rolled by on a stretcher as Pinkie arrived. “Fluttershy are you alright? Fluttershy!”

“She’s going to be fine, Captain Pie,” explained the fluffy-haired doctor. “She’s unconscious from the shock.”

“Oh no! it’s all my fault,” sobbed Pinkie. Sadness gave way to anger. “That big meanie angel. Who does it think it is? It’s going to find out it messed with the wrong pony.”

Pinkie angrily marched back up to the control room where Twilight monitored the angel’s advance. 

“Is she ok?,” asked Twilight with genuine concern.

“Doctor Fluffy-head says she’ll be fine.”

“You mean Doctor Horse.”

“What’s  the target been doing?” demanded Captain Pinkie.

“The angel is hovering right above us and dropped a drill. It’s drilling through the layers of armor protecting headquarters,” Twilight answered.

“We should give it balloons,” declared Pinkie with a stern expression.

“I don’t think that plan will work. The angels don’t seem to react to balloons like we do, Pinkie,” sighed Twilight.

“Not happy party fun balloons,” corrected Pinkie as she slammed her hoof to the ground. “Distracty type balloons.”

***

“Launch the next one,” Pinkie grumpily shouted.

The local pegasi were summoned to use their wind magic to inflate a giant balloon of the Evanstallionin front of the angel.  Milliseconds later, the large balloon was struck with the super heated laser. The Evanstallion balloon tore violently and began sailing through the air with the sound of a loud raspberry trailing it. 

“The angel hasn’t slowed its drilling this whole time,” explained an exasperated Twilight. “Every time we put up anything too close it destroys it. At this rate it will drill down to CAKE central in a few hours. I don’t think your distracty balloons are that distracty, but we were able to use them to find the angel’s attack range. It seems to only attack the balloons in a mile radius.”

“That gives me a new idea,” Pinkie stated proudly placing her hoof to her chest.

“It does?” 

“A cannon.”

“A cannon?”

“Yeah I had the fabrication department build a Eva sized party cannon to help celebrate Unit-00’s reactivation trial but Meaniel had to ruin it. So we just help cheer it up with the canon, which we can place out of its range and bam we have our first angel friend.”

“Meaniel?,” Twilight echoed in confusion, then remembered whom she was talking to. “I’m not sure that’s it’s going to work. I already told you, angels are magical constructs. It doesn’t feel happy or sad or at all. It’s just a thing.”

“If it was just a thing it wouldn’t be so mean, Twilight.” Pinkie turned to the Commander, who was busy stacking playing cards in a square on his desk.”Permission to proceed with mission Wonderbluss, Commander Discord.”

“What?” exclaimed Discord as he placed the next card,”I wasn’t paying attention. You can do whatever you like, Captain.”

“Ok, take it away Maud,” Pinkie shouted.

Unit-00 walked over to the cannon set up in the containment area and picked it up. The Eva turned and marched away with the cannon draped over its shoulder. 

“Now we just need Fluttershy to wake up!” Pinkie said excitedly.

“She needs to wake up soon,” worried Twilight. “That drill isn’t slowing down.”

“But Captain Pinkie just where are we going to find enough confetti to fill that cannon?” asked Lyra now very curious.

“From all of Equestria, silly,” explained Pinkie.”And it’s already filled.”

***

Fluttershy woke up in the hospital bed. She sighed as she recognized the same ceiling as last time. It was becoming a familiar sight. The sound of a page slowly turning next to her nearly drove Fluttershy through that ceiling. She looked to her right and found Maud sitting there reading a book. 

Maud glanced at the startled pegasus and slowly closed the book. She took a deep breath and began to speak.

“Hello,” she said as she held up cue cards in front of her. “My name is Maud. I’m here to brief you on the upcoming mission. Pilots Fluttershy and Maud are to enter Unit-01 and 0 respectively and prepare for a welcome party for the new angel. I am to wear a party hat while you shower it with a confetti cannon. That is all.”

“I’m not sure I can do it, Maud. That angel is really scary.”

“Ok. I’ll do it myself then.”

“What? I couldn’t ask you to do that,”Fluttershy exclaimed, throwing her hooves in the air. Maud’s expression remained the same. The yellow pegasus thought of how much the Commander and Mud Briar had worried over Maud during the first activation test. She didn't want them to go through that again. She sighed relentingly. ”I’ll do it.”

“OK, but you might want to put on these clothes first,” Maud stated flatly.

Fluttershy’s eyes went wide as she looked down to find her own light yellow body staring back at her only partially covered by the sheet. A small “eep” escaped her as she ducked back under the blanket in embarrassment. 

****

Fluttershy and her Eva trotted toward the meeting point that Maud told her about. She cocked her head as she noticed signs around the landscape showing a confetti shortage.  Then a vehicle drove by with a speaker on the top of it. It announced,” due to the extreme nature of the party at hoof, there will be a massive confetti shortage for the foreseeable future. Thank you for your cooperation.”

Fluttershy brought her Eva to the preassigned spot and sat it down next to Unit-00. She saw Maud sitting by herself looking so lonely that Fluttershy felt compelled to talk to her. She ejected her entry plug and flew towards the small grey mare. The fluid slid easily off of her suit. 

The lite pegasus landed a few feet away and slowly walked to the first filly. Fluttershy suddenly realized that she had no idea what to say. Maud stared at the moon. 

“Nice um moon tonight,” Fluttershy slowly began. “I was told as a foal that the mare in the moon was a princess lost to us. She looks down while we sleep and protects us.”

“The moon is a rock,” Maud said dully.

“Oh, is it? I guess that’s nice too.”

“I really like rocks. They’re easy for me to relate to. Sometimes I wonder if rocks are the only thing I have. They are grey and smooth and don’t judge you if you’re different.”

“But they can’t give hugs or encouragement,” Fluttershy protested.

“They are always there for me. I find that encouraging. I generally don’t hug.”

Fluttershy strained her nervous brain to think of something to say. All the other normal questions a pony could say started to drop away were replaced with one.

“So umm why do you pilot your Eva?” Fluttershy began.

“Because Discord asked me to.”

“That’s all?” gasped Fluttershy.

“Yes.”

“But aren’t you scared that the angels could kill you?”

“Yes.”

“Then how are you able to pilot knowing that?” Fluttershy was hoping Maud’s trick would help her own nerves.

“Can’t flying kill you?”

“Yes, if you don’t pay attention or get hurt you could fall and die,” Fluttershy admitted, confused by the sudden change in topic.

“Then how do you fly knowing that.”

Fluttershy was struck silent. She considered the new information.

“It is time. We must go. Talking to you was.. nice. I hope we return from our mission,” Maud concluded. She abruptly turned and walked to her Eva.

Fluttershy tried to respond but Maud slowly walked away. She stared after her in confusion. How could Maud take piloting an Eva so lightly? How could she believe rocks were all she had? Fluttershy shook the confused thoughts away and walked towards her own Eva. The control room’s comments sounded over her speaker array.

***

“All systems go for operation Wonderbluss,” affirmed Bon Bon.

“Wonderbluss, it’s so funny,”giggled Lyra.

“Focus Lyra,” demanded Bon Bon.

“ Wonderbluss, start,” shouted Pinkie in a cascade of chocolate-covered nuts. The command center stared in amazement. “I had to sacrifice our confetti as well. It was for the cause.”

The Evas stood up on their hill. Fluttershy grabbed the cannon firing cord and wrapped it around the Eva’s hoof. She aimed the cannon with the help of Twilight’s targeting spells. The cannon swiveled toward the position.

“Angle the cannon up a few more degrees,” suggested Maud.

“Why? asked the third filly. “Twilight’s targeting magic is telling me that this is the best angle.”

“The angel is a giant diamond. Its fracture point is five degrees higher than where you’re aiming.” Uni-00 lifted the party cannon a few inches up. “I can tell from here. It’s a rock based decision.”

***

“Oh no! The angel is doing that powering up thing!”  Lyra gasped.

“That’s not possible,” insisted Twilight. “We’re out of the mile radius.”

“It’s not going to get us this time!” declared Pinkie.”Get ready Maud.”

Meaniel fired its particle beam and lit the darkened sky with a brilliant blue blaze.

“Now!” shouted Pinkie.

Unit-00 quickly grabbed a nearby boulder and hoisted it in front of the particle beam. The rock shook violently with the impact and began to melt over Unit-00’s front hooves.

“Be careful, Maud,” cautioned Fluttershy.

“Fluttershy! Fire now!” shouted Pinkie with an unusual smile across her face.

Fluttershy ripped the cord with the Eva’s hoof and the cannon exploded. Confetti and smoke filled the air. The confetti cut right through Meaniel’s AT field and into the crystalline body. The large floating rock shattered inward and began to fall from the sky. It crashed into the nearest building and exploded in a million shards.

“Was that supposed to happen?”asked Fluttershy. She watched in awe as the shards glittered brightly in the moonlight. It reminded her of the millions of sparkles she used to watch on her favorite pond. “I think you’re right, Maud. The moon might be made of rocks.”

Unit-00’s steaming form collapsed. Fluttershy could see the head had partially melted from the rock runoff. The hooves had melted and fused fully extended.

“Maud!”shouted Fluttershy. She quickly ejected the entry plug and flew to the crippled Eva . She found the entry plug half-extended from the Eva’s neck. She pounded on the manual release and saw the valve’s extended arms from Twilight’s story. The superheated hatch burned her hooves as she tried to open it. She nearly backed away but remembered Discord persistence and forced the hatch open. It popped open filling the air with vaporized fluid. She stuck head in to find Maud sitting comfortably in the chair and sighed in relief. 

“You could have told me you were ok,” Fluttershy reprimanded.

“You didn’t ask if I was ok, you just screamed my name,” Maud informed.

Fluttershy looked confused then shook her head. Her eyes became very wide as if she  looked directly into Maud’s soul. Maud suddenly felt uncomfortable and shifted slightly in her chair.

“Don’t say that,” Fluttershy scolded. “Don’t say “if we make it back” before we start our mission. It sounds scary. And don’t throw yourself in harm's way. You are more important than that. And don’t say all you have is rocks. There is more to life than rocks.”

Maud stared at her in confusion. Suddenly Mud Briar’s face flashed before her. “I guess you're right,” she admitted as she quietly smiled.

***

Pinkie stared at the wrecked form of Meaniel on the screen. “That’ll teach you to mess with my friends, Meaniel,” she declared quietly. Then pronged happily away.
> Episode 7: Rampage and Ruin
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Morning began with its normal excitement. Clouds and rain were pretty rare in post second impact Equestria. The sky turned red, then orange, then an intense yellow. The small clouds reflected that brilliance back to the sun, reminding it they could shine too. The sun said it had enough of that and rose higher still, increasing in brightness. The clouds couldn’t reflect it anymore and decided being nice and fluffy were much more suitable to them. 

Fluttershy rose early in the morning and happily began to cook pancakes. She felt a soft wet clamp attach itself to her tail and smiled.

“Oh,” she cooed, “is little Gummy hungry? Does he want to eat some nummy pancakes too? Well of course you can have some.”

The pair found their seats at the table and began to joyfully eat as Pinkie Pie emerged from her room. Her mane was a mess and she immediately dove at a half eaten cake.

“Yeeeeee,” Pinkie squealed as her mane filled like a balloon to its proper shape. “That’s the fun way to start the day.”

“Umm, do you have to show up at the school today?” mumbled Fluttershy, allowing her own mane to drift further over her face.

“Of course. It’s going to be super duper fun. Think of the party I can throw!” The party pony’s entire being shook with anticipation.

“Umm, could you... not do that?”

“Why not? Everypony loves a party.”

“It’s just kind of embarrassing,” Fluttershy muttered even quieter while her mane engulfed more of her.

“Ha ha ha, oh Fluttershy,”responded Pinkie.”No it isn’t,” she assured. 

The doorbell rang, which signaled that Applejack and Sunburst were outside. Pinkie flew to the door before Fluttershy could even react. She opened it and found the two beaming faces of Fluttershy’s friends. 

“Hey ya Ms Pinkie Pie,” shouted Applejack excitedly. “Ya don’t happen to have any o’ those apple cupcakes, do ya?”

“Indeedy doodle,” Pinkie squealed and tossed one each to Applejack and Sunburst.

“Much obliged,” said Applejack enthusiastically and bit her cupcake.

“Don’t forget yooooouuurs, Fluttershy,” the pink mare offered her last cupcake.

Fluttershy quickly grabbed it with her wing.

“Have a good day,” Pinkie called after them.

***

“Aww,” Applejack gushed, “I wish Pinkie Pie was livin’ with me. Then I could have a party everyday.”

“Yeah, that would be great,” agreed Sunburst.

“You don’t know how difficult it is cleaning up after all that cake,” thought Fluttershy. But she said nothing and let her friends have their fantasies. 

The walk to school was filled with talks of Pinkie’s awesomeness and the deliciousness of her cupcakes and pies. Fluttershy kept quiet. 

Each thought of her roommate coming to school to meet her teacher sent shivers down her spine. She wasn’t sure that Pinkie needed to come at all. Since when was it customary for your roommate to meet your teacher and all your school friends anyway? She began to suspect that “bring your roommate to class day” might be something Pinkie made up.

****

Pinkie knew Fluttershy was nervous but hoped that it would pass. One of her main duties was to help the pilots in their lives and make sure they were doing as well as they could,  both as a pilot and in society. If the pilots were happy in their lives they would be better in the cockpit, and if their lives were starting to suffer it could be a sign of mental disturbances caused by piloting. Twilight had insisted that Pinkie stay on top of things to be sure.

The party mare rode her large blue cannon into the parking lot of the school. She shifted her weight quickly to one side to cause it to skid into a space. The sound brought a lot of looks from the scholarly ponies. They began looking out the windows.

“It’s Pinkie,” shouted a blue unicorn stallion with a grey mane that Pinkie, oddly, didn’t recognize. 

“Pinkie!” Other ponies took up the call as they rushed to get a look at her. The party pony could always draw a large crowd with her fun antics and parties. Evidently that reputation preceded her, because soon the entire school rushed to get a look at the perky pink party pony. 

Pinkie grinned and waved, then quickly pulled the cord on her cannon. Confetti rained down over the entire school. She placed her hoof over her mouth sheepishly while the school cheered.

***

“Argh, she’s so embarrassing,” complained Fluttershy as she watched her impish actions from her school room window. 

“Ya just don’t know how good ya got it,” declared Applejack. “We don’ have time fer such fancy things like parties at mah place. Not since we lost mah parents.”

“Oh, I’m sorry to hear that,” apologized the flustered Fluttershy.

“But that’s what makes parties so fun. Ya can focus on the good times.”

Another volley of confetti flew through the air and cascaded down.

Applejack took off her hat and screamed “Yeeehaw.” 

Fluttershy didn’t know what happened after Pinkie entered the school but she did hear rumors of random things exploding with confetti. She shuddered to think what the teachers thought of her now. 

Her schoolmates excitedly expressed their congratulations on having such a fun room mate. Fluttershy smiled at them but wondered how much they would love having a cannon blast you out of bed some mornings to make the day “the best day ever.”

***

The next day Fluttershy and Gummy ate some waffles that were equally as tasty as yesterday’s pancakes. Suddenly, Pinkie Pie opened her bedroom door to reveal a fully dressed and serious looking pony. Her hair was down and flat. She wore her full military-looking jacket with black pants and her red barrette. 

Fluttershy stared in disbelief as Gummy licked his eye. The small piece of waffle on her fork slid to her plate. 

“Whaa, wha?” the yellow mare stammered.

“Yeah I’ve got to do boring old work,” Pinkie explained. “I’ll see you tonight. Bye.”

***

Twilight and Pinkie sat at an empty table. Pinkie glanced around at the banquet hall the table resided in. It had a very drab, stale feel. She wiggled her legs in boredom. It was such a dull party that Pinkie couldn’t help but perk up at the thought of making better. She reached into her mane to grab a few confetti hand grenades when she felt the purple hoof of Twilight push her hat further on to her head. She peeled out from underneath and saw Twilight’s disapproving expression. 

Pinkie decided to figure out which part of the party was the most boring. The chairs were set up nicely, but they felt stale and interesting. The bleached white tablecloths put the cream-colored walls to sleep. Even the large welcome banner lacked enthusiasm. It was written in flat, boring, scientific lettering that didn’t suggest a hint of fun. “Flim and Flam present the amazing Pone Alone defense machine.” Nothing sounded so uninteresting as that. 

Twilight seemed like she was in her element. They had been sent by CAKE to watch the unveiling of a civilian-made machine that could replace their Evanstallions. Twilight had been furiously studying in the carriage ride in. She sat in the chair tapping the table nervously with her hoof. 

Soon the lights went out and two spot lights appeared. Two yellow unicorns with red and white manes appeared in front of two podiums.  They looked like twins, but one sported a red handlebar mustache, allowing others to tell them apart. 

“Good morning, ladies and gentlecolts, he’s Flim,” said the mustached pony.

“And he’s Flam,” introduced Flim. “We are the heads of the famous Pone Alone robot project.”

“We’re here to present this robot as the savior of ponykind that it is,” took up Flam.

“This is Pone Alone,” Flim announced as his horn began to glow a small video began.

The room darkened and a reel to reel started to project on a screen.

A large goofy looking robot appeared on the screen. It was a thin, frail-looking pony with large rods that stuck out where its mane should be. 

“Pone Alone,” said a voice that sounded like Flam. “A robot to save us from angel attacks in these dangerous times.”

That was it. The reel to reel ended, turning the screen an eye-blinding white. The lights came back on and the unicorns resumed their podiums.

“What?” hissed Twilight quietly to Pinkie. “That movie told us nothing!”

“Yes folks, we guarantee this robot is completely safe,” started Flim.

“My brother and I have run numerous tests and Pone Alone passes them all,” declared Flam.

“Why this very machine could rival the Evanstallions at CAKE,” Flim bragged.

The two then began such a barrage of banter that Pinkie couldn’t follow who was talking.

“No longer will you risk your lives to this angel menace! Our fully automated Pone Alone can fight angels with no pilots getting hurt or suffering.”

“It’s completely self reliant.”

“Safe.”

“And highly mobile.”

“Its internal magic system allows for unlimited operational time, versus the short window if the Evanstallion’s external power source gets cut.”

“What about control?” demanded Twilight, standing up and cutting off their sales pitch. “Magic constructs can behave horribly if the spells are wrong or not strong enough.”

“You mean like your berserker episode against the first angel?” asked Flam, holding up a picture of the Eva charging the first angel.

“What? How did you get... I mean, yes,” Twilight stammered. She took a large breath to composed herself. “We learned then that, even with all our knowledge of magic, things can still go wrong. Do you want to take that risk with something that is essentially a walking magical bomb?”

“A magical bomb? How extreme,” scoffed Flim.

“You said it brother,”Flam commended him.

“Our robot has tons of safety features that will disperse all the magical energy in it long before it would explode,” assured Flim.

“Gah,” whispered Twilight as she sat back down. “How did they know about the ‘berserker incident?’”

“Oh, that’s easy,” said Pinkie with a dismissive hoof.”Somepony told them.”

“Do you know who? They weren’t supposed to,” Twilight growled looking suspiciously at her.

“Ohh. No idea.”

“Without further ado,” began Flam.

“The machine you’ve been waiting for,” continued Flim.

“The Pone Alone,” they simultaneously introduced. 

The back of the theater opened and revealed an observation window. The Pone Alone stood stories tall, but looked nothing like the picture in the movie. It looked cobbled together with multiple pieces of various colored metals. The legs and body creaked heavily in the light breeze.

“It walks, it talks, it defeats angels with relative ease,” Flim assured.

“Enough words, brother. Let’s show these nice ponies how well it moves,” suggested Flam. “Begin the walking cycle.”

Flam gave the command and a team of magic engineers and remote operators began moving dials and levers.

The shoddy looking robot shakily began to walk. Each tentative step was accompanied by painful metallic screeching.

“It actually does walk,” gasped Twilight,”I didn’t think a thing like that would even move.”

“Go, Pone Alone!” screamed Pinkie putting her hoof in the air.

“Pinkie, we are here to make sure the Evanstallion are the ones that battle the angels, not this.”

“But everypony seems so excited. I want Pone Alone to do its best. See, it heard me! It’s coming this way.”

“What?!”

The multicolored travesty began to march directly at the reception hall. Flim and Flam looked at each other nervously. The operators began scrambling to press buttons and pull different levers.  

“Go Pone Alone! Woah,” Pinkie screamed.

The robot shakily smashed through the building. Bricks and wood showered the occupants. Twilight quickly grabbed Pinkie with her magic and dragged her under the table. A purple haze told them her magic shield was actively defecting the debris. 

The building fell around them, leaving one wall standing. The awkward robot turned and angrily knocked the last wall over too.

“You need to shut this down, now,” shouted Twilight.

“We’re trying, but all our spells aren’t working,” explained Flam.

“This has never happened before,” whined Flim.

“Yay, Pone Alone!” screamed Pinkie,”Go get ’em!”

“Pinkie, the machine is going crazy,” explained Twilight.

“Yeah let yourself go,” shouted Pinkie cheerily.

“It’s going to hurt more ponies and then explode.”

“Yeah, you hurt ponies and explode!” Pinkie’s shout turned to a look of confusion. “Wait, what?”

“It’s out of control and heading towards that town we passed on the way in,” explained Twilight.

“We can’t let that happen, Twilight! They have a school and a mall and cotton candy factory. No one destroys cotton candy except me. Mmm, cotton candy.”

“We can’t stop it with the magic controls we have here,” shouted Flim.

“Somepony has to go to it and shut it down from there,” instructed Flam.

“I am on it,” shouted Pinkie.

“But Pinkie, it’s dangerous. The magic in there could be hostile. Perhaps I should go,” pondered Twilight. 

“Are you sure you can move fast enough to save the cotton candy, Twilight?” demanded Pinkie. “Send a message for Fluttershy to meet me out side in Unit-01.”

***

Fluttershy’s necklace began to glow. 

“Oh no,” she said to Gummy as she scrambled to the door. “An angel? And Twilight and Pinkie are gone. Oh dear.”

The phone rang seconds later. Fluttershy answered it.

“Hello?”

“Fluttershy,” came Pinkie’s frantic voice. “I need you to take Unit-01 and gallop down here now!”

“Umm I don’t know if I can do that. There is an angel. My necklace started glowing.”

“That was me. We have a cotton candy emergency. I need you and Unit-01 here now!”

“Cotton candy?”

The phone went dead and Fluttershy flew toward headquarters. She arrived at headquarters to find a group of ponies in grey waiting for her.

“We were informed of the emergency,” explained one of them. “Unit-01 is up and running for you.”

Fluttershy nodded and flew to the awaiting Eva. She linked with it and took off running through the city. Luckily, Ponyville wasn’t too far and Fluttershy found her destination easily. 

Pinkie was outside the venue, waving frantically. Fluttershy crouched the Eva down to get out, but Pinkie hopped on its head before she could move. 

“Okay, let’s go, Fluttershy!” shouted Pinkie. “That cotton candy is not going to save itself.”

“Where is this cotton candy?”, asked Fluttershy while she looked around.  

“In that city over there, silly,” explained an exasperated Pinkie. “Now let’s go!”

“Pinkie, wait!,” called out Twilight as the Eva trotted off in pursuit.

***

Unit-01 ran through the landscape like a bullet. Pinkie inexplicably remained on its head, apparently unaffected by the sudden velocity. Pone Alone trotted along in the distance, and Fluttershy could see pieces of it littered all over the landscape. 

“How is that thing still walking?” she thought to herself. 

Most of the metal covering had fallen off, exposing its large metal gears. The head wobbled back and forth like a bobblehead doll. Fluttershy had to jump over one of its large metal ears. 

“Faster, Fluttershy,” directed Pinkie as she pointed her hoof forward. “I need you to place me on that thing.”

“Why? What are you going to do?” Fluttershy asked.

“I don’t know yet. But for once I’m going to make something not explode.”

“Explode?!”

The Pone Alone started to slow down as one of the legs began to collapse. 

Pinkie jumped on to Unit-01’s outstretched hoof and prepared to bounce on to the limping robot. As Fluttershy inched closer, Pone Alone began to show serious signs of collapse. As Pinkie flexed her legs, Pone Alone completely fell to pieces. 

Its front legs continued to run on its spindly construction for a few seconds, then they also collapsed. The magical engine didn’t explode so much as pop. A little smoke leaked from it. 

Pinkie watched with disappointment as her heroic moment became a scrap pile. 

“I guess that’s one way to do it,” Pinkie sighed. “But at least the cotton candy is safe.”

“And the town,” reminded Fluttershy. 

“Right, them too.”

Unit-01 returned to the Pone Alone headquarters. Twilight ran up to meet them. 

“That’s what I was trying to tell you,” sighed Twilight. “I looked at the Pone Alone’s blueprints and realized it wasn’t made well enough to get very far. Also, because Flim and Flam skimped on the engine’s construction, there was no way it had enough juice to explode.”

Flim and Flam cringed away from a crowd of angry looking ponies. 

“So it looks like these two just took investors’ money and made it so shoddily that it was going to fall apart anyway,” explained Twilight.

“Yes,” growled an irate Jack Pot. “We want our bits back. Right now.”

The crowd grumbled at the shifty twins. They looked at each other and ran off, with the crowd of shocked investors chasing after them. 

***

Fluttershy ate her favorite waffles with Gummy again. She loved the comfort of a routine, and worried that today Pinkie might again break the pattern. Pinkie’s bedroom door opened and a disheveled looking pink party pony emerged. She pounced on a large cake and sighed deeply. 

“Oooh yeah. That’s the way to start the morning,” she sighed as her mane inflated. 

Fluttershy idly watched her and gave a satisfied sigh herself. Her friends arrived, and she pushed them out the door before they could see the cake slathered party pony in such an indecent state.

“Man, what ah wouldn’t give to wake up next to Pinkie Pie,” wistfully mused Applejack. Then caught her own words. She hastily added, “Her cupcakes. Her cupcakes. Cup cakes.” Applejack blushed.

“Sure AJ, her ‘cupcakes,’ jeered Sunburst. 

“Doh, consarn it,” said Applejack as she hid her face under her hat. 

“I don’t know what you are talking about,” bemoaned Fluttershy. “Pinkie’s messy, inconsiderate, and sometimes really bossy. I mean, it can be kind of frustrating.”

“Wow,” gasped Applejack. “Ya just don’ get it.”

“What do you mean?”

“She means you’re really lucky,” elaborated Sunburst. “Pinkie Pie shows you how she really is. Most of us just get a cupcake, but you get to see the true her. It’s like you’re family.”

“I never thought of it that way,” gasped Fluttershy. Fluttershy wondered if Pinkie saw her differently than other ponies. Fluttershy had seen her constantly trying to entertain every other pony, but when it was just the two of them Pinkie was a little less exuberant. She relaxed more and seemed less pushy. 

“And you get to wake up to Pinkie’s ‘cupcakes’ everyday,” teased Sunburst.

“Consarn it,” a still-blushing Applejack repeated. 

Sunburst and Fluttershy walked to school together, still joking and teasing Applejack.
> Episode 8 Rainbow and the sea
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The day began in an normal way. If normal was your pink roommate divebombing you as you slowly woke up. Fluttershy immediately tried to flee under the bed but her assailant shifted her weight down. She was pinned and escape was impossible. 

“Guess what? Guess what?” the assailant asked. “We’re going on an airship and your friends can come!”

Fluttershy gasped for breath. 

“Oh sorry,” apologized the heavier-than-she-looked Pinkie Pie. She shifted off so that Fluttershy could breath normally.

“That sounds..nice,” the little pegasus finally managed.

***

“This is amazing,” shouted Sunburst. “Is this what flying is like?,” he asked Fluttershy who was clinging to the mast of ship. 

“I don’t know,” the yellow pegasus whimpered with her eyes closed. “I don’t normally fly this high. I feel a bit dizzy.”

“Thanks fer lettin’ us tag along, Ms. Pinkie,”said Applejack. Her eyes filled with wonder as she saw the large masted ships on the ocean.  “Look, there it is.”

Applejack pointed to a convoy of three mastered ships in the sea. Hippogriffs ran around the ship as they got a landing platform ready. 

“I just wanted to share the fun with everypony,” explained Pinkie. “Down there is the hippogriff fleet. They’re bringing Unit-02 and the second filly to Ponyville 3.”

“The second filly? You mean there are more Eva pilots and Evanstallions?” asked Sunburst excitedly.

“Absolutely,” exclaimed Pinkie. “There are quite a few being made. Evas 03 and 04 are being made by the hippogriffs in Mount Aris and Eva 05 is being made in Griffonstone.”

“Do they have pilots yet?” asked Sunburst cautiously.

“Nope, just the three so far.”

“Hey, Ms. Pinkie, do ya like my new hat?” asked Applejack, adjusting a Stetson that looked exactly like the old one. “I got it especially for this occasion.”

“Ha ha, I love it. It’s all cowpokey,” cheered Pinkie.

“Shucks thanks,” blushed Applejack. 

“We’re heeeree,” announced the pink pony with a burst of her cannon. “This the ship Rainboom.”

The airship hovered above the deck of the massive galleon and a ramp lowered down. The hippogriffs grabbed the end of it and attached it to the deck. The little group descended onto the deck of Rainboom. Hippogriffs helped each pony as they disembarked the ramp. 

Sunburst was a flurry of activity. He galloped and gawked at each magical device the ship bore. The hippogriffs were delighted to explain each one to him. 

Suddenly a gust of wind took Applejack’s new hat and threw it across the ship towards the bow.

“Aww, horseapples,” Applejack muttered then shouted,” somepony stop that hat!”

The hat zipped and slid just out of reach until it was landed on by a blue hoof. The hoof crushed the poor little hat into a mangled mess. A single tear slid out of one of Applejack’s wide eyes, before they narrowed and took in the hat smasher. 

The blue hoof was attached to a blue pegasus with a rainbow mane in a white dress. She looked down at the crushed hat and smiled a sheepish smile.

“Ha ha, oops,” she said,”I guess I over did it.”

“Ya crushed mah hat, who in the Sam Hill do ya think ya are?” demanded Applejack now inches from her hat-ssasin.

“You’ve not heard of me? Ha, I’m Rainbow Dash,” the pegasus proclaimed loudly,” and I’m the most awesome Eva Pilot there is.”

Rainbow flapped into the air and stood tall to emphasize her greatness when another stiff breeze threw her dress up over Applejack’s head. 

“What the? Get off me. You destroyer of hats!” demanded Applejack. 

“Well you stop looking up my dress!” argued Rainbow. “A look like that is worth at least five of your crummy hats.”

“Yer dress tried to grab me by the face, and what did ya say about my hat?”

“Okie Dokie, lokie,” shouted Pinkie as she demanded their attention by placing her hoofs on each of them. “Let’s head some place less breezy in the kneesies.”

“So which of you is the third filly?” demanded Rainbow. “Oh no! It’s not hat head is it?”

“Whachoo call me?” Applejack spat shaking her hoof violently. 

“Hat head, giggle, that’s funny,” snorted Pinkie. Applejack stopped in mid hoof shake and backed off but continued to give Rainbow the stink eye. “No the third filly is hat head’s friend, Fluttershy. She was able to sync with her Eva and defeat an angel on her first day!”

“Really?” grinned Rainbow as she sized up the little yellow pegasus, “guess I have to show my best stuff. You better be ready for it, Jack. I’m giving it 120 percent.”

“Ouch,” Fluttershy whined as Rainbow poked her with her wing.

Pinkie erupted in another fit of giggles. “Her name’s not Jack, silly. It’s Fluttershy.”

The small band of ponies arrived in front of a very stiff looking hippogriff. He looked down on the little ponies with disinterest. He was a light grey color and wore a red jacket with rows of buttons on both sides of the breast. He seemed very much in charge.

“Hello Captain, my Captain,” saluted Pinkie. 

“Mrs Pie,” he began.

“Captain,” Pinkie interrupted , “I’m a Captain like you. Now we can be twinsies.”

“Umm no, we don’t look anything a like and..,” he stammered then shook his head and reorientated his steely gaze at her. “That isn’t the point. I’m not happy that the hippogriff navy has to sail all the way from our kingdom with this monstrosity.”

“Oh I am sorry that you don’t love your job,” Pinkie sympathized. She produced a cupcake from her mane. “Here's my orders from Princess Celestia herself. Maybe it will help you feel better.”

“Your orders are on a cupcake?” The hippogriff looked suspiciously at the brown frosted treat. 

“Yeah, you can read them written in the frosting with this,” she happily explained, producing a magnifying glass from her mane. 

“I’ll take your word for it,” sighed the hippogriff. Then quickly devoured it in one bite.

“Still have the best “cupcakes” in town?” asked a light orange pony with a brown mane.

“Oh no,” bemoaned Pinkie as she placed her face in her hooves.

“Pinkamena Diane Pie,” said the pony coming in closer. “Good to see you.”

“I wish the feeling was mutual Cheese Sandwhich,” snarked Pinkie, growling a little. “What are you doing here?”

“I’m escorting the awesome Rainbow Dash,” Cheese said and winked.

“Well consider her escortulated, now you can run along.”

“And miss the radiant beauty of your “cupcakes”?

“Hmmpff,” Pinkie said

“So Fluttershy, does she still leave frosting on the ceiling?” Cheese asked, turning to Fluttershy.

“How did you know?” giggled Fluttershy.

“Well, Pinkie and I go way back.”

“Those times are over, Cheese,” Pinkie insisted. “I don’t want to discuss them.”

“Fine, suit yourself. See you around, Pinkamena. C’mon boneless 3.”  Cheese placed a rubber chicken with a large red “3” painted on it on to his back and left the little group staring at him in confusion. Pinkie watched him leave then snorted in annoyance. 

***

Cheese found Rainbow Dash out on the prow of the ship with her wings out. She looked longingly at the sky. Then noticed him behind her and cheerily turned. 

“Hi ya, Cheese,” Rainbow said enthusiastically.

“Hey Rainbow Dash, how is the most awesome pony on the boat?”

“Ok, I guess.”

“How did the great meeting go? I know you were pumped.”

“I was but then I stepped on one of the third fillie’s friend’s hat.  Then my skirt blew into his face and I kinda froze up. I heard how awesome she is and challenged her to step that game up,” Rainbow listed.

“Umm are you she is up for such a completion?”

“Well yeah. I mean she pilots an Eva so well she must be into completion.”

“I’m not so sure Dash,” reprimanded Cheese. “Not everypony likes competition like you do.”

“You think?”

 “Perhaps you might want to get to know her a little better before you challenge her.”

“I guess,” admitted Rainbow as she rubbed her neck with her hoof. “It just sounds so boring. But between you and me, she is kind of cute. Oh wait, I know.” 

Rainbow Dash flew off towards the bowels of the ship. She found Fluttershy debating which snack to buy from the vending machine. Fluttershy jumped as Rainbow landed next to her with a large grin on her face. 

“Fluttershy,” Rainbow announced “Come with me.”

“Oh umm ok,” Fluttershy muttered as she allowed her mane to envelop her face. She wished she had gone for the oat bar she had originally sought. 

They moved through the lower decks. Rainbow excitedly darted this way and that. Then zeroed in on a large open room. She ushered Fluttershy in and happily displayed to her a large lump under a tarp. 

“What is that?” Fluttershy asked apprehensively.

“This is my Unit-02. The fastest and most awesome Eva in the world,” declared Rainbow triumphantly as she lifted as much of the tarp as she could.

“Um, it looks kind of different,” observed Fluttershy. The shape of the Eva was decidedly different from the other two Evas Fluttershy knew. It had a strange silver bulge along its back and multiple eyes on its face.

“Well that’s because it is. Unit-00 and Unit-01 were the earth pony and unicorn models but this is the first pegasus model.”

“Really,” gasped Fluttershy. “It can fly?”

“Buck yeah,” beamed Rainbow Dash,” but without the plug it still only lasts for five minutes. So I never get very far.”

“Oh, that’s a bummer.”

“I know. But one day I’ll be able to get it to soar higher than the stratosphere.”

Rainbow looked at the ceiling in defiance with a small sense of longing in her eyes. Fluttershy could feel the determination and a small sense of sadness. She was both envious and inspired by the blue pegasus at the same time. 

Suddenly a siren began to sound through out the hull. Fluttershy’s necklace began to glow as well. 

“Oh my goodness, an angel?” gasped Fluttershy as her necklace flashed a brilliant blue.

“No way,” shouted Rainbow,” c’mon lets go.”

“What?” flustered Fluttershy as she began to back away. “Go where?”

“Duh, we’re going to fight the angel with my Eva.”

“But I don’t think we should. I mean it is their machine after all,” Fluttershy rambled. “We shouldn’t take it without asking.”

“What kind of pilot are you, third filly? Pilots take risks,” stated Rainbow. “We fight angels for Celestia’s sake. How can you fight without risks?”

“Umm I don’t know. Wait! What are you doing?”gasped Fluttershy.

“Getting changed into my plug suit.” Rainbow began to take off her dress and slid into her bright red plug suit.

“Shouldn’t you, I don’t know, hide somewhere to change?” Fluttershy asked as she turned her away quickly and blushed.

“Why?” Rainbow’s eyes drifted towards the trembling mare. 

“Some sort of decency sort of thing.”

“You prude. Here get dressed in my spare.”

“Ok.”

They quickly dressed and Rainbow was able to get a fuller assessment of Fluttershy’s flank. She snickered to herself. Then they both climbed onto the awaiting entry plug. 

The Eva came to life with a roar. The large tarp fell from its haunches. Rainbow pushed the levers and Unit-02 started to move to the exit hatch. Fluttershy tried to hide in the back of the back of the cockpit but found it had even less room than her own. She had to sit directly behind Rainbow. Rainbow snickered as she leaned her haunches into the yellow pegasus’s lap. 

***

The hippogriff captain gave orders as his crew quickly followed them. “Something huge is out there,” he cautioned his guests. “It’s heading right for this ship! We’re not sure what.”

Suddenly a nearby ship exploded in shower of wood and splinters. The captain reeled in shock. “What was that?” 

“It’s an angel, Captain Twin. That means it’s CAKE’s turn to bring it down. I’m taking over the convoy, what’s left that is,” commanded Pinkie.

“Fine! Anything! Just save us!” the hippogriff moaned and threw his hands over his head. 

The hatch on the ship opened and Unit-02 lifted itself onto the deck. The tarp fully blew off and revealed a large red gleaming metallic pony body. It unfurled deadly looking silver wings that nearly blinded those around in the sun. 

“All right Rainbow Dash!” cheered Pinkie through a bullhorn she pulled from her mane. “Get out there and show your stuff like you did to Applejack earlier!” She shook a set of rainbow colored pom poms. 

“Why did you have to bring that up?” whined Rainbow through the Eva’s loudspeaker. She felt her cheeks get hot at the thought of embarrassment.

“Your blushing now but not when we just changed?” noted Fluttershy. “You said I was a prude.”

“I’m a little shy around stallions,” explained Rainbow.

“What!” shouted Applejack shaking her hoof. “I may not be into dressin’ the same as ya’ll but I’m a mare through and through.”

“Wait! The speaker was on the whole time?!” gasped Rainbow. “We don’t have time for this. We gotta kick butt.”

Unit-02’s wings flapped rapidly and the machine took off into the air. The ship nearly capsized with the weight of its jump. The crew and friends were splashed as the ship righted itself. Unit-02 landed on the next ship over and attached the Eva’s cord into its tail with its wings. It turned its multi-eyed gaze across the ocean. 

“Alright! Now we’re ready for action,” Rainbow Dash said with a satisfied huff. 

“Umm good, I guess,” Fluttershy mumbled, “because here it comes.”

“Deploying razor wings,” instructed Rainbow. The large silver wings unfurled.

A large white mass emerged from the ocean moving at unimaginable speed. The mares had seconds before the white head became a cavern of razor-sharp teeth. It lunged from the sea and clamped on to the top half of the Eva. Rainbow cursed as the angel and Eva slid off into the sea. Unit-02 couldn’t move, held fast by the massive mouth of the angel. 

“Oh no,” cried Rainbow. “It knocked us into the water. I can’t fly in the water. We can barely move.”

The angel shook the Eva like a shark on a line and tried to shake it to pieces. Large metal chunks fell away from the robot’s backside and descended to the ocean floor.

***

“What are we going to do? Hamiel just ate the Eva?” fretted Pinkie. 

“Hamiel?” asked Sunburst. 

“It’s trying to eat an Eva. It sounds like a pig to me,” explained Pinkie.

“With a pun like that it’s time for me and Boneless 3 to vamoosh,” Cheese announced with a wave. He paused as his rubber companion’s head swung lazily in his face. “Don’t give me that look Boneless 3. The thing you’re carrying can’t fall into angel hoofs. If they had hooves, which they don’t. Looks more like flipper actually.”

Cheese Sandwich pulled a string in his poncho. At first nothing happened then a balloon shot into the air from his back and inflated into the shape of Pinkie. 

“Looks like you’ll sweep me off my feet once again, Pinkie,” he laughed and flew off the deck.

“You made fun of MY joke and you come up with that!” Pinkie growled. “And stop making balloon mes, Cheese.” She raised an angry hoof at him as his balloon sailed off toward Ponyville 3.

“I’ve never seen Ms. Pinkie so ornery,” whispered Applejack.

“Don’t you mean cheesed,” jeered  Sunburst. 

“Don’t you two start!” chided Pinkie. 

“Yes ‘am,” the duo shouted in unison.

“We’re about to run out of cord,” the Captain hippogriff bemoaned.

“More like fishin’ line,” observed Applejack.

“Yeah, fishing mmm,” pondered Pinkie.

“The cord has 10 feet left,” panicked the Captain.

“Mmm,” continued Pinkie deep in thought.

“5 feet.”

“Mmmm”

“3..2..1”

“Mmm, Oh wait, I know.”

The ship lurched forward as the cable reached the end. The prow bashed into the nearest wave and threw the water on everyone on the deck. 

“We should pretend we’re fishing. Reel the Eva back in,” Pinkie suggested expertly. “When it gets to the surface we hit it with a paddle.”

“Not sure what type of fishin’ ya been doin’,” ventured Applejack.

“Ooo, Ooo, how about we hit with a party depth charge instead?” mused Pinkie as the solid idea caused her to prong in anticipation.

“Is that anything like your last party device?” asked Sunburst timidly.

“Yuppers.”

“Now we just gotta warn Fluttershy an’ Rainbow Dash somehow,”Applejack said as she looked into the depths of the ocean. 

Pinkie placed her head underwater with her bull horn and shouted. “Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy, we’re going to reel you in and throw a surprise party for the angel. You just have to get him to open his mouth for the big surprise. But don’t tell him.”

***

Fluttershy and Rainbow looked at each other in confusion. 

“It feels like they’re reeling us in,” Rainbow Dash commented. “Why would they give the angel a party? It’s trying to eat us.”

“Pinkie knows what she’s doing. I hope,”assured Fluttershy. “We just have to open its mouth.”

The angel opened its own mouth as it began swimming excitedly towards the big ship. 

“What is it doing?,” Rainbow asked.

“I think it’s excited to be invited to a party. Ooh that Pinkie is always so kind.”

“Well, let’s make sure it keeps its mouth open wide then,”nodded Rainbow.

The angel rushed to the surface with its mouth open wide. The Eva opened its wings and pushed its mouth open further. It burst through the surface fully agape. Unit-02 pushed out of its mouth and soared through the sky. 

“Here’s your big surprise,” Pinkie sang as she moved a large cake with a large crane. She swung the cake over the edge of the ship. The angel turned and readily grabbed the enormous treat. 

“Enjoy it, Hamiel,” Pinkie waved.

The angel licked its lips then felt an immense pressure in its digestive tract as the cake detonated. Hamiel’s form erupted in a black mass that filled the ocean around the ship. The ship rocked violently in its wake. Thick blackened water surged around them. 

The Eva drifted slowly down to the deck of the ship. It puffed its chest out with pride then lost its power and collapsed on the deck. 

“Ha! I got one last hero pose in before the power ran out,” Rainbow Dash congratulated herself.

Fluttershy didn’t know what to make of this odd pony. She didn’t seem to bat an eye that Pinkie had just tricked the angel to its death. She had watched the angel explode in dark meaty chunks with complete shock and revulsion.

 Now this new pilot seemed more preoccupied with praise than keeping ponies safe. She also shifted uncomfortably in Fluttershy’s lap. It almost felt she was doing it on purpose. The entry plug opened and the two pilots flew out. 

“Look Captain Twin, they’re twinizes too,” shouted Pinkie.

“Ya went an’ sided with her?! The hat masher?!” huffed Applejack. 

“You’re just jealous I’m so awesome,” retorted Rainbow Dash.

“I ain’t jealous of no darned fool that can’t tell a mare from a stallion.”

“It’s not my fault you dress.. stallionish.”

The ponies continued to bicker with each other as the ship carried them back to the port where their train awaited. Fluttershy half heard the noise they made. Something about Rainbow Dash sitting on her lap made her both uneasy but excited. As hard she tried she could not forget the warmth in her lap that seemed to linger impossibly long.

***

Cheese Sandwich arrived in Commander Discord’s darkened office.

“Did you acquire it?” Discord eagerly asked.

“It was hard to carry but I found it. Do you think the angel could have been after this?” Cheese asked while he produced his rubber chicken.

“I do believe that is a rubber chicken,” informed Discord.

“C’mon boneless 3 spit it out.” 

The chicken coughed up a large toy pony.

“At last we have it. The beginning of it all. My lovely pony. The pony instrumentality project can proceed,” snickered Discord and picked up the toy. “My goodness it’s heavy.”

***

As the next day began at school, Fluttershy and her friends discussed their tiresome ordeal.  

“Thank goodness that’s over,” sighed Applejack in relief. “I’ll be a retarded rooster if I’d ever have to deal with her again.”

Applejack’s relief was short-lived as they noticed Rainbow Dash fly through the classroom door seconds before the bell rang. The teacher stood up as she handed him a note. He turned to the class and happily announced,”hello class it appears we have a new student.” Before he could finish his introduction Rainbow cut him off.

“Hi everyone, I’m Rainbow Dash and I’m awesome,” bragged Rainbow as she puffed out her chest and unfurled her wings wide.

“Consarn it!” shouted Applejack.
> Episode 9: Twins and ships
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Ah can’t believe she’s so popular,” complained Applejack as she walked down the hallway in school. She eyed the stallions that surrounded the cyan menace in exasperation. “I mean, I think somepony else would have noticed her attitude.”

“Well she has captivated all the ponies here with her “can-do-ness,” pointed out Sunburst as he swerved to avoid the large hallway blocking cluster.

“It’s a trick,” accused Applejack as she continued her malicious-intent stare.”She’s just tryin’ ta be popular rather than be who she is. Tain’t being honest. ‘Course who she is, is a self centered showoff.”

“I don’t know, AJ,” Sunburst pondered, stroking his bright orange goatee, ”maybe she truly was just a little clumsy about your hat. Starlight seems to like her, and you know how picky she can be.”

“Well, she certainly got off on the wrong hoof with me,” she admitted rubbing her hoof on the back of her head. “Maybe Ah’m being too pigheaded again, and it was an honest mistake.”

“Rainbow Dash was right,” exclaimed a bright blue unicorn with a darker blue mane. She stole a glance at Applejack and snidely said to her friends, ”Applejack does dress like a stallion.”

“Why that gold-darned, empty headed...” Applejack spat and she tried to rush in their direction. The way was blocked by the ever popular Rainbow Dash as she hovered between them.

“Ha ha, I’m just messing with you AJ,” she claimed as she landed. “So how awesome do you guys feel knowing you have such an awesome friend.”

“Awesome friend?!” gagged Applejack. “You’re more of an awesome pain in the—”

“So, third filly,” interrupted Rainbow, which caused Applejack to seethe further, “doesn’t the first filly go here?”

“First filly? Oh, you mean Maud?,” asked Fluttershy who had been quietly hidden by her two friends. “I saw her outside in the meadow.”

Maud sat peacefully in a meadow in front of the school. She was looking for pieces of feldspar amongst the pieces of sandstone. She peered close to what could be a piece of clear quartz when the light suddenly dimmed. She placidly looked for the source. Rainbow Dash hovered over her with a smirk on her face. Maud remained unfazed. 

“Hey, first filly,” began Rainbow Dash, a bit taken back by her lack of response. “We should totally chillax.”

“What is chillaxing?” asked Maud, sounding more bored than intrigued. 

“It’s the best of both worlds. It has chilling and relaxing.”

Maud simply stared. “Can I bring my rock, Boulder?” she asked, holding up a small grey rock. 

“Umm, I’ll get back to you on that,” answered Rainbow Dash uncomfortably while she backed away and smiled a little too large. She flew off from Maud’s icy stare and found Fluttershy and her friends watching with knowing smiles.  “Is she always that weird?,” she asked them. 

Applejack merely nodded. 

“Sounds like you two should be besties, ”teased Applejack.

Rainbow Dash glowered at her. “Umm, I’m all about cool, but that pony is ice cold.” She flew back to her eager fans and continued on her way.

***

The central command was oddly subdued. Twilight found it comforting. She found her favorite spot in her studying chair and nestled in for some reading. She studied the comforting facts and figures from the last series of tests she ran. 

Suddenly darkness fell over the book-loving unicorn’s beloved work. Her brain slammed into disarray as her figures disappeared from view. It took a second longer than she would have admitted to realize some pony had placed their hooves in front of her eyes.

“Guess who,” asked a voice she recognized immediately. 

“Cheese Sandwich,” gasped Twilight. Her realization brought with it all sorts of memories of her, Cheese and Pinkie in college. Things that she hadn’t remembered in a lifetime. “Oh my goodness, it’s been so long.”

“It’s good to see you, Twilight.”

“You as well. All though I don’t think somepony is excited.”

Twilight could see Pinkie leaning with her face pressed against a window. The pink pony glared at their interaction with unabashed anger.

“Yeah, looks like somepony is a little jealous,” laughed Cheese. ”’Guess Who’ used to be Pinkie’s favorite game when we were dating.”

Pinkie sauntered through the door with her chest puffed out. She nonchalantly looked at the pair. 

“Don’t you have somewhere else to be?” Pinkie demanded of Cheese.

“Yeah, but here is a lot more fun,” grinned Cheese. A stern look from Pinkie made him quickly add, “but the commander asked me to stay a bit longer. I told him your beauty is reason enough.”

“Well why don’t you admire it from afar,” demanded Pinkie coldly. “Like way over there.”

Cheese looked hurt. “You wish is my command, fair mare,” he dramatically said then bowed. “Nice to see you again, Twilight. If you ever need a party you have my number.”

He skipped past Pinkie with his normal goofy grin and left the room.

“Aww, sounds like he really misses you,” sympathized Twilight, with a slight twinge that she had so little time to catch up with her old friend. 

“Well, he can just go on missing me then, Mr. Jerky McJerkerson,” blurted Pinkie with her cheeks puffed out in annoyance.

“What ever happened between you two anyway?” inquired Twilight. She had fond memories of the happy couple as they threw party after party together. They had looked like the fairy tale prince and princesses she used to read about as a foal. “It looked like you guys were the perfect match.”

“It was super fun in the beginning,” sighed Pinkie. “It was like a party everyday. But then I asked him if he was serious about me. He’d say he was but then he would put on a mustache and squeeze a whoopie cushion afterwards.”

“That sounds like something you would do.”

“It’s something I do do, but when i do it’s to help ponies enjoy the moment and remember the silly times. When Cheese used to do it it was a distraction.”

“A distraction from what?”

“Himself. He was feeling fears. I could Pinkie Sense it. He said he loved me, but the fears were pushing him towards the silliness.  Not the silliness drawing him closer to me.”

“Well, he’s here now.”

“I still see that look in his eye, Twilight. And that same whoopie cushion in his pocket.”

Suddenly the many ears of the control room curled back in pain as a warning alarm began to sound. Trixie, Bon Bon and Lyra began to type like mad. They scanned through the data as quickly as they could. 

Twilight didn’t need to see the data. She knew what the alarm meant. “The next angel,” she shouted as she got up from her chair and trotted to the central command terminal.

“A large form has been spotted over Silver Shoals,” informed Bon Bon.

“Didn’t we go camping there or something?” asked Lyra. 

“Not now Lyra,” reprimanded the yellow mare.

“I want to see Unit-02 in action. Send her and Fluttershy,” commanded Discord. “And get me some popcorn.” 

***

Fluttershy’s necklace began to glow and she turned and looked at Rainbow. Rainbow was busy talking to a group of fillies. 

“Um excuse me, Rainbow?” she harshly whispered. She didn’t want to interrupt the group and certainly didn’t want everyponies’ eyes on her. 

“Hey, Rainbow!” shouted Applejack as she noticed Fluttershy’s feeble attempt. “Fluttershy’s necklace is glowin’. It means ya better high tail it out o’ here and get to CAKE. An angel is coming.”

“Finally,” exclaimed Rainbow Dash,”You’ll get to see my awesome battle prowess up close.”

“Ummm, it’s not quite as easy as it looks,” suggested Fluttershy.

“We’ll see. Let’s go already.”

Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy flew to headquarters. It wasn’t long before Rainbow out stripped the timid yellow pegasus and was miles ahead. She desperately tried to catch up and idly wondered if this was how Maud felt. 

Fluttershy landed as Dash was flying out of the locker room with her entry plug suit on. Fluttershy felt a sharp slap to her flank as the blue blur soared past. She looked back in confusion but no explanation was given by the grinning speedster. Fluttershy resumed her course and donned her suit. Unit-01 was up and running while Unit -02 was all ready to launch. 

“Come on, slowpoke!” shouted Dash through her loud speaker. “The angel’s gonna get old and die of boredom before we get to it.”

Fluttershy thought it would be nice if she didn’t have to kill it, and climbed into the entry plug. 

“Geez,” came Dash’s exasperated tone. “You take forever. Let’s get up there. Now.”

As if on cue the Evanstallions were launched to the surface towards a waterfall of confetti. They passed a banner that read, “Happy first Evanstallion launch Rainbow Dash!” on the way out.

“Wow, Pinkie is really on top of things,” commented Fluttershy. 

“That wasn’t Pinkie,” argued Rainbow. “That was Cheese. Look.”

Fluttershy looked and saw the orange stallion tipping his cow pony hat with a paint brush in his hoof as they left.

“Now he’s stealing my launchfetti,” shouted an irate Pinkie through the com link.

The Evas reached the surface and galloped to the awaiting angel.  It stood stories tall as the others had. It looked like a strange bird with talons on the ends of its wings and no feathers. It glared at them through a strange two toned head that looked like a yin and yang symbol. 

“Be careful Dash,” cautioned Fluttershy. “They can be very tricky and meaner than they look.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” dismissed Rainbow Dash. “I got this, watch.” Her Eva opened its wings and flew straight at the angel. In its armored hooves it held a building length lance. “You take the pony glaive and slice it in half. Like this.”

Unit-02 brought the sharpened glaive home on the angel’s head. The impact sliced easily through its skin and its body with no hesitation. The angel fell into two roughly even chunks. 

“Oh my goodness,” gasped Fluttershy.

“Ha ha ha,” cackled Rainbow,” easy peasy.”

“I don’t know, that seemed too easy. Angels can be very tricky.”

“Fluttershy, I just cut it in half. How can it hurt us now?”

“Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy,” screamed Pinkie Pie, “my Pinkie sense is telling me something awful is about to happen!”

“You too? C’mon, I totally killed it. What could possibly—” began Rainbow, until she noticed the angel’s halves begin to move. 

Suddenly, each half rose from the ground and formed two angels. They looked like the larger angel, somehow even angrier and more hateful than the original one had been. 

“What the what?” shouted Rainbow. “That’s no fair.”

“Oh my,” cringed Fluttershy as the large starfish-shaped forms descended on the stunned Eva pilots.

“Oooo, now the angels are becoming twinsies,” Pinkie’s voice marveled through the speaker. “What was that Twilight? Oh yeah! You guys need to retreat. Now!”

**

The debriefing room felt stuffy and claustrophobic. The occupants looked at each other with solemn looks and saddened eyes. Mud Briar stood in front of the assembled employees and led them through the events of the fight.

“8:15 this morning the next angel, Israfel, attacked Equestria. At 8:30 both Unit-01 and Unit-02 encountered it. Unit-02 bisected the target but it formed into two targets. At 8:32 both Unit-01 and Unit-02 were thrown into the ground,” he informed plainly. He coldly clicked a button causing a slide to display each Eva firmly planted into the ground with only their rear legs protruding from the hole. Mud Briar continued to drone the minutes of the battle. “At 9 o’clock Celestia’s forces dropped an N2 mine on it to slow it down. It has been rendered immobile but it’s shown to be healing. By the projected estimates we have 2 days before it has recovered enough to move again. I believe we should make a plan of attack in the time given.”

An awkward clap sounded through the room but stopped as everypony glared at Pinkie.

“Looks like Rainbow Crash and Klutzerfly messed up,” snickered a white pegasus to his giggling cohorts.

“None of this would have happened,” whined Rainbow Dash pointing her hoof,” if Fluttershy had told me they could do that regrow-from-its-bits thing.”

“I’m sorry but I didn’t know,” apologized Fluttershy earnestly. She tried to shrink behind the pony sitting next to her but he backed out of the way.

“Yeah right,” shouted Rainbow,” you were trying to throw me off my game.”

“I’m sorry it did, but I still didn’t know,” Fluttershy apologized even more quietly.

“Well, next time just stay out of my way,” she threatened and barged out of the room, straight through the jeering jerk squad.

“This bickering is pointless. We still need to defeat the angel despite your foalish temperaments,” observed Mud Briar. “You are all dismissed.”

Fluttershy watched Rainbow sail down the hall. She couldn’t help but feel sorry for the second filly. Rainbow had tried so hard, only to be shoved into a hole and yelled at by her superiors. She felt awful that she seemed to be the source of Rainbow’s pain but didn’t know how to fix it. 

***

Pinkie sat at her desk covered with various letters and notes. She stared intently at the paperwork she held in her hoof. She squeezed her eyes and scowled her face in thought. 

“Having a rough time on this one?” asked Twilight, appearing over one of the smaller paper towers. 

“Yeah, this planning thing is super duper hard,” Pinkie complained. “I have blueberry cupcakes for Rainbow Dash and vanilla sSwirl carrot cake cupcakes for Fluttershy, but I don’t know what the commander or Mud Briar likes.”

“Umm, that’s the plan for the angel attack?,” asked Twilight in disbelief. Although she felt used to this line of thought by Pinkie.

“No, silly. The after party when we succeed. Angels don’t like cupcakes.”

“You’re supposed to be making the plan to defeat the angel. Oh, never mind. Look, I have a plan right here.”

“Thanks, Twilight,” squeaked Pinkie as she took the offered binder.

“Oh, this isn’t from me,” teased Twilight. “This came from Cheese. I think. He said it was from Boneless 3, something like that.”

“Boneless 3 was always the smart one.”

Twilight sighed. She never understood those two. Still, part of her was a little jealous of their connection. If only she could have that in her relationship. 

Pinkie threw the binder aside and returned to her list. She knew she could count on Cheese’s plan. But some part of her still wished she could count on him for more.

***

Fluttershy felt awful for letting down all those ponies. She didn’t know how she was going to make it up to them. She even felt bad she let down Rainbow Dash. She was the experienced pilot and should have helped her somehow. The truth be told Fluttershy didn’t feel very confident in her abilities as pilot at all. Most of her other fights she won through dumb luck and circumstance. She didn’t think there was anything she could teach Rainbow Dash at all.

The little pegasus returned home to find all her things in boxes. She sighed. CAKE didn’t want her anymore. She had failed them. She was about to collect them when she noticed a shadow moving around her old room. She poked her head in and found Rainbow Dash surrounded by a wall of boxes, arranging a collection of antique Wonderbolt miniatures. 

“Oh hello, what are you doing here?,” Fluttershy found herself asking.

“Putting up my Wwonderbolt collection in my room.”

“Oh,” she sighed. “So they have gotten rid of me. I’m sorry I was a lousy angel instructor.”

“Oh they haven’t gotten rid of you, I just needed more room. Your earth pony- based home is too small,” explained Rainbow Dash. “Your room had enough space for my trophies.”

“Oh ok, but then where will I sleep?”

“I don’t know. You could find a spot on the floor out there or something. I just don’t know how you got used to the cramped earth pony lifestyle.”

A pink blur bounced its way inside and sped right for them. Fluttershy nearly fainted in terror before she realized it was Pinkie Pie carrying a bunch of boxes.

“Oh, you’re both here,” Pinkie said looking around. “Oh, you all have boxes too. Yay! We can totally have a box party. I’ve never had a box party before we could decorate them and hide in them and pretend we’re cats and flip them over and pretend we’re turtles. Oo and a fort. We can build the biggest box fort.”

“Pinkie?” Fluttershy quietly but firmly interrupted. She learned that ponies like Pinkie needed to be redirected sometimes. She took a slow breath. Then calmly asked,” why do you have so many boxes? Are you switching rooms too?”

“Silly filly, these aren’t moving boxes. These are your new clothes. Remember how much you liked dressing like twinsies?”

Fluttershy’s heart sank.

***

Sunburst and Applejack walked to Fluttershy’s apartment. They normally checked in on her after an angel fight. 

“Ah’m just glad to be done hearing that Rainbow Dash brag herself to death,” complained Applejack.

“You said it,” agreed Sunburst,”of course we wouldn’t hear it if you would stop following her around.”

“Well, Ah don’t want anypony else swayed by her boasts is all.”

They arrived at her door and found Starlight Glimmer by the same door. She turned around as they approached and immediately looked embarrassed.

“Hi, Starlight,” Sunburst began excitedly,”what are you doing here?”

“Oh, I’m here to see Rainbow Dash,” she responded. “What are you two doing here?”

“We’re here ta see Fluttershy,” answered Applejack. “What is this about Rainbow Dash?”

The door opened and both Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash answered dressed like hedgehogs. They looked miserable. 

“Yer dressin’ like her again,” pointed out Applejack.

“We’re twinsies now,” they said together in unison. “Pinkie made us dress alike, talk alike and do everything at the same time.”

“Everything?” gasped Starlight. “How horrid.”

Pinkie appeared behind the twinsies. “It’s part of their training. Come in and see.”

They cautiously entered and found a Pone Station attached to the latest DJ Pon3 dance dance revolution. The two pilots were struggling to keep time with the game and each other while in the uncomfortable suits. 

“Why didn’t ya tell us it was fer work?” giggled Applejack. “That’s hysterical.”

“I’m glad you’re having fun,” sulked Rainbow as she fell in her dance suit.

“It was actually Cheese’s idea—well, Boneless 3’s, he’s so smart,” informed Pinkie. “Actually he suggested you guys should just attack it in unison but this seemed a lot more fun.”

“I can’t work under these conditions,” whined Rainbow. “Fluttershy is too slow to keep up with me.”

“Maybe you should try slowing down to work with her,” suggested Pinkie as she shrugged her shoulders.

“No way I would lower myself to that.”

“Well why not let Maud give it a try then?” Pinkie recommended. 

“Her? Please, then it would be even slower. There is no way she could keep up.”

“Maud?” asked Pinkie. “Could you and Fluttershy give it a whirl?”

“Maud and Fluttershy?,” gasped Rainbow. “But—but I’m the best fighter you have!”

Maud wordlessly got up and put on the ridiculous hedgehog costume. She and Fluttershy turned on the same dance song and began to dance in perfect unison.The DJ Pon3 on the game scratched her vinyl records and praised their good coordination.  

“How… what... that’s just—”Rainbow stammered. “Aaargh!” She shrieked and flew to her room in frustration. 

“Oh my,” said Fluttershy as Rainbow left. “It must be something I’m doing.”

“Nah,” assured Starlight,” she’s fine.”

“She probably just needs some time to sulk, Sugarcube,” dismissed Applejack with a slight smirk on her face. “She’ll be ok.”

***

Rainbow Dash sat in her room to regain her composure. She didn’t like to feel left out or not in control. She felt hurt that Fluttershy could sync so easily with Maud. She wondered why that hurt so much. She took a few deep breaths and saw the inspirational Wonderbolts posters on the walls. She knew she couldn’t back down now. She steeled herself and re-emerged from her room. 

“Ok, third filly, I’ll show you, Maud and Pinkie that I am the best. I’m going to give it 110%. You better be ready for some hard training,” Rainbow growled.

Fluttershy gulped. She wasn’t sure what sort of training Rainbow had in mind, but the look on her face was scary. 

Rainbow restarted the game and began to dance with much more zeal. She noticed Fluttershy had started to wilt and forced herself to slow down. “Come on, Fluttershy. You can do this. I’ll slow down a little bit if you can speed up a little bit more.”

Fluttershy nodded. She felt closer to the young pilot and didn’t want to let her down this time. She pushed her sore muscles just a little harder and fell into sync with the gyrating blue pegasus. They danced harder and Fluttershy could feel her movements matching Dash’s. She glanced over and saw the smug look of satisfaction on Rainbow’s face. The thought that she was able to help produced a smile.

The two continued to dance through the night. Pinkie gave them pointers, sugary energy drinks, and encouragement.

Each dance felt like more and more wonderful. Fluttershy had never experienced such an intense feeling as she and Rainbow danced the night away. The self consciousness she normally felt slipped away after physical exhaustion made it impossible to keep up. 

“This is amazing,” the yellow pegasus thought. “This must be the feeling of letting everything go and focusing on one goal. I wish I could hold on to it forever.”

“She’s pretty amazing,” thought Rainbow Dash. “Who would have thought she could step it up this much in a single night. She even looks like she’s enjoying herself. Why does that make me feel so light? My gosh. She’s even smiling. Why does it have to be so cute?”

The night wore into morning as the dancers passed out on the mats they danced on. The digital DJ Pon3 tried to encourage them with pointers about which hoof should go where but it fell on slumbering ears. 

Pinkie looked down at them with satisfaction. They had partied their flanks off. She began to straighten up the living room and prepared for the long day at work. She also had to make those cupcakes for the victory party. 

***

Rainbow Dash snored herself awake. She looked around the bright living room and felt every muscle ache. She looked around through squinted slits and found her yellow dance partner sleeping very close by, who cooed as she slept. The poor yellow pegasus wasn’t used to all night training sessions, Rainbow concluded. Something about that soft look on her face made Rainbow’s own heart skip a beat. 

It was then that she knew. She couldn’t let a filly this cute slip past her. She had to do something to sweep Fluttershy off her hooves. Something deep down told her she had to move fast.

Fluttershy felt the morning’s glow on her eyelids. She opened them and found the pink eyes of her rainbow maned dance partner staring at her. 

“Good morning,” Fluttershy said softly.

“Good… good morning,” Rainbow stuttered. She felt totally uncool. “Um, let’s get to work. Right away.” 

“What was that?”Rainbow chastised herself. “Sweep her off her hooves, not stumble over your own.”

“Before breakfast? I admire your dedication, but we really should take care of ourselves too,” Fluttershy suggested.

“Breakfast. Right. But then we hit the dance floor.”

“Um if it’s ok with you I would at least like to take a bath. I want to clean all the sweat off from yesterday and all my muscles are sore. I’m not sure why Pinkie wants us in these hedgehog suits. We might dance better without them.”

“Oh ok. You um bathe. I’ll get breakfast,” Rainbow explained. Her thoughts immediately turned to Fluttershy in the bath. 

“Oh my, are you ok? You seem to be a little flushed?”

“No, it’s fine! I’m just pumped. I like to get pumped up before training.”

“Well as long as you're fine. I don’t want to see my dance partner take ill,” Fluttershy giggled at the weak joke she made. She was unused to attempting humor, but felt light enough to try it. She walked to the bathroom and began her bathing ritual. 

Rainbow purposely focused her attention on getting something for breakfast. She thought, Maybe if I put together a fancy pancake breakfast she’ll see how awesome I am and probably ask me out!

Rainbow tried her best to find all the right ingredients and a recipe. She didn’t think it would be too hard. 

Fluttershy got out of the bath and dressed. She left the comfort of the bathroom to find Rainbow Dash covered in flour, sugar all over the ceiling and something burning on the stove. The prismatic speedster looked up with a strained smile. “Grub’s done,” she said.

Fluttershy cast her discerning eye on whatever it was in the pan. It was dark and crispy and refused to come out of the pan despite Rainbow Dash’s spatula. 

“Umm I think I should cook...if that’s ok,” the yellow pegasus decided. 

The mares ate their food of oatmeal and toasted oats, then hit the game once again. It took a little warm up but soon they were back in the groove. They could almost anticipate the other’s rhythms. Rainbow had never felt so connected with anypony. But she felt herself wondering how to impress her dance partner. She felt her speed returning to her as she began to show off her true talents in dancing. She spun and shook and found her hoof wrapped around Fluttershy’s waist in fluid motion. Fluttershy tried to look around her to see what move she was supposed to do but a set of blue wings blocked her view. 

“Umm I’m sorry I kind of forgot this part in the dance,” said Fluttershy. 

Rainbow looked at those big blue eyes again. She found her face getting closer to the pegasus she held in her arms. 

There is no way this pilot could resist a kiss from somepony as awesome as me, she thought.

Pinkie Pie returned with lunch for them. “Aww, you guys looked so good yesterday. What happened?”

Rainbow stiffened and nearly dropped Fluttershy on her back. 

“I’m, um, not sure,” Rainbow huffed. “We might be too sore or something.”

“I thought we were doing well, but I forgot this part of this dance,” sighed Fluttershy. She wondered if exhaustion from yesterday was causing her to forget. She had no memory of Rainbow dipping her at all. 

“Oh, why are you guys still wearing those silly hedgehog outfits?,” Pinkie chuckled. “You’ll dance better in those dance clothes I brought.”

“But you were the one who said to wear them,” blurted Rainbow.

“I thought you guys would smile if you saw how silly you two looked and loosen up. But you’re going to hurt yourselves dancing like that wearing them. Now go change. Oh, and I brought you lunch and dinner. I’m not going to be home tonight. Apparently they want a lot of paperwork before they let you dance together in Evas.”

“You’re leaving us alone all night,” gasped Rainbow. She couldn’t help but see it as a sign. There was no way she could fail to impress Fluttershy at night. She could pull out all the stops uninterrupted.

“You’ve been alone together all day silly,” Pinkie reminded her. “What’s one night? Seriously Rainbow, you’re the one snoring, not her.”

Rainbow looked at Fluttershy with utter confidence. The little yellow filly would be hers by the end of the night. She just had to think of how. 

As Pinkie left for work, Rainbow’s mind was already putting a plan in motion. She looked at the dance suits in the box. They didn’t leave much to the imagination. Once Fluttershy caught sight of Rainbow’s well chiseled curves there was no way she wouldn’t fall into her arms.

“Let’s get these silly rodent suits off and put our dance suits,” suggested Rainbow excitedly. 

“Rodents!” cried Fluttershy. “Hedgehogs might be rodents but they deserve to be treated with more respect than that.”

The blue pegasus’s mind was temporarily jarred. Was this pony defending some sort of mouse costume? Why was she getting so mad? 

Rainbow shook her head. It didn’t matter. Once Fluttershy caught sight of her in the suit everything would be forgotten. 

Rainbow excitedly grabbed the dance suits and ran into her room. She slid into the thin sleek suit and admired the parts it accentuated. Fluttershy didn’t stand a chance. She almost felt sorry for the third filly. Then she began to wonder if it was too much. The little yellow filly didn’t seem all that strong. The poor thing might collapse in excitement. Well then it was up to Rainbow to swoop in and save her.

Rainbow confidently trotted out of her room only to be met with a plume of pink hair hiding around a corner. “Fluttershy?” she asked. “What are you doing?”

“Oh,” answered the pink plume. “I just didn’t realize how umm tight these suits would be. I feel a little exposed.”

“Come on third filly, it can’t be that bad.” Of course it won’t compare to me. 

Fluttershy slowly emerged from behind the corner. The dance suit hugged her in just the right places. Rainbow couldn’t keep her mouth from hitting the floor. Any thoughts she had fell out of her head. She felt herself outright gawking at the timid filly.

“Is it that bad?” asked Fluttershy trying to hide from the wide eyed pegasus behind her hair.

“You’re gorgeous,” gasped Rainbow in the uncoolest manner. 

“What?”

“I mean you don’t look bad.”

“Thanks you don’t look bad either.”

“I don’t look bad either?” thought the exasperated Rainbow. She was supposed to be gushing over me. Why is she making this so hard?

“Let’s dance,” Rainbow said, trying to distract herself from how massively she was failing.

Once again the lightness of last night returned. Rainbow seemed to forget her failed attempts. They danced and matched each other’s rhythms. Perhaps the suits had worn them out more than Fluttershy had thought. They danced with renewed vigor, and all the while DJ Pon3’s visage complimented their hard work. 

Night fell and the pilots finally collapsed. They were wrecked from so much movement. Rainbow splayed out on the couch and Fluttershy followed suit. Rainbow huffed and puffed large breaths of air, matching Fluttershy’s own softer breaths. They were even breathing in rhythm. The annoyance and frustration started to plague Rainbow Dash’s mind again.

“Maybe that bath idea from this morning wasn’t that bad,” Rainbow Dash found herself saying. “I’m going to try it out. I mean I know how. I just… yeah.”

The second filly quickly scooted away from the situation. She knew if she had stayed on the couch she would want to pull Fluttershy closer. She had to get Fluttershy arms in a bolder manner. 

Fluttershy watched Rainbow’s face fall in defeat. She couldn’t help but wonder if she had failed her dance partner somehow. She resolved herself to ask as soon as Rainbow was done with her bath. Well, perhaps after they got dressed. But before they went to bed. She didn’t want awkwardness to creep into their fight with the angels tomorrow.

Rainbow Dash desperately tried to figure a way to get Fluttershy to fall for her. She’d never had to throw herself at a filly before. Of course, she’d never had a filly she liked before.

 “How do adults do this?” thought Rainbow. “Oh yeah, I know! The towel drop. I’ll leave the bath pass by Fluttershy and ‘accidentally’ drop my towel. There is no way she could ignore that.”

The second filly hopped out of the tub and wrapped herself up in a nearby towel. She tucked it loosely around her neck so she wouldn’t have to pull hard to cause it to drop. She mentally prepared herself to be fully exposed. Then opened the door to the hallway.

Rainbow was immediately set upon by Fluttershy with a look of determination. She took a quick step back. 

“Fluttershy, wha?”

“I’m sorry to scare you. I just wanted to know what I did wrong? I can see something is bothering you but I don’t know what I did. But for whatever it is, I’m sorry.”

Rainbow felt pinned. She didn’t want to throw the towel off now. It would seem odd and garish. She had to come clean. 

She drew in a deep breath but realized she had no idea what to say. She didn’t want to sound stupid or worse, uncool. She mentally kicked her brain for seizing. 

“Look, uuuh, it’s not something you did. It’s kind of my own problem. Well not really a problem, just a something. Something I’m not quite sure how to deal with yet.”

“Oh, I’m sorry to bring up something to make you uneasy,” apologized Fluttershy. “If you need me to, I can listen. I heard that it can be helpful.”

“Uhh sure, but maybe I should put some clothes on first.”

“Oh my! I’m sorry to be so bold. But it looks like you better hurry. I think your towel is about to fall off.” 

Fluttershy began to back away quickly and changed all shades of red. It caused Rainbow to ache to see her like that. Everything was screaming in Rainbow’s being to rush in and hold her. She used that energy to rush to her room. She found a plain T shirt and pair of overalls and threw them on. Then she tried to think her way through the situation. She tossed the thoughts aside. Thinking was something eggheads did. She was a doer, and this was a doing situation.

The determined blue pegasus found Fluttershy sitting uncomfortably at the table. The fading light of the evening cast strange shadows. Rainbow continued to the table unfazed. She was met with a cup of tea and a disarming smile.

“So Rainbow,” Fluttershy began. “What is bothering you?”

Rainbow slowly drank the offered tea and gathered her courage.

“Well, there is a pony I like, but I tried everything I could think of to get her attention, but she hasn’t noticed,” Rainbow admitted.

“Is it Applejack?”

“What? No. Why would you think that?”

“Well the way you two argue it reminds me of ponies that really like each other but don’t want to admit it.”

“Really!? That stick in the mud. I—” Rainbow caught her tirade before she began and looked at Fluttershy’s I-told-you-so expression. “No,” she said decidedly, “it’s not Applejack. It’s a different pony.”

“Have you tried talking to her?”

“Umm. Well, no.”

“I think telling the pony you like is the best thing you can do. You’d be a very brave pony. I don’t think I can do that.”

“Brave has nothing to do with it. If it’s something I want then I just go for it. Not much sense in thinking about it.”

“Well I hope you get your chance. I’ll root for you and help any way I can.”

“I think I could use your help...“ Rainbow sighed. It was now or never. “Look, Fluttershy, it feels like we have gotten closer since we’ve been working together. But I think I would like to get even closer.”

“Oh thank you, that means so much. I always wanted a best friend roommate.”

“Not the best friend kind of close. The... uhh... girlfriend kind of close.” The pegasus cringed a bit as the words left her mouth and with it all moisture. She tried licking her lips again but it felt more like scraping sand paper. 

Rainbow watched Fluttershy with her tea cup midway to her mouth, which was hanging open. Her eyes looked like they were to different sizes and one wing dropped awkwardly to the side. Nothing betrayed her thoughts other than shock. 

“Look, you don’t have to answer now. I’ll let you sleep on it. I think it would be good to turn in now,” Rainbow hastily said as she disengaged. “Need to get a good sleep for our fight, right? Hehe. Good night!”

The fleeing pegasus unfurled her wings and swooped down the hall to her room. The door closed before Fluttershy’s body even moved. 

The thought that some pony wanted her as a girlfriend had never crossed her mind. Especially not a pony as brave and confident as Rainbow Dash. She forced her shaking hoof to move and drink the tea she made to cheer them up. It felt warmer than ever and caused her to sputter a bit. She had to come up with an answer, but didn’t know what yet. She focused on getting to bed instead.

***

Pinkie found her lips moving of their own accord as they interlocked with Cheese Sandwich’s lips. Pinkie felt the natural warmth and joy that she always had kissing those lips. All the mess with the angels, Commander Discord, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash melted away. Those things belonged to a distant future that couldn’t have happened yet. Then she opened her eyes and noticed behind Cheese’s frizzy mane was the bright blood red logo of CAKE. It was a picture of a half a cake with the words “God’s in heaven and everyone needs cake” written around it. Reality rushed its way back to her. 

“Wait, wait, wait, Cheese,” Pinkie said gently pushing him away. “We know where this goes. We know the punchline. Do we really want to rehash the same material again?”

“We can try changing it up. You know,” he suggested,”get goofy and silly like we used to.”

“I love goofy and silly, but nowadays I need more,” she sadly explained. “We can’t do this again.”

“Your words say no but your mane says yes. Which do I trust?”

Pinkie glanced up at the pink tuft of mane that always hung in her face. In the past she had been able to use it to pick up things and hold things for her. Now it betrayed her by spelling out “yes” in neon pink letters. She quickly backed out of the elevator. 

Cheese stared at her and waggled his eyebrows. She watched as he disappeared behind the closing elevator doors. 

Pinkie found Twilight engaged in her favorite activity, reading. She looked up as Pinkie wandered in and immediately saw a puzzling sight.

“Why does your mane say yes?” the observant unicorn asked. 

“It’s Cheese again,” Pinkie sighed. “It’s like I can’t control my own body when he’s around. I know how this goes, Twilight. Why doesn’t my mane understand?”

“Well maybe your “mane” knows that it was a long time ago. Ponies change. We learn and grow and develop new things. Maybe your mane is acting like your Pinkie Sense and is telling you things might be different.”

“It’s my mane, Twilight,” dismissed Pinkie,” it’s not been the greatest advice giver in the past.”

“Pinkie, your mane is a part of you. Perhaps you just need to trust yourself. Even if it’s scary.” 

Pinkie sat down and mulled it over. Giving Cheese another chance seemed like a great idea, but she was still afraid. She didn’t want to feel that used feeling again. But perhaps Twilight was right. That was a long time ago.

***

Fluttershy laid in bed wide awake and listened to her bird tape. She didn’t know what to think or how to feel. She never had somepony confess before. 

Could she see herself with somepony like Rainbow Dash? Applejack and Sunburst said the speedster was just a braggart and full of herself, but was that really true? Rainbow certainly didn’t look that confident when she confessed how she felt. 

Fluttershy didn’t know what to do. She had always felt that anypony, no matter who, deserved a chance at happiness. If she could be the one to help provide that happiness to Rainbow, wouldn’t that be a good thing? But she knew that a relationship had to be something she wanted as well. She had never really thought about relationships before. 

So many questions ran through the little yellow pegasus’s head that she barely heard Rainbow get out of bed. The groggy blue mare stumbled to the bathroom, then wandered in a daze and collapsed in the first bed that she found. It just happened to be Fluttershy’s bed. 

Fluttershy nearly fell out in shock. She rolled as fast as she could and found the sleeping face of Rainbow inches away from her face. She tensed. Then forced herself to relax. 

This was how it felt to be this close to Rainbow. She looked at softened features of the sleeping suitor. Rainbow didn’t look filled with malice and boasts. It was a normal pony face. A sweet face. She wondered if this was a face that she could love. Was it a face that she could kiss? That’s what girlfriends did, right? 

She found herself staring at Rainbow soft moist lips and wondering how it would feel to kiss her. She felt herself leaning in to give it a try when no pony was looking. She could feel her lips reaching out for a connection. They stopped dead when Rainbow opened her mouth with a loud snore. 

“What am I doing?” Fluttershy thought as she realized she was about to kiss another pony without permission. She abandoned the bed to the snoring mare and found sleep finally on the couch. 

***

The sun shone bright on the angel as its melted form solidified. The horror took a shambling step forward. Unit-01 and 02 were waiting a few feet away. The Evas burst to life. The angel turned and was struck simultaneously by both Evas’ hooves immediately. Again Rainbow slashed it with the lance and split it in half. It took less time for them to reform into two separate angels. 

“Ok you guys,” shouted Pinkie over the com. “Start plan Dance Dance Execution.”

“You are having way too much fun with these plan names,” observed Twilight.

The two Evas began to move in unison. The angels fired a volley of explosives but the Evas dodged them. They began to dance as they had in practice. Each movement was felt by the other. The angels watched in interest. Then they began to dance in challenge. 

“We can’t let them beat us,”Rainbow insisted. Fluttershy nodded in response. The pilots pushed their Evas harder and began vicious spins and kicks. Music poured out of their cockpits and through the loudspeakers of the Evas . Fluttershy felt all her apprehension drift away as she and Rainbow showed the angels their moves. She felt a connection to her fellow pilot that she never felt before as she danced. 

The angels tried their best to out-step their opponents. They popped and locked and started rearranging their bodies in ways that the ponies couldn’t even fathom. 

The Evas watched the movements with deep discernment. Suddenly Unit-01 and 02 jumped in unison and stuck their opponents exposed cores with their back hooves. The angels tried to escape but the force cracked their crystalline epicenters and the angels exploded.

****

The dust from the explosion cleared and revealed Unit -01 and Unit-02 collapsed together in a heap.

“Hey,” Rainbow shouted. “Get your Eva off of mine. “

“I’m sorry,” apologized Fluttershy.

“Couldn’t wait to jump on me huh?” Rainbow said, trying to bolster her awkwardness. 

“No, I’m not like that!”

Rainbow sighed. “I know. I’m just trying to gauge what you’re thinking is all. I might be a little overzealous.”

“Is that why you ended up in my bed?”

“I was sleepwalking,” explained Rainbow turning bright red. “You didn’t try anything, did you?”

“No,” Fluttershy responded as she shrank and blushed along with her.

“You totally did, didn't you? You tried to kiss me didn’t you?”

“How did you know?”

“You really did? Does that mean you wanna go out.”

“I… I’m... still not sure.”

“Umm,” interrupted Twilight over the intercom. “You do realize everypony can hear you right?”

“Oh man, now I look l totally lame,” pouted Rainbow Dash.

“Oh my!” squeaked Fluttershy, and hid.

****

The ponies in the control room snickered at the two pilots. All except one and a dragonequus. “I do not think this is the image we want to send,” informed Mud Briar.

Discord watched and felt his jaw bounce on the floor. Then his eyes narrowed. “No, Mud Briar, most assuredly not.”
> Episode 10: Burning hearts and flaming volcanoes
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Oh gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh,” rambled Rainbow as she flitted and flew around the store. She looked like a foal in a candy store as she looked at one bathing suit after another. Or like Pinkie at any given moment.  

Cheese Sandwich watched her while trying to shake the memories of Pinkie Pie. He hadn’t seen her since the elevator. His focus reconvened as Rainbow said,“We’re going on a class trip soon to the beach.”

“I figured,” said Cheese dryly,” that’s why we’re bathing suit shopping.”

“Aww,” teased Rainbow Dash,” what’s wrong? Don’t think you can resist me in a bathing suit? Ha ha.”

“Sorry Rainbow Dash, but this party pony has room for only one in his heart,” he dramatically emoted by placing his hoof on his chest.

“Still stuck on Pinkie, huh? How is that going?”

“Every time I think I’m getting close she pushes me away.”

“I know the feeling. What do you think of this?” she asked and displayed a slim two piece that tastefully revealed nothing but hinted at a whole lot.

“Looks cute. Is that to turn Fluttershy’s head?”

“Yeah. And anypony else that has eyes.”

“How is that going?”

“Humph. She’s so lame and wishy washy and lame. She said she wanted to kiss me but every time I bring it up she turns red and slinks away. Now it feels like she’s avoiding me.”

“From what Twilight tells me that is her MO. She’s afraid of ponies.”

“I don’t get it. What’s to be afraid of? If you want it, go for it. If it doesn’t work out, then at least you tried, right?”

“Spoken like a true pony that has never been in a serious relationship before,” Cheese said, shaking his head.

“Still doesn’t make it any less true,” Rainbow Dash argued blushing in frustration.

“Things get complicated when feelings are involved, Dashie. There can be real hurt that doesn’t go away if it doesn’t work out.”

“Still sounds stupid and over complicated to me. You should just throw it all on the line and try the best you can to get it work out.” 

“I wish it was that simple, Dash.”

Cheese sighed and wished he could go back in time. 

****

“Whaddya mean we can’t go?” demanded Rainbow Dash. Her hair stood up and her eyes shot flames. Pinkie immediately placed a pair of sunglasses on her blue face to stop the fire. 

“What if an angel attacks while you're gone, silly?” Pinkie said, ruffling her prismatic mane. “I mean I could always hang a giant out to lunch sign on headquarters while you're gone, but Twilight says that won’t work. So the only thing we can do is wait until they come back.”

“This is so lame and not awesome. Why can’t we just find the angels and beat them first?”

“Cause they don’t have an address listed. I know. I looked.”

“Aren’t you gonna say something, Fluttershy?” pleaded Rainbow to the yellow pegasus.

“I’m not too fond of the ocean actually,” Fluttershy admitted.

“Awww, you’re afraid of everything,” whined Rainbow. “No wonder you’ve been avoiding me.”

Fluttershy shrank further behind Pinkie. The truth of the awkwardness between them stung. She didn’t want to keep hurting Rainbow by prolonging her decision. She wished her mind would make up itself. The truth be told she didn’t really understand why she hesitated. 

“Well we don’t have a beach but there is a pool. We could have a pool party!” shouted Pinkie.

“Um, don’t you have to work?” reminded Fluttershy.

“Yeah, Twilight says I can’t skip paperwork again. Of course she also says you two have to study and that your grades are all wonky.”

“What!? No party, no beach and now we have to do egghead stuff!” moaned Rainbow, throwing her hooves up. “This sucks!”

“At least we can do it by the pool,” Fluttershy tried to sound cheerful.

A stern look from Rainbow Dash quieted the little yellow ray of sunshine. Fluttershy couldn’t help but notice the small tinge of hurt that passed over her face as well.

***

Rainbow Dash stood in the bathroom and gazed at herself in the mirror. She turned this way and that admiring the way her new swimsuit hugged her curves. She hoped that Fluttershy looked as good in her bathing suit. 

If Fluttershy continued to hesitate then Rainbow would force an answer. She couldn’t avoid her forever, and with the way she looked now, Fluttershy wouldn’t want to avoid her. The swimsuit was much more revealing than her dance outfit had been. She was glad she didn’t show everything after all. She giggled and pranced out of the changing room.

“Hey Fluttershy,” Rainbow cooed,” what do you think of my bathing suit?”

“Umm, it’s nice,” Fluttershy mumbled into her hair and turned red. Rainbow was so forward. Fluttershy had a hard time concentrating on her homework with her prancing around. 

“You like it. I can tell by your face. Wait, why aren’t you wearing your bathing suit?”

“Pinkie says we should study,” she replied. 

“I can’t believe you are seriously working on egghead stuff while I am right here. Hello, swimming. In bathing suits!”

“I don’t want to let Pinkie, our teacher and Twilight down.”

“What are you working on? “Rainbow asked, pushing in closer. “Maybe I can help speed things along.”

“I’m working on thermal dynamics. Something about heat and expanding and oh my,” she gasped as Rainbow Dash sat in front of her. Fluttershy tried to shift back but Rainbow was too quick and plopped into her lap. 

“Yeah, I remember something about this in flight school,” said the blue pegasus with a cheeky smile as she squiggled her flank. “It essentially means that if things get hot they grow and if they get cold they shrink.”

“So I if I scooch back and forth in your lap that will warm us up,” she smirked. “As my rump warms up will my cutie mark get bigger or smaller? Fluttershy?”

Rainbow looked back to see Fluttershy’s mind had left her blushing body in shell shock.

“Guess you couldn’t handle my heat, heh heh,” the speedster shrugged but felt a little sad sting. “I’m going to cool off in the pool.”

Rainbow could feel her face heating up from her failed wooing. She shook off the uncomfortable feeling and took to the air. She flew in a loop and dove into the pool. She struck the water at ludicrous speed and enveloped the entire complex with pool water. A third of the pool was emptied all over the sides. 

Maud, who had been keeping clear of the strange couple, looked up from her granite inspection. The sheet of pool water wrapped around her and she found herself sopping wet. 

“Did you see the size of that splash?,” shouted ecstatically Rainbow Dash. “Now that’s a job well done.”

Maud calmly walked to the pool edge and looked at Rainbow. Her expression was unreadable but intense. 

“Wh-what do you want?” asked Rainbow, a little nervous. Though nothing within Maud visibly stirred, something told Rainbow that this pony could take her out without much trouble. 

“That was... intense,” the sopping wet Maud said flatly. “Perhaps the water might be better in the pool.” She turned and walked back to her spot. 

Rainbow shuddered as she turned. She didn’t want to get on that pony’s bad side. She glanced over to Fluttershy who was desperately trying to dry her notes. 

“Oh no,” Rainbow groaned. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to ruin your notes. I know! I’ll blast them dry in a second.” 

Rainbow leapt into the air with a flap of her wings. She stretched her wings out to grab the maximum air. 

“Nooo,” shouted Fluttershy, putting out a halting hoof. “I mean. Thank you for the effort but this requires… delicacy. You go back to swimming. Thank you.”

Rainbow lowered herself to the ground with a huff. She trotted away with a sad backwards glance.  She’d overdone it again.

***

“I just got this report,” Twilight informed her pink companion. “The dragons found something in their nearby volcano.” 

Twilight turned in her swivel chair by her desk to find Pinkie inches from her face. 

“Ooh, a guessing game. Is it cake? Is it cookies? Is it fudge? Ooh is it fudge cake? Is it,” Pinkie continued to guess.

“Pinkie!” interjected Twilight. “They think it might be another angel.”

“That is a terrible surprise, Twilight. It’s supposed to be something fun and happy.”

“But Pinkie, this gives us the opportunity to take the fight to them.”

“Fighting isn’t fun,” huffed Pinkie. 

“This could be good for us. A chance to get on the offensive for once. That way the angels stop destroying Ponyville3.”

“Oooo. Yeah, I guess that would be good,” concluded Pinkie. “But what if instead of fighting it we capture it and try to teach it to be on our side. Then it could battle other angels instead of us.”

“Umm, I’m not sure that will work,” Twilight said, wondering how Pinkie got her ideas.” But we could capture it and study it. We would need an Eva down there in the volcano with a vibrational matrix cage. That would be the only thing that could neutralize the AT field.”

“Yeah, we could get the Evas together and the pilots and have a true party.” 

“Or capture the angel.”

“Yeah that.”

***

“Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, my gosh,” freaked Rainbow Dash. “We get to dive into hot lava and fight an angel there. I am totally in.”

“We’re not actually fighting it,” corrected Fluttershy. “We’re just supposed to capture it.”

“Well yeah, but we could end up fighting it. It could break the cage and get really big. Then it’ll be an awesome fight to the death,” fantasized Rainbow Dash. “You can sign me up for that job.”

“That’s great,” gushed Pinkie. “We needed a volunteer.” She looked at Dash like a snake looks at a mouse. A mouse that was excited to go into a live volcano. 

“This is going to be awesome!”

***

“This is not what I signed up for,” Rainbow Dash protested. She stood uncomfortably in her entry plug suit. She looked enormous as her suit had been filled with fluid. Every step she sloshed back and forth.

“Oh Dashie, this is just a temperature controlled cooling suit so you don’t melt like a fudgesicle,” explained Pinkie. “It’s just like the one your Eva is wearing.”

“My Eva?!” Rainbow Dash gasped, “what have you done to my Eva?!”

“Just filled it up with super cold buttercream,” stated Pinkie Pie flatly.

“What?!”

“Oh, Pinkie Pie is just kidding,” explained Cheese Sandwich arriving amongst the two mares. “It’s more of a super cold lemonade kind of substance.”

“Well I do like lemonade,” pondered Rainbow,” but this doesn’t seem like a chillaxing type activity. So what are you doing here, Cheese?”

“Oh, I was the one that brought the coolant from my giant punch pool. And of course I get to see you in your first solo mission.”

“I’m sorry it’s turning out to be so lame,”whined Rainbow. “How am I supposed to look awesome in this?”

“I think you could look awesome in anything if you believe it,” Cheese Sandwich said winking.

“She’s not your type, Cheese,” accused Pinkie.

“No, I am not hers,” explained Cheese. “But I think I could be yours.”

“Oh really, mister smarty mcsmarty-pantserson. What makes you think that?” Pinky coyly asked.

“Your mane is telling me again,” he snorted.

“Curse you, mane! Why have you turned against me?” the party mare whined. “You brought your coolant. Now you can go.”

“But I am also here on behalf of the dragons,” reminded Cheese. “They said they’re on standby if the plan goes south.”

“What does he mean? I thought I was doing this plan,” demanded Rainbow Dash.

“Well, you are,” said Pinkie. “And we are all confident it will go well, but the dragons were a little scaredier and said they’d melt us all to death with their laugh fire if the angel starts to emerge.”

“Gee, thanks,” moaned Rainbow, feeling some discomfort in her stomach. Get it right or be incinerated by dragons. This was definitely not what she signed up for.

Cheese snuck up to the despondent pilot. “Were you able to make any progress on your “project”?”

“Well, I definitely caught her attention,” the speedster declared. “I almost drowned her in the process though.”

“Did she notice the swim suit?”

“How could she not notice? I was wearing it.”

“What are you two chatting about over there?” inquired a suspicious Pinkie Pie.

“Well, good luck to both our projects,” Cheese said and gave her a hoof bump. He then stood up and turned to Pinkie. ”Just wishing Dashie luck on her mission.”

“Well, we better get started,” deflected Rainbow trotting to her Eva.

“Yeeeaaah,” drawled the suspicious Pinkie. She squinted her eyes at both of them. Cheese gave her his biggest disarming smile. She shook her head and left.

****

Unit-02 rose up covered in the same bulbous suit that Rainbow wore. It sloshed and squished as she moved the Eva into position on the volcano’s edge. She found the top swarming with dragons and Unit-01. 

“Rainbow,” said Fluttershy through the intercom. “ I just want you to know I have been considering your question. And I think..”

“Not now Fluttershy,” injected Rainbow. “I’m sorry about your papers, and I really do want your answer, but right now I have to focus. I don’t want to throw off my flow right now. You can tell me about it when I get back.”

“What if...” mumbled the timid mare. 

“I’ll be back. You can tell me then.”

“Everypony ready?” asked Pinkie. 

“Ready,” affirmed the various teams.

“Eva launch,” she screamed loud enough that the dragons nearby took off like a group of startled birds.

Unit-02 tried to soar into the volcano but was horribly off balance. The Eva didn’t fly so much as plummeted. Rainbow’s Eva smacked into the lava with her legs and wings out.

“Ooo,” cried a red dragon. “Belly flop.”

“Not the prettiest launch but it works,” shrugged Pinkie.

“Are you ok?,” asked Fluttershy with great concern.

“Oh… yeah... no problem,” Rainbow winced. “I can’t even get a cool start.”

The Eva began to sink into the lava. It had a large metal cable wrapped around its waist and a team of dragons held it. They released the rope slowly, letting it descend.

“Keep going,” instructed Rainbow through the intercom. “Further, further, a little further. Wait, I think I see something.”

Rainbow peered through the murky lava. The sweat beaded across her face as she swam her Eva closer to a strange dark mass. She slowly approached and gasped as she beheld a large flyder-looking skeleton in a massive egg. 

“I think I found it,” Rainbow confirmed.

“How are you doing in there?” asked Fluttershy.

“No sweat. Heh heh. Ok, a little sweat but I can handle it.”

Rainbow wiped the sweat off her brow. She pressed a button on the side of the leg pistons and the cage opened. 

“Opening trap,” the sweaty pegasus informed. “Now to get this annoying thing inside and get out of here. It’s hot.”

Rainbow concentrated and pushed her front hoof pistons forward. Unit-02 swam over and easily placed the monstrosity in the small cage.

“Got it,” the second filly smirked in satisfaction. “C’mon, Fluttershy, how amazing am I?”

“Pretty amazing,”admitted Fluttershy.

“Maybe when we get back I can show you...” she stopped talking as the cage began to twist. “Wait, the embryo is moving. I think it’s hatching.”

The embryo started to wriggle and move. Rainbow could feel the cage expand and strain. 

“Oh no, oh no,” worried Pinkie Pie as she watched the monitor.

The box ripped open and a large flyder beast erupted from it. Its massive legs shot forward and it hissed somehow under the lava.

“Horseapples, it broke out of the box,” Rainbow spat. ”Looks like we have move to that back up plan.”

“Which is?” asked Fluttershy as she felt sweat pour down her own brow.

“I kill it,” Rainbow sneered as she gritted her teeth. “Come on you big dumb—whoa!”

The angel swam at Unit-02 and wrapped its long spindly legs around it. It began to pull the Eva further in. The dragons started to stumble as they desperately tried to hold to the cable.  

“Hey, hold on to me up there!” shouted Rainbow as she felt the Eva swing wildly. Her mouth went dry at the thought of being dropped further into the volcano. She tried to think of what to use to get the angel off. Then she remembered. 

”I’ll use my razor wings!”

Unit-02 swung its wings into the angel. They pounded uselessly against the angel’s AT field. Rainbow tried to leverage them against the thick skin of the angel to pry it off, but felt the wings begin to buckle against its might.

“My wings are having no effect!”

The angel began to pull the Eva further into the depths of magma. The dragons felt their bodies skidding through the dusty terrain. 

“I gotta hit it hard now,” panicked Rainbow.

“The angel is native to the lava,” suggested Fluttershy. “It might be using the lava’s heat to expand around your wings. Think cold.”

“The lemonade,” Rainbow remembered. She sliced into the Eva’s hoof with a wing tip and stuffed it into the angel’s mouth. “Drink this, you big jerk.”

The angel’s mouth filled with frozen gallons of lemonade. The sugary drink flooded its gaping maw. It began to shrink as the frozen liquid caused the angel’s body to quickly contract. Soon it was so small that Rainbow easily batted it away with her wing. 

The tiny angel sped past the cable and sliced it, then dissolved into nothing. The dragons suddenly fell back as the cable went slack. 

The Eva dropped further into the volcano's depths. Rainbow watched helplessly as the severed end of the cable drifted through her vision. 

“Sorry, Fluttershy,” she lamented. “It looks like I was wrong. I’m falling fast.” 

“Rainbow Dash!,” cried Fluttershy. She quickly grabbed the severed end of the cable and jumped into the volcano head first. She couldn’t let her friend melt down there. She needed to help. 

“Fluttershy, you can’t stay in there for very long without the lemonade,” shouted Pinkie.

“Fluttershy did what?” shrieked Rainbow. “Turn back! It is way too hot for you.”

Fluttershy could feel the intense heat immediately. Her entire body burned and writhed as she tried to swim to Unit-02. She didn’t know where Rainbow Dash was, but knew she had to save her. 

She took a few seconds, closed her eyes and concentrated, and she could feel Unit-02 close by. It suddenly felt like the connection to Rainbow was palpable. She followed the feeling. Her eyes teared from sweat and pain. She felt every nerve screaming at her. 

Fluttershy finally saw the battled Eva in the murky depths. She quickly wrapped her legs around the it and shouted, “I’ve got her. Pull us up, now!”

The dragons swarmed the cable’s end and all began to pull. Step by dusty step, inch by sweaty inch, the cable began to rise. The dragons put all of their gigantic weight into pulling. 

Their efforts finally brought the two hugging Evas out of the lava pit. Unit-01 was blackened from the extreme heat. The cable had sheared into the Eva’s muzzle and all its joints were melted in place. 

“Just can’t keep your hooves off of me huh?” Rainbow said, smiling smugly. She received no response. “Fluttershy?” 

The little yellow savior had finally succumbed to the extreme heat. Her consciousness faded. 

“Fluttershy!” screamed Rainbow as she pulled the emergency escape hatch on her entry plug. She flew out and soared straight to the same hatch on Unit-01. The suit shifted and wobbled uncomfortably in the air but she ignored it. She placed her coolant infused hooves on superheated metal and was able to pry open the hatch. 

The second filly found her friend’s crumpled form in the plug and quickly lifted her out. Only once she noticed that her roommate was still breathing did she remember to breath herself. A small sliver of light blue shone through the pale yellow eyelids. 

“Fluttershy? Fluttershy! Don’t quit on me now,” bemoaned Rainbow Dash. “I want to hear your answer. I do. I need you to hang in there.”

“Rainbow?” croaked the small bundle. A weak yellow hoof reached out and touched Rainbow’s cheek. “I’m sorry I took so long. When I jumped in the volcano I knew. I knew that I knew even before then. I will go out with you. I was just scared. I never did this before.”

“Shh, it’s ok. Don’t tell anypony else, but I’ve never had a girlfriend before either. We’ll go slow, ok? So it’s not so scary.”

“Thanks.”

The dragons arrived on the sizzling Eva bodies. They had their medic kits and began working on Fluttershy. They picked her up out of Rainbow’s hooves and flew her to the medical tent.

Rainbow tried to follow but had a hard time taking off with the excess weight of her suit. She sighed. It had been too close. For once it was Fluttershy that had beenfast enough. She waddled her way off the Eva to the tent to get thestupid suit off. For as cold as it was it felt totally uncool.

***

“Hot Springs Party!” shouted Pinkie as she jumped into the hot springs. The Brimstone Hot Springs were a well known place of relaxation. They were warmed by the same volcano that Rainbow and Fluttershy just returned from. Pinkie thought the springs would be just the place for the returning pilots. 

Rainbow found Fluttershy in the foyer. She looked tired but unhurt. The speedster approached, uncertain how to proceed. Somehow, Rainbow had never envisioned what to do if she said yes.

“Well, it’s not the beach, but it’ll do,” the blue pegasus began. “Thanks for the save back there. I owe you one. So do you want to, umm, join me in the springs?” Rainbow felt her cheeks redden but didn’t bother hiding it.

“Oh I don’t know,” stammered Fluttershy looking down, blushing herself. A small smile crossed her lips.

“It’s ok,” Rainbow assured,” no pressure.”

Fluttershy nodded. She considered going back to her room but she felt she had to do something different with her new girlfriend. She took Rainbow’s outstretched hoof and followed her into the springs.

The changing area seemed fraught with danger. There were mares around them casually undressing. Fluttershy shook her head in bright embarrassment. “This was taking it slow to Rainbow Dash?”she thought. Her face turned into a tomato when she considered what Rainbow would think normal speed was. 

“I know we just started dating,” Fluttershy quietly began,” but I’m not sure I’m ready to be... naked in front of you.”

“Don’t worry. There’s a bathing suit area. I’ll go get changed first then you can find me out there when you’re ready.”

“Oh. That sounds… nice.”

Fluttershy felt her cheeks beaming with the sudden fear lifted. She found a stall to change behind and found a bathing suit amongst her things. She timidly emerged to find Rainbow in the steam-filled water already, leaning back in her two piece swimsuit. Fluttershy noticed how well it hugged her curves for the first time. She swallowed hard. 

Rainbow noticed the little mare awkwardly standing at the water's edge. Fluttershy wore a practical one piece that did nothing but cover her. She sighed. She would have to teach that filly some tips on turning heads. Rainbow motioned her over.

Fluttershy shuffled her way through the water and sat next to Rainbow. 

“See, this isn’t so bad,” Rainbow said. Fluttershy nodded. 

“Oh no, thermal expansion,” the second filly joked as she opened her wings, then wrapped one around Fluttershy’s body and pulled her close. Fluttershy’s eyes went wide but then she calmed. She found the wing comforting and let the warmth wash over her. 

Suddenly the warm water found her way to her face as a large splash exploded in front of them. Pinkie emerged from the depth charge with no bathing suit on whatsoever.

“Hello, everypony,”the party pony shouted. ”Enjoying yourselves?”

“We were,” grumbled Rainbow. 

“Aww, I didn’t mean to interrupt your snuggle fest. Hey, nice swimsuits. I didn’t think you needed them here.”

“You don’t. I think Fluttershy would feel more comfortable with them though.”

“I still have my hedgehog suit if you want me to wear that.”

“It’s ok,” squeaked Fluttershy while she tried to look anywhere else, but suddenly she noticed the scar on Pinkie’s chest. “Pinkie, where did you get that scar?”

“Oh this old thing,” Pinkie said and made a raspberry sound. “I got it at an event called the 2nd impact.”

“Wait, the 2nd impact?” gasped Rainbow.”As in the 2nd impact, 2nd impact?”

“Why does everypony say that? Yeah I was a little too close to the blast. It’s healed up good now though.”

“Wow,” sighed Rainbow Dash, ”I would have never guessed that.” 

The mares relaxed in the spring throughout the evening.
> Episode 11: Vents and Darkness
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lyra watched her best friend, Bon Bon, load a washing machine. She noted how efficiently the earth pony was able to balance the multiple baskets and soap while still loading the machine. She couldn’t do something like that and she had magic. 

She shifted her gaze to the day happening outside. It was a warm peaceful kind of morning. The air was warm but pleasant. The cicadas buzzed merrily as they always did. It felt like a different world than the one her and Bon Bon normally shared.

“It’s nice to get out and about,” the aqua unicorn finally said. ”We’ve been cooped up in that control room forever. It’s nice to finally have some free time.”

“It would be, Lyra,” responded Bon Bon coldly,” if I wasn’t doing all the work.”

“Umm right.” Lyra sat up and hurriedly tried to fold the clothes she had scattered all over the table. She tried to be as neat with her magic as Bon Bon was with just her hooves. She found it wasn’t as easy as the earth pony made it look. The clothes looked more like a mangled heap rather than a nice clean square. 

“Argh, never mind,” Bon Bon sighed in exasperation. “All the creases will be in the wrong places. Perhaps you should just play your lyre.”

“Ok.” Lyra knew she could do that. Household chores always seemed to go wrong around her whenever she tried. She almost felt like her magic was faulty sometimes. How could a unicorn be so klutzy with magic? She tried to dispel the thought in case she hit a wrong note. She didn’t want to upset Bon Bon further. She continued to play while Bon Bon’s work automatically matched the rhythm. 

Bon Bon could always get into the swing of menial chores when Lyra played. She did appreciate the unicorn’s attempts to help but didn’t mind the work so long as she played. Of course she couldn’t let Lyra believe that. Lyra was lazy enough as it was. It felt like time sped up as Lyra played and within no time their work was done.

The couple wrapped up their chore and headed to the train to work. 

“It’s such a nice day, Bon Bon,” chirped Lyra, as they boarded the train,”we should call out of work and enjoy it.”

Bon Bon sighed.”Our job is protecting Equestria. We can’t just run off cause it’s a nice day.”

“Oh c’mon no pony’s even going to notice.”

“Ahem,” called out a small cough from behind them. They both turned to find their boss, Twilight Sparkle, smiling at them. Next to her was Twilight’s boss, Mud Briar. Bon Bon stiffed. 

“Good morning,” said Lyra enthusiastically as if she never suggested a thing.

“Oh, good morning girls,” Twilight answered as if she didn't hear a thing. 

“Good Morning, Ma’am and Sir” Bon Bon smartly said to the bosses.

“Technically it is a morning but nothing quantifies it as good compared to any other morning,” Mud Briar clarified. 

The mares stared at him in amusement.

“So you are running a test on Unit-00 today, Twilight?,” Mud Briar asked, keeping any trace of emotion from his voice.

“Yes Unit-00 was heavily damaged during the ‘Wonderbluss’ mission,” Twilight explained. “Today we’re ensuring it’s up to operational parameters.”

“That is good. Will Maud be included in more Eva activities then?”

“Yes, with her Eva ready, she should be good to go.”

“Good,” nodded Mud Briar. “Maud will be ecstatic.”

Lyra was momentarily stunned by picturing an ecstatic Maud. Then a question flew into her mind that had been bothering her. She avoided Bon Bon’s intense gaze in case she could see it in her mind and stop her from asking.

“Is there something between you two?,” she quickly blurted.

Bon Bon turned her most fearsome of gazes at Lyra who stood completely still and pretended not to notice.

“Well that depends,” began Mud Briar. “If you are referring to me and Twilight I would have to say yes.”

“What?” gasped Twilight.

“There is approximately 3 cubic feet of air between us. Any other pony will have a greater distance and have various other substances instead. Such as between me and Maud there would be quite a few different..”

“Umm, that isn’t what I meant,” Lyra said, shaking her head in confusion. Bon Bon tapped her roughly with her hoof before she could continue.

“Ok,” responded Mud Briar. He continued to stare out the window in silence.

“Umm, I heard you have some city official meeting to attend today,” Twilight blurted to break the silence and direct away from any further Lyra questions.

“Yes but they’re inconsequential. The city is actually run by the Spike system,” stated Mud Briar.

“You mean the magic based computer that we work on everyday runs the city?” gasped Lyra.

“Yes,” affirmed Mud Briar.

“The city lets the Spike system make all their decisions?” asked Bon Bon in disbelief.

“Yes.”

“It’s amazing what modern magic and science can do when working together!” exclaimed Twilight.

The train finally reached its destination and the coworkers disembarked. 

“Well bosses,” announced Lyra, “it looks like it’s time to get to it.”

***

“Like an angel with cruel and merciless intent, go forth, young colt and you’ll become a legend,” Pinkie sang. She loved the catchy theme song she just heard. The parts she couldn’t remember she hummed as the elevator descended down the 30 floors to the control room. The doors opened as she hummed merrily. 

She stopped short as she saw Cheese trying to get in the elevator before it closed. She quickly pressed the close door button. The doors obeyed the command and almost shut if a rubber chicken hadn’t launched itself between them.

“Whew, thanks Boneles 3,”Cheese gasped. “I almost missed the highlight of my day.”

“Don’t try anything this time, Cheese,” demanded Pinkie. “I’m wearing my official hat this time. My mane won’t say anything.”

She adjusted her official CAKE barrette that covered her mane and gave him a smug self satisfied look.

“What about your tail?”

“Don’t you even think about it tail,” threatened Pinkie, but it was too late. The tail had twisted its normal bulbous form into a shape of a heart. “Not you too.”

Pinkie felt like screaming and crying while her body conspired against her. Suddenly the elevator stopped and darkness filled the small metal box. Seconds later the emergency lights turned on coating everything in a yellowed light.

“Oh no! Oh no! Noo!” shouted Pinkie. “This has to be Twilight’s fault. Or cake burglars.”

****

Lyra and Bon Bon watched in disbelief as both their computers turned off. They looked to Twilight for guidance.

“We didn’t do this, did we?” asked Twilight.

Lyra shrugged and leaned far back in her chair.

***

The crew room fridge suddenly turned off.

“We didn’t do this, did we?” asked the dread Cake Burglar.

His partner shrugged and placed another piece of birthday cake into his muzzle. It wasn’t his. 

***

“This is not supposed to happen,” stated Discord, highly annoyed. He strutted out his darkened office in a huff. 

“No, it’s not,” agreed Mud Briar and slowly followed after him.

***

The Eva pilots trotted to the entrance of headquarters just as the power failed. Fluttershy didn’t notice the regular lights were out as they approached. She and her new girlfriend had walked from class together while Maud slowly followed along. 

It was an odd, awkward, yet wonderful feeling that Fluttershy had while walking next to Rainbow Dash. She hadn’t been able to tell her best friends yet. Applejack had been griping about Rainbow Dash all morning and Fluttershy didn’t know how to broach the subject. Something about only the two of them knowing made it feel more special. 

She cheerily swiped her ID card through the reader with her wing only to find nothing happened. She swiped again to be sure but the door refused to open.

“Oh dear,” pouted Fluttershy.

“Move over, I’ll get us through,” demanded Rainbow Dash. She swiped her own card but nothing happened.  

“The power is out,” said Maud without looking up at them. She had found a nice piece of jet to inspect. 

“How do you know that?” asked Rainbow suspiciously. 

“That light on the top of the reader is out.”

“Oh”

“So what do we do?” asked Fluttershy.

“We get inside, of course. Look! There's a regular door over there,” pointed Rainbow Dash. The blue speedster found the handle and twisted it.

“Look!” she beamed. “I found the way in.”

“It looks awfully dark,” mumbled Fluttershy. 

“Nothing too scary for us. We fight angels for breakfast. I’ll protect you anyway so you should be fine.”

The awesome leader led the way into the darkness. The others blindly followed.

“You can always hold onto me,” snickered Rainbow to Fluttershy. 

“We should check the emergency protocols,” suggested Maud. 

“Oh yeah, right,” Rainbow said and began to fish around in her dress. Her hooves kept coming up empty. “Umm I think I left mine in my other dress.”

“You can look at mine,” offered Fluttershy.

Rainbow quickly glanced at the outstretched manual in Fluttershy hooves and got frustrated. 

“This is egghead stuff,” whined Rainbow Dash as she turned away in disgust. “Summarize it for me.”

“First you have to establish whether this a true emergency,” summarized Maud. “Then you have to establish..”

“A chain of command,” finished Rainbow in excitement. 

“That’s not what it says,” Maud began.

“There’s always a leader in those survival situations. I nominate the most awesome pony should lead. Naturally that’s me.”

“It’s not a survival situation,” explained Maud coldly. “And the protocol clearly dictates..”

“Boring,” yawned Rainbow in pantomime. “The best course in these scenarios is action. C’mon follow me.”

***

Shining Armor felt bored. He was in charge of defense of the kingdom but he rarely had anything to do. Every major threat lately was an angel and CAKE handled those. 

The ground surrounding Canterlot began to shake. 

“What is that?” he asked and looked out the window.

A large spider the size of Canterlot tower crept by. Its body was the size of a train car and it was covered in eyes. Its long legs extended out almost a mile with each step.  

“Looks like another angel,” he yawned as it walked by towards Ponyville 3.

“Better call CAKE,” suggested a bored Flash Sentry.

“They don’t seem to be speaking to me,” informed Spearhead.

“Strange,” observed Shining.

“They are headed by a being of chaos,” pointed out Flash.

“That is true,” Shining said now alert and uncomfortable. It was not like Twilight to not answer her big brother’s call. “Keep trying anyway.” He shifted more forward in his seat. Something didn’t feel right.

****

Lyra had collapsed onto her keyboard. The heat and sweat drained her of all motivation to sit upright. There was no point. Nothing to be done. Her mane stuck to her face and in between the keys. She panted. The end was coming soon. She could no longer contain herself.

“The air is getting too hot,”she finally bemoaned.

“That’s because the vent system doesn’t work,” explained Bon Bon.

“My mane is sticking to my horn and my face and this keyboard I’m trying to sleep on.”

“It’ll be ok. You can’t die from a sticky mane.”

“How about boredom? Can you die of boredom?”

“No you can’t. But if you continue to whine the rest of the room might kill you. “

“You won’t protect me?”the collapsed unicorn wondered.

“If you continue I will lead the charge myself.”

“But we’re just sitting here in this hot air not doing anything. Why?”

“This is our job to help protect ponykind,” Bon Bon informed. “If the power returns or an Angel attacks we’ll be right here.”

“Ehh what are the chances of that? Unless this is the attack now. They’re trying to kill us through heat and boredom.”

“Maybe,” pondered Bon Bon. “It is unusual for all the power to fail through the entire city at once.”

Twilight heard her coworkers complaints and wondered about their validity. She found her superiors in their desks in the control room. “What do you think sirs? Is this a kind of angel attack?”

“Technically it is not an attack at all as no pony has gotten physically wounded,” assured Mud Briar. “However I don’t believe this to be angel related. It could be a saboteur.”

“Why would anyone want to sabotage us, ponykind’s last defense against the angels?” bemoaned a wounded Discord. 

“I don’t know,” admitted Twilight.

***

“Still no response from CAKE,” informed Spearhead gravely. “This is, like, looking really bad, sir.”

“Get my chariot ready,” commanded Shining Armor with grim determination. “I’ll go warn them myself.”

***

“We are lost again,” declared Maud as she inspected the wall.

“Heh heh, I totally meant to go this way,” dismissed Rainbow Dash.

“Why?”,asked Maud, staring around her blankly.

“To spend more time with Fluttershy?”

“You two hang out all the time and live together, why would you need more time with her?”

“Umm”

“Do you know the way Maud?”asked Fluttershy and pulled Rainbow out of Maud’s stare. 

“Yes.”

“Wait, hold on. I’m the leader here,” insisted Rainbow Dash.

“I know,” responded Fluttershy, “and a good leader listens to her friends to help get through obstacles.”

“You’re totally right,” admitted Rainbow Dash. “Which is why, as a good leader, I say we follow Maud.”

“It’s this way,” Maud said, quickly turning around and walking in the opposite direction.

“See Fluttershy, I am a good leader after all,” boasted Rainbow puffing her chest out.

“Uh huh,” agreed Fluttershy with a slight smile. She noticed Maud’s strange backward glance. She felt bad they talked so little to her. Fluttershy built herself up and began to talk. “So how do you know which way to go Maud?”

“I memorized the rock patterns in the walls construction. The walls are lined with trace amounts of tourmaline to help dampen magical interference,” explained Maud. “If you look at the walls closely you can see a small glint of them.”

“Your right,” gasped Fluttershy as she took in the intricacy of the wall pattern. She was impressed at Maud’s sharp eyes.

“Each wall has a distinctive pattern,” she continued, “I just merely memorized it.”

“That’s amazing,”gushed Fluttershy. She had never found a pony that could see the wonderful in something that seemed so mundane.

“Hello. Amazing girlfriend behind you,” reminded Rainbow Dash.” All that egghead stuff is not useful against an angel anyway.”

“Just what are the angels?,” asked Fluttershy. “Why do they want to hurt us?”

“How should I know? Again with the egghead stuff,” huffed the bored pegasus. “It really doesn’t matter what they are. If they mess with us we take them down.”

“Just seems a shame we can’t all just get along,” mused the yellow mare.

****

Shining Armor’s chariot flew over the massive spider. He felt dwarfed by the sheer magnitude of this foe. He directed his pegasi friends around the monstrosity. 

“That thing is huge,” he noted. “It’s a giant bug covered with eyes. Twilly is not going to like this.”

He turned his voice to his companions. “Ponyville 3 is close. Let’s speed up and give them plenty of warning.”

The small team sped up and found a very quiet city before them. The automated cars and trains were stopped. The few ponies out looked shocked at Shining’s galant arrival.

“It looks like all the power is out,” observed Spearhead. “That could be why they didn’t speak to us.”

Shining nodded. He pointed at the large metal complex built from the nearby mountain. 

“There,” he commanded. “That’s CAKE’s headquarters. We have to warn them.”

As they approached headquarters Shining found a large entrance and had his team fly in. He found a mass of turns and twists inside that led off of the main road. Luckily the routes were labeled and it didn’t take him long to find the main control room.

“Twilly,” Shining Armor shouted as he got close to the control room, “an Angel is coming. Repeat Twilly there is an angel here in Ponyville 3.”

***

“Did you hear that?”, asked Fluttershy as a loud booming voice announced the angel’s presence to somepony named Twilly. 

“An angel is here,” nodded Rainbow. “We need to get to central dogma fast.”

“The quickest way would be to use the air vents,” Maud stated as she pointed to the air vent in the ceiling. “There are no door hatches in there.”

The pegasus looked up at the vent then at Maud. 

“I guess I could fly you up,” offered Rainbow to Maud. 

“Why?” the grey mare asked. Before Rainbow could explain Maud leapt into the air and bucked the air vent open. In a millisecond she landed and sprang easily through the hole and pulled herself in. The pegasi stared at her in amazement.

“Are you coming?” the earth pony monotonously asked. 

***

Twilight and the others were moping around. Lyra had collapsed and even Twilight looked bored.

Both Discord and Mud Briar were sweating profusely. Discord stood in a bucket of melted ice cream.

“It’s hot ,” observed Mud Briar.

“Ooo, this is infuriating,” whined Discord. 

“Twilly! An angel is in Ponyville 3!” shouted Shining Armor from down the large corridor near the control room.”You have to fight it! Umm..Just try not to look at it.”

“That sounds like my brother!” Twilight gasped as she sat up. “What’s he doing here?”

“Twilly! An angel is approaching!”

“An angel?! The power is out. What are going to do?” demanded Twilight hopping on her hooves. 

“We need to launch the Evas,” responded Mud Briar flatly.

“Without any power?”

“Yes,”

“Is that even possible?”

“Yes.”

“How?”

“We can use our manual overrides and individual unicorn magic to get the Evas ready for their pilots.”

“But the pilots aren’t here,” mentioned Lyra. 

“In the case of an angel threat,” explained Mud Briar, “protocol dictates that the pilots get to their Evas immediately.”

“How do we know they are going to follow it?” asked Lyra, lifting her head from her keyboard.

“Maud is there,” explained the dry stallion. “She will get them all here.”

***

“Argh! These vents are too narrow for me to fly,” complained Rainbow Dash. “I wanna be there now.” She hated confined spaces. It made her feel vulnerable. Something she never wanted to feel again.

“We just have to crawl this way,” reassured Fluttershy from behind Maud. “It’s not much further is it, Maud?”

Maud glanced back at Fluttershy. “It’s just a few feet forward”.

“You know if you wore skirts, Fluttershy,” teased Rainbow Dash in the back.”I could have totally looked up it, ha ha.”

“That’s exactly why I don’t wear dresses,” Fluttershy cried, feeling her face turning red. “Just the thought of somepony looking up there makes my skin crawl. And what if I fell over.”

“But the skin crawl thing doesn’t apply to me right?” Rainbow Dash desperately inquired. Fluttershy remained quiet. “Hey! I’m not somepony that makes your skin crawl right? Right?” She tentatively placed her hoof on Fluttershy’s flank. 

Fluttershy froze instantly. She could feel every nerve on her body. She tried to run but found no room to go either way. Suddenly the vent buckled from her weight shift. It split underneath her and she fell on the control room floor with Rainbow tumbling after. Maud hopped out the other half and landed cleanly next to the pegasi pile.

“Observe,” remarked Mud Briar to Lyra. “Maud led them here.”

“Oh my goodness,” gasped Fluttershy looking around. She winced as Rainbow climbed off of her. “What is all this?”

“My brother told us of the angel attack,” explained Twilight. “Everypony else manually used their magic and muscle to get the Evas ready for you.”

“Really?” gushed Rainbow. “Yes! No more vents!”

“Now we aren’t going to be able to launch them as we usually do,” explained Twilight. “You’re going to have to walk them into battle.”

“Walk them? Where?,” asked a hesitant cyan pegasus.

“Well there are large vents you can climb to the top through.”

“Aww, horseapples.”

***

The pilots were able to fly or climb into their entry plugs. Before long the Evanstallions were up and moving. 

“Ready girls,” asked Rainbow, taking the lead as their robots scrapped along the huge shafts. “It might take us a while to..yargh!”

The robot stopped short as the vertical shaft next to Unit-02 filled with sizzling yellow liquid. Rainbow noticed the edge where her hooves had been melted and bubbled in the liquid’s wake. She tried to poke her head into the shaft and looked up. She caught a glimpse of something black with eyes but quickly ducked out of the way of another cascade of fluid. 

“Yuck! What is that stuff?” demanded Rainbow. 

“Magic Acid,” stated Maud. “You can tell by the way it dissolves the different layers of sediment.”

“Magic acid, huh,” pondered Rainbow. “Do we have to worry about it flying or chasing us or something?”

“No, it’s just acid.”

“Well it sounds radical but if it drops on us it would hurt.”

Rainbow glanced down the shaft and spied the bottom a little ways down.

“I got it!” Rainbow exclaimed. “The shaft ends a little farther down. Maud, you and Fluttershy jump down there. I will block the acid with my wings. Then, when I give the signal, you throw Fluttershy like a spear and that should drive her horn right through that thing.”

“You’re jumping into its acid!” gasped Fluttershy. “Didn’t you say it would hurt? And this is magic acid who knows if it will produce some sort of effect. Your tongue could swell up or wings turn upside down.”

“It’s just the acid’s name,” clarified Maud.

“We don’t have time to worry about what sort of effect it would have on me,” Rainbow declared, ignoring Maud. “We must stop this angel. That is our purpose. If it means I have to battle magic acid that could turn me inside out for all I know, it’s what I’ll do.”

“It’s really just its name,” stated Maud again.

“Ok, is everypony ready?” the self sacrificing pegasus exclaimed.

The others nodded with their Evas. 

“Then move out.”

Unit-02 leapt into the shaft and Rainbow Dash placed its hooves into the sides of the vent. She opened its wings to completely block the shaft. Immediately she felt the acid pour over her Eva’s body. Shearing pain erupted across her back. She felt her right knee begin to retract from the intensity. Then she remembered the pain Fluttershy had placed herself in when she jumped into the volcano. She gritted her teeth and kept her squeaks to a minimum.

“Oh Rainbow, are you ok?” gasped Fluttershy.

“Don’t worry about me, just go!” Rainbow growled through gritted teeth.

The other two units jumped to the bottom of the shaft. Unit-00 stood on its hind legs and placed its forelegs on Unit-01’s torso.

“Ready?” asked Maud.

“Ready,” responded Fluttershy,”but are you sure you can...”

Unit-02 weakly flew out of the way as Unit-00 threw Unit-01 towards the angel. Fluttershy screamed as her body rocked back in the chair from the sudden acceleration. Unit-01 sped through the air and Fluttershy adjusted it so that her Eva’s horn became a spear head. The horn pierced right through one of the angel’s acid weeping eyes. The angel shuddered once then collapsed. 

“We did it,” panted Rainbow Dash as she squinted through her pain.

“Yay,” stated Maud flatly.

“Umm, it would be nice if someone could get me down from here,” suggested Fluttershy. Her Eva hung limply, its horn still embedded in the angel’s eye. She tried to pull free but the Eva had run out of power.

***

After a short eternity the power returned. All the computers set about their normal humming business. Monitors bathed the mares in their comforting green glow.

Twilight and the command mares wearily made their way to the elevator. It had been a long day and Lyra thought of nothing but curling up in a nice cool bath. She watched Twilight press the button to the elevator and waited as the elevator opened. 

They found Pinkie Pie inside as she stood on Cheese’s back. She flashed a smile as Cheese collapsed underneath her. They felt together in an uncomfortable heap. Lyra couldn’t help but think of scandalous thoughts. A stern look from Bon Bon told her to stop. Twilight merely lifted an eyebrow with a small smile. 

“What were you two doing?” the purple unicorn asked.

“Playing 3D twister, duh,” Pinkie answered. “I win.”

Then she pronged off. Twilight glanced at Cheese who shrugged.

“She won,” he admitted.

“Did she?” Twilight asked.

“Umm, can I go home now?” whined Trixie behind them.

***

The victorious pilots walked back to their homes. Fluttershy watched Rainbow limp painfully. She had taken a lot of damage vicariously through her Eva. She tried to brush it off but Fluttershy could see the sprained expression and slowness in the way she usually walked. It hurt to watch it but the third filly didn’t want to affect Rainbow’s pride. 

“I still don’t understand why the angels want to hurt us,” she wondered out loud, changing her thoughts. 

“You’re still on that?,” grunted Rainbow. “The angels attacked us. They don’t have to have motives. It could be they’re just mean.”

“Just seems strange to be mean for the sake of meanness,” Fluttershy mused. “Normally meanness is a sign that something is hurting. I wonder what is strong enough to hurt an angel.”

The three continued to walk in uncomfortable silence.

***

“The angel looked like what?!” shouted Twilight at Shining Armor. “Sooo creepy!”
> Episode 12: Falling streamers and Angels
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Pinkie laid in her bed asleep while her body shook back and forth. It was the same horrible dream in the whole world again. She was a young filly. She stood in a vast field of rocks. The giggling of two voices heralded the arrival of her two older sisters. As always little Pinkie couldn’t see them very well. They looked like shadows to her. In the dream little Pinkie wasn’t bothered and played happily with them. Her twin sister Marble shyly watched from nearby. 

Ma and Pa called them inside then the sky suddenly changed color. At first it took the brilliance of a glorious rainbow. Little Pinkie had never seen anything so vibrant. But a few seconds later it became clear that the rainbow was a wave of burning doom. 

The shockwave struck next. The air filled with dust and their home collapsed in its wake. Pinkie felt her body fly through the air and land painfully on the ground. She wildly looked around for her family but saw nothing. The dust had filled her eyes and they were starting to burn. 

Suddenly she felt herself lifted and placed into a nearby opened geode next to Marble. She tried to see who it was. She called for Ma and Pa but her mouth immediately filled with dust. 

The sky exploded again and a pair of enormous crystalline wings took up a hemisphere of the sky. She caught a glimpse of something purple and then the lid to the geode closed. Seconds later her twin cried as their vessel sailed and tumbled through the air. Pinkie felt searing pain in her chest as the sharp crystal cut in. Marble helped put pressure on the wound. Minutes, hours, possibly days went by as their capsule was sealed from the outside. 

The filly twins clung to each other for reassurance. Pinkie remembered making faces at Marble to keep her spirits up. She even puffed her mane up like a balloon and got a small smile. She didn’t even notice when her cutie mark appeared as a result.

The little rock was finally opened. The brilliant sun blinded the little fillies. Large pink hooves pulled them out. Pinkie and Marble barely spoke in shock. Ma and Pa were nowhere to be found. Their sisters were equally absent. They looked at the kind be-crowned face of their savior who looked on them with concern.

***

Pinkie woke up shaking and panting again. She could feel the sweat pouring from her body. Her mane was matted and the sheets were soaked. She sat up and shivered.

Pinkie remembered that her farm in Yakyakistan had been obliterated during the second impact. Her and Marble’s little geode sailed from their farm and somehow made its way to the crystal kingdom. They were found by Princess Cadence on a walk when she heard them crying. 

Pinkie sighed and flopped back on the bed. She hated this feeling of constant sadness in the morning. She rubbed her eyes and dragged her body out of bed. She slowly dressed in her normal black dress and threw her bright red jacket on. She noted the rain outside and donned her bright red CAKE barrette. She took a large breath and left her room to find Applejack and Sunburst in her living room.

“Oops,” apologized Applejack. “Sorry to intrude. It’s rainin’ harder than a ram’s horn, Miss Pinkie.”

“Fluttershy said we could come in and dry off,” explained Sunburst.

“The more the merrier,” Pinkie grinned as she placed the morning sadness aside. “Now there are more ponies to eat these cupcakes.”

A large yawn brought the group's attention to a groggy Rainbow Dash. She appeared wearing just a long t-shirt that covered her flank. Her half opened eyes glanced at them then widened suddenly in recognition.

 “Gah! What is the lame squad doing here?” the speedster demanded. “Are you trying to smoose me out of my Fluttershy time? Too jealous of the time she spends with me huh? Well I can’t blame you.”

“Ha! Like anypony would want to spend her time with you,” scoffed Applejack. 

“Goes to show what you know,” retorted Rainbow Dash, her mussel inches from Applejack. “Fluttershy’s my main squeeze. We’ve been hugging and everything.”

“What?!” gasped the jaw dropped cowpony, turning to Fluttershy. “You’re datin’ her? And ya didn’t even tell us?”

“I didn’t want to upset you,” muttered Fluttershy as she slowly hid in her mane. “It’s not like we’ve been on a date or anything.”

“What do you mean?” demanded Rainbow Dash. “We went to the hot springs together.”

“Well, Pinkie Pie was in the hot springs too. I thought dates were supposed to be only two ponies.”

“That’s normally how it’s done,” nodded Applejack returning from her surprise.

“Fine,” huffed Rainbow Dash and struck the ground with her hoof. “I will take her on the most awesome date that anypony has ever had.”

“Can’t say Ah approve of yer level o’ taste,” apologised Applejack to Fluttershy. “But if it makes ya happy then Ah guess Ah can tolerate her.”

Fluttershy’s expression visibly brightened. She wasn’t sure what Applejack’s reaction would be. A long sigh of relief escaped her that she wasn’t even aware she had held on to.

“But ya better be sure ya take care o’ her,” the orange mare continued turning to the blue pegasus. “If in Ah hear that you’ve been mistreatin’ her then ya better be faster than ya claim ta be. And you better remember that yer ‘awesome date’ should be awesome fer Fluttershy. Not yerself.”

Pinkie was a little wary of such grumpy thoughts so early in the day. The fear of this morning’s dream still lingered and made her feel edgy. She nearly sprang through the roof when Sunburst suddenly jumped in front of her.

“Congratulations on your promotion!” he cheerily expressed.

“Oh you’re sweet, thanks,” Pinkie hastily smiled as best she could. 

“What promotion?” demanded Rainbow. She hated being the last to know things.

“Didn’t ya notice?” huffed Applejack.

“Pinkie’s badge has another stripe,” explained Sunburst. “That means she’s been promoted to Major.”

“Wow! Congratulations!” said Fluttershy.

“Yeah, you’re like 20% cooler now,” admired Rainbow.

“Yeah, it is pretty cool,” admitted Pinkie. “But I don’t work for praise. I just want every pony to smile. Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash don’t forget you have a harmonica test after school so get practicing.”

“Don’t you mean a harmonics test?” clarified Rainbow.

“Heh he, no.”

“Same old, Pinkie Pie,” shrugged Rainbow.

“Yeah,” sighed Applejack with a forlorn look. 

***

Pinkie returned to the control room from her donut run to find an irate Twilight staring her down. Lyra, Bon Bon, and Trixie watched with saddened looks. Pinkie inwardly sighed. Twilight seemed to be upset with most of her ideas. This one was no exception.

“Why are they playing harmonicas in the harmonics test?”demanded Twilight. “The mares told me it was your idea.”

“You said harmonics?” pondered Pinkie. “Ohh, I thought getting the Evas to lead parasprites away would be useful.”

“Actually,” explained Bon Bon,” the sync rates have improved. It looks like the harmonicas are actually helping them sync.”

“But how will they be able to move the Evas with harmonicas in their mouths?” whined Twilight. The vein in her forehead was pulsing.

“We can get them racks,” illustrated Pinkie as she pulled out a harmonica rack from her mane. 

“I think it might be more of a distraction,” grumbled Twilight.

Pinkie sighed. Everypony was so up tight lately. They worried about silly things like rank or following the rules or making sense. Since when does being happy ever make sense. No pony could tell her exactly what made them happy. They just knew that they were.  

“You can stop playing now,” pleaded Lyra with her hooves in her ears.

“Look at this,” pointed out Twilight, ”Fluttershy’s sync ratio has improved dramatically. She’s getting closer to Rainbow’s ratio.”

Pinkie pressed the intercom. “Fluttershy! Your scores are great!” she shouted. “We should have a party for it when we get home.”

Pinkie watched the small yellow mare blush. She hoped that Fluttershy would feel super dooper from the news.

“I’m still the best though, right?” asked Rainbow. 

“Yeah, but Fluttershy’s catching up,”stated Pinkie.

***

Pinkie found the idea of a Fluttershy’s catching up party intriguing as she made her way home. She hoped everypony could forget their scariediness and sadness and have a good time. Her mind soared through her vast knowledge of party favors, cupcakes and supplies she would need. 

Her mind froze as she turned on the lights to her apartment and found a large gathering of ponies there. 

“Surprise!” they shouted.

“Oh my gosh!” gasped Pinkie. ”A surprise party?! For me?! Best surprise ever!”

Pinkie had planned for such an occasion. She had measures in place she was ecstatic to use. She pulled a nearby string and a banner unrolled and two confetti cannons fired. The room filled with streamers and decorations that looked extravagant next to the simple decorations that had been hastily hung. 

It was her special first surprise party party. The first party held seconds after she was surprised by the first surprise party she ever received. The banner proudly declared “Happy First Surprise Party Party!” 

The surprisers watched in awe as the party rebuilt itself around them. Each of them were filled with wonder.

“We thought we’d throw this party to congratulate you on your promotion, “Sunburst said, looking for more explosions.

“Sunburst did most of the work,” admitted Applejack. “Ah just baked some of the apple based desserts.”

“Apple deserts!?” drooled Pinkie. It had been a long day at work and all she had to eat was cupcakes, muffins, cinnamon rolls, and some popcorn during the harmonics tests. Her appetite and excitement took over her body and sent it hurtling at the dessert spread. Apple tarts, apple pie, and apple dumplings all found their way into Pinkie’s open maw. Within seconds the desserts were in disarray. Most of the food floated around in Pinkie’s swollen belly.

“There goes the desserts, Ah reckon,” admired Applejack. The small party band turned away from the dessert carnage and began to chat amongst themselves.

“What brings you here Starlight?” asked Sunburst.

“She’s a friend of mine so I invited her,” defended Rainbow. She stared down Sunburst as if he had declared war. “You got a problem with that?”

“No problem,” back-peddled Sunburst. “It’s just I haven’t seen her out much anymore.”

“Well, I’ve been busy with my class representative duties,” said Starlight. “I have that entire class room to keep organized because that old stallion doesn’t seem to remember anything else except how to teach about the 2nd impact.”

“Hey,” said Rainbow Dash. “No egghead stuff at this party.” 

“Ah don’t think it’s good manners ta invite a guest then yell at them fer talkin’,” scolded Applejack.

“It’s ok,” apologized Starlight blushing. “I don’t want to bore everypony with my problems.”

“Your fine, Starlight,” waved off Applejack. “Some ponies just have ta learn better manners.”

“Says you! Weren’t you raised in a bar?” Rainbow jeered.

“And Ah ended up with more manners than you!”

“What! You want to fight about it?”

Pinkie Pie watched the two friends begin to shout. She found some ponies love to shout  and argue. It was how they showed they cared. Other ponies liked to sit in the corners and watch. Pinkie wondered if Fluttershy understood that because she looked very nervous as her friend and girlfriend bickered back and forth. She hoped to illuminate her.

“Hey Fluttershy,” the party roommate began. “Are you having a splendiferous time?”

“Yeah, I’m getting used to it,” the timid pegasus responded, not looking at all like she was.

“It’s still hard to be around others, huh?”

“I just don’t understand why they fight so much.”

“Everypony is different. Applejack and Rainbow Dash just like to fight.”

“So how do you feel about your promotion?” Fluttershy asked, hoping to change the subject.

“It’s pretty okish. It’s not the type of thing that makes me feel superty duper.”

“What do you do it for?”

“To make others happy of course.”

“How does destroying angels make ponies happy?” the first filly wondered. “It seems like there are other things that would be better to make others happy?”

“Well, my dream of being a party pony didn’t work out. I think it’s due to all the fear that ponies have from the second impact. So if I can fight off all these angels ponies might smile again and feel safe.”

“That does sound nice.”

“At least I tell myself that,” Pinkie grinned. Then she remembered her dream. The cold piece of her that always was with her. “But I don’t think it’s the really real reason. My family was killed due to the second impact.”

“Oh my goodness,” gasped Fluttershy. “I didn’t know.”

“Not many ponies do. My family were rock farmers in Yakyakistan. The second impact took place in the center of the Yak village. A family member was able to put me and my sister in a rock for safety. But I think I might be a tinsy bit mad at the angels for it.”

Fluttershy placed her hoof around Pinkie’s shoulder. Pinkie returned the hug with interest. She realized that though she thought about the sadness, talking about it made her feel better. She didn’t understand it but there it was. It was like Pinkie sense. She just knew how she felt. The joy of finding a new understanding made her feel twice as happy.

“Thanks everypony, “the party pony cheered. “You made this the best promotional surprise party party ever!”

The door opened. Cheese Sandwich arrived with Twilight and Pinkie’s heart sank. It was supposed to be her party to feel awesome. Cheese’s presence felt like a wet blanket had been thrown on her.

“Sorry we’re late but we were attacked by an alligator,”said Cheese.

“A likely story,” Pinkie said sticking her nose in the air.

“At least you admit it’s likely,” shrugged Cheese.

“It’s more likely that you’re a spy sent here to gather information on CAKE and commander Discord for some shadow society of secrets. Now you’re trying to act all buddy buddy with Twilight to get her to give up super secret stuff.”

Cheese’s face suddenly took on a very strained look. The casual smile he normally wore stretched unnaturally and looked entirely too wide. Twilight sighed.

“Pinkie, you say that about anypony I show up with,” snorted Twilight. “You accused Commander Discord of the same thing last week.”

“I’m still not certain he was truly telling the truth,” Pinkie huffed.

“Anyway congratulations,” Cheese curtly remarked. 

“Welcome to the party,” Sunburst welcomed.

“Pinkie ate all the food,” informed Applejack.

“I anticipated that,” said Twilight. She pulled out bags of food from her saddle bags.  Most of it was premade but the hungry party goers were famished. 

“It’s sad that Commander Discord and Mud Briar are out of the country and couldn’t come,” sighed Pinkie.“What happened to Maud?” 

“Oh, she said she doesn’t like surprise parties,” answered Applejack.

****

The partially frozen lands of Yakyakistan were once a desolate seething wasteland where only the strongest could survive. The village of Yaks were the hardiest of all creatures. Now the land was a desolate wasteland without even yaks in it.

Discord and Mud Briar stood in the tundra surrounded by nothing.

“Nothing lives here. No trees grow anywhere within one hundred miles of here. It seems quite dead,” commented Mud Briar.

“Not much of a cheerful place,” responded Discord as he kicked a small frozen clod of dirt. “Why is it all red?”

“You’re wearing red glasses, sir.”

“Oh, of course.” He took off his favorite red tinted glasses. “So this is where the second impact thingy happened.”

“Yes.”

“So many yaks and ponies died in the explosion. It was quite a mess.”

“Yes, and even now we really don’t know what caused it,” mused Mud Briar.”

“Yup, absolutely no idea,” said Discord rolling his eyes and brushing past the comment.”So we should find that huge staff that probably had nothing to do with this.”

“The lance of Longpegasus? It’s over there,” the deadpan pony pointed to the giant lance sticking out of the snow.

“See, if this land wasn’t so dead we would have had a much harder time finding it. Always a silver lining.”

“Now we just have to carry it out.”

“Oh, I have a method for that,” said Discord excitedly. He snapped his fingers but nothing happened. “Oh right, with myself spread all over the place I can’t use my chaos magic. But don’t worry I have a backup. Ohh, Smoozey poo,” he waved frantically. “Could you pick up that large stick and put it on the sled please?”

A giant green blob slid and oozed all over the landscape. It blubbered around the lance and swallowed it. Then slid its enormous body back to a large awaiting sled. It happily looked at Discord in askance.

“We talked about this,” scolded Discord. “You know what you must do.” 

The gelatinous form shook and pouted. It slowly extracted the object and backed away.

“This is merely a shrine now of ponykind’s folly,” pronounced Mud Briar.

“My goodness, such language ” Discord exclaimed aghast. “Did anybody ever tell you you’re a real stick in the mud? There is no need to assault the scenery with such morose prose.”

“I am sorry. It felt apropos.”

“Well you can feel your apropos yourself.” Discord shivered at the thought of them.

****

The dim blue light of a computer shown on Lyra’s bored face as it slid down the side of her hoof. The face slammed into the keyboard as her hoof lost its grip. She cringed as she felt the tenderness of her snout. Then glanced at that screen. She gasped and pressed the buzzer that alerted Twilight and the others. 

“The next angel has been spotted by our satellite,” shouted Lyra. “Ick! It looks awful.”

“They all looked awful,” retorted Bon Bon.

“Is it another giant bug?!” cringed Twilight.

“I don’t think so,” Lyra answered uncertainly.

“Put it on the big screen,” commanded Pinkie.

“No! Not if it’s another eye covered bug!” whimpered Twilight.

The command center gasped as a large orange mass displayed on the screen. It had one eye and looked like an ameba with wings. It hovered above the earth and looked down at them. The satellite caught the giant eye of the angel. A mouth shimmered across its body and it smiled a buck toothed smile. 

“Umm, is it supposed to look like that?” asked Bon Bon.

“I kind of like it,”stated Pinkie.

The ameba angel squinted and grunted with effort as a small section of it broke off and dropped to the earth.

“It looks like it’s ...pooping,” explained Lyra.

Bon Bon blankly stared at her.

“Well, what would you call it?” the green unicorn demanded, exasperated.

“It’s dropping itself, Twilight,” sighed Bon Bon.

“But why?” pondered Twilight. 

The satellite image followed the small object as it descended to the earth. The angel chunk changed color to bright red as it passed through the atmosphere. It stuck Equestria thousands of miles below. A large crater rippled out along the Equestrian surface. 

“It’s using itself and falling velocity to act like a bomb!” Twilight gasped.

The angel dropped a few more chunks in similar fashion over the next few hours. Each piece struck the ground closer and closer to CAKE headquarters. When Twilight and her team drew their conclusions they brought their findings to Major Pinkie.

“Alright we have a new mission,” shouted Pinkie. “We have to stop Poopiel from dropping on us.”

“Please don’t call it that,” requested Twilight as she placed her hoof to her head.

“Too late,” insisted Pinkie. “Alright pilots, listen up.”

The large screen changed and displayed the Eva pilots in their Evas. They looked around in confusion as their daily harmonics test abruptly ended.

“An angel has been dropping itself,”Twilight explained.

“Pooping!” shouted Pinkie.

“Dropping itself,” insisted Twilight,” closer and closer to home base. We believe it’s honing in...”

“Its poo,” snickered Pinkie.

“Honing in on our location. We think it plans to drop itself on HQ.”

“And we’re going to catch it,” explained Pinkie.

“What?” shouted Twilight. “It could drop anywhere or blow up all the Evas.”

“Nope, nope, nope, we’re going to catch it with the Eva’s AT field like a giant catchers mitt.”

“It could still explode and catching something that’s falling at terminal velocity is crazy. It could kill them and us.”

“What would you do Twilight?” Pinkie demanded.

“Well I need a week then I can calculate all the data.”

“It’s coming really soon, Twilight.”

“I need more time. I can’t think under this pressure.” Twilight began to dance on her hooves.

“Then we are going with my plan until you come up with one.”

“I don’t know Pinkie,” started Fluttershy. “It sounds kind of dangerous.”

“It’ll be safe in your Evas. I’m sure of it”, Pinkie assured, remembering her geode.

“Twilight really makes it sound like we’re going to blow up,” said Rainbow uncomfortably. “I love explosions but not sure I want to be the main focus of one.”

“C’mon team!” Pinkie desperately yelled,”where’s the spirit?!Don’t be some Debbie downers!We got this!”

“I don’t know,” said Fluttershy sheepishly. 

“If you do it I’ll throw in dinner.”

“In a restaurant?” asked Rainbow excitedly.

“Umm I guess.”

“Can you pay for Fluttershy and my date instead?”

“But what about Maud?” asked Fluttershy. “We couldn’t exclude her.”

“It’s fine, I normally eat with boulder anyway,” affirmed Maud.

“See,” convinced Rainbow,” she’s cool with it.”

“I don’t know,” the third filly wondered.

“Come on, we’re supposed to be dating. You brought up that you wanted to go on a date. So let’s go.”

Pinkie watched the racing thoughts on Fluttershy’s face. The party pony knew that it was hard for her to accept a treat for herself. Her mind raced. 

“I’ll pay for the whole day,” she assured frantically. 

“See even Pinkie wants us to go,” pointed out Rainbow.

Pinkie nodded her assurance to Fluttershy’s uncertain eyes. 

“Ok,” the yellow mare finally relented.

Pinkie breathed a sigh of relief. It was an odd couple but Pinkie loved oddness. She also wanted to see Fluttershy take more steps forward with her friendships.

“So what do we have to do for this mission?” asked the enthused Rainbow Dash. 

“All you have to do is spread out and wait until Poopiel drops. Then catch it with your AT field.”

“How will we know when and where it’s supposed to drop?” asked Fluttershy.

“My Pinkie sense will tell us.”

Twilight face hoofed.

****

“Ok team let’s spread out and begin operation #@&! catcher,”Pinkie instructed the Eva pilots. 

“You can’t call it that,” gasped Twilight.

“Too late.”

The Evas spread out throughout Ponyville 3. The buildings shook as the Eva’s thundered by. 

“I see it.”Rainbow pointed to the sky. Poopiel’s huge ameba body fell through the stratosphere, turning fire red. The huge buck-toothed mouth opened in a large innocent looking smile.

“Wait for it,” commanded Pinkie. “Wait for it, waaaiiit fooor it.”

“Pinkie, I was totally waiting. You don’t have to keep repeating it,” Rainbow griped.

Suddenly Pinkie’s entire body started to shake. She felt her ears twitch and her hooves wiggle uncontrollably.

“That’s it. It's going to land right there,” she hollered and slammed a spot on a map in front of her.

“Where? We can’t see the map, Pinkie,” sighed Rainbow.

“Ohh, heh heh, right. It looks like it’s going to land right on Twilight’s tree library. Sorry twi.”

“What!?” cried Twilight.

Pinkie grabbed Twilight in a supreme best friend hug but watched the monitor as the Evas ran toward the purple unicorn’s home. 

The hulking mass continued to plummet. It was only a few hundred feet before impact when Rainbow deployed her wings and rushed to meet it. She gritted her teeth and used her up draft to maintain her position.

“Opening AT field!” the prismatic-maned pony screamed.

Unit-00 and 01 arrived seconds later and extended their AT fields. A blanket of energy ensnared the confused angel. It smiled gleefully as Maud used her mighty hooves to shatter its field. Fluttershy jumped in directly after and impaled it with her horn. The smiling never ceased as the entire being exploded with titanic force. Buildings, roadways and library trees were disintegrated instantly.  

“My home!” shouted Twilight. She collapsed into Pinkie’s soft embrace. Tears streamed from her normally stoic face. The control room watched in mourning as Twilight succumbed to the horror of her plight. Lyra and Trixie both had their hooves over their mouths. Pinkie felt awful and wondered if she had done the right thing after all. The best thing she knew she could do is be there for her friend. 

“You can live with us Twilight,” suggested Lyra meekly but caught a stern look from Bon Bon.

“No, I don’t want to impose,” sniffled Twilight shaking her head. “CAKE can find me a new place to live I’m sure.”

“We barely have enough room for each other,” whispered Bon Bon. Lyra looked down in shame. 

“You can stay with Trixie,” declared Trixie, “your new great and powerful roommate!”

“Trixie!” gasped Twilight. “What are you doing?” she suddenly hissed in a harsh whisper.

“Duh,” the blue unicorn snarked and rolled her eyes. ”Trixie is opening her home for you. By home I mean my measly apartment.”

“Thank you, Trixie,”Twilight finally breathed. “I will happily accept.”

The monitor turned back on and the ponies saw the total devastation of the area. The library was simply a crater. The three Eva’s lay in a twisted heap. Pinkie felt tears well up in her own eyes. She could feel the firm resolve she had in her plan begin to crumble. Should stopping the angels cost them so much? How much more could her and her friends take?

A lavender hoof found its way onto her shoulder. Pinkie felt a definite squeeze.  

“It’s ok Pinkie,” her best friend said,” it’s just a home. I know this was the best plan you could come up with. You did good.”

***

The pilots returned from the wreckage with bruises but in good spirits. Pinkie and Twilight  quickly dried their eyes. They embraced their returning champions and found solace in their friendship. 

The phone rang and Lyra quickly answered. 

“Major Pinkie, it’s Commander Discord,” Lyra informed.

Pinkie took a big breath in. The commander must have heard about Poopiel and Twilight’s house. The Evas weren’t in the most bestest shape either. 

“Commander Discord,” Pinkie began as she answered. “I’m sorry mission ‘#@!* catcher’ resulted in the destruction of Twilight's house. It also damaged the Evas quite a bit.”

“Oh, that’s no matter, Major Pinkie Pie,” assured the soothing chaotic voice.“What matters is that adorable angel is gone. Now I think I have a bad connection because I think I misheard the mission name. What was it again?”

“#@&! Catcher”

“Yeah, this line is so funny I keep hearing something that sounds most profane.”

“It only sounds like that. It’s written with a bunch of symbols.”

“I see. Is um Fluttershy about perchance?”

“I’m here, Commander Discord,” piped up Fluttershy.

“I just wanted to say good work, Fluttershy.”

“Thank you, Commander,” she mumbled.

“What about me?”, demanded Rainbow. “I caught the angel with my Eva’s wings.”

“Yes, yes, very good.. err..aaahh Rainbow..cloud?.. lightning bolt?.. something.”

“Dash,” finished Rainbow.

“Yes indeed I must, toot-a-loo, everyone. Click”

The phone line clicked and went dead.

“That didn’t feel very sincere,” scowled Rainbow.

“You did great, Dashie,” congratulated Pinkie. “You all did. Now time for us to party.”

“Ok, but then Fluttershy and I go on our date,” reminded Rainbow.

“Done,” nodded Pinkie. 

***

The triumphant friends returned to Pinkie’s little apartment and began yet another party. Yesterday’s decorations were replaced with a new set of decorations and Pinkie felt her inner party animal rise up within her. She felt the freedom to let herself go and truly enjoy her moment. She felt all the sadness, self doubt and anger disperse on the dance floor. It was healing. Pinkie wanted to share that feeling with every pony. 

“Isn’t this fun?!” screamed Pinkie through the intense music.

“Yeah, even Maud showed!” yelled Rainbow. 

“She is a party animal, whooo!”

Maud calmly blew a small party horn. It gave forth a triumphant strangled goose call.

Pinkie watched all the dancing ponies and noticed her favorite yellow wallflower was missing. She caught sight of her on the balcony. 

“Why are you all mopey faced? We’re winners!” declared Pinkie as she assaulted Fluttershy with music by opening the balcony door.

“Sometimes it feels like all we do is hurt others,” answered Fluttershy. “I know they are just magical constructs but I can’t help but feel bad we don’t give them a chance.”

“Fluttershy! They destroyed Yakyakistan! They killed my family!” said Pinkie Pie, suddenly angry. “I am all for second, third and forth chances but it’s hard to be nice to something that wants to kill you.”

Fluttershy looked down for a minute. Pinkie couldn’t believe her own outburst. She had danced all her cares away. Why did they bubble up so fast? She wished she could tell Fluttershy that the angels were gone. She wished she could tell her that she didn’t have to pilot anymore. She knew better. The angels would continue to come and Fluttershy was ponykind’s best bet. 

“Fluttershy, why do you pilot the Eva?” the pink mare asked. 

“I’m not sure. I guess like you I just want to make ponies happy but I do wish it was more constructive.”

“But what you do helps ponies live. For realsies. If you weren’t fighting the angels would just destroy us all.”

“It just doesn’t seem kind,” Fluttershy said, hanging her head.

“Sometimes kindness could be sparing others from doing the hard things.”

“I never thought of it like that.”

Pinkie gave her a hug and hoped she hadn’t manipulated her friend to her own doom. Still she knew that Fluttershy was too important to let her quit. She hoped that she believed her own words as much as Fluttershy did.
> Episode 13: Plants and Computers
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Twilight sighed. This was not the type of thing she was comfortable with. She was used to computers and magic and things that were much more easily direct-able. Ponies on the other hand were unpredictable and willful. At this point they were timid and full of shame. 

She pressed the intercom button and asked again,” please walk down the hall and get into your entry plugs.”

“You really want us to do this?” demanded Rainbow Dash.

“I don’t think this a good idea,” shuttered Fluttershy.

“I’m ok with it,” stated Maud bluntly.

“We’re trying to decrease the possible resistance in the system,” explained Twilight. “The data collected here might contribute to the dummy plug system. Hopefully, if we’re able to perfect it, we won’t have to put pilots in danger at all.”

“Well that sounds nice,” pondered Fluttershy.

“Will entering the Evas naked actually change all that much?” insisted Rainbow.

“It might,” prodded Twilight. “This is the scientific method, Rainbow Dash. We perform experiments to see what changes cause which effects.”

“I don’t think I can do this,” the timid yellow mare cried as her body began to uncontrollably shake.

“It’ll be fine,” insisted Twilight placing her head in her hooves. The little pegasus can fight angels in a giant destructive robot but couldn’t walk down a measly hallway without clothes. “It’ll be just like running your Eva with your suit.”

“I just don’t think I can,” Fluttershy whined.

“Don’t worry,” Rainbow Dash said with a flick of her mane.”I’ll help her get there. Heh heh.”

“Nooo,” shouted Fluttershy. 

“C’mon we’re both mares. It’s not like I have seen you naked before.”

“What? You were spying?!”

“No! We changed into entry-plug suits together, remember?”

“That won’t be necessary,” explained Twilight with another annoyed sigh. “Fluttershy we’ll turn off the cameras. No pony, not even Rainbow Dash, will see you as you walk down the hallway to your Eva.”

“Aww, you’re no fun,” snorted the cyan mare.

“Ok,” Fluttershy finally relented.

Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash and Maud all trotted to their entry plugs without any clothes. They uncomfortably sloshed into the orange liquid and connected to their Eva simulators like they always did.

Twilight finally was able to start the data stream on the individual units. Science would be so much easier if ponies didn’t have all these scruples. She began collating and organizing the data. 

“How do you feel in there?” asked Twilight to the Eva pilots.

“About the same really,” answered Rainbow trying to peer into Fluttershy’s simulator.

“Same but more exposed,” replied Fluttershy. 

“I’m fine,” answered Maud. 

“Good, just a little while longer and the test should be complete.”

***

Mud Briar watched the results of the test stream into the office. He felt a strangeness when he thought of Maud. It didn’t make sense. He felt light headed and very anxious whenever she was around. He wondered if she wore some sort of perfume that he was allergic to. Perhaps she was covered in a particular dust that he was reacting to. He shook his head furiously. Thoughts of Maud did nothing but distract him. 

A gray pegasus stood in front of his desk. Her eyes pointed in two different directions. Then she shook her head and they refocused. She gave him a small report that looked highly battered. He glanced over it. 

“It seems corrosion has been found in some of the walls up top,” explained Mud Briar to an uninterested Discord. 

“What sort of corrosion?,” asked Discord as he stood on his head. 

“Some vegetation it looks like.”

“Well that seems exceedingly boring,” sighed Discord. “You’re into plants. You should look into it.”

“Do you know where this corrosion is?” he asked the pegasus. She excitedly nodded. “Could you please take me there?” She nodded again and turned but walked into the wall. She shook her head again and smiled. Then with a wave of her hoof she trotted down the corridor with Mud Briar in tow. 

***

Twilight watched as an exciting new data stream began on Unit-02. She quickly started to filter the various variables into their separate banks. As she was just about to read what the trend was suggesting her entire computer screen winked at her.

“Huh?”

She looked around but no pony else seemed to react. She rubbed her eyes a bit and passed it off as lack of sleep. Trixie’s caravan was not the same roomy home that her tree had been. She refocused her gaze on her screen.

“Huh?” squeaked Lyra and stared closer at the monitor. “I think my computer just winked at me.”

“Computers don’t wink, Lyra,” sighed Bon Bon. “We talked about this. They don’t have a personality or the ability to think independently.”

“Don’t listen to her, Hal,” Lyra hissed as she stroked her monitor’s top. “I know the truth.”

“Lyra, I don’t think.. wait a minute.” Bon Bon stared at her screen closer. “My screen just winked at me too.”

“See? Now Hal and Motoko can finally get to meet.”

“What?”

“Your computer is definitely Motoko,” explained Lyra with great confidence. “And now Motoko and Hal here can meet and be friends.”

“You make my head hurt.”

“Hmm,” Twilight pondered. “It could be a strange bit of code. Run a diagnostic with Spike. He might be able to flush it out.”

***

After a few wall bonks, smiles and a sudden muffin craving the grey mare, that Mud Briar decided to call Muffins, led him to a junction box on one of the higher floors. It was covered in a strange green plant that shimmered iridescently as he walked towards it.  

“Interesting,” he said. “This strand of vegetation is related to mistletoe. It doesn’t normally exhibit this behavior. I would expect this from spore based mold.”

The plant shook then changed into more of a fungus similar to what he described. 

“Did you see..”

He looked behind him to find his companion staring down her muffin. She quickly put it behind her back and reapplied her innocent smile.

“Never mind.”

****

“We’re getting more odd winks and smiles on our monitors,” sneered Bon Bon as she tried to shy away from it. The winks and smiles were a bit off putting. Lyra kept insisting they were Mokoto trying to ask Hal on a date.

“I’m getting them too,” confirmed Trixie.

“Me too,” sighed an exasperated Twilight. “These things are frustrating. I want to see my data. Honestly, what is Spike doing?”

“Oh no,” gasped Trixie. “This isn’t Mokoto, Hal or Lain. My computer’s name was Lain. Some pony is trying to hack Spike right now!”

“What!” shouted Twilight feeling her face flush and her blood run cold. “That’s impossible! No pony has the knowledge to hack Spike!”

The frantic unicorn quickly switched screens and found the raw data from the stream. She quickly analyzed it. Codes and strange symbols were infecting every part of it. 

“This can’t be,” Twilight mumbled.

“Twilight!” Lyra cried. “Hal is attacking the Evas! It’s spreading all over Unit-02!”

Rainbow Dash’s shrieks filled the control room as her simulator started twisting and reforming into a pair of feathery wings.

“Rainbow!” shouted Pinkie from behind the computer mares. “Twilight! She’s hurting! Get her out! Get them all out!”

“Emergency entry plug ejection sequence!” commanded the purple unicorn.

Steam and smoke billowed out from the simulator bodies as the entry plugs shot off through a nearby exit. 

Twilight placed her hoof on her forehead. The Spike system was practically impenetrable. How could something like this be possible?

“The hacker has been traced,” announced Bon Bon. “It’s coming from a junction box near the surface!”

***

“Sir?” poked Muffins. “I think we better go now.”

Mud Briar watched in fascination as the mold he was inspecting began to grow at in a rapid rate. The green moss-like substance began flowing like water all around the two ponies. Muffins grabbed her superior and flew quickly down the hall. 

“Hmmm,” Mud Briar said as his hooves lifted off the ground seconds before the sea of green mold covered it.  “Oh yes. I guess we should leave after all. We’ll close that bulkhead in our passing. That should show down the mold.”

He felt himself being thrown to the hallway as Muffins quickly pressed the button to close the door. It snapped close with hiss. 

“Perhaps we should reconvene at the Commander's office,” Mud Briar suggested.

Muffins cocked her head and placed her smile back on.

“Let’s head to Discord’s room?”

The pegasus nodded and followed Mud Briar. 

“I’m starting to suspect that we’re not dealing with a mold at all,” suggested the dead pan stallion. “This might be an angel attack.”

***

“Eeeek! What is that thing?!” shrieked Trixie. She stared wide-eyed at the small pixelated image of a griffin on her screen. 

“I don’t know,” admitted Twilight. The Eva simulators had stopped twisting once the pilots were ejected. All their monitors began showing strange happy images and flashing greetings.

“Analysis complete,” Bon Bon said. “It’s an angel. And it’s right here.”

An intercom crackled to life causing Twilight to jump. “Twilight,” the commander’s voice calmly said, “according to Mud Briar and everyponies’ favorite pegasus we’re under attack from an angel.”

“We just figured that out, Commander!” hissed Twilight.

“It’s copying all the files! I can’t stop it!” shrieked Lyra.

“What’s it after?” asked Twilight as the little griffin icon flashed from file to file looking around.

“It looks like it’s trying to find Pinkie’s pie recipe,” suggested Lyra shrugging.

“My pies!” gasped Pinkie. “Launch the Evas. Destroy the central dogma and the Spike system! We can’t let them get my pies!”

“Pinkie, central dogma is keeping this place running,” sighed Twilight.

“But my pies, Twilight, my pies!”

“There are more important things than your pies!”

“It’s hacking further in!” shouted Bon Bon. “It’s not after pies.”

“Oh thank Celestia,” sighed Pinkie.

“It looks like it’s looking for something called My Pretty Pony.” informed Bon Bon. “And trying to set off the self destruction sequence. It’s attacking the Spike system directly!”

“Spike!” shouted Twilight as she started to dance on her hooves. “Redirect the energy flow, ground it out!”

“We’re trying, we're just not fast enough!” spat Bon Bon.

“Spike system is falling!” whined Trixie.

Bon Bon tapped as fast as her hooves would allow her. Each click she could feel the angel rushing past. She tapped out a quick code sequence and the griffin icon found itself in a tiny cage. It bounced at the bars but couldn’t get out.

“That slowed it,” exhaled Bon Bon. “But the cage code won’t hold it for long.”

“How long do we have?” breathed Trixie as she collapsed.

“A few hours,” declared Twilight. “I have to go check on Spike.”

“You can’t do that from the terminal?” Lyra inquired.

“Not Spike the system,” clarified Twilight. “Spike the dragon.”

“I don’t understand,” Trixie admitted and gave Twilight a quizzical look.

“Oh come on, I’ve mentioned Spike to you all time,” said the purple unicorn casually. 

“Yeah but weren’t you working on the Spike system all day. You built it.”

“I didn’t fully build it,” Twilight attempted to clarify. “Spike helped a lot.”

“Spike helped build itself?”

“Not Spike the system. Spike the dragon!” reiterated Twilight exasperated.

Trixie shook her and rubbed her temples. “Trixie knows you’ve been under a lot of stress lately. It might be time for a break.”

“No! I have to talk to him.”

“Who?”

“Spike! Oh c’mon Trixie. I think you should met him.”

“I’m coming too,” bounced Pinkie.

The trio left the confused Lyra and Bon Bon and started down the hall. Twilight suddenly spun on the pair of them. 

“Ok, just don’t touch anything,” warned Twilight. “Spike is a system that the real Spike designed to assist me. As the needs of CAKE grew so did the system. Now Spike’s system runs the entirety of this place.”

They continued their trot and began to descend. Each hallway looked the same but Twilight knew each turn by heart. The thought of seeing Spike again propelled her with excitement. The others scrambled to keep up.

“Wow, that’s a lot of work,” admitted Trixie breaking Twilight’s concentration. 

“He’s been so busy lately I haven’t seen him in days,” Twilight excitedly jabbered “Of course I’ve been busy with my studies and the Evas as well.”

It was around that time that Twilight tried to remember exactly how long it had been. A few day’s seemed likely but then she couldn’t remember what he had said about losing their home. What had he said about moving in with Trixie? Had he known about Trixie?

A cold sweat enveloped her as her causal trot turned into a gallop. If he hadn’t known about Trixie then it had been moons not days. 

“Oh my goodness!” Twilight cried as that reality hit her. “How could I be so irresponsible?”

The lavender unicorn found the little cave-like structure in the mass of wires where she had always left it. Immediately she noted how unclean it had become.

“Spike are you home?” asked Twilight tentatively barely above a whisper. What if he was.. She couldn’t bring herself to think it. She dove into the grimy mess that was in the entrance of his cave.

“Spike?!” she screamed as she military crawled through the hovel. Pinkie and Trixie exchanged looks as the unpleasant odor struck their noses. 

“Trixie’s not sure she can deal with this,” Trixie sneered as she began to back away. 

“Trixie,” pleaded Twilight’s voice from in the tunnel. “Spike might be in trouble. I need your help.”

Trixie put on a determined expression and held her breath as she dove through the layers of grime. Pinkie just giggled and some how cannon balled in forward.

“Spike?!” Twilight’s voice was thick with fear. Panic danced at its edges. She was about to loose her composure when she found him.

Spike the little purple dragon hung from a harness strapped to a wall made of piping. His face was covered in wires. Some were clipped to his ears, and lip. Suction cups held more wires to his forehead. His eyes had sunken into his head and his purple scales had a dusty gray look to them. He scarcely breathed.

“Oh my goodness!” cried Twilight nearly putting her hoof in her mouth. “Spike, are you ok? What happened? Can you hear me? Get a medic! He needs help! Oh, this is all my fault. I should have checked on him more frequently.”

Trixie rushed in to help levitate Spike’s dehydrated form from the cave while Pinkie sped for Nurse Redheart. They unclipped him from his harness and slowly floated him outside the cave.

Spike’s deadened eyes began to have more life in them and then focused in on Twilight. He tried to mouth some words but Twilight couldn’t understand them. Then he lost consciousness. 

“Spike! Spike! Wake up! Please stay awake!”screamed Twilight.

Pinkie and the nurse arrived moments later and the unicorns placed his little body on the stretcher. They rushed to the infirmary and the awaiting Doctor Horse. 

“Thank you ladies but I need to work on him,” Doctor Horse said. “He looks massively dehydrated and malnourished but I’ll know more when I examine him.”

Twilight felt her body pushed out by the nurse. She resisted. She fought for the love of Spike. 

“No I left him too long,” she cried. “I can’t leave him now!”

“He’ll be ok, Twi,” comforted Pinkie. “Let Doctor Horse work.”

“No! No! No! I have to help him!”

“You did. You got him here.”

Twilight continued to push against the pink mass in her way but found it was uncharacteristically strong. 

“I have to help!” the frantic unicorn pleaded. “I have to..

Suddenly Twilight felt her lips pressed against another’s. She could feel the heat from the other pony’s breath tickle her nose. She opened her eyes to find Trixie’s lips locked in to her own. Twilight could feel the tears of confusion and frustration bubbling to the surface.

“You needed to stop,” Trixie declared. “Trixie knew her most powerful kiss would stop you.”

“But Trixie,” stammered Twilight. “Why? It was our secret. I thought you didn’t want any pony to know.”

“The great and powerful Trixie was tired of keeping her feelings a secret. Some secrets are better when shared. Now please, Twilight, go sit down and let the doctor work.”

Twilight was too stunned and tired to fight. She nodded quietly and followed her friends to the waiting room.

Hours trudged by. Twilight lay in a heap of worry and misery while Trixie rubbed her mane. 

“I’m sorry, Pinkie” Twilight croaked.”I meant to tell you about Trixie but I was just so busy and Trixie didn’t want awkwardness.”

“Oh, was that supposed to be a secret?” chirped Pinkie. “Everypony in the control room, cafeteria and on my block knows.”

“But how could they possibly..”

“Well, you made it pretty obvious so I figured you wanted the world to know. So I might have shouted about it a few times.”

Twilight sighed. She knew better than to be angry at her friend. Pinkie was more of an unstoppable, unchangeable force that merely occurred. She wasn’t trying to be mean or unpleasant. She was just being Pinkie. 

Trixie however began to puff up in annoyance. Twilight quickly placed a hoof on hers seconds before Trixie erupted. Pinkie was something that Trixie was going to have to get used to. 

Doctor Horse finally emerged from the exam room. He wore a grave face that shook Twilight to her core. She had been a bad friend to her little dragon and it pained her.

“Well Miss Twilight,” he grumbled. Twilight prepared for the worst. “Spike is lucky to have a friend like you. If he had stayed there much longer we would be having a different conversation. He needs to eat, rest and drink plenty of water. We have him on lactated ringers now but he needs more nourishment. Remind him that the Spike system can’t run so well without the Spike. But also remind him there are friends like you who will keep it going while he rests.”

“Thank you doctor,” whispered Twilight. She knew that the doctor was trying his best to sound more pleasant but all she had heard was that Spike had nearly died. She was never letting Spike from her side again.” Can I go and see him?”

“Of course.”

The little group shuffled uncertainly to the little exam room with a deflated Twilight leading the pack. She poked her head in and saw her little friend prone in the bed with an IV and fluids running into his arm.

“Spike?” Twilight scarcely whispered,” what happened?”

Spike’s eyes opened and floated around the room until they landed on Twilight. He pushed his little body into a sitting position.

“Twi...light?” Spike croaked. “I’m sorry. With all the different things going on I kept having to make more and more adjustments. I left the cave less and less. Soon I figured a way to connect my mind directly to the system. But I was so busy I forgot to check in with my body.”

“Oh Spike, this is my fault!”balled Twilight. “I’ve been trying to run this place and run my experiments. Then I got caught up with the Evas and my relationship with Trixie. I’m so sorry.”

Spike looked paler than before.

“Oh no! Are you getting worse? Nurse! Nurse!” cried Twilight. 

“Twilight and Trixie? Together?!” he muttered in disbelief.

“Oh Spike, I know it’s a big change. But I’m not going to leave your side again,” declared Twilight. 

“I’m not sure where we can fit him in my caravan,” whispered Trixie.

“Caravan?” asked Spike.

“Then we must find a new place. I can’t do this to Spike. I’m sure CAKE can find a spot for us. For all three of us,” the purple mare added, seeing the somber look on Trixie’s face. “This has taught me I shouldn’t ignore any of my friends or their feelings.”

“A new place?” asked the confused dragon.

“Spike, how long were you in the system?”

“Well, what day is it?”

“Tuesday.”

“Umm, of what month?”

“Really Spike?!” scolded Twilight.

“It’s really easy to lose track of time there,” explained Spike. “I mean there are so many systems to interact with. The angel! Oh my goodness! I nearly forgot! I have to get back in there, Twilight!” 

Spike’s color returned and he desperately tried getting out of bed. “The angel was looking for something. It snuck into headquarters as a plant and found a way into the Spike system through a junction box. I think it wants a friend. I’ve been talking to it. It’s name is Gabriella. But I’ve been calling it Gabby. I think I can convince it to leave or at least to not hurt us.”

“Spike, we just got you out of there,” chided Twilight. “You can  barely stand. We can’t just put you back in.”

“Gabby won’t be there for long. She’s constantly evolving and changing. She loves to help but right now she’s helping her fellow angels. I think she’ll help us if we ask. Listen, Twilight, I can handle one more dive. I’ll bring Nurse Redheart with me. She’ll monitor my body. Ok?! Please? I have to try.”

“Ok, calm down Spike,” assured Twilight. “But once this is over, you’re cut off from the computer for a week.”

****

The small team returned to the hovel that was Spike’s cave. Twilight crawled back through the waste and found his connection wires. She passed them out in a shimmer of purple. Spike began to reconnect his body and pulled a mini keyboard out. 

“Ok, I’m going to find her now, “ he announced.

“You’re body’s not strong, little dragon,” reminded the nurse. “You only have fifteen minutes tops before I pull you out. Understand?”

Spike nodded. Twilight watched as he pressed a button on his keyboard then his body went limp. It pained her to see he had neglected all his friends and his body for his job. She began to wonder if she was setting a horrible example.

***

Spike felt the familiar rush of stars as he entered the digital world. The world around him shifted to a dark world where electricity streaked along metal mountains in the background. He walked through the pixelated world and found the small griffin icon that Bon Bon and Lyra had seen on their screens.

“Spike!” cheered Gabby. “You came back. My angel friends didn’t think you would.”

“Of course I did,” Spike said cheerfully. “But I need to ask a favor of you. You know my pony friends I was telling you about? They are really scared that you’re taking over the system and trying to move the Evas.”

“Oh I was. The other angels told me that ponies are bad and wanted me to find information on them. They also want me to find something called My Pretty Pony then blow up the place.”

“Blow up the place!?”

“Is that bad?” Gabby asked, placing her claw in her mouth in concern.

“That will kill me and all my friends!”

“Oh. I guess it’s not the best plan for you.”

“Is there a way you can complete some of your mission and not destroy us?” 

The griffin thought for a minute then her face brightened.

“Oh yes. I already completed the fact finding mission. So all that is left is to blow you all up. But if you don’t want me to I guess I won’t. The problem is that angels and ponies can’t exist together.”

“What do you mean?” Spike looked at her in wonder. 

“Well one of us has to go. It’s just not possible for us to be together for long.”

“I see,” mumbled Spike dejectedly. “So you have to leave soon, huh?”

“Yup, real soon if you don’t want to be blown up,” Gabby informed. “But at least I got to help both of my friends.”

“Wait! When you say leave do you mean..”

Gabby began to dissolve. Her form separated into little bricks. They floated out from her and merged with the scenery.

“Goodbye Spike,” she cried as more of her began to fade. “It was fun getting to know you.”

“Gabby?! Gabby?!” Spike suddenly realized she wasn’t just leaving. She was dying. “Nooo! Don’t go! You shouldn’t die on our account. We can work this out. We can use this system to help you. I know it. I..I..I’m sorry.”

Gabby’s form vanished completely. Spike collapsed on the virtual floor. Suddenly he felt the world jerk out from under him. He woke up staring at the stern look from Nurse Redheart. 

“You’re fifteen minutes is up, Mr Dragon,” the nurse sighed. “We don’t want a relapse.”

Spike looked around the real world in wonder. Then he remembered and tears welled up in his eyes. Twilight was there in a flash with her forelegs around him. 

“She’s gone,” the little dragon cried. Then buried his head into Twilight’s chest. 

“I know,” Twilight soothed. “But she was a truly good friend to sacrifice herself for us.”

Spike began to bawl. Trixie awkwardly moved in. Twilight nodded at her lover. She needed Trixie to feel comfortable with Spike. If Trixie wanted to remain with her then Spike was also part of the package. She almost felt like a single mother or a big sister that took care of her little brother. 

Trixie took the risk and wrapped her hooves around the both of them. Twilight could feel her cheeks flush with pride with the progress Trixie made. Then her entire body felt like it was in a vise as Pinkie added herself to the pile. The party pony’s grip was made of adamentium and her strength was impossibly strong. 

The little group stayed in their hug ball for an eternity but eventually Spike’s eyes were dry and his body succumbed to comfort of sleep. 

“Now you need to get some rest,” Twilight said and placed a kiss upon his scaly forehead.“And the rest of us need a shower.”

“Umm, my caravan doesn’t have a shower,” whispered Trixie.

“Then we have to shower this gunk off here,” huffed Twilight. 

****

Fluttershy cowered behind a bush. It had been hours since they were launched from their entry plugs and saw no signs of rescue. Rainbow Dash grumbly paced back and forth while she desperately tried to hold leaves over her withers.  Maud simply stood behind a rock.

“Is anypony coming to get us?!” shouted Rainbow into the empty night. 

“At least give us clothes,” whined Fluttershy.
> Episode 14: The Great and Powerful Trixie Show
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

CAKE headquarters was equipped with so many different luxurious things that it scarcely felt like the most formidable fortress in all of Equestria. It contained one dozen galley-sized kitchens which produced some of the finest culinary creations that gave Pinkie Pie a run for her money. It had the most up to date software and magic integration system that any computer wizard would quickly give her left eye and right hoof to just watch in action. It had state of the art medical wings that pushed the boundaries of medical science technology and magic in ways ponies could never appreciate until they needed it. It was also equipped with the largest indoor amphitheater in the known world. Commander Discord had insisted that it be filled with the latest components, lights, sounds and special effects that any thespian could ever hope for.

It was this stage a small blue unicorn walked out on. The dazzling spotlight clicked on and illuminated the giggling mare. It made her shine like the sun for what would be the briefest of times but felt like a lifetime remembrances. The young magician didn’t quite shine like the sun but sparkled like the sea in the moonlight.

Trixie lifted the large purple wizard hat from her head and bowed to the joyful crowd. There was cheering and some whistles as she did. She held her hooves out to the crowd for silence. Then bought them closely together and slowly drew a wand from her cuff in such a way that the audience would swear she grew it between her hooves in front of their eyes. She flashed it around for all to see then flicked it with a quick motion. The wand unrolled like a scroll and she began to read.

“It’s story time at the CAKE amphitheater and the great and powerful Trixie will be dazzling you with this tantalizing tale thus far.

“First Trixie arrived at the very great but not as powerful headquarters of CAKE after filling out an application. Then she was interviewed by the smart and unbelievably cute Twilight Sparkle.”

Trixie could see into the first row where her girlfriend, Twilight, sat. Her face wore a strained uncertain smile and turned a large earth pony shade of red. 

“Then Trixie joined her new friends Lyra and Bon Bon at the exciting and powerful job of research assistant to Twilight. It wasn’t long before the first filly, Maud, began her first tests. Trixie was sent to the copier to make copies for Twilight’s great success. To Trixie’s horror she found that the copier was out of toner and Trixie had no idea where it was. In a panic Trixie found herself checking all known crevices of the office.

“When it seemed all hope was lost, Trixie remembered  the secret stash of toner Lyra hides under her desk. Trixie rushed back to the control room. She entered and bang! Kaboom!”

Trixie released a few hidden fireworks from her cuffs. The audience excitedly stared at the trick. The magician smiled and continued her tale. 

“Eva Unit-00 had gone berserk and smashed the control room. Glass flew everywhere. Trixie noticed that her beloved boss Twilight was in pain. A large piece of glass had cut Twilight and Trixie frantically grabbed as many bandages as she could. She pressed on the horrid wound squelching the flow of blood. She pressed herself against her to make sure she didn’t bleed to death.”

Trixie wilted on stage to show the dramatic spirit that pushed her narrative. Sure Trixie was the one that had been cut and it had only been her hoof. Trixie had panicked while Twilight wrapped her entire leg. The audience was captivated by the drama so much so that the truth seemed of little concern. 

“It was there, in that life saving moment, Trixie found the mare of her dreams but alas she was too shy to express her feelings. She thought, hoped and prayed Twilight felt the same but could feel the doubt and fear pressing her lips closed. 

“After the ‘berserker’ incident it turned out the Trixie didn’t have to print anything at. No pony even noticed that Trixie had forgotten the toner.

“It was around this time when the third filly, Fluttershy, showed up. Now Trixie watched as her beloved mare ran off to convince the new pony to save ponykind. She heard later that Commander Discord personally tried to convince the bashful Fluttershy to pilot Unit-01 but had a hard time of it. It wasn’t until Fluttershy had her own heartfelt moment with the pilot of Unit-00. Maud collapsed after the injuries she suffered from Unit-00’s outburst. Fluttershy rushed to her as Trixie had done to Twilight and they shared a gentle embrace. Then a quick smooch and Fluttershy had all the courage she needed to pilot the Eva.”

“Hey!” came a shout from an indignant rainbow-haired audience member. “That didn’t happen at all!”

“Were you there?” asked the irate and annoyed Trixie.

“Well, um, no,” admitted the cyan heckler.

“Then you don’t know what happened, do you? Now. As Trixie was saying, before she was so rudely interrupted, Fluttershy and Maud shared a passionate kiss that left even the more analytical Twilight flushed. Fluttershy waved to her new found love as she ascended the Eva possibly never to be seen again.

“Trixie, of course, sat at her terminal watching the scary approach of the horrible angel. Its fearsome visage caused Trixie’s stomach to turn horribly. Never mind the fact that Trixie had eaten the last burrito in her fridge that may or may not have been there during the last power outage. It was mostly likely the angel.

“The fantastic battle between Unit-01 and the angel raged back and forth like the epic battle in Trixie’s insides while Trixie was in the bathroom. Finally after an explosion Trixie finally felt better and the battle ended. Trixie returned to the control room to find the city on fire and Unit-01 was seriously damaged. Luckily Fluttershy was ok and returned to piloting with excitement.

“With Trixie’s victory over her stomach she even felt well enough to join the after party with Twilight and the others. It was there, filled with liquid courage, that Trixie finally felt the nerve to tell Twilight how she felt.”

She neglected to mention that Twilight and her were found drunkenly making out in the parking lot of the bar by Lyra and Bon Bon. The truth was Trixie had no idea how and why that happened but had decided to go with it at the time.

“Twilight and Trixie’s great and powerful relationship had begun although in secret. Now each glance and stolen kiss in the hallway made work fun for the two love soaked mares. And then another angel attacked. This one looked like a giant bug. Trixie remembers this one the most because Twilly... er...Twilight woke up many nights screaming about it. Trixie had to ...never mind. Anyway the horrible bug angel stomped recklessly through the city. It growled and snarled at the Eva as it emerged. It grabbed Unit-01 with a ropey leg thing and started throwing Fluttershy back and forth through the city.”

“It was then a really big bug landed on Trixie’s computer screen. Trixie screamed. Twilight screamed. Lyra and Bon Bon screamed because it was a really scary bug. While the Eva was thrown around the city. The icky bug chased us around the control room. Finally it came to rest near the door of the control room. Trixie mustered up all her courage and pushed it out of the room by slamming the door. We all relaxed until Twilight‘s melodious voice informed Trixie that Discord had been standing on the other side of the door. Discord thought that perhaps Trixie should clean the hallways for a while.

“Trixie missed most of the rest of the angel attacks but missed her beautiful and brilliant  girlfriend more. She wandered the lonely hallways pushing her broom with only a grey pegasus ,that had some eye trouble, as a friend. Then after an eternity Twilight told her she could come back.”

It had only actually been days and no angel attacks had occurred then. But Trixie was starting to get tired with her tale. The lights were brighter and warmer than she thought they would be. She felt the great story she had written become long and drawn out.

“So as Trixie returned, Fluttershy had faced a bunch more angels and made friends with that rude, rainbow-haired, loud pilot.”

“Hey!” sounded an annoyed shout from said pilot.

“But Trixie was there when the giant angel called Poopiel, snort, appeared. It struck from the sky deviously using its own body and massive height as a weapon. It dropped piece after piece of itself until it came dangerously close to headquarters. The brilliant Twilight told us that she thought that it would drop itself on headquarters. Major Pinkie thought the best idea was to send the Evas to catch the angel with their bare hooves! The Evas got in position and galloped to catch it as the huge, but dumb-looking, being plummeted to the earth. The Evas reached with their mighty hooves and caught the horrid creature just before it landed and killed us all. Sadly Twilight paid the price by bravely sacrificing her home. It was then the true heroism of Trixie shown through and she offered her home to Twilight, bringing their relationship to the next level!”

She paused but no shouts of excitement became from the crowd. Trixie felt this was the true apex of the story. An awkward cough echoed from the crowd somewhere. Trixie hesitantly started again.

“So, um, the last angel to attack us used the very magic computers we rely on. Trixie herself witnessed the bitter battle between Twilight and Gabriella. Each control room pony fought hard against the intrusion of Gabriella. She fought back with her many winks and smiley faces and tried to cause the entire building to explode. In the end the dazzling Twilight and her faithful assistant, me, had to battle the worse horror yet, Spike the dragon’s messy cave. It was awful. There is no way to accurately describe the odor that came from that place. Trixie still feels the oil that coated her tongue from just the smell. But despite danger to herself, Trixie and Twilight prevailed. They brought out the malnourished dragon who fought and destroyed the angel in the computer world itself.

“Now, here we are still fighting the good fight. We will endure any angel and disgusting dragon cave. Any other horrible thing in the name of love, I mean friendship. We will prevail!”

Trixie stood up to bow when a bright blue unicorn with a grey mane appeared on stage carrying a small scroll. Trixie opened it and read through the copy. She shook her head slowly to analyze the data that the Commander wanted her to say then shrugged and decided to wing it.

“I guess a special guest is here to read some poetry?” Trixie wondered out loud. “Umm, Trixie isn’t sure why but Mr Mud Briar requested it. So here’s Maud Pie.”

Maud walked out and stared at the audience for an uncomfortably long time. 

“Is she going to speak?” asked Twilight when a red dragon with bongos appeared and began to play. Maud took a big breath and began to read her poem to the trance-like best of the bongos.

“A rock, a gray stone. Gray the color of my body. My body is the rock. The stone is me. Rain, a sunny day. The emptiness of a bird or river. Am I all these things? No. I am me. Small and round. Like a rock. These ponies I know. Discord. Pinkie Pie. All these can be friends. Like my rocks. These too are empty. Each, a part of me and I, a part of them. A small green gator. My rock. A vessel of me. A grey small thing.”

 Maud turned and left the stage. 

“Well that was... weird,” commented Trixie. “Trixie would like to thank her great and gracious audience for hearing her compelling tale. She hopes that you will enjoy what happens next. She would also like to thank Twilight Sparkle for being so great, brilliant and cute. Good night.”

Trixie took her final bow and waved to the crowd. It had ended on a strange note but she felt it was the best performance she had ever given. She quickly threw two glass balls filled with smoke and jumped behind the curtain as they burst. Unfortunately a coiled rope caught her hoof and snagged her as she jumped. She quickly tried to untie it as the smoke cleared. She finally got it loose only to look up at the silent and uncomfortable audience. Then the current fell.

“I guess that went well,” whispered the nervous Twilight. “The ending got a little weird.”

“Oh, you have no idea what’s coming,” grinned Pinkie Pie ominously, eyeing Twilight’s popcorn tub. “You going to eat that?” She jumped into the tub inexplicably and began to joyously munch.
> Chapter 15 Dates and Mistakes
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Commander Discord sat at the darkened table surrounded by the multiple colored versions of himself again. He sighed. If there was one thing he didn’t like was a board meeting so named because he became so bored. If there were two things that he didn’t like it was having to answer to himself. 

“What are you doing about the pony instrumentality project?” asked the Blue Discord. Blue could be such a bother.  He worried about things like the big picture and major themes. He also liked to drone on about where things were going. Such a drama llama piñata.

“It’s fine, fine, fine. Nothing for all of you to worry about at all,” assured the Commander.

“What of the rumors of the second and third filly?” asked the Red Discord. He was always so demanding. He never pitched in on room cleaning yet always complained about the decor.

“What rumors?”

“The rumors that they have formed a couple,” clarified Red in his stuffy, self-centered way. ”Such a thing was not in the script, Commander Discord.”

“Oh pish-posh, there is nothing like that going on I assure you.”

“Don’t forget what this experiment is for, Commander. We left you in charge to make sure this operation goes according to script.”

“Mes, Mes, Mes, let me assure me that nothing is going off script. Much. We may be a god of chaos but that doesn’t mean we can’t follow a plan. All scripts change from time to time. I will get everything back to where it is supposed to be.”

“You’d better,” threatened Blue with his dumb looking sneer,” or else you will find us alone once again.”

Commander Discord knew what he meant but felt that panic wasn’t due yet. After all that he and Fluttershy had been through they would weather this too. And have a good laugh about it later. He was relatively sure.

***

Cheese Sandwich searched in an abandoned house. He pulled out a list and made a clear red check from a pen he pulled from his mane. 

“Another empty house Boneless 3,”he sighed “Looks like the Mareduke institute is just a sham. Makes you want to know who is truly pulling the strings. “

Boneless 3 stared blankly at its non-rubbery comrade. 

“My cheesy sense is telling me there is a doozy of conspiracy here.”

Boneless 3 slid forward and collapsed on Cheese’s back. Cheese carefully replaced him in his saddle.

“Don’t worry, I’ll be careful buddy. After all I don’t want to ruin things between Pinkie and I.”

***

“Aww yeah, today is the day!” shouted Rainbow Dash as she burst from her bed. “We’re going on our date for sure.”

“Unless, an angel attacks, or they need us to do a sync test,”said Fluttershy. She looked round nervously. 

“Noper doo,” assured Pinkie Pie. She sat at the table surrounded by cupcakes as usual.

“Oh, I guess it’s ok,” stammered Fluttershy sheepishly. She had secretly wished that something would happen that would derail the plan. Dates made her nervous. What was she supposed to say? What was she supposed to do?

“Yes!” hollered Rainbow Dash in glee. 

“After class,” reminded Pinkie calmly. She looked happy. Fluttershy wondered if she had some sort of plan up her sleeve. If Fluttershy knew Pinkie, she was hoping that every pony would become better friends after this. 

Rainbow Dash’s ears dropped but she grabbed her books with a little bounce in her step. Fluttershy followed her out only to find Commander Discord directly on the other side of the door. Fluttershy nearly fainted from the shock. She unconsciously began to back away.

“Hello,” he said jovially. “I was wondering if Fluttershy was free.” 

“Sure, Umm Commander,” stammered Rainbow. She looked at him puzzled and uneasy. “I’ll just wait over here.”

“What do you want, Commander?” Fluttershy stated flatly. She could feel her discomfort and hurt welling up inside her.

“Oh, I was hoping you were free to join me for some tea,” the Commander asked. “We used to love having tea together.”

“Did we?” the third filly gasped,” I don’t remember. Oh dear, I don’t even remember why I’m so angry at you. It feels like you’ve done something very wrong.”

“Me? Do something wrong?” floundered Commander Discord as he put on his most charming smile. “That doesn’t sound like something I would do. Misguided, maybe. Dangerous, perhaps. But normally never wrong, my dear.”

“I’m sorry but I have to get to class, we’re learning about the 2nd impact today.”

“I see. Umm how about after that?”

“Oh, I have a date with my girlfriend Rainbow Dash.”

“How lucky for you. Well I won’t waste anymore of your time then. Go on have fun,” he said through gritted teeth.

“Ok, thank you.” 

Fluttershy quickly ran after the cyan pegasus. She wondered why she felt so sad and why the Commander had tried so hard. She felt confused. But shook it off. The commander had plenty of friends to turn to and whatever he did still lingered in her feelings. 

***

Pinkie opened her mouth wide then filled it full of delicious hay burger. It felt like a little treat every time her and Twilight had them. She looked forward to it. 

“So are you looking forward to tonight?” asked Twilight between bites.

“Yeah,” exclaimed Pinkie. She hadn’t thought about tonight. Hayburgers had dominated most of her thoughts that day.”Weddings have the best parties and cake.”

“This time don’t eat the wedding cake before the bride and groom.”

“Awww that was only once.”

“It was the only other wedding we’ve been invited to,” reminded Twilight with another mouthful.

“So are you bringing Trixie?”

“Of course. All the books I read on being the best girlfriend possible suggest that I should. Now that we have decided to tell everypony there is no reason not to. How about you? Are you bringing Cheese?”

“Hummph,” Pinkie puckered her lips in annoyance. “That lazy pony will probably be late with his tie crooked and his coat not  brushed clean.”

“That wasn’t a no,” noted Twilight raising an eyebrow.

Pinkie pouted with her cheeks inflated. Twilight was ruining hayburger time with thoughts of tonight. Of course she was bringing Cheese. She just didn’t like being on the receiving end of others' insight.

***

“Are ya nervous?” Applejack asked Fluttershy at lunch. The pegasus had stared at her food without eating most of lunch. Applejack began to stare longingly at the cupcake Pinkie Pie had given her. She pushed it over and watched her orange friend’s face brighten.

“A little,” Fluttershy admitted. “I’ve never been on a date before.”

“From what I read, it’s not too hard,” thought Sunburst. “It’s like hanging out with your friends but a little more intimate.”

“Have ya,” gulped Applejack,” you know? Kissed her yet?”

“No, oh my goodness, am I supposed to?!” gasped Fluttershy.

“Ah think so.”

“Not necessarily,” interjected Sunburst. “Certainly it’s customary that you kiss towards the end of the date but you don’t have to. You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to Fluttershy.”

“He’s right don’t pressure yerself or let her pressure you.”

“Thanks, but I don’t think she’s that type,” assured Fluttershy. “At least I hope not. She may be a little pushy about Evas and competing but she’s a good pony.”

“Ah don’t see it but she’s not my girlfriend so Ah trust ya know what yer doing?”

“Have you two ever been on dates?” mused Fluttershy. She hoped that some pony could tell what to do. She didn’t want to get it wrong. 

“Me a date?” giggled Sunburst, “Who would ever want to date me?”

“C’mon Sunburst don’t sell yourself short,” Applejack assured him and patted his shoulder. “I’m sure there is a mare or stallion out there for ya.”

“Mare,” he insisted and straightened his crooked glasses. 

“Ah hear ya there partner,” chuckled his companion. 

“I’m not partial to either, just as long as they have a good heart,” affirmed Fluttershy.

“And ya really think that heart is in Rainbow Dash?” asked Applejack surprised.

“Well, she deserves a chance as much as anypony. She may brag a lot but maybe she just wants everypony to like her.”

“Yer the most kindest pony Ah know,” stated Applejack like it was an irrefutable fact. “If in anypony can tolerate Rainbow Dash’s ego, it’s you. She does look pretty pumped up about it.”

The three turned to watch Rainbow Dash fly around a field with a buck ball. She blocked another shot from an orange stallion with a monochromatic striped mane. He huffed and puffed after. She nodded and tried to encourage him further. Then she caught Fluttershy’s eye and gleefully waved. Fluttershy felt her cheeks redden as she timidly waved back.

“D’aww,” jeered Applejack,” you two keep on like that and Ah reckon Ah’ll grow to like ‘er.”

***

As class ended Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash made their way to the entrance. Applejack and Sunburst followed closely behind.

“Ok, you two have a good time,” waved Sunburst.

“And if ya break ‘er heart, Rainbow, ya’ll have me ta deal with,” warned Applejack. 

“So what sort of thing did you want to do?” asked Rainbow Dash once the lame squad left them.

“I don’t know,” Fluttershy admitted. “What sort of things do you have in mind?”

Rainbow grinned. She looked like the mare with all the answers. Fluttershy let her take the lead and followed gleefully. The day felt like a blur of excitement. They did regular things like they always did but it felt different somehow. 

They began their date at the hayburger. Fluttershy decided to have a refreshing salad because the burger grease upset her stomach. Rainbow’s hunger seemed endless but the cyan mare kept herself from wolfing it down in her normal fashion. They shared a milkshake together. Fluttershy giggled as Rainbow tried to race her but got a brain freeze. 

Rainbow led her to a photo booth and they took some sweet and silly pictures. Fluttershy marveled that she felt so at ease in front of the camera. Normally she tried to hide behind her mane but Rainbow pushed her face next to hers so she couldn’t. Something about it felt empowering and exciting. 

Then they found themselves in the park. Rainbow flew off quickly and returned with ice cream. They walked and talked a bit but eventually settled by a koi fish pond in the middle of the park. Fluttershy couldn’t believe she felt so light and carefree next to another pony. She always felt that there was something more she needed to be or something more she needed to do. Rainbow made her feel safe to be herself.

“Wow, this was a wonderful date,” Fluttershy sighed. “I mean I have nothing to compare it to but so far it’s amazing.”

“Would you say it’s incredibly wonderfully awesome?”

“I think I would. Is that what you were aiming for?”asked Fluttershy. In her comfort Fluttershy found her head resting on Rainbow’s soft blue chest. She felt a little sense of pride that she was able to make Rainbow blush so quickly.

“I guess. To be honest I’ve never been on a date either,” Rainbow admitted.

“Really? I find that hard to believe. You’re confident and strong and fast. I’m surprised mares and stallions aren’t throwing themselves at you.”

“You forgot good-looking. And who says they aren’t? Maybe I was just waiting for the right one.”

Fluttershy suddenly felt her own cheeks burning. She unconsciously whipped her hair to hide her face.

“Don’t do that,” Rainbow suddenly demanded. “Look, I dig the shy thing so long as it’s part of a playful act. But if you truly believe you’re anything less than incredibly wonderfully awesome you’re selling yourself short.”

“Is that how you do it?”

“Do what?”

“Just radiate that aura of ...cool. Do you just believe how awesome you are?”

“Kind of,” Rainbow guessed, scratching the back of her head. “I just set my aim for the things I want. It’s like a star. They shoot across the sky filling everything with light. They can’t help it. They don’t apologize for it. They just are that bright. It just seems wrong somehow to deny yourself of that.”

“But those bright stars, they burn out fast, Dashie.”

“Dashie?! Was that a cutesy pet name from my girlfriend?”

“It’s my first attempt,” Fluttershy recoiled again in embarrassment.

“Relax, I like it...Fluts.”

Fluttershy resettled her head on Rainbow’s chest. 

***

The wedding of Cranky Doodle and Matilda Donkey was an unusually huge event. The couple had met most of Equestria in their travels and now they were finally reunited. Their quest to find each other brought many ponies together. They decided, with all the angel attacks, the marriage had to proceed now or never. 

Pinkie found herself sitting at Twilight’s table. She sat by herself while Twilight and Trixie danced their hearts out. Pinkie watched as Twilight swooned her way toward the table.

“Pinkie Pie, how’s it going?” the panting unicorn asked.

“They have cider!” Pinkie answered excitedly. 

“Where’s Cheese?”

“That noodle brain didn’t...”

“Pinkie,” exclaimed Cheese Sandwich as he finally arrived. 

“Oh here you are!” she rounded on him. “Late, with a coat shabby and tie crooked!”

She straightened it for him in a very painful way. 

“C’mon! Do you know how hard it is to tie these things with your tongue?” whined Cheese.

“Everypony else here managed.”

“Twilight they act like us in a few years,” giggled Trixie.

Pinkie felt her body freeze in mid tie. Both her and Cheese stared at Trixie with a stunned look.  

“Here,” Pinkie quickly changed the subject and handed Cheese a mug. “They have cider! Cider!”

***

Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash returned to the apartment. Fluttershy felt like she was floating on air. 

“Well,” began Fluttershy. “I’m sure Pinkie will return soon. We should probably call it a ...”

The young couple jumped slightly as the phone rang. The answering machine quickly picked up and Cheese’s voice echoed through the apartment.

“Hi, guys it’s Cheese. Pinkie really really likes cider. But now she can’t get herself home. So I’ll get her safely to my place which is closer. Behave you two. Squeak.”

“Well what do you know,” snickered Rainbow thoughtfully. “Looks like we have the place to ourselves.”

Fluttershy suddenly felt her breath knocked out of her. She and her new girlfriend were in the apartment alone. She felt her natural inclination to flee begin to work on her muscles. She stopped them and reminded them that Rainbow had shown her one of the best times she ever had. She suddenly remembered Sunburst telling her it was customary to kiss at the end of a date.

“So what do you want to do?” Rainbow asked looking deep into her eyes.

Fluttershy felt her lips get moist and she quickly glanced at Rainbow’s in anticipation. She felt her face flush. She slowly leaned in. Rainbow caught what her intention was and leaned in as well. She stretched her lips out and connected with Rainbow’s. 

Warmth spread across both their bodies. Fluttershy felt her mind run like rocket fuel. After what seemed like the most powerful seconds in the world they pulled back and stared at each other and smiled. Fluttershy felt that warm glow tingle throughout her body for a few more seconds. Then she noticed Rainbow’s face.

Fluttershy felt Rainbow’s passion intensify. She felt the hair in her own mane stand on end. Her face contorted in puzzlement seconds before Rainbow lifted her into the air. She was suddenly beset with a shower of tiny kisses. Then she felt her body placed on the nearby table. 

“Rainbow wha..” is all Fluttershy could get out before Rainbow kissed her again. Fluttershy could feel the panic setting in. It was moving so fast. Her mind couldn’t keep up. Her chest was heaving. Rainbow was too close.

“Rainbow no!” shouted the frightened mare.

Rainbow’s excitement collapsed as she saw the look of terror on Fluttershy’s face.

“Fluttershy?! Wait! I just got excited,” the cyan mare pleaded. Fluttershy was already running to the door. “Fluttershy no! I’m sorry I ...”

The door slammed. Its sound echoed through the empty home.

“But I stopped when you said no”, whispered Rainbow.

****

Pinkie laid on Cheese’s back. She sprawled across his strong shoulders. She could feel each hoof fall on the bumpy road. 

“I’m shorry but shider is shoooo good,” she whined. 

“It’s ok, Pinkie. This is the first time we’ve had to do this. It’s nice to know you’re not invincible,” Cheese reassured her.

“Well you know now,” she groaned. “I’m sorry.”

“You said that.”

“Not about now, shilly,” Pinkie slurred.  “About before. I shouldn’t have left like that.”

“That’s old news, Pinkie. Don’t worry about it.”

“It still makes me feel bad inside. I didn’t want to hurt you but I just didn’t know if I was ready. I felt silly and nervous and excited. It felt like I was a present. A beautifully wrapped present. I was so beautiful that some pony was too afraid to open me and see what was inside. So I stayed wrapped up and waiting on a table. I had to leave before I got covered in dust. I don’t like dust, Cheese. It can ruin cupcakes and presents.”

Cheese made a pained face. But then returned to his normal stoic expression. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he finally said.

“Oh you, you, you, meanie head!” she cried. She bopped him repeatedly on the head with her hooves but light enough that Cheese felt no pain.

“Ok! Ok! I get it! I give up! Uncle! Uncle! Seriously though. I know what you meant. And I’m sorry. I wanted to give you all the love I had inside but I just felt so afraid I guess. I didn’t mean to hurt you though.”

“Snort. Well duh,” snorted Pinkie. “But it felt like you were taking forever to be less of a fraidy pony. A gift unopened loses its specialness and shininess. So I left before I ended up in the closet covered in dust.”

“Wait, you’re not slurring your words anymore,” realized Cheese as his eyes narrowed. “You’re not drunk are you?”

“Noppers,” said Pinkie as she hopped off him. “I just was trying to make this easier for you. You know my metabolism is four times the normal ponies thanks to that experiment with Funyuns and pez.”

“So you’re not drunk but you’re still coming over?”

“Unless you don’t want me to.”

“Oh I want you too.”

“I just hope Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash don’t have too much fun while I’m gone,” worried Pinkie.

****

A yellow hoof timidly thumped on a large barn door. 

“Hold yer horses Ah’m comin’,” Applejack shouted through the door. The sudden burst of light nearly blinded Fluttershy’s tear soaked eyes.

“Fluttershy wha...”

Fluttershy collapsed in sobbing. “I’m not sure she has a good heart after all.”

“Just you rest, Sugarcube. Ah’ll take it from here.”

Applejack ushered her friend to her room and made sure she was comfortable in a spare bedroom. Fluttershy tried to protest but she didn’t have the energy. She barely got the full story out to her orange savior before she fell fast asleep curled in a tight ball. 

Applejack sighed then shifted her hat on her head and marched out of the barn.

***

Rainbow Dash sat in the middle of the tatters of her room. She looked up through her own tears and felt the frustration and pain that tore at her. She began another fit of punching her misshapen pillow. She wished that her pillow had been her own face. She had the perfect date. Why couldn’t she have just left it at that? Why did she have to push just a little farther? Fluttershy was way too sensitive to do that to. 

“Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!” she shrieked. 

She ran out of energy again and her tantrum caused her to collapse. It was then that she heard the knock at the door.

“Fluttershy! Is that you? Did you lock yourself out?” she gasped and ran to the door. She wrenched open the door and found a stern looking Applejack on the other side.

“Oh no,” Rainbow facehoofed

“We gotta talk, Rainbow.”

“Listen, Applejack, I…”

“What did Ah say Rainbow?!” Applejack exploded as she barged in.

“No I...”

“What did Ah say?!”

“But...”

“Ah said if ya hurt her, ya’ll answer ta me! And Bucky McGillycuddy and Kicks McGee.”

“Just a minute. Wait, who?”

Applejack shifted her back legs by way of introduction. “Ya don’t want ta talk ta them. So ya best talk ta me. Now what in the hay happened?!”

“I stopped when she said no!” Rainbow shouted in exasperation.

“Say what now?”

“I got a little caught up in the moment.”

“Uh huh.”

“And got a little more forceful than I should have.”

“Uh huh.”

“And she said stop, and I did but then she ran away.”

“Rainbow ya know who yer datin’ right?” Applejack demanded. “Ah mean Ah’ve seen this filly jump at ‘er own shadow. How she’s able ta get into a Eva and fight horrible buildin’ crushin’ monsters is nothin’ short of astoundin’. In what world do ya think a mare like that would like her first make out session ta be thrown on a table and scared ta death?” 

“I didn’t think of that.”

“Didn’t think is right!”

“Look! I admit it, ok,” Rainbow said, putting her hooves up in defeat. ”I just got over excited but I didn’t mean to scare her. I just care about her a lot.”

“You did scare ‘er, Dash! Consarnit!”Applejack spat. “That little filly is at my place scared stiff ta come to ‘er own home!”

“Oh jeez, what am I going to AJ?”

“Excuse me?”

“Applejack.”

“Well fer now yer gonna leave ‘er alone. Yer gonna back off. Let ‘er have ‘er space. Ah’ll go home and tell ‘er that just maybe ya have that great heart underneath all that stupid.”

“What did you call me?” puffed up Rainbow instinctively.

“Ya wanna meet my friends now? They’ve been itchin’ to go right through yer face!”

“I’m sorry. You’re right. I was stupid.”

“Ok, now I mean it, Dash,” Applejack emphasized. “Ya leave ‘er be until she sorts this out. If yer lucky and patient ya might just get yer girlfriend back.”

Applejack wasn’t sure if Rainbow Dash fully understood how much she had scared her yellow friend, but she knew what sorry looked like. Rainbow was sorry. Applejack marched home letting her anger burn off on the way. 

*****

The morning found a very excited Pinkie Pie bounding into the control room. The rest of her coworkers looked a little rough around the edges. She smiled cheerfully as Twilight approached holding her morning coffee.

“How did the rest of the night go?” asked Twilight cheekily.

“Great! I had sex with Cheese!” blurted Pinkie excitedly.

Twilight fountained her coffee out onto the control room floor.

“Pinkie! You can’t just blurt something like that out!” the startled unicorn chided.

“But that’s what you wanted to know.”

“Well, yeah, but normally there is a lot more subtlety.”

“That’s silly. Ponies should just ask what they want to know.”

“But did you two make up first?” asked Twilight.

“Kinda. We talked a lot about the past and then we had sex,” recounted Pinkie.

“Pinkie!”

“Wait Twilight! My Pinkie sense is tingling.” The party pony said as her body began twitching in strange unusual ways.

“It’s not another angel is it?”

“No it’s something else. I’ll let you know.”

***

Cheese Sandwich opened a hatch that implicitly said not to open in big red and white signs. He turned to talk to boneless then found a party cannon in his face. He braced himself for the impact but it didn’t come.

“Ahh ha,” snickered Pinkie. “Caught you.”

“I knew you were there, Pinkie. My cheesy sense told me you sensed me.”

“This is not a good idea, Cheese. Ponies around here get really mad when you start snooping. I’ve heard they take you to a big monster inside that gobbles you up.”

“Is it a big white monster?” Cheese asked.

“Yeah.”

“Does it look like this?”

He opened the hatch and ushered Pinkie to look inside. Pinkie could feel that this room was filled with wrong. She hesitantly wandered in and found a huge cathedral like room. It opened up sixty feet high and shone with a faint white glow. In the center was a large white creature that had its appendages strapped to a “T” shaped form. It was as big as the Evas themselves. It wore a dark mask to cover the multiple eyes on its face. A large lance stuck out of its chest. Everything in Pinkie’s body was screaming at her. She knew this was something horribly bad.

“Yeah, exactly like that. Wait, I’ve seen that potato before,” she sputtered.

“It’s not a potato.”

“It looks like a potato. See all the eyes.”

“It’s not a potato Pinkie,” corrected Cheese, placing a hoof to his forehead.

“Gasp! I know where I’ve seen that potato before! It’s that nasty giant from Yakyakistan! I saw it before I was hidden in that rock.”

“We just call it My Pretty Pony. Even though it doesn’t look pretty. Or like a pony.”
> Chapter 16: Fluttershy and the Darkness
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rainbow sat a the table drinking coffee feeling miserable. Her body was twitchy, strained and sore from her tantrums. Her eyes were red rimmed from lack of sleep. She had hoped the coffee would perk her up but it seemed to only give more energy to feel guiltier. 

The apartment door creaked open and Rainbow stiffened at the sound. Fluttershy tried her best to sneak through but noted that Rainbow was watching her the moment she entered. She felt her body tense and her gut danced around making her feel sick. 

Rainbow stood up when she saw her. “Fluttershy.. I..”

The fear took over and the yellow mare ran full gallop to her room. She slammed the door and stood behind it shaking.

Rainbow watched the terror with an equally horrified look on her own face. Then the sadness and pain that she caused became all too clear. She placed her head into her hooves. She could feel the tears under the surface but she didn’t want to let them out. It hurt too much.

Fluttershy’s breath came in ragged gasps. Then she remembered the conversation she had with Applejack that morning.

“Ah talked ta Rainbow for ya,” Applejack had said.

“You didn’t hurt her did you?” cried Fluttershy.

“No, there always two sides ta every story. You taught me that when Ah pushed ya over before. Like Ah said Ah talked to her and she’s genuinely sorry. Ah think ponies like Rainbow Dash are a little more intense than the rest of us. When they want somethin’ they’re just used to goin’ for it.”

“That makes sense. It was just so scary to see her that ...fierce. I felt like there was nothing I could do to stop her if she didn’t stop herself.”

“But she did, Sugarcube,” reminded Applejack. “She did stop when ya told to, like she oughtta.”

“Did I do the wrong thing? By running away?”

“No. It was just a misunderstanding is all. Now Ah told ‘er ta back off ya. Ya need to figure this out. Ah’ll help ya in anyway Ah can but this is really about you and ‘er.”

“I think I’ll go home and change,” Fluttershy decided.

“That’ll be a good place ta start. Ah’ll be here for ya ifin ya need me.”

***

Fluttershy breathed a sigh in her room. She wondered if she was over reacting. She remembered Rainbow’s expression as she walked in. The scary pegasus had looked miserable, not intimidating. 

Fluttershy poked her head out of the room and saw Rainbow still sitting at the table. The second filly looked so small and defeated. It hurt to see the proud pony brought so low. Fluttershy slowly crept out to talk.

“Rainbow?” she mumbled quietly. 

“Yeah,” Rainbow replied, her body went board stiff.

“I understand you’re sorry. I do forgive you but it might be a little time before I’m comfortable around you again.”

“Does that mean your breaking up with me?”

“I don’t know. But I am going to try to relax.”

“Ok. Applejack told me to give you time. I’m really bad with waiting as you probably figured out,”admitted Rainbow,”but I will wait until you’re ready. I promise.”

“Ok.”

****

Pinkie’s early giddiness crashed. She wondered why the monster that killed her family would be downstairs. She was so caught up in her questions that she didn’t notice the sullen looks of her pilots. Or even the results of their latest harmonics tests.

“Fluttershy is improving again,” Twilight informed to her. “But it looks like Rainbow Dash is slipping a bit.”

“Huh? What?” Pinkie replied while she blinked her eyes in confusion. 

“You said you weren’t actually drunk last night.”

“I wasn’t.”

“Well you’re certainly not here,” Twilight observed. An amused expression landed on her face and stuck there. Pinkie could feel what she was assuming.

“No, it’s, umm, how are the tests going?” Pinkie quickly changed subjects.

“Well, if you had been listening, I had just said Fluttershy’s rates are high above Rainbow’s now.”

“That’s great!”

“But that’s because Rainbow’s rates have dropped dramatically since last week.”

“Maybe she has indigestion from their date last night,” suggested Pinkie.

“That wouldn’t effect it. What date?”

“Her and Fluttershy went on a date last night. I didn’t get to ask them how it went.”

“They’re dating. That could throw off the whole dynamic. What if they break up or have a big fight? What if we can’t get them to work together when an angel appears?” Twilight pranced in worry.

“But they really wanted to, Twilight. How could I say no to young love?”

The pilots filed in and Pinkie noticed the pained expressions on Fluttershy and Rainbow’s faces. This was not what she was hoping to see.

“Great job everypony. Umm you all did great,” the party pony awkwardly began. 

Rainbow stared at the floor. Fluttershy hid behind her hair and glanced at Rainbow. Maud looked, well, like Maud.

“Um, good news Fluttershy your scores are even better than Rainbow Dash,” Pinkie tried.

“Whatever,” sighed Rainbow.

“Ok you guys need a party. Such unhappy faces fill me with too much sadness. Except Maud who’s always happy.”

Pinkie did her best but somehow the party didn’t gel as it usually did. Pinkie didn’t know what happened but every time she tried to find out both pegasi remained sullen and tight lipped. Maud said she didn’t know anything about it all despite Pinkie’s multiple questioning of her.

It began to bother Pinkie which in turn began to bother Cheese. So one sunny day Cheese found Rainbow sitting by herself in the cafeteria.

“Well, well, if it isn’t the radiant Rainbow Dash,” Cheese commented as he approached. He was met with a defeated small smile. “Or is it Rainstorm Dash now?”

“Sorry, I guess I’ve been going through a lot lately. Perhaps you’d be better off hanging with Pinkie. She’ll be more fun.”

“Perhaps,” he said but seriously doubted it. Not with her whining about how her roommates are moopy gloomy ponies. “But I couldn’t ignore my good friend Rainbow and leave her all by herself.”

“Great,” she moaned. “Now I’m a pity case.”

“I’m here to eat lunch with my friend. And Boneless 3. To not to would be the pity.”

He ended the discussion by markedly stuffing his sandwich into his mouth. Rainbow watched him as he defiantly ate. She looked away from him and poked her soup with her spoon. 

“Listen,” Cheese said softly between bites. “We’ve known each other a while. You know I’m not leaving you like this.”

Rainbow started to sniffle a few tears back. Then felt her shoulders sag. She couldn’t bare the weight alone anymore.

“I really messed up,” the speedster began. “You know how excited I get right before I score a goal? Well apparently it can feel really scary to some timid ponies when they don’t know it’s coming.”

“You scared Fluttershy with excitement?”

“Well, I guess I just caught up in the moment. I came on too strong.”

Cheese sighed. “That can happen. You need to just give her some space and hope she forgives you.”

“Well she says she forgives me but she still hasn’t sorted things out,” Rainbow said gloomily. “How could I mess this up so bad on the first date?”

“Hey, hey,” Cheese said.”You’re just finding out about each other. She said she forgave you didn’t she?”

“I just feel like I’m some kind monster. I lost control for just a moment.”

“Normally I would recommend a massive party but I think you need something else. I think you need a buddy party. Something to take your mind off of all this. You want to go do some shopping? Maybe hit an arcade?”

Rainbow numbly nodded. Anything sounded better than returning home which felt empty lately. They left the cafeteria and headed towards the city and better thoughts. 

Pinkie watched them go from a far. She knew if any pony could cheer up Rainbow it was Cheese. Now she had to figure out how to cheer up Fluttershy.

***

“What is this place?” asked Fluttershy as she looked at the trees and fields. 

“This is called an animal sanctuary,” said the green pony with orange dreadlocks that ran the preserve. “It’s where we, like, keep the animals safe.”

“Animals? As in animals animals,” squeaked Fluttershy. 

“Yuppers,” Pinkie excitedly said. “It has birds, and cicadas, and squirrels and cicadas. There are a lot cicadas.”

“It’s, like, totally freeing to hear their joyous song,” agreed the preserve owner.

“This is wonderful,” cried Fluttershy. “Can I go in?”

“Oh yeah, like totally,” agreed the green owner. She slowly opened the gate.

Fluttershy and Pinkie entered the preserve. Fluttershy hopped around seeing all the critters she missed. Squirrels, birds, and hedgehogs all resided in the preserve. Fluttershy was like a foal in a cake shop. She bounced from one creature to another. She found that they expressed themselves to her in a way she never knew they could. Suddenly all her fear and apprehension was gone.

Pinkie watched her relax. Her Pinkie sense told her that she had made the right call. Now she just had to word things right to get her to open up.

“So Fluttershy, I’m super dooper happy that you’re enjoying this so much,” she began.

“This is the most wonderful place, Pinkie. Thank you so much for bringing me here.” The birds began to land on her wings.

“Sooo, what’s going on between you and Dashie?” she tactlessly blurted.

Fluttershy’s carefree face suddenly looked like it had been punched in the gut. “Oh, is that what this is about?”

“Kinda. I mean I was saving this place for a surprise party when we defeated the last angel or your birthday or something like that. You two have just been so sad since your date I was hoping that this would cheer you up.”

The birds seemed to cling to Fluttershy. They looked at her with an inquisitive cock of her head. She took a shuddering breath in and began the story as she told it to Applejack. Pinkie listened calmly. The perky roommate looked like a statue fully intent on every detail. Pinkie sighed when she finished. This is not what the date was supposed to lead to.

“Oh Fluttershy,” Pinkie said and immediately squeezed the life out of her in a hug. “I feel just awful. You two must feel so bad. Why didn’t you talk to us? We could have helped.”

“I ...I didn’t feel comfortable talking about it. I didn’t want to get Rainbow in trouble either. I know she didn’t mean it.”

“But trying to hold all this sadness and guilt in on your own is destroying you both. You both know that Rainbow didn’t mean it. Can you remind Rainbow of that?”

“Umm can you let me breath?” asked the reddening pegasi.

“I guess so.” 

Pinkie let go and Fluttershy gasped a bit for breath. Her face turned back to yellow. The birds kept her from crying. In this place the fear seemed so small now. She thought about how Rainbow must be feeling and realized how sad the speedster was. She needed to cheer her up. 

Suddenly Fluttershy’s necklace began to blink. She looked over and saw Pinkie had noticed as well. 

“Oh poo, sorry, Fluttershy. We’ll comeback here again, ok?”

***

Fluttershy and Pinkie arrived at headquarters at the same time Cheese and Rainbow did. Fluttershy began to apologize but Rainbow turned and headed straight to her Eva. Fluttershy timidly followed.

Cheese and Pinkie looked at each other and sighed. 

Pinkie arrived in the control room and found Twilight and the mares deep in their computers.

“An unidentifiable object has just entered our air space,” said Bon Bon.

“I think it’s called a UFO,” corrected Lyra. 

“Oooo first angels, now aliens,” bounced Pinkie. “What a great time to be alive.”

“Put it on the screen,” said Twilight.

A large floating black and white striped sphere appeared on the screen. It hovered through the city with little trouble. 

“It looks like a round black and white cookie!” observed Pinkie.

“But is it an angel?” pondered Twilight. 

“The spike system can’t identify it,” Trixie answered

“Send the Evas to poke with a stick,” commanded Pinkie with sheer determination.

***

Unit-01 hid behind a tall building and held a long pole in its hooves. Fluttershy could feel her nerves beginning to return. The calmness of the preserve had disappeared and been replaced with fear. Something about this didn’t feel right. 

“I don’t know about this plan, Pinkie,” Fluttershy said uncertainly. 

“Why are you scared of that too?” snarked Rainbow.

“Rainbow!”cried Fluttershy in shock, “I thought you said you would give me time.”

“I know! I just thought you would feel better in a day or two not a week,” the third filly whined. “It feels awful not knowing if you have a girlfriend for a whole week. It was just a make out session.”

“Rainbow, I..”

“Enough of this!” commanded Twilight. “You have a job to do. Now do it.”

“Fine,” muttered Rainbow. Her shopping session with Cheese had made feel better. Now that she was near Fluttershy again the rawness of the past week was creeping out. She didn’t like feeling like a predator.

Unit-01 shakily reached out with the pole and slowly slid it at the sphere. As the pole came in contact with the ball the sphere vanished. 

“Wha,” cried Fluttershy.

It was immediately replaced with a dark shadow that spread under Unit-01’s hooves. Fluttershy felt it under her. The shadow was freezing cold. She felt cold panic wash through body as she felt her Eva begin to sink into the soft material.  

“What is that?!” cried Twilight.

Fluttershy felt her knees sink into the dark matter.

“Ahh! Help! Help! I’m sinking!” panically screamed Fluttershy.

She tried to pull her forehooves out but she couldn’t lift them. She watched in horror as her legs sunk further and further. 

“Fluttershy, I’m coming,” shouted Rainbow. Unit-02 began to gallop to Fluttershy’s aid when the same shadow glided under her. 

“Not going to work on me,” the second filly sneered and extended her wings. They filled with air and the Eva was able to lift off as the buildings around her began to sink. She landed on one over looking Unit-01. She squinted her eyes against the sunlight and saw Unit-01’s head barely above the dark miasma. She pressed hard on her hoof pistons and the Eva took off into the air.

“Help! Rainbow! Pinkie! Maud!  Anypony heeelp!” Fluttershy shrieked.

“Hold on I got...,” Rainbow shouted. She flew as fast as she could but Unit-01’s head disappeared as her hooves reached for it. “...you?”

“Help! ...fizz...,” the radio sputtered its last and refused to answer anything else.

“Fluttershy!” yelled Rainbow until her lungs began to hurt. The control room crew pressed their hooves into their ears to block out the sheer pain of it. 

“Rainbow, stand down!” shouted Twilight over Rainbow’s roar.

“But I have to get her,” the cyan mare shrieked with tears in her eyes.

“We have no idea what that stuff is. It could suck you in too,” explained Twilight.

“Maybe it’s magic pudding,” suggested Pinkie. “Try eating it.”

“Pinkie!” scolded Twilight. “Trying something like that without knowing what it is, is what got us in this mess in the first place.”

“Oh right. All Units fall back,” commanded Pinkie’s sad meek voice.

“But..”

“Sorry Dashie,” sniffed Pinkie.

“Don’t call me that! Only she can call me that!”

“I’m sorry.”

***

The control room’s ambience was remorseful and sad. Twilight stood in front of a chalk board. She felt it was her duty to inform the rest of them what they found. She found many ponies respond to a class room setting. The feeling of it comforted her. She turned to her “class” and began to teach.

“Ok we have analyzed the substance and found...”.

“Is it pudding?” asked Pinkie.

“No, it is not pudding and raise your hoof before you ask questions. Now what we found was the substance was an inter dimensional self generating portal. It can hold approximately 2000 cubic feet of space.”

Twilight used her magic to draw a large circle and added depth to her diagram.

“How much pudding?” Pinkie blurted again.

“Pinkie, raise your hoof. And 2000 cubic feet of pudding. Now..”

“Do we have 2000 cubic feet of pudding?”

“Pinkie! Hoof! Raise it! Why do we need that?”

Pinkie raised her hoof.

“Pinkie! You don’t have to raise her hoof when I ask you the question.”

“Well I thought that pudding would be a lot taster to eat than an Eva,” Pinkie suggested. “It might spit it out.”

“It’s a good thought Pinkie but I think the pudding would drown the Eva. We did find that the ‘shadow’ is the actual angel and the sphere is it’s shadow.”

“Why is its shadow white? Is it Opposite Day? Ooh ooh can I be opposite too. Let’s see what’s the opposite of Pinkie. Oh I can be Greenie Cake. Hee hee. That sounds funny.”

“Pinkie!” shouted Twilight. “Cake is the opposite of pie? No! We don’t have time for this now. The only plan I can think of is to use water to float the Eva out. With any luck it could drown the angel in the process.”

“Umm do Evas float?” asked Lyra with her hoof raised.

“They will, if we tell their pontoons to inflate.”

“But how?” Lyra asked with her hoof still raised. “The Eva isn’t communicating with us.”

“You’re supposed to raise your hoof then wait until you’re called on, Lyra,” hissed Bon Bon.

“We have to hope that the signal will get through,”Twilight said grimly.

“Gasp,” gasped Pinkie,” but if it doesn’t won’t Fluttershy drown?!”

“It’s the only plan we have. She should be on life support now. She doesn’t have a lot time before the air runs out. I don’t want to risk hurting her either but I can’t think of anything else,” Twilight sighed.

“Well it’s not a very good plan if it kills our friend,” sulked Pinkie.

“I know!” Twilight suddenly shouted. Small tears began to form in her eyes.” Celestia knows I know, Pinkie! But there is nothing else I think of! I can’t find any books any where that deals with inter-dimensional physics. She could be dead just by entering that field. I’m doing the best I can.”

Twilight felt the small modicum of control she had slip. She desperately tried to regain her composure. Within seconds Pinkie was there giving her a hug. 

“I’m sorry, Twi, but this is really scary and I am really worried about Fluttershy,” Pinkie said.

“So am I. But we just have hope that this works.”

***

The inside of the Evanstallion was cold and getting colder. The oxygen filled liquid was cloudy. Fluttershy could barely move her body. She could feel the heaviness of the liquid as it pressed in on her. 

“It’s so cold. And empty. I’m getting so sleepy. I wish my friends would come. It looks like I only have a few hours left. I guess I should haven’t have let Rainbow wait so long. I wish I could feel more comfortable. It’s not easy when you're scared all the time,” Fluttershy thought out loud.

The cloudy liquid slowly began to change into the safe glade that Fluttershy had left. The birds flew around her once again and she could feel their voices relax her. Suddenly a large black and white crow landed in front of her. It was the size of a foal and stared at her. 

“Why are you afraid all the time?” it cawed.

“I don’t know. I try to be calm around every pony. I just can’t help but think of all the danger that could be around us.”

“Is that true reason?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well there is a lot of danger around you all time,” reminded the crow. “The apartment could suddenly collapse or the floor could give out, yet you aren’t as afraid at home.”

“That’s true.”

“You aren’t afraid around us birds and animals. We could turn on you at any moment.”

“That’s also true,” admitted Flutterfly. “I just discovered how much calmer I am around you all.”

“Then what do you fear so much?”

“Ponies?”

“All of them? But aren’t you comfortable around Applejack, Pinkie Pie and Sunburst?”

“I suppose so.”

“So what do you fear?”

“I guess it’s not just specific ponies but aspects of them,” Fluttershy said, feeling her mind become a little fuzzier.

“Isn't it true you're more afraid of yourself and how others see you?”

“That does sound true.”

“You don’t like the thoughts of others. The judgement. The intolerance. They can look at you and see a small little pony afraid of her own shadow.”

“It’s true,” she wailed and placed her hooves over eyes.

“Even her...”

The edge of the glade shook as the familiar cyan pegasus emerged from the edge. The crow leaned in to Fluttershy’s personal space. 

“You want her to love you. To want you. But you run away from her when she tries to move closer.”

“It’s not like that,” cried Fluttershy.

“You want to keep her around but don’t want her to get too close. You don’t want to feel what she feels.”

“What she feels is so intense,” explained the panicked pegasi. “It makes you happy and scared at the same time. I want to hold her but I want hide under my bed all at once. It’s so confusing.”

“So why do you want it so deeply?”

“I don’t know.”

“Love that can not be found in yourself can not be found in others. You seek that which is in front of you in others. If others reject you, you reject yourself. Is that the kind of exist you want? I wouldn’t.”

“Is that all I am?” pondered Fluttershy out loud. “Just following others leads? Is there really no reason to love others than to try to fulfill myself? Wait, what is that warmth?” She looked around and found a strange familiar silhouette. It was small with long ears. “Who’s there? Angel?! An angel? No, Angel. Angel Bunny. Oh, have you been with me the whole time? I missed you. Yes, you can take over for a while. I’m going to rest.”

She felt what little consciousness remained start to dissipate into the warm glade sunlight.  

***

Pinkie had never seen Twilight look so strained as they watched the large water truck back up to the shadow. She looked at her lists multiple times. She redid her calculations again and again. She took one last look as the water truck positioned itself. Lucky the angel seemed to remain still the entire time. 

The pilots watched next to their Evas in case they were needed. Rainbow stood with a harsh scowl on her face. Unbeknownst to Twilight she threw as many eye daggers as she could muster in the unicorn’s direction. 

The second before the water began to pour the large dark mass on the ground began to bubble and shift. It writhed and shook. Then large bloody cracks raced along its center. The black sea that was the angel’s body started to spray blood all over the city.

“What have we done?” cried Pinkie.

“Nothing!” shouted Twilight. “The water never touched it yet!”

The purple unicorn’s explanation was short lived as a large spray of blood doused the CAKE team. Twilight stood still for a second as she could feel her self drenched. Pinkie brought her a towel.

The blood stopped and the team heard a tear rip across the outside of the floating sphere as it appeared in the sky again. Again blood sprayed from the jagged opening as Unit-01 soggily emerged. Its eyes gleamed blue in a murderous rage . An unearthly roar emitted from behind its armor plated mouth.  

“What am I piloting?” whispered Rainbow Dash as she stared in disbelief.

The blood soaked CAKE team stared in terror as the Eva stepped out from the ruined bloody sphere on to the lifeless blackened street. Then large inflatable swimmies expanded around its legs. It toppled over like a fainting goat with its legs splayed out from the floatation devices.

“It didn’t deploy until now!” gasped Twilight. “I would have...”

Rainbow took off as soon as the cyborg crashed onto the pavement. She abandoned her Eva and soared with all the speed she could muster. The CAKE team got there first and had begun to extract the blood encrusted entry plug. She landed as they pulled out the semiconscious form of Fluttershy. She forced her way through them and wrapped her hooves around her pale friend.

“Fluttershy!” Rainbow hastily began.”I didn’t mean it! I didn’t mean to make you feel bad! It just hurt so much knowing I ruined things. I’ll stop. I’ll leave you alone if you want me to.”

Fluttershy’s trembling hoof reached and touched Rainbow’s face. It shakily caressed her blue cheek.

“I just wanted to see your heart one more time,” whispered Fluttershy. Then she passed out.

“Fluttershy!”

***

Fluttershy felt the bright sunlight on her face. It washed out the colors from the world. For the briefest of moments she thought of a small white bunny by her side but then that faded with the light. Her eyes fully adjusted and she saw the ceiling she had seen quite often. She wished she would stop waking here after angel battles. This time felt different. Her body felt so weak and her mind felt fuzzy. 

She slowly lifted her marble weighted head and looked through her sandpaper covered eyes. She noted two pony shapes sleeping around her. One had pulled her hoof into the fetal ball she had become and snored loudly. The other looked like a pink mass of stray hair and mane. 

A gray form walked through the door and stood in front her. A hazy thought said it was Maud.

“I am glad that you ok,” the form stated flatly.

“Oh, thank you,” she answered. It’s good to be polite to fuzzy forms. The Maud shape nodded then left back through the door.

A strangely hesitant purple mass appeared from behind the door way. Slowly Fluttershy’s eyes began to zoom in on the form. It slowly cleared to become Twilight. She looked awful. She had huge bags under her eyes and her mane was covered in curled stray hairs. Her normal business like gait was oddly stilted and hesitant. She walked right to the bed and looked down her with red rimmed eyes.

“Fluttershy, I’m sorry,” the unicorn said in a hoarse voice.

“Why?”

“The plan I came up with would have killed you,” Twilight explained. “All I could do was hope that the signal to deploy the floatation devices was received. But it wasn’t. I would have filled that shadow with water and drown you in the process.”

“I see,” said Fluttershy in her own soft way. “But I was dying anyway. If it was the only plan you could think of then you can’t blame yourself.”

“I could have sent in an Eva,” Twilight retorted dryly.

“Then we would be down two.” 

“You can’t blame yourself for something you didn’t even do, silly,” said the pink pile of fluff in the corner. It shook itself off and morphed into the caring form of Pinkie Pie. 

“But my plan..”

“Was the best you could think of,” interjected Pinkie. “No one would blame you if your plan doesn’t work.”

“It worked out ok, Twilight,” assured Fluttershy. “Now I just need some rest.”

They left her with the snoring rainbow maned ball around her hoof. Cyan ears twitched and pink eyes opened just long enough to hear Fluttershy say, “I wish I could remember who I was talking to before I fell asleep. I seemed so happy.” Then they closed again feeling much more comforted then before. Fluttershy’s own eyes closed as she joined her girlfriend in sleep.
> Episode 17 Applejack and the Macine
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Pinkie Pie had never met CHAOS. She had heard it was the guiding force behind CAKE. She had also heard it was made up of a family of identical looking siblings. Pinkie stood in the darkened room wondering if that was true. She also wondered if peanut butter and squid was really as bad as she had heard. Peanut butter was salty and so was squid. Perhaps the flavors dried your mouth out and...

“Hello, Pinkie Pie,” said a voice from a table of color-coded Commander Discords. She gaped in amazement.

“Hi, Commanders,”she bubbly replied. “Did you guys find the magic mirror pool too?”

“No, Mrs Pie, we are not the same Discord,” explained a red glowing Discord. “We are...his brothers.”

The rest of the Commanders nodded in agreement.

“Wow! That puts twinsies on a whole new level,” Pinkie gushed. “Like eightsies.”

“That’s not the point, Mrs. Pie. We’re discussing the incident with Fluttershy.”

“Oh well, first Fluttershy climbed into the Eva and she was all mopey and scared. Then I said Eva Launch and out went Eva Unit-01. Then we told her to take her step first. She did but then that angry angel grabbed her and..”

“We don’t need to hear about the entire fanfic,” explained yellow Discord.

“Oh, then you just want me to talk about episode 16? Where Fluttershy began all scared of Rainbow. Then she ran back into her room and remembered what Applejack said.”

“Tell us about the angel attack, Mrs. Pie,” demanded orange Discord as he rubbed his head with his claw. 

“Oh well, Fluttershy walked out towards the unknown sphere in the sky carrying a stick I told her to use.”

“Why a stick?” interrupted Blue Discord. 

“Well, duh, you shouldn’t poke an unknown flying thing with your hoof, silly.”

“Shouldn’t she have used a weapon of some sort?” inquired Red Discord. 

“Well I would have felt really bad if the sphere was a new friend and we hurt it.”

“None of this matters my..’brothers’,” sighed an exasperated Yellow Discord. “All she has to tell us about is what happened to Fluttershy after Unit-01 was swallowed. “

“Oh, that’s easy,” Pinkie said waving her hoof dismissively. “I don’t know.”

“What do you mean?” implored the Yellow Discord.

“I mean, I don’t know what happened,” explained Pinkie plainly. “I didn’t ask her.”

“But how are we supposed to know what happened?”asked that annoyed Red Discord. “If you didn’t ask her, how are we supposed to know if the angel attempted to make contact or not?”

“Ooo, I know! You could ask but it’s probably better you don’t! Fluttershy nearly died in that entry plug. She came out all sad. No matter how great my parties were, she didn’t cheer up. Her girlfriend, Rainbow Dash, was able to get her to smile at least. I don’t want to see her all sad again if you guys ask her too many questions.”

“What did you say?” asked the shocked Blue discord.

“I said I didn’t want you asking her sad questions,” stated Pinkie.

“No, about Rainbow Dash.”

“You can ask Rainbow Dash but she wasn’t there silly,”explained the perky party pony.

“You said something about Rainbow Dash.”

“She made her smile.”

“It sounded like you said she was her girlfriend,” the Blue Discord clarified.

“Oh, they have been dating for a while now. I know it might affect their fighting performance but I thought it was better than them fighting all the time and pushing each other away.”

“You’re free to go,” declared Yellow Discord.

“Okie dokie lokie,”responded the pink ball of energy. Then she bounded away. 

CHAOS waited until she left the room. They looked at one another in silence for a moment. 

“Well this is a fine kettle of fish,” Blue complained, breaking the shocked silence.

“It seems that ‘Commander’ Discord has been lying to us,” lamented Red.

“This is what we get for trusting a Discord that can’t even choose a color to be,” insisted Blue.

“This was supposed to bring us together, not pull us apart,” informed Yellow.

“Maybe we should end this now,” suggested Mauve the unusually quiet Discord.

“You have said that at every turn,” reminded Blue. “We need to get this travesty back on script. But until we think of something we have no choice but to rely on ‘Commander’ Discord’s judgement.”

“I shall issue a written warning,” announced Beige Discord monotonously, much to the exasperation of the other Discords.

***

Applejack arrived at the hospital with a bag of apples in her mouth. She nodded knowingly at the nurses as she passed. She trotted to the familiar hospital bed where her younger sister, Apple Bloom, lay. Tubes, and wires surrounded the poor fallen foal. Applejack placed the apple bag on the dresser next to the bed. 

“Mornin’ Apple Bloom, how are ya feelin’ today?”Applejack asked warmly. She paused for the briefest of seconds before continuing on. “It seems that Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy are gettin’ on fine. It’s almost kind of irritatin’ if ya ask me. It feels like the incident with “Ms. Pushy Lips” didn’t even happen. Ah just hope Fluttershy knows what she’s doing. 

“Sunburst is doing ok. He drones on and on about how great and interestin’ the magical systems of the Evas are and what sort of defensive spells they use. He even told me that the AT field of those things is actually the edge of its soul. Silly huh? 

“Starlight has been followin’ me around. Ah try ta act like Ah don’t know what she’s after but she’s pressin’ real hard. Ah thought for sure that if Ah didn’t show her any interest she’d turn ta fancy Sunburst. Them two have been inseparable fer years. Ah think he likes her. But it seems she’s dead set on me. Not that Ah’d mind too much o’ course but Ah don’t want to hurt my friend. 

“Oh don’t you worry Apple Bloom. Yer big sis will find somepony in this mess that is ma life. Heck Ah’m sure even you’ll find somepony after all this is over. Now you get on healin’ and leave the worryin’ ta me.”

Applejack began the routine of remaking Apple Bloom’s bed and brushing her mane. She finished by adjusting the overly large bow that Apple Bloom had customarily worn. 

Then her happy light hearted face fractured a little bit and her smile became a cringe. A single tear slipped out of her eye but she angrily caught it with her hoof. She told herself she wouldn’t cry in front of Apple Bloom anymore. She didn’t want to show her any reason not to come home from wherever she was. She glanced back half expecting a disappointing look from her comatose sister but there was none. She sighed then the smile was placed back on as easily as any other chore she did. She gave her sister a hug and turned and left the room. 

She stalked past the nurses and tried desperately not to hear the words that inevitably came. 

“Oh is she such a thoughtful sister,” they’d begin. “It’s a pity that her sister will never regain consciousness.”

“Really?”gasped the new nurse. There seemed to be a constant stream of them since the angels started to appear on a regular basis. 

“It’s true,” would remark the older, more hardened nurse. “The doctor said she was in a permanent vegetative state. That poor filly will never wake up. I just hope her sister isn’t putting her own life on hold for it. Apple Bloom is going to remain as aware as the apples she always brings her.”

“What do you normally do with all those apples?” asked Rookie Nurse. 

“We give them to other patients. We don’t want to waste them.”

Applejack fought the burning in her ears and blood. Apple Bloom was not a waste of apples. There is still hope. You never give up on family. But with each passing day the routine was getting harder and harder to maintain. She found herself dizzy from the effort of it. But she didn’t want to burden anypony else with her problems.

To Applejack’s jaw-dropping surprise she found Starlight waiting for her outside the hospital. Of all the stubborn fillies. She just couldn’t seem to get the hint. There is no reason to keep showing up. With Apple Bloom’s life in stasis, Applejack’s had become so as well. If Apple Bloom was truly not going to wake up Applejack felt she had no right to continue her on. But there the pink unicorn was still waiting. 

Starlight saw her from a distance and raced up to her. A small smile graced her lips but Applejack’s dour expression removed it again. 

“Mornin’ Starlight, what brings ya out here?” Applejack asked already knowing the answer.

“Oh me. I was just, you know, looking around, admiring the interesting view... of the hospital,” Starlight trailed off. Her smile contained a mixture of confusion, and uneasiness. 

Applejack shrugged and played dumb. “It’s alright, Ah guess, as hospitals go.”

“Yeah, I was thinking of becoming a nurse actually so I thought I’d look around,” Starlight tried to clarify. 

“Uh huh, well most of that stuff happens inside the hospital, Ah suspect,” Applejack tried saying as dryly as possible. She felt a twinge of guilt as she noted Starlight shining red cheeks. The feeling annoyed her and she picked up the pace towards school. 

Starlight kept in tow but muttered to herself in embarrassment. She desperately tried to think of anything else to say to keep the conversation flowing but it took all she had just to keep pace. Soon the school approached and all the time for conversation ended. It took her so long to get up the nerve to meet Applejack at the hospital but now she felt like she might have just annoyed her further.

Applejack felt more guilt as she watched the downtrodden suitor break off from her to fulfill her class room duties. She knew her coldness hurt Starlight today. Some part of her desperately wanted to reciprocate the unicorn’s feelings but she wouldn’t abandon Apple Bloom. Dates and relationships take time. That would mean less time to spend at the hospital. 

A small flash of thought filled Applejack’s mind. Maybe if she did pursue it she would be less lonely. She could share the burden of guilt and both of them could visit Apple Bloom everyday. Heck with a unicorn as talented as Starlight maybe she could even heal Apple Bloom. But that would be using Starlight for her own ends. Apple Bloom wouldn’t want to be part of that. It’s best if things stayed the way they are. 

Applejack’s frustration was augmented as she came across Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash making googly eyes at each other. Applejack rolled her eyes as she approached. What right did they have to be so happy when monsters can attack at anytime?

“C’mon you two,” the orange mare barked, “get a room.”

Fluttershy’s expression looked like she was just splashed with cold water. She slowly sunk deeper behind her desk as her face flushed. Rainbow also reddened but scowled at the rudeness of Applejack.

“Hey,” Rainbow retorted,” don’t take your lack of awesomeness out on us. You could have a special pony if you just dropped your bad attitude.”

Applejack narrowed her eyes at the speedster and she coldly sat at her desk. She stared off to the ceiling. The teacher began his normal drone of the day. Applejack’s ear twitched as she listened for a half a second about the second impact. It’s always the second impact. The only thing that affected her life from second impact was that her family had to move their orchard underground. The fertility of the soil dissipated so the Apples found what nutrients they could and moved to an underground greenhouse. The orchard wasn’t as vast but it survived. 

The class dragged on and Applejack could feel her brain ooze. She felt ornery. The room was too stuffy. The comments of the nurses still swarmed in her head. Apple Bloom might not actually get better. The thought caused Applejack’s heart to freeze. What if her body finally did give out? It was almost too terrible to think about. She felt a tear threatening to run again. She blinked quickly and looked around hoping no pony noticed. She caught Starlight staring at her again. She noticed. The concern was written all over her face. Applejack placed her head down and pretended to sleep. 

Thankfully the bell rang and released Applejack from her anguish. Finally the best part of the day arrived. Lunch. She pulled her bag embroidered with her triple apple cutie mark on it. She had made apple dumplings and Brown Betties. 

A timid hoof poked the hungry farmpony in the shoulder.

“Applejack?”

She didn’t need to turn. She knew who it was. Starlight stood next to her nervously looking around. The classroom had practically emptied for lunch. There was no pony around to look nervously about. 

“What’s up?” Applejack tried her best to keep her frustration out of her voice.

“I know you’re a good baker. I mean I heard. I haven’t snuck any crumbles off your desk to taste it or anything,” the unicorn rambled with a nervous laugh. “But a friend and I are learning to bake. I was hoping I could bring you some of the results and get some pointers.”

“I don’t see why not,” Applejack shrugged. 

“Great,” beamed Starlight backing away. “I’ll bring some tomorrow then. Hope you’re hungry.” She backed into the wall next to the door. Her face went beet red and she rubbed her neck with her hoof. “Oh, who put that wall there? Haha. Bye.”

Starlight turned and ran through the door and down the hall.

Applejack snorted. Only an idiot would miss what was going on. She should let the poor filly down properly but when Starlight had that pleading face she looked so cute. 

What would Apple Bloom say in this situation? The little filly would probably insist she go for it. Her and friends had been such hopeless romantics. But Applejack wasn’t exactly sure how she felt about her other than guilt. Perhaps she should try to talk to Sunburst about it. She didn’t want bad blood between them if he found out from a third party about Starlight’s feelings.

***

Starlight searched and searched. Finally she found her best friend talking quietly to Fluttershy. She watched Rainbow and her girlfriend fully involved in some conversation. She was about to back away and give them space when Rainbow waved a hoof at her. 

“Starlight!” the cyan pegasus shouted across the field. “Come on over. We don’t hang out as much.”

“Well I don’t want to interrupt your special pony time,” Starlight explained.

“Oh, we see each other a lot anyway,” said Rainbow with a dismissive hoof wave. “Not that I don’t want to see more of you,” she winked at Fluttershy. “But you have been hiding a lot. What’s up? How are things?”

“I’m going to let you two talk,” said Fluttershy as she slunk away. “I’m going to see how Sunburst and Applejack are doing.”

“Yeah, yeah, go talk to your knuckle head friends,” teased Rainbow.The timid pegasus flew off. Rainbow turned and faced her best friend.”Starlight, what have you been up to?”

“Do you really mean that?” Starlight asked, suddenly concerned.

“Mean what?” Rainbow Dash could feel the hesitant tone in Starlight’s voice.

“Do you really think Applejack and Sunburst are knuckleheads?”

“Well, uh, Sunburst is ok. I mean, he’s your childhood friend so he must be cool in some way,” Rainbow tried desperately back petaling. “But Applejack is stubborn and thick headed and bossy. You remember how she barged into my place and told me how to treat my girlfriend. I mean, who does she think...” Her words died as she finally saw the saddened face Starlight wore. “Oh no! Really?! Her?!”

“You just don’t see her as I do,” Starlight explained. “Sure, she can be brash and stubborn but she’s honest and caring as well. She walks everyday to see her sister in the hospital. She doesn’t complain about all the work she has to do on that family farm of hers.”

“I mean I do respect her but I can’t see her like that.”

“Am I stupid? I mean, we have nothing in common at all. I love magic and studying and organizing. She loves outside and apples. I try to make sure my clothes are clean. She wears that same hat everywhere. It makes no sense, does it? I’m not even sure I’m getting through to her at all. Maybe I should just give up.”

“Never give up. If you want something that bad don’t ever give up. If subtle doesn’t work on somepony as thickheaded, I mean, as steadfast as Applejack. Then try more obvious. If you want Fluttershy and I can help you two at least get closer. Then maybe you can make your move.”

“Thanks RD,” Starlight said confidently. “I may not get the answer I want but at least I won’t have to awkwardly hide how I feel anymore.”

“I just can’t believe I didn’t notice.” 

***

“Of course I noticed,” explained Sunburst. He and Applejack sat on the roof eating their lunch together. “Starlight has been my friend for a long time. I can tell when she likes a pony.”

“Then you’re not mad?,” asked Applejack uncertainly. 

“Of course not, AJ. Sure there was a time when I felt a special something for her but I gave that up when I noticed her checking out mares. She had a hard time coming to that realization on her own but I supported her every step of the way. “

“That’s mighty kind of ya.”

“That’s what friends do. I’ll support you if you want to pursue this with her as well.”

“Consarnit!” Applejack spat. “Ah don't know what ta do. Ah was kind of hoping you’d have a problem with it. That way Ah could just feel better just droppin’ it. But if you are for it, Ah guess Ah have decide one way or the other.”

“You should decide soon,”warned Sunburst. “Once Starlight puts her mind to something there is no stopping her.”

Fluttershy burst on to the roof with such excitement that both her friends were taken back a bit.

“Oh, um, hi,” the pegasus said meekly to their expectant faces. Sunburst and Applejack looked at each other then began to laugh. “Oh did I say something funny?”

“Nah, ya just came out so quickly Ah thought ya had trouble. Then all ya say is ‘hi’,”the cowpony  guffawed a few more times. “Thanks. Ah needed that.”

“Oh is something wrong?”

“Nothin’,” Applejack said and fixed Sunburst with a stare. “Nothin’ ya need ta concern yourself with.”

The three sat back down to eat. Applejack finally felt at ease with the situation. If only she knew how she truly felt without all these other factors. 

The day passed by. Applejack casually allowed her mind to dream over what could be. Could she date Starlight? Was the pink unicorn somepony she could get along with? How much did they have in common? Could Starlight be somepony Applejack could love? She had never dared to imagine what a relationship would be like before. 

Throughout the day the thoughts kept at her. A little dream here. A small thought there. Her Grandmother caught her staring off into the distance a few times. It was unlike her. She dismissed Granny’s concerns with excuses of weariness. She agreed to sleep it off and worry about it the next day.

The next day seemed to refuse to come. Applejack tossed and turned in her bed as visions of what could be ran through her head. She wasn’t ready for something like this. She had to focus on taking care of Apple Bloom and the farm. Again the nurse’s words floated into her ears. “She’s in a vegetative state. She’ll never wake up.”

The tears started flowing again. This time Applejack had no pony to hide them from. She let them come. She filled her pillow with a soggy mess that left her looking for a new one. 

Consarn this line of thought. How could she think of her own happiness with Apple Bloom the way she was? But if her sister was never going to change when would it be ok to move on? Apple Bloom would have been the first to champion her happiness. Perhaps she should honor her sister's way rather than wallowing in guilt and self pity. The exhaustion of the mental circles caused her to finally fall into a fitful sleep. 

***

Applejack found herself in a mental fog the next day. Her brain was tired of thinking and wondering. She just needed the matter to drop. She found Apple Bloom in her normal place in the hospital. 

“G’mornin’ Apple Bloom,” the tired farmpony said without her normal chipper tone. “It’s been a heck of a day yesterday. Nothin’ really changed per say. Ah did talk ta Sunburst. He thought Ah should give Starlight a chance. Turns out he gave up on her a while ago. But Ah’m not sure. Ah don’t know what to do right now. Ah sure wish you were here ta talk to. It’s awful lonesome on the farm without ya.”

“Umm Applejack?” a voice hesitantly asked from the door. 

Applejack turned wide-eyed to see the young nurse from yesterday. 

“My name is Coloratura. I’m sorry to overhear but I can’t stand to see another pony in such pain. It’s why I became a nurse,” the nurse said and walked in.”I think you need to follow your heart. I know you have a hard life right now with your sister and all this angel business but that is why now, of all times, you should follow your dreams. If you don’t stop to let yourself be happy then you’ll never be. Of course it’s not my place to say one way or the other.”

Applejack stared blankly like she’d been hit with a cart of apples. 

“Umm, thanks Nurse Colora..Coloratera?” the stumped mare stammered.

“You can just call me Rara. All my friends do.”

“Ok, thanks Nurse Rara. It’s right nice of ya to offer me advice. Sometimes Ah have trouble gettin’ out of my own head. And thank ya kindly fer takin’ care of ma sister so well. It looks like ya even adjusted her bow.”

Nurse Rara blushed. “Well I saw how well you care for her and thought I should do the same. I’ve been talking and singing to her as well. I hope it aids her spirit.”

“Thank ya,” Applejack said while gritting her teeth. She cried enough last night. She didn’t need to make a spectacle of herself here. 

The nurse nodded and left the room. Applejack turned back to Apple Bloom.

“Well, that don’t beat all,” the cowpony said. “It’s nice gettin’ advice from ponies that care like that. Perhaps Ah should give this opportunity a try. Ah’ll see you later Apple Bloom. Ah know you’re in good hooves.”

Applejack excitedly left the room and trotted her way out of the hospital. She felt lighter somehow. Just the knowledge that other ponies understood her plight and were helping in the ways they could made her feel connected to others. The loneliness didn’t seem so daunting. Heck, perhaps she could give this relationship a go.

***

Applejack watched as the clock clicked slowly towards lunch. Starlight hadn’t met her at the hospital like she had hoped. Perhaps her cold response had put a stop to it. But the unicorn was in class. Applejack stole a few glances and felt her doing the same. 

Starlight had carried in a large brown bag. Applejack suspected it was the baking work she had mentioned the other day. The cow pony caught her constantly checking the bag as if it was going to wander off. Only a few minutes to go. Applejack’s brain was starting to get fuzzy with anticipation. Was she really going to do this?

Suddenly the overhead speaker erupted with sound. 

“Ms Applejack, report to the principal’s office please. Ms Applejack to the principal’s office.” 

Applejack stared at the loud speaker for clarity but it said no more. She looked and saw Sunburst’s inquisitive look. She shrugged and stood up. Slowly she passed by Starlight swallowing a large burning lump in her throat. She could feel Starlight’s eyes on her. With each hoof she felt a little rubbery under that scrutiny but knowing it came from a place of attraction made her feel a little steadier. 

That is until Applejack wondered why she was being called. She knew she hadn’t done anything recently. Suddenly a thought flashed in her head like a cold bucket of water. 

Apple Bloom.

No, Apple Bloom was fine this morning. No changes in the regular routine. She even had an extra nice nurse watching her. Then why did Applejack find herself galloping down the hallway in a cold sweat? Just how long was this hallway anyway? 

Applejack burst into the principal's office, wide-eyed, with her main practically standing on end.

“What’s wrong with Apple Bloom, Principle Cheerilee?!” she blurted.

The room was silent with shock. Principle Cheerilee stood confused and flustered with Applejack’s sudden appearance. On either side of her stood Ms. Pinkie Pie and a purple unicorn that Applejack remembered from Ms. Pinkie’s party. Both of their expressions mirrored Cheerilee’s. 

“Nothing,” answered Cheerilee with a reassuring voice. “This isn’t about Apple Bloom. This is about you.”

Applejack let out a large sigh and felt woozy as the sudden adrenaline rush left her. “Oh thank Celestia,” she whispered. “So what is this about? And why is Ms Pinkie Pie here?”

Ms. Pinkie Pie took a sudden deep breath. “You’re going to be a Magical Foal!”

“A what now?”

“No Pinkie,” reprimanded the unicorn. “I told you on the way here she wasn’t magical. I’m sorry for Pinkie. My name is Twilight Sparkle, I remember you from the party. One of Fluttershy’s friends right?”

“Right,” echoed Applejack hesitantly.

“We recently received word from the Mareduke institute that you are the Fourth Foal,” Ms Twilight declared smiling from ear to ear.

“Fourth for what? Have Ah won a prize or somethin’?”

“Not really a prize. More like an opportunity,” explained the lavender unicorn. “You have been chosen to be the fourth Evanstallion pilot.”

“Yay,” shouted Ms Pinkie as streamers shot out from around the room.

Applejack’s face fell. A flash of Fluttershy screaming jumped across her mind. She had looked so fierce and frantic back then. She suffered immensely from piloting. Applejack herself had to help pick up the pieces of her fragile ego on more than one occasion. 

Now they wanted the cowpony to do the same. It seemed impossible. She never imagined herself in one of those large magical machines. She had no idea what she should do.

“Are you sure? Ah mean is it possible this Mareduke made a mistake?” inquired the stunned Applejack.

“Pretty sure,” assured Ms Twilight. “It’s a special type of pony they are looking for. They think you’d make a great pilot.”

“Right,” came the hollow and uneasy response. “It’s not that Ah doubt ya’ll. It’s just that Ah ain’t never been seen as special by no pony.” A brief vision of Starlight’s face reminded her that she just lied. “Ah mean ta say. Ah haven’t done anythin’ special. Ah’ve only been good at helpin’ with the family and the farm. Who's gonna help with that if Ah’m out fightin’?”

“We talked to your Granny,” began Ms Twilight.

“She gave us pie!” interrupted Ms Pinkie with a shout.

“She said not to worry about your chores,”continued Ms Twilight. “She still had your brother and plenty of family members to call on for help.”

“Ah see. What about Apple Bloom?”

“You’ll still have time to see her, silly,” winked Ms Pinkie. “We can move her to our special hospital. It’s the best around.”

“Do ya have them fancy machines and magics that could make Apple Bloom better?”

“We have the state of the art medical devices and the best healing wizards in all of Equestria,” explained Ms Twilight. “If there is a way to cure Apple Bloom. They’ll find it.”

“Golly,” Applejack found herself saying. “If you’re going ta do all that then you have found yourself the hardest workin’ pilot in all Equestria.”

Applejack placed her hoof out to Ms Twilight with a look of pure determination on her face. Ms Twilight smiled and took to the offered hoof. The next thing she knew was the earth seemed to be shaking. It didn’t stop until the farm pony let go.

Applejack turned to leave then looked back at them.

“Can Ah ask ya fer something else?”

“Sure,” Ms Twilight said as her mind reoriented.

“Could ya make sure that Apple Bloom’s new nurse Coloratura goes with her? She seems to be the nicest nurse I’ve ever met and she knows how to really take care of a pony.”

“No problem. I’ll call for the transfer myself.”

Applejack nodded her head and left the room. She trotted down the hallway a few feet before the gravity of the meeting nearly floored her. She stumbled on gelatinous knees that wobbled in too many directions as she made her way toward the classroom. She felt her cheeks redden as she thought of her friends reactions. She couldn’t let them see her like this. She was supposed to be the strong one. She steered her trembling legs away from the classroom and back toward outside. Sitting on the real earth always gave her comfort when she felt out of sorts. 

***

Starlight waited and waited for Applejack’s return. She clutched the brown bag of her baked goods close to her. Lunch wore on and Applejack was nowhere to be found. Her unease forced her into action. She made her way up to the school roof where Applejack’s friends normally ate. 

Starlight was surprised to find Fluttershy there. She was talking to Sunburst, her knucklehead friend. She snickered at the thought idly wondering where Rainbow Dash was. 

“I heard the second branch of CAKE just simply vanished,” Starlight heard Sunburst explain.

“Vanish,” gasped Fluttershy. “But why and how?”

“No pony knows, but I heard that they’re rushing Eva Unit-03 here as fast as they can. Do you think they chose a pilot yet?”

“No pony has told me anything if they did,” explained Fluttershy. 

“There is no way I could be in one of those things,” sighed Sunburst. “I enjoy reading about the magic involved but I could never do what you do, Fluttershy.”

“Oh, I don’t do that much. I just.. Starlight? Are you ok?”

Starlight felt her cheeks flush and redden as Fluttershy looked at her. She felt the brown bag push tighter against her chest as her magic reacted to her tense mental state.

“I’m a,” the class representative stammered,” I’m just looking at the beautiful day. Uh huh. Yup. No problems here.”

“Starlight!” scolded Sunburst with a sharp tone. “You know you can tell me anything and Fluttershy is one of the kindest ponies in the school. There is no need to lie to us.”

“Alright,” sighed Starlight. “I was looking for Applejack. Then I heard you ponies talking about those war machines and started to get scared. She hasn’t come back from the principal’s office yet. Do you think something happened with Apple Bloom?”

Sunburst stood up and looked at Fluttershy with wide eyes. Fluttershy was equally concerned. 

“We have to find her,” Sunburst determined. “I’ll check inside the school. You fly around the school grounds in case she’s still here.”

“What should I do?” asked Starlight. 

“We can’t leave until school is over. But if we can’t find her I’m going to need you to teleport to the hospital where they’re keeping Apple Bloom.”

“Right,” nodded Starlight. “Oh I hope she’s ok.”

***

Applejack felt the cool breeze. The leaves rustled pleasantly. The earth felt safe and soft. Then dirt filled her nose as quiet yellow wings disturbed the ground.

“Oh thank goodness,” said a sad soothing voice. “Applejack are you ok?”

Applejack sat up and looked at the worried pegasus. She blinked a couple times trying to figure out what happened. Then she remembered. She had sat by the tree to clear her head when the sleeplessness of the night before had caught up with her. She snorted and got herself off the dusty ground. 

“Sorry ta worry ya,” the orange pony said. “Ah just kind of fell asleep. Nothin’ else ta worry about.”

“So everything is ok with Apple Bloom?” asked Fluttershy.

“Yeah. No need ya fuss. She’s fine. Ah’m just tired is all. A long day workin’ on the farm. Nothin’ else. Ah better go. Ah got few more chores at the farm ta do. If ya can tell the teacher and our friends that Ah’m ok. Ah’d be much obliged.”

Applejack didn’t wait around for a response. She quickly galloped home leaving Fluttershy stunned. She tried not to look back. She just wasn’t ready to tell anypony about the Eva yet. It wasn’t until she was well away that she remembered Starlight and her brown bag. 

“Shoot, so much for me being so dependable,” Applejack chided herself. She wasn’t really paying attention to her hooves and they automatically took her to the hospital. She looked up at it and sighed. She might as well go in. She was here already. 

The cowpony walked toward Apple Bloom’s room when she heard the most beautiful song. She looked around and noticed it was coming from Apple Bloom’s room. She rushed inside and found Nurse Coloratura singing to herself as she attached the feeding tube to Apple Bloom. The nurse nearly dropped the end as Applejack entered.

“Oh Applejack,” Nurse Coloratura gasped, placing the tube down on a sterile field. “What brings you here now? Aren’t you supposed to be in school? Did something happen?”

“Ah uh,” Applejack stammered in response. “Ah was just uh, worried. About Apple Bloom. Just got a bad feeling is all.”

“Oh,” cooed Coloratura. “There is no reason to worry. She’s fine. Her breathing, pulse and mentation are all normal.”

“Oh, thank ya,” the farm pony said sheepishly.

“You know we nurses are trained to deal with patients but we are ponies first. I don’t need any special training to know something is bothering you. If you want to talk about it. I will listen.”

“Oh, that’s ok. Ah’m fine. Nothin’ really to say.”

“How did things go with that mare you mentioned?”

“Well, Ah, uh,” Applejack’s face blazed a shining crimson.

“How about this? I’ll leave you here with Apple Bloom. You can tell her what’s going on and I’ll be outside trying not to listen.”

Applejack stared at her wide eyed. The nurse didn’t wait for a response and walked out. Applejack looked at the small form of Apple Bloom resting. Nothing changed. Despite all that had happened today. Applejack felt like her world had just twisted around itself but here was Apple Bloom staying exactly as she was.

“Ah um. Howdy Apple Bloom. It’s been a long day. First that mare Ah was tellin’ ya about was there with her baked goods but Ah didn’t get a chance ta eat them. Ah hope Ah didn’t offend Starlight by running off the way Ah did. It’s just... Ms Pinkie Pie came by the school today. Another pony named Twilight Sparkle was there as well. They told me, Ah’m gonna be an Eva pilot like Fluttershy.”

Applejack could feel the tears beginning to stream down her face.

“Ah know them Evas are what hurt ya and Ah shoulda turned ‘em down flat. But they said they’d move ya to a better facility. They even have medical unicorns to help make ya better. Now don’t you worry Apple Bloom. Ya gonna be fine. Ah even told ‘em to have Nurse Rara transferred with you. So don’t you worry about nothin’. 

“Ah’m just a little worried about movin’ in those big robots. Ah watched Fluttershy fight that nasty bug thing and it didn’t look too fun. But then that dunderheaded Rainbow Dash can do it. So Ah shouldn’t be so worried. But Ah am. Ah don’t know how to prepare for stuff like this. Ah don’t know where to start. This ain’t nothin’ like we have on the farm.”

Applejack’s panic was cut off as a hoof wrapped around her neck and hugged her. She leaned into its owner and felt the warmth radiating from it. She leaned into that warm feeling and let the stress and worry leave her for a little while. Then she opened her eyes and noticed Nurse Coloratura standing outside the doorway watching. Applejack gasped and looked at the pony hugging her. She found herself face to face with a brightly blushing Starlight. 

“Starlight wha,” fell out of Applejack’s mouth as her mind tried to grasp reality.

“I couldn’t stay at school,” Starlight awkwardly replied. “I saw you talking to Fluttershy then run off. I was worried. I knew where the hospital was and teleported here. They stopped me at the desk but that nurse there walked by and told them to let me in. I’m normally not so forward but I couldn’t bear to watch you anymore. So you’re going to be an Eva pilot. That could be pretty cool. I'll cheer you on from the ground for sure.  Applejack, I kind of have a confession to make. I, um, like you. I’m sorry if I came off as annoying or weird these last few weeks but I didn’t know how to tell you.”

Applejack just stood there with her mouth open. She glanced over at Nurse Coloratura who pushed her hoof forward at her. She shook her head quickly. 

“Ah’m not used to having somepony so keen on me before,” began the startled cowpony. “And if in ya asked me yesterday Ah would have turned ya down flat. It doesn’t feel like ma life has much of a direction to go. With Apple Bloom here it feels like Ah’m kind of stuck here as well. But it ain’t so. In thinking about it, it didn’t make sense to put a hold on ma life. If it was me in that bed Ah would have told her to live her life for me and not use me as an excuse. Ah think she would say the same thing ta me.”

Applejack rubbed her neck with her hoof.

“So Ah guess what Ah’m sayin’ is that Ah’m willin’ to give it a go,” the cowpony concluded. She barely finished her statement when her face was blocked by a purple mane. She felt that warmth again as Starlight rushed in and embraced her. Applejack returned the warm hug. She glanced at Nurse Coloratura and noticed her grinning and biting her lip. 

The new couple walked out of the room. Applejack turned to the nurse and mouthed “thank you”. The nurse nodded. 

They made it outside and the fresh air brought new hope in Applejack. She turned to Starlight. 

“Thank ya fer comfortin’ me when Ah needed it,” said Applejack. “Ah’d be obliged if ya don’t tell any pony about me .. you know.. cryin’.”

“Oh of course not,” gasped Starlight. 

“Thank ya. Well it looks like we’ll be seein’ more of each other. Ah’m not quite sure what to do here. Ah’ve never had a girlfriend and all. Am Ah supposed to kiss ya or hug or what?”

“Oh, a hug is fine,” Starlight quickly agreed. “I think we shouldn’t push it too fast. We’ll get there when we do”

“Well alright then,” Applejack said. “Ah gotta go. Ah’m meetin’ Ms Pinkie Pie at my farm soon for my first Eva test. So Ah’ll see ya soon.”

The orange mare gave Starlight a quick awkward hug then galloped off towards home. 

Starlight watched her go. When she was fully out of range, Starlight leaped into the air. 

“I did it! I did it!” she shouted. “I finally asked her out! I have to go tell Rainbow Dash.”

The world went green as Starlight’s teleportation spell took her back towards school. It had just let out and Starlight frantically looked for Rainbow. She saw her and Fluttershy walking towards their apartment and trotted after them.

“So do you think they chose the new pilot yet?” asked Fluttershy.

“Well I..”, Rainbow began. Her eyes widened and she began looking around for the strange sound she heard. 

“Pssdt.” 

It sounded again. She caught sight of Starlight slowly trailing behind them. Starlight motioned towards her when she saw Rainbow catch her eye. 

“Hey Fluttershy, why don’t you go on ahead. I’ll meet you back at HQ,” Rainbow Dash. 

“Oh ok,” Fluttershy nodded, glancing back at Starlight. She smiled sweetly at Starlight. Starlight returned it and waved her hoof.

“So what’s up?” asked Rainbow when Fluttershy was a little further away.

“I did it!” declared Starlight triumphantly. 

“Woah, that’s awesome. But you should probably remind me what it is. You’ve got a lot of projects going on.”

“I told Applejack how I feel!”

“Really?! That’s awesome. Of course it seems a bit fast as I only learned about it yesterday.”

“Oh right, well it has been a bit longer than that. But she said she would give it a try!” shouted Starlight. “I am seeing Applejack!”

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen you this pumped up ever! We gotta celebrate. I know. Pinkie Pie throws the best parties. I’ll tell her about it. She threw an awesome party for Fluttershy and I.”

“That sounds great. But we’ll have to wait until she and Applejack get back.”

“Get back? From where?”

“Oh Applejack went with Pinkie Pie for some sort of Eva thing,” Starlight blurted, not thinking.

“An Eva thing?! Applejack?!”

“Yeah she was picked to be a pilot. Oh shoot, was I supposed to keep that a secret? Applejack didn’t say. Of course she didn’t actually tell me. Oh no! My first act as her girlfriend and I might have given away her secret,”Starlight fretted and danced on her hooves.

“Woah, woah, calm down Starlight. I’m not going to tell anypony about it.”

“Not even Fluttershy.”

“Especially not Fluttershy. It’ll just be between us. I just can’t see Applejack as an Eva pilot,” Rainbow admitted.

“Is it hard?”

“Well it’s not easy. There are daily tests and ...”

The necklace Rainbow Dash was wearing emitted a bright flash then began pulsing a deep red. 

“Speak of the devil,” Rainbow sighed. “Sorry Star. I gotta go. It’s probably an angel.”

Rainbow Dash sped off in the direction of CAKE headquarters.

Starlight sighed. She suddenly felt all the warmth and excitement drain out of her. Her girlfriend was now on the front line of the angel attacks. All she could do was cheer her on and hope.

***

Applejack tried to listen to Twilight as she explained how the magic machine worked. She caught something about an entry plug and synaptic connections but it didn’t make a lick of sense. She felt her head start to swim after a while.

“Um would it be ok if in ya just explained what Ah’m supposedly do?” Applejack finally interjected. 

“Of course,” Twilight agreed. “Right now all you have to do is put on the entry plug suit and sit in the seat in that tube.”

“Yes ma’am,” Applejack said and grabbed the black suit from Twilight. She found a changing area. Then cautiously took off her normal track style suit and put on the baggy slippery outfit. She carefully took off her hat and placed it in the suit behind her back. Then she marched back to Ms. Twilight. She caught her and Ms. Pinkie conversing as she walked in.

“Wow, Twilight this new facility is smaller compared to the other one,”Ms Pinkie exclaimed.

“Couldn’t be helped,”Ms Twilight said. “It was hastily thrown together to house Unit-03. Since the explosion of the second branch in Dodge Junction Celestia wanted Unit-03 with the other Evas for better protection.”

“What happened at the 2nd branch anyway?”

“No pony knows. It just vanished along with all the ponies that worked there. It seems they tried to attach the new S2 engine in an Eva. Oh Applejack your ba..” Twilight suddenly placed her hoof over her mouth and tried to hide the smile that erupted across her face.

Ms Pinkie glanced at her and started chortling. “No pony told you about the button,” she managed to say.

“What button?” asked Applejack, feeling stupid.

“The one on your hoof,” said Twilight stifling her own giggles.

Applejack pressed the button and felt the suit suddenly constrict to her skin. She felt the neck tighten. She felt very self conscious. She was never one to show much of her body. 

Suddenly Ms. Twilight let out a renewed peal of laughter. “What is…what is...that?” she breathlessly gasped. She placed her hoof on Applejack’s back and began poking her hat. Applejack turned red as her prized possession was discovered. 

“Is that your hat?” Ms. Twilight finally surmised. 

“Yes ma’am,” the cowpony admitted sheepishly.

“Well you can’t take that in with you.”

“Sorry, Applejack,” explained Ms Pinkie,” but rules are rules. We’ll take good care of it here.”

Applejack pulled her hat from the suit with her teeth and gave it to Ms Pinkie who took it with a lock of her mane somehow. Applejack backed away a little perplexed. 

“Climb into the entry plug, please,” requested Ms Twilight.

“Yes ma’am,” was all Applejack could think of to say. The whole ordeal was so surreal to her. There were so many gizmos, gadgets and who-knows-whats around her she felt out of sorts. She gingerly climbed inside the white tube and found the seat they mentioned. The hatch closed with a click and then she felt the tube move forward. 

“Oh no! Not the orange stuff again!” Applejack bemoaned.

“It’s ok,” said Ms Twilight’s voice through a speaker inside. “Just breath like you normally would.”

The display screen filled with colors and then Applejack could see outside the large black robotic earth pony. 

“You’re doing great, Applejack,” exclaimed Ms Pinkie.

“Umm Twilight?” said a voice that Applejack didn’t know. “What’s this wave developing here?”

“That’s strange it looks like a..”

“An angel! My Pinkie sense can feel it. Oh no! The Eva’s arm is moving!”

There was a large explosion then everything went black and Applejack couldn’t see anymore.

***

Fluttershy sat in Unit-01. She had been called in suddenly and was told the next angel was approaching. She was told that Pinkie and Twilight were in a different facility and that Commander Discord himself would lead them. She felt uneasy. Discord could be a little demanding. She shook her head to clear her doubts and tried to talk to Rainbow.

“So is everything ok with Starlight?” the third filly asked. 

A small video screen appeared displaying her cyan girlfriend. “Nothing. It’s umm stuff I can’t talk about.”

“Oh sorry to intrude then,” Fluttershy hurriedly apologized. 

“Enough chatter you two. Time to get your game faces on,” commanded Commander Discord. “I have mine on, see.” He placed his red-tinted glasses on and interlocked his fingers in front of his mouth. “Now no one can tell if I’m talking or not.”

“Why do you need to do that?” blurted a confused Rainbow Dash.

“Something about animation cost or something. The same reason the backgrounds hardly move,” the Commander dismissed. “Look! There is your target.”

The screen zoomed in on a large silhouette emerging from behind a nearby hill. It’s form looked familiar.

“Oh my gosh! Is that an Eva?” shouted Rainbow Dash. “Don’t tell me that’s Unit-03.”

“Alright, I won’t tell you,”said Discord testily. “I’ll just say it rhymes with ‘spoon it Brie’.”

“Wait! If that’s an Eva does that mean some pony is in there?” asked Fluttershy.

“Well not just some pony. We don’t let just some pony in there,” explained Discord. “But it hardly matters now. You have to stop it.”

Fluttershy felt her eyes widen and her pulse increase. Her mouth went dry and a cold sweat started to run down her forehead. “But that could hurt them,” she protested. 

“If you don’t stop it, it could hurt us all,” the Commander explained.

“Don’t worry Fluttershy,” reassured Rainbow. “I’ll stop it.”

Fluttershy watched her screen as Rainbow charged in with a confident determined look on her face. A shadow loomed across that face. Fluttershy watched in horror as a large hoof struck the outside of Dash’s screen, cracking it. 

“Dang it, I forgot how strong a kicker she is,” Rainbow cursed.

“Wait,” gasped Fluttershy,” you know who that is?”

“You mean she never told you?!” shouted Rainbow in disbelief. “No I don’t. Or at least I am not supposed to.”

“Wait, it's somepony we know.”

“I’m sorry Fluttershy but...”

Rainbow Dash’s screen turned to static as a large impact echoed in the distance. 

“Rainbow?”

“It knocked me down too, Fluttershy,” came the flattened tone of Maud’s words. Another impact sound resonated through the Ponyville 3 as Fluttershy watched Unit-00 crash into a nearby hill. It didn’t get back up. 

Unit-03 emerged from behind the hill. Fluttershy could see the black metal armor gleaming as the sun reflected off of it. It was another earth pony type. This one looked far thicker than Maud’s model. Its eyes glowed green as it locked on to her Eva. 

“Oh no! It’s coming!” Fluttershy shouted.

“You have to take it down!” commanded Discord. His tone was much sharper than Fluttershy had ever heard before. 

“But the pony inside is..”

“Trying to kill you!” interrupted Discord. Panic was starting to show in his voice.

“No, I will try and stop it but I won’t hurt it.”

“How are you going to do that? It’s a lunatic angel!”

“I’m going to try and talk to it.”

Fluttershy presses the speaker button on in her cockpit. 

“I know you’re in there, other pilot,”the pegasus began. “I don’t know who you are but I need you to fight the angel inside that Eva. I can tell you’re a strong pony because you are an Eva pilot. We have to go through a lot but..”

Her speech of goodwill and togetherness was cut short as Unit-03 whipped around backward and lashed out with its back hooves. Fluttershy was able to backup fast enough to avoid the full impact but the hooves clamped to the sides of her Eva’s head. They pulled it down to the ground so quickly that Fluttershy at very little time to acknowledge it. The strong back hooves lifted her Eva’s head up and began to rapidly smash it into the ground over and over again. Fluttershy felt like her own head was going to cave in. She struggled to speak despite the pain in her face.

“Please don’t do this. I’m sure there is a way we can work urrrk,” Fluttershy desperately tried reasoning.

The angel’s Eva switched tactics. It had wrapped its back hooves around Unit-01’s neck in a way that was impossible for normal pony legs to bend.

“We..can..”

“See!” demanded the hissing tones of Discord. “It’s trying to kill you! You have to destroy it!“

“No...the...Eva.”

“Turn down the Evas pain receptors so we can have a conversation without so many periods,” Commander Discord informed the computer mares.

Fluttershy took a large gasping breath.

“We can still try talking to it,” she gasped. “The Eva is a living thing. So is the pony inside. It’s not the magic constructs we’ve been fighting so far.”

“Fluttershy every angel has been a living thing,” Discord flatly informed her.

“You mean...”

“You have destroyed all the angels thus far. This one is no different.”

“No, I won’t.”

“Fluttershy it’s going to kill you!”

“I don’t care!” the irate pegasus shouted. “You made me a monster! I deserve to be destroyed! I will not hurt another being!”

“No!” shrieked Discord in palpable anguish. “I will not stand here and let you die! I’m ending this!”

Suddenly Fluttershy’s screen and monitors went dark. The discomfort Fluttershy felt around her neck was gone. She felt tears streaming down her face. She felt limp and weak. She felt hurt and angry. Her friends lied to her. She had hurt and killed so many things.

The lights came back on and the display screen showed Unit-03’s hind legs. Fluttershy looked around in confusion and shock.

“What is happening? What is happening?!” she shrieked. 

“This is the dummy plug system,” explained Discord. “If you won’t protect yourself. I will do it for you.”

“No Discord, this isn’t good. Hurting other ponies never leads to..”

The yellow pegasus stopped speaking as she watched her Eva wrap its hooves around the other’s back hooves. The entry plug filled with pure rage as her biomechanical magical beast started to fight back. It began pulling the hooves off its neck. Then it attacked the Eva’s knee joints. Fluttershy felt the pop of Unit-03’s knees under her own hooves. 

“Oh my goodness,” whimpered Fluttershy and looked at her hooves in disbelief. 

Her Eva aimed its drilling horn at Unit-03’s back. 

“No, no, no.”

It pulled the offending Eva down through its ruined back legs and stabbed it in the back of its head. The drill screeched as it began tearing through the Eva’s armor plating. Unit-03 struggled and tried to buck its attacker off but with only two working legs it wasn’t that effective. 

“Please, please, stop,” moaned Fluttershy in a tear choked whisper.

“I, um, can’t,” came a bewildered meek sounding Discord. “This is a new system. I can’t find the off button.”

The drill made its way through the armor and blood started pouring from the wound. Unit-03 frantically whipped back and forth until the drill pierced to the bone. Blood streaked Fluttershy’s display screen but she could see that the enemy Eva had stopped moving. 

“Oh my.. oh,” she wept and hyperventilated. 

Her Eva began moving again. It withdrew its bone and blood encrusted horn and pushed the other Eva’s body down. In a fit of pure hatred it began stomping on the lifeless body. Each fall landing on Unit-03’s head.

“Why is it still going? It’s going to kill the pilot!” Fluttershy screamed at the top of her lungs. “Turn it off! Turn it off!”

“I’m sorry! I’m trying!” frantically shouted Discord.

Unit-03’s head exploded with a sickening crack and pop. The entry plug shot out and landed a few feet away. Unit-01’s head followed it as it rolled. The Eva slowly plodded after it.

“It’s after them! Discord! It’s after the pilot. We have to save them! Hurry!” Fluttershy’s panic was palpable. She put her entire weight into moving the controls. Nothing happened.

“Ahh here it is,” Discord’s voice conveyed over the speaker. “The dummy plug manual. Now where is the index? There. Off.off.off. Where are you? There you are, you little urchin. Page 33. Page 33. Page..”

“Discord! It’s coming! I can’t stop it!”

The Eva’s shadow darkened the usual brilliant glow of the white entry plug. A single hoof lifted in the air over top of it. 

“Noooo!” Fluttershy belted with all her might. 

“There,” cried Discord.

The Eva shut down. The high pitch hum of its engine whined down. But the momentum of its hoof brought it down with a hefty thud. It easily broke through the entry plug hull and crushed it. A large crack spit down the rest of the tube revealing the unconscious form of Applejack. 

Fluttershy looked down at her. She stared at her good dependable friend. The only pony who stood up for her. The pony that supported her relationship even though she didn’t like it. The pony who protected her. The pony who forgave her even though she hurt her sister. Her friend was crushed under her own Eva’s hoof.

There were no words that accurately described how Fluttershy felt. The horror, the sadness, the rage all tried to flood her body at once. It erupted in a piercing, gut-wrenching shriek that haunted all in the control room.
> Episode 18 Pains and Losses
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Fluttershy laid in the cockpit for hours. She didn’t have the heart to move anymore. The speaker crackled to life with the measured words of Twilight.

“Fluttershy?! Fluttershy are you there? I’m sorry I wasn’t here earlier but Pinkie and I were caught in the explosion when Unit-03 broke free.”

“How could you?” came the barely audible response.

“How could I what?”

“How could you lie to me?” the pegasus whimpered.

“Lie? What lie? I didn’t lie to you?”

“Discord said that the angels weren’t magical constructs. That they were living beings. You said they weren’t actually alive.”

“What?! But my research says they are Fluttershy. I would never lie about research. I don’t know why he told you they were alive and they do seem alive but they are made of nothing but magic. I assure you. You haven’t hurt anything.”

“Except my best friend! I killed her! My Eva killed her!” Fluttershy moaned.

“She’s still alive, Fluttershy. We are transferring her to the hospital on base now.”

“Please get me out of here,” Fluttershy suddenly begged. “I have to go see her.”

***

Fluttershy rushed through the hospital wing with Twilight telling her to slow down. Pinkie Pie suddenly appeared beside them.

“Where are we running to?” the party pony asked and tried to bounce. She nearly fell when she forgot her front hoof was in a sling. 

“Woah there, Pinkie,” said Twilight as she stopped to catch her before she fell. “I’ll help Pinkie, you go on.”

Fluttershy had already disappeared behind the next turn.

“Are you ok?” asked Twilight to Pinkie.

“Oh it’s just a broken hoof,” said Pinkie gleefully. “Not too shabby for an explosion. Of course I won’t be my bouncing self for a bit. Gasp. We could have a first-time-I-broke-my-hoof party. I can invite everyone I know. All the nurses in the hospital...”

“Pinkie! Applejack’s really hurt.  Unit-01 went wild and crushed the entry plug. Applejack’s alive but she might have lost a leg.”

“Pffft. Twilight, that’s silly you can’t lose a leg. Even the back ones that you can’t see, that you think are lost, are always there.”

“No Pinkie. The leg is so damaged they might have to cut it off.”

“But...but Applejack needs her legs. How can she buck trees and help around the farm?!” Pinkke’s voice became higher pitched and strained. Pain reached her expression as the implications grabbed on and worked their way into her brain.

“I know, Pinkie,” sniffled Twilight, placing her friend in a comforting embrace. “But at least she’s still with us.”

There was a large clatter around the corner that Fluttershy ran down. Nurses were rushing in that direction. 

“Oh no, now what?” asked Twilight as she took off down the hall. “What happened?” she demanded.

“This pegasus came barging into Applejack’s room then collapsed,” Nurse Colorura explained.

“Oh my gosh,”cried Pinkie. “Is she ok?”

“We’ll put her in the bed right next to her friend,” explained Nurse Coloratura. “Then we’ll observe her. It looks like simple exhaustion.”

Twilight blew a sigh of relief. 

“What is happening around here, Twilight?” demanded Pinkie. “Our friends are getting hurt right and left.”

“We are fighting angels for our lives everyday,” Twilight calmly explained. “Ponies are going to get hurt.”

“It’s just too sad. What are we going to do now?”

“Same thing we always do, Pinkie. Keep going on.”

***

The darkness parted for a few seconds for Applejack. She wasn’t dead like she thought. She groggily looked around her room. She saw a hospital room and a hospital bed next to her. There was a somewhat familiar yellow pony in it.

“Apple Bloom?” she tentatively asked. Then the form sharpened and the yellow pony resembled Fluttershy. 

“Oh, Fluttershy. Are you alright?”

The answer never came and darkness took her once again. 

The light slowly turned on again. This time it was Rainbow Dash in front of her bed. She was shouting something and looked like she’d been crying. But Applejack couldn’t figure it out. And the world fuzzed over again.

Applejack could feel her body before she tried to move anything. Something was wrong. Her mouth was dry and her head hurt. But that wasn’t it. A part of her mind told her not to look. Instinct told her to keep her eyes as tight as possible and go back to sleep. She couldn’t any more. Her body wouldn’t allow it. It said it was time to get up and tend those trees. Those pigs needed feeding as well. But try as she might she couldn’t remember what the pigs were for. Truffles maybe.

So Applejack opened her eyes. The first thing she noticed was how crusty her eyelids were. It felt like she hadn’t opened them in forever. Then an indistinctive blur filled her vision. She narrowed her eyes trying to peer through the fuzziness. The picture cleared and she was facing an upset pink unicorn with a light blue streak in her purple mane. 

“Starlight? Are you alright?”

The unicorn quickly looked up with tear residue in her eyes. 

“Oh my gosh, AJ? You’re here. I mean you were here the whole time but now you’re really really here,” Starlight rambled. 

“Hold on, Sugarcube, slow down. Ah feel like a wrestled a nine foot sidewinder. Where in the hay am I and where is Fluttershy?”

“Fluttershy?”

“Ah thought Ah saw her in that bed over yonder,” Applejack emphasized by pointing her hoof. 

“AJ that was three days ago. Fluttershy is fine. But umm you know this might be best if I get  Nurse Coloratura. She might be better at breaking this to you. I’ll be right back.”

“Starlight wait. Ah’m not sure Ah want to hear it from her. Ah have always figured honesty to be the best policy between couples. Ah know we’re just startin’ out but we might as well start now.”

“Ok,” said Starlight, visibly shaken. She tried to compose herself as she sat back down. She took a deep breath and stared directly in her eyes. Applejack felt a little woozy looking into them but could tell something important was about to be said. 

“Applejack,” the pink unicorn began, “do you remember the fight?”

“Which one?”

“The one inside the Eva.”

Applejack shook her head blankly. It was then she realized she wasn’t wearing her hat. She had given it to Ms. Pinkie to hold and then something had exploded.

“Wait! The explosion,” Applejack gasped trying to sit up but failing. “Is everypony alright? Ms Pinkie Pie and Ms Twilight?”

“Ms Twilight is fine and Ms. Pinkie pie broke her hoof,” assured Starlight. “But after the explosion there was an angel in your Eva. Or at least that is what Rainbow Dash said. You fought with Fluttershy. Her Eva lost control and ripped yours apart.”

Applejack just stared blankly, taking it all in.

“If Fluttershy was here, Ah might have hurt her. Ah should go...” Applejack began.

The orange mare moved to stand but felt a lightness on one side that she’s never known. Bewildered, she tried again and felt her left side not moving quite right. Dumbfounded, she stared down at the lumps in her blanket. She lifted the right side and saw Kicks McGee spring into action. She tried the other side and Bucky gave a half hearted flop. It didn’t look the same. With shaking front hooves she carefully pulled off the blanket and saw the small red stump that was her left back leg. 

Starlight couldn’t handle anymore and began sobbing and wrapped her hooves around her stunned girlfriend. 

Applejack just stared in disbelief. It didn’t seem real. She was fine a minute ago and now seemingly seconds later the world she was used to was over. 

“Oh Applejack,” Starlight sobbed. “I will become a medical pony. I’ll make a leg for you. A metal one. It’ll work out. I’ll make sure it does. Even if I have to bend time itself.”

Applejack could only stare. No words would come as to what the future would hold. 

“Starlight,” the cowpony finally said in a hoarse voice. “Could ya check in on Apple Bloom fer me? Ah don’t know when Ah’ll get to see her.”

“They’re moving her into this room soon. You’ll be together for some time at least.”

“Well at least there’s that.”

“We’ll get through this AJ. I’ll stay right here for you,” Starlight said and smiled through her tears.

Applejack smiled slowly at her. There was no way she was going to recover anytime soon but she wanted to let Starlight know she appreciated her company.They sat together in the room until visiting hours ended. They didn’t know what happened outside. 

***

Fluttershy stood in front of Discord with a look of scorn and anger. She felt used and cheap. Applejack’s crumpled form still danced through her mind. She had heard that her friend was awake now but knew she couldn’t face her. 

Discord looked down at her from his desk. His face was full of pity.

“I I don’t know what to say,” he began.

“Normally a real friend would begin by apologizing for hurting them,” she sneered.

“I didn’t think any of this would happen. I was just following the script.”

“Script? Script?! Discord, this is my life and my friends' lives. We aren’t toys for you to play with. We are ponies. Ponies with real feelings. Ponies with that can get hurt.”

“It was not my intent to cause you pain. I was actually trying to help you,” Commander Discord clarified with an uncertain smile.

“You tried to make me hurt a friend then gave me a front row seat to her beating when I refused. I don’t think I want your help anymore, Discord.”

“I know. I know. But unfortunately we still have so much to play out before it is over. I can’t stop it. I don’t have the power anymore.”

“I don’t know what you're talking about. But I think it’s time I left,” Fluttershy said definitively.

“I understand but before you go I want you to know that I am truly very sorry.”

“That was better. But I don’t think I can trust you right now.”

Discord took Fluttershy’s paperwork and ripped it up including her ID card. 

“There. All done. No more CAKE for you,” he said.

Fluttershy nodded then confidently turned and left the room.

“Was that wise?” asked Cheese emerging from the shadows. “She doesn’t really know what is really going on here.”

“I’ve made allowances for your infernal ‘cheesy sense’,  Commander Discord said, flicking his hands in disgust. “But you don’t understand the full work. Watch what you say around her and her friends or you might not be able to play with us anymore.”

He turned his long thin body and strode out of the room.

***

Rainbow Dash leaned against the headquarters entrance. She felt bitter and raw about how badly she was beaten. She tried desperately to not blame Applejack but the resentment still lingered. She vowed she would train harder and better than she ever had. Those angels wouldn’t know what hit them next time.

Fluttershy marched out of headquarters with anger all over her face. 

“Hey, Fluttershy, wait!” Rainbow called out to her and began to chase her down.

Fluttershy wiped her head around. “You knew!” she spat. “You knew who it was and didn’t tell me. You knew who it was and still fought her.”

“I did what had to be done,” Rainbow immediately rebounded. “You were going to try to talk to her until it killed you!”

“She’s our friend. She was our friend and you still fought.”

“I was trying to subdue it. I wasn’t going to destroy it,” admitted Rainbow.

“I just can’t right now, Dash.”

“Are you giving up then? Just going to quit?”

“I just watched my friend nearly get killed because of me. I’m never going in that thing again!” Fluttershy shrieked.

“What about me..us? Are you just going to walk away from that too?”

“Us..you? I am trying to keep everything inside right now so I can even see straight to make it home. All you want to talk about is you. I’m heading home, Dashie. I just can’t think clearly right now.”

Rainbow Dash felt all hair on her body stand up in annoyance. She turned and  bucked over a trash can. This was the job. You were supposed to try your best. Although her best lately wasn’t good enough. The only pony who was didn’t want to pilot anymore. It made Dash angrier just thinking about it. 

Fluttershy flew home as quick as her wings would carry her. She could feel the weight of what had happened descending down on her. She was so frustrated she wanted to kick at things but didn’t have the heart to do so. She opened the door with such heat that she nearly knocked Pinkie Pie over. 

“Fluttershy, woah what’s wrong?” Pinkie asked, dodging the shearing door edge.

“Everything!” Fluttershy shouted. “My friends have no problem fighting and killing each other! My boss wants me to hurt living things! My girlfriend is only interested in herself!”

“Slow down, Fluttershy,” cooed Pinkie. “It’s never all that bad. Let’s figure this problem out one step at a time ok. First take a deep breath.”

Fluttershy forced herself to slow down and breathe in deeply. Then she slowly let it out.

“There,” Pinkie Pie nodded. “Don’t you feel a tinsy winsy bit better?”

Fluttershy slowly nodded.

“Good, now we can talk about..”, Pinkie paused mid sentence as the pink pendant on her necklace started to glow. “Rats. These angels are so inconsiderate. Hey why isn’t your necklacey thing glowing?”

“I quit.”

“Aww, that’s too bad. But I understand. That fight sounded really scary and ended very bad. But if you’re not going to fight anymore you should get to a shelter like everypony else. We’ll talk later ok?”

“Ok,” Fluttershy nodded her head. 

Pinkie Pie patted her with her hoof then winced. “I got to remember which hoof I broke.”

Fluttershy left the apartment and followed the steady stream of ponies walking towards a shelter. The anger had not abated.

***

Rainbow Dash rushed to her Eva. She felt edgy still. Her fight with Fluttershy merely added more fuel to the fire.

 “I’ll show you”, she thought. “A pony has to fight sometimes for those she loves. Sometimes there is no way to talk your way out of it. I’ll protect the city without Fluttershy’s help.”

***

Pinkie hobbled into the control room.”Hi everypony. Long time no see.”

“Hi, Major Pinkie,” waved Lyra. 

“What’s going on?” the perky party asked pleasantly. 

“We have an angel bearing down right on top of us!” shouted Bon Bon.

“Well at least... what?! It’s here already! Launch Unit-02!” shouted Pinkie.

“No time,” explained Bon Bon. “It’ll be through the defense shields ...”

The building shook and a large explosion sounded in the distance. 

“..now.”

“What is with things exploding lately?!” whined Pinkie. “Rainbow Dash the angel is here! Bring your Eva here!”

“Already on it,” came Rainbow’s voice through the speaker. 

***

Rainbow Dash began climbing Unit-02 through the nearby tubes.

“C’mon! C’mon!” the speedster sneered. “I need to get there now!”

The second filly found the appropriate tube and dove through it. In the distance she could see the creature. It looked like a large humanoid clown with a skull head and rolled up arms. 

“Yuck,” spat Rainbow, “why do these things have to look so weird?”

She immediately took off into the air and soared towards it. 

“If I can hit it fast enough, I’ll be down before it knows what hit it,” she assured herself.

“Be careful, Dashie,” warned Pinkie. “That thing might be faster than it looks.”

“It’s got nothing on me.”

Rainbow Dash sped up with her front hooves fully outstretched preparing to strike. The creature suddenly turned and saw her. 

“Nuts!” the cyan pegasus cursed and increased her speed.

“Rainbow,” commanded Twilight,” slow down you won’t be able to react at that speed.”

“You don’t know until you try.”

“Rainbow! We don’t want you to get hurt too,”Twilight pleases. “Please listen.”

“Sorry,” Rainbow answered,” too busy about to kick butt.”

The angel’s arms unrolled and turned into long sharpened metal planks. They shot out and sliced through Unit-02’s wings like butter. The wings flew off into the air and the Eva crashed into the ground.

“Damn it!” shrieked Rainbow Dash clutching her wings. “Damn you,” she shouted and pushed her Eva into a headlong charge. The planks changed direction and sliced Unit-02’s head clean off. The Eva crumpled to the ground.

“Rainbow!” shouted Pinkie. 

***

Fluttershy sat huddled in the corner as the shelter’s light shook above her head. Each large slam brought fresh screams of nearby ponies. One group of florist ponies passed out in pure terror. Fluttershy felt helpless and small. She took down most of the angels so far and she was hiding in the corner like a coward. 

Without warning the shelter’s wall exploded sending shrapnel and bricks through the air. The air filled with dust and smelled sickeningly like blood. The three collapsed ponies were quick to get up and run away. Fluttershy froze in terror. She was staring at the severed head of Evanstallion Unit-02. Blood poured out of it’s severed neck. 

“Rainbow Dash?” she found herself whispering in shock. Suddenly the fear, anger and hatred left her in an instant. She flew head long through the opening in the shelter. She heard the immense hoof falls of Unit-00 in the distance. She watched as the angel turned on its AT field. Unit-00 slammed into it revealing the shimmering golden energy strands that comprised it. 

Fluttershy could see the Eva carried an explosive in its mouth. The barrier held as the explosive detonated. The ruined wreckage of Unit-00’s face was obscured by a cloud of smoke. Then the Eva collapsed. 

Fluttershy flew faster than she ever thought she could. She passed by Cheese Sandwich doing something with watermelons. He said something but she didn’t slow down to hear him.

She flew right into the control room. 

“I need my Eva!” the third filly shouted.

“Fluttershy,”shouted Pinkie gleefully. “I thought you said you were never going to pilot again.”

“I won’t let my friends get hurt anymore,” the small yellow pegasus said, stomping in emphasis. 

“Fluttershy,” exclaimed a bouncing and excited Commander Discord. 

“I came back for my friends, Discord,” explained Fluttershy. “I’m still mad at you.”

“Could you hurry the reunion up?!” insisted Bon Bon. “The angel’s almost in the control center!”

Fluttershy took off into the air once again and flew down the hall towards her Eva. She climbed into the entry plug and entered it. The Eva roared to life as if aware of the expediency of need. It galloped off to battle. 

The angel made its way through the ruined base and focused on the command center.

“Fluttershy!” shouted Pinkie. “It’s right outside! We need you out there now!”

The screen of the control center cracked and shattered as the angel burst in. Unit-01 burst through the other wall. It pushed the angel back away from the control room. The horn drill whirled to life and Fluttershy tried to stab the angel.

“I don’t care what you are anymore! I don’t care what you want!” shouted Fluttershy. “You will not hurt my friends anymore!”

Fluttershy screamed and the Eva shoved the angel down again. She felt a small shiver of excitement as she angled the horn at the creature’s face. One of the metal planks slid through the air cutting off one of Unit-01’s forelegs. 

Fluttershy clutched her leg in pain. But something in her let loose. A rage that she had never felt before gripped her. The Eva’s eyes began to glow a bright teal. It started to charge when it was caught from a laser blast from the horror’s mouth. The Eva flew backward landing on its back. Then the battery ran out.

“Oh no!” gasped Fluttershy, “I forgot to grab my charging cable!”

The angel turned and faced the downed Eva. The metal plank arms swung through the air cutting off the Evanstallion’s chest armor. A large crystal sat in the center of its chest. 

“What is that?” asked Lyra as the control room crew left their seats and ran towards the fight. Their equipment still worked but only marginally. With the display screen smashed the crew had no way of knowing what was happening. The only way to see was following the action on hoof.

“That’s the core crystal we used to anchor the Eva’s magical matrix,” explained Twilight. 

The angel started to pound the crystal with its heavy metal arms. Each strike sounded like a pick ax striking an iron vein. Each blow reverberated through the ruins of headquarters like a large ominous grandfather clock chiming their doom.

“No! No! No!” stammered Fluttershy in quick successive breaths. “We need to protect our friends! We need to protect ponykind! Come on Evanstallion! Move!”

The Eva changed. The eyes popped on and glowed a ferocious red. The metal guard around its mouth started twisting with a metallic squeal that left the command crew curling their eyes back in pain. It broke off revealing a twisted black mouth shrouded in smoke. The Eva stood on its hind legs and stretched its back. Another sound of shearing metal accompanied the large armor plates as they fell off. A billow of dark smoke flowed from the shoulders. 

The Eva kept forward with unnatural speed. It crashed into the angel easily knocking it off its feet. The smoke wrapped around the large plank arms and a sickening tearing and pop accompanied it. Then it engulfed the rendered limbs and reformed into a new foreleg. 

The Eva whinnied a haunting high pitched sound. It descended on the angel and began biting and consuming the beast. Crunching, biting and chewing noises filled the air.

“What in the what?” asked Pinkie Pie dumbfounded. “It’s eating the angel! Like a pancake. With no table manners!”

“You’re not one to talk about table manners,” reprimanded Twilight.

“It’s eating the angel, Twilight!”

“Trixie is going to be ill,” informed Trixie. She ran off and began to wrench in the nearby bushes. 

“What are these things?” asked Bon Bon.

“Well we call them shadow ponies,” explained Twilight. “We found remnants of them in our study of the second impact site. We figured how to congeal their bodies into giant pony form with use of a soul gem. We placed armor on it to restrain its essence and allow a pilot to enter and exit them without getting corrupted. But now it is free.”

Pinkie Pie hopped wildly on her hooves. “Ow, ow, ow,” she repeated.

“Pinkie, stopping hopping on your broken hoof!”

“Sorry Twilight, I’m too terrified to remember which hoof that is right now!” Pinkie whined.

Twilight slowly helped the pink mare lift her left hoof into her sling. 

The Evanstallion looked up from its meal. Its eyes shined eerily in the low light. It whinnied again. A haunting foreboding sound. 

“So, uh, how do we get it back inside?” asked Lyra.
> Episode 19: Dreams and Rescues
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“One lack of explanation later,” declared Pinkie Pie with her hoof out stretched and the other in a sling.

“Explanation of what?” asked Twilight looking at the green lit screen.

“How we got the Eva inside, silly.”

“You were there when we got it inside.”

“Yup.”

“Do you remember how we got it inside?”

“Yuppers,” Pinkie assured.

“Good cause I don’t want to relive it. But we have a bigger problem. Look.” 

Twilight pointed at the internal entry plug camera in Unit-01. All that remained of Fluttershy was a floating entry plug suit.

“Gasp! She’s naked somewhere,” shouted Pinkie.

“No, her body has merged with the shadow pony,”Twilight groaned.

“How can that happen?”

“Well in that last battle Fluttershy must have wanted the Eva to move so much that the Eva made her a part of itself.”

“Where is she?” hollered Rainbow Dash as she burst into the room. “She said she was quitting. What made her come back?”

“Umm, hi Dashie,” started Pinkie, looking everywhere but at her. ”How are you feeling?”

“What’s going on?” asked Rainbow suspiciously. “You don’t normally take that tone unless you have a surprise or something you’re trying to hide.”

“Well you see...we kind of ...lost Fluttershy.”

“What?! Lost her! Lost her where?! Is she ok?”

“She’s kind of part of the Eva now.”

“This is not happening,” Rainbow muttered, placing her hoof on her face. “Every time we have a fight something like this happens and I have to wait around feeling guilty until she’s back. It sucks. I hate this feeling. When are you going to be able to get her out?”

“We don’t even know if we can,” exclaimed Twilight. She began checking this screen and that. She wrote down some figures and calculations with a pen nearby. “Something like this is unprecedented. We didn’t plan for this. No pony planned for this. I don’t know what we’re going to do.”

A light blue hoof wrapped around Twilight’s neck in a hug. 

“Twilight, you and I talked about this,” reassured Trixie. “Let Trixie, the great and powerful girlfriend, distract you from your anxiety. Here.”

Trixie used her telekinesis to float Twilight a brown bag. The shimmering bag switched colors as Twilight grabbed it with her own magic. She placed it over her mouth and began rebreathing her own breath to increase the CO2 and slow her breathing down. 

“But ...but what about my girlfriend?” whined Rainbow. “She is still trapped there. We have to save her. Is there anything I can do? Can you send me in to get her out?”

“I’m sorry, Rainbow Dash, but we don’t know what to do right now. I’ll study and get her out somehow,” assured Twilight, feeling herself calm.

****

Fluttershy found herself lost in a large sea. She floated just under the surface of the water.

“What am I doing here? How did I get here?”she thought. 

The water around her shimmered with images of Evas, angels and friends. 

“That’s right. I was in the Eva. I got so angry and scared. I don’t understand what’s happening to me. I thought I understood who I was. I thought I knew what I was meant to do. I felt it once.” 

A image of pink butterflies swam by in the deep blue water. 

“That’s right. I was supposed to take care of creatures. I was supposed to help ponies that needed me. I was supposed to be kind. What happened? Why am I so angry?”she pondered.

The waters revealed a large looming image of Discord. It smiled at Fluttershy in an innocent way. 

“Discord. It has to be something he did. Things are so confusing anymore. I think we used to be good friends. Why can’t I remember?” 

***

“It’s been three days,” moaned Pinkie. “Are we closer to getting Fluttershy back?”

“I’m researching as fast I can,” explained Twilight with a desk covered in books. She flipped through a large tome. Then moved to a different one. “There is no precedent for this. Anything I try will have to be completely guess work.”

“Sounds like baking a new experimental cake,” suggested Pinkie. “Just don’t use peanut butter and squid. I heard it was awful.”

“It’s not the same, Pinkie. We have to calibrate the magic to match Fluttershy’s body then to her mind. We also have to adjust for the variable energy that the Eva produces which can shift and change.”

“When can we try?” Pinkie asked.

“Well, I need more ponies well versed in magic. I can’t do it alone. I’ve actually contacted the princesses. I don’t know if they would answer a plea from a commoner like myself but it’s the best chance Fluttershy has.”

Spike ran into the room at that moment. In his claws he bore a long print out scroll. 

“Twilight!” the dragon shouted as he entered. “They answered right away.”

“Oh good! Let me see.” Twilight removed the scroll from his claw with a lavender flash. “Princess Celestia and Princess Cadence can both come to help. Wow! I didn’t expect them to be so interested. With them onboard we have a good chance at getting her out.”

“Oh good, I can’t take Rainbow Dash whining and moping around the house much longer,” sighed Pinkie.

“Are you sure it’s just because of Fluttershy?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well that last fight didn’t go so well for her. So she might be still upset from that,” Twilight suggested.

“No pony is mad at her. Angels are tough to beat. Fluttershy’s Eva had to eat her in order to beat that last one.”

“Did you tell her that? She might be blaming herself.”

“I know I’ll throw a..”

“Pinkie!”chided Twilight. “Not everything can be solved with parties.”

“But.. but parties are the happiest most bestest thing in the world, Twilight. If that doesn’t work I don’t know what will.”

“You could try just talking to her,” suggested Twilight. ”Most ponies like parties but if they are feeling angry or sad sometimes a party just makes them feel worse. It can remind them of how sad and angry they feel. Perhaps you should just talk to her.”

Pinkie placed her injured hoof to her chin. “I guess I could do that. Ow. But what if she doesn’t want to talk or she does and just gets sadder?”

“Sometimes it looks like you’re making them sad. But after they cry or get upset they feel better.”

“Alright I’ll try it but it’s hard to get excited about a plan that doesn’t involve a party cannon.”

***

Fluttershy floated through the sea of memories. She noticed that before Discord called her to be an Eva pilot there was nothing. Some strange scattered feelings and images but mostly darkness. 

“That’s strange,”she thought. “Why can’t I remember things? My parents' names. Where I grew up. It’s all gone. I don’t understand.”

“It’s all part of a larger scheme,” said a voice. 

What? Who?

“This is a dream that is part of a larger dream,” said a large black pony as she emerged from the sea’s depths. She had a long flowing blue mane, wings and a horn. Her head bore a black crown and she wore armor but no clothes underneath.

“Oh my,”gasped Fluttershy. “A Princess? I’m sorry I only know of the two princesses. Who are you? And why are you so...naked?”

“I was banned from this world,”the Princess said. ”The owner knew I could interfere. His magic holds little sway on the Princess of dreams. I am Princess Luna.”

***

Princess Celestia and Cadence both arrived at headquarters with their royal escorts on the tenth day. Shining Armor appeared leading the group.

“Twily,” he said entering the command center. The two siblings embraced. “How have you been? I noticed you’ve been busy.”

“Oh. Just a little angel battle here and there. Losing a pilot inside her Eva. Eva body parts all over the place. You know surely nothing to freak out about,” Twilight chuckled in an unnerving manner. Her left eye twitched suddenly.

“Right,” replied Shining, drawing out the word. “Well before you go Twilynanas I have the Princesses here to help. Let me introduce you to Princess Celestia!”

Twilight bowed to the towering, opal alicorn in front of her. Her mane was tricolored with green, purple and neon blue. It flowed in the air unnaturally as if she was floating in water. She acknowledged the bow with a slight nod.

“Arise, Twilight Sparkle,”Princess Celestia commanded regally. “It is good to finally meet you. Your brother has told me so much about you.”

Twilight simply stared. 

“Um Ms. Sparkle are you alright?”

“I’m sorry,” answered Twilight finally. “It just feels like we met many times before.”

“Yes, I do get that sense. How very odd.”

“Ahem,” coughed Shining. “Let me also introduce Princess Cadence, my fiancée.”

“You’re fiancée’s a Princess?” gasped Twilight. “Are you blackmailing her?” Twilight’s eyes narrowed in suspicion but the smile never left her lips. “It is a pleasure to meet you Princess.” she said and bowed. “And while we’re on that topic. Shining Armor, I would like you to meet Trixie, my girlfriend.”

“You found a girlfriend? While doing all this?” gaped Shining. “You truly are amazing.”

“Hi, Trixie’s a pleasure to meet you. I mean, it’s a pleasure to meet Trixie. I ,uh, am Trixie. It’s a pleasure to meet you,” Trixie managed to finally string the words together while turning a deep red. 

“I am Shining Armor,” Shining mimicked with equal grace. Twilight bumped him. “Sorry, just a little levity. I’m sure any pony that my sister picks as her special some pony must be equally as smart and talented.”

Trixie blushed brighter then hid behind Twilight. 

“Well it’s nice to finally get every pony together,” said Princess Cadence clapping her hooves together. 

“I admit it is nice to meet you all but I believe we were brought here for a different purpose, Princess Cadence,” reminded Princess Celestia. 

“Yes,” agreed Twilight. “One of our pilots, Fluttershy, has been brought into her Evanstallion. We need your magical might to help free her.”

“What is your plan, Ms Sparkle?” Celestia queried.

“Well Princess, we know that we need at least three unicorns. One to get Fluttershy’s physical form. One for her mind and the last to fight back the Eva and release her.”

“How do we lock on to those energies?” asked Princess Cadence, now highly curious. 

“That is the current problem. We have an energy scan of her body and mind but they would be moving in the shadow pony constantly. We can’t see it like we can regular objects. Wait! We might be able to.”

Twilight rushed off to her mountain of books that surmounted her desk. She glanced through the pile quickly then selected a blue bound volume. The pages rifled themselves under a lavender glow until they came to a dead stop.

“Here it is. Silverhood’s Clairvoyance spell. With this we will be able to see the different energies in the Eva,” explained Twilight triumphantly. “Woah!”

“What is it Twilly?” asked Shining Armor.

“This is a really complicated spell. It will take us some time to cast. Umm I don’t suppose you have a few days?” Twilight smiled widely at them with a disarming look.

“Well your brother did want me to get to know you better,” nodded Cadence.

“I can delegate,” assured Princess Celestia. 

“Good, we’ll get started right away,”Twilight said and plopped down to study.

***

Pinkie watched Rainbow Dash pace around the apartment restlessly. She had been this way since school had been canceled due to angel destruction. The general consensus was that it would not reopen. Pinkie hated potential conflict. Dash could get quite harsh and critical when she was stressed. The pink mare knew she wasn’t trying to be mean but it wasn’t something Pinkie was keen to subject herself to.

Still the party pony felt like she had to try. Twilight had made her wonder if she could be more helpful to Rainbow through talking but being that serious with another pony was difficult. She took a deep breath and let it out slow.

“Hey Dashie,” Pinkie blurted with too much enthusiasm.

“Don’t call me that!” Rainbow Dash snapped. “Only Fluttershy can call me that. It was her nickname for me.”

Pinkie winced. She just started and was already failing at this. She cleared her throat and began again, a little more hesitant. “Rainbow, I was just hoping that we could talk if you wouldn’t mind.”

The pink mare found herself cringing like Fluttershy. Heck she even sounded like Fluttershy. She tapped her cheeks with her hooves and winced at the all too familiar pain in her hoof. Rainbow slumped down at the table in front of her. A look of fitful disinterest plastered on the speedster’s face. 

“I know you’re upset about Fluttershy. It’s the worstest thing in the world that you guys had to fight right before,” Pinkie sympathized. 

“Well that’s part of it but.. I’m mad at myself too,” admitted Rainbow. “We’ve been fighting these things for a while now and I’ve only taken down one of them on my own. Fluttershy took down the rest. I think I got mad at her when she said quit because I was nervous. If she left, it was all on me. Maud is out there and giving it her all but she’s not the MVP or anything. She’s the back up and she’s cool with that. So when Fluttershy left some part of me hated it. Another part of me was actually glad she was going. If she was gone I could shine. But as soon as she disappeared I felt awful for thinking that.”

“Oh Rainbow, you’re not a bad pony,”said Pinkie Pie. “Every pony wants to feel special for what they do. But remember just because others can do things a bit better doesn’t mean you're not as special as they are. We all have our own talents. Some of us have to work really hard to get where we are. Others look like they are barely trying. But if you hold that anger and jealousy in you, it’ll only drag you down. You’re a special pony Rainbow Dash. Fluttershy sees it too and that’s why you’re her special some pony.”

Pinkie looked up after her talk and noticed Rainbow’s head had dipped forward so that her prismatic hair covered her face. Her shoulders shook slightly and little tears dropped on the table.

Pinkie Pie wordlessly rushed over and squeezed Rainbow. “Ow,” Pinkie giggled. She continued to squeeze even through her hoof pain. “You’re going to be ok Rainbow.”

“No ..I’m ..not..too tight,” the second filly gasped.

“Oops, sorry.”

***

“So, um , you say that this is kind of a dream world,” clarified Fluttershy as she and Princess Luna floated in the deep ocean.

“Yes, it is most certainly somepony’s dream,” nodded the Princess. “Because of his magic he has brought you and your friends into it. I believe it has been constructed for you.”

“For me? Why would anypony go to all this trouble for me?”

“Can you not surmise the reason? All of us do strange, impossible things for love.”

“Love?” gasped Fluttershy. “This pony makes me destroy other creatures and hurts my friends because they love me!? I think I have a different idea of love.”

“That may be true but I will not come between you two. That is a matter you must take up with them. I am here to ...watch. I suppose this would be the most accurate term. The avenue in which you are floating will take you further into the dream world that I would suggest you venture.”

“Can’t you at least tell me which pony’s dream I’m in?” Fluttershy desperately asked.

“Again it is not my business to meddle here,” Princess Luna sighed. “It’s a bit uncomfortable. Know this. The pony whose dream you are currently residing would never place you in harm's way knowingly. Now I am also supposed to be assisting you in understanding your decisions.”

“Why?”

“Because we both share a love of the source material. If you wish to do it justice then we must analyze your recent motivations.”

“Ok,” Fluttershy hesitantly agreed.

“Now what concerns have you?”

“I’m not sure all this hurting others is really helping ponies.”

“Do you not understand your significance?” demanded Princess Luna.

“Maybe.”

“If you did not fight these creatures how would this world’s ponies fair?”

“I don’t think they would do well at all. I tried to leave just now and Unit-02’s head got cut off.”

“So then your fighting is very significant to the lives of those around you,” Princess Luna proclaimed.

“But ponies still are getting hurt because of me. Applejack, Apple Bloom, even Maud was injured because of me.”

“But how many other ponies were saved?”

“I don’t know,” Fluttershy exhaled in frustration.

“I would assume given your memories of this world that it would be countless. I admire your adherence to kindness. You place all others' needs above your own. You give the benefit of the doubt where others would not. However there are times when being kind to all beings may not be possible. There will also be times when you or your friends are in danger and reasoning may not save you. Thus far you have counted on your friends to take those duties on themselves. But that will not always be the case. 

“Violence is never the best solution but at times it might be the only solution. If an animal is rabid and can no longer reason, allowing it to bite you to be kind will end in your own death. Kindness would dictate to relieve it of its suffering.”

“That sounds like you’re saying it’s ok to kill an animal,”gasped Fluttershy. “I don’t know if I could ever do that.”

“Even if this animal would hurt others and infect others with this awful disease?”

“I...I don’t know. A situation like that is too scary to think about,” said Fluttershy. She felt herself backing away from this Princess and her dark logic.

“Tell me Fluttershy. Is your adherence to kindness from a genuine sense of love for all beings or is it a mere mask to hide your own cowardice from yourself?”

“I am afraid a lot. But I try really hard not to give into it. I may not be that brave but a coward never even tries.”

“Yet the kindness you are striving for takes more strength and bravery than even your friend Rainbow Dash has shown. It is easy to move to battle with hooves before brain. But it takes true bravery to see if the fight is worth it all. For that I commend you,”praised Princess Luna. 

Fluttershy could feel something like pride filling her chest. The princes continued,”But there are times when the fight is inevitable. If you don’t recognize those times it could easily destroy you.”

“Oh my,” Fluttershy placed her hoof over her mouth. She had never considered how dangerous being kind could be. But the resolve within her did not waiver. 

***

“Aargh!” whined Trixie. “You have been at this for five days since the princesses arrived! Trixie is bored! When will the spell be ready?”

“What? Spell?” the dozing studious Twilight suddenly sat up with papers stuck over her eyes. She quickly rubbed the papers off and looked around. No pony else seemed to notice she had been sleeping. “Sorry Trix, what was that?”

“Now you're even too busy to listen to Trixie?!” Trixie huffed. 

“Look, I know watching me study for the past few days wasn’t exactly great and powerful but it did help immensely. Thanks to you I was able to focus better and not have to run to the vending machine as often. You are a wonderful girlfriend.” 

“Of course, Trixie is great and powerful. No girlfriends can hold a candle to Trixie’s support.”

“And because of that I think I’m ready to try this spell.”

“Shall I call the Princesses?” inquired Spike appearing from nowhere.

“Yes, have them meet me by Unit-01,” Twilight commanded. “Now I know you're excited Trixie but I’m going to have to ask you to stay here. This a tricky spell and I ,umm, don’t want to see you get hurt.”

“The great Trixie laughs at danger,” Trixie declared as she reached for a cloak that wasn’t there.”But if you couldn’t bear to see your favorite mare in harm’s way then I guess I can stay. But you must be careful. For Trixie’s sake.”

“I will,” Twilight said and levitated her bags on to her back.  She started putting her books and supplies in them. A quick kiss was shared between them and then Twilight headed out. 

***

The Eva stared blankly at the far wall. All ferocity and rage was gone. Twilight still felt a little apprehensive approaching it after what she saw in the battle. She started to place the materials she needed around the catwalk in front of the killer robot. She placed various mirrors and optical lenses on stands. She used her telekinesis to arrange the items into a large heptagonal form. When finished she drew a large breath and went through her mental checklist. 

The princesses found their way to the room and admired the strange array.

“My goodness,” exclaimed Princess Celestia looking at the various lenses. “All this equipment takes me back to my early days with Starswirl the bearded.”

“He was a hero of mine as a foal,” excitedly rambled Twilight, as she remeasured the distance between mirrors. “It’s because of the stories of him that I became interested in magic and then magical devices.”

“He was a wonderful teacher, though he was known to be kind of a grump,” snickered Celestia.

“Really? I hadn’t read that and I’ve read all I could about him.”

“Well most authors focus on his earlier years,” explained the Princess. “That was when he was discovering the very nature of magic as we know it today. In his later years he had a harder time not being on the cutting age of magic anymore. It’s not as though I made his job any easier.”

“Well I understand that. I know if I was benched from magical mechanics I would go stir crazy. I think that should be it.” Twilight slightly twisted the last optical lens. 

“There, now Princess Celestia could you stand on that spot right there,” said Twilight and pointed to a small dot on the floor in front of an angled lens. “Princess Cadence, I need you over here.”

The two Princesses stood where indicated. 

“Now this is going to feel a bit weird and a little disorienting,”Twilight announced. “Once this is done we should be able to see the different parts of Fluttershy in the Eva.”

The studious unicorn took a large breath in and exhaled slowly. Then her horn began to glow a light lavender. She gritted her teeth as she directed the ambient energy of the area through her body and concentrated it on her horn. The glow increased in intensity. Soon all surrounding light seemed to dim as the violent to white light radiated from Twilight’s horn. Twilight’s eyes began emitting white light and her pupils vanished in its radiance. Then a large intense pulse was directed through the various mirrors and lenses. It struck Twilight and the two princesses in the eyes. Both Princesses found their eyes filled with energy. Soon the three of them stood with glowing white eyes.

They looked around in awe. The walls and floors were covered in tendrils of pulsing light rivers. The rivers constantly shifted and reformed in different patterns. Twilight’s eyes went wide as she beheld the two princesses before her. The energy looked like two clouds with different colors. 

Princess Celestia’s energy was like watching a rainbow funnel cloud that sparked multicolored lighting from its center. 

Cadence’s energy was simply a sphere of pink with near blinding radiance. 

“Oh my,” Celestia said looking around. Then she concentrated on Twilight. “Ms. Sparkle, you have such potential. I didn’t know you were so talented. Had you grown up in Canterlot I would have taken you in as a student in a heartbeat.”

“My parents did grow up in Canterlot but my father was a stargazer and the light of the city kept him from his stars,” explained Twilight. “We moved to Ponyville when I was small. But Shining Armor couldn’t be kept from the guard academy so he moved back as soon as he could.”

“And look at this stunning machine Twilight helped build,” Cadence beamed, staring at the Eva. 

The Eva’s energy was a dark bluish black color. They could see streaks of Twilight’s lavender energy wrapped around its various components. The cold gray power emanated from the beast like steam rising from in. It created a menacing shiver through the collective ponies. 

“My word,” said Princess Celestia, placing her hoof over her mouth. “It is quite a feat of magical engineering. But the basis of it is so horrendous it is no wonder that control is so difficult. It’s hard to imagine the fate of Equestria hanging so much of its hope on creatures as violent as these.”

“I can see her,” pointed Cadence at the head of the Eva. A small yellow patch of energy drifted amongst the dark miasma of violence.

“And there is the rest,” motioned Celestia with her hoof. The twinkling gold shine near the right hand alerted them that Fluttershy’s mind resided there.

“Ok ladies,”Twilight instructed, then remembered her allies,”umm, I mean, your graces, we have to pull Fluttershy’s energy into the entry plug. Princess Cadence could you please grab Fluttershy’s mind. Princess Celestia could you please grab that blob of energy that’s her body. I will push back the shadow energy of the Eva. As you can see I have done so many times before. Ok here we go.”

Three lasers of multicolored energy erupted from the unicorn horns towards the Eva. A thin pink rope of shifting brilliance entangled the twinkling energy in the right arm. A thick lance of burning white lightning sheared through the dark sea and surrounded the darker yellow light in a radiant orb.

Suddenly the surrounding waves of blackness twisted and began engulfing Fluttershy’s essence once again. Twin whips of purple tendrils lashed out from Twilight’s horn. They smacked the large black globules. Despite the whip's thin appearance each strike showered the dark ocean in burning violent sparks. The sea receded as the sparks touched them.

“Quite impressive,” complimented Celestia. “Let is show Ms Sparkle our might, young Princess.”

The two cages of energy began to move quickly through the sea’s mire. An occasional whip was needed as they became bogged down. Soon both energy spheres were placed in the entry plug. 

“Let us charge the structure around her so that the darkness remains outside,” suggested Celestia. 

“On it,” called Cadence. Her pink rope became a pulse that struck the entry plug. A magical tone rippled across the darkened surface. The darkness fell back from the pink sphere. 

“Ohh,” squealed Princess Celestia. “This is fun. Actually using magic to combat forces of darkness. What next Ms. Sparkle?”

“Please call me Twilight. Ms makes me feel old. But umm sadly the merger of the two energy forms into a material body is going to require a different spell.”

“Aww,” whined Princess Cadence. “That was fun. I was hoping to help this poor pony. I can feel her struggle. She seems conflicted. We should encourage her to turn to her old form for now.”

Twilight frantically began looking through her books. She pulled book after book from her bag. Her hair began to get frizzled and her eyes desperately sought the next step. 

“Ms. Er um Twilight,”began Princess Cadence. “Try taking a deep breath while pointing at yourself then breath out and point away. This helps direct the calm within and sends the tension away.” 

Twilight emulated the Princess’s movements and felt a general ease and focus return to her. Suddenly a large plume of smoke erupted next to her. 

“I’ve never seen that exercise cause that,” gasped Cadence waving the smoke away. 

A small fit of coughs and gasps could be heard inside the smoke cloud. As it dissipated the smoke ring contained a small blue unicorn waving around and gagging. 

“Trixie!” berated Twilight through clenched teeth. “I told you not to do that. Especially in such a poorly ventilated area. And in front of the princesses.”

“Sorry,” Trixie sputtered. “It was too perfect an entrance to pass up. And ,um, here.”

The blue unicorn levitated a leather bound book full of yellowed pages to Twilight. “You left this one that you were sleeping on. Sorry to interrupt.”

“Trixie!” gasped Twilight. “You’re the greatest. This is exactly the book I was looking for.”

“You’re welcome. And you forgot most powerful.” Trixie ran out of the room. 

“I can tell you care about each other a lot,” observed Princess Cadence. “I am the princess of love you know. It’s reassuring that my fiancée’s sister was able to find it in all this madness. Cherish it. For things disappear all too quickly.”

Twilight rifled through the book and found the proper page. She placed it on a prepared podium. 

“Now there was a magician years ago named Auburn Einsteed. He said that magic is made of energy. He also said that energy is simply mass moving extremely fast. So we have to effectively slow Fluttershy’s energy down in such a way it reforms into her body. This spell is Einsteed’s creation that he used to prove his theory. It slows down the energy to a much denser state. But we have to use it in stages so that all her parts are formed together instead of all over the entry plug.”

“This will certainly be most arduous,” shouted Celestia in excitement. “It sounds like we should build the body first then place the mind within it.” 

“So let’s do it,” shouted Cadence.

***

“But how should I...,” began Fluttershy when she felt the ocean around her change. “Wait! Princess where am I going?”

“You are being drawn back in, this looks like my sister’s and Cadence’s work,” informed Princess Luna. “It will be ok, little one. Have faith that all would be made clear. I shall remain out here and monitor the situation. Farewell.”

Fluttershy felt squished and remolded. She felt her thoughts stretch out and then bump into other thoughts. She was nervous and scared. She desperately tried to cling to whatever concepts she could. 

Darkness, anger, and hatred all tried to engulf her but a sense of duty and kindness kept them at bay. Suddenly she felt her expansive being shrink. She felt confined, trapped, and miserable. She wanted to leave. She wanted to escape the place of loneliness. She wished to be ever present. But she felt her old self returning. The small fragile being that she was before. The knowledge scared her more than anything else. No pony was there. No pony else comforted her. She was in the small capsule again, locked off from the rest of the world. 

***

Pinkie and Rainbow Dash watched from the observation window. The alicorns and Twilight were concentrating their energy towards the center of the Eva. Rainbow still felt edgy from her guilt. She paced, then flew around the room, then paced again. 

Pinkie Pie just watched. The others in the control room looked at each other with concern. The idea that Fluttershy was swallowed by her own Eva was unnerving enough but Pinkie not moving was just as mind shattering. They said nothing. Pinkie and Rainbow knew what the other felt without speaking. Both waited in their own way. 

***

“We have success,” cheered Princess Celestia. 

“Well almost,” corrected Princess Cadence. “Her body is built but her mind keeps trying to leap away from it. It’s almost like she doesn’t want to return.”

“Perhaps if she can feel those that care about her she will feel more at ease,” suggested Celestia. She shifted her voice to the royal Canterlot tone and volume. “Friends of Fluttershy. Please join us in this room. Let her feel your love. Your friend is scared and confused. Please help remind her that we are all here for her.”

“And better make it quick,” added Cadence. “She's really trying to run.”

The doors of the room opened for Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash to rush in. Lyra, Bon Bon and Trixie entered next. Lastly Maud slowly entered. They stood together awkwardly watching the ritual. Pinkie quickly grabbed their hooves. Soon they stood with eyes closed, hoof in hoof, and hoped.

“There she goes,” cooed Cadence. “She’s calming down now.”

Suddenly the entry plug began to open. 

“Wait! She’s not quite there!” cried Cadence.

“We’re not doing that!” explained Twilight. “Is it the Eva?”

The small group watched as the entry plug turned, spilling its contents onto the floor. Fluid, and a crumbled entry plug suit landed on the floor with a sickening thunk. Next to them landed the naked, lifeless body of the pilot.

“No!” gasped Pinkie. She rushed to her but was nearly waylaid by Rainbow Dash. Rainbow was holding her head and mane in her lap. Fluttershy’s eyes stared out in a blank stare. Pinkie Pie grasped Fluttershy’s hoof and began to wail. Rainbow held the yellow body but felt numb and dead inside. 

“Oh come on, Fluttershy,” chastised Cadence. “They all want you back.” Cadence felt the small give in the energy and quickly glided into the body.

Soon Fluttershy started to gasp and sputter. Her eyes closed and opened again. They darted all over in fear and confusion. She tried to pull her body into a ball but her friends wouldn’t let her. 

A clacking sound rang out through the large room as a stretcher was quickly wheeled in. Pinkie and Rainbow helped lift the fear-frozen Fluttershy onto the stretcher and wrap her with blankets. The whole unit rushed off like a large multi hooved brush monster towards the hospital wing. 

“Well that was unexpected,” said Cadence to herself. 

“We were victorious however,” reminded Celestia. 

Twilight watched the strange mass of ponies run off with concern. “This was a lot harder than I expected,” she found herself saying. “The spells were difficult but I thought Fluttershy would have been more eager to return.”

“At this point she is confused and scared, Twilight,” explained Celestia,” we can not expect her to be fully herself for some time. I would recommend not letting her pilot for a month or so. We don’t want the soul to suddenly leave the body in combat.”

“Of course,” bowed Twilight. “I can’t thank you two enough for your help with this.”

“It was great to be so helpful to some pony,” said Cadence. “I’m sure with friends like hers she will recover well.”

“I enjoyed watching you work, Twilight,” complimented Celestia. “I hope we can meet again in the future.”

The Princesses bowed and started to exit. 

“One day we shall spend more time together,” called back Cadence. “After all, we will be family soon. Look for our wedding invitation.”

“I will, and thanks.”

***

“Hold her down she’s panicking,” commanded Nurse Redheart. 

“I’m just going to give you a mild sedative,” explained the doctor. “I want you to rest but I want you conscious. It will take some time for you to readjust.”

The nurse quickly placed a needle into Fluttershy’s vein and attached a saline bag. She placed a large syringe into the bottom of the bag then squeezed it with her hooves. A few minutes later Fluttershy’s erratic movements stopped and her pupils dilated slightly.

“Fluttershy!” shouted Rainbow Dash, “can you hear me?!”

“You don’t need to shout,” snapped a grumpy Fluttershy,” I’m right here.”

Rainbow quickly wrapped her hooves around the grouchy pegasus.

“I’m sorry,” the second filly mumbled. “I messed up again. I didn’t think, again.”

“Yeah you’ve been doing that a lot lately,” Fluttershy answered sourly. 

Rainbow pulled away from her with a pained expression.

“I think the meds might be affecting her,” whispered Pinkie Pie, louder than any whisper Rainbow had ever heard.

“Umm, yeah. Totally the meds,” echoed Rainbow uncertainly.

“So where were you?” asked Pinkie hurriedly. “We watched you fight the angel and then you were all collapsey with no power. Then the Eva turned on and we were all like ‘whaaat’. Then it broke out of its restraints and it was all dark and smokey and ate the angel. Then we looked into the entry plug and only your suit was left and we were like ‘oh no’. Then Rainbow Dash was all like ‘I shouldn’t have yelled and I don’t know why I can’t win’! Then she cried. Twilight called the princesses and they were like ‘let’s use our magic to save her’. They had trouble getting you and Princess Celestia told all Fluttershy’s friends to come . So we walked down there and held hooves and stuff but your entry plug opened and your body fell out. It was all naked and dead. You were all blank stares. Then Princess Cadence said that you were scared and used her magic to bring you back to life. And then they helped you onto the stretcher.  We brought you to this room but you were fighting and kicking so the nurse gave you some medicine. Now you’re here making Rainbow Dash feel bad for feeling bad and I asked you where you were?”

“I...I...I don’t remember,” mumbled Fluttershy.

“You were gone for three weeks and you don’t remember?” asked Rainbow Dash in disbelief. 

“That’s what I said wasn’t it? Or did you not hear me?” retorted Fluttershy.

The pained expression returned to Rainbow Dash’s face. Pinkie’s head appeared inexplicably next to Rainbow’s ear and she practically scream whispered, “Meeeeds.”

“Well ,um, I’m glad you're safe, Flutts,” Rainbow stammered sheepishly. “I’ll let you get to healing.”

Rainbow uncomfortably strode out of the room. 

“I need to go see Cheese Sandwich now, Fluttershy. I’m super dooper glad you’re safe,” Pinkie squeaked and walked out passed Rainbow, who had leaned against the wall right outside the hospital room. “Rainbow’s still hiding by your door!” shouted Pinkie as she passed.

“Shhh Pinkie, don’t tell her that!” hissed Rainbow.

Fluttershy felt itchy and uncomfortable. The room was swimming and she couldn’t close her eyes to rest. She stared at the ceiling and wondered why she had fought returning so hard and what had happened. 

****

Pinkie and Cheese huddled together under the sheets of their rented bed. 

“That was one of the scariest saddest things I’ve ever seen,” explained Pinkie. “I was like scarad or sadary. It was awful. I thought Fluttershy was gone.”

“I’m sorry you had to see that, Pinkie. I can’t imagine it,” responded Cheese. 

“So what is really really going on, Cheese? Everypony is super sad and they are all shifty-eyed and no pony is telling the truth.”

“Well I can’t tell you about it here. But this might answer all your questions.” He handed Boneless 3 to her.

“A rubber chicken,” came the flat response. “You’re giving me another rubber chicken?”

“It’s not any rubber chicken. That’s Boneless 3 and he can tell you all the information we found together. I need you to watch him for a little while.”

“Okie, dokie, lokie.”
> Episode 20: Discovery and Messages
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mud Briar and Discord sat lazily in the office. 

“Say Mud Briar, do you remember how we met?” asked Discord mischievously. 

“Yes,” responded Mud Briar dryly. “You said ‘hello, I’m Commander Discord. Would you like a job?’ I said I would and you hired me.” He resumed looking closely at a stick he held in his hoof. 

“Well there goes that flash back,” huffed Discord. He slid back in his chair obviously bored.

Suddenly the curtain sneezed. Discord’s ears swiveled around. 

“Did that curtain just sneeze?” he asked. “How very odd. I put the sneezing curtains in Twilight’s office.”

He marched over to the offending curtain and gave it a prod. His claw struck something solid. He wiggled it and was rewarded with some giggling. 

“Well that settles it,” he scoffed. “I certainly didn’t order any ticklish curtains. There’s somepony back there.”

He moved the curtains aside and found Cheese Sandwich with a large disarming smile across his face and his hooves behind his back.

“Cheese Sandwich! The curtains come with this now,” Commander Discord bemoaned. “Honestly, it’s bad enough if they have moths but full ponies. I’ll call the curtain company immediately.”

“Technically, it’s more likely he hid behind the curtains after they were installed,” explained Mud Briar. 

“Is this true?” Commander Discord asked the shaking party pony. He loomed over the smaller creature and eyed him suspiciously through his red tinted glasses. “Are you snooping?”

“Well I...” Cheese began. He started to sweat profusely.

“What are you hiding behind your back?” pressed Discord. 

“Nothing,” assured Cheese,” certainly not the manga you based this whole scenario on.”

“Oh well that’s good,” sighed Discord. “It would be hard to know what comes next if I didn’t have that. Hey! How do you know about that?” He coiled around Cheese and looked right in the orange’s stallion’s face. “I warned you. But you broke the rules. I’m sorry but you can’t play anymore.”

The draconequuis snapped his fingers and a large black portal opened behind them. Cheese started to slide backwards with a look of terror on his face. 

“I’m sorry. But you had fun right?” Discord waved as Cheese disappeared into the darkness. A small book fell out of the terrified pony’s hooves as he disappeared. “My word! He did have my manga. Well! See if I use his services for parties in the future.” 

Discord bitterly grabbed the manga off the floor and strode to his desk. He placed it inside the only drawer. 

“Well! That was a fine to-do. But I think that’s all they need from us,” Discord said and waved to his unseen audience. 

****

Pinkie trotted into her apartment. She flicked on the lights and noted the emptiness of it. A sigh escaped her as she remembered the fun parties she used to have with Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash. The sounds of fun echoed in her mind as she replayed her favorite moments. The welcome home Fluttershy party. The surprise party for her. The first surprise party party for everypony else. So many good memories over the last few months. Yet here she stood by herself. 

The world had suddenly gotten darker. Her pinkie sense told her so. She didn’t need to see the blinking light on her answering machine or hear it’s message to know that Cheese Sandwich was gone. Despite not having a shred of evidence, Pinkie knew it was so. Still she tried to shake it off. Her mind could not comprehend a world without him. But just because she wanted it, didn’t make it true. 

With a long sigh Pinkie felt her joyous world melt away inside her. With it her perky, perfect, pink mane fell into long, straight, lifeless locks of mere hair. She dragged herself over to the answering machine and pressed the button.

“Hi Pinkie,” said the scratchy voice of Cheese Sandwich,” it’s me.”

“Me who?” she coldly asked the machine.

“Me so sorry that I won’t be able to see you again,” answered the machine. “I’m sorry this didn’t work as we wanted but we got to see each other again at least. Please take care of Boneless 3. He knows all the work I’ve been doing and can help you uncover the truth. Know this Pinkamena Pie. When we’re at parties I don’t talk about your spastic bladder. “

Pinkie immediately felt her eyes tear up. 

“And when you tell me your feelings I try very hard not to yawn.”

Pinkie snorted but tears came from her eyes. She wore a pained smile.

“Lastly I left a microscopic bit of milk in the refrigerator, in case you wanted some.”

Tears were falling more freely now. The smile she had worn minutes ago broke. She began sobbing uncontrollably. She could feel her breath coming in spastic gasps. She felt like a balloon about to pop. She couldn’t hold it together any more. Her heart broke and she began to wail in a pitiful gut wrenching cry. Her apartment building was mostly abandoned due to the angel attacks. No one heard her anguish. No one knew her pain. She wanted to call her friends. Fluttershy. Rainbow Dash. But they weren’t there and she had no breath to attempt to call for them. The crushing pain in her chest squeezed all joy from her. 

She lay in a fetal position until she felt a small wet weight attached to her tail. She lifted her tail and saw Gummy dangling from it. She pounced on the helpless gator. Her body continued to spasm in soft sobs as she clutched her quiet companion. No words needed to be said. She wasn’t in a good place but knew that with Gummy by her side she wouldn’t be consumed by the darkness. 
> Episode 21: The Light and the Truth
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Twilight and Pinkie Pie stood in the control room and looked through the window at the three entry plugs simulators. Pinkie placed her hooves on the sill and lowered her head in a sigh. Her normally perky self was unusually subdued. Her hair flopped to the side lifelessly. 

“Um Pinkie?” Twilight hesitantly asked. “Did you hear what I said?”

“Of course Twilight I listen to everything you say,” Pinkie said flatly into her own hooves.

“What do you want to do about it?”

Pinkie remained huddled at the sill. “I don’t know. Whatever you think is ok.”

“What I think? Pinkie, I was telling you that Rainbow Dash’s sync rate has dropped considerably. We need to find out why.”

“Well she is worried about Fluttershy being out of action,” sighed Pinkie.

“I took that into inconsideration along with her recent defeat, but it’s still not adding up.”

“I’ll talk to her again.”

“What’s going on?”asked Twilight. “This isn’t you. You’re normally bouncing off the walls to help anypony. Or suggesting a party or something wacky. It helps everypony’s spirits. But lately you have been moping. Even your mane isn’t right. I don’t know what happened because you won’t tell me but we need Rainbow. Right now Fluttershy isn’t allowed near her Eva for a while and Maud isn’t much of a fighter.”

“I can’t tell you,” the pink mare hissed then switched to a softer tone,”not yet. It’s too soon.” Pinkie closed her eyes tight and took a few ragged breaths. Then she began to trot away. “I’ll try talking to her. See if I can cheer her up.”

Twilight thought she heard a small whimper as the party mare left. “What has Cheese done now?” she whispered to herself.

***

Rainbow Dash slammed her hoof into her locker. She had felt the control of the Eva slipping away but couldn’t hold on to it like she normally did. 

“Stupid robot! Stupid sync tests!” she shouted. She bucked a nearby wastebasket and sent the contents flying into the hallway. 

The refuse landed on a grey cross eyed pegasus mare as she walked by. She tightened her mouth and was about to speak when Pinkie stopped her.

“Rainbow, you should be more careful. You could have hurt somepony with that trash can,” scolded Pinkie. 

“Humph,” snorted Rainbow indignantly.

“Listen Rainbow!” Pinkie suddenly shouted.” Just because you’re the only hope for pony kind right now doesn’t give you the right to make other ponies feel bad!”

Rainbow suddenly drew back, ashamed and hurt, at Pinkie’s fury. Pinkie noticed then let all the heat in her out with a large breath.

“Sorry, you didn’t deserve that,” Pinkie admitted. “I guess I haven’t been the bestest friend to everypony lately either. It’s been kinda a rough week.”

“I know,” sighed Rainbow Dash. “Between Fluttershy in the hospital and my stupid Eva not working right I’ve been not feeling right. I’ve been feeling kind of guilty. You see I love Fluttershy and all but after that last Eva battle I started feeling kind of jealous. Fluttershy can connect so easily with these things. It’s like a gift. I just don’t know how to sync harder. I mean how do I even train for that? I mean.. whoa.”

Rainbow glanced over at Pinkie who had been looking at the ground silently weeping. 

“Look, I’m sorry about the garbage can,” stammered Rainbow. “I’ll stop kicking them. I ...I promise.”

Pinkie remained completely still.

“Aww geez. I’m not good with this. I’ll get Twilight or um Cheese. I’ll be right back.”

“You won’t find him,” came the soft flat tone from the still figure.

“What do you mean won’t find him? Did he leave again?! After all the talk about being with you. I would think that..”

Pinkie reached over and grabbed Rainbow like a large teddy bear. She squeezed the speedster and began balling. “He’s gone!”

“How could he run off again without telling me?” Rainbow grumbled and tried to fly out of Pinkie’s grasp. She found herself in a tighter hug instead. An upset clinging Pinkie was worse than a python. At least a python knew the damage it was causing.

“He didn’t leave,” moaned Pinkie. “He’s gone!”

“Wait?? You mean gone gone?!”

“The gonest!”

“No way! No way! No way!” repeated a pale Rainbow as she tried to back away from Pinkie. Pinkie just began wailing again and Rainbow couldn’t escape. “But..but.. he was just.. how can he?”

Rainbow collapsed with the caterwauling Pinkie in a heap of disbelief.

“What in the world?!” shouted Twilight as she found the pair crying in the corner of the locker room. “You were supposed to cheer her up, not cry together in a corner.”

Pinkie was a large unconsolable ball of soggy fur and tears.

“Pinkie...says ...Cheese is gone,” gasped Rainbow.

“Ok,” Twilight said in a soft controlled voice. “I’ll just find you some more cheese.”

“Cheese ...Sandwich,” sobbed Rainbow.

“Ok I’ll make you a ..” Comprehension slowly dawned on Twilight as she spun towards the kitchen. “Cheese Sandwich is gone!” She shouted emphasizing each word.

“The...the...gonest,” wailed Rainbow. 

“Oh no,” said Twilight, placing her hoof to her mouth. “How did this happen?”

“I don’t know. Pinkie just told me.”

“What happened?” demanded Twilight of the sobbing pink ball.

Pinkie went through a brief series of spasms and finally managed to get out,”Pinkie sense.”

“Are ...are you sure?” implored Twilight in a panic.“I mean he might just have gone out of range or something else? We just don’t know how your Pinkie sense works.”

“I do. And I felt him leave,” explained a dry raspy Pinkie. “He just ‘poof’.” 

Twilight and Rainbow looked at each other in disbelief.

“I just don’t understand,” stammered Twilight. She sat next to the two who resumed wailing. Then their necklaces all began to blink.

“An angel? Now?” gasped Twilight looking at the two distraught ponies. “Look it is a sad thing losing a friend like this but I don’t think Cheese would have wanted us to let ponykind down on his account.”

Pinkie wiped a hoof across her eyes. “You’re right. Cheese would have wanted us to be happy and kick some angel butt.”

“Yeah,” said Rainbow with a little uncertainty. “Let’s do it for Cheese.”

The three mares made their way to their respective stations. Rainbow Dash flew towards her Eva. Twilight and Pinkie found Trixie, Bon Bon and Lyra watching the various monitors. 

“What’s the situation?” asked Twilight.

“We have an angel in our.. yeaack! What happened to you, Pinkie?!” responded Lyra.

“Nevermind me,” shooed off a determined, red-eyed Pinkie. “What’s going down?”

“Well a new angel has been spotted in orbit,” explained Bon Bon. 

“What’s it doing?” asked Twilight.

“As far as Trixie can tell,” answered Trixie,”nothing.”

“Let’s destroy it,” shouted Pinkie enthusiastically.

Trixie, Lyra and Bon Bon looked at each other with concern. 

“Ok, I guess we are here to destroy angels,” ventured Trixie.

“Ok, here is the plan,” explained Pinkie. “Maud will grab the big cannon and blast it out of orbit and Rainbow Dash will fly up there and chop what’s left into itty bitty bits with her razor wings.”

“That sounds ... kind of violent,” voiced an unsettled Trixie. 

“Um, Pinkie, perhaps we should try a different plan,” suggested Twilight quietly.

“It’s ok, Twilight,” said Rainbow Dash through the loud speaker. “I got this. For Cheese!”

“For Cheese!” echoed Pinkie.

“They must really like cheese,” whispered Lyra to Bon Bon. 

Fluttershy wandered into the control room wearing her entry plug suit. She watched through a monitor as Rainbow Dash ran through the Eva preflight. 

“Fluttershy, nice to have you in the control room today,” commented Twilight. “I’m glad to see you’re feeling better. But you don’t need to wear your plug suit.”

“I thought that if anypony got tired or needed help, I could at least do that,” explained Fluttershy. 

“The Princess ordered that you can’t be in your Eva,” reminded Twilight.

“Oh ok,” replied Fluttershy meekly.

“Don’t worry Fluttershy,” said Rainbow. “You rest. Maud and I will take care of this one. Though I doubt Maud will need to do much. Ha ha.”

“I don’t care either way,” replied Maud.

“Eva launch,” screamed Pinkie without her normal fanfare. She wore an expression that would make the toughest angels run for cover. 

***

Rainbow watched as the door above her opened. This was her chance. With Fluttershy grounded she could be the hero now. Then Fluttershy would see how awesome a girlfriend she had. 

The Eva hit the open air and Rainbow opened its wings. This was the perfect time to use Unit-02. No pony else’s Eva could soar to the heights like hers could. Now was her chance to shine.

A bright beam of light struck the Eva a few feet off the ground. It sheared through the Eva’s nerve pathways and into Rainbow’s mind. Rainbow shrieked in agony. It felt like every nerve in her body was on fire. She couldn’t see. She couldn’t hear. She didn’t even know what happened. The Eva crashed to the ground with its wings curled over its head. The beam continued to shine and Rainbow couldn’t stop it. 

The cyan pegasus felt a presence in the light. It was some sort of being. It hummed a tune that she had once heard as a foal. It sounded like ”Ode to Joy ” by Beat Hooven. She could feel the being in her mind. It searched through her memories, her thoughts and secret desires.

“Noooo!” the second filly screamed at the entity. “Leave my mind alone!”

But it wouldn’t leave. It started to sift through memories and thoughts. Private thoughts that Rainbow didn’t want any pony to see. Things she had never even allowed herself to acknowledge.

“No! No! No! Not there! Don’t go in there!” she pleaded.

The white light creature paid no attention to her plight. It hummed its favorite tune and poured through her closet of secrets. It threw at her all the darkest fears it could. She saw Fluttershy getting hurt. Pinkie pie, Twilight and the others dead. No pony coming to rescue her.

“Stop it! Stop it! Stop it!” Rainbow Dash demanded. “I don’t want to see anymore!”

Then the being stopped and looked in a small crevice. Rainbow could feel its glee and malice. It looked at her and smiled. Then it poked a strange bubble. The bubble burst and she became flooded with memories. Memories she hadn’t remembered. She remembered Ponyville. She remembered the parties with friends. The fights for Equestria flashed through her mind. The friendships with Twilight, Pinkie Pie, Spike, Applejack, and another white unicorn that she couldn’t quite remember the name of followed. Then she remembered the Wonderbolts and her dreams. She remembered her highly supportive parents. 

Underneath it all Rainbow Dash remembered the yellow pegasus that she desperately tried to impress. Her longest friend that she loved so dearly. Her kind friend that had always cheered her on. The one she never had the courage to tell her how she truly had felt. 

Then Rainbow began to remember Discord. Discord holding Fluttershy’s hoof. Discord constantly making her friend laugh. Discord never letting her get close enough to finally confess. The wedding. The cake. The yellow pegasus forever out of her reach. 

Rainbow Dash was the fastest flyer in Equestria but she couldn’t catch that pegasus now. Images and feelings rifled past in blinding speed. The young couple’s first kiss. The fake enthusiasm. The orange hoof that comforted her. The smell of hay. A disappointed rabbit. 

All these thoughts were thrown at the second filly by that being of light. All of them true. That thing was ruining her second chance. But she knew she never really had a chance. Her special somepony was too far out of reach. She just hadn’t been fast enough. 

Somewhere Rainbow Dash heard screaming. It was loud. It was shrill and was covered in hurt. It made her ears hurt. It made her heart hurt. Then she realized it was coming out her own mouth. The sound from the cockpit and the screaming Eva rushed into her ears. Warning beeps, whistles and the screaming became a wall of sound that caused Rainbow to barely breath.

***

The control room watched in horror as the light touched Unit-02. They heard the screaming and shouting as the Eva fell.

“Rainbow!” shouted Pinkie.” What’s going on?! Rainbow speak to us?!”

The screaming suddenly shifted to a pitch that didn’t sound possible from pony vocal cords.

“What is happening to her?!” shouted Fluttershy.

“Ummm, Twilight?” Trixie waved at the purple unicorn to get her attention. She pointed to a bank of computer screens. “Those wave thingies are umm squiggling in ways I’ve never seen before.”

“Oh no!” shouted Twilight looking at the monitors. “This is bad! It looks like the angel is attacking her mind directly!”

“How do we stop it?” asked Fluttershy.

“The only way to stop it is at the source,” explained Twilight. “We have to stop the angel.”

“Maud,” commanded Pinkie Pie,”grab the big cannon.”

“Let me go!” insisted frantically Fluttershy. “I’ll save her! I have to!”

“Wait!” hissed Commander Discord. The frantic scene stopped and all of them looked at him. His eyes narrowed at the angel on the screen. “It’s showing her things I don’t want her to see yet. Maud use the lance of Longpegasus. You know where it is.”

“Yes sir,” confirmed Maud.

“The lance of Longpegasus?” gasped Twilight. “Sir, we don’t know what it does. We haven’t had time to study it. It could cause a third impact.”

“Oh don’t fret your little fact-filled, purple, head of yours,” Commander Discord consoled. “I know for a fact that this is more important than some potential life ending threat. Come on, our dear friend Rainbow Dash is in jeopardy. We should use everything in our power to save her.”

“In that case,” piped up Fluttershy,” can I go save her. I mean she is my girlfriend and I have defeated the most angels..”

“Most certainly not,” said Discord’s joyful tone. “I wouldn’t want to place you in harm's way as well.”

Unit-00 re-emerged from the bowels of the headquarters with a 10 story tall double pronged lance. The Eva calmly walked over to the launch pad on three legs while baring the lance in the forth. 

“Does she even know how to throw that thing?” asked Lyra critically.

“Of course,” assured Commander Discord. “Two of Maud’s many talents is pinpoint accuracy with thrown objects and duck calls.”

“Really?” asked Pinkie Pie.

“Oh Pinkie, I almost never make things up on the spot,” he said, winking to you.

***

Unit-00 rose on her launch pad and surveyed the scene. Unit-02 was lying on the ground, growling with its wings wrapped around its head. The buildings around it were destroyed from the Eva’s thrashing. 

Maud calmly looked into the air. A small light in the sky told her where the angel was. Her Eva reared up on her hind legs. She adjusted her body to recalculate for the gravitational pull. Her rear leg shifted back to counter balance the weight. She raised the lance on one hoof then in a flurry of motion threw it into the air. The nearby clouds vaporized in the wake of its passing. The tips of the lance grew hot and glowed in the distance from the air friction. 

The burning lance sailed through the stratosphere and through the AT field of the angel. The momentum sent it through the photon based body of the angel and it erupted in a prismatic ring of light. 

The lance sailed out of range of Equus and into the range of the moon, Luna. There it floated harmlessly spinning in the effects of both celestial bodies’ gravity.

*** 

“Well now, that’s that,” concluded Commander Discord. “Acquire our little Rainbow Dash, if you please.”

He turned and strode towards his office with Mud Briar in tow.

“How’s Rainbow Dash?” asked Fluttershy breaking the silence.

“Oh ,um, those squiggly lines are gone. So that is good,” reassured Trixie.

***

Unit-00 trotted over to Unit-02. 

“Rainbow Dash, are you able to move?” asked Maud.

“Oh, yeah,” Rainbow responded quietly. Unit-02 slowly uncurled and began to trot slowly to the launch pad. 

Fluttershy rushed to Rainbow as she was lifted out of the entry plug. 

“Are you ok? I was so worried. I ...”, Fluttershy stopped herself as she caught Rainbow’s expression. She had never seen the cyan mare with such a painful expression in her life. 

“Oh ,Umm, Fluttershy, I...I have to go,” Rainbow stammered and trotted off. The pain never left her face.

Fluttershy felt like she had been punched in the stomach. She didn’t know what happened but felt somehow it was her fault. She had heard that she had not been very nice while on the meds they gave her but she had apologized for that. She thought they were past it.

Rainbow took off of the ground and flew down the corridors towards the locker room. Her mind raced with all the information brought to light. The influx caused her to fly faster. She tried to fly past the memories but they stubbornly remained on her tail. Suddenly she found herself in a butterfly net. 

“Caught you,” teased Commander Discord.

“Hey! What the..no fair,” Rainbow shouted while scrambling to get out of the net. 

“Now, now, play nice little pony,” Discord chastised and he pulled Rainbow and himself into a nearby room. He closed the door and dumped Rainbow out of the net. Rainbow landed with a “thud”. She was up on her hooves in milliseconds.

“Alright buddy, what’s your game?” she demanded fluttering inches from Discord’s face.

“The usual,” Discord said casually looking at the back of his claws. “I’m trying to help Fluttershy of course.”

“How does putting us in a different dimension help Fluttershy?”

“It’s a dreamscape not a new dimension and if you had read Fluttershy’s mangas books you would know exactly where we are.”

“So you're helping her live out some sort of sick fantasy?” demanded Rainbow.

“Sort of. She wasn’t aware of the plan of course. It’s kind of an anniversary present of sorts. But I don’t want you ruining the whole thing. This play is almost over, Dash, and if you care about your ‘girlfriend’ you’ll let it play out.”

“What about the other ponies you hurt?”

“No pony is actually hurt,” the Commander explained.”They’re fine. I don’t hurt my friends. Intentionally.”

“Humph, it doesn’t seem like the kind of ‘gift’ she would appreciate.”

“Remember your Winterzilla gift?” reminded the draconequus. “You thought the same thing then. She still talks about that. You’re lucky I am such a good friend that I didn’t tell her who it was really from.”

Rainbow stepped back from Discord. Her lips ran dry. The Winterzilla was a gift Rainbow had gotten Fluttershy for Hearth’s Warming years ago with Discord’s assistance. The small mammal looked cute enough but turned into a large vicious monster after the sun set. It had gone crazy at their holiday party but Fluttershy was able to calm it. It had made her feel special to be the hero that day. Rainbow took it as one of the high points in her life that she was able to bring that sense of accomplishment to her. 

“Alright, alright, I’ll play along,” Rainbow agreed, putting her hooves up in defeat. “What am I supposed to do? It’s going to be hard to keep this from her for long with us together.”

“Well, now is the point where you leave her alone,” explained Commander Discord.

“What?! But we’re.. I finally ..”

“Oh come now, Dash. Do you really think this dream of yours will come true?” said the draconequus menacingly raising an eyebrow. 

“But..but.. fine,” the second filly shouted in his face. “But this better be good for her. If this blows up in your face. I’ll be there. This time I won’t hesitate.”

“And ruin your own relationship?”

“She would understand.”

“Humph, well I am insulted you have such little faith in me after all these years,” said Discord sticking his nose in the air. He strode off.

Rainbow watched him go wondering what sort of things lay ahead of her. Her dream was taken from her. There just didn’t seem any way to win. She felt guilty for secretly wanting Discord to spectacularly fail so she could pick up the pieces. It just didn’t feel cool to think that. Now she was supposed to avoid Fluttershy to play his game. She shook her head. The pain of having her memories forcibly returned still lingered. She felt used and ashamed that she never moved on from her crush. 

She wished she had her friend to talk to again but she didn’t know where she was anymore. She returned to the locker room. Somehow the problems of this world didn’t matter to her much anymore. There was no way to get the mare. Again. She wondered how many times she would have to pay for her lack of self knowledge. 

***

Fluttershy trotted around in confusion. Rainbow flew off so fast and wouldn’t tell her what was wrong. It had taken some time but eventually she had gotten used to having Rainbow Dash as a girlfriend. The cyan pegasus never ducked a challenge and always seemed to bounce back from her defeats. It was unlike the speedster to avoid her without reason. Pinkie seemed to be equally distant. She didn’t understand why her friends were keeping their distance. 

A sudden thought struck the worried mare. Did they blame her for Applejack’s leg? She was in the Eva at the time. Did they not know she couldn’t control it? Of course they did. But did they blame her for not being able to stop it? She knew she did. 

These new thoughts made Fluttershy decide to return home instead of finding her friends. She lay on her bed listening to her tape of bird sounds. The chirping didn’t bring the comfort it normally did. The sounds of the beautiful birds just brought sadness. She yearned to see the creatures that produced such wonderful music again. But they weren’t around and she was alone. She curled up in the corner of her bed and slipped off to sleep. 
> Episode 22: Friends and Family
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rainbow flew through the air. The cold wind always cleared her thoughts. That was before, in a different world. She just didn’t have the heart to push through her old routine. She felt her winning ticket had just slid through her hooves. She flew over Ponyville 3 and sat on a low cloud. What was the point of even pretending anymore? Sure it might be a nice gift for Fluttershy but it was incredibly painful for her. She collapsed on the cloud on her back. She just waited. She wanted this world to end and with it this pain. 

***

Twilight and Pinkie sat in the CAKE break room. Pinkie rested her face in her hoof as she stared at her lunch. She lifted her other hoof and poked the greasy hay burger that sat on her plate making her feel more unhappy because she wasn’t happier. She no longer felt like wailing anymore but the world still felt dim and lack luster. 

Twilight watched Pinkie fumble with her food. She had never seen Pinkie in this state. But then loosing a boyfriend in this way had never happened to either of them. She felt awkward and uneasy. She cautiously placed a hoof on Pinkie’s. 

Pinkie looked up in disbelief. Twilight was normally uncomfortable with displays of affection, especially between friends. 

“I know you can get through this,” encouraged Twilight. “How has Rainbow been doing?”

“She’s become even more distant,” sighed Pinkie. “Even though Fluttershy is back she’s been avoiding coming home. I think they might be over.”

“Well it’s sad but maybe her focus will be able to return and she can pilot her Eva again.”

“What do you mean pilot it again?” implored Pinkie.

“Well according to this morning’s sync test, Rainbow won’t be able to move the Eva.”

”Oh no. I was hoping she’d pull out of her funk. It seems she just got more bummy.”

“Kind of like somepony else I know,” Twilight observed.

“It’s less painy and more achy now. But it hits me in waves. Things will feel like they always do and then suddenly I’ll remember he’s gone. Then everything will feel weird because it’s so the same.”

“I’ll be here if you need me.”

“Thanks Twilight.”

***

Fluttershy sat in the entry plug simulator. She went through a series of tests to make sure her piloting skills were still ok and passed them all. She noticed that Rainbow was sitting still and didn’t even finish her tests. When she went to talk to the second filly she flew away without a backwards glance. It hurt. She wasn’t sure what she did wrong but it must have been awful to make the cyan pegasus so angry. 

Pinkie had been looking glum as well. Fluttershy wondered why everypony was so upset but felt like it wasn’t her business to pry. She warily returned home and listened to her bird album in peace. The birds took her to a better place. A brighter place. Every so often the sound would bring a memory or distance emotion of comfort to her. She remembered the calm and joy of the preserve and wished she was there. 

The world made less sense somehow after Fluttershy’s return from being taken by the Eva. Bits and pieces of the dream she had would come to her at weird times. She couldn’t remember any of the conversation she was sure she had. She had a vague sense she had met somepony important. 

The yellow pegasus laid her head down to rest when her necklace began to glow. She hurried to the door and flew to headquarters. On the way she passed Maud moving at a much faster pace then her normal gait. She didn’t seem affected by all the recent changes. She was and will be the same old Maud. 

Fluttershy envied the grey mare’s detached nature. Nothing seemed to hinder her. No pony’s comments could deter her. She simply was Maud. Fluttershy hoped to have the confidence to simply exist like that one day. 

Today, however, Fluttershy was optimistic. She hoped today would be the day Rainbow would finally overcome whatever was wrong with her. Maybe today the speedster would win and come back home as she did before. 

The third filly flew to her Eva inside headquarters, changed to her suit and climbed into her Eva. She could see Maud preparing on her Eva’s screen. Rainbow was not there. 

“All right you two,”came Pinkie’s voice. “We have an angel up there. Today Maud will get first crack it. I want you to put those  throwing abilities and duck calls to the test. If she needs it Fluttershy will be back up.”

“Where’s Rainbow?” asked Fluttershy. The last time she piloted she lost her soul. The time before that she hurt a dear friend. She was quite nervous to pilot again.

“We don’t know. She’s not come in yet. If she comes we’ll send her out second ok. But if not, I know you can do it Fluttershy.”

Fluttershy wished she felt the same assertion.

“Eva launch!” Pinkie screamed.

****

Unit-00 rode the pad up towards the surface. Maud held on to nothing. There was no fear, no anger, no trepidation. She simply waited until the Eva made it to the city. Above her hovered a large round glowing band. It rotated in a large circular shape like a giant halo. It seemed to be comprised of two separate bands weaving in and out of each other. 

Maud studied the angel coldly. She looked around and found a large piece of flint and hefted it with her Eva’s hoof. The angel continued to oscillate unfazed. 

Maud took aim and hurled the rock at the angel. The large circular band broke and became a large glowing line. The rock flew by and missed the line as the angel shot through the air at Unit-00. Maud calmly watched it as it rapidly descended on her. She jumped on the front of the line right before it impacted her Eva. Her hooves pinned it to the ground as she tried to squish it.

The beam wriggled in annoyance at first then started to merge with the Eva. Maud felt her hooves become infected with the angel as it began to control the Eva. The veins on her own hooves started to bloat and enlarge as the angelic infection took hold.  She watched the ominous sign spread up her legs. 

“Maud! Maud,” she could hear Pinkie shout, “are you alright?”

“I can contain it,” Maud grunted with the effort of holding the line beam. 

***

“Maud! Maud! You should smile!”

Maud looked around confused. She was in a dark empty void. Another being was there. It  looked like her but with a wry smile. 

“Who are you?” The other Maud asked.

“I am Maud.”

“No, you are part of the being known as Maud, but you are not fully Maud.”

“That isn’t true. I am just Maud there is no other self.”

“But there is. It’s the self that can talk to me now. The self that knows how and why Maud smiles.”

“But I am Maud,” insisted Maud with no heat in her voice. “I am myself.”

“I want to see you smile. I want to see you beam. The corners of your mouth turned up is has always been my dream,” the Maud sang in a faint echoey voice.

Maud suddenly felt an emotion she was unaccustomed to. 

“I’m crying?” she asked as tears ran down her face. “Why am I..”

“Cause I want to see you smile, smile, smile. Yes I do,” the voice sang on as Maud’s eyes became wide. 

“Pinkie?” she asked suddenly. “You’re after Pinkie? No.”

***

Maud’s reality shifted to the Eva cockpit. She had to fight this thing. She couldn’t let anything bad happen to Pinkie.

“Maud! Maud, we’re sending Fluttershy out to help,” the real Pinkie said over the speaker.

“No!” commanded Maud. “I will do this.”

Maud knew that the angel had become part of her body but she had equally become part of the angel. She could feel its concentrated chaotic energy lashing around like a worm on a hook. She began to pull the energy body of the angel into the Eva and herself. The long twitching tail of light slowly disappeared into Unit-00’s body. More and more of Maud’s own body became covered in crisscrossed, bloated veins. She could feel it fighting to leave but Maud held on to it as only an earth pony could. She knew the truth now. 

The body of light changed form and became covered with a million different Pinkie Pies. Each one screamed and yelled at Maud. She knew what it was doing because she could feel it. Her Maud sense told her what it was and who she was.

The Eva bloated and shook as the angel became engulfed. Its form wavered and twisted. 

“Maud!” shouted the real Pinkie, “what are you doing? You don’t have to do this! Fluttershy is almost there.”

“I have to Pinkie,” explained Maud allowing a small amount of insistence to show. She struggled and released her safety harness in the entry plug. She was so infected that half her body no longer worked. The angel tried desperately to keep her from moving. She dragged her useless legs to the back of the cockpit. There she found the core. The angel tried desperately to infect her other hoof but Maud was faster and able to initiate the self destruct sequence before it took her completely.

“Oh my god she's going to blow up her core!” shouted the voice of Bon Bon. 

“No! No! Maud! Why?!” shrieked Pinkie in disbelief. 

“I have to Pinkie. I have to protect you,” Maud said flatly.

“Me?! Why me?!”

“Because Pinkie I’m your sis..” was the last thing Maud said as her Eva exploded. 

***

Pinkie saw the flash on the screen and then the voice cut out. She stared wide eyed at the destruction left in the explosion’s wake. 

***

Fluttershy’s Eva surfaced just in time to be buffeted by the concussive blast. Remains of buildings fell over. She could feel the intense heat even in her entry plug. Everything around her was burning red. She had no idea what had happened. 

Soon the smoke and haze died down. She could see burn pieces of what had been Unit-00. Her heart sank as she saw no signs of an entry plug. The very air seemed to be burning. Slowly they lowered Unit-01 back down to its hanger. 

Two. Two ponies that had suffered so much because Fluttershy wasn’t there. She vowed that no pony would suffer from her lack of confidence. She couldn’t bare it. 

***

Pinkie stood still staring at the screen watching the fire teams race towards the flames. Twilight had already left to scavenge the remains of her tech. Pinkie racked her jarred brain, trying to figure out what Maud had meant. Nothing arose. She felt cheated somehow but mostly sad. Ponies around her were dying and getting hurt. There was nothing she do. She felt helpless and stupid for thinking she was so powerful before.

Then she remembered there was something she could do. She galloped to her locker and found boneless 3. He stared at her with his expressionless gaze.

“Alright Boneless 3, cough up your secrets,” the pink mare demanded. 

Boneless 3 continued to stare. She stared back. He stared blanker. She squinted her intensest glare at him. 

A sound behind her broke Pinkie’s concentration. The grey pegasus from earlier walked by and waved enthusiastically at her. She nodded back and returned to staring. It was then she noticed a small rolled up scroll in Boneless 3’s beak.

“Oh, thanks Boneless 3,” the party pony said, withdrawing the scroll. She quickly read it’s contents. Then gasped. “Gasp! This is saying there is no Mareduke Institute, the pilots are chosen by CAKE and they have a big stinky secret that Twilight knows about!”

***

“Over here,” called an unusually large male pegasus. He wore a yellow clean suit that barely fit around his well defined muscled physique. “I think this is the ,umm, entry tube you were looking for Ms Twinkle.”

“That’s Twilight Sparkle,” corrected Twilight for the umpteenth time.

“Right.”

She walked towards the blackened remains of the entry plug and peered inside. The charred remains of the pilot stared up at her. She sighed. She never liked this part. 

“Collect the samples and tell no pony about this,” the lavender unicorn commanded. 

***

Fluttershy sat on the roof of her building. She stared at that sky and listened to her bird sounds. Rainbow was still gone. Pinkie had disappeared. And now Maud had left. The true horror of it hadn’t settled on Fluttershy yet. The emotional toll of the last few weeks had left her numb. She didn’t know what to think or feel anymore. 

Suddenly a flash of violet announced Twilight’s presence as she teleported on the roof.

“There you are,” the unicorn said.” We have to talk. Is Pinkie home?”

Fluttershy shook her head.

Twilight sighed. “I can’t find Rainbow either. Come with me, I have to show you something.”

Fluttershy walked closer to Twilight who filled the area with purple light from her horn. Small beads of sweat dripped down her face as she brought herself and Fluttershy back to headquarters. 

“Now this might be strange,” warned Twilight as they trotted to the infirmary. 

“Twilight!” shouted Pinkie from down the hall. “I’ve go to talk to you!”

“Oh good, I’ve been looking all over for you,” said Twilight with some relief.”I want you both to come with me.”

“But I have some questions for you,” demanded Pinkie. 

“After Pinkie,” responded Twilight as she shooed her aside. 

“But Twilight I demand..”

Twilight pulled a curtain aside and there stood Maud with a bandage around her face and left foreleg. 

“Maud?!” shouted Pinkie. She rushed in and gave the pilot a large hug. “I though you were a goner. I can’t believe you’re ok. Now you can tell what you were about to say before you exploded.”

“I did what?” asked Maud bluntly.

“You exploded. Right after you really really wanted to protect me. You said ‘I have to do this, Pinkie’. And I said ‘why Maud’. And you said..,”

“Pinkie, she’s not going to remember,” interjected Twilight. “That’s what I wanted to talk to you girls about. You see Maud is..well. Perhaps it’s better if I show you.”

Twilight led them to a secret room in the back of the infirmary. There was a bed with bloody bandages and a few bags of saline hanging. Fluttershy realized that it looked exactly like Maud’s room in her apartment. 

“This is where Maud was made,” Twilight explained.

“Made?” gasped Fluttershy. “How do you make a pony?”

“Umm I don’t think this the time to learn about that, silly,” giggled Pinkie. “But I hear it involves a stork and an egg and some bees.”

“I don’t think that’s true,” replied Fluttershy confused.

“You’re thinking of making a foal and you’d know more about that I do,” reprimanded Twilight. 

“Oh right, you see Fluttershy when a mommy foal and daddy foal..,” began Pinkie.

“I know how foals are made,” asserted Fluttershy turning red. “I just don’t know how full ponies like Maud can be made.”

“Probably magic based on some sort of old DNA they found near the site of the second impact,” stated Pinkie.

“How did you know that?” gasped Twilight.

“Guessed,” shrugged Pinkie.

“Well it’s true.”

Pinkie gasped.

Twilight rolled her eyes and continued. “We used the angel that caused the second impact as the basis for the Evas.”

“You mean the potato down stairs?” asked Pinkie.

“A potato? What potato?” Twilight asked in utter confusion.

“The white one with all the eyes that they’ve nailed to that post.”

“Yes, but how could you know about that?”

“Cheese showed me.”

“We’ll he shouldn’t have,” scolded Twilight. “And it’s not a potato. It doesn’t look anything like a potato. After we captured the being we called My Pretty Pony we needed to keep it contained. So we used magic to separate Pretty’s soul from its body so it wouldn’t hurt us. We needed to put it somewhere, so we thought why not let it live like a pony. Maybe if an angel felt what it was like to be a pony then it might want to be friends. So we looked for a host. 

“We had found pony DNA at the second impact site so we thought it was probably from a research team and figured they would understand what we were trying to do. But when Maud was finished she had no memory of what she was before except for her name. So Pretty’s soul was merged with Maud who didn’t see to mind. The others were a little more resistant to the merger.”

“Others?” asked Fluttershy.

Pinkie remained oddly quiet as they followed Twilight to a large room that contained a large tank.

“Yes, Maud’s wasn’t the only DNA we found,” Twilight continued. “We found a few more ponies. But these were more resistant to the soul merger so we used them to form the basis of the dummy plug system. The younger mare specifically. She seems to have a bit of an anger issue which is why Unit-01 went berserk.”

Twilight turned on a bottom light on a large room sized tank and illuminated a multitude of pony bodies. On closer inspection Fluttershy noticed they were the same four ponies at different stages of growth. There was a pale orange stallion with a striped grey mane and three grey mares. One of the mares was older, about the age of the stallion, while the younger two seemed closer to Fluttershy’s age. One of the younger ponies was Maud but the other was purple-gray with a lighter grey mane and a deep scowl. 

Pinkie stared at the ponies floating in the tank. She looked sick and sad. She stared closely then turned with determination in her eyes. She pulled a nearby lever setting off an alarm and flashing red light.

“Pinkie!” shouted Twilight. “What are you doing?! That will destroy them!”

“No!” Pinkie whispered sadly.” I’m saving them!”

“Pinkie what..”

“Stop talking right now Twilight!” Pinkie screamed. True anger showed on her face and a fury resided in her eyes that rivaled the purple-gray pony’s scowl. “You have no idea what you’ve done! These weren’t just some random research ponies. They were ponies that had dreams and lives and ponies that loved them.”

“Pinkie you don’t know that. They could..”

“I do know that because they were my family, Twilight. I finally remember those two other sisters I couldn’t before.” Pinkie pointed to her hoof at the younger mares. “That one is Limestone Pie, my oldest sister, and that one is Maudileena Daisy Pie. Those other two were Igneous Rock Pie and Smokey Quartz. My father and mother! I’m so glad my twin sister, Marble, didn’t join CAKE to see this. It would have killed her.”

“Your..your family,” stammered Twilight. “I had no idea. You have to believe me.”

“I do,” growled Pinkie. “But you played with magic like a foal. Magic is dangerous if you don’t know what you’re doing Twilight. Ponies get hurt if you act with out thinking how it will affect others. I never thought you would treat ponies like toys to play with. So I am taking away your toys. You don’t deserve them. They deserve to rest.”

Pinkie watched in silence as the multiple versions of her family dissolved in the caustic liquid. Their faces held twisted smiles until nothing but bones remained. 

“Pinkie?” ventured Twilight, her eyes filled with pain and shock. “I am so sorry.”

“Save it!” cut Pinkie’s annoyed voice. “I don’t want to hear it. I think it’s best if we stay away from each other for a while.”

Twilight’s eyes widened then she nodded while quickly blinking away tears. Her ears dropped and she slowly backed away. She stole one sad lingering glance at Pinkie’s rigid form then trotted away. Her tears flowed freely as she left.

Fluttershy watched the two friends with uncertainty. Both were in pain and she didn’t know how to help either of them. As Twilight’s hoofsteps echoed away, Pinkie’s form slumped. She pitched forward resting her head on the tank that had recently showed the family she thought she’d never see again. Fluttershy slowly approached. She placed her wing around Pinkie’s shoulder. Pinkie didn’t look up but shifted slightly towards her. 

They sat there long after the remaining bones dissolved into dust floating in the tank. Then Pinkie looked at the tank satisfied. She turned to Fluttershy, nodded, then burst into tears. She buried her head in Fluttershy’s chest. Fluttershy winced at the sudden violence of the move. Pinkie wrapped her hooves around Fluttershy’s fragile body and squeezed and cried. Fluttershy struggled to breath but didn’t dare say a word about it. If a pony was in this much pain she could bare a little discomfort. She twisted her body slightly to a better position then returned Pinkie’s vice like embrace with a much gentler version. 

The sobbing and tears continued unabated until the better part of a half an hour had passed. Then she stopped. Pinkie looked back up at her friend. She had a haunted look. Her eyes were red rimmed and her mane was scattered. 

“Thank you,” Pinkie whispered with a harsh rasp. 

Fluttershy wordlessly nodded. She had no idea what to say in a situation like this and didn’t think anything she did say would be right anyway. But she knew she couldn’t leave Pinkie alone in her current state. 

The yellow pegasus helped her friend home and helped get her to bed. A day that taxing needed rest afterward. 

She turned to leave when that raspy voice spoke again. “How am I supposed to face her now?”

“Like you do everyday, Pinkie,” Fluttershy answered. “If Twilight is truly your friend she will understand and give you time.”

“Not Twilight,” the voice wheezed. “Maud. My sister’s clone. I don’t think this one remembers who I am. The last one did right before it blew itself up. How am I supposed face her knowing what she is?”

“Did she mean to replace your sister?”

“No. She can’t replace my sister!” the harsh whisper tried to shout.

“What I mean is I don’t think Maud is trying to be anything. She just is what she is. You can’t blame her for something she didn’t do? I just don’t think it’s right.”

“I know but how am I supposed to just forget that she’s just like my sister, just because she didn’t mean to be. It’s going to remind me that my family is gone and that I am super dooper mad at Twilight.”

“I think you don’t have to worry about that now,” Fluttershy said, trying to get Pinkie to relax. “It might be best to just let yourself react. All creatures hurt sometimes. Just know that eventually you will heal. Then the healing will take place in time.”

Pinkie nodded then remained still. Fluttershy left Pinkie to sleep and found Rainbow Dash in the kitchen as she rummaged through the fridge. 

“Rainbow?” the yellow mare gasped.

Rainbow slowly backed out of the fridge and faced her. She looked worn and gaunt. What fight she normally had in her was gone. Fear and shame danced a cross her face as she looked at Fluttershy. 

“Umm hey ya Flutts,” the second filly began awkwardly. “How have you been?”

“Rainbow Dash! Where have you been?” Fluttershy scolded. “An angel attacked and you were no where. Maud blew herself up. Pinkie found out Twilight has been using her family as clones and is heartbroken about it.”

“Oh ,uhh, I’m sorry to hear that.”

“And what have you been doing this whole time? I’ve been worried sick. You won’t talk to me. You said you loved me and you won’t talk to me.”

Rainbow backed out of the kitchen. “I’m sorry. I just can’t do this anymore. I can’t pretend that this is going to work out.”

“So your backing out? Running away before we gave things chance?”

“Yeah. It’s not like this world has much time left,” Rainbow grumbled.

“Oh really! If that’s the attitude you’re going have when things get tough than I don’t want you as a girlfriend. I will never stop trying to give hope to this world. But you’re ready to abandon it as soon as things don’t go your way. So much for loyalty.”

Rainbow’s eyes widened in shock and pain. 

“You have no idea what you are talking about!” shouted Rainbow. “This world is doomed! It’s pointless to place your hopes in a lost cause. And it’s because of my loyalty to you that I am ending things. It doesn’t make sense now but maybe one day it will. Just know that this is one of the hardest things I have ever had to do!”

Rainbow angrily marched to the apartment window and flew off into the sky. Fluttershy missed the streak of tears that slid off her cyan face as she accelerated into the fading light. 

Fluttershy sighed. She didn’t know what she had done or what happened to Rainbow but she felt her feelings were too worn to try to figure out Rainbow’s problem now. There were so many ponies hurting lately it felt like the world was ending. She was only one pony. She could only take can of one at a time. Right now she was helping Pinkie. With all her roommate went through recently she didn’t feel that Pinkie shouldn’t be left alone. Fluttershy begrudgingly closed the window and returned to the management of the apartment.
> Episode 23 Generosity and Kindness
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Fluttershy rose early to check on Pinkie. She quickly made hay cakes for breakfast and even some small but tasty looking cakes to share with her that morning. She glanced at Pinkie’s bedroom door hoping the smell of cakes would draw her out. Fluttershy had never known Pinkie to turn down a fresh baked cake. She sat at the table and waited.

A half an hour passed and there was no movement in Pinkie’s room. The hay cakes that she had made were cold. She begrudgingly got up from the table and hesitantly tapped on Pinkie’s door. No answer. She found the courage and slowly opened the door. 

Pinkie’s bed was empty. Her sheets were strewn about the room. Fluttershy’s heart sank. She knew Pinkie was in a fragile state and feared the party mare could do anything. She galloped out of the apartment into the fresh air.

The morning was drab. It felt like a thin varnish of gray saturated the world. It wasn’t intentionally menacing but left a distinct morose feeling in the air. Fluttershy took off to the sky. She didn’t feel comfortable soaring that high but tried to get some elevation to see farther and move quicker. Her eyes darted back and forth frantically. She saw no signs of the distinct pink form of her friend. Instead they lighted upon a white unicorn walking by the lake. Something about the unicorn was extremely familiar. 

Fluttershy dared to fly a little higher and surveyed the city. No Pinkie. No sign. She started to get dizzy from the height and glided down by a nearby pond to think. Ponyville 3 had become surrounded by ponds lately due to the impacts of the Eva and angel battles. This pond was one of them. 

She alighted on a fallen statue near the edge of the water. Nothing moved on the clear, mirrored surface of the pond. Only the sounds of cicadas calling filled the air. Normally nature set Fluttershy at ease but the pond augmented nature’s awkwardness. Fluttershy sat and wondered if Pinkie was alright. She didn’t hear the hoof falls approach behind her.

“Enjoying the view?” implored a highly articulated voice. 

Fluttershy spun and found the white unicorn the pegasus had noticed earlier. She was pristinely clad in a bright violet dress with frills on the bottom. She wore a large floppy sun hat with a violet band. 

“Oh,” Fluttershy replied. “I’m sorry. Was this your spot?”

“Oh no, darling, I was looking for you. You equines sit in the most garish places.”

“You were looking for me? Do I know you?”

“Well, I suppose at this point you don’t,” the unicorn said. “I’m Rarity, fashionista and trend setter. Oh and I’m that fifth filly thing.”

“The fifth filly? You’re an Eva pilot?”

“Yes. I’m here to replace Rainbow Dash, who seems to be having some sort of tiff recently.”

“You know about that,” muttered Fluttershy as she sank and looked into the pond further. “It’s my fault somehow. I wasn’t a very good girlfriend I guess and she broke up with me last night.”

“Broke up with?” repeated Rarity eyes wide. “You mean to say that you two were together?”

“Yes. Is that bad?”

“I...I just never would have thought ... I guess it makes sense when I think of it that way,” Rarity squinted her eyes as she looked into the distance. “But it is no matter. I am here to cheer you up.”

“Oh, you really don’t have to do that. There are so many ponies that are sadder than I am.”

“Oh come, come now,” the unicorn dismissed with a swish of her hoof. “You are one of the most important ponies here.”

“Important?! No, no, you must be confusing me with somepony else. Like Pinkie Pie or Twilight. They are much more important.”

“You are Fluttershy are you not?”

“Yes.”

“The third filly?”

“Yes.”

“Then of course you’re important. You don’t get a sync ratio like that on your first day and not get noticed. You defeat angels on a daily basis for goodness sake.”

“Oh, right. That,” said Fluttershy and deflated again.

“You do not like it?”

“Not really. I don’t like hurting other beings.”

“I see. That does pose a problem then. Have you talked to others about your feelings? Pinkie Pie or Twilight?” Rarity ventured.

“I tried but they reminded me that if I don’t pilot many others ponies will die.”

“That is true,” said the fashionista as she placed her hoof to her chin. “Well if you would like I could take over the killing for you. I am another pilot after all.”

“Really?!” gasped Fluttershy. “That would be wonderful. But are you sure you won’t mind?”

“I am nothing if not generous. Pay it no mind. Now let’s get to headquarters. I have to train a bit if I am to take over your duties.”

“But I haven’t found Pinkie Pie yet.”

“Oh, I’m sure she’s ok. She’s probably already there.”

The two pilots walked to headquarters. Though the day remained a subtle gray, Fluttershy felt lighter. Rarity was the first pony to offer to help and take the burden of killing or hurting other beings. For the first time in a long time Fluttershy had a true friend.

***

Headquarters appeared as empty and cheerless as the rest of the town. Despite that Fluttershy had a new bounce in her step as she entered with her new friend. She found Pinkie and Twilight in the control room as they always were. An air of unease clung to the entire room. 

Both Twilight and Pinkie sat at a desk doing paperwork with their ears down. The rest of the staff seemed to have taken their cues from them. Bon Bon and Lyra checked each other with looks of uncertainty on their face. Trixie had her eyes locked on Twilight. 

The lavender unicorn looked like she was about to cry with her top lip firmly buttoned by her lower jaw. She took a large breath as Fluttershy and Rarity entered and looked at her computer.

“Fluttershy I wanted to talk to you about..”, Twilight trailed off as the ponies came to view. “Who is this?”

“Oh this is Rarity,” explained Fluttershy,” the fifth filly. And Rarity this is Twilight Sparkle, Pinkie Pie, Bon Bon, Lyra Heartstrings and Trixie Lulamoon. These ponies help us find and defeat the angels.”

“Charmed everypony,” responded Rarity,” But I simply must help redesign the uniforms. They are so ...beige. Except for that pony in the star printed cape and hat.”

“Thanks,” exclaimed Trixie and adjusted her hat proudly.

“We’ll take that into consideration,” placated Twilight. “So you’re the fifth filly. Welcome to CAKE. Do you mind if we start with a sync test?”

“Of course not, darling, it’s why I am here,” explained the fifth filly.

Twilight nodded and led Rarity to the testing facility. Fluttershy walked over to Pinkie who glanced up at her.

“How are you feeling?” Fluttershy whispered to an oddly productive pink pony.

“Ok, I’m still not the super dooperiest but I will be ok. Twilight apologized again as soon as I got in. I know she feels bad but I’m still feeling hurt right now.”

“It’s ok to feel bad, Pinkie. Just as long as you remember Twilight wasn’t trying to hurt anypony. I’m not sure why she needed to clone your family but it sounds like it was for a good reason.”

“Is there a good reason?!” demanded Pinkie. “It just feels mean to bring back ponies that are gone. My parents and family sacrificed themselves so that Marble and I could have a chance. But if somepony can just bring them back with magic, it ruins their sacrifice. It makes it not count. It makes them feel less important somehow. I don’t like that feeling. I’m not good with sad. I want to bring ponies smiles. How can I do that when I feel like this?”

Pinkie looked at Fluttershy. Her face pleaded for answers. Fluttershy could only stare back sympathetically. She knew no way to solve this. She only knew that with time all wounds would heal. She gave Pinkie a large hug. 

“I think it’s ok to find your own smile first,” explained Fluttershy. “The others will understand and might try to help you if you let them.”

Pinkie nodded. “So who is this new pony? I don’t know her.”

“Oh she’s nice. She says she’s another pilot for Unit-02 and said she’d kill the angels for me.”

“I see,” said Pinkie suspiciously. “How did she know that we needed a new pilot?”

“She didn’t say.”

Pinkie stroked her chin thoughtfully. 

***

“How is this possible?” gasped Twilight as she watched the sync tests. “She seems to be able to set her sync rate wherever she wants without any effort.”

“Is that possible?” asked Trixie.

“Theoretically, but it requires years off work. I don’t think any pony has had years to practice.”

Twilight depressed a button and talked to Rarity through an intercom. “Very impressive Rarity. How did you learn to do this?”

“Oh beginners luck, I’d imagine. Didn’t Fluttershy also perform as admirably on her first day?” Rarity responded.

“Yes but this is unprecedented. A pilot that can set her sync at will? It’s kind hard to believe this is your first day.”

“Oh I’m sorry. I’m still getting used to this wor..land’s etiquette. I didn’t mean my ability to offend.”

“How did you know we needed a new pilot for Unit-02?” demanded Pinkie.

“Oh that CHAOS group sent me. Very pushy lot and equally unfashionable as here.”

“CHAOS? Sending us a pilot,” mused Twilight as she took her hoof off the speaker button. “Something doesn’t feel right about this.”

“Well it seems fishy alright but what would CHAOS be up to?” asked Pinkie. 

“I’m not sure yet. But I have a theory. I have to do more research,” Twilight left the group and trotted towards her library. 

Pinkie stared at the new pilot on the screen hoping that doing so would bring some revolution to her. Rarity suddenly looked at her through the screen and winked.

“Did she just notice me staring?” Pinkie thought to herself. Then shook off the eerie feeling the thought produced.

***

Rarity exited the testing lab and found Fluttershy sitting by herself on one of the chairs. 

“Fluttershy?” the fashionista asked. “Were you waiting for me?”

“Well...Umm...I was,” Fluttershy stammered in return. “I was hoping to talk to you some more.”

“Well in that case I have the perfect suggestion. Does this town have a spa?”

***

The two Eva pilots found themselves in comfortable robes with green spa masks on their faces and cucumbers on their eyes. Neither of them noticed a potted plant shift closer to them or the pink plumb of hair that stuck out from it.

“You see,” insisted Rarity. “A lady needs to pamper herself every once and awhile. Doesn’t this seaweed extract facial feel so rejuvenating?”

“It feels ...nice,” concluded Fluttershy warmly.

“I’m glad you enjoy it. If I may be so bold, could I suggest some tips to improve your ‘look’?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well what were those drab things you were wearing?” demanded Rarity.

“Umm khakis.”

“I can not for the life of me understand why you would hide such a good body under those dreadful things. A lady’s grace and elegance flows from her with the proper dress, my dear.”

“I don’t think I could wear a dress. I tried but all I did was worry about the wind blowing the dress over my head and every pony seeing my underwear. Or perverts trying to look up it. The khakis might not ‘let my grace flow’ but they keep me safe from embarrassment.”

“You worry too much about such silly things, darling,”dismissed the white mare. “Ponies are made the way they are made. That is why accessorizing to emphasize their natural beauty is what I believe in. There is no shame in looking how you look or being who you are. It's a crime against fashion to hide yourself underneath all that boring.”

“Maybe...maybe you're right.”

“Oh Fluttershy,” said Rarity, sitting up allowing the cucumber pieces to fall from her eyes. “I just had the most inspired idea. Do you want to go shopping? I did see some dress shops that have not become burned out craters yet.”

Fluttershy thought for a minute then nodded. “That sounds ...nice.”

The two giggled and quickly rushed to the changing room. The potted plant attempted to follow silently but bonked into the side of the door and fell over. 

“Aww applesauce,” it said as it rolled.

The giggling fillies started their shopping spree at one of the local dress shops run by an energetic pegasus with a metal leg. She helped them try on dress after dress until Fluttershy found the right combination of soft green tones and blues that accented her yellow hair and pink mane. Meanwhile a strange bearded plant in the corner looked on.

The jubilant pair walked down the streets and showed what remained of the populace their new looks. 

“I bet Dash would hardly recognize me,” giggled Fluttershy.

“Dash would probably faint at your dazzling beauty,” suggested Rarity. “She was a fool to give you up. If I wasn’t attracted to stallions I might have had to fight her for you.”

“Oh stop, Rarity,” mumbled the blushing Fluttershy. “I’m not that pretty.”

“Oh don’t be silly, darling, of course you are. That natural grace is something very few ponies possess. If this were a different world you might have been a popular model. Although you might not have liked it that much.”

“Ummm you seem to have put a lot of thought into this for some pony I just met,” observed the third filly.

“But it doesn’t feel like we have, does it?”

“No. It’s so strange how familiar you feel.”

“I always say that is a good feeling to have with a new friend. It’s something special.”

Fluttershy nodded elated at this new friendship without any strings attached. They galloped off to the next store and the next and the next. They shopped the day away as a pink shadow flitted around them from object to object. 

Night slowly slid into place bringing the stars with it. The new friends found a nice hill to rest on and stared in wonder. 

“With all the buildings gone, you get to see so much,” mused Fluttershy. “Of course because of that all my friends had to move away. Applejack, Sunburst and Starlight left after one of the recent battles.”

“Does it hurt?”

“The battles?”

“No, darling, the loneliness? True suffering comes from loneliness. All ponies suffer but if the suffering is spread between friends it can be easily bared by all. But on your own you have to hold it all on your shoulders. It is a terrible fate,” explained Rarity.

“Sometimes I feel like loneliness is more comfortable. Ponies can be very needy sometimes. They can be loud and scary. But alone no pony expects anything of you.”

“But then who will share your victories? Your world? Your you? If a pony lives alone in the woods and no one ever sees her and she makes no trace of herself did she exist? I find comfort in knowing that others will remember me and that they can behave and think differently having met me. Surely that brings you some comfort.”

“But then you have to wonder what sort of impression you make,” Fluttershy pointed out. “If the pony reacts badly because of you they could take that out on others. Then you would've been responsible for an entire chain of badness. I don’t like to think about the burden of that.”

“Then know, right now, you have not started anything bad. If others misinterpret your actions then that is on them. You hold on to the goodness that is you and base your actions on that. Don’t hide away from others. You are a precious gift, Fluttershy. The world would indeed be sadder without you.”

Fluttershy remained silent. She never thought of herself in those terms before. She stared back at the stars while Rarity stood up.

“Well we had a fine day. Shall we retire?” the unicorn asked.

Fluttershy nodded sadly and rolled off the ground herself. 

“Now shall we go to your place or mine?” Rarity asked point-of-factly.

“What? I thought you said you weren’t into .. that,” the third filly responded blushing.

“Into? Continuing our fun day with a sleepover?” Rarity clarified. Then caught Fluttershy’s idea and quickly added,” just to sleep. You ponies need to get your heads out of the gutter.”

They returned to the apartment to find an exhausted Pinkie Pie. She looked like she had galloped from far away in a hurry. There were twigs and grass in her mane. She looked at them with a much too innocent smile. 

“Umm are you ok Pinkie?” asked Fluttershy hesitantly. Her eyes looked up at the major with true concern. 

“Yeah,” Pinkie admitted waving a dismissive hoof. “Just a long day.”

“I can imagine,” Fluttershy agreed. “Umm Rarity is going to spend the night.”

“Oh good,” huffed Pinkie,” then I don’t have to sneak as far. I mean, distracting cake?”

The party pony quickly produced a lopsided chocolate cake. 

“Um I don’t eat much cake,” explained Rarity,”goes straight to my flanks, darling.”

“Cake before sleep gives me nightmares,” reminded Fluttershy.

“Oh right,” Pinkie laughed awkwardly. “Love the new look, Fluttershy. I’ve never seen you in a dress before.”

“Rarity picked it out for me. Is really that good?” Fluttershy inquired.

“Yeah, Rainbow would probably have a heart attack!”

The smile fell from Fluttershy’s face. “Oh umm we broke up last night. She came home for a minute and broke up with me.”

“Oh no! That’s awful. How about some comforting cake?” Pinkie responded and offered the same lopsided cake. “Oh right nightmares. Umm pie?” Pinkie produced a steaming pie from the same no where she brought the cake from.

“I think I just want to go to bed,” explained Fluttershy. “I’m glad you’re feeling better.”

“Ok, I’ll just eat this cake and umm pie,” Pinkie said, walking the treats to the table. 

The pilots made their way to Fluttershy’s room. They prepared for bed. 

“Oh ,umm, I only have one bed in here, so, umm, I’ll take the floor,” the yellow pegasus offered. 

“Very well,” Rarity agreed with no fight in her. “You don’t happen to have a sleeping mask do you?”

“No, I normally put my headphones on and listen to my bird music.”

Rarity sighed.”I guess I’ll have to rough it. This bed seems at least barely adequate.” Rarity climbed in the bed and placed herself under the covers. 

Fluttershy found some spare sheets and placed them on the floor. It was very hard and threatened to cause stiffness throughout the night but as long as Rarity was comfortable she could bear it.

“Well I must say, I’m glad I met you today,” Rarity concluded. “You have given me hope for equine kind.”

“Oh I couldn’t possibly have done that much.”

“Of course you did, darling. I wouldn’t lie about that.”

The new friends started to feel the wariness of their day and laid down and slept.

***

The night continued its somber mood. Suddenly Rarity’s eyes opened and she glanced around. No pony else was awake. She slid out of bed with barely a noise. She left the sleeping Fluttershy on the ground and made her way to the living room. She nearly  tripped over the sleeping form of Pinkie just outside the door in a dark ninja suit. Rarity looked at her with an amused smile. Then made her way out the apartment door.

Headquarters was minimally staffed and with her ID Rarity was able to sneak in unnoticed. She made her way towards a large tunnel that led to the central terminal where the captive angel and dummy plug system was kept. Rarity walked to the edge of the descending tunnel and slowly unfurled a set of multicolored wings. They were butterfly shaped and reflected the ambient light on to the sides of the tunnel. 

“Now it is time for the true Rarity to shine,” she said and stepped into the air. Lights and music emitted from her as she descended towards a large set of doors that kept the central termal safe.

***

Trixie sat in her chair staring at her girlfriend as she read another volume. Twilight had been sifting through text after text for hours. Trixie had refused to go home to support her but was wondering if her bed might have been the better choice. She happened to glance at one of her computer monitors and saw an odd blip in the data stream from Unit-02. 

“Umm Twilight?”

“Hmm?”

“Unit-02 is activating.”

“That’s nice,” Twilight said as she continued to read.

“I’m serious, Twilly.”

“Oh of course you can.”

Trixie glanced at the unicorn confused. Twilight had pitched forward with her face resting on her latest book. 

“Twilight!” Trixie shouted. It echoed through the empty halls of the complex. 

“Huh? What? Trixie? Why are you shouting?”

“Unit-02 just activated itself!”

“How?”

The complex shook slightly as warning alarms blared to life. 

“There’s an unknown energy signature in the central tunnel,” pointed out Trixie. “Ooh and a light show.”

Twilight ran to look over Trixie’s shoulder. She watched as a small white glowing form floated to the giant hatch of the tunnel. Twilight zoomed the camera in and saw the floating, winged unicorn laughing maniacally as “ode to joy” seemed to ride the light that flowed from her. 

“Rarity!” Twilight spat. “I knew there was something strange about her. Trixie, send the alarm to the other pilots. I think we found the last angel.”

***

Fluttershy and Pinkie jumped up as the alarms on their necklaces began pulsing. Fluttershy looked around in a daze. Then hurriedly checked her bed. Pinkie opened the door. 

“We have to go,” Pinkie informed. “Where’s Rarity?”

“I don’t know. She’s not here.”

“Uh oh. I hope I’m wrong but we can’t wait for her.”

Fluttershy opened her window and her wings. Despite not having any wings Pinkie was always able to keep up. The two made their way to headquarters. 

Fluttershy flew through headquarters towards her Eva. She climbed into the entry plug while Pinkie entered the control room.

“Rarity is the last angel isn’t she?” Pinkie asked as she entered.

“Why didn’t your Pinkie sense tell us sooner?” countered Twilight.

“I don’t control what it does, silly. But she might have powers to fool it. I was hoping my suspicions were wrong. What is she doing now?”

“Well,” hesitated Trixie. “She seems to be waiting by that hatch. She has taken control of Unit-02.”

“What could she be up to?” pondered Twilight. 

***

Fluttershy forced Unit-01 down the various tunnels and entry ways to intercept the new threat. Her mind was a wash in worry over where Rarity had gone. The fifth filly had said she was going to fight the angels from now on. Another disappointed pony she suspected. When would she stop scaring away her friends?

Now she had to fight this angel by herself. She had no idea what horrible creature this new one would appear as. What terrible form would she have to contend with? She rounded a bend in the tunnel and found a small glowing ball in the distance. She edged the Eva closer and noticed Unit-02 standing behind the small form.

“Oh Rarity,” the yellow pegasus cried. “You beat me here. Thank goodness I was so worried.”

“Rarity is not inside the Eva,” informed Twilight through the intercom. “She’s in front of it. She’s the angel!”

“What?!”

Unit-01 stepped shakily into the tunnel. Fluttershy’s mind raced. The fun they had together soured in her mind as she realized it was all a lie. The angel had shown up and taunted her the whole day. She thought she had made a true friend. A true friend that didn’t expect anything from her but friendship. A true friend that would ease the burden of life. A true friend that would help her face the world. 

This “friend” had merely taken all of her time and love and thrown it in her face. She had been tricked by the very same things that had hurt so many of her actual friends. She looked down at Rarity’s small glowing form. Something deep within felt broken and wrong. She felt her tender heart breaking but instead of sadness it filled her with a feral anger. 

“Fluttershy,” scolded Rarity in a loud echoing voice as she noticed Unit-01. “I’ve been waiting forever. You nearly ruined my grand descent. “

“How dare you!” cried Fluttershy. She could feel her pupils constrict with adrenaline. 

“What?” Rarity’s eyes went wide.

“How dare you trick me and my friends!” accused Fluttershy.

“Oh dear,”panicked Rarity. “I didn’t sign up to be the object of Fluttershy’s wraith. I came to save you.”

Rarity quickly opened the large hatch behind her and flew down the corridor. 

“I’ve seen you in this mood, I don’t think I can battle you anymore,” Rarity quickly dismissed her with her hooves.

“Get back here, Rarity!” shouted Fluttershy. “How could you be an angel? You seemed so nice but you were just using me!”

“No! no! I wasn’t,” Rarity cried. She frantically descended as Unit-01 pursued. “Stay away from me!”

“Fluttershy, if Rarity gets to the Pretty Pony first she could cause the end of our world,” explained Twilight. “The tunnel you guys are in leads directly to it.”

“The potato?” Pinkie asked.

“It’s not a...I give up,” sighed Twilight. “Yes the potato.”

“So I have to catch her before she gets there,” determined Fluttershy.
The yellow pegasus pressed the leg petals and pushed Unit-01 into a full gallop. Rarity frantically flew away faster while she screamed,” No! Stay away! Stay away!”

Suddenly Unit-02 appeared around the corner and flew at Fluttershy’s Eva. Fluttershy sped up and rammed the wayward Eva. Unit-02 buckled as the heavier Eva crashed into it at full gallop.

“Eep!” shrieked Rarity as the towering Eva flew past her. She quickly glanced back at Fluttershy. “I’m doing this for you,” she sobbed as she flew faster. “And you’re ruining my glorious moment.”

Rarity found her target a few meters down. A large white mass with multiple eyes stared back.

“My goodness it really does look like a potato,” said the angel pony to herself. “Now to..wait. Human? This isn’t the pretty pony. I’ve been tricked. Oh dear, I can’t save anyone. That means the only way to save them is to..to..”

Rarity looked down and considered her options. Then slowly descended to the floor. 

Unit-01 wasted no time and jumped upon her. A large ping and flash of light erupted as the energy was absorbed by Rarity’s AT field. Fluttershy increased the pressure and felt her Eva’s AT field slice through the fifth filly’s. The impact of the angel’s field collapsing knocked the unicorn off her hooves. 

Rarity found herself on her back. The Eva’s gigantic hoof pinned her body to the ground. The pressure increased and Rarity whined in pain. She knew what she had to do to end this. 

“Forgive me, Fluttershy,”the white unicorn whispered. 

“You lied to me!” Fluttershy fumed. 

“Yes,” the fifth filly responded flatly. “I did. I thought if I could end this world I could save you.”

“But that would kill us!”

“Yes,” Rarity admitted. “But you would be free from your suffering and pain. I do not like to see my friends in such pain.”

“Friends don’t kill friends, Rarity!”

“But what are you going to do now? If friends don’t kill friends what are you going to do about me? I will not stop destroying until I find what I am looking for.”

“We aren’t friends!”spat Fluttershy.

“Oh I see. We shared such wonderful experiences, I had hoped I earned your friendship.”

“But you tried to end the whole world.”

“Is that such a bad thing? So many ponies are upset. So many are hurting. I was hoping to save you from that pain. Isn’t that what a friend would do?” Rarity asked.

“Ponies will always feel pain. As friends it’s our job to help them through it. We can’t end it for them. Killing ponies is decidedly unfriendly.”

“But what if your friend asks you to?”

“What? I never..”

“Oh not you, darling, me,”clarified Rarity.

Fluttershy felt her face suddenly cool as she tried to comprehend Rarity’s statement.

“You have been told that our races can’t live alongside one another, correct?”

“Yes but..”

“And I already told you that if you let me go I will continue to destroy until I find what I’m looking for.”

“That doesn’t mean...”

“Then the only way to stop me is to kill me.”

“What?” Fluttershy started sweating. Panic found its way into her mind. She was having trouble coming up with a way to refute her. As she realized what she had to do the panic fully engaged and stopped all other thoughts. “No.”

“Fluttershy, I do like you and I think you and your race should be the ones to move on. Where I am from I’m known for my generosity. I think giving my life so that other ponies can live is a good use of that.”

“But ..but you’re an angel?”

“That doesn’t mean I can’t feel for a different species. You showed me that. You’re the kindest pony I know. I can think of no other pony that I would rather take the gift I am offering.”

“What gift?” responded the weak wavering voice of Fluttershy. 

“My life, of course. I am offering you my life. I am hoping in your kindness you will take it. You would be doing me a great service. I won’t have to destroy any pony else.”

Fluttershy paused and stared at the tiny pinned angel under her hoof. She tried to find any loop hole through the unicorn’s logic. But she knew this wasn’t a matter of logic. It was about doing what would help all. 

“I can still feel you hesitating,” Rarity declared. “I wish I could help you more but I have done all I can. Perhaps there are others out there that can help you further after me. Some pony that can help bring more ponies together.”

Rarity glanced past Unit-01 and noticed Maud’s form hovering in the tunnel. She gave her a quick nod then turned her attention to Fluttershy once again.

“But I ask you to hesitate no longer,” Rarity declared. “The longer you wait, the crueler you are being. I have enjoyed our time together and hope that this helps you in some way. But I think it’s time I go now.”

A single tear escaped Rarity’s eye. Fluttershy noticed the strained face wrought with pain. Her hooves quivered and she closed her eyes. She took a large breath and depressed the hoof pedal. A sickening crush told her that the deed had been done. It was followed by a splash as Rarity’s head rolled off from her crushed form and landed in the nearby lake that surrounded the creature tied to the post. 

Fluttershy couldn’t move. Shock flooded her body as the true gore and pain of what she had done became conscious. She screamed in a horrible painful wail. 

“Get her out of there now!” insisted Pinkie. “She needs friends! Eject her out!”

“No,” commanded Discord. “This experiment has gone on long enough.” There was a tired hurt tone to his voice. He sounded his centuries old. His form looked hunched and drained. “I can’t take this anymore. I don’t understand why Fluttershy would like this sort of thing but I’m stopping it.”

The world around Discord and everypony wavered. A shadow crept out from his form and began to plunge everything in darkness. The computer staff galloped away in fear but the darkness found them. Their screams were swallowed by its soft embrace. The world around them vanished into nothingness. 

All heard a voice say,” The pony instrumentality project has begun!”
> Episode 24: Pony Instrumentally ...Sort of
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Darkness swarmed around Fluttershy. After her actions she was almost enthusiastic to be flooded by it. She idly wondered if she was being consumed by the Evanstallion again. Or if this was divine retribution for killing an angel. She still could feel the sickening pop and subsequent crunch of Rarity’s body under her hoof. 

A single beam of light illuminated a chair. There was a small table with a pot of tea and a cup. She wandered to the only furniture and looked around hesitantly. The light wasn’t as blinding as it had initially appeared. It was a soft glow. She found the tea to be green jasmine. 

“Please sit,” said a voice she recognized. “Welcome to the pony instrumentality project tea party.”

“Umm thank you,” said Fluttershy to the light. She was uncertain the etiquette for such an occasion but felt graciousness was the best way to go.

“You’re quite welcome. Now shall we begin?”

“Oh I don’t know. Is this going to hurt?”

“No. I at least I hope not. My goodness you have been hurt a lot during this travesty.”

Fluttershy sat down and found herself in front of a large table full of Discords. There were Discords of every stripe and color she could imagine. 

“Oh my goodness,”Fluttershy said in astonishment. “Why are there so many of you?”

“Chaos is everywhere my dear. And so am I as a result. Obviously you don’t want me to be some where else when we have our little soirées so I have to delegate,” explained the red bespectacled Commander. 

“Soirées? Chaos? I don’t understand.”

“We can’t do this to her any more,” scolded Blue Discord. “We must return her memories.”

“What did you do Commander?” the yellow pegasus asked, squinting her eyes in suspicion.

“Umm, well remember this was done with best intentions.” Commander Discord walked over to a large switch and pulled it.

The facade around Fluttershy started to shatter. The blackness, the light, even the chair shattered like glass. Fluttershy wrapped herself in her wings as it all came crashing down. 

“What’s going on..,” she began to ask until the memories of Twilight, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash began to flood her. All her adventures. All her interactions. She remembered everything that had happened in her original life. She felt like her mind was going to burst. 

Then Fluttershy remembered the wedding. Her wedding. She remembered all her friends gathering around her. She remembered trying to figure out who was who and what was what amongst the groom’s friends. She remembered the groom standing next to her awkwardly smiling. He was never very good at conventional gatherings but insisted that Fluttershy get the dream wedding she had envisioned as a foal. 

Then she quickly put two and two together. The wedding last year, coupled with world they had just come from being very close to one of her favorite manga. 

“Discord!” The annoyed pegasus shouted. 

“Oh, hello my dear,” said Discord appearing in front of her upside down.

“Get down here right now, Mister.”

He sighed . “Very well, Missis.”

Fluttershy used to blush at that but now the anger steeled her nerve. “You have some explaining to do.”

“Well it’s hardly my fault. I didn’t write this complete downer you like so much,”Discord declared, throwing his mismatched claws in the air.

“Discord!”

“It was mostly Spike’s fault. He seriously has to learn to review books properly.”

“Start from the beginning!”

“Ok, ok,” Discord said and sat on a nearby elephant shaped chair. “I was a little... lacking in inspiration for our anniversary present so I talked to the self proclaimed romance expert, Spike. Before I could even ask he told me about this interesting manga that you lent him. He said it was about a young foal that was riddled with social anxiety and he learned to connect with others better. I thought it would be a wonderful anniversary present to let you live through a manga that will help you.”

“Did you read it before hand?”

“I might have skimmed it a bit.”

“Well? How do you think this gift is going? Do you think this is what I would have wanted?”

“See! You’re bolder already. Heh, heh, I guess that can happen after killing a friend,” he chuckled nervously.

Fluttershy’s left eyebrow raised slightly.

“Ok. I might have to put a little more forethought into gifts. It just sounded so perfect. But next time I will read the manga first.”

Fluttershy’s eyebrow continued to its zenith.

“Alright, alright. I’ll,” Discord struggled with the next word,” check with you first and make sure it’s something you will enjoy.”

“I don’t mind a surprise or two but you know me well enough to guess whether it would be something I would enjoy. I did enjoy this manga but not to live it.”

“Watching you suffer was not something I enjoyed either. Especially when you dated Rainbow Dash.”

“Here,” interrupted Rainbow as she emerged from the shadows behind them. “So you were watching the whole time?”

“Rainbow!” shouted Fluttershy. “There you are.”

“Yeah,” the speedster said, rubbing the back of her neck with her hoof. “I’m sorry I got kind of cranky back there but I was ,umm, asked not to ruin the surprise.”

“Wait, that’s why you changed suddenly?” Fluttershy gasped.

“Yeah that angel of light showed me everything. I’m sorry I didn’t deal with it well.”

“That makes sense. But now I’m confused as why you wanted to date me in the first place?”

Rainbow’s face fell. She tried to back into the shadows again but they seemed to retreat as she drew near.

“Well I ,umm, I,” Rainbow  stammered and turned beet red.

“Oh come now, we can figure it out,” insisted Discord. “Just get it out already.”

“Ok ok,” Rainbow said placing her hoof on her forehead. “Fluttershy.. I..I've been in love with you for ,like, ever. I tried to fight it. I didn’t want to make things awkward. But once I realized what I truly felt you were already with Discord and I was trying to play catch up. It was the first time I realized that I wasn’t fast enough. I lost because I wasn’t fast enough.”

Rainbow looked at the ground and sat on her hunches. All the fight and anger she had before was snuffed out. She felt wrung out from the whole ordeal. But some part of her felt relieved. She finally said it in the real world.

Fluttershy stared at Rainbow’s face search for any hint that this was prank. But she found no trace of dishonesty. Fluttershy had spent most of her life studying pony’s reactions to avoid bothering them. She wondered how in Equestria she had missed it. Perhaps she had subconsciously knew but was waiting until Rainbow sorted it out for herself. As it happened Discord had struck first and Fluttershy had fallen for him. 

But the yellow pegasus couldn’t ignore the horrible look on Rainbow’s face. She sat there with her heart fully exposed. Fluttershy couldn’t overlook her anymore. The timid mare trotted over to her cyan suitor and placed her hoof around her neck. She gently placed her lips on Rainbow’s forehead. 

“I’m sorry,” Fluttershy whispered. Rainbow closed her eyes and nodded. 

“Oh don’t worry, Dashie,” Discord assured with mock concern. “I’ll alter all your memories as well as your friends so you won’t have this horrid experience to carry around.”

“No!” shouted Fluttershy.

“What?! You want to remember crushing Rarity to death and dating Rainbow Dash?!” gasped Discord taken back.

“No, but I don’t think it’s right that every time your surprises back fire you can just alter our memories of it. There are many things in my life I’d rather not remember but I don’t have the luxury of forgetting them. Now I’ve had this experience. Though it was terrifying I don’t think it’s right just to sweep it away. We’ll get through the awkwardness of it together. As we always have.”

“Well this a fine how to do,” whined Discord. “Now every pony in town is going to give me the stink eye, and your friends are going to have trouble trusting me ....again.”

“You should have thought of that before,” explained Fluttershy.

“I did and thought, ‘oh, I’ll just erase every pony’s memories afterward and be fine.’ But now you’re not even letting me do that. Seriously Fluttershy, what sort of pony wants their friend to remember being crushed to death. I thought you were better than that.”

“Discord you understand why I don’t want you to do it right?” asked the scolding tone of Fluttershy.

“Just because I understand it doesn’t mean I have to like it. I’m not used to all these consequence things. I normally just change them into something more interesting.”

“You’re a good friend, Rainbow,” Fluttershy said turning towards her. “I feel awful I didn’t notice your ..um crush for so long.”

“Well duh! That was the point,”admitted Rainbow.

“You know I care for you and I wish I could have told me sooner but now I’m married to Discord and I take that seriously. You have your own relationship with Applejack, don’t you?”

“Yeah, I guess I do,” sighed Rainbow. “Guess I should apologize to her for holding a torch for you for so long.”

“It’s alright, Sugarcube,” assured Applejack as she entered the scene. “Ah know ya didn’t mean ta hurt me and shoot Ah ended up with Starlight somehow.”

“Yeah,” Starlight chuckled nervously. “So weird.” 

“I think you owe Trixie an explanation, Princess,” echoed an accusing voice as Twilight and Trixie came into view.

“I um don’t really have one,” stammered a flustered Twilight. “For once.”

“Trixie thought you hated her. Then as soon as you forget the Ursa Minor incident and Alicorn Amulet issue, you ask her out?”

“It must have been the manga,” Twilight suggested hoping that would satisfy the inquisitive magician.

“But Twilight,” began Fluttershy. “You read that manga. You know Ritsuko never actually dated Maya in the book.”

“You’re not helping,” growled the embarrassed Twilight. 

“Ha!” declared the great and triumphant Trixie. “As a pony who deceived others for a living, Trixie can tell when some pony is trying to cover up their true feelings for her.”

“You agreed to date pretty readily as I recall,” countered Twilight.

“Well I ..that’s not.. I mean,” stammered equally embarrassed and flustered Trixie.

“Fluttershy!” cried a white unicorn running towards the group. “Oh I do hope you forgive me. I knew the whole time what was happening thanks to being an angel. I hoped to free you all by merging with that my lovely pony thing. But I never wanted to put you through that awful ordeal.”

“Oh Rarity,” cried Fluttershy, “I promise I’ll never kill you again.”

“And I’ll never try to end all existence for everypony again,” Rarity sobbed while embracing Fluttershy. 

“And I’ll never highly suggest you kill anything again,” blubbered Pinkie as she appeared from behind them and joined the hug.

“And I’ll never use science to without thinking of the consequences again,” confessed Twilight. “Though I really didn’t because that was in the book.”

“I’ll never get too ‘intense’ while making out with you again,” promised Rainbow Dash.

“Yer dern right ya won’t,” agreed Applejack. “An’ once again Ah learned nothin’.”

“Oh, all my little ponies,” said Discord in a Celestia suit. “You all learned so much about friendship and forgiveness and each other and forgiveness and whatever. The point is you never would have learned this without this wonderful gift I have given you all.”

The group stopped hugging and stared at him.

“Ahem, well pardon me for pointing out the silver lining,” he sighed. “Now if you don’t mind, you can take your accusing little stares home. I have a night of begging forgiveness planned for my special somepony.”

He snapped his fingers and all of Fluttershy’s friends vanished. Fluttershy found herself once more in her little cottage. She looked around in confusion and noted that hardly any time had passed since she was there last. 

Discord sat next her on her couch. He had his glasses on and wore a bright red fez. He nodded to her as she looked around wildly. 

“Discord,” she said.

“Yes?”

“I think it’s time for you to read my manga collection,”Fluttershy casually suggested. “ If you don’t mind,” she added shyly.

The End