//------------------------------// // Of Monsters and Mares // Story: PONYVERSE // by TopWanted //------------------------------// Of Monsters and Mares ===E8DB Rainbow rubbed her head forlornly as she tried to remember where she was. She was lying in a cloud bank, but what had hit her? She remembered almost too late as she dodged an attack just in time. A purple and pink blur shot past where she’d been lying and plowed straight through the clouds, dispersing them and her with a shockwave. “Fluttershy!” The dark clad mare stopped on a dime and reeled on Dash. “Get your game up, Rainbow!” She laughed cruelly and flew at her again. This time Rainbow flew at her as well, both clashing in midair and sending out a pulse of pressure that cleared the remaining clouds. “What are you doing here!? How did you gete here?” Fluttershy glared at her, her eyes flashing red for a brief moment. “Stop talking and fight!” A surge of dark magic pushed up her arms and exploded in Rainbow’s face sending her tumbling back. She tried to correct herself in the air but Fluttershy would not give her a moment’s peace. With a blur of speed, the mare rocketed into her back making Rainbow gasp as the wind got knocked out of her. She fell to a cloud and landed hard. If she wasn’t a Pegasus right now, she’d be a pancake. Fluttershy landed a few hooves away and chided her tongue at her. “Is that really all you have? What happened to the mare I saw before?” Rainbow groaned as she crawled to her hooves. “The power is messing with your mind even more now. Fluttershy, you need to trust me when I say it’s not good for you. I’ve seen what that kind of power can do to somepony. You need to let it go before-” “Before what?” Fluttershy growled. “Before I beat you? Before I prove that I’m stronger than you ever were?” Her eyes glowed an even deeper red. “I’ve had this power long enough to know how to use it! I can use it because I’m strong! I’m not that weak pathetic filly you knew and I never want to be again!” Rainbow frowned at her. “I never meant to make you feel like that.” Fluttershy gritted her teeth, the dark magic around her rising upward like steam. “And what am I supposed to feel like? My best friend leaves my life as a filly without even saying goodbye? Of course I’m angry! I felt worthless for so long! Just admit that you forgot me!” Rainbow hung her head in shame. “Yeah, I did.” The darkness paused around Fluttershy and her angry expression softened a little. “I started a new life and never looked back. I abandoned you and I’ll never forgive myself for that.” She looked into her eyes pleadingly. “But there’s always a chance to make things right. I know that now. We always assume we can’t go back but that’s not true. You just have to know the chance to take it.” She held out her hoof to her. Fluttershy stared at the hoof then back at Rainbow. With a shout of frustration, she slapped the hoof away. “I come all this way and you won’t even give me a fight!” Rainbow didn’t back down. “Because I’m not fighting my friend!” “I’m not your friend!” “You’ll always be my friend, Fluttershy. And I’ll help you when we get back home.” She shut her eyes and tried to tune her out. “Quiet!” “I can see to it you’re taken care of.” “Shut up!” “I’ll be there every step of the way!” “RAAAGH!!” Fluttershy let out a scream and a pulse of darkness blasted out around her. Rainbow tried to stand tall but the force pushed her back and she slipped off the edge of the cloud. She flapped her wings against the pressure, trying to get closer. She squinted through the wind force and saw that Fluttershy was mumbling something to herself as her magic pulsed again and again into the ground. The more she did the more her body seemed to grow frailer, her pink mane turning white around the edges. “Fluttershy stop this!” she shouted but to no avail. She pushed a little harder and came a little closer. “I’m stronger. I can handle it. I’m stronger. I can handle it.” She kept muttering this like a mantra, but her body looked like it begged to differ. Rainbow alighted back on the cloud and began to push her way through pressure. “It’s eating you alive, can’t you see? As long as your emotions are out of control, it’ll be too!” “And whose fault is that?!” Fluttershy shouted at her, a new wave of force slamming against Rainbow face nearly breaking her neck. “I was fine! I was strong! But every time you come back into the picture I’m just that scared little filly again! I needed to prove I don’t need you! I needed to know that I could do it on my own!” As she yelled her mane became whiter and whiter. Rainbow grit her teeth and flew a few feet in the air. She started flapping as hard as she could, then a little harder. Gradually she pushed her way to the center of the storm of winds and grabbed Fluttershy by the shoulders. “You never had to be strong like this! Do you think I was your friend because we could race? NO! It’s because you were kind to me!” Rainbow remembered the photo she’d found in Fluttershy’s cottage. An image of two young foals, one a rascally rainbow maned tomcolt covered in cuts and scrapes and the other a slightly taller nervous pink maned filly trying to apply bandages. “Remember that photo?” Rainbow shouted through the gale around her. “You kept it all that time! What was the relationship between those two fillies? Bitter rivals?” Fluttershy stared straight into her eyes, a cloud of red lifting from her own. “NO! They cared for each other! I took that for granted but you never did!” She slowly realized that her shouting wasn’t necessary as the gale around them began to die down. Gradually, the pressure around them disappeared and Rainbow set herself down on the cloud again. She looked at Fluttershy nervously but the mare made no move. Then with a deep calming breath, the color returned to her mane and the darkness receded. She wobbled slightly, close to losing balance before Rainbow caught her, her head landing in her lap. Fluttershy’s eyes fluttered open and she looked up at her. “I don’t know how to get rid of it yet. It’s still there, behind the surface.” Her eyes widened and tears began to brim. “Oh Faust, I did such horrible things.” Rainbow pulled her head close and touched her forehead to Fluttershy’s. “It’s okay. I’m not going anywhere anymore.” Fluttershy sniffled slightly as her eyes began to flutter again. She leaned her head on Dash’s lap and fell asleep. Rainbow leaned back and looked up at the sky, letting out a long breath she didn’t realize she’d been holding in. “Thank Faust, that’s over.” A small plum of smoke rose above the clouds and caught her eye. “Or maybe not.” /^(*vv*)^\ Flutterbat charged in blind rage again and again and each time the armored mare would sidestep or attack her in some way. She would stomp her hoof and make a column of crystal jump out from under Flutterbat, punching her into the sky. She could make the foliage around her immense and hide in the leaves, tangling Flutterbat as she searched for her frantically. And each time she did, Flutterbat just got madder and madder. The sight of her Papa’s armor being used to attack her filled her with a level of anger she’d never felt before. She landed out of breath on a small patch of dry earth, the battlefield around them veritably transformed by the mare’s powers. Crystals jutted everywhere, some even jutting from thick vines like thorns. Menacing plants crawled across the ground and tree tops like snakes and she could no longer see the sky above due to the amount of leaves. It was like she’d created a veritable forest. The succubus laughed from the shadows. “This has been too fun! Toying with you has truly been a pleasure.” Flutterbat bared her teeth and growled low. “Give back Papa’s armor!” “Why should I? You pretty much abandoned it. Finders keepers, am I right?” She didn’t mean to leave it. She just forgot. After all this time she forgot about it. Did that mean she forgot about Papa? The thought made a new anger flare inside. Her eyes grew twice as slitted and her hair stood on end. She set her legs apart and stuck her tail straight out as she pointed her head to the sky. Taking one giant breath she let out a screech to end all. The force of the sound pushed the the vegetation back, some even getting ripped from the ground. The crystals began to vibrate at her sonic force and then one by one exploded. The succubus covered her ears from where she was hiding as the armor she wore began to vibrate as well, shaking her body. When she was done, Flutterbat let her head fall and she panted heavily. Her screech had created an impact zone like a crater. But she was still riding high, her senses pushed past the limit. Her ear twitched as she heard movement behind her. Then with a blur of motion she shot in that direction. She plowed through a tree and slammed into the chest of the armored mare. The force sent them flying out of the woods and onto a hilltop by Fluttershy’s cottage where they tumbled down together kicking and screaming. “Get off me, you maniac!” the succubus shouted. But Flutterbat didn’t respond. She couldn’t, not with her animal instincts pushed to this level. Relentlessly, she clawed and scratched at the armor, even attempting to bite it where the neck should be. “I said… GET OFF!” vines shot out of the ground and wrapped around Flutterbat’s wings, pulling her off the mare. She got to her hooves and looked in amazement at her attacker. Flutterbat thrashed in the vines grip, biting and nearly frothing at the mouth. Her eyes were almost white with how slitted her pupils were and her mane stood on end, twigs and leaves stuck in it. She barked at her and snapped several vines, lunging forward again. The succubus took a fearful step back, tripping over her armor and holding up her hooves in defense. More and more vines shot out and wrapped around Flutterbat, effectively holding her in place though she still struggled violently. The succubus stared at her from the ground, a slight bit of panic in her voice. “Just what are you?” Flutterbat thrashed and fought against the vines until they finally drove her to her knees. She grunted as she fell then blinked as something caught her eye. A few hooves away was the helmet, lying on the grass with morning sun glinting off it. But as her eyes adjusted to the light she caught something else in the helmet. Her reflection. Flutterbat stopped struggling as she saw herself for the first time in a long time. Her unkempt mane. Her bared teeth. Her predator-like eyes. She blinked a few times more and the pupils dilated again. The sound of a bird rushed above her and she looked up. Squirrels, mice, rabbits and birds ran for the safety of the trees, none looking back at her. She didn’t like this. She didn’t want to be like this. She looked to the armored mare. “What is it?” she asked. “What are you going to do now?” “Flutterbat do nothing.” “What?” She sat on the ground, the vines still tight but now not even trying to fight them. “Flutterbat so angry. But it Flutterbat’s own fault. Left Papa’s armor all alone. Flutterbat need to accept and move on.” The succubus looked at her and then back and forth as if somepony was going to jump out and surprise attack her. “Are you… serious? I take your armor and you say you don’t want it back?” Flutterbat looked at the forest line, seeing all the animals hiding in fear just past the trees. “Of course, Flutterbat want it back. But can’t become monster just to get it.” A small smile passed here lips. “It what Papa would want.” The succubus gave her a funny look but then shrugged. “Oh well, whatever works.” She raised her hoof and the vines reacted pulling tighter. Flutterbat felt them like a noose around her whole body. She struggled only slightly but every time she felt the anger rise again she would force it down. She would not be a beast. She would show everypony Papa was right. The succubus held her hoof a little higher and the vines constricted tighter. Still Flutterbat did nothing substantial to escape. A moment passed and the armored mare bit her lip, dropping her hoof and letting the vines disperse. “I can’t believe this. You’ve made winning taste like sour grapes.” Flutterbat rubbed her neck as the vines untangled themselves from her but still made no move. “Why won’t you fight?” “Because it what world expects. To others, we just monsters. Fighting and hurting in our nature. But Papa believed in a better way to see.” Experimentally, she lifted a hoof. She waited a moment but eventually a small bat flew out of the trees and landed on her arm. “We all not so different when we want to be.” The succubus frowned in thought then turned with a huff. “Well, I don’t see any point acting like a regular pony. Especially one who loses things so easily.” Flutterbat didn’t look at her as she talked, petting the bat lovingly as more animals crawled from the forest. “It easy to lose things. But just as easy to gain them.” The succubus looked over her shoulder at her, an uncertain look in her eye. Flutterbat’s smile widened as the animals congregated around her. “You can keep Papa’s armor. Flutterbat have all the memories she needs right here.” She crossed her hooves over her chest. The succubus rolled her eyes and sighed as she tramped on the ground indignantly. “Oh! This would be so much easier if I still hated you… which I’m finding it increasingly hard to do.” She spotted the helmet and picked it up, looking like she was about to leave with it. Then she turned to Flutterbat. “Here.” She tossed it over to her. “You can have that back. I was just getting tired of the smelly thing anyway.” Flutterbat examined the helmet then smiled at her. “Don’t give me that look. This doesn’t make me your friend.” With that she stomped off across the hill... only to come back a moment later and stand awkwardly. “I can’t get home without a ride, do you have one?” Flutterbat laughed. Then her nose crinkled as a smell reached her. She looked behind to see a trail of smoke coming up from town. @#$%^&*&^%$#@ The air around the two cracked, fissures of light and color fading in and out of existence. Ditzy tried to hold her ground against Noteworthy but he was proving far too powerful. Her magic strained to keep his power contained, a golden bubble surrounding him as he smashed against it tirelessly. With each beat of his hooves the air cracked a little more, shrill voices and ungodly sounds flowing out like a swarm of rats. Ditzy clenched her teeth tight as she concentrated, feeling a trickle of something from her ear. “Noteworthy! You need to stop! It’s breaking through!” she shouted but was unsure if she was heard over the dinn of nightmarish sounds. Noteworthy stopped his beating and but seemed like he was fighting himself as he threw his head back and screamed in pain. “I… can’t stop… it!” She could hear the voice almost clearly now. Two words repeated ad nauseam. FiGhT FrEe FIGht fREe FIghT free {[(SxT)]} Suntrix lay in bed, Spike sitting by her side twiddling his thumbs nervously. Twilight had gone into town to help, asking him to stay and watch the sleeping mare. He didn’t even know her. Still she looked like she needed help. Suntrix rolled around and struggled in bed, sweat beading her forehead as she moaned. Spike checked the towel he’d put on her and found it already drenched. “Just what is she dreaming of?” Suddenly Suntrix shot up in bed, her eyes wide and shining with a white light. “It knocks from the other side of the wall! It comes to change and end us all!” Spike clutched his chest as he got over the shock then tried to hold her and calm her down. She kept spouting that phrase. What did it mean?