//------------------------------// // Chapter 7: Float Like A Fluttershy // Story: The Tale Of A Lost Wolf // by Solaris Night //------------------------------// The Demon God looked down on the fallen ponies smirking, amused at how they struggled to defeat him, even though he was invincible. "Is this all you can show for yourself? You are all so pathetic." He extended his arms to his sides and started to charge his final attack. "Prepare to taste my dumpness." The ponies all looked up to their executioner, all hope lost. "No, it can't end like this." whispered Twilight. "It can't end like this." She closed her eyes and raised her head, tears welling in her eyes. "SOMEBODY PLEASE HELP US!" she screamed at the top of her lungs. "No one can save you now." laughed the Demon God. "Say your prayers weaklings." He thrusted his arms forward, unleashing the powerful energy he was building up. "LAST BLAST!" A golden yellow beam shot from his hand, heading directly for the ponies beneath him. As it got closer everypony closed their eyes, awaiting the inevitable. All of a sudden a figure jumped in front of the blast, redirecting it away from the ruined town and all of the ponies. The ponies and the Demon God looked in shock at what happened. The figure landed in front of the mass. "You guys are really pathetic, can't even take down one Demon God." Trider said turning to the ponies. As they saw their savior everypony began to cheer, happy their hero has come to save them. As they cheered Twilight made her way through the crowd towards the Kanisar. Once they got close enough to each other, she looked him in the eyes and smiled. "I knew you'd show up." Trider grinned, showing his teeth. "Well yeah, I wouldn't leave a beautiful mare like yourself, in hands of some wannabe god." The mare happy to hear that stood on the tip of her hooves and planted a kiss on the mans cheek. "Go get him tiger." "Ya betcha." He started to walk up to the Demon God, who was slowly clapping. "Well, well, well. It seems this world actually has someone who should be able entertain me. Tell me what is your name?" Trider pointed his thumb at his chest as he proclaimed. "My name is Trider and I am the one who will beat your tacky ass." The Demon God crossed his arms and chuckled. "We will see about that." A white aura began to envelop the Kanisar, his power increasing tremendously with it. He lowered his stance, ready to take on his opponent. With all of his might he leaped into the air, towards the Demon God. "HERE I COME!" he yelled. "PREPARE TO GET DUMPED!" shouted the Demon God back. They both thrusted their fists at each other, the clash of two titans was about to begin... Trider woke up to the sound of ponies cheering, ending his dream abruptly. "The fucking hell?" Grumpily he got up out of his bed, rubbing sleep out of his eyes. He looked at his clock and saw it was around 10 o'clock. "What in the name of whoever, are Twilight and Spike doing down there?" Angrily he walked out of his room and down the stairs. When he got close enough he heard and smelled numerous different ponies, some of which he recognized, some he didn't. As they came into his view, he saw the whole library was packed with pegasus ponies, while Rainbow Dash was doing some sort of presentation. "All right ponies, we are going to break that record and impress the Wonderbolts with our amazingly awesome wing power. So what do you say?" she shouted the rainbow pegasus, trying to hype the crowd. "SHUT THE FUCK UP!" yelled Trider, gaining the attention of everypony in the room. "Do you know what time it is? I don't know how early you guys get up, but I have to train Spike in the morning and then go help Applejack, while most of you will still be snoozing off." He took a deep breath and continued. "Do I make myself clear?" Everypony just stared at him unmoving, while the mares were just blushing like crazy and their wings fully extended. Annoyed by no one responding, Trider slammed a fist onto the stairway rail. "The fuck you all looking at?" Spike made his way out of the crowd, to try and adress his friend. "Ummm dude you're only in your boxers." The man raised an eyebrow at what the drake said and looked down upon his form. And true to his words, Trider was only wearing his undergarment. "So?" he asked. "If they want to look they can look, I don't really..." "GO BACK TO YOUR ROOM TRIDER, RIGHT NOW." shouted Twilight. She too was red in the face, though the man wasn't sure if it was because she was angry or embarrassed. Begrudgingly he started heading back up. "I will, when you guys promise to be quiet." At that Rainbow flew into his face, her blush already gone. "Why should we listen to you? This is Twilights house and if she says it's okay to be loud, then you have no right to go against her." The two glared at each other, trying to make the other back off. "Besides, this is an important meeting, where we have to..." "I don't give a fuck what you guys do here, all I want is for you to shut the fuck up!" Trider cut her off. Rainbow practically fuming, was ready to jump the man and teach him a lesson, the Kanisar thinking the same thing. The two were suddenly enveloped by a lavender aura and they could no longer move. They looked at each other, then casted their gaze onto the librarian, whos horn was glowing. Twilight closed her eyes and sighed. "Why does this always have to happen?" she thought. Whenever those two would get close to one another they would start to argue over the simplest of things and in most cases it almost escalated to full out fight. Luckily she or the other girls would stop them before things really got out of hand. She separated the two, using her magic, and glared at them both. "Both of you stop acting like a bunch of foals or I swear to Celestia, I will chain you both to a wall until you cool off." The two looked between eachother and Twilight. "Ok, I'm sorry Twi." said Rainbow Dash. "Fine." replied Trider. Satisfied she let go of them both and crossed her arms. "Rainbow you can still have your meeting here, but I would also like if you keep the volume on the down low." She then looked at the Kanisar, as she continued. "And will you please, go back to your room already. I promise we won't disturb your sleep again." Trider headed up the stairs and before he was out of sight, he turned around and spoke up. "But if you wake me again, I swear I'll come down here, without my boxer and show you what happens when you make me waste my sleep." With that he left the crowd and headed back to sleep. Next day Spike and Trider were resting beneath one of the trees, after they finished their run. Spike was drinking out of his water bottle, while Trider looked at him. "You've really improved Spike." he said. "Usually you'd be lying on the ground gasping for air, like someone tried to choke you." Spike finished his drink and sighed. "Yeah, I know. Just look at these babies." he said flexing his arms, a little of his muscle showing. Trider chuckled at the drakes showing off. "Can't believe I've got so far in just a week, can't wait until I'm ready for the real training to begin. Speaking of which, when will you start to teach me how to fight?" Trider closed his eyes as he thought about it. "Soon, we still need to get some more muscle on to you, but at the rate you're going, maybe next week." he assured. "Sweet." replied the drake. He then looked at the Kanisar with a worried look. "How come we started so late? Usually we get up before Celestia raises the sun, don't you have to help Applejack on her farm?" Trider sighed as he put his hands behind his head and replied. "Nope. She came to me this morning while you were still sleeping and said she doesn't need my help on the farm today, so I decided we could take a little more time to sleep" Spike nodded, also happy at the turn of events. Suddenly Trider picked a faint sound of rustling leaves from a nearby bush. His ears pointed in the general direction of the sound, he started to sniff the air to identify their stalker. He recognized the scent and he shouted out to the pony. "Why don't you come out Fluttershy? If you have something to talk to me or Spike about, it would be better if we could look into eachothers eyes." Spike and Trider simultaneously looked at the bushes, after a loud yelp was heard coming from it. The butter yellow mare slowly made her way out of her hiding spot and headed towards the duo. She stopped when she was about five feet away from the Kanisar. Trider waited for her to speak up, but the mare remained silent fidgeting on the spot. "If you have something to say, say it already or leave us alone and stop wasting our time." he said agressively, startling the mare. The mare fiddled with her thumbs, until she lifted her head to look at the man, but quickly lowered it when she saw the glare he was giving her. "I-I um, I just.." she stamered, as she tried to form a sentence. "H-how did you know it was me?" "The nose knows." Trider replied as he tapped his nose with a finger. "Will you get to the point already, before I decide to leave?" "Oh right." Fluttershy whispered. "I-I need your help." The man raised an eyebrow at what she said, thinking he might have heard her wrong. "You need my help?" he asked to confirm, that was what she said. The mare nodded. "With what exactly?" Fluttershy hid her face behind her mane and pressed her index fingers together. "I want you to train me." she said, just above a whisper, but loud enough for the Kanisar and drake to hear her. Spike nearly choked on his water, when he heard the mares request. After clearing his lungs he looked at her with shock. "You want Trider to train you?" he said as he looked between the two. "Trider?" The mare hid even further into her mane and nodded. Before Spike had a chance to tell her why that was a bad idea, Trider cut him off. "And why exactly do you need this training?" Fluttershy then explained the whole situation, with the water gathering for the weather factory, Rainbow Dashes wanting to break some stupid record, her not being able to fly due to some childhood trauma she experienced, when other fillies bullied her for not being a good flyer and how she wants to help her friend achieve her dream of breaking said record. "So will you help me?" she pleaded. Trider scratched his head in thought. He had to process everything she told him and once he was done he gave her his answer. "I would love to Fluttershy, but I don't think it will help much." Both Fluttershy and Spike looked at him in confusion. "Why not?" asked the mare. "Because, no matter how much you train it won't matter, if you don't have confidence in yourself." he explained. "You can have the strongest wings on the planet, but if you don't believe that you can be great, you never will be." The mare lowered her head, but quickly raised it again. "If it helps me become a better flier then I know it will also raise my confidence." Fluttershy said with determination. Trider got back up on his legs and sighed. "Alright then, but let me warn you in advance." He gave her a serious glare. "I won't go easy on you, I will push you to your limits and then even further. You still have a chance to back off." He paused as he gave her another look over. "What is your answer?" The pegasus took a deep breath to calm herself, before she gave her response. "Please train me Trider." "Very well." he said as he started to walk off towards town. "We will begin tomorrow at 7 o'clock, don't be late. Oh and Spike you still have to finish your exercises." Spike as well got up and gave the man a questioning look. "Where are you going?" he asked. Without stopping Trider continued on his way. "I have to go home to pick up a book on how to train pegasus wings, since I know jack-shit about that." When he was far enough from the two he smirked to himself. "That mare actually has some guts, maybe she isn't as bad as I made her up to be." His smirk, however quickly turned to a frown. "Still though, I wonder if her getting better at flying will actually help in her confidence boost or will it backfire? Only time will tell." Trider walked into the library expecting to find Twilight reading a book somewhere, but she was nowhere to be found. He looked through the kitchen, the living room, her small study, her and Spikes bedroom and even his own. Still no trace of the mare. "Hmmm, the only place I haven't looked is..." he said to himself. "The bathroom." Without haste he walked up to the door, grabbed the knob and opened it. "Yo Twi I need help with something." he said as he entered. Twilight stood in the middle of the room reaching for a towel as she just got out of the shower. Her figure was completely exposed for the world to behold. She continued to stand there unmoving and staring at the man with shock, until Trider, tired of waiting for her response walked further in, closing in on the naked mare. "Like I said I need your help with-" he was suddenly cut off as a box of washing powder hit him straight in the head. "Ouch what was that for?" he said in pain. The mares attack continued however, she threw everything that wasn't bolted down at the Kanisar with her magic. "GET OUT YOU PERVERT!" she screamed with a completely red face. Eventually she forced him out the door and she locked it. Trider rubbed his head, as bumps began to form from all the objects he was hit with. "The fuck is wrong with that mare?" Eventually the door to the bathroom opened and out walked a pissed off unicorn. Before she had a chance to scold him, Trider was already up in her face. "What the holy fuck was that? Why did you assault me, when all I wanted was some of your goddamn help?" he said in a raised voice. The mare didn't know if he was serious or being sarcastic, but she lived with him long enough to know it was probably the former than the latter. "You walked in when I was walking out of the shower, that is what why." she said rage building up. "Didn't anyone teach you to knock or ask if someone is occupying the bathroom?" The Kanisar crossed his arms as he continued to glare at her. Eventually he sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Okay, let's just forget that happenedand get back to the topic." He walked down the stairs and signaled the mare to follow. "I need some books to help me with training." The mare was on his heels as the two arrived to the library room. "Well we've got tons of books on that topic. Do you want something specific?" She began to look over the books, as Trider went to a shelf and pulled out a random book. "Yes actually. I need one on how to train pegasus wings, if there is one." he replied as he skimmed through the book in his hands. Twilight stopped her search to look at him in confusion. "Pegasus wings? Why in Tartarus would you need a book on how to train wings when neither you or Spike have them." Her face slowly twisted into that of shock as a thought came to her head. "Don't tell me Spike grew wings?" she shrieked, making the Kanisar wince. "Augh, don't do that." he said as he rubbed his ears. "No, he didn't grow wings and neither have I. It's for Fluttershy actually, she wants me to train her for the upcoming tornado season." The unicorn mare stared at him with wide eyes. She blinked once, then twice and on her third blink she finally spoke. "She wants you to train her for the tornado season?" she asked in disbelief. Trider nodded, before flipping through the pages once again. "Why would she do that? Why you of all ponies?" He shrugged as he continued what he was doing. "Don't know why, but I said I'll help." he paused as he closed the book and put it back in the right place. "Though I don't think it will help much." Twilight slowly returned back to searching for the book, he asked her to find. "Why do you think so?" she asked curious. Trider sighed as he sat down onto one of the chairs in the room. "From what I could understand of her story, she was bullied when she was younger and that caused deep wounds for her, because of that she really believed she couldn't fly as well as the other pegasi and she gave up." He leaned back in the chair and put his feet onto a coffee table. "And now that the tornado season came, she is in a conundrum. She still has the fear of being humiliated for her bad flying, but on the other hand she wants to help Rainbow achieve her dream of breaking that record. That's why she wants to train herself, so she can prove to other ponies she is a great flier and Help her friend in the process." Twilight moved onto the next shelf and searched through it all the while listening to Trider. "I understand that, but you still didn't tell me why you training her won't help in the end?" she asked as she pulled out a book. "Was getting to that." he replied, annoyed. "She has zero self confidence when it comes to such things and because of that she will never get as good as she wants to be. She can train all she wants, but unless she starts to believe in herself, she will never lift herself off the ground. Metaphorically speaking." Twilight took a pause so she could process what he told her and she nodded. "I see. Guess you're right. Even so, can't you do something to help her with her confidence?" The Kanisar raised an eyebrow at her question and scoweld. "I ain't the right guy for that sort of thing. I usually belittle the guys I train, though I won't do such a thing with Fluttershy, so don't worry, and besides she would better take to heart motivational speeches, if they came from her friends, than a scary looking alien, don't ya think so?" Finally finding the book she was looking for, she turned around and headed for the man. "This guide should help you to better understand pegasus anatomy, as well as how to properly train their wings." She handed the book over and Trider gladly accepted it. "Thanks Twi. I'm sure it will." He stood up and began to head for the door. "I'm gonna go find a peaceful place to read this, so expect me to come back for dinner." "Alright, I will." The Kanisar put his hand onto the door knob, but before leaving he turned around to adress the mare once more, with a massive grin on his face. "Oh and Twi." he called out to her to get her attention. "You shouldn't feel so embarrassed with being seen naked. You have quite a gorgeous body." Twilights face suddenly turned red and she wanted to give Trider a piece of her mind, but before she could the man ran out the door, laughing. She stomped her hoof onto the wooden floor and huffed. "W-whatever." She looked down at her body, as she twirled one of locks around her finger. "You're impossible." she thought as a dreamy smile grew on her face. The next day "C'mon Fluts just ten more wing ups and we can move onto your flying laps." Trider said in a commanding tone. The mare couldn't say anything as she did one more wing-up. She felt like her wings would give in at any minute, but she, as Trider would say, sucked it up and pushed onwards. Trider knew she wasn't the athletic type and was extremely meek, so he tried his best not to shout at her and insult her, like he did with the recruits back home, and instead cheer her on. It felt weird to him. "You want to prove to everyone you're a great flyer don't you?" he asked, earning a nod from Fluttershy. "You want to help fullfill your friends dream, right?" Again she nodded and did another wing-up. "So stop acting like you don't and do your goddamn exercise already." He internally winced at what and how he said it. He knew he would slip eventually, despite trying his best not to. But the mare either didn't hear him or didn't care what he said as she finished all of her wing-ups. Trider smiled and picked up a water bottle, which he offered to the sweating mare. "Great job Fluts. Take a five minute break and we can conti-" He was cut off when a rainbow blur descended from the sky, landing in front of the two, raising a cloud of dust. When it cleared the two saw an angered Rainbow. She dusted herself off, as she walked over to the two. "The fuck do you want?" asked Trider the approaching mare. She glared daggers at him as she closed the distance between the two. Soon they were butting heads with each other and Rainbow finally spoke up. "I heard from Twilight that you're training Fluttershy to help her with her flying and I'm here to stop you." The Kanisar and the butter yellow mare gave her a confused look as he backed off, just enough so that their bodies weren't touching. "You want me to stop training her?" he asked trying to confirm he heard her right. "That's right wolf-colt." After getting his conformation he crossed his arms and gave her a deadpanned look. "So you don't want Fluttershy to become a better flyer, just cause you don't like me? And you call yourself her friend." Fluttershy looked at Rainbow with a hurt expression. The mares eyes widened and she shook her head. "No, no. I didn't mean it like that. I want Fluttershy to get better as well, but I don't want you to train her." "And why is that?" Rainbow gritted her teeth as she glared at Trider. "I heard from Spike what kind of training you put him through. You make him do exercises until he collapses from exhaustion, while you insult him like there is no tomorrow." It was the mans turn to glare at the mare as he once again closed the distance between the two. "Just so you know, I gave both Spike and Fluttershy a warning that I would be rough with them, but even so I'm taking it easy on her, because I might be dull, but I'm not stupid." The pegasus rolled her eyes, before she spoke up. "And you expect me to believe that? When you came to Ponyville, you beat up me and my friends, even trying to kill one of us." Her eyes were burning with rage as she continued to shout at the man. "And then you expected us to apologize to you, even though you didn't deserve it, but refused to forgive us when we did." Suddenly something in Trider snapped and he gave the mare the coldest glare he had. "Listen here you self-centered piece of shit, you guys were the ones to attack me first, I was just defending myself. You too almost killed me as well, so don't go and try to make me the bad guy here." The mare felt intimidated, but she didn't falter and stood her ground. "As for not forgiving you, I already forgave everyone else. Applejack for kissing her, Pinkie for throwing that party, Rarity for defending a friend of mine. You're the only one who I haven't forgiven." "And why is that?" "Because you haven't done anything that would deserve my forgiveness." A smirk suddenly appeared on his face, confusing the mares. "But there is a way for you to earn it." "Which is?" asked Rainbow skeptically. "If you beat me in a fight." At that statement, Fluttershy finally decided to intervene. "N-now Trider there is no need to-" He raised a hand to stop her and he looked at her. "Just stop Fluts, we all knew it was inevitable." He then casted his gaze onto the other mare. "Three days from tornado season, you and me." Rainbow wanted to say something, but Trider beat her to it. "Let me just explain a few things beforehand." She went quiet as she allowed him to continue. "While I want to beat the living shit out of you, I don't want to kill you, so I won't be using any of my Ki techniques or my Feral Unleashing, but in exchange you are not allowed to fly." Rainbow mulled over what his conditions were. "And what do you get if you win?" she asked after thinking it over. "You win, I forgive you and will never again go against anything you say." A smirk suddenly grew on his face, making the mare shiver. "But if I win, you will never go against my words as well as letting Rarity make you a dress and a hairdo that you will have to wear for a week." Rainbow bit her lip as she heard what was at stake, but eventually a smirk of her own crossed her face. "Deal." she said as they shook hands. "But I'm still not leaving without Fluttershy." They glared at each other once again, neither wanting to back down. Fearing another arguement would rise Fluttershy forced herself between the two. "Stop it you two right now." she nearly shouted, catching bot of them by surprise. She then turned to Rainbow as she adressed her. "Rainbow I can confirm he has been doing his best not to be rough on me so you can rest at ease, plus I want him to train me. So if you would kindly let us return to what we were doing?" Rainbow looked between the two and she sighed. "Fine. If you feel like that, then I can't stop you." Her eyes hardened as she gave the Kanisar one more glare. "But if he hurts you in any way, don't hesitate to come to me. I'll kick his ass all the way to the Griffon Kingdom." Fluttershy nodded and the two hugged, before Rainbow flew off to do what she was doing before. The pink maned pegasus then turned to Trider and gave him a worried look. "Are you sure about this. The fight I mean?" He looked at her as he sighed and scratched his head. "Yes I am Fluts and don't try to change my mind or Rainbows. This will probably be for the best." He put a hand onto her shoulder as he looked her in the eyes. "Also don't tell the other girls about this, they would probably try and stop us." She nodded and the two returned back to their training.