Constantly breathing through her mouth made Fluttershy all the more thirsty as she walked along the rails under the baking sun, but she still kept her water consumption to a minimum. She stopped at the bridge connecting to Equestrian soil, and listened for the sound of a train approaching. When all seemed quiet, she took a swig of water and ran along the bridge. It wasn’t a very long bridge for one that connected two different lands. This wasn’t the bridge Fluttershy was afraid of. It was the next one that would take her straight to Rainbow Falls that could give her trouble. It was a lot longer, and if a train came along while she was crossing it, without her wings, her options were gone. After crossing the bridge across the Celestial Sea, she wondered if she should try swimming to Trottingham instead. But she knew that sea serpents lived in that sea, and that not all sea serpents were as friendly as Steven Magnet.
“I can make it,” she said. “I can be useful.”
So on she went down the line towards the more riskier bridge. It was getting hotter, but a cool gentle wind blew from the north, and Fluttershy found she didn’t need to drink too much water. Eventually however, the wind died down, and she could see the bridge to Rainbow Falls ahead. She stopped and listened. If a train was approaching, its whistle and exhaust would surely echo around this gorge. With a sigh of relief, Fluttershy sat down to rest for a minute. Then she stood up to take a sip of water before she started crossing the bridge.
A noise reverberated through the gorge below. Fluttershy jumped. Her water bottle, still capped, slipped from her hooves and fell into the valley.
Fluttershy was not dismayed. “Well, this means a train’s coming. That’s good. I can catch the driver’s attention and then the crew can get help from everyone in Griffonstone.”
But when Fluttershy heard the noise again, it didn’t sound like a high-pitched engine whistle. It sounded more like a high-pitched voice.
“A breezie,” she breathed. “Or more than one.”
The vibrations were preventing Fluttershy from understanding a word that was being spoken. Fluttershy looked at the slope her water bottle had fallen down. It wasn’t too steep. If that breezie voice was Applejack, then Fluttershy wanted to go down and find her. But if it was Bluster, she wanted to stay out of sight. Then there was the possibility of it being both Applejack and Bluster. If it was, Fluttershy wanted to interfere.
She perked up her ears. “The voices stopped.”
She realised her water bottle must’ve caught their attention.
“Bluster must know someone’s nearby, and he’s trying to hide himself and Applejack.”
Fluttershy took a deep breath and took a cautious step on the slope before her. The rock was stable, and the slope proved easy for her to climb safely down.
Fluttershy reached the bottom of the pit without slipping, but she knew she’d made quite a few noises that echoed around the cliff walls. She was sure if Bluster was down there, he’d know for certain she was around. Also, she couldn’t see her water bottle anywhere; she thought Bluster must’ve taken it. But when Fluttershy perked up her ears, she could hear a high-pitched voice echoing around again. And this time, she could hear what was being said. The voice called her name.
“It’s Applejack!” Fluttershy exclaimed.
She ran through the gorge to find the source of the voice, which was difficult as it was echoing in all directions. It was such a relief to know Bluster wasn’t causing trouble.
“Fluttershy!” called Applejack’s squeaky voice. “I’m over here!”
Fluttershy looked all around. “Where?!”
There was a pause.
“Over here!” replied Applejack. “To your left!”
Fluttershy darted left and ran ahead through the canyon towards the south.
“No, no!” she heard Applejack squeak. “I’m over to your right!”
Fluttershy changed course and quickly headed deeper into the gorge.
“Can you give me a landmark?!” called Fluttershy.
She coughed. Her throat was getting dry.
“I’m caught in a crack in a huge rock!” Applejack responded.
This didn’t help. There were lots of big rocks in the gorge.
“Go left again! You’re almost here!” called Applejack.
This went on and on for a quarter of an hour. Fluttershy was getting breathless. The sun was heating the rock, and she was far away from the shade of the railway bridge. She stopped and sat down panting and sweating.
“How do I keep missing her?” she breathed. “I didn’t have this much trouble finding Rarity.”
She coughed again. Her throat was dry from constantly breathing through her mouth. She tried breathing through her nose. She managed to draw breath, and she smelled peanuts.
She stood up. “Bluster! I know you’re in here!”
“Ha! You found me out!” replied a voice unlike Applejack’s.
“You managed to hypnotise Applejack, didn’t you?! How did you do that when you don’t speak her language?!” demanded Fluttershy with a cough.
“That silly kid George has a translation book!” answered Bluster.
“But he burned it!”
“I read it before I went up to the weather factory and made that cyclone!” said Bluster with a cackle. “So I could forge a letter from you to your friends, and give orders to whichever breezie pony I wanted to train so I could have a mate!”
“You can’t have my friend!” snapped Fluttershy. “Give me Applejack!”
She coughed again as Bluster’s laugh echoed around the gorge.
“You can have her, and your water too, if you can find us!” he snorted derisively. “Go on! We won’t go anywhere!”
Fluttershy didn’t believe this for a second, but this didn’t stop her from staggering onward in search of her friend Applejack, the villainous Bluster, and her ever more crucial drink of water.
Gilda and George knew very little of Equestria’s geography. They were flying about a mile above the ground, but since they were keeping their eyes on the railway line below, they never even saw the little island of Trottingham as they propelled themselves on their clouds with their wings. Periodically, their wings would get tired and sore, and they had to stop and rest on their clouds. By now, they were taking a break above the bridge to Equestria.
“It’s pretty hot out,” said George.
“Don’t worry. I gave Fluttershy a bottle of water for her trip,” said Gilda.
“Oh, good,” sighed George, taking a bite of his cloud and sucking up some rain water.
Gilda did likewise. “She may get in the way sometimes, but I guess… I still like her. Plus, if she made it to Rainbow Falls, she can get her nose fixed and call Discord to come fix up Griffonstone and find Bluster. I’ll bet he can come up with a good punishment for that little bug.”
“Bluster’s not going anywhere but back where he came from!” snapped George.
“Are you stupid? He almost destroyed our town. He could’ve killed me, you, Gabby, Dash, Pinkie, Fluttershy, and everyone else.”
“He’s still the finest specimen of the breezie race,” insisted George. “He can return home and find a mate there like I told him. Heck, he can even bring some Equestrian flowers back with him if he’s so determined to be completely independent from any outside help to collect pollen.”
“He’s not your pet anymore, George,” snorted Gilda. “You had your fun building up an inferior animal, but he’s a total criminal now. He’s got to pay.”
George didn’t reply. He flapped his wings and propelled himself forward on his cloud. Gilda followed on, wishing she could still use her arms and legs so she could give George some convincing.
By this point, Fluttershy was exhausted and frustrated that Bluster was giving her the run-around and holding Applejack and her water bottle hostage. She didn’t know how long she’d been down there, but she was determined to find and secure Applejack no matter how long it took. She wiped some sweat from her eyes, and then at last she saw a breezie. It was Bluster. He was carrying Fluttershy’s water bottle.
“Thirsty?” he smirked. “Come have a drink.”
Fluttershy darted forward, but her lack of energy slowed her down, and Bluster was flying backwards, waggling the water bottle in front of her. Fluttershy gave chase for a minute before realising Applejack must be somewhere around this spot. She backtracked, hoping to spot her breezie pony friend. If she could find her and snap her out of her hypnosis by clapping her hooves, Applejack could escape. But Bluster quickly realised what Fluttershy was doing.
“Applejack, fly up on big rock there!” he called in what he memorized from George’s phrasebook.
“No! Come here, Applejack!” cried Fluttershy in a raspy voice.
Applejack emerged from behind a rock and flew towards a bigger one where she’d be well out of Fluttershy’s reach. Fluttershy clapped her hooves, but Applejack was too far away to be shocked by the noise, which was echoing around the gorge. Fluttershy swayed and coughed. She heard a slurping noise. She turned and saw Bluster taking a sip of her water.
“This is good water,” he grinned. “Come have some. You don’t want to get dehydrated, do you?”
Fluttershy tried to catch up with Bluster, but he carried on flying backwards, sideways, and high above her, taunting her with the precious water. Periodically, he’d take a sip himself, and even flew over to Applejack’s rock and tell her to have a drink. He even gave Applejack an occasional peanut. Fluttershy’s legs were barely supporting her now, and she was drenched in sweat. In a fit of frustration, she bellowed “I will stop you, Bluster!” before her parched throat was fit to choke her, and she collapsed to the sound of the athletic breezie’s laughter.
Gilda and George reached the gorge below the bridge to Rainbow Falls.
“I heard Fluttershy,” said Gilda.
George nodded. “She and Bluster down there. Come on.”
Atop their clouds, they sailed down into the canyon. They tried to maintain their cloudy camouflage in case the situation they were about to enter called for a surprise attack. Neither of them knew how exactly they were going to attack when all they could do was smack Bluster with their wings or tails. They were sure they were in for a hard time, but what they saw was a lot worse than they were expecting. They could see Fluttershy crawling along the bottom of the gorge, her bandages torn and coming off her wings. And just ahead of her, hopping backwards and waggling the water bottle, was the cackling Bluster. He hadn’t noticed two small clouds hovering into the gorge. He was having too much fun watching Fluttershy suffer. He wasn’t even flying anymore, but Fluttershy had so little strength left in her, she couldn’t reach him. Her eyes weren’t even focused by now. Every noise she uttered was raspy and lifeless.
“Won’t… let… you… have… Applejack… as… mate…” she exhaled as they approached the rock Applejack was sitting on.
Bluster took a sip from the bottle and tossed it to Fluttershy. A hollow clunk told Fluttershy that it was empty.
“I’m not gonna have Applejack herself as my mate,” smirked Bluster. “Once I’ve given her enough diet and exercise, we’re off to the Mirror Pool I’ve heard so much about. Then I’ll have a proper mate. I can’t start the population of superior breezies with a nasty halfling. I’m afraid you’ve wasted all your time and energy for nothing, my little chew toy.”
The griffons watched with alarm as Fluttershy slithered to a standstill and rolled over on her side. Right under the beating sun, she lay completely still, her tongue sticking out of her mouth, her left hoof still holding the empty water bottle, her wings stuck out at odd angles with a trail of dirty bandages behind her.
“So ends the battle of the strongest breezie in the world VS the weakest pony in the world,” Bluster said with a cruel laugh that showed off all of his pointy teeth.
George was shaking with fury. The cloud he was laying on turned black. Bluster looked up. As he did so, a jet of blinding lightning shot from George’s thundering cloud and gripped the mighty breezie in a violent shock.
“You’ll pay for this!” George roared as his cloud rumbled and shot another lightning bolt directly at Bluster.
Bluster yelled as his wings were burned by the lightning. Soon, they’d dissolved completely.
“Take that!” barked George.
Bluster spluttered, and turned around and ran.
“No you don’t!” George’s wings pounded the air as he launched himself and his weapon onward.
Bolt after bolt of lightning hit Bluster as he attempted to flee.
“You don’t deserve to recreate your race!” bellowed George, his voice and his lightning echoing around the gorge along with Bluster’s yells. “The world couldn’t bare even ONE of you!”
Gilda was barely aware of what was happening and had no idea what was being said. All she could do was look down from her cloud at Fluttershy as she lay motionless, dehydrated, and broken. Tears welled up in Gilda’s eyes, and the cloud she was laying on turned grey. It rained. Water spattered down gently onto Fluttershy. Gilda watched hopefully for a sign of life in the fallen pegasus, unphased by the noise of the thunder and lightning close by. The rain water from Gilda’s cloud got Fluttershy wet all over, and a fair amount did her into her open mouth, but still she didn’t move.
“Fluttershy?!” called Gilda.
Fluttershy didn’t even twitch. Gilda beat her wings and lowered herself to Fluttershy’s level.
“Fluttershy, you can’t die. You can’t leave your friends,” sobbed Gilda. “They… well, they may not really need you around, but they do want you around. That’s what counts, Fluttershy.”
“Thank you, Gilda.”
Gilda gasped as Fluttershy picked herself up and took to the air, her wings intact and strong, her coat, mane, and face clean and radiant, her voice as clear and powerful as it had ever been.
“Fluttershy! You’re okay!” Applejack squeaked.
The thunderous lightning from George’s cloud had snapped the little orange breezie pony out of the hypnosis. She tried to fly towards her friend, but immediately got caught in a draught. Fluttershy swooped down and gently caught Applejack in her tail. Gilda still couldn’t move her arms and legs, but she flapped her wings to join Fluttershy and Applejack in the air.
“I knew you were a lot tougher than you let on!” she beamed.
“And I knew you were a lot nicer than you let on,” smiled Fluttershy.
“I guess so,” blushed Gilda. “It’s a little overdue, but I’m sorry I overreacted to you bumping into me.”
Fluttershy gave Gilda a hug. “It’s alright.”
“I’ve got him!” they heard George call.
Fluttershy, Gilda, and Applejack were delighted to see George returning on his cloud with the burnt and battered Bluster clamped firmly in his beak by his legs.
“Golly, he is the toughest breezie in the world!” exclaimed Applejack.
Bluster was black from antennae to tail, and no longer had his gossamer wings, but was still squirming in George’s beak.
“And the most evil breezie in the world,” said George through his gritted teeth. “And he’s going straight to Tartarus.”
“So you’re tossing your project out the window?” asked Gilda with a grin.
“Can’t let him go back to join his own kind,” said George. “He’ll lord over them like the tyrant he is.”
“Talk so I can understand you!” demanded Bluster.
George swatted Bluster with his tail.
“Great to see you survived, Fluttershy,” smiled George. “And… are your wings fixed?!”
“I’ve heard clouds can do amazing things when a little love and feeling goes into them,” said Fluttershy.
“And yet my arms and legs are still numb,” Gilda groaned, but still couldn’t help smiling.
At last, things were looking up. Fluttershy took Bluster from George and flew both him and Applejack straight to Rainbow Falls. Help was summoned, and a special train was chartered to bring medical relief and building assistance to Griffonstone. Zecora came along to treat Gabby’s wounds properly, and a day later, Gabby could walk and fly perfectly. Tree Hugger knew how to cure Twilight’s head, and once the little purple breezie pony had recovered, she was able to turn herself, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie back into ponies. The residents of Griffonstone didn’t seem as annoyed about the Equestrian relief as Gilda and George thought they would be.
“Deep down,” Gabby said to them in secret, “even though none of them wanted to ask for Equestria’s help, they all wanted it.”
Twilight and Starlight were able to clear away the remnants of the decimated weather factory without any injuries ensuing in the process. As for Bluster, George got his wish.
“He can consider this the final test of his so-called superiority over all other breezies. Let’s see if he can endure living in Tartarus for all time,” he said.
“If lightning didn’t finish him off,” said Gilda, “Cerberus will.”
When at last the storm damage was repaired and all injuries and illnesses were rectified, a ceremony was held in the former home of King Guto. Pony and griffon alike gathered around the stand where the Idol of Boreas once stood, and watched as Fluttershy took center stage… with no sign of stage fright.
“Mares and stallions, fledglings of all ages, I want to thank you for your compassion and praise. I’m glad I could do my part. And now, as a member of the Friendship Council, I want to thank the two griffons who saved my life and brought the villainous breezie Bluster to justice. Gilda, George, came on up please.”
Fluttershy unfurled her wings as Gilda and George joined her, revealing two shiny gold pendants.
“I know you both had a lot to lose helping me,” she said, “whether it was having to let go of something you’ve spent days working on and daydreaming about, or having to swallow a pride that runs deeper than the Abysmal Abyss. And for that, I am happy to declare you two official Knights of Harmony!”
Gilda and George knelt down as Fluttershy placed a medal each around their necks, and turned to face the applauding griffons and ponies.
“We learned a lot from that mess,” said Gilda. “Probably the biggest thing we took from this was that even though trying to make that weather factory didn’t end well, we griffons still have a lot to gain from making our own clouds and rain.”
“So we’ve decided to restart the project ourselves,” George announced. “We know we can’t give up on this endeavour just because of this disaster. We still see a lot of potential with it, not just so we can avoid random storms, but as far as community spirit goes as well.”
Gabby jumped up from the crowd and applauded loudly, and the rest of the crowd joined in.
“You know,” chimed in Pinkie Pie when the applause died down, “I didn’t see anyone bothering to put back up the No Singing signs that got blown away in the storm. So technically it’s not illegal now…”