"Then Choose Whatever One You Like More."
The screams of the guards echoed across the platform, only to be accented by the wailings of a sister to the dark blue eyes. Princess Luna stood on shaky legs before the two scenes, one of her sister being stabbed by the black tendrils, the other of her subjects having lethal electric-like currents discharged into their bodies, both being dangled in the air by black vines.
And she had to choose which of the two would be freed from their pain, bringing delight to the baby dragon next to her, who had never stopped whispering into her ear.
Meanwhile, several feet behind the occurring event, a yellow pegasus was straining to tear her eyes away from the screen before her. But no matter how much her face wrinkled in exertion, her head did not move.
“Please...no more.” Fluttershy watched as the image flickered into of her and Spike, relaxing into the chair and sofa back in her footage, as they were conversing over steaming cups of tea. A tear escaped from her right eye.
The scene on the screen was basked in a lavender glow.
"I-I never meant to take him away from you, T-Twilight." She tried to shake her head, but it was too stiff to move. “I just wanted to help, never for things to t-turn out the way they did."
Then, a pair of fingers appeared, turning the dial to the television, and changing the channel. The image flickered again. It was of the drake again, walking out her door, waving her farewell, as he stepped into the darkness of the world.
And she stayed behind, lingering in the light inside the cottage.
“I couldn’t save you,” Fluttershy said as if remembering that horrible truth again. Her peripheral vision blurred into an inky blackness. “I t-t-thought that, if we just had enough time together, that I could listen to you. That I could help whatever it was hurting you, that I could be there for you, but I failed in even that, I failed in—"
The channel changed to a foggy street. Fluttershy saw herself, mane a mess and face covered in dirt, escaping the dark being that stalked her in the mist. Her inability to save him resulted in the creation of that monster, one that she forever deserved to be chased by.
But then, the fingers turned the dial again, and the image Fluttershy saw caused her to reach the apex of her fears.
Church bells echoed in the bright blue sky as a flock of doves fluttered over the scene below. Ponies were amassed on either side of a long red carpet, which went on further to ascended a few steps, and ended with a pony and a dragon standing upon it.
“I don't even know where to begin thanking you, Fluttershy, nor how to describe just how happy you make me feel.” The drake in the projection fidgetted as he smiled across to the mare. "Thank you, Fluttershy, for taking me in when I was driven out by both my whims and by Twilight. Thank for caring for me when I thought the world couldn't care less. Thank you for making me see that I didn't need to go out into the world to improve myself."
He took a deep breath. "And thank you, for both mending and accepting my heart."
The yellow pegasus in the projection smiled back to the drake, while Fluttershy began to cry at such a scene unfolding before her. One that she secretly desired but would berate herself for. “Please... anything but this. I never deserve something like – I don't deserve even to see it!"
Her friends cheered for the duo from the crowds inside the screen. Even Twilight held a warm smile as Dash struck a hoof upward in celebration. To make matters more 'delightful,' both Princess served as the one to bind the covenant to the two.
“No more, please.”
Finally, the screen zoomed in on the yellow pegasus, showing the white dress that she wore and the pink ribbon holding her mane in a pony tail. Fluttershy's breath caught in her throat as an influx of sunny memories ravaged her body, filling her with the warmth of those afternoon days.
The mornings spent making breakfast and tea, together.
The afternoons spent tending to injured animals and walking through the market street, together.
The lonely nights that no longer were, because they were together.
All those memories compressed into one pink ribbon. Fluttershy felt her body shatter its restraints as her hoove moved to the top of her head, eyes following too, only to find the absence of the article.
It was still atop of desk in her bedroom, inside the home that she had long run away from, and still brought to her waking nightmares. The one thing left of those happy days left in the home that she didn't deserve to return to alone.
She didn’t even deserve to have such a treasured item returned to her, as her hooves slowly began sliding off from her head...
“What’s the matter, Fluttershy?” The yellows hooves stopped before they could fall as their owner looked to the screen, or rather, the pair of claws that was holding it. Slowly, her eyes trailed up, until they saw his scaly face once again. “You lose your ribbon?”
Fluttershy exhaled a shaky breath, eyes blinking. She looked to the baby Spike in the distance, still whispering hurtful words into Luna's ear, before looking back to the drake standing before her. “There’s another Spike…”
“Don’t be silly Fluttershy!” Spike held the television in one claw and used the other to point at his chest. "I’m the dragon that left his home to become a hero that can measure up to the feats of you girls, to develop a character that they'll want to be around, and to become powerful enough to help this world instead of being useless!"
He laughed as he let his claw fall to his side. "As if there's another dragon that desperate to improve themselves."
“But...” Fluttershy kept turning her head, back and forth, between the drake smiling at her, and the baby dragon innocently cooing despair into her ruler's ear. “There’s two are you here.”
“Then choose whatever one you like more.”
“I can’t do something like that!”
“Of course you can, Fluttershy.” Spike took the full weight of the television again as he lowered himself slightly so that they were eye level. “I have no clue what the past few years must have been like for you, but I couldn't live with myself if my fate has caused you to live in despair. Whatever happened to the real me is not your fault, though he is forever in your debt – for you were the pony that took him in not because she felt like she should, but because she wanted to.”
“I was just doing—”
“Don’t sell yourself short, Fluttershy.” Spike gestured for her to come closer, for which, she complied. “When I was filled with despair at fate making me useless, you were the pony that made it not only bearable, but enjoyable. That month I spent living life with you was the best one yet, and I regret that I couldn't just be content with that – that I didn't need to go out into the world to prove myself."
“You mean you’re not mad at me?”
“Never in my life, Fluttershy.” His smirk changed into a warm smile. “Don’t you remember, Fluttershy? You were the ears to my problems, letting me know what issue inside I had to resolve. You were the soul that told me another cared for me just as much.”
Fluttershy kept silent as the blackness faded away from the corners of her eyes.
“Were it not for you, I would've turned into the edgy monster you see over there." Spike tilted his head the direction of his baby dragon counterpart, never taking his eyes off from her. “Your kindness oughta be spent on those more deserving than him, like the animals waiting for you back home, or those ponies around us now. Don’t let the memory me stop you from moving forward with your life, Fluttershy.”
Finally, Fluttershy spoke, as she reached a hoof towards him. “Spike? Is it really you?”
“Maybe,” he replied, returning to his full height. “Even if I ever the real one, you can't stay behind and linger in this darkness forever."
Her hoof paused in the air, beginning to tremble. “I...I can’t, Spike. You don't know how lonely it is not having you around, not knowing if you’re okay or not; I don’t mind being in darkness, just as long as I can stay with you."”
“Don't say something like that, Fluttershy; you're stronger than that!" His warm smile reverted into that smirk, that same one that exuded energy and confidence to those who saw it, especially her. “I lived with you long enough to know that. Stop thinking about this selfish dragon that left you, and start thinking about those ponies still around you!"
Fluttershy blinked. She began to look around the dark platform, seeing the line composed of her friends, most of whom were sitting before a screen that too was beginning to shatter – they were the ones that stayed and helped her even in the depths of her depression.
Then her gaze turned to the Royal Guards caught up in the lethal black vines – the same rookies that protected her life from the likes of a dragon, despite never meeting before.
Fluttershy, no longer blinded by her inner-turmoil, became aware of the o occurring inside the Princess of the Night. Unlike her, Luna bravely still fought against her fear for her ponies, and was continuingly to resist the despair being inflicted upon her – but she couldn't do so alone.
“Ponies need you, Fluttershy.” The pegasus looked back to the drake, who brought the screen closer to her hoof still in the air. “You won’t be able to help those around you unless you're able to help yourself, but you can't do that if you say behind in stagnation with me. It's time to move on."
It took several moments of distant laughter and more screaming. Of steadying breaths and quelling of the shivers. But Fluttershy made her choice as her hoof flew inside the screen – a brilliant flash of yellow and green light tore apart the darkness of the scene.
“Don’t forget, Fluttershy.” Fluttershy looked up to the drake only to see his body fading into the beam of light erupting upward. “The others gave me the tools and the path to becoming a drake of potential, but you were that one that showed me how to express that potential.”
Something warm covered the yellow hoof, its owner slowly pulling it out of the screen just as it shattered into shards of glass and joined the stream of light.
In her hoof was the pink ribbon, the same given to her by the drake, bought with all that had left to his name. It was a gift imbued with the same kindness that she had shown towards him.
Fluttershy stole one last glance at the drake merging with the upward beam of light. His after-image was that of the day he left, though he held a sad smile instead of the angry expression in her faux memories. His height was almost equal to that of the other girls, just a few more inches and they would've been eye-level.
Fluttershy then giggled.
The drake still had a face of a kid, but she knew that was something that would never change.
“The girls may have shown me what I could be,” the drake said as his last lines of existence merged with the tornado of light, his next words but an echo.“But you were the one that showed me who I wanted to be.”
Finally, the beam of light pierced against the darkness of the night sky, its color pushing against the ocean of black. The two colors struggled to stretch outward, but the endless resistance was causing them ever slightly to recede.
Fluttershy clenched the ribbon in her hoof, taking her gaze away from the event, and to the baby dragon beginning to push Luna to the ground. Her entire body shook as she was on the precipice of collapsing.
Determination took ahold of Fluttershy's expression, as she broke into a gallop toward the baby dragon. He was too lost in the sea of euphoria from inflicting despair even to be aware of the event occurring behind him, only whipping his head around when he heard hoofsteps, and was greeted by the sight of the mare just before him – her hoof with the ribbon already cocked in the air.
“A dragon like you," she launched her hoof straight into his chest, passing through the liquid that composed his body, and reaching into his very core, “will never replace our Spike!”
The baby dragon screamed in agony, but it fell on deaf ears, as she turned her hoof inside of him. She then pulled it out, leaving the ribbon inside his core to dispel his very being.
The baby dragons stumbled backward, raising his claws before his eyes to see the purple color leak away from them. They collected into small blobs that hovered into the air, before being sucked away by the current created from above.
Purple meshed with yellow and green inside the black sky. The three colors joined as one, glimmering as their light intensified, until the power couldn't be contained in just one spot.
“I..I don’t get it!” The baby dragon cried as he fell to his knees, watching as beams of energy tore through his night sky, and allowed for the rays of sunlight to fall through the holes being created. The only thing left of his body was that black liquid that composed him. “Where did a pony like you get such power?”
In the distance were three ponies, coming to approach their brave friend.
“I-Impossible! You may be the Elements, but there’s no way you could have broken out of your despair!”
“Read it and weep, dude,” Rainbow said as she came next to her friend, towering over the black glob of goo. "Like any bogus spell would be able to hold down our joined awesomeness for long."
The baby dragon’s eyes drew downward in contemplation. “No mere mortal could shatter such a connection without the aid of external help. But even as I had your two goddesses under my control, there was still another strong enough – such an existence should be impossible.”
“I reckon we heard enough of that impossible talk as of late,” Applejack said upon her arrival, fixing her hat atop her head. “We finished that dragon despite not being ready for him, and somepony like Fluttershy even had the courage to take you down alone. It’s best if ya just submit, Sugarcube.”
“A dragon?” The black blob morphed fingers and snapped them, making the ground tremble and the sky cry. His head the fell in thought. “Besides the one I stole for my domain, there hasn’t been a dragon intelligent enough to ward off my illusions – nonetheless dispel them.”
The intensity of the beams increased as they emitted a high-pitch noise, reaching the apex in their brightness as it finally tore the black sky and two – each part begin dissolved by the spreading lights.
The black vines fell lethality and deposited the ponies in its grasp onto the ground. Celestia herself finally cracked open an eye, the world still dizzy to her, but she managed on weak legs to fall onto her hooves.
She glanced weakly over to her smaller sister, who in return smiled, before finally falling to her stomach and sealing her eyes.
“Face it, darling,” Rarity arrived fashionably late, tending to her mane before joing her friends, the four joined again, together. "It’s over. But if you keep taking the form of our little Spikey-Wikey, then I assure that you will regret it.”
“Spike—” The beams of light exploded into brilliant flashes, blinding those in its presence and burning the remaining blackness in the sky. The harsh light began to dim, ponies blinking their eyes before drawing their heads upward.
And finally. Finally, they saw the afternoon sky, and those still conscious would've cheered, were it not for the black goo coalescing near the center of the platform.
Some ponies began to back away, only to feel the coolness of the railings against their flanks. They looked over their shoulder to see the steepness of the mountainside, then to the slumbering pink and lavender mare within their mass, before looking onward to the four friends and one Princess that stood in the way of the anomaly.
“You ponies...diluted by your feeble hope…” The slur of words bubbled out from the growing black mass, as something cut through the winds above. Before anypony could look up, the ground shook and rumbled as the giant creature touched down behind the black mass. “...need to be shown despair...in its truest form!”
Fluttershy stared at the dragon bathed in the cosmic blackness, its coldness sending her hairs on their ends just by being in its presence. She knew it to be the same purple beast from before, but with his eyes the darkest shade of black, she could no longer be sure.
“There's no friggin' way,” Rainbow said, shaking her head,“ we totally stone-a-fied that dude. We used the Elements of Harmony and–”
The dragon roared, its black coat shimmering at vibration as the nearby ponies tried desperately to plug their ears with their hooves. Fluttershy lost her breath as the sound tore apart her eardrums, blood leaking from her ears as she collapsed.
“Fluttershy!” The three girls cried upon catching the pegasus in her descent, her light weight requiring the jointed strength of the three weak mares. They glanced over to the dragon behind the effect, only to see it move its foreclaw forward towards them.
They froze in place with their friend in their hooves.
“G-girls...get behind me.”
The three friends looked to their left. Princess Celestia stood before them, her once immaculate alabaster fur marred by dirt and blood, as she stood on one trembling forehoof. Her gaze was set on the distant beast, only glancing down at them once.
“But...Princess—”
“That’s an order!” Celestia brought her gaze upon the guards still present. “Escort my sister and the Element Bears out from the city and ensure they seek refuge in the Crystal Empire.”
“Princess!” The girls' voices fell on deaf ears, too weak to fight against the guards pushing them back to the mass. They were accepted into the center of the ponies, placed next to their fallen friends, as they were doomed to the useless fate of watching their Princess stand alone against the threat.
They awaited the command to make their escape.
The dragon's nostril flared at the sight of the newcomer, taking a step toward her, but a raised black tendril stopped him from making another. The black entity turned back to the Princess only a few feet away from him. “A Princess giving her life for those she serves, how so very noble! But death will not be the one to claim that life.
Celestia narrowed her eyes, feeling a pang of pain ravage her nervous system. Without any enregery left to exert, she fell to her knee.
“Princess, please get up!”
“Don’t do this Celestia!”
“Get away from our Princess you monster!”
“Perfection!” The black entity came closer toward her, now at the same height due to her descent, as a smirk carved itself across its dark features. "I shall consume you with no resistance, before devouring those you failed to protect with this little stunt. Just how many more regrets can you place upon yourself, Celestia?"
A tendril shot into the air, glimmering in the sunlight. It expanded into the open space and carved out its own razor sharpness, catching the reflection of the fallen Princess upon its surface.
"Time to perish, Princess!"
The end was nigh.
The little ponies watched but could do nothing.
Their greatest weapon, the magic of harmony, had failed them.
The guards too weak to even hold a weapon
The foe too strong for their kind.
Fate showed itself that day. It allowed a glimpse into the bleakness of the upcoming future, and to some present, they were too glad to opt out for such an experience. Hope was both the creation and fuel to pony kind, but despair itself had deprived them of their greatest power.
The ponies clenched their eyes and awaited their end. To hear the screams of death, of blood gurgling, and of collapsing bodies.
They were not, however, expecting to hear of distant, heavy panting. Those brave enough cracked open an eye, searching for the pony out of breath, but only finding other confused faces.
The panting continued to echo of the mountainside, but those who heard gazed about to ascertain its source – even the entity had paused in its beheading to whip its head about.
The ponies then settled their gaze on the bottomless circle, and were the first ones to watch him crawl out. A claw shot out, gripping the steel bars of the circular railing, before doing the same with other claw.
A clothed figure then propelled himself upward, rising to the top of the railing and setting his claws upon it, before throwing himself over it. He fell to the ground with a light thud, still heavily panting for a moment, before rising to his feet.
Celestia had bowed her head and closed her eyes to her fate, but opened them against it to ascertain why she was still breathing her own breaths. Her eyes were momentarily blinded by the sun, before setting upon the black entity, who still held the silhouette of her son.
The substance turned its head back to her, looking just as confused as she. Then, someone spoke, a voice familiar yet new.
“...I'm never... mountain climbing...ever again…!” The entity turned its head to the voice, just in time to catch a limp punch to the face. The impact sent the black goo splattering in separate directions, as a purple drake stumbled into where it had been standing. "...I don't...even care...what the other dragons think..."
Spike continued to pant heavily, raising his clenched fist to before his face, and staring at its blurry features. He took a couple of moment to compose himself, before looking to the blurry white thing next to him.
“Who was that freak?"