//------------------------------// // II. Chance // Story: To Brave a Storm // by saarni //------------------------------// Normally, being this close to the Castle of Friendship would’ve stirred up warm feelings in the heart of Applejack as she recalled all the good times that she’d spent here with her friends – not just the adventures, but the parties, sleepovers and silliness that was day-to-day life in Ponyville – but this was so far removed from normal that, once again, she felt the strange urge to laugh at the absurdity of it all build up inside of her. Staring at its crystal edifice, reflecting the moonlight that shone so brightly upon it, all Applejack could find herself thinking about was what had happened to Fluttershy back at the farm. All of a sudden, the castle didn’t feel quite so safe with its jutting spires and the odd shadows it cast over the town. Get a grip, AJ, she told herself. Still, Applejack couldn’t help but shiver. She’d come here as fast as she could, but the cold, onerous night and its attendant darkness had arrived first. Having spent so much time hanging around with Rarity and her pretensions of proper ladylike behaviour, you might have expected that some of those mannerisms would have rubbed off on Applejack by osmosis, but you would have been sorely mistaken; while it was true that the Apples were known to be absurdly polite and welcoming, they weren’t sticklers for the social niceties at the best of times, and these were not those times. With the events of earlier weighing oppressively on her mind and desperate to be out of the chill air, Applejack charged at the heavy golden door with her stout withers and almost took it off its hinges. She grunted softly in pain, still tender from where Fluttershy had struck her earlier. She pushed me out of the way, she belatedly realised, goosebumps forming on her skin as she did so. Fluttershy sacrificed herself to save me! That revelation numbed her. “Twilight!” Applejack said, yelling into the inky blackness of the empty lobby, her voice cracking with the strain. Having come here at a dead run, she’d forgotten how out of breath she was. Slowly, Applejack padded inside, a sense of unease flowing through as she did so. During the day, when fully lit, the castle’s interior was a dazzling arrangement of polished, translucent columns. Now it was an obsidian nothingness every bit as terrifying as … whatever that thing had been back at Sweet Apple Acres. “Twilight?” she tried again. Perhaps she and Spike weren’t here? Perhaps the Cutie Map had called them off at the last minute on some urgent business? “Something awful’s happened to Fluttershy and I need your help! Sugarcube?” So far, the only response was her own voice coming back to her, echoing mockingly off of the castle’s walls. It sounded at once frightening and depressing, and Applejack’s spirits, somehow, managed to sink even lower. Padding restlessly at the floor with the hooves of her forelegs, Applejack was relieved to see a faint orange glow approach her from one of the many rooms that branched off from here. Twilight Sparkle, an old oil lantern held in her magical grasp, stepped into the lobby. She looked a little worse for wear herself, barely able to keep her heavily-lidded eyes open as she took heavy, thunking steps. The elaborate silken dressing gown that she was clad in had Rarity’s signature all over it. Clearly, she had either been asleep or not far from it. She rubbed at her eyes in order to clear away the thin film of gunk that had collected there. Feeling a tad more alert, Twilight looked at Applejack properly for the first time and realised the distress that she was in. Suddenly, any thoughts of rebuking her for barging into the castle like this in the middle of the night were banished from her mind. She tensed. “Applejack, what is it? Wait, did I hear you say something about Fluttershy? Is she hurt?” “Oh, Twilight,” said Applejack breathlessly, words tumbling out of her mouth as she bounded up to Twilight and threw her forelegs around her neck, “it all happened so fast. I mean, I didn’t even know anything was happening until-” “-Whoa, Applejack, slow down.” She placed a hoof on her friend’s wither, patting it gently to try and calm her. Her sleepy eyes were forced further open in surprise when she felt the hard knot of tension that had taken root there, to say nothing of her rapidly beating heart pounding against her own chest. “Just relax. Start over.” Applejack’s eyes met Twilight’s. She took a deep breath and more slowly went on, “It was a storm. But not a normal one. One of those freak magical things that escapes from the Everfree Forest every few months. I was in the orchard trying to get a head start on the harvest, and I didn’t even realise that anything was wrong until Fluttershy was knocking me to the ground.” “So. You’re saying … what are you saying, AJ?” Twilight felt a lump form in her chest. She wasn’t sure she wanted to hear the answer to this. “A bolt of lightning from the storm was going to hit me. Somehow, Fluttershy saw it coming and she was able to push me out of the way before it struck.” Applejack was impressed at how coolly she managed to speak those devastating words. Maybe it was something to do with Twilight’s comforting presence and the belief that, somehow, she could make everything just like it was before? Rather stupidly, the first question that popped into Twilight’s mind was, “What was Fluttershy even doing near Sweet Apple Acres that late in the evening?” The weight of Applejack’s words hadn’t fully settled yet, and she was certain that she’d just misheard or misinterpreted them. Fluttershy wasn’t the kind of pony to go throwing herself in front of random electrical discharges after all, was she? “Is she-?” “-She’s gone, Twilight,” said Applejack flatly. “I mean, one second she was pushing me out of the way; the next, she was hit herself and … what’s that word? Vaporised.” Twilight felt the first prickle of tears behind her eyes. I’m still asleep. This is all just some ghastly dream. Princess Luna, please appear to me and tell me this is just a really bad nightmare I’m having? She closed her eyes tightly, and visions of having to inform Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie and the others of what had happened flitted in front of her. Her parents and brother back in Cloudsdale, too, would have to be told. “Vaporised?” There wouldn’t even be a body for a funeral. “It was like-” Applejack made an expansive gesture with the hooves of her forelegs “-poof, you know? Kinda like what happens you teleport, I guess, only she was screaming.” Applejack shuddered, remembering that bloodcurdling howl of suffering Fluttershy had loosed as she’d been struck. Kinda like what happens when you teleport. Utilising her sister-in-law’s much admired relaxation technique, Twilight took a deep breath and released it, fighting to stem the rising flow of hysteria that threatened to muddy her thinking. Now, more than ever, she needed to keep a clear head and process things in a sedate manner. “Applejack?” “Yeah?” “I don’t want to get your hopes up, but there’s a chance Fluttershy isn’t dead.” “How much of a chance?” asked Applejack with bated breath, not even daring to believe at this stage. “A small one.” “You have a theory?” Twilight nodded. She set the lantern down on a convenient nook in the wall; sitting down cross-legged on the floor, she bade Applejack to do likewise. Once relatively comfortable, she began, “Pegasi react differently to environmental effects due to their weather magic, yes?” “If you say so. I don’t know much about that kinda stuff,” replied Applejack. “Well, they do,” said Twilight, the wheels in her mind turning like the cogs of some vast and powerful machine. Thousands of facts about ponies, magic and how they reacted were being marshalled in her brain. “They’re more attuned to what’s going on around them, too. Remember when we were teaching Rainbow Dash the history of the Wonderbolts?” “How could I forget?” said Applejack with a wry smile, blinking away years. “We had to darn-near rope the entire town into help with that one. What does it have to do with Fluttershy, though?” “The pegasi ability to passively absorb information around them while in flight. Even Fluttershy does this,” Twilight said patiently. She was still unravelling all this herself. “Her body would’ve been gathering information about the storm, adapting itself, trying to figure out a defence.” “Is that possible?” At that, Twilight had to shrug. “I mean, coupled with the extra magical juice she’ll have gained from her Element of Harmony and the Rainbow Power over the years, there’s a remote chance that she survived.” “Then, where is she?” asked Applejack. “You said it yourself, it looked like a teleportation effect. Maybe it was. Maybe all that magical power coursing through her sent her off … somewhere.” “So. She’s alive, but lost out in Equestria somewhere?” “Or beyond.” Applejack was immediately back on her feet. “We have to find her!” The itch to get moving surged through her. It was the longest of long shots, yes, but she would quite happily tear the whole world apart just to see Fluttershy one more time. “We need to wake everypony up and-” Waving a hoof under Applejack’s muzzle to attract her attention, Twilight said firmly, “I’m clutching at straws, remember? Even if I am right about this, it still means that we have an entire planet to search. Depending on how powerful the storm was and whether Fluttershy had any conscious control over the teleport, we have to balance being methodical with covering the most amount of ground in the shortest space of time. She might’ve teleported out of the frying pan and into the fire, as it were.” “Actually,” a polite, well-mannered voice said quietly, “I’m standing right here.” As one, Applejack and Twilight turned to the door to see Fluttershy standing in the threshold, waving courteously to them. Even bathed as she was in the moonlight, they could see the sweet smile on her muzzle. “What?” Twilight and Applejack said in unison.