Thankfully, the Spear Dogs had manned the border into Equestria with reflective shields. As Shiva skidded to a halt and hid herself from what was likely a waiting Stare, she managed to see the two spear dogs on guard duty hiding behind their shields. Shiva couldn’t see out, what with them blocking the way, but then Shiva heard that familiar voice, so soft and disarming despite holding such power.
“Aw, don’t be scared, little doggies,” Fluttershy crooned. “I just wanted to talk to your Alpha.”
“Bright Alpha doesn’t wanna talk to you,” the spear dog on the left responded.
“Please?” Fluttershy asked. Shiva was sure she was batting those powerful eyes. “Pretty please?”
The dogs looked back, and brightened at the sight of Shiva.
“Bright Alpha!” one of them greeted, before the other hissed at him. “Uh-uh… doesn’t want to talk!” he quickly added.
“Is she there?” Fluttershy asked. "Shiva? Are you back there?"
Both of them looked back at Shiva with shrugs.
“Should we push her out,” Luke asked, standing beside Shiva. Shiva pondered it, before reaching out with her pack link.
“Skippy,”she whispered through the link. “What have we got?”
#
In the trees, Skippy glared down at two guards, horns alight as they watched the Mane Six and Spike, themselves watching Fluttershy as she paced nervously in front of the shields that hid them. The shields glinted like mirrors, reflecting Fluttershy’s slowly saddening expression back at her.
“We should shoot her the minute she shows her face,” one of the guards whispered.
“Not yet,” the other pony replied. “Let’s see how the Element of Kindness does before we jump to conclusions.”
Skippy hummed, before returning to his pack link.
#
“A squad of guards alongside the Elements of Harmony, the Princess’ Personal Protégé, and her dragon assistant,” Skippy said.
“Spike?!”Shiva asked, her ears flaring. “He’s here?”
“He and the Elements are right at the tree line, but the guards are hidden in the forest, and they look more than ready to start a fight. I think a couple of these guards are hoping we fight, which isn’t a good sign.”
Shiva exchanged another glance with Luke, and the dark dog huffed in disappointment.
“Shiva, if you can hear me,” Fluttershy said. “You don’t have to be afraid of me. I promise, I just want to be your friend.”
But Shiva had no intention of letting her honeyed words fool her. A plan was already forming in her mind.
“Luke,”Shiva ordered. “Get the Spear Dogs the shiniest, most mirror like shields you can find. Then position them in the tunnels under the forest. Be ready to have them pop out the moment those guards try anything.”
Luke nodded with glee.
“Skippy,”Shiva continued. “If the guards go for us, drop in on them and distract them. But make sure you fall behind the Spear Dogs when they come up. Do not let Fluttershy get her eyes on you; one good Stare, and you might as well be clay in her hooves.”
“Got it,” Skippy said.
Shiva turned back to the entrance as she heard Fluttershy beginning to sound panicked.
“Shiva, please come out,” Fluttershy whimpered. “Every pony’s waiting for you. They’re starting to get… worried.”
Shiva highly doubted ‘worried’ would describe how the ponies were feeling, but she walked up to her spear dogs and nodded at them.
“Stand down, guys,” she said, loud enough that Fluttershy heard her and sighed in relief. “I got this.”
The guards nodded, and one of them gave Shiva his shield. Holding it up, Shiva strode out at an angle, keeping Fluttershy blocked while revealing herself to the others. Sure enough, she soon caught sight of the little dragon, standing off to the side of the other mares.
“Shiva?” Fluttershy asked, trying to peek around the shield. “Shiva, you don’t need that. You can talk to me face to… face?”
Shiva walked right past the yellow mare without acknowledging her. Her shield stayed focused on Fluttershy, while Shiva kept her eyes on the purple dragon standing off to the side.
“Spike,” she called.
The mares gaped at the dragon, while Spike lifted a hand to his chest in surprise. Shiva smiled – genuinely – and walked right up to him, all but ignoring the five mares grouped together and the yellow mare behind her, who reached a hopeless hoof out with a devastated squeak of loneliness.
“Shiva?” Fluttershy whimpered, tears starting to brim in her eyes.
Spike gave Fluttershy a nervous, slightly sad look, before Shiva drew his gaze back to her.
“It’s been far too long, my friend,” Shiva said to the dragon. “How’ve you been?”
Spike briefly glanced at Twilight. Despite looking sadly at Fluttershy, Twilight motioned for him to roll with it.
“Not bad,” he said, glancing back at her territory. “You’ve been doing well for yourself?”
Shiva chuckled, glancing back at the barren wasteland that covered her home. “There’s more to it than meets the eye,” she replied. She glanced at the mares, some of whom were watching the exchange nervously, and some of them were looking back at a devastated Fluttershy. “They’re treating you okay? Not letting you get captured by horrible monsters?”
“Horrible what?!” Rainbow Dash demanded. But Shiva raised her shield at the cyan mare, and Twilight pulled Rainbow Dash back before she could be tempted into charging her.
“None of that,” Spike assured her. “In fact, I think Twilight learned from that experience.”
Shiva hummed, unconvinced. “I hope she did.”
“You know you can ask me yourself, right?” Twilight asked, her voice clipped with irritation.
“Maybe,” Shiva said, her own voice clipped. “But I’m more curious about something else.” She glared at Twilight. “Why are you here?”
“We came here to tell you that Princess Celestia has ordered you not to invade Ponyville.”
Rainbow Dash lifted into the air. “And if you try to invade, you’re gonna get more than you bargained for," she added darkly.
Shiva quirked an ear. “Okay,” she replied.
The mares paused. “W-Okay?” Rainbow Dash asked, descending back to the ground.
“Okay,” Shiva repeated. “I already don’t want to go back there, so… okay. My pack will stay away from there.” Her ears suddenly perked, and she turned to Applejack, her nose twitching. “Hang on…”
“Well… good… then,” Twilight mumbled, before her ears perked. “Oh, but one other thing…” Twilight tried to add, but Shiva walked right by her and straight to Applejack, her nose twitching as she took in the cow mare’s scent. Applejack raised a hoof in surprise, but didn’t back down from the canine.
“I smell canine on you,” Shiva said, locking on Applejack. “Did Diamond Dogs… well…?”
Applejack chuckled.
“Nah,” she replied. “That’s just Sweet Apple Acres’ resident pooch, Winona.”
“Totally different from a diamond dog,” Pinkie said, jumping in. Shiva backed up from her with a suspicious look, keeping her mouth far out of Pinkie’s reach, but the pink mare continued without noticing. “Winona can only walk on all fours. And she has brown spots on her fur. And she can’t speak. Well, she can speak, but all she can say is…” Pinkie imitated a dog, but Shiva’s ears flattened.
“And you guys are okay with each other?” Shiva asked cautiously. “You don’t hurt her? She doesn’t hurt you?”
“We’re like family,” Applejack assured her. “Ain’t none of that nightmare stuff ya went through happens in Ponyville. I promise.”
“Ahem!” Twilight said louder.
Shiva bit back a growl, before turning back to Twilight.
“Yes?” she asked, struggling to keep her voice level and calm.
“I’m glad you’re not going to invade, but we still need you to come back with us,” Twilight insisted. “What you… did… to get away from Beast Breaker raised some eyebrows, and we need to prove that what he did to you was beyond immoral and unjust.”
Shiva glared at her. “You need to prove that being caged, tortured and whipped is immoral and unjust?” Shiva asked. Rarity glanced away, rubbing her hoof nervously, while Spike just shrugged.
“What can we say?” he replied. “Most of the nobles in Canterlot are idiots.”
“Spike!” Twilight protested, but even Rainbow Dash grimaced.
“I dunno, Twilight,” Rainbow Dash said. “He’s not exactly wrong.”
Shiva cracked a grin, but her tail didn’t rise from between her legs.
“Well,” she said. “If your ‘nobility’ really can’t tell what’s immoral and unethical, I gotta say, I don’t feel safe going into their territory.”
Rarity looked aghast. “You mean you’d feel safer with these… well…” She faltered, as Luke poked his head out, and locked angry silver eyes with her. Rarity wisely didn’t finish her sentence, while Rainbow Dash glared down Luke, ready to charge him. Fluttershy, however, quickly stepped forward.
“Shiva, please,” Fluttershy whimpered. “We’re all really sorry about what you went through. It was cruel and horrific and we’re all so very-very sorry we let that happen to you.”
Shiva didn’t look at Fluttershy. The memory of her piercing eyes blocked Shiva from even glancing her way. But her eyes did land on Rainbow Dash, who was still glowering at her pack from the air.
Her eyes shifted to Rarity, who was at the very back of the group, staring at her like she might suddenly make a break for Ponyville.
And to Twilight, who’s hoof was tapping impatiently. Her horn was sparking, like it wanted to light up and do a spell, but couldn’t yet.
Shiva’s ears flattened at the genuine remorse that seemed to be on Pinkie, Applejack and even Spike’s faces, but the unrepentant looks on the other three, along with her unwillingness to see how Fluttershy looked left Shiva wondering just how truthful Fluttershy was being.
“Are all of you sorry?” she asked softly, indicating Rainbow Dash, Twilight and Rarity.
The mares stared at each other, Fluttershy, Applejack and Pinkie with horror, and the others with expressions ranging from Rainbow Dash’s defiant aloofness to Twilight’s look of confusion to Rarity’s look of indignation.
Shiva shook her head before Fluttershy could speak.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “But lying to me is not a good way to convince me.”
Applejack balked, while Fluttershy gasped.
“But Flutters ain’t lying,” Applejack insisted.
“Believe us, Shiva,” Spike insisted. “Each of us are really sorry, and we want to help you prove that you’re not bad.”
“Rainbow Dash looks more like she wants to punt me into next week,” Shiva pointed out, again indicating the non-guilty mare.
“Rainbow Dash!” Fluttershy started to argue, before Shiva cut her off.
“Rarity looks like I’m still going to steal all her gems,” she continued.
“You’re with diamond dogs!” Rarity protested. “I know how they get about gemstones.”
“And Twilight looks about half-ready to knock me out, take me to some lab, and dissect me.”
Twilight gave a disgusted gasp, and covered her horn, her cheeks reddening.
"Well, why shouldn't we be suspicious?" Rainbow Dash demanded. "You killed five ponies."
"Ponies that were hurting and abusing her!" Fluttershy protested.
"That doesn't make it right."
The mares went silent. It had not been Rainbow Dash that had said it... but Shiva.
“You have your reasons to distrust me; just as I have my reasons to distrust you,” Shiva said. "In my opinion, we'd be better off if we just stayed out of each other's way."
Spike jumped forward.
"Then how would you get justice?" he asked.
Shiva froze, turning back to him.
"What do you mean?" she asked.
#
Luke paced fitfully as Shiva sat there and listened to the dragon’s lies. Luke hated how calm Shiva was about the whole thing: he didn’t care if these mares weren’t the same ones that had caged and tortured them. They were still the ones that had taken Shiva away from him. They had snatched Shiva from the jaws of freedom once already, and even now, she was letting them fill her head with empty justifications. Luke glared at the forest; while there was no sign of the guards that Skippy had warned of, there was also no sign of the smart little brown diamond dog.
If he was correct, there were guards just waiting for Shiva to slip up. And if his Spear Dogs weren’t fast enough, Shiva was risking them bursting out of the foliage, seizing her with some sort of spell, and carting her off before Luke could blink.
No,Luke thought, determined. They’ll never get away with that. I’ll pulverize them if they try!
“It must be difficult,” a voice – eerily familiar – buzzed next to him. Luke spun, but there was no one there. “Having to watch them try to take your beloved again.”
Luke bristled, growling at the empty air. Faintly, he saw a small shimmer. Bottle green eyes opened, glowing, before him.
“Oh, don’t worry,” the voice assured him. “I’m not going to hurt you or your dogs. The ones you need to worry about are the ones that are getting tired of talk.”
“What are you doing here?” Luke demanded. “What are you planning?”
"I told you," Chrysalis said. "I have a magnificent plan to take down Canterlot. And you are going to help me."
#
“So, you see?” Spike concluded, Shiva having listened patiently to his story. “You can put Blueblood and any pony associated with those pits into the dungeon. And all it’ll take is a short trip to Canterlot.”
“Princess Celestia genuinely regrets what happened,” Twilight insisted. “And she can protect you. She’ll make you into a guardian of Equestria. Get you help. And punish every pony who was involved with those horrible pits. Come on; you can trust her.”
Shiva considered Spike with a thoughtful glance, but something nagged painfully at the back of her mind. Another look at Rainbow Dash seemed to make the nagging sensation worse.
“Darling,” Rarity snapped at the cyan mare. “For goodness sake; can you stop terrifying the dog with your hostility?!”
“Me!?” Rainbow Dash demanded. “I’m not the one that looks like she’s about to run off and re-check all her safes!”
“That’s enough, girls!” Twilight barked. Rainbow Dash and Rarity glared at her mutinously, before Shiva sighed.
“If all this is true,” she said. “Then why can’t Princess Celestia tell me herself?”
Applejack grinned.
“Well, Canterlot needs her right now,” she replied.
Shiva’s ears flicked, but she nodded in understanding. “I can believe that,” she said. “But then she should understand that the diamond dogs need me as well.”
Rarity gave the dogs another glower, even though they had vanished from the tunnels.
“You shouldn’t trust them,” she said. “All diamond dogs care about is their next horde of precious metals. Haven’t you considered how they’d act if you didn’t have some fancy power to protect yourself?”
“Rarity!” Pinkie cried.
“She’s got a point, Pinkie,” Twilight said, turning back to Shiva. “You have to be careful with diamond dogs, Shiva. They’re not generous like ponies can be.”
“Oh, right,” Shiva said sarcastically. “I nearly forgot: the ponies were verygenerous.” She turned her back to them, displaying the still prominent scars on her back, outlined in red war paint to look like she was still bleeding. “They just had so many lashings to give.”
“Land sakes!” Applejack exclaimed.
Twilight gasped. Rarity screamed. Rainbow Dash’s hostile look faltered. Fluttershy whimpered and actually started to cry. Pinkie’s eyes bugged out of her skull.
“It-well, it makes a little sun picture on the… back,” she whimpered, clearly struggling to see something positive.
Just as the mares looked down in shame… BOOM! A blast of magic echoed from the tunnels.
“Shiva!”Luke’s voice gasped into her link.
That's what the nagging sensation had been, Shiva realized guiltily. Not these stupid ponies... but my pack getting into a fight! How could I mix those up?
“It… she got away from me!" Luke continued. "She’s…”
Shiva whirled around just as a green light lit up her tunnel, and something stumbled out. Every eye spun to it as – Shiva and the mares’ jaws dropped – a pink alicorn stumbled into the light. Ragged and battered, her fur scuffed with dirt and her mane a rat’s nest. Her purple eyes stared around in disbelief.
“Oh, thank the Queen,” the alicorn whimpered. “I thought I’d never see the light of day again.”
Shiva blinked. “Luke, who the heck is that?” she asked.
“Changeling!” Luke gasped. “I tried to stop her, but…”
“No! Don't hurt yourself more! Are you okay?” Shiva asked worriedly. But she didn’t dare get closer.
Twilight did, however, running over to the disguised changeling.
“Cadence?!” she half-stammered, half-cheered. “I didn’t… how long has it…” As the ‘Cadence’ alicorn turned back to her, Twilight squealed in glee and…
“Sunshine-sunshine, ladybug’s awake; clap your hooves and do a little shake.”
For a moment, there was utter silence, as every pony and every dog tried to process what Twilight just did.
“W-What?” ‘Cadence’ asked.
“Cadence?” Twilight insisted. “It’s me, Twilight!”
But ‘Cadence’ looked right past her, and focused on Shiva.
“Ugh, there’s no time for that,” ‘Cadence’ insisted, brushing past a confused looking Twilight. The alicorn pointed at Shiva as she limped her way over to the Equestrian border. “That creature is a beast!”
Shiva and the others gasped, while Luke snarled in boiling rage.
“Those horrible dogs caught me,” ‘Cadence’ insisted, as Shiva’s heart thudded into her stomach. “They tortured me; beat me just for what other ponies did.”
The mares eyes darted back to Shiva; some – like Applejack, Fluttershy and Pinkie – with confusion, Twilight with aghast horror, and Rainbow Dash and Rarity with certain anger.
“Shiva,” Twilight stammered. “You didn’t…”
“No!” Shiva cried. “That... ‘thing’ is lying!”
“You can’t even refer to me as a proper pony?!” ‘Cadence’ cried, putting a hoof to her head. “Oh, does your ruthlessness know no bounds, foul creature!?”
The tree line shook, growing alive with guards.
“That’s exactly what we needed to hear,” one guard growled, aiming a spell at Shiva.
“Girls, get down!” another yelled.
Pinkie and Fluttershy tried to jump to Shiva’s defense, but were grabbed by Rainbow Dash and Rarity. Shiva, meanwhile, flared her magic into a barrier as a volley of spells shot at her.
But the shots went wide, as Skippy and his diamond dogs fell upon the ponies.
For a brief moment, Shiva saw Spike, looking at her with horror and sadness. But Shiva turned her eyes away from him with a sigh.
"Iron Paws," she growled through the link. "Time to battle!"