Fluttershy’s head was ringing something fierce as she flew away from the Canterlot castle gardens, but she knew everything was going to be okay once she got to a safe place where she could be alone with Pinkie Pie.
“Don’t worry, Pinkie,” Fluttershy said softly, holding Pinkie up to Fluttershy’s eyes with her tail. “I would never hurt you.”
Pinkie looked upset, so Fluttershy gently moved her claw over to run through Pinkie’s mane, but Pinkie huffed and looked away and slapped at Fluttershy’s claw with her hand, so Fluttershy retracted it, before landing on a nearby narrow mountain pass that ran up the side of the Canterlot mountains.
“Pinkie Pie,” Fluttershy said sadly, trying to look into Pinkie’s eyes, “why are you upset? Is it something I did?”
“Wh— you’re kidnapping me!” Pinkie screamed, throwing her hands above her head. “Why would I not be upset about that?!”
“I’m not kidnapping you,” Fluttershy explained. “But it was dangerous back there, those ponies were attacking me! I needed to get away, and I just couldn’t leave you behind.”
“I don’t like this, Fluttershy,” Pinkie said sternly. “Please, just transform back to pony size and let’s go back to the others and sort this out.”
“No,” Fluttershy shook her head, ears clamping against her skull. “They attacked me!”
“Didn’t you attack them first?” Pinkie asked.
“Eh, we—I—” Fluttershy paused. She honestly couldn’t remember. Everything had happened so fast. That didn’t seem like something she’d do though, did it?
Ow.
There was a pain in Fluttershy’s hand, and it throbbed through her whole body. She clasped her head and tried to make the pain go away but it just got worse, overwhelming her until she couldn’t stand it. She heard Pinkie’s voice echoing in her ears but couldn’t make out what she was saying.
“Fluttershy!”
“Pinkie Pie?” Fluttershy let out some noise that was between a whine and a growl.
“Let’s go back to the others,” Pinkie said, running her little hands through the fur on Fluttershy’s tail. “Please.”
“No,” Fluttershy shook her head. “They’ll attack me again! I don’t care about any of them, I just want to be with you!”
“I don’t like that!” Pinkie shouted angrily, Fluttershy wincing in pain. “You’re being really selfish right now, Fluttershy, and I don’t like that at all.”
“I’m not being SELFISH!” Fluttershy screamed, raising herself up and flaring her wings, snarling at Pinkie, who just glared back at her. “Everyone always tells me I’m selfish!” Fluttershy argued, tears streaming down her face as she tried so hard to bare her fangs and look serious. “But I’m not! I care so much about everyone else! I care about you!”
“Well you sure aren’t acting like it,” Pinkie said firmly, crossing her arms and looking Fluttershy dead in the eye.
“Please,” Fluttershy whimpered, lowering herself practically to the ground and lifting Pinkie up with her tail, looking up at her pathetically. “Why won’t you just love me?”
“I do love you,” Pinkie sighed, her cheeks puffing up and tears glistening in her eyes, but she shut them tight and shook her head, slapping her hand against Fluttershy’s fur. “But I’m not gonna coddle you when you’re acting like a jerk! That’s not healthy! It’s not good for you or for me, and especially not for our relationship!”
Fluttershy wanted to argue. She wanted to say that Pinkie was the one acting like a jerk and being selfish, but she couldn’t bring herself to lie, especially not to Pinkie. There was a voice in her head screaming at her to yell and to be mad— to be furious even— that Pinkie refused to return her affections, but no matter what, Fluttershy wouldn’t turn on Pinkie Pie like that.
If there was one thing that Fluttershy was absolutely certain of, it’s that she loved Pinkie.
And maybe… Pinkie was right. Maybe Fluttershy had made a mistake, and she should just own that and return to the others.
But… no, they would just hurt her again. More than that, Fluttershy would just release Pinkie to them and Pinkie would run into their arms and they’d all look at Fluttershy like she was a monster. Pinkie would tell Applejack all about how Fluttershy had hurt her, and none of them would ever trust her again.
Though… maybe that’s what needed to happen.
But could Fluttershy really deal with that? Did it matter? Now Fluttershy felt her brain tearing itself apart, screaming over itself about whether or not she could bare to return to the others. She wanted Pinkie to be happy, but she wanted herself to be happy too, and she didn’t know if she could be happy without Pinkie or if Pinkie could be happy with her, she just didn’t know!
And she wished the buzzing would stop.
Fluttershy’s ears perked up and she took off into the air, a bolt of black magic tearing through the earth where she had just been sitting. Fluttershy’s eyes honed in on the source of the attack; a unicorn mare in a silk evening gown, a burgundy fur coat and wild, pinkish hair. Her horn was broken.
“Tempest?” Pinkie said in alarm.
Tempest?
Tempest Shadow?
Tempest… Shadow.
“Pinkie Pie!” Tempest called out, Pinkie’s ears flopping up as she instantly gave Tempest her attention. “I’m going to rescue you and kill that monster! I promise you, you’re going to be alright!”
“Fluttershy,” Pinkie squeaked, “please don’t do this. Just run. Please.”
Fluttershy barely even heard Pinkie’s words. How dare this woman who barely even knew Pinkie try to take her away from Fluttershy. How DARE she?!
Fluttershy held her tail, and Pinkie wrapped up in it, defensively behind her body as she breathed a stream of ice at Tempest, who countered by firing a bolt of magic directly through Fluttershy’s attack that she just barely dodged, at least enough that it only grazed her wing, instantly disintegrating a couple feathers.
Knocked slightly off-balance by this, Fluttershy was nearly hit by Tempest’s follow-up bolt, but Fluttershy was able to swerve around it, protecting both her body and Pinkie’s… or at least Fluttershy thought as much before she saw the massive gash across her stomach as blood poured from it onto the stone and dirt below.
Fluttershy could patch that up but she needed to end this now, so she hit the ground behind Tempest quicker than Tempest could react, and with a quick snap of her jaws she ate the pony whole, Pinkie letting out a horrified wail. Fluttershy really wished Pinkie hadn't seen that.
Fluttershy’s ears perked up and she screamed in agony as the inside of her mouth was eviscerated by Tempest’s magic, the pony somehow surviving being eaten by a dragon and falling out of Fluttershy’s mouth with only a couple large teeth marks and covered in blood, though Fluttershy had no idea whether it was hers or Fluttershy’s, as blood poured from her open mouth down her lips and onto the mountain pass.
Tempest was still on her back after falling out of Fluttershy, so the dragon took advantage and skewered the pony with her claws, Tempest letting out a tortured cry as Fluttershy’s nails dug right through her body and into the stone beneath her.
Tempest pointed a trembling hand at Fluttershy and shot another bolt of magic at her face, but Fluttershy shielded herself with her ice, though Tempest’s magic tore through it and destroyed part of Fluttershy’s body just underneath her eye, at least the attack wasn’t lethal.
Something landed in Tempest’s body, a foreign object that wasn’t thrown by Fluttershy and that she didn’t immediately recognize; it was a knife, and Fluttershy only made this connection an instant before Tempest disappeared, Fluttershy’s head bolting up as she blinked in confusion and looked around, only to look behind her and see that Tempest, still lying flat against the ground and barely breathing, had merely teleported a few feet away.
And Pinkie was now standing in front of her with her arms outstretched, having somehow gotten free of Fluttershy’s grasp during the battle.
“Fluttershy,” Pinkie said sternly, “I won’t let you hurt her anymore. I won’t let you hurt anyone else. You can take me wherever you want to go, but leave Tempest alone.”
Fluttershy didn’t need to think twice. She grabbed Pinkie Pie in her claw and took off into the night sky, leaving the bloodied body of Tempest Shadow behind her.