“Hey, Fluttershy.” Light sucked in a breath. “I just wanted to say I’m sorry. You don’t deserve to be here, and though it wasn’t this version of me that teleported you, I can’t help but feel that I am at fault. If I had ever bothered to really look into the mechanics of that spell, none of us would be here.” She sighed. ”At least the other Twilight’s and I earned our place here through our stupid ignorance. You, on the other hoof, never did a single thing wrong. Just had the bad luck of befriending me. I would do anything to reverse your fate, please know that. Fluttershy?”
Much to Light’s displeasure, the pegasus was still stuck in that catatonic state. All she could do was stare wide-eyed off into space. It was as if her brain had been shocked into a complete shutdown.
“What are you doing?”
Light turned to face Twi, who had approached from behind. “What do you mean? I’m apologizing. That, and trying to snap her out of this state.”
Twi rolled her eyes. “You’re useless. You know that, right? All you do is mope and talk to the braindead pony. The same pony that will soon be dead for real if we can’t get her to eat. How is the progress on that by the way?”
Light scowled at her doppelgänger. The grumpy pessimist had become unbearable to live with ever since Fluttershy’s arrival the day before. All she did was complain about how they would have another mouth to feed, and a useless one at that—if they could even convince Shy to eat at all—and offer up outlandish ways to snap their friend out of her vegetative state.
Her idea of force feeding her was more likely to harm than help, but where Light had really drawn the line was at the casual suggestion of physical pain. That maniac actually wanted to try torturing the poor mare out of her state. Before that moment, Light had been sympathetic to the older version of herself, thinking her just a slightly traumatized version of herself, but that suggestion was enough to show her what a few weeks in this place really meant for a pony’s mental state. She dreaded becoming the same.
“Well?” Twi spat. “Are you going to answer me? Or, perhaps, are you going to give up so we can try things my way?”
“Never.” Light brought her hoof down with a loud crack. “In fact, I was going to try reading to her next. One way or another, I will help her.”
“Whatever.” Twi offhoofedly waved her bad leg in Fluttershy’s direction. “Just let me know when you give up.”
Light turned away, not willing to dignify that statement with a response. Her copy could go do whatever she wanted, so long as it didn’t harm anypony else. In the meantime, Light would be reading Daring Do and the Secrets of Brodfeld. Hopefully, a lighthearted adventure novel would do Fluttershy well.
Daring Do stepped off the boat into the port city of Sydia, saddlebags laden with maps, gear, and a number of texts on the local customs. After a long voyage, she had finally arrived at the Kingdom of Brodfeld, ricebasket of Griffonia—at least if her decades old books were to be believed. Despite her many travels, it was still the first time she’d ever been so far from Equestria, now hundreds of miles away.
Her objective was to retrieve the Staff of Sanguine Souls, an artifact stolen from the Tenochtitlan Basin. The entire mission was the result of a rare loss to Doctor Caballeron. He had successfully escaped with the artifact and sold it to the highest bidder. Unfortunately for said bidder, Daring Do didn’t give up easily. She would find whatever ne’er do well had a penchant for dangerous magical artifacts and relieve them of it. Such things belonged under lock and key—in a museum if safe, or a vault if not.
There was only one problem with her plan. While it was easy enough to track the shipment to Sydia, figuring out where it went from there would be darn near impossible. If she was lucky, the Brodfeldan authorities would keep track of incoming materials, but even then, they would be unlikely to share such information with her.
It was a good thing then that she had the foresight to hit up an old friend of hers, a blue pegasus with connections to the Equestrian royalty, and ask for a quick favor. One visit to Princess Celestia later and she had a letter to present the king of Brodfeld, requesting an audience and aid in her investigation. If anypony—or, she supposed, anygriff, seeing as how it was a griffon nation—could help her gain access to the proper documentation, it was him. She just needed to find a train to Kivessin, the capital. It turned out, that was easier said than done.
A trip to the train station found it closed. Apparently, a train had run its tracks not far from the city of Crowioa, directly between Kivessin and Sydia. That wasn’t even the oddest thing though. Worse was the station attendant’s attitude toward the whole thing—and yes, the entire station had exactly one attendant. He just shrugged nonchalantly, said, “You know how it is. Sometimes these things happen,” and went back to reading a magazine. One dated from weeks back. Dozens, possibly hundreds, of griffons were injured or dead, but nogriff seemed to care.
She was starting to gather that Brodfeld wasn’t the idyllic ricebasket her books made it out to be. Or at least, it wasn’t any longer. She should have guessed the moment she saw beggars in once fine clothes dotting the streets, dirty old flags hanging at every corner, and not an ounce of fat on any griffon within sight. The only things in abundance were weapons, even if badly outdated, and anti-communist posters. Not that she even had a good understanding of what a communist was, being from Equestria, where such things did not exist except as idle discussion amongst bored philosophers with far too much time on their hooves.
“Pardon, but are you new here? We don’t see many ponies in these parts.”
Daring Do whipped around, coming face to face with an older white griffon with a considerably healthier complexion than his fellow countrygriffs. “Who are you?”
He chuckled. “Oh, that’s not important. But a strangely dressed pegasus this far from the Riverlands? Now that is interesting.”
“Oh, no, I’m not from the Riverlands,” she said quickly. “I’m from Equestria.”
“Is that so?” He smiled, an odd looking gesture, given his oversized beak. “Why come then? Surely a starving and war torn country such as this holds little interest for one such as yourself.”
“It’s...” she hesitated, wary of giving too much away to the strange griffon. Already he gave off the feeling that he knew more than he should. She had encountered ponies like that before, and it was rarely good for her—unless it was one of the princesses, of course. “I’ve had something stolen from me,” she said, settling into a believable story. “It was by a griffon. I have reason to believe that they are from here.”
“Ah,” he nodded, a knowing twinkle in his viridian eyes. “So you seek to recover it then. Good luck with that. I’ll warn you though, this place is dangerous. Ponies, griffons, and objects alike can simply... disappear. And I assure you, there are far more dangerous things than you about. Bandits, bog creatures, pugnacious kingsguards, and worse, communists, can be found around any corner. I would hate for something to happen to a lone visitor such as yourself.” He gave a warm smile that didn’t quite reach those calculating eyes.
“Uh, right. Yeah, I’ll be careful.” Daring Do stepped back, suddenly wanting to put a great distance between herself and the unnerving griffon. She much preferred to deal with problems head on, but seeing as how he’d given her no reason to distrust him aside from a strange feeling, she really had no choice but to leave or continue to indulge in the uncomfortable conversation. She preferred the former.
“Well, look at the time.” She glanced down at an imaginary watch on her foreleg. “I’d love to stay and chat, but I have somewhere I have to be.”
“Of course.” He gave a serene bow. “Farewell, strange traveler.”
“Uh, yeah. You too.” She turned and leapt into the air, set to fly all the way to Kivessin in lieu of train. It would leave her exhausted by the end, but at least it would be quick. After all, she had an appointment with the king to keep. She just hoped he was more normal than everything else she’d seen in Brodfeld thus far.
Light nudged Fluttershy. “Well, what do you think? It doesn’t seem to be quite the cheerful adventure I was hoping for, but I’m sure it will get better. This is Daring Do, after all. I mean, It even referenced Rainbow Dash.”
She received no answer.
“Fluttershy...”
“Light, it’s time.”
“What?” Light said, turning to face Twi, who had once again approached unseen from directly behind her. She had a habit of doing that. “What do you mean it’s time? Time for wha—“ Her breath caught. Twi was holding an axe in the crook of her injured foreleg, using the other to walk, even if somewhat awkwardly. “Why do you have a weapon?”
The other pony sighed. “Listen, I didn’t want it to come to this, but we can’t let this continue. If anything, it’s unethical to do so. We leave her like this, and we’re condemning her to slowly starve whilst trapped in her own mind, unable to face the horrors of reality. We should give her a quick end. It’s the right thing to do.”
“Right thing to do!” Light exclaimed, shocked. “Just earlier you wanted to torture her out of this state and now you’re worried about the right thing?”
“Don’t be dramatic. I never wanted to torture her, just give her a good slap or two. Besides, I didn’t really mean that. I was just frustrated.” She stepped forward, tossing the axe down in front Fluttershy. “Now, I’m going to need you to stand aside. You don’t have to watch if it’s too upsetting for you, but I need to do this. It is the most moral option we have left. I promise I’ll make it quick, painless.”
“No!” Light placed herself between the two ponies. “I will not allow this to happen! I am not ready to give up on her! I mean, it’s only been a day. Surely there is more we can do, some way we can save her.”
Twi shook her head. “Even if we brought her back, to what end would it be? She would still have to die the same, slow death we eventually will. When faced with two evils, you accept the lesser and move on. Otherwise, you are doing nothing more than letting fate choose for you. And fate is all too often a cruel arbiter.”
“I... I can’t. I just can’t.” Light forced back the incoming tears. “If I let a pony—a friend—die under my watch, what does that make me? Not the princess of friendship, that’s for certain.”
“So it’s pride then?” Twi rolled her eyes. “Very well. Keep holding on to your old ideals. Eventually, you’ll learn they no longer apply. Just remember that whatever happens to Fluttershy now is on your hooves. You caused it, and it will be on your heart that the consequences weigh.”
“I know.” Light gave a weak nod. “I know. Please, just leave me alone. I need to keep trying.”
Twi left without a word, abandoning the axe on the ground. It was a horrid reminder. Light tried to move Fluttershy away from it, but she wasn’t strong enough to pull the pony far, and she lacked the heart to actually touch the would-be murder weapon, otherwise she would have picked it up and given it the hardest throw she could muster.
Light began to sob. It was going to be a very long day.