Rainbow sat a the table drinking coffee feeling miserable. Her body was twitchy, strained and sore from her tantrums. Her eyes were red rimmed from lack of sleep. She had hoped the coffee would perk her up but it seemed to only give more energy to feel guiltier.
The apartment door creaked open and Rainbow stiffened at the sound. Fluttershy tried her best to sneak through but noted that Rainbow was watching her the moment she entered. She felt her body tense and her gut danced around making her feel sick.
Rainbow stood up when she saw her. “Fluttershy.. I..”
The fear took over and the yellow mare ran full gallop to her room. She slammed the door and stood behind it shaking.
Rainbow watched the terror with an equally horrified look on her own face. Then the sadness and pain that she caused became all too clear. She placed her head into her hooves. She could feel the tears under the surface but she didn’t want to let them out. It hurt too much.
Fluttershy’s breath came in ragged gasps. Then she remembered the conversation she had with Applejack that morning.
“Ah talked ta Rainbow for ya,” Applejack had said.
“You didn’t hurt her did you?” cried Fluttershy.
“No, there always two sides ta every story. You taught me that when Ah pushed ya over before. Like Ah said Ah talked to her and she’s genuinely sorry. Ah think ponies like Rainbow Dash are a little more intense than the rest of us. When they want somethin’ they’re just used to goin’ for it.”
“That makes sense. It was just so scary to see her that ...fierce. I felt like there was nothing I could do to stop her if she didn’t stop herself.”
“But she did, Sugarcube,” reminded Applejack. “She did stop when ya told to, like she oughtta.”
“Did I do the wrong thing? By running away?”
“No. It was just a misunderstanding is all. Now Ah told ‘er ta back off ya. Ya need to figure this out. Ah’ll help ya in anyway Ah can but this is really about you and ‘er.”
“I think I’ll go home and change,” Fluttershy decided.
“That’ll be a good place ta start. Ah’ll be here for ya ifin ya need me.”
***
Fluttershy breathed a sigh in her room. She wondered if she was over reacting. She remembered Rainbow’s expression as she walked in. The scary pegasus had looked miserable, not intimidating.
Fluttershy poked her head out of the room and saw Rainbow still sitting at the table. The second filly looked so small and defeated. It hurt to see the proud pony brought so low. Fluttershy slowly crept out to talk.
“Rainbow?” she mumbled quietly.
“Yeah,” Rainbow replied, her body went board stiff.
“I understand you’re sorry. I do forgive you but it might be a little time before I’m comfortable around you again.”
“Does that mean your breaking up with me?”
“I don’t know. But I am going to try to relax.”
“Ok. Applejack told me to give you time. I’m really bad with waiting as you probably figured out,”admitted Rainbow,”but I will wait until you’re ready. I promise.”
“Ok.”
****
Pinkie’s early giddiness crashed. She wondered why the monster that killed her family would be downstairs. She was so caught up in her questions that she didn’t notice the sullen looks of her pilots. Or even the results of their latest harmonics tests.
“Fluttershy is improving again,” Twilight informed to her. “But it looks like Rainbow Dash is slipping a bit.”
“Huh? What?” Pinkie replied while she blinked her eyes in confusion.
“You said you weren’t actually drunk last night.”
“I wasn’t.”
“Well you’re certainly not here,” Twilight observed. An amused expression landed on her face and stuck there. Pinkie could feel what she was assuming.
“No, it’s, umm, how are the tests going?” Pinkie quickly changed subjects.
“Well, if you had been listening, I had just said Fluttershy’s rates are high above Rainbow’s now.”
“That’s great!”
“But that’s because Rainbow’s rates have dropped dramatically since last week.”
“Maybe she has indigestion from their date last night,” suggested Pinkie.
“That wouldn’t effect it. What date?”
“Her and Fluttershy went on a date last night. I didn’t get to ask them how it went.”
“They’re dating. That could throw off the whole dynamic. What if they break up or have a big fight? What if we can’t get them to work together when an angel appears?” Twilight pranced in worry.
“But they really wanted to, Twilight. How could I say no to young love?”
The pilots filed in and Pinkie noticed the pained expressions on Fluttershy and Rainbow’s faces. This was not what she was hoping to see.
“Great job everypony. Umm you all did great,” the party pony awkwardly began.
Rainbow stared at the floor. Fluttershy hid behind her hair and glanced at Rainbow. Maud looked, well, like Maud.
“Um, good news Fluttershy your scores are even better than Rainbow Dash,” Pinkie tried.
“Whatever,” sighed Rainbow.
“Ok you guys need a party. Such unhappy faces fill me with too much sadness. Except Maud who’s always happy.”
Pinkie did her best but somehow the party didn’t gel as it usually did. Pinkie didn’t know what happened but every time she tried to find out both pegasi remained sullen and tight lipped. Maud said she didn’t know anything about it all despite Pinkie’s multiple questioning of her.
It began to bother Pinkie which in turn began to bother Cheese. So one sunny day Cheese found Rainbow sitting by herself in the cafeteria.
“Well, well, if it isn’t the radiant Rainbow Dash,” Cheese commented as he approached. He was met with a defeated small smile. “Or is it Rainstorm Dash now?”
“Sorry, I guess I’ve been going through a lot lately. Perhaps you’d be better off hanging with Pinkie. She’ll be more fun.”
“Perhaps,” he said but seriously doubted it. Not with her whining about how her roommates are moopy gloomy ponies. “But I couldn’t ignore my good friend Rainbow and leave her all by herself.”
“Great,” she moaned. “Now I’m a pity case.”
“I’m here to eat lunch with my friend. And Boneless 3. To not to would be the pity.”
He ended the discussion by markedly stuffing his sandwich into his mouth. Rainbow watched him as he defiantly ate. She looked away from him and poked her soup with her spoon.
“Listen,” Cheese said softly between bites. “We’ve known each other a while. You know I’m not leaving you like this.”
Rainbow started to sniffle a few tears back. Then felt her shoulders sag. She couldn’t bare the weight alone anymore.
“I really messed up,” the speedster began. “You know how excited I get right before I score a goal? Well apparently it can feel really scary to some timid ponies when they don’t know it’s coming.”
“You scared Fluttershy with excitement?”
“Well, I guess I just caught up in the moment. I came on too strong.”
Cheese sighed. “That can happen. You need to just give her some space and hope she forgives you.”
“Well she says she forgives me but she still hasn’t sorted things out,” Rainbow said gloomily. “How could I mess this up so bad on the first date?”
“Hey, hey,” Cheese said.”You’re just finding out about each other. She said she forgave you didn’t she?”
“I just feel like I’m some kind monster. I lost control for just a moment.”
“Normally I would recommend a massive party but I think you need something else. I think you need a buddy party. Something to take your mind off of all this. You want to go do some shopping? Maybe hit an arcade?”
Rainbow numbly nodded. Anything sounded better than returning home which felt empty lately. They left the cafeteria and headed towards the city and better thoughts.
Pinkie watched them go from a far. She knew if any pony could cheer up Rainbow it was Cheese. Now she had to figure out how to cheer up Fluttershy.
***
“What is this place?” asked Fluttershy as she looked at the trees and fields.
“This is called an animal sanctuary,” said the green pony with orange dreadlocks that ran the preserve. “It’s where we, like, keep the animals safe.”
“Animals? As in animals animals,” squeaked Fluttershy.
“Yuppers,” Pinkie excitedly said. “It has birds, and cicadas, and squirrels and cicadas. There are a lot cicadas.”
“It’s, like, totally freeing to hear their joyous song,” agreed the preserve owner.
“This is wonderful,” cried Fluttershy. “Can I go in?”
“Oh yeah, like totally,” agreed the green owner. She slowly opened the gate.
Fluttershy and Pinkie entered the preserve. Fluttershy hopped around seeing all the critters she missed. Squirrels, birds, and hedgehogs all resided in the preserve. Fluttershy was like a foal in a cake shop. She bounced from one creature to another. She found that they expressed themselves to her in a way she never knew they could. Suddenly all her fear and apprehension was gone.
Pinkie watched her relax. Her Pinkie sense told her that she had made the right call. Now she just had to word things right to get her to open up.
“So Fluttershy, I’m super dooper happy that you’re enjoying this so much,” she began.
“This is the most wonderful place, Pinkie. Thank you so much for bringing me here.” The birds began to land on her wings.
“Sooo, what’s going on between you and Dashie?” she tactlessly blurted.
Fluttershy’s carefree face suddenly looked like it had been punched in the gut. “Oh, is that what this is about?”
“Kinda. I mean I was saving this place for a surprise party when we defeated the last angel or your birthday or something like that. You two have just been so sad since your date I was hoping that this would cheer you up.”
The birds seemed to cling to Fluttershy. They looked at her with an inquisitive cock of her head. She took a shuddering breath in and began the story as she told it to Applejack. Pinkie listened calmly. The perky roommate looked like a statue fully intent on every detail. Pinkie sighed when she finished. This is not what the date was supposed to lead to.
“Oh Fluttershy,” Pinkie said and immediately squeezed the life out of her in a hug. “I feel just awful. You two must feel so bad. Why didn’t you talk to us? We could have helped.”
“I ...I didn’t feel comfortable talking about it. I didn’t want to get Rainbow in trouble either. I know she didn’t mean it.”
“But trying to hold all this sadness and guilt in on your own is destroying you both. You both know that Rainbow didn’t mean it. Can you remind Rainbow of that?”
“Umm can you let me breath?” asked the reddening pegasi.
“I guess so.”
Pinkie let go and Fluttershy gasped a bit for breath. Her face turned back to yellow. The birds kept her from crying. In this place the fear seemed so small now. She thought about how Rainbow must be feeling and realized how sad the speedster was. She needed to cheer her up.
Suddenly Fluttershy’s necklace began to blink. She looked over and saw Pinkie had noticed as well.
“Oh poo, sorry, Fluttershy. We’ll comeback here again, ok?”
***
Fluttershy and Pinkie arrived at headquarters at the same time Cheese and Rainbow did. Fluttershy began to apologize but Rainbow turned and headed straight to her Eva. Fluttershy timidly followed.
Cheese and Pinkie looked at each other and sighed.
Pinkie arrived in the control room and found Twilight and the mares deep in their computers.
“An unidentifiable object has just entered our air space,” said Bon Bon.
“I think it’s called a UFO,” corrected Lyra.
“Oooo first angels, now aliens,” bounced Pinkie. “What a great time to be alive.”
“Put it on the screen,” said Twilight.
A large floating black and white striped sphere appeared on the screen. It hovered through the city with little trouble.
“It looks like a round black and white cookie!” observed Pinkie.
“But is it an angel?” pondered Twilight.
“The spike system can’t identify it,” Trixie answered
“Send the Evas to poke with a stick,” commanded Pinkie with sheer determination.
***
Unit-01 hid behind a tall building and held a long pole in its hooves. Fluttershy could feel her nerves beginning to return. The calmness of the preserve had disappeared and been replaced with fear. Something about this didn’t feel right.
“I don’t know about this plan, Pinkie,” Fluttershy said uncertainly.
“Why are you scared of that too?” snarked Rainbow.
“Rainbow!”cried Fluttershy in shock, “I thought you said you would give me time.”
“I know! I just thought you would feel better in a day or two not a week,” the third filly whined. “It feels awful not knowing if you have a girlfriend for a whole week. It was just a make out session.”
“Rainbow, I..”
“Enough of this!” commanded Twilight. “You have a job to do. Now do it.”
“Fine,” muttered Rainbow. Her shopping session with Cheese had made feel better. Now that she was near Fluttershy again the rawness of the past week was creeping out. She didn’t like feeling like a predator.
Unit-01 shakily reached out with the pole and slowly slid it at the sphere. As the pole came in contact with the ball the sphere vanished.
“Wha,” cried Fluttershy.
It was immediately replaced with a dark shadow that spread under Unit-01’s hooves. Fluttershy felt it under her. The shadow was freezing cold. She felt cold panic wash through body as she felt her Eva begin to sink into the soft material.
“What is that?!” cried Twilight.
Fluttershy felt her knees sink into the dark matter.
“Ahh! Help! Help! I’m sinking!” panically screamed Fluttershy.
She tried to pull her forehooves out but she couldn’t lift them. She watched in horror as her legs sunk further and further.
“Fluttershy, I’m coming,” shouted Rainbow. Unit-02 began to gallop to Fluttershy’s aid when the same shadow glided under her.
“Not going to work on me,” the second filly sneered and extended her wings. They filled with air and the Eva was able to lift off as the buildings around her began to sink. She landed on one over looking Unit-01. She squinted her eyes against the sunlight and saw Unit-01’s head barely above the dark miasma. She pressed hard on her hoof pistons and the Eva took off into the air.
“Help! Rainbow! Pinkie! Maud! Anypony heeelp!” Fluttershy shrieked.
“Hold on I got...,” Rainbow shouted. She flew as fast as she could but Unit-01’s head disappeared as her hooves reached for it. “...you?”
“Help! ...fizz...,” the radio sputtered its last and refused to answer anything else.
“Fluttershy!” yelled Rainbow until her lungs began to hurt. The control room crew pressed their hooves into their ears to block out the sheer pain of it.
“Rainbow, stand down!” shouted Twilight over Rainbow’s roar.
“But I have to get her,” the cyan mare shrieked with tears in her eyes.
“We have no idea what that stuff is. It could suck you in too,” explained Twilight.
“Maybe it’s magic pudding,” suggested Pinkie. “Try eating it.”
“Pinkie!” scolded Twilight. “Trying something like that without knowing what it is, is what got us in this mess in the first place.”
“Oh right. All Units fall back,” commanded Pinkie’s sad meek voice.
“But..”
“Sorry Dashie,” sniffed Pinkie.
“Don’t call me that! Only she can call me that!”
“I’m sorry.”
***
The control room’s ambience was remorseful and sad. Twilight stood in front of a chalk board. She felt it was her duty to inform the rest of them what they found. She found many ponies respond to a class room setting. The feeling of it comforted her. She turned to her “class” and began to teach.
“Ok we have analyzed the substance and found...”.
“Is it pudding?” asked Pinkie.
“No, it is not pudding and raise your hoof before you ask questions. Now what we found was the substance was an inter dimensional self generating portal. It can hold approximately 2000 cubic feet of space.”
Twilight used her magic to draw a large circle and added depth to her diagram.
“How much pudding?” Pinkie blurted again.
“Pinkie, raise your hoof. And 2000 cubic feet of pudding. Now..”
“Do we have 2000 cubic feet of pudding?”
“Pinkie! Hoof! Raise it! Why do we need that?”
Pinkie raised her hoof.
“Pinkie! You don’t have to raise her hoof when I ask you the question.”
“Well I thought that pudding would be a lot taster to eat than an Eva,” Pinkie suggested. “It might spit it out.”
“It’s a good thought Pinkie but I think the pudding would drown the Eva. We did find that the ‘shadow’ is the actual angel and the sphere is it’s shadow.”
“Why is its shadow white? Is it Opposite Day? Ooh ooh can I be opposite too. Let’s see what’s the opposite of Pinkie. Oh I can be Greenie Cake. Hee hee. That sounds funny.”
“Pinkie!” shouted Twilight. “Cake is the opposite of pie? No! We don’t have time for this now. The only plan I can think of is to use water to float the Eva out. With any luck it could drown the angel in the process.”
“Umm do Evas float?” asked Lyra with her hoof raised.
“They will, if we tell their pontoons to inflate.”
“But how?” Lyra asked with her hoof still raised. “The Eva isn’t communicating with us.”
“You’re supposed to raise your hoof then wait until you’re called on, Lyra,” hissed Bon Bon.
“We have to hope that the signal will get through,”Twilight said grimly.
“Gasp,” gasped Pinkie,” but if it doesn’t won’t Fluttershy drown?!”
“It’s the only plan we have. She should be on life support now. She doesn’t have a lot time before the air runs out. I don’t want to risk hurting her either but I can’t think of anything else,” Twilight sighed.
“Well it’s not a very good plan if it kills our friend,” sulked Pinkie.
“I know!” Twilight suddenly shouted. Small tears began to form in her eyes.” Celestia knows I know, Pinkie! But there is nothing else I think of! I can’t find any books any where that deals with inter-dimensional physics. She could be dead just by entering that field. I’m doing the best I can.”
Twilight felt the small modicum of control she had slip. She desperately tried to regain her composure. Within seconds Pinkie was there giving her a hug.
“I’m sorry, Twi, but this is really scary and I am really worried about Fluttershy,” Pinkie said.
“So am I. But we just have hope that this works.”
***
The inside of the Evanstallion was cold and getting colder. The oxygen filled liquid was cloudy. Fluttershy could barely move her body. She could feel the heaviness of the liquid as it pressed in on her.
“It’s so cold. And empty. I’m getting so sleepy. I wish my friends would come. It looks like I only have a few hours left. I guess I should haven’t have let Rainbow wait so long. I wish I could feel more comfortable. It’s not easy when you're scared all the time,” Fluttershy thought out loud.
The cloudy liquid slowly began to change into the safe glade that Fluttershy had left. The birds flew around her once again and she could feel their voices relax her. Suddenly a large black and white crow landed in front of her. It was the size of a foal and stared at her.
“Why are you afraid all the time?” it cawed.
“I don’t know. I try to be calm around every pony. I just can’t help but think of all the danger that could be around us.”
“Is that true reason?”
“What do you mean?”
“Well there is a lot of danger around you all time,” reminded the crow. “The apartment could suddenly collapse or the floor could give out, yet you aren’t as afraid at home.”
“That’s true.”
“You aren’t afraid around us birds and animals. We could turn on you at any moment.”
“That’s also true,” admitted Flutterfly. “I just discovered how much calmer I am around you all.”
“Then what do you fear so much?”
“Ponies?”
“All of them? But aren’t you comfortable around Applejack, Pinkie Pie and Sunburst?”
“I suppose so.”
“So what do you fear?”
“I guess it’s not just specific ponies but aspects of them,” Fluttershy said, feeling her mind become a little fuzzier.
“Isn't it true you're more afraid of yourself and how others see you?”
“That does sound true.”
“You don’t like the thoughts of others. The judgement. The intolerance. They can look at you and see a small little pony afraid of her own shadow.”
“It’s true,” she wailed and placed her hooves over eyes.
“Even her...”
The edge of the glade shook as the familiar cyan pegasus emerged from the edge. The crow leaned in to Fluttershy’s personal space.
“You want her to love you. To want you. But you run away from her when she tries to move closer.”
“It’s not like that,” cried Fluttershy.
“You want to keep her around but don’t want her to get too close. You don’t want to feel what she feels.”
“What she feels is so intense,” explained the panicked pegasi. “It makes you happy and scared at the same time. I want to hold her but I want hide under my bed all at once. It’s so confusing.”
“So why do you want it so deeply?”
“I don’t know.”
“Love that can not be found in yourself can not be found in others. You seek that which is in front of you in others. If others reject you, you reject yourself. Is that the kind of exist you want? I wouldn’t.”
“Is that all I am?” pondered Fluttershy out loud. “Just following others leads? Is there really no reason to love others than to try to fulfill myself? Wait, what is that warmth?” She looked around and found a strange familiar silhouette. It was small with long ears. “Who’s there? Angel?! An angel? No, Angel. Angel Bunny. Oh, have you been with me the whole time? I missed you. Yes, you can take over for a while. I’m going to rest.”
She felt what little consciousness remained start to dissipate into the warm glade sunlight.
***
Pinkie had never seen Twilight look so strained as they watched the large water truck back up to the shadow. She looked at her lists multiple times. She redid her calculations again and again. She took one last look as the water truck positioned itself. Lucky the angel seemed to remain still the entire time.
The pilots watched next to their Evas in case they were needed. Rainbow stood with a harsh scowl on her face. Unbeknownst to Twilight she threw as many eye daggers as she could muster in the unicorn’s direction.
The second before the water began to pour the large dark mass on the ground began to bubble and shift. It writhed and shook. Then large bloody cracks raced along its center. The black sea that was the angel’s body started to spray blood all over the city.
“What have we done?” cried Pinkie.
“Nothing!” shouted Twilight. “The water never touched it yet!”
The purple unicorn’s explanation was short lived as a large spray of blood doused the CAKE team. Twilight stood still for a second as she could feel her self drenched. Pinkie brought her a towel.
The blood stopped and the team heard a tear rip across the outside of the floating sphere as it appeared in the sky again. Again blood sprayed from the jagged opening as Unit-01 soggily emerged. Its eyes gleamed blue in a murderous rage . An unearthly roar emitted from behind its armor plated mouth.
“What am I piloting?” whispered Rainbow Dash as she stared in disbelief.
The blood soaked CAKE team stared in terror as the Eva stepped out from the ruined bloody sphere on to the lifeless blackened street. Then large inflatable swimmies expanded around its legs. It toppled over like a fainting goat with its legs splayed out from the floatation devices.
“It didn’t deploy until now!” gasped Twilight. “I would have...”
Rainbow took off as soon as the cyborg crashed onto the pavement. She abandoned her Eva and soared with all the speed she could muster. The CAKE team got there first and had begun to extract the blood encrusted entry plug. She landed as they pulled out the semiconscious form of Fluttershy. She forced her way through them and wrapped her hooves around her pale friend.
“Fluttershy!” Rainbow hastily began.”I didn’t mean it! I didn’t mean to make you feel bad! It just hurt so much knowing I ruined things. I’ll stop. I’ll leave you alone if you want me to.”
Fluttershy’s trembling hoof reached and touched Rainbow’s face. It shakily caressed her blue cheek.
“I just wanted to see your heart one more time,” whispered Fluttershy. Then she passed out.
“Fluttershy!”
***
Fluttershy felt the bright sunlight on her face. It washed out the colors from the world. For the briefest of moments she thought of a small white bunny by her side but then that faded with the light. Her eyes fully adjusted and she saw the ceiling she had seen quite often. She wished she would stop waking here after angel battles. This time felt different. Her body felt so weak and her mind felt fuzzy.
She slowly lifted her marble weighted head and looked through her sandpaper covered eyes. She noted two pony shapes sleeping around her. One had pulled her hoof into the fetal ball she had become and snored loudly. The other looked like a pink mass of stray hair and mane.
A gray form walked through the door and stood in front her. A hazy thought said it was Maud.
“I am glad that you ok,” the form stated flatly.
“Oh, thank you,” she answered. It’s good to be polite to fuzzy forms. The Maud shape nodded then left back through the door.
A strangely hesitant purple mass appeared from behind the door way. Slowly Fluttershy’s eyes began to zoom in on the form. It slowly cleared to become Twilight. She looked awful. She had huge bags under her eyes and her mane was covered in curled stray hairs. Her normal business like gait was oddly stilted and hesitant. She walked right to the bed and looked down her with red rimmed eyes.
“Fluttershy, I’m sorry,” the unicorn said in a hoarse voice.
“Why?”
“The plan I came up with would have killed you,” Twilight explained. “All I could do was hope that the signal to deploy the floatation devices was received. But it wasn’t. I would have filled that shadow with water and drown you in the process.”
“I see,” said Fluttershy in her own soft way. “But I was dying anyway. If it was the only plan you could think of then you can’t blame yourself.”
“I could have sent in an Eva,” Twilight retorted dryly.
“Then we would be down two.”
“You can’t blame yourself for something you didn’t even do, silly,” said the pink pile of fluff in the corner. It shook itself off and morphed into the caring form of Pinkie Pie.
“But my plan..”
“Was the best you could think of,” interjected Pinkie. “No one would blame you if your plan doesn’t work.”
“It worked out ok, Twilight,” assured Fluttershy. “Now I just need some rest.”
They left her with the snoring rainbow maned ball around her hoof. Cyan ears twitched and pink eyes opened just long enough to hear Fluttershy say, “I wish I could remember who I was talking to before I fell asleep. I seemed so happy.” Then they closed again feeling much more comforted then before. Fluttershy’s own eyes closed as she joined her girlfriend in sleep.