//------------------------------// // Chapter 4: Fluttershy // Story: Unfriendship 2 // by littleman001 //------------------------------// As usual, Friendly Discount finished setting up his stand on the Ponyville market before the first rays of the morning sun peaked out from beneath the horizon, ready for another uneventful day. Of course, being the most successful merchant in the town ever since it was rebuilt after the Regime attack two years ago meant that even an uneventful day will be quite busy for him. Sure enough, he barely finished placing all the groceries he sold onto the stand when his first customer of the day approached him. "Fluttershy!" he greeted the yellow Pegasus approaching his stand with her saddlebag and her pet bunny, Angel on her back. "How are you this fine morning?" he asked with a friendly smile, which the mare returned. "I'm fine Mr. Discount. Thank you." she responded, but the stallion groaned in response. "Flutters, we've been over this." he said in mock annoyance, causing Fluttershy to blush. "I'm sorry, Friendly. It's just... I'm not used to being so casual or... Well friendly - no pun intended - with other merchants since I moved back to the town. Or anypony for that matter." Friendly gave her a sad look. "Are the others giving you any trouble?" he asked. "They tend to overcharge their products with me and with my pet daycare and veteranian business not going as well as I'd like, I'm barely getting by." she replied, hanging her head down. "I'm sorry to hear that, Flutters." the salespony replied, petting her on the shoulder. "It's not like I hadn't expected it. I knew that ponies won't be thrilled to leave their pets in the care of Fluttershy, 'Convicted Regime Criminal.'" she said sadly. "Pardoned Regime Criminal." Friendly corrected. "Give them time. They'll come around." he reassured. Fluttershy wished to share her friend's optimism, but it had been two years since she moved back into the town and it hadn't been getting any easier for her. She was about to order the usual, when she suddenly noticed her surroundings becoming very dark. And she was not the only one to notice it. Everypony on the square looked up to the sky in confusion to see waves of zeppelin airships coming out from between the clouds. Their confusion turned to fear when they saw huge, armored creatures jumping out of them and landing all around the town. They wasted no time. They started rounding up ponies on the streets and tearing apart buildings looking for those who were hiding inside. When one of the creatures grabbed Friendly Discount with the visible intention to take him away, Fluttershy got over her shock and fear and let out a sharp whistle. A moment later, the creature screamed in pain as a bunch of hornets came out of nowhere and stung him in the backside. He took off with the swarm following him and Fluttershy helped Friendly up. "Thanks, Flutters. You already validated my faith in you." he smiled at her. He then looked up at the sky and saw the airships heading towards Canterlot. "They're heading towards the capitol!" Friendly exclaimed. "Fluttershy, how many animals can you take there very fast?" The pegasus' eyes widened at the question. "Uhm... My pardon agreement made it clear that I'm no longer welcome there!" she replied. "You think that matters when the country is being invaded?!" Friendly snapped, making Fluttershy back away in fear. Friendly calmed himself and adopted a more encouraging tone. "Look, Flutters. Celestia decided to give you another chance. Because she felt like you deserve it! And if she says you can redeem yourself, who are you to argue?" Fluttershy mulled over what he said and Friendly saw that his words were getting through to her. "Go! We can hold out! Canterlot needs you more than we do right now!" Fluttershy looked back at him and gave him a determined nod before taking off. Friendly was right. It was time for the Element of Kindness to fly again. And Equestria's living creatures would be right there by her side. Celestia entered the Eye of the Sun. She hasn't heard anything about the Flash, Daring or Thorax since yesterday and she was getting worried. She decided to use her surveillance system to see how were they doing in the Badlands, but she was both frustrated and surprised to see that the crystals were not responding. "What is wrong? Why aren't they working?" she jumped back in fright when the room was filled by a deep evil laugh. "Because they are no longer under your control." the screens around the room all moved out of their position and lined up in front of Celestia to form a larger, unified screen in front of her. The giant screen then went black and the Storm King's face came up on it, grinning down at the startled princess. "But mine." It took Celestia a few moments to get over her shock. When she did, she tried to wrestle the control over the system back from the Storm King with her magic, but it was a futile effort. "Don't bother." the Storm King laughed. "I wield magic far beyond yours in your weakened state." Celestia glared up at him. 'Who is this creature and how does he know so much about me?' she pondered. "You have lost your throne, your power and your student. And you are about to lose your country as well." the Storm King mocked. "I wouldn't boast about victory prematurely." Celestia cut back. "Who are you?" "You can call me the Storm King. And I have already won. As we speak, my forces have already decimated the majority of yours in every major equestrian city. Your greatest defenders have all turned against you and your precious Elements of Harmony are gone. Equestria is basically free for the taking." the Storm King gloated. Celestia narrowed her eyes. 'So he doesn't know about the restored elements. That could work to my advantage.' "But your country is just the cherry on the top. I am far more interested in your magical abilities. You may have been weakened by your student but your alicorn magic inside you still remains powerful. You and your fellow alicorns will all belong to me." Celestia was taken aback by the fact that he knew about this as well, but she wasn't about to show it. "I may have a few surprises left in store." she said clamly, before turning around to leave. "I can't wait to see them." the Storm King laughed before the screen went black. Celestia left the underground chamber, pondering what she should do next. If what the Storm King told her was true, Equestria's defenses were already overwhelmed. If she wanted any chance at winning, she needed to rally whatever allies she had left and hit the Storm King directly. Which would not be easy if she didn't know anything about her enemy. But maybe there was a way to find out more. The Storm King seemed to be very familiar with recent events in Equestria. Especially the ones regarding her and her former student, Twilight Sparkle. 'Could it be that her and this Storm King have crossed paths before?' she wondered. She couldn't be sure, but it was the only lead she had. Immediately, Celestia knew what she'll have to do next. She wasn't eager about it, but it seemed like she would have to pay a visit to an old friend. True to the Storm King's words, Royal Guard units in Canterlot were quickly overwhelmed by the Storm King's forces. Pegasi and Earth Pony civilians quickly fled, but the unicorns were not so lucky. They were being rounded up by the enemy soldiers whose leader was scanning them with a strange device. Around them were four more of them standing guard. The results of the creature's scans apparently didn't bring the desired results as he groaned in irritation when he finished and motioned for his underlings to finish the ponies, but before any of them could move, they were interrupted by the roar of a bear who quickly rushed in and banged two of the creatures' heads together, knocking them out. A third one was attacked by flocks of birds and the fourth found his head wrapped up in spider web. Their leader could only watch in shock before he was knocked out from behind by Fluttershy who slammed into him at top speed from behind. She then turned to the hostages. "Get yourselves to safety!" they didn't need to be told twice. While the situation was dire, Fluttershy couldn't help but feel good that she was able to do good for the ponies of Equestria again. Maybe Celestia and Friendly Discount were right. There was hope for her after all. The Storm King and Tempest Shadow were on the airship serving as the conqueror's base of operations, observing the events in Canterlot on a magical screen. The Storm King was pleased to see how his invasion was going, which only made the interference of Fluttershy and her animals all the more angering for him. "The former element of kindness has returned to action." he growled in frustration. However, Tempest's confident smirk remained. "Nothing unexpected. I have already dispatched a group to give her a proper greeting." this news was more to the Storm King's liking. He returned Tempest's smirk before they turned their gaze back to the screen. They were not the only ones observing the events. In Stalliongrad, Blueblood and Rainbow Dash were watching the invasion commence through a magic screen of their own. "Only Canterlot?" Dash asked. Blueblood shook his head. "Sadly no. Ponyville, Manehattan, Baltimare, Appleoosa. It's a full scale invasion." They were watching so closely that didn't notice Luster Dawn behind them. She was also watching the screen and her blood went cold when she saw a familiar black airship. "It's him." she whispered with utter dread, making Dash and Blueblood finally noticed her. "Who Luster? Who is it?" Luster didn't answer. She had seen firsthoof what the Storm King is capable of. If he finally gathered enough power for himself to launch a full scale invasion against all of Equestria, then that meant... "We need to get Princess Twilight! NOW!" Fluttershy had just finished dispatching another group of the Storm King's forces when her bird friends brought her news of another captured group of unicorns near the palace. She was currently on her way there, but unknown to her, she was anticipated. On a nearby roof, Bon Bon was standing with a bola launcher, spying the sky for the yellow pegasus. A whirl in the air let her know that her target just passed and after locking on her, she fired her weapon. Fluttershy never saw it coming. The bola wrapped itself around her and she ended up crashing into the ground. After a few seconds, she managed to free herself, but her joy was short lived when she saw a set of hooves approaching her, which was accompanied by a familiar voice. A voice she didn't remember fondly. "An excellent shot, Bon Bon! But of course, you wouldn't expect anything less from Equestria's greatest monster hunter." Flam mused as he looked down at Fluttershy in contempt. "Oh, darling Fluttershy. You look absolutely horrible. How would you like a dose of Flam's brand new Hard Cider to make you feel better. It's on the house." he snarled, aiming his weapon and firing a blast of liquid at Fluttershy. Flam didn't joke when he said this stuff was hard. Fluttershy could feel her coat and wings getting stiff as the cider dried on them fast. It was getting hard for her to move her wings. "What are you doing, Flam?" Fluttershy demanded as she struggled to get the stuff off of her. "Can't you see what's happening around here?" "It sure is a crazy day, no argument there." Flam replied casually before his expression grew dark. "Kinda like the one when Twilight went nuts and you went right along with her." Fluttershy looked down in shame. "I know the Regime was a mistake. And I have no excuse for following Twilight into her madness. We have committed many injustices. Even against criminals like you. Punish me if you want, but don't take it out on these innocent ponies." she begged, but her words fell in deaf ears. "You mean the same 'innocent ponies' who cheered Twilight when she executed my brother and almost did me in too?" he growled, venom practically dripping from his voice. Fluttershy narrowed her eyes. She knew Flam was right to be angry at her and Twilight for what they did, but she was not going to back down. She had ponies to save. "I really am sorry for how you suffered, though you probably don't believe it. But I'm not going to let you hurt these ponies. I'm going to save them and if you stand in my way, I will not show you mercy. Sympathetic motive or not." Thankfully, Flam was too busy with his rant to notice some of Fluttershy's smaller animal friends sneaking on her back and licking the hardening cider off of her wings. Soon enough, Fluttershy felt that she could move her wings again and she took full advantage of the element of surprise. She managed to catch Flam off guard and tried to yank his gun away, but she didn't see that it was connected to the tank on his back by a tube. She couldn't take possession of the weapon. Flam tried taking advantage of this by bashing Fluttershy in the face with it, which made her stumble back. The unicorn then took aim once again and blasted Fluttershy with the liquid, sending her back on the ground. Fluttershy cursed under her breath. Her animals won't be able to get her out of it now. She'll have to stay on the ground. She tried to run out of the way of Flam's weapon, but the liquid hardening on her coat made it hard to move. Flam shot at her again and hit her in the flank. Fluttershy felt her entire body growing stiff from the liquid. Flam walked up to her with a smirk and aimed his weapon for a finishing blow that would leave her incased. He pulled the trigger, but was surprised to find that nothing came out of it. "What the..." Flam uttered, lifting the weapon to his muzzle and looking into the barrier. "It can't be empty yet." he looked back at the tank and saw something he wasn't prepared for. Angel Bunny was standing on Flam's back with a smug smirk, holding the tube connecting the gun to the tank tied into a bow. When Flam looked at him, he untied the bow and the liquid instantly flown into the barrel. "Oh, horsea...AHHHHH!" Flam screamed as the cider hit him in the muzzle. The wave he took in the muzzle was so massive that the liquid instantly immobiliized him. Angel then hopped over to Fluttershy and tried to lick the cider off of her, but the pony quickly realized that it wasn't working. "It's no use Angel. It's gotten too solid. Try biting it off instead." the pegasus suggested. The rabbit was about to do just that, when suddenly a bole hit him out of nowhere and sent him crashing into a nearby wall with a squeak. "ANGEL!" Fury filled Fluttershy as she shook her wings so furiously that she ended up breaking free of the solidified cider and flew straight into the direction where the projectile came from to give whoever who hurt her precious bunny the beating of a lifetime, but another bola hit her and knocked her back. Fluttershy crashed into a wall, but slowly managed to get up and free herself of the ropes to see Bon Bon approaching her, aiming her bola launcher. "You're no Rainbow Dash, Flutters." she said. "Just stand down, okay? I feel bad about this already." but Fluttershy wasn't in a cooperative mood. "You hurt my bunny." she snarled. "For what it's worth, Fluttershy, I AM sorry about this. But with Lyra's life at stake, I can't afford to play nice." Bon Bon replied sadly. "What does Lyra have to do with this?" "Tempest has her. So whether I like it or not, i have to do her dirty work." Fluttershy just couldn't bring herself to care at the moment. All she saw was the creature who hurt Angel Bunny. She grabbed the bola she just struggled off of herself and whipped it at Bon Bon, knocking her weapon out of her hooves. She then threw the bola at the earth pony, but Bon Bon easily dodged it. "You don't become Equestria's top monster hunter by being slow." she said. She then went on the offensive. She tried punching Fluttterhy, but she could manage to avoid her hooves. Realizing that this was pointless, Bon Bon jumped back and grabbed the bola Fluttershy threw at her. She then ran at the pegasus and whipped her side with the bola. Fluttershy fell on the ground and held her side in pain, but she had no time to make a sound as Bon Bon walked behind her and wrapped the bola around her neck and pulled it back, strangling Fluttershy. Fluttershy gagged. She had to think of something fast. She gathered all of her remaining strength and brought her head back, bashing Bon Bon in the muzzle. The earth pony let go of the bola to hold her bleeding nose and Fluttershy took the opportunity to fly away and grab Bon Bon's bola launcher lying on the ground. It had only one more left in it, but that was more then enough. She fired it at Bon Bon, wrapping her up and then threw the weapon at her, hitting her in the head and knocking her out. She had no time to savor her victory as she heard weak and desperate squeak coming from her still trapped bunny. "Angel!" Fluttershy went to check on her rabbit and release him from the bola, but before she could reach him, another pegasus came in and crashed into the mare at full speed, jamming his forelegs into her stomach and sending her back to the ground. Fluttershy groaned in pain as she held her stomach and looked up to see who was her attacker. Her shock made her forget about her pain. "Tempest knew that a little mayhem would lure you out of hiding." the stallion smirked down at her. "Zephyr Breeze?!" Fluttershy cried in disbelief. "What are you doing here?!" "Oh, I wouldn't miss this family reunion for the world." he mused before flying at Fluttershy and delivering several punches into her muzzle and sending her further back with an uppercut. Fluttershy was caught so off guard about how her own brother was attacking her, she couldn't react in time to defend herself. When she landed on the ground again, she tried to fly away, but Zephyr was right in front of her again. "Leaving so soon?" he snarled before trying to punch her in the face again, but Fluttershy managed to get over his shock in time to lift a foreleg and block. Zephyr growled and swung around to deliver a buck into his sister's stomach. Fluttershy clunched her stomach in pain and Zephyr took advantage of this by punching her in the muzzle again. "Stay a while." he siad, banging his forehooves together as he floated over his sister. "Wh-" Fluttershy coughed in pain. "Why are you doing this? I'm your sister..." Zephyr narrowed his eyes at her. "Oh, NOW you remember?!" he roared before kicking her in the side, sending her back further. "You had no problem forgetting that when your Regime buddies threw me in a labor camp in the Badlands!" Fluttershy looked down in shame. That was Twilight's favored method of keeping some of her disgruntled officers in line. She implied this threat towards her on several occasions as well when she felt like her loyalty towards her was wavering, but she never thought she'd actually go through with it. "Did you know that Mom and Dad also ended up in there with me?" Fluttershy looked up in alarm. "What?" "Yeah. Those Regime bastards literally worked them to death. They almost did with me too. There was only one thing keeping me going. That one day, I would get out and pay the debt back." Zephyr launched himself at his sister again but Fluttershy got out of the way. Her wings were operational again, so she took flight and left the square. She needed to be as far away from there as possible in the light of what she just learned. But Zephyr gave chase. The two pegasi zipped through the ruined streets of Canterlot, dodging the Storm King's patroling guards and fallen debris. Zephyr's speed greatly increased during his time in the labor camp, but he still couldn't catch up with his sister. They ended up flying out of the city. Fluttershy tried heading back towards Ponyville, but she ended up flying towards a forest area just outside the town. Fluttershy had to slow down to take turn between the trees, which allowed Zephyr to catch up with her. She needed to be at the edge of her reflexes to dodge his attacks and keep flying. Fluttershy scowled as she realized what just happened. Zephyr had purposefully chased her towards these woods to slow her down. She had to think fast. She grabbed a branch and pulled it back before letting go of it, making it slap Zephyr in the face. It threw him off course for long enough for Fluttershy to fly above the trees and keep flying towards Ponyville. She managed to reach the town, but she needed to get out of sight to avoid fighting her brother. She found refugee in a broken barrel lying behind a cart. Zephyr managed to catch up with her, but he was unable to locate her hiding place. After a few moments of looking around, he growled in frustration and flew away. Fluttershy crawled out of her hiding spot and shook off the cider drops that dropped on her inside the barrel. "I'm not sure how many more reunions I can take." she said. "Guess Ah can come back later." Fluttershy spun around in shock to see an old friend walking up to her. It was Applejack, but she looked different from the last time she saw her. Gone was the peaked cap and the green officer west. She was now wearing her signature stetson hat and a green kerchief with Apples on it. But most surprisingly to Fluttershy, she was giving her a friendly smile. As if they weren't fighting each other on this exact same spot two years ago. "Applejack?!" Fluttershy stepped back with a shriek before shooting the farmmare a glare. "No! Not you! Not now!" Applejack was visibly hurt by her friend's refusal of her approach. "Geez, Flutters! Nice to see you too." she deadpanned. Fluttershy maintained her glare. "Which one of your family members' dead head did you pry that hat off of?" she challenged. Applejack stepped back in shock at her friend's accusation, before stepping forward and meeting her glare. "Ah did not do that! Ah earned the right to wear this hat again! They gave me another chance!" she countered. "Even after you bailed on them to serve Twilight?!" Fluttershy yelled back in anger. Applejack's expression darkened at the accusation. But it wasn't normal anger. Fluttershy could swear that she saw a dark glint in Applejack's eyes before she started approaching her menacingly. "And what about ya?!" Applejack roared and for a moment Flutterdash thought that she heard her voice echoing. "What were ye doin' while Twilight tossed yer kin in labor camp and had them worked to death?! You were cowerin' in the corner! So don't ye give me that holier than ye talk!" She suddenly lunged at Fluttershy and swung her hoof at her. Fluttershy managed to pull back in time to avoid being punched. She then grabbed Applejack's leg and threw her over her shoulder. The farmmare landed far from the pegasus, but she instantly turned back to her with the same furious look and charged like a raging bull. Fluttershy could only dodge the repeated attacks but the fact that she was unable to hit her made Applejack even madder. She turned around and bucked Fluttershy in the chest, sending her back against the abandoned cart she was hiding under just a minute ago. Applejack then ran up to her and raised a hoof to strike her again, but Fluttershy flew out of the way and Applejack's hoof went through the wood and got stuck. While she struggled to pull her hoof out, Fluttershy flew up and grabbed the barrel she was hiding in and threw it at Applejack which made her stagger back and collapse on the ground. She then immediately got up and Fluttershy thought she was about to attack again, but then Applejack suddenly stopped and held a hoof against her head while grunting in pain. Fluttershy could only watch her in confusion. Applejack shut her eyes close as she collapsed on the ground and grasped her head between her forelegs. Fluttershy approached her carefully, her eyes changing to concern as she watched her friend struggling in pain. "Are... Are you alright?" she asked as she cautiously placed a hoof on her shoulder. Applejack finally stopped struggling and opened her eyes, looking up at Fluttershy in sadness and shame. "Ah... Ah'm sorry, Shy. Ah don't know what came over me." Being the former - and unknowingly, the current - Element of Honesty, meant that she was very poor at telling lies. And Fluttershy spotted it immediately. She felt like Applejack knew exactly what came over her, but she decided not to push it. "Why... Why are you here?" she asked, returning to her usual timid voice. "Ah'm helpin' the folks in the town escape these attackers and fight back wherever we can." Applejack replied. Fluttershy raised an eyebrow. "We?" "De whole Apple family." her expression then changed to a warm smile. "It sure feels good to fight side by side again with mah kin. Though Big Mac still gives me de stink eye most of de time. He was always good at holdin' a grudge." "Did you... mean what you said earlier?" Fluttershy asked uncertainly. "About your family giving you another chance?" Applejack nodded. "Ah'm tryin' to make things right, Shy. That's why ah have been lookin' for ye. Because we are in the same position. Ah betrayed mah country, mah family and mah friends. That's the worst part." Fluttershy knew exactly what she meant. "Everyday since the Regime's fall, I've been reminded of how I failed everypony and everything that mattered to me." she lamented. "We both got a long way to go, Shy. Ah reckoned it would be easier if we went together." Applejack said, extending a hoof towards the pegasus. Fluttershy was uncertain at first, but in the end, her desire to reconnect with her old friend overcame her fears. She took the offered hoof and shook it. The Mane 6 will never be whole again - Twilight made sure of that - but at least two of them were together once more. Celestia walked through the halls of Tartarus, heading towards the cell of her former student and friend in the hopes of getting more information about the Storm King. As she passed several cages, she could feel the inmates' gazes upon her. Many of them of the most notorious criminals of Equestria's history, but there were also several former Regime members like Spitfire, Starlight Glimmer, Luna and even Flurry Heart. Celestia didn't look back at them. She spent more than enough time mourning the fall of these ponies. And there were more important things at hoof. She finally reached her destination, the cage of Twilight Sparkle. The broken horned alicorn was lying on her side with her back turned to Celestia. She didn't know if she was actually asleep, but when her shadow loomed over Twilight, cast onto the ground in front of her, Twilight turned around and looked up at her former mentor. Twilight then sat up and turned towards Celestia with a curious look. She obviously didn't expect Celestia to visit anytime soon. The two alicorns kept staring at each other in silence for a few moments before the purple one broke the silence. "I didn't expect to see you again so soon. How long has it been?" "Two years." Celestia replied bluntly after a short pause. Twilight snorted. "Right. Did you decide I was ready for a shot at reformation so soon or did you just miss me so bad?" Twilight asked cynically. Celestia wasn't in the mood for her games. "Does the name 'Storm King' say anything to you?" Twilight's eyes suddenly went wide. "Where did you hear that name?" she asked nervously. Celestia just nodded. "I'll take that as a yes. And your even afraid of him. He must be quite formidable. He's invading. He says he wants our alicorn powers and conquer Equestria." she explained. Twilight looked down in concern. "Yeah, that sounds like him. I had my Regime intelligence do a little digging into this guy during my time. He's a conqueror. He invades nations and drains them of magic to increase his power. He's already a powerhouse. With our power, he will be pretty much unstoppable." Celestia tried not showing her concern in front of Twilight. This was troubling news indeed. But she could see that Twilight was holding something back from her. "There's something you're not telling me." Celestia said with a raised eyebrow. Twilight nodded. "Oh, yes. It gets even better. Turns out, this bastard was the one who gave Chrysalis the bomb that destroyed Canterlot." Celestia could no longer hide her shock. If what Twilight said was true, then this creature was responsible for the destruction of Canterlot and everything that followed. No doubt he wanted to weaken Equestria for his invasion. But be that as it may, Celestia had to collect herself to deal with the current situation. "Well, if you know so much about him, you obviously know how to stop him as well." she said. Twilight gave her a grim look. "You can't. Not without me." Twilight replied. Celestia let out an inner growl. 'How did I know this was coming?' she thought. "Of course you would say that. But I don't see how a broken horned, depowered pony can be of use to me in this crisis." Twilight narrowed her eyes, but soon, a confident smirk grew on her face. "You're depowered too, remember? I was thorough with that spell. And I can feel you're still recovering. Without me, you don't stand a chance." Celestia returned Twilight's glare. "You know me, Twilight. I always find a way." And with that, she turned around and left. Twilight was furious. She screamed in anger and lunged forward as much as her chains allowed. "It's always about you, isn't it, Celestia?! That bastard helped Chrysalis destroy my family! This is my fight too! You'll need me!" Celestia paid her no mind. "Celestia?!" She just kept walking. "CELESTIA!!!" Her talk with her former student still rang throughout Celestia's head. She was well aware that her powers still haven't been fully restored ever since the Regime's fall. But to let out Twilight to help? Even if Twilight had a way to restore her own powers, it would have been way too risky. It was sad to say but she could no longer trust Twilight. What if she overthrew her again the instant they defeated the Storm King? She had to find another way. Seeing as the Storm King's forces have overrun the castle and the Eye of the Sun, Celestia needed a temporary base of operations. She silently complimented herself for not shutting down the old Insurgency base where she lead her war against Twilight from. She knew the time would come when it would be useful again. And apparently, she wasn't the only one who had that idea. "Fluttershy!" she exclaimed in joy when she saw the yellow pegasus. "I was hoping the reports of you fighting the Storm King's forces in Canterlot were correct! Hurry! We must make haste! We have to gather any available defender we can!" Fluttershy eyed the princess nervously. "Uhm... well... you see... I... I have... already gathered one." she then stepped aside to reveal Applejack standing behind her. The farmmare held her head down with her eyes turned up towards Celestia. "Howdy, Princess? How are ye doin'?" Celestia was shocked to see Applejack again, especially in her base. But after she got over her surprise, she narrowed her eyes at the earth pony. "I am no longer a princess, Applejack. And I have your former employer to thank for that." she then turned to Fluttershy. "What is she doing here?" Fluttershy decided to put her timid nature aside and stand up for her friend. "You said it yourself, we need any available defender. Here's one." Celestia wasn't convinced. "I'm not sure this is a good idea, Fluttershy." she turned to walk away, but Fluttershy flew in front of her. "You gave ME a second chance." Fluttershy offered. "Because you got your head straight and helped me take down Twilight. But if she was still in charge. she would still wear a peaked cap instead of her stetson." "Ahm not that pony anymore!" Applejack blurted suddenly, making the other two ponies jump. Apparently, even Applejack was surprised by her outburst and her voice once again held that anger and dark power Fluttershy felt when they fought in Ponyville. But before she could comment on it, Applejack walked up to Celestia. " Look, I git why ya don't trust me, but you SHOULD trust my kin. Dey put me through Tartarus to re-earn deir respect 'n trust." Celestia remained silent, though her expression softened a little. Applejack took the silence as a refusal. "Never mind. De other apples already have their plates full and dey need me. Just thought it would be easier if we cooperated." she said as she turned around to leave. Celestia watched her leave towards the exit, she was still conflicted, but then she remembered the words of the other universe's Cadance. 'You never know, Celestia. Sometimes you have to take a leap of faith. It might pay off greatly.' "Applejack, wait!" she called out, making the farmer turn her head back. "I have been considering widening my circle of trust for a while now. Perhaps it would be ideal to start with you." Applejack smiled brightly before walking back to Celestia. "What do ya need me to do?" "You're going to the Crystal Empire." Celestia instructed. "Cadance's and the crystal ponies support is going to be vital for our defense." Applejack and Flutterhy shared an uncertain look. "Cadance and the Empire haven't contacted us ever since the Regime's fall." Fluttershy said. "She wasn't happy that Twilight dragged her and her country into the attack on Canterlot." "And de fact that we threw her daughter into Tartarus probably also didn't help." Applejack added. "She's not gonna be happy to see me." "You might want to get used to that." Celestia replied before walking away. "Now go. Fluttershy, follow me. We must make preparations." "Ouch." Applejack said upon hearing the alicorn's comment. "Don't ya think that comment was uncalled for?" she asked Fluttershy. "Frankly, no. I think it's quite accurate." she replied sadly before she went to join Celestia. Applejack nodded. Fluttershy wasn't exactly thrilled when they met again either. But Applejack could only shudder when she thought about how she would have reacted if she knew the little secret she was now carrying. It was best not to think of it, so she just decided to leave for the Crystal Empire. Before she lost control again.