The battle for Ironhoof fortress raged on throughout the afternoon and into dusk. It had commenced with a barrage of rocks and other heavy materials the Palominan army could get its hooves on, and hurling them across the plain into the large stonewalls of the fortress by crudely built trebuchets. Most of the shots went either too far or too short, but the few that made it hit the walls in the right areas.
After a while of constant bombardment, part of the outer wall collapsed, allowing entrance for Freya’s forces. The battle in the breach was long and hard but the Andulusians defending it managed to push them back and forced them into retreat. Despite gaining a small reprieve which they could have used to rebuild defences, the Andulusians foolishly counterattacked, charging out of the breach in their hundreds in an futile attempt to drive off their enemies permanently.
The battle before the walls of Ironhoof was fought with swords, spears and crossbows. Once they broke or ran out of bolts they fought with teeth and hooves, creating a bloodbath in the gap between the fortress and Freya’s army. Eventually the Andulusians broke and retreated back into the fortress, losing many but giving the Palominans a large blow as well. It was then when both sides decided to retire for the night.
Silence had now fallen across the land, save for the sounds of the birds tweeting their goodnight songs, oblivious to the carnage that lay out in the fields before the fortress walls. Fluttershy looked at the distant fires and the fortress with sadness and disgust. “Why can’t the Andulusians just surrender?” she wondered aloud. “So much needless bloodshed and for what?”
She turned away from the distant fortress and made her way back to where she and her friends had camped out. They were camped in a small clearing out of the way from the battle and surrounded by trees, that only those that were lost had any chance of discovering them. When she returned Fluttershy set down onto her stomach and looked at each of her friends. All of them were looking at the campfire in dead silence, all thinking the same question as she was: how the hay was they going to get in there?
Pinkie immediately raised her head up and the grin she had was maniacal. “I’ve got it!” she exclaimed, stomping down a hoof. Everypony turned to look at her with wide, excited eyes.
“What is it, Pinkie?” Twilight asked.
“Well, if we build a giant wooden rabbit, then all of us hide inside the rabbit, then they bring it in and then we slip out, we then go inside the stronghold, find the fifth key, leave, find and defeat Heimdallr, then go home,” she said without pausing. She took a deep breath and then asked, with her forelegs wide, “What do you think of that?”
The others looked at each other perplexedly. “Um… I have a few problems with it,” Twilight said. The others nodded slowly in agreement.
“Oh,” Pinkie’s ears flattened on her head, “what’s the problem with it?”
“Well firstly, how do we build the rabbit?” Twilight asked. “It would take days to build something like that and time is something we don’t have.”
“Secondly,” Rainbow added, “how could we leave it outside a besieged fortress, without attracting attention from the Palominans?”
“And thirdly, have you considered the possibility that they might burn the rabbit as soon as they bring it in, or fling it back into the Palominans believing it to be a trap?” Rarity asked last. The thought of a bunny burning made Fluttershy go pale, even a wooden one.
Pinkie put a hoof to her chin and pondered those points over. “I never actually thought about them. I’ll get back to you when I’ve solved those issues,” she said. The others groaned and facehoofed.
“Oh, this is ridiculous,” Twilight moaned. “Can’t we just go down there and ask the Palominan forces to allow us to enter once they’ve taken the fortress?” After watching the battle for the rest of the day, they quickly realised it wasn’t a question of if they took the fortress. It was a question of when will they take the fortress.
“I don’t want to take that chance, Twilight,” Fluttershy said.
“But you said you knew the leader of the Palominans. And Thowra was her cousin,” Rainbow argued.
“Yes, but what if Freya isn’t down there? What if someone I don’t know is leading the attack?” Fluttershy reasoned. She looked back at where the fortress resided. “And besides, I’ve asked much of Freya already, and I don’t want to ask her anymore.” Another reason she didn’t want to see Freya so soon was because of Thowra’s death. She knew she had to tell the old horse at some point, but was reluctant to do so at the moment.
“But why don’t we wait until they take the fortress, then look among the ruins once they’ve gone?” Rarity suggested.
Fluttershy shook her head in disagreement. “When they get in, they’ll take whatever they find in there that they think is valuable. One horse might find the key and take it away with them as a trophy when it’s over, then we would never find it.”
“So, we have to do this ourselves. Is that what you’re saying?” Applejack asked. Fluttershy looked her way and nodded.
“I know!” Rainbow exclaimed. “Why don’t me and Fluttershy fly over, sneak into the fortress from above and find the key that way.”
“Yeah, and then you both would make great target practice for their crossbows,” Twilight said with a shake of the head.
Fluttershy sighed. “Right, I need the loo.” Before they could reply she disappeared into the bushes and began walking through the woods. Just before she got out of earshot she could barely hear Twilight say to Rainbow, “You upset her.” In truth she didn’t need the loo, she just wanted to get away for a bit. They had been here for half the day deciding on how to get in, and still nothing that wasn’t ridiculous came up, and it was beginning to stress the pegasus out.
They meant well, Fluttershy knew that, but some of the ideas they came up with were just other, fancier words for suicide. Earlier in the day Applejack had suggested they find a catapult or a trebuchet, then fling them one at a time over the walls in the hope they would land on something soft. The others surprisingly agreed… if Applejack agreed to go first, to which the earth pony politely declined. Fluttershy felt like she was going to snap at one of them at any moment, so she decided to take a walk back and forth around the woods to calm herself down. This was the fifth such walk of the day.
She suddenly found herself out of the woods and on a wide dirt road. On the other side of the road was the river that Thowra had told her to follow before he died. To her left was the way back into the Ramshead range; while to her right were the Palominan army encampment and the fortress, with the faint sounds of singing coming from the camp. Her ears suddenly twitched at the sound of two horses coming down the road towards her. She leapt back into the bushes and listened intently as the speakers became clearer.
“How long do you think till this fortress falls?” one horse, a mare, asked. The horses were now so loud she could guess they were just in front of her.
“I’ve got no idea, but not for a while I guess,” the other, a stallion, replied. “You ‘eard what those gitz said after ‘earing our peace terms. They told Freya to take ‘er peace terms and stick them up ‘er-”
“Yes, I know what they said, I was right next to her,” the mare cut him off. “I just want to get back home as soon as, you know.”
“We all do, love,” the stallion said. “But think about it. When this is over then this war would be as well. We would never ‘ave to fight again, and I can tell many good mares of my ‘eroics in this last battle.”
The mare snorted. “Yeah, like how you guarded the baggage train from the evil mice.”
“‘Ey, that job is just as important as any other around ‘ere. Without me you all could be starving and ‘aving to eat something else,” the stallion snorted. “Come on, let’s get back to camp. There’s nothing out ‘ere, and I’m so ‘ungry I could eat a bush.” The two horses spun around and trotted back to camp.
Fluttershy poked her head out and moved back onto the road, watching them to see if they turned back at the last moment, which they didn’t. Fluttershy was relieved to know that Freya was okay, and she was in charge of the army here – but it still didn’t change her mind on asking Freya for support.
She looked to the river and realised just how thirsty she was. She moved to the edge, stuck her tongue out and had a little taster of the water. Upon touching it she pulled back and spat it all out, making a little sound like Opal makes when she has a hairball. The water was fowl, and tasted like dirt. Her eyes widened as she realised it wasn’t dirt – it was sewage. Sewage from the fortress. She ran back into the woods to find something to get rid of the horrible taste. She quickly found a large number of leaves from an oak tree, so she tore them off and stuffed them in her mouth in a bid to get rid of the foul taste.
After chewing for a while she swallowed the leaves, leaving her mouth feeling cleaner and minty afterwards. She looked back at the river and her eyes went wide as she had an idea. She walked back onto the road, took to the air and hovered over the river. She then followed the river as she came under the dark stonewalls of the fortress that rested on a cliff edge just above the river.
Her eyes soon managed to make out a black hole in the rock face, and grinned. “I’ve got it!” she squeaked. She spun around and flew back to the campsite, all the while moulding her plan together.
As she got closer she could hear multiple voices, raised and sounding angry. Her ears fell flat as she realised her friends were arguing about something, so she moved a little quicker so she could stop this. She arrived at the campsite to see her friends looking angry at each other and shouting in each other’s faces. “GIRLS!” Fluttershy yelled, loud enough to be heard over them all.
They stopped arguing and turned to face Fluttershy with surprised looks. “I don’t care how it started, or why. But I don’t want to see, or hear my friends arguing over themselves when we’ve got bigger problems at the moment! And I hate it when you argue!” she berated them, looking at each of them with a scowl. “Now what do you have to say to each other?!”
The ponies looked at her guiltily, and then at each other. “Sorry,” they muttered one at a time.
Fluttershy nodded in satisfaction. “Good. And anyway, I think I know a way in.”
“You have?!” they exclaimed.
Fluttershy nodded. “You’re not going to like it, though.”
“Fluttershy, at this rate I would take any way of getting in, even the sewers if any,” Applejack said.
Fluttershy giggled despite herself. “Funny you should say that, because I found a sewage tunnel beside the river that goes below the fortress. If we could get in that way then we could go to the keep and come out from underneath it.”
A great silence fell among them. Four of the five ponies looked perplexedly at each other as they began to realise Fluttershy was being serious. After a moment, though, Rarity started laughing. “Oh that’s good, that was very good. Fluttershy, I never knew you had such a good, if a little bit wicked, sense of humour.”
Fluttershy looked at her seriously. “Um, Rarity, I’m sorry but I’m being serious. I think we should go into the sewers, and get in that way.”
Rarity’s laughing suddenly turned into something like crying and laughing. “But darling, don’t you realise that would mean we would have to walk through horse-”
“I’m well aware of that, Rarity,” Fluttershy said, slamming a hoof into the unicorn’s mouth before she could finish. “But we have no other choice. It’s either that or do nothing at all.”
“Well,” Rainbow sighed, “it’s going to be messy. But I’ve done a lot of messier things than this. I’m in.”
“So am I,” Applejack seconded.
“Me to,” Pinkie said.
“As am I,” Twilight said. They all looked to Rarity now with pleading eyes.
Rarity eventually caved in. “Alright fine, I’m in.”
Fluttershy grinned, and moved back towards the fire. “Right, I suggest we have something to eat then go to sleep. We’ve got an early start in the morning.”
“Whoa there, sugarcube,” Applejack said, darting in front of her. “But you’re suggesting we wait until tomorrow, when they recommence the attack?!”
Fluttershy nodded with a sigh. “I’m sorry, but it might be easier.”
“How can going through a war make this even easier?” Rainbow asked.
“Actually, I see her logic,” Twilight said. All eyes turned to her for an explanation. “Tonight the Andulusian soldiers will be relaxing, knowing that the Palominan forces won’t attack tonight. But they would be keeping alert incase of attacks from inside. While if we wait until the attack begins, they would be concentrating on the walls, while leaving the back basically defenceless.”
“So you’re saying, that the closer we are to danger, the further we are from harm.” Twilight nodded. “Well that don’t make much sense to me, but I won’t argue with ya, Twilight,” Applejack said.
“So we wait until tomorrow morning, then?” Pinkie asked. The five friends nodded their heads.
“Right. I’m glad we came to a decision,” Fluttershy said. She shifted around and brought something out of her father’s saddlebags. “How about for dinner I make us some soup?”
“Oooo, that sounds soup-er,” Pinkie said with a grin. Everypony either groaned or laughed at Pinkie’s pun. After a beautiful vegetable soup they fell asleep with the stars standing watch over them.
The sound of whinnies from horses, and the groans of trebuchets and crashing sound of rock hitting stone bolted the six ponies awake. The sounds of battle that followed echoed across the countryside like an explosion. “We’ve overslept,” Twilight stated.
“No. We’re up on time,” Rainbow said, looking towards the sun. “They just started early.”
Fluttershy instantly shot up and began attaching her sword bracelets to her legs. “Come on then, everypony. Let’s get this key.”
“But what about breakfast?” Pinkie said. “My mum always said that I mustn’t start the day on a empty stomach.”
“We need to get in that fortress now while there still is a fortress, Pinkie. We can have a big dinner when we get back here,” Fluttershy said persistently, throwing her saddlebags into some bushes for hiding. Twilight, Applejack, Pinkie and Rainbow copied Fluttershy by throwing their bags in the same bush. Fluttershy suddenly noticed one pony was missing. “Where’s Rarity?”
“It’s okay, Fluttershy, I’m here. I’m not chickening out of this,” she assured them all.
“We didn’t even doubt you would, sugarcube,” Applejack said, although her face said otherwise. “But what ya doing, anyway?”
“Yeah, now is not the best time to make yourself look nice. I mean, we’re about to walk through hors- OH MY GOSH!” Rainbow yelled in horror as Rarity emerged from the bushes. The rest gasped in shock.
Fluttershy stepped forward, fighting an urge to hug and comfort the unicorn. “Rarity, how could you do that to yourself?”
Rarity’s mane had been cut down so short it was now solely behind her head and run halfway down her neck, while her tail had been cut down so that it was shorter than Big Macintosh’s. “Oh, don’t worry about it, girls, really,” Rarity said with dismissive wave. “Short manes and tails are in this season. And besides, I’m not gonna let my hair be ruined by someone else’s… mess.”
“Rarity, if ya wanted to save your mane and tail from that, then I could’ve given ya one of my spare hair bands I keep with me,” Applejack said. She emphasised this by giving out small red hair bands to the others for their manes and tails. Rarity felt an eye twitch.
Soon they were ready to go. Fluttershy had put her mane into a bun that rested on the top of her head, and her tail was also bunned so that it was a large lump sticking out from her backside. Rainbow only tied back the tip of her tail, shortening it while Twilight, Pinkie and Applejack copied Fluttershy with their tails, and Applejack stuck her mane under her hat. “Applejack, I have to ask,” Twilight said. “Does this style of tail make my rump look big?”
Applejack looked at Twilight oddly, then looked at her tail. “Of course it does,” she answered eventually.
“Are we ready?” Fluttershy asked. The five ponies nodded their head. “Then let’s go!” She let out a whinny and galloped the way she walked yesterday evening, the others following behind her with determination in their eyes.
They soon arrived at the dirt road, and the light brown river that flowed the other side. They could hear to their right the battle cries of thousands of horses as they launched their attack on the fortress once again. Fluttershy walked up to the river and looked to see if she could see the bottom. Thankfully the water was shallow enough so that it would go up to their waists.
“Right,” Fluttershy said, trying to ignore the distracting sounds of battle a few minutes away, “we follow the river down until we reach a large hole in the cliff face.” She stepped into the water, grimacing at the cold touch of the water on her coat. Twilight stepped in next, squeaking at the coldness of the water. Pinkie dive-bombed in, soaking the ponies that weren’t in yet, and began swimming like a dog around the river. Applejack quickly followed, and finally Rarity who was pushed in by Rainbow, who decided to hover over the river instead.
With the five ponies in, they began following Fluttershy down the river towards the sewer entrance. The current was weak compared to the river they had to cross to get to the Ramshead range, but it gently flowed against them as they made their way down, forcing them to work harder.
“Is that it there, Fluttershy?” Rainbow asked, pointing to the cliff face. Fluttershy looked to see where her friend was pointing and grinned at the dull grey cylindrical object emerging from the cliff face.
‘At least I wasn’t imagining things,’ she thought to herself. “That’s it, everypony.” She set her legs down onto the riverbed and walked slowly over to the sewer entrance.
The entrance itself was thankfully big enough for a pony to fit in, but was too far off the ground for a pony without wings to help them, and six large, iron bars blocked the way. Fluttershy’s ears fell flat upon seeing them. “Allow me to deal with that,” Twilight offered. She walked beside her and using her magic snapped the bars off their attachments, and flung them into the river, avoiding their friends as she did so. “After you.”
Fluttershy nodded her thanks, and then flew up into the sewers. Rainbow followed behind, helping Applejack, Twilight, Pinkie and Rarity up after them. The tunnel was dark, but surprisingly clean, yet a foul smell still hung in the air, and it made Fluttershy’s nose itch because of it. “The sooner we’re out of here, the better,” she said, and proceeded down the tunnel at a nimble trot. The others followed close behind at the same pace.
A few minutes later they had moved into the sewer network itself. The tunnel was made out of bricks, and the sides were bricked up to form walking platforms, while also creating a trench for the sewage to run through to the river. What surprised the Dragonlord most, however, was the lack of sewage running down towards them, or the dirt that hung around the walls. Apart from a few small splotches it was spotless.
Realising she didn’t need them any more, she took the hair bands off her mane and tail and gave them back to Applejack. She was glad to be rid of them, to be honest, for they might be practical but not comfortable. “So any idea where to go from here?” Rarity whispered, her voice sounding a bit squeaky due to the peg on her nose.
Fluttershy looked at her friend, then back in front of her. The tunnel kept going down into the darkness, but was divided by a large number of intersections leading into different tunnels, some smaller, some larger, but all the same it made navigation look impossible.
“I would suggest splitting up here and going down each tunnel, and see if we could find the keep,” Rainbow said.
Twilight shook her head dismissively. “I don’t think that’s a good idea, Rainbow. I would prefer it if we stayed together, safety in numbers and all that. And besides, what if one of us gets captured?”
“She’s right,” Fluttershy agreed, “and if they capture one of us they might kill us on sight for being spies. I was nearly executed just for coming here, so I don’t want to imagine or see what they do to those they accuse of spying.”
“But that still doesn’t help us on which way to go from here,” Pinkie said.
“It’s moments like this that reminds me of a piece of advice Granny Smith gave me one time. ‘If ya ever doubt ya eyes, then follow ya nose’,” Applejack said with a chuckle. The earth pony walked ahead of them and then proceeded to sniff the air. She walked to the opening of one tunnel and sniffed down there. She shook her head and trotted down to the next one, doing the same thing she did with the first one, sniffing down the tunnel then backing away with a shake of her head. “Not this one either,” she announced. She trotted ahead of the group; the only sounds heard were her loud sniffs, and the low rumble of stones falling onto the fortress above them.
The six ponies made their way down the main tunnel, with Applejack up front sniffing the foul air, and Twilight close behind illuminating the way with her horn. They passed at least eight other tunnels leading off from the main one, but Applejack said they weren’t the right ones also.
Eventually they came to another intersection with a tunnel that moved away from the main one on the left and on the right. The one on the left was the same size as the others, whereas the one on the right was small, a foot or so off the ground, and big enough for one pony at a time. Applejack stopped and sniffed the air from the main tunnel, and then she moved to the smaller tunnel and sniffed the air, and then did the same with the right side by stuffing her face inside and making a loud sniffing sound. She repeated the motion one more time and stopped to think, screwing up her face in thought. “We go that way,” she declared suddenly, pointing down the left tunnel.
“How can you be sure?” Rainbow demanded.
“The air is not as fowl down that way than this one. In fact it’s worse down here than the others. If the keep is the most populated area of this place than that would be… ya know,” Applejack answered with a smile. “Like my granny says, always follow ya nose.” She trotted ahead of the others, her nose pointing to the air and sniffing every now and then to see if she got it right.
Fluttershy meanwhile trotted behind, her face wearing a large smile. “I’ve just realised I would never have gotten this far without you all. So thank you.”
“Ah, think nothing of it, sugarcube. I’m just glad to be of service,” Applejack replied. The six fell silent once more as they followed the tunnel deeper into the fortress.
Above them, they could hear a low rumble of rocks hurtled into the fortress by trebuchets, which broke off dust from the ceiling above and fell to the ground. Some of it landed on Pinkie’s nose and caused her to sneeze confetti.
“Are those stairs?” Applejack called out after what seemed like an hour of walking. They saw to their joy that she was right. The tunnel continued down into the darkness, while a flight of wooden and old stairs led up through a horsehole. “Who wants to go up first?” Applejack turned her head around to face the others.
Fluttershy took a step forward, but Rainbow gently pushed her back and rushed onto the stairs, ready to go up. With a deep breath to calm her nerves Rainbow walked slowly up the stairs, every step creaking under the pressure of her hooves. “Be careful, Rainbow,” Fluttershy called to her.
Rainbow looked back and grinned re-assuredly. “I’m always careful,” she said, just as she arrived at the top and banged her head on the horsehole. Fluttershy rolled her eyes and facehoofed. Rainbow shook her head to clear the dizziness, and then carefully opened up the horsehole.
She peered through to see that they were in a small square room, built out of grey stone with a single wooden door facing her. She moved up a bit to see of there were any horses inside – thankfully there wasn’t. “It’s okay, guys,” she called down in a whisper. “There’s noone here.” She shifted the horsehole out of the way then moved to the door.
With a gentle push the door opened and Rainbow was able to make out part of the corridor on the other side. The stonewalls were decorated in the banners and tapestries of the Andulusian family and its armies, and were a bright white rather than the plain stone in what she considered to be the closet room she was in. Her breathing quiet yet quick, she moved slowly out into the corridor and glanced left and right, and her ears right up to hear any approaching horses. Her five friends waited in the small room, waiting for Rainbow’s all-clear.
The corridor had a beautiful blue carpet laid out across its floor, decorated with dark red lines that curved and swayed across it. To her right was a large, black door leading out into the courtyard with a rearing white horse on its face. To her left the corridor stretched down about forty feet then disappeared in a sharp turn to the left, all the while many plain and boring doors leading to many rooms broke up the wall and the banners.
After a while of listening to the sound of battle cries coming from outside, and the crashing of rocks and stone and trees, Rainbow gestured for the others to come out. “I think it’s okay,” she called to them. With them moving cautiously out of the room, Rainbow made her way right and found around the corner a flight of stairs built out of white stone and a red rug carpeting the stairs. “Guys, there’s some stairs here we can use,” she informed the rest.
They moved up beside her and grinned, pleased to know there was way around the keep. “Okay, now that we’re here, what’s the next part, Fluttershy?” Twilight queried, turning to face the pegasus.
Fluttershy looked surprised. “Um, excuse me?”
“You know, what’s the next part of your plan?” Rainbow reminded her.
“Oh, I only came up with the part of getting inside. I didn’t bother to think about what to do when we got here. Sorry,” Fluttershy said with her head low.
Everypony sighed. “That’s okay, sugarcube,” Applejack said. She turned to the most intelligent member of the group. “So Twilight, what do ya suggest we do?”
Before Twilight could respond, Fluttershy and Rainbow heard the whine of something falling through the air, and Rainbow gave out a screech of alarm. “Get back!” She pushed them and herself against the wall as tight as they could before a massive lump of rock smashed through the front wall, destroying the black door completely, and rolled through the corridor, before coming to a stop at the far end. The only sounds that can be heard afterwards were the quick breathing of the six occupants of the corridor.
“Everypony okay?” Applejack asked. Five responses followed quickly.
The six ponies moved off the wall and inspected the stairway, which thankfully wasn’t damaged by the shot. “Right,” Twilight said, “I think if we have a chance of finding this key, then I’m afraid we’re gonna have to split up.” The five ponies reluctantly agreed. “Rarity, Fluttershy, you go in one team and cover the top floor. Applejack, Pinkie, you cover the bottom floor. And Rainbow and me will cover the middle. We’ll all meet back here in less than an hour, okay?”
“On it!” the five ponies cried out together. Rarity, Fluttershy, Twilight, and Rainbow proceeded up the stairs, while Applejack and Pinkie watched them leave. “Oh, girls, one more thing,” Fluttershy brought them all to her attention. “If any horses come up against you, avoid killing them if you can. Please?”
“Of course we will,” Applejack agreed. “I might’ve taken out some undead thingy’s, but never will I want to kill an actual living thing.” The four ponies around Fluttershy nodded in agreement.
Fluttershy smiled. “Okay then, let’s go and find that key!” She spun around and led Twilight, Rainbow and Rarity upstairs, while Applejack and Pinkie galloped and bounced around the bend and out of sight.
When the four ponies made it to the second floor, Twilight let out a sigh. “Good luck to you both,” she said to Fluttershy and Rarity. “And be careful.”
The two ponies nodded. “We will, and you two also,” Rarity said. With that, the four ponies parted ways – Fluttershy and Rarity heading up the next flight of stairs, while Twilight and Rainbow disappeared down the corridor.
“Fluttershy,” Rarity said as they walked up the stairs, “I’m glad we’re together on this, because I believe I have a apology to make to you.”
Fluttershy stopped walking and looked at Rarity oddly. “Apology?”
Rarity nodded. “All that time we were at the spa, talking about how are children would come out like, I must have been crushing you with every word I said on the matter. So I would like to take this chance to say how sorry I am for doing that.” She looked down to the ground, her ears folding flat on her head as she awaited judgment.
Fluttershy giggled and gave her friend a quick and comforting hug. “Oh, Rarity, you never knew I could never have children, so why should you be sorry?”
“But have I though?” Rarity demanded. “Was I hurting you with all that I said?”
After a moment of silence, Fluttershy sighed and looked down. “I would be lying if I said no.” She looked up to see the guilt in Rarity’s eyes. “But it was the first few times we started going at the spa together!” she quickly added. “After that, I didn’t mind.”
“All that time… and you let me blabber on with my fantasies. Why?”
Fluttershy looked at her for a moment, then smiled. “Because it made you happy, and I didn’t want to ruin that for you.”
Rarity tilted her head slightly, and with a sigh she shook her head. “Fluttershy, you are sometimes too kind and selfless for your own good.”
Fluttershy shrugged. “I know, but I’m okay with it.” They continued a bit up the stairs until they came to a landing. “Oh that’s what I’ve been meaning to ask you. Who’s that stallion that keeps coming to your shop every week or so?”
Rarity looked back at her friend with an odd look. “Now? You want to talk about this, now?!”
Fluttershy shrugged. “Better time than any. So who is he then?” She looked at her with big, irresistible eyes.
Rarity visibly started to sweat and a faint blush appeared on her cheeks. “He’s a… stallion from Baltimare who’s quite into fashion,” she came out with at last. “He likes my dresses so much he buys a load of them to show off at his fashion shows, and said he would shoot me to stardom in the fashion world.”
“Do you like him?” Fluttershy asked slyly, her eyes flickering. Rarity was one of the very few ponies she felt safe to tease or be ‘different’ around, knowing Rarity would never be cross unless she took it too far, which she was always careful to avoid.
Rarity looked about and when she couldn’t think of an answer she sighed. “A little, but I doubt anything will come out of it. I think he’s already got somepony back home.”
“It’s always okay to ask, you know,” Fluttershy advised.
Rarity looked up in shock at Fluttershy’s advice. “Who are you and what have you done with Fluttershy?”
Fluttershy giggled, and was about to burst into laughter when her ears pricked upright when she heard voices, and it weren’t any of her friends. She lowered her body close to the ground and sneaked up the stairs. When she got close to the end she pressed her back up to the wall and walked on her hind legs slowly to where the wall ended and where the third floor began. She gestured with a hoof for Rarity to stay where she was, which the unicorn complied.
She peered around the corner to see a horse standing guard in front of a large door with a large red banner hanging overhead halfway down the corridor. She cursed when she saw there wasn’t any way around the horse. She turned around to address Rarity. “There’s a guard standing by a door just down the corridor,” she whispered. “There’s no way we can get around him, or her.”
“There is, darling, and it’s staring at you in the face,” Rarity argued.
“What, you?”
Rarity shook her head. “No. Behind me.” She indicated with a hoof to a large window behind her, arched and slightly open. Fluttershy grinned and flew up to it, pushing it a bit more just to see how far it could open, and found it was big enough for the both of them to go through. She peered out the window, looking left to see small horses running around like mice in a maze, and then looked right to see a narrow ledge leading along the wall to a large balcony that was part of the room that the horse was guarding.
She looked back at her unicorn friend with a grin. “Do you want a lift up?”
Rarity began walking backwards, her eyes revealing her fear. “Are you sure, Fluttershy? I mean, is it… safe?”
Fluttershy nodded comfortingly. “I’ll be by your side, Rarity.” She stretched a hoof out for the unicorn to hold. Rarity hesitantly brought a hoof up and gripped it around Fluttershy’s tightly. Then without warning Fluttershy quickly flung herself onto her back, gripped her legs around her shoulders and waist then lifted her in the air, Rarity meanwhile doing her best to hold down the scream she so desperately wanted to release.
They made it outside and Fluttershy quickly placed Rarity onto the ledge so her chest and belly was touching the wall. “Do you have grip?” Fluttershy asked. Rarity nodded. Fluttershy slowly fluttered away from the unicorn, a hoof always on her back to keep her from falling. Fluttershy looked down and saw below was just the stone courtyard with nothing to soften her fall if she did. She quickly looked back up again. “Just don’t look down.”
“What do you think I’m going to do?!” Rarity squeaked. “You know how much I hate heights since I fell from the sky.”
“Well, you did come up with this idea,” Fluttershy countered. “And I’ve fallen from the sky also when I was a filly, so I know how it feels. Just move slowly and you’ll be fine. I won’t let you fall, Rarity. I promise.”
Rarity slowly nodded. “I know you won’t.” Slowly she lifted her left hind leg and moved it forward, followed by her right hind leg, then repeated the process until they were inching their way to the balcony. “So tell me, what was your father like?”
“Oh, well…” Fluttershy went silent as she thought what she knew about him from the small time she had with him. “He was kind, loving, had a wicked sense of humour, but a fierce warrior. I remember when I got the fourth key and after finding him again he was fighting this reman with about a dozen other remans dead around him. He cared about his friends, my mother, and me, more than his own life. And I think that’s why he died in the end.” She looked towards the clear, blue sky. “That’s all I can tell you, really. I barely knew him, and that’s the worst part of it.”
“You knew him, though. You knew who he was when once upon a time you had no idea. I’m sure that counts for something.”
Fluttershy nodded in agreement. “I… I guess you’re right.” She looked left to see that they were right beside the balcony. “Do you want help getting over?” she asked.
Rarity shook her head. “I should be fine, darling. Go on ahead and see what’s in there.” Fluttershy was unconvinced, but nevertheless nodded. While the unicorn was slowly and carefully bringing herself over the balcony wall, Fluttershy moved to the window and peered in.
The room appeared to be a study. Along both sides of the room, shelves lined up the walls, all of them filled with books. The floor was made of cold stone, with a huge circular carpet with the horse of the Andulusian family lying in the centre. Beyond the window was another level that split the room in half, with large tables and chairs for horses to sit on, with a small group of stairs leading down into the main section.
If the key would be anywhere, it must be in there. She heard a yelp from Rarity beside her and looked around to see the unicorn had fallen flat on her face. She rushed over and helped her friend back on her hooves. “Are you alright?” she asked concernedly.
“I’m fine, darling,” Rarity replied, wiggling her nose just to be sure. She shook her head to clear the dizziness, then walked up to the window and peered through. “It looks like a study to me.”
“I thought that as well,” Fluttershy agreed with a nod. She looked around the doorframe to see if there was a way in from this side, but found the doorknobs on the other side. She tried pulling it open, then pushed it, but it was locked. “Any ideas of how to get in?” she asked her friend.
Rarity nodded, then walked up to the glass window and touched it with the tip of her horn. She closed her eyes and let a bright blue glow emerge from it. After a moment of nothing happening a large blue circle emerged from her horn and formed out until it was the size of the pony. Rarity lifted her head away from the window then walked slowly through the circled and emerged inside the study room.
Fluttershy thought she would lose her jaw as Rarity walked through the glass and emerged okay the other side. The unicorn, after checking to see if the coast was clear, spun around and unlocked the door with her teeth. “How di- how di- how did you do that?” Fluttershy asked as she walked inside.
“A spell Twilight taught me in return for teaching her my gem finding spell,” Rarity explained. She turned around and looked at the study room. The room seemed and looked empty, but both ponies were not going to take a chance.
Fluttershy pricked her ears up at their highest and wiggled them about as she tried to pick up the sound of horses in the room, Rarity looking at her all the while. “Anything?”
Fluttershy was about to say no, but she suddenly picked up the sound of horses moving towards the study room and darted behind the balcony cover. “Quick, Rarity, close the door and take cover!” she ordered. Rarity slammed the door shut with a hoof buck and dived behind Fluttershy, putting a hoof over her mouth to silence her breathing.
Fluttershy heard the door get shoved open, groaning in protest as they did, and the sound of eight hooves clopping on the hard, cold stone floor. “Milady, they’ve taken the outer wall and the town, and are making their way past the second wall. I’m not sure we can hold for much longer,” one voice, a stallion’s, said.
“Oh, they will hold, general. They will hold knowing that every moment they hold back the scum they increase the chances of reinforcements to arrive, and then our victory will be at hoof!” a mare’s voice said.
Fluttershy and Rarity peered around the corner to see the two horses. The stallion was a dark bay with a light grey mane that was very short and wearing steel armour that clicked every time he raised a leg or shifted himself. The mare was a pinkish white with a blonde mane that was tied in a long braid that ran down the back of her neck and over her right shoulder, and wore on her side a scabbard with a sheathed sword.
“What reinforcements, milady?” the stallion asked. “Me and Anaius have already told you that we have no other forces outside the ones we have here. All of our other forces have either been crushed or defected to Freya. Face it, Baroness, we have lost!”
The mare glared at him. “How dare you! You insult my father’s memory by admitting defeat at the hooves of these… inferiors. I promise to you that there will be victory, and I always keep my promises.”
The horse shook his head. “Not this time, milady. You can’t keep this one.” When the mare didn’t respond he went on. “I will fight for you till the very end, milady, you know that. That’s why I suggest we find a way out of here and then go and rebuild your forces.”
The mare chuckled. “And what if I refuse to leave this place?”
“Then I will leave anyway, milady, and continue the fight in your name,” the stallion replied, his head high and proud.
The mare contemplated this for a second, but only for a second. Fluttershy looked away and put a hoof over hers and Rarity’s mouth to silences their gasps as the mare pulled out her sword and plunged it through the horse’s chest. The stallion let out a silent scream, his eyes wide and his voice was nothing but a gurgle. “Do you really take me for an idiot, general?” She plunged the sword deeper. “You just wanted to get me out of here then turn me in, didn’t you? How much did that witch Freya pay you? How much?!”
The stallion didn’t reply, because he was already dead. She pulled the bloodied sword out and let the horse collapse on his side. She cleaned the sword on the dead horses armour and whispered, “You are relived of your duties, General Crastus.” She lifted her face towards the door and called through. “Someone dispose of the traitor’s body, and someone clean up the blood. I hate the sight of blood, and it’s ruining my floor.”
Fluttershy leaned back as two guards emerged from outside the room, picked up the dead horse’s hind legs with their mouths and dragged him out, leaving a path of blood heading out the door and turning left down the corridor. After a while the two guards returned. “Will that be all, my lady?” one asked.
The mare nodded. “Yes. Now go and die outside like all soldiers should,” she ordered, leaving the guards with perplexed looks on their faces as she slammed the door shut. “Right, with them out of the way, I better make plans for re-building Andulusia,” she said to herself. She walked to her desk, sat down and with a quill in mouth, began writing something, all the while humming loudly to dim the sounds of battle outside.
Fluttershy looked away from the mare to Rarity. “She’s gone mad,” Rarity said.
Fluttershy shook her head. “No. Not mad. I think she’ll listen to only what she wants to hear. But that’s not important to us right now. How are we going to search this place if she’s staying here?”
Rarity lifted her head over the balcony and looked around the room. The mare was sitting in the far left corner of the room, and easily had a good view of the whole room. There seemed to be no way to get around the place without attracting attention from the horse, and they couldn’t wait until she did leave incase it would be too late. She sighed and lowered herself back to the ground. “I think we may have to ask her for it,” she said.
“So we should go down there and force her to tell us where it is?” Fluttershy suggested with an agreeing nod. She looked up again to see the shock on Rarity’s face. “What? Was it something I said?”
Rarity nodded. “Once upon a time you would have shunned such a suggestion, but now you would willingly force this mare, to the point of death if need be, to ask her for this key’s location? Has becoming a Dragonlord changed your views so quickly?”
Fluttershy lowered her head and her ears fell flat. “I… I just thought that we might get it quicker if we were more forceful. You didn’t complain when I did the same thing to that draugen back in the mountains.”
“Yes,” Rarity admitted, “but that was different. The draugen was a creature cursed to wander Terra forever and should be dead in the first place. This is a living mare that still has a lot of her life ahead of her, if she survives this siege. Would you gladly put that aside for this key? Or is only taking this dragon down everything to you now?”
Fluttershy opened her mouth, but no words parted from her lips. She couldn’t defend herself; she had no reason to defend herself. After a moment she let out a low whimper and hid her face behind her mane. “I’m so sorry, Rarity,” she whispered.
Rarity looked at her sternly, and sympathetically. “Look at me,” she whispered. “In the eyes.” Fluttershy brought her mane out of her face and looked up. She looked like a filly that had just been caught stealing from the cookie jar. “I’m not cross with you, but I am disappointed,” Rarity said. “I thought you would be beyond such thoughts.”
Fluttershy lowered her head, her ears still remaining flat on her head, but she never lost contact with Rarity’s eyes. “But, if I was in your hooves I probably might have said the same thing,” Rarity went on. “I imagine the stress you have doing this is enough to make you think such things. So let us forget you ever said that and get on with finding this key.”
Fluttershy nodded, then gave the unicorn a brief hug. “I’m sorry, Rarity,” she whispered one more time.
“Sorry for what? What did you do wrong? What were we even talking about a few seconds ago?” Rarity patted Fluttershy on the back and then pulled away, looking at where the mare was sitting and writing. “Right, I’ll do the talking. You stay behind and guard my back incase there’s another horse here.”
Fluttershy nodded, and moved so that she was behind the unicorn, while Rarity prepared herself to leap over and drop down onto the lower level. “Ready?” Rarity asked. Fluttershy nodded confidently.
As one, the two ponies leapt over the balcony and landed gracefully on their hind legs, their swords Dancer, Firewing and Drage Bane out of their scabbards and pointing towards the ground.
The mare shot up upon hearing them and reached for her sword. “Who the hay are you?!” she demanded.
Rarity bowed her head. “Apologies for the break-in, but we needed to get into here. Allow me to introduce us. I am Rarity Turquoise of Ponyville, and this is my friend Fluttershy Firewing of Ponyville. We are both from the land of Equestria and are here to search for something valuable to Equestria and us, and might I say I love your style of mane!”
A fake cough came from behind her. “Stick to the matter at hoof,” Fluttershy whispered, fighting an urge to plant a hoof on her face.
“Oh yes, ha ha, excuse me.” She looked back at the mare, who had a pink blush on her face thanks to the compliment. “We are looking for a circular object, black with a faint, golden glow like fire emanating from it.” She looked back for confirmation on what it looked like, which Fluttershy gave with a nod. “We learned it was here and since you look like a mare who knows her way around here, me and my friend were wondering whether you knew where it is at this moment.”
The mare shook her head and the blush faded away, and she gazed at them with once more with un-welcoming eyes. “I know what you are on about, but why should I give up something to you?”
“Well, you see… um… how about… in return for the object, I share some things with you that will help you win the war,” she blurted out.
Fluttershy’s eyes shot wide open. “Hmm,” the mare pondered, looking at Rarity with interested eyes, “allow me to think about this.”
Fluttershy walked up to her friend’s side, then got hold of her shoulders and spun her around. “Would you mind if I was awfully blunt with you?”
Rarity nodded. “Of course not, darling. Speak your mind.”
Fluttershy nodded her thanks, then exclaimed, “Has cutting your mane and tail down driven you insane?!”
Rarity shook her head. “Think about it, Fluttershy,” she explained. “You said yourself that this mare will only listen to what she wants to hear. So why don’t we tell her we can help her win this war, and then she will give us the key.”
“And then what?” Fluttershy asked. “Do we wait here until the Palominans come and kill us?”
“Heavens no,” Rarity said. “While she’s occupied with something, we sneak back the way we came in and get back to the others. What can go wrong?”
Fluttershy’s mind went through the thousand ways it could go wrong. But she trusted Rarity with her life, and would stand by her in every decision. “Okay, Rarity, I trust you,” Fluttershy said with a nod.
Rarity smiled. “Thanks.” She turned away from the pegasus and walked up to the mare, who looked like she had made a decision. Fluttershy looked from her friend to the mare and saw something in her eyes that made her blood run cold. She thought she had seen that look from somewhere, but couldn’t point out where.
“I have thought about your offer, and I decline your assistance,” the mare answered. The two ponies’ ears fell flat. “However,” she went on, “I have another offer in mind.” She slowly began walking around Rarity, who stayed as still as stone as the mare walked around her, the mare’s eyes looking all over Rarity’s body.
Fluttershy’s eyes widened as she realised with horror where she had seen that look before. It was the same look that reman gave her when she’d first met one – a look of lust. She stepped forward to help her friend but stopped when the mare started to speak. “I will give you the object, and in return I ask you, Rarity of Ponyville, to stay here, with me.”
Rarity looked horrified by the offer. “I have never seen such a beautiful creature,” the mare said, bringing up a hoof to stroke her face. “You would make a great asset to me, Rarity.” She said her name as seductively as she could.
Rarity looked back at her friend, who was shaking her head frantically, telling her to refuse the offer. “Done,” she agreed.
“No!” Fluttershy screamed. Her eyes wandered about as she tried to think of a way to get her friend out of this. “What about me?” she eventually asked the mare.
The mare looked at her all over, and then shook her head. “You are way too ugly for me, whoever you are. No, Rarity is what I want, and I always get what I want.” She looked to the back of the room, towards the stairs to the second level. “The thing you’re looking for is kept in there, in a dark blue book with a plain cover at the far end of the room.”
Fluttershy turned around to see that below the second level was a room with a single iron barred gate separating it. The windows were blacked out so she couldn’t see inside, but from what she could see through the gate were aisles of bookshelves like the archives back in Canterlot.
“Well go on, then,” the mare goaded her on. “Get what you came for and leave me be with Rarity here.”
“It’s okay, darling,” Rarity said. “Get the key and get out of here.”
Fluttershy looked back at her friend, and mouthed, “I’ll come back for you.” She turned away and walked up to the gate. She opened it and walked briskly inside. The room was cold, despite the torches that hung neatly on the brick walls. “So tell me, Rarity. What else can you do with that horn of yours?” she heard the mare ask her friend.
It took a great effort for the pegasus to not throw up there and then. She quickly walked down the central aisle with a torch in her teeth, all the while coming up with a plan to get Rarity out of this predicament. She scanned the multitude of books that rested on the shelves: red, purple, yellow, black, green, orange, and many other colours brightened up the covers of these books. As well as books, there were other artefacts that appeared to be from across the world: pony, griffon, horse, dragon, changeling, minotaur, and many other items from thousands of species across thousands of years of history. Yet none of them was the one she wanted.
She was beginning to think she was fooled, that the mare wanted her out of the way so she could have her way with her friend. The very thought made her grip onto the torch tighter as anger built up inside her. She wasn’t going to let the mare use her friend like a child would with a toy. She would rather watch Heimdallr burn the world than see that happen.
She stopped when with the corner of her eye she made out a dark blue cover on her left. She grinned and prayed the mare was telling the truth. She dropped the torch and took the book off the shelf with her hooves, then with her teeth, opened it up, and grinned in triumph.
The key rested inside the book, the faint, fiery glow emanating from the device, and the symbol of the Dragonlord order displayed across its face. She took the key out of the book and placed it inside her mane for safekeeping. She put the book back in its place then cantered out of the room.
She found Rarity and the mare (thankfully) talking to each other and getting to know each other. “I got it!” Fluttershy exclaimed, taking it out of her mane and presenting it to the two of them.
Rarity looked around and grinned, and that was when time seemed to slow.
Fluttershy remembered one second seeing Rarity smiling at her, then the next second she was next to her, lying on her side after being kicked in the head by the mare. Blood seeped from Rarity’s head where the mare kicked her, and where the other side of her head hit the windows.
Fluttershy stood still, her face carved in shock as her mind processed what happened. She slowly looked down to see Rarity’s unconscious form, and then tried shaking her awake. “Wake up. Rarity, please wake up,” she whispered, to no response. She closed her eyes and bit her bottom lip as tears streamed down her face.
“Did you really think I’m that stupid?” the mare said in front of her. Fluttershy brought her gaze off her fallen friend and looked at the mare with cold, hateful eyes. “Rarity only agreed to be close to me so that she could poison me, isn’t it? I should’ve known you were under Freya’s employ. My father should have wiped out your kind ages ago.”
Fluttershy moved so that Rarity was behind her. “May I ask your name, miss?” she enquired flatly.
“Velenta Andulusia, Baroness and queen of Horsca,” the mare replied. “Why do you want to know?”
Fluttershy snapped her wings open, revealing the wing blades hidden in them. “Because, Baroness Velenta, you just made the greatest mistake of your life. If you value that worthless hide of yours then is one thing you never, ever, do in front of me,” Fluttershy growled. She reared up and let Drage Bane and Firewing emerge from their scabbards.
Velenta snorted, and drew her own sword; it was long with runes engraved into the metalwork. “What is that then, Fluttershy of Ponyville?”
Fluttershy narrowed her eyes and brought her blades into a battle ready position. “Hurt. My. Friends,” she growled. She lowered her body and prepared herself to fight. Although one part of her screamed to pick up Rarity and run, it was like a whisper in the wind – Fluttershy was not going to let this mare get away with hurting her friend.
Fluttershy, with a cry of rage escaping her lungs, made the first move by launching herself in the air and whizzed past Velenta before the horse could swing her sword to defend herself or hit Fluttershy, creating a long but thin gash in the horse’s side with her wing blades. Velenta went down on one knee with a cry of pain. Fluttershy veered about and tried again with the other side before Velenta could recover, but Velenta ducked and spun away, then kicked Fluttershy in the side with a fore hoof.
Fluttershy fell to the ground, winded but otherwise unhurt. Velenta cantered up to her and made to plunge her sword through her neck. She jumped up and backed away from Velenta, whose sword hit only air. Fluttershy leapt forward and with a cry of rage launched a number of furious sword slashes and swings and thrusts, aiming high, low, left, right and diagonally, but the horse in amazingly quick succession blocked each.
Velenta grew tired of fighting in defence, so launched a wide swing at the pegasus. Fluttershy learnt from Thowra that horses, although slow, were incredibly strong, and their sword swings could easily cut through flesh and bone.
Fluttershy brought her two swords together and blocked the attack by wedging the sword between them, gritting her teeth and using all her strength to push it away. Velenta stepped back and then thrust her sword once again. The pegasus swung Firewing and deflected the attack, then thrust forward with Drage Bane. Velenta sidestepped out of the way and retreated.
Fluttershy galloped forward and attempted to pin her to the ground. Velenta spun around and gave her a slight slash with her tail across the eyes, blinding the pegasus for a moment. Velenta wheeled around on the spot and lunged her sword towards Fluttershy’s chest, hoping to skewer her.
Fluttershy’s ears twitched at the sounds Velenta made, so she rose up on her hind legs and deflected the attack with Firewing, while slashing across Velenta’s chest with Drage Bane, making the horse cry out in pain.
Fluttershy, having recovered from being blinded for a moment, opened her eyes to see she had cut into Velenta’s chest, yet she didn’t feel any remorse for the act. Fluttershy jumped up, spun around and bucked Velenta in the face, sending her across the room and against the wall. ‘That was for you, Rarity.’
Velenta coughed and shifted herself onto her stomach. She tried to get back up, but her legs gave way and she collapsed once more, blood leaking from the wounds Fluttershy caused. “I… I give up,” she panted. “I surrender.”
Fluttershy continued to stare at the fallen horse with cold and merciless eyes. She brought up her right leg and Drage Bane emerged once more, much to the horse’s horror. Fluttershy began to walk forward, her eyes never leaving the horse’s eyes, and feeling no sympathy for her.
“No. No, please… no, please no,” the mare pleaded. But Fluttershy didn’t hear. She stopped next to the mare and slowly raised her sword into the air, ready to plunge it into the heart of the Baroness. “Please don’t kill me, please, I’m sorry!”
“You will be,” Fluttershy whispered, her teeth gritted together and her eyes displaying fiery hate for the mare. She felt nothing when she saw tears in Velenta’s eyes, no compassion for her, no remorse, just anger and hatred.
With a cry of rage she brought Drage Bane down.
“Fluttershy, stop!”
Fluttershy stopped the sword so that the point was only millimetres from where the heart would be. She looked up to see Twilight, Pinkie, Rainbow and Applejack standing at the door, looking at her with wide eyes. Fluttershy’s teeth came apart and her eyes widened in horror when she realised they weren’t eyes of anger or disgust, but of fear – fear, she presumed, of her. She looked down at where Drage Bane was pointing and at that moment felt her anger fade away, to be replaced with disgust at herself. She looked back at her friends and thought for a moment she saw her father, looking at her with disapproving eyes.
She stepped back in fright from the fallen mare, Drage Bane sliding sorrowfully back into its scabbard, and moved into the furthest corner of the room, curling up into a ball, and covered her face with her mane and hoped that they would leave her.
Twilight breathed a sigh of relief when Fluttershy began backing away, and then watched her with sad eyes as Fluttershy curled up into a ball. “Rainbow, you and I will check on Rarity. Pinkie, keep an eye on this horse. Applejack-”
“I know, I got her,” Applejack said with a raised hoof. Twilight nodded, then with Rainbow she galloped to Rarity’s side, Pinkie literally kept a single eye trained on Velenta, while Applejack walked slowly to Fluttershy.
She knew this would happen. She had said to Twilight that Fluttershy would do something she knew the pegasus would regret, and now she had done it. As she got closer she could see Fluttershy was shivering, and heard her sniffing back tears, and felt her heart skip a beat. “Fluttershy,” she said softly.
“Fluttershy’s not in,” Fluttershy responded quietly. “Please leave a message at the sound of the squeak.” She made a little squeak sound and curled around herself tighter, expecting a severe scolding from the earth pony.
Applejack looked at her with sympathetic eyes. “Fluttershy. Please look at me,” she said softly. “I’m not gonna yell at ya, I promise.”
Fluttershy slowly brushed her mane out of her face and looked at Applejack with sorrowful and regretful eyes. “Oh, Applejack, she whispered. “What have I become?”
Applejack gently wrapped her forelegs around the pegasus, who buried her head in her friend’s shoulder and sniffed back tears. “It’s over now, sugarcube. It’s okay.” Applejack turned her head to look at Twilight. “How’s Rarity?”
“She’s alive. Got head wounds on either side of the head but otherwise she’ll be fine,” Twilight replied, her eyes never leaving the fallen unicorn.
Applejack smiled, then looked at Fluttershy, who looked a little better at hearing Rarity will be all right. “Ya see, sugarcube. Rarity’s gonna be okay.”
“I know.” Fluttershy’s ears fell flat. “But it doesn’t change what I did. I fought to defend Rarity, but instead I went too far.” She rested her head on Applejack’s shoulder. “I’ve changed, haven’t I?”
Applejack didn’t reply for a moment, until she said with a nod, “Yeah.”
“But not for the better?” Fluttershy asked. Although Applejack didn’t reply, her silence screamed out in agreement, and it shattered the pegasus’s fragile heart,
“Come on, everyone, let’s get out of here!” Rainbow called, while Twilight placed Rarity on her back.
“Did you get the key, sugarcube?” Applejack gently asked the pegasus, and received a nod in response. “Then let’s get back to camp.”
“Leave me here,” Fluttershy said. “I don’t deserve to continue.”
“Nonsense,” Applejack said. She turned around and lowered herself down on the ground so Fluttershy could climb on top. “If your legs ain’t gonna carry ya out of here, then I will.” She said. Fluttershy, looking miserable, moved herself groggily onto Applejack’s back, and gripped around her barrel as Applejack broke into a gallop to catch up with her friends.
As they left the study room Fluttershy met the surprised gaze of the Baroness and felt new tears spring up into her eyes because of herself. “I’m sorry,” she sobbed as Applejack galloped out of the study room.
Applejack, with Fluttershy on her back, soon caught up with the rest and they all made their way back towards the sewers. As they went down, Fluttershy could’ve sworn she heard maniacal laughter echoing around the staircase.
“I think she’s coming around,” was the first voice Rarity heard after a long time. Her head felt like an anvil had fallen on top of it and every inch of her ached. She opened her eyes, expecting to be in Paradise, but instead saw a blur of four familiar looking figures. Her vision cleared and she smiled wearily when she saw Applejack, Twilight, Rainbow and Pinkie surrounded her, with relieved grins on their faces. “How’re you feeling?” Twilight asked.
Rarity groaned and sat upright. She instantly recognised the campsite they stayed in the night before, and felt the cold chill of the night brush against her coat. “Could be worse, but could be better,” she said, letting out a pained groan.
Twilight turned her head behind her and brought out a vial of some sort in her teeth. “It’s something I found when scouring the second floor in the keep,” she explained. “It’s supposed to cure any aches and pains during a long night’s sleep. Take this and tomorrow you’ll feel like nothing happened.”
Rarity took the vial in her hooves and drunk it down in one gulp. It tasted like lemon, but with twenty times added sugar, giving it a major kick in sweetness. She shook violently as it took hold and stuck out her tongue in distaste. “Thanks, Twilight. But what did happen? Last thing I remember is turning around and seeing Fluttershy wit-” she stopped abruptly when she realised her pegasus friend was missing. “Where’s Fluttershy?”
The four ponies looked grimly at each other, and for a moment Rarity thought they were going to tell her she was dead. Applejack and Twilight stepped aside to reveal Fluttershy, giving Rarity a reason to start breathing again.
Fluttershy was lying on her side, with her back to them, and curled up so she looked like a flattened ball. For a moment Rarity forgot to breathe again as she feared Fluttershy wasn’t breathing, but relaxed when she saw her side rise and fall. She looked back at her friends, and was confused and terrified by the grim expressions on their faces. “What happened? Tell me what happened?”
Twilight drew out a long, sad sigh. “Me and Rainbow, after having no luck, were heading back to the stairway when we heard the sounds of swords coming together. While Rainbow rushed to get Pinkie and Applejack, I went upstairs to see what was happening. I tried bucking down the door but with no such luck, so I waited until Applejack and Rainbow arrived, all the while the sounds of fighting and cries from what I thought to be Fluttershy.”
“I found Applejack and Pinkie waiting by the door leading into the sewers for us,” Rainbow went on, “and explained we heard swords clashing. We rushed upstairs and found Twilight trying to bring down the door. We told her to step back and me and AJ smashed it down.” Rainbow visibly shuddered as she remembered what she saw.
“Then what?” Rarity goaded them on.
Applejack continued. “We found Fluttershy, looking like she was possessed, with her sword in the air ready to bring it down into the horse who was on the ground pleading for her life.”
“If I hadn’t cried out when I did,” Twilight added grimly. “Fluttershy would’ve killed her.”
Rarity stared at them all in disbelief. She looked to each of the ponies, hoping that one of them would say she was just joking, and that Fluttershy would never do such a thing. But their faces told their agreement to Twilight’s story. “She… she would never…”
“We stopped her just before her sword pierced the horse’s hide,” Applejack said, her ears flat against her head. “She hasn’t spoken since we left the fortress and refused to eat anything. She just curled up there and blanked us all out.”
Rarity got up and moved to be next to her friend, but Twilight gently pushed her back. “It’s best just to leave her be at the moment, then talk to her in the morning about it. The best thing we can all do now is get a good nights sleep. We’ve had a rough day.”
“You’re telling me,” Rarity said, putting a hoof on her head as it still felt like a ten-ton weight. The ponies moved away and started settling down for the night.
Rarity watched them all fall asleep, then turned back to Fluttershy. She tiptoed up to the pegasus and softly petted her head so not to wake her. “Oh, darling,” she cooed. “Please don’t beat yourself up again over this.” She walked away and back to Fluttershy’s sleeping bag, which was splayed out for her. She turned around and gave one last sad look at Fluttershy before falling into her sleeping bag and drifted to sleep, the pains and aches she had she hoped would be long gone by the time she’ll wake up.
Fluttershy took a deep breath, although it came out more like a sob, to hold back the tears threatening to spill as she listened to her friends talk about her behind her back. She was relieved to know Rarity was okay, and stayed awake specifically to know that. But now she was awake, she wished she wasn’t as Twilight, Applejack and Rainbow went onto how they saved her from making a grave mistake. Then Twilight said “we’ll talk to her about it in the morning” and it made her heart shatter once again.
She had read those words once before in a cheesy romance novel that made her laugh. But now, she feared this talk would lead down the same path those words usually implied – the end of the relationship. In this case, her friendships.
Now that they were all asleep, Fluttershy rolled over and looked at each of her friends, wondering what they all felt about her now she was a Dragonlord. Twilight didn’t seem sure; neither did Applejack, or Pinkie. Come to think of it, none of them seemed sure of what to make of it all, and it scared her as much as she scared them.
She then wondered whether this was part of Heimdallr’s plan, to separate her from her friends, make them think differently of her, and finally making them shun her, making her an easier target to take down. It mattered not if it was. The seeds of doubt had been planted in her friend’s minds, and she had noone to blame but herself.
She got up and galloped in a random direction, hoping to find somewhere were she had a place to think and how to fight for her friendships. Being a usually calm, frightened pony, she rarely showed her aggressive emotions, for fear of hurting of wrong ponies. The last time she displayed her anger was a year or so back when Iron Will came to Ponyville and taught her to be more assertive, but she hurt far too many ponies those two days. She had hoped she had as well as learning to put her hoof down on things, she hoped she could control her anger when she does let it out, but today proved that wasn’t the case.
She eventually emerged in a large clearing with a small stream running down the middle, splitting it in two. When she arrived she sat down and looked at the stars. “Is this what it was like for you, dad?!” she called to the heavens. “Were you as angry as I am when you became part of the order?!” The response she so desperately wanted didn’t come. “Please! Give me a message, a sign, anything!” She lowered her voice and began to sink into the ground. “I really need your help.”
“Then tell me, Fluttershy Firewing. What appears to trouble you so greatly to hope that the dead would advise you?” a voice enquired from behind her. Fluttershy spun around to look behind her to find noone there. She then looked up to see Vidarr hovering soundlessly above her. He stopped flapping his wings and came down onto the ground with a soft thud. He raised himself up onto his claws and bowed his head to the Dragonlord, his eyes giving away his concern for his kin.
Fluttershy bowed her head in return, and then walked up to him with devastated eyes. “I… I got angry today, really angry. I nearly killed a horse that was begging for her life. My friends stopped me, but I feel that…”
“They don’t trust you as they once did?” Vidarr finished for her.
Fluttershy looked up at him, and then nodded solemnly. “They’re still my friends, for the moment, but they fear me, more than anything in the world. I don’t want to be feared by my own friends, or they would start separating themselves from me, and then they would tell me to go away completely. I don’t want that, not again.” Fluttershy looked down at the ground and began to cry silently.
Vidarr looked at her sympathetically. With a single finger from his claw, he stroked Fluttershy head, and with another he gently lifted her head up so he could look her in the eye. “You said not again. Does this mean something like this happened before?”
Fluttershy sniffed and nodded. “So you have trouble controlling your anger then?” Fluttershy nodded again. “To be honest I thought, being the bearer to the element of kindness, that you would be above such things.”
Fluttershy shook her head. “I wish I was. In fact, I wish I could get rid of anger completely, so I would never have to feel angry again.”
“If you could, then someone could just as easily get rid of love, joy and some of the most cherished emotions our world holds,” Vidarr said. “Anger is an emotion that dwells in all of us, from the tiny ant, to the giant mammoth. It isn’t wrong that you feel anger, Fluttershy Firewing. But you need to know how to control it, before it controls you.”
“But how?” Fluttershy asked. “I’ve tried many meditation therapies in the past, but none of them worked. I thought bottling my anger in would be okay, but over time that bottle becomes overfull, and then suddenly bursts open. I’m worried that I would hurt the wrong people when that happens, like I did today.”
“Then you must learn the vows, oaths, and rules, of the Dragonlord order,” Vidarr said.
Fluttershy looked at the ancient dragon oddly. “Rules? Vows? Oaths? My dad never told me about any of these? And how could they possibly help me?”
“Your father probably didn’t think it would be the right time. Rules are made for everything, Fluttershy Firewing,” Vidarr explained. “The Dragonlords even more so. They followed the codex closely and abided by its rules in battle across the centuries. They believed that by following its guidelines that they would be able to control their anger, and not become the creature they destroyed at their creation.”
Fluttershy’s jaw hung off her mouth. She shook her head in disbelief. “So… if I can’t control my anger, then I’ll become like Heimdallr?”
Vidarr nodded. “Heimdallr let his anger and hatred consume him totally, destroying him not just in body but in soul as well. The first Dragonlords came up with several rules that all Dragonlords must abide by so they can escape the same fate.”
“Do you know these rules, Vidarr?”
“Indeed I do, young Dragonlord,” Vidarr replied. “As a honorary member of the order I was sworn to its laws and the vows that were given to me. As final rites they ask you to make one vow of your choosing, so that you are sworn to that service. For you, it will be like getting a second cutie mark.”
“Can you tell me them, please?”
“Certainly,” Vidarr said with a smile. Fluttershy hopped up onto his nose, then laid down on it as Vidarr began telling her the laws of the lords of dragons.
“The first rule: you must never harm an innocent creature, always protect them.
“The second rule: you must never kill an unarmed opponent. When they are down and unarmed they possess no more threat to you. If they try to take up arms once again, then you are free to put them down. There are no second chances with the order.
“The third rule: you must never fight in anger. Anger might make you stronger but will make you think less, and will give your opponent a greater advantage as they are thinking clearer than you. Plus it’s bad for the soul, as I have already said to you.
“The fourth rule: never hate your opponent. This one is the hardest, I know, but it ties with the third. Anger and hatred are brothers, and combine just as easily as carrots to a cake.”
Fluttershy gave a little pleasurable moan and licked her lips at the mention of a carrot cake. “Are you even listening?!” Vidarr bellowed. Fluttershy jumped in the air, giving a tiny squeak of surprise as she did so. She nodded sheepishly once she returned to the dragon’s nose.
“And finally, the fifth rule,” Vidarr continued. “Never call your opponent your enemy. Enemy is another word for hate and as such ties with the fourth and third rules. The Dragonlords don’t fight because of anger or hatred; they fight because of what’s right, and because they want to prove they are better than them. By displaying no prejudice towards an opponent.”
Fluttershy’s brain worked hard as it tried to dissolve this information. Although they sounded relatively straightforward they would be really hard to do. She hated Heimdallr with everything she had, so being told she couldn’t call him an enemy or even hate him made her feel divided. On one hoof she really didn’t want to call Heimdallr an enemy; in fact, she wanted nothing to do with him. But she couldn’t get over the crimes that he’d committed over the past five thousand years, nor could she get over the death of her father at his claws.
Fluttershy looked up into Vidarr’s eyes. “And what of the oaths?”
“The oaths are sworn to say that you will abide by these rules. While the last vow is your own, and what you promise to uphold to in the Dragonlord order. The penalties for breaking these oaths and rules, particularly the first and second rules, are harsh, and most resolve in death in many ways.”
Vidarr narrowed his eyes at her. “And you have broken some of these rules already.”
Fluttershy’s eyes widened in horror. She put her fore hooves together and began pleading for her life. “I’m so sorry! I didn’t know about the rules I didn’t mean to cause offence! Oh please don’t kill me…” she stopped when Vidarr started laughing.
“Relax, Fluttershy Firewing. The punishments for hating and feeling anger are less harsh than the first and second, and never result in death. As for your punishment I cannot carry out the punishments the Dragonlords made. Only a true Dragonlord can do that, and since you’re the only one left, you must punish yourself.”
Fluttershy sat upright and looked at his nose, wondering how to punish herself. She eventually brought a hoof up and slapped herself across the face. “Ouch,” she yelped. “Was that a good enough punishment, Vidarr?” she asked.
“That’s up to you, Dragonlord,” he chuckled, heartily surprised that Fluttershy would go that length. “I suppose you want to know the oaths now, and take them?” Fluttershy nodded. “Then jump down and take up Drage Bane.”
Fluttershy hopped back onto the ground and waited for Vidarr to give instructions. “Firstly, a Dragonlord must always take his or her oaths in a dragon fire, and the words must always be repeated in Dragonian.” He looked away from the pegasus, and then with a deep breath, a bright jet of flame erupted from his mouth, incinerating a small area of the clearing, and creating a huge fire.
Instantly understanding what to do next, Fluttershy placed herself into the fire. She could feel the flames wrap themselves around her body like a blanket; she could feel her mane be lifted by the wind as it blew the flames into a merry dance around her. She raised her right leg, and let Drage Bane slide out of its bracelet. She pressed the sword up against her chest, and felt the cold, finger like stroke of the blade as it touched her coat.
She bowed her head at Vidarr, who upon noticing she was ready, began to say the oaths. “Now, repeat after me. I, Fluttershy Firewing.”
“Jeg, Fluttershy Ildvinge.”
“Will abide by these laws of the Dragonlord order.”
“Vil overholde disse lovene av Drageordenen,” Fluttershy repeated.
“I swear to protect the innocent, and never harm them. I swear I will never hate, nor feel anger against those that take up arms against me. I will never call my opponent my enemy, and I will respect him or her as much as I respect my fellow warriors. I swear I will help those in need, and those that cannot protect themselves. That is the Dragonlords way, and I am a Dragonlord.”
“Jeg sverger å beskytte de uskyldige, og aldri skade dem. Jeg sverger at jeg aldri skal hate de som vil meg vondt. Jeg vil aldri kall mine motstandere mine fiender, og jeg vil respektere han eller henne like mye som jeg respektere mine med krigere. Jeg sverger at jeg vil hjelpe de som er i nød eller de som ikke kan beskytte seg. Dette er drageherrenes vei, og jeg er en drageherre,” Fluttershy repeated the words once more perfectly. Vidarr nodded with approval then with a sweep of his claw, the dragon fire Fluttershy stood in was extinguished, leaving no trace of it ever being there; not even scorch marks left on the ground were present. “But what about my personal vow?” she asked. “Don’t I have to make that now?”
“You can. If you have one,” Vidarr replied. “When you do realise your vow, tell it to the sky and my great grandfather Vidarr will hear it.”
Fluttershy moved away from the where the flames once was and eyed Vidarr once more. “But how can I not hate Heimdallr? He killed my father and killed so many more with a smile on his face. I think it’s impossible to not hate him.”
“I’m not telling you to not hate him, Fluttershy Firewing.”
“Yes you are,” Fluttershy argued. “The third, fourth, and fifth rules say…”
“Those rules are merely guidelines. It is impossible to remove anger and hate from a living being. But what can be done is to control your anger and hate, so it doesn’t consume you, like Heimdallr. Just remember, Fluttershy Firewing, he too was a victim of war, and in his grief he brought about a war which he called his vendetta.”
“But I’m not like him, I’m not doing this for revenge.”
“Fluttershy Firewing, I can see through you clearer than the cleanest river.” He pointed an accusing finger at her. “You have turned this war into a vendetta against him, and as such are dooming yourself to become like him. The proof is what happened today, when you went to kill a horse begging for her life.” Vidarr leaned his massive head closer to the pegasus. “Do you imagine what you would have done had you plunged that sword into her? Do you imagine seeing the pain in her eyes and the fear as you bleed the lif-”
“Stop!” Fluttershy cried, shaking her head and trying to get out the vile images in her mind out by placing her head in her hooves. “Please, just stop.” Vidarr was right, though. She had imagined what would have happened if her friends didn’t come a second sooner, and she felt sickened by it. She realised that Heimdallr was the same; he killed first in vengeance, but then killed more and more until it was all he did, and he enjoyed it. She had turned this into a war of vengeance, and she hadn’t even noticed, and it seemed she would harm those who got in her or her friends way.
She brought her head out of her hooves and looked at Vidarr with narrow eyes. “What do you want me to do, then?” she snapped. “What do you want me to fight him for?”
“I want you to fight him for the same reasons your father fought,” Vidarr answered. “I want you to fight for what your ancestors fought for, and the reason the one that died fighting for you – the right reasons. Your father’s death is not one of them.
“The dead will not care about vengeance, Fluttershy Firewing. So rather than focusing on those that are lost, focus on those that could be lost, like your friends.” He leaned even closer, bringing his voice into no more than a whisper. “Your father was a great pony, one of the greatest Dragonlords of them all. If your places were exchanged he would be fighting to bring Heimdallr down not out of revenge, but out of duty. You know this in your heart, don’t you?”
Fluttershy didn’t want to believe that; Firewing would’ve continued fighting to avenge her. But thinking that seemed wrong to her, and would be insulting his memory more. She looked up at Vidarr with a sad frown. “But what about my anger, Vidarr? How can control it before it controls me, again?”
Vidarr took a minute to think about it. “Do you reflect on the past often, Fluttershy Firewing?”
“What has that got to do with anything?” Fluttershy asked defensively.
Vidarr didn’t express any emotion at Fluttershy’s sudden outburst. “Was it really that bad for you to get defensive about it?”
Fluttershy looked away, but not before giving a few nods of the head. “I was bullied for most of my childhood, Vidarr. I was the shy quiet one in the corner that was an easy target for bullies. I was teased because I couldn’t fly well, and because I couldn’t run fast, and I had longer legs than everypony. I’ve been called a freak by older ponies because of my weak flying abilities. I stored my anger away until I released it about a year back, after I took assertiveness lessons. I… I got out of control, and my friends Pinkie and Rarity tried to bring me out at it.”
“And what did you do?” Vidarr asked.
The hurt and guilt was all too plain in Fluttershy’s eyes. “I… I yelled at them. I told them that they lived pointless lives, and they fled from me crying their eyes out. But you know what the worst part was? Afterwards they didn’t blame me; they blamed the one who taught me! I don’t think I can ever forgive myself for what I did. I hurt too many ponies that day.”
Vidarr was clearly surprised. “You seem to dwell too much on the past, young Dragonlord. Particularly the worst moments of your life, and it’s come to the point where just thinking it makes you feel angry. You need to set the past aside if you want to be free of anger, at least for a time. The past cannot hurt you anymore, only the present can.” Vidarr spread out his wings and was ready to take to the air once more.
“Wait!” Fluttershy called before he could take off. “How though? How do I just let it all go?”
“Instead of reflecting on the bad things in your life, how about the good things. Good things, no matter how small or few can be cherished for a lifetime.” Before Fluttershy could speak again, he thrust his wings downwards, sending him into the sky, and was quickly swallowed by the darkness. Fluttershy didn’t even hear the sound of flapping wings.
“The good things?” she said to herself, wondering what the great dragon could have meant by that. She moved away from the clearing and galloped back towards where they made camp for the last two nights. Soon she arrived at the campsite and was glad that her moving off into the night didn’t disturb any of them. She then moved west from the camp, towards a cliff edge that she recalled seeing when she was on Vidarr’s head.
She soon arrived at the cliff edge and sat on her haunches at the very edge. Before her stood mountains arranged in a line with a gap in the middle where a river snaked its way out of and wiggled towards Ironhoof fortress itself, while hugging the banks of the river were trees of various types and sizes. She hoped this idea of Vidarr’s worked, or else she would lose her friends. She closed her eyes and began reflecting on her life.
She remembered the orphanage, and how the other orphans would shun her because of her shy demeanour, or lack of flying ability. She skipped forwards to flight school, flinching at every horrible word said towards her, and feeling her anger begin to rise because of it. How most of her life was spent alone and unloved except by the carers of the orphanage, and Rainbow Dash when she met her.
A small smile rose when she got her cutie mark, then got a little bigger when she moved to Ponyville, that smile faded as she spent a long time with no pony friends, too scared to talk to anyone, and it faded completely to sorrow when she remembered the day she was told she would be unable to conceive children.
Then came the smiling face of Twilight Sparkle, when she first arrived to Ponyville, and when the six came together as a group. Fluttershy’s frown rose back into a small smile as she remembered those early days, where they started getting to know each other better, and put aside their differences and conflicts. Her smile grew as she remembered the laughs they had, and the great times they shared.
Most of the memories of the good times in her life involved her five friends in one form or another, and that was when it dawned on her, just like the sun was beginning to rise before her. Her friends were, and had become her life. Everything she had done in the past two years was with them, or for them. And they made it a great life, one worth truly living. With that thought, her anger seemed to evaporate instantly, like a puddle of rainwater on a hot, sunny day. She opened her eyes and saw the top of the sun was beginning to rise between the mountains, the rays like beams of light shooting up into the sky. She wore the most blissful smile on her face as she watched the sun rise. She now fully understood why Twilight was sent on her mission by Princess Celestia to study the magic of friendship.
Her friends had become her life. And with that thought, she had her vow. She looked up at the early morning sky and called out in Dragonian, “Jeg vil ikke kjempe for noen land. Jeg vil ikke kjempe for noen ledere. Jeg vil ikke kjempe for ære og rikdom. Istedenfor, så vil jeg kjempe for mine venner og deres familie. De er mer dyrbart for meg enn alt jeg eier og har, så jeg vil kjempe for dem, selv om min siste luft forlater mine lunger. Dette er mitt løfte som drageherre, og jeg vil holden den til den dagen jeg dør (I will not fight for any country. I will not fight for any leader. I will not fight for glory or riches. Instead, I will fight for my friends, and their families. They are more precious to me than anything I own, so I will fight them even as my last breathe parts my lips. That is my vow as a Dragonlord, and I will hold it until the day I die)!”
A strong, sudden breeze nearly swept Fluttershy off her hooves. It curled around her and sent a chill from her waist upwards, blowing her long mane into one of her eyes. Although any other pony would think it was coincidence, Fluttershy had seen too much to think that was just coincidence. Vidarr the First had given his own approval of her vow, and now she was held to it for life. She smiled and watched as the sun crept over the mountains.
An ear twitched at the sound of someone coming behind her. She glanced over her shoulder to see Pinkie emerge from the trees, her eyes half open and some twigs and leaves in her poofy mane and tail. “Heya, Fluttershy,” she greeted her, stifling a yawn as she did so.
Fluttershy looked clearly back at her, and Pinkie could see the kind, loving eyes that she remembered from over a month back. “Hi, Pinkie,” Fluttershy greeted her back. “Did you sleep well?”
Pinkie moved to sit beside the pegasus to watch the sunrise with her. “Yeah, not to bad thanks. I would ask the same for you but you’re already awake so it would be a no, so tell me what’s up?”
Fluttershy looked from Pinkie back to sun, the blissful smile never leaving her face. “I think I just had a spiritual re-birth, Pinkie. My anger is now completely gone, and I haven’t felt this good in ages.”
“Now why would you want to get rid of your anger?” Pinkie asked.
“Because… because.” Fluttershy’s smile faded away and tears formed in her eyes. “Because I don’t want to lose you.”
“Whatever do ya mean, sugarcube?” Applejack’s voice came in. Fluttershy and Pinkie turned around to see Applejack, Twilight, Rainbow and Rarity looking at them.
“I noticed that you all fear me, and I don’t want to be feared by anyone, especially my own friends. I was worried I would lose you all because of it and… and I don’t think I could live without you, not anymore.”
The five friends looked at each other guiltily. “Fluttershy, if you weren’t the sweetest pony I know I would slap you for even thinking we would abandon you because of this,” Rarity said.
“Sugar, we’re not afraid of ya, we’re afraid for ya,” Applejack came in with a loving smile.
“But… you agreed with me that I changed for the worse,” Fluttershy argued.
“I agreed that ya changed, sugarcube, but I never said anything about it being for the worst,” Applejack pointed out.
“You didn’t need to. Your silence said more than words ever could.” Fluttershy’s head sank lower towards the ground as if gravity was pulling her head to it.
“Fluttershy, I said nothing because I was unsure of what to think of it,” Applejack said. “These changes you’re going through have happened so fast that it’s difficult to decide what to say about them yet. But don’t think for one second that we will stop being your friend because of them.”
“Darling,” Rarity explained, “there are some changes that happen in this world that are small, and easy to adjust to, like a new picture in the house. But others, like finding out you are part of a warrior order that’s been genetically augmented, is a massive change. One that could take years to adjust to.”
“But never think for a second you have to adjust to these changes alone,” Twilight said. The unicorn moved and sat next to the miserable pegasus. “Do you ever wonder why I was so quick to adjust to my new home in Ponyville?”
Fluttershy looked up. “Because you like the liberation you got out of it?”
Twilight shook her head. “Nope. I actually spent the first few nights in Ponyville crying myself to sleep because I missed home so much.” Fluttershy looked at Twilight in shock, as did the others. “But I quickly adjusted to my new life there because of six things.”
The unicorn placed her hooves on Fluttershy’s cheeks and gently lifted her head to face her. “I had you. I had Applejack, Rainbow, Rarity, Pinkie and Spike to help me get through what was a difficult moment for me. I adjusted quickly because of my friends, and that it was I hope to do for you, Fluttershy. I want to help you with these changes, and adapt your old life with them.”
“We care about you so much that it would take a thousand cakes to fill how much we care about you,” Pinkie went on. “But then we won’t be able to eat them because they are filled with how much we care about you and if we eat them then we won’t care about you anymore…” Pinkie went on rambling.
“Pinkie surprisingly has a point, though,” Rainbow said. “We do care about you so much, and we going to help you through what must be a nerve wracking time for you. Your nerves must be fighting themselves in there, it’s a surprise really that you haven’t fallen dead yet.”
“It’s what we’re here for. To help you out,” Twilight said with a smile. By now Fluttershy had lifted her head up and was looking at each of them with kind eyes and a bright smile.
“I know you are. I should’ve always known, I shouldn’t have even doubted you.” She hung her head low once again. “I’m sorry again for what happened yesterday. My father would’ve have been ashamed of me if he saw me. Can you forgive this bad-tempered, bird-brained pegasus?”
There were no words spoken, for the group squashed Fluttershy into a hug. “Oh, of course we forgive you, darling,” Rarity said.
“And you’re wrong,” Twilight added, “about your father, I mean. I’m sure he would be very proud of you. You realised your mistakes and learned from them. I’m sure that’s something he would be proud of.”
“Thanks, but… I think he would be proud of you all more,” Fluttershy responded. The six mares pulled away from each other, then sat side by side and watched as the sun rose between the mountains, shining its warming light down on the trees below, and making the river glisten as it rippled because of the wind. “It’s beautiful, isn’t it?”
“Mmm hmm,” the five mares beside her responded, unable to say anything else. For some reason the sun looked more beautiful rising here than in Equestria.
“You know what, when we get back home we should do this more often,” Twilight suggested.
Applejack nodded in agreement. “I agree. Usually I don’t get a chance to watch the sunrise due to work. But I think I can spare a moment with you girls for something like this.”
“I’m usually asleep around then, but I could try getting up for this just for you guys,” Rainbow said.
“Ha! So you would rather watch a sunrise than help me do some work,” Applejack smirked.
“Yep, much more lazy and much more relaxing,” Rainbow smirked back. Silence reigned once more as the sun rose higher into the sky. All the ponies had smiles on their faces as it did so, none of them wanting to bring up the question about why they were here in the first place.
That is, until Twilight spoke. “Are you ready to face Heimdallr now, Fluttershy?”
The mood turned sombre at that moment. Everypony knew it had to happen at some point, even though they didn’t want it to. Fluttershy’s ears fell flat against her head and she sighed. “If we must.”
“Of course we do!” Pinkie shouted. “That no good meanie will kill us all if we did nothing!”
“Yeah,” Rainbow agreed, “and since you hate him so much, I thought you would be more keen on getting at him, for what he’s done.”
Fluttershy drew another long, sad sigh and looked at the ground. “I agree with if we did nothing then we will all die. But…”
Twilight tilted her head to the side on confusion. “But?”
“I can’t hate him anymore. My mind, my darker side, is screaming at me to hate him, but I can’t. I don’t like him, but if I do hate him, then I will become like him. A monster.”
Rarity placed a hoof on her cheek. “Oh, Fluttershy, sweetheart, I said this to you once before. You are not a monster, and never will be.”
Fluttershy looked up at her friend with a grim face. “Yesterday I nearly killed a horse begging for her life. If that’s not monstrous then I don’t know what is.” She moved away from the edge and made her way back to the main camp, leaving the others stunned as they processed what Fluttershy meant. “Are you all coming?!” Fluttershy’s voice echoed from the trees. They broke out of their daze and trotted away from the cliff edge, glancing back at the sun that dawned what could be their last day on Terra.