Chapter 19: The Lightning Chariot (cont.)
The elevator came to a slow, grinding stop as it reached another circular chamber, fitting perfectly inside a ring-shaped platform that marked the upper end of the elevator shaft. A narrow bridge extended from one side of the platform, spanning a deep chasm and connecting to a door at the end of the chamber. Fluttershy started toward the bridge, but stopped when two Handoras crawled up from the chasm and scuttled in front of the bridge, blocking her path. Two Syrens rose from the chasm with them and glided along the chamber walls in opposite directions, trying to catch her in a pincer maneuver. Finally, a Shildeen floated behind the Handoras, and a thin, iridescent dome formed over the three monsters, acting as a barrier.
“Underlings!” Discord shouted. “I’m offering one hundred bits for Flutterbutt’s head!”
“Fluttershy,” she muttered back, less than amused as she sidestepped an energy blast and fired back with her bow.
“Whatever,” Discord said, rolling his eyes. “You’d think your tenure as a bracelet would have had some effect your sense of humor.”
Fluttershy froze as she was aiming her bow at one of the Syrens. “Wait, you know that I was turned into a bracelet?”
“Oh, is it a secret?” Discord said. “Well don’t mind me. Mum’s the word.”
Fluttershy fired a charge shot, striking one of the two Syrens and sending it falling back into the chasm. “Did you turn me into that bracelet?” she accused more than asked.
“Wow,” Discord said, shaking his head and almost chuckling. “You really are clueless. Don’t you know, Fluttershy? You’re the cause of all this chaos!”
“What?! But that makes no sense!”
“Believe not a word he speaks, Fluttershy,” Luna broke in. “Discord is at fault here and no one else.”
“Why, thank you,” Discord replied. “That’s the sweetest thing I’ve ever heard you say.”
“It may very well be,” Luna retorted. “But don’t grow accustomed to it.”
“Well that’s a bit harsh,” Discord said. “As if I’ve done anything to deserve such scorn.”
Fluttershy shot one more gem from her bow, taking out the last enemy in the chamber. She walked down the bridge to the end of the chamber, and once the heavy door opened for her, she stepped outside. Once again, she found herself standing on another walkway that gently spiraled up the tower’s side. She began to walk toward the edge of the walkway, intending to peer down at the ground below, but stopped a few steps short when she glimpsed how far down it actually was.
Turning around, she looked up the side of tower, only to be dismayed as the structure continued to loom endlessly above her. The elevator in the last chamber had taken her up several floors, and by now she had to have been on the twentieth floor, or at least very close to it. Yet the tower still stretched high up, and the higher Fluttershy climbed, the more of it there still seemed to be. “How much more of this tower is there? I know you said it was really tall, but—”
“Yes, I recall warning you in advance about the tower’s height,” Luna said, giving an exasperated sigh. “You must have seen for yourself its size when we approached for a landing.”
“I suppose,” Fluttershy said. “But this place is so huge, we had to start a new chapter back there.”
“Quiet, lest they hear you!” Luna hissed. “We are not to discuss such things.”
Fluttershy raised an eyebrow. She’d never had any problem talking about those things when Celestia was with her. Occasionally, they even took a shot at the author, something they’d both grown fond of. So why was Luna fretting about it? Fluttershy shook her head, dropping the subject, and headed up the walkway.
A narrow, branching corridor formed by several low walls greeted her when she entered the chamber on the next floor. The walls rose several feet above her, nowhere near high enough to reach the ceiling but still tall enough that she couldn’t see over them, much less climb over them. From the way the walls wrapped around one another, Fluttershy could tell that there were other corridors on the other side, some of which came to dead ends.
“Is this supposed to be a maze?” Fluttershy asked.
“Yes, though it does not extend beyond this chamber,” Luna said. “It should not delay you for long.”
Fluttershy began to make her way down the corridor. After a brief dead end, a left turn and then a right turn, she soon reached a fork in the pathway. To her right, the path continued down a long hallway that eventually branched in three different directions. But straight ahead of her, a large hole lay in the floor, blocking her off from another hallway on the other side. Looking over the walls ahead, Fluttershy could make out the top of a massive doorframe at the end of that hallway, marking the end of the maze. She gazed down at the Crystal Bow on her leg, studying the small puzzle grid that was engraved into the base of one of its limbs.
“There has to be something here that can get me across,” Fluttershy said. “Maybe a Jump Glide?”
“I recall the Angelic Missile power being inserted into that bow,” Luna answered.
“Angelic Missile?” Fluttershy said. “I don’t like the sound of—”
Before she could finish her sentence, the puzzle grid flashed. Fluttershy’s hooves lifted off the ground, and she suddenly found herself spinning through the air as her body rocketed forward. She spun for several seconds before coming to a stop in midair and landed on her back with a plop.
The room spun in Fluttershy’s vision as she pulled herself onto her haunches and stood back up. She brought a hoof to her head, giving her head a moment to stop spinning and herself a chance to get her bearings. The Angelic Missile power had shot her across the gap in the floor, and when she looked around she saw the exit just a few feet away. The door lifted open for her as she approached it, and she started up toward the next floor, putting this chamber and its maze behind her.
The mechanical whir of spinning propellers came from beneath the edge of the walkway as Fluttershy was walking up to the next floor. Fluttershy stopped halfway up as the sound grew louder and closer. She watched as a small castle rose up and hovered before her alongside the walkway. Several propellers on each of the castle’s three towers, two slender ones flanking a wider central tower, spun rapidly and kept the whole structure afloat. The central keep was fitted with a pair of thick doors at its base and a wooden shutter above it that covered what appeared to be a large window. The shutter flew open, and the cartoonish visage of a scowling pig’s face burst out, accompanied by the sound of a pig’s squeal. Fluttershy’s apprehensive gaze quickly turned into an incredulous stare. “What’s that supposed to be?” she asked.
“A fortified troop transport for the Underworld Army,” Luna said. “They are named Fort Oinks. Not quite as terrifying as the Belunkas but far better defended, based on reports from my commanders.”
The gates of the Fort Oink swung open, and two Skuttler Cannoneers were spit out onto the walkway. The Skuttlers hardly managed to land on their limbs before being taken out by a charge shot from Fluttershy’s bow. Fluttershy aimed her bow and, after waiting for a second, fired another charge shot at the Fort Oink. The fortress jerked back, but stayed afloat and hovered further up the side of the walkway. Its doors flew open again, but before it could dispatch another few troops, Fluttershy fired another blue gem at the pig’s face. The Fort Oink stumbled back. It wobbled in midair as several of its propellers malfunctioned and stopped spinning. Eventually the mini-fortress dropped from its position near the tower and plummeted back down.
“I thought they were supposed to be better defended,” Fluttershy said.
“They are,” Luna replied. “As long as your overlook the pig’s face.”
Fluttershy gave a brief shrug before turning back and continuing up the rest of the walkway. When she reached the next floor, she stepped inside a vast, empty chamber. To her surprise, the ceiling of the chamber was domed with brightly glowing, ornate patterns moving across from one side to the next. Beneath her hooves, the floor was blue, glassy, and transparent, and revealed an entire hemispherical space underneath the chamber. The glowing patterns continued to move on the walls beneath the transparent floor, rotating along the walls and ceiling of the entire spherical chamber as if they were turning rings or gears. Nevertheless, the next door was still on the other side of the room, with nothing in Fluttershy’s way, and she started walking toward it. She didn’t get very far before she heard several sharp thumps on the floor around her.
A number of Shemums rolled onto their undersides and turned toward Fluttershy. A few more were still falling from the ceiling, some landing on their sides, some landing on their faces, but all of them collectively surrounding her. Fluttershy fired a charge shot at one of the creatures as they all began to slither toward her, forming an increasingly tighter circle around her. She turned toward the two closest Shemums and shot a smaller gem from her bow at each of them. As the remaining enemies drew closer, Fluttershy separated her bow, holding each limb in one hoof, and slashed at them.
Despite their advance, the Shemums didn’t take much effort to defeat individually, and with a combination of projectile gems and blade slices, the last Shemum was eventually slain. Suddenly, the floor trembled violently under Fluttershy’s hooves, causing her to stumble as a Crawler dropped into the center of the room. The Crawler was soon followed by two Skuttlers, both of which landed gracelessly on their heads. Fluttershy shot the first Skuttler as she began to trot around the chamber, her attention focused on the Crawler as she studied its movement and tried to get behind it. Her gait soon shifted to a brisk canter, almost at a gallop, after she fired at the second Skuttler, taking it out before it could stand up. For its part, the Crawler rotated on its treads trying to keep up with Fluttershy, setting her in its sights while attempting to keep its vulnerable rear unexposed.
Lights flashed from underneath the Crawler’s pleated shell. Fluttershy ducked as a laser fired from its turrets, then sidestepped to avoid two more lasers. She dashed around behind the Crawler’s rear, and seeing an opening, fired a charge shot at the fleshy red mass on its backside. A loud mechanical knocking could be heard from within the Underworld tank as its engine coughed and sputtered, and it spun wildly on its treads in the center of the room. Fluttershy jumped back to avoid the out-of-control heavy vehicle, her bow still held up and aimed but her target out of range.
The Crawler came to an abrupt stop with its front facing Fluttershy. With its engine sputtering and it treads spinning rapidly, it rolled right after her. Fluttershy dashed to the side, letting the tank thunder by her and crash into the nearby wall. She made her way behind the vehicle and fired one more charge shot at its weak spot before turning to leave the chamber. Behind her, the Crawler fell loose from its treads and explosions started to tear through its armored body as she walked toward the exit.
As she stepped out onto walkway outside, Fluttershy turned around to stare up at the tower. The tower’s exterior, which had been much wider at its base and even just a few floors down, was now noticeably narrower at this height. Fluttershy wondered if that meant she was getting closer to the top, and she smiled hopefully when she glanced up and saw that there were only a few floors left to climb; she was almost at the top of the tower. Unfortunately, the ‘walkway’ she stood on came to an end right in front of her hooves, serving as little more than a balcony. Fluttershy scanned the rest of the balcony, but there was nothing around her that she could use to climb any higher.
“I think I’m stuck,” Fluttershy said. “There’s no way up from here.”
“Indeed there isn’t,” Luna replied, quietly noting to herself that the lack of an accessible pathway would stop most intruders from climbing. “In hindsight, a dead end may just be this tower’s single most effective defense, though that doesn’t say much.”
“Don’t really see the point,” Discord mused. “If you managed to fly all the way out here in the first place, there’s nothing stopping you from just flying to the top. Wouldn’t you two agree?” He made little effort to hide the insincerity in his tone, making the subtext hard to miss. Fluttershy rolled her eyes, slightly annoyed but preferring to just ignore him.
“Be that as it may,” Luna muttered irritably, “I do have an alternative.” Blue light glimmered at Fluttershy’s hooves and traced a path from the edge of the balcony, spiraling up the side of the tower. The light grew dim after a few seconds, and in its place were a pair of blue light rails that rose gently up along the side of the structure.
Fluttershy stepped onto the grind rails. Their magic seeped into her hooves as soon as she touched them, binding them to the rails and pulling her up along them. The rails continued their spiral above her even as they carried her rapidly along, moving higher up with each pass around the tower and ensuring that it would be a lengthy ride. “I guess this will work,” she said.
“It’s like watching a roller-skating chicken,” Discord added gleefully.
Fluttershy frowned at the remark. “You wouldn’t actually put roller-skates on a chicken, would you?” she asked. “That might break its legs.”
Underworld troops emerged from around the sides of the tower in pursuit of Fluttershy. Fluttershy lifted her weapon hoof off of the grind rails and fired a large blue gem at a group of Monoeyes, knocking them out of the air. She turned her bow toward three Handoras that were scurrying along the wall of the tower and fired a few smaller gems. Each gem hit its mark, throwing the creatures off of the wall and sending them plummeting back down. She made another pass around the tower’s exterior as the grind rails pulled her further up, bringing her closer to her goal at the top. A few Miks and Monoeyes converged on her from both ahead of and behind her, and she aimed her bow at them as well.
“The air here is more conducive to my magic, so these rails will carry you more than a few floors up the Chariot Master’s tower,” Luna said. “Unfortunately, I could not extend the rails to the top of the tower.”
“It looks like we’re almost there anyway,” Fluttershy said, firing her bow at another monster.
“Once you reach the top and claim the Lightning Chariot from its master, you and I will soon be able to rescue Celestia,” Luna said. She smiled to herself. “I’m pleasantly surprised. Three years ago, I would never have imagined us fighting on the same side.”
Fluttershy stopped abruptly as she took aim at a Skuttler Cannoneer perched on a small ledge on the side of the tower. Her eye began to twitch, and her brow eventually furrowed as the grind rails continued to take her around the tower and away from the Skuttler, neither one bothering to fire at the other. “No,” she said back harshly.
Luna paused, taken aback by the uncharacteristic forcefulness in Fluttershy’s response. “I beg your pardon?” she eventually asked.
“You and I will never be on the same side, Luna,” Fluttershy said coldly, her tone unwavering and resolute. “We are not friends, or even allies. And I will never fight for you.”
For a moment, Luna had remained speechless, unsure of what to think or how to respond. “I don’t understand,” she finally said. “I thought you and I had reconciled our differences, or at least agreed to be civil with one another. Certainly our battle with the parasprites must have fostered some cooperation between us.”
“No, Luna,” Fluttershy said. “Just because I’m here on this mission with your voice in my head doesn’t mean I like you. And it doesn’t mean I’ve forgiven you for everything I saw you do. Not for your war on the earth ponies, not for your Reset Bombs, and not for Big Mac—” She paused at the thought of the name on the tip of her tongue. Vivid images from that day flooded her mind: the stallion’s blank, hollow eyes staring lifelessly at her; the decayed, discolored red coat visible through the body’s stone barding; the collapsed, headless heap that the body fell into once she had finished with him…
Fluttershy vigorously shook her head, trying to drive those memories out of her head. “Especially not for Big Macintosh.”
“If you still hold such resentment for what I’ve done,” Luna said, “then why accept this mission from me? Why accept my assistance and guidance?”
“Because we both want the same thing,” Fluttershy answered soberly. “Three years ago, it was to get rid of the parasprites. And right now, it’s to save Celestia. I’m doing this for her, Luna, not you.”
“I see,” Luna said quietly. “And what of your small menagerie of animals? I would have thought that saving them and bringing you to them today would have earned some goodwill from you.”
Fluttershy paused at the question. Her mind drifted back to earlier in the afternoon, to when she greeted all of her little critters. She smiled as she remembered her animal friends crowding around her, all excited to see their beloved caretaker. After everything else that had happened today, knowing that they were all safe and sound brought a small but meaningful sense of relief to her. As if one thing was still right in the world, even after everything else had gone so horribly wrong. “I haven’t forgotten about that,” she said, her smile fading. “I’m thankful that you took care of them this whole time. I really am. But that doesn’t change anything between us. I still can’t forgive you for what you’ve done. And even if I could, I don’t think I have any right to forgive you. I mean, what I saw you do was awful, but in the end I’m not the one who was most hurt by what you did.
“I’m sorry if you were expecting something different,” Fluttershy said. “But as soon as Celestia’s back, that’s it for us.”
The grind rails finally came to a stop in front of a large, heavy door leading back into the tower. Fluttershy jumped off the rails without saying another word, her hooves landing on the balcony just outside the door, and she walked inside. The chamber here was small, much smaller and more confined than the rooms on any of the lower floors, no doubt because of how much the tower narrowed at this altitude. A circular stage stood in the middle of the room with a small flight of stairs leading up to it, and at the center of the stage rested a Cherubot, deactivated but still functional.
“The Chariot Master has a Cherubot too?” Fluttershy wondered out loud. Ascending the small flight of stairs, she made her way toward the Cherubot. Her forelegs reached over its body, and with a push from her hind legs, she lifted herself over the torso and into the cockpit. She reoriented herself into a sitting position, and with her hooves on the controls, the Cherubot sprung to life, rising onto its legs with a high-pitched whir from its mechanical joints.
While Fluttershy started up the Cherubot, four Underworld monsters—two Monoeyes, a Mik, and a Specknose— descended into the room, clustering together as they floated in front of her. The Mik hovered underneath the Specknose, positioning itself underneath the enormous nose of the latter’s body, while the Monoeyes each took a spot behind the Specknose’s glasses. The four monsters squeezed closer together in their formation, and the Specknose’s glasses dissolved away as the Monoeyes moved into place, flanking the bridge of its nose from either side.
Fluttershy stared in bemusement at the spectacle, gazing at the completed face that the monsters now formed. “Monoeyes…” Fluttershy said. “Specknose… and a Mik?”
“Monomiknose,” Luna said in clarification. “In addition to the Fort Oinks, one of a number of changes Discord has made to his army in these three years.”
Fluttershy continued to stare at the combined creature from the seat of the Cherubot, her bemused gaze turning into an unimpressed stare. The Monoeyes, whose perpetually narrowed eyelids often made them look either bored or aggressive individually, were tilted away from each other, giving the Monomiknose a sad, dopey expression. The Mik, whose mouth was almost large enough that it could feasibly swallow a pony whole if it tried, seemed small when placed beneath a Specknose that was twice its size. Taken together, the Monomiknose’s appearance struck Fluttershy as comical and somehow managed to look less intimidating that its individual parts ever did.
Fluttershy moved a hoof along the Cherubot’s controls. The Cherubot’s right arm swung forward and socked the Specknose, dislodging the four monsters from one another and throwing them across the room. Fluttershy brought the Cherubot’s gun arm forward and fired, mowing down the four of them one after the other. As the last of them dissolved into wisps of purple smoke, several Splins began to hover down from the ceiling and surround her. Fluttershy caught sight of a few and pointed the gun arm up. She fired at the Splins, turning the Cherubot to aim at more of them to the right and the left.
As soon as the last of the Splins was gunned down, Fluttershy searched the rest of the chamber, her eyes scanning across every corner and shadow in the room. Aside from her and the Cherubot, the room was now empty, with not a single Underworld enemy in sight.
“I think that’s all of them,” she said. She removed her hooves from the Cherubot’s controls. The Cherubot’s legs folded in on themselves as the machine powered down, deactivating once again. Fluttershy stood up from her seat in the cockpit and disembarked from the vehicle.
“Indeed,” Luna said. “What few forces Discord still commands here have already reached the Chariot Master.”
“They have?” Fluttershy asked. She exited the chamber through the opposite door and began to make her way up to the next floor of the tower.
“Of course,” Luna answered. “Some of his aerial troops simply soared to the roof while the rest overran the lower floors. They must have attacked him for the Lightning Chariot, but you can imagine the outcome.” She paused right there, even though something else was on her mind. For a while, she watched uncomfortably as Fluttershy walked up, staying silent about something that had bothered her for a few minutes now. Eventually, she spoke. “Fluttershy, about our previous discussion.”
Fluttershy’s ears perked up, and her eyes glanced up to the side. She knew what Luna was talking about, but she kept her steady pace up the walkway even as she gave her attention.
“I must admit that your bitter sentiment toward me is… disappointing to say the least. However, I have no intention of changing your mind on the issue. I have already expressed my motives. And you understand my grievances with the earth ponies, of course.”
“I know,” Fluttershy said passively. “I’m not here to change your mind either.”
“Even so,” Luna added, “you are right about one detail. We do share a common goal in saving Celestia. And we still have Discord as a common foe. So until Celestia has been restored to her true self, it remains in our best interest to maintain our relationship, however strained it may be.”
Fluttershy gave a brief, very subtle, but affirmative nod and continued toward the end of the walkway, feeling a strange mixture of detachment and relief. It wasn’t that she didn’t appreciate Luna’s help at a time like this; she certainly did. But Luna was hardly a friend as far as Fluttershy was concerned, even if she was trying to be one. And that thought gnawed at her, that Luna was now the closest thing she had to an ally anymore, making her feel very much alone. Her only hope was that Celestia could be brought back from whatever had changed her. If that couldn’t be done, she didn’t know what she would do.
Fluttershy reached the next floor of the tower. She went inside, where she saw stream gently rising in the air across the entire room. Warm mineral water flooded the whole room, from where she stood all the way to the exit on the other side. Fluttershy stared wide-eyed at the shallow pool, letting the warm, steamy air wash over her.
“A hot spring,” she said cheerfully. “The Chariot Master has a hot spring!” She started to trot toward the edge of the water, only to stop after a few steps. She remembered where she was and looked at the inviting pool of warm water a second time. “Well, really more of a huge hot tub,” she corrected herself, her enthusiasm deflating a bit. “But still, this works too.”
She waded into the pool of water, letting it reach up to her chest and shoulders. Finding a good place, she sat down and leaned with her back against the wall. The warm water washed over her legs, her body, and her wings, melting away all the aches and soreness she’d accumulated during the climb, and she let out a contented sigh. She would stay here for a minute or two before heading up the rest of the tower.
“I still do not understand how anyone could mistake this for a hot spring,” Luna said. “To be a hot spring, this would have to source its water from a natural spring and be heated by geothermal energy, would it not?”
“Hm?” Fluttershy stirred, awaking from a stupor she hadn’t realized she’d fallen into. “I suppose it is. Must be a force of habit or something.”
After a few minutes, Fluttershy rose to her hooves. Feeling rested and rejuvenated, she stepped out of the water, wrung out the excess water in her coat and tunic, and left the room through the exit. Once outside, she gazed up at the rest of the tower above her. The tower’s peak sat only a short distance up, at the end of the walkway she was on now. A sprawling hard light racetrack circled around the peak, stretching far away from the rooftop in a number of places before bending back—something she hadn’t noticed on the lower floors.
“We’re almost there. The hot tub’s got to be the last floor before the roof.”
“Then the Chariot Master has a hot tub directly below his chariot’s landing site,” Luna mused aloud. “If it were not for the lack of household amenities, I would say that this tower is the Chariot Master’s dwelling rather than a fortified base. Thankfully Discord is no longer here to ridicule us for rudely invading someone’s home.”
“He’s not?”
“Divine telepathy is aided by a god’s or goddess’ indirect presence in the desired area, often in the form of troops deployed,” Luna explained. “I for instance am only here through you. Without any soldiers in the area, I think not even Discord is powerful enough to maintain a telepathic presence.”
“And all of Discord’s troops are gone?”
“As I mentioned, the Chariot Master vanquished the last of Discord’s troops here. He now awaits you at the tower’s peak.”
Fluttershy frowned. “That doesn’t sound very inviting,” she said. Looking back up to the tower’s peak, she took a deep breath and started up the spiraling walkway.
* * * * * * * * * *
The walkway came to an end at a wide, circular platform at the tower’s rooftop. Cylindrical white columns surrounded the roof, and a white, glassy bridge extended from one side out toward the hard light racetrack. Fluttershy stepped onto the roof from the walkway and scanned her surroundings. At the other end of the bridge, she spotted a white unicorn stallion with a three-colored blue mane standing on the side of the racetrack, a simple golden chariot hitched to his back. The image of a purple shield adorned his flank, with three blue-gray stars above and a rose-colored six-pointed star in the center. The unicorn turned his head to look at her, and for a moment they both gave each other a blank, awkward stare.
“Grab the reins on Shining Armor,” echoed the Chariot Master’s harsh, gravelly voice.
“Really?” Fluttershy said, an excited smile forming on her face. “Wow, thanks!” She ran across the bridge toward the chariot.
“You misunderstand,” the Chariot Master said. “This is not a gift.”
A flash of light streaked across a nearby stretch of the racetrack. It made a turn at a bend in the track, and in the blink of an eye it rushed past both a shocked Fluttershy and the unicorn in front of her. In that brief moment, Fluttershy glimpsed a second chariot within the streak of light and a second pony pulling it. Confused, she looked back at the unicorn. Shining Armor cocked his head, motioning for her to get into the chariot. Giving him an uneasy nod, she climbed into chariot and took hold of the reins. Shining Armor looked back at her, waiting for her to get in. As soon as she had a good grip on the reins, he turned to face forward, reared onto his hind legs for a moment, and galloped forward.
It didn’t take long for the two of them to catch up to the other chariot. Not surprisingly, that chariot was being pulled by the second of the Lightning Chariot’s two unicorns, a lavender mare with an indigo mane sporting a rose-colored streak and a six-pointed star for a cutie mark. What did surprise Fluttershy was the creature driving the chariot. Holding the reins of the lavender unicorn in one of his scaly claws, with the other claw wielding a short-sword, was a purple and green dragon the size of a fully grown minotaur. Few pieces of armor covered the dull, graying, yet still purple scales of the Chariot Master’s aging body, and what little armor he had was heavily worn and damaged, with numerous dents and cracks. His body was no better for wear, bearing numerous scars and old wounds, including one enormous scar across his pale green underbelly, one on the left side of his face, and one on his arm.
“You want the Lightning Chariot, right?” the dragon growled at her. “Then prove to me that you deserve to have it!” He raised his short-sword in the air, and a thin strand of lightning rose from the blade toward the sky. A larger, more powerful bolt of lightning came down a second later, striking the track ahead of Fluttershy and Shining Armor. Shining Armor swerved, violently jostling Fluttershy in the chariot and making her stumble, but managed to avoid the lightning strike.
“You need both unicorns to pull the Lightning Chariot,” Luna said. “That means the Chariot Master expects you to defeat him in combat in order to claim them.”
Fluttershy froze as she looked ahead at the Chariot Master, her face going pale and a look of horror spread across it. “You’re not saying I have to…”
Meanwhile, the Chariot Master summoned another bolt of lightning in her path, and Shining Armor swerved again to avoid it. The chariot’s movement shook Fluttershy again, pulling her out of her thoughts as she tried to remain standing. But as soon as she looked back at the aged dragon in the other chariot and remembered what he was expecting from her, she shook her head and lowered her gaze.
“No… This isn’t how I wanted things to go,” she murmured. She felt tears beginning to form in her eyes, and her hooves shook as she tried to hold the chariot’s reins. Her gaze shifted toward Shining Armor, who returned an uncertain look to her as he galloped after the other chariot. Strangely, he didn’t seem to hold any ill will toward her. Surely he had to know the Chariot Master personally; Fluttershy knew that. And yet from what little he said to her, or didn’t say for that matter, he seemed to be gently encouraging her. She looked down at her Crystal Bow for a moment, now a bit more resolute than before. “But I still have to save Princess Celestia.”
“I understand better than you know,” the Chariot Master said gruffly, interjecting into Fluttershy’s thoughts. “For my own master, I would not hesitate to dirty these hands.” As if to punctuate his oath, he quickly exhaled, expelling a spray of bright green flames at her.
Fluttershy ducked her head into the Lightning Chariot, the green flames passing overhead. “You served someone as well?” she asked.
“I did,” he said, his tone softening and a tinge of sorrow audible in his voice. “I’ve suffered many war wounds, but none greater than the loss of my master. I once had many comrades in arms. But they too have returned to the dust. All I have left are my friends, Twilight Sparkle and Shining Armor.”
Fluttershy grew silent, only giving the Chariot Master a sympathetic look. “Oh…”
“My health has long since degraded, and I feel my life slipping away,” he continued. “The warrior’s path inevitably leads to loss. I have no qualms about this.”
Looking up, the Chariot Master gazed back at Fluttershy, staring into her sad, sympathetic eyes. Suddenly, he drew in a deep breath and spat out three fireballs on the track behind him, right in Fluttershy’s path. Shining Armor sidestepped as each of the fireballs struck the ground and exploded into a column of green flames. For a moment, his hooves stepped directly into the fire, but he remained unharmed as a rose-colored barrier flickered over his body.
Meanwhile, the Chariot Master held up his sword, preparing to swing at Fluttershy. “But you are no warrior,” he said. “Tell me, why do you fight?”
Fluttershy ducked under the swing of the Chariot Master’s sword. In one quick motion, she separated her bow, one bladed limb in each hoof. She parried another swing from the dragon’s sword with one limb, and with the other she moved to attack. The Chariot Master jerked back, but not quickly enough, and felt the bow’s limb slash into his arm. He lifted back his own weapon and swung it down on her, but Fluttershy blocked with both limbs. Both combatants pushed against each other with their weapons clashed, each trying to overpower the other.
“I fight for Princess Celestia,” Fluttershy said. “And I fight for the ponies under her protection.”
Both Shining Armor and the unicorn called Twilight Sparkle looked up at the mention of Celestia’s name and glanced at Fluttershy, surprised expressions on both their faces. The Chariot Master was not impressed however, and he spat out a burst of green flames at her. Fluttershy stumbled back and fell into her chariot, barely avoiding the flames. “That’s not reason enough,” he said with a frown.
Fluttershy stood back onto her hind legs, but had to duck into the chariot again when the Chariot Master exhaled another burst of fire at her. “What do you mean?” she asked.
The Chariot Master swung again at Fluttershy, but his blow was parried by one of the Crystal Bow’s limbs. “I’m impressed that you were able to fly all the way out to my realm,” he said. “And I’m impressed that you managed to scale my tower on hoof. It tells me much about your determination and the reservoir of strength within you.” Fluttershy moved her other hoof to slash at him, but the dragon caught her foreleg with his other claw. He tightened his grip, painfully constricting her leg until her hoof released the bow limb and let it drop to the chariot’s floor. He released her foreleg, but then grabbed her by the collar of her tunic and yanked her toward him. Panic set in Fluttershy’s eyes as she came face to face with the dragon, his claw tightening on her collar. “But that’s not what I see in front of me. I look into your eyes, and I see the fear and intimidation in them. I don’t see the warrior who stormed my tower for the Lightning Chariot, and I’m convinced that if you had lived another life, you would have been a weakling and a coward.” He pulled her closer to his face, their eyes now inches apart. “So tell me, pegasus. Why do you fight?”
So distracted was the Chariot Master that he didn’t see the sharp bow limb in Fluttershy’s other hoof until it slashed across his shoulder and chest. The Chariot Master recoiled back and loosened his grip, finally releasing her when the bow limb swung across his snout. Fluttershy fell to the floor of her own chariot and then picked up the bow limb she’d dropped earlier. Fixing the two limbs together again, she took aim at the Chariot Master and fired a charge shot at him, knocking him back into his own chariot. “Who are you to question my reasons?” Fluttershy demanded. “I already told you who I’m fighting for. What difference does it make why?”
The Chariot Master raised his sword, attempting to call another lightning strike on the track, only to be struck and thrown back by another charge shot from Fluttershy’s bow. “I admire your conviction,” he grunted. “It speaks to that reservoir of strength within you. But it also proves you are very foolish.” He snapped the chariot’s reins forward, and with a flash of bright light, Twilight Sparkle accelerated at an incredible burst of speed, rocketing across the track and leaving Fluttershy and Shining Armor far behind. “And though you may be a servant of the heavens,” the Chariot Master’s voice echoed, “I will show you no mercy!”
By the time Twilight Sparkle and the Chariot Master slowed down, Shining Armor had already sped up, galloping down the track after them. He sidestepped past bolts of lightning and columns of fire as he navigated the twisting racetrack, closing in on the Chariot Master with each hoofbeat. For her part, Fluttershy ducked to avoid a few fireballs that were spat directly at her. She came within range of the Chariot Master and fired a large blue gem from her bow, landing another clean hit on him.
The racetrack narrowed at a particularly long stretch ahead, becoming only wide enough for one chariot at a time. The Chariot Master reached the stretch first, with Fluttershy trailing several seconds behind. Taking a deep breath, he turned around and spat two fireballs onto the track. Two massive columns of fire rose up as the fireballs exploded on the narrow track, directly in the path of Fluttershy’s chariot. A rose-colored barrier flickered around Shining Armor as he approached the flames, solidifying after a brief second. The magic barrier would protect him, but it didn’t extend to Fluttershy in the chariot behind him, and the pillars of fire rose high enough and burned brightly enough to reach her.
Terrified, she darted her eyes around the chariot, considering her options. There was no maneuvering around the columns, not on this track, and she didn’t think the chariot could shield her if she tried to take cover in it. Her eyes shifted to the powers equipped to her bow, but on closer inspection, none of them could protect her from running headfirst into a wall of flames… except maybe one, but using it here was almost as risky and dangerous. When she looked back up at the track ahead of her however, the first column of flames was almost right on her, and her decision was made for her.
“Sky Jump!”
Fluttershy launched out of the chariot and up into the air, easily clearing the first of the two fire pillars. The height she gained from the jump combined with the chariot’s speed was enough to help her fly over the second pillar. That was the easy part; landing safely back in the chariot was going to be a problem. She fell back down, thankfully with the chariot still directly below her, but her back hoof landed wrong when she hit the chariot’s floor, and pain shot up through her hind leg. She thought she might have twisted it, but she would have to check later after the fight.
With the narrow section of the racetrack now behind them, the two chariots soon pulled up next to each other. Fluttershy ducked as the Chariot Master swung at her, and then dodged to the side as he raised his sword and swung down on her. The Chariot Master moved to swing his sword again, but Fluttershy was younger, faster. She parried the blade with one of her bow’s limbs, pushing it away, and slashed his chest with the other limb. She slashed at him again with the bow limb, pushing him back into his own chariot, quickly put her bow back together again, and fired a charge shot at him. The Chariot Master stumbled and fell into his chariot. Fluttershy’s own chariot pulled ahead, and she trained her bow on him, preparing to fire again.
Suddenly, a blast of magenta light shot at Fluttershy, barely missing the side of her head. Fluttershy recoiled at the blast, taking both her aim and her attention from the wounded dragon. She turned toward the source of the attack where she saw Twilight Sparkle, the second unicorn, glaring at her, a magenta aura swirling around her horn. From the deathly glare she was giving Fluttershy and the magic still pulsating forebodingly from her horn, it was clear who that horn was pointing at. It seemed that Twilight wasn’t as willing as Shining Armor to let Fluttershy win this fight.
In that time, the Chariot Master stood back up and snapped the reins forward again. Snapping her attention away from Fluttershy, Twilight burst forward across the track, racing past her and putting distance between them again. Fluttershy gripped the reins of her chariot and snapped them forward as well. Getting the message, Shining Armor tilted his head down and galloped faster. His horn charged with magic, and with a bright flash of light, he rocketed down the racetrack after the other chariot.
It didn’t take long to reach the other chariot after Twilight’s burst of acceleration came to an end, and Fluttershy and the Chariot Master were soon next to each other. Fluttershy parried a thrust from the Chariot Master’s blade, and then ducked as he spat green flames at her. The Chariot Master stood over the side of his chariot, ready to breathe fire into Fluttershy’s chariot, only to see her sitting inside aiming her bow directly at him. He jumped back before a blue gem shot at him from the bow, barely avoiding it.
Fluttershy got back up onto her hooves and aimed her bow at the Chariot Master, who was now raising his sword up in the air. Suddenly her chariot lurched as it swerved off to the side, pulling her away from the Chariot Master. Seconds later, a bolt of lightning struck the track next to the dragon’s chariot, right where she had been moments ago. The Chariot Master breathed in, about to spew fire at her again. Fluttershy held her bow, aiming it at him, and fired a charge shot. The blue gem struck the Chariot Master dead on, knocking him back and throwing him out of his chariot.
Fluttershy looked on in horror as the dragon’s body hit the ground hard, tumbling on the track from the chariot’s speed before coming to a stop on his back. Grabbing the reins of her chariot in her hooves, she pulled hard. “Stop!” she cried. Shining Armor’s hooves stumbled and skidded on the track as the vehicle came to an abrupt halt.
Fluttershy leapt out of the chariot. Ignoring the pain in her back hoof, she galloped to the side of the Chariot Master, who lay barely moving in the middle of the track. “Try not to move!” she said, her tone panicked and almost pleading. She quickly went to work checking his vital signs and his injuries. “You’re going to be fine! You’re going to be fine, I promise!”
“Don’t waste your effort,” the Chariot Master whispered. “There was only one way this was going to end. You know that.”
“No!” Fluttershy said. She kept trying to tend to his injuries, her hooves frantically moving across his body, only for them to slow as it dawned on her how futile it actually was. The slashes across his body were too deep, and the bruising under his scales told the extent of the internal damage; it was more than her meager medical knowledge could properly treat, even with the right provisions. “No…” she said weakly. Tears welled up in her eyes, and her hooves slid uselessly from him. “This isn’t how I wanted this to end.”
“This is the only way things can end for an old warrior,” he said. He looked up at Fluttershy’s eyes, his voice gentle yet weary. “I’m trusting you with the Lightning Chariot.”
It was at that moment when Fluttershy heard the sound of hooves racing toward them, and she moved aside just as the unicorn named Twilight rushed to the dragon’s side. Tears made their way down Twilight’s cheeks as she looked down at him, the dragon meeting her gaze. She tenderly placed a hoof on his wounded chest. In between sobs, she mumbled something barely audible to him. “Spike…”
“Twilight,” the dragon whispered. He reached out and weakly grabbed Twilight’s hoof in one of his claws. “Take care of yourselves. You and Shining Armor.” His grasp on Twilight’s hoof slackened, and his arm fell to his side as his eyelids drew closed. “Take care of each other.”
Green flames slowly erupted from the fresh wounds on the dragon’s now still body, as well as from some of the older scars, and spread across the rest of him. The flames glowed brighter as they moved to consume more of him, until his entire form disappeared within them. Tears flowed freely from Twilight’s eyes as she collapsed and broke down into sobs. After a while, the fire flickered and died away, leaving nothing behind where the dragon once lay.
Fluttershy looked between Twilight and the now fading flames, tears running down her face as a number of emotions flooded her: sorrow, remorse, pity. She reached out with her foreleg, to place a consoling hoof on Twilight’s shoulder.
“Don’t touch me!” she hissed. Taken aback, Fluttershy retracted her hoof. She backed away as Twilight stood and glared venomously at her. The anguish in her eyes blurred and mixed with a look of hatred and disgust that was aimed solely at Fluttershy. “You did this. You killed him.”
“No, I…” Fluttershy stammered. “I didn’t mean for it to happen this way.”
“You didn’t mean for it to happen this way?!” Twilight snapped. She stepped toward Fluttershy, bearing down on her as the latter whimpered and tried to back away. “You barged into our home, started a fight with an elderly dragon, and for what? To take his chariot? What did you think was going to happen?!”
“Twilight, that’s enough.” Both mares turned to see Shining Armor walking up to them, a somber expression on his face. His tone was soft and coaxing, equally as sad, yet still firm and authoritative, like an older sibling’s would be. “Let her go,” he said.
Indignantly, Twilight turned her anger from Fluttershy and directed it at Shining Armor. “Let her go?! You’re not defending her, are you?” She jabbed a hoof in Fluttershy’s direction. “She killed Spike!”
“Twilight, you know that’s not true,” he said. He was visibly trying to stay collected, to remain stoic, but there was no mistaking the mournful look in his eyes or the tears he was holding back. He let out a sigh. “Let me talk to her.” Before Twilight could protest, he gave her a stern, imploring look. “We’ll talk about this later.”
Twilight glared silently at him before walking him away, leaving him and Fluttershy alone together. Neither one spoke for several moments at a time. Fluttershy stood quietly with her head hung low, occasionally glancing up at Shining Armor, while a multitude of thoughts swarmed through Shining Armor’s head as he considered how to approach the situation, ultimately prolonging the deep, uncomfortable silence between them. “Why aren’t you angry?” Fluttershy finally asked. Shining Armor’s ears perked up at the question. “You were friends with him too, right? Why aren’t you blaming me?”
“We were friends, yeah,” Shining Armor answered with a sigh. “It was hard, seeing him die like that. But he was deteriorating for years before you even came here. He was getting old, and I don’t think he had much time left anyway. This wasn’t your fault, Miss…”
“Fluttershy,” she answered him.
“This wasn’t your fault, Fluttershy,” Shining Armor repeated. “I thought Twilight understood that. She’d been watching him get worse at least as long as I had, but…” He turned his head to where Twilight had gone. “She was always so much closer to Spike. She must be taking this very hard.” He paused, and another long, uncomfortable silence fell over the two of them. “Why do you need the Lightning Chariot? You mentioned something about Celestia earlier. Do you serve her?”
“I do,” Fluttershy nodded. “Or at least I did. But something’s happened to her. She’s attacking the earth ponies now instead of protecting them, and I don’t know why.” New tears started flowing down her cheeks. “I tried reaching out to her, but…”
Shining Armor frowned. “That doesn’t sound anything like the Celestia I’ve heard of,” he said. “We’ve heard a lot about Celestia, and Twilight’s very fond of her. She practically worships her.”
Fluttershy paused, thinking over the new information. If anything, it would make Twilight and Shining Armor more willing to help her, even after everything that had happened, and it gave her a glimmer of hope. “I need to find out what’s happened to her. But she’s put up a barrier around Skyworld, and I can’t get through.” Fluttershy looked up and stared pleadingly into Shining Armor’s eyes. “That’s why I need your help; to break through the barrier and reach her.”
Shining Armor narrowed his eyes. “So let me get this straight,” he said, his voice gaining an edge to it. “The Goddess of Light is holed up in Skyworld behind a barrier that she put up to protect herself, and you need the Lightning Chariot and our help to smash through that barrier and get to her? That sounds more than a little suspicious.”
Fluttershy’s heart sank, and she winced at the accusation. “But I…” For a moment, she’d thought that he and Twilight would agree to help her. She didn’t know how to convince them she wasn’t lying; it never even occurred to her that they’d think she was.
Shining Armor sighed. Slowly the skepticism ebbed from his features, and he regarded her with a look of pity. “Look, it’s not that I don’t trust you,” he said. “But you’re asking us to breach Celestia’s defenses and help you invade Skyworld. Even if you’re telling us the truth, that could put her life in jeopardy. That’s not a risk I’m comfortable taking, and Twilight’s not going to believe you at all. It’s going to take me a while to convince her to agree to this.”
Fluttershy’s ears perked up, and she looked up hopefully at Shining Armor. “So you’ll help me?” she murmured. “You’ll talk to her?”
“I’ll try,” he said. “But I can’t promise anything. For now, you should prepare in case we do set out. Even if I get Twilight to agree to this, we won’t be heading out at least until tomorrow morning.”
“Thank you,” Fluttershy said.
Shining Armor started down the track in the direction that Twilight had gone. He’d barely gone more than a few steps before Fluttershy spoke again. “Shining Armor?” He stopped in his tracks and turned back to a downcast Fluttershy. “I’m sorry. About what happened to Spike,” she sobbed. “I-I didn’t… this isn’t how I wanted things to go.”
Shining Armor placed a gentle hoof on her shoulder and looked into her eyes. “I know,” he replied. His hoof lingered on her shoulder before he finally let it fall. Turning away, he began to walk off again to look for Twilight, leaving Fluttershy alone on the racetrack.