//------------------------------//
// Celestia's Temple 
// Story: Filly Fluttershy: Uprising 
// by Phazon 
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Chapter 20: Celestia’s Temple


Three lights shone above Fluttershy’s head, one on each of the walls of a small armory within the late Chariot Master’s tower. The lights provided the room’s only source of illumination, which spilled out into the darkness of the adjoining hallway. The armory was more of a walk-in closet, with shelves and compartments containing divine weapons not unlike the ones she normally wielded. Each of the weapons had belonged to the Chariot Master—Fluttershy had been told—all part of a collection that he had built and maintained, and that she now had her pick of. Standing in this room felt like one of the most mortifying things Fluttershy had ever done in her life, as if she was looting the pockets of some poor dead pony’s corpse. She’d been here a few hours earlier with the Lightning Chariot unicorns, who told her that she could choose from any of these weapons for their mission to Skyworld, despite her protests that she already had a bow. Shining Armor insisted it was okay. Twilight Sparkle looked like she wanted to stab her.

She reached into one of the compartments and pulled out the first weapon, a dull green cannon designed to be worn and equipped over a pony’s foreleg and made in the likeness of a dragon. The body of the cannon was sleek, smooth, and metallic, in contrast to the rough reptilian scales of an actual dragon, but the design was unmistakable, if a bit stylistic. A pair of red-orange horns stuck out from behind the cannon’s muzzle, which was modeled after a dragon’s head and maw. Two yellow eyes were carved beneath the horns, and two large teeth jutted from its upper jaw. Fluttershy weighed the Predator Cannon in her hooves, examining it for a few more seconds before returning it to its proper shelf.

The next weapon Fluttershy picked up earned a look of surprise from her. It was an arm weapon, also designed to be worn over its user’s foreleg, but what surprised her was that it too resembled another creature in its appearance, one that she recognized. Narrow green slits for eyes stared back at her as she twisted the round, salmon-red weapon in her hooves.

It took her a while to remember the creature whose head it was made to resemble: the Galactic Fiend Kraken she had briefly encountered so long ago. She hadn’t even bothered to fight the creature at the time, instead letting it tear apart the Space-Pirate Ship while she escaped with the Three Sacred Treasures. She wondered how the Chariot Master could have possibly obtained such a weapon and what happened to the real Kraken, even as she placed the Kraken Arm back into its compartment. Her thoughts drifted to the doomed pirate ship, and the stolen constellations that had remained onboard. Neither Fluttershy nor Celestia had taken the constellations from the ship before it was attacked, and Fluttershy found herself hoping that they had somehow found their way back to their rightful place in the night sky. Hopefully they weren’t shipwrecked at the bottom of an ocean in space, strange as that last thought might be.

Fluttershy pulled another weapon, a crystalline blue staff, from the armory’s shelves and handled it by its grip, regarding it with curiosity. The tip of the staff forked into two long, bladed prongs, the top one a few inches longer than the other, and three sharp spikes extended from the butt of the staff, behind its grip. Fluttershy stared down the scope attached to its body, aiming at one of the empty shelves on the other side of the room. With a flick of her hoof, she flipped the staff in her foreleg and gripped it with the butt end facing forward. Even though it was a staff, it felt more like a deadly lance than any long-range sniping weapon.

Fluttershy tentatively placed the Lancer Staff on the floor in front of her and picked up one more weapon, a heavy, ornate gunblade. Gold trim decorated the hilt and crossguard of the sword, and blue light ran through the middle of the thick, black blade. Oddly, the length of the blade had no edge to it, instead consisting of a rectangular slab of metal, and seemed to be more suitable for bludgeoning than slashing or thrusting.

Fluttershy weighed the weapon, the Crusader Blade, in her hoof and swung. She was stunned when blue light shot from the end of the blade in midswing, forming into a solid, razor-sharp cross shape as it cut through the air before dissipating at the end of her swing. She regarded the blade in her hoof, and then turned her attention back to the Lancer Staff on the floor. Looking from one weapon to the other, her eyes finally settled on the Crusader Blade. Fluttershy placed the blade against her side, letting it magically stay in place, and returned the Lancer Staff to its proper shelf. She left the armory, pausing to give one last forlorn glance, and headed down the hallway.

When she reached the end of the corridor, Twilight and Shining Armor were already there waiting for her, standing in front of a pair of large metal doors with the Lightning Chariot already hitched to them. They were speaking to each other about something, though Fluttershy only caught a few snippets of what they were saying as she approached. Despite the clip-clop of her hooves against the hard, smooth floor, neither of them heard or noticed her as she walked up to the chariot, climbed inside, and grabbed the reins in her hooves.

“Twilight? Shining Armor?” The two unicorns ended their conversation and turned to face Fluttershy. Shining Armor gave her a neutral expression. Twlight glowered at her. “Um…” Fluttershy shrank at the combined stares of the two unicorns, even though she technically stood over them in the chariot, and only Twilight looked at her with any contempt. She could only manage an awkward smile and a slight flick of the reins. “Giddy up?”

Both unicorns rolled their eyes, though Twilight did so more irritably. Magenta light enveloped the two doors in front of them, which promptly swung open. Twilight’s and Shining Armor’s horns lit, and their magic glowed around their hooves as they turned to face the portal before them. They stood, rearing onto their hind legs for a moment, and shot out through the doorway at an incredible speed, causing Fluttershy to fall out the back of the chariot.

Fluttershy held on to the chariot’s reins with only one hoof as the rest of her dangled in the air, holding on for dear life as the Lightning Chariot left the tower far behind and raced through the surrounding void. Her other hoof pawed at the air in front of her, reaching to grab onto the reins. After a few false starts, her hoof caught on, and she hoisted herself up with both arms. Her back hoof made purchase with the floor of the chariot, the other hoof soon following, and she stood safely inside the speeding vehicle.

Ahead of them, a path of fuchsia light spread far into the distance, giving Twilight’s and Shining Armor’s hooves a path to gallop on before it dissolved in the wake of the chariot. The old tower and the solitary island it stood on shrank and soon disappeared behind them as they raced through the infinite starry reaches of space, heading back to Fluttershy’s home—back to Celestia’s temple.

“The Lightning Chariot will pierce the force field surrounding Celestia’s temple,” Luna’s voice echoed in Fluttershy’s ear. “You’ll reach a warp tunnel in just one minute. From there, it won’t be long before you return to Skyworld.”

“Got it,” Fluttershy nodded.

Scores of Underworld monsters – Monoeyes, Miks, and Shrips especially – dotted the skies ahead of the three ponies. Even as the Lightning Chariot bore down on them, closing the distance in mere fractions of a second, they clustered into groups and prepared to launch an attack. The glow around Twilight’s horn brightened. She tilted her head down just a bit, aimed her horn at a group of enemies ahead, and fired a powerful beam of magic. She followed with a stream of smaller blasts that peppered at least a dozen others as she and Shining Armor sped on by. Fluttershy took a hoof off the reins and reached for her weapon, hoping to offer her help in the fight.

“Keep your hooves on the reins, Fluttershy!” Twilight shouted back. Another blast from her horn seared through the bodies of several Shrips. “I can handle these things. The last thing we need now is you falling off.”

Fluttershy’s hoof stopped short of her weapon’s grip. She placed it back on the reins, holding tightly onto them but never manipulating them. Twilight and Shining Armor surely knew what they were doing pulling the chariot, and she didn’t feel comfortable giving them commands.

Several Monoeyes and Shrips grouped ahead of the chariot’s path. They flung themselves forward, the Shrips’ bladed heads spinning wildly, hoping to batter the Lightning Chariot and the two unicorns pulling it. The creatures all crashed one after another into a rose-colored barrier that flickered around the two unicorns, splattering into a mess of purple mist and rapidly dissolving monster pieces while the barrier itself remained unharmed. Fluttershy looked on from behind Shining Armor’s barrier as Underworld enemies, both those left alive and those shredded by the unicorns’ magic, zoomed past.

“Twilight Sparkle was right when she said she could manage Discord’s forces,” Luna remarked. “Her magic makes short work of them, and Shining Armor’s barrier prevents them from coming anywhere near the two.”

“Unfortunately, I can’t expand the barrier to cover the chariot itself,” Shining Armor said. “Not at the speed we’re going, and not if you want this barrier to hold.”

“Unfortunate, yes,” Luna said, still speaking to Fluttershy and apparently perturbed that Shining Armor had overheard her. “Even so, your speed combined with Twilight Sparkle’s magic and Shining Armor’s shield should be more than enough to penetrate Celestia’s barrier. Until then, you must take care not to let anything strike you in the chariot.”

Fluttershy tightened her grip on the chariot’s reins and glanced at the enemies on either side. So far, getting hit inside the Lightning Chariot wasn’t an issue. Shining Armor’s shield spell had the unintended benefit of protecting her from any frontal assault, and the speeds she was traveling at made hitting her from any other angle extremely difficult. What concerned Fluttershy more was that these monsters were even here at all.

“I thought the Chariot Master… I mean, I thought Spike defeated the last of Discord’s troops. What's the Underworld doing here?”

“Discord has sent more of his forces to the Chariot Master’s tower,” Luna said. “He must be trying to intercept us on our way to Skyworld.”

“That doesn’t make any sense,” Twilight said, her expression crinkling into a half-frown. “If we destroy the barrier around Celestia’s temple, Discord can come in from behind us and invade Skyworld. Why would he try to stop us?” She fired a barrage of magic from her horn at a couple of Syrens ahead of her.

“I doubt it matters to him one way or the other,” Luna said. “If the Goddess of Light should perish, and one of the few lingering thorns in Discord’s side be eradicated, then he wins. Yet if Celestia lives to massacre the earth ponies, then he still wins. More likely, he is sending his forces to cause us as much chaos and strife as he possibly can.”

The Underworld presence thinned, and the warp tunnel came into view far off in the distance, first as an unusually bright blue twinkle amid the stars and monsters, then rapidly growing as the three ponies fast approached. Once they were inside, the tunnel rushed by at hundreds of miles an hour, making it nearly impossible to see anything outside the chariot. Not that there was anything to see. Fluttershy had been in this warp tunnel before. The mix of darkness and flashing blue in the walls was mesmerizing in a certain way, but there was little else to look at. The only real difference this time was that the tunnel went straight ahead, instead of bending and twisting like it did the last time she was here. There were even a few Underworld monsters in the tunnel with her. Monsters that were hovering just yards away to her right, just yards to the right of the Lightning Chariot…

Fluttershy did a double take. Five Gyrazers floated in a tight circle within reach of her and the chariot, despite the speeds they were traveling at. Shining Armor and Twilight stole a glance at them too, but kept their gait as the monsters began to spin around each other in their circle. “Um, Luna?” Fluttershy asked. “You said the Lightning Chariot was supposed to be super fast, right?”

“Pulled by two of the fastest creatures in the galaxy, yes,” Luna responded.

Twilight and Shining Armor swerved hard to the left as the Gyrazers all opened fire, each firing a stream of needlelike shots outward from the circle. “Then how are these enemies keeping up with us?”

“I’m wondering that too,” Twilight cut in. “These things didn’t seem very fast when we were shooting past them a minute ago.” She and Shining Armor dipped down, maneuvering out of the path of enemy fire as they banked hard back to the right. The ring of Gyrazers rotated with them as it spun, firing more of their barrage in their direction.

“I guess it’s a video game thing,” Shining Armor suggested. “There wouldn’t be much of a level if we didn’t have enemies to fight.”

“What level?” Twilight asked. “What video game?” The two of them pulled several feet in front of the Gyrazers just as another group of them appeared far off to their left. Magic charged through Twilight’s horn, and she shot a powerful blast at the first group, incinerating them all at once. She and Shining Armor steered left toward the second group, which was now forming into a circle of their own. “And if these monsters can travel at these speeds, then why do you need us to break this barrier in the first place? Why not just capture a few dozen of them and shoot them out of one big cannon?”

“Because that would make sense,” Fluttershy muttered under her breath.

Enemy fire poured from the ring of Gyrazers as the Lightning Chariot steered closer. The two unicorns weaved around streams of shots coming from the creatures, which rotated around one another as they tried to zero in on their targets, while Twilight herself readied her magic. Juggling both the acceleration spell cast on her hooves and the light bridge spell she and Shining Armor were maintaining, she took aim at the group of Gyrazers, concentrated her magic through her horn, and fired. Her blast pierced through the five of them, scattering them for a brief second before they burned to a crisp and vanished into purple mist.

With the last few enemies gone, Twilight and Shining Armor steered toward the center of the warp tunnel. They would reach the end soon, barring any more Underworld forces that came in from the other side. From there, the Earth, Skyworld, Celestia’s temple, and the barrier protecting it would all be seconds away. The unicorns kept their pace, anticipating the end of the tunnel ahead, even as one last object became visible ahead of them. The object grew larger, clearer, and more distinct the closer they got. Fluttershy was the first to recognize the three connected towers, the stone edifice, and the numerous spinning propellers.

“When did the Underworld start using old timey windmills in their army?” Shining Armor asked.

“Fort Oink!” Fluttershy called to them over the lip of the chariot. “Underworld troop transport! Shoot the pig’s face!”

“What pig’s face?” Twilight shouted back. Suddenly, the wooden shutters over the central keep flung open, and out came the creature’s grotesque, scowling porcine head. Twilight and Shining Armor regarded the bizarre spectacle, complete with a pig's squeal, with bewildered incredulity. “Oookay, that pig’s face.”

The front gates over the Fort Oink’s central keep burst open, and five Monoeyes spilled out. Twilight and Shining Armor swerved as the Monoeyes fired a volley of energy blasts from their eyes, while Twilight gathered her magic and aimed her horn for a counterattack. Fluttershy ducked a bit into the chariot, the reins still held tightly in both hooves as she nervously eyed the Underworld monsters. Her thoughts turned to the Crusader Blade still secured to side, waiting to be picked up and fired. Meanwhile, Luna watched everything that transpired, from the fighting against the Fort Oink and its troops to the Lightning Chariot’s progress through the warp tunnel, and what lay ahead at the end of it.

“Fluttershy…” Luna spoke. “If I may speak with you privately, there is one more thing I need to tell you before we reach Celestia’s temple.”

“What is it?”

“Discord,” Luna answered. “When you were ascending the Chariot Master’s tower, Discord held you responsible for all the chaos that has wracked our world.” Luna paused for a long, uncomfortable moment. Solemnly, she continued. “Fluttershy, he was telling the truth. You are responsible for all that has happened. You and Celestia.”

It didn’t make sense. It didn’t make any sense at all. How could she and Celestia have possibly caused what was going on? The destruction of Skyworld, Celestia turning evil, her mind being trapped in a bracelet while her body rained death and destruction on innocent earth ponies—there wasn’t anything she and Celestia did in their wars against the Underworld, Luna, or the parasprites that explained any of this. “How is that possible?”

“Do you remember the Lunar Sanctum you destroyed three years ago?”

“The Lunar Sanctum?” Fluttershy said. The memory of that night slowly returned to her—of that one extra mission after demolishing Luna’s Reset Bombs. “Fancypants’ moon fortress?”

“Fortress? Who told you it was a fortress?”

“Princess Celestia did, when she sent me to attack it,” Fluttershy said. Bits of wood and stone from the Fort Oink flew past her in the corner of her vision, escaping her notice. “She said you were aiming it right at the planet.”

“That was no fortress, Fluttershy,” Luna said. “It was a prison. And by destroying it, you freed its prisoner: the Chaos Kin. You have been told about the Chaos Kin, have you not?”

“Not really…” Fluttershy murmured, feeling increasingly uneasy. “What is it?”

“It is the most… On second thought, I’m afraid it will have to wait,” Luna said. “We are almost upon Celestia’s temple.”

Fluttershy stammered. “B-But wait! You have to tell me what’s going on!”

Luna shot her down with just a few words. “Fluttershy, it is time. Prepare yourself.”

Several things happened within the span of a few short seconds. The planet exploded into view as the Lightning Chariot burst out the other side of the warp tunnel. The chariot and its three ponies entered its atmosphere, and Skyworld came into view amidst a sea of gray clouds. Shining Armor’s shield spell flickered around him and Twilight. Magic blazed through their horns, and the shield tapered to a thick, sharp point at its nose while stretching back to cover Fluttershy and the chariot behind them. And then they reached Celestia’s temple.

By the time it was all over, Fluttershy stumbled but regained her footing as the chariot jolted from the impact. The barrier around Celestia’s temple didn’t shatter so much as it completely disintegrated into stardust and tiny yellow embers of alicorn magic. And the two unicorns pulling the Lightning Chariot galloped on completely unencumbered, as if the barrier they had shot through was less a powerful magical shield and more a speed bump. They steered right, turning back toward Skyworld at a wide arc.

Meanwhile, Fluttershy stared intently over the side of the chariot at the temple. Her hoof and fetlock tightened, and her eyes set into a rare look of determination. Luna was right about one thing: it was time. Time to face whatever nightmare waited for her in the halls of her home and sanctuary.

As they headed straight for the island that housed Celestia’s temple, the magic enveloping Twilight and Shining Armor’s hooves dissolved. The two unicorns stopped running, and their hooves slid across the hard light bridge, catapulting Fluttershy out of the chariot. She launched toward the floating island, somersaulted in midair, and hit the ground on all four legs, skidding to an eventual halt. With her eyes set firmly on the temple grounds ahead, she brought a foreleg to her side, gripped the Crusader Blade in her hoof, and unsheathed it.

A deafening explosion thundered behind Fluttershy, snapping her out of her resolve. Her eyes widened in shock and a small gasp escaping her throat, she spun around to see the source of the sound. Standing next to Twilight Sparkle, Shining Armor, and the Lightning Chariot—amidst a few residual crackles of blue electrical magic—was a third unicorn, a mare with a pristine white coat and an expertly curled and coiffed indigo mane. The mare glared venomously at Fluttershy.

“Rarity?” Fluttershy said.

“Oh please, don’t meander on my account,” Rarity said, her icy tone overshadowing the polite veneer of her words. “You go on ahead. I’ll stay with our two guests.”

“What are you doing here?” Fluttershy asked.

“Don’t get the wrong idea, Fluttershy dear,” Rarity said. “I’m not here to help you.” She turned to the other two unicorns, and instantly her demeanor brightened, from the now musical tenor of her voice to the welcoming smile. “Now where are my manners? I haven’t even introduced myself. I am Rarity, commander of the Forces of Nature and one of Mistress Luna’s most trusted liaisons for divine affairs.”

Twilight Sparkle and Shining Armor didn’t reply. Instead their eyes wandered over the floating islands as they took in the ruined, desolate state of Skyworld. Charred, collapsed stonework remained where buildings and columns once were, and debris littered the broken roads and squares in between. Many of the structures that still stood, including Celestia’s temple, were badly damaged and eroded, as if they had been under siege. Some of the islands themselves were in bad shape and looked in danger of crumbling away and falling to the earth below. The surrounding dark, gray clouds seemed to drain any color from the islands and structures, only adding to the bleak picture around them. And as for ponies… there were no other ponies around as far as any of them could see. “What happened here?” Shining Armor said.

“This place looks like a warzone!” Twilight added.

“Hello again, Fluttershy.” Celestia’s voice sent a shudder through Fluttershy’s head and body as it echoed in her ears. It contained none of the warmth, gentleness, or reassurance it normally had, and instead made a sense of coldness and dread crawl through her.

“Princess Celestia?”

“Now how did you make it through my barrier?” Celestia sneered. “It seems you’re not the helpless, sniveling, cowering little thing you were before!”

Fluttershy flinched at the remark. “Princess Celestia, listen to me. You have to stop attacking the earth ponies.”

“No,” Celestia said. “Don’t you see, Fluttershy? This is my atonement for my greatest sin. I let the ponies grow arrogant and betray the heavenly order.”

“Have you just now come to that realization?” Luna interjected.

Fluttershy shook her head. “No,” she said. “I don’t believe you. The Celestia I know would never say something like that!”

“Don’t be so naïve!” Celestia retorted. “Mortal ponies cannot truly know gods.”

Fluttershy stepped back, struggling to find the words for a response. “H-How can you say that? I trained under you, learned from you. All this time, I could’ve stayed out of the fighting and spent all my time caring for my little animals, but I didn’t. I practically became your soldier in the war against the Underworld, going on missions, following your orders. I can’t even count the number of times I almost died for you!”

“Sentimental foal,” Luna quipped.

Tears began to well up in the corners of Fluttershy’s eyes. “I trusted you, Celestia,” she said. “I trusted you because I thought you cared about all the ponies who were suffering on the surface.” Fluttershy shook her head. “This isn’t the real you.”

“Someone cue the strings…” Luna sighed.

“Luna!” Fluttershy snapped. “Would you shut up already?!”

“Fluttershy, watch your tone!” Rarity reprimanded. “You are speaking to goddesses.”

“Stay out of this, Rarity!” Fluttershy shouted, turning back and glaring daggers at the unicorn. “Can’t you see what’s at stake here? Look around you! The Goddess of Light has turned dark. Skyworld is destroyed. And I’m trying to fix all of this, so if you’re not going to even try to help out, then leave!”

The two mares glowered at each from afar. Fluttershy panted heavily after her outburst, and her gaze was much angrier. Rarity was more reserved. Eyes narrowed and forelegs crossed in front of her, she stared back at Fluttershy more calmly, but with more contempt in her eyes.

“You never change, do you, Fluttershy?” Celestia scoffed. “You’re just as naïve as ever.”

“I’m not naïve!” Fluttershy growled through gritted teeth.

“Don’t get me wrong,” Celestia went on. “I appreciate how easy you’ve made things for me over the years. But you have to understand that the past is gone.”

“Fine,” Fluttershy said bitterly. “If that’s how you really feel, then I guess I have no choice. As the captain of your guard, it’s my duty to save you from what you’ve become. And if saving you means defeating you, then I’ll…”

Fluttershy hesitated as the weight of her words dawned on her. If it came to that, then it would mean she’d failed. The Goddess of Light would be gone. The earth ponies would still be in peril. Her home would still be destroyed. But she couldn’t let Celestia continue her reign of terror. The earth ponies on the surface were counting on her. Applejack was counting on her. She had to see this through, even if it meant killing Celestia.

Defeated, she hung her head, and another tear fell down her cheek. “Then I’ll do what I have to do.”

Behind her, Twilight narrowed her eyes. With her horn alight, she stepped forward to march toward Fluttershy, only for Shining Armor to put up a hoof to block her. She turned to him to protest, but Shining Armor shook his head and mouthed a few words to her. Twilight seemed to relent, but Shining Armor pointed a hoof up at the sky and whispered a few more words. Clusters of Underworld troops dotted the skies around the floating chain of islands, emerging from the surrounding clouds as they descended upon the island that housed Celestia’s temple. The two unicorns exchanged nods and lit their horns. Where Celestia’s barrier once was, rose-colored magic spread around the island, forming a protective bubble. Once complete, magenta light flashed across the bubble’s surface as Twilight’s magic layered onto Shining Armor’s barrier spell.

Fluttershy headed down the cobblestone path in front of her, stepping over the fallen and fractured stone columns strewn along the ground. A small building stood at the end of the path, her first stop on the way to Celestia, but before she could reach it, three ponies in golden barding floated down. She aimed her Crusader Blade at the group and prepared to shoot, but stopped. Her aim lingered as she looked at the faces of the ponies she was about to shoot, faces she knew and recognized, and what little resolve she had left broke. Two of the ponies drew back their bowstrings, arrows nocked and with none of Fluttershy's hesitation.

A blast of energy slammed into one of the ponies before she could fire, while a stream of needlelike shots pelted the other one. Fluttershy turned toward the source of the surprise attack: two Monoeyes and a Gyrazer that had slipped past the unicorns’ barrier. The three ponies flew to avoid their attacks and went after the monsters, taking their attention away from Fluttershy. Fluttershy turned her blade and aimed it at one of the Monoeyes, but hesitated again. If she helped take out the Underworld monsters, Celestia’s troops would go after her again. She wasn’t sure she could handle their blood on her hooves. The Underworld gave her a distraction, and after a moment of trepidation, she decided to use it.

After placing her weapon back at her side, Fluttershy made a run for the building's entrance. She told herself that the Centurions would be fine as they and the Underworld monsters fought above her, and she soon slipped through the front door. Once inside, she found herself standing in a small entrance hall. Statues of six ponies, three on either side, lined the hall from one side to the other. A door on the other side led past the entrance hall, but a pegasus stallion standing guard at the door noticed her. Wings outstretched, he flew at her. Fluttershy jumped to the side to dodge him, and then ducked as he turned and raised a hoof to punch her. The stallion’s hoof plowed through one of the statues, and Fluttershy jumped back before the stonework could fall on her.

Once she managed to put some distance between them, Fluttershy got a better look at the stallion. He was one of Celestia’s strongarms: unarmed and barely armored, but with a large frame and well-toned, powerful muscles to make up for it. Fluttershy grabbed her weapon from her side and aimed it at the stallion as he turned toward her. Her hoof trembled with each moment she pointed her blade at the other pony. The stallion lunged. Her eyes shut, she turned her head, and a large, neon blue, crossed-shaped shot fired from the muzzle of the Crusader Blade.

The stallion stumbled as Fluttershy’s shot struck him dead on, but still slammed into her and sent them into a statue behind them, smashing it and toppling it over the two of them. Fluttershy groaned as she picked herself up from the surrounding debris. The Crusader Blade lay several feet away. The Centurion was already on his hooves and made a beeline toward her. She dashed forward, ducking past the other pony. The Crusader Blade fell into her hoof, and she pointed it at him.

There was a flash of neon blue, and everything froze. A razor-sharp hard light cross shot out of the tip of Fluttershy’s blade, piercing deep into the stallion’s chest. The cross disappeared, and the stallion’s body collapsed lifelessly to the floor. Fluttershy dropped her weapon and stumbled back from the body. Hyperventilating, and eyes wide in horror, she stared at his unmoving body. Her gaze moved from the blood-stained wound in the pony’s chest to her weapon, and then to her trembling hoof.

And she cried.

She spent a minute crying alone: about the dead stallion, about Celestia, about her ruined home, about Spike, about everything that had happened to her ever since she woke up yesterday outside a war-torn earth pony town.

She eventually returned to her hooves. She wiped her eyes with a foreleg and gazed back at the body and her weapon.

“You understand that there will be more of Celestia’s ponies, do you not?” Luna said. “If you cannot bring yourself to slay the ones in your path, you will never reach Celestia.”

Fluttershy took the Crusader Blade into her hoof, giving it a depressed, hollow look before placing it at her side. “Can you reach out to Twilight Sparkle and Shining Armor?” she asked. “I need them to lower the barrier around the temple. Let the Underworld Army in.”

“Fluttershy, if the Underworld is allowed to enter Celestia’s temple, they will destroy it. Do you realize what you are asking?”

“If I run into any more Centurions, I’m going to have to kill them all,” Fluttershy said. “At least this way, I can slip past them without hurting anypony.”

“And Discord’s forces will not?”

“We are talking about Underworld cannon fodder!” Fluttershy snapped. “The Centurions will be fine!” Fluttershy froze. She felt a bitter taste in her mouth left by the words ‘cannon fodder.’

“I…” Fluttershy paused. “I just need them to distract Celestia’s forces.”

“Very well,” Luna said. “I will try to convince them.”

Fluttershy left the room and continued down a narrow corridor. The corridor took her past a long, square room with a low ceiling that could have served as a small garage and eventually brought her outside again. Several groups of Underworld monsters were already fighting with pegasi and unicorns on the inside of Shining Armor’s barrier, which prompted a double-take from Fluttershy when she realized it was still there. The barrier was thinner and more transparent than it was earlier, and as she scrutinized the surface of the bubble, she noticed a few cracks and gaps that were quickly mending themselves. A flash of light blue raced across the rose-colored surface every few seconds.

“They were not pleased to hear your request,” Luna said. “But they did offer a compromise. I advise you take advantage, lest there be more bloodshed than necessary.”

Fluttershy silently agreed and moved down the path before her in a hurried trot. Above her, a few armored unicorns circled around and traded blasts with Underworld monsters, both sides too preoccupied to break away and attack Fluttershy. “What about the blue magic in the barrier?” she asked.

“Rarity offered her magic to electrify the barrier,” Luna replied. “It won’t strengthen the shield spell, but it has returned some harsh feedback to those who strike the force field.”

Fluttershy came to a stop next to the charred, burning wreckage of a small vehicle. She examined the cracked, smoldering dashboard, the blackened, mangled chassis and back wheels, and the three broken horns that jutted from the front of the vehicle.

“Is that an Exo Tank?” Luna asked.

“It was,” Fluttershy said. “This used to be an Exo Tank track.” Her eyes traced the path of the track as she saw the extent of the damage. The spectator seats that had been built around a sharp turn ahead were gone, having crumbled away and fallen through the clouds. A few discrete chunks of landmass, all with a flat surface and aligned so one might easily confuse them for a trail of platforms, were all that remained of the entire second half of the track, which was meant to loop back to where Fluttershy stood. “Luna, you said something about the Chaos Kin before we got here?”

“Yes, of course,” Luna said. “Chaos Kin is but one name by which the creature is known. Others call it Sombra. Little else is known about the Chaos Kin, what it is, or from where it spawned. All we know is that it takes its victims back to its nest in the Chaos Vortex, where it consumes their souls.”

“And Princess Celestia and I released this thing, right?” Fluttershy asked. “But what does that have to do with what’s happening right now? Did the Chaos Kin eat her soul?”

“No. Net yet, at least. And it has everything to do with what is now happening,” Luna said soberly. “The Chaos Kin’s most frightening power is its ability to control the soul’s owner.”

“So then Princess Celestia is being controlled by the Chaos Kin?”

“It is very likely,” Luna answered. “I see no other way Celestia could have changed so drastically. And as for who turned you into a bracelet—who would be capable of such a thing? You yourself admitted that Celestia has put you in some very dangerous situations.”

“She must have done it when she was under the Chaos Kin’s control,” Fluttershy said, hanging her head in guilt. “I thought I was going to have to kill her. I thought I really lost her.” A tear rolled down the side of her cheek. “I can’t believe I lost it like that.”

“That matters not, Fluttershy,” Luna said. “Now you know what has happened to the Goddess of Light, and what you must do to free her.”

Fluttershy gave a slow, uncertain nod. “You’re right,” she said before breaking into an uneasy canter. Her gait turned into a hurried trot and then an almost-gallop as she headed down the length of the Exo Tank track. She passed by a platoon of Centurions, including a few unicorns and pegasi in Centurion Knight armor, and a mechanical Juggernaut as they opened fire on Syrens and Daphnes, and took the track’s sharp turn. Predictably, none of them spotted her, and she had just about sneaked past them.

A condensed mesh of thorns and flower petals, launched by one of the flower-like Daphnes, clipped the wing of a pegasus Centurion, exploding on contact. The blast threw the pegaus and sent him plummeting below the island. Fluttershy gasped in horror. She galloped to the edge of the island, but the fallen pegasus was gone from sight by then. Pulling out her Crusader Blade, she opened fire on the Underworld forces. The first Daphne was hit by a large, cross-shaped blast of light. She also managed to shoot down a Syren with a barrage of tiny crossed-shaped shots before the rest of the combatants noticed her.

Fluttershy stepped back, her weapon lowering in her grip as monster, pony, and Juggernaut alike stopped fighting one another and moved toward her. She turned tail and galloped down the rest of the track as Centurion arrows, Syren whirlwind blasts, and Gatling gun fire from the Juggernaut chased after her. After jumping down a ramp, she reached a building at the end of the track and slipped in. Turning one last time to face the sturdy iron door behind her, she mentally thanked video game logic that the enemies couldn’t chase her through doors before heading deeper inside.

Fluttershy followed several sets of stairs down to the entrance of a wide corridor, which led into a large, circular chamber. Torches lined the walls, illuminating the hall well enough, but exposing the dull, dusty gray color of the stonework. Fluttershy crouched low, sticking to the shadows as she scanned every corner of the room. Luckily, there were no ponies around. But something else bothered her about the room. She could have sworn she had been here before, but the architecture and interior were completely different from what she remembered.

“You seem confused,” Luna said. “Have you never seen Skyworld’s prison?”

Fluttershy paused and furrowed her eyebrows. If confusion wasn’t already written on her features, it was now. “Skyworld doesn’t have a prison.”

“Evidently, it has one now,” Luna pointed out. “I sense a dungeon beneath you as well. You may wish to search both levels.”

Frowning, Fluttershy continued down the hallway still keeping to the shadows as she went. Once she was at the edge of the circular chamber, she noticed two passageways: one heading left and one heading right. She was about to head right, where she could see a row of cells lining the wall, when another voice echoed in Fluttershy’s head, making its owner’s presence known.

“Sorry I’m late! Thanks so much for clearing the way for me, Flutterbutt.”

“Discord!” Fluttershy muttered irritably.

“So thrilled you could join us,” Luna said acidly.

“Can’t a god of the Underworld drop by for a social gathering?” Discord said with feigned innocence. “Honestly, you fillies never even sent me an invite. Anyway, I just want to get this out there. The Chaos Kin and I aren’t allies. We’re not even buddies. Too much difference of opinion…

“Or at least there would be if he had the mental faculties to form opinions,” he said quietly to himself. “I swear he has the personality of a rabid dog.”

“That’s nice,” Fluttershy said dispassionately. “You can go now.”

“Oh is that the thanks I get for distracting Celestia’s troops?” Discord said. “I know you’re using my army to get out of killing anypony. Even when I’m helping, you’re rude.”

“I’m sure your assistance was completely unintentional to begin with,” Luna said.

“Well just because it’s not intentional doesn’t mean it’s not genuine!” Discord argued. “And besides, this one’s not even my fault this time; it’s Fluttershy’s. She set Sombra free. That demonic little horse is quite the handful, even for me!”

“Then why hasn’t anyone killed it yet?” Fluttershy asked. “I don’t understand why anyone would let such a horrible creature live.”

“We tried to destroy him, Fluttershy,” Luna said. “When we first captured the Chaos Kin, we subjected him to the most powerful magic and the most destructive weapons at our disposal. We incinerated him. We tore his body apart piece by piece. We subjected him to poisons and pestilence, both natural and magical. We tried everything imaginable to eradicate the Chaos Kin from existence.”

“And he survived all that?” Fluttershy asked.

“OF COURSE HE SURVIVED!” Luna shouted. Fluttershy cringed. It wasn’t just Luna’s outburst, but something else about it that made her anxious. The more she listened, the more she noticed something off about Luna’s shouting. It wasn’t anger or frustration or even annoyance. It almost sounded panicked. “There was a point when we reduced him to nothing more than a fanglike horn and a few pieces of shattered armor,” Luna said. “He was whole again by dawn of the next day. Sombra will not die!”

Fluttershy was starting to panic. If Luna was right, then there was no way she could destroy the Chaos Kin. Even Discord himself said that the Chaos Kin was difficult to contain. “Then how are we…” she murmured. “How am I…” She thought she was here to save Celestia, but now she wasn’t sure it was even possible.

“Why do you think the Lunar Sanctum was built in the first place?” Luna went on. “This was more than some mere prison fortress, Fluttershy. It was heavily armed and fortified, to ensure that nothing could ever go in or come out. It was the size of an entire moon, so that no creature could hope to navigate its interior. And it was fully automated, so that one unicorn could singlehoofedly direct all of its functions through its control center, with only a token security force to patrol its halls. All of this, so that the Lunar Sanctum might imprison Sombra for as long as possible, to deprive him of even a single soul to feast upon for hundreds, even thousands of years. We were hoping he would starve!”

And there it was. Underneath the volume and apparent outrage directed at her for freeing Sombra, Fluttershy noticed the shaking in Luna’s voice. It wasn’t just Fluttershy that was scared; Luna was scared too.

“My goodness!” gasped Discord a bit too dramatically. “Who made you two ladies the final arbiters of which creatures live and which ones die? The Chaos Kin might not be as soft and cuddly as you, Fluttershy. But you can’t just wipe out every living thing that doesn’t suit your liking.”

“And who are you to make such righteous platitudes?” Luna countered. “Every single one of us has crushed countless lives beneath our hooves, especially you.”

Fluttershy froze at that last remark. Another pang of guilt spread through her.

“Well these aren’t actually hooves, but I suppose you have a point,” Discord said.

“Even so,” Luna said, her voice taking on a pang of remorse, “if anyone should bear responsibility for Sombra’s escape, it is I. If I had known Celestia would target the Lunar Sanctum, I could have intervened. Or Fancypants should have explained the matter. But you know how secretive he was.”

“We asked him what the Lunar Sanctum was for,” Fluttershy said. “He wouldn’t say anything. We thought it was another weapon, like your Reset Bombs.”

“The Lunar Sanctum was a highly classified secret,” Luna said. “Commander Fancypants was neither willing nor authorized to divulge that information. I am more perturbed that he did not inform me of your invasion. He was to send a distress signal through the Lunar Sanctum’s control center if there was an emergency.”

“We… might have destroyed the control center when we were there.”

“Might have?!”

“It was the first thing we blew up when we got there!” Fluttershy squeaked.

“Your attack on the Reset Bomb Depots dealt us a serious blow, and we were fighting a war on two fronts. The Parasprite invasion distracted us further. By the time I realized what happened to the Lunar Sanctum…” Luna paused, and then took a breath. “It is not important. There is nothing more we can do about the past. Your objective is to engage the Chaos Kin and rescue the Goddess of Light.”

Fluttershy continued on, but with a nagging sense of anxiety and trepidation. Somehow, everyone was to blame for the Chaos Kin’s escape; that much they’d clearly established. But that didn’t ease her guilt over setting the creature free in the first place. More importantly, one troubling question remained unanswered, one that Fluttershy couldn’t bring herself to ask: how? How was she supposed to save Celestia from the Chaos Kin if the Chaos Kin couldn’t be destroyed?

She turned down the corridor on the right, to the rows of jail cells. Her eyes lingered on each cell—some locked, others wide open—as she passed them two at a time. They were all empty, but something about them made her shudder. Even after everything that had happened to Celestia and Skyworld, it still wasn’t clear what these cells were for, and the fact that they were all empty wasn’t reassuring.

Fluttershy stopped in front of one of the cells and regarded what was inside. Shining on the floor of the cell was a bright blue circle. A shaft of light shone up from the center of the circle, and a glowing sigil hovered within the shaft of light.

“This is a portal to a Zodiac Chamber, is it not?” Luna asked. “Even with all that’s changed in this temple, I would not expect to find one here.”

“I bet the other Zodiac Chambers weren’t always there before I found them,” Fluttershy mused as she looked over the cell. There was no lock on the door, and a quick glance at the nearby walls and floor did not reveal any buttons or switches. “I don’t see a way in.”

“I sense an illusion spell at work,” Luna mused. “Perhaps there is a false wall leading into the cell, maybe from within one of the other—”

A cross-shaped blade of light shot out of the tip of Fluttershy’s weapon, already in her hoof, as she swung it at the bars of the jail cell. She swung her weapon a second time, the hard light blade slicing through the iron bars, before pointing its muzzle at the door and firing. The cleaved segments of metal flew out of their places in the cell door and clattered all over the ground.

“… Or you could simply destroy the door,” Luna said.

Stepping over the remaining stubs of the bars, Fluttershy entered the prison cell and stepped into the circle of light. The room, the corridor behind her, and the adjoining chamber all vanished in a flash, replaced by the familiar dumbbell-shaped platform and the black void she’d seen in other Zodiac Chambers. She headed to the other end of the platform, where a circular altar bathed in yellow light awaited her. The altar shone brightly for a moment when she approached, and the newly materialized Zodiac weapon hovered a few inches above.

Fluttershy grasped the weapon, a heavy silver club, in her hoof and carefully pulled it toward her. The new weapon’s weight became apparent the moment she took it from its altar, and it nearly dropped to the ground as she stumbled back and struggled to manage its weight. Letting it fall more gently to the ground, she took a moment to regard it. Two curved goat horns extended proudly from the top of the club’s head, and a green gem was embedded in between them. A silver plate with deep blue trim seemed to be fused to the face of the club, with the horns and gem sticking out of it, and a beard was embossed into the silver underneath the plate, giving the entire ensemble the appearance of a goat’s head.

Transferring the handle from her hoof to her mouth, Fluttershy dragged the new weapon, the Capricorn Club, back to the portal and out of the Zodiac Chamber. Once she was back in the prison cell, she laid the club on the floor.

“Do you intend to carry both weapons,” Luna asked.

Fluttershy shook her head. “Clubs are too heavy for me anyway,” she said. Using her front hooves, she pushed and rolled the Capricorn Club to one of the cell walls. “I’m just putting it here to keep it safe. Celestia used to take these off my hooves whenever I found one, but she can’t really do that now.”

“I could do the same for you,” Luna said.

Fluttershy gripped the handle of the Capricorn Club with her mouth. With a grunt, she pulled the handle over to the side, turning the heavy weapon over to the other wall. “That won’t be necessary,” she panted. “It’ll be fine here.”

She was about to step back from the Capricorn Club, but paused when something caught her eye. Her left foreleg, along with her left wing now folded at her side, were disappearing through the stone wall at the cell’s rear. She retracted her foreleg, which emerged harmlessly from behind the wall, and took a step back, glancing up and down the wall with a cocked head and an air of curiosity and mild bewilderment.

“A false wall,” Luna said. “So there is an illusion spell in this dungeon.”

“Then that makes this a little easier,” Fluttershy said. She moved behind the Capricorn Club and crouched, pressing her head and shoulder up against the heavy weapon’s body. With a heave and a grunt, she shoved the club, rolling it on its side until it passed through and disappeared behind the illusion. She took a few steps back and gave the wall one last look, making sure the club had completely disappeared behind it. “I’ll come back for you later,” she finally said before turning around and leaving the cell.

As Fluttershy left the cellblock and headed back to the chamber proper, a realization struck her. Remembering back to the destroyed city where she’d met Applejack the day before, she fished into her tunic and pulled out a thin orange box with the symbol of a ram’s head on it. She was leaving behind one Zodiac treasure, but she could still make use of the one she and Applejack found: the Aries Armor power.

Fluttershy reached for the Crusader Blade and examined its body. A tiny 6x6 grid was etched into the crossguard. She tapped the tiny grid, which exploded into a hologram large enough for her hoof to tap the individual squares. She then pulled off the lid of the orange box, revealing an L-shaped puzzle piece made up of interconnected squares. Normally, she would equip powers before starting a mission, but a cursory glance at her surroundings revealed no enemies Underworld or otherwise, and she had a feeling this power would be helpful. The Aries Armor power levitated from its box, and Fluttershy pushed it onto the grid with a hoof. The puzzle grid—with newly equipped Aries Armor—shrunk back into its weapon’s crossguard, and once the now empty box was stuffed back in her tunic, Fluttershy returned to the main chamber and went down the corridor on the left.

Several flights of stairs later, Fluttershy emerged from the darkness of Skyworld’s dungeon into the dreary gray daylight outside. The main temple complex—and Celestia’s palace within—stood off in the distance, marked by the massive statue of Celestia herself that loomed over the entire temple grounds. On any other day, the statue with its enormous, gleaming outstretched wings would have been a beacon of hope and light, instead of the dark symbol of dread it was now.

The unicorns’ barrier flickered in and out against the dark, cloudy sky in rose, magenta, and light blue. Cracks and fissures were clearly visible in the protective bubble’s surface, and as Fluttershy looked more carefully, she could see swarms of Underworld creatures assaulting the barrier. Fluttershy turned her gaze down from the sky and looked straight ahead at the damaged path of bridges and platforms that led to Celestia. Gale-force winds buffeted the bridge ahead, tossing about three Monoeyes and two Centurion pegasi that had been caught in them.

“I don’t suppose Twilight and Shining Armor’s barrier will catch me if I fall,” Fluttershy said uncomfortably.

“Even if it does, Rarity’s magic would surely electrocute you,” Luna said.

“It would be such a shame if you were swept off by the side winds,” Discord taunted. “My, my, Flutters! Celestia must hate you even more than I do!”

“She’s not doing this,” Fluttershy said, shaking her head. “She wouldn’t.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure,” Celestia chimed.

Fluttershy was stung by the blunt, almost mocking tone in Celestia’s words. She shut her eyes, shaking her head in fierce denial. “You’re not her!” she said. She trudged forward, steeling herself for the powerful winds ahead.

“Isn’t she?” Discord said. “Hasn’t it occurred to you that everypony here—me, Luna, Celestia, Rarity, Twilight Sparkle, Shining Armor—that we all hate you?”

“Celestia doesn’t hate me,” Fluttershy insisted. “Not the real one. And what about Rarity?”

“What about me?!” Rarity seethed. “Did you forget what you did to me in the Thunder Cloud Temple, you savage brute?”

“Commander Rarity was severely injured during your battle in the Thunder Cloud Temple,” Luna said. “The claws you wielded cut her deep, almost to the bone. She lost a fair amount of blood, and her wounds became terribly infected. Even with our remedies and healing magic, she is lucky to have survived.”

“I’m lucky my scars aren’t visible through my coat!” Rarity snarled. “And you! You’re lucky Mistress Luna told me to stand down, or else I’d return the favor!”

If Fluttershy had any sympathy for Rarity in that moment, the look on her face would’ve said otherwise. She stopped just short of the wind currents that assaulted the bridge, her eyes narrowed and an irritated expression across her features. “Are you done?” she said flatly. “You have no right to complain about what I did to you when you were going to do the same thing to me. You tried to kill me too at the Thunder Cloud Temple, so don’t think for a second that I feel bad about butchering…”

Fluttershy froze. For the second time, a word hung on her mind and on the tip of her tongue. She had tried to kill Rarity at the Thunder Cloud Temple. She had nearly killed Rarity, the same way she had killed Fancypants at the Lunar Sanctum. It was one thing to call Underworld monsters ‘cannon fodder,’ to gun down dozens of them without a second thought, but these were other ponies, and up until now, she hadn’t felt any remorse for what she did. And then there was Spike… When did she turn into a killer?

“You really are a monster, aren’t you?” Twilight said.

The remark wounded Fluttershy, and she cringed as Twilight’s words sunk in, but had little chance to react before Luna interjected. “Just as I thought!” Luna said. “You two are listening to our conversations.”

“Of course we are,” Twilight deadpanned. “We’ve been eavesdropping on you ever since we got here.”

“Twilight figured out how to listen in on telepathic magic a long time ago,” Shining Armor said. “It’s not that hard once you know the right spell.”

“Be that as it may,” Luna said sternly, “I suggest you stay out of this. This is none of your concern.”

“I’m sorry, but I’m pretty sure this became our concern when you barged into our home and asked for our help,” Twilight shot back. “Especially after you told us such a lousy story. You didn’t think we’d trust you when you asked us to break Princess Celestia’s defenses to ‘save’ her, did you?”

“But I was telling the truth,” Fluttershy stammered. “You heard Princess Celestia, didn’t you? She’s not herself.”

“Yeah, I’ve been listening to what the princess has been saying,” Twilight said. “I also remember what Shining Armor told me before we agreed to help you.”


- - - - - - - - - -


“You’re joking, right?” Twilight said. She stared incredulously at Shining Armor, who stood with her on the roof of the Chariot Master’s tower.

“No, that’s exactly what she told me,” Shining Armor said. He glanced at the hard light racetrack that wound around the roof, where Fluttershy stood gazing uncomfortably back at them.

“You don’t actually believe she’s telling the truth, do you?”

“I don’t know,” he said. “Even if she is, tearing down the barrier around Skyworld is a huge risk. We don’t know how many enemies the Goddess of Light has. Any one of them could attack Skyworld while its defenses are down.”

“And what about her?” Twilight asked, jabbing a hoof in Fluttershy’s direction. “We don’t know who this mare is or her connection to Princess Celestia. For all we know, she could be trying to assassinate the princess. We could be putting her in danger!”

“That’s a good point,” Shining Armor thought aloud. “We don’t even know why Princess Celestia put a barrier around Skyworld in the first place, and we have no way of finding out why or what Fluttershy has to do with it from here.”

Twilight nodded in affirmation. She began her march to the racetrack where Fluttershy stood. Her mind was made. She was going to tell Fluttershy to leave. They were not going to help her reach Skyworld, and if something was wrong with Princess Celestia, she and Shining Armor would find out themselves.

“… What if we’re there to stop her?”

Twilight stopped in her tracks. She shook her head in utter disbelief, and then turned back to face him. “Wait, you’re not actually considering…”

“Fluttershy says that we’re strong enough to destroy the force field around Princess Celestia’s temple,” Shining Armor continued. “That means we should be able to take its place if something goes wrong. And we’ll be in the perfect place to keep an eye on Fluttershy.”

Against her better judgment, Twilight weighed the idea in her head. They were talking about breaching Skyworld’s defenses, leaving it vulnerable, and letting a pony they didn’t trust near the Goddess of Light. It sounded utterly insane, and yet…

“That… actually makes sense.”

Shining Armor nodded. “If Fluttershy’s telling the truth, then we’re helping her save Princess Celestia. If she’s lying to us, then we’ll be the one’s saving the princess from her. And if something else tries to attack Skyworld, we’ll be right there to stop it. Either way, we endear ourselves to Princess Celestia. You love the Goddess of Light, right?”

Twilight smiled at the thought. “I do,” she said. “And what about Fluttershy? What do we do with her if she’s lying?”

“If Fluttershy turns out to be a threat to Princess Celestia…” He paused for a moment, and his features hardened. “Then I won’t stop you from doing what you have to. She’s all yours.”

Twilight nodded, and she allowed a slight smirk to cross her lips. “Then I’m in,” she said. “To avenge Spike.”

“To protect Princess Celestia,” Shining Armor said, nodding his head.


- - - - - - - - - -


“You lied to me,” Fluttershy said, her voice cracking. Hurt and disbelief were written on her face, and tears welled up in her eyes at the realization that the two ponies she thought she could trust were ready to turn on her at a moment’s notice.

“No, we didn’t,” Shining Armor said. “You asked us to get you through the barrier into Skyworld, and we did. I told you that Twilight wouldn’t trust you, and I told you I’d try to convince her to help. If that means agreeing to put you down if you threaten the Goddess of Light, then so be it. We did our part, Fluttershy. The rest is on you.”

Fluttershy looked down the path ahead of her, past the treacherous winds that blew in front of her, where Celestia’s palace stood casting its dreadful pall over Skyworld. A few Centurions hovered a distance away as they fought Underworld troops—ponies that Fluttershy knew and trained with, who would attack her if they saw her now. Celestia, her trusted goddess, was waiting for her up ahead, and would receive her with the same hospitality. And Twilight Sparkle and Shining Armor had all but abandoned her. Never had she felt so alone.

“If it’s any consolation, I do believe you,” Shining Armor added. “I’ve heard enough to know that you were telling the truth.”

“But I don’t,” Twilight said. “For someone who says she desperately wants to save the Goddess of Light, you seem to be taking your sweet time doing it. You did not need to take a detour to loot a ‘Zodiac Chamber.’ And can you explain to me why you asked us to lower our barrier and let the Underworld Army invade Skyworld?”

“I need the Underworld Army as a distraction,” Fluttershy said. “If you hadn’t let them in, I would have to kill every single pony in my way.”

“And how many ponies died because you told us to let Discord’s troops in?” Twilight countered. “Have you seen the Underworld Army? They’re like a swarm of locusts!”

“Twelve, thus far,” Luna interjected. “And I see two more who are on their last legs. That number would surely be greater if Twilight Sparkle and Shining Armor had not wisely proposed to simply weaken the barrier.”

“Oh, come now. Let’s not be too harsh on Flutters,” Discord chimed in. “It wasn’t her idea to park the Lightning Chariot at the base of the temple and cut a path of death through the temple grounds. If you go in through the front gate when you could easily start at the front door, you’re going to have to shoot a few guard dogs along the way.”

Twilight stammered. “Hold on a sec—”

“Fifteen,” Luna announced. “Fluttershy, you are being distracted. If you wish to prolong this argument while your fellow soldiers die, I cannot stop you. Your objective is up ahead. I suggest you follow through on it.”

Fluttershy cringed. Once again, she looked down the path ahead of her. Luna was right. Celestia was still under the Chaos Kin’s control, and each second Fluttershy wasted endangered not just Celestia’s soul but the lives of her fellow ponies. She stepped forward, the force of the winds pulling on her mane as they pushed her body toward the other edge. She fought against the winds, even as her hooves began to slip on the weathered stones beneath her. At the very least, Luna’s blunt words silenced everyone else. Twilight Sparkle and Shining Armor hadn’t spoken a word. Even Discord was quiet, though Fluttershy wondered whether he had taken some cruel joy out of their disharmony.

Putting the wind currents behind her, she approached the main temple complex. She ascended a set of stairs and stepped onto a raised square, the palace and the statue of Celestia with its massive wingspan rising high above her. A mixture of relief and apprehension washed over her all at once. She was almost there. Just a little further, and she would be face to face with a powerful alicorn goddess and the monster possessing her.

Bright yellow magic rose along the edges of the square, forming a wall of magical flames that trapped her on all sides. Four bright flashes of multicolored light later, and four Centurion unicorns hovered at the other end of the square, soon joined by a pair of pegasus Strongarms. Darkness fell over Fluttershy, and she pulled her weapon and turned to aim it at a Juggernaut hovering behind her. Her eyes darted between the Centurions and the Juggernaut, and she frantically searched the skies in vain for any Underworld enemies.

The unicorns fired their bows, and Fluttershy rolled and sidestepped as a volley of light arrows flew at her. One of the Strongarms produced a massive barbell and flung it at her. Fluttershy jumped back, narrowly avoiding the barbell as it crashed into the ground in front of her. She heard a heavy sound behind her, like a massive object being swung, and turned her head to see the Juggernaut’s catapults hurling two burning stones at her. She galloped out of the way, hearing the explosions of the fiery stones behind her ring in her ears. Another volley of light arrows whizzed past Fluttershy as she ducked her head and kept on running. She rolled forward, slipping past one last arrow, and pointed her Crusader Blade at the Centurions. Her aim hovered over each of her fellow ponies, her hoof shaking as she aimed from one familiar face to the next. Even as the unicorns readied their bows to fire, their faces showing no reluctance or warmth, she was too scared to shoot any of them.

One pegasus rushed headlong at her, forelegs outstretched and ready to grab her. Fluttershy flinched, but ducked and sidestepped around the charging Strongarm, her Crusader Blade’s hard light edge materializing and vanishing in an instant before she turned around and fired a cross-shaped blast. As the pegasus collapsed to the ground, she stopped in place, her weapon hoof still directed at his unmoving body and shock washing over her as she realized what she had done. That moment was cut short when a stabbing pain pierced into her right flank, followed almost immediately by one in her side when a light arrow struck her just beneath her wing and a third one in her right shoulder. Fluttershy turned back to the source of the arrows, where one unicorn mare still had an arrow trained on her. She fired her weapon at the mare, who recoiled back and fell as the blast struck her face and horn.

Fluttershy looked wordlessly from the body of the downed mare to the four remaining ponies, all ready to attack. Grief and remorse weighed on her over the unicorn mare, as well as the pegasus behind her, but there was no way around it. Defeated, she slowly shook her head and gave up. There wasn’t anything else she could do. She aimed her weapon at the remaining three unicorns and fired a stream of tiny crossed-shaped shots, tearing though their barding and shooting all three down. She turned her attention to the remaining pegasus Strongarm, dodge-rolling to the side to evade another thrown barbell, and fired back with a blast from her blade. The pegasus fell to the ground, and Fluttershy rushed at him, slashing with the Crusader Blade as she ran past.

A metallic click rang out behind Fluttershy, and she turned to face the Juggernaut hovering at the other end of the square. She jumped left, stepping in between the twin guns on either side of the Juggernaut as they fired a stream of bullets at her. She returned fire with her own weapon, firing at the siege weapon’s arms. The Juggernaut drifted to the side, moving to catch Fluttershy in one of its streams of gunfire, while Fluttershy matched its movements.

Before long, the Juggernaut’s arms broke off of its center head, and the entire thing collapsed. Fluttershy lowered her blade, while the fiery magic barrier enclosing the square flickered and receded. Fluttershy turned back toward the temple complex, the path now clear.

“Go now, Fluttershy,” Luna announced. “It is finally time to save Celestia.”

“‘Save Celestia?’” Discord said. “Don’t you mean ‘crush Celestia?’”

Fluttershy looked from the edifice of Celestia’s palace to the bodies of the six ponies lying before her. Tears rolled down her cheeks as she returned the Crusader Blade to her side. “Go to hell, Discord,” Fluttershy said as she started toward the temple entrance. “Just go to hell.”


* * * * * * * * * *


The Goddess of Light stumbled as she made her way across the threshold of her temple. She regarded Fluttershy, standing at the far end of the temple entrance, with a cold, piercing glare in her once kind light fuchsia eyes.

“So, you’re here to fight me, Fluttershy?” she asked.

“No…” Fluttershy said, taking a step back. After a moment, she shook her head, shaking a tear off her cheek, and stared back at Celestia, her resolve and courage returning to her. “No. I’m here to save you!”

Celestia’s horn lit. The ground shook under Fluttershy’s hooves, causing her to stumble as she felt it push against her. All around her, the temple complex, from the surrounding columns and arches to the main palace, began to fall below the circular platform they stood on. Celestia’s wings spread out, and she lifted off the ground with a series of slow but powerful flaps. Fluttershy reached for her weapon and aimed at her.

“Stop!” Luna said. “Do not fire upon Celestia.”

“Wait, why not?”

“The Chaos Kin lurks somewhere close by,” Luna said. “It controls Celestia from afar. You must find it and sever its connection to her.”

“So the Chaos Kin isn’t inside Princess Celestia?”

“Not in any literal sense. If you attack Celestia, only she will come to harm. Find the Chaos Kin and destroy it, and take care not to wound Celestia.”

An intense blast of magic fired from Celestia’s horn. Fluttershy rolled to the side, letting the attack pass her, and scanned the impromptu arena for any sign of Sombra. The main palace and the temple grounds lay below them, their arena in the midst of Celestia's great statue, but Fluttershy saw nothing else out of the ordinary. She ducked as another three bolts of magic shot at her. Celestia’s horn charged again, and three balls of yellow magical fire shot down at her from the sky. Fluttershy leaped out of the way, but was caught in the explosions they made on impact. Her body hit the ground and rolled for a few feet before stopping. When she looked up, Celestia’s horn was lit, and the Goddess of Light fired a beam of searing magic at the ground. The beam scorched the ground on its way to Fluttershy, and Fluttershy rolled out of its path before it could reach her. She quickly got back to her hooves and looked back up at Celestia.

Something caught Fluttershy’s eye. Floating above Celestia’s head were a few curls of shadowy black mist. They faded away, only to reappear a moment later, and they flickered around a specific point in the air, as if something was at its center.

“There!” Luna said. “Above her!”

“No,” Discord chimed gleefully, “you don’t need to look up there.”

Fluttershy jumped to the side as another bolt of magic fired from Celestia’s horn. She aimed her weapon up, pointing the gunblade’s tip at the aberration, and fired. The blade’s cross-shaped blast struck something solid above Celestia’s head, and the dark, smoky wisps shuddered. Celestia was unfazed, and she fired another powerful beam of magic. Fluttershy sidestepped the blast and returned fire, hitting the shrouded object a second time. The black smoke vanished, and an armored creature appeared in its place before falling to the ground. Fluttershy looked closely at the downed monster: a demonic unicorn with a gray coat, black mane, and a curved, smooth, blood-red horn. Silver-plated barding covered the legs and chest of the Chaos Kin, and a tattered red cape, which may have once been a splendid royal garment, was draped over its body.

The Chaos Kin opened its eyes, scarlet red with even deeper red irises and bright, sickly green sclera, and snarled at Fluttershy like a feral beast. It rose off the ground and hovered toward the far end of the arena, away from both her and Celestia. Fluttershy stared silently back at the creature, her teeth bared slightly and her hoof clenching the grip of her weapon. She ducked under another bolt of magic from Celestia’s horn and darted after Sombra, dodging and ducking under Celestia’s magic as she went. Sombra opened its mouth, releasing a cloud of noxious purple gas and projecting it at her. Fluttershy circled around and fired her blade, hitting the creature a third time.

Fluttershy heard Celestia groan behind her, along with the sound of hooves collapsing on solid ground. “Princess Celestia?” She turned to find the Goddess of Light kneeling on the ground, eyes shut and a hoof pressed against her head. She watched hopefully, waiting for her to fight off the Chaos Kin’s control, only to be dismayed when she opened her eyes. Purple mist emanated from the sides of Celestia's eyes, and she looked at Fluttershy with that same cold, heartless stare.

Celestia rose off the ground and shot another beam of magic from her horn. Fluttershy dodged and turned back to the Chaos Kin, only to jump back as another noxious cloud rolled toward her. Her attention darted from the toxic cloud back to the Chaos Kin, which flew off to another point over the platform, and then back to Celestia, whose magic aura radiated from her horn. It was the last thing she saw before recoiling back painfully as the yellow aura became an intense, blinding flash. She stumbled back, putting a hoof to her burning, watery eyes. She tried to open her eyes, but couldn’t see past the indelible blob left by Celestia’s flash in her field of vision. Her neck and chest were struck by three scorching blasts, and she fell back. A fourth blast hit her chest in the form of a powerful beam, throwing her off the ground and sending her back several feet.

Fluttershy opened her eyes, her vision now recovered, only to see a swirling tower of yellow magical flames barreling toward her. She rolled out of the way and rose onto her hooves, scanning the arena for both Celestia and the Chaos Kin. Celestia remained at the center of the platform, her magic charging as before, while Sombra hovered off to the left, eyes narrowed at them. Fluttershy dashed left, ducking and sidestepping past a barrage of Celestia’s magic, and fired her weapon. The Chaos Kin fell backward, but remained in the air and returned an animalistic growl. Fluttershy kept firing with a spray of tiny cross-like shots from her blade, but the Chaos Kin had already flown off in Celestia’s direction. Its body dissolved into black smoke as it wrapped around Celestia’s barrel and neck, its head peering from behind Celestia’s while its hooves and phantasmic body held onto her.

Fluttershy tried to aim at the Chaos Kin, but couldn’t get a clear shot. Its head hung too close behind Celestia’s head and continuously beating wings, and she couldn’t aim at the creature’s legs for fear of shooting Celestia. She jumped aside to dodge another blast of magic, as well as another toxic cloud spat out by the Chaos Kin, but when she aimed her weapon again, she still didn't have a shot. “Get off of her!” she said, growing increasingly frustrated.

“Do not grow impatient,” Luna said. “You must wait for an opening.”

Fluttershy craned her head, trying to get a better angle of the cowardly monster using Celestia as a shield. The Chaos Kin was hiding behind Celestia, so it made sense that she could get a better shot at it from behind. She darted forward, cutting the distance between them before circling around Celestia. Celestia let loose her magic, sending bolts of sunfire from her horn at Fluttershy, all of which Fluttershy jumped over and sidestepped. Getting ahead of Fluttershy, the Goddess of Light directed her magic at the ground, sending up a wall of magic fire in her path. Fluttershy skidded on her hooves, only to get blindsided as a blast from Celestia’s horn struck her side, throwing her back several feet before she hit the ground near the edge of the platform.

Fluttershy let out a pained grunt as she tried to bring herself to her hooves, her wing and side burning and throbbing from the impact of Celestia’s spell. She opened her eyes, only to see Celestia’s aura swell across her entire form. The arena, all of Skyworld, and the surrounding clouds illuminated as the Goddess of Light’s iridescent mane and tail and her magnificent wings and legs erupted in intense, fiery magic, and she became almost as bright as the sun itself. In all of the fire and bright light, Fluttershy noticed something else: Sombra jumping off and reshaping itself to escape immolation by Celestia’s flames.

Wings beating, Celestia bore down on Fluttershy. Fluttershy rose back to her hooves and scrambled out of the way, galloping around her and charging after the Chaos Kin. As soon as she was close enough, she lifted the Crusader Blade and fired, then skidded to a stop. With her weapon still directed at the Chaos Kin, she glanced back at Celestia, whose horn was pointed at her and ready to fire another spell. Fluttershy leapt out of the way, at the same time firing a pair of small homing shots.

The bright blue shots struck Sombra one after the other, the first piercing the barding on its chest while the second collided with its horn, sending the creature falling to the ground. Behind her, Fluttershy heard Celestia groan a second time. She turned back, seeing her collapsed on the ground with her eyes squeezed shut and a hoof against her head. The aura and flames that covered Celestia’s body had dissipated, and she swayed to the side, as if disoriented. Fluttershy approached her with slow, tentative steps, her blade still trained on the Chaos Kin and a look of concern on her face.

Suddenly, Fluttershy’s body seized up, and she felt herself lifting off the ground as a yellow aura spread across her entire body. Panicking, she struggled to break free, or even move her weapon hoof, but found every part of her body below the neck trapped as her arms were forcibly spread out and her body raised above the center of the platform. She looked back at Celestia, who hovered off the edge of the platform, her horn glowing brightly. Fluttershy’s gaze turned upward as the surrounding area grew bright, and horror gripped her to her very core.

A harsh, burning yellow light penetrated the clouds directly above Fluttershy. Recognizing the light, Fluttershy looked back to Celestia, but her fearful and pleading eyes were met only by a remorseless gaze as the Goddess of Light prepared her spell. She could faintly hear Celestia as she muttered a few words. “Time for a sacrifice.”

“Aries Armor!” Fluttershy cried.

The Solar Flare spell burned through the clouds and slammed into the arena like a fiery torrent, consuming every inch of the platform. Waves of fiery magic overflowed from the blast, crashing into the statue of Celestia and the temple grounds below. When the spell subsided, the arena was reduced to a smoldering wreck. Cracks and fissures formed in the outer regions of the platform, where sunfire had baked the earth. Toward the center of the platform, the rock was just starting to solidify after having partially melted and bubbled, and still retained a red-orange glow. Concentric rings of yellow flame encircled the epicenter of the blast. At the center of it stood Fluttershy, a deep orange glow over her body and the sign of Aries emblazoned on her chest.

“Fluttershy?” Luna said. “Are you unharmed?”

Despite the damage done to the platform by the Solar Flare, Fluttershy had emerged mostly unscathed. Underneath the aura of the Aries Armor power, she couldn’t see or feel any new injuries, not even a first-degree burn. “My coat’s a bit singed,” she murmured. Fluttershy was frozen in shock, even after the Solar Flare spell had ended. The Celestia she was fighting was not the caring Goddess of Light she knew, but a helpless puppet of the Chaos Kin; that much she already understood. But she couldn’t shake the sight of Celestia trapping her and looking her in the eyes while she brought down on her the same spell she used to incinerate the Hewdraw and demolish a Reset Bomb Depot.

Fluttershy was snapped out of her thoughts when a ball of bright yellow magic slammed into her and exploded. Uninjured, she looked up to see Celestia hovering above with her horn charging. A flurry of magic bolts rained down on her, pelting her body for several seconds before she jumped and rolled out of the way. She would have a few extra bruises later, but until it wore off, the Aries Armor would protect her from the worst of Celestia’s magic. Fluttershy scanned the arena, her head whipping around and her eyes canvasing the air above. Sombra had vanished, having escaped Fluttershy’s watch in the chaos of the Solar Flare spell. She searched for any sign of the monster, all the while making a slight effort to dodge Celestia’s spellfire.

Her eyebrows furrowed when she turned to a particular point in the air and noticed the telltale wisps of black smoke. She aimed her blade and fired, hitting the Chaos Kin head on. The Chaos Kin rematerialized and fell, collapsing on the ground in a heap. Gripping her blade tightly, Fluttershy charged forward, dodging blasts from Celestia’s horn as she closed in on Sombra. The weapon’s hard light edge caught the creature’s neck, burying itself in armor and flesh as Fluttershy swung, before yanking the creature’s head and snapping its neck. The Chaos Kin’s body rolled and slid along the ground like a ragdoll, while Fluttershy slowed her gallop and came to a stop ahead of it.

Celestia cried out and flailed her limbs as black, smoky mist escaped from her body, pouring out especially from her wings, legs, eyes and mouth before dissipating in the air. She fell to the ground and collapsed with her limbs splayed. “Princess Celestia?!” Fluttershy said. She galloped to her, running past the Chaos Kin’s smoldering body. She bent down and placed a hoof in front of Celestia, a look of concern on her face. “Are you alright? I didn’t mean to hurt you.”

Celestia looked up at Fluttershy. She gave a weak smile and placed a tender hoof on Fluttershy’s face. Fluttershy returned the smile and sniffled, tears in her eyes.

“Fluttershy!” Luna shouted. “Behind you!”

“Huh?” Fluttershy turned back in time to see Sombra, his body partially dissolved and shrouded in black mist, zoom past. Time seemed to slow down around her in those next seconds. She could only watch in horror as Sombra’s horn flew behind Celestia and stabbed into her back. Celestia’s face contorted in pain, and her legs spasmed under her. The horn yanked itself out of her back, white light shining from the torn open wound as Celestia was pulled onto her hooves, reared onto her hind legs, and let out a strangled, agonized scream. Her scream cut off as she froze eerily in place, and her body turned to stone.

Fluttershy looked past the petrified Celestia to the Chaos Kin, whose smoky form hovered at the far edge of the platform. Its head was perfectly straight above its body, as if Fluttershy hadn’t broken its neck a minute ago, and held in its black, smoky hoof was an orb of breathtakingly radiant white light. A few iridescent notes shimmered along its surface, and as Fluttershy looked closely, she could make out the image of a sun glimmering in the center of the orb—Celestia’s cutie mark.

The rest of Sombra’s head dissolved into black smoke, while the horn rose up several feet and slashed through the air, ripping a large gash in the sky. Through the tear, Fluttershy could see into a different world, one with a deep orange sky. The Chaos Kin reformed its body, snarled at her, and flew inside with Celestia’s soul in its grasp.

“It’s escaping into the Chaos Vortex!” Luna said.

The rift suddenly contracted, already starting to close. Fluttershy sprung forward, wings unfolding at her sides. “Luna! You have to help me fly right now!”

Blue light flared across Fluttershy’s wings, and she lifted off the ground. She soared up to the portal, only to crash into it as the rift shrunk into a tiny tear too small for her to fit through. The blue aura around her wings burned out, and she fell back onto the platform. Picking herself up, she looked back up and watched helplessly as the portal closed.

“Out of the way! Coming through!”

Fluttershy recognized the voice. “Rainbow Dash?” Hearing hoofbeats above her, she turned just in time to see the Lightning Chariot streaking toward the platform like a pink comet. It collided with the portal, shattering it open in an explosion of glasslike shards that threw all three ponies back. Rainbow, Twilight, Shining Armor, and the now dented chariot all crashed into the platform. Blue electricity flashed a moment later, and Rarity stood over them. She grimaced at what she saw.

Blood ran freely from numerous gashes on Twilight’s and Shining Armor’s bodies, both of whom lay unconscious on the ground. In many of their wounds, pieces of the shattered portal dug into their skin like shards of broken glass. “Oh dear…” Rarity said. “Mistress Luna, these two need help. Perhaps we should bring them back?” A flurry of leaves swirled around the three unicorns as blue light shone on them. They floated off the ground, and a second later, they were gone.

Fluttershy turned back to Rainbow Dash, who was struggling to stand on her hooves. Though Rainbow wasn’t as severely wounded as the other two, shards of the portal cut into her legs and body, and blood seeped from her injuries into her coat. “Oh my goodness!” Fluttershy said. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” Rainbow grunted. “We’ve gotta help Celestia, now.”

Fluttershy stared back at her at a loss for words, a mixture of concern for Rainbow’s injuries, despair for Celestia’s soul being stolen, and general bewilderment overwhelming her. “She is right,” Luna said. “But you cannot go just yet. Skyworld is defenseless without Commander Rarity and the Lightning Chariot unicorns to maintain the barrier. We must remain for now, lest Discord lay Skyworld to waste.”

Rainbow lifted her right hoof, studying the Silver Bow equipped to her leg. “Health Recovery.” A tiny square on one of the bow’s limbs shone as she activated an equipped power. White sparks flew off of her coat and swirled around her. Her breaths, quick and shallow, became calmer as the cuts and gashes on her body began to heal. As each of her major cuts closed up, the shards of shattered portal were pushed out and fell to the ground, disintegrating instantly. Rainbow Dash spread her wings, a green magical aura spreading across them, and took to the air. She flew into the Chaos Vortex alone, while Fluttershy looked on from below.