//------------------------------// // Season 1: Episode 16 - Not Just a Color // Story: My Little Pony: When Friendship Shimmers - Reboot // by RobtheMorpherPony //------------------------------// It was the day after both Rarity and Fluttershy recovered from the events that were leading to Fluttershy becoming a super model. And that news must have really gotten the attention of King Throsten, as he was actually personally down at Ponyville to see the yellow pegasus. "From what I heard about you, your usually quite shy. So I'm surprised someone like you was able to get passed that and almost become a super model." Throsten said. "Well...it was invigorating to be the center of attention, even if I got nervous." Fluttershy said. "Heh. If you ask me; and trust me I'd know; is that that would be counted as some form of bravery." Throsten said. "Between this and the dragon fiasco I heard about, you really shouldn't be so scared of everything." He said. "Not to be rude, but you say that like you don't know what fear is." Fluttershy said. Throsten stared at her for a while. "Oh...did I upset you? I-I'm sorry..." Fluttershy said. "Actually believe it or not Fluttershy, I used to be just like you: Always scared of something, sometimes not even being brave enough to face them alone." Throsten said. "You? Scared? You almost sound like your talking about a different person." Fluttershy said. "Like me for instance." She said. "Heh...you're not the first one who thinks I'm someone whose never been a coward my entire life. When I finally returned to the Eeveelution kingdoms, many of the ones who knew me, thought for sure that I was a different person or had been replaced. I proved them all wrong eventually of course. Still, I'm not afraid to admit that yeah, I was a coward once. I was so consumed by fear that sometimes I would just yellow out of the scary stuff." Throsten said. "But I'm yellow." Fluttershy said, motioning to herself. "No, not yellow as in like the color Fluttershy. It's context. What I meant was that I used to be such a coward back in the day." Throsten said. "Oh." Fluttershy said. It was clear from that statement that yellow was more than just a color. "Ever heard the term 'yellow-bellied'? That's the saying used to describe a coward. And that's what I was." Throsten said. "But you got over it." Fluttershy said. "I'm not sure if I can." She said. "You've faced off against Nightmare Moon, got angry at a dragon, and even let yourself be a model for a time in front of thousands of people. When you really think about it, you can be brave. You just got to put your mind to it like I did." Throsten said. "But you mentioned you returned to the kingdom. Does that mean you left?" Fluttershy said. "Yeah. It was a long time ago. But I remember the day well..." Throsten said. Suddenly, the screen transitioned. When the screen came back there was a massive storm with the scene being a beach area. "I think he went this way." One voice said before a lone male Eevee suddenly came out of the bush. "Gotta get away from here..." The Eevee said before he hopped on a nearby boat and rowed himself out to sea. "Dammit. We're too late; he's fled via the boat." A voice called out. "And that's the only boat out right now. It's too stormy for using boats." Another voice said. "Well then, he'll either be dead, or out of our hair. That coward will never come back." A third voice said. "...I promise you, Gloria. I'll come back brave. I'll come back the bravest ever." The male eevee said as he rowed himself off in the ocean; ending the scene. When things went back to Throsten and Fluttershy, the yellow pegasus was wide eyed. "You...you ran away?!" Fluttershy said. "Yeah. Ran away from everything I knew. All to try and become brave. I eventually found this one place, heard some tales about a top notch explorer guild, and even found this mysterious relic. However, I just couldn't gather the nerve to go in by myself. I stumbled across an amnesiac Rob before I went on all sorts of adventures across that nearby area with him. We faced of against things that I'm sure would terrify you, so I wont go into details." Throsten said. "But we eventually stopped all the bad things happening to the world, and everything was fine." He said. "That's when you went back?" Fluttershy asked. "No. First, I ended up on this strange ship, where I encountered an artificial pokemon made to be a weapon and it's height puts even the mountain Canterlot sits on to shame." Throsten said. "Oh...oh my..." Fluttershy said. "But if that artificial pokemon wasn't stopped, then countless lives and the ship would've been lost. So, I stood my ground, and I managed to defeat it. All by myself too. It was not long after that, that I ended up facing a living weapon that made your worst fears come to life." Throsten said. "That must have been so bad for you to experince." Fluttershy said. "But I actually have to thank it in the end. Once it started making my deepest fears about my past come back to haunt me, it made me realize that, I didn't have to run away any more. It made me realize, that I've already come up against worse things." Thorsten said. "It made me realize that, I had already become the bravest ever, and I didn't even realize it initially." He added. "What do you mean?" Fluttershy asked. "I mean that ever since I ran away, I went up against an out of control legendary, a legendary out to rule the world, and an artificial pokemon that could've cost people lives. And that's just the big really scary stuff. Compared to that? That past trauma was nothing. After going up against all that, I should already be ready to stare down any threat, to stand up to any adversary. Compared to everything I had been through, whatever I fight next would be nothing to me now. And that past trauma pushed me to finally push away my fears once and for all." Throsten said. "I...really can't feel fear anymore. After everything I've been through, nothing can even scare me anymore. I mean I fought the ghosts of some evil dragons recently. LITTERAL DRAGON SPIRITS! Compared to that, this whole 'being the king thing' is a cakewalk." Throsten said. "I could never really do that..." Fluttershy said. "Don't sell yourself short Fluttershy. I've outgrown my fears. And one day, you will too." Throsten said before he left. "...Throsten..." Fluttershy said. "...Just what exactly did you go through?" She asked.