The ship rocked calmly to the left, then to the right. The small room smelt of salt and scotch, but was warm and comforting. Beneath the light blankets on the bed lay Fluttershy, curled over and holding Pinkie lightly. Away from the trees and grass it was harder to focus, but with careful concentration the room lit up with the familiar dull green glow. Fluttershy had ceased actually paying attention to what she was supposed to be doing and just let her mind wander. The flowing healing energies of Druantia ebbed through her and relaxed her, for now she was at peace.
Pinkie arched her back with a sudden gasp as her eyes flicked open. Instantly the pressure around the young druid’s forelegs strained to hold the girl still. “Aaaahhh....” Pinkie moaned painfully trying to turn about.
Rip her throat out.
With a sudden surge of strength Fluttershy pulled back, forcing the struggling Pinkie back into the bed. “Pinkie...please calm down. Everything’s okay.” The pink mare breathed a few panicked breaths, but held still. “I really need you to stay still Pinkie...it’s difficult to do this on the ocean as it is.”
“F...Fluttershy?” a confused mumble came from the other side of the bed. Oh right...the girl was still hard of hearing wasn’t she? No wonder she was a little startled. “Fluttershy? Why does my face hurt?”
Fluttershy’s eyes closed as she focused for a moment, Druantia was still there. “Derpy broke your nose...she’s a lot better at hitting people than we are, I think.” The flow of energy started again, lighting up the room once more with that dull green glow. “Try to rest Pinkie, your nose should be better soon.”
“The blockade...”
A small smile touched Fluttershy’s lips. “The blockade is behind us...” Was Pinkie shaking? Was her heart beating faster? Yes, she was shaking...her heart -.. was she afraid? More importantly, how could she tell the speed of a pony’s heartbeat without checking their pulse? It had to be Druantia’s energies connecting them, “... the girls are divided on what you did though. Derpy’s still upset. Rainbow Dash has been guarding your door to make sure you’re not alone with her.”
There was a long pause before Pinkie responded “What -I- did? Derpy started attacking other members of the party! How am I in the wrong?”
She wouldn’t even have time to scream.
“You made her kill a lot of ponies Pinkie. That’s...” A shiver ran through Fluttershy’s body as she remembered the lifeless eyes of Truncheon staring back at her. That dagger went in so easily. One minute he was there, the next...he wasn’t. That loud bang - that meant many ponies simply ceased to be, just like Truncheon. “that’s not a good feeling.”
“But I was protecting the party the best way I could! I can understand having to act for the non-player characters, but we’re players, we’re more important than they are.” Fluttershy thought she heard a touch of desperation in Pinkie’s voice as she turned about slowly in the bed. The darkness made it hard to be sure, but through the dull green light Fluttershy could see Pinkie’s eyes. Was that...concern? It looked unnatural on the mare.
Fluttershy let out a sad sigh, “Pinkie...this isn’t a game to us. All the ponies out there are real. They live and breathe, they’re the same as you and me. Just...try to think of us as non-player characters. Maybe you’ll see how we feel?”
Pinkie’s lip quivered for a few moments. Then the yellow druid felt something warm and wet land against her foreleg, and sink into her fur. Startled, Fluttershy looked at her forearm...another droplet landed. Pinkie was...crying? “I’ve been alone for a long time Fluttershy. I was picked up by this ship and I went through a lot with the crew. But they’re not real, none of them are. They’re pieces. Pieces I move around to achieve things. I started killing things when I was nine in this world. I planned my first assassination at twelve. I’ve never been with a stallion, not that they didn’t try.” A deep ruby red filled Fluttershy’s cheeks as suddenly this became very, very awkward. Hopefully Pinkie couldn’t see that in the dim light. Well, at least this couldn’t get more awkward, right? “The game even threw a mare my way once.” So...it could get more awkward, “I guess it was nice of it to give players options. I can’t get close to them because none of them are real, but you guys are. I’ve been playing this game by myself for a long time, and I just want my friends back...I don’t want to be alone...” Her tears flowed out in earnest now. They spread across Fluttershy’s forearm and stained the pillow with salt water.
Some part in Fluttershy tugged on her. Her friend was crying, just pouring her soul out and weeping. At the same time...she’s been relentlessly murdering ponies with no value for their lives for -years-. Fluttershy didn’t know what to say; how was she supposed to react to that? So many ponies wanted to be there for her, this entire ship seemed devoted friends. If Pinkie couldn’t even see them as ponies what hope was there for her?
Finally Fluttershy tensed her forelegs, pulling Pinkie in for an embrace. Immediately Pinkie flinched. Her muscles tensed and she let out a little grunt of...fear? No, that wasn’t right. Pinkie was a cold blooded killer - why would she be afraid of Fluttershy?
She knows. Kill her!
After a moment Pinkie pushed forward, curling up and crying softly into Fluttershy’s mane. They lay like that for a while. At some point Pinkie stopped crying and just lay there, unmoving. Fluttershy’s eyelids started to close as her head fell forward before she jerked awake again. How long had she been channeling Druantia’s presence? It must have been hours now. The long hours of nothing and peaceful relaxation bore into her. Fluttershy had slept as the druids have learned from the wolves. They slept close...but this close was just a bit too personal. It was one thing to keep somepony close to channel Druitana’s energy for them, it was another to lay this close just for sleep. Even in the winter they didn’t sleep this close, and this cabin was rather warm as it was.
With a small reassuring hug Fluttershy slipped her foreleg out from under Pinkie and started to turn away. She stopped with a start as Pinkie’s foreleg found her shoulder. Their eyes locked for a moment before Druantia’s presence faded and the darkness overcame them. “Fluttershy...” Pinkie’s voice sounded closer to normal now, “where’s my bag?”
A pause for thought held the room before Fluttershy responded “It’s in a room below deck. Is there something in there you’d like me to get?”
“No.” The pink mare said, just a hint too fast. “No, that’s okay. I’m just paranoid about getting separated from my gear. Have to keep on top of those things...goodnight Fluttershy.” The mare’s hoof fell away.
“Goodnight Pinkie.” Fluttershy stepped off the bed for a single pace, then sunk to the ground and closed her eyes. Her legs curled up beneath her as she focused on the sound of her breathing, and in minutes drifted off. She hoped this slumber would be peaceful.
A slow creak sounded as one of Fluttershy’s eyes half opened. The captain’s cabin was warm, but it wasn’t entirely cut off from the outside world. Her half open eye rolled to one side, glancing at the door. The crack at the bottom was completely lit up and light streamed into the room through it. Her eye closed once more as she let out a long drawn out yawn, then stood, stretching her back out. From outside she could hear the hoofbeats and voices of sailors, moving about and doing their jobs.
With another yawn the yellow mare started toward the door, looking back only for a moment to make sure Pinkie was still resting. With an uneasy smile she pulled a cloth and fur cloak tightly around her form and clipped the buckles into place. With a final check she pulled open the door and stepped outside, shutting it quickly to keep the warm air in.
“Hey Fluttershy.” Rainbow Dash muttered, sitting on her haunches outside the door. Her fur armor was bound around her as she leaned nonchalantly on that massive sword of hers. “Any luck at fixing that pony yet?”
With a smile the mare nodded “Yes...she’ll be up today. Her nose isn’t broken anymore, but it’ll still be tender for a while.” A hesitant pause preceded the next thing she said, casting her eyes downward “She talked to me about the cannon incident. She said our lives are more important than the ponies she killed.”
“They are.” Rainbow replied coldly “I’d lay my life down for any of you if it came to it Fluttershy. Your lives are worth more to me than mine, and your lives are damn sure worth more than the ponies who were shooting at us.” Cyan forelegs crossed across her chest “I’m glad somepony’s got my back and isn’t going to turn away when it gets bloody.”
“They were good ponies though...”
“Could you imagine how you’d feel if Twilight got her head ripped off by a deck gun and you knew there was something you could have done to stop it?” The multicoloured mare shook her head slowly, looking down at the wood beneath her hooves. “There was no good answer Fluttershy, but she made the one that kept me safe.”
Fluttershy nodded a few times “I-I guess I see your point.”
The cyan nomad seemed a thousand miles away now, lost in her own thoughts “Twilight...Twilight’s going to have breakfast below decks. You should get some food while you can. You haven’t been eating much.”
“Thanks...I think I’ll go do that.”
With a last look, the yellow mare pulled her cloak tighter and moved to the stairs below deck. It didn’t go down very far, each deck only left about a foot and a half overhead, just enough for a pony to stand on its hind legs without hitting his head if need be. It didn’t take long to get to the rough wooden tables nailed down to the floor so it didn’t slide when the ship rocked. At the table sat Twilight, Applejack, and Rarity, along with two other mares. With a smile Fluttershy sat down next to them.
“Good morning Fluttershy.” Chimed Twilight “This is Windjammer and Lascar. Two mares who work on this ship.” The two sat there, chewing on their oats quietly. Quickly they looked up and gave Fluttershy a half smile and a nod before going back to their oats. One was a white mare with a rather messy red mane. The other was a green mare with a pink mane and a scar running from the corner of her mouth down to her neck.
Fluttershy looked to Twilight’s food. Oats...again. She was hungry, but something about the thought of eating oats again just turned her stomach. She was never that picky back on land...but oats, always the damn oats. “Pinkie’s doing better, her nose is fixed...and she should be up and about today.” Fluttershy said proudly, anticipating Twilight’s next question.
Twilight merely shrugged “That’s nice.” then returned to her food.
The white mare, Windjammer, perked up instead. Lascar looked over briefly before saying, “Why don’t you go check on Pinkie? Maybe we can get a song before the end of the day. I’ll take your bowl back.”
“Thanks...” Windjammer muttered with a muted smile. Then she stood and quickly made her way towards the stairs. With her lips twisting slightly upward Lascar took Windjammer’s bowl and stacked it over her own. Then left the table herself. These truly were Pinkie’s friends in this world, just like her druidic sect. It was such a shame Pinkie couldn’t see it.
“I talked to Rainbow Dash, she thinks Pinkie did the right thing keeping us safe.” Fluttershy pressed, watching the mage’s reaction carefully.
A sigh left Twilight’s lips as she raised her head from the bowl, “Rainbow Dash only cares about results Fluttershy. How we carry ourselves defines who we are. It’s good to feed hungry ponies, but if we fed them by stealing the food we wouldn’t be heroes. We would be thieves.”
The druid shifted uncomfortably in her spot, “But they were trying to kill us.”
Twilight nodded “Yes, but that doesn’t make it okay. We started shooting their sails off, it’s their -job- to stop us. Those ponies are the reason merchant ships can travel safely. They were trying to keep Equestria safe for all of us, and she just...killed them.”
The demure druid looked down the table at Applejack and Rarity, both of whom seemed to have taken a very deep interest in their food. “Okay.” Fluttershy relented “I actually need to change my clothes. I left it in my pack. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
The rest barely said anything as she made her way away from the food and found her way to their room. She looked around the hallways to make sure she wasn’t followed, then finally pushed her way inside, closing the door behind her. Now that she was in the room she took a heavy breath. She knew it wasn’t nice to go through other ponies things...but she had to know how to feel about Pinkie. If she was hiding something in that pack, Fluttershy was going to find it.
Maybe it would be something nice, like a personal memento. Just something to show she did have some attachment to this world. Or maybe it would be a severed head. Oh goddess! Why would she even think that? What purpose could a severed head even serve?
Carefully she picked up the backpack, and instantly she could feel something was wrong. She could quite place it, but something in the back of her head telling her not to keep going. It was probably just her nerves. The mare was doing something she knew was wrong so she was nervous and getting worked up over nothing. Carefully she opened the bag and started rifling through it. She pushed a hoof down into the bag and then instantly recoiled.
Something in there bit her, and bit her hard. Teeth clenched tightly as she fought off a scream. The backpack fell to the floor as she staggered sideways into a wall, looking desperately down at her hoof. Though her entire foreleg felt like it was on fire the hoof didn’t seem to be bleeding. However, her natural light yellow her fur had become a thick coarse black mess.
As time passed the burning sensation subsided. The druid couldn’t manage to tear her vision away from her metamorphosized foreleg. Painful seconds ticked by as the fur slowly shrank and eventually began turning back into its natural yellow. As long as she had tried to deny it she was now certain, she was infected, and now she was a monster. A lycan. Her forehoof shook violently as she choked back tears, watching her leg as though it might change back again, what the hell was in that bag?
Jittery and shaking, Fluttershy made her way back to the bag, opening it once more, cautiously. She watched carefully as she slowly pawed through, stopping as she saw a glass vial on a chain. There...there was some kind of plant stuffed in a glass vial. It was...Fluttershy’s stomach dropped out beneath her as her skin paled beneath her fur. That was wolfsbane.
It couldn’t be, wolfsbane didn’t affect her like that! If it did then she’d be in pain all the time! She had a supply of wolfsbane on her, right in the little reagent pouch she kept. Hastily she tossed the wretched backpack down to the floor and grabbed for her reagent pouch. With shaking hooves she flipped up the leather flap and began looking...no wolfsbane. Pinkie Pie had stolen her wolfsbane and put it in a vial...
She knows. Kill her before she turns on you.
Fluttershy shook her head absently. What was she doing just standing here? Pinkie knew she was a...lycan, so she’d stolen the plant, that had to be it. At best Pinkie was holding onto it to defend herself, at worst, Pinkie would use it to kill her once she wasn’t useful. Wolfsbane didn’t exactly have many uses beyond murdering dangerous lycans.
Like you.
The feeling of snakes swimming around in her gut muddled all of her thoughts as she put the pouch away. Unsteadily she forced herself to her hooves and trotted towards the door. She was a lycanthrope, an abomination of nature, and Pinkie knew. The only question was why Pinkie hadn’t turned on her yet, and when would that change.
Before Fluttershy knew it she found herself on the deck of the ship, heading for the captain’s quarters. She had to have it out with Pinkie right now, before the mare got her wolfsbane back. Fluttershy stopped dead when she noticed the eerie silence passing over the whole ship. Her head swiveled around, and everywhere she looked she saw each pony staring off into the distance, not a single word uttered. At first Fluttershy was curious, but whatever it was, it could wait. She needed to deal with Pinkie, then maybe find a cure.
Fluttershy pushed her way into the captain’s cabin unannounced, glaring down at the occupants. Pinkie was awake at this point, and was sitting casually on the floor next to the bed. Beside her was a white figure with red hair, curled up with her arms around Pinkie. The moment Fluttershy entered Windjammer sat bolt upright with a guilty look on her face, Pinkie was unphased. “Hey Fluttershy.” Pinkie said cheerily “Thanks about last night.”
Windjammer shot Fluttershy a look that would melt steel, but Fluttershy chose to brush it off. “Can we talk privately please?” Her words were soft but firm. The pink mare raised an inquisitive eyebrow for a moment, then looked over to the red maned mare beside her.
Pinkie opened her mouth to say something but was cut off as a loud *pop* resounded through the room. Moments later there was a metallic thump right behind Fluttershy. Immediately Pinkie and Windjammer’s eyes grew large and they sprung backwards. The white mare scampered up onto the bed to hide behind Pinkie, her protector lifted Windjammer’s cutlass right from her belt as she passed. As the young bard rose to her full height she leveled the cutlass toward Fluttershy angrily. Windjammer’s hooves touched against her back, propping her up as she glowered.
As the druid turned to look she felt a plated front knee bash her square in the nose, sending her easily to the ground. The figure stepped forward, putting one armored hoof on Fluttershy’s neck carefully. Instinctively Fluttershy started to struggle, but he pressed down hard. With her air cut off she started to choke, pushing her hooves against his leg pitifully. After a moment he let up “Stop struggling so I don’t have to do that again.” Fluttershy went limp and true to his word he left her alone.
From her place on the floor Fluttershy looked up to study the stallion who had handled her so handily. The pony’s fur and mane were both blue, though his fur seemed a few shades darker. His mane was very well worked over, it must have taken him as much time as Rarity to get it so straight. His entire body was covered a full suit of black platemail with some sort of crest on the front. It was a red outline of a shield with a red cloud imposed on it, meaningless to Fluttershy.
“I came here to seek the captain.” He said coolly “This is his cabin isn’t it?”
Pinkie nodded her head slowly “It’s nice to meet you Commander Calescent. Should I take your presence to mean that the Vorpral is following us?”
The stallion bowed slightly, putting a bit more pressure on Fluttershy “I see my reputation precedes me. The Vorpral will be on you by nightfall, and I will have my prisoners willingly, or the ship shall sink. Doesn’t matter much to me either way.”
“What shall happen to your prisoners?”
The stallion sighed dramatically, “How about you fetch me your captain. I have no interest in bartering with you.”
Pinkie nodded slowly, handing the cutlass back to Windjammer and falling back down to the floor. Carefully she moved around the stallion and pushed the wooden door open. “Captain Anjin! Commander Calescent wants to talk to you! Can you please come here!” Then she slammed the door and marched back to the bed.
Commander Calescent’s mouth tightened as he stared at Pinkie intently “I’ve developed a deep seated dislike of you.” he informed her coldly.
Pinkie gave a shrug “Yeah, there’s a lot of that going around.”
Fluttershy winced, expecting retribution from the stallion, but he only glared. After a moment Fluttershy heard the door open once more. It sounded like many more ponies were on the other side of the door, waiting. “Do come in captain.” the armored knight crooned. After a moment Fluttershy saw him walk into view and the door slammed shut behind him.
“There’s over a hundred stallions on board commander-” Captain Anjin began. Pinkie loudly cleared her throat, causing him to turn about “Pinkie...is this seriously the best time to have this argument? Your friend’s trachea is being stomped on.” A longer pause. “There are over a hundred stallions -aaaand- several mares. Including one knight of the starsoul order. If we were going to attack you we wouldn’t be holding back right now. It’s beneath a pony of your station to take a hostage like this...please let the poor girl up, then we can talk terms.”
There was a long pause before the hoof lifted from her neck. “I’ll be brief captain. I don’t care about you or whatever it was you were smuggling that made you run my blockade. I haven’t even reported your actions. You can literally walk away from this without so much as a reprimand. I want Tarrow Starsoul, and the six ponies that followed her to Ponyville. I’ll be by soon to pick them up. If you resist at all, I’ll sink the ship and use the survivors for deck gun practice.” A great silence hung over the room, Fluttershy lay still on the floor, not daring to move “Are we clear?”
“Crystal.” The captain’s voice came across with a barely restrained fury.
“Good.” A loud *pop* sounded throughout the room once more. Fluttershy assumed he was gone, but she didn’t move, just lay on the ground, staring at the side of the ship silently.
The door opened, then closed, and the room was quiet once more. A quivering, frightened voice murmured from the back of the room “Pinkie...you can come up with a plan right? You don’t have to leave me...us again.”
A small sigh sounded as Pinkie responded “The Vorpral outmatches us in every way...if they’ve found a way to catch up to us with their damaged sails it’s over. The ponies on the ship like me, but they know a good deal when they see one. The only thing that’s ever kept me safe is not drawing any attention. I need to talk to the girls, you should go.”
The girl’s voice was even smaller now “I can help...I’ve heard the stories. You’re going to help Celestia...”
“You’re sixteen Windjammer. You should be playing with your friends and picking up a craft. I’m not about to have you go out adventuring and getting killed for no good reason. Go.”
“But-”
“Go!”
Silence fell on the room as the sound of hooves hitting the floor was followed by the opening door. Then it shut and all was quiet once more. Pinkie sat down in front of Fluttershy and put a hoof on her shoulder, causing her to lift her gaze to the pink mare’s face. “maybe the talk can wait?” She asked solemnly. Fluttershy could only nod, lowering her head back down to the floor. “Come on Fluttershy, they’ll be here any minute. You don’t want them to see you like this do you?”
No. No she didn’t. They had enough problems on their hooves without adding “Fluttershy is too pathetic to take being manhandled.” to the list. With Pinkie’s help the druid made her way to her feet and shakily walked to a wall. Leaning to the side she waited she focused on the healing touch of Druantia, but it wouldn’t come. Stupid ocean. After some time had passed Twilight and Derpy pushed the door aside and strode in.
“Okay ponies. We need to figure out how they’re catching up to us. There’s no way we can outfight them.” Twilight stated, putting two hooves down on his table. Somehow, Fluttershy felt a bit better now. Twilight and the rest of her friends were here. Together they could make it through this, they just had to band together.
“Maybe they’ve got a whole bunch of those...paddle thingies to make up the difference.” Rainbow said, searching along the shelves. With an overly dramatic eye roll Rarity picked the crystal bottle of scotch off the wall and handed it to her. “Thanks.”
“Viceroy Shadowflame is in command of the Zephyr Order of knights. That order’s power is to control the winds, it’s probably why Shadowflame made his main city a port city.” Pinkie lay on the bed, staring at the ceiling, her voice dull and uninspired.
Twilight turned with an inquisitive look on her face “Wait, the knight orders have powers?”
Pinkie nodded absently at the question. “Every order of knights has a different set of powers handed down from Celestia herself. Celestia blessed Viceroy Shadowflame with the power over wind, and he gets to pass that power onto his knights.”
The room stopped as all heads turned to Derpy. Twilight grit her teeth as she dismissively turned her head away. “Oh...right. Derpy can turn herself into a walking bomb. She mentioned that.” Fluttershy felt a surge of irritation at Pinkie’s attitude. Couldn’t she think of something constructive instead of wasting their time?
Derpy was silent.
Pinkie sighed as she pushed her way off the bed “That’s another skill they have, but their main power is different. Derpy doesn’t want to tell you because she was sworn to never give up state secrets. I only know what they are because I read all the books for this game, twice.” The room became very still as Pinkie and Derpy locked eyes angrily. “I’m going to need to talk to her alone now, trust me, her power won’t help.”
Everypony in the room stiffened, but Derpy turned to look at each of them in turn. “Pinkie’s right, my power won’t help us here. Could you guys discuss it outside?”
For a moment it seemed like everypony was about to ask questions. Fluttershy was curious herself. But there was a ship coming, and this really wasn’t the time for bickering. With a sigh she started to leave, only to have Pinkie’s foreleg move up and hold her back. “Fluttershy, I need you to stay. Derpy’s pretty much proven she’s willing to come after me, if she kills me I want to have somepony here to see it.” Fluttershy stopped, considered her options, then sat down again.
WIth a sigh Pinkie made her way over to Derpy, stopping right in front of her. “Derpy, you need to stop. If you push this Rainbow Dash is going to die.” What! Fluttershy’s eyes snapped over to Derpy, who was staring at the floor.
“When I played with my dad and his friends it was just a charisma boost.” She muttered, “Numbers on a page. Assisting diplomacy rolls and stuff, it didn’t actually mean anything...”
“Well they’re not just numbers now Derpy.” Pinkie scowled “Rainbow Dash doesn’t feel the same amount of fear as we do. When you feed the rest of us this much courage it makes us strong. You got Fluttershy to charge a troll, what do you think that amount courage is going to do to a pony like Rainbow Dash?”
Fluttershy felt the blood rush away from her face. She...she felt better. She was trembling in a corner before Derpy walked into the room...and now... “Derpy. You can make ponies feel strong? That’s what the starsoul order does?”
The mare’s grey maw turned away quickly, but Pinkie pressed on. “Fluttershy, I saw the look on your face when that troll was coming at you. You wanted to kill it didn’t you? It didn’t matter that it was twice your size, you were about to attack the thing, right?”
Fluttershy felt sick as she sat, leaning back against the wall and looking upon Derpy, horrified. “How...how could you make me...make me want...” Fluttershy looked down, her hooves were shaking. She was feeding Derpy a potion at the time, did Derpy wake up before or after she felt the urge to kill? No, she was looking at the troll. There was no way she could be sure.
“You asked me to Fluttershy.” Derpy grumbled, her head slowly turning to Fluttershy as she sat. Her eyes starting to water. “You asked me how I can be strong inside. You wanted to know how to be ready to kill things...So I...” Fluttershy looked down at the ground and shut her eyes, she couldn’t look at Derpy anymore. “I told you it might take a monster to make the world a better place. I can’t blame you for whatever you think of me.”
“It’s not entirely her fault Fluttershy.” Pinkie consoled, walking over and pushing her face along the side of Fluttershy’s neck. “Starsoul knights can project their emotions onto other ponies. She didn’t mean it to come on as strong as she did. She just didn’t know about your...condition.” So that was it. The healing potion had woken Derpy up and she tried to make Fluttershy strong...but she couldn’t have known how strong Fluttershy’s natural inclination for violence would be.
Well, that confirmed it, Pinkie did know. “How do you know-”
Pinkie pulled away from her, cutting her off. “Derpy doesn’t need to know about your issues.” Then her voice raised loud enough to make certain Derpy could hear, “All she needs to know is to never project the urge to kill into you again.”
The pink mare left Fluttershy’s side as she moved over to Derpy. “You’re not a monster Derpy. You’re not doing anything any other pony couldn’t do. Rarity got a group of stallions to pull a cart all the way from Ponyville to Canterlot. She’s got her looks and personality that she can use to pull on ponies emotions. Just because her charisma is from practice and yours is supernatural doesn’t mean you’re a bad pony. It’s what you do with it that matters.” Pinkie sighed as she moved back to Fluttershy. “Look Derpy, I know you’re mad at me. But Rainbow Dash is brave enough that she might take on five armed ponies with her hooves tied together. If you give her the same boost you give Fluttershy, Rainbow will try to take that ship on by herself.”
Derpy was quiet for a long while before speaking. “What do I need to do?” Her voice was resigned, and barely above a whisper.
Pinkie’s voice relaxed somewhat “You need to get Rainbow Dash to calm down. Don’t make us afraid, but make us more willing to see reason. If you do that Rarity and Twilight should be able to talk her into surrendering.”
“Surrendering?” Derpy spat.
“We pulled these ponies into a bad situation. Now they’re in mortal danger and their only way out is to give us up. If Captain Anjin doesn’t turn on us the crew will mutiny.”
“Can’t Derpy just make them not want to mutiny?” Fluttershy questioned, her voice soft and shaking.
Derpy looked like she’d just been smacked across the face, but it was Pinkie that spoke first. “It’s not mind control Fluttershy. She can’t make them do anything. They might not be happy about turning on us, but if it’s between guilt and survival they’ll choose survival. I’ve been around these ponies for years, but I know they’re out of options.”
“So you’re asking me to manipulate the emotions of my friends...on purpose.” Derpy sounded disgusted with the idea.
“I’m asking you to talk Rainbow Dash out of getting herself killed. You didn’t ask for this Derpy, I know that. But you’re the strongest of us for good or for ill, and we need you to lead us. Sometimes that means making a call that keeps you up at night.” Pinkie stared unswervingly a Derpy, waiting for a reply.
There was a long pause before Derpy nodded morosely at the ground, refusing to meet the gaze of the other two mares in the room. Slowly she turned and made her way out of the room.