Chapter 12
Town
Dash’s House
A week had passed since we had returned from the Castle of Dawn. After being healed properly, we had all broken off and had for the most gone straight home. I had put my old sword back where it always was- near the door for quick access. The golden sword, however, I brought to a little used back room, where another sword sat. It was another broadsword, though slightly shorter and curved near the tip. Here this sword would wait until it had its chance to finish it’s mission. I placed the golden sword to the side of it and closed the door.
Celestia had made a show of accepting Luna back to her second-in-command seat of power, but once again I could see it was all a lie. Luna would be kept alive, I could only assume, but I doubted if she would be treated as anything more than a prisoner there. I’ll find a way somehow, kid. I’ll get us all out of this, somehow. With thoughts like this buzzing around my head, I fell asleep, and awoke in a dream.
All around me was white- the ground was indiscernible from the sky around, but I was able to find my footing easily enough. I had been here before. I stared out into the fog, watching for movement. I could never tell from what direction he would come, or when, but he always showed up eventually. Unpredictability was one thing he had never let go.
However, this time he seemed to have decided on going as simply as possible, which I suppose was exactly what I wasn’t expecting. From in front of me, he stalked slowly up to me, stopping just short of my ability to see his face. I could see his dark pants and trademark leather jacket just fine, and his hair hung far past his shoulders, much more so than my own. His hands were in his pockets, and his head was tilted slightly to the side.
“You’ve really got yourself deep into this mess, haven’t you?” He stated, phrasing it as a question.
“What choice do I have? If I don’t try, who will?”
“You underestimate the amount of crazy idiots at your disposal, kid. Though, it’s probably a good idea to have a few people who know what they’re talking about mixed in, just in case you win.”
“‘In case’? That’s an unusual thing for you to say. Somehow or another, I will fix this, and you know it.”
“Hah! Caught me there, didn’t you? However, I’ll have to call you out on that as well- You will help to fix it. You of all people should understand by now you can’t do jack alone. Take my word for it.”
“So, I presume I won’t need to tell you what happened before?”
“What, do you think I have nothing better to do than watch you all day?”
“That was true up until today, apparently.”
“I was able to catch some of it, and since I can read your mind here, I can piece it together. Let’s see, Luna dropped in for a visit, stupid capital girl, got the Elements (now that could be useful...), ooh, nice use of my song. I approve. What else... awesome combo technique... it was a trap all along, nice catch. Well, I think that about covers it.”
His dialogue was a bit hard to follow at times, I’ll admit, but I’d had experience. “So, why are you here?”
“I’m going to go ahead and assume you mean ‘here’, right now, before you talking- as opposed to existing at all. That’s what you usually mean. Mostly just to confirm to you I’m still here. But I do have a bit of advice for you- don’t rush things. I know you want to march in there and beat the queen senseless, but you’re going to want to wait. You don’t stand a chance as you are. Bide your time, kid, and you’ll get more strength. Fate may seem to throw everything at you when you aren’t ready for it, but trust me- you’ll know what to do when it does.”
“You know, I remember you being a lot less cryptic in your advice.” I pointed out.
“Come’s with the territory, kid. I wouldn’t want to give you any spoilers, anyway. And besides, I have to remain cryptic, that way it looks like I actually know what I’m talking about.”
“I remember you being more helpful too, now that I think about it.”
“Don’t be ridiculous, I’ve never been at all helpful. You’ve just convinced yourself otherwise. Well, I’ll be seeing you, kid!”
He stepped back, and a large pair of dark blue wings erupted from behind him. With a final wave, he jumped back and flew away, quickly disappearing in the mist.
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The rest of the week passed by uneventfully- save for Twilight being stationed in town indefinitely. The story behind it was something along the lines of ‘to learn friendship’ or some crap like that. I knew the real reason behind it was for Celestia to have eyes and ears here. I hadn’t seen much of her since then, but it was mostly from me not wanting to. I knew she was still around.
The day marking exactly one week after the event, I pulled myself out of bed rather late, stretching. Work had been slow lately- Applejack and I both worked as mercenaries, and we’d only been able to find one job this week, and it was a small one. I guess everyone’s still calming down from what happened. AJ of course also worked on the family farm when not on a mission, and when work was slow like this, I would go over and help where I could as well. Since most of the work we did in general we did together, we split the profits evenly from both jobs.
I was preparing to drop by the bulletin board in the town square to check for any new work, then go over to the ranch if there wasn’t. But as I opened the door to leave, I interrupted someone who had been about to knock. She pulled her hand back quickly.
“Oh, hey Fluttershy. You need something?” I asked.
“Um, yeah... I, ah, wanted to talk to you about something...”
“Sure, come on in. Help yourself to whatever you can find to sit on.” I moved aside and let her inside. My house wasn’t the fanciest by far- It was pretty small, but I spent little time there anyway. Furnishings were sparse, but I had a few chairs around, and brought out a couple to sit on. She sat quietly, and I perched myself across from her. “So, what did you need?”
“Well... It’s about the siege last week.” She said. I nodded. “When you all were fighting, especially with Nightmare Moon... I felt so... Useless. Weak. I couldn’t do anything to help you.”
I stopped her for a moment. “Hang on a sec. You’re far from useless, Fluttershy. Did you forget about the lion-head thing already? There’s no way we would have been able to kill that thing.”
“It was a Manticore, actually. And, that was just one thing. I couldn’t help with any of the other fights, and my song only works when something was turned against us- it would almost never work against another human. I want to help as much as I can, but... I’m just a liability to you now. I... I want you to teach me how to fight.”
I had to stop at that. First off, Fluttershy fighting was a hard enough picture to imagine. Plus, why would she think I would be the way to go? I’d never taught anyone anything.
“I... I came to you first, because I thought you’d understand.” She said. “You were the best fighter I’ve ever seen, and I thought... I thought that if anyone could help me, it would be you.”
I thought for a minute. “Fluttershy... I’m not sure there’s much I can do. I can’t see you holding up very long in close combat, and I don’t think you’d have a whole lot of luck with magic, either.”
“Please!” She begged. “Dash, I... I don’t want to hide at the back of the group anymore, waiting for someone else to make things safe. I... I want to be able to protect people too.”
That was what I was looking for. I realized. A memory of something once told to me surfaced. “It’s not enough to be able to fight, to even be great at it- it’s no different than wanting a toy just to have it. You have to want to fight for the right reasons- to safeguard the ones you love, or to be there for others.”
“Well... There is one other option I can think of, but if you choose to take that path, you’ll need to find someone more experienced with it than me. However... If you truly want to learn, I’ll find a way to make it happen.”
She was about ready to jump up and hug me or something, but I stopped her again. “I have to warn you, though. You’re not going to be able to turn back once you start learning to fight. Once you learn these things, they’ll start to become instinct, and you’ll carry them with you for the rest of your life. You’ll always be a fighter. Are you sure you really want that?”
She thought for a moment, then replied. “It will be a good thing to know... If I only use it to help people.”
I couldn’t help but let a small grin cross my face. Something about her determination reminded me of myself. “Alright, sit tight, I’ll go grab the stuff.” I went to a back room, and returned with an old set of archery equipment. “Archery, I think, would be the best way to go for you. You’ll be able to fight just fine, but stay a good distance from the enemy at the same time. What do you think, you wanna give it a try?”
She thought about it. “I think that would work, yes. I’ll give it a try.”