Fluttershy...was falling. She barked in fury a few times, then stopped, trying to get her bearings as she plummeted. Well...this was a strange irony. She’d spent her life defending the world wishing she could be more like the animals she protected. Now she was just like the animals she protected, and the world was about to hit her at about a hundred miles an hour. Ungrateful world.
Instinctively she twisted about in the air, trying to get her paws beneath her. With some difficulty she turned about and looked down. It wasn’t land that was going to crush her, it was the contemptible ocean! Fear started to grip her and her skin crawled, but the adrenaline kept her focused. If she was to die in the ocean, she had best be graceful about it. She put her front paws together and lowered her muzzle, sucking in one last great breath. With a spray of water the pony hit the water like an arrow and punched right through it sinking low and fast.
The water quickly obscured her vision as she sank, the pressure throbbed inside of her skull as she sunk. Holding her breath she turned her muzzle up and kicked, beginning her assent towards the surface. Her lungs burned and screamed as she rose far too slowly. Finally her head burst above the surface and she sucked in a deep breath of air and the spray of salt water. The copper taste of blood mingled with salt and water before she could shut her maw.
Carefully she started paddling along the water. The fall had brought her to the ocean in the shadow of a massive tower. How some creatures could call this watery grave home was beyond her. It was nothing but miles and miles of landless, drinkless hell.
The jet black lupine focused on moving forward, back to her home, to land. The steep cliff would prevent her from simply turning about and going back to Trotterdam - not that she wanted to return to a city. No she would travel around the cliff as far as she could, it had to come to a beach eventually. Her paws pumped more furiously, but her ears perked up. There was a noise of some sort. A scream? No...a cheer. She turned her eyes skyward to see a pink bullet race down from the heavens and explode into the water; a mimicry of the horrifying event she had just endured.
Canine eyes turned upward and looked at the sky and the tower above. The fall was massive, even landing in water it should have killed them. Now that she had taken the time to think about it, she didn’t fall quite as fast as she had expected. It was just difficult to tell these things with the mind crushing fear of falling to one’s death present.
Hesitantly Fluttershy turned about and watched. Pinkie was taking a while to resurface. With a tinge of worry Fluttershy turned about and started pushing herself toward where Pinkie had hit. Moments later the pink mare burst out of the water coughing and gasping for air. Every weapon or scrap of armor on her was gone. The one exception was a combat knife she kept clenched in her teeth, and a small leather back for her book and spell components.
Fluttershy hesitated as the Pink mare turned about to look at her “Ewh haaa fufcherfaa...” Pinkie greeted. Fluttershy opened her mouth to speak, but he words wouldn’t form. Instead she let out a growl, then a whimper. Pinkie’s eyes opened wider as she pulled her knife from her teeth and it disappeared beneath the waves. With a smile Pinkie motioned to her “Come on Fluttershy, we need to get to land, and you’re a lot faster than me.”
As it turned out compared to Pinkie, Fluttershy was a damned fish. The mare could barely move and in the end Fluttershy had dipped under the water and swam between her legs. Once Pinkie had a secure mount the massive wolf was able to paddle down the shore until they reached a beach. With a sigh of relief the two made their way to the beach, Pinkie dismounting as they got close.
Panting and weary Fluttershy made her way onto the beach, followed shortly by Pinkie. Fluttershy looked about on the beach for her friends, they were nowhere to be seen. Carefully she looked down at the pink mare and it occurred to her how oddly small everything seemed now. The feelings flooding her made her want to move about but she was just so tired...Pathetically she opened her muzzle again “Araroo...” She frowned.
With a smile Pinkie reared up on her hind legs and put her forelegs on Fluttershy’s face. “Okay Fluttershy.” the mare said calmly, “You’re just not used to talking like that, you’ll get used to it.” Fluttershy turned her head away and Pinkie was thrown to the sand. Ashamed, the black wolf lowered her head. Again Pinkie righted herself and took Fluttershy’s head in her hooves. “Fluttershy, you need to listen to me. Close your eyes and focus on Druantia’s touch, okay?” Pinkie knew about Druantia! She needed to protect the secret!
Instantly Fluttershy jumped back in surprise, sending Pinkie sprawling into the sand...again. The mare slowly got to her hooves again, her pink fur now coated with a fine powder of beige sand. Slowly she made her way back to the wolven girl. A sharp pain radiated across her face as Pinkie’s hoof cracked across her cheek in a forceful smack. Fluttershy’s mouth fell open in shock. She should have been furious, but somehow she calmed. Pinkie was trying to help her right now, and Fluttershy needed to listen. Her eyes locked on Pinkie as she listened to the girl’s words, now more forceful. “You’re not going to do that again.” Pinkie told her “You’re going to close your eyes and focus on Druantia.”
Fluttershy nodded, closing her eyes and doing as she was told. She tried to shut out the sounds around her, the abnormally clear sounds. The sounds of leaves rustling somewhere off of the beach, and the sound of the waves crashing against the shore faded from her reality. There it was, faint, but there. Druantia’s touch graced Fluttershy, and an imperceptible green glow surrounded her; it was a glow disrupted by the bathing white light of the sun, but a glow nonetheless.
“Good.” She hear Pinkie say, “Now relax your muscles. You’re a shapeshifter now. You need to relax as much as you can to turn back. Later on you won’t need to, but right now you can’t figure out what muscle controls your form, so just relax all of them.” The dire wolf let out a breath through her nose as she relaxed all of her muscles, or tried to anyway. She felt weak, and so very tired.
“Good,” Pinkie repeated. “Imagine yourself small and meek. like a little mouse.” Fluttershy felt the urge to open her eyes. This was silly. Then again...she didn’t want to get smacked twice. Resigned to her choice she focused, trying to imagine the hulking body twice the size of her own was a mouse. It wasn’t an easy thing to imagine. “Now tense your muscles all at the same time.” The ebony wolf tensed all her muscles simultaneously and grit her teeth. As she tensed them she could feel her body tingle. The scents in the air got less sharp and the sounds around her muddled slightly. For a moment her teeth hurt, all pressing against each other painfully. Quickly she relaxed her jaw and the teeth shifted and flattened.
After being told it was okay Fluttershy opened her eyes to see Pinkie beaming at her. They now seemed to be about the same height. The stunned yellow druid looked down at her hoof. That was better. A weak smile touched onto her face as Pinkie threw two hooves around her friend “Great job Fluttershy! You got that in one go!”
The mare blushed softly “It...it was nothing.”
The smiling pink mare pulled away and tilted her head to the side. “Don’t be silly Fluttershy, you did great!” Her voice became a little bit somber as she continued. “You’re a much better swimmer than the rest of our friends, I’m pretty sure we beat them here. You look exhausted, why don’t you get some rest. I’ll keep an eye out for them.” Fluttershy wanted to protest. She wanted to help her friends...but she was just so tired. Slowly she lay on the sand, curling herself up. She pointed her face away from the sun and drifted off.
--
A hoof pressed quickly against Fluttershy’s back, causing her to wake with a start. As she turned about she heard the sound of a cover shutting. Pinkie slid a book back into her small bag and pointed down the beach. Fluttershy’s gaze followed Pinkie’s indication. Trudging down the beach were all of her friends. All, except for Derpy.
Soon the group met and exchanged pleasantries. Hugs and meek smiles for everyone as they acknowledged that each of them had barely made it out alive. Fluttershy had thought it was a miracle she and Pinkie both made that fall and survived. All six?...Druantia must have been on their side. It would have been nice if Discord could have just not been there though.
“So Derpy’s...” Applejack started, the first to breach the subject.
Pinkie’s head shook as her confident voice piped up. “Discord’s not a killer. He didn’t destroy her, he just teleported her out. Probably to wherever ponies left her father’s body in this world.”
Fluttershy suppressed a shiver. Derpy didn’t always have a clear head when it came to mental trauma. Suddenly appearing amongst the corpses of her dead family members was just asking for another Ponyville incident.
“She might be trapped in a crypt somewhere then.” Twilight observed, “Discord’s too strong for us to beat. We’ll have to find Derpy first, then try to rally Celestia’s armies and go back. He can’t stop everypony.”
“Twilight darling.” Rarity spoke up. “I can tell you right now that getting all of the nobles to attack Trotterdam isn’t going to happen.” Twilight’s hopeful look died. “But I do know where we need to go.” she quickly consoled. “I got Celestia’s gag off and while I was working on her locks she told me exactly where to find the elements of harmony.”
The group broke out into smiles. “Yeah!” Rainbow called enthusiastically, “If you can’t win the game, flip the board over and punch your opponent in the face! I’m in.”
Rarity’s head shook. “Viceroy Shadowflame had them hidden on Shadow Station. It’s a fortress out on the ocean. It’s heavily guarded and nopony knows what goes on in there. We’ll have quite the fight on our hooves if we do this.”
An eyebrow raised on Rainbow Dash’s face, “More dangerous than a frontal assault on a dragon?”
A nod from Twilight brought the discussion quickly to a close. “Derpy will have to just hang in there for a while.” she muttered, trying to mask over a hint of sadness. “The elements of harmony aren’t only the best way to stop Discord. They can’t be allowed to sit on some...ocean testing facility. Could you imagine if Discord found a way to tap into that kind of power? He could free himself and rule over all Equestria again.”
A cyan mouth curled in disagreement “Twilight, Derpy’s our friend. Can’t we find her first before going after Shadow Station?”
A reassuring smile crossed Twilight’s face as she rested a hoof on her friend’s many hued mane. “I know you don’t like leaving your friends behind Dash, you’re the element of loyalty after all. But as an element of harmony all of Equestria is counting on you. You need to put the needs of everypony over the needs of one.” Rainbow Dash looked away, but nodded grudgingly.
“Yeah.” Applejack said quickly. “I reckon Twilight’s right, even if I don’t much like it. Now before we do anything we need to get into those forests. Rainbow and I can search the forest for some grub, maybe get something we can sell at the next town. At least Rarity kept some fresh water so we should be alright, least for tonight.”
Fluttershy’s eyes drifted to Rarity. Most of the group had struggled to swim with their armor on and needed to ditch various items. Rainbow, Applejack, and Pinkie had all kept combat knives. Twilight and Pinkie both kept leather bags with a book and their spell components. Rarity had some trouble hiding spell components in the guard’s armor, but she seemed to have smuggled it to them. Pink eyes narrowed on Pinkie’s book bag, she must have stored the wolfsbane with her spell components...for security. Rarity had kept a small bag and her wine skin filled to the brim.
Fluttershy smiled. It was odd that Rarity of all ponies had been the one with the foresight to see what was truly important. Then she opened her mouth “Actually...” Rarity confessed “It’s filled with whale oil.” The group went silent. It stayed that way for a while, Rarity’s head slowly getting closer to the ground with each passing second.
Finally Applejack nodded “Yeah, yeah I suppose I should have seen that coming.” Her haunches lifted from the ground as she pressed towards the treeline. “C’mon everypony. Let’s go find us some water.”
----
Flutttershy collapsed to the ground as they made camp. She felt so weak that walking even this admittedly small distance was horribly draining. Pinkie’s wolfsbane was seriously doing a number on her. She didn’t know if she could handle walking this much the next day. Although somehow she knew that wasn’t going to be a problem much longer. Each of her friends didn’t seem to want to talk to her or even look at her. They were uncomfortable, uncomfortable about the friend they were plotting against. They knew they didn’t have another week to fix her up, they would put her down tonight.
She waited, and soon night fell. She still hadn’t moved, she didn’t want to waste the energy. She body twitched as she looked back, Pinkie and Applejack had returned from their trip out into the woods. They’d gone scavenging for food of some sort. The mare began to relax again, listening to the crack of the fire as it burned.
“Fluttershy?” Twilight asked, as though this wasn’t the first time.
The druid realized she had been daydreaming and snapped to attention. “Sorry Twilight...I was just lost in thought. What is it?”
The mage smiled, holding out a hoof full of berries. “Here. We found lots of nice food out there. We have plenty, you should eat these.”
So that was it? That was their move? Did they mix wolfsbane into those berries or did Rarity douse them with a poison of her own? Hastily Fluttershy’s eyes flitted about looking for Rarity. Each of her friends was watching, and each pretending not to watch. They were just waiting to see if Twilight would make the problem go away nice and cleanly. “I don’t want them.” Fluttershy said more coldly than she would have liked.
Twilight pulled back in shock, then nodded. “Okay Fluttershy, you don’t have to.” Then a quick nod to the side.
“Fluttershy.” Pinkie cut in “You’re a druid so you know lots about that naturey stuff right? I could really use your help identifying something Applejack and I saw.” The yellow mare paused, looking around the camp. Pinkie was taking her out in the woods to get rid of her and none of them were protesting. None? "Pleeeaaaaase?"
“Sure Pinkie.” She mumbled, forcing herself up. That mare would bring her wolfsbane no doubt, strike without warning and kill her quickly. She hoped Pinkie was nice enough to do it quick and clean anyway. It was better if she go along with it though, they didn’t all need to see this. “Lead the way.”
Pinkie quickly moved into the forest and stayed at a pace that Fluttershy could follow. The girl was unbelievably brazen. The pink mare even started humming a tune as she led her friend further and further away from camp.
The blood was pounding harshly in Fluttershy’s ears. She couldn’t take it! She couldn’t let it end like this! She understood why they were doing it, she did. They were afraid, and honestly, they should be. A day didn’t go by where thoughts of tearing them apart with her teeth didn’t pass now. She had seen her new “true” form, and it was powerful. Honestly she didn’t understand how ponykind could be the dominant species on earth if beasts that powerful existed. Oh...wait, she did. It was the same way that Pinkie intended to kill her. Nopony was strong enough to just fight against such a force by themselves, so they cheated. Trickery was how the ponies stayed in control. They could use magic, or overwhelming numbers, or exploit tiny flaws. Tiny flaws like a reaction to wolfsbane.
Don’t go down like this. Feast on her and leave to the forest, where you will be as Druantia intended.
With a cry Fluttershy stepped forward and caught Pinkie by surprise. A yellow hoof grabbed pinkie by the shoulder and lifted her off the ground. With a grunt the yellow mare flipped her friend onto her back and pounced. The pink pony started to struggle, but stopped as she felt the stone blade at her throat.
A quivering Fluttershy straddled Pinkie’s form, holding her homemade dagger shakily. Fluttershy’s eyes were desperate and filled with fear, and they stared into Pinkie’s calm resigned eyes. Slowly pink hooves lowered to the ground as the mare lay still beneath her, clearly not planning to resist. The edges of the sharpened rock disappeared in the shortened fur on Pinkie’s neck. With each ragged belabored breath Fluttershy’s pink mane pushed out from her face, then receded.
“Put it down Fluttershy.” Pinkie said evenly. She did her best to pretend she wasn’t scared, but her body betrayed her. Fluttershy’s legs were planted firmly around Pinkie, and somehow she could feel the mare’s heartbeat racing. The fear inside her friend was obvious, and well deserved. You feared monsters, it’s part of what a monster was.
Fluttershy took in short breaths as she spoke to her soon to be ex-friend, “No. I know you have it. I know you stole my wolfsbane. I know you’re leading me out here to kill me.” Could she do it? Could she kill her friend even if it was self defense?
You are a predator, she is your prey. You don’t need to justify yourself
Pinkie started to shake her head, but a look down toward the knife dissuaded her. A sadness touched her eyes despite her fear. “I’m not here to kill you Fluttershy. I’m sorry I took your wolfsbane from you. When we were traveling and you spent every night with me to get my hearing back I got to see you a lot. You were in pain, every night you had trouble sleeping. You started taking weight off of the hind leg next to your bag with the plant.” Fluttershy’s thoughts swam, but she didn’t move the knife. “So one night I went into your bag and took it, then I put it in glass so it wouldn’t bother you. I just didn’t want you to hurt Fluttershy.”
The yellow mare shook her head as tears started to form. “No. No you have it because you know I’m a threat. You told them I was a threat. You deal with threats to protect your friends, just like you killed those ponies at the docks. I know you were only doing what you had to Pinkie, you had to try and protect them. I can’t stop thinking horrible things Pinkie. I think about killing you all every day now. Every single day.”
A look of shock covered Pinkie’s face, but was then swept up in a mask of understanding. “Killing us...or eating us?”
That was a stupid question if ever there was one. What difference did it make? If you ate somepony they were dead. “I don’t know. It doesn’t matter, they’re both just horrible.” She couldn’t focus, couldn’t think. The wolfsbane had mired her mind.
“It makes a difference to me.” Pinkie insisted.
At her friend’s insistence Fluttershy forced herself to think.
Rip her throat out. Rip her apart and tear the flesh from her bones. You’ll like the taste of blood and flesh, feast on her and leave to the forest
“I am a predator...and you are prey. Predators kill...to eat” That was it wasn’t it? She didn’t just want Pinkie to die, she wanted to sink her sharpened teeth into that pretty little neck and...She stopped herself in horror, her mouth was salivating in anticipation at the idea of feeding on her friend’s lifeless body.
A calm voice came from Pinkie, an explanation overdue. “Fluttershy. They don’t know about your condition. They’re worried because you’re starving to death.”
That caught the mare off guard. It was a lie! A damned lie! Pinkie was trying to confuse her, to trick her. The blade moved a half inch away from Pinkie’s throat. “No I’m not.” She whispered softly.
“Did you eat with anypony on the boat? You skipped my party and Twilight says you didn’t eat with her.”
“I wasn’t hungry then.”
“What about when you were locked up for a few days on that other ship? Rarity checked on you, she said you were sleeping on your hay instead of eating it.”
A pause. She hadn’t thought to eat the hay.
“And in your cell at the castle?”
Silence.
“Those berries twenty minutes ago?”
The sharpened stone fell to the ground beside Pinkie’s head. “I...I can’t remember the last time I ate anything.” the yellow mare finally admitted. Her hooves steadied her on either side of Pinkie’s head as she fought back tears. Pinkie wasn’t trying to kill her. For the first time she looked down at her own chest, noting the form of her ribs visible through the thin layer of fur. Her friends were worried for her safety. Her safety. The safety of a mare who wanted to eat them.
Her body rocked once as she toppled off of Pinkie. “I..I’m sorry.” She muttered. Realizing now that the wolfsbane likely wasn’t effecting her. This just must have been what it felt like to starve to death. It was an odd feeling, she’d never felt anything quite like it. Whatever it was, it was unpleasant. “Pinkie, hurry up and kill me. I don’t know how long I can stop myself. I can’t put any of you in danger like that. I understand.”
Slowly Pinkie got to her hooves. “Don’t be silly Fluttershy! I was your friend before, why would that change just because you’ve got a new diet!”
The druid blinked. When two friends were together and murder for sustenance seemed like an option that was a sign that the friendship should end. Pinkie was playing with fire, and even now Fluttershy fought back the urge to eat her friend for saying that. “If you didn’t take me out here to kill me, then why are we here?”
Pinkie bounced another twenty feet or so with a smile “Because I got you a present!”
The yellow mare put her hooves underneath herself, pulling herself up. Her hooves trotted after her friend, now curious as to what- Oh sweet Celestia! What the hell was wrong with Pinkie! At her friend’s hooves lay what used to be a raccoon. It wasn’t anymore because somepony removed it’s fur! The sight was just horrifying. Fluttershy trotted up to her friend with a disgusted look. “You. You don’t expect me to...eat that?” She could barely get out the words.
“You’re a predator now Fluttershy. I’m your friend and I’ll love you no matter who you are. I’ve always asked that you be yourself, right?” Her gaze drifted down to the raccoon. “Go on. I know I’m a pastry chef, but I’ll learn to cook good meat dishes now, just for you okay?”
Fluttershy’s lip quivered as she forced herself to look at it. It was an animal, just like the ones she took care of. Now she was supposed to... “I can’t.” She said softly “it’s not right...”
Pinkie put a hoof down on the mound of flesh and leaned over, grabbing a hunk of it in her teeth. Fluttershy looked on in horror as the twisted ripping sound signaled the beast being relieved of a hunk of it’s body. Pinkie looked up, right into Fluttershy’s eyes as she chewed. Thick red blood matted the fur on her muzzle and dripped back down onto the beast. For a few moments she chewed, then finally swallowed. When she opened her mouth to speak again the yellow mare could see the inside of Pinkie’s mouth had been stained red. Their eyes met, and Fluttershy felt she couldn’t look away. “Predator.” A squish beneath them told Fluttershy the raccoon had been stepped on again. “Prey.”
It was horrible, unthinkable...but Pinkie had brought her out here to help. Her friends always helped make up her shortcomings, maybe this was just another one? Besides, her gaze drifted down to the mare’s blood stained lips, Pinkie could hardly judge her after that. With a sickened grimace she lowered her head to the corpse and sniffed it. Hesitantly she licked the cursed thing, then pulled away.
Her mind screamed at her in horror about what she had done, but her body betrayed her. Somewhere in her body she convulsed. Her teeth sharpened to points once more and saliva dripped from her opened maw. She wanted, no, needed something. Her body contorted and grew, towering over Pinkie once more as jet black fur covered her form. She backed up, letting out a soft whimper of protest, but caught Pinkie’s eyes once more. The pink hoof removed itself from Fluttershy’s meal “Eat.” Pinkie commanded forcefully.
As her will gave out Fluttershy pounced on the morsel. One steady paw pressed down into its back as her jaws closed around it’s head and bit. She could feel it’s spine snap like a twig as its meaty juices rolled around inside of her mouth. Eagerly she moved her tongue and swallowed the thing’s head whole. It wasn’t a difficult task for her new massive body.
The world around her blurred into inconsequential bursts of light and noise as Fluttershy dove onto the meal again. With another bite she ripped the thing’s body clean in half. Tears of joy formed in her eyes as razor sharp canine teeth gnashed the wondrous thing in her jaws. Ribs crushed and organs squished as her massive jaws tore everything apart evenly before she swallowed it all. She didn’t know how she knew the bones weren’t an issue, but somehow she just knew. With glee she let go of the raccoon’s hind quarters and pulled it up with her teeth. She let go as the entrails spun in the air above her head, showering the area in drops of blood before being snapped out of the air. She swallowed, both horrified at what she’d done, and filled with insurmountable joy at the act. The happiness welled up inside her, such joy that she’d never felt before. She didn’t even know how to express the feeling!
Then the answer came. Her friend, a blood covered pink pony, reared up on her hind legs. He mouth pointed toward the sky as she let out a long drawn out howl of joy. Yes! Druantia yes! Fluttershy turned her muzzle upward still damp with the blood of the animal devoured and howled in pleasure. Tonight she was happy, she was complete. Tonight, she was Fluttershy.