My Little Pawny: Fragouts Are Magic
By ANTIcarrot
Based on Friendship is Magic, created by Lauren Faust
And My Little Pony, created by Bonnie Zacherle
Render Unto Hasbro That Which Is Hasbro’s...
Chapter Six
Angel paced back and forth in front of his home, waiting impatiently for the slow blue one to speed up and get the stupid purple one. His crazy yellow doe was being even crazier than usual and all the biting and lecturing in the world hadn’t stopped her. How the name of Frith and Inle was he supposed to keep her safe when she refused to do what he said?! And then she just started flying, and talking to him like she was a real rabbit, and oh what the hraka was a buck supposed to do with a doe like that! It was almost enough to make him wish he was back fighting that bloody dog under that bloody tree on top that that bloody dow...
He looked across as he saw a flash of black, as the stupid and slow one appeared.
Finally! Now if they’ll just do as I say maybe I can solve this disaster!
# # #
“I don’t believe you!” Twilight said as the scenery around then scrambled and then reasserted as Fluttershy’s cottage. “Bears, yes. Snakes, yes. Killer wasps and honey badgers? Yes and yes. But not even she would treat one of those! She doesn’t like dragons, remember!”
“Hydras aren’t dragons.”
Rainbow Dash had teleported in still hovering just above the ground (an achievement Twilight was immensely proud of!) and scanning along the Forest tree line.
“Yes!” Twilight insisted. “Yes they are!”
Dash turned to glare at Twilight, and then loop behind her to start pushing.
“Less talk! More walking!”
“Okay! Okay! Fine! Just stop...” Something small and light bounced off her leg. “Oh hello Angel!”
The diminutive little rabbit immediately started bouncing up and down and waving his forelegs around.
“Fluttershy’s gone into the Forest and you’re worried about her?”
“We already know that Twi... Wait, you can understand him?”
Dash gaped at her friend in astonishment. Angel had also stopped to stare as well, though for reasons far less fathomable. Rabbit faces were simply less flexible than pony ones.
“Don’t be silly Dash. Rabbits can’t talk. It’s just not that had to guess what he wants. What?”
Twilight looked down to see Angel grabbing her leg and gesturing even more bizarrely towards the Forest.
“Oh we don’t have time for this! Twilight, can you cast that self levitation spell, like you did for Tank?”
“You mean on myself? Well I guess, but why?”
“Twilight! Please! We don’t have time!”
“Okay fine.” Twilight closed her eyes in concentration as her horn began to glow. As the glow began to spread over her body she shook her foreleg to dislodge Fluttershy’s pet. “Not now Angel. Okay Dash, I’m hovering. How is going to Hissssss!”
Twilight’s eyes shot open and she hissed in a breath through tightly closed teeth as she felt a pair of mare forelegs grab her hind quarter in a way that no mare’s forelegs should grab her there!
And then suddenly she was spun around and racing towards the Everfree Forest, and then the world spun again and she was above the Forest, and whatever she was about to say to Dash vanished in a long scream of terror!
# # #
“You gabbed my hind quarters!”
“Oh don’t be such a filly.”
“No one! But no one! Is allowed to grab me there! Especially not without asking first! Unless they are an extremely attractive stallion! And you are neither extremely attractive nor a stallion!”
“Twilight?” A quiet voice interrupted.
“Yeah yeah, whatever. We can walk back slowly then. But first...”
“Um, please, both of you-”
“I can’t believe you did that! And I see no Fluttershy and no Hydra!”
“It’s just she’s really rather sick and-”
Dash cleared her throat and pointed. Twilight frowned, then grimaced, then face-hoofed.
“She’s behind me isn’t she?”
“I can hear you.”
The unicorn mare turned to face her friend and apologize. To her surprise, Fluttershy waved it off.
“It doesn’t matter. Twilight, I need your help with something. Dash? Um, thank you for getting Twilight, but it’s probably best if you wait here.”
“No way!” Dash landed right in front of Fluttershy and walked right up to her. “I saw that thing! I don’t care how much is missing! I’m not leaving you alone with it again!”
“Please Dash, she can barely move. She isn’t going to hurt either of us. And... And Twilight’s here. She can... Take care of things.”
“Fluttershy-”
“Please Dash.”
Twilight watched the exchange with growing unease until Fluttershy actually interrupted Rainbow Dash. An event that clearly surprised the blue pegasus just as much.
“Maybe you should go and check on Angel,” Twilight said slowly.
“Check on Angel?” Dash repeated. “Are you kidding me?”
“Ah, yeah. You know. Make sure he hasn’t eaten something he shouldn’t. Or someone he shouldn’t.”
Dash frowned and looked back and forth between them.
“Okay, fine. If you don’t want me around I’ll go ‘check on Angel’. Call me when you want a cloud moved or something.”
“Dash wait!” Twilight called out as her friend vanished into the sky. With a sighs she turned on Fluttershy. “Well I hope that was worth it.”
“I’m sorry Twilight.”
“Don’t be sorry to me. Be sorry to Rainbow Dash.” Her ears wilted and she looked aside. “I think we both owe her an apology at this point.”
“I’m still sorry but, um, I need you to come with me. Please.”
Twilight nodded and followed ‘Shy as she turned towards some bushes.
“Why did you want Dash sent way anyway?”
“I didn’t,” Fluttershy answered as they passed through the undergrowth. “Not really. But you did.”
“I did?” Twilight asked sceptically as they came out the other side. “Why would I...” Twilight froze as she caught sight of the Hydra. Her ears folded flat against her skull and she looked at the monster in horror. “Oh no. No no no no no no-”
“She’s sick Twilight.”
“Oh no, please no.”
Twilight began to back away, only to bump up against Fluttershy’s body, who had moved around to block her retreat. The lock of pink hair had been brushed aside, and now Fluttershy looked calmly at Twilight with both eyes.
“She’s sick Twilight.”
Sick wasn’t the half of it. Twilight wasn’t looking at the Hydra. She didn’t want to. She didn’t need to. Some things couldn’t be forgotten. Even if you really wanted to.
The body of the hydra lay half submerged in a shallow pond of water, its scratched and dirty sides heaving with laboured breathing. Four heads rested on the back. Eight sets of rummy eyes stared dully in the direction of the two ponies. Birds idly perched on top of the normally notoriously bad tempered creature. But it took no action. Because the hydra’s problems weren’t the birds, or its eyes, or the scratches, or even the scratches on its eyes.
The hydra’s problem was its fifth neck. A fifth neck that very visibly, and very disturbingly, and very horrifyingly, did not end in a fifth head.
“Fluttershy I can’t! I don’t know that kind of magic!”
“You know a sleeping spell Twilight.”
“But I can’t! I can’t Fluttershy! You keep casualties awake! You stop them from going to sleep! Going to sleep kills them! I can’t put her to sleep!”
“I know that Twilight. So does she, in her own way.”
“Fluttershy, she’s a Hydra! How can she know the slightest thing about a sleeping spell?!”
“She knows she wants the pain to end. She wants the pain to end so very very much.”
“Fluttershy...”
“Her kidneys are failing Twilight. That’s hard enough to reverse in the best pony hospitals, and for pony sized kidneys. It can’t be done for her Twilight, even if the surgeons were willing to get that close.”
“I... I can’t!”
“I’m sorry Twilight, but there’s nothing else I can do for her. This is the only thing that can be done for her.”
“Don’t make me do this!”
Fluttershy blinked at that, and tilted her head to the side.
“Um, I could. If you wanted me to.”
“What?!”
“I mean, it wouldn’t be your fault then. You wouldn’t have to feel guilty. You could blame me.”
“Fluttershy! How can you even think of that?”
“Because it’s the right thing to do. Look at her Twilight.” Fluttershy’s voice never rose above her usual quiet whisper. There was no trace of the tone she used when The Stare came out. But in a way its absence was even worse. Fluttershy wasn’t demanding. She wasn’t insisting. She was asking, as a friend. She was asking Twilight to do what she honestly thought was the right thing to do. “Because there’s nothing else left to do. There’s nothing else left that I can do. Asking you is the only thing I have left.”
Twilight collapsed as her legs gave way. She closed her eyes and leaned forwards to bury her nose in the damp grass. It smelt good, pure, and wholesome. There was a scent of daisies and buttercups. Maybe if she concentrated on the smell she could forget what she just saw, and think clearly enough to come up with a reason not to do what Fluttershy asked.
She shuddered in memory as a feathering wing folded over her back, and the warmth of her friend’s body pressed against her side. Shuddered in memory of what she saw, in knowledge of what Fluttershy wanted her to do, and in mourning of the memory of when Celestia used to do this. That would never be a pleasant memory again...
“Twilight...”
“Please don’t!”
“What would Princess Celestia want you to do.”
Twilight didn’t say anything. Fluttershy didn’t either. When the unicorn finally raised her head, she was sniffing, and her checks were wet, but not from the grass.
“That’s not fair.”
“No, it’s not,” Fluttershy agreed. “But that’s the way life is sometimes.”
Twilight stood, took a deep breath, and turned to face the hydra.
“You’re sure she won’t hurt me.”
“It’s okay Twilight. She won’t. She can’t. She doesn’t want to anymore.”
Twilight took a step forwards, glanced back at Fluttershy, and then continued forwards, slowly closing the gap until she stoop just a few feet short of the nearest head. Rummy eyes tracked her, and the Hydra’s breathing speed up. Muscles started to tense within its neck as the other eyes turned to look at her.
“It’s okay. Shh! It’s okay! You don’t need to be scared. She can help you. Like I promised. Remember? She can make the pain go away.”
The eyes swiveled to face Fluttershy. The hydra calmed, before making a strange and quiet grunting sound that Twilight had never heard before.
“Twilight.”
Twilight glanced to her left, before closing her eyes and bowing her head. Her horn began to glow as she reached out with her magic and began to touch the four minds directly in front of her. She wove thought and memory and emotion into the spell, and then pushed hard against the pain the Hydra was feeling. Her horn brightened until it was blazed with the effort to affect such a large creature, but eventually, like a badly oiled cart wheel, it gradually began to work.
The Hydra’s mind slipped from consciousness faster than Twilight thought, and she had to start pulling instead to stop it from going too far under. The minds, well, ‘wobbled’ for lack of a better term, but seemed stable as Twilight withdrew her magic and stepped back.
# # #
Fluttershy and Twilight sat on that bank, watching the Hydra and waiting. Fluttershy did her best to comfort her friend, and convince her that she had done the right thing. It didn’t help though. Twilight was far too busy stressing about keeping the Hydra stable. Casting healing spells on the Hydra’s stump, her eyes, and the blood within her veins, trying to take the pressure off her kidneys.
Fluttershy didn’t have the heart to tell her it was all far too late.
So she just sat there, and stood there, keeping Twilight company, just as she had with the Hydra. And then, when the inevitable happened, she held Twilight as the tears finally came and wouldn’t stop. Later she would yet again tell her that she had done the right thing. The correct thing. The brave thing. That it would have been wrong to let the Hydra suffer any longer than she needed to.
Well, maybe not that last one. Fluttershy knew Twilight was a thinker. She knew Twilight might hear that, and realize how selfish she had been to refuse to help the Hydra, even for just five minutes, just because of her own silly panic. And that guilt would be terrible.
Fluttershy wouldn’t tell her that. She couldn’t tell her that. She could help animals, and her friends, and even other ponies sometimes, if they were sick or injured, but she couldn’t help them with the truth. Just like she couldn’t tell Twilight that the Hydra was pregnant. If the guilt might depress her, that knowledge might break her. She would keep that secret, and add separate grave markers later.
In the meantime she just held Twilight and let her cry.
Sometimes Fluttershy had to be strong for her friends.
# # #
“We desire a two hundred yard perimeter around this area! Thou will beat the forest and chase out anything large than a field mouse! What is about to happen here is not for the eyes of common ponies!”
“Yes Princess!” Captain Tokomak of the Grey Wing saluted as she received her orders.
Luna stared at the pegasus before her. By tradition the various regiments of the Equestrian military belonged to neither princess. They swore their oath to the Capitol, and the virtues it stood for, not who lived there. In practice Celestia and Luna tended to have favourites, and the hard-nosed Grew Wing were one of her own. They had her Respect.
Of all general battalions that had fought her while she was Nightmare Moon, they had had put up the best fight. In fact they had put up the only flight, as they had been the only ones able to sneak up on her. Once she had realised what was happening, the following battle had been extremely one sided. The surviving ponies had of course rejected an offer to serve by her side. To this day killing them remained one of Luna’s biggest regrets. Which made what she was about to say next all the harder.
“Nor is it a sight fit for guardsponies,” Luna continued in a much more reserved tone. “However highly they have served. And however much respect they are owned. Thy Princess commands this.”
As she expected, Tokamak stiffened, but saluted again.
“As you command Your Highness.” She paused before adding, “If I may?”
Luna nodded.
“Ask thy question.”
“Would you send the Upstarts packing as well?”
Luna smiled, wanly. She liked Tokamak.
“Surely so. Though of course we’d send the special alicorn service packing first.”
Tokamak stood a little straighter, and very specifically, and very professionally, didn’t smile.
“Yes Ma’am. As you say Ma’am.”
“Oh be off with ye! You have ponies to organise and bushes to thrash.”
The Grey Wing captain nodded before taking off and starting to yell for her lieutenants and colour sergeants. Luna watched him go, before turning to look at the six young element bearers in the middle distance. She stared long and hard. She was getting better at that. It had been months since her last attack of day terrors, and she was proud of the fact she could now look at all six ponies, together, and think of them as the element bearers without shivering. It helped that they weren’t all looking at her, or smiling.
Perhaps one day she’d be able to bare looking at them when they were happy and smiling, and together, and wearing the Elements themselves? But that was for the future. There would be many sessions with Dr Shellshock before that happened. She stepped behind a tree, putting herself out of line of sight of the Element Bearers, before let herself turn into living shadow. Many, many sessions.
But in the meantime, she had a body to examine. She floated unseen over to the Hydra’s body, before passing into it and out of sight.
# # #
“You wanted to see me Princess?”
Luna decided to let it slide, just for today. If Twilight wanted to take comfort in reminding herself she was standing next to an immortal demigoddess, the least Luna could do was play the role.
“Yes Twilight, thank you for coming. I know today has been deeply upsetting for you. Were there any other way, I would not disturb the solace you seek from your friends.”
“No, it’s okay. The whole ‘Special Inspector’ thing, right? With great Titles come great responsibilities.”
“That sounds like something my sister would say.”
Twilight smiled, slightly.
“It was. It was one of the first lessons she taught me. Though she always said she got it from somewhere else.”
“Tis of no matter. I trust my sister also saw fit to tell you that you always have the right of refusal?”
“I know. But responsibility sometimes means saying yes, even when you really want to say no.”
Luna looked at Twilight and hummed thoughtfully.
“In my time we called that bravery.” Twilight’s smile widened and she looked away. Luna continued. “However, sometimes saying no is also bravery. Thou always has the right to refuse. Sometimes responsibility and courage means saying no. Party of thy duty is to protect thyself from harm caused by a thoughtless leader who pushes too hard, and provide good example to others so they may do the same.”
“I know not to push myself, and to not take on so much responsibility I can’t cope any-more. I can say no when I need to.”
Luna raised a skeptical eyebrow.
“Given thy history with my sister, we suspect thou needs more practice.”
Twilight looked back and harrumphed.
“I’ll say no to my teacher the moment she acts like a thoughtless leader.”
“We may encourage her to test this notion,” Luna said with a smiled, before turning serious again. “But to business. You may have noticed the circle the Royal Guard has set up?”
“Um, yes. I assume that means we’re about to do something dangerous?”
Luna nodded before speaking nonchalantly.
“I am about to assist you in performing an act of Forbidden Magic.”
“Okay. What spell will I be casting?”
Luna paused.
“Again, we believe thou needs more practice in the act of saying no.”
“But I trust you.” Twilight paused as she calmly looked at Luna, with a slight smile on her face. “So what spell will I be learning?”
Luna sighed and face-winged.
“We walked right into that didn’t we?”
“Well gee Luna, a new spell? I don’t know. Are you sure? Twist my hoof.”
“Very well, though do not say we did not warn you. Also remember unto your last days that this is a Forbidden Spell. It is not to be spoken of. Even knowledge of its existence or function could cause a pony lasting harm.”
“Okay Luna, but I still trust you. What will I be doing?”
“Come with me.” Luna began walking towards the dead hydra. “I have examined the body of this creature, and found the same remnants of steel and copper found within the remains of the Ursa Major, as well as echoes of the same magic. We are going to perform a last examination to try and determine exactly what attacked it. I have already cast spells against the foulness of decay, and vermin. The examination requires two magic users, and I shall of course perform the harder task.
“Which leaves the second one to you: Memory retrieval.”
Twilight opened her mouth to speak, before her eyes widened and she looked at the Hydra in understanding.
“You understand now why this is Forbidden Magic?”
“Because it’s dangerous?”
“Because it’s icky and disgusting,” Luna corrected. “But also consider the impact on parents traumatized by the death of their child. This spell could not bring their loved one back to life, but it could let them see with their eyes, and hear though their ears, and experience all of their joys and sorrows.
“Unfortunately the spell is not harmful. A mare or stallion can perform it endlessly, as long as they take care to exercise, living the same dead memories over and over again. For years. Or decades.” Luna paused. “Which is why it is dangerous. And why it is Forbidden.”
“I, I think I understand. In theory at least.”
Luna nodded.
“Thou has never experienced true temptation before. There is a device called the Alicorn Amulet that we may ask you to wear one day. But that is a lesson from the future. Now I must ask you to go through this hydra’s memories, and try and see what it remembers of the creatures that attacked it.”
Twilight turned and examined the hydra.
“Um, I’m not going to come out of this thinking my friends look good enough to eat am I?”
Luna blushed and coughed, before quickly casting a spell to push the blood back where it should be before Twilight could turn back.
“Not unless you did before.”
“Huh?” Twilight turned back to Luna in confusion.
“Oh, nothing. Another potential lesson for the future, and one that I think I’ll defer to my sister. Now, concentrate and pay attention, to peer within the memories of the recently departed thou twist thy magic like thus...”
# # #
“What do you see?”
Twilight carefully controlled her breathing carefully, as she had been instructed, and tried to tell Luna what she was seeing though the gaps and distortions.
“I see the Everfree Forest, but it’s different, and smaller.”
Twilight turned her ‘head’ downwards and winced as the view kept glitching like a bad film as the memories jumped from head to head. The trees were all far below ‘her’, and for a moment she wondered if this was how Dash felt and what she saw when she flew. Then the Hydra turned away, taking Twilight with it.
“All the colours are wrong, and they keep shifting. And there are holes in the landscape everywhere.”
“Probably everything the Hydra was not focused upon. Thou might be surprised how little the average pony truly sees when they look out upon the world. Thou are certain you are in the right day?”
“I think so. This is the last day before everything hurt.” Twilight shivered. And that had been terrible. She thought she had felt bad when she and her friends split up while cursed by Discord. That was nothing compared to horror and agony the Hydra had experienced waking up every day after losing one of its heads. The spell had protected Twilight from the worst of it, but there was only so much it could do. “It’s early morning and the sun feels really good on my sca... On it’s scales.”
“Spike might be interested in hearing that.”
“But I’m not going to tell him.”
“Correct Twilight. What else is the hydra feeling?”
“Happy. She’s happy. And hungry. But mostly happy.”
And that was part of how the Everfree Forest looked different. In the real world, Twilight wasn’t afraid because she was right next to Princess Luna, and surrounded by royal guards. In the Hydra’s memories, she wasn’t afraid because ‘she’ was one a large and powerful carnivore. She was an object of fear, not subject to it! In hear, the Forest was a delightful place full of mystery and excitement, with every tree and bush a piñata that might contain a tasty treat, and every river and pond a place where she might go bobbing for...
Twilight stopped right there and forcefully inserted ‘apples’ instead.
She really wasn’t quite sure what she was more disturbed by. Sharing the thoughts and feelings of a carnivore (and Twilight really hoped that he wasn’t going to have to watch the Hydra kill something!) or the disturbing realization that the Hydra’s general outlook on life was an almost identical match for Pinkie Pie.
“I’m going to skip ahead a little.”
“Be careful Twilight.”
Twilight focused, and turned her gaze towards the Hydra’s shadow. She willed it to point North.
Yummy tasty juicy meat and crunchy bone!
Gah! No! No! Do not want! North East! North East!
PAIN! PAIN! PAIN! FEAR! PANIC! TERROR! PAIN! PAIN! PAIN!
Too far! Too far! Go back! Go back!
The kidneys of giant porcupines were hard to get to but the hydra was clever, and knew all it had to do was grad the legs in different head and pull really hard until...
No! No! No! No! Not this again! North North East! North North East!
Twilight relaxed as the Hydra’s emotions settled down into happy piñata time again.
“Twilight! Are you all right?”
“No. Not really. But I think I just found what attacked it. I’ve got it down to sometime in the next hour. I should be able to find the exact memory in the next ten minutes. How are you doing Luna? You said you were doing the harder part. Are you okay keeping the spell going that long?”
“I am fine Twilight. Thank you for asking. We alicorns have the endurance of a earth pony. We need it to fuel our endless patience for all the times that other ponies forget that fact.”
“Ha ha. Very funny.”
“We are please you find our humour agreeable. What is the hydra doing now?”
“Um... I’m not sure.”
And Twilight honestly didn’t have a clue what the hydra was doing. It had caught sight of a rabbit, and started to carefully sneak up on it. Which confused Twilight instead of worry her. Rabbits were far too small to make a worthwhile snack, and the hydra didn’t feel like it was hunting. Why was it bothering?
She learned when the bunny turned and saw the enormous head mere inches away, grinning and snorting menacingly. It turned and ran only to come up against another head, and then another and another. Twilight sighed. The hydra wasn’t going to kill and eat the rabbit. It was playing with it, which was about as much fun to watch.
She was about to try skipping forwards very slightly, when the rabbit was finally able to get to safety inside the hallow of a tree. Twilight relaxed, thinking it was over, when one head ripped an entire bush out of the ground, and dumped it right outside, and slightly on top of, where the rabbit was hiding. The other heads seemed to think this was a marvellous idea, and began building a pile of bushes in front of the rabbit.
“I really have no idea what it just did.” Twilight glanced at the shadow. “But I think I’m at almost exactly the right time. Wait...” The view spun and narrowed down as all the heads turned to a single direction, with far more focus and far less humour than they had showed with the rabbit. “I think I may have found the memory.”
“You’ll know if the moment of injury begins to colour the prior memories with pain. Be careful.”
Twilight nodded, pointlessly, since Luna couldn’t see her. The hydra’s body was already beginning to feel sore, and one of the necks was beginning to sting, even though the Hydra was completely ignoring it. The heads dipped low to the forest canopy, which began to become even blurrier and fragmentary than usual as the hydra focused upon what it was hunting.
As they got closer, fear began to bleed into the edges, and Twilight again focused on her breathing. Not long to go now, she thought. Or was that thought the hydra’s?
Then she saw them. Six figures, matching the torn and rotting bodies she had seen this morning. Only these were alive, and very much aware they were being hunted. Fully dressed and moving by themselves Twilight knew instantly that Lyra was completely right. There had been pictures in her house of ponies standing strangely, and suddenly Twilight understood what they were really about.
The normally unified hydra began to turn schizophrenic, as the anticipation of the now began to clash with the terror and fear from the future, but Twilight was still able to mostly follow what was going on. The Hydra had never seen these creatures before, and was delighted at the challenge, but still recognized the humans as pack carnivores. The hydra was absolutely certain of that. The way they moved they couldn’t be anything else.
Twilight tries to look closer at what exactly they were holding in their forelimbs, but they hydra didn’t care about such things, and thus they flickered in and out of blurry existence.
The hydra roared in display, but as it expected got little reaction, so it began to stalk forwards. If these prey didn’t know to fear it, they would learn! In return the strange prey creatures began to make strange popping noises and flashing of light. Then the hydra began to register pain. Mild pain at first, like a leg that smashes though a low handing tree branch. But then the pain began to build and, and echo itself. In the same way the light and sound echoed...
The hydra roared again, this time in fury rather than just display! How dare such tiny creatures cause it pain! It would smash them! It would pulverise them! It would crush them! And then wash their remains from its feet in the nearest river.
It charged forwards and ducked something flying towards it. Stupid bird! Then another. Stupid birds! Several more flew past and for some reason burned like dragon breath before one of the heads lost patience and caught one in its teeth.
The world went white and suddenly the hydra howled in agony as something cut along one of its neck. Two other heads turned to look, only to fail to find a neck where a neck should be. So they looked down, and saw the base of the neck, fallen forwards and dragging underneath the...
STOP!
Twilight shivered. It was almost over, and that was the worst of it.
She forced the memories backwards to the start of the charge. She watched again, flickering from head to head to get a good a look at these ‘birds’ as she could. She thought not. Those were definitely not birds, and whatever they were, they were definitely coming from the humans. And though she couldn’t be sure, she thought they were holding their artefacts in a completely different way.
“I think I’ve seen everything. I’m coming out.”
“Very well Twilight. Move your ears and your jaw. Twitch limbs that don't weigh several tons.” Twilight’s eyes popped open and Luna’s voice returned to normal. “Do things with your body that the Hydra... Ah. Welcome back. Can you stand?”
“Yes.” Twilight gathered her limbs underneath her. “Yes I think so.”
She stood, wobbly, and with the sense she was far too low to the ground, but she stood.
“What did you see?”
Twilight paused to gather her thoughts. She would want to write this all down before forgetting anything, or even thinking too much about it. Having literally lived though an example, Twilight was all too aware of how easily memories could be distorted.
“Do you remember that strange wound in the Ursa Major’s rib? I think I know what caused it.”
# # #
Luna had mixed feelings about what had just happened. She was proud of herself for facing the elements of harmony, together, though it had still helped that their necks were bare, and that they still weren’t smiling.
Though she could have possibly controlled herself a little more. She definitely shouldn’t have been so frosty with Rainbow Dash when she reminded her that the pegasus was now loyal to two princesses (plural!) and not just one. But she had faced them, and had given orders, and had behave (mostly) as a Princess of Equestria should do.
In a way it made the next and final part easier. She lay down on her knees next to Fluttershy.
“Would you like some more time?” She asked quietly.
“N, no Princess Luna.” She looked away. “I mean it’s still sad, but it’s not the first time I’ve had to say goodbye to someone.”
Luna nodded. Saying goodbye was something she understood.
“You care for many animals don’t you dear Fluttershy?”
Fluttershy smiled.
“Yes Princess.”
“Many generations of animals.”
Fluttershy’s smile waned slightly.
“Yes Princess. I do know what that’s like.”
Luna nodded again, understanding that Fluttershy wasn’t simply talking about the animals at her home, and for once actually believing the pony who said so.
“Thou are a good and noble mare, and truly a kind one. Both my sister and I, and all of Equestria, and the surrounding nations, all owe thee a debt of gratitude.” Luna quickly silenced Fluttershy’s protests with a feathered wing. “And while We understand that this debt can never be paid fully, and thou would not wish us to try, we hope that thou might accept an occasional boon from time to time.
“And I understand that thou wishes that thy friend gets a decent burial.”
Fluttershy suddenly perked up, and glanced at the hydra, before turning back to Luna.
“You would do that?”
Luna nodded, before closing her eyes and letting her magic flow. On the back below them, a massive block of earth and stone lifted out of the ground to float in the air. The water inside the hole began to flow uphill, leaving the hole dry, even below the water table. A flash of blue later and the hole was lined with rock.
Fluttershy looked on as the Hydra’s body lifted out of the water, and began to curl in upon itself, until the massive creature looked to be asleep, with its mortal wound hidden within the nest of heads between its paws. Wounds vanished as the hydra was lowered into the hole.
Then she gasped as six folded silk blankets appeared on the ground. Then tears began to well up, and she turned to Luna in gratitude as the blankets began to fill with all too small forms. The bodies of the hydra’s unborn children were slowly and gently lowered to lie with their mother, before Luna cut the bottom off the hovering plug of earth and turned into a stone capstone to forever seal the tomb. Then the plug earth began to lower, filling in the hole and spreading to form a shallow grassy hill, upon which rose an elaborately carved tombstone.
In sincere gratitude, for services
to crown and country.
Tears fell from Fluttershy eyes as a circle of six smaller unmarked tombstone rise in a semi circle before it. For one final time Luna uses her magic, and trees began to grow upwards from the mound, even as their roots dig deep and anchored it. They were joined by shrubs and flowers and bushes as Luna hid the mound and grave behind all the beauty of the Everfree Forest, with a heart of thorns to ensure that those who lay within would never be disturbed again.
Luna’s horn darkened again.
“Thank you,” Fluttershy whispered as she looked at the monument Luna had built. “Thank you so much.”
Sometimes Fluttershy had to be strong for her friends, but only sometimes. And none of her friends were here right now. As the young pegasus buried herself against her shoulder, Luna bent her neck to comfort her, and folded a wing over her body as Fluttershy began to cry.