//------------------------------// // Ch. 16- Fear and Loving Kindness in Equestria/Army of One // Story: Friendship is Magic Redux // by paiohelohelo //------------------------------// “…And then, once Pinkie and Rarity were saved, whoosh...” Rainbow Dash added her own sound effects as she rolled around in the sky, the other five walking along under her at the opening of The Everfree Rainforest, “me and Fluttershy loop-de-loop around and WHAM! Caught you right in the nick of time!!!” “…Goodness…” Fluttershy blanched with shock; Pinkie Pie happily clapped her hands and shouted “yaaay!”, bouncing up and down. Twilight sighed. True, she was very glad that they were all still alive, but Rainbow Dash had just told that story for the sixteenth time in a row as they had entered the forest- in stunning HD narrative, no less. “Yes, Rainbow I was there, if you’d be so kind as to remember that part of the story, for once,” she replied tiredly, again. “I’m very, very grateful too, believe me, but I would probably be even more grateful about it if I had time to, you know, process the event… on my own… without all of your sound effects being constantly added into the background…” Applejack rolled her eyes and muttered something to herself that sounded suspiciously like “now that’s fer damn sure”; Rarity just sighed again and continued applying more concealer on her face from a plastic pen which, amazingly, she had somehow managed to store somewhere on her skintight white armor. Rainbow Dash just laughed as she continued zipping happily through the air with her metallic wings; she had begun to master them quite well, as if they were just a part of any other aircraft. “Pssst, are you kidding me? Sound effects make everything waaay more bitchin’, and that goes for life in general too- I mean, come on, Twilight, you should know that already, geez- you’re a scientist. Seriously, my sound effects make that story, like, at least 20% cool-“ WHAM!!! A sound effect suddenly reverberated throughout the forest. The girls all screamed in shock as something, something BIG, had come shooting out of the trees to their right and tackled Rainbow Dash straight out of the sky and onto the ground. Rainbow Dash was shouting loudly in fear and surprise as a gigantic creature pinned her down, roaring, with its large, muscular claws; it resembled an oversized lion with stretched, bat- like ears, two enormous, webbed wings and a long, sinister- looking scorpion’s tail. It roared again in Rainbow Dash’s face as she closed her helmet in order to avoid being showered with its hot saliva. “RAINBOW DASH!!!” Pinkie Pie screamed out as they all closed their helmets as well; she raised her Party Cannon and prepared to shoot at the beast. “HOLD YER FIRE, PINKIE!!!” Applejack ordered, worried that Rainbow would be caught in the blast. Fluttershy dropped her rifle on the forest floor, standing there frozen in terror. It’s a real manticore, she thought to herself as she struggled to breathe, a huge, gigantic, terrifying, enormous, teeth-gnashing, sharp- tail having, wing-wearing, spit… um, spitting, could- eat- a- person- in- one- bite, totally all grown-up MANTICORE… “HOLD, ON!!!” Applejack ran towards the manticore to save Rainbow Dash. The mighty beast lunged with its jaws at the Pegasus’s head, but she turned quickly to the side to avoid it; its sharp fangs grabbed a hold of one of her wings instead and began biting hard down on it, crushing and distorting its metallic feathers with a groan. “Awwww… SHIT,” Rainbow Dash exclaimed, more out of annoyance than anything else. Applejack reached the creature just as it was being distracted with destroying Dash’s wing and grabbed a hold of its fur in one hand, her rifle in the other. She used her grip on its side to hoist herself up onto its top, carefully perching herself as she straddled its back and aimed her rifle down at its head. “Yee- hah!” she exclaimed right before she pressed the trigger, her legs tightly gripping around the creature’s flanks. “Say yer prayers, ya big, ugly motherfu- WOAH!” The manticore, sensing her presence up on its back, suddenly bucked her off hard, and she went flying away back towards the group. “Aaaaaallllll yooOOUUUUurs, paaaardnerrrrr,” Rarity heard her say as she ran past the flying cowgirl to try her hand at defeating the creature. Pinkie Pie and Twilight watched with horror, fingering their weapons and not knowing what to do. Fluttershy just continued to stand there, watching the monster as it fought her friends. Did she know what to do? “Take this, you RUFFIAN!!!” Rarity shouted as she charged at it with her Light Foil extended, preparing to aim a killing blow to its head. Without any warning at all, she felt a sudden blow smack against her side and she went flying towards a tree, slamming into it hard. “Ohhhhh,” she grumbled, “My head…” The manticore whipped back its tail that it had just used to strike her before it turned back to Rainbow Dash and started to rip her other wing off. “Jesus Christ- why the wings, WHY ALWAYS WITH THE WINGS?!” she exclaimed mournfully. Pinkie and Twilight decided that they had enough of just standing around. They quickly glanced at each other and both nodded, raising their weapons and aiming as high on the manticore’s body as possible to avoid hitting Rainbow Dash. Pinkie pressed down on her trigger, and her barrel began to glow dangerously… “WAAAAAIIIIIIIIT!!!!” She pulled her finger off of her trigger immediately as Fluttershy screamed out, throwing her hands out in front of the two. They both stared at her in shock, lowering their weapons. Fluttershy, breathing hard, lowered her hands when she found that they had actually listened to her; even the manticore was now paying attention, still pinning down Rainbow Dash who was, incredibly, still moaning and griping about the loss of her wings. Fluttershy slowly turned around to face the beast, shuttering her helmet open and shaking her hair free, and stared straight at it. It growled ferociously at her as she locked eyes with it, moving from on top of Rainbow Dash to pace towards her, slowly. “Fluttershy!” Twilight called out to her as she started to walk forward to meet it. “Shhhh…” Fluttershy responded without ever taking her gaze off of the animal’s own; curiously, her deep, bluish- green eyes seemed to be darkening around the irises until they were almost turning pitch black. “…It’s ok, now, Twilight, it’ll all be alright…” The manticore roared at her, a fierce, dangerous look on its face; Fluttershy’s own face remained calm and relaxed, serene even. “Shhhh…. It’s ok, Mr. Manticore… It’s all alright…” Slowly, Fluttershy began to feel something open up deep within herself, almost as if her own feelings of calm and reassurance were starting to flow through the air and towards the perturbed beast; in return, Fluttershy felt the animal’s own emotion suddenly flooding right into her heart, and she began to really feel its presence for the first time. She continued to offer soothing words as she approached, smiling, her hand raised in the air; the manticore seemed almost transfixed in her gaze, and it eventually started to calm down, too, though it still let off a low growl every so often. You. Fluttershy began to understand its feelings, almost as if it were speaking directly to her, though it only continued growling. You. Will not hurt us. Again. “Shhhh…” she cooed, “it’s all alright… nobody’s going to hurt you, don’t be afraid…” “Well, I got half a mind ta shoot the damn thing,” Applejack groaned as she joined Pinkie and Twilight in watching this bizarre little circus act as it played out right in front of them. Rarity joined them as well, groaning and cursing hard in quite an unlady- like manner. The manticore stared at Fluttershy with its big, yellow eyes and softly growled again. I. Will not let you hurt. My family. “Nobody’s here to hurt you, Mr. Manticore… this is all just one, big misunderstanding,” Fluttershy gently explained. She stood right in front of the beast, staring at it eye to eye. The manticore’s anxious, yellow gaze met with her own pitch black eyes, eyes that were like two black holes irresistibly drawing the animal’s attention and unusually developed thoughts into them. Fluttershy looked down and noticed for the first time that the animal had been bleeding from its paw. She started to reach her hand out towards it, but gasped when she realized what she was doing; her eyes began to lighten up again, and the manticore growled at her a little louder, unsure of her true intentions. Steadying her breath, Fluttershy allowed her eyes to darken again, and she reached back out, slowly, towards the manticore’s matted, bloody fur and began to stroke its paw gingerly. She giggled a little, and then looked up towards the creature’s eyes with her own blackened irises. “Shhh... It's okay,” she reassured it with gentle cooing, stroking its fur. “Oh, you poor, poor little baby…” Rainbow Dash now joined the others as they looked on. Her helmet opened up and she frowned. "Little? Take a look at what it did to my poor little fucking wings- !” Twilight shushed her loudly, her eyes still locked on the incredible feat of manticore whispering happening right before them all. Fluttershy slowly reached to her side and opened up the small Equestrian Medical Kit that she had with her. The manticore growled at her, still unsure of her intentions. She plucked out one of the thin, silver tubes within it and gently took the animal’s paw, looking up at it reassuringly with her big, black eyes. “Now, hold still, Mr. Manticore…” she advised as she prepared the tube, “this might hurt for just a second…” She pressed one end of the tube and the other end sprayed a golden liquid onto the animal’s paw. Immediately, the bloody wound started to close up and scab over. The animal roared out in pain, snatching up the healer and bringing her to its wide, open jaws. “FLUTTERSHY!!!” the girls screamed out to her and ran forward, weapons raised. They stopped when they realized that the manticore was now beginning to lick her enthusiastically in the face instead of mauling her, and they all gasped in shock. Fluttershy was laughing and giggling, the manticore purring as it happily showed her affection and gratitude for healing its wound. “Awww you're just a little ol' baby kitty, aren't you?” Fluttershy relaxed, her previous fear of animals now forever banished, “Yes you are, oh, yes you are…” She continued to giggle without fear as the girls all sighed and lowered their weapons. You. Make my pain go away. The manticore thanked her. You are pretty. You smell nice. I’m licking you in the face. Because I love you. “Oh, don’t mention it, Mr. Manticore, it was nothing, really…” Fluttershy chuckled merrily as the animal put her down, purring at her and nuzzling her face. She rubbed her hands over its soft, furry mane. “Now, how did you even get that big ol' boo- boo in the first place, I wonder?” The manticore growled softly. The demons. Came back. Won’t let them hurt. My Family. Again. Tried to scare them. Away. They threw lightning. I ran. Forest exploded. I bled. “The demons with lightning?” Fluttershy cocked her head quizzically. “The Shadowbolts?” The creature growled louder and almost appeared to nod to her. The demons lived. Long before. Looked like you. They killed themselves. Brought lightning and death. Insanity. And fire. Many of us. Killed. Because of them. Now the demons came back. Worse. Now I’m scared. The last ones. My family. Will Die. The other one, He growled at Rainbow Dash, She looks like a dirty. Filthy. Disgusting. DEMON. Fluttershy gasped disapprovingly. “Mr. Manticore, such language!” “Does anybody else hear Fluttershy talking to herself?” Rainbow Dash asked, frowning at the little interaction going on in front of her. The others all nodded in agreement and confusion. The manticore lowered its head in shame. I’m sorry. Pretty one. Sorry. Fluttershy clucked her tongue and petted its great big head. “It’s ok, Mr. Manticore… we’re actually here to stop the Shadowbolts, too, and, um… fight them. We don’t want them to hurt anybody else, either,” The creature looked up at her, its eyes widening. You. Will help. Us? Fluttershy smiled and nodded, and the manticore nuzzled her gently. Then it turned around and started to walk through the rainforest. It stopped and then turned back, beckoning her to come with it. Come. Will show you. You will avoid them. Demons who soar. Throw lightning. Fluttershy gasped at it and nodded sagely. She turned back to the others who had been waiting, patiently but perplexed, as she had communed with the creature. They laughed hard and congratulated her on her mighty manticore taming performance, hugging her and patting her on the back in gratitude for her efforts as well as in relief that she was still unharmed. “Fluttershy, are you ok?” Twilight gasped, staring into her coal black eyes. “Hm? Oh yes, Twilight, thank you for asking,” she replied. “Y’all have a nice chat, now?” Applejack asked sarcastically, releasing her from a hug. “Yes, Applejack, yes we did, and, um…” Fluttershy answered. “…um, I think he wants us to follow him.” Rainbow Dash groaned in disbelief. “You have got to be kidding me,” “No, I think he wants to show us the way…” Fluttershy explained. “…The way to avoid anymore Shadowbolts, and… I think I can steer him towards Harmonics.” The girls’ eyes all widened in shock, and they looked at each other. They started to whoop it up again and congratulate Fluttershy on the very fortunate turn of events; she just calmly smiled as they started to walk in line behind the manticore. When they were on its tail the beast growled lightly and then continued forward, leading them through the dense rainforest. Twilight just continued to stare at Fluttershy in amazement for her bravery and almost supernatural skill in dealing with the wild creature. After a while, she walked up to approach Fluttershy, whose darkened eyes were still staring at the beast, her hair sticking up with dried saliva in an almost There’s Something About Mary sort of way. “Fluttershy?” Twilight began to ask her. “Hm?” she replied calmly. “Um, how did you know that the manticore could lead us to Harmonics without running into any more Shadowbolt patrols?” Fluttershy smiled back at her; Twilight found her new eye color to be both a little unsettling and a little comforting at the same time. “Oh, I didn’t, not really, anyway… sometimes, Twilight, I guess we all just need to be shown a little kindness... At least, that’s what I really, truly believe,” Twilight felt spellbound by both Fluttershy’s blackened gaze and her wise words. She smiled back at her, and then continued walking along the deep, dark rainforest, thinking. ******************************************************************************************** As the sun began to fall precipitously in the sky, the ragtag six marched behind the manticore; every so often, Fluttershy would, with Applejack’s help and a map, gently steer the lumbering beast towards Harmonics. Once in a while, the manticore would suddenly tense up, and Fluttershy would command the whole group to lie down next to it amongst the dense, green bush. As soon as they did, they would look up in trepidation as a massive cloud of Shadowbolt warriors passed overhead, their glowing eyes scanning the forest floor below, almost as if they were searching for them. After each group of Shadowbolts finally passed, the girls and their trusty manticore would relax, sighing a breath in relief, and continue on their way towards their destination. Soon, it became early dusk as the manticore led them for countless miles through the rather featureless terrain of the Everfree Rainforest until they happened upon an enormous, ancient Equestrian canal system that had run dry many, many ages ago, carved right between two jutting cliffs that reached high into the darkening sky above, their tops bare of any vegetation and totally exposed to the roaming Shadowbolt warriors. Instead of water, the enormous ditch- like stone feature before them was filled with thousands upon thousands of black metallic spheres that were stuck along its steep sides, stacked up on top of one another and lined up very neatly in rows. The manticore growled and started to back away from the dried up canal. No, the creature told Fluttershy, and she began to feel its fear transferring into her heart, I cannot go. This is the way. You want to go. No other. But little demons. Sleep here. You should not go. Pretty one. Dangerous. Fluttershy pet his flank, smiling. “If this is the way, then we must go, Mr. Manticore. I guess… um, I guess this is where we have to say goodbye,” The manticore looked deep into her eyes, almost as if it were pleading with her. No. No, pretty one. Don’t go. Dangerous. “We have to stop the Shadowbolts, and if this is the only way…” Fluttershy looked again at the metal- lined canal before she smiled again, petting the manticore one last time. “Goodbye, Mr. Manticore. Thank you for all your help… I won’t forget you, my little ol' baby kitty,” The great, now gentle beast nuzzled her affectionately one last time as it realized her will was unwavering. Goodbye. Pretty one. Who smells nice. I still love you. When they had both said farewell, the manticore turned back around to re- enter the Everfree Rainforest. It looked back one last time at Fluttershy, who smiled gently and waved happily at it. The great, big beast purred at her, and then quickly disappeared into the overgrowth. As soon as it was gone, Fluttershy’s eyes lightened back to their original color, and she sighed. “Ok, beastmaster, now what?” Rainbow Dash asked as she scanned the canal. Fluttershy gulped, now back to her normal, anxious self again. Now, uh… we go through there.” Twilight stared, frowning, at the black metal objects lined along the walls. “I don’t know Fluttershy… those look an awful lot like mines to me… perhaps some sort of ancient Equestrian weapons system left over from The Civil War,” Fluttershy squealed when she realized what Twilight was explaining. “But… but the manticore said that they were, um… sleeping… he said that this was, um, the only way…” Twilight just shook her head. “Well, as much as I hate ta agree with that big ol’, smelly jungle cat, he’s right,” Applejack analyzed the situation, scanning the cliffs on either side of the canal, “There’s no way we can go around this thing, not unless y’all wanna risk another firefight up there,” The girls all looked at each other and sighed. Fluttershy squeaked in fear. Suddenly, Rarity got an idea. She turned to Pinkie Pie. “Pinkie, darling, can you upload an original Equestrian map of this area on my eggo?” Pinkie Pie pressed her EGO, smiling. “Sure thing! I think I may have a pretty old one in store,” Rarity’s own device beeped, and she opened up a large, static- filled map of the canal area that they were now in. It wasn’t very detailed, neither visually nor written out in Equestrian, and only vaguely made any indication that a canal even existed where they were standing. Rarity bit her tongue as she concentrated, trying to decipher the archaic script before her and glean as much information as she could. “Darling,” she turned back to Pinkie Pie, “Does ‘Nerve Center’ mean anything to you? In the context of Equestrian technology,” Pinkie grinned. “Sure does! A Nerve Center would be the nexus of any kind of computer network that the Equestrians set up, where they could control whatever went on inside it all at once!” Rarity nodded. “There’s one located on this map, dear, not too faraway… I believe that this canal was built long before The Civil War… now, pardon me if I’m mistaken, darling, but couldn’t you maybe disable those mines from there?” Pinkie thought seriously for a minute before her face reverted back to its perennial smile. “Don’t know! But I can sure try!!!” “Do you need any of us to come with you?” Twilight asked. “Nah, I’ll be fine!” Pinkie checked her EGO for the waypoint to the Nerve Center that Rarity had just sent her. “It’s just right on top of this cliff here next to the canal. Maybe you could all watch my back, though, in case anymore of those black snooties come flying around?” “Sure thing, Pinkie Pie,” Applejack nodded, “We got yer back from down here.” “Thanks, girls!” Pinkie handed Rainbow Dash her weapon in order to lighten her load and winked as she started off down towards the dessicated waterway. “Be back in a jiffy! I’m goin’ ROCK CLIMBIN’!” ******************************************************************************************** After a while, Pinkie Pie finally pulled herself up to the top of the cliff. Even taking into account the strength endowed by her PALADIN, the kooky farm girl from rural Pennsylvania had a pretty remarkable talent for climbing up large rocky formations with ease. Pinkie shuttered her helmet and removed her skullcap, wiping the sweat from her brow and then dusting her hands off. “Whew!” she breathed hard, talking to nobody in particular, “Man, I really should’ve eaten those Chips Ahoy when I had the chance!” “Pinkie Pie,” Twilight’s voice suddenly spoke out from her EGO. “Yes, Twilight?” she answered. “Is everything ok?” “Yup! I can see the Nerve Center,” Pinkie answered as she scanned the flat, bare, rocky cliff top and found a large, round metal hemisphere a few hundred feet away. “Best of all- no Shadowbolts!” “Ok, Pinkie, let me know when you get there,” “Roger- Dodger!” Pinkie quickly made her way towards the Nerve Center, wary of any Shadowbolts in the sky. She made it to the ancient structure, undisturbed, and manipulated its door open with her EGO. Coughing from all the dust spewing forth from inside, she entered as the interior lit up to reveal a derelict emitter console. Pinkie Pie immediately began to activate it. “Ok, I’m here, Twilight! Attempting to reprogram the mines now!” she informed her as she started working. Pinkie immediately found the mine network and began attempting to hack into it to shut it off. She input a large number of lines of advanced computer code into the console, but when she finished writing the console just beeped angrily at her; Pinkie frowned, clucking her tongue. “How’s it going up there, Pinkie Pie?” Twilight asked her after a few minutes. “No dice, Twilight,” Pinkie shook her head as she spoke into her EGO, “the Nerve Center doesn’t seem to be able to turn off the mines, and I can’t seem to be able to hack my way into their network to tell them to stop,” In the ancient canal below the Nerve Center, Twilight sighed. The others began to look worriedly at each other. “Can you try again?” she asked Pinkie through her own EGO. “Okey- dokey- lokey,” Pinkie Pie replied nervously and quietly as she attempted to reprogram the mines again. And again. And then again still. Each time, each different way that she attempted it, the three emitter displays from the console all inevitably just spat back a buzzing sound and flashing lights. Pinkie Pie shook her head again. “Sorry, Twilight,” she sighed heavily, no longer smiling. “They won’t turn off by my command…” In the canal, Twilight sighed right back and lowered her head. “Well, if Pinkie can’t turn those mines off, then we’ll just have to go on,” Applejack got up, impatiently, and picked up a large rock from the ground. “Who knows, maybe they’re not even active anymore, anyway… find some cover, girls,” She threw it right between the walls of mines on either side, the girls bracing for some sort of explosion. To their collective relief, the rock simply hit the ground between the mines without causing any sort of reaction from them whatsoever. Pinkie Pie sighed as she stood in the Nerve Center. “Oh, goodie…” “Alright, girls, let’s get a move on,” Applejack ordered as she started to enter the minefield with the others following right behind her. “If those things find us down here it’s gonna be hell ta pay… Pinkie Pie, we’ll meet ya on the other side, sugarcube,” “Okey- dokey- lokey,” Pinkie said from the console, listening as the girls cautiously made their way through the mined canal. Fluttershy gulped nervously as she walked, staring up at the rows upon rows of black Equestrian weapons that almost seemed to be staring right back down at them. They remained undisturbed as the five continued on their way towards Harmonics. Pinkie was about to turn around towards the door and leave when she saw something, three different things to be exact. The three emitter displays continued to spit out massive amounts of computer data that streamed by every second, data that would be all but unintelligible to anyone else besides the spunky little programmer. In a split second, Pinkie’s big, blue eyes caught three different fragments of data as they each flashed by on separate holograms; in another split second her mind put together the fragments and interpreted their meaning; her body suddenly started to twitch and jerk, and she gasped in horror. “Oh no-!” she whispered to herself before abruptly bringing her EGO to her face, “Oh no, oh no- GIRLS, STOP!!!” Just as Applejack heard Pinkie’s sudden, frantic communication, her right foot stuck out to take another step in front of her; a bright blue line of light suddenly appeared between her foot and a mine on the wall, a loud beeping sound reverberating throughout the entire canal. Applejack froze along with all the others, who gasped and widened their eyes in fear. “Shit… I think I stepped in something…” Applejack muttered with remorse as they all stared towards the activated mine. The object started to hum with energy as it came to life; a hole opened up on its side and a tiny light gun popped out in a manner similar to the siege machines attacking Canterlot. The weapon fully extended and began to swivel down towards the group. Rarity gasped in terror as Rainbow Dash raised Pinkie’s Party Cannon at it without fully thinking about her action first. “Little bastard!- I got it- !” At the Nerve Center, Pinkie Pie gave a little shudder again. “DASHIE- NO-!!!” she cried out into her EGO. It was too late. Rainbow Dash unleashed a rather large particle beam at the mine and it exploded, leaving behind a large, smoking crater. When the mine had been eliminated, the others that were still active in its vicinity all began to beep and activate as well, extending their guns outwards; when these others had been awakened, more and more mines surrounding them began to come to, as their horrendous awakening began to spread along the canal walls like some sort of enormous wave of death. “Heh, heh…” Rainbow Dash started to sweat as her heart raced. “…Sorry 'bout that.” “RUUUUUNNNNN!!!!” Applejack yelled as the five of them stuck right in the center of the canal all screamed and began to run towards the end; the mine drones all began powering their weapons and firing streams of light bolts at them, and Applejack led the group in destroying as many as they could as they sprinted down what was essentially an extremely deadly, automated gauntlet. Pinkie Pie gasped and covered her mouth with both hands as her EGO began to emit battle sounds. “Oh, no… girls…” Applejack ran full speed down the canal, trying to destroy as many mines as she could before they had a chance to fire back at her; more and more mines started to spring to life, however, and soon she and the others began to take light bolt hits on their armor as the drones began to overwhelm them. They all began to scream in pain as their PALADINs fizzled and attempted to absorb the brunt of the lethal energy. “AAAAHHHH! Dammit!” Rainbow Dash shouted as a bolt seared into her side. Rarity screamed as she was hit as well. Fluttershy cried out as two bolt hit her in the back and she stumbled. “GIT’ER UP- FUCK!! KEEP MOVIN’, KEEP MOVIN’- AARRGGHHH!- KEEP MOVIN’!!!” Applejack yelled out as she was hit again and again. Rainbow Dash grabbed Fluttershy and, both of them hollering in pain as they were hit, began to drag her forward. “AAHHH!” Twilight screamed in agony as a bolt hit her in the chest; she continued to fire her weapon as she ran, even as it began to emit a warning sound. “AAAAHHHH!- APPLEJACK, MY RIFLE’S OVERHEATING- AAAAAHHHHH!!!” “SHIT, MINE TOO- FUUUUUUUCK!!!” “SWITCH TO SINGLE SHOTS- ARRGGHHH!!!- CONSERVE AMMUNITI- ARRRGGHHHH- MOTHERFUCKER!!!!” Rarity's PALADIN began to warn her, through her EGO, of its failing integrity. “AAAAHHHHH!- WE’RE NOT GOING TO MAKE IT- AAAAHHHH!!!!” At the Nerve Center, Pinkie Pie collapsed into a heap on top of the console, shuddering and gasping in tears as she listened to her friends scream in pain below. They were all about to die, horribly, and there wasn’t a single thing she could do to help them; she could only stand there and listen to their final, grisly moments, just like she had done at her console at IT during the initial battle at Canterlot… “My poor friends…” she sobbed uncontrollably, “oh, my poor, poor friends…” Pinkie Pie broke down, emotionally and mentally, as the five below continued to scream out from their torture and imminent death and the situation grew worse and worse. Pinkie’s mind raced with self- loathing and taunting before it suddenly took her back to a flash of a memory from her childhood, back on the family farm where she grew up. Suddenly, Pinkie Pie was six years old, snuggled tightly against her Granny Pinkie whom she was named after, the both of them sitting on her bed at night after little Pinkie had awoken, screaming, from a nightmare. Her two sisters slept peacefully in a bunk bed nearby, their dreaming still undisturbed. Granny Pie just stroked her hair, which was still straight and flat before she would, many years later, perm it in order to make it look more “festive”; Her grandmother was smiling down reassuringly at her. “Now, Pinkie, remember what we talked about last night?” she asked gently, “About facin’ your fears?” Little Pinkie just sniffed and hugged her grandmother even tighter. “I can’t, granny, I just can’t…” The elderly Pennsylvania Dutch woman just chuckled and hugged her granddaughter and namesake to comfort her. “Pinkamena Diane Pie, the world’s a mighty scary place, always has been n’ always will be… now, you’ll never go anywhere if you don’t learn to face yer fears, sweetheart… remember, little one, ‘If ever you find the world scary n' wrong, then open yer heart up n’ let out a song’…” Pinkie’s entire body started to twitch and jerk as Granny Pinkie’s words reverberated throughout her entire being; she gasped as an entirely different plan began to crystallize in her newly clarified mind. She immediately began inputting massively complicated lines of new programming into the console as she started to sing a song out loud, making the words up as she went along: “When I was a little filly and the sun was going doooooowwwwn...” Twilight yelped as she tried with all her might to continue running; another bolt had hit her on the shoulder as Pinkie Pie’s shrill little voice began to sing out from her EGO. “Good Lord-“ she muttered in a daze from all the pain and light bolts that threatened to overwhelm her and her PALADIN, “-tell me she’s not-“ “The darkness and the shadows, they would always make me frooooowwwn...” “She is-“ Rarity breathed hard, almost passing out, before she was hit again and she screamed out. Pinkie Pie continued hacking the drones; eventually, one jerked with her new directives and suddenly turned to its comrade next to it, firing upon and destroying it. Pinkie Pie began to smile again, widely. “I'd hide under my pillow, From what I thought I saw, But Granny Pie said that wasn't the way, To deal with fears at aaaaaallllll!!!” Rainbow Dash screamed in pain as she was hit by a drone and then immediately destroyed it; she frowned at her EGO. “The fuck-?” “She said: "Piiiinkie, you gotta stand up taaaallll! Learn to face your feeeeaaars! Yoouuu'll see that they can't hurt you Just laugh to make them disappeeeeaaar!!!" She started laughing pointedly as she pressed her finger down on the console. “Ha!” BOOM. “Ha!” BOOM. “HA!!!” CUE EPIC EXPLOSIONS. The five girls below just turned to each other and gasped as the drones stopped firing at the group and suddenly began turning on themselves. “SOOOOOO- giggle at the ghoooostlyyyy!!!” Fluttershy began to giggle nervously as she ran through the self- destructing drones. “Guffaw at the groooosssssly!!!” Rainbow Dash guffawed heartily as she ran next to her. “Crack up at the creeeepppy!!!” Rarity cracked up with immense relief as she sprinted down the canal. “Whoop it up with the weeeeppppy!!!” Applejack complied and whooped with joy as she was showered with drone debris. “Chortle at the koooookkkky!!!” Twilight chortled out loud when she realized that they were no longer in any danger anymore, all thanks to one very silly little computer programmer. "Snortle at the spoooookkkky!!!” The girls were now literally skipping along together, laughing hard at the enormous destruction occurring all around them. “And tell that big, dumb, scary face to take a hike and leave you alone, and if he thinks he can scare you then he's got another thing coming and the very idea of such a thing just makes you wanna...” Pinkie Pie let out an incredibly girly, hearty giggle as she wiped the tears from her eyes. She pushed her finger down on the console one, last time and then began to spin around the Nerve Center, her arms spread out in complete joy and her lungs belting out her final note: “LAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!” she sung out happily as every single active drone in the canal was obliterated with mechanical precision, all at once, lining the walls with a spectacular brilliant blue light show and fiery explosions. ******************************************************************************************** Smiling, Pinkie Pie made her way down the cliff side towards her exhausted friends sitting in the midst of all her gloriously glorious, extremely wanton destruction. When they saw her, the five of them jumped up and clapped their hands, whooping and hollering. “GIRLS!!!” Pinkie cried out as she ran up to hug all of them. “Pinkie Pie!” Twilight grasped her tightly, grinning proudly, “that was just… amazing!!!” “Go, Pinkie!” Rainbow Dash winked as she softly and playfully punched her in the arm. “Good on ya, Pinkie Pie,” Applejack smiled and hugged her in gratitude. “Oh, girls…” Pinkie Pie just giggled happily, standing there and waving her little hand at them, “If ever you find the world scary and wrong, then open your heart up and let out a song!!!”