//------------------------------// // A Friend in Need // Story: Lost Memories // by bright_night //------------------------------// Chapter 3 A Friend in Need I quickly learned one of the benefits of being an alicorn. It can save you a lot of bits on real estate. All I need to do is find a nice cloud to live on and turn it into a quaint little home. The only problem is clouds don’t tend to last very long, and thus I am continually having to rebuild my cloud cottage. Rainbow Dash offered to allow me to stay with her on Cloudsdale for a while; however, I am still not sure I trust her. I was just getting ready to lay down for an afternoon nap, when a yellow little pegasus landed on my cloud. “Um, I’m sorry... I hope I wasn’t interrupting anything,” Fluttershy said, “But I need to ask you a question.” “Yes?” I responded. I wasn’t sure what she wanted but I figured it must be important for her to come all the way here. I quickly realised that she wasn’t exactly known for being the most outgoing pony. It was really quite adorable. “Um... do you... like... um... animals?” she continued. “Uh, I guess so. Why?” I asked. This really confused me, why would she come all this way to ask me if I like animals. The night we spent in the library, one of the first things twilight did to try and fix my memories was use the elements of harmony. Before she used them, she explained what they were. She told me that Fluttershy was the element of kindness, perhaps she is just trying to show kindness. “Well... umm... Its... Just...” Fluttershy took a deep breath seemingly to prepare herself to spit out what she had to say, “You’ve been on this cloud for a very long time, without any form of pony interaction, and I figured you were probably lonely, and then I remembered that you don’t remember. Anything. And so I wanted to invite you over to my cottage, to see all my cute little animals.” She flinched when she finished her invitation, as if somepony was about to hit her in the face. She opened one eye to see if I was still there, while cringing with the rest of her face, similar to how many ponies would in a haunted house. How could you say no to a face like that? “I would be happy to go,” I said. Her face lit up brighter than Canterlot during Hearths Warming when I said that. She was so excited that instead of letting me fly by myself, she literally dragged me all the way there. It was rather annoying, but she didn’t seem to notice. When we arrived at her cottage, it was empty, there were no animals in sight. “They are probably hiding. They get nervous around ponies they’ve never, ever, met,” Fluttershy said with her own nervous expression. If they were hiding they were hiding good. We finally found a little white rabbit hiding is a tree. Fluttershy flew up to get him and he was shaking like he was stuck outside without his fur in the dead of winter. He was looking at me with an expression of sheer terror. “What’s wrong Angel?” she asked, then she looked up at me, “He’s never been this afraid of a stranger before.” “Maybe animals just don’t like me,” I said with a disappointed expression. “Oh, no, no, no. That can’t be it, they just need need some time to get to know you.” I looked at Angel. He was more terrified than anything I’ve ever seen (I think). It was as if to him I was some sort of monster, but I’m not a monster. Am I? “I’m not sure thats such a good idea,” I said, with such sadness it could melt the heart of King Sombra himself, “I’m gonna go home.” I started to fly away, but I looked back. Fluttershy looked as hurt as I did. I flew home, on the verge of tears. Am I a monster? I thought. I arrived at home and cried myself to sleep. *** I woke up on my cloud to hear a filly screaming. It sounded like Fluttershy’s scream, except it wasn’t in her typical muted scream(on the rare occasions she did scream). It was the dead of night, probably around midnight. It was completely cloudy so there was barely any light, in fact there was almost no light; however, I could just make out a group of ponies putting fluttershy in a bag. Then they just disappeared. I had to tell Twilight. ~~~ Celestia and Luna were sitting at the dinner table, considering the best way to learn more about Twilights new friend. “It does not make sense,” Celestia said in frustration, “If Bright Night is human then, how did he get here? Where did he come from? and why is he here?” “I do not know sister. Perhaps he is human, but perhaps he is a pony that suffers from a tragic form of memory loss,” Luna said in reply. “Perhaps,” Celestia sighed. Just then a letter arrived on a the table in between the princesses. Luna picked it up and opened it. The letter was from Twilight Sparkle. As soon as Princess Luna finished it, she gasped as her face turned into sheer terror. “We have a bigger issue on our hooves right now,” She said, “Fluttershy has been ponyknapped.” ~~~ “She’s been what?!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed. “She’s been ponyknapped,” Twilight responded. As soon as I arrived at the library. I tried telling Twilight what I saw, but I was panicking so much it was impossible to speak. It took Twi a good half hour to get the words out of my mouth and when she did, I was barely understandable. As soon as she pieced what I had said together, she immediately messaged Princess Celestia, and gathered the rest of the mane six. “Why, when I get my hooves on those ponies, well I’ll-” “Applejack!” Twilight interrupted her, “We can’t rush into this. It will end up doing more harm than good.” “But we can’t just let them do whatever it is they are doing to poor Fluttershy,” Rarity imputed. I was starting to get frustrated. All this time we were spending arguing was time we could be forming a plan to save Fluttershy. I finally got fed up! “Enough!” I yelled, “Twilight is right. We cannot afford to rush into this. It could cost us our lives or Fluttershy’s. We do need a plan.” Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and Rarity all looked upset that they thought I was taking Twilights side. “Thank you,” Twilight said, “I’m glad somepony agrees with me.” “Hold on, you didn’t let me finish,” I replied, “We need to think through this logically, but Rarity is right. We can’t let them keep doing whatever it is they are doing or going to do. We need a plan.” I went over to the nearby desk and used my magic to grab a piece of paper and a quill. “So,” I said, “Anypony have an idea?” ~~~ Fluttershy was bagged, so she couldn't see anything; however, she knew she had been teleported. She could feel it. She felt herself disappear from the soft grass to a hard floor. Her wings hurt. They along with her legs were bound with rope. She could hear voices from outside the bag. They were muted so she had a hard time making anything out of them but she could get a general idea of what they were saying. “You sure this is the pony?” One of the ponies asked. “Not exactly,” another voice responded, “She’s one of his friends.” His... Friends... She thought, Could they be talking about Bright Night? The thought concerned her, What could they want with Bright Night? “This may be better,” the first pony said, “We can use her as bait. And she could possibly provide us with useful information.” “Um, excuse me,” Fluttershy interrupted, “Can you unbag me please? Um, that is, if you don’t mind?” Fluttershy had tears in her eyes. She was terrified. One moment she was checking on the animals before she went to bed for the night, the next she was trapped here, being held captive by some unknown ponies. “Ah you’re awake,” The first pony responded. The pony removed the bag; however, he left her hooves and wings tied up. He could see tears welling in her eyes, he looked away to avoid weakening himself. “Th- thank you,” Fluttershy said, beginning to sob. “Your welcome,” the First pony replied, “My name is Starlight” The name fit him. He was a pegasus pony with a dark blue coat, and his mane and tail were multiple shades of yellow. For a cutiemark he had a shooting star. “I’m Flutter-” She began, before the second pony interrupted her. “I know very well who you are,” the second pony said. The second pony Fluttershy recognised immediately after she said that. The second pony was a light blue pegasus with a white mane and tail. The only reason Fluttershy did not recognise the second earlier was because she did not have her signature pointed hat with stars on it. “Trixie!” Fluttershy growled.