//------------------------------//
// Fluttershy's and Bubble Berry's Salvation 
// Story: The Tyranny of Princess Celestia 
// by AkemiTheSunbro 
//------------------------------//

		"You know," Celestia offered. "I can overlook the little spying incident as long as you fight for me with no questions asked..."
"No." Berry quickly answered. "I WILL NOT serve a tyrant. If you had stayed to benevolent ruler that you were, sure, why not. But not now. Not now, and not ever."
Celestia frowned. "Then, you will die." 
Her horn glowed as she cast some sort of spell on Berry and Fluttershy. 
But nothing seemed to happen. "What was that? You didn't do anything!" Berry exclaimed, then coughed twice.
"Did I?" Celestia smirked. "You remember that sickness that had swept over that one foreign land, correct? The one that had the potential to kill a pony within a week?"
"Yeah, so?" Berry argued. He coughed some more. Fluttershy had also started coughing.
"Must I really spell this out for you?" Celestia asked, then sighed. "I amplified it one hundred times over." Berry and Fluttershy gasped and threw very bad coughing fits. "You have approximately ten minutes to live." The princess faded back into the darkness.
"Oh no..." Berry trembled and coughed. He continued in between his coughs. "This is bad! If we don't do something, we're going to die! Worst of all, we're going to die without a fight!" He kept staggering through the tunnel.
Fluttershy tried to speak through her coughing. "Hold on... I just gotta... lie down..."
"No!" Berry started breathing heavily as he staggered back to Fluttershy. "We... we can't... we have to keep moving... we have..." 
Then... he collapsed next to Fluttershy.
___________________________________________________________

Approximately twenty minutes later, long after the poisoning should have killed the two friends, Berry spoke, "Fluttershy... I'm sorry..."
"For what?" The shy mare asked
He replied. "For dragging you into this... Now, we're laying here, dying."
"No. I chose to believe you... and you were completely right... Wait..." Fluttershy noticed, "You're not coughing anymore!" She gasped. "I'm not coughing either!" She sat up.
"What?" Berry also sat up. "This doesn't make sense! Of course, I don't usually make sense myself, but this... this SHOULDN'T be happening! We should have been dead like ten minutes ago!"
"But... how do you know how much time has passed?" Fluttershy asked.
Berry quickly answered. "I'm Pinkie Pie. Don't question me. A better question would be, that god that the voice spoke of, did he save us? I mean, the voice said something about saving us once, but did he do it again? I mean, with that sickness... we should be dead!"
"Now, that you mention it..." Fluttershy thought. "I have a strange feeling, like someone is with us, but it's not dangerous... sort of like a warmth..."
Berry mumbled, "Hmm... I have that feeling as well... I think that that being saved us and is keeping us alive..."



They began walking again. Fluttershy had begun singing. "We're all alone, lost in this abyss... We're crawling in the dark... And I wonder where You are... Are You far? Will You come to our rescue? Are we left to die? But... You saved us, so I can’t give up on You..."
Berry interrupted in song. "I feel You keeping us alive. You are our salvation!"
Fluttershy added, "I can feel You here! Please! Hold us, heal us, keep near us!
"Our hearts will burn for You..." Berry sang. "It’s all we can do..."
Berry sang, "Touch you,"
Fluttershy added,"Taste you,"
Berry continued, "Feel you,"
Fluttershy concluded, "Need you..."
Berry sang solo. "We'll give it all just to find you."
Fluttershy sang solo this time, "Hold us, heal us, we will find you!"
Berry had begun singing solo again, "You're keeping us alive! You are our salvation!"
They sang together now. "Touch you, taste you, feel you here! Our love will never die! You are our salvation! Hold us, heal us, keep near us! Our hearts will burn for you! It’s all we can do..."
As they finished singing, they saw the light at the end of the tunnel and Fluttershy remarked, "Wow. It doesn't seem that scary when you have a friend." She smiled. "...The singing helped too."
"Yeah, I guess your right." Berry commented. "Now, let's get out of here!"
He ran full speed towards the light. Fluttershy had to run while using her wings in order to maintain speed with him. But as they reached the exit lit by moonlight, they saw a horrible sight.
Applejack had collapsed at the exit, badly wounded.