Twilight's Transmutation

by Epicburst

Chapter 8

Applejack trudged through town, utterly exhausted. As she walked, she realized she was receiving sideways glances, and worried expressions. Was there something on her face? Was Spike doing something funny? Applejack didn't know or care, so she decided to pick up the pace.

As they neared Sweet Apple Acres, she could hear something behind her, she turned and saw a figure looming over her. "Cake?" Asked the figure, being particularly persistent on blocking her path. "You want cake?" Applejack tried to continue her trek to the farm, but this creature would not get out of her way.

Spike was hovering over Applejack. "Applejack, are you okay?" Spike saw her head shift slightly and her eyes open slowly. "Applejack, are you okay?" Spike repeated.

"Ah don't want yer stupid cake!" Applejack jumped up and yelled at Spike. Applejack eyes widened as the figure she saw before, turned into Spike."W-what happened?"

"Applejack, you collapsed in the middle of the road! When I came over to check up on you, you started yelling about cake." Spike pet Applejack's neck. "You don't look so good Applejack. . ."

Applejack trudged past Spike, continuing on her way to her home. "A-Ah'm fine Spike. Let's just . . ." Applejack couldn't take three steps until she collapsed on the street.

Spike jumped to her side."Applejack! I . . .um," Spike racked him brain trying to figure out what to do. It was still some ways until they reached Sweet Apple Acres, and he couldn't leave Applejack in the middle of the road. Spike grabbed Applejack's hoof and tried to pull her over to the side of the road. Spike couldn't believe how heavy she was. Well, Twilight did say something about muscle weighing more than fat . . . Five minutes later, Spike was finally able to pull Applejack onto the side of the road. In one final effort, he pulled Applejack into a bush.

Spike ran the rest of the way to Sweet Apple Acres, yelling for help in case somepony was near by to hear him. Three minutes later, he saw Bic Macintosh bucking apples.

"B-Big Mac," Spike stopped to catch his breath, "A-Applejack she's by- by the side of the road!" Before Spike knew what was going on, he felt himself fly in the air, only to fall back onto Big Mac's back.

Big Macintosh sprinted down the dirt road, covering the vast distance in a matter of seconds. Spike pointed to the bush Applejack was currently laying in. Spike and Big Macintosh gently removed Applejack's unconscious body from underneath. "What's wrong with her?" Big Mac asked Spike as he leaned over his sister to check her breathing.

"Well, she looked pretty tired at the hospital, but I don't think she slept. She was the only one of us who end up crying that night." Spike heard Big Mac heave a sigh of relief.

"Help her up, we'll get her to bed." Spike helped Applejack onto Big Mac's back, and they walked back to the farmhouse. Half way home, Big Macintosh stopped. "What were y'all doin' at the hospital? Everythin' alright?"

Spiked rubbed the back of his head tentatively. "Um . . . it's a long story, we better get Applejack in bed first." Big Macintosh nodded and they started for the farmhouse.

"There we go," Granny Smith said, as she tucked Applejack into her bed and put a wet cloth on her forehead. "She should be better in no time at all." Granny Smith smiled at Spike and Big Macintosh. "Now you two better scoot yer caboose! Applejack needs to rest and so do I! I want none of y'all botherin' her while she's asleep understand?

"Eeyup" Said Big Mac quietly, as the trio exited the room. "Ah better go pick up Apple Bloom from school, then you can tell me all about what happened." Big Mac trotted out the front door.

Spike didn't like the aspect of talking about what happened. He just wanted to forget what he saw, and forget about the mess in the basement. Sadly, a part of him knew that he would be helping in the cleanup. Spike sighed and waddled over to the living room, he hopped up onto the couch, and made himself comfortable.

Spike hadn't realized he fell asleep until he was being woken up. As he got up, the first thing he saw made him jump out of his skin. The green, withered remains of Fluttershy's corpse came to haunt him! Spike jumped back and fell off of the couch. As Spike lay on the floor, rubbing his head, he heard somepony laughing.

When he got up, he noticed Granny Smith looking down at him. "Now what's this yer talkin' 'bout youngster? What's got ya yellin' an' such?"

Spike looked back at her. Was he yelling? The only thing he remembered was jumping on the couch, and then what he figured out to be Granny Smith in her face. "I-um . . . I guess I just had a bad dream . . ." Spike mumbled, the vivid sensations of that night rushing back to him. "S-sorry Granny, did I wake you?"

Granny frowned, "This isn't about me, we both know that." Granny patted Spike's head. "You are clearly troubled by what you saw . . ." Spike looked down at the floor, unable to face the truth of Granny Smith's words. "Now looky here," Granny Smith raised Spike's head, so he was forced to look her in the eyes. "If I learned anything in my life, I learned that bottling yer emotions ain't good for ya." Spike nodded as Granny Smith saw Apple Bloom and Big Macintosh walking up the dirt road, Apple Bloom treating him to a tale about her day, and about the crusading her, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo had planed for today.

Upon entering, Apple Bloom ran upstairs to collect the necessary gear for today's crusades. Big Macintosh trotted into the living room and sat down, Granny Smith followed his example and sat down in her rocking chair. "Now youngin', tell us what happened."

Spike sighed, there was no way out of this one. No matter how bad he wanted the images to leave his head, they just kept coming back. Spike took a shaky breath and began his tale. "Yesterday, Twilight came into the library telling me that Fluttershy is going to come over, and to keep the place running while she went into the basement. Of course, I had no problem keeping myself busy until Fluttershy came over.

"When she arrived, I told her that Twilight was in the basement, she thanked me and went downstairs. It was getting late so I decided to go to bed. I don't know how long I was asleep, but I knew that something woke me up. I listened, and about ten seconds later I heard Fluttershy and Twilight screaming." Spike's breaths quickened as he remembered the horrifying events.

"I saw flashing lights through the basement door, and that's when Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity came in. They ran downstairs to see what was happening, soon after, Rarity came back up not looking well, so I walked with her outside. She made me promise never to go into the basement, that someone so sweet should never be exposed to something like that. Rainbow and Applejack came storming out of the library. Dash carrying Fluttershy in all four hooves, blood dripping down onto the floor, and Twilight draped around Applejack. They sped off towards the hospital, and I stayed to comfort Rarity. When she was feeling better, we made our way to the library. When we got there, Rainbow Dash was crying into Applejack's shoulder, and soon after that, all three of us were braced up against Applejack, either crying in our sleep, or just stopped crying after Applejack calmed us down.

"In the morning, I don't think Applejack had slept at all, but I was too worried about Twilight. She told us that she was fine, and then we got the news about Fluttershy, and how she is currently in a coma, missing all four of her legs. That's when Rainbow dashed off, and we walked after her. We talked to Twilight and she was apologized to Rainbow Dash, and how she thought she could fix Fluttershy's coma problem, so she sent Dash to the blacksmith. I fell asleep after that, but I remember Applejack walking slowly back here when she collapsed."

"Eeyup, that sounds about right." They all turned to see Applejack coming down the stairs.

"Applejack, what are you doing out of bed?" Asked Granny Smith.

"Dash is bringing the items over to Twilight right now, Ah'm going to help. You coming Spike?"

Spike nodded and hopped on Applejack's back, waving a goodbye, she trotted off in the direction of the hospital.

"So what are these things again?" Rainbow Dash asked for the millionth time.

Rainbow looked down at the five strange items, all exactly alike. It looked like an arrow head on a stick, except bigger. Twilight leaned forward and sighed. "According to the Ancient scripts, they are called kunai. Did you tell the others that we are getting started?"

Rainbow Dash nodded. "Just got back from AJ's, she looks exhausted, but you know that won't stop her."

Rainbow Dash and Twilight turned when they heard a knock on the door, a second later, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Rarity, and Spike walked into the room.

"Okay girls, here's the plan," Twilight began. "I can get us through into Fluttershy's room easily, when I do, I'm going to need you Rarity, to lift Fluttershy's bed while I draw the transmutation circle." Rarity nodded, accepting her part in the plan. "When I do, we leave, reseal the wall, and I'll draw the alkahestry circle. There are only three minutes left until they check Fluttershy again, are you girls ready?" Twilight looked around the room seeing everyone nodding.

Twilight's side burned as she got out of bed. Clapping her hooves together, she touched them to the wall and made a door. turning to see her friends in awe, she giggled and went into the next room. Rarity stood next to her, focusing her magic on Fluttershy's bed. Just because Twilight made it look and sound easy, didn't mean that it was. Twilight turned to see the strain on Rarity's face, and settled that this better be done now rather than later. Twilight quickly drew a basic alkahestry circle, a star inscribed in a circle.

Rarity was relieved when Twilight moved from out under the bed, and she put it down as gently as possible. They left Fluttershy's room, and resealed the wall. Looking down, Twilight quickly drew an alkahestry circle and placed the five kunai at the star's points. Clapping her hooves, and tapping the circle, she felt for the Dragon Pulse she learned about. Twilight focused hard, feeling the energy of all the ponies of Equestria, rather than the chi of the earth.

The seconds dragged on until she finally found it. The circle hummed, and glowed. Focusing her energy, Twilight began to guide it towards Fluttershy's brain. Dodging those pesky energy flows that caused so much mayhem last time, she successfully began easing Fluttershy out of her coma.

"It worked!" Twilight yelled, and everypony in the room cheered.

Fluttershy was having a nightmare. It was confusing, but it felt so real. For what felt like years, she has killed, been killed, and transformed into something else, just to restart the cycle. She was absolutely terrified, and to her dismay she couldn't control her actions. Why couldn't she wake up? All she wanted was to go back home and hide under her bed. As she was trotting along, being addressed as Mustang, she was watching her body flick something in his hoof over and over again, burning the person directly in front of her. "I wonder how many times I have to do this until you die!" she felt herself say. Suddenly, Fluttershy saw a light in front of her eyes, no matter how hard she squinted, or tried to turn away, the light wouldn't dim.

The nurse her routine check-up on Fluttershy. She took her flashlight and shined it in Fluttershy's eyes. The nurse was about to turn off the light when she saw something. "Um, Nurse Redheart? I-I think her brow is furrowed." Nurse Redheart was changing Fluttershy's IV. She gasped and stepped towards Fluttershy.

"Call a doctor! I think she's waking up!"

The doctor was inside Fluttershy's room within minutes. He was a tall stallion with a black mane that matched his coat. His coat was studded with white freckles, which is why he was aptly named Night Sky.

Night Sky walked up to Fluttershy, and looked at her with a worried expression. "This shouldn't be happening, her mind should still be under trauma, and we put her in deep enough to keep her for a month! Why in Celestia's name is she waking up?" Night Sky noticed Fluttershy's ear twitch in his direction, and he talked to her in a soothing tone.

"Hello Fluttershy, my name is Night Sky, do you know where you are right now?" Fluttershy shook her head weakly, not having the strength to even open her eyes. "You are currently safe and sound in Ponyville hospital." As Night Sky finished his sentence, Fluttershy's ears splayed back, her head tossed slightly, trying to look at her surroundings.

"Hush now my little pony, you are safe and sound. Your friends are currently waiting for you outside. Would you like me to bring them in?" Night Sky watched her carefully, looking for any type of confirmation or negation to his question. Seeing her nod her head almost imperceptibly, he trotted to the door and let the others in. "Hush my little ponies, Fluttershy is very weak at the moment. Please refrain from loud noises or making her nervous."

Twilight nodded, leading her friends inside, prompting them to be quiet.

Fluttershy weak, she couldn't open her eyes, and she could hardly move her aching head. She couldn't even raise a hoof to scratch her nose. Hearing hoovesteps getting closer, she tried giving her friends a smile. "Darling, how are you feeling?" She turned towards Rarity's voice and gave a weak nod.

"Oh I was so super duper worried about you. I was all sad with my hair down and everything!" Pinkie Pie's nose touched Fluttershy's gently, and smiled. "We are so happy your okay!"

Spike watched Fluttershy carefully, thinking that he saw something wrong. Staring, he saw Fluttershy's chin twitch. He's seen Twilight do this plenty of times when she was engrossed in her studies. Jumping onto her bed, carefully avoiding her, Spike scratched Fluttershy's chin. "There you go 'Shy, that should help that itchy chin of yours." Fluttershy smiled gratefully, and Twilight giggled.

Still, something was wrong, Fluttershy felt a little bit better now, but she still couldn't move her hooves. Fluttershy's eyes opened slowly, the light from Celestia's sun was bright. She looked up at her friends and smiled. "T-thank you everypony." She said weakly. Her forehead crinkled slightly deep in concentration. Why can't I move my hooves? Applejack noticed her confusion, and decided it was better to tell her friend now then later.

Applejack trotted to Fluttershy's bedside. "S-sugarcube, something happened last night. I don't know how it happened, but after Twilight's spell . . ." Applejack looked down, unsure how to break the news to her. "Ya lost yer legs sugarcube."

Fluttershy's face went blank, unsure how to process the information. Seeing her wiggle slightly, Applejack pulled the blanket off her.

Tears filled Fluttershy's eyes, streaming down her face. M-my legs are gone? Fluttershy made no attempt to stop her tear. Oh wait! I can't even if I wanted to! I don't have any legs! How was she going to take care of her animal friends? How was she going to live her life? Uncomfortable silence filled the room, broken only by Fluttershy's quiet sobs.

Rainbow Dash really had to focus on the situation at hoof, instead of thinking how Fluttershy wrapped up like that made the most adorable pony burrito in the wide world of Equestria. The uncomfortable silence didn't even faze her slightly. Rainbow trotted over to Fluttershy and nuzzled her slightly, wiping away her tears. "Everything's going to be alright Fluttershy, I'll take care of you." Fluttershy looked up at Rainbow, her eyes getting that adorable glint they got whenever she was excited, or nervous, or scared or- pretty much anytime Rainbow was gifted with looking into her eyes.

Rarity, with her vast knowledge of relationships, silently scooted everypony out of the room, letting Rainbow and Fluttershy have the privacy that they needed.

Rainbow Dash looked down at her friend, thoughts came rushing back to her. Times when Fluttershy was frightened, scared, or nervous, and she hid behind her. Rainbow taking the subtle opportunity to raise her tail just slightly higher then normal. Rainbow Dash was lost in Fluttershy's eyes. "Don't worry 'Shy, I'll take good care of you."

Fluttershy was lost in Rainbow's eyes as well. She noticed that glint in Rainbow's eyes that she got when she feared for her safety, feelings, or any other time Fluttershy was near Rainbow Dash. She remembered back to Flight School, how the bullies would always pick on her, and she would always find safety behind Dash. Her tail acting as a protective curtain, much like her hair.

Fluttershy was always afraid of her feelings towards Dash, a part of her thought Dash would think she would be weird or disgusting for being a fillyfooler, and another part didn't want the bullies to be right. Somehow, she convinced herself that she had some kind of terminal disease, of course she knew she didn't, but it was easier for her to take. But looking into Rainbow's eyes reminded her of what she would have lost if she was going to die, and how lucky she is to not have. Fluttershy decided to stop fighting her feelings right then and there. She leaned up and kissed Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow's mind began racing. Was this really happening? Was she really kissing her fillyhood friend? How could Fluttershy be more daring then . . . then . . . What was her name? Rainbow's mind cleared, as Fluttershy broke the kiss. Looking down, she noticed Fluttershy looked tired. Rainbow Dash wrapped Fluttershy in her hooves, and kissed her again.

Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash kissed for what felt like an eternity. Rainbow Dash finally broke their embrace. "I love you Fluttershy."

"I love you too."