//------------------------------//
// Kill it With Kindness 
// Story: Saving the Elements 
// by Flames173 
//------------------------------//

	"Girls this is Frank, say hi Frank." Fluttershy said, pointing at the changeling.
"Hi." Frank said, waving.
"I don't trust him." Rarity glared at the deceptive creature. This made Frank a little sad, and a single tear slipped down his face.
Rainbow Dash ran up to Rarity and stared her down. "Without him, we would've lost another element! He has enemy intel and can shape shift into anything seamlessly, and take their memory and skills. He is an invaluable resource for our team. Spitfire probably doesn't even know he's with us yet. Plus, he has the code generator for the door, he will always know what to type in to get to Spitfire's base. I trust him, Fluttershy trusts him. I'm pretty sure you're the only one here who doesn't. He saved one of the elements! Do you trust him now?"
"Sure, sure, just get out of my face!"
Rainbow Dash backed up to where she was, staring at Rarity as she went.
"So what is he going to do exactly?" Twilight asked. Even her advanced ingenuity and intelligence couldn't come up with a way to have seven ponies defend three objects so each one had the same defenses. "There's no possible way to have all the remaining elements have the same protection without cutting some of us up.
"Yes, I am aware, but he will be a spy for us." Rainbow Dash explained. "He will go into the enemy base and keep us up to date on their plans, and eventually take the elements back."
"Where did he go?" Rarity asked.
"What?" Rainbow Dash looked to where the changeling used to be standing, one of Fluttershy's seemingly infinite animals was sniffing the ground. At first glance it appeared to be a small cat, but it was truly a large squirrel.
"I bet he left to go steal the rest of the elements. I'm going to check right now!" Rarity turned to leave and look for the two necklaces and crown. She checked them all. Nothing. Nothing. Soarin trying to steal the element of honesty. "This just never ends, does it?" She asked him, leaning against a wall inspecting her hooficure.
"I guess not, so, are you going to try and stop me?" Soarin asked.
"Nope, I'll let you take it to prove a point."
"Umm, ok then." He slowly slid the necklace into a satchel he had on his flank. "You set a trap didn't you?"
"No, and neither did the others." Then she gasped suddenly.
"WHAT?" he asked, worried the other mares would hear this and come to investigate.
"That satchel, it's the wrong color for your coat, and that strap is much to long and ratty! You should stop by my boutique sometime and I'll fix you up with a nice good matching one."
"Umm, ok, so, I'll be going now then." Soarin left the room cautiously and started heading for his exit point.
Rarity heard a shrill scream from the hallway.
"ITS SOARIN!" Fluttershy shouted. Fluttershy ran up to the stallion and tackled him. She knocked him down somehow.
The satchel's strap ripped and the bag slid across the floor a few feet. Soarin got up and scrambled for it. He and Fluttershy got there at the same time and they began to play tug of war with it. Frank arrived a few minutes later. He saw the struggle between the two, he quickly placed the element of kindness around Fluttershy's neck. Rarity, who was watching the whole thing stared in awe when Frank arrived, she though that Frank was disguised as Soarin.
After her element was put on her, Fluttershy's strength was amplified. She ripped the bag from Soarin's grip and punched his face. He quickly turned into a changeling and was sent sprawling across the floor. Rarity bolted from the her location, where she watched the action, and inspected the unnamed creature's body. There was no pulse, and it wasn't breathing.
"Its, its dead." Rarity said, amazed at her friend's strength, and the fact that there was no bodily damage to the dead changeling.
"Fluttershy, you, you killed it?" Frank asked.
"Fluttershy killed what?" Applejack asked, walking to the scene with the other girls right behind her.
All the mares, and Frank, stood staring at the dead changeling.
"I always hated him." Frank said after several long minutes of silence.
The six ponies agreed.
"So, now what?" Applejack asked.
"We give him a funeral." Twilight said plainly.
"OOH, I'll go get my party cannon!" Pinkie shouted.
"Uhh Pinkie, this isn't exactly something to celebrate about." Applejack pointed out.
"Yeah I know, duh silly, I'm getting my sad one, the one that has black streamers and balloons."
"Girls, I hate to state the obvious, but we're in the middle of a war! We'll have the funeral after the war!" Rainbow Dash said.
All the ponies in the room agreed besides Fluttershy, who stood staring at the body, crying.
"It's ok Fluttershy, you didn't mean to, you won't be banished to the moon. They stopped doing that decades ago! Instead, they hang the pony, so at least your death is quick!" Rarity tried to reassure the yellow mare, but it just made her cry harder. "But, you killed a changeling, there isn't a law against killing a changeling!" This made Fluttershy's crying slow down. "And, and, also, umm." Rarity paused to think of more ways to reassure her friend. "You didn't, ok you know what, I'll just shut up, anything I say will make this worse. Just, look at this." Rarity passed a small piece of paper with a funny picture on it to Fluttershy. Fluttershy looked at the picture and giggled slightly. "Now come on, lets go get some chocolate milk."
The two mares trotted into the kitchen and got a glass of chocolate milk.
"So, now what?" Fluttershy asked.
"We fight this war until the end." Rarity answered, trying not to cringe. She hated chocolate milk, but it always made Fluttershy feel better, almost everything is worth making her happy.
"What if someone else dies?"
"We just keep fighting."
"Wait, what if we get bored? How will we pass the time?"
"I don't know, read a book, maybe a good fan fiction?"
"Good fan fictions? Those exist?"
"I'm not sure, but wouldn't it be ironic if we were in one right now?"
"Yeah, I know we aren't, it would obviously be a bad fan fiction if the characters were talking about being in a fan fiction with no clue they're actually in one."
"Yeah it would, jokes like that are just terrible and corny! The author would obviously be some wannabe comedian."
"Heh, yeah." Fluttershy and Rarity continued to talk for a while. Their conversation was uninterrupted until the wall next to them exploded.
"All right maggots, where are the elements? Give me now!" Spitfire said. "Oh, wait, sorry, read it wrong, that's next chapter." Spitfire walked away. "We'll just say the wall exploded next time."
"Next chapter? What is she talking about?" Fluttershy asked.
"I don't know, but I hope this doesn't mean we're in a terrible fanfic." Rarity said.