"Alright, if we just take a left here... I hope," Noel quietly whispered that last part to herself, hoping Fluttershy, Carl and Nirvana following behind her didn't hear as she guided them through the streets of Kagutsuchi. Despite the excessively long walk, she'd finally led them to their destination. "There it is." She pointed straight ahead towards towering building. "There's N.O.L. headquarters."
Carl did his best to hide his frustration, but alas, it came out in one hefty groan. "Finally." He tried to cover his scowl under the brim of his hat. "After going around in circles like I'm glad we finally arrived."
Noel began blushing. "You, you knew."
Carl nodded. "For a while I'm afraid. You know, for a lieutenant in the N.O.L.'s praetorian guard, you really are bad with directions, Ms. Noel."
Noel calmed herself, and looked back at Carl. "I'm still figuring my way around this city! It's still all new to me."
Carl turned away and set his sights on the structure before them. "The Novis Orbus Librarium, or NOL for short, with branches located in every hierarchical city. Each one positioned directly in the center. They were designed to stand taller than any other structure surrounding it. With an influx of soldiers always coming and going from it, directions plaster throughout the city and the building itself being such an eye sore, there's no way anyone shouldn't be able to find it."
Noel's face flashed red once again. "If you knew how to get us here, then why didn't you lead us, Carl?"
"I figured a high ranking member such as yourself would know this information as well. I didn't think you'd be such a klutz."
She now buried her face in her bonnet. "Well I forgot all that okay! At least I got us here."
Watching the two of them begin to bicker, Fluttershy thought it best to intervene. "Yes... What's important is that we made it together. Even if it took longer than expected." She noticed Noel's head dip a little as she said that. "It's okay, Noel." Fluttershy gently place Noel's hat back on her head and smiled. "You brought me here like you said you would. And I'm sure Carl wasn't trying to make you feel bad. Right, Carl?" Looking back, she noticed Carl conversing with Nirvana who was standing beside him.
"I know that, sis." Realizing Fluttershy was staring; Carl nodded at her before turning back to Nirvana. "But we can at least make sure she finds her friends"
Now approaching the entrance, Noel first noticed the doors opening and froze as she recognized who stepped out... "Is that..."
Fluttershy felt Noel's hand go cold as its grip tightened. Her face was now full of fear. Fluttershy looked to see what could be scaring her so badly. Walking down some stepped that lead to the entrance were a group of men and women dressed in uniforms like Noel's. She didn't notice anything wrong with them. That is until the last person stepped out. A tall, green haired man in a black suit and matching fedora suddenly sent a chill up her spine.
Noel took a step back as they started to approach. "Captain Hazama." Fluttershy saw Noel's eyes begin to water slightly as she uttered that name, but she quickly wiped them away. "We have to get out of here. We'll figure out another way to find your friends, Fluttershy. Let's just hurry before he..." Holding onto Fluttershy, Noel turned her around only to see another group of soldiers headed their way.
"Noel?" Hazama called out from behind. "Noel Vermillion, is that you?" The trio turned to face him as Hazama approached. As he did, the soldiers positioned themselves to block the roads around them. "Well aren't you just a sight for sore eye." He chuckle. "Speaking of which, how are those gorgeous green puppies of yours? Still observing right? I'd really hate for that special little power of yours to go bad, not when I've got such big plans for them. Be a dear and make sure you stay out of trouble till then, okay. Anyways, right now I have an order from Colonel Clover in engineering. It seems he's lost some test things, well people actually. Six to be exact. Though the way he describes them, they may as well be things. They're about yet high,"--His hand rose to up to Fluttershy's height.--"fairly easy on the eyes, especially since they may not have any clothes on. Oh and, get this, some of them may have a set of wings on their backs or a horn just sticking out of their forehead. Weird, right? You wouldn't happen to see anyone fitting that description, huh?"
Fluttershy shuffled behind Noel, trying hard not to move her wings under her dress. A sudden tug at her other hand almost had her yelped, but she held it in and glanced down to see Carl signal her to head towards an alleyway besides them. As the two of them tried inching away, a large hook designed to resemble a snake's head slammed against the wall next to them. The black and green chain of energy connected to it lead back to a portal hovering in front of Hazama and blocked their escape.
"Not so fast half-pint." The chain recoiled back towards the portal and vanished. "Leaving so soon?" Hazama slowly walked closer, focusing on the girl Carl was trying to lead away. Fluttershy cringed, feeling as though a serpent was coiling itself around her as Hazama looked her over. Her wing couldn't help but twitch. Hazama smiled. "Oh you've already found one. Now I just need five more to complete the set." Hazama signaled Fluttershy to follow as he walked away. "Now then."
Fluttershy could feel her legs begin to buckle. Just when she was on the verge of finding her friends, she now finds herself about to be drag off by this dangerous man. What do I do? What can I do? Even if I could run away, I couldn't just abandon my new friends here. I just know something terrible would happen to them if I did. But what other choice do I have? Oh, I wish a brave pony like Rainbow Dash or Applejack was here, they'd know what to do. But they're not. It's just me. And all I can do... is make sure my friends don't get hurt cause of me. "Okay..."
"Wait!" Noel stuck her arm out to block her, and then glared at Hazama. "She's not going with you."
Now standing behind his soldiers, Hazama smirked back at her. "My, my, Noel, sticking up for your friends as usual." As he said that, the soldiers readied themselves to attack. "I guess you leave me no choice."
Seeing her former soldiers in arms begin to close in, Noel started feeling hesitant. "No, wait! I don't want to fight you!"
"You won't have to!" Carl shouted. With her feet screeching against the pavement, Nirvana slid past Noel and Fluttershy, with Carl right behind her. "Sis and I will handle them. Just get Ms. Fluttershy out of here." Ramming headlong into the squadron, Carl and Nirvana now fended off the troops while Noel grabbed Fluttershy by the arm.
"Come on, let's go!" Noel yelled, pulling Fluttershy with her. Another one of Hazama's serpent hooks shot forth to block them. Not calling it back like the first one, this time Hazama used it to pull himself over land in front of the girls.
"Nah ah ah. I can't have you ladies run away like that." He quickly swiped his palm creating a green and black wave that knocked Noel away. Fluttershy stood alone, facing Hazama. "Alright cutie, come along with me. You've got a busy day ahead of you. I'm sure Relius has all sorts of interesting tests he's just dying to run on you." The look on her face as his eyes practically pierced into hers brought sheer joy to his. Yet, despite her terror stricken expression, he noticed her backing away ever so slightly. "Still trying to run? After seeing what I just did to your friend way over there." Fluttershy looked back for second and saw Noel lying with her back against the wall fighting just to stay conscious. "I gotta give you points for courage though. What little you got that is. But since I can't risk you getting away, I'm gonna have to put you to sleep. No hard feelings. It's just easier to handle you that way. Though honestly, I'd have probably done this to you for fun anyway." Watching that sadistic grin on his face get bigger, Fluttershy lost the feeling in her legs. She dropped to her knees. Her whole body trembling as Hazama arched back and raised his arms. "Eternal coils of the dragon serpent!"
Fluttershy looked up and felt as though her heart had jumped up her throat. Hanging over Hazama's head were four giant serpent heads. They glowed with that same horrid greenish-black hue she saw before and all of them had their fangs poised on her. With Noel hardly able to move, she raised her arm, wishing to stop it somehow. "Nooooooo!"
Wrapping up with the last of the soldier, Carl heard Noel's cry and turned to see Fluttershy close her eyes as the four heads lunge down onto her. It happened in an instant. There was a blinding flash, followed by an enormous crash sound that was accompanied by a scream. The snakes vanished, and Fluttershy along with them. All that remained left was large dent in the metal walkway, and a hole in the center the led to the depths below.
Hazama observed his work and frown as he looked into the opening. "Great. That's just great. I go just a teeny tiny bit overkill and she goes crashing down into the lower levels." Hazama quickly turned. "Go and recover her... Oh." Expecting a soldier or two to be standing behind him, he sighed when it was just Carl and Nirvana left standing, though not to his surprised. "Really kid? You had to take them all out? I just got this new batch in from the academy. You couldn't have let them rough you up a bit? You know, let them build up their self esteem? Don't you know battle scars are cool these days?" He put his attention back on the hole. "Guess I'll have get another batch to come in and go round her up for me." Taking a second to adjust his fedora, he smiled and switched focus back onto Carl and Noel. "In the mean time--" Nirvana quickly clutched Carl in her arm and leaped over Hazama. "Oh no you don't!" Hazama launched one of his hooks and missed as the doll, landed next to Noel and scooped her up as well. More hooks went flying after it but Nirvana jumped up and dodged. She then made her way through the rooftops, vanishing into the city and leaving Hazama.
"Uggh... I really should head after those brats. But..." His focus was drawn back onto the opening. "After seeing that." Thinking back to the instant he attacked Fluttershy, he remembered seeing that light that suddenly engulfed her. It appeared in time to protect her from his blow. "I'm starting to understand why Relius is so interested in those girls." New questioned began racing in his head. But with his target managing to elude him this time, Hazama decided it best not to worry about it for now and as he made his way back to headquarters.
Far underneath Kagutsuchi, where sunlight was an illusion, Fluttershy laid among the hundreds of corroded pipelines. Although she was unharmed, she refused to open her eyes, "I wanna go home. I wanna go home." Those words echoed through the sewer. With her eyes sealed tight, she simply repeated those words to herself in the hopes that she'd suddenly find herself back in Ponyville. The ever present rancid odor and constant sounds of what she hoped was water dripping nearby let her know that nothing had changed. So she remained in the dark, muttering those words to herself. It wasn't long before she heard something approaching in the distance. "Hello?"
There was no reply. She shuddered. With her eyes still closed she listened to it slush around as it got closer. She also noticed that whoever it was didn't smell too nice, but she thought it best not to hurt its feelings, or make it angry, and kept it to herself. Whatever it was, she sure it knew she was there and headed straight for her. Fluttershy may have been too scared to open her eyes, but that didn't stop her from getting up to run away. She screamed. "Aaaaaah!" Running blindly for her life, her voice echoed throughout the sewers. Panting, screaming and practically crying, she felt herself bump into something
A stern voice emanated from the thing she ran into. "What?"
Though the crash had knocked her down to the floor, Fluttershy was relieved to her another voice and finally opened her eyes. "Oh... my..."
Looking down at her was a tall figure clad in white armor. The stranger wore a faceless mask and had his long silver hair tied back at his mane. But stuck out most of all was the unusually long sword on his back that was almost as tall as he was. The white armored stranger reminded her of stories she heard as a filly of knights dressed in armor who went from village to village to save ponies in need. Though, compared to home, this faceless knight was far more intimidating then the ones in the books. In her mind she thought surely this knight from another world came to save her. ”Help." Fluttershy turned pointed behind her. "There's something after me."
The knight spotted a mask wearing pile of living goop and bones, made his its way towards it. Seeing her pursuer for the first time, Fluttershy gasped. "B-b-be, be careful," Fluttershy murmured, watching the knight as he unsheathed his sword.
The sludge charged but the knight simply raised his blade to counter. He quickly reach out, managing to grab hold of the shapeless being and forcibly sent it spinning to the ground. The goop was too dazed to move, giving the knight an opening to continue his attack. He kicked the sludge and launched it into the air and jumped after it. His attack continued with a combo of slashes, kicks and punches that ended with one last sword swing that sent the blob back to the ground.
Fluttershy watched on. But as the pummeling continued on further, she could feel her sense of relief gradually shifting to concern. "Um, excu—" Her voice was drowned out by the slime's wails as it took another vicious blow. "I think that's enough. You should stop now." Her voice fell on deaf as the puddle let out another agonized scream. "Um... stop."
The creature on the ground that at one point terrified Fluttershy, she now pitied. Though the knight had come and saved her, she started to wish he hadn't. This is too much. I know that he saved me, but this may be taking things too far. Maybe I should step in and stop him. After struggling with the idea in her mind, Fluttershy came to a decision.
With her lips zipped shut, Fluttershy stood by as the knight finished off the creature. One last pierce of his blade had it let out a final blood-curdling shout. It collapsed on itself, bubbling slightly for a few seconds before it turned into a motionless puddle. Sure of the beast's demise, he raised his weapon and swung it to the side. With the bits of purple now flung off from his sword, the knight put his attention back to Fluttershy.
With the mysterious savior walking towards her, Fluttershy began to feel nervous. She then looked further back and spotted the puddle behind him. She suddenly felt some weight in her chest. "Thank you." With a weak tone, she could hardly lift her head up to him.
The knight tightened his grip. "You should not be thanking me." He then aimed his sword onto her. "When it is you I have come to slay."
"Wha-what?" Clearly rattled, Fluttershy hoped she had misheard him, or that he was joking.
"You are one of the beings that broke through the boundary. Your mere existence disrupts the balance of this world. Return now, from whence you came."
"I-I-I-I don't know how to get back." Fluttershy began to slowly crawl back from him. "I don't even know how I got here."
The knight was quiet. All the while, he never took his faceless gaze off her. "I see." He pulled his blade away from Fluttershy and held it vertically before his mask. "I have no choice then. I am the white void. I am the cold steel. I am the just sword. With blade in hand shall I reap the sins of this world and cleanse it in the fires of destruction. I am Hakumen. The end has come!" Hakumen lunged at her, but Fluttershy managed to hop onto her feet and run in time to avoid his attack. Though she was moving fast, Hakumen instantly cut the distance and planted a kick to her side that sent her rolling to the floor.
"Chauuuuuugh!" The wind was knocked out of her. Fluttershy hugged her ribs as the pain left her gasping for air.
"There is no other way," said Hakumen as he made his way over. "To restore the balance of this world, the cause the disruption must be taken care of." He pointed his blade onto her once again. "Therefore, I cannot allow you to exist." He was just about to thrust forwards when a high shrieking voice called out from behind.
"You idiotidiotidiotidiot!" A large insect suddenly struck Hakumen
"What?!" Taking a good look at his attacker, he recognized the bug and to whom it belonged to. "No! Still alive I see." More insects closed in on Hakumen who began swinging wildly. Blocking and swatting for a while now, fatigue exposed an opening that the swarm quickly exploited. "Nrrgggh!" The bugs were relentless. Biting and wrapping themselves around him, they rushed him until he was covered from head to toe and could hardly move, "No."
"KEEHEEHEEHEEHEE!" The puddle from before had risen and now its way towards Hakumen and began to wrap itself over him.
"To think... That I'd be so careless." Hakumen vanished, completely engulfed underneath the black sludge. The mask the creature wore then looked over towards Fluttershy lying nearby. "
You... t.. .ne .ith ener... E...gy like ... azure. Need..... energy. Devour .ou f..r energy. Energy, energy, energy, KEEHEEHEEHEE!" His distorted ramble was further made scarier by his high pitched, insane cackle.
Still reeling from Hakumen's attack, Fluttershy couldn't move as the sludge began washing over her feet. It moved further up, now reaching her waist. With the wind still knocked out of her, she could hardly scream as the ooze now encompassed her body. Finding herself surround by oozing darkness, her body began to go numb as she closed her eyes and accepted the emptiness.
Just another possibility of the Equestrian shift...
The ever present darkness transitioned to a large red velvet curtain that slowly opened, revealing the silhouette of a four legged figure standing in the center of a room. A single light turned on to reveal a dark purple winged unicorn with a crescent moon cutie mark and a crown on her head.
"Greeting my ponies. I am Princess Luna, princess of Equestria, bring of night, and guardian of the dreams. Let me first answer few questions I suspect some of you may have. We are currently in a top secret room of my creation." She turned around and noticed something was wrong with her so called 'top secret room'. "Wait a second, this is my room. I envisioned an elaborate room with a throne just for me. What is going on?"
Another winged unicorn, this one a shade of pinkish white with a rainbow colored mane, suddenly walked on stage. "That would be my doing."
"Celestia?!" Luna Jumped back in shock. "Sister? What are you doing here? This is my segment. Get out of here! Wait a second. Maybe you can explain why we are in my room?"
"Oh that. Well you see even if you did use magic to create a room, it still needs to take up space. And because there really aren't any rooms available in the castle, you'll just have to settle for your room."
"What?! No free space! You’re joking! There has to be a free room somewhere?"
Celestia paused before she turned to look out the balcony window at the far end of Luna's room. "Well there is one place, but I don't believe you will like it."
"I'll take it." Luna blurted. "Anything is better than having everyone take a peek into my room!"
Celestia sighed. "Okay then. Just don't say I didn't warn you." Her horn began to radiate and shrouded the room in a blinding light. The light then quickly faded and Luna found that they were indeed in a new room.
Luna looked around. "Kind of empty in here," From top to bottom, the walls were all colored white and with now furniture at all. "But at least it beats my room..." She turned and noticing a lone window. Looking out past it, she recognized the blue and green planet in the sky knew exactly where she was based on the white cratered ground outside. "Oh ha, ha, sister. Very funny. It is not like that joke's getting really old! ...Well, I guess this still beats my room. Anyways, where was I?" Forgetting the room and its flaws, Luna turned back to the front of the stage. "Right, this place. Okay, despite its current shape and location, this room is a refuge for those ponies that’ve lost their way. Basically it’s a place where I get to go over things with the characters in this story when they arrive at their bad ending. For those of you familiar with the Blazblue series you know what I'm talking about when I said 'bad ending'. For those of you that aren't, think of this as a fun little bonus where your favorite characters can act differently than they do in the story. Although, you will have to read about how you favorite character bit the big one... Kinda bittersweet, huh? Some of you may be asking 'why would the writer even put this aspect into the story?' Well it's his story and he can do as he pleases, alright. That and it gives a chance for yours truly to be a part of this story too. Long story short, it's a fun little extra so enjoy it if you want to. Alright-y than, that’s enough explanations. Let's introduce our first guest. Come on in." The lights dim and a lone spotlight shines somewhere off stage. After half a minute of waiting, nothing happened. "Hey! Get in here already!" The light continued to stay on the side. "Oh for the love of"--She looked up towards the source of the spotlight--"Hey, you mind giving me a hoof?"
"Sure!" A pegasus flying up just out of sight shouted back. "But what about the lights?"
"Forget the lights for now. They won't even matter if our guest can't come out because has a massive case of stage fright."
"Alright." cloaked by a lack of light the pegasus could just barely be seen flying stage right. "Come on you. It's your turn to get on stage." After what a brief struggle, a lone cowering pegasus pony slid on stage just a few steps from Luna and the light shined on her.
Feeling the light shine on her, Fluttershy opened her eyes and looked around. "What? Where am I? Oh, I'm back to my normal self. But wait, wasn't I... Didn't I get..." She dropped back to the ground, covering her eyes with her hooves.
"You can relax," Luna gently spoke. "You are safe here."
Hearing her familiar voice, Fluttershy moved her hooves away and looked up. "Princess Luna? What are you doing here?" She looked around. "Where are we?"
"Think of this a safe place for you and your friends."
Fluttershy continued to examine the room and noticed its large amount of vacancy. "It's very... spacious."
Luna knew exactly what she meant by that. "Yeah, well... I just sorta moved in. After I've had some time to settle, I'll have this place fixed up. In the mean time let's talk about why you here."
"Why I'm here."
"Well... You came here because you need some advice right?"
"I did?"
"Yes, you did." Luna hesitated; it wasn't easy telling a pony bad new like this, especially a pony like Fluttershy. "Don't you remember something happened to you? Something pretty bad?"
Fluttershy's body jolted for a moment, reacting to the memories that came flooding back. "Oh my goodness, oh my goodness. What happened to me? I remember that knight suddenly attacking me, and then that scary creature swallowed me... and then..."
"Yeah... To put it nicely, you’re pushing up daisies."
"Oh..." Fluttershy looked confused for a moment, but then looked up at Luna with a relieved smile. "I like daisies." Luna's subtlety had missed it's mark.
Seeing that Luna was having some trouble, the stagehoof mare intervened. "Princess Luna is trying to tell you that you've died,"
Fluttershy entire body flashed white. "What?!"
With her guest now more accurately playing her current role in the story, Luna shot a glare off stage. "Why would you just tell her like that?"
"Well it's the truth isn't it. Besides, it’s best to get it over with fast. She was going to find out sooner or later."
"Your right," Luna sighed, resigning her anger to the pegasus's reason. "I was trying to be subtle about it. But I suppose you're right." She then looked back to Fluttershy, standing stiff as a board and on the verge of tipping over. "Calm yourself, dear. While it is true that you have indeed perished in that world, at the same time you actually haven't. Otherwise you wouldn't be here with me."
Slowly loosening up, the teary eyes mare sniffled and stared at her. "I'm not?"
Luna reached out and patted her on the head. "No, you are not." She turned her gaze off stage and looked off into the distance. "You all reading this got that. She is absolutely fine. So no raging in the comments."
Fluttershy turned her head in the same direction but couldn't see who Luna was yelling at. "Um, who are you talking too?"
"Oh, just your fans."
"Fans?"
"Readers who like you best out of everyone in the story and who probably got upset after what happened to you."
"Oh..." Unsure of what Luna was talking about, Fluttershy thought it best to humor her and waved off to the vacant distance. "Um, Hello out there. Uh, thank you for your support." Thankfully the stuff about fans wasn't true. Otherwise Fluttershy wouldn't even be able to move by now.
"Well then, now that you've had your moment, let get on with it."
"Get on with what?"
Luna smiled as her horn began to shine "This!"
Guide me Princess Luna!
Clearly hearing her voice say that, despite no memory of it, Fluttershy was at a loss for words."Uh--"
Acting as though it was no big deal, Luna continued. "Back to what happened to you before. Do you remember everything that took place?"
Fluttershy shook her head. "Not everything."
"Well I figured as much. After all quite a lot happened to you few in just one chapter. I mean running into Hazama, Arakune and Hakumen like that. You sure were unlucky."
Taking a seat, Fluttershy raised her hoof like a school filly. "Excuse me, Princess Luna. I remember that scary Hazama and Hakumen, but who is Arakune?"
"I guess he never really revealed his name huh? Well for the record, he's that mask wearing living goop you ran into down in the sewer. The one that... you know."
Fluttershy started gulped as her face started going pale again. "H-h-him."
"Yeah, him. The three of em aren't really a friendly bunch. But two of them do play an important role in why you ended up here."
"They do?" Fluttershy started to get a bad feeling in her stomach.
Luna nodded and smiled. "Yup. That's why I'm having them join us."
"What?!" Fluttershy flew into a panic, running around for to hide. Unfortunately the vacant room left her with no options. She finally found her spot behind Luna just in time as Hakumen and Arakune made their way in. Seeing how Fluttershy's long pink hair stuck out against the white background, Hakumen recognized her despite changing back into a pegasus.
"You!" Reaching for his swords, Hakumen aimed its edge at Fluttershy. "Now I shall finish what I started! I am the white void. I am the cold st--" While he was deep in his preparatory speech, Luna cut him off.
"Sorry, but I'm gonna have to stop you right there."
"What?" Thrown off by the sudden interruption, Hakumen turned his sights on Luna. "You dare to get in my way? Then you two sha--"
"Just zip it already. This isn't the place or time for that sort of thing. Sheesh, it's like all you fighting game characters think of is fighting half the time. Besides, didn't you go down to go boy over there?" Luna slyly asked, pointer her hoof at Arakune.
"Silence beast of burden! I shall deal with the abomination once I finish with her over there. Now, stand aside."
"B-beast of burden!" Luna's eyes and horn began to shine brightly, slightly resembling the way they looked back in her Nightmare Moon days. "How dare you!"
Hakumen readied his blade for whatever may come. "So, you intend to fight then? Come! I shall--Uuuwaaaah!" Luna's magic quickly wrapped around him and began twirling him mercilessly around the room. Hakumen was helpless against the princess, a notion he would surely never live down, until she finally flung his back onto the floor. Fluttershy was about to go running to check on him, but seeing him quickly stagger back up, she huddled back to her spot. "Hnnng." Hakumen groaned, using his blade to keep up right. "Magic... You creatures possess such power. Only more reason why I must dispense of you."
"Oh that's right, I remember. In your world magic is very dangerous and powerful, with only a very few number of people who actually wield it. I understand why you'd be so worried, but would you just cool it! Technically we're not in your world so me having magic isn't causing any problems so no need to be all 'I need to protect the balance' and stuff. Now I brought you both here to help Fluttershy remember what exactly happened to figure out what she did wrong. Now behave yourself or else I'll send flying all around again. Understand?" Staying silent, Hakumen sheathed his weapon and turned his back. Arakune meanwhile nodded. "Good. Now then." Luna stepped to the side, exposing Fluttershy to the others. "Fluttershy, you remember your little run in with these two, correct."
Fluttershy opened her eyes. She couldn't help trembling from their stares. "Y-y-y-yes." Seeing how Fluttershy was practically scared out of her wits, Arakune approached and stopped in front of her.
"Hey there cutie pie, no need to be scared of o'le Arakune." Unlike before, the gelatinous blob spoke clearly, even a sort of debonair tone to his voice. That, and coupled by the fact that he no longer reeked, calmed Fluttershy a bit.
"Uh, um." She was still nervous. The memories from before were still fresh in her mind, but there was just something about this Arakune felt different to her. "Hello."
"Hello there, cutie. My name's Arakune. What's yours?"
"It's... Fluttershy."
"Fluttershy? What an adorable name for such an adorable young girl. Now that we've got to introduce ourselves, I’d like to apologize for my earlier behavior. You know how it is, right? Fish gotta swim, birds gotta fly, and Arakune gotta feed off energy. It's nothing personal babe, it's just you were chalk full of it." Seeing how Arakune's personality took a complete one-eighty from before, Fluttershy started to quickly warm up to him.
"Oh, well that's alright. If you were hungry, then I understand. You were only doing what comes natural to you."
"Exactly!" Arakune undulated happily. "Oh I just knew you'd understand."
"Ahem." Princess Luna stepped in. "Not to interrupt this little bonding moment between you two, but I need to clear something up." She pointed to Arakune. "This sack of slime over here, isn't the actually Arakune."
The revelation shocked Fluttershy. "He isn't?"
"No, sweetie," the Arakune look-a-like replied. "I'm actually a robotic replica of him created by Professor Kokonoe."
"Which she's currently lending to me," Luna finished. "I couldn't exactly have the real thing come in. He'd stick up this place so bad I'd never get the smell out. That and this version of Arakune is a lot easier to understand. None of that cut off words, dot, dot, dot stuff. Asides from those minor differences he's practically the same as the real thing, more or less."
"You know it, baby," Arakune replied, giving Luna a look that she could have sworn looked like a wink.
"Eh... I just didn't know this one would end up being such a flirt. Drop it Casanova, you're not here to win the readers over."
"I just thought I'd give the readers another side of me. Let them see I'm more complicated than I look."
"Trust me, you look plenty complicated already. Besides the real reason we're here is for her sake."
Fluttershy looked surprised and pointed her hoof to herself as the others now focused on her. "Wait, Me?"
"Yes you," Luna snapped. "Don't you remember what we talked about a few minutes ago? About why you're here."
Hakumen shook his head at Fluttershy. "Hmph. To think that such a pathetic of a creature could be a main character."
"Knock it off samurai boy." Luna shot him a glare. "Unless you're looking to go for another spin around the room?" Hakumen kept his peace, letting Luna get back to Fluttershy. "You remember running from the Arakune in the sewer."
"Sorry again," Arakune cut in.
Little him get his apology out of the way, Luna continued. "You then ran into Hakumen. Not long after, the two of them began fighting. It was a pretty one sided fight and Hakumen was clearly winning, but something felt wrong about it, right?"
Fluttershy slowly nodded. "Yes." Luna quickly gave her a light conk on the head, snapping Fluttershy out of her slump. "Ouch!"
"Of course something was wrong. You see two people fighting and you barely lift a hoof to stop it? You, Fluttershy! That's not like you at all. And that's exactly why you ended up here. Your thing is kindness. It's the element you represent. Seeing someone getting viciously pummeled like that and doing nothing to help them doesn't fit your character. You'd unquestionably go help that person even if they were just about to eat you a moment ago. Because that how you are."
"But, but..." Fluttershy looked towards Hakumen. "He was just... so scary."
"What about the time you stared down a dragon all by yourself? Isn't a full grown dragon really scary?"
"I, I guess so..."
"More like you know so. That thing was about twenty times the size of that faceless grump with the pony tail over there, so I definitely know you're brave enough to stand up to anyone in that world over there. Just be your normal self and you'll make it through fine. Asides from that, the only thing you need to avoid is losing a fight."
"A fight?" Confused Fluttershy looked up at Luna. "But I though you said the reason I came here was because I let others fight? Now you're telling me I'm gonna have to fight."
"Well, you see in the Blazblue world a lot of things tend to boil down to fighting it out. It can't be help most of the time. In your case though, it's more a matter of what you're fighting for."
"What I'm fighting for... You mean finding my friends?"
"That's right. It also can mean protecting new friends you meet along the way. Just go out there and remember to be brave. Show em what kindness can do when it's in your hooves." Seeing Fluttershy begin to gleam with hope. Luna was confident she knew what she had to do. "Now run along, you still have to find your Ponyville friends."
"Yes, Princess Luna, I will." With a smile on her face and her wings feverishly flapping, Fluttershy made her exit, leaving Luna with her two other guests.
"As for you two, I sincerely thank you for taking part in my very first segment."
"Not that I was given much choice," Hakumen grunted.
"Well if you'd have a better attitude about it maybe you wouldn't be so miserable next time."
"Yeah, just like me," said Arakune.
"I'd rather submit to my fate then be compared to you, abomination!"
Luna sighed, clearly never going to get the crabby samurai to relax. "Alright, let’s get these two out of here before they start fighting here too." She called out to the off stage mare. "Hey, see to getting these two back home. Oh and make sure you send this Arakune back to Kokonoe's lab. She'd kill me if I accidentally let this guy loose on the city."
The stagehoof pony shouted back. "You got it. Come on you two, time to go home." Waving the two of them off, Luna to a moment to observe her new room. "Hmm... A lab design like Kokonoe's... Maybe I should try that."
"If you do, can I be your lab assistant?" the invisible mare in the stage shadows asked.
"Sure, why not. I could use one. Plus that will get you into this story and the readers can finally know who you are."
"Wait a second, you mean they don't know already?"
"Nope. You've been addressed as a mysterious stagehoof this whole time."
"What?! Can I tell them now at least?"
"Sorry, out of time. For you, readers, I hope you enjoyed our first little segment and look forward to the next one." Luna quickly bowed as the lights faded and the curtain closed. But as they did, something could be seen rustling behind them.
"Wait! You still haven't gotten to see who I am." The mysterious stagehoof mare please fell on deaf ears as the lights faded to black. "Noooooooo!"