The Chronicles of Swarm: The Equestrian Front

by kildeez


Chapter XL: Forgiveness

For what felt like the millionth time that night, Fluttershy cowered in a small, dark corner, her newfound confidence all but completely blasted away. Her Element glowed weakly around her neck as she cried. “She was right,” she whimpered, crying softly into her hooves. “Dear sweet Celestia, they DO let you down! They…they…”

She couldn’t even bring herself to say it. The picture of Uris, that nice human who had kept her safe all through the night, covered in the blood of another played over and over again in her mind. She had been so blind. How couldn’t she have seen it? When she woke up on the outskirts of the city, did she honestly think those other humans had been knocked unconscious by Twilight’s teleportation spell? No. She’d never been that stupid. Until now, she had just assumed they had been fighting something else. Something that looked like a human, but wasn’t. After all, how could sweet Mr. Uris have anything to do with those terrible, murderous things that had been chasing her all night? Well, she saw now. Celestia help her, she could see now: that kind, loving Mr. Uris was just like the rest of them…

“A monster,” she sobbed, wings folded back against her body. A monster that had dragged her through the most horrible, most terrifying night of her life. A monster that had drawn her in with its helpless looks before crushing her beliefs with one act of carelessness. A monster that had somehow convinced her there was some good in it.

“Oh Celestia, oh…” she swallowed the lump growing in her throat, not wanting her sobs to draw any attention from those…THINGS that had infested Equestria. Not from The Ridchir. Not from the Americans. Not from anybody. She just wanted to close her eyes and wake up in her nice, safe, warm bed at home, with nothing to worry about but the rapidly fading memory of a strange, two-legged creature with eyes that blazed like the sun and blood all over its hands…

“Fluttershy?” Pinkie’s voice asked.

“PINKIE!” She cried, her hooves immediately flying open to wrap around the pink mare. Immediately, her friend embraced her as she sobbed into her shoulder. “Oh, it’s so wrong! I trusted him! I thought he was something new and special! But he wasn’t! He was just…was just…”

“Hush, Flutters,” Pinkie smiled, stroking her friend’s mane. “It’s alright.”

“How could it be alright, Pinkie?” Fluttershy pulled back to wipe a few tears from her eyes, but kept her hooves on her friend. “How could it ever be alright? The only reason I could fight my double was because I didn’t believe what she said! I believed my friends would always be there! I thought anypony I picked to be my friend would never let me down! And…and Mr. Uris…he…he…”

“He thought he was protecting you, though,” Pinkie said sheepishly.

“HE BUTCHERED ANOTHER HUMAN!” She screeched, her voice wavering frantically. “Just stabbed him to death for no reason at all! I…I should’ve known after we landed and he…he used that weapon on those humans. I didn’t wanna think about it, but I should have. Oh sweet Celestia, I should have. What if…”

“What if what?”

“What if…all this hadn’t happened?” Fluttershy motioned to the town around them, still sniffling. “What if Twilight had never teleported us here, or those other humans had never attacked us? What if we stayed at my tree house for another day or two and…and…and Mr. Uris got angry?”

Pinkie stood back, shocked at what her friend was implying. That Uris could ever just do something so terrible for no reason at all…she would have to tread carefully here. The little pegasus was obviously distraught, a bit of her naiveté having been stripped away with one act of violence. But if she could get the focus back on the doppelganger, might she have a chance at fixing this? “Fluttershy,” she said carefully. “Just what did your double say that you didn’t want to believe?”

“She-she said,” the pegasus sniffled and wiped at her eyes again, trying to calm down enough to recount her doppelganger’s words. “She said that sooner or later, friends let you down. That they’ll turn around and say no just because…because it’s too hard. That they’ll fail you.”

Pinkie paused. This was going to be a bit tougher than she thought. After thinking things through, she figured she had a decent response formed. “Fluttershy? About what your double said…”

The little yellow pegasus looked up with wide, hopeful eyes, obviously ready for some assurance that no, her double was wrong, and that everything was still all puppy dogs and rainbows.

“…she was absolutely right.”

Fluttershy stared at her friend, her jaw agape.

“There will be a time when your friends’ll do all sortsa nasty things. I mean, just look at what we did to Twilight at her brother’s wedding! We all turned our backs on her when she was the only one who saw what Cadence really was!” Fluttershy shuddered at the memory of Canterlot under occupation, but nodded to show she was following. “So yeah, friends sometimes hurt each other. They’ll hurt each other because they forget sometimes how valuable your friendship really is, or just because they’re having a bad day and they…forget themselves.”

Fluttershy nodded, her hope dwindling. The glow of the jewel around her neck faded almost to nothing.

“But then, that’s to be expected, right?” Her friend looked up at her quizzically. “Well c’mon, I mean, nopony’s perfect! Sometimes, a friend might snap atcha just because they’re in a bad mood, but that can only be temporary. They might see how bad they acted later on.” As she finished, there was a loud crunching noise, followed by the squealing of brakes as a familiar vehicle parked just around the corner. The pair watched as a certain orange Earth pony stepped around a corner and into view, trailed by three other mares and one human.

“Sometimes, we lie,” she said, picking up where Pinkie left off. “But that’s only ‘cause we might be tryin’ to protect ya, ‘cause sometimes we know the truth is gonna hurt.”

“Sometimes, we turn our backs on our friends right when they need us the most,” Rainbow added, alighting on the ground next to the Earth pony. She stretched a hoof over her friend’s shoulder. “But that’s only ‘cause we get all caught up in something we only think is super important, and that makes us forget what’s really important.”

“Sometimes, we get stingy with friends and refuse help,” Rarity added, trotting up to join the trio making their way towards the pink and the yellow mares. “But we could be going through rough times ourselves, and in our exhaustion, we might forget that a friend in need is a friend in deed.”

“And this is all because sometimes, we forget that friendship truly is magic,” Twilight said as she teleported into view, smiling warmly. “Sometimes we just need a little reminder to realize what we’ve done.”

“Nobody’s perfect,” Ramirez shrugged, crossing his arms and leaning against the doorway Fluttershy was cowering behind. “We all screw up sometimes, and sometimes a friend is the one that takes the hit, even when they don’t deserve it. The important thing is that when it’s all said an’ done, they remember two little words and mean ‘em with all their heart…”

A strange sound filled the street: a sort of step, followed by a dragging noise. All eyes turned as Uris stepped out of the shadows, blood covering his legs and a makeshift crutch holding him up. He looked up at every single being gathered before him, and then to the little pegasus cowering in the doorway. It broke his heart to look at the fear in her little eyes and realize that he was the one who made her so scared. His eyes went to the ground, his head bowed, and finally he uttered those two little words: “I’m sorry.”

He paused, gathering what little strength he had left before he continued. “I am so, so sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt any of you. Especially you, Fluttershy.” She peeked around the corner shyly, just one eye looking at him, the other still hiding behind the wall. “I know I scared you. I know I showed you something you weren’t meant to see. I know I’ve probably violated your trust on a whole fuckton of different levels, and I know you probably can’t ever forgive me for what I did, but I want you to know that I’m gonna do whatever it takes to make this right. I’m gonna do what I can to make sure this doesn’t happen again. I’m gonna do what it takes to get your trust back. I promise.”

“Well, Fluttershy?” Rainbow asked. “We’re all waiting on you.”

The little pegasus poked her head back in her corner. The entire street fell silent as the ponies and the humans waited uneasily. Finally, she poked her head out again. Cautiously, she approached Uris, hovering up to eye level with him. His gaze never even left the ground. “You killed someone, Uris,” she said. “And I know it was an accident, and that you were only trying to protect me, but that doesn’t change the fact that someone is dead now when they really didn’t have to be.”

His head bowed even lower: it looked like if the deepest hole in the universe had opened up beneath his feet, Uris would have jumped into it just to have someplace lower to send himself.

“The look on your face was…terrifying, to say the least. It reminded me of something a dragon might show.”

“Dragon look? That’s pretty badass.” Ramirez mumbled. Dash elbowed him.

“You humans have a side that I can’t ever trust; but my being caught off-guard by it is probably my fault. I should’ve realized what you could do back in the Everfree Forest, and maybe we could’ve talked about it then. It’s a little late for that, I think, and a lot of damage has been done…”

If Uris had sunken any lower, the tree branch he was using for a cane would have had to dig its own grave right then and there.

“…But I’m willing to try and fix it. I-it might take a little while to completely trust you again, b-b-b-but, if you’re willing to try, then…”

His arm stretched out to the side suddenly. He looked at her, tears welling in his eyes. She hesitated, looked back to her friends with a touch of fear on her face. The five mares simply nodded and waved her forward. Just as Uris’s arm started to droop hopelessly, she rushed into it and nuzzled him, hugging him with all the strength she had in her little pony body. Uris suppressed a sob as he pulled her in close. “GROUP HUG!” Pinkie screeched, running up to the pair and tackling them.

“Pinkie, no! This is sorta just a quick moment betweenohgoddammitwhydoyounever-BLARG!” Uris gasped as the little mare tackled him, followed swiftly by Rarity, Applejack, and Twilight. The four all nestled in close, before turning back to the cyan pegasus and the SEAL expectantly.

“Um, no way,” Ramirez replied.

Rainbow tugged at his uniform sleeve. “C’mooonnnnn, macho-man! It’ll be fun!”

“I may be a brony, but this is way too gay even for me. Like, if this were the ending to an episode, I’d be puking and reaching for a Chuck Norris movie to regain a little machismo.”

“Dude, you’re in a world full of magical, colorful, talking ponies,” Uris replied from the bottom of the pony pile. “Machismo packed up and left eons ago.”

The SEAL started to make a complaint, then stopped, paused in thought, and shrugged. “Eh, what the hell,” he figured as he scooped the cyan pegasus up in one powerful arm and ran at the pile, screaming: “CANNONBAAAAAAAAA…”

“Oh, nonononononono YOU MOTHERFUCKER!”

“EEEEEKK!” The ponies screamed as they ran for cover.

“…AAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLL-OH SHIT!” Ramirez sailed happily into the air until Rainbow squirmed out of his grasp and he realized there was now just one very masculine pilot waiting on the ground for him. Flailing around in mid-air as if he could become the first human to learn how to fly, the SEAL was totally helpless to keep himself from slamming down on the pilot, his forehead connecting with Uris’s chin.

“Sunuva…” Uris groaned, popping his jaw back into place.

“Goddammit…” Ramirez said, rubbing at the spot on his forehead. He opened his eyes and found himself lying nose-to-nose with the pilot, barely an inch between them. “See? Way too gay.”

“Get off me before I break the other bones in your head.”

“I’d love to see ya try,” Ramirez sighed as he rolled off to the laughter of the six ponies watching them. He grimaced. “It figures the one time I get to cuddle with a buncha ponies, I blow it.”

Without another word, Fluttershy swooped down next to him and gave him a quick peck on his forehead. The SEAL’s face turned bright red. “To make it feel better,” she explained bashfully.

“I’m never washing my face again.”

“Welp, now that we’ve all had our fair share of emasculating behavior,” Uris said as he stood up and cracked his neck. “What’s say we head back out there and go win this war once and for all, eh? I made a promise to that ‘Mars’ fucker that we’d all cram our boots-slash-hooves so far up his ass he’d be able to taste them, and I intend to keep it.”

“Well, what’re we waiting for!?” Rainbow swooped around the corner and plopped herself in the Humvee. “Let’s get this shit started!”

“That was supposed to be my line,” Twilight moped as the humans and the ponies all piled in and took off, heading towards the growing sounds of battle somewhere far ahead.