//------------------------------//
// Lust 
// Story: Wrath 
// by FishyCrackers431 
//------------------------------//


Chapter 7: Lust

lust, noun: a passionate or overmastering desire or craving

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Fleeing the bakery as fast as she could, Twilight went over once, twice, then thrice all of her actions for the past day. Assaulted by each of her friends, willingly attacked them back, then the confirmation that it was the gem making her so angry. But the others didn't seem to get angry, or at least not as much, they all had their own little quirks.

Speaking of...

Twilight stopped where she was, glancing back to Sugarcube Corner. The thought that it might be wise to go back and help crossed her mind. After all, she had no idea whether or not that bubble she'd trapped Pinkie in would ever break... And the kids did know where the knives were, that could prove problematic. 'Wait, what am I thinking? They know where the knives are, they can get her out'

If her head had been on properly, Twilight may have seen the dangerous error in that thought process. For now, however, she had vaguely more important things to think about.

Like, for example, the many ponies that would gasp and quickly get out of her way when she walked. The action was becoming so common now that it was staring to get discouraging. Perhaps it'd be best to investigate...

So, Twilight hurried off her path for a moment to look into a store window. The reflection was a bit dim, but she could make it out well enough. Her mane was longer, sticking up as if she'd spiked it. However, it flowed freely, giving off the impression it was made of flame, which, as a few people who knew her best knew, was an indication that she'd grown from angry to downright wrathful.

"I don't feel angry..." Twilight mumbled, peering closer at her reflection. It did look intimidating, combined with her slight growth and her horn sharpening up some. Squinting at her reflection now, Twilight saw another pair of eyes, looking back at her. She refocused her vision and saw through the glass, into the music store.

On the other side were the pair, Octavia who looked as though she'd been examining a cello, and Vinyl Scratch standing not far, both staring back with looks of uncertainty, as though not sure whether to run or not.

Twilight put on a smile to cover herself up, giving a fake chuckle, a wave, and whispering a "Sorry, bye" before dashing off.

Okay, that was incredibly awkward. Twilight was just outside town now, trying to forget the looks she'd received, and how absolutely dreadful she looked.

Fluttershy was her last hope, unfortunately. She was both a hope for some kind of peace today, and one to test the gem. After all, Fluttershy wasn't known to have any downsides at all; if the gem could manage some type of miracle with this pegasus, Twilight was just about ready to toss it in a ditch.

Just crossing over a small bridge heading over the stream, Fluttershy's cottage came into view. Twilight took a deep breath and closed her eyes as she walked; everything was always so peaceful out here, away from the town... though, a little too much so this time at least.

She stopped moving and opened her eyes once more, glancing around. She was just outside the gate to the cottage, and the usual cries of the animals were nonexistent. In fact, Twilight couldn't see a single creature. "Hello?" Twilight called. She'd normally not bother trying to speak to the animals, that wasn't her thing, but it just... felt weird.

So, Twilight swung the gate open with her magic, and stepped inside onto the property.

A moment later, a hawk swept down from a tree and Twilight had to duck down to avoid its talons. Seconds later, chickens began storming out of their coop, squirrels could be seen descending their trees, and oddly enough, a rather large seal poked its head around the side of the cottage, glaring in Twilight's direction.

It was only when all of these animals started rushing in her direction with rather angry sounds did Twilight herself start running forward towards the cottage. "I didn't even do anything yet!" She yelled, quickly reached the door and banging on it. "Fluttershy! It's Twilight, open up!"

Only a quick squeak was heard from through the door. Oh, had that pegasus chosen a bad time to have some sort of a problem. "If you don't open up, I'm coming in anyway!" Twilight yelled, charging her horn and vanishing from her spot just as a chicken came flying her way.

Twilight reappeared within the cottage with a loud snapping sound. The first thing she saw was that she'd reappeared behind Fluttershy, who had been glancing out the window but quickly spun and raised her hooves defensively out of the surprise of it.

"What... was that?" Twilight gestured to the door, breathing heavily and taking a seat down right where she was.

In typical fashion, Fluttershy bowed her head some, speaking more to the ground than to Twilight directly, eager to not anger her any more than she already was. "I... What was what?"

"What was what? Why were all of your little woodland demons attacking me?"

"Attacking... what?" Fluttershy raised her head slightly, glancing out the window. By now, all the commotion outside had ceased, and not a single creature was in sight. "I didn't tell them to do that..."

Twilight sighed, pulling herself over to Fluttershy's couch and sitting herself right down onto it. Her heart was still going a mile a minute in her chest from having nearly been mauled by a variety of animals. "Yeah, right. So, why didn't you let me in then?"

Fluttershy looked back to Twilight, then the window once more, mumbling something uncertainly under her breath.

Twilight gave a sigh, knowing she'd need to calm herself some to get a straight answer. "Come on, spit it out, I know what you're thinking, but I wont get mad" Twilight lightly waved it off, quickly scanning the room.

After a few moments of silence, Fluttershy finally spoke up. "Rainbow Dash came over for help a little while ago, with a dislocated wing. And, she told me..." Fluttershy trailed off, silently hoping she'd need not have to explain further.

"Oh... well" Now it was Twilight's turn to find a sudden interest in the floor, thinking this over. "It was nothing, really, we just got into a little argument"

"It looked pretty painful, I don't know how she even managed to fly here like that" Fluttershy went deep into thought on the subject, flying over and sitting herself down on a sofa opposite Twilight. Twilight herself could feel a bit of tension in the air at this.

"So, you were afraid I'd hurt you?"

Fluttershy dare not say a word, instead only giving a look of pleading and a quick, subtle nod. The two sat in silence for a short time afterward, Fluttershy being Fluttershy and Twilight feeling worse than guilty. Perhaps a change of subject might be in order.

"So... Where's Angel?" Twilight asked. Fluttershy gave a look of bewilderment, pointing a hoof towards Twilight's neck. With some confusion, Twilight looked down, seeing a pair of rabbit legs sticking out of the satchel around her neck and trying to fish out the gem. "Hey!" Twilight immediately lit her horn, pulling the rabbit up and out of the satchel and holding it in the air upside down. "Hands off!"

Fluttershy flew over, quickly taking Angel, who had been swinging his little fists in the air at Twilight, in her mouth and setting him down on the couch beside herself. "I'm sorry, I thought you must have noticed him there..."

"If you haven't told them to attack me, why are all of your pets going crazy?" As she said this, Twilight gave a silent glare to Angel who stuck his tongue out at her and turned away, arms crossed.

Fluttershy didn't seem to take any notice of this. "I don't think it's really crazy, Angel's just a little grumpy today because we missed our trip for Rainbow Dash"

"What trip?"

Fluttershy bent down to nuzzle Angel some, who groaned childishly but didn't openly protest. "He wanted to go to the park" Of course, the rabbit did. Not the owner. The rabbit. Twilight raised an eyebrow, but said nothing of this awkward relationship the two shared.

"Right... so, anyway, what about the others?" Twilight gestured to the window again, where a chicken had been peering in rather menacingly for a few short moments. If it hadn't been so weird it would have been equally terrifying.

Fluttershy gave a quick shrug of her shoulders, giving Angel a quick nudge. Angel seemed to understand this, and hopped down from the sofa, arms still crossed, before scurrying away to some other part of the cottage. "I haven't noticed anything different. Well, one of Squirrley's little wind flaps got torn the other day, so he might be a bit frustrated from not being able to fly for so long..."

She seemed to have trailed off just before finishing whatever it is she was saying. With a sigh, Twilight added; "Or?"

"... Or, they might be a teensy bit afraid of you. Animals can get a little... overactive when they're afraid" Fluttershy gave an uncertain smile, accompanied by a squeak. Even without saying it directly, Twilight was very much aware of just why they'd be afraid.

Twilight gave a quick shrug. "I've had a rough couple days, in fact, that's why I came here." It seemed rather odd to think so, but the sudden feeling that she was being watched by more than just Fluttershy suddenly flooded in, as though every creature on this lot was just waiting for her to make that wrong move. In fact, out of the corner of her eye, Twilight could see Angel peeking his head down the stairs, watching.

Well, now or never. "Tell me, what do you think of when you see this?" Horn lit, Twilight pulled open her satchel and removed the gem from it, raising it in front of her for it to be easily seen.

Then, much to her astonishment, Fluttershy squinted, and gave an uncertain: "It's... nice?"

Twilight blinked twice. That was unexpected, entirely. She lifted the gem a bit closer to the pegasus. "Do you want it?"

"Why? Is it a gift?"

"Well, no..."

"That's okay then, you can keep it" Fluttershy waved it off like it was nothing, gesturing for Twilight to take it back. "But you said you had a rough day, right? I can help with that, if you want"

With a sigh, Twilight set the gem down beside her again. "How can you help?" she asked, eyes on it.

Fluttershy flew over with a pillow in hand, plopping it down on top of the gem and hiding it from view. "Stop worrying so much, you've had a horrible time, haven't you?"

"But I kinda need-" Twilight reached for the pillow, only to be stopped when Fluttershy put both hooves on the sides of Twilight's mouth and stretched them some.

"You look just awful, a smile will do you good, come on" Fluttershy released Twilight's face, staying suspended in the air with her wings for a few moments. She gestured towards her mouth, growing as big a smile as she dared.

"I'd really rather not" Twilight murmured, reaching once again for the pillow her gem was hidden under.

Fluttershy gave Twilight's hoof a playful swat, pulling the pillow away from her. "Well, I wont force you, but I'm not letting you leave until you're all better" Fluttershy spoke proudly, making the same 'smile' gesture as she had before, and leaning in as if hinting at it.

She and Twilight locked eyes for a few short seconds, before Twilight finally gave a sigh of defeat. "Fine" She mumbled, quickly putting on a small, while still fake smile. She'd barely done more than lift the corners of her mouth.

"Come on, you can do better than that, big smile!" Fluttershy made the same gesture again, this time adding in her own large smile to it.

Twilight's eye gave a quick twitch. This time, she at least put the rest of her face into the expression, though the only result was an uncertain grin, like a scolded child might.

"Better, one more try. Biiig smile!" Fluttershy once again reached out and pulled Twilight's cheeks up some, releasing them a second later.

Twilight gave a sigh. Okay, big smile. With a strangely great amount of effort, Twilight spread her face into the largest and most legitimate smile she could manage. It felt natural once she'd accomplished it, like how easy it used to be before this whole thing started.

Fluttershy must have disagreed. Her wings snapped closed, and she fell a good three feet to the floor. Twilight took her by the hoof to help her back up, now undoubtedly glum. Fluttershy's wings usually had that effect whenever she'd seen or heard something that managed to terrify her. "Good smile?" Twilight asked sarcastically.

Fluttershy blushed slightly, knowing she was lying. She brushed herself off, standing up on shaky legs. "Good... it was... good, how do you feel?"

"The word scary comes to mind" Twilight sighed, turning her attention back to the pillow. She lifted it up and off the couch with her horn, and immediately went rigid. It was gone. In a fit of panic, she tossed the pillow to the other side of the room, which Fluttershy had to duck under, and stood up on the couch. She lifted and tossed the other pillows too, searching frantically. "Where is it, where'd it go? What'd you do with it?" Twilight suddenly yelled, spinning and turning her attention to Fluttershy.

From where she now lay on the floor, both in response to dodging the thrown pillows and fear of Twilight, Fluttershy gave only a squeak and a shrug of the shoulders in response.

Breathing heavily, Twilight dropped down from the couch beside Fluttershy, lifting it up off the floor with her horn. What she saw beneath was Angel, clutching the gem to him and glaring at Twilight. Her eyes lit up in a flare, and, without thinking, Twilight tossed the couch across the room with her horn, embedding it into the far wall. "You little rat!" Twilight yelled, pouncing at him. But anger or not, the rabbit was quick, and bounded away from her, leaving Twilight landing only on wooden floor.

Twilight sat up, breathing heavily, and eyes darting around the room. She turned back to Fluttershy, who was examining the couch stuck in her wall with a look as though she was about to cry. "Where is he? Where did he go?"

Fluttershy only sank down against the floor, a squeak of a response coming out, and pointing a hoof towards the centerpiece of the room, a wide wooden beam, hollow in the inside for the birds that chose to live indoors.

Twilight only just saw the tail end of Angel as he disappeared into one of the holes at the base of the beam. She pounced forward again, this time landing just before the beam and sliding her hoof inside of it. "Get out here you little-!"

Just as she started to reach around inside of it, a few birds appeared from the higher up entrances to the beam, and flew down. Twilight didn't even get a chance to withdraw her hoof before they started pecking at her from all sides.

Pulling herself free, Twilight backed up from the beam, waving her hooves and head around wildly while shouting "Birds, birds, birds!" Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Fluttershy floating among the birds, not attacking, but trying to talk them down in a voice too quiet to be heard among all the commotion.

Finally, after one more quick wave of her hoof, Twilight felt a sharp few pecks among her forehead, and she finally yelled "That's it!" Her horn blared up, and after a blinding flash of light, all was quiet.

The birds around her dropped out of the air like rocks, and Fluttershy had to scramble underneath them, only barely succeeding in catching them all. Fluttershy carefully set them all down, a look of horror among her face. The flock of birds that had been lively only seconds before had turned into a glass menagerie, which which she could only touch with the greatest of care, for fear that any of them might crack or shatter.

Twilight finally sat back, breathing heavily and eyes darting between all the little glass figures she'd created. Fluttershy had stopped trying to prevent it, and now had free flowing tears going. With a quick look of panic, Fluttershy rushed back over to the bird's beam, reaching inside the base of it and pulling out Angel.

Just as the birds had been, Angel was only a glass figure of his former self, with the gemstone clutched to his stomach, only barely retrievable without having to break his little arms off. Fluttershy, now breathing heavily, looked between Angel, and the assortment of glass birds littering the ground. She carefully pulled the gem from Angel's grip, eyes locked on it for a few crucial seconds with a look combining lust, loss, and pure hatred.

Finally, Fluttershy set Angel down on the ground, looking over to Twilight. She tossed it a the unicorn with bit of anger, which Twilight made sure to catch out of the air with her magic and quickly return to her satchel. "Leave" Fluttershy hissed, tears flowing freely.

Yes, this was what she was afraid of. Twilight took an uncertain step forward. "I'm sorry, it was all in the moment, I can change them all back, I swear-"

"Leave!" Fluttershy yelled, louder than Twilight had ever heard her before. The very sound of it left a ringing in her ears, and knowing she wasn't wanted here any longer, Twilight quickly teleported from where she stood to the outside.