//------------------------------// // Candor and Deception // Story: So, You've Grown Wings // by Steel Resolve //------------------------------// "What was that about, Fluttershy?" Rainbow Dash demanded. Everypony looked at Dash as if she'd grown a third head on top of the second one. Fluttershy wilted under her gaze. "She didn't want to fight me..." "What do you mean? That Tornado chick seemed all gung-ho to get her vengeance, but your element didn't feel like it? What kind of villain is that?" “She's not a bad pony! She was so sad...” “She slapped you in the face! Then she tried to use the Stare on you!” “Listen to me, when we were fighting before the Staring contest, she talked to me...” ------------------------------------------------- Fluttershy landed a halfhearted slap on Shimmer's face when Shimmer spoke to her in a whisper. “You ... mule with wings!” Fluttershy eyed her opponent. Long sweeping mane, it looked like she never needed a brush, it flowed like a river, she expected if she were to touch it her hoof would get wet. Her coat was was all muted gray tones, and on her flank was a picture of a dragonfly. This was a pony that would make the fashion world forget Fluttershy in a heartbeat. “I forgive you, Shimmer. I know what Discord does to your personality.” Fluttershy's voice was barely audible, but Shimmer seemed to hear her fine. “Yeah? Well, forgive this!” Another slap with no force to it. Fluttershy returned it, to keep up appearances mostly. “You're angry at your friends for abandoning you, aren't you? Tell Doctor Fluttershy about it.” She took another light slap to the face for that. “We sacrificed everything! Our lives, our freedom! That old mule and her sister were supposed to use our power to end this, and keep everypony safe! She let us get corrupted again! We're back under that crazy bastard's control! All my friends are miserable, and it's all that nag's fault!” Fluttershy slapped her lightly in return. “I can help you, my friends want to help you.” Another light slap answered her. “You can't, you're too weak. All of you are too weak!” Fluttershy's return slap was barely more than a wisp of air. “You could help us, if you tried.” A round of slaps this time, none of which even connected. “You can't fix this! He's too powerful, we're too powerful! He could be remaking the world in his image right now; instead he wants to watch us fight and hate each other, because it amuses him. I hate him so much; almost as much as I hate Celestia for not protecting us, almost as much as I hate you all for not being strong enough to stop us.” Fluttershy swiped at the air. “I am weak, but when I stand with my friends we are strong. Would you like to be my friend Shimmer?” This round wasn't even close, she seemed to be crying. “I... could never be friends with somepony so weak...” a last round of halfhearted slaps. "Staring contest! Go!" Fluttershy looked startled. "Wha-" Then Shimmer began to Stare. ------------------------------------------------- “She didn't even try to resist when she heard me sing, she just relaxed and gave in. She could have hurt me, I felt the strength she was holding back. I saw the strain in her muscles.” Fluttershy was silent for a moment. “I hated you all, you know. When Discord touched me, you disgusted me. I know what she is feeling. Each of us know what these ponies are feeling. We can help them, just like we helped each other. Shimmer didn't want revenge, she was angry because she felt betrayed. Celestia was supposed to protect them. We were supposed to protect them. These ponies gave up everything to save the world, and all they asked in return was peace. We need to make this right for them.” Applejack took this in, and nodded. “So, that's what's going on. Ah reckon we need to help 'em out then. Twah, kin you teach me that memory restoration spell you used on everypony? I think Ah got a plan...” ------------------------------------------------- Discord blinked in out of nowhere the following morning. “Rise and shine everypony! We've got a big day ahead of us, let's get a move on!” He snapped his fingers and everypony found themselves in the Canterlot rodeo arena. “The Clouldsdale Colosseum was closed for repairs, it seems our little staring contest caused a lot of structural damage. As before, you may choose who goes next.” Applejack stepped forward. “C'mere cuz.” Pointing at Blueberry. Blueberry stepped forward, She was an interesting sight to be sure. She carried herself with little grace, and gave a sense that she was most comfortable with four hooves planted firmly in the soil of the arena. Yessir, this was a farmer, if Big Mac were a mare and an alicorn this is pretty much what Applejack expected he would look like. She had a straw hat on, wide brimmed, not a Stetson sadly. This was a hat of a mare that spent a long time in the sun watchin' things grow, then spent more time harvestin'. Under that hat flowed what looked like long twining vines that seemed to grow every second. Her flank unsurprisingly enough had her namesake, but the colors were muted grays. “Cuz, you an' I are supposed to settle things out here, but I don't reckon that has to mean I have to hate you for it. I figure you and I might be able to settle things the old fashioned way, did you ever hoof-wrassle as a foal?” “Nope, never did.” Blueberry's eyes darted around nervously. “Never... oh hay, right, honesty, got it. um... Well how about this then, I say we hoof-wrassle, do you agree?” “That sounds like a horrible idea.” The eyes darted again. Applejack motioned for a couple barrels, but Blueberry did her one better. She pointed a hoof at the ground, and it rose up into a mound in the center flanked by two smaller mounds for the ponies to sit on. Applejack sat down and held up a hoof. In a moment Blueberry took the other mound, and wrapped her hoof around Applejack's. They began; Applejack strained, but she could not budge the other farmer's hoof. Blueberry made no effort to do more than match Applejack's strength. The ground below them began to creak from the pressures being applied. Smoke began to billow from cracks that appeared in the arena's dirt field. “Cuz, I reckon your heart ain't in this, is that wrong?” “Yes, that's wrong.” The eyes again, dang she was a bad liar. “You want us to help you? We just want Discord shut down, and we want you and yours to be happy again, do you want that cousin?” “No, I don't want that at all.” Darting again. “Cuz, if you want my help, I need you to do something for me. In a sec, Ah'm gonna headbutt you. You ain't gonna stop me, and you're gonna drop to the ground, you got that?” “I don't agree, I won't drop, and I will stop you.” “Alright cuz, here I come.” Applejack used the titanic forces of their combined strength to pull herself forward in a massive headbutt. The mound they had been wrasslin' on shattered, and in the sudden dust, Applejack cast the spell. When the dust cleared, Blueberry lay on the ground, inert, her coat was a muted purple instead of the slate gray from a moment ago. Discord's gong rang out. “End of match everypony. Point to Applejack. Knockout. Nothing technical about this one.” Blueberry stood up unsteadily, she turned back to her friends. Applejack heard her voice as she walked to them. A slight whisper in the breeze. “Thank you cuz...”