Chapter 4: No Longer Bound
How long has it been since I've forgotten my old name? Days? Months?
I don't know.
But the faint memory of being a person still floated around in my mind. It wasn't prominent, but it was enough to give me pause every night before I went to sleep. I was bothered by the cloudy images of family that I'd left behind when I came here. Sometimes, I would cry over the idea of never seeing them again.
On top of that, I felt somewhat guilty for the situation that was beyond my control. Why was I here? What right did I have to take the place of Fluttershy? Fluttershy, what happened to you?
Regardless, I thought, I have to accept that I am Fluttershy now.
Some days were coincidentally exactly like their episode counterparts. Other days, I just ran off instincts and improvising. I hoped that I did all right, that everything would work out in the end. I wasn't exactly familiar with events that happened after what I vaguely remembered as episode 23 of season 2. So after I get embarrassed over a lie about tail-extensions, I would be flying blind so to speak.
---
Picnics were becoming more common among my friends. There was just something refreshing about the combination of positive aspects: the beautiful sun, the open grass, good food, the feeling of togetherness, Spike running up from behind to announce something important-... wait.
"Twi... light," the poor baby dragon panted, "I... have... let me just..." Before I knew it, he burped his green flame. The letter wasn't what surprised me. What did catch me off guard was the contents of the message as Twilight read it aloud.
"I will be presiding over the ceremony, but would very much like you and your friends to help with the preparations for this wonderful occasion. Fluttershy, I would like you and your songbird choir to provide the music."
"Oh my goodness!" I softly exclaimed, "What an honor!"
"Pinkie Pie, I can think of no one more qualified than you to host the reception."
"Hip, hip, hooray!" Pinkie cheered.
"Applejack, you will be in charge of the catering for the reception."
"Well," Applejack said, "color me pleased as punch." Rainbow Dash was beginning to nod off and yawn at the length of the letter.
"Rainbow Dash, I would very much appreciate it if you could perform a sonic rainboom as the bride and groom complete their I do's."
At this mention, she immediately perked up and exclaimed, "Yes!"
"Rarity, you will be responsible for designing the dresses for the bride and her bridesmaids."
"Princess Celestia wants me to," started Rarity. She soon broke into a dramatic thrilled state as she said, "...wedding dress? For a Canterlot wedding? I..." she managed to utter before falling over and fainting. I briefly wondered why she didn't bring her red sofa to lay on. But the letter wasn't finished yet.
"And as for you, Twilight, you will be playing the most important role of all: making sure that everything goes as planned. See you all very soon. Yours, Princess Celestia."
"But, I don't understand," stated Twilight with a perplexed expression, "Who's getting married?"
"Oh wait! Uh," said an embarrassed Spike, "I was probably supposed to give you this one first." He pulled a second, shorter parchment out and gave it to Twilight.
This one read, "Princess Celestia cordially invites you to the wedding of Princess Mi Amore Cadenza and..."
At this point, Twilight gasped, "... my brother?!"
"You're brother's getting married?" asked Applejack, "Congratulations, Twilight! That's great news!"
"Yeah, great news," said Twilight sarcastically, "that I just got from a wedding invitation! Not from my brother, but from a piece of paper! Thanks a lot, Shining Armor. I mean, really. He couldn't tell me personally?"
She picked up a sandwich and deepened her voice saying, "Hey, Twilight. Just thought you should now that I'm making a really big decision that changes everything. Oh, never mind. You'll hear about it when you get the invitation."
I looked at my other friends and they looked at each other before we returned our gaze to Twilight.
Twilight than raised her pitch saying, "Princess Mi Amore Cadenza," before assuming a more normal pitch saying, "Who in the hoof is that?" Steam was starting to spew out her nostrils.
"Um, are you okay, Twilight?" I asked. I was worried that she was going to burst a blood vessel.
"Sorry," she apologized, "It's just that Shining Armor and I have always been so close. He's my B.B.B.F.F."
"Huh?" asked the remaining five of us.
"Big Brother Best Friend Forever," clarified Twilight.
"Ohhh," we said after realizing what the acronym stood for.
"Before I came here and learned the importance of friendship," Twilight reminisced, "Shining Armor was the only pony I really accepted as a friend."
---
Watching the doors open to the reception hall, I wasn't completely surprised that Twilight was still upset about the wedding. No, something else decided to throw me for a loop. A second Princess Cadance, beaten and scratched up, entered soon after Twilight.
"I don't understand," Applejack summed up everypony's thoughts, "How can there be two of 'em?"
"She's a changeling," stated the newcomer, "She takes the form of somepony you love and gains power by feeding off your love for them."
The first one that I thought was the princess surrounded herself with green fire. In less than a minute, she was replaced with a very grotesque-looking equine. Her coat resembled charcoal. Her wings looked like shredded fabrics and her hooves looked like they had been hit by a nail gun. Is this what a changeling was? It almost made Discord look better in comparison... wait, no. I take that back. This changeling was barely more pleasant to the eye.
"First, we take Canterlot and then all of Equestria!" she cackled.
"No, you won't," stated Princess Celestia flatly, "You may have made it impossible for Shining Armor to perform his spell, but now that you have so foolishly revealed your true self, I can protect my subjects from you!" She leaped into the air and released a golden beam of light from her horn. The changeling countered with a sickly green counter beam. At first, I was amazed thinking that the Princess had this problem under control. It only tore my heart even more when I saw her fall with a singed horn and a tiara dislocated from her head.
"Princess Celestia!" shouted Twilight. My friends and I quickly rushed to the Princess's side.
"The Elements of Harmony," Princess Celestia managed to say, "You must get to them and use their power to defeat the queen." The six of us nodded firmly. At that moment we tossed aside our wedding apparel and made a dash out the door. Except, somepony was missing.
"Rarity!" the rest of us called. I managed to see her reluctantly set aside her dresses for the more pressing priority.
---
You've got to be kidding me, I thought. Was it not enough to throw all of those horrifying changelings at us? After all that fighting in a way that ponies should never have to, we were stopped by an even larger army inside the Chamber of Elements. We were surrounded on all sides. I hated to say it but, even Pinkie Pie's party cannon couldn't take on all of these bugs.
---
Well, I'll admit it. She was the first truly threatening enemy I've ever faced that decided to sing during her moment of triumph.
~This day has been just perfect
The kind of day of which I've dreamed since I was small
Everypony I'll soon control
Every stallion, mare and foal
Who says a girl can't really have it all?~
At that moment, something in me clicked. How dare she? How dare she bring an entire army to ruin countless lives and take over a country all so that she could eat and then have the nerve to mock us in song? I wasn't sure where this instinct was coming from. Normally, neither the original Fluttershy nor I would ever have the guts to try something so reckless, but today had been weird so I rolled with it.
For the first time since the bear wrangling on Twilight's insane Tuesday, I charged in for a back attack. I tried delivering a flying kick as well as a volley of back bounces on the queen. As soon as I got to cracking her neck, however, I was surrounded by a green aura. I screamed as I struggled to fight the levitating magic to no avail.
"That was not very wise," said the changeling queen, "Did you honestly think a lowly Pegasus like you could take on me? Queen Chrysalis?"
"Um, yes," I whispered. Curse my inner smart aleck. All it gave me was a quick magical toss to the floor next to my friends. Thank Faust for whatever made pony bodies so flexible when dealt injury. Although, my brief scuffle did succeed in buying Princess Cadance time to free her lover from his hypnotic trance.
"Huh, what?" he asked as if just waking up, "Is the wedding over?"
"It's all over!" decreed Chrysalis. Green fires surrounded her as she released another evil spell. It filled the entire room and blinded me. When I could see again, no pony was left. Only changelings remained.
"What the-?" rasped a changeling behind me. It then gasped at the sound of its own voice and looked at its hoof. It was speechless. I then looked at my own hoof.
"No," I hyperventilated, "No, this can't be." My hoof looked like a holed-out charcoal briquette. My voice sounded wheezing and coarse. I was now one of these terrible creatures.
"Ah ha HA HA HA HA HA!" laughed the queen maniacally, "Like I said, ALL of Equestria will belong to the swarm!"
I closed my eyes trying to shut her out, but all I could feel was hopelessness.
---
No, you can't give up. Not like this.
---
I opened my eyes in surprise. I was in a strange place that was surrounded in black. I couldn't see or feel my body at all. In front of me was a distant yet familiar yellow aura.
Don't lose sight of hope. You were chosen to be me.
I could suddenly see myself again. I had my cream-colored hooves back. I started to feel relief.
And remember... you're never alone.
I finally recognized the voice.
"Fluttershy," I said with my human voice.
---
I awoke from the minute-long dream. I held a disfigured hoof up to my chest with new determination. This insane witch laughing at our misery would not prevail.
"No," I said with a defiant Andrea Libman-tone, "It's not over yet." As my concentration focused, a pink-tinted, yellow aura surrounded me. In a flash I had regained my Pegasus form. Additionally, the butterfly-shaped Element of Kindness necklace had materialized around my neck.
"What?" asked a surprised Chrysalis, "Swarm! Get her!" A few spare changelings that were in the room charged toward me. The aura around me suddenly faded and I started to panic. I could barely fight these creatures with my friends by my side. How could I fight them alone? I crouched to the ground and covered my head with my fore hooves in hopes that it wouldn't hurt too badly.
You're never alone, reminded the voice. Curiously, I peeked one eye open. I was shocked to see a pink dome had surrounded me and held the changelings at bay. While they were recovering from being bounced off, I saw a pink star-shaped light float in front of me. I just knew that it radiated magic.
"Twilight," I whispered.
Another swarm quickly replaced the dizzy drones and the magic bubble had faded. This time I didn't let my worries overtake me. I was rewarded with orange and red lights dashing out of nowhere and knocking this swarm to the ground. After those changelings were left on the ground in a heap, the red light solidified in the shape of a lightning bolt and the orange light manifested in the shape of a familiar apple. These lights spoke to me volumes of loyalty and dependability.
"Rainbow Dash. Applejack," I whispered.
I then looked and saw that I was surrounded by a purple swirl of light. It felt rejuvenating and my fatigue and bruises from earlier that day were gone. The purple light shrunk down to a small diamond shape. It felt generous and soothing.
"Rarity," I whispered.
This was quickly followed by a display of cyan fireworks. Some loose changelings that weren't tossed around before now got caught in the explosions and fell to the ground in disoriented piles. The fireworks quickly faded into a single balloon-shaped orb. It hung by the other four lights and radiated joy.
"Oh-ho, Pinkie Pie," I chuckled.
The necklace of Kindness that I was wearing suddenly glowed. The floating Elements responded with their own glow as they all rushed towards me. I was engulfed in a white pillar of light.
When the light finally cleared, I was amazed to see that I was wearing bronze armor of sorts. Altogether, I had four anklets, a breastplate, and a helmet. On each piece, one Element of Harmony was adorned. Generosity and Laughter guarded my hind hooves. Honesty and Loyalty guarded my front hooves. Kindness protected my chest. Magic held the centerpiece of my helmet.
Opening my wings, I was amazed even more. There was a symbol of true love on either wing. On the left, was Shining Armor's shield. On the right was Princess Cadance's blue diamond in the shape of a valentine.
I wasn't alone. All of my friends and my two newest friends were fighting on my side. I looked back at Chrysalis who was visibly shaking.
"No, it's not possible," she managed to breathe.
"You underestimated friendship," I said in a voice that sounded like a chorus of my friends' voices.
"You underestimated love," I said with Shining Armor's and Cadance's voices simultaneously.
"And now," I said in Flutterhy's voice, "You shall witness their true power!" I could literally feel my eyes glowing white as magic of all colors surrounded me. It spread outwards throughout the entire room. Everypony regained their true forms. Chrysalis and her armies were flung out the window by the sheer magical pressure.
Even in the darkness, there's a little light that never goes out.
I slowly floated to the ground landing on all fours. The glow left my eyes. What were pieces of armor now separated from me and returned to their forms of five necklaces and a tiara. I held a steady stare forward before my eyelids felt heavy.
I blacked out.
---
I don't know how long it was before I opened my eyes. It was time to start a new day. I needed to feed the animals as usual-... Something was different.
This isn't my bed, I thought as I really opened my eyes and sat up. There were no red butterflies on a quilt. Instead, the blankets resembled fine, golden, silk linens. I wasn't sure what was going on until I looked to my right.
"Fluttershy!" several voices called at once. Before I knew it, my friends had run across the short distance of the room. Their faces ranged from worried to amazed.
"Um, hey girls," I said still half-awake, "Did we have fun at the wedding?"
"Oh thank goodness you're alright, darling," said Rarity.
"That was totally radical what you did," exclaimed Rainbow Dash.
"Wowie-zowie!" shouted Pinkie Pie, "First there was weird green magic. Then there was yellow light. You got your Element of Harmony and managed to activate all of the others. I really liked the cyan fireworks that were going, 'Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo!' And then..." she continued to ramble.
"Heavens to Betsy," said Applejack, "Whatever the hay that was, you looked mighty fine back there."
"I never knew how far-reaching the Elements' magic was before," said an inspired Twilight Sparkle.
I could vaguely recall what they were talking about. It felt like a dream and yet it wasn't. Somehow, despite all the odds, my friends had given me strength even after I thought I had lost them.
For someone who doesn't normally take the initiative, I surprised even myself when I pulled all of them in for a group hug. Streams of happy tears ran down my cheeks.
"I love you all so much," I uttered. They returned the hug and held a silent embrace.
---
I was no longer bound by destiny or fate. What I chose was to share lives with those that were closest to me. I couldn't be happier.