Blackest Knight
Chapter 25
John burst out of the door. Fluttershy was already flying away. He tried to follow her on the ground, but she was more mobile in the air, and he couldn’t just plow through the buildings. He saw Rainbow Dash trying to follow the yellow pegasus as well, but Fluttershy was soon lost to the dark night.
John was scanning the skies, trying to find any trace of the pegasus, when Twilight and her ground based friends trotted up to him. “John, do you see her?” The purple unicorn asked.
“No,” he replied as Rainbow landed next to them.
“I lost her,” the cyan mare added, “it’s too dark out.”
“We need to form a search party,” Twilight said. “We can fan out and find her. John, go see if she returned home.” The human was gone before she was finished speaking. She sighed, “Before we split up, we need to talk. Have any of you seen a change in Fluttershy recently? Anything that could help us determine why she would run off like that?”
Applejack noted, “Ah’ve seen that she seems to come out of her shell a bit. In fact, Ah think she’s less nervous around John than any of us are.” Rainbow jumped at that statement, but said nothing.
“I’ve noticed that too,” Rarity added. “Whenever I see them in town together, she always seems relaxed. It’s almost like she thinks she has nothing to be afraid of.”
Twilight spoke, “Lately she has always been asking for her help a lot more as well.”
Pinkie perked up, “And when I see them walking together, she seems to walk closer to him than she does with anypony else. If she walked any closer, her flanks would brush his legs.”
Only Rainbow Dash kept silent, looking down at the ground as realization began to strike her. Twilight noticed Rainbow’s lack of interest in the conversation, “What do you think Rainbow?”
The cyan mare hesitated before answering, “The morning after I had the dream about Morning Dew, I visited Fluttershy.” She paused, and the girls waited in silence for Dash to look up. Realization flooded her eyes as she spoke, “She said that she saw Morning Dew as well, at the wedding. Morning Dew told her not to be afraid. When Fluttershy looked at John, the light hit his visor just right, and she saw into his eyes.” She paused again and looked down. “She said that his eyes made her feel safe.”
John ran to Fluttershy’s house, but she was not there. He checked all around the premises, but found no sign of where she could have gone. He was about to leave when Angel came hopping out. John could see that the white rabbit was feeling better, and asked him, “Fluttershy ran out of Pinkie’s party, do you know where she would go?”
John had always been amazed that the rabbit showed heightened intelligence, and was not disappointed when the rabbit held his paw up. Three digits extended from the otherwise closed paw.
“Three places?” John asked. Angel nodded. “Can you show me where?” Angel nodded again and hopped back into the house.
John followed as Angel was pulling a map of Ponyville from a table. The rabbit waved the human over as he unfurled the map. John knelt by the bunny as he pointed to three points on the map, tapping them for emphasis. The first was the middle of the park. The second was a picture of Rainbow’s cloud house. John would need the cyan pegasus to check that one. The third was Applejack’s barn.
“Thank you Angel.” John left quickly, heading to the park. On his way, be found Rainbow and sent her to her house to check the second hiding place.
When John reached the park, he found no trace of the yellow pegasus. He ran through quickly and turned to Sweet Apple Acres. As he made his way out of town, he tried to understand why Fluttershy would act this way. His mind spun as he ran down the orchard road.
John reached the barn, and he could hear faint crying from inside. He hesitated before knocking lightly on the door. The crying stopped.
Fluttershy called out, and John could hear tears permeate her voice, “Wh … Who’s there?”
“It’s John.”
Fluttershy did not respond. He heard the crying return.
He waited before asking, “Can I come in?”
“No,” she answered.
John sat down with his back to the door. “I’m sorry if I did anything to scare or hurt you.”
Fluttershy did not respond, but her crying grew softer.
John had a certain way with words when he needed them, his sass knew no bounds, and the ponies already knew his strength to win friends, but situations like this left him utterly powerless. He tried to think of the right thing to say, but no words came to him. He decided to dig the words from his heart, “Of all the ponies I have met since I came to this world, you have been the kindest to me. When I broke my hand the first time, you fussed over me for days, even though it healed itself in a few hours. When I broke it again, you fussed over me again. Every time, even when I told you it would be okay, you fussed over my hand and tried to make me stop helping Applejack on the farm. Everypony else realized after the first time that it would heal itself, but you still fussed over it.” He paused.
The crying from inside had stopped again.
“That kindness shows me what kind of pony you are. Your kindness is why it breaks my heart to see you sad now, especially if it’s because of something I said.” He paused again.
No sound emanated from inside.
John sighed, “I don’t know why what I said upset you so much, but I apologize. I … I’m here for you. I promise that I will not hurt you again.”
No sound escaped the door.
John rested his head back against the door. He would wait until she wanted to talk.
Twilight was combing the town when Rainbow intercepted her. The cyan mare spoke quickly, “I think John found Fluttershy, he was sitting against Applejacks barn, talking.”
“Alright,” Twilight replied, “Gather the other girls and have them meet me at the road leading out of town.”
Rainbow flew away and Twilight made her way to the rendezvous point. Her friends joined her there and they set off on the road. When they were approaching Sweet Apple Acres, Twilight led her friends into the tree line to approach the barn stealthily.
“Why are we going through the trees?” Rainbow asked.
“I want to see how John is handling it before we barge in.” Twilight replied.
The group made their way close to the barn, John’s entire attention was devoted to the barn door, so he did not notice their approach. Twilight crept close enough to be in earshot, but neither John nor Fluttershy spoke.
Twilight was about to step forward when she heard Fluttershy speak from inside the barn, “John? Are you still there?”
“Yes,” the human replied.
“I … I want to ask you something.”
“Go ahead.”
Fluttershy hesitated before she asked, “Your … girlfriend … from Earth … do you still … still love her?”
A long silence fell over the two before John replied, “At one time, I thought I did. But seeing how Cadance and Shining Armor acted around one another, I realized that she and I held no real love toward another.” He paused. “I think that being kidnapped by Chrysalis stopped me from making what may have been the worst mistake of my life on Earth.”
Fluttershy asked, “You didn’t love her?”
“I thought I did, but since coming to this world, I have learned what real love was. If I were to return, then I would only see a stranger.”
Another long silence fell over the two of them. Fluttershy broke it, “Would you want to go back?”
John hesitated, “No. I do not belong to that world anymore. What I have done here, and the ponies I have met, bind me more strongly to this world than my entire life did back on Earth. If I returned, I would not fit in there. That world could just not accept me any more than I could accept it.”
Fluttershy paused before asking, “So if given the chance, you would not go back to that world, back to her?”
John did not hesitate in replying, “No.”
Another long silence fell over the barn. Suddenly, Fluttershy pushed against the door that John was not leaning on. The human quickly got up. Fluttershy emerged from the barn, puffy eyed from crying. She looked up at John, then stood on her hind legs to hug the human. John returned the hug.
Twilight was about to emerge, but Fluttershy’s next action shocked everypony, especially the human. She kissed him.