Blackest Knight
Chapter 26
Fluttershy pressed her lips to John’s. They stayed like that for a moment. Fluttershy could feel the human stiffen, his whole body rigid as Fluttershy kissed him. She began to pull back, afraid that she had overstepped the line.
“I’m sorry, I …” She was silenced as John pressed his lips to hers. Her body went rigid as well, before she began to press herself to him. They kissed for only a few moments, but it felt like years to Fluttershy. When they separated, it felt too soon for her.
“It’s okay,” John said softly. They held each other for a minute until Twilight and her friends snapped out of their shock.
“Um …” Twilight began.
John and Fluttershy snapped toward their friends, noticing them for the first time. John just stared while Fluttershy began to blush.
Silence fell over the group as everypony, and human, tried to digest what had just happened.
John was the first to break the silence, “Well I guess we don’t have to worry about keeping it a secret.”
The group walked slowly back into town in silence. John and Fluttershy walked side by side. Her flanks were brushing his legs with every step. The human didn’t mind.
Twilight broke the silence before they entered town, “John, Fluttershy, go ahead back to the party. It should still be going on.” The two continued on while the others stayed back, “Does anypony want to talk about this while we still have the chance?”
Applejack was the first to answer, “Ah admit, it is a little strange. Fluttershy would be the last Ah’d expect to do that. Rarity would be the first.”
Rarity glared at her friend, “Well, I think that it is … unusual.”
Pinkie piped up, “It makes them happy though. Why should we stand in their way?”
Rainbow looked after the human and yellow pegasus as they walked while Twilight spoke, “They do seem like they will be happy together, but what about his home world? What if Chrysalis comes back?”
Applejack responded, “Ya’ll heard him say himself he doesn’t want to go back to his world. He feels like he belongs here now.”
Rarity added, “And he’ll fight against Chrysalis even harder if Fluttershy is in danger. You’ve seen him around the Cutie Mark Crusaders, he nearly created a sonic rainboom when Sweetie Belle nearly fell off that cliff.”
The others looked at Rainbow to see her reaction to the sonic rainboom quip. Her mind was elsewhere, but she spoke as she turned back to them, “I have a feeling that John will keep us all safe.” She did not tell them that she had a bad feeling as well.
The ponies sunk into silence at Rainbow’s words. Twilight spoke, “We should get back to the party as well.” They began to move, and Twilight looked back at the road they had come from. She thought she could see Morning Dew smiling, but the filly disappeared before Twilight could really see her.
They started to walk back to the party when Pinkie suddenly froze. Her eyes widened and her pupils shrunk to pinpricks. Her entire body shook and her mane completely deflated as the other ponies looked back at her in shock.
“What is it Pinkie?” Twilight asked. “Your Pinkie Sense?”
Pinkie looked shaken, she nodded grimly. “I haven’t felt this before, but it felt like my heart was ripped in half. I think that whatever is going to happen will be worse than a doozy.”
John and Fluttershy paused outside the party, and John spoke before they went in, “Are you sure that you want to do this?” He looked at Fluttershy.
“What?” She asked.
“Are you sure that you want to choose me? I’m sure that there are many stallions that could catch your eye, but with me everything will be different. We come from two different worlds, are two different species. Many ponies will not like that we are, and two different species often don’t have the best track record at creating offspring. With me, you may never have a child.”
Fluttershy looked into John’s eyes. “I don’t care what other ponies think about us. And I don’t care if we can’t have foals, but what I do care about is you.” She kissed him again, “All I want is for you to promise that you will never leave me.”
John smiled, “I Pinkie Promise that I will never leave you. Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.” John made the movements Pinkie had taught him of the sacred vow. “If I know anything about Pinkie, she won’t let me break it.”
They both laughed and entered the party. The party was still in full swing, and many of the ponies were dancing together to the slow music. Both Cloud Kicker and Lyra had been waiting for the human to return and simultaneously jumped up to ask him to dance.
Cloud Kicker reached John first, “Well hello there sexy, wanna dance?” She raised an eyebrow seductively.
John was about to laugh when Lyra blurted out, “Wait! John is supposed to dance with me! I’m the one that’s obsessed with – I mean that likes humans.”
John chuckled as both of the mares glared at each other. “Actually,” he got both their attention, “I already have somepony to dance with.” John took Fluttershy’s hoof and guided her onto the dance floor. He was only a little taller than the ponies that stood dancing with their partners, so he did not draw much attention as he waltzed with Fluttershy.
Lyra and Cloud Kicker gawked at the couple. They looked at each other.
“You know,” Cloud Kicker began, “I really only wanted to see how he was in bed.”
“Yeah,” Lyra looked down. “I just wanted to study the dancing behaviors of humans.”
Lyra, however, did not get off that easily, because she forgot that Bon Bon had accompanied her that night. And Bon Bon had wanted to dance with her marefriend all night. Bon Bon had also followed Lyra when the green unicorn had jumped up. To say that the beige earth pony was angry would be a drastic understatement. She grabbed Lyra’s ear with her teeth and began to drag her to the door. Lyra was complaining about the pain the entire way.
Bon Bon dragged Lyra past Twilight and her friends as they entered. Soon after exiting the party, Bon Bon released Lyra. She had had plans to drag her all the way home, but what she saw appear before her left her speechless.
With a gasp, Lyra realized what Bon Bon was staring at. Black hooves wrapped around the two mares and dragged them away before they could scream.
Twilight saw Fluttershy and John dancing on the edge of the dance floor, and she smiled. She allowed herself to think that they could be happy together. She saw her friends smiling at the scene of the pony and human dancing together. The moment was interrupted when a pony that looked to be part of Ponyville’s guard walked up to her.
“Excuse me, but I need the Bearers to follow me. And the human as well.” He waited by the door for Twilight to go collect John and Fluttershy.
“John, Fluttershy, we need to go, one of the guardsponies is calling us.” Twilight really did not like breaking the two of them apart. They followed her and the group exited the party.
“What is this about?” John asked.
“I don’t know,” the guard answered, “I was just told to retrieve you.”
The guard led them down the road a ways before turning into an alley. Twilight immediately felt a sense of dread, and her fears were confirmed when she saw two unconscious ponies further down the alley.
A familiar voice that filled Twilight with terror spoke behind the group, “Well, it’s good to see all of you again.”
John spun around to face Chrysalis. He knew that voice from the months of his imprisonment. He glanced back to see that the guard had morphed into a changeling and several other changelings emerged from hiding. He turned back to glare at Chrysalis and drew his sword.
The changeling queen spoke, “You couldn’t have expected me to let you go without punishment for disobeying me John, could you?” She laughed. “Now why don’t you put God Killer away before you hurt somepony.”
Twilight gasped, “God Killer?!”
Chrysalis chuckled, “You didn’t tell them the name of your sword, John? It was forged to cleave the moon in two and extinguish the sun. It was designed to kill the princesses.”
The ponies gasped, but John answered, “The sword is no longer named God Killer.”
Chrysalis looked at him before laughing. “You cannot change what it was made for.”
“But I can change what it is used for,” John growled. “This sword will not touch the blood of another innocent. It is no longer a weapon of offense, but a shield used to defend the weak.”
“How pitiful,” Chrysalis sneered. “That means you are too weak to use it for what it is meant to do. This sentiment is what will get you killed.”
John glared at Chrysalis, “Any fool can wield a sword. It takes strength to put belief and will behind the swing and bring meaning to its use.”
Chrysalis smirked, “Then this strength will fail you.” She shot a blast of magic at John, which he deftly blocked with the enchanted sword, but his movement left him unable to deflect the second bolt that she fired. His eyes widened as he saw her deception.
The bolt never reached John. Something jumped in front of him, and the bolt was intercepted. John looked at the object that intercepted the bolt. Rage grew within him. The ponies that surrounded him could feel the rage, and the changelings that were sensitive to emotion grew fearful of the enraged human. They fled, ignoring their queen’s orders to stay and attack. Chrysalis felt fear growing in herself as well and fled after the other changelings.
John’s rage turned to despair as he fell to his knees as tears escaped his eyes. He scooped the object in his arms and settled back onto his heels as ragged breathing filled his hearing. The object looked into his eyes, and uttered, “I … I love … you,” before the head fell into the crook of his elbow.
John pressed his wet eyes to the unmoving chest of Fluttershy.