“What do you mean fail? What mission?” Fluttershy asked. She shivered.
Daring Do continued to ignorer her. She was sitting on her haunches and was attempting to pick something out of her teeth with her hoof.
Fluttershy shuttered and shivered again, as if a cold breeze had penetrated deep into her heart. From what she had gathered from what she heard Luna and Celestia argue about, Ladon’s queen was someone they had dealt with before. She recalled Ladon mentioning being sent to find the one who imprisoned her.
She looked to her side and caught her refection in one of the tall lavish windows. She studied the intricate cloud crest on the helm and the curled swished on the breastplate. The skirt that protected her flanks flowed over her hindquarters like a heavy wind. Even the smoothest parts of the armor had an intrinsic beauty. She briefly glanced at yawning Daring Do once more. She wondered if the owner of the armor, her ancestor, Private Pansy was the pony they sought.
She shivered once more before something inside melted her fears away. She felt a numbness wipe all her fears, her pain, her nightmares, away. She gritted her teeth as the numbness pulsed through every limb and feather.
Luna and Celestia had told her that her friends were safe. She had no reason to doubt them. Celestia had promised that she would send her troops to rescue them and defeat the Queen. She knew they would. Nevertheless, she would have to be ready. She did not know what for, but Luna had a point: currently, she was the only Element of Harmony. She might not have been as physically strong as Applejack, or as brave as Rainbow Dash, but she would not give up on them.
“I’ll be as strong as I can,” she said above a whisper, turning to face her “trainer”.
She gave no response.
“I’m going to train. I’ll protect Equestria until Celestia’s guards bring my friends back,” she spoke louder.
Daring Do studied something on her hoof and gave it an experimental taste.
Fluttershy gritted her teeth as her muscles tensed. When she realized that as far as Daring Do was concerned, she was not even there, she charged.
She ran forward. She released everything she had stored inside with each thunderous step. Her hooves pushed into the floor, propelling her faster with all her anger, all her strength. Her mind raced back to memories of the day before and of the nightmares and fears that haunted her dreams. Daring Do was briefly Ladon and she charged even harder.
The numbness within doubled and she felt nothing.
Daring Do did not even flinch. She barely moved, but it was enough to evade Fluttershy’s attack.
She skidded, her hoofs scraping across the floor. She jumped and turned to face Daring Do, landing in a crouched position, ready to pounce at her once more. She dropped her growling grimace when she heard a swelling sound emanating from her opponent.
Her chuckles increased in volume, until she was laughing menacingly. “So, you do have some bite after all.”
Fluttershy relaxed her posture, staring at her bewildered and surprised.
She gasped and backpedaled as daring Do launched and landed, their noses practically touching. “Hmm,” she looked her over, “you’ll need to work on your stance first.”
“Wha-”
Without warning, she was looking at the ceiling.
Daring Do’s smirking face appeared upside down. “Lesson one: always keep your weight low and centered.” She extended a hoof and helped her back onto her hoofs.
Fluttershy squeaked as she was flung across the hall, sliding on her side. She felt the smooth floor digging into her wing.
“Lesson two: reposition your weight to counter any attacks, and to be able to evade into any direction.”
“I thought you said to always keep yourself low and centered,” she winced as she stood up on shaking hoofs.
Daring Do smirked and chucked again, “You’re paying attention. Good. I was afraid you’d be one of those students who always ignores the rules until after they’ve fallen on their face a hundred times.” She looked up, trying to count in her head, “What are we at? Two? Three?” she shrugged. “Doesn’t matter; we’ll get that number so high they’ll have to invent a new number named after you.”
Fluttershy stared at her, unsure of what to do. She steadied her stance and prepared another charge.
“How ‘bout Flutterzillionshy? Shylon?”
Fluttershy was charging again. She concentrated, trying to keep her center of mass low and… centered?
She staggered and nearly fell over.
Daring Do looked over as she stumbled toward her. She jumped and landed standing on her front hooves on Fluttershy’s back.
“Lesson ten: let go of your mind. You need to let your instincts take over.”
“What happened to three?” Fluttershy asked, trying to catch her breath. “And four?”
“Three is ‘always be aware of what’re doing’.”
“Don’t some of these rules seem to… contradict each other?”
“Rule forty-two: don’t question the one trying to keep you alive.” Daring Do back flipped off Fluttershy’s back and landed beside her.
“Alive!?”
Daring Do grabbed hold of her and turned her wobbling head so they could look eye to eye. “You’re not gonna faint on me, are ya? Cause, I’d almost feel sorry about leaving you alone here while I go raid the kitchen.”
Fluttershy shook her head.
“Really? Not just a little tiny bit of consciousness?”
“Sorry,” she responded meekly.
Daring Do dropped her. “Darn, I could have really used a snack.”
Fluttershy jumped back, avoiding Daring Do’s outstretched hoof. As the punch grazed her bangs, she nearly fell backward. She quickly recovered and resumed her low stance just in time as Daring Do launched forward on speeding wings. She dropped and rolled to the side, avoiding yet another tackle. Without thinking, she bucked her rear legs.
Caught off guard, Daring Do spun around her outstretched kick and dove for the ground. Upon landing, she reached out, grabbed both of Fluttershy’s legs, and held her in place. Frustrated and annoyed, she grimaced and growled at her.
“I’m so sorry!” Fluttershy gaped. “I didn’t mean to try and kick you like that.”
Daring Do let go of her legs, her frown turning into a grin. “You kidding? With any luck, you might just survive,” she said looking around. “With any luck, you might not fail after all.” She finally found what she was looking for, and began to walk forward.
“But, I just attacked you.”
“Yea, so?”
“Attacking other ponies is wrong.”
“Tell that to Ladon and his goons,” she shot back. She looked up and took off toward the ceiling, eventually disappearing.
Fluttershy blinked. Sure, Ladon had attacked Ponyville, but that did not mean she had to be just as cruel. She had never liked fighting. Even when they tried to recover their elements during Chrysalis’s raid on Canterlot, she was not comfortable with what her friends were doing to try to break through the Changeling swarm.
The numbness returned. She did not know why, but there was peace in it.
She jumped back as a loud clanging resonated in her ears. Sun light poured through the throne room’s windows and reflected back into her eyes. Shielding herself from the glare with a hoof over her brow, she looked down at the strip of metal that had landed in front of her.
As swords went, it did not appear very special. It almost seemed too plain, in comparison to the prop swords she had seen in plays. The blade itself was a short broad strip of metal with a flat dull edge with the end rounded off. The hilt was covered with a black wrap and ended in a small bronze sphere for the pommel. The cross guard was a nondescript bronze bar.
Daring Do dropped back down from wherever she had retrieved the sword from, an identical one gripped in her teeth. She twirled and flourished the blade in wide circular arcs that sliced through the air with expert precision. She finished by scraping the edge across the floor. The scratching ring of the blade was emphasized with a shower of sparks. She brought the blade up in a dramatic pose and winked.
Fluttershy slowly backed away from her and the sword that lay on the floor.
Daring Do rolled her eyes for the ‘shy-inth’ time that day, “What now?”
“I can’t,” she stuttered, “I’ll practice dogging all you want, but I don’t want to hurt anything.”
The numbness began to grow. Despite the bliss it offered, she tried to fight it.
“Come on! You really think basilisks, or cockatrice, or Ladon are going to be fair. They got sharp fangs filled with poison. They got claws that can tear through almost anything. If you want to get through to their Queen, then you’re going to have to learn how to use a blade.”
“I… I can dodge their attacks.”
Daring Do blinked, “Really.” Her voice grew tenser. “You honestly think what you’ve been doing is dodging,” she snarled. “All you’ve managed to do is run around and jump out of the way. I could have taken you down over a hundred times.” She spat the blade out of her mouth and turned around. As she began to walk toward the door, she said aside, “I don’t know what Princess Luna was thinking. Why she thinks you can just walk into the snakes den, I don’t know.”
“Then, why don’t you do it,” Fluttershy tearfully retorted.
Daring Do stopped and turned around. She stared at her. She glared at her. “I have fought my way through hordes of some of the most terrifying creatures the Everfree can throw at a pony.” What began as a whisper grew with her ferocity as she savagely snarled at her. “I have faced off against manticores and chimera. I have survived going several rounds with multiple dragons, all at once. I have survived several encounters with fully-grown ursas. I have fought cockatrice and basilisks. I did it all without ending any of them. The one think I could never do, is face a veritable army of them. But you…” Her tone dropped to a whisper, “I could never face a Gorgon and live.”
Fluttershy stared at her, perplexed by her tirade. “Gorgon?”
Daring Do stared back, blinking in disbelief. “Forget I said anything.” She turned around and began walking to the doors of the main hall. She looked over her shoulder at Fluttershy one last time. “I have still yet to decide if I am going to help you.” She opened the doors and solemnly looked into the hall, “If you are here after diner, then I might be able to help you save your friends. Just know that it will only be possible with a sword. Only if you accept the,” she paused, thinking of how best to word her response. “Feeling coursing through you,” she finished.
Fluttershy flinched as the door clicked closed.
Why did she even care? She collapsed onto her haunches. She told herself it was due to exhaustion. She told herself that the armor was weighing her down. The first tears were because she had fallen down countless times. She told herself this and other things. She told herself everything but the truth.
She wiped her face and left the throne room, the swords Daring Do had tossed were still lying on the floor.
She wandered the hallways and corridors of the castle. She was not lost, but had no destination in mind either. They all blended together through her blurry vision. The paintings and tapestries that hung from the walls might as well have all been the same. She stopped and looked out a tall window. Canterlot shone with a brilliance like no other city. The marble and stonework reflected the light of the sun in ways the construction of Cloudsdale could never compete. Even the tall skyscrapers of Manehatten, although shinning with the brilliance of metal and glass, did not hold the allure of the capital.
Shadows moved and danced in the streets as the sun progressed across the sky, but even the darkness cast by the buildings onto the city streets held some intrinsic beauty. When had darkness begun to look beautiful to her?
She looked beyond the castle walls, beyond the shops and salons and spas, and beyond the walls that surrounded the city. Past the foothills, past the valleys, past the plains and in the shadow of the mountain at the edge of a dark foreboding forest, was nestled a small provincial town.
She placed a hoof on the window over the cottages and gardens. She traced the roads silently murmuring the names of ponies and businesses. She followed the empty pathways until her hoof hovered over a tiny purple glint at the edge of the town. It shone with the brilliance of a diamond, despite being so very far away, as if it existed only in a dream. After pausing, she continued down a street obstructed by a myriad of other shops and homes, but she knew it was still there. She could picture the carousal shaped home and dress shop clear as day, just as she could picture the cakes and frosting that adorned another building a few blocks away from it.
The all-encompassing numbness grew. It focused on and consumed her hoof, but she persisted.
She moved her hoof above the buildings and streets as if it had taken flight. Her hoof “landed” on a low altitude cloud. She saw pillars of pegasus design and waterfalls of liquid color. It was like a personal sized Cloudsdale. After another short reprieve, her hoof “took off” once more, soaring over a vast orchard. It circled a barn and farmhouse. The scent of hay and crisp apple pie and cider filled her nostrils.
Just beyond the farm was the edge of the dark ominous forest. As her hoof approached it, she flinched. The numbness turned into a burning. She could not bring herself to place her hoof anywhere near it. She wondered how she got to this point. When had she gone from a meek terrified weakling who was scared of her own shadow, to a pony contemplating marching into one of the most treacherous places in all of Equestria?
Nothing seemed to make much sense anymore. She sighed, all of the strength that she had shown the past few hours escaped as she deflated. She gave one last look out the window before turning away.
Thud!
Her armor clanked as she fell to the floor. Texts and notebooks scattered about her as loose sheets of paper fluttered downward on an unseen breeze.
“Ugh,” she heard a pony moan.
“Oh my gosh! I’m so sorry.” Without thinking, she quickly began gathering books and papers into a neat stack. After grabbing a book that had slid behind her, she stood up and handed the pile over to the blue unicorn standing opposite her with a like stack.
The two ponies blinked at each other in silence.
“Trixie?”
“Butter Shy?” Hesitantly, Trixie took her books and papers from Fluttershy’s outstretched hooves. After another awkward pause she said, “I like your armor.”
“Umm… thanks.” She looked down at the pristine armor that had once belonged to one of Equestria’s founding ponies. She only now realized how well it fit her, almost as if the ancient pegasi armorers had forged it specifically for her.
“So what brings you to the palace? Does Princess Twilight have you running such an important errand that you feel the need to forget to watch where you’re going? Trixie may have not been the most pleasant of ponies, but I always knew what I was doing.” She looked aside and added, “Most of the time.”
Fluttershy stared at her. She looked around. She had been so focused on keeping her mind off Ponyville that she had failed to notice how quiet the castle was. Each hallway she had gone down had been nearly empty, save for the occasional guard or servant. Another thing struck her as odd as she turned her attention back to Trixie:
“You don’t know…?” While she suspected Celestia and Luna were trying to keep the events of the previous day quiet, she knew Canterlot liked to talk, and she vividly remembered a good number of ponies being near the front of the castle when she “landed”.
“Know what?” Trixie looked at her with an air of suspicion.
She took a deep breath and said, “Ponyville was attacked by basilisks.” She blanched as the burning numbness ate away at her consciousness and everything went black.
Fluttershy awoke in her cottage. She was in her bed, under her blanket with her teddy bear. She saw five bright smiling faces hovering above her. Each marked with relief and happiness.
“Girls! I thought I lost you.” she exclaimed. “I had the most horrible dream: you were all captured by evil serpents and I had to train under Daring Do to rescue you.” She shivered, but smiled up at her friends. “I love you all so much,” she whimpered as the first tear fell.
“Yea, we know. No need to get all mushy on us,” Rainbow said nonchalantly flicking the tear away with a brush of her tail. “Now tell me more about learning sword fighting from Daring Do!”
“Well,” she began, looking away briefly as she tried to recall the dream, “I didn’t get to the sword fighting, yet.” Her expression brightened as she added, “Actually, I didn’t even feel like myself.”
“Really?” inquired Twilight.
Fluttershy nodded, “Yea, I was brave. I mean, I was scared and afraid, but I was strong and didn’t mind Princess Luna wanting me to go after you.”
“Of course, I’ve no doubt that push comes to shove, you can overcome any obstacle in your way. Shoot, you’re probably stronger than all us combined.” Applejack responded. Pride swelled in her voice and she stood taller.
“Hold up, no pony’s stronger than me.” Rainbow glared at her.
“I meant that she’s stronger emotionally,” she retorted.
“Pfft, whatever.” She turned to face Fluttershy once more. Her face ignited into a grin.
“I for one, have no doubt, you can beat Ladon and his goons.” Rarity nuzzled her.
Pinkie joined in, grabbing the two in a humungous bear hug of friendship and rainbows. “Awe, I wish I could see it. Maybe, I’ll be around for the big fight with the final boss.”
Soon, the others had joined in the hug, nuzzling and cooing in her ear. She embraced the feeling of warmth and love. She wrapped herself in their affection as if it was her blanket. Each of their faces reflected in her armor. A sheathed sword with a butterfly engraved on the pommel clattered as it was strapped to her side.
Fluttershy’s eyes opened. All she saw was the visage of Trixie. She looked pale.
“It wasn’t me; Trixie swears it upon Luna’s moon.”
She groaned as Trixie helped her back up. She could feel cold dry streaks that felt as though they started near her eyes and ran down the length of her face. She murmured something. Her voice sounded like a ghost of its former self.
“Are you okay?” Trixie worriedly asked quickly, as if she felt the need to rush the question before she forgot.
“I’m alright.” She lifted herself up and looked inquisitively at the white linen sheets. The armor had been removed and delicately placed in a corner of the small room. She stared at Trixie again.
She seemed so caring. When had that happened? While Trixie was technically under the spell of the Alicorn Amulet the last time she had seen her, she was still rude and inconsiderate of others. Twilight had said that Trixie seemed open to changing her ways, but her friends had their reservations. Fluttershy believed everyone was capable of change, but this openness seemed… sudden. What had caused Trixie to, suddenly, care about another pony’s wellbeing?
The shadow of another pony cast by the light of the nearby window ruffled its wings. “I blame myself for what happened,” Luna’s voice washed over her like a soft ocean current. “I thought by corralling you’re nightmares, you would be more up to the challenge I had set before you.” Her head was tilted down and her eyes were closed tightly.
“What are you talking about?” Her eyes widened in sudden realization.
“I was the reason for your newfound bravery.” She finally looked up with sad eyes, “There are many reasons to why I enter and interfere in the dreams of ponies in the way I do. I leave it up to the dreamer to interpret the situation and how best not let fear cloud judgment. It is why I only intercede on the behalf of ponies who risk letting their fears consume them. I felt that temporarily blocking those thoughts from you would make the process easier. Or, at the very least… postpone your overcoming of your nightmares.”
Fluttershy looked back at her. She did not know what to say. She was confused, and above all, she was frightened. She could feel pain welling up inside her heart and the pit of her stomach. She felt sick. She flopped out of the bed and shoved her face into a waste bin.
Luna flinched but did not turn away. Trixie ran through a door to the right of the bed and into a washroom.
Fluttershy stood up after nearly a minute, still slightly green in the face. She smiled gently, “I…” she paused and wiped her face, and tried to swallow away the vile taste in the back of her throat. “I don’t blame you.”
Luna bowed her head.
“Really, I don’t. You were just trying to help me.” She placed a hoof on Luna’s shoulder. “But, I-I did remember. I knew the whole time what had happened. I guess… I guess I just didn’t want to admit that Daring Do was right. That I cou-could fail. I wanted to prove her wrong. I wanted to train and become stronger… like my friends are.”
Luna’s voice became softer, “That was all my doing.”
“What?”
“That was the nature of my spell. I manipulated you. I blinded you to your true self. You essentially became a puppet.” She looked away.
Fluttershy had no response, so she did the only thing she could do: she embraced her in a gentle hug.
The door to the washroom opened as Trixie returned. “Trixie is much better now,” she announced.
“I’ll still do it.”
Luna cocked her head and looked at the gentle pegasus holding her.
She looked up into her eyes, “I want to learn how to save my friends.”
Luna looked over at a shrugging Trixie. She looked back at Fluttershy and asked, “Are you certain of this. There is every possibility that Celestia’s guard will succeed in their endeavor. You need not follow through with this. I was foolish to believe that you were capable of harming another creature.”
“Even if they do, I need to know I can. I… I want to be able to defend myself. I’m no longer the scared lonely pony I was when Nightmare Moon arrived in Ponyville. My friends have helped me so much. They don’t care that I’m weak and helpless. They love and accept me for it. I-I need to prove to them. To myself, that I am willing to do whatever it takes to repay them for all the kindness and love they have shown me. Even… even if it means I have to k-”
She could not finish the word, but she did not need to. Luna and Trixie could feel the weight of her words. Deep down, Luna hoped it would not come to that. She prayed that Fluttershy would not have to go through with such a terrible thing. The shadow of that road was far too dark for her. She did not want to coddle anyone, but she knew that out of all the Elements, Kindness, in all its forms, would never survive such an event.