Birds of a Feather
"Thanks again, for coming with me, Fluttershy,” Blue Streak said as he pulled a cart full of food, toys and blankets. “I... Haven't been back here since you guys arrested me. I'll admit, I'm afraid my sister will be mad at me.”
“Why would she be mad?” asked Fluttershy. “She knows you were caught, right?”
Blue sighed, “That's the problem. She thought I was a security consultant. That's why I haven't been back, but after the invasion... I never thought I could actually die with you guys, and I don't want to go without making it up to her.”
Soon enough, the pair arrived at a rather large, though slightly run-down home. Blue unhitched the cart and nervously approached the front door while Fluttershy pulled the cart the rest of the way to the side entrance. The flightless pegasus raised a hesitant hoof and rapped on the door. It opened just as Fluttershy turned to rejoin her friend.
“H-hi, Val,” Blue Streak stammered, “It's been aw-Ah!”
Fluttershy eeped as a griffin fist slammed into Blue's muzzle.
“You have a lot of nerve showing your face around here!” the griffin yelled. “Do you have any idea how worried we were? Not to mention I had to explain to the kids that you were a criminal! Come inside. I'll call a doctor to take a look at that.”
“Oh, I can take care of that,” Fluttershy interrupted.
The griffiness looked at the mare with a raised eyebrow, about to ask who she was, when the pegasus' hoof glowed with a runic circle. Her expression turned to surprise as Blue's nose reset itself and stopped bleeding right before her eyes.
After the glowing faded, Blue scrunched his snout, getting the tingle out, before turning to his attacker. “I deserved that. Val, this is Fluttershy, Shy, this is Valara, my sister.”
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The moment the three stepped back inside, Blue was beset by a dozen children of various ages, mostly ponies, but also two griffins, and a minotaur. With the male and youngsters occupied, the ladies were left to move into the kitchen and talk.
“I must admit, I was expecting a pony,” Fluttershy stated. “So, was your mother or father a griffin?”
Val chuckled as she opened the cabinet, retreating her tea. “Both. We're not related by blood. We grew up together, in Fillydelphia. His parents died, and mine abandoned me.”
Fluttershy gasped, turning her attention from the filling kettle. “Oh, my. How awful. Why would they do something like that?”
Val flexed her wings... or rather, wing. “I lost a wing in an accident. For a griffin, that's the worst thing that could happen. Being a griffin that couldn't fly, I was an embarrassment to my family. So, my father brought me down here, told me to wait on a street corner and that he would come right back, and left. Three days later, I met Blue at a foster home and we hit it off. Anyway, that's why I opened this place, to take in kids that are all alone in the world.”
As Fluttershy turned on the stove, placing the kettle on the flame, Val asked, “What about you? I wasn't expecting Blue to come back with such a pretty fillyfriend.”
“Oh, no,” Fluttershy giggled, blushing slightly. “We're just friends. I... um, was one of the ponies that arrested him.”
“Oh...” Val said, giving the pony a sidelong glance. “So he still needs an escort?”
“Not for the last few months,” Fluttershy answered. “I'm here as moral support. He's afraid he might die in the line of duty, and wanted to see you again just in case.”
The two took a seat at the table to wait for the water to boil.
When they were comfortable, Val asked, “What do you mean 'in the line of duty'?”
Fluttershy answered with, “When he was arrested, Midnight, our CO, was impressed with his abilities. He was given an offer; Prison, or use his talents in service to Dawn Shield.”
“Dawn Shield? You mean that crazy military unit that ponies were talking about a couple years ago?” Val looked at the timid mare with wide eyes, as if seeing her for the first time. “You... don't seem like special forces, is all.”
“That's because you haven't seen her fight,” came Blue Streak's voice from the door, apparently having heard them in the other room. “She fight's like an animal... literally-oof. Hey, cheap shot!” With that, the sounds of roughhousing continued, making the ladies giggle.
Fluttershy blushed at the praise. “I've taken care of sick and injured animals around Ponyville for years, and consider many of them dear friends. Some of the predators were worried that I might get hurt by one of the more aggressive creatures, so they taught me to fight like them.”
“So... you can... talk to animals?” Valara asked, skeptically.
“Not talk to them, but I can usually understand what they are trying to tell me. It's my special talent,” Shy explained.
“Pony magic is weird.”
Fluttershy giggled. “You might like rune magic, then.”
Val raised an eyebrow at that. “Really? Well, how about a demonstration?”
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Blue took in a deep breath, trying to wash away his fatigue. “Okay, one more time. This is exhausting.”
“Midnight did say you need to get better with your seal,” Fluttershy reminded before looking around as the couple small craters that marred the once nice park. “Though, I agree. We'll need to fix up the damage as soon as we're done.”
It took a couple months of studying the Element Bearer's seals for Jacob to figure out the runes needed to attach one to a pony. Blue Streak was one of the first to be volun-told to test it.
Blue focused his magic and willed to the surface. He molded the mana into the required runes and released. The mid afternoon shadows rose up, twining around each other. Two tendrils extended from the middle as clawed hands formed t their tips. The end of the main mass split open in a toothy maw and roared.
Several gasps came from the building crowd of spectators that their 'performance' had drawn, though most of the crowd had seen it at least once before by this time.
“Ready,” Blue announced.
Fluttershy stood up on her hind legs, expression hardening, and said in an uncharacteristically stern voice, “Don't hold back on me.”
Even after sparring with her so often, the transformation from timid filly to hardened warrior every time she fought was still jarring to Blue Streak.
The normally timid mare lunged forward, shooting towards the shadow construct, right hoof glowing with her Spirit Seal. The black claw of her foe lashed out, only to be halted by the shaft of a spear of light that materialized in the mare's hooves. Lillith's Spear was Fluttershy's favorite offensive Spirit spell, as it could be wielded the same as a Mage Form spear, but was also being a component in a few more advanced spells.
Being the last round of the night, she decided to give the spectators a show.
She twisted her weapon to slip under the assaulting limb and slashing at the 'stalk' of her opponent. A long but shallow glowing gash, causing the monster to let out a roar of pain. It didn't really feel anything, Blue just added that detail for show. This may have been good practice, but it was entertainment first.
Fluttershy leaped straight up, using her wings to propel herself above the creature. With a quick spin, she flung her weapon, but missed when the creature ducked to the right. Another spear came hurtling at its 'face'. It swayed to its left only for a third spear to go sailing well in front it.
Blue blinked in confusion. He had never seen her miss by that much. The scout looked back up at his friend's smirking face as she reared back with another spear...
… Only to launch it straight down.
Realization came too late as he looked at the four spears surrounding his puppet. With a flash of a spell being activated, tethers of light shot from the shafts of the spears and latched onto the shadow, binding it.
Fluttershy's left hoof shot up dramatically as a golden glow surrounded her. Twin shafts of light erupted from either side of her hoof, bending backwards into a bow shape as her right hoof joined her left. With a single smooth motion, she leveled the bow of light on the monster and drew her right hoof back, drawing the 'string'. The golden glow surrounding her flowed to the magic weapon, solidifying into a golden arrow.
In one last act of defiance, the shadow beast let out one last roar just before Fluttershy loosed the arrow down its throat. The umbral abomination exploded in a flash of brilliant light.
No sooner had Fluttershy landed were the two of them swarmed by a gaggle of pint-sized bundles of energy.
“That was so cool!”
“You're like a super hero, miss Fluttershy!”
“Make another monster, Uncle Blue! I wanna fight it!”
“You don't even have horns yet.”
“Neither do you!”
“I'm a earth pony!”
“Hey, hush up, now,” Val ordered. “I'm sure your uncle's tired.”
“How did you do that?” asked an orange earth pony mare, her question echoed by several dozen more.
Fluttershy had gotten quite a bit better at dealing, and even performing in front of small crowds. Of course, now that she looked around, she noticed it wasn't just a dozen or so spectators like it was before, but nearly a hundred ponies looking right at her. Her anxiety came crashing back. Before she could even start hyperventilating, though, a loud whistle drew their attention away from her.
“I'll answer any questions I can,” Blue Streak yelled over the crowd. “I can't give too much away, right now, but I'll try to sate your curiosity.”
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Blue let out a groan as he sunk into the extra large bathtub. “That feels good.”
“Oh, yes. There's nothing like a nice bath after a day of training,” Fluttershy agreed before taking a breath and dunking under completely.
She resurfaced and leaned against the side, trying to relax. “And, um... Thanks for what you did back there... With the crowd, I mean.”
“No problem, Shy,” Blue said with a kind smile.
“Scoot over,” Val requested, her larger frame needing a bit more room than the two ponies.
The three relaxed in the warm water for several minuted before Fluttershy decided to wash up, grabbing a bottle of lilac scented fur wash.
“So, I been wondering,” Val began, grabbing her own soap. “Why aren't you as tired as Blue? It looked like you were using more powerful spells.”
Blue let out a chuckle but remained mostly silent, content to let Fluttershy answer this one.
“It has to do with 'affinity'. I have an affinity for Spirit magic, what I was using out there, and Body magic. Blue has an Air affinity, but was using Shadow magic, so it takes more effort for him to use.”
“Oh...” Val pondered that for a moment before asking, “Then why does he have this Shadow Seal if he's better at Air?”
“Cause I'm a scout,” replied the stallion. “Shadow magic has a lot of spells that confuse, disorient, or misdirect the enemy. The Shadow Puppet spell I was using is perfect for keeping pursuing enemies busy while I make my escape. I can also make smaller, mobile ones and take direct control to create a distraction.”
Valara looked at her brother for several long seconds before finally speaking again. “You really are a soldier, now, huh?”
Blue opened his eyes, looking toward his sister.
“I mean... I know you said that, but...” the griffin shifted uncomfortably, “It's just hard to picture you like that. I mean, you've always tried to help others and stand up to bullies and what not, but this... You could really die, couldn't you?”
Blue didn't speak. He simply nodded his head, eyes cast downward.
The three were silent, Valara taking it in and the others giving her time to do so.
Finally, she leaned over, wrapping her brother in a fond hug. “I won't make you promise you won't die or anything so stupid... but... if you do, I'm going to kick your tail.”
Blue just smiled and hugged his sister back.
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“...And remember to ask your friends about letting us see a demonstration of their magic, too.”
Blue chuckled as his sister escorted him to the door. “I know some of them would insist on it.”
Val sighed as they walked out onto the porch, stopping and turning to each other. “And for Celestia's sake, visit more often than once every four years.” The grin was playful, but Blue knew she meant it.
“I will.”
Just then, Fluttershy came around with the now empty cart. “Are you ready to go, Blue? We don't want to miss the train... Although, I guess we might be able to take the next one this afternoon.”
“Go on, I'll catch up,” Blue told the kind pegasus.
“Alright.” With that, Fluttershy started trotting off.
“She's a good mare, that one,” Val said.
“Yeah,” Blue said absently.
“Kind...”
“Yeah.”
“Strong...”
“Yeah.”
“Pretty.”
“Yeah... What?” Blue turned back to his sister, shocked.
Val rolled her eyes and slugged him on the shoulder. “You know what.”