//------------------------------// // The Murderer Revealed // Story: Lightening Fluttershy's Dark Sky // by Misty Shadow //------------------------------// The two paths shall finally come together, but only one, you must decide to be the light… Everyone in the portal room except for the odd-looking Luna gathered around to ponder the meaning of all the hints in the orbs Fluttershy and the Interdimensional Police Department found in the World of Creation. “Search the pattern, the numbers reveal the truth, Killers have a code, Yearning to reverse your fortune, you find a false hint…What does it mean?” Rarity asked with a grin as bright and vivid as a tangerine dropping into a pot of gold. “I’m afraid I think I know what it means…” Fluttershy replied. “The murderer is…” “...Sky.” Sky froze in both fear and shock as everyone except Luna turned their attention to him. “No…” Sky said. “How can it be me?” “I’m afraid it’s true Sky…” Fluttershy responded. “I figured it out when we became King Sombra together...you and I are supposed to be identical in body, mind, and soul...but when I fused with you, I noticed something very off...only most of you became King Sombra, while I became all of him.” “R-really?” Sky asked. “Yeah, and I think I know why…” Fluttershy continued. “Didn’t Sombra mention that Fluttershy’s transformation into him was halted by Rarity? That’s what happened at the end of the dream...Rarity killed Celestia and tore my soul out. Because of that, I thought it was impossible for the dream to be real. But now, I’m putting two and two together and realizing something…” “And that is…?” Discord asked with a smile, knowing the response. “The Celestia in this castle is an impostor…” Fluttershy explained. “And the Fluttershy who found the jar in the bedroom...was not me. It was you. You are not Sky. You are the real Fluttershy...and I am a clone made from a human being.” “R-Really?!” Sky shouted. “Yes...” Fluttershy said. “Though what I don’t understand is...the point.” “I believe this is where I come in.” Rarity interjected. “You see, Discord and I wanted to turn you Sky, or should I say, the real Fluttershy, into King Sombra as part of a project that we, the creators of the universe are working on, the Lightly Ordered World project. Discord lied when he told you that he and Princess Celestia created this world...it was actually Discord and I. We wanted to turn Fluttershy into Sombra, but when Chrysalis was murdered, our plans were impeded and we had to revise the entire project. That’s why I pulled the plug on the whole “lost in time dream” thing, under the “ultimate revenge scheme” guise, and switched to a new “collecting orbs to solve a murder mystery” thing...” “But why was he turned into Sky?” Fluttershy asked. “What was the point of that whole setup with him being in the middle of turning Rarity into an immortal or something?” “Oh, that was just to tie in a few things and mess with him.” Discord said with a snicker. “Rarity asked me to do it for a “simple revenge scheme” because she’s secretly a bit sore about that whole thing with Fluttershy “getting her killed in the Fluttershy’s Dark Sky world” ordeal. The Rarity in the basement was actually just a clone created from a human with Body Mind Soul Summoning, and the Dark Sky members were the ones who “rescued” her. Everything about Rarity and Sky being together was just a massive, obese lie, and the whole thing about the Dark Sky members being time travelers delivering a prophecy was just a joke to reference what we had originally wanted to do.” “I guess that makes sense in a weird way,” said Sky, “but what does not make sense in any way is how this all adds up to me being Chrysalis’ killer!” “Oh, that’s actually really simple.” Rarity replied. “Not only were you the prime suspect when you were Fluttershy, the three orbs we have now have given us a clue that basically says you’re the culprit. ...Fluttershy?” “Right.” Fluttershy responded to her untold command, and rearranged the clues to form this… Search the pattern, the numbers reveal the truth Killers have a code Yearning to reverse your fortune, you find a false hint “Oh, they spell my name…” Sky realized as he lowered his head and accepted defeat. “I can’t argue with evidence like that…” “It pains us to do this, Sky…” Discord said as he did a dramatic pose. “But for killing Chrysalis, we have no choice but to…” But before the hammer of justice could be swung, cries of agony were heard from upstairs. “YYYAAAHHH!” an unfamiliar voice cried. “HELP MMMEEEEE!” “That voice…” Discord said, recognizing it, being an expert of the unfamiliar. “It’s him!” Discord teleported himself and the group upstairs to where the crying was coming from...the Dark Sky’s practice room. Opening the door, he and the others found...the Dark Sky members playing their instruments as Celestia whined into a microphone death metal style. You Can’t Comprehand So here I am again! Trying so hard, but I just can’t win! Everyone tells me to just refuse! But they don’t know what it’s like to lose! You can’t comprehand my body! You can’t comprehand my mind! You don’t know what makes me whole! Cause you don’t have my soul! And they’ll scream “YYYAAAHHH! HELP ME!” . Because they just can’t see! The only one that can help me… IS ME! After the song was over, Derpy began to clap. “Bravado, everyone!” Derpy complimented. “And bravo to your singing voice Joe, it’s as good as mine!” “...Joe?” Fluttershy and Sky expressed confusion about the name while Discord expressed confusion about the sight. “Hey, Fluttershy and that guy we barely know!” Dumb-bell exclaimed upon seeing the two. “Long time, no see!” “What are you guys doing?” Discord asked. “How do you know that Celestia’s real name is Joe?” “Actually, it’s Jason.” Celestia chimed in, now talking like a surfer. “And don’t worry Uncle Cord, the dudes from the sky are cool.” “What he said, you don’t have to keep up the act around us, Discord.” Ghost Rainbow Dash welcomed informalities. “That Rarity clone told us everything, and I just want you to know that we fully support what you and Rarity are doing with the Lightly Ordered World (L.O.W.) project!” “What’s she talking about…?” Fluttershy asked as she turned to Discord and Rarity, who both turned their heads away and whistled. Discord leaned in close to Rarity and whispered something in her right ear… “They have all the orbs from the World of Evolution, correct?” “Yes.” Rarity replied in a soft voice. “Good boy,” said Discord as he gave Rarity a head-neck stroke as if she were a cat. “Now we no longer have to keep up this ridiculous act...It matters not if Fluttershy finds out now...we just have to make sure that her friends don’t outlive their usefulness…” “Hey!” Fluttershy exclaimed. “Why aren’t you answering me? What am I, a hunk of meat?” “I thought you would have learned by now…” Discord replied, giving a sigh as he snapped the fingers on his claw. Fluttershy instantly became a giant, manly sausage with eyes, but not a mouth. “Woah Discord,” said Hoops, “don’t you think that’s a little mean? Rarity told us that kind of thing was your sense of humor, but… you were ignoring Fluttershy when she was just asking you a question.” “If you were to call me out on everything I’ve done in the past that was a “little mean”,” Discord responded, “we would be standing here talking until the cows came home. And trust me, their work schedule on the farm is severe…” “This just keeps getting weirder…” Sky remarked as he curiously poked the squirming Fluttershy sausage. “And I think a lot of things are weird…” “Oh, you just wait for the coup de grace, my dear friend…” Rarity said as she pulled out a reality-bending scroll, and proceeded to cast a spell on Sky that turned him into...a giant, ladylike marshmallow without a mouth. Everyone in the music room gave Rarity and Discord a disturbed glare. “...” Score responded to what just happened silently. “You said it best buddy,” G.R.D. spoke the truth. “No comment. All we can do is see where this is going...” “Don’t worry,” said Discord to ease the tension, “we’re not going to leave them like that forever. And we’re not going to do something like that to you so long as you give us the orbs you’ve found.” “You-you mean it?” Dumb-bell asked. “Of course.” Rarity replied. “After all, you guys did help revive the orbs, and even helped keep Celestia’s human clone replacement calm after the Robot Alicorn Pinkie Rarity clone turned his mind back to normal. Just give us the orbs and we’ll let you be on your way…” “Okay…” Hoops said nervously as he walked over to Rarity and gave her the two he had. “The Rarity clone we were with has the third…” “So I know…” Rarity told Hoops what she was already aware of. “You guys may be on your way…” But as the Dark Sky members got ready to pack up their instruments and leave the room, they noticed the R.A.P. Rarity clone standing behind them, chanting a reality-bending spell with a scroll in her hooves. “...TO ANOTHER WORLD!” the R.A.P. Rarity clone finished Rarity’s sentence. “Reality Bending Spell No. ?! Reality Portal!” With that, a dark sky hole opened up in the ceiling above the Dark Sky members and began to suck them in. “Th-that’s the spell from earlier!” Dumb-bell shouted, recognizing something you may or may not know about. “NOT AGGAAIIINNN!!” The rest of the group shared his unenthusiasm as all of them were sucked into the portal, which closed behind them. The only ones close to the group left behind were a star-struck Jason Celestia and the R.A.P. Rarity clone. “Dude...I can’t do this kind of thing anymore…” Jason Celestia said as he began to feel woozy from all the insanity he had witnessed. “This is starting to feel like an LSD trip, and I’m still trying to get back into pot, man…” Jason Celestia finally fainted, collapsing on the floor. The R.A.P. Rarity clone then walked over to Rarity and gave her the orb she had, along with a familiar wine glass that was empty. Rarity got an evil sneer on her face as she put both away in her inner pockets. “At last, we finally have all the orbs at their full power…” Rarity said as she and Discord turned to the polymorphed Fluttershy/Sombra duo. “You two have done such a splendid job…” Discord complimented them. “I think you deserve a reward for all of your hard efforts...how would you like to meet our true selves...and our master?” “!!” Fluttershy and Sky went with equal surprise. Discord walked over to the Sky marshmallow and grabbed him while Rarity grabbed the Fluttershy sausage. Both of them teleported both of them to the portal room, and set them right by where the middle of the left portal and the right portal were. Discord made a portal appear in the middle just like he had done way back, only this time, the One in the frame of the portrait on the portal didn’t appear to be Fluttershy, but a familiar knight… “Something really weird is going on here…” Sky thought as his attention was caught. “Why is that odd-looking Luna just standing there in that strange position?” With that question, the odd-looking Luna revealed the reason why it looked so peculiar...it fell over, revealing that it was just a cardboard cutout of Luna. “No…” Fluttershy said in her mind as she saw the sight as well. “They turned Luna into cardboard!” “Ha ha ha…” Rarity laughed as she kicked the Luna cutout to the side. “Stupid girl got too smart for her own good...she’ll never learn that I know how to handle her all too well…” “How can they do this...” Fluttershy said in her thoughts with disbelief. “This is awful...this is just...BAD!” Fluttershy began to struggle in her sausage form, trying to break Discord’s spell on her. But even as she tried to turn into Sombra with shadow aura coming from all over her body, it was no use. Discord’s magic was too powerful. “Face it, Fluttershy…” Discord told Fluttershy as he went over to her and grabbed what would’ve been her face with his lion’s paw. “You may be strong, but your power is nothing compared to mine, much less compared to the One’s or even CrE’s. So why don’t you just be a good boy for daddy, and let the adults take care of what needs to be done…” “Gggrrrrr…..!” Fluttershy grunted angrily in her mind until she realized something. “Wait a minute...what did he just say? The...One? Daddy?” “Enough stalling, Discord!” Rarity exclaimed impatiently. “We’re throwing them in! Our real selves will restore them to normal once they’ve explained everything! For the real Rarity’s sake, the Dark Sky members will have CrE defeated by the time we’re done at the pace we’re going!” “Wait, the Dark Sky members are still in this thing, even though they left?” Sky wondered in his mind. “That’s really weird, how is this whole thing going to end?” Rarity and Discord picked the two of them up and tossed them into the portal. Fluttershy and Sky landed on a white cumulonimbus cloud as the portal behind them was sealed. “And now, it’s time for us to fulfill our final purpose before we return to our true selves…” Rarity gave a grin of satisfaction as she took a look at the three orbs the Dark Sky members got for her. “Going back from being Discord to being a part of Discord…” Discord thought about his fate. “Doesn’t sound like too bad of a downgrade…” “I’ve gone from being a human to being Rarity to being Rarity mixed with a robot alicorn Rarity.” Rarity shared her experience. “And after all that, I get to be a part of Rarity.” “It’s hard to believe now I was once the only chimera creature in Equestria…” the draconequus creature lost track of all the parts. The two finally left Celestia’s castle and went to the front gate. Discord removed the locks on Rarity’s orbs (a few interesting conversations with the spirits of the orb-carriers later…), and with magic, the two of them levitated the six orbs into the six open slots on the castle wall. Once the orbs were all placed, the castle began to shake and rumble and the sky turned dark. It wasn’t dark for long though when the orbs turned brighter than ever, each one firing a laser beam into the sky that turned it bright white. Two dark portals opened in the sky, one on the left of it, one on the right of it in respect of the castle’s front clockwise position. While the sky was expressing itself, the denizens of the two worlds behind the portals were expressing their personal feelings as well… “Wow, China looks weird!” Spike (from the original Fluttershy’s Dark Sky universe) shouted as he poked his head out of the left portal, thinking it led underground. “Nothing like in the cartoons!” “Are you two the ones responsible for this hole?!” Luna (from the Transcending Fluttershy’s Dark Sky universe) shouted as she poked her head out from the right portal and looked at Rarity and Discord. “You do realize where my world takes place in, don’t you?” Just then, Rarity and Discord began to contort and shrink into glowing white balls as the portal of the familiar knight appeared behind them. Two gauntlet-clad hands reached out of the portal, grabbed them both, and pulled them inside, the portal sealing behind them. In response to this sight, Luna and Spike had aghast looks on their faces. “...Maybe I have been living a secluded life too long…” TFDS Luna said as she pulled her head back in and began to reflect on her life in the world of her own womb. “It’s at times like this where I’m glad I only have short cameos in these sequels…” Spike remarked as he pulled his head back in. A Few Enigmatic Words from the Cloud Dragon of the Mist The end is drawing near, hero...The time has come for you to make a decision. One that will change Fluttershy’s world forever…Chapters 12-13 will unveil the fate of Fluttershy, Chapter 14-15 will unveil the fate of the Dark Sky. Fluttershy will unmask the One, the Dark Sky will unmask CrE. Good luck…and enjoy the new world. You chose it, after all...