Fulfilling

by PegasusMesa

Ch 12: In Which Battle is Joined, Fluttershy is Saved, and Noggins are Whacked

A hush fell over the forest as a mighty winged form took flight, its shadow cast on the canopy below by the early-morning sun. All of the creatures that lived amongst the trees, be they monstrous or miniscule, knew that this thing, flying overhead, was not an enemy to be trifled with.

The specter felt their fear, and revelled in it. It had solidified its grip on Luna's mind, to the point where she likely wouldn't wake up even if freed from its insidious grasp. The alicorn's mouth spread wide in a wicked grin.

"Now to do sssomething about thosse Element bearersss..."

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"This should be far enough," Celestia said, eyeballing the distance between their chosen battleground and Ponyville. "Everypony knows what they're supposed to be doing, correct?"

"Of course they do," Discord answered in a bored voice. "We've only been over it a billion times."

"Make sure you keep your priorities straight." The princess pointedly ignored his sarcasm. "I don't want the Element bearers to be interrupted just because you would find it amusing to whack my sister on the head with a frying pan."

"This is not just a simple 'frying pan'!" the dragonequis said. "I'll have you know, that I have given him a name!"

"Oo, oo, what is it?" Pinkie asked. "Is it something like 'The Equalizer'? 'Cataclysm'?"

Rainbow raised her hoof excitedly. "What about 'Ghost Slayer'?"

"All of those are wrong." Discord brandished his fighting implement with pride. "I have named him, 'Steve'."

"What?!"

"I just don't get you sometimes," Twilight said, shaking her head.

"Uh, that's because I'm Discord, Lord of Chaos and Entropy! Unpredictability is part of my shtick! Where have you been for the past two years?!"

"Quiet! Here she comes!" Celestia flapped her wings and rose to meet her sister.

"Guess we won't have to send anypony to get her, after all," Shining muttered.

Twilight gathered her five friends near her. "We have to do this as quickly as we can," she said quietly. "The longer it takes, the greater the chance that one of us will get hurt."

"Alright," they told her.

"Creature, I will offer this once." Celestia's voice rang clearly in the morning air. "If you release my sister, then we can negotiate a peaceful solution for your continued existence."

A sudden tendril of shadow magic flew out and wrapped itself around the sun princess's foreleg. It threw her downward with such speed and force that a wide crater formed around her when she hit the ground.

"Princess!"

"Aunty!"

"You can take your 'peacceful ssolution' and sstick it up your *yay!*!"

"Alright, go!" Twilight shouted. As soon as the Elements began to show signs of powering up, the specter turned and shot towards them.

"Trying the ssame trick, are we?" it taunted. "Foolsss never learn—" A gigantic, pink, magical hammer swung in from the side, catching Luna in the ribs; the loud *thud* caused by the impact made everypony wince.

"Woooooo yeah!" Cadance cheered, brandishing her weapon and swinging again. "Hahaha, take that! And that!" *Wham!* *Wham!* *Wham!*

"Shining, what's wrong with Cadance?" Twilight asked apprehensively. "I've never seen her act so... bloodthirsty before."

"Sometimes she gets like this, when something riles her up..."

"Scary..."

Without warning, another rope of dark magic wound its way quickly up the handle of the hammer, soon reaching the pink princess's head. It continued down and wrapped itself around her torso. "AH!" she yelped when it hurled her into the air.

"Cadance!" Shining cried, clearly wanting to run to his wife's side. Unfortunately, he was duty-bound to guard the Element bearers. "Twily, hurry it up!"

"I'm hurrying, I'm hurrying!"

"Enough!" boomed a voice that nopony there except for Discord and Luna had ever heard before. From the crater where she had been thrown, an unscathed Princess Celestia emerged majestically. "Beast, come forth and test yourself against me!" With the Royal Canterlot voice powering her words, she appeared more terrible than could be imagined.

Without hesitation, the dark alicorn launched herself forward, horn leading the way. She and Celestia clashed multiple times, but even though the sun princess put up an admirable fight, Luna slowly but surely was gaining the upper hoof.

At last, Twilight felt the power of the Elements build inside of her. Finally! she thought as her body began to levitate and her eyes took on a white hue. The specter's eyes snapped over and it got a good look at what was about to happen before a white bolt of pure energy leaped from Twilight's horn, engulfing its target completely.

"GAAAH!" the creature screamed in pain; its host flailed spasmodically from the attack's intensity.

"Yeah, nice shot!" Rainbow cheered.

"Something's not right..." the purple alicorn said. It's in pain, but shouldn't the specter have been forced out by now? Suddenly, she realized the trick. "It's an illusion! Look ou—"

The ground erupted beneath them and the real Luna came forth. Her magic reached out and ripped the Elements of Harmony away from their bearers while, in the distance, the fake Luna faded into nothingness.

The specter chuckled cruelly and brandished its plunder. "What hope do you have without thesse?" It threw the six pieces in six different directions, sending them all miles away.

"Alright, the Elements have failed, so it's go time! Luna, prepare thy noggin!" A serpent snaked its way around Luna's torso—a serpent wielding a glowing frying pan named Steve.

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Fluttershy's vision cleared as she stood and wiped the dirt from her eyes. "What... what happened?" she asked dazedly. She saw that of her friends, she and Twilight were the first ones to get up.

"That thing took away the Elements," the purple alicorn informed her. "Discord's our only chance, now. In fact, you should try to wake up the other girls and get them away from here. From this point on, it's probably going to get too rough for you."

"B-but... I can help..."

Shining Armor leaped between the pegasus and their enemy. "You can help more by getting your friends to safety!"

"O-okay..." She turned and shook Rarity's prone form. But after that... I'll be back, to do what I can!

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The moment the specter saw Steve, its eyes narrowed, as if realizing the danger of being struck by the potent weapon. It sent a surge of electricity coursing through its body, giving Discord's constricting form a sizable shock. The dragonequis snarled and unwound himself.

"It's not that easy to get rid of me," he said; a single lithe motion sent him diving underground.

"You think I'm frightened?" the specter shouted. It leaped into the air, only to be slammed by the charging Celestia; Cadance contributed as well with a well-placed pair of kicks.

"Now, Discord!" Celestia cried, moving away to give the dragonequis enough room to get a good swing in. A geyser of dirt and rock burst into the air as he shot upwards, weapon held at the ready. Unfortunately, the dark alicorn wasn't as stunned as she appeared; she flew backwards and released a barrage of magical bolts.

"Pathetic," Discord laughed. His sinewy body easily slid this way and that to dodge the myriad projectiles. "Now, I can't say that I haven't ever dreamed of this moment..." His arm reared back to deliver the final blow.

"Fluttershy!" Cadance called, and at the sound of his best friend's name, Discord's gaze snapped to where the pink princess was looking. One of Luna's fired bolts flew on a straight collision course for the yellow mare, and nopony was close enough to stop it.

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After Fluttershy roused her friends back to wakefulness, she told them of Twilight's order to leave. However, when they reluctantly obeyed, she lagged behind the group, eventually turning back to return to the scene. Her eyes grew wide when Cadance and Celestia double-teamed the dark alicorn, and wider still when Discord made his move. She shrieked in concern for the dragonequis when Luna threw the magical projectiles, and breathed a sigh of relief when none of them hit him. Unfortunately, she saw that she would soon not be able to say the same for herself—one of the bolts that Discord had dodged was now coming right at her.

"Fluttershy!" Cadance called in alarm. The pegasus knew that she was isolated from everypony else, and that she couldn't move quickly enough to get out of the way in time.

Nopony had the ability to save her, but there was a certain dragonequis who did.

A snap of his fingers teleported Discord into the attack's path in the blink of an eye, and before Fluttershy could protest his sacrifice, the crackling bolt struck him heavily in the chest.

"Ouch!" he said, dropping to the ground with a groan. "Sheesh, she really doesn't like me!"

"Are you al-alright?!" the pegasus asked frantically.

"I suppose that I'm a bit out-of-sorts, yes. I know it seems counter-intuitive, but that tends to be what happens when you get hit with a stinkin' magical attack!"

Up above, all of the alicorns joined the battle, Twilight included. The three each charged Luna in an effort to take her down before it was too late. However, as soon as they got close, the specter released a shockwave of dark energy that hit all three attackers at once; they fell out of the sky, energy spent.

"This doesn't look good..." Discord muttered.

"What can I do?" Fluttershy asked. "I'm still fine, I can help!"

"Pssh, there's no way you—" He looked around again and saw that she was actually the only fit, winged pony left. "Alright, fine, you can help. Here." He held Steve out reluctantly, as if parting with it would be painful.

"I can't just hit somepony! That's a terrible thing to do!"

Discord gave her a wooden look.

"I... but...How do you use it?"

"How can you not know that?! You just whack her!"

"But which side do I whack with?"

"Oh, for cryin'... Look." The dragonequis pulled out a marker and scribbled something on the bottom of the pan. When he was finished, he revealed a hastily-drawn smiley face. "This is Steve's face. Say 'hello' to Steve's face. Bonk her with Steve's face. Got it?"

"Okay...Hello, Steve's face..." She took the frying pan in both forelegs and slowly struggled to carry it with her into the sky.

"I... I think... I think we're doomed," Discord said in a tone of finality.

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"Thisss iss amazing!" the specter crowed to its fallen foes. "Four of the mosst powerful beingss in exissstence, and I took them all down at once!" It caught sight of the little yellow pegasus who rose into the sky, frying pan in hoof. "Oh ho, you think to accomplisssh what your princesssess could not?"

"I can't do this," Fluttershy mumbled to herself. "She's... she's too strong, and too big... and that thing's too mean..."

"Fluttershy, go for it!" Twilight called, struggling to her hooves. "I know you can make it!"

"Do it for love!" Cadance added.

"Laaaaaaame!" Discord contributed.

"That's right... If I just give up, then Luna will never be herself again." Her resolve hardened, and she raised Steve in preparation. "Alright, I'm ready!" Straining wings pushed her forward at her top speed, which in all honesty was fairly slow.

"Hey, can she actually do this?" Cadance asked quietly.

Twilight opened her mouth, but it was Celestia who answered. "As it stands, likely not. That's why we must lend her our assistance."

Meanwhile, Fluttershy continued to approach her target. "I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry," she repeated quickly.

"Squashing bugss iss no fun..." The specter was just about to blast the pegasus out of the sky when a handful of conjured sand burst into its face, courtesy of the fallen dragonequis. "GAH!" the beast screamed, blinded. Then, when it began to retreat, magical ropes from the other alicorns whipped up to hold the dark alicorn still.

"Sorry sorry sorry sorry sorry sorry," the yellow mare continued to chant.

A trio of wicked-looking javelins materialised in mid-air, and Luna's magic propelled them unerringly at the approaching mare. "Eeep!" Flutterhsy squeaked in terror, thinking that she was finished this time for sure, but again, aid came unexpectedly. The javelins bounced harmlessly off of a shield conjured by an encouraging Shining Armor.

"I got your back!" he shouted. "Just do what you need to do!"

The pegasus lunged forward to close the remaining distance. "I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry..."

At this point, Fluttershy was virtually on top of her target, too close for the ensnared alicorn to get away. Still blinded and thus unable to see its target, the specter whipped Luna's horn across in a desperate bid to save itself. It missed by a mile.

"I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm so sorry..." The yellow mare brought Steve crashing against the side of Luna's head. "Sorry, I'm sorry!"

*Booooooong!* The reverberations on the pan made a sound like a gong when it came into contact with the unfortunate alicorn's skull. Except for the fading remnants of sound caused by metal striking bone, the battlefield was wholly silent, with every pony and a single dragonequis looking on expectantly. Then, a loud sucking noise filled the air, and Fluttershy disappeared from sight.

Both Luna and Steve fell lifelessly to the ground.

Comments

[Phaoray]

Huh, that was unexpected. Where the heck did Flutters go? I also liked her battle mantra.

[PegasusMesa]

3452945

Bwahaha, this entire story has been a setup for "Fluttershy in Human World"! DESPAIR, PUNY MORTALS!

But in all seriousness, that is not true, and I would be ashamed of myself if it were.

[Sly Moon]

Woah awesome man i was like at the end

[PegasusMesa]

3453940

Haha, so was everypony else. "What the hell, she actually did it?"

But seriously, thanks for the compliment and for reading up till now.

[Sly Moon]

3453962 Your welcome in fact when i was reading that part i was listening to Headstrong by Trapt/Linkin park it totally fit the seen in my opinion

[Bronpierunner]

STEVE! NOO!

[PrincessLunaTheGamer]

I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Best. Battle cry. Ever!