The Valkyries

by StayAwhileAndListen

Prologue (2): Her Name Is Armstrong

Twilight Sparkle could barely see more than a few meters in any direction, making her trek to Fluttershy's home purely by memory. Despite how badly she wanted to see her friend, and be sure of her safety, Twilight could barely keep her pace above much of a trot. Her hooves just refused to carry her faster, her muscles ached and her breathing grew heavy. She could barely even keep her eyes open, only pushing forward through pure willpower. Of all the nights for something bad to happen, why was it that she had to deal with such a thing when her mind and body were already near the breaking point to begin with?

Yet, even with all of that, the idea of stopping never once crossed her mind. Sweat worked its way through her fur, her mane and tail flowing with the rush of her movement. She passed by Rarity's boutique, the door left wide open and every light on within the building. A tiny white filly stood just on the stoop, “Twilight!” She called out, “What's going on?! Rarity just-” Twilight did not hear the end of what Sweetie Belle had to say, rushing forward and knowing there was no time to stop.

The Everfree Forest came into view after another turn, and with that came the path inevitably leading to Fluttershy's cottage. The sound of hoofbeats seemed to get louder for just a moment, before Twilight realized she was not the only one running. Two ponies were up ahead, their silhouettes the only thing visible under the darkness of night. Behind her, another set seemed to follow up, quickly catching up to her own, “Twilight!” The voice was familiar, that tone gained by many agricultural ponies, “The Princess come to your dreams too?” Applejack had easily caught up to twilight, the bright orange pony always had been the strongest out of all of them.

That explained why all of her friends seemed to be making a mad dash toward the same location, “She sent me a letter, I think-”

“Fluttershy might be in danger?” They both finished the sentence at the same time, Applejack obviously slowing herself to keep pace with Twilight.

Twilight nodded in her response, while Applejack looked forward, “Not to make you feel bad, or nothin', but I can't waste any more time back here!” She bolted off towards the others in front of them, and was gone from sight in under a minute. When it really mattered, she could rival any racepony.

She followed along with the rest of the group as well as she could, but eventually her hoof's just refused to carry her so quickly, and she ended up trotting along slowly, just when the cottage came into view.

It was an odd sight, really. Light came through the windows, but it was an odd shade of green. The closer she got, the more small animals she could see waiting outside, if not just running into the forest. Whatever was happening then, Twilight knew it wasn't good and likely involved the same magic she had been studying so intently for the past few days.

Even her friends seemed hesitant to go up to the front door, though that didn't remain a problem for too long. She just managed to catch up to them as the door opened, revealing a hot pink pony with a rather annoyed expression upon her face.

However, she was the last thing that any of them wanted to look at as they saw the danger they had all been warned about that night. A bright green portal had been opened right in the center of Fluttershy's living room, with Fluttershy herself being held right in front of it.

Of course, there was something else within that room, something that only those with a unicorn's magic could even see. It floated in the air, adorned in a long white robe that seemed to be empty from the waist down. Its body was odd, a torso that held itself vertically. The clothing it wore only had two sleeves for one's hooves, yet even the limbs that went through them bent at odd angles, and ended in appendages that were more akin to monkey hands than hooves. It was using those hands to grip Fluttershy by the neck, leaving her pained and helpless. The hooded figure turned it's head to reveal a soft, yet empty face. Its furless skin was as pink as the pony it was with, and it stared directly down at Twilight Sparkle with a pair of soulless golden eyes.

Before anyone had the chance to say a word, the creature tossed Fluttershy into the portal, using all the effort one would to throw a wad of paper into the trash. Rainbow Dash was the first to move, rushing toward the front door while screaming out Fluttershy's name, “You bring her back, now!” Pure rage had overcome the Pegasus, as Pinkie Pie and Applejack rushed up toward the door to back up their friend.

Only Rarity and Twilight herself stood still, Twilight unable to bring herself to move or speak. Her body ached, and combined with the shock of what she had just witnessed she found herself nearly paralyzed. Rarity, on the other hand, had enough energy left to act, “Rainbow Dash, stop!” She hadn't even finished speaking before the robed creature had moved to protect it's partner in an instant, gripping Rainbow Dash by her head and shoulder. It had been pushed back by the sheer force that the Pegasus could put out, but otherwise held onto her tightly.

“Huh? Hey! What's going on, I can't move!” She seemed distressed, her wings flapping as hard as she could push them, yet no longer able to move forward.

“There's something grabbing you!” Twilight managed to call out, shaking free of her own disbelief and rushing up for the door, an aura of magic gathering around her horn. She focused everything she had left into a single spell.

“Where is it? Why can't we see it?!” Applejack shouted, Pinkie Pie and herself grabbing a hold of Rainbow Dash's legs and pulling with as much strength as they could muster. The robed creature stood silently, as it's master behind just watched the situation with a knowing smile on her face.

“She's working with an invisible ghost!” Pinkie Pie yelled, before giving a shriek that somehow ended in a giggle. The others took a moment to blankly stare at her, before writing it off and going back to the danger at hand.

“First the yellow one cowers in terror, and now I'm being attacked. Honestly, is this how you treat all of your guests here?” The pink pony shook her head, holding back a laugh, “Angel Witch, give this one to me.” Her command seemed odd, until the robed being pulled Rainbow Dash out of the two Earth ponies grip.

“Hey! What gives? Let go of me already!” She was still trying to fly herself out of the grasp of... whatever it was that was keeping her from flying!

“You heard the lady, let her go.” It was at that exact moment that Rainbow Dash was thrown directly toward the intruder. The blue pony had no chance to change her direction, and no possibility of avoiding what would come next. Instead of a grand crash as the two collided, Rainbow Dash disappeared inside of the other pony! No sooner was she gone, did the pink Earth pony suddenly sprout a pair of wings from her back, “Hm, I always did want to fly.” Her voice seemed to be as flat as ever, her new wings spreading themselves up, and pushing her into the air with a powerful flap. It was impossible, but she was a natural at flight, speeding out of the cottage and shooting up into the night sky.

For a brief moment, they could all see her flank, and a familiar lightning bolt cutie mark plastered on the intruder's side. She kept herself hovering above the rest of them, the being she had named Angel Witch floating just beside her, it's robe fluttering in the night air, “Now then, if we're done with the rather petty violence, perhaps we can talk like grown adults here.” There was a confidence in her tone that was quite difficult to not be intimidated by, especially after showcasing just what her silent friend could do.

Twilight had nearly lost concentration after seeing Rainbow Dash vanish entirely, trying to focus just enough energy into her horn to deal with this pony. Of all nights, why had it been that one? She needed rest, she couldn't protect her friends as she was. She couldn't even save Fluttershy!

Luckily Pinkie Pie spoke up first, Twilight needed a little bit longer to finish her spell, “None of this would have happened if you weren't going around and using your ghost friend to make all of our friends disappear and sending them to who KNOWS where, and acting all tough and scary but you're really just doing it because you're a big jerky meanie who likes to act all spooooky!”

The pony had to recoil as her mind needed several moments to just comprehend the sheer stupidity of that last statement, “Let's start simply. You may call me Ms. Armstrong. Just tell me which of you is Twilight Sparkle, and I'll be on my way.”

Applejack had been grinding her teeth together, eyes narrowed, “And why exactly would we tell you that?”

Rarity was in agreement, her horn beginning to glow, “That's right! After everything you've done to our friends, do you really believe we would allow you to go anywhere near Twilight?” All three of them had began stepping around their friend. Perhaps it was out of a desire to keep her from the hooves of this dangerous pony, or maybe it was simply an unconscious movement on their part, but within seconds they had surrounded Twilight Sparkle.

The intruder had found her target, “Angel Witch,” She called forth the invisible being, before bolting directly toward Twilight Sparkle, the speed of Ponyville's strongest flier backing her. When Rainbow Dash flew at her top speed, it was breathtaking. Seeing someone else stealing her ability was downright terrifying.

Twilight looked upward toward the pony as she realized suddenly that she only had one chance to get this right. Her spell had been fully prepared, horn glowing brightly. The pony known only as Ms. Armstrong was closing the distance between them faster than the rest of the group could react. Twilight only had one shot, shutting her eyes tightly as she completed her spell, “Sorry Rainbow,” She spoke softly just before the aura that had built around her horn fired off a bright beam, going closer and closer toward it's target.

Ms. Armstrong's reaction was nearly instantaneous, as her body turned and twisted just enough to barely avoid the beam. The next several seconds seemed to move in slow motion for the other three ponies, watching as Ms. Armstrong flew right by Twilight sparkle. Only Rarity could truly see what was happening, as the ghostly image grabbed Twilight as it had with Rainbow Dash before her.

It ended in an instant, as soon enough Ms. Armstrong stood before the three remaining ponies, a horn adorning her forehead. She stood silently, smiling and spreading her wings out.

Twilight Sparkle was gone.

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Fluttershy felt different, as she finally came back to her senses. Nothing in her body seemed to move right, and everything felt stiff. She kept her eyes shut, and just started to paw around at the ground with a hoof. She was definitely not in bed, so the idea that everything had just been a terrible nightmare seemed to be less and less likely with each passing second.

Her body seemed to tense up as she tried to hold off waking up as long as she could. She could feel her fingers and toes curling as she...

Fingers and toes? That couldn't be right, she was a pony! Ponies didn't have digits like that.

This was something Fluttershy had to check for herself, something strange was going on with her.

She opened her eyes, just to find another set staring at her. Someone with big eyes and skin as pale as Rarity's fur... as well as a nose that protruded a bit too far out.

“Hi there! Why are you naked?”

The resulting screech Fluttershy gave was said to be loud enough to wake people from miles away.

Author's Note:

So admittedly there's less here than I wanted to have in this chapter, but the 4th of July weekend put me a bit behind schedule in terms of what I wanted to write. Besides that, I started to get into some of the (At least in my opinion.) more weird and interesting concepts of the fic. I really just wanted to upload SOMETHING, and while I should probably edit the whole thing, I really just wanted to put up what I've written over the past couple of nights. So apologies if it's got some rough edges, and waaaay more apologies if it just leaves the reader entirely confused. I may still go over it with a fine-tooth comb and edit some things that need it!

Also, please give a comment and tell me what you thought, and how I can improve!