Conversation 23: Fluttershy
Twilight looked like a ghost. The vengeful kind. Mane hairs sticking out in all directions, eyes glazed over and staring nowhere, wobbly step. Even the glass with her drink was faintly trembling in her magic. “Bet I can guess what you’re all thinking,” she declared grimly. “Cadance is the absolute worst bride-to-be ever!”
Once the glass was just above the table, she let it drop, and I jumped at the sound. Rarity frowned at her, and lit up her horn to adjust Twilight’s hair. “Twilight, whatever are you talking about? Cadance is an absolute gem!”
I was hoping against hope to finally relax. But the only way I could possibly relax would be to fly immediately back home, barricade the doors and windows, hide under my bed, and never, ever, never ever come out again. It was a busy day. It was a horribly busy day. It was a horrible, terrifying, blood-curdling, blindingly scary day, and I don’t know how I got through it. I’m not sure I even did. I might have been eaten in the morning, and dreaming somewhere in the Elysian fields and I’d never know, it was so scary. I don’t know how I didn’t scream at everypony all the time, how did I manage to avoid jumping at every little shadow, it was all one giant, opaque blur.
We were sitting outside that café Twilight picked for our meeting place, and the early night sky seen through the shield was an ominous, dark purple. That couple passing by? They might be changelings. The royal guard at the intersection? He might be one, too. I thought I got used to the idea over the past week, but all that really happened was losing a few pounds. You can’t get used to this. I just hope nopony noticed. Because that would be as bad as telling them. I’m horrible at lying. I’m horrible at lying to anypony, let alone my friends.
I’m horrible…
“Rarity, she was so demanding!” Twilight insisted.
“Well, of course she is!” Rarity retorted. “Why shouldn’t she expect the very best on her wedding day?”
“Well, maybe!” Twilight mocked her. “Maybe it’s just me. Maybe I’m just going crazy!” She looked away with a sigh. “Maybe I really did go crazy, and right now I’m actually in a padded room somewhere and I’m just imagining all that. I just hoped I’d find something normal around here. She didn’t even recognize me. After Princess Luna’s lecture on the value of ignorance, this is especially ironic.”
“Ah don’t see why she should’ve recognized ye,” Applejack commented. “Y’all are under a lot of stress. Ya didn’t see her in years, no wonder. Ahm sure I won’t recognize some of mah cousins at tha next reunion either. Ah mean, there had to have been other fillies, right?”
“There were, I suppose,” Twilight agreed. “But I’m sure she didn’t grill any other fillies for every scrap of information on their brothers the moment they were left alone.”
“Really, she did?” Rarity inquired. “Ah, darling, that’s as romantic as it gets! How could she possibly be a bad bride after that?!”
“By doing the same to other fillies, for example,” Twilight brushed her off. “You’re missing the point, Rarity. I remember that evening very well. If my brother really is important to her, she should, too.”
“You didn’t remember her name,” Pinkie pointed out.
“Because she never used that one!” Twilight exclaimed, slamming a hoof hard into the table. “It’s like there are two ponies – Cadance, one of the most amazing ponies I ever knew, and Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, and the only thing they have in common is that they’re both pink!”
A chill ran down my spine. Then another one.
Changelings replace ponies. Of course the first pony they would want to replace would be Princess Cadance. That’s the only way to get Twilight to murder Cadance that I can imagine, when she knows there’s two of them, and makes a mistake deciding which one is real… If I didn’t listen to that conversation, if I didn’t spy on the humans, the thought of changelings would have never occurred to me.
Poor Twilight, I can’t even tell her. I can’t tell her that her brother is marrying a disguised monster.
Suddenly, I felt a wing wrap around me. “Fluttershy. Stop,” Rainbow Dash said.
“…stop what?” I whispered, as I felt the eyes of my friends converge on me.
“Whatever it is that you’re thinking about,” Rainbow said. “You’ve been moping around for the entire week. I know there’s something wrong. We all know. I know you don’t want to talk about it, cause you never do, but you can’t hide it anymore. Start talking.”
“…But everything is fine…” I mumbled.
“Ponies don’t cry in public when they’re fine, Fluttershy,” Rarity said, pulling a hanky from her purse and gently wiping my face.
Damn. I went and ruined it all, and I didn’t even notice.
Unable to hold it in anymore, I fell face first on the table and cried, and all my friends huddled around me, telling me something, hugging me, and I couldn’t even tell what they were saying anymore, as all the horror and tension of the past week came crushing down and washed me away.
At least I don’t have to be scared alone anymore.
I told them everything.
✶ ✶ ✶
When I was done, there was a long, tense silence.
“So what are we gonna do now?” Applejack asked, looking at Twilight.
The change in Twilight was amazing. Just minutes ago, she looked like she’s dead on her hooves, but now, the sparkle in her eyes was back, and while there was no sign of a smile on her, her ears were perked up in attention.
Oh sweet Celestia, I think she’s going to make a checklist.
“We need more information,” Twilight declared. “It all comes together suspiciously well, but we basically have nothing.”
“Yah said it’s like there’s two of them, just minutes ago,” Applejack commented.
“I just wanted to vent to my friends, because I’m having an especially bad day,” Twilight replied, “I didn’t expect the possibility might actually exist, and I can’t really deny I’m biased. It could be a bad case of nerves, Shining Armor didn’t notice anything. You don’t accuse a Princess of Equestria of being an impersonator without proof. A fragment of a conversation between aliens about other worlds isn’t enough.”
“Maybe we could… unmask her?” Rarity offered. “If the disguise doesn’t dispel, it’s the real Cadance.”
“There weren’t any confirmed changeling sightings since forever,” Twilight replied. “Even if anypony ever studied their transformations far enough to write a counterspell, or even a detection spell, we could spend weeks in the Archives looking for it.”
“The bridesmaids might have noticed something!” Pinkie smiled. “They’re all my friends, I’m sure I can get them to talk.”
“No,” Twilight shook her head and grinned. “Well, maybe later.” Somehow she still looked serious with that grin. “First, we’re going to ask a human. They’re both at least a little crazy, but there’s one thing I’m sure about. Neither of them ever refused to answer a question. You just need to know what to ask.”
I shivered. I’d rather not let them know I was listening. But I guess there’s no choice…
Rainbow Dash looked around. “Right, where are Mary and Spike, anyway?”
“Spike was organizing the bachelor party,” Twilight said, scanning the street. “I told him to meet us all here, he’s late. Mary should be with him…”
Rainbow flapped her wings and jumped up to hover above the table. “I’ll find them!”
“Wait!” Twilight interrupted. “I have a better idea,” she said, turning to Rarity. “What’s the average size of the sapphire grain you used for her dress?”
“One microcarat, it’s practically dust…” Rarity replied, puzzled. “What are you planning to do?”
“I’m going to cast a size-filtered wide range variant of your gem-finding spell, obviously…” Twilight said, lighting her horn up and squeezing her eyes shut in concentration. Rarity stared at Twilight wide-eyed. Her eyes still shut, Twilight called out, “Rainbow? Go find them. Mary is going to be glowing like a Hearth’s Warming tree, you can’t miss her.”
Rainbow Dash looked around and snickered.
“Ah think you don’ have to,” Applejack commented, looking at the window of the cafe and the brightly lit sitting human silhouette within. “Ya know, Rarity, sometimes you’re too good at that dress making thing. We’ve been inside just half an hour ago, and nopony even saw her.”
“Indeed, on occasion I surprise myself,” Rarity agreed.
We all rushed into the café, to find Mary in the corner, desperately hiding behind a newspaper as the glow of her dress was receding. “Sorry about that. Mary, we have to talk,” Twilight started, making a step forward from our tiny crowd. “Where’s Spike?”
Mary folded the newspaper and tossed it onto her table with a slightly annoyed scowl on her face. “I lost him at Joe’s. He ran off somewhere in the company of Prince Blueblood.”
Rarity recoiled in horror, “Blueblood!?”
“There’s a very interesting misunderstanding between you three that you might want to correct, Rarity,” Mary commented with a subtle grin.
Twilight threw a glance at Rarity, “Just not right now.” She turned back to Mary and drew a deep breath. “Right now… Right now, I need a prophecy. Mary, could you please tell me about the changeling invasion?”
Mary’s face, already kind of whitish, turned alabaster.
I ran up to her. “I’m sorry! I’m so sorry, I heard you talking about it! I ruined everything!” I could feel the tears gathering up in my eyes again, and tried to swallow them back. I’m not sure I succeeded. When Mary reached out with her hand to me, I shut my eyes. I was so sure she would at least smack me.
I think I deserved it, too.
Instead, I felt the gentle touch of fingers petting my head, careful, as if afraid to hurt me. “Excuse me for a moment,” Mary said in a soft, calm, completely colorless voice. When I opened my eyes again, I saw Mary covering her face with her hands. The silence was getting stifling.
Twilight was the first to break it. “I understand why you didn’t mention it, of course,” she said. “You think we’re walking a very thin line here.”
Mary ignored her completely.
Twilight saw it as an invitation to continue. “Princess Celestia wonders if ponies and humans see friendship differently. You certainly seem to think so, but I’m sure that’s not really it. You just treasure it very highly, because for you, it’s hard to come by. You don’t want the friendship of ponies that you will one day leave to return home. Am I right?”
Mary still didn’t say anything or even move, like a sitting statue.
“I just want you to know that I still want your friendship, just like I offer mine freely. Friendship starts with trust, and I trust you will tell me what I really need to know, when I need to know it, because I believe you’re–”
“Shut up, Twilight, I’m calculating!” Mary hissed through her teeth. The fingers over her right, golden eye parted slightly, and I recoiled in horror. I’m not sure if it was an illusion or not, but it looked like the ragged, irregular-shaped pupil was swirling.
Twilight shut up.
“This is a very incomplete solution,” Mary said finally, peeling the hands off her face and staring at us. Just for this once, both her eyes were pointed squarely at Twilight’s face. “If the invasion exists, the real Cadance is imprisoned, under light or no guard, somewhere in the crystal caves beneath Canterlot. If you find her, you win. If you determine she’s not there, the invasion does not exist.”
“Thank you. We’ll talk about the details later,” Twilight said confidently after a brief pause. “Let’s go, girls,” she told us, as she turned around.
“Canterlot has caves?!” Rarity exclaimed.
“I know where that is,” Twilight said. “Oh, and Mary? When Spike shows up, please tell him to send a letter to Princess Celestia, telling her where we went.”
✶ ✶ ✶
The caves were dry as a bone, and about as inhospitable as caves go, the kind dragons are supposed to live in and keep their hoard – hard to reach, hard to navigate, lonely and dark.
“How did ya even know about this place?” Applejack wondered, tapping a rock with her hoof.
“Used to play here with Shining Armor,” Twilight said, lighting up her horn and looking around. “That’s where he got his cutie mark. Mom forbade us to ever go here again when she found out, it’s kind of unsafe…”
“Well, duh!” Pinkie said. “That’s what happens when you mine a crystal cave to exhaustion, it loses the natural ground support! You could still keep harvesting it, if they didn’t pick it clean.”
“Make that very unsafe,” Applejack said, carefully stepping away from a ledge. “And they look like they go on for miles. This ain’t gonna be easy.”
“Aw come on,” Rainbow Dash said, hovering in front of Applejack’s face and looking down on her, “How hard it can be to find one princess in a cave?”
“If she’s even here,” Applejack replied. “If we don’t find her, we still got work to do tomorrow.”
“Do you remember the Summer Sun Celebration, Applejack?” Twilight replied. “When Rainbow thought I was a spy for Nightmare Moon? You trusted me then. If you didn’t, I don’t think we’d ever be friends.”
“Point taken,” Applejack conceded.
“The problem is, if we can’t find Cadance, we need to be sure she isn’t here, so that we can rule out the invasion,” Twilight said, looking down into the chasm that Applejack just backed away from. “That’s a lot more difficult.”
I looked up at the ceiling of the chamber. In the darkness, with so little light to see by, they are a bit difficult to find, but I’m pretty sure they’re here.
“It doesn’t have to be,” I said, flying up to the ceiling of the chamber. There they are. “These nice little bats will surely tell me everything we want to know. You will, won’t you?”
The cave bat, hanging upside down from the ceiling of the chamber, rubbed his tiny beady eyes with the edges of his wings and looked at me. What a cute little thing… Stop, no time for cuddling animals, I have more important things to do. “We’re looking for our princess,” I stated. “She’s a very tall pony, with wings and a horn.” I didn’t mention she was pink, because bats only see two colors, and “pink” doesn’t mean much to them.
The bat hissed at me. It’s a very difficult language, because most of it lies outside normal hearing range, but I know well enough when bats are dissing me.
“Yes, I am very sorry for having woken you up, but this is very important for the entire Equestria!” I insisted. “There are some very evil creatures loose in Canterlot, and unless we can find our princess, we’re all in danger!”
The bat screeched. Looks like I need to be strict with him… “Yes, even you!” I exclaimed. “If we ponies go, I don’t think there will ever be enough insects for you in this old, empty cave, insects have to eat too!”
He squeaked.
“I’m sure you can’t eat a pony sized insect,” I said. Oh my, there really are changelings here, the legends say they look like insects! “Because they are those evil creatures, and now, you’re in as much danger as we are! If they figure out you saw them, they will eat you!”
I don’t actually know if they would or not. Maybe, changelings would just kill the bats to keep them quiet. But that finally got the bat talking, in hysterical screeches and squeaks and flapping of the tiny leathery wings.
“Thank you! If we save her, I promise you they will never be back again,” I said and looked down at the rest of my friends. “She’s here. They will guide us.”
I cannot possibly express how much their smiles warmed my heart. Maybe, just maybe, we will find Princess Cadance, and then, a miracle will happen. Miracles are like that.
We had to navigate almost half a mile worth of tunnels. Progress had been difficult, but with Rainbow Dash airlifting Pinkie, Applejack using her rope to rappel down and climb up when I anchored it – I always wondered why would she bring rope to Canterlot, but I don’t anymore – and Twilight teleporting with Rarity, it didn’t take us that long to come to a dead end which wasn’t actually a dead end. The bat said that they used magic to pass through the wall.
Twilight didn’t bother with such subtleties, she just told us to cover our eyes and blasted a huge hole through it, turning a huge chunk of the wall into fine powder.
The cloud of dust that resulted took some time to settle down.
“…Twilight? Is that really you, Twilight?!” Princess Cadance coughed out. She was lying on the floor of the room, and the contrast between the polished, groomed to perfection Cadance I met during the day and the disheveled, dirty, exhausted one was striking.
“Cadance?” Twilight asked, as she made a cautious step towards the princess. “Wait. Stop,” she interrupted herself. “I’m very happy to finally see you, but I must be sure,” she said, and drew a deep breath. “Sunshine, sunshine.”
Cadance came alive in seconds, faster than I could ever imagine, it was like lighting a fire. “Sunshine, sunshine!”
“Sunshine, sunshine, ladybugs awake! Clap your hooves and do a little shake!” they chorused. I never thought I would see a princess do a playground dance, let alone use a foal school oath, but there they were, hugging and jumping around like Pinkie.
“Rainbow?” Twilight called out in a confident tone. “I have a job for the fastest flier in Equestria!”
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An author's greatest critique is their self. Looking at this chapter, it seems fine to me. Although, if Chrysalis doesn't pull off something Mary isn't expecting as part of a contingency plan, then I'm going to be dissappointed.
Neat!
7319671
Mary is expecting more or less what she described to Rika in Conversation 9, and she's right. Unfortunately for Twilight, Mary didn't take into account just how Chrysalis is planning to make it happen. :)
You know, there's the question of whether changelings are inherently evil. Or if Chrysalis is totally evil.
And there is, apparently, an upcoming episode which may deal with that.
*refused to answer
It doesn't make sense the other way, I think.
Whatever trouble you had writing this, it doesn't show. Fluttershy is present and relatable and everything.
7319688
Yes, there is. But like Rika said, "Changelings are so decoherent, they might as well be materialized rumor." The disparity between changeling interpretations is staggering and canon took years to settle on anything.
Too bad for the canon, I say. :)
7319692
Ack, how did I miss that. Will fix in a moment...
7319694
My issue with her is that every time her turn comes up, the action around her becomes dense and difficult to describe with appropriate colour. I really have no idea what causes it...
7319707
I think the problem is that Fluttershy doesn't really do a lot of talking, so her "colour" is a lot harder to define. When she does talk, her speech is riddled with hesitation - such as 'ums' and 'if you don't minds' - that stem from the anxiety she gets from talking to ponies. A first person story from Fluttershy's point of view would lack these, as it would represent her actual thought process and not verbal speech.
Oh dear. This crap has officially gone off the rails.
Prepare for one heck of a bumpy ride!
Considering all the new factors in play the slow-mo explosion is gonna be colourful and rich in weirdness and glitters.
I'm waiting eagerly for it.
7319707 Well the idea of an "Always Chaotic Evil," species that the ponies can never befriend pretty much goes against everything the show stands for. So it stands to reason that if the Changelings get enough appearances we'll meet a good or redeemable one sooner or later. Now whether Chrysalis or her swarm in particular are redeemable is an open question.
Personally the way I think of Chrysalis is to use this analogy: To the Greeks Alexander was "the Great," to the Arabs he was "the Demon."
7323004
This primarily hinges on what answer canon eventually gives to the question "how do changelings procreate and do they procreate at all?" and whether it even gives one.
Some of the possible ones permit redemption or an equivalent in one form or another, others don't. Quite a few don't permit it, and yet have nothing to do with "Always Chaotic Evil," mind you -- for example, it is possible to have perfectly neutral changelings, which ponies can nevertheless never befriend because they are simply not, by themselves, people.
I think you nailed Fluttershy's voice Oliver, especially with the bat. I was sure Cadance would not be in the caves right up until the end. The Cadance they found is also a changling, right?
7323074 Yeah, I've had this discussion before. Changling drones may be generally no smarter than a dog, with a few exceptions, or they may all be as smart as a pony. Changlings may be able to feed off "ambient love" or otherwise feed without doing permanent harm to their food-source, or they may require large enough amounts of love that feeding is always permanently harmful to the host, in which case peace between changlings and other races is almost impossible. Chrysalis might be the mother of every single drone in the hive, or she might just be their leader. (Though if she is absolutely vital for their continued survival, having her personally infiltrate an enemy stronghold is incredibly dumb, no matter how otherwise-brilliant her plan is).
7329070
You'll know in the chapter after the next one. :)