37. Regrets, Part One: Believe In The Me That Believes In You
“Come ON Rarity!” Applejack growled, pulling hard on the rope she had wrapped around her friend’s leg.
“No! I will not debase myself so!” said Ponyville’s resident Drama Queen, gripping the frame of her front door with both hooves and her magic.
Twilight was nearby lazily floating in the air as she read a book.
“Are ya gonna help or not, Twi?!” Applejack asked.
Twilight looked up. “Why? She clearly doesn’t want to take the poison joke cure bath, so what’s the point? It’ll wear off on its own eventually.” She returned to her book. Honestly, the only reason she was even still there was to make sure Applejack didn’t get carried away.
Rarity decided to go on the offensive and grabbed some of her mannequins in her magic, tossing them at Applejack. This made Applejack yelp and let go to duck away from them. She retaliated by charging Rarity and tackling her. The resulting scuffle spilled inside of the boutique and Twilight sighed, going inside as well to make sure her friends didn’t hurt each other seriously.
---
“I still don’t get it. What’s so different about your transformation from Twilight’s?” Rainbow Dash asked as she sat next to the tub Fluttershy currently sat in.
Fluttershy sighed, using a hand to pull back her dark hair from her face. “It’s not the fact that I’m human that’s bothering me.” She stared at her hand, the skin lightly tanned, in consternation.
Waking up to find the face of Felicia Beyer staring back at her in the mirror yesterday morning had been a harsh shock to her system.
“So what is the problem?” Rainbow Dash asked, mildly frustrated. “You know I won’t make fun of you, and I won’t tell anypony if it really bothers you that much.”
Fluttershy continued to stare at her hand for a moment, before letting it fall back into the green liquid she was sitting in. “She just… brought up some bad memories.”
Rainbow looked at her friend. “From when you were that Steve stallion?” she asked.
Fluttershy nodded. “Remember when I said I was a frail man with little to no hope of accomplishing my dream?” Rainbow Dash nodded. “I didn’t just happily take the opportunity Erskin gave me. I all but bodily threw myself at him in desperation.”
“Well, yeah. You wanted to help ponies. Nothing wrong with that,” Rainbow Dash shrugged.
Fluttershy was quiet again for a time. “Some time after I became Captain America, I found myself in a fight with four individuals, each of them having styled themselves after drugs.”
“Drugs?” Rainbow Dash asked, not quite sure what she meant.
Fluttershy paused, remembering that in Equestria substance abuse wasn’t nearly as big of a problem as it was on Earth. “People who abused drugs for the kick and highs that could get from them were a problem on Earth. It’s a crime to use specific drugs without the proper licenses, and for good reason.”
“I get it,” Rainbow Dash said. “They basically represented the idea that drugs should be free to use.”
Fluttershy nodded. “Yes. Anyways, I ended up fighting them, and defeated them.”
“That’s good… right?”
Fluttershy nodded. “Yes. They were hurting ponies and destroying public property. I never questioned the need to stop them.” She looked away. “What I questioned was what lead to me being the one to stop them.”
Rainbow tried to piece that together, failed, and said, “Okay, I don’t get it.”
“Shortly after I stopped them I was answering questions at a press conference. I usually addressed the public after any situation to answer any questions they may have had. It built trust between me and the public. This time though, they had a question I wasn’t expecting.”
Fluttershy closed her eyes. “Captain America! What are your thoughts on the fact that you owe your powers and position as Captain America to drugs?” she recalled quietly.
Rainbow Dash blinked. “What?” she asked.
“The Super Soldier Serum,” Fluttershy reminded her gently, making Rainbow Dash’s eyes widened as she realized where her friend was going. “Despite the fact that a great hero was born from it, Erskine’s formula was for all intents and purposes a drug. Not only that, but it was a mind altering drug as well. Granted, the only change to my mind was it enhancing my processing power to frankly ridiculous levels, but still.”
She looked down at her body. “This body is the body of one of the four I fought, and seeing it just brought back all those questions of uncertainty, of if I deserved to be the hero I was.”
Rainbow Dash stared at Fluttershy for a moment, looking surprised. Then, surprising Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash brought her hoof around and smacked her on the back of the head. Not hard, but enough to be a bit jarring.
“That’s stupid,” Rainbow Dash said with a scowl. “I mean, yeah, you may owe your powers to something you fight against now, but what if you had refused it? How many ponies… people… would you have saved without that serum? How many villains would have succeeded because you weren’t there to stop them. What if… What if… What if…”
Fluttershy looked away and Rainbow Dash scoffed. “My mom and dad are my biggest fans. They have never doubted I would be as awesome as I want to be. Even when I would come home dejected over one thing or another, doubting my own drive to prove myself… they never doubted me. They never doubted I could become the mare I am today.” She grabbed Fluttershy and forced her to look her in the eyes. “I will never doubt that you made the right decision that day, Fluttershy. You saved so many lives that it’s not funny. Earth would be so much poorer had you made the “right” choice. Asking yourself “What If” is just torturing yourself at this point.”
Fluttershy eyes teared up, but it was clear she still doubted herself. “But…”
“No one’s perfect,” Rainbow said quietly. “Not me, not you, not Twilight, not even the Princesses. We all make mistakes, make questionable choices. It’s a fact of life. The trick isn’t to not make the mistake. The trick is to keep moving forward despite that mistake.”
The tears started to fall freely, and Fluttershy grabbed Rainbow Dash in a hug. “Thank you…” she sniffed quietly.
Rainbow Dash noticed how fast Fluttershy had been in grabbing her, and an increasingly familiar feeling made itself known. However, she buried it. Fluttershy was more important.
Some of you kinda guessed what would happen to Fluttershy, but had stated "It's not possible."
In the great wise words of my mother... "Bitch, I AM the impossible!"
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8924357
Yes, actually. Maelstrom is Naruto from Third Fang's fan fiction Yet Again, With A Little Extra Help.
Black Wing is Harry Potter from the fan fiction Fate's Gamble, by Lupine Horror.
Time Turner is essentially the Doctor from Doctor Who.
Fury Cutter is Vyse, from the game Skies of Arcadia: Legends.
And Fake Forge is Shirou Emiya from the fan fiction From Fake Dreams, also by Third Fang.
I don't know why people demonize the word drug, as if the word was created to refer addictid quemicals for abusing purposes, a drug is just a chemical substance of known structure, you could even use it as sinonim of medicine, so drugs are not bad at all, the problem is that cocaine, marijuana, and other substances are known to produce addiction and other effects in the body which if consumed in abuse damages the body and mind of the individual, and sadly sociaty now use the word drug to refering to those particular few substances that are being abused and comercialized without a prescription, so if I was Captain America, I would say, I feel fortunate, because a drug is just a medicine used in hospitals to help people, as it helped me become what I am to help people and my country, if some bad guys are using some bad substance to cause harm, then I will fight it, but do't demonize the word drug as if all that is called a drug is a bad thing, is actually the other way arround, few drugs are bad.
Wow I thought that Fluttershy was going to be Red Skull! Plus the chapter title had me thinking that Rarity would have a soul from that show. I can so hear her giving their motto.
I saw the title. I expected a Gurren Lagann reference. I was let down. I do not mind what I received instead.
huh, so THAT'S how "Hero Soul"-Fluttershy was affected: have to admit, that was rather clever and a bit unexpected, though the latter isn't necessarily a BAD thing...
in other words, good job, SvenBjorn: have a cookie:
files.abovetopsecret.com/files/img/mj52cbd461.jpg
8929693
You're right, that is the true terror. Although if they just joined up to hang out, and good off? I could see them having no end of fun.
Ok, it wasn't the flutterwolf before hearts warming... But the questioning about drugs flutter AP is an acceptable fluttercap
I read very few Captain America, so I had to google it to understand where does she come from. I'm sure Captain America himself asked the very same question to himself.
8929718
Second to Last paragraph in rainbows conversation she quotes Simmons words (English dub from netflix) from one of the episodes of Gurren Logon
So, is Spike gonna get the Hero Soul of Paarthunax from Skyrim? Or some other famous, mythical dragon from another series? Or maybe someone dragon-like, such as Natsu?
9050745
I considered Natsu, quite heavily at that, but my knowledge on Fairy Tail only really goes up to and through the Fantasia Arc. I'm well aware that I have missed a lot in both character development and plot development. So I decided to leave Fairy Tail out.
As for Paarthurnax, I never thought of that, but I also know I would have said no. Paarthurnax is not a hero. He is an Elder Scrolls Dragon, and it shows. Like Alduin, he seeks to rule, but his would be a Theocracy instead of a Dictatorship. Ohdahving readily admits this in calling Paarthurnax out on "the tyranny of his Way of the Voice". That's not to say Paarthurnax is evil, just that he is wiser than Alduin, and knows that the only way to truly rule is to have an Empire that willingly follows you... and a world left over to rule.
Alas, no, Spike won't get a dragon for a Hero Soul. He is, after all, already a dragon, and I have an interesting history set up for his species. Instead, he will be getting something more... mischievous.
9050786
Well alrighty then. Thanks for the response!
I'm allergic to impossibility
that's why giving up is not an option
- by the foolish president
Ah great moments am I right