Et Rvrsus Est
An aggravated sigh slipped from Applejack's lips as she looked at Rainbow Dash's efforts. "No, look, yer gonna over-water it if you try ta do it like the acres! Then tha roof will cave in again and Mac will have ta come here again ta fix the thing again. Light sprinkles, not major downpours!"
"Look, if I made this cloud any less dense it would just be mist. JUST. MIST." Rainbow groaned, maneuvering the white puffball away. "What do you want me to do, get out watering cans and sprinkle the cottage?"
"Ya know, that might be a fine idea. Ah'm sure that's how...."
Applejack trailed off for a moment.
"...that's how Fluttershy usually does it."
Rainbow's face contorted for a moment, emotions warring for dominance. Resignation won. "Yeah, it... seems like something she'd do. I'll disperse this and go fill some up."
She bucked her cloud and landed, kicking at the ground for a moment.
"...Applejack. Do you... do you think...?"
Applejack kept her patient gaze on her.
"...do you think... that I should ask Pinkie Pie where the watering cans are, or Rarity?"
The farm mare blinked. Then she chuckled, shaking her head. "Ah reckon Rarity's probably going ta be done patching up tha birdhouses in a few minutes, but if ya want results now--"
"Actually, I just finished," piped up the unicorn as she stepped around the corner, idly combing her mane back into something resembling its usual pristine form. "What exactly was it you were considering calling Pinkie Pie for?"
"Watering cans. For the roof." Rainbow gestured. "Clouds aren't delicate enough."
Rarity nodded, glancing at the cottage for a brief moment. "Well, I do believe I saw a shed of gardening tools around back. If there aren't watering cans in there, I can just nip into town for them."
"Nah, it's cool. I can be there and back faster than you," the pegasus replied, hovering into the air. "Let me just check the shed first."
Rarity watched Rainbow dart behind the cottage, a sad smile playing on her lips. "...she's still in denial, isn't she?"
"Ah dunno. It's like she knows, but she doesn't want to admit it." Applejack took her hat off, holding it to her chest. "Element of Loyalty, Ah reckon. Shy was one of her childhood friends..."
They stood, silently looking at the cottage they were working hard to maintain. Various chirps and purrs drifted through the windows, a counterpoint to Pinkie Pie's humming as she fed the animals who lived within.
"...it's been three months," Rarity murmured. "Three months, and those two still haven't..." She shook her head. "I want to get this over with, AJ. I want to be able to grieve and move on, but... it feels wrong for me to try when those two still haven't..."
"Ah know. It... took lil' Bloom a while to accept it when ma and pa dropped. Ah mean, she was almost newborn, so she couldn't really get it, but..." Applejack shrugged. "It can hurt not ta hurt."
"Yes." Rarity nodded. "That's... that's it, exactly."
"...still," the farm mare mused, putting her hat back on, "Ah reckon that plain old denial's a bit better then tha wafflin' Twi goes through. Ah mean, knowing how Shy went would help and all, but obsessively researchin' every dang critter in the Everfree, or long lost magic spells, or whatever? That filly's a few steps away from being a wreck. If it weren't fer Spike, Ah think she'd have fallen apart by now."
"Yes.... he's quite the little champion isn't he?" Rarity sighed. "I... admit, perhaps we take his help too lightly."
"Maybe ya should take him on a date or somethin'."
"Applejack!" the unicorn cried, shocked. "I am a lady! And as fond as I am of Spike, he is six years younger than me! Surely you would have some objections to that?"
The other mare rolled her eyes. "Fine, fine. Wait fer him ta come o' age, then."
"I very well might," Rarity scoffed, ignoring Applejack's quiet chuckle.
They watched as Rainbow re-emerged from behind the cottage, dangling a watering can from each hoof.
"...have you seen Discord?" Rarity suddenly asked. "I mean, has he been around since Fluttershy vanished?"
"Don't rightly know. Sometimes Ah find strange things when Ah'm goin' through her gardens, but... ain't seen hide nor tail o' him fer a while now."
"Mmm. Somebody should find him. If only to make sure he doesn't go insane from grief."
"Ah'm more worried 'bout Shy's kin. Do ya know where her family lives?"
Rarity shrugged. "She never talked about them much with me. I think she might have mentioned a brother at one point. I don't know much more than that."
Applejack nodded to herself. "She always kinda quiet 'bout herself. Dash might know somethin', but..." She waved at the pegasus trailing water over the cottage roof.
"Yes, I can see how 'informing the family' would be difficult when the only pony that could doesn't want to believe it herself." With a sigh, Rarity turned her gaze away. "I just wish... I just wish I could see her, one last time."
"I think we all do."
Both the ponies turned to Twilight as she walked up behind them. "Gosh, Twi," Applejack managed, "Ah didn't even hear ya comin'."
"Well, I got caught up in analyzing a particular spellform that could possibly have resulted in... you know." The purple alicorn rubbed the back of her head. "After I realized I was late, I... decided to fly here. Turns out flying is a little quieter than walking." She shrugged. "Due to the dispersal of energy transferred into the the air being greater when not in direct contact with the ground. I think. I'm sorry, right now, I feel a little scatterbrained."
"Not too surprising," Rainbow Dash quipped as she glided over, gently dropping the watering cans from her hooves. "Reading all of those books over and over again, you've got to have, like, a gazillion tons of knowledge bouncing in that egghead of yours."
"...how would you measure knowledge in tons? It's an abstract concept derived from the idea of intellectually beneficial memory existing in a format that can be reiterated to others!"
"Maybe it's a transfer of an inquantible concept to a metaphorical measurement?"
Three sets of eyes stared at Applejack.
"What?" Applejack tried, and failed, to hold back a grin. "Surprised that tha ordinary farmpone knows some fancy words?"
"I'm not sure inquantible is a word," Twilight mused. "Infinite, maybe... Although that has connotations of endlessness where you were attempting to indicate something that could not be counted or measured--immeasurable, maybe?"
"Yeah, okay, AJ's got secret smarts or whatever." Rainbow landed on the ground. "Now all we need is for Pinkie Pie to get done feeding the animals--"
The door to Fluttershy's cottage slammed open, a larger burly bear throwing something pink out with a small growl. It bounced on the dirt path, rolled over the footbridge, and stopped suddenly when it reached the group, resolving into a brightly smiling pony. "Hi there girls!"
"Pinkie!" Twilight rushed up to the pony. "Are you okay?!"
"Of course I'm okay! Harry just isn't a fan of my musical meanderings. Which is weird," Pinkie mused, "because I know he likes Fluttershy's singing, and we kinda sound similar." She shrugged. "But I did get all her animal friends fed, so yay!"
The alicorn sighed. "That's... great, Pinkie. It really is."
"So how are you doing with your finding Fluttershy research stuff?" Pinkie chirped brightly.
Twilight winced. "I'm... I don't know. There are fewer and fewer options available. Even if she is still out there, I don't know if I could ever track her down."
Pinkie Pie nodded in understanding. "It's hard to figure out what happened when you weren't actually there. I've tried asking Angel and all of Fluttershy's animal friends, but I don't speak animal, and trying to read what they write is really, really hard!"
"I suppose it would be," Rarity mused. "I'm rather surprised that you managed to convince them to write at all."
"Actually, the spider does excellent poetry. But apparently he wasn't there for whatever happened." Pinkie flicked her mane back. "It's too bad that Fluttershy's not back yet, we could just ask her."
Applejack sighed. "...look. Pinkie. Ah... Ah think ya ought ta--"
A loud crack resounded through the air as, without warning, a bolt of light materialized mere feet away from the front door of Fluttershy's cottage. Sparks of electricity fizzled through the air in unnatural ripples, breaking apart and lancing into the ground as soon as they hit any object in their path. As the five ponies tried to shield their eyes, peering into the strange shimmering presence, they could see a form that twisted, shifted, grew from something eldritch down to disturbing and then, somehow, into a very familiar outline.
With a final boom, the light dispersed, dropping a panting yellow pony onto the ground.
The five of them stared at the newcomer. At the scars across her body, at the bandoleer around her barrel, at the objects strapped to her thigh. At the torn ear just visible from under the long pink mane, at the strange metal foreleg she had, at the pair of rods on her back that projected faint outlines of wings.
And at the three butterflys emblazoned on each flank.
Rainbow Dash was the first to make a move, stepping cautiously up to the footbridge. "...Fluttershy?"
The pony's panting stopped. She lifted her head, pulling her long mane back to reveal a scarred eye with strange, shifting rune projected on its surface.
"...Rainbow Dash... it's you."
Her face broke out into a grin. "It's you, it's really you! Oh my gosh--" She looked behind her. "You're all here! Oh my gosh, you're all here, it's all you! I'm home! I'm finally home!"
"....Sweet Celestia." Applejack winced. "Fluttershy, you... what happened to your leg? Or your eye, or... or your wings?"
"Oh, uh... it's a long story." Fluttershy shook her head, letting out a laugh. "It's a very long story--"
"You were gone!" Twilight blurted. "For three whole months!"
Fluttershy's brow furrowed. "Three months? No, I'm... pretty sure I was gone for more than a year. Then again, I was in a whole 'nother universe--"
"Another universe?!" Pinkie Pie bounded past Rainbow. "YOU HAVE TO TELL US EVERYTHING! Did they have parties there? Tell me they had parties there!"
"Well, yes, but--Look." Fluttershy gently but firmly pushed Pinkie back. "I promise I'll tell all of you everything. But right now, I just want to be... home again, you know?"
"Well, far be it from us to begrudge you that," Rarity finally managed. "But I can't deny my own curiosity... How about a compromise? We just got finished maintaining your house for the day--"
"You were looking after my cottage? I..." She turned to look behind her, staring for a few moments; when she looked back at them, there were tears in her eyes. "Thanks... thanks girls."
"You're quite welcome. But as I was saying, maybe we should all go to the spa together, and you can regale us with your extra-universal adventures while we're there."
"That... that actually sounds pretty good." Fluttershy nodded.
"...You're back," Rainbow said, stepping slowly forward. "You're really back."
Fluttershy nodded. "I'm back."
Rainbow Dash stood there for a moment. Then she shook her head--"Ah, to hay with it!"--and wrapped her forelegs around the yellow pony. "I missed you! Celestia, Fluttershy, I missed you!"
"I missed you too, Rainbow Dash." The yellow pony carefully wrapped her remaining foreleg around her friend. "I... I have a lot to tell you about."
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I'm definitely interested to see where this goes.
Hooked.
The plural of butterfly is butterflies.
I actually Own the Game system.. just havent run a game for it yet.
I wanna see how this plays out...
With a start like that, you'd better make this work! Looking at the end note, I hope it's all past tense and you've written the story or at least outlined it. If not, with the foreshadowing you layered on, I expect it to be an interesting ride for you and I. Go Charles Dickens! I await the next installment with baited breath.
Aaah yeah this is gonna be good.
MOAAARRR, EH.
Now this ought to be an interesting crossover ride...
Which tabletop RPG?
"That... that actually sounds pretty good."
Interesting how Fluttershy's tone has changed. Is it just me or is that a slightly sarcastic remark?
Here's to hoping this is an alternate character development fic, not a "Robo-fluttershy to the rescue."
7130063 He says in the author's notes at the bottom that he's not gonna say.
Also, welcome to the Featured box.
Interesting.
Pity this type of story is not more popular.
There was a decent one where Rarity was retelling her time in the Capital Wasteland...
Pity it was cancelled just as the culture shock was getting good.
It is always interesting to see paragons of innocence and propriety dragged through hell...
Even better when we see what comes out the other side...
Takes a bit of skill to explain how Rarity could plausibly become a quick triggered death dealer.
I suspect Fluttershy will take even more.
Hm....
The cover art has already hooked me to this story and reading this first chapter has fused me in the screen, almost....
I can hardly wait for the next chapter
Also what is the crossover?
Can't wait to see more
What an explosive start! I'm looking forward to reading this fic :)
7130063 IF I COULD REMEMBER WHAT IT WAS CALLED I WOULD SAY IT..... I actually played this version I think over the summer with my coworkers.
Hmn. Not familiar with the crossover material (Google knows), but looks interesting.
Tabletop RPG; ah yes, something Masterweaver would do.
Reminds me of ITB: Mare's Tale, this intro. Tracking.
Only three? I've noticed a lot more than that! It's just that there are only three popular ones.
This is going to be awesome.
Andrea Libman much?
Yup Twi seems to like Xcom lol but in one of those stories fluttershy goes over and well. We all praise our fluffy overlord
7130448 this Tabletop sounds like Shadowrun
seems interesting...
Definately got my attention; that's for sure. Got no idea what the RPG it's based on is
But Mayhap it comes to light in time!
Now… how will Flutterbot's tech deal with the spa?
7130643 No the one i'm thinking of had something to do with space and was very open ended on how chacters could be formed and interacted with eachother
Hmm. Stars Without Number, perhaps?
http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/141683/Hc-Svnt-Dracones
Reminds me of something like this.
Also, liking the story so far!
7130822 Same, and nice to see someone else who knows about that rpg. Been trying to get a game of it going.
7130643 Most likely Hc Svnt Dracones. It's very similar to shadowrun but occurs across the solar system in the future after Earth has been declared a quarantine zone where you play as a vector, a being that was created not born, who were first made by humans by combining animal dna with human dna. It's a great game and has a lot of variety with some creepy enemies, including a race of aliens that act like the xenomorphs and the Thing combined with their actual bodies being made from blood.
Uhm.... Never hear of this type *crossover* before.
Well, this sounds interesting. I can't wait to see where this goes.
I did it before it was cool.
As one who likes his tabletop RPG's and likes running futuristic settings, I'm going to guess the following.
Alternity, d20 Future, Shadowrun, GURPS, RIFTS, BESM, and I am going to COMPLETELY IGNORE THE POSSIBILITY OF WARHAMMER 40K! Unless that happens to be what it is...
OH! so it is a fic about HC SVNT DRACONES! awesome! And just a couple of weeks after the first novel is release :) This is promising
Ah, I love ponies getting thrown into situations like this. I always see humans thrown into the pony world, but the opposite is such a treat for me. It really needs to pop up more often. Well, I'll be reading it. Paragons of benevolence and altruism waking up to nightmares? I've got to see what happens next.
7131093 it was onaly 3 monthes for twilight and the ohers for fluttershy it was over a year
7131115
Uh...
What?
Ok, seeing someone doing an HSD cross over might be interesting. Also the 5 cuili teleportation transcendent event entrance is an interesting way to start.
catplanet.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/This-is-relevant-to-my-interests.jpg
Well, this is an unexpected crossover.
This has caught my attention. I will watch for more
Following for the picture alone lol
Interesting I wonder were she's been?... Please continue.
Also. How the fuck do you pronounce that title?! ci.memecdn.com/137/2687137.jpg
One can never have enough bad ass ponies in their life...
I was thinking of writing a crossover of that game with Zootopia, but MLP hadn't occurred to me.
Funny since I used to think up all kinds of MLP crossovers.
7131598 That game? What game?
(Also please don't do that. A Zootopia/ MLP crossover would be too much cringe even for me to handle)
7131118 Fluttershy's brow furrowed. "Three months? No, I'm... pretty sure I was gone for more than a year. Then again, I was in a whole 'nother universe--"
7131609
Oh I wasn't suggesting a crossover between MLP and Zootopia.
For whatever reason I thought I could do a crossover between Zootopia and the RPG that inspired this fic we're commenting on.
7131619 And that RPG is?