Chapter 23
The cavern was bustling with activity as thousands of ponies packed up supplies and equipment then loaded them into wagons. There were also a lot of ponies shouting in surprise and running toward Spirit and Twilight, but that might have had something to do with the fact that Twilight had just teleported them into the cavern a few feet above large cauldrons full of soup.
Just maybe.
“It’s okay, everypony,” Twilight said, waving off a dozen offered hooves and climbing sheepishly out of a vat of tomato soup. “We’re fine.” She was probably blushing like mad under all that red liquid, but how could anyone tell?
Spirit grabbed onto the hoof of a sturdy-looking earth pony and climbed out of his own cauldron. “Yeah, we’ll pay for any damages too. I guess you could say that lunch is on us.” He licked up a bit of the white liquid that coated his scales. “Mm, cream of carrot soup.”
Twilight groaned and facehoofed, splattering more soup over her face. “That has to be the worst pun you’ve ever used.”
“Hey, I thought it was pretty good.” Spirit thanked the pony that had helped him and then started wiping the broth off of his scales.
Twilight tried to do likewise but only succeeded in working more of it into her fur. She gave up with a sigh. “Spirit, who’s the chef in charge? I need to apologize for this.”
A cream-colored unicorn stallion with a blonde mane stepped forward and bowed low. “Please don’t concern yourself it, Princess Twilight. There was no harm done, and we were about to start cleaning those pots anyway. Why don’t you go bathe instead, so you can rinse that soup out of your beautiful coat?”
“Um,” Twilight glanced at the gathered ponies, “are you sure you don’t want me to at least help clean up first? It was my fault, after all.”
The stallion held his bow. “We can manage. In fact, I insist, Princess.”
Spirit shrugged when Twilight looked at him for input. “You don’t have a lot of time until you’re supposed to meet up with Celestia, and Fluttershy would freak out if she sees you like this and thinks it’s blood.”
“Alright.” Twilight turned to Spirit, looking a little defeated. “Come on, let’s get cleaned up.”
“Sounds good.” Spirit started walking with her. As they left, he heard the chef ordering everypony back to work.
Groups of ponies fell silent as the sauce-encrusted duo passed. It was obvious that they were doing their best to look like they weren’t staring, while staring as much as they thought they could get away with.
“Rats,” Spirit muttered.
“Huh?” Twilight turned to him curiously.
“I know there’s a great joke in here somewhere,” he gestured to the two of them, “but I can’t figure out what it is.”
Twilight rolled her eyes. “Why are you trying to make a joke out of everything lately? I think you’ve been spending too much time with Dad.”
“Jokes are how I’ve stayed sane ever since the battle, Twilight,” Spirit said quietly. He pointed to a small tunnel to their side. “It’s down this way.”
It took a few more steps for him to realize that his sister wasn’t following him anymore. He turned back to her. “What’s the holdup?”
Even drenched in tomato soup, Twilight managed to look remorseful. “I’m sorry, Spirit. I should have been more sensitive.”
“Relax, Sis. It isn’t a big deal.” He motioned down the tunnel. “Come on, I don’t know about you, but I have soup congealing in uncomfortable places and I’d like to wash it off ASAP.”
After another moment’s hesitation, she started walking again. “You know I’m here if you need to talk to someone about it, right?”
“Thanks, but you really don’t need to worry.” Nightmares and blood-soaked flashbacks were par for the course around here. Spirit didn’t think he had the right to complain when all he had done was stand on the sidelines and direct the others.
“Right now,” Spirit continued, “what we need most is someone to replace Fluttershy on Eyes’ team. They need to be a close- to mid-range fighter capable of holding off even drakes so that Eyes can focus her attack spells on supporting Cliff and Dash at a distance. The only fighter I know of that fits the criteria is Big Mac, and he already said that he wouldn’t join the Platoon.” Spirit sighed in aggravation. The Sonic Rainboom was their best weapon against large groups of dragons, but Dash couldn’t use it as well without a good support team.
“Maybe I can talk with Big Mac when we get to Everfree,” Twilight said. “I know he must be worried about supporting his family, but the planting season won’t be here for another five months. He might be willing to help us until then.”
Spirit shrugged. “It can’t hurt to ask.”
They reached the bathing area, a small cavern with a stream trickling through the far end of it. A couple of glowstones along the bed revealed that it was only a foot deep in most places, and metal grates had been placed at both the entry and exit points. There were nearly a dozen other ponies in the stream already, with more drying themselves off on the sand that coated the rest of the cavern floor.
Ignoring the curious looks they were getting, Spirit walked over to the stream and plopped himself down between a pegasus and a crystal pony. “Oh my Celestia, that’s cold,” he gasped, drawing a few chuckles from the other bathers. A few dozen feet away, Twilight was going through a similar ordeal.
Spirit scrubbed himself off as quickly as he could before climbing back onto the sand and blowing some fire on his arms and chest to warm himself up.
Not surprisingly, Twilight took longer. Fur was a lot harder to get clean than scales, and she had a pair of wings to deal with as well. They also hadn’t brought along a brush or a comb, and there wasn’t time to preen her wings properly, so she looked like a half-drowned purple rat by the time she crawled ashore.
A chuckle escaped Spirit’s lips. “Need me to dry you off?”
“If you wouldn’t mind.”
Spirit took a deep breath then released a stream of emerald flames onto his sister. It was fairly cold by the standards of dragon fire, which meant somewhere around a thousand degrees.
Thanks to her pendant, a round piece of steel with an amethyst in the shape of her cutie mark, Twilight emerged completely unharmed. “Thanks, Spirit.” She ran a few waves of magic through her mane and tail to get out the worst of the snarls. “Come on, we need to hurry if we’re going to meet up with Celestia on time.” She motioned for him to follow then hurried out of the chamber.
“I think you mean that you need to hurry so that you can meet up with her on time,” Spirit said as he pulled up alongside her. “I’m not going back to Everfree yet, remember?”
Twilight blushed. “Sorry. I wish you could come with us.”
“I do too,” Spirit admitted, “but we both need to go where we can do the most good.” In Twilight’s case, that meant developing new weapons and armor in her lab at Everfree. She would teleport up with Celestia whenever it look like a battle would break out, so it wasn’t like the Platoon would lose out on much of anything.
They reached the tunnel leading to Fluttershy’s room and slid to a stop when they found a large wooden table, covered with treats, blocking their path. Rainbow Dash was seated at it, helping herself to a plate of doughnuts.
She looked up and waved. “Oh hey, Twilight, how’s it going?”
“We’re here to get Fluttershy,” Twilight replied, rushing over to embrace her friend. “I wish we could talk, but I only have three minutes left before I have to meet up with Celestia. I expect lots of letters from you, telling me how you're doing. You too, Spirit. Bye!” With one final hug for each of them, she skirted around the table and hurried down the tunnel.
Spirit and Dash stared at each other and shrugged in Twilight’s wake.
“So anyway,” he gestured at the table, “where did this thing come from?”
“Oh, Discord created it. He said we could help ourselves when he came to say goodbye.” Dash patted the seat next to her. “You want anything?”
Spirit looked at the table. There were cookies, cakes, pies, and a dozen other things that made his mouth water. Glancing up, he saw that Twilight had reached the end of the tunnel and was shaking Cliff awake. It looked like he had fallen asleep while leaning against the door there. “Sure. Cliff and Fluttershy don’t need someone else butting into their goodbye.” Half the food was probably laced with poison joke, but he happened to know that Shining Armor kept a supply of the cure ever since the last time Discord visited the Crystal Empire.
-_-_-_-_-_-
Fluttershy woke to the sound of voices. Cliff and Twilight were whispering about something nearby. A part of her understood what Twilight’s presence meant, but the rest of her mind shied away from it. She pulled her blanket more tightly around her and willed the voices to be a dream.
In spite of her hopes, she heard Cliff whispering through the door to her, “Fluttershy, it’s time to get up.” After a few seconds of silence, he tried again, “Fluttershy?”
“I’m up,” she whispered back. Regretfully, she pulled off her brown cotton blanket and pushed herself up. “I’ll be ready soon.”
“Can I help you with anything?” Twilight offered.
Fluttershy paused and looked around the small, roughly triangular cavern that had been her home for nearly a week. Aside from the blankets, a couple of dimensional pockets, and a chamber pot in the far corner, there really wasn’t anything there. It was all just gray walls, lit by a single glowstone in the gray ceiling, casting light on a gray floor. There was nothing here that she wanted to take with her, least of all the part of herself that had focused only on her own pain when those around her were suffering. “N-no, it’s okay.”
“Are you sure?” Twilight asked.
“Yes.” She knew that Cliff and Rainbow Dash were both hurting from seeing her like this. Fluttershy couldn’t stop the nightmares, or the flashbacks, or the fits of crying, no matter how hard she tried, but at least she could take them somewhere else, somewhere that they couldn’t hurt those she loved. “I think I’m ready to go, but, Cliff?”
“What is it?” His voice was so warm, so full of compassion. Fluttershy couldn’t imagine what it would be like to live without it.
She swallowed. “Whatever happens, promise me that … you’ll survive. You have to promise, you have to swear that nothing will happen to you!” She bit down on the inside of her cheek to keep herself from crying.
At first Cliff didn’t respond, then he took a deep breath and said, “Before all the Stars in the sky, I solemnly promise that I will survive this war and return to you unharmed.”
In spite of everything else, Fluttershy felt her spirits lift a tiny bit. That pledge was sacred to wyrms and only given when they felt that the Stars themselves would aid in fulfilling it.
Maybe they would. Just this once.
“I know you’re scared, beautiful,” Cliff said, “but right now there’s nothing I want more than for you to be away from all this. It might be selfish of me to say this, but go back to Everfree and focus on your own well being for a change. Rainbow and I will be back before you know it.”
“Okay,” Fluttershy whispered, blinking away a tear. “You’ve never been selfish, though. I love you, Cliff.”
“I love you too, Fluttershy,” he whispered back, “so very much.”
She pressed her forehead against the door, wishing she could feel him through it. “Twilight, I-I’m ready.”
Twilight appeared at her side in a burst of purple magic. “Don’t worry, Cliff, she’ll be in good hooves.”
“I know, Twi. You two look after each other.”
“We will.” She gently touched her horn against Fluttershy’s side, and the world around them disappeared.
-_-_-_-_-_-
Fluttershy didn’t remember much about the journey home. There had been a large cavern and dozens of ponies with lowered heads and sad eyes. Celestia had been talking, her voice full of compassion as the rhythmic dripping of water echoed in the distance.
Twilight had helped Celestia teleport them all back to Canterlot. Fluttershy remembered seeing them standing together, an aura of power around them both, but what came afterwards was a blur.
Somehow, Fluttershy and Twilight wound up on a train to Ponyville, along with Sea Swirl and Meadow Song. Those two plus Fluttershy were the only members of the Everfree Platoon to go home for psychological reasons.
The other ponies in the train car chatted happily among themselves, while silence hung over the residents of Everfree. Fluttershy remembered looking out the window and thinking how strange it was that silence could be wrapped in noise.
It had been a beautiful day outside. From halfway up Canterlot mountain, trees were reduced to bits of red and orange. Clusters of them dotted the land, breaking up the more gentle shades of green and yellow that dominated the countryside. Fluttershy knew that the last of the birds would be flying south any day now. Most of her other critter friends were already preparing for hibernation.
Mayor Mare stopped them at the train station and talked with Twilight for a couple of minutes before the group continued on its silent way.
Ponyville itself was a blur of crowds and shoving. If Twilight hadn’t been pressed against her side, Fluttershy would have collapsed from the weight of their stares. Everfree Forest was a safe haven by comparison. The reds, oranges, yellows, and greens that she had seen from the train surrounded them as they walked, but new colors joined them as well, like the browns of tree trunks and the blues from small patches of poison joke. It was too bad that no critters were around. She would have loved to see them again.
Eventually the forest rolled back to reveal Everfree Village. Fluttershy had to pause, pulling Twilight up short as well. Has it really only been ten days since they left? It felt like so much longer. She looked around. School was just getting out. Young ponies and dragons walked with groups of friends, talking excitedly about everything from homework to hoofball. The teenage and older wyrms sent shivers down Fluttershy’s spine. They were too much like her victims from the Dragon Alliance.
“I can get home on my own from here,” Sea Swirl mumbled, walking past the duo. “Thank you, Twilight.”
“You’re welcome, Sea Swirl,” Twilight replied. “Remember, all of you have your first meeting with the therapist on Monday.”
“I will,” she said before trudging away.
“I should go home on my own too,” Meadow Song said. “Fritter deserves a stallion who can do at least that much.” He swallowed and walked off as well.
Twilight watched the two ponies walking away for a moment before turning to Fluttershy. “By the way, now that we’re alone, I should tell you that your parents are here.”
Fluttershy snapped out of her trance-like state immediately. “Oh no, Mother and Daddy are here?” She ducked behind her friend. “Where are they? Do they know that I was in the Platoon?”
Twilight wrapped her wings around the yellow mare. “Shh, Fluttershy, it’s okay. They’re at the house, and yes they know that you were in the Everfree Platoon. It’s strange, but they didn’t know until I sent them a letter to tell them about your trauma. Your mother thought Cliff was trying to hide it from them, but I told them that you probably sent a letter to let them know what you were doing and it got lost in the mail somehow.”
“A-actually,” Fluttershy shivered, “I never told them.”
“What?” Twilight gasped. “Why not?”
A chilly breeze washed over both of them, which did nothing to help Fluttershy’s shivering.
“Mother always said that she’d … that she’d k-kill Cliff if he ever let me get hurt.” She buried her face in the alicorn’s fur. “I knew she would get angry at him if I told her that I joined the Platoon to help him.”
“She is really upset,” Twilight admitted, hugging Fluttershy closer with her wings. “She wants you to go back to Cloudsdale with her.”
Fluttershy shook her head against Twilight’s coat. “I don’t want to go.”
Twilight wrapped her hooves around the other mare as well. “It will be okay, Fluttershy. We’ll all support you.”
Fluttershy sank into the embrace, drawing strength from her friend’s warmth. “Could you talk to her, maybe? I-I don’t want to argue with her right now.”
“I understand.” Twilight gently stroked the yellow mare’s mane. “I’ll talk to her. Let’s just get to your house for now. Everypony is waiting for us.”
Nodding reluctantly, Fluttershy followed after her friend.
“By the way,” Twilight said after the first few blocks, “Rarity and I were thinking that maybe we could move in with you for a while. Just if you don’t mind, of course.”
Fluttershy was stunned by the offer. Without Rainbow Dash or Cliff, she had expected to spend most of her time alone. “I would like that,” she whispered, “if it’s not too much trouble on either of you, that is.”
Twilight shook her head. “It’s no trouble. Things would be pretty lonely for me since everyone left, and I know Rarity wants to try living with roommates.”
“Thank you.” Fluttershy rubbed against her sister-in-law’s side. “I don’t deserve such wonderful friends.”
“Yes you do, Fluttershy,” Twilight said. “Don’t ever forget that we’re all here for you.”
The rest of their walk was uneventful. A few dragons and ponies called out greetings as they passed, but that was it. After a few minutes, Fluttershy’s home came into view.
The yellow pegasus hesitated when she saw it. Even though she wouldn’t have to stay there alone anymore, just knowing that Cliff wasn’t inside made it seem empty somehow.
“It’s okay,” Twilight whispered reassuringly. She led them to the door and pushed it open.
A small white shape leaped out of the house at Fluttershy and latched onto her foreleg.
Fluttershy gasped in surprise and reared back until she recognized her pet. “Angel? Oh Stars, you scared me.”
“Angel!” Twilight pried the bunny off with her magic. “I told you not to surprise her!”
“No, Twilight, it’s okay.” Fluttershy pressed a hoof against her chest and breathed deeply, trying to calm her frantic heart. “I missed you too, Angel.” She lifted him out of her friend’s magical field and gave him a hug.
“Okay, if you’re sure,” Twilight said. She pushed the front door the rest of the way open and walked inside. “Hello, everypony, we’re back.”
Pinkie and Applejack were lying in front of the large nest in the front room. There was a deck of cards scattered on the floor in front of them.
“Welcome back, Fluttershy,” Pinkie said. Her voice was uncharacteristically soft and she looked sad, even though she was most likely responsible for all the balloons and confetti that littered the room. “Sorry about Angel.”
“Yeah, we were supposta be watchin’ him. Still, it’s good to see ya again, sugarcube.” Applejack took off her hat and pressed it to her chest. “Welcome home.”
The sound of movement made Fluttershy look over to the dining room, where she saw both of her parents and Rarity climbing out of their seats around the table.
Her father, Sunrise, approached cautiously. Like his daughter, he had a thin frame and large eyes, though his eyes were deep green and his coat was orange. “Hello, Flutters. How are you feeling?”
The light reflected off his red mane just wrong for a moment, making it look like fresh blood.
Fluttershy’s stomach clenched and refused to calm down, even after he stepped closer and the visual effect ended. She hugged Angel more tightly and forced herself to keep looking. “I-I’m okay.”
He stopped just a few inches away and raised a hoof tentatively. “Can I hug you, darling?”
Instead of responding, Fluttershy moved Angel to her back and wrapped her hooves around her father. “I love you, Daddy.”
A cream-colored pair of hooves wrapped around the two of them as Silver Lining, her mother joined the hug. “I am so sorry, Fluttershy. I should have kept you safe.”
“There’s nothin’ you coulda done,” Applejack said, climbing out of the nest.
Silver Lining looked up from the embrace, her icy blue eyes hard. “It is well documented that wyrms have a distorted view of conflict. They would have to if they sent my daughter, of all ponies, to the front line. I should have anticipated that they would want to capitalize on her ability to use the Stare and taken steps to prevent what happened.”
The force of her gaze made Applejack stumble backwards, bumping into the nest behind her.
Silver Lining turned her attention back to her daughter. “We can stay here tonight, Fluttershy, but in the morning we have to return to Cloudsdale, and you will be coming with us. It is time we had a very serious discussion about your marital status to that dragon.”
Twilight swallowed and stepped forward. “Actually, Madam Silver Lining, we need to speak about that.” She caught Fluttershy’s gaze and nodded reassuringly. “Everfree Village is the best place for Fluttershy right now. We have some of the best cognitive therapists in Equestria, Fluttershy has familiar surroundings and a strong support network here, and moderate exposure to wyrms will be an important part of her recovery.”
“And how can I be sure that she will be safe here?” Silver Lining’s wings tightened around Fluttershy, almost to the point of being painful. “Your committee has already thrown her into danger once.”
“Fluttershy volunteered for the Everfree Platoon,” Twilight said firmly. “None of us forced her into it, and none of us expected the Platoon to see battle, but it did, and now we’re doing everything we can to help her. Everfree Village is her home, and no one has the right to take her away from it if she doesn’t want to go.”
Angry silence filled the room, and Fluttershy found herself desperately wishing she could escape to somewhere else, anywhere else. Tears started to roll down her cheeks, and she wasn’t even sure why.
“Silver,” Sunrise said quietly, putting a hoof on his wife’s shoulder.
Silver Lining met his gaze, and a silent conversation passed between them. Eventually, she lowered her head and released Fluttershy. “Very well.” She looked back to Twilight. “I have permanent residency in Everfree Village. We will have a cloud house delivered within the week so that I can remain here and oversee Fluttershy’s rehabilitation.”
Twilight looked confused. “Just you?”
“Sunrise will return to Cloudsdale to oversee our responsibilities there.” Silver Lining’s voice softened ever so slightly as she spoke. For Fluttershy’s mother, that was the same as a heartfelt embrace and a proclamation of love.
“Can I get you anything, Flutters?” Sunrise asked. “Your friends were nice enough to bring lots of food over for you, and it would be a shame to let it go to waste.” He gestured to a pile of snacks on the counter.
Fluttershy from her mother, who was still looking icily at Twilight, to her father, was clearly trying to direct the conversation in a happier direction. She wiped her cheeks. “I am kind of thirsty.” A strange sense of deja vu overcame her as she remembered another party, on the day she met Cliff, and how her guilt over using the Stare on him had driven her to ask him relentlessly if she could bring him a snack or a drink. That had been less than four years ago, but it seemed like another lifetime. Would her past self even recognize her now?
Sunrise went to get her a drink, taking Silver Lining with him.
“It’s good to have you back, dear,” Rarity said, coming forward to hug Fluttershy.
Applejack joined them.
Pinkie wrapped her forelegs around the whole group. “I’m really sorry I couldn’t throw you a bigger party, but Twilight said that you need to rest and relax more than anything. I hope you don’t mind. I can throw you a better party when you’re feeling better.”
“It’s okay, Pinkie.” Fluttershy blinked away a fresh set of tears. Why couldn’t she stop crying lately? “I like smaller parties.”
“How’re ya holdin’ up?” Applejack asked.
More tears were falling. Fluttershy tried to focus on everything her friends had done to help her. “I’m okay.”
Does a murderer really deserve such good friends?
Her stomach clenched harder, making it hard to breath. “I’m okay,” Fluttershy repeated, willing herself to believe it.
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7677162 He's probably pretty tough compared to the other dragons. In this story, he's still too young to use his battle form.
Great chapter 23
I'm glad that the Crystal Empire is getting back on the feet.
Fluttershy is back home surrounded by friends and family. Im hopeful that fluttershy mother don't pressure her about the cliff, because he done more to protect her and end the War with peace instead of violence.
Highlights all of Fluttershy friends
7677310 They did sneak into the Crystal Empire to steal the Crystal Heart, but only after the main army announced its presence and the battle had begun. Likewise, they told the Equestrian Army that they'd be attacking the next morning, and so the ponies had plenty of time to prepare. Even then, they wouldn't attack any ponies unless they were awake and fighting. Equestria didn't make any announcement of battle. It's an important distinction to a drake, even if it is basically splitting hairs.
Anyway, a team of ponies can still work together to move the sun and moon, even without Celestia or Luna. That's how it used to go before those two were born.
7677327 Agreed, but drakes aren't super well known for diplomacy, thinking calmly, or turning away from a fight, even though now would be a great time to do any or all of the above.
7677192 He was angry over the dragons that were killed when the Crystal Heart ejected them from the Empire. He didn't know about Gem's betrayal or the Crystal Heart being stolen yet.
Poor Fluttershy. I hope she can get better.
The Alliance Dragons don't really have much room to bitch, now that I think about it. The wyvern Hurricanes were ready to massacre a huge number of soldiers who could not defend themselves from some technique they were about to unleash during the Crystal Empire invasion. There is no discernible difference here. The wyverns were ready to slaughter civilians and some probably have done so discreetly. They have no room to bitch. At all.
With another highly influential pony moving to the Everfree Village, I wonder How the village's place in Equestrian society be affected at the end of the story.
7678513
If some dragons are an indication, there will not be any pony left to move the sun and the moon. Plus they use clouds of venom in battle, how are they making sure that those clouds don't hit noncombatants? But we will see how this story ends.
7678523 well, since they had made the crystal ponies have hate for them then they should have thought. "IF they get the heart back would it kill anydragon still there?" where was the plan for that. Pride be their downfall, and it will kill most of the old guard that won't change.
*plays Suicide is painless during this chapter*
Oh ya I forgot the bitch of a mother that your universe's Fluttershy had, Fluttershy you are not a murder you were a soldier. Soldiers fight and kill so that they may live to see their families and friends. Accept it and move on, but you are not like that and that makes me sad.