Hoof and Claw Versus the World

by Chythar

Act 5, Chapter 9 - Kindness

I had stolen five of the six Elements of Harmony. Nightmare Moon had found where Celestia was hiding, and had teleported the two of us to her location. We were so close to winning, I could taste it!

---

We appeared high in the air over a city, above a large building that looked like a convention center. I began to fall, but I remembered my lesson from hunting Rainbow Dash; instead of panicking, I quickly summoned my wings and kept myself from falling. My safety secured, I took some time to look around. To my left was a stadium of some sort. It reminded me of the photos I'd seen of Wrigley Field in my youth, but this clearly wasn't Chicago. However, the brick work of the stadium and the nearby buildings told me we weren't in earthquake country either. To my right were tall skyscrapers, and beyond them I could see water. In front of me were more skyscrapers and other buildings. The design of the buildings and the plentiful green foliage suggested that we were still on the East Coast of the United States. But exactly where, I couldnÕt tell. The sky was a light blue with clouds peppered all around, a typical partly cloudy day. The air felt cool yet pleasant for a spring afternoon. Some vehicle noises drifted up to my ears, but we were too high up to make out much of anything. My sightseeing was cut short by a jubilant cry from Nightmare Moon.

"I have her! Follow me, quickly!"

The ebony mare bolted off to the north, and I was hard-pressed to follow. The smell of fresh water faded as we left the waterfront behind, replaced by the faint stink of pollution. We flew over a building with a strange white roof, several blocks of long yet narrow brick buildings, and soared over an unusual structure with some unique architecture. I remember it had a white oval roof with a brown 'swoop' of some sort on one side. Our flight then took us over a park and a freeway interchange, before the Night Mare came to a sudden stop in mid-air. I had to make a quick jink to the right to avoid colliding with her. After some panicked maneuvering, I came to a hover next to the mare.

"I have sensed something strange. My sister is clearly nearby, but I sense a faint amount of Equestrian magic off to the east."

"Could Celestia have split the Bearers up in two different places?"

"Perhaps, but it is not Equestrian life that I sense. It is magical in nature, a power source of some sort."

"Hmm. Could it be the last Element of Harmony?"

"Mayhaps. Go investigate, and capture the power source if at all possible. I shall scout out my sister's hiding place in the meantime."

"And if this isn’t an Element of Harmony?"

"Then we shall keep searching. We shall only confront my sister once we have all six Elements."

"Alright. Let me try and find this weak signal."

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath to focus my thoughts. After a moment, I let the breath out slowly then opened up my magical senses. They immediately responded with a strong signal to the north. That had to be Celestia. But it was kinda blurry and fuzzy like something was trying to hide it. I also felt a ping from the direction we just came from, so I presumed that was the teleportation node. But that was it. I kept widening my search until I felt a tiny 'ping' to the northeast. Its location memorized, I relaxed and opened my eyes.

"Got it. It's that way?"

I pointed to the northeast, in the direction of the weak signal.

"That is correct. Do not fail me."

"When have I ever?"

Nightmare Moon arched an ebony eyebrow at my statement.

"Okay, don't answer that. Good luck hunting Celestia, her signal was strong but muddy."

"I shall find her, do not fear."

"Okay. Back soon!"

With that, I took off towards that faint signal in the northeast. The signal had disappeared when I stopped concentrating on it, but I was sure I would pick it up again when I got closer. The wind whipped past my ears in a pleasant and familiar way as I flew. I passed over too many brick buildings and parks to count, but the buildings thinned out and the parks grew once I hit the suburbs. The smell of the city also faded away, to be replaced by the scent of trees and freshly cut grass. Parks and trees wound around subdivisions, and the freeway cloverleafs began to space out as I left the hustle and bustle of the city behind. I was mildly amused to see that my flight was roughly parallel to a large ten-lane freeway. Many miles and large malls passed by before I sensed that 'ping' again. The signal from the Equestrian magical artifact began to angle off to my right, so I veered away from the freeway and made my way directly towards the signal's location. The freeway made a similar twist to the right not long afterwards.

I passed over a subdivision with a river winding around the houses, then a church and yet another large park. A minute later, I had found the location. The Equestrian magic was inside a large white building next to a four-lane divided road. The business next door looked like a used-car lot, as there were a dozen or more cars parked on the grass next to the road. I never liked Nightmare Moon’s method of just barging in and taking things, so I made myself invisible and landed in the parking lot next to the white building. A banner on the outside read 'Luna's House, Animal Care and Education Center'.

'Luna's House', how appropriate.

I shifted my illusion to appear in my old human form. I don’t know why I kept using my original human shape, I should have appeared as someone else entirely. But it felt right to be 'me' each time. When I reached the front door, I reached out to its handle and pulled it open; then walked inside the building. The room was about what I expected. There were lots of murals of cute dogs and cats on the walls, with stacks of pet food and animal carriers for sale. There was a long table with a cash register on it, and a set of double doors to the right of the table that had to lead deeper into the building. To my surprise, no one was at the cash register. I saw a bell next to the register that I could ring to get help, but I didn’t want to announce my presence just yet. So instead, I walked through the double doors and into the back of the animal shelter.

I expected to walk into a room, but what I actually entered was a hallway. To my left, the hallway quickly ended and looked like it opened into a large room. Plastic animal carriers were stacked against both sides of the hallway. The other side of the hallway stretched to the right, and ended in a doorway that looked like it led outside. I did not want to go back outside, so I turned left. The room at the end of the hallway was large and roomy. Metal tables lined the walls to my left and in front. The tables had a mix of small and large animal carriers on top of them, and a few had large dog carriers beneath them. Most of the carriers were open, so I presumed that they were empty. A couple of the larger carriers had dogs sitting quietly inside of them. As one would expect, the area smelled a bit funky. I took a couple of sniffs, and could smell dog, cat and sweaty humans. I expected no less from an animal shelter that catered to cats and dogs. No unusual smells, however. And there were no humans nearby, though I could hear voices down a hallway further inside the building.

I strolled farther back into the facility, and followed the voices to the back of the building. Eventually, I found five or six people clustered around a double doorway. They were holding the doors open so they could look inside. Their energy was high, and their excitement was a bit contagious. I could hear them whisper things like "Isn't she amazing?" and "I've never seen animals so calm before." The magic was much stronger back here, and it definitely felt like the energy of an Element of Harmony.

I needed a private audience with the Bearer, so I cast a 'Nothing to See Here' spell in the general area. Everyone in front of the door suddenly stood up straight. They began to mumble amongst themselves as they walked past me, and presumably went back to work. As no one was holding the double doors open anymore, they swung shut on their own. I turned to watch the people leave, to make sure I wouldnÕt be disturbed. When the last one disappeared around a corner, I turned back around and pulled one of the double doors open.

Inside was a large playroom. The walls were painted in outdoor motifs, things like trees and bushes and stuff. There were a number of animal beds and carpeted raised platforms in the room, and dog and cat toys lay on the floor. But that wasn’t the interesting part. All of the animals in the room were sitting down in a half-circle around the sole human in the room, who was also sitting on the ground. All the animals were staring at her in rapt attention. Most of the animals were dogs and cats, who were sitting next to each other without fighting. But there were some squirrels and birds too. There were a few birds perched on top of the larger dogs’ heads, but most were sitting in front of the young woman.

The woman’s back was to me, so I couldn’t see her face. But from what I could see, she looked to be thin and somewhat frail. She spoke to the animals in a quiet, yet graceful voice. Her hair was bright pink, and she wore a white tank top with a pale yellow skirt. But the big giveaway was the large gold necklace she wore around her neck. I knew then that I had found my target, but I also knew that I'd have to be very delicate with her. I didn’t want to scare her, after all. So I slowly walked up behind the woman, then gently sat down to her left and crossed my legs. All of the animals turned to look at me, which got the woman’s attention.

"Oh, hello there."

"Hi, Fluttershy."

The delicate woman stiffened a bit at my words, but she tried to hide it.

"Oh, I'm so sorry. But that's not my name."

"Unnaturally pink hair, a yellow dress and the ability to speak to animals? Yeah, you're Fluttershy."

"Oh.

"How...how did you find me?"

I felt the need to lie for some reason, but still wanted to give her a hint as to my identity at the same time. A large white rabbit plush in the corner gave me an idea.

"I tracked down the Angel bunny plush I gave you this morning."

"Oh.

"Oh, dear. It's you."

"Yup, it's me. But don't worry, I'm not going to hurt you. I didn't do so this morning, and I won't do so now."

"How do I know you're telling the truth?"

"Well, your animal friends will protect you. Right?"

"Um, yes. They always do."

"Well, take a look. They all look calm and relaxed.

"Well no. They look like they're watching me, just in case I do something stupid. But they’re only watching, no growling or hissing.”

"I guess that's true."

The two of us sat there in silence for a minute or two. The animals began to relax a bit, and a Golden Retriever decided to lay down on the ground. A corgi wandered off, grabbed a rope toy then began to chew on it. The serenity of the moment was simply wonderful. But I guess Fluttershy was not comfortable with me sitting there next to her.

"Um, I don't mean to be rude. But is there something you want?"

"Yeah. Actually, I wish that we'd met under different circumstances. I'd really like to be your friend.

"Instead, I have to get your Element from you."

"Oh. Princess Celestia said that you took every pony else's Elements from them."

"Yup. Nightmare Moon wants to use them against Celestia."

Fluttershy gasped and covered her mouth with a hand.

"Oh, no! Is she going to banish the Princess to the Moon?"

"Maybe. If the Elements work for her.

"The thing is, I'm worried about Nightmare Moon."

"Oh?"

"Yeah. She’s actually Celestia's younger sister Luna. And Luna's just really angry at her sister. I don't think she really wants to hurt anyone."

“Oh my. She’s really scary."

"Yeah, she can be REALLY scary when she wants to be. But she wasn't mean when we first met, and she's been getting nicer all the time. I think she just needed a friend."

"Friends are nice."

"They are. And that's one of the reasons I stay with her. I'm worried that if I leave, she'll turn evil again."

"Oh, dear. That's not good."

"Nope. See, right now they're just two sisters fighting. You know, siblings don't always get along."

"I guess that's true. I don't always agree with my brother."

"Zephyr Breeze, right? I hear he can be a real jerk sometimes."

Fluttershy giggled lightly, like the tinkling of bells.

"Maybe a little."

"But alicorns are super powerful and super strong, so they have super fights. They just need to get it out of their system."

"I guess so."

"I figure that Luna just wants to make her sister suffer for a while, get back at her for sending her to the Moon. Then she'll just make you all go back to Equestria, and she'll go back to normal.

"But, if she does try to go evil I'm the only one that can stop her. You girls don't know her, you'll miss the signs until it's too late."

"I don't think we're that bad..."

I gave Fluttershy a pointed look, and she shrank back slightly.

"All she has to do is take one of you out, and the Elements are useless."

"Oh no!"

"It could be any of you. Maybe Rarity...or Pinkie Pie."

"No..."

"Or even Rainbow Dash."

"No! Oh, please, not her!"

Fluttershy reached over and grabbed my shirt sleeve in her fists.

"Please! Can you help us?"

All too easy. But it helps that I'm also telling the truth.

"I want to. And I will.

"But I need your Element. I need them all to activate them."

Fluttershy quickly reached behind her neck and unclasped the Element of Kindness. She offered her Element to me, her hand shaking in fear.

So trusting. And the irony is, I want to be worthy of that trust.

I reached out and gently took the Element from her outstretched hand. Then I gave the timid woman my best smile.

"Thank you. I'll do my best to protect you all."

"T-thank you."

"I guess we should get going soon. The battle can't happen without us, after all.

"But..."

I lifted up my right arm in a familiar gesture, one meant to invite someone for a hug. Fluttershy's eyes lit up, and she scooted over to settle in under my arm. I then brought my arm down to rest on her shoulders in a comforting hug.

"...there's no big rush. They can wait for us for a little longer."

The two of us sighed together as we enjoyed our shared intimacy.

Author's Note:

The animal shelter Fluttershy is visiting is an actual place called Luna's House. It is a real animal rescue facility, located at 2801 Pulaski Highway in Edgewood, MD. I was looking for animal rescue places near Baltimore, and when I saw the name it was too good to pass up.