Betrayal
Fluttershy hadn’t been expecting the sudden teleportation. Discord had really surprised her this time, even though she’d been getting used to random teleportations. It wasn’t hard to tell why the act had been so sudden. Why had poor Raymond opened his mouth?
Oh, but she couldn’t have blamed him, not after what she’d seen in his eyes. Those dark gray eyes, tearful and sorrowful, but not for himself.
She’d heard somepony crying, but it wasn’t the usual kind that she heard from woodland creatures. She’d grown so used to the constant chatter and hum of her little friends, that when this new noise joined the fray, she couldn’t have excused it. Upon investigating, she had found him.
Sitting back on a rock, head tucked between its legs, crying up a storm, she’d found him at his worst. Initially, she thought it was an unusual breed of monkey, which would explain why she hadn’t recognized it. But the way it looked, balder than a newborn foal, with only that dirty blonde mane and strange swath of fabric around its loins, prompted her to think it was an outcast. It was incredibly strange to witness such a large, muscular creature broken down as it was. No offense to Harry, but he was more fat than muscle.
She’d tried to help the creature to the best of her abilities, but it had taken almost five minutes for it to notice her presence. Then, with their short conversation, Fluttershy knew just how harmless the human was. Or so she had thought. She knew that the girls were only trying to do good, but as soon as they had struck, Fluttershy’s initial assessment of Raymond shattered like glass.
His thinking, so quick that she had had trouble keeping up with it. His movement, fluid, aside from the little tripping stunt, and precise. And then there was the scar.
Nopony mentioned it, but it was still there. She’d seen each of her friends peek at it at least once, and even Pinkie Pie had seemed slightly disturbed by the white lump of tissue. In her years taking care of animals, Fluttershy had never seen one like it. It was smooth, as if cut with a precise tool or dangerously sharp object. The thought of Ray getting hurt made Fluttershy’s body shiver with disgust as a bloody image of Ray, lying on the ground in a pool of his own blood, crying in pain, invaded her head. Fluttershy shook the image away, letting the first thought that came to mind distract her. Unfortunately, that thought was how conveniently close the scar was to his lightly defined abdominal muscles.
She tucked her head in embarrassment as her face became flaming red, but this time she actually hoped that it was attributed to the indecent way she had landed. Standing quickly so nopony else would notice, she looked around at her surroundings. Large hall. Check! Tinted windows with vaguely accurate depictions. Check! Flustered looking everypony. Check!
Fluttershy glanced to her left and saw the double doors leading into the throne room. On either side were two stunned looking guards, decked out in full royal guard attire. They took a moment to process just what had happened, before they both rushed over, spears tranquil. They helped Rarity get off the ground before turning to Discord, giving him a scornful look. Even though it had been four years since his redemption, most ponies were still having trouble accepting Discord.
Fluttershy sighed. It wasn’t completely Discord’s fault that he’d gone evil. He’d once explained that chaos wasn’t like regular magic. It wanted to be used, to destroy, to create, anything and everything at one moment to the next. Discord’s very sanity had fallen away during his losing fight to stay in control. And in the end, he hadn’t regained all of his shattered mind, much of that due to being imprisoned in stone for eons. The poor creature just needed some love, and she hoped she could give him some on their date… Oh dear. Their date. Fluttershy’s blush, which hadn’t even receded yet, returned in full blazing glory.
Discord said something, but she was tucked so far back in her mind that she hadn’t heard it correctly. Luckily, the statement hadn’t been made in her general direction, so further embarrassment was avoided. She began to pay attention more closely as Discord produced a sheet of parchment to the stern looking guards. With a sigh, they stepped aside and opened up the chamber doors, revealing another long hall that led to the throne room.
This one was filled with much older stained glass depictions, such as the one with Princess Celestia and Princess Luna circling each other around a sun/moon hybrid circle. At the far end of the hall stood Twilight's throne, with the little adjustment that made it possible to sit on the right hoof of Twilight. The said pony herself was pacing in front of the throne, tapping her cheek with a foreleg, her muttering barely audible from the doors.
“‘Ello there, Twilight,” Applejack called, snapping the purple pony out of her nervous prancing.
“O-o-oh. H-hello girls,” Twilight said as her friends approached. She seemed to shrink after glancing at something behind Fluttershy. Peeking over her shoulder, she nearly gasped in surprise at the glowering figure behind her. Ray stood with an angry glare that wiped away the friendly, soft Ray he’d introduced to her back by the forest.
“W-what a surprise,” Twilight mumbled, not sounding the slightest bit surprised.
“Please don’t lie ta us, Twilight,” Applejack asked her. “Yer only gonna make it harder for yourself.”
Twilight sighed. “Well, I guess he’s already told you what happened,” she said sadly, gesturing towards Ray.
“Actually darling, Ray wanted you to tell us what happened,” Rarity chimed in. “This whole business seems very fishy in my opinion. A human shows up in our land, and then has some sort of connection with you. It must be a very negative one, given how he's scowling at you like a piece of droppings on his hoof.”
Twilight actually seemed surprised for a moment, like she hadn’t thought that she would be the one to tell them. She began to chew on her hoof, taking a nervous glance at Raymond and shuddering under his intense glare. Her ears flipped back on her head, her wings clenched against her sides as she ducked away from him. Fluttershy stole another glance behind her and realized just why Twilight looked so afraid.
He stood, forehead creased in anger as the full force of his glare burned away the last image of a harmless, peaceful Ray in her mind. His arms were still crossed, though now his knuckles were white with how much they were squeezing his biceps. His bare chest rose and fell slowly as he took in deep breaths, as if struggling to keep himself under control. This was only reinforced by the way his jaw was clenched, trying to keep his tongue from releasing the full fury behind it. And then there were his eyes.
They were little more than narrow slits, but behind them was the full rage of the sun, threatening to burn anypony that angered him. They quivered with the force of the glare, brown irises almost gaining a red tint to them. Those gentle eyes had seen things. Fluttershy saw it now. How could anypony show so many different emotions in the course of minutes? They would need to have had a very bad life. She no longer saw him as 2 dimensional as her friends were. He was very different from anything in this world, or the next, with no one distinguishable attribute.
“Hey Ray,” Pinkie suddenly asked, voice as earnest as ever. “Got something you want to say?”
Fluttershy had to resist the urge to cringe at her friend’s sudden question. She loved Pinkie very much, but sometimes the pony could be very, very naive, beyond anypony’s good. Pinkie twisted her head as she stared at the furious form of Ray. The human shook himself for a moment, calming down enough to speak through gritted teeth.
“There are many things I would like to say,” he growled, giving a barbed glance before sighing deeply and pointing to the door. “I should probably leave you all to talk. You seem to be friends.”
He turned, walking away, and Discord had the good sense to follow. Everypony watched them go, waiting for the doors to slam close to look back at each other. For a moment there was silence, and even Pinkie seemed to feel the solemnity of the situation, at least enough to stop bouncing around. Twilight looked like she was about to say something, but instead bit her lip. Finally, she asked, “What all do you know?”
“All we know here is that Ray is awful sad about somethin’, he ain’t from anywhere we’ve been, and he’s somehow connected ta you, Twilight,” Applejack spoke, giving her friend a calm, yet questioning look. “He’s decided to leave the rest for you to tell.”
“Yeah,” Rainbow Dash reaffirmed, flying around the backside of the group. “He said something about us not going to believe it. Care to enlighten us?”
“Y-yes, of course,” she said, taking a deep breath. “It started almost a year ago, the day after my coronation. I decided to look into the future to see what challenges I might face, and allow me some time to deliberate on actions towards them. Most of the things were minor; border disputes, weather manipulation, timberwolves, homelessness, friendly wavers, et cetera. But one thing came up that couldn’t be resolved easily, or with friendship.” Twilight’s voice dropped, and her tone became one of fear. “Two years, two months, and thirteen days after my coronation, something… terrible invades Equestria”
“What,” Fluttershy asked, barely breathing. Why would anyone want to invade Equestria? There wasn’t much here to offer, other than the small abundance of gems. However, that paled in comparison with the dragon’s hoards of goods. There wasn’t much to be had here in natural resources either. That was more in the realm of the Hippogriff’s thing. They weren’t militaristically a threat either, with only police ponies and the Canterlot Royal Guard as protection.
“Minotaurs,” Twilight said.
“Did I hear you correct, or did you just stutter,” Rainbow Dash questioned, “because I think I just heard you say minotaurs.”
“Yeah, Twilight,” Fluttershy said, confused. “Minotaurs aren’t that threatening to Equestria, no offense. I mean, Iron Will was a bully, but nothing like Chrysalis or Tirek.”
“That’s because he’s a monotaur, not a minotaur,” Twilight explained. “Monotaurs are a subspecies of minotaur that have a more equine subvariant. They generally live solitary lives, which is why there are so few. Some can go their entire lives without seeing another of their kind. They have a more equine mindset, too. Much like us, they mentally can’t take the burden of violence and death too well. And while some of them do participate in wrestling and other physical mischief, they only do it for sport, not for want of violence.
“These minotaurs though, have no restraints. They glorify bloodshed, relish in the taking of lives. When they come, we won’t be able to fight it. There’s no parlay with them, no negotiation, no surrendering to them. All they want to do is kill. In the end, age, gender, it will all be inconsequential. They will kill, and plunder, and destroy until everypony is dead. And they won’t stop here either.
"They’ll take all lands of Equus, starting with the Crystal Empire and Yaks. The Yaks may be able to put up some resistance, but nothing that will slow the Minotaurs for too long. From there, the Badlands and Mount Aris will fall. The sea ponies may have a chance, but I didn’t look far into their future.”
“What about the Hippogriff Navy,” Rainbow Dash asked. She had landed now, her eyes narrowed in concentration, staring at the ground and tapping on the bottom of her chin with a hoof.
“Little more than a glorified scouting and scientific party,” Twilight said. “Besides, they too share a pacifist mindset.”
“And those spears they have?”
“Our guards have spears too.”
“So how does Ray tie into all of this,” Fluttershy questioned. The whole situation was making her head spin. Equestria conquered? War? Death… It shouldn’t happen. There was no way it could happen. Right? “Couldn’t we just use the Elements of Harmony, instead of whatever purpose Ray has?”
“Don’t you think I haven’t thought about that,” Twilight yelled, then rubbed her forehead with a hoof. “I’m sorry, Fluttershy. Truly, but this whole business is taking quite a toll on me. In truth, I’ve probably been neglecting current duties in order to solve future ones. But no, the Elements won’t work. They are made to make peace through peaceful actions. Turning creatures to stone is so that they can get a chance to rethink their options, and choose friendship over power. But it won’t work for these creatures. They know no mercy.”
“I’m sorry,” Rarity began. “I know we’re on the topic of Equestria ending, but from what you’re saying about the Elements, Tirek, Chrysalis, and Cozy Glow will all… come back?”
“Essentially, yes,” Twilight responded. “Haven’t you noticed how every villain we’ve fought has either been redeemed or banished? And any who’ve been previously banished have come back. Discord, Sombra, Chrysalis, they’ve all been banished before and returned. That’s another thing. The Minotaurs will release Chrysalis and the others from imprisonment upon arrival in Canterlot.”
“Why in the hay would they do that,” Rainbow Dash semi-yelled.
“Well, if Celestia had made international allegiances with other creatures that we didn’t know about, then it’s not too far of a stretch to guess that Chrysalis or Tirek did the same. I didn’t look far enough ahead to see what would happen then, because at that point everypony was dead.
“After the vision, I immediately began running through the different possibilities in my head. I spent months trying to decide what I could do against such a force, but slowly realized that nothing in our world could stop it. I asked for assistance from Luna and Celestia, but they told me ‘what isn’t in our world must be brought to our world.’ After another several months of testing and experimenting with Starlight and Sunburst, we finally perfected a spell that allowed me to view other realities.
“One of the first ones I found was Raymond’s. The dominant species there are the humans. They seem to be a technologically advanced and intelligent race, but have one major misdemeanor. They seem to like to fight.
“What I mean to say is, the dimension is probably one of the worst I’ve seen. Humans fight wars with each other with terrible weapons, and seem to be bred to kill. They eat animals, destroy forests and other beautiful places, and grow up violently and wildly. Even some of their younger ones seem to have a leniency to destroy something or other.”
“So you're saying that Ray’s dimension was terrible,” Rainbow Dash once again cut in. “Why choose him then.”
“Because, in most ways, he was different,” Twilight said. “That, among other things.”
“What about his family, his friends,” Fluttershy questioned. The sudden revelation of Ray’s origins shook her to the core, leaving her head filled with unanswered questions and jarring thoughts. She had guessed that Ray wasn’t from Equestria, or anywhere nearby, for that matter, but from another dimension? And that awful place he grew up in, well, no wonder why he had such a diverse range of emotions. And what was he, a singular pony, supposed to do in the wake of such a scary and destructive force? Was there any hope left for Equestria? And truly, if Ray had been pulled away from his family and friends, then it was little wonder why he had seemed so devastated when she had found him. The worst part, though, came from Twilight’s silent response. A small shake of the head. He would never see them again.
Applejack scoffed in shock. “Why that’s gotta be th’ most dishonest-”
“Unpleasant-”
“Unfunny-”
“Unkind-”
Everypony looked at Rainbow to hear what she might add. Crossing her forelegs midair, she said, “I mean, it isn’t disloyal to anypony, since she’s doin’ what she thinks is best for Equestria.”
“Thank you, Rainbow Dash,” Twilight said, looking up from the polished marble floor. “I-”
“That still doesn’t mean this isn’t the least coolest thing anypony has ever done before,” she added, making Twilight’s ears droop.
“I-I know,” she muttered. “But it was the right thing to do. At least, for Equestria it was. And I know I deserve all of those things you’re saying and thinking, but it needed to happen. For Equestria’s sake, and Raymond’s.”
Fluttershy cocked her head in confusion. How could any of this be good for Ray? He’d been foalnapped from his home and family, to a world he probably couldn’t even understand.
“Twilight,” Fluttershy spoke up. Everypony turned to her curiously, and she felt a little bit of her confidence drop. No. No! She would not stutter now. Raising herself confidently, staring her friend straight in the eye, she asked, “Do you believe that this is honestly the only way to save Equestria, whether it’s right or wrong?”
“Yes,” Twilight answered. For the first time, she lost all of her timidity, raising her head, ears up. “Yes I do.”
Fluttershy nodded solemnly. “Then I forgive you.”
“What,” everypony asked simultaneously.
“I forgive you,” she repeated.
“But why, Flutters,” Rainbow asked her, flapping down to be in front of her. “After the way she went behind our backs and betrayed us? How could you?”
“Well, we forgave Discord and Starlight, so why not one of our friends,” Fluttershy responded. “I’m not saying that her not telling us doesn’t hurt, since we are very close friends. However, we’re supposed to represent friendship for all of Equestria, which means we need to represent all aspects of it. Especially the hardest one.”
Fluttershy stepped forward and gave Twilight a soft hug. Whispering so that nopony else could hear, she said, “I know this must have been really hard on you. Let me help with Ray.”
Rarity was the next to step forward. “Fluttershy is absolutely correct. I, too, am hurt that you wouldn’t tell your dearest friends about the trials you’re going through, but understand. Some things may seem like too much of a burden to share, but in the future, please tell us. It is why we formed the Council of Friendship.”
“I know, I know,” she said, rubbing a hoof on the spot under her horn, staring at the ground. It’s just-”
The chamber doors banged open, making everypony jump, and cutting off Twilight’s excuse. They all turned to find a certain purple teen drake strolling towards them. Even from across the hall, Fluttershy could see the confused dragon’s arms were full of fresh parchment. He also had two saddlebags worth of ink bottles on either arm.
“Sorry it took me so long to get back, Twilight,” Spike apologized, crossing the hall as quickly as his legs could. He’d grown two inches taller in the last year, making him neck high for everypony else. “The load you ordered took hours to retrieve, since they hadn’t fully restocked, and was too heavy to fly home.” Then, giving the others a sideways glance, he asked, “What’s everypony doing here? It’s not Thursday.”
Fluttershy could see a lie on the tip of Twilight’s tongue, but it died with a stern look from Applejack.
“I did it, Spike,” She muttered.
“What,” he said, seemingly already knowing what she was talking about. “But you told me we would do it together.”
“Y-yes, well, I didn’t want you there in case something went wrong.”
“And did something go wrong?”
“Well, our newcomer sort of knocked out all four guards, and then tried to break out.”
“What,” Applejack questioned. “I knew th’ feller was strong, but knockin’ off four of Equestria’s finest? Yeesh, even with all that height on ’im, I doubt it was an easy feat!”
“Imma hafta challenge him to a race,” Rainbow Dash said eagerly, getting a scathing look from Twilight. “After he gets adjusted to Equestria, of course. It wouldn’t be a fair race if he was all mopey and sad.”
“He has every right to be mopey and sad,” Twilight said, beating Fluttershy to the punch. Her gaze once again found the marble floor, shame featured on every dimension of her face. Fluttershy put a hoof on her shoulder.
“You can’t put yourself down for doing what you believe is right, Twilight,” she comforted. “You only have to stick to the path you’ve chosen.”
Rarity stepped in and gave Twilight another hug. “Fluttershy is once again right. By regretting your own decision, you’ll be making bringing Raymond here pointless. It’s best to carry on with this course.”
“I recon yall’re right,” Applejack added, stepping in. Spike wordlessly joined, gripping around Twilight's foreleg.
“You’re still our egghead,” Rainbow Dash said, “so there’s no hard feelings. Just a mistake, right?”
“Right,” Twilight said, closing her eyes as she enjoyed everypony’s embrace. Everypony, that is, except a certain pink pony. “Hey, Pinkie,” Twilight asked, popping an eye open. “What are you doing.”
Pinkie Pie stood exactly were she had been when the whole conversation had started, no small feat in of itself. Stranger still was the fact that she hadn’t interrupted at any point, nor had she joined the group hug, one of her favorite things. Instead, she stood completely still, save for a hoof rubbing her chin in contemplation as she stared at the floor.
“I’m trying to decide whether to throw a ‘Welcome to this Dimension’ party, a ‘Welcome to Equestria’ party, a ‘Welcome to Ponyville’ party, or a ‘Hooray for a New Friend’ party,” she explained. Fluttershy smiled softly. Only Pinkie Pie… “The problem is,” she continued, “that no matter what I call it, it will always be wrong. And having a ‘Welcome to this Universe/Equestria/Ponyville and Happy New Friendship Party’ is quite the mouthful, even for me! And then there’s the problem that I don’t even know exactly what his favorite sweet is! Sweet Celestia, this is gonna be hard!”
Everypony chuckled at that. It was a nice moment, when the current problems could briefly be forgotten, but it didn’t last long. As the light laughter died, Twilight’s face grew solemn once again.
“I’m going to have to speak to Raymond in private,” she said, causing the last of the temporary mirth to go away. “I’d like to speak to him privately, if you girls don’t mind.”
“Not at all, darling,” Rarity said before anypony could argue. “We’ll let him know you wish to speak with him.”
As they left the throne room, Fluttershy could’ve sworn she had heard Twilight mutter to Spike, “Oh I don’t wish to speak with him, but he needs to know.”
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10207291
I'm an idiot. I'm sorry for the delay, I just don't fully understand the publishing mechanics yet.
Twilight was able to mend her friendship while dodging the conscience of removing him from his world you know being erased? Well done you have shown that twilight truly is Celestia's sucsesser but how long will it take for that little thing to come out and how will it damage twilight's frenships when it is found she has kept it from her friends. Also Raymond may not trust her ever if it is found out as he gave her a chance to come clean but she messed that up. Makes you wonder if her taking the throne is why the minotors will invade?
Edit: she also didn't mention he can never go home
Raymond for the love ... don't buy Twilight bullshit! They called him to fight some murderous race of two legged cows... You had life? Fuck you and your life! Fight for us monkey boy, better you than force our race to grow a pair of balls. XD I can't wait to see/read what he will do... maybe TD style punch to her snout? ^^
Well if it were me in Raymond's place I would laugh right in twilight's face and tell her first to go fuck herself for destroying not only my life but my family's lives, then tell her that I am a civilian and would be completely useless against her enemies even if I wanted to help them then laugh again and go to Zacora and see if she could tell me how to survive in the Everfree
10207329
Not erased. She only made it so her dimension couldn't interact with other dimensions. More on her conscience later.
10208406
He doesn't even know who Zecora is.
10207557
Something like that. Don't worry, she'll get her just reward.
10209168
Can't wait ^^
10208406
Better solution would be force them to use elements on him Bang-boom one thousand years in stone or on the moon. And who care about world war around? ;) XD
There is one more possiblity. Banishing all minotaurs to Equestria Girls dimension. Coz f*ck people. They warmongers anyway...XD
10209207
EG doesn't exist because I absolutely hate it. Also, plot convenience🙄
10209268
+1 for excluding EQ Girls from the story (the only minus is lack of Sunset). But... even if EQ girls don't exist... there still have to be a place where to sirens were flushed... ;)
102093
Discord's home. Or Limbo. Pick your poison. Also, yeah, Sunset would've been nice to have...
10209304
X: Let's send all minotaurs to limbo?
Y: No.
X: Do we prefer to send abducted species to fight for our cause?
Y: Yes.
X: Will Fluttershy forgive us?
Y: Yes.
X: Ok, boys we have the green light! Where is my next chapter?!
10209312
Yes, but that would require a level of magic that Equus doesn't have the capabilities to produce. Seriously, we're talking tens of thousands. That would also require all of them to be put into Limbo with the minotaurs, so yeah. Now shut up. I'm trying to finish chapter 5.
10209319
Closing my trap right now. Do your stuff ;)
I'm sure Ray's going to be thrilled to find out you screwed him over, this isn't going to horribly go wrong at all nor will it lead to a self-fulling prophecy.
I don't exactly remember the villains in the show/movies murdering anyone.
10275882
They live in a world without killing, so they think that what the villains have done may be the most evil thing amongst them. Also, thanks for the Favorite on the story.
Minotaurs. Must...resist...making...warhammer...reference.
For Raymond's sake why?
11012847
Ohoho. Dear reader, you will see.