You Are All to Blame
“Fluttershy.”
She heard the voice calling from somewhere within the room. When she opened her eyes the world rushed up to meet her, whispering silent words into her ears.
Ponies moved fluidly around her as some undecipherable song filled the air around her. And though their faces were all obscured by masks, Fluttershy felt that all their eyes were on her.
It wasn’t an odd feeling, but rather one that she’d grown used to over the course of her life. Perhaps it was her own fault for feeling this way, but she didn’t feel that it was her right to decide that.
“Fluttershy.”
Hearing the voice again, Fluttershy shook off the feeling and carried on.
She forged her way through the masquerade, the other ponies seemingly moving out of their way for her. Their dancing was strange to her, alien in a land of unfamiliarity. Each movement was lethargic, yet graceful in its own right. Everything seemed to shimmer, as if she was viewing some distant memory that wasn’t hers to view.
It reminded her of the way the fish swam through the river, their scales iridescent in the mid-day sun that speared them with its rays.
And she wasn’t scared, which was odd.
Fluttershy’s ear twitched as she glanced behind her. Up on the second floor, a masked unicorn was watching her carefully. She could feel their purple eyes drilling through their painted mask and into her very soul. Their gaze was unforgiving and calculating, and even from the distance they radiated with a cold, angry energy that sent chills down her spine.
She shivered. Maybe a part of her was afraid after all.
“Where’s your mask?”
Fluttershy flinched and turned back around to see that another pony was standing next to her. Her mask was plain and black, but a thin veil seemed to cover the rest of her face. Her eyes shimmered like the midnight stars over the Everfree Forest.
She held a hoof to her face, trying to hide her shakes, and was surprised to find that she was indeed missing a mask. “I… I don’t know,” she said meekly, “I… why is everyone wearing a mask?”
The dark pony in front of her didn’t respond. Fluttershy risked a glance behind her to find that the unicorn on the balcony was gone now. She wasn’t sure if that relieved or terrified her.
“That is a fair question, I suppose. I shall do my best to answer, but first, your mask. Let us try and find it,” the pony said. They turned and made their way through the crowd. Fluttershy moved to follow, but quickly found that the others had stopped dancing and were now all staring at her.
She tried to pay it no mind.
“You seem tense,” the tall pony said. “What troubles you?”
Fluttershy narrowed her eyes, quickly recognizing the voice. “P-Princess Luna?”
As she said the name her features became clear. Luna nodded slowly, eyes sparkling beneath her mask. “Yes.”
The Princess of the Night came to a stop in front of the stage, where several masked musicians continued their symphony.
Princess Luna lowered her head. “It has truly been long since our paths have crossed, Fluttershy. For that I am sorrowful, but it does pain me to see you again.”
Fluttershy tilted her head in confusion. “I don’t think I understand.”
“You will.”
There was a cry in the distance. Fluttershy turned around to see a pegasus crashing through the skylight, landing on their hooves in front of her. The pegasus wore a cracked white mask, and seemed to glare at her through hateful, cyan eyes.
It screamed like a fallen angel at the gates of hell.
Fluttershy glanced to her left to find that Luna was gone. The orchestra played on, unfettered, but the crowd around the screaming spectre knelt down and bowed their heads.
Fluttershy pinned her ears back. She staggered backwards as a streak of black leaked from beneath their mask, trailing down their cheeks. The pegasus roared again and tried to move closer to her, but the crowd converged around her, continuing their strange dance.
Through the gaps in the ponies, Fluttershy made eye contact once again with the pegasus and was greeted by a look of desperation, an almost silent plea for recognition. Please, it seemed to ask, please go away. But then it was gone.
Fluttershy felt sick.
She quickly turned and staggered away from the dance floor. Bursting through a wooden door revealed her to be in a long hallway, which stretched as far as she could see. Princess Luna was waiting for her.
“Are you aware of my full duties, Fluttershy?” Luna said with a voice cooler than the autumn air. “Beyond raising the moon and ruling the night?”
Fluttershy wasn’t quite sure how to respond. “Is this… is this a dream, Princess?” she asked.
“Not exactly.”
There was a distant thunder from down the hall. Fluttershy looked up to see an earth pony trot out of the darkness slowly. It gazed at her with aged, tan eyes, and the hallway walls seemed to close in around her. They tilted their head to the side and narrowed its gaze at her. You dare intrude? It seemed to ask. You dare to fight?
With each step they drew closer, singing fragments of a broken melody and some beatless song. But Luna paid them no mind. Instead, she guided Fluttershy out of the corridor with a wing, into the bleak and desolate night.
They emerged in a garden, thick with plants yet void of life. The fauna stretched up towards the sky in twisted, contorted forms, shapeless in the night. The world was drenched in a dulled greyscale here, as if it didn’t exist beyond the palace walls.
Luna looked her in the eye, frowning.
“What are they saying?” gasped Fluttershy, fighting back the sense of panic that was welling in her mind. “Who are they?”
“They are angels, Fluttershy,” Luna replied. “And they are saying that you are to blame.”
Her heart dropped. “For what?”
But Luna did not reply, instead looking up. From within the garden came a high-pitched laugh. From within the hedges and the trees, a lumbering form staggered out of the garden. Yet though they only had one set of pink eyes, Fluttershy felt that millions more were staring at her from somewhere beyond.
The form crept towards her at an odd pace, letting out a guttural laugh as tears of black streamed underneath their mask. With every step it laughed harder and louder, until the noise threatened to deafen her completely.
Luna let out a low sigh. She spread her wings and took to the air, beckoning Fluttershy to follow.
She did so, trying to keep her heart still. But as she closed her eyes and breathed, she couldn’t seem to find her pulse. So instead, Fluttershy opened her eyes to look up at the sky.
Perhaps it was a bad decision.
Clouds moved about like wraiths, and the stars towered over her so far above that they were pale pricks of light. The skyline seemed to rise and fall as if it were the ocean, and a feeling of vertigo quickly overtook her body. Gravity seemed to seize her and drag her wings down, leaving her feeling heavier than a stone thrown into a creek.
If Luna noticed, she made no indication. She began to descend, landing gently on a balcony outside of the goliath of a palace.
Fluttershy stumbled to her side, skidding to a halt.
“Come,” Luna beckoned. She pushed open the doors with her magic and headed inside.
A whisper from within beckoned her as well, quickly joined by dozens of others. Listening carefully, Fluttershy was able to make out their words. “You are to blame for the end,” they sang. “You are to blame for it all.”
She entered the room as shadows quickly shrouded her. In the center of the room she could make out a bed, and four other ponies who stood around it.
The pony on the bed coughed, and the one to their right grabbed their hoof and squeezed it tight.
“No, no,” the one on the bed said. “Please, dear. My time is here.”
“How can you say that?” exploded a second voice. “How? How can you give up?”
“Rainbow,” snapped the first. “Calm down. I’m so sorry, Rarity, but please, don’t give up.”
Rarity laughed, weak and hollow. “I can feel it, Twilight. I can feel it. Come now, Pinkie, don’t cry.” Her laugh broke into a series of coughs. “Applejack, please, a glass of water, if you would…”
Fluttershy tore her eyes from the scene to see Luna beckoning to her by the wall. There was a tiny hole carved within it, and in that hole was a glittering black mask. “Come,” she said. “Come. She beckons.”
She obeyed, taking the mask in her hooves. A pulsing sort of energy came from within, and she felt that something was staring at her through the eyeholes. But as she held it, the whispers in the room subsided.
Fluttershy looked at Luna.
“Do you understand now?” Luna asked.
“I suppose,” Fluttershy answered. “But the masks. What are they? And the masked ponies? And all of this?”
“They have many names,” Luna answered. “Spirits. Wraiths. Not all are angels, but the ones that are would be the ones troubled by your presence.”
Fluttershy glanced back at the small group of ponies behind her. “But why?”
“Because you are here to take what they have worked to preserve,” Luna answered, lowering her head. “Perhaps that is my own fault, but you and your friends deserve the best that I can offer.”
From deep within her mind, Fluttershy recalled something that Twilight had told her long ago. “The Princess of the Night was once called by another name… The Princess of the End, or…”
“The Princess of Death,” Luna finished with a nod. “But that does not mean that I am always the one to act as the guide.”
Fluttershy turned back to the bed. “I… I think I understand, Princess Luna.” She picked up the mask and weighed it in her hooves.
“Of course,” Luna replied, her own mask hiding any emotion.
She slid the mask over her face and approached the bed.
Rarity smiled, her ear twitching as if she could hear her footsteps. She turned to her right, through teary eyes and offered a weak chuckle. “I can see her, Twilight.”
“See who, Rarity?”
“Fluttershy.”
The name washed over the ponies like a brisk ocean wave.
“My, my, my,” Rarity whispered. “Has it really been so long?”
“Five years and twenty four days,” whispered Rainbow, swiping at her eyes.
“Twilight, I can hear them,” Rarity said as Fluttershy drew closer.
“Who?”
“All the angels, Twilight. All the angels are singing.” Rarity extended her hoof towards Fluttershy, trembling slightly. “It’s so beautiful.”
Twilight said something, but it was drowned out by a silent roar in Fluttershy’s ears. She reached out and took Rarity’s hoof in her own, peering down at her through her mask, and felt her friend radiate a strange sort of warmth.
Rarity leaned back into her pillow and closed her eyes.
She exhaled and it was over.
Of death, there are two things that I believe: that it first comes in the form of a memory, and second that it comes wearing the face of a friend. As for when it comes, I can not say for sure, but I would like to think that when it comes, it parts a sea of angels as they crash and scream around it, to lead us to whatever lies beyond. Whatever that may be.
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I'm crying and I don't know why. This was beautiful in a way that I cannot quite put to words. Another fantastic piece!
10425853
Thank you Silent ^^
I am so confused.
Very well done!
10425933
that probably means I'm doing my job right!
10425941
Thank you glad you liked it ^^
Death always meets us, but whether it comes as a friend, or our enemy, we shall never be ready for it until the very end.
10426002
Indeed. Glad you liked it ^^
10425942
Is that what you were trying to do?
Beautiful story.
I don't have words to describe how deeply moved I am right now
Thank you for this story.
10426043
Really glad to hear that! Thanks for reading! ^^
10426035
The story is inherently confusing, so maybe.
This was heartbreaking in a way that I'm ill equipped to described. But! I must try, mustn't I? I think the most spectacular facet of this story is the way the prose fits the emotion of each scene perfectly. It's dreamlike and eerie until it needs to read as threatening and otherworldly before slipping into this cold oblivion, this dark acceptance of fate that just oozes out of every line. There's a certain warmth that doesn't hit until the very end that just absolutely seals the deal for me. It's a powerful interpretation of what it means to walk in the place where death is not just a concept but a force, a space that you occupy and move through. Absolutely astounding. Thank you so much for this.
10426072
Thank you for writing stuff dawn! Pls write more, it's very good. Glad you liked it and stay awesome! ^^
10426070
Oh ok
10426093
Like uh what specifically did you not get, I can try to explain
10426107
Everything
10426130
So the plot is basically this: Rarity is dying and Luna arrives to carry out her duty of escorting her soul to the afterlife. However, Luna wants to do this is an easy of a way as possible because of who Rarity was to her. So she comes in the form of a memory, a masquerade ball. She brings with her the soul of Fluttershy to help guide Rarity. As Fluttershy maneuvers through Rarity's memory she encounters a series of angels, reminiscent of the rest of the main six. The angels are angry and bitter towards her because she is there to take Rarity's life.
10426155
Was fluttershy wearing a mask? Also, you mean to tell me that those were rarity’s memories? And, the angels are similar to the mane six?
10426173
No i'm lying to you. Kidding.
At the end of the story Fluttershy puts on a mask to carry out her task.
The implication was that this was a memory of a dream.
The eye colors and types of the angels were meant to reflect that of the main six.
10426177
Wait, but how did she know it was fluttershy?
So, rarity had this dream?
How do they reflect the main six?
10426181
All of those are up to audience interpretation. I think you might be trying to read a little too much into this lol. The idea of this kind of fic was to let the audience draw their own interpretations regardless of what I intended.
10426185
Oh ok
A gaggle of individual letters, insignificant in their standalone chants, have come together to create a beautiful orchestra of words. Their sounds crash onto the readers' minds like the most ferocious of waves, softly soaking them in a glowing warmth that pulsate throughout the heads of the crowd.
I give this a standing applause, Red. Beautifully written, with the surreal atmosphere of the setting of the story described as vividly as it could be. This was an ornate dance of words, Red, one that only you can orchestrate. Once again, good job, and thanks for bringing us this story!
Sometimes, Kindness isn't a simple feat, but a life complete.
Red, this story read to me as an inky ball made up of tendril-like strings that dripped ichor. Like reading a passage from the beyond. It's hard to wrap my head around it, just as trying to understand that ball of ichor, but with the last paragraph, you pulled one of them, and it all unraveled. A story I couldn't quite get until that, and now that I do understand, I can say I loved it.
The pacing of this was rather nice, and the prose doubly so. The feeling that a set of eyes is watching you is not a welcome one for me, or Fluttershy for that matter. But the feeling of every set of eyes glaring at you, and screaming at volumes near-deafening, in pitches near-unrecognizable is nothing short of petrifying. The thought that every pair of those eyes hating you with every fiber of being possible, thinking that you are death, believing you are the destroyer of worlds, well, I couldn't see myself keeping sane. I'm sure that everything in this piece was placed there with a specific intention, and a symbolic meaning, but I am not one smart enough to place with any sort of conviction any of them. Only what is literally in front of me, and to that end, I loved every word and savored the bitter, dark, brooding story as I would a crumb of spent ambrosia that fell from the gods' sky.
10428587
Thanks Ruby! I think a lot of the extra elements did get away from me and I chose to just let them be ambiguous to help out with the story. Glad you liked it!
By the way, you should read my Derpy x Octavia story ;)
This was intense and moving, but also a little confusing. Are the angels blaming Fluttershy for being Rarity's psychopomp? If that's her job, then, that's her job. The angels might as well blame tears for being wet. It's what they do.