Re:Harmony

by starcross7

110 - The Empress

The last time Fluttershy felt such powerful and unbridled hatred was when Chancellor Posey made her declaration of war against Pegasopolis. However, Posey's words were icy and precise. The Chancellor's meek presence, though televised, had the ability to gradually wear down a weak-willed viewer to submission, rendering into a prostrating position in which Posey would be able to behead the unworthy with the black sword attached to her fascist uniform.

The Empress Commander was different. Hot, burning fury would fill the room, which immediately rendered anypony exhausted and unable to breath. One could feel their blood boil underneath their skin if they survived the initial incineration. Fluttershy counted herself lucky to survive a direct encounter from the Empress.

Being lucky was all relative, though. The yellow pegasus came to in a large chamber towered by ash-black columns converging into a single point above her. Nearly every square foot of the wall had been carved to form alcoves upon which restless torches that rested in the mouths in the busts of frightful dragons. The floor appeared to be made out of the same hard cloud, but patterned like jet-black marble. The constant smoky odor of ash made her gag repeatedly until she balanced out her breath to breathe in only when necessary. In contrast to this dark and demonic decor, the bed she woke up on, despite draped with crimson sheets, felt very soft and comfortable.

To her surprise, her captors had taken great care for her well-being. They cleaned her and decoratively bandaged her wounds with embroidered lace. A pure white toga contoured over her body.

They changed her clothes. The thought of other ponies touching her during her unconsciousness made her uneasy, but at least they did not harm her. Knowing this, Fluttershy searched her collar for her Tele-Orbs, and found them missing from her neck, including the black one given to her by a mutual friend. She bit her lip to restrain her panic at the prospect of the enemy unlocking the black Tele-Orb, and she hoped in her mind that it was magically enchanted that only she could open it.

A sense of relief appeared when she felt the front of her chest, and familiar ting of a golden jewelry echoed in the foreboding chamber. A hopeful smile creeped across her face, though she knew not if her captors were unable to remove it or had the honor and decency not to. She did not have the time or desire to dwell on the reasons. Fluttershy had to escape.

She tried to move away from her bed, but a black chain shackled her right rear leg and securely anchored itself towards an immovable plate towards the back of the bed. Fluttershy tugged once, and the plate anchor refused to budge an inch. She then looked around to find something to break in order to set herself free.

However, the gag of another living creature caught her attention. Almost camouflaged by the walls stood a black devil-like cage on spiky pedestal, and it trapped a pathetic peach-colored bird who had all but a few of its feathers molted out from its skin. The poor bird coughed and gagged again, and bits of ash fell out from its gaping beak.

This bird was in pain. This bird should not be caged. The bird did not belong here, and so Fluttershy flew to it to establish communication.

"You poor thing," said Fluttershy. "You're trapped here, just like me. You were captured too? Philomena? That's your name? Don't worry Philomena, I, Fluttershy, will set you free.

"The Empress? No, I won't let her hurt you again. Please, hold on."

Fluttershy grit her teeth and tore off pieces of her dress, which was enough to satisfy the damage exchange rate between the cloth and the padlock. Upon her command, her golden necklace separated itself into two Butterfly Stars, with one attached to her torn dress and one attached to the lock. The damaged had been exchanged. The dress reassembled itself as the lock shattered to pieces. The devilish cage door swung open, the balding bird hopped to nuzzle its beak in the warmth of its savior.

Suddenly, a low shriek startled Fluttershy, and she turned around see a whitish pegasus mare with a pink and green mane. She had spilled her gold tray of what looked like a large glass decanter of wine, which shattered and stained her light-colored toga.

"What are you doing to Fawkes?" she frantically asked. "That’s the Empress's royal pet!"

"Fawkes?" replied Fluttershy. "No, her name is Philomena, and she needs to--"

"Put her back before the Empress--"

The torches in the alcoves in the walls suddenly roared furiously, and ring of fire formed around the center of the bedchamber. Fluttershy felt her breath and body smothered by the flames of hate, and the dragon-armored Empress Commander marched in with a slow and angry pace.

"My lady!" prostrated the pegasus servant. "Please forgive me! I did not arrive in time to stop Fawkes’s escape and--"

The Empress arrived before the servant, and issued her punishment in the form of a powerful slap on the face, thus sending the servant flying towards the flames and the wall. Fluttershy could not see if she survived or not, but the lack of her screaming made her deathly frightened.

Then Philomena leapt off of Fluttershy, and, with a futile effort, flapped its featherless wings as she lunged towards the Empress Commander. The poor bird quickly met her end when the Commander thrusted her full might in a single punch and obliterated Philomena in a quick and fiery flash. Nothing was left of the bird, not even a single feather. All that remained were gray ash scattered across the floor.

How could this have happened? Fluttershy experienced evil in many forms in her life, but this was beyond her comprehension. This mare, brimming with hatred, felt no compassion to her servants or her pets. Tearfully, Fluttershy dove down to the ground, hoping to gather Philomena's ashes, but she did not have the dexterity to muster up a small pile.

"Why?" Fluttershy cried. "Why would you do this?"

"IT WAS YOUR FAULT."

"But you killed her!"

"YOUR LOVE KILLED HER. YOU LET HER OUT, AND FAWKES PAID THE PRICE FOR DISOBEYING ME BY RECIPROCATING YOUR FEELINGS."

"You can't kill just because they didn't do what you told them to do."

"IT IS NO DIFFERENT THAN DISCARDING A BROKEN SWORD IN PLACE OF A NEW ONE."

"Ponies aren't things!"

Fluttershy had no ground to throw out her stare back at the Empress. Even with tears streaming down her cheeks, she pointed her eyes directly and defiantly into the eye sockets of the pegasus mare’s dragon-like helmet. The Empress stood still for a moment, as if to resist the temptation to smash Fluttershy like she did with the balding bird. Instead, she uttered a light chuckle.

"HOW INTERESTING. AT FIRST GLANCE, YOU ARE BUT A WEAK, PACIFISTIC PEGASUS, AND YET YOU RISK YOUR OWN LIFE BY STARING DIRECTLY AT ME LIKE A DETERMINED ASSASSIN. IT'S NOT BECAUSE OF YOUR ELEMENT OF CREATION. THAT IS NOT THE TRUE SOURCE OF YOUR POWER. I CAN SEE PAINFUL SORROW BENEATH THOSE EYES, AND THOSE SAME EYES BORE WITNESS TO MANY DEATHS TO THOSE YOU’VE EXPRESSED LOVE TOWARDS. THOSE EYES SERVED AS THE WINDOW TO THE YEARS OF EMOTIONAL SUFFERING AND THE VENGEANCE YOU HOLD AGAINST THOSE WHO HAVE KILLED YOUR FRIENDS. SO I MUST ASK YOU, DO YOU HATE ME?"

"What?"

"DO YOU HATE ME? DO YOU FEEL THE FLAMES OF HATE BURNING IN YOUR HEART? DO YOU FEEL THE BURNING DESIRE TO EXTINGUISH MY LIFE?”

"I..."

The ring of fire died down. To Fluttershy's relief, the servant, though unconscious, lay slumped against the wall with singes on her fur and toga. However, that was only a brief reprieve in this harrowing situation. The Empress Commander reached under heavy cloak and tossed a kris dagger onto the ground next to Fluttershy's hooves before sitting down on the floor with a flourish.

"IF YOU TRULY HATE ME, TAKE THAT DAGGER AND PLUNGE IT INTO MY BODY. I WILL NOT MOVE, NOR WILL I STRIKE BACK."

"I can't..."

"IS THAT NOT WHY YOU INVADED MY COUNTRY? DO IT. USE YOUR HATRED TO SLAY ME. USE THOSE YEARS OF ACCUMULATED VENGEANCE TO STRIKE AT MY BURNING HEART.”

“I don’t want to…”

“THEN I WILL MAKE IT EASIER FOR YOU."

The fires might be gone, but Fluttershy suddenly felt the heat rising as the Empress Commander slowly lifted her dragon-helmet from her head. Now she felt and saw the air waver nervously with the intense heat, and the flames on the wall-torches turned blue.

Fluttershy feared the reveal, but she knew in her heart it was inevitable. She recognized the face she saw in her vision when she dove into the Realm of Truth with Apple Bloom. It had not been a month Fluttershy had seen her face, but aside from facial scars and a chipped ear, her identity was unmistakable. It was like facing the Rainbow Dash who had never left Pegasopolis and fully accepted the brutal expectations of a citizen-warrior.

Then there was the truth Fluttershy desperately wanted to tell the Empress Commander, but even unmasked, Firefly's hatred remained at her peak. Telling her might put the timid yellow pegasus's life in danger. Fluttershy dried her tears, though she was still not over Philomena's demise, and so she faced the most powerful pegasus in the world.

"Please," said Fluttershy. "We just want the Sky Key so we can get the Fifth Element from the Sky Castle."

"You dare plead with the glorious Empress Commander Firefly?"

Fluttershy swallowed hard. "If you don't give us the Sky Key, Rainbow Dash will come here and defeat you."

"You've upgraded to threats, empty as it may be," the Empress laughed. "I know this because I personally raised Rainbow Dash, and she does not possess the very aspect that kept Pegasopolis strong against her enemies.

"I will give it to Gaea in manipulating their mud ponies in uniting their hatred against the pegasi and their allies, but they dance around it through scientific papers and their socialist philosophies. Pegasi hatred must stem from the soul. We must become literal demons devoid of love or kindness against those who bare their weapons against us. Stallions, mares, children, the old, and the weak: if they stand in our way, they must be eliminated without hesitation, for any hint of compassion will render us vulnerable. Dash's love and kindness cost her first crew. Without hatred, Dash will never be able to defeat me."

"Do you truly believe your words?”

“Fully. When I won the honor battle against Wind Whistler, I decreed that hatred to be one of our philosophical Tenets.”

“But I know that is not what you want to feel.”

Fluttershy felt the temperature rise as Firefly’s eyebrow twist and twitched.

"I know that because you still harbor feelings for Chancellor Posey,” Fluttershy added.

Fluttershy gasped. She covered her mouth far too late after what she said. She did not mean to say it, though she secretly wanted a means to weaken Firefly. Instead, it was liking watching a pot of napalm boiling over. For a moment, Firefly bit her lip until bled. Then she took to the air screaming in agony as the torches in the alcoves blazed until they exploded, and immediately the walls engulfed in red hellfire. The Empress Commander, while yelling, twisted her own limbs loudly that Fluttershy swore she purposely dislocated them. Firefly bounced all around from flame to flame until she crashed down onto the bed that she immediately incinerated upon her fall. Then she began scratching her own muzzle and mane with the tips of her sizzling metallic boots until she started bleeding.

“Don’t mention her name,” she hissed. “Don’t you dare mention that traitorous dishonorable bitch of her mare! Her and her mud pony kind must die!”

Firefly lunged after Fluttershy with a single flaming hoof-strike. Fluttershy rolled and dodged a direct hit by chance, but the sheer force of Firefly’s attack immediately vaporized the yellow pegasus’s toga and melted away her chain link shackles. That did not mean Fluttershy had been set free. She remained a prisoner, and the towering hellfire flames became her restraints and her cage. She backed away as the mad Firefly slowly trotted her, and each step from the Empress Commander ignited the marble floor. The timid yellow pegasus quaked on what’s left of a safe floor hoping that Firefly would deal a quick death to her. She sealed her eyes shut, hoping to spare herself from the sight of the instrument to her demise.

Subconsciously, she opened one of her eyes, and then suddenly she witnessed a big explosion from the wall across from her. Firefly’s flames could have ignited a gas pipe, but to Fluttershy's surprise, an armored white pegasus mare with the likeness of Pinkie Pie skipped happily through the flames unscathed while humming a cheerful tune. Nonchalantly she spotted Firefly and her victim, and tried waving hello to the victim.

“Whatcha doin’ Fly-fly?” Surprise happily asked. “Gonna kill that cute yellow pegasus? That’s cool, but she isn’t fighting back, which is not cool. I mean, we got reports from the Shadowbolts Stealth Division that the Dash might still be at the Factory with her super-strong friends. Why not use this mare as bait to bring them here? Then we can really have some fun.”

Though the flames continued to roar violently, Fluttershy felt the temperature lower just one degree as Firefly’s hateful breathing started slowing down. She had her aflamed right hoof held high in the air ready to deal a fiery strike at her victim.

"I knew you'd like it!" cheered Surprise. “Hey Blossomforth, you still alive?”

Groans sounded out from the flames, and slowly the maidservant, though injured with a black eye and singed fur, rose up to her hooves. Blossomforth retained her dignified composure as she placed the charred gold tray on her back along with its shattered contents she had intended to bring into the room.

"Fly-fly’s gonna need another change of armor and a cleanup of her scars again,” continued Surprise. “Make sure you take care of her, please. Thankies!”

"It will be my pleasure, my Lord General," said Blossomforth as she struggled to suppress her cough. As if nothing happened to her, Blossomforth trotted out of the room, but with a slight limp on her front right leg.

Surprise was able to touch Firefly’s sizzling black armor without burning herself. One touch from the white pegasus had actually calmed down the Empress, and somehow Surprise managed to walk Firefly safely and away from Fluttershy. The hellfire did not die down immediately. It appeared to follow the Empress Commander, who continued to hyperventilate heavily and hatefully, and the flames only disappeared from the room once she was several feet away. Firefly's seething anger also took with her the room’s primary source of light and heat. Quickly it became dark and cold. Fluttershy could barely see in front of her thanks to the dying embers from what remained of her toga and the distant torchlight from the other side of the hole Lord General Surprise created.

Fluttershy thought she was free from the two monster-ponies, but then Surprise trotted back in and startled Fluttershy into a frozen position. She might look like Pinkie Pie, and maybe she had the same voice and personality. But Surprise was no Pinkie Pie. While Pinkie Pie made Fluttershy feel cheerful, Surprise’s presence felt overwhelming, and she would be likened to destructive chaos rolled up into an adorable white bomb. It was as if Surprise enjoyed killing.

"That was a close one,” said Surprise. “I thought we have to move Fly-fly to new room and rebuild another one. I can’t understand why they need to bring construction crews to patch up the holes. I mean, all this room needs is good ol’ elbow grease to scrub the ash off. By the way, I never got a chance to introduce myself. My name is Surprise, and I love fighting. What’s your name? I bet has something to do with fluttering and being shy, just like your Insignia and your personality.

“Don’t like to talk? That’s cool. I won’t force you to talk. I'm glad Fly-fly didn’t kill you right then and there, 'cause we wouldn’t be able to use you as hostage. Then again, if she did kill you, Dashie and the others would have busted into Black Cloud for revenge. Then again, ponies who have someone to lose fight the hardest than those who have nothing to lose, and those are the ones who I wanna fight.

“Come to think of it, why did Fly-fly spare you? It couldn’t be because you remind her of she-who-must-not-be-named. Oh well. I’m gonna get the slaves to come over to bring over a new bed and toga for you, and maybe some sarsaparilla while they’re at it. I won’t ask them to chain you, though.”

“Why not?” Fluttershy asked.

"It's pointless really. You're free to wander around, but if you get caught, they won’t hesitate to kill you. Plus, they’ll kill Blossomforth by association. That’s kind of the way things work around here, so don’t do anything I wouldn’t do—which is to blow a hole in the Divine Warrior’s Mess Hall or the barracks. Also, I kinda like Blossomforth. She’s the only slave to survive fourteen whole days tending to Fly-fly, and that is a testament to strength if you ask me. Anyway, I gotta go and do some boring military inspections or else Flashy or Soarin’s gonna yell at me again. Catch you at your execution Miss Shy! La, la-la, la-la…”

Like a certain pink earth pony Fluttershy knew and loved, Surprise bounced away singing joyous tunes, except that the lyrics involved explosions, dismemberment, and death. Left alone, unchained, and without her toga, she started to shiver. Worries over her life and her friends filled Fluttershy’s mind. She thought about biting her own tongue and bleed out to death so she could not be used as a hostage for the Empress’s hellfire wrath. On the other hoof, she feared the pain and she feared dying. She was the bearer of the Element of Empathy, and she could not throw her life away just yet. All of the Elements were needed to bring light to a world divided by race and war.

Thus, the wait became her instrument of punishment. Unable to leave or call for help, Fluttershy sat around before aching limbs caused her to get back up. She spotted the scattered ashes of poor Philomena, and thought of an appropriate burial for the bird. But where could she go? Does Pegasopolis have actual soil?

Regardless, she did not want to have Philomena’s remains resting on the floor without dignity. Slowly and carefully, the yellow pegasus used her long pink tail to sweep the ashes closer to the doorway where the adjacent bathroom lies. Thankfully, this marble washroom and been mostly spared from the fire, and the faucet and the toilet remained operational. However, Fluttershy could only use the toilet as the method to send Philomena away from this dark cloudland, for picking up the ashes was a challenge. She did not want to, but any place was better than here.

Fluttershy watched the ashes spiral away after she pulled the handle. She would pray if she knew any prayers, but before she could say any words, she heard banging on the bedroom door.

Comments

[Admiral Q Ponyform]

I figured that Firefly was the new Empress. Clearly insane.

[Crimson Dawn]

Dash versus Firefly Pinkie versus Surprise? That could be fun. Especially if they fight together. I find Dash and Pinkie working together to be a lot of fun.

[akajulester]

So, since Fluttershy flushed Philomena's ashes down the toilet, does that mean Philomena can't come back? I hope not

[PiMan]

7559214
Nah, I think it means that Philomena has escaped.

[FiredragonX]

Poor Fluttershy. Hopefully Firefly gets what's coming for her.

[DualKitsune]

Sheesh!! At this point, Chrysalis is the only sane leader.