Of Trees and Trials
"B-But I don’t want you to serve me… I-I just don’t…" Fluttershy said mockingly, or rather, Iridessa said mockingly using the vocal chords of the body that once belonged to Fluttershy, "The fool. Well, now she's dead. A fitting punishment for someone like her. I offer my services to her, and she rejects all of it. Condemning me to an eternity of shame and humiliation."
Iridessa grinned and said, "Well. . . look who has the last laugh."
Once she arrived at the edge of Ponyville, she feigned a dizzy spell in front of the first pony she met, and the kind stallion with the brown coat and hourglass Cutie Mark led her right to Fluttershy's cottage.
"Very quaint," Iridessa remarked as she looked the dwelling up and down after the stallion left.
She entered the cottage and was greeted by the chirps, squeaks, twitters, mews, etc. of happy animals.
"Well, well! This is certainly a home fit for a keeper of the forest," Iridessa said with pleasure.
Suddenly, she felt something strike the back of her head. Gasping, she turned around and saw the end of a carrot on the ground before her. A few feet away was an irate white bunny, frowning and tapping his foot impatiently as he stood next to an empty bowl.
Eyes filled with rage and offense, Iridessa leaned forward and ground out harshly, "How dare you!"
Angel blinked in surprise, taken aback by the tone "Fluttershy" was using. But he quickly regained his normal bravado and pointed at his empty food bowl.
Flaring her wings, Iridessa said with fury in her voice, "You. . ." she raised an eyebrow after peering into the bunny's mind, "Angel? Seriously? Anyway, you assault me. . . insult me. . .and expect to be fed?" Drawing herself regally, she declared, "As your keeper, the one who cares for you, I deserve to be be revered and respected! Do you think I am your servant? Is this how you have been behaving for years of your short life?"
Angel actually jumped with fright as "Fluttershy" slammed her right forehoof down hard onto the floor. The other animals actually backed off.
"I've already been insulted once by someone today," Iridessa said as she walked with a purpose towards the bunny, "And I don't think I can stand living with yet another such creature! You've made a very bad first impression on me, rabbit!"
Iridessa bit down on Angel's ears and carried the squirming bunny to the front door. Pushing the door open with her hoof, Iridessa then tossed Angel out into a nearby mud puddle.
"BEGONE!" Iridessa shouted, and she slammed the door.
She turned to look at all the other animals, who were clearly surprised by what they had just witnessed. Iridessa smiled good naturedly and said in a kind voice, "Do not be afraid, my sweet charges. That creature was selfish, indolent, and spoiled. My kindness is wasted on that once." She flew up and hovered in mid air, opening her forelegs as she said, "But my love still goes out to you. I will forever care for you, as long you give to me my dues: respect and reverence."
The animals all exchanged glances. Some birds were giving an occasional glance to the windows, and a few squirrels looked ready to burrow their way through the floor.
Suddenly, Iridessa felt a strange tingling on her flanks. She looked at them, and saw that her Cutie Marks were glowing and blinking. She stared at it in silence, waiting for what felt like an hour, until it eventually stopped.
"What was that all about?" she muttered.
Suddenly, the front door was bucked open, and in flew a blue pegasus with a rainbow colored mane and tail. The pegasus zoomed right to Iridessa's side and grabbed her by the foreleg.
"Fluttershy! What are doing? Why didn't you come to the castle? Didn't you notice the Cutie Map calling you?" she asked.
Iridessa blinked, "I - Um . . ." She peered at the pegasus and said, "What is it, Rainbow Dash?"
"The Cutie Map wants us all to go to the Tree of Harmony, right now! Everypony else is already headed there. I said I'd bring you there myself. Come on!"
Iridessa's eyes went wide. "The Tree of Harmony?!" she gasped.
Rainbow Dash nodded impatiently. "Yeah! Come on, let's go already! Pinkie Pie's Pinkie Sense is going wild too! This is serious!"
Iridessa soon found herself being pulled along at a great speed, her body going numb as within her stolen mind she shorted through an armada of thoughts. As Iridessa took a closer look through Fluttershy's memories, she noticed that the Tree of Harmony was quite prominent within them. Iridessa herself was also vaguely familiar with the Tree of Harmony, particularly it's sacredness, ancientness, great power, and divine will.
Whether from how she had become so lost in thought or form how fast Rainbow Dash was flying, Iridessa soon found herself within the Tree of Harmony's cave. Already within the cave were the rest of Fluttershy's friends.
"DOOZY-DOOZY-DOOZY!" Pinkie Pie shouted as she shook as if there was an earthquake inside her.
"Is anything happening, Twilight?" Rainbow Dash asked as she flew over to the purple alicorn.
Twilight shook her head and looked up at the Tree of Harmony. "I'm not sure. Nothing looks different right now but- wait! Something's happening! Look!"
Twilight pointed to the pink butterfly shaped Element of Kindness, which was now starting to glow brightly.
The moment Iridessa looked at it, she immediately understood. All of it.
The Mane Five were surprised to see "Fluttershy" scream with eyes wide in terror, "AHH! I MUST LEAVE!" and then turn around and run to the mouth of the cave.
She was stopped dead in her tracks when the Element of Kindness fired a pink beam of magic that impaled her right through her skull.
"FLUTTERSHY!" everyone else screamed as the pegasus herself let out an intense scream of unimaginable pain.
When Iridessa had killed Fluttershy and taken over her body, her fairy dust had traveled throughout inside of the pegasus, shredding the her insides like tiny razor sharp pieces of diamond. However, this was paled in comparison to the pain Iridessa was going through. This pain was not a physical pain, but a mental one, and unlike physical pain, mental pain has no limit to its intensity.
Iridessa's screaming easily matched the screams Fluttershy had let out when she had been killed, but when the Elements of Laughter, Loyalty, Generosity, and Honesty also fired magical beams into her brain, the screaming quickly became louder and higher as the pain became 5 times stronger. It was so bad that the Mane Five had to cover their ears and close their eyes, too shocked by the actions of the Tree of Harmony to do anything. The torment of what they perceived to be their friend would've spurred them to some sort of action, but it felt as though the Tree of Harmony itself was subconsciously compelling them to stay put as it passed its judgement.
As the pain was cranked up higher and higher, some part deep within Iridessa's consciousness, the one tiny spot that wasn't afire with pain, came to the realization of what all this pain was for and why the Tree of Harmony was doing this.
It wanted her out of the Bearer of the Element of Kindness' head.
The pegasus was pulled up into the air by the five magical beams. Then, the central star shaped Element of Magic started glowing with power, and then a final massive beam of purple magic erupted from it and plowed straight into Fluttershy's body, enveloping it completely, and releasing a blinding white light.
"AUUUUGH! BUT I . . . I . . . AAAAAAAAAAAUUGH!"
The light soon faded, revealing Fluttershy lying flat on her back, her wings and forelegs spread eagled.
"FLUTTERSHY!" Rainbow Dash shouted in a panic as she dashed over to her friend's side. She was immediately joined by the rest of her friends, who all looked down upon their fallen friend with looks of fear and foreboding.
But, much to everyone's shock and relief, Fluttershy immediately opened her eyes and looked up at her friends. "I. . . I'm alive?" she gasped out slowly.
Rainbow pulled Fluttershy up and hugged her tight, trying to hold back her tears as she said, "You've got no idea how scary that was! I should be angry at you, Fluttershy. I really should! You're lucky I can't be!"
Fluttershy hugged Rainbow back gently and looked around at everypony else, "I'm. . . sorry for making you all worry. This all was kinda my fault."
Nervously adjusting the brim of her hat, Applejack said, "What Ah wanna know is what you could've possibly done to make the Tree of Harmony try to blast you into Zap Apple Jam?"
Fluttershy let go of Rainbow Dash, and short of wiggled out of Rainbow's hug, and said nervously, looking off to the side as she did so, "Well, it wasn't really what I did. Um. . ." Fluttershy looked up at her friends, and then something caught attention. Then, she pointed over at something on the ground and said, "It's what she did."
Everypony turned to see something lying sprawled out on the ground. It was about a quarter of the size of Angel Bunny, with almost transparent, pink wings. The wings had a dotted tribal pattern and a large swirl. Iridessa slowly got up, running her fingers through curly red hair. Her eyes went wide, and she looked down at the crimson-colored dress that only came down to her thighs.
Iridessa looked up at the Mane Six, and then at the glittering Tree of Harmony. She let out a scream and said, "I must flee!" She turned to fly out of the cave, only to hit an invisible force field and get bounced back down to the ground. "No!" she cried, and she began hammering against the invisible shield, "Let me out of here! Let me out!"
"Look at me."
Iridessa froze.
"Look at me, Iridessa, Keeper of the Everfree!"
Iridessa jolted at the assertive tone, and turned around slowly to see Fluttershy towering over her, looking very upset with her.
The rest of the Mane Six stood behind Fluttershy, looking curiously at the fairy, all except Rarity, who looked at the creature in fear.
"Fluttershy, darling," Rarity said slowly, "What is it?"
"A fairy," Fluttershy said simply, not taking her eyes off of Iridessa, "I saved her life earlier today. Then she killed me and took over my body."
"She did WHAT!?" Rainbow Dash exclaimed in both shock and rage.
"DOOZY!" Pinkie Pie shouted.
"It's not like that!" Iridessa shouted desperately, waving her arms pleadingly, "I owed her my life and needed to repay her, but she wouldn't let me! It is fairy tradition and a matter of honor! I would be forever disgraced if I didn't serve her! I had to take her body if she wouldn't accept my service! I had no other choice!"
"Well, howdy, if it ain't a small world after all," Applejack remarked.
"What?" Iridessa asked in confusion.
Applejack nodded and explained, "Not to long ago, Ah saved a little dragon named Spike from a pack of Timberwolves, and his Dragon Code said that he owed me a life debt. But Spike's my friend, an Ah didn't want him to feel like he owed me anything. Then we had a buncha crazy shenanigans, and Spike finally realized that friends do thing for each other because they're friends, and friends don't need to owe each other anything."
"A whelp's foolish code is nothing compared to the honor of a fairy!" Iridessa shouted indignantly.
"Well then how about this?" Fluttershy said suddenly, making sure to speak firmly but fairly, "I did something nice for you, and you did something not nice to me. Does that sound right to you?"
"You wouldn't let me do anything for you!" Iridessa argued as reached out behind her, only to find that the invisible shield the Tree of Harmony was projecting was still there.
"Then you should've respected that!" Fluttershy shouted, tears forming in her eyes, "You didn't have to kill me! You took me away from my animals! From my friends! And I don't want attention or anything, but I've helped save Equestria with the Elements of Harmony many times, and without me and my Element, Equestria might have been doomed. And if you really did have no choice but to do. . . that, why didn't you just warn me? I probably could have thought of something for you to do then!"
"Actually Fluttershy," Twilight interjected, "I've done some research on fairies, there really isn't that much known about them, but from what I've read, fairies can be malicious tricksters that can be very spiteful. Also, I did read about how fairies serve anypony who saves their life, but I never read anything about fairies being obligated to kill and posses anypony who doesn't want to be served."
Twilight then glared long and hard at Iridessa and said, "So, I think that Iridessa killed you just because she felt like it."
"N-no. . ." Iridessa said in fear.
"Let's squash it!" Rainbow Dash shouted, and she would've flown at the fairy if Twilight handing grabbed her tail with magic.
"First of all, Fairies are immortal, Rainbow," Twilight explained, "Only iron can kill them."
"Then let's get some nails!" Rainbow said, glaring with extreme loathing at the Iridessa, who looked back at the multicolored pegasus in fear.
"Rainbow!" Twilight said in shock.
"This creep made a big mistake! She tried to take our friend away from us. Forever! I say we make her pay! Equally!" Rainbow Dash said with a scowl.
"Wait! Please, listen!" Iridessa said as she backed up against the shield, "I can give you all anything! Fame! Riches! Anything!"
"Rainbow might have a point," Applejack said as she looked at Iridessa darkly, "We've got a murderer here after all."
"Applejack!" Iridessa said as she looked pleadingly at the orange earth pony, "You're a farmer, I can tell! I can pump new life and vigor to your apple trees!"
"Ah don't want nothin' from the likes of you!" Applejack roared back, sounding extremely offended.
Fluttershy stepped over to her friends, and looking at them all, she said, "I understand how you all feel right now, and I appreciate how much you all care about me. . . but I really think you should me take care of this."
"Huh?" Rainbow Dash said as she landed back on the ground.
Fluttershy nodded, and turned back to Iridessa. Rainbow opened her mouth to speak, but Twilight put a hoof on her shoulder.
"Trust her," Twilight said simply.
Fluttershy looked down at the fairy, took a deep breath, and said plainly, "I'd like for us to go through with your original offer."
Iridessa stared at Fluttershy, completely dumbstruck.
"I'd like you to serve me," Fluttershy said with a straight face.
"WHAT!?" Rainbow Dash exclaimed, "Fluttershy! You're giving her exactly what she wants!"
"If we kill her, we'd be no better than she is," Fluttershy said, "And we can't just let her go. It wouldn't be kind at all to not discipline someone who does wrong. How would they ever learn?" Fluttershy held her right forehoof out to the fairy and said, "This way, I can keep an eye on you for my entire life and make sure you get a fair punishment. Then, when I'm gone, you will have learned her lesson and be a changed, good fairy. That's how it has to be. Now, promise me in the name of the Tree of Harmony that you will do whatever I say for as long as I live?"
Iridessa was still in a daze from the current events. She could see the Tree of Harmony over Fluttershy's shoulder, and it made her tremble with fear. So, she raised her right arm, and placed her hand against Fluttershy's hoof and said, "I promise. I swear."
"This is disproportionate retribution!" Iridessa shouted.
"Sorry, Iridessa. But you killed me. Fair is fair," Fluttershy said in a genuine apologetic tone.
"This is still disprportion- OWW!" Iridessa screeched.
Angel Bunny smirked as he wielded the iron nail like a sword after thrusting it into Iridessa's rear.
"I think I forgot to mention, the Tree of Harmony showed me what you did during the time you were in control of my body," Fluttershy explained as she fed her squirrel friends, "I know Angel can be a little difficult at time, but you were wrong to toss him out like you did. Don't we all have our grumpy days?"
"So now I have to be his slave?!" Iridessa whined as she rubbed her rear.
"Not slave. Attendant," Fluttershy corrected, "And not just his, but his descendants when he eventually gets married and so on. For as long as I'm alive."
"But he's impossible!" Iridessa whined as she flailed her arms.
"He's difficult," Fluttershy corrected again, "And this is a punishment, Iridessa. Just accept it, and maybe we can be friends. Also, keep in mind that for us to be friends is all that I wanted after I saved you. All this could've have been avoided if you could've accepted that and considered any debt between us paid in full."
Suddenly, there was a knock on the cottage door. As Fluttershy went to answer it, Angel tapped her foot impatiently as he stared at the fairy.
"What do you want now!?" Iridessa piratically screamed, "I've peeled carrots and grapes for you! I've fluffed your tail! What else could a simple rabbit want?"
Angel sat down on his rear and stuck out both of his feet. Then, he pointed to them.
Iridessa's eyes went wide, "No. . ."
Angel smirked and nodded.
"I don't have to do that! There's no reason why I can't use soap and water and-."
Angel glared at her, raising the iron nail threateningly.
"I wish you'd kill me!" Iridessa shot back.
Angel simply tossed the nail aside and pointed to where Fluttershy had walked off.
Iridessa felt to her knees and said, "I know. . . Fluttershy said to follow your demands to the letter. . . and I'm bound to do whatever she says. . ."
Angel smirked and nodded again.
Iridessa finally began to realize that this "life debt fairy honor" tradition might be flawed after all, and then, realizing that she had no other choice, she crawled over to Angel Bunny's feet, stuck out her tongue, and went to work.
Meanwhile, Fluttershy was outside, having a discussion with Twilight.
". . . We have to face the facts, Fluttershy," Twilight said in total seriousness, "The Tree of Harmony brought you back to life."
"But maybe I was only mostly dead?" Fluttershy said, "I mean, I don't remember going anyway after Iridessa killed me. Maybe it wasn't my time let, so I was. . . I don't know. . ."
"In limbo?" Twilight offered.
Fluttershy shrugged, "Maybe."
Twilight sighed, "Well, not even Celestia and Luna know exactly where the Tree of Harmony came from, and I don't think anypony knows the full extent of it's powers."
Fluttershy eyes were wide and thoughtful, but then she relaxed and said with a contented smile, "Then I guess it's a good thing the Tree of Harmony is good."