A Personal Secret
“What do you think you’re laughing at?” yelled a gray Pinkie Pie.
“Uh, I was laughing at, uh… chocolate milk!” said a gray Applejack. After they had gone into the maze to find the Elements of Harmony to defeat Discord, all of Twilight's friends were becoming opposites of themselves. Behind them, Twilight’s eyes narrowed with concern. Her friends were most certainly not acting like themselves. Applejack’s eyes were shifting every other sentence, her mouth scrunching up as she told fib after fib for no apparent reason. Pinkie Pie had been gritting her teeth in what seemed to be anger ever since they had run into her, and instead of her usual cheerful, bouncing demeanor, the only times she had spoken up were to growl at somepony for what she seemed to think was a display of contempt. Rarity had somehow grown attached to this overly large hunk of rock, claiming that it was a shining jewel. And, then there was Fluttershy. Fluttershy was acting positively cruel. After punctuating her initial derision with a spiteful tail flick, she had walked forward to the rest of the group and given the sullen Pinkie Pie a sideways shove into the border of the maze, prompting the laughter from Applejack that Pinkie had responded so furiously too. Right now, however, they all were able to agree to go find Rainbow Dash. After some time walking, however, Twilight noticed something.
“Applejack, where did Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy go?” asked Twilight.
“I don’t know where they got off to Twilight.” AJ followed her reply with a shifting of her eyes, and a scrunched facial expression complete with an obviously guilty lip-bite.
“…Where could they have gone?” asked Twilight, trying to ignore Applejack's lying. Back in the maze, Pinkie and Fluttershy were so busy arguing that they had yet to notice they had gotten separated from the others.
"Stop laughing at me! Why do you keep doing it anyway!?" asked a furious Pinkie.
"Because it's fun to laugh at you! Ha ha!" said Fluttershy, who had a wicked smile on her face.
"Well stop it! It's not fun! QUIT IT! I bet your parents would be making fun of you for not being that good of a flyer!" yelled Pinkie while taking a low blow at Fluttershy, who suddenly cringed at the mention of her parents and what Pinkie just said. Now she was mad.
"You take that back Pinkie! My parents would never do that to mean! Twilight, help me here! ...Huh?" Fluttershy then turned and saw that neither Twilight or the others were no longer behind them.
"Great, we lost them! Way to go Pinkie!" said Fluttershy, which made Pinkie get even more mad.
"That's it! I don't need you! I'm out of here!" said Pinkie and she began to walk away from Fluttershy. Fluttershy didn't even care to look as Pinkie walked passed her. However, just as Pinkie's tail was passing her, something suddenly fell out of Pinkie's tail, which caused Fluttershy to look at it. It looked somewhat familiar to her as she picked it up and saw it was a locket. Fluttershy suddenly gasped when she realized what it was. But Pinkie heard it and turned around.
"What is it now you fo-Huh?" Pinkie said as she looked what was in Fluttershy's hooves and saw the locket, which almost instantly made every bit of her anger fade away as Fluttershy opened it up and in the locket was a picture of both her and Pinkie, both with their colors, as young mares in front of Sugarcube Corner with big smiles on their faces and in the background was the words "Happy Birthday Pinkie" on a large banner. Fluttershy let a single tear fall from her eye as she closed her eyes and remembered the moment this picture was taken on that day.
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"SURPRISE!"
As soon as a young Pinkie came into her room in Sugarcube Corner, she was met with a big surprise from Mr. and Ms. Cake, a young Applejack, a young Rainbow Dash, and even Fluttershy, who Pinkie had become really close friends with.
"WOW! THIS IS ONE SUPER-DUPER-INCREDIBLY-AWESOME PARTY! THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH!" said a very excited Pinkie, who had the biggest smile on her face.
"You're welcome Pinkie. This party is just for you." said Fluttershy, who was also smiling as she came up and hugged Pinkie, who returned it, making Fluttershy's face turn red. Her face went back to it's original yellow color just in time as a young Rarity came in with a camera.
"Here's a picture for the birthday mare!" said Rarity as she floated the camera up with her magic and took a picture of Fluttershy and Pinkie. Afterwards, everypony began to party, though both Fluttershy and Rarity were not seen until after an hour into the party. After some time dancing, playing games like Pin the Tail on the Pony, and even getting to have a taste of the cake, it was time for presents. Pinkie got a picture of her family back home from the Cakes, a small dress from Rarity, a small thing of cider from Applejack, and a ticket to a Wonderbolts show from Rainbow Dash. After Pinkie thanked all of her friends for the gifts, it was Fluttershy's turn. She came up with a small box in her hands.
"Pinkie, this gift right here is one I really would like for you to keep with you, no matter what." said Fluttershy as she handed Pinkie the gift, who opened it up faster then anyone could. She then let out a large gasp as she pulled out a golden locket with Pinkie's own cutie mark on it. She opened it and saw a picture of herself and Fluttershy in the pic taken earlier.
"Oh wow, this is really super duper great! Thank you so much Fluttershy!" said Pinkie, earning a smile from Fluttershy as she took the locket and put it around Pinkie's neck.
"Pinkie, please promise you won't ever lose this." said Fluttershy, receiving a hug from Pinkie.
"I Pinkie Promise Flutters. Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye!"
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Fluttershy now had more tears coming from her face as she turned to Pinkie, who now had a very shocked look on her face.
"You...kept it all this time?" asked Fluttershy, now feeling very guilty for the way she was acting. Pinkie, however, just turned away from Fluttershy.
"Yeah, I did. It was the best gift you've ever gotten me. I never leave home without it. It's very special for me because it reminds me how special you are to me. But now...with the way you're treating me...I don't know what to do with it now." said Pinkie as she began to tear up while her mane and tail suddenly deflated. Fluttershy felt even more bad for what she did. She knew the only way to hopefully calm Pinkie down was to say something.
"...I was just jealous." Fluttershy said suddenly, with Pinkie responding by lifting her head up and turning towards Fluttershy with a quiet "Huh?".
"I was jealous of your confidence Pinkie. You were always so full of energy and you were fearless. Me? I was always so scared of every little thing. I wished I was just as brave as you." admitted Fluttershy. Pinkie then got up and walked over to Fluttershy, who had now reverted back to being her shy self suddenly, despite her colors still being completely gray. Fluttershy hid behind her own mane and waited for some sort of punch from Pinkie or expected her to call her a liar. But what happened next was completely unexpected.
"Fluttershy...?" asked Pinkie suddenly.
"Y...yes?" asked Fluttershy, now even more scared. But suddenly, she saw something she never expected Pinkie to do in her current state, which was something Pinkie always does and that was smile as her mane and tail suddenly returned to it's fluffy form.
"If that wasn't the worst love confession I've ever heard, I don't know what is!" Pinkie suddenly said as she suddenly pressed her lips to Fluttershy's own lips, causing the shy mare to be surprised and let out a muffled "eep" before she turned it into a small moan as she closed her eyes and returned the kiss. This was all Fluttershy ever wanted. Ever since she met Pinkie, she's always had a crush on her, which had turned into a deep affection. She only dreamed that this moment would happen and now it was and Fluttershy wished it could last forever. Unfortunately, good things don't last forever as Pinkie broke the kiss before she brought Fluttershy into a hug, which she happily accepted as both mare's colors returned to them. After some time, both Fluttershy and Pinkie looked at each other with smiles on their faces.
"Pinkie, does this mean...?" asked Fluttershy, only to receive an even bigger smile from Pinkie.
"It does Flutters! And you know what, after we help our friends beat Discord, we should totally have a party!" said PInkie as she then broke away from Fluttershy and began to bounce down the part of the maze both her and Fluttershy were in, with Fluttershy just letting out a small giggle at her friends randomness, which she was glad was back, before following her. After some time, they turned a corner and suddenly saw a confrontation between Discord and Rainbow Dash.
"A weighty choice is yours to make, The right selection or a big mistake. If the wrong choice you choose to pursue, The foundations of home will crumble without you." said Discord to Dash as her eyes suddenly began to take a multicolored hue as Discord's mind game began to take it's effects on her.
"Oh no!" said Pinkie as she began to rush towards Dash with Fluttershy right behind her.
"Cloudsdale...tumble...withou-"
"DON'T LISTEN RAINBOW DASH!" Fluttershy suddenly cut of Dash as she and Pinkie got between Dash and Discord, who was completely surprised to see the two, both with their colors restored. Dash, fortunately, heard the two and was able to shake off Discord's hypnosis.
"Huh? Pinkie? Fluttershy?" asked a now confused Rainbow Dash, but now Discord got really mad.
"HOW!? How the hay are you two back to normal!?" asked Discord. Pinkie stepped up to Discord with a confident smile on her face.
"Because me and Flutters know that we won't let a bunch of lies ruin our friendship." said Pinkie. At that moment, the hedge maze suddenly came down and Twilight, Rarity, and Applejack were revealed.
"What's going on? I thought this game was still going on?" asked a confused Twilight.
"What game?" asked Applejack as she scrunched her face up and shifted her eyes, which confused Dash.
"Why is Applejack lying?" asked Dash.
"Because..." Fluttershy began as she turned towards Discord with an angry look of her own.
"...He's shown all of us lies! His mind games have been trying to make us break apart our friendship. But I've learned that our friendship can survive any challenge thrown at us." said Fluttershy has a confident smile suddenly grew on her face. However, Discord only grew even madder.
"If your so confident in yourselves, then I'll just have to do this the hard way!" said Discord suddenly as he then began to absorb his own chaotic aura in the air into himself, which resulted in him growing to 5 times his normal size. The horns on his head grew longer and sharper. And his fangs became longer as well.
"LET'S SEE YOU TAKE ME OUT WHEN I'M LIKE THIS!!!" Discord yelled in a threatening voice. However, Fluttershy was the only one who was not backing down. In fact, she kept her confident smile. After what happened with Pinkie, Fluttershy felt like a brand new pony.
"I'm not scared Discord. In fact, thanks to you, I've learned a very valuable lesson on friendship. Sometimes, we might do things that could easily break apart friendships. Like telling lies, being mean towards other, being greedy, and even betraying other. But true friends will never let those things break apart their friendships because they can forgive each other. Like now, I forgive Applejack for lying because I know she doesn't really mean it. I now know it was you who made her this way. But I know deep down that she always has been and always be our friend." Fluttershy said as she turned to Applejack, who was now realizing her mistakes as she hid her face behind her hat and turned to the others as her colors started to return.
"Girls...Ah'm sorry for lyin' to y'all. Ah saw a vision of our friendship over and Ah couldn't face it, so Ah started tellin' lies in an attempt to keep our friendship in tact." said Applejack. As soon as she finished, suddenly, her own Element of Honesty appeared and started floating around Fluttershy.
"And I'm also forgiving Rarity for her greediness. But that's nothing new, she's been greedy sometimes in the past and we've always forgiven her. Because she's given us the most generous thing we have and that's her friendship and care. And we've been generous and caring enough to give it right back." Fluttershy said as she turned to Rarity, who was now getting the rock she called "Tom" off her back as her colors returned and gave a tearful nod to her friends as her Element of Generosity appeared and began hovering around Fluttershy.
"And the rest of my friends are also very important. Rainbow Dash has been my friend since flight school and she's always had my back. In fact, let's say I'm kind of getting my current confidence from her because one her best traits is making us push ourselves to do better. Twilight is like the glue that holds us together. We helped her learned and we're helping her learn what friendship truly is. We care for her as much as she cares for us. Even when we were under your spell Discord, she never gave up on us and always helped us. And finally, there's Pinkie Pie...She and I have been friends ever since I came from Cloudsdale and she's helped me be less afraid of many things. She always puts a smile on our faces and we never laugh at her. We always laugh with her. And most importantly...I love her and that's something that will always stay true!" said Fluttershy, earning gasp from everypony except Pinkie, who smiled at Fluttershy as the Elements of Laughter, Loyalty, and Magic then appeared and hovered around Fluttershy. Suddenly, a burst of magic came from the 5 elements, knocking Discord back a few feet as well as gave Rarity and Twilight their horns back and gave Dash and Fluttershy their wings back. Fluttershy then took to the sky as a small glow appeared around her neck.
"And thanks to you Discord, I've learned something else. Sometimes I need to be cruel to let others have kindness. Kindness and cruelty can't exist without each other. And I didn't have that cruelty until today. And because of you Discord, I've now got that." said Fluttershy as she closed her eyes and suddenly, her Element of Kindness appeared around her neck. Afterwards, the other elements began to glow as Fluttershy suddenly began to absorb their powers.
(Play this music)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PCce6Ww8GaM
"And now Discord, thanks to you giving me cruelty, my kindness is stronger then ever and now, I am...ALL OF ME!" yelled Fluttershy as she absorbed the other elements completely as a white light enveloped her, blinding everyone. When they could see again, they saw that Fluttershy had completely changed. Her yellow coat had turned a solid white and her cutie mark had turned from having three light blue butterflies with pink wings to 3 solid blue butterflies. Her mane and tail stayed the same color, but was now longer then before and almost looked like it was flowing in the wind, despite their not being any wind. And finally, the most drastic change was that her wings had grown bigger to where they made Fluttershy look twice as big as she did before. Her Element of Kindness was seen around her neck.
Fluttershy then opened her eyes, which had changed from the teal blue to a shade of blue just a little lighter then the current color of her cutie mark.
"LET'S GO!" Fluttershy yelled, acting like a completely different pony as she started firing rainbow blasts from her hooves, which struck Discord and turned the parts hit to stone. Discord was shocked to see this, but quickly broke free of the stone and roared very loudly.
"YOU WILL NOT PUT ME BACK IN THAT STONE PRISON!" yelled Discord as he swung a large claw as Fluttershy, who dodged it and continued to fight Discord as the others watched.
"I've never seen the elements do that." said an awe-strucked Rainbow Dash.
"I think I know what's going on. I read in one of my books that when somepony who represents one of the Elements of Harmony would do anything to protect friendship and peace, then the other 5 elements give that pony unlimited powers. It's suppose to be the Elements of Harmony's secret and ultimate power and I think Fluttershy has unlocked that power." said Twilight.
"WOOHOO!!! GO FLUTTERS! SHOW THAT MEANIE PANTS WHAT YOU'VE GOT!" cheered Pinkie and soon enough, she got the others to start cheering for her as well. Fluttershy looked back at her friends and gave them a smile before turning back to Discord.
"HOW!? This is impossible! You can't be this strong!" said Discord as he swung his tail at Fluttershy, who caught it with ease.
"Easy. It's because I'll never let you hurt my friends." said Fluttershy as she suddenly used The Stare on Discord to make him freeze in place. Afterwards, Fluttershy then began spinning Discord around and then threw him high into the air. Fluttershy then lifted a hoof towards her friends and suddenly, all of them began to be lifted into the sky.
"Well girls...shall we finish him together?" asked Fluttershy. All of them nodded as their elements then appeared on them. They all then sped towards the sky until they were a much more higher in the air then Discord.
"NO! You can't beat me! I'm the spirit of chaos!" yelled a now scared Discord.
"Sorry Discord, but you're finished!" yelled Fluttershy as her and the others dove down at Discord. Twilight's eyes took on a white hue as she became enveloped in a purple aura coming from her horn. The others experienced the same effect. Fluttershy then felt somepony grab her hoof and she looked over to her side and saw Pinkie smiling at her. Fluttershy smiled back before they all looked at Discord.
"THIS IS THE POWER OF OUR FRIENDSHIP!!!" yelled all of them as they fired the rainbow blast from their elements, which surrounded them as they rushed at Discord. Suddenly, the biggest Sonic Rainboom ever happened as they broke the sound barrier and slammed into Discord with the full power of the Elements of Harmony. They all slammed into the ground at mach speeds, but thanks to Twilight's magic, all of them were unscathed except for Discord, who was now turned back into a stone statue at his normal size with a look of fright on his face.
(Stop Music)
"WHOA YEAH!!! THAT WAS SO AWESOME!" yelled Rainbow Dash in excitement. The others cheered in agreement at Fluttershy then landed and suddenly, her super form faded and she returned to her normal self.
"You did it Fluttershy!" said Twilight as her and the others came up to Fluttershy and they all shared one big group hug.
"No Twilight...WE did it." said Fluttershy as she embraced her friends. As much as Fluttershy was happy, someone else wasn't. Back at a hospital in Canterlot, one pony was hooked up to a life support machine. This pony had a light green mane and a short mane and tail that was the same color as Fluttershy's. Her nearly closed eyes were a mint green. She was wondering what was going on when she heard the door open. She weakly turned her head towards the door and was surprised to see Princess Celestia coming in.
"Hello Greenlove, how are you?" asked Celestia. The green pegasus closed her eyes and sighed before answering.
"The doctor...says I don't have...much time left..." said Greenlove. Celestia flinched a little bit from this response.
"Well I wanted to tell you that your daughter and her friends just saved Equestria from an old foe of mine." Celestia said, earning a smile from Greenlove.
"That's good...at least I get one...good thing before...I depart for the great...pony land in the sky...Princess, please promise me....you'll do a favor...from me..." said Greenlove.
"Of course. Your husband, Glowing Knight, was a great soldier and he sacrificed himself to make sure we are in peace with the Griffon Kingdom." said Celestia. Greenlove remembered hearing about that. She was incredible sad at this news, but she was able to live on for some time afterwards until the doctors diagnosed her with severe brain cancer and a limited amount of time to live. Greenlove looked at Celestia with an even weaker look then before, but gathered enough strength to say her next sentence without stopping.
"Please make sure you give this letter to my daughter and then please give her something so that she won't be without a family who cares for her. Please...?" asked Greenlove. Celestia lowered her head down to the mare's head with a promising look in her eyes.
"I promise. And from what I've seen, I know exactly who to get." said Celestia, earning a very weak smile from Greenlove.
"Thank you...Princess...please...keep this promise..." said Greenlove as she closed her eyes one final time as the line on the machine became straight. Celestia let a small tear fall from her eye.
"Good night...Greenlove, your actions will never be forgotten." said Celestia as she came out of the room and was met by her sister.
"'Tia, I heard what happened in there. So who do you have in mind?" asked Luna. Celestia responded with one answer.
"You'll see. But Luna, I'll need your help for this." said Celestia as she walked towards a special room with her sister right behind her.