A Fire Within

Willow, Iron Song, Granny Smith, and Fluttershy sat on different sides of the perfectly square dinner table. The sounds were those of plates and bowls as they were eaten from. Fluttershy glanced up from her food. Everypony was focused on their plates. Nopony looked up and nopony uttered a word.

Fluttershy raised a teacup to her mouth and thought about the day. She remembered hearing her father's name and running out to beg for his pardon. She remembered the pink representative from Canterlot and how she chirped down at her, how she shot down any hope of passing over her father, how her father received the neat little scroll. The neat little scroll that condemned her father to death.

Iron Song, Willow, and Granny Smith jumped in surprise when Fluttershy slammed her teacup down on the table.

"You can't go, father!" she said.

"Fluttershy-"

She stood up from her seat. "You've already served in the Empress's army!"

"I have a duty to my country and to my Empress," he replied calmly.

"So you'll die for a mare you've never met?"

"Fluttershy!" Iron Song's voice flared up in anger. He rose from his seat. "I would not expect you to understand the duty of an earth pony!"

Fluttershy's wings opened slightly in her excitement. "But father-"

"I know my place!" he yelled. "Perhaps it's time you learned yours, pegasus."

Fluttershy flinched. She stared at him a moment, then fled the room. Her mother called after her, but she didn't listen. She burst through the front doors of their home and stumbled onto the porch. She sobbed heavily and tears blinded her. After wiping them away with her sleeve, she became aware that it was raining. Her head drooped and her mane spread out on the ground. The pink waves flowed down the steps and into the rain.

The glow of a candle behind the window caught Fluttershy's eye and she looked up from her perch. She was soaked through. Her clothes clung tightly to her sides and bits of her mane flowed down her face like tiny streams. A large statue of a dragon served as her chair. The large stone head blocked a little bit of the rain, but not much.

In the window, Fluttershy could see the silhouettes of her parents. Her mother seemed upset. Iron Song placed a hoof on her shoulder and tried to draw her close, but she broke away and left the room. He stood alone for a moment before picking up the candle. He blew on it, and the window went dark.

Her mother knew. She knew that when Iron Song put on his armor and reported for duty, she would never see him again. Willow was just as upset as Fluttershy, but she knew to keep silent. She knew to swallow her tears. She knew to bow her head and to accept it.

But Fluttershy could not.

A small red spark flashed in the shrine as Fluttershy lit a stick of incense with a candle and placed it in the holder above. She bowed and said a prayer. She didn't know when she would get another chance to pay her respects to the Phoenix. Angel bunny appeared at the entrance of the shrine. He was soaked to the bone. He had been looking for her for the past half hour.

Lightning struck, and Fluttershy turned tail and ran out of the shrine. Angel caught hold of her tail and climbed onto her back. He clung to her neck against the cold of the rain.

Fluttershy entered the house with an urgent spring in her pace, but she was also very quiet. Inside her parent's room, she found them both fast asleep. The scroll sat on top of the bedside table. Fluttershy tucked it under her wing and placed her hair comb in its stead.

She began to leave, but paused to glace back at her parents one last time. It would be quite some time before she would see them again. Angel couldn't figure out what was going on. As he squeezed moisture from his fur he repeatedly prodded Fluttershy with his foot for an explanation, but she ignored him.

She retreated to another room that was bare save for an old wardrobe. She opened it. The storm raged outside, and a flash of lightning revealed her father's armor hanging proudly in the wardrobe. Fluttershy set Angel down beside her and removed the armor from its stand.

At this point, Angel could guess what she was doing, and he flailed in panic. Fluttershy silenced him with a gentle pat on the head. His ears drooped behind his head and he watched helplessly as Fluttershy shed her delicate dress to make way for the sturdy tan-colored robe. She wrapped it around her and tied it tightly over her wings. Piece by piece she applied the armor. The metal was black as night but light as a feather. She fashioned the green scarf around her neck and held out the final piece to Angel.

"Angel, would you do me a favor?" She asked quietly. "Could you tie my mane up?"

Angel glanced at the item. It was a long green ribbon, the kind that Imperial warriors wore into battle. He gulped, nodded, and took the ribbon.

Lightning flashed again, and Fluttershy now stood tall in the gloom, completely changed. No longer was she the delicate pegasus mare of before. Clad in Imperial armor, mane tied back into a soldier's bun, she now had the stature of a wingless warrior. She fastened the sword around her midsection and stuffed Angel into a saddlebag with the scroll and a few other supplies.

She burst through the doors of her home and into the storm. She ran to the gate and kicked it open with her hind legs. Before she could have second thoughts, she disappeared into the sheets of rain and lightning.

There was no pony around to see her flight. No pony at all. But there was a phoenix. A very special kind of phoenix. The kind that sees everything. It's said that the oldest ponies have a special connection with the Guardians, and as such they are treated with the utmost respect by society.

Despite how odd she seemed, Granny Smith was no exception. The moment Fluttershy broke away from the front gate, Granny awoke from her slumber with a start.

She appeared moments later in Iron Song and Willow's room with a lantern. She awoke them with the light and a call.

"Fluttershy is gone!" she cried.

Iron Song sat up in bed, fully awake. "What? What do you-" He spotted her hair comb on his bedside table and noticed that it was exactly where his summons should be. He took the comb gently in his hoof, praying a million prayers that what he was seeing was only a dream.

He limped as fast as he could to the wardrobe that held his armor. He flung open the doors. Empty.

"No..."

He ran, or as close to running as he could achieve, to the courtyard. He limped into the rain called out desperately,

"Fluttershy!"

He lost his strength and tripped against the muddy ground. He fell, and Willow rushed to his side.

"We have to go get her. Serving in the Imperial army... she could be killed!"

She started to stand, but Iron Song pulled her back down.

"No," he said. "Pegasi are forbidden to serve...If we reveal her, she will be killed."

Granny Smith watched from the porch as Willow lowered her head in anguish.

"Guardian of rebirth," she said quietly. "Her our prayer...Watch over Fluttershy. Keep her safe."

In the shrine, the candle stuffed out. The letters carved into the statue began to glow with dim, hot light. Embers beaded in the carvings and fell to the floor, shattering into a dozen smaller pieces of light. The embers very suddenly burst into flame, and fire swirled into itself, forming a shape like a cocoon. The fire spread out in opposite directions, like the cocoon was sprouting arms.

As quickly as it appeared, the fire began to dim. The flickering form solidified, and when the flames were gone in their place was the magnificent form of a large red bird. It was deep red and yellow, and transparent like a ghost. The bird fluttered its wings, sending sparks this way and that.

When it was settled comfortably on the statue of itself, it looked to the bronze incense holder.