The Madness of a Kind Mare

It was the morning of another perfect day in Ponyville, and like every day in Ponyville events began to unfold that would make this day quite exciting for one particular Pegasus, Fluttershy. She woke up in her soft bed curled around her pet bunny, Angel, just like every other normal day. As she pulled herself from her red and pink butterfly sheets, she heard a soft knocking at her door. Confused, she offered a quick glance out the window to see the sun barely peeking above the horizon.

“Oh my, it’s so early. I wonder who that could be.” She said to nopony in particular. She stood off to the side of the bed and arched her back for a moment. Once she was finished stretching she found her way to the vanity mirror and quickly took a brush to her bed mane. After a few brushes she was certain that it would be presentable enough for her early guest. She perked her ears up as the knocking resounded once more.

“I’m coming!” she called out softly, hoping whomever was trying to break down her door would be able to hear. She quickly made her way down the stairs, sidestepping various early morning critters along the way. Soon she was at the door and opened it before the stranger could knock once again.

“Sorry, I don’t mean to be rude but it is really early and…” Fluttershy began. She paused in shock at the pony in front of her, an older mare with a faded yellow mane with streaks of grey and a coat that was once a light blue like the sky itself on a clear day and a cutie mark of a trio of flowers.

“Mama Velvet!” Fluttershy cried as she threw herself onto her mother in a fierce hug. Despite her advancing age, Velvet was able to withstand the crushing pressure and return it just as fiercely.

“Oh my little ‘Shy, it’s so wonderful to see you again!” She said as they released their hold on each other. “It has been far too long. I’m sorry I came by so early but I just came into Ponyville late last night and simply couldn’t sleep…”

Fluttershy gave her mother a sad look, she hasn’t been able to sleep well for the last few years since her husband was taken from her. Fluttershy could still remember the day like it was yesterday. Her father, a simple earth pony that preferred to be called Hoedown was complaining of a terrible migraine one day. So they went to the hospital to see what was wrong. The doctor and Mama thought she was still waiting in the waiting room, but she had gotten impatient and wanted to see how her papa was doing.

Unfortunately, what was meant to only be told to Velvet was overheard by Fluttershy. She didn’t know what a ‘brain tumor’ was or the word ‘inoperable’, but she was able to figure out what ‘not much time’ meant. Suddenly fearing the worst she rushed in and demanded that the doctor fix her papa. Velvet was forced to drag her away kicking and screaming while her own eyes shed streams of tears.

After Fluttershy was able to calm down enough as she could, they spent the next day and a half at his side until the very end.

During the funeral her Mama wrapped a comforting hoof around her, “Stay strong, my sweet Fluttershy…” She tried to be strong for her papa like her Mama told her to, but she couldn’t hold back the pain and the tears.

For the next few years, everything seemed to remind them of his missing presence. For her Mama it was the empty half of the bed, and for Fluttershy it seemed to be everything else. Eventually it got too much and she forced herself to move to Ponyville with her friend Rainbow Dash.

Fluttershy shook her head to clear away the old memories, yes they still hurt but as time goes on the pain will lessen. “Come on Mama, let’s get some tea and we can catch up.”

“Oh, thank you sweetie, do you have any green tea? It was your Papa’s favorite.” Velvet asked. Fluttershy nodded her head, patiently leading the elderly mare to the table. As she made for the cupboards to prepare the tea, she mentally prepared herself for what was to come. While she couldn’t blame her Mama, she was just never able to move on and find peace, making every visit an emotional dagger to Fluttershy’s heart.

“Did I ever tell you the story of how we met?” Velvet asked as Fluttershy put the kettle on.

“Yes you did, Mama, but I would love to hear it again.” Fluttershy said as she sat down at the table next to Velvet.

“Oh well it wasn’t that interesting of a story I suppose,” she said, leaning into Fluttershy, “I was just a young filly at the time, but I was trying to learn to fly. My poor Ma and Pa had no idea how to help me, being earth ponies and all. Sometimes I would wish my great, great grandmother never married a pegusus, but I never meant it. Being one of the few pegasus ponies born in our old line of earth ponies seemed to me to be more of a curse than a blessing.

“Oh listen to me ramble on, anyway one day I thought if I had a running start off the roof of an old barn I would have a better chance at flying. Well to put it simply it was a terrible idea and I would have broken a few bones as I fell to the ground. Lucky for me, this little earth pony colt had just exited the barn and I landed right on top of him!” Velvet gave a hearty laugh with Fluttershy giggling along. At that time the kettle decided the water was hot enough and gave a shrill shriek.

“And that’s how I met your Papa.” She finished as Fluttershy got up to mix the leaves into two cups. “I remember him being upset about it for the longest time, but there was nothing he could do about it. My father had hired him as an extra hoof for around the farm, so I would spend my time that I wasn’t trying to fly pestering him all day. Eventually he opened up to me and we began to have real conversations. Oh thank you sweetie.” She said as Fluttershy returned, placing the cups of hot tea in front of them.

Velvet spent a moment in silence as she stared into her cup. Fluttershy sat quietly next to her, waiting patiently. “You know, I never really liked tea until he got me to drink it with him a few times. I still don’t care much for it but it seems like it’s something I need to keep doing, otherwise I might lose him forever.”

“Mama…” Fluttershy began.

“Sometimes it’s almost like he’s still here, like he’s going to walk through that front door and take me into his hooves.”

“Mama.”

“I know when he comes in he’s going to look around at what you’ve done and accomplished and just be so proud of his little filly…”

“Mama!” Fluttershy raised her voice as she shook velvet for a moment, snapping her back to reality. “Mama you can’t keep doing this to yourself, it’s not healthy! I know you don’t sleep at night because you can’t stop thinking about him but it’s time to move on! He’s dead! He’s not coming back!”

“How… How could you say that?! We loved you, he loved you so much and you just up and throw it away in my face! I can’t let him go if it means betraying his love and devotion, and I lie awake every night KNOWING I could have saved him, if I wasn’t so weak I could have used the power in our bloodline to save his life!” Velvet yelled, moving out of her chair to glare at Fluttershy.

“No Mama you can’t think of things like that! You could have done more bad than good!” Fluttershy yelled back, turning to face her angry mother.

“But I could have saved him! I could have saved him and that just makes you angry that it wasn’t you who thought of it!”

Fluttershy was about to retort, but the sound of the door slamming open caused her to look upon the third pony in the room, Rainbow Dash.

“I-I’m sorry, I heard the yelling and… well…” Rainbow stuttered awkwardly.

“No, that’s okay, I was just leaving.” Velvet said in a stern, even voice. She stiffly walked passed Rainbow, glaring at her as though everything were her fault. Rainbow watched her leave in stunned silence, up to when Velvet violently slammed the door behind her.

“Fluttershy, I’m sorry, I didn’t know it was Velvet…” Rainbow apologized. She looked around anxiously, unable to make eye contact with her old friend.

“It’s alright, Rainbow. I’m actually kind of glad you barged in when you did. Seeing Mama like that is really hard, and I can’t do a thing to help her…” Fluttershy sobbed, nuzzling deep into Rainbow’s neck as she returned the embrace.

“Fluttershy, I think the only thing you can do is be there for her, even if she is delusional most of the time.”

Fluttershy jabbed her in the ribs a bit, “Now that’s not nice, Rainbow.” She said sternly and glared at her.

“Aw come on Flutters, she seriously needs a wakeup call.”

Fluttershy pondered for a moment, “Well, maybe if we both sit her down and try to talk to her, she might just come around.”

“Now that’s more like it. I think I’ll head out and look for her, she couldn’t have gotten far.” Dash said as she headed towards the door.

“Okay, I have some things that need to get done out in the garden. Just let me know when you’re back.”

“Alright, see you in a bit ‘Shy!” Rainbow called as she shot off into the open air.

Rainbow Dash flew all around Ponyville looking for Velvet for over an hour, much to the mare’s irritation. Eventually she let out an aggravated sigh and decided to enlist the help of her friends, beginning with Twilight. The library, being a giant tree, was quite easy to spot on most days. But today the large crowd of ponies and the giant shield encasing the library took the cake.

Wanting a closer look to see what everypony was gathered up for she swooped down and flew right over the center of the clearing of ponies. What she saw unhinged her jaw. A pair of teen dragons, specifically the ones that Spike hung out with during his short time being a part of the great dragon migration, were yelling toward the Library.

"Come on out little Spikey-Wikey, we just want to talk!" The leader of the group of teenage dragons, Garble, yelled through the door to the library.

"Heh, yeah! With our fists!" the tall lanky purple dragon, Ash, called out.

"Hey shut up Ash, he'll puss out if he knows we're going to kick his pony ass for ruining our raid." Garble whispered, unknowingly loud enough for the ponies around him to hear.

"Oh right, sorry." Ash said.

"Hey!" Garble and Ash looked up over their heads to see Rainbow and a number of other pegasi glaring down at them. "You better get the hay out of here or else!"

"Or else what? You'll whine to your namby-pamby princess? Ha!" Garble taunted.

"Yeah she can’t do anything to us dragons!" Ash put in.

"No, she won’t have to, We can take you on ourselves! Let's go Ponyville! Let's teach 'em nopony messes with us!" Rainbow Dash yelled out, receiving a battle-cry from the riled up ponies.

"GARBLE!!!" The entirety of the assembled ponies nearly jumped out of their skin at the yell that shook the very air. As they looked around for the source, more than a few gasps of terror and screams of horror could be heard. "Look what I found." The largest of the teen dragons but by far the least intelligent, Crush, held up his prize for all to see.

Not five minutes earlier

Crush, being the largest and strongest of the teen dragons, was actually a poor flyer. He, Ash and Garble had departed the dragon lands in search of revenge against Spike for the debacle that befell their raid on the nest of Phoenix eggs. Soon after taking off, he found himself falling quite far behind until his companions appeared to be just a speck on the horizon. It wasn't until mid-morning he was able to spot the town of Ponyville far to his right; he had drifted left in his flight several miles without the guidance of Garble.

He quickly corrected his course, soon flying over a large field of apple trees. He considered setting the field ablaze, but acting without orders from Garble would have been cause for punishment. Instead he continued on his flight. Soon he noticed a small cottage near the Everfree, and a single yellow pony tending to some flowers. Thinking Garble would enjoy tormenting such weak creatures, he looped around and dove from the sky.

Fluttershy never saw him coming. In one fell swoop she had been taken into the air, firmly grasped within Crush’s claws. Once realization hit her that she had been nabbed, by a dragon no less, she went into hysterics screaming and kicking with all her might.

Crush tightened his grip so she would be unable to squirm away, the increased pressure making her breathing difficult but still she resisted. Fed up, Crush demonstrated his namesake and doubled the pressure. Fluttershy felt her breath being stolen away, the immense pain accompanying the snap of her left wing, then nothing as the world faded away.

“Fluttershy!” Rainbow cried out, her words having no effect on her unconscious form.

In a rage, Rainbow tried to fly up and free her lifetime friend, but was blocked off by Ash. “Whoa there little pony, we don’t need you spoiling our fun too.” He said. Dash tried to fly around him, but he managed to reach out and grab ahold of her tail, yanking her back. Ash grabbed both of her wings and twisted them, shattering them completely.

Rainbow screamed out in pain she never knew existed and swiftly passed out, much to the amusement of the dragons. Ash released her, allowing her to plummet to the ground. He frowned, however, when he saw an older mare swoop in and catch her. She quickly passed Rainbow’s unconscious and broken from to other nearby flyers who took off for the hospital. The mare landed then approached the Dragons.

“You three have caused enough damage here today, release my daughter and leave us at once!” Velvet demanded.

The teen dragons looked to each other for a moment before erupting in laughter. “So this is your daughter?” Garble asked, nodding to Fluttershy passed out in Crush’s claws, “How about this instead: You bring Spike out here so we can teach him a lesson, the longer you take the more Crush here will squeeze her.” Velvet’s jaw dropped in shock, along with a few others in the crowd.

“Crush?” Garble asked, signaling to begin the torture. Crush began to apply pressure, then there was another loud snap, this time Fluttershy’s right wing breaking. The sudden pain rocked her back to consciousness with a screech of agony.

“No…” Velvet whispered to herself in horror. “NO! Fluttershy! Let her go NOW!” She screamed.

“Oh yeah? What are you gonna do about it?” Garble taunted. Velvet didn’t respond, instead she had clenched her eyes closed, lowered her head, and began to chant. She spoke an ancient and forbidden prayer for power to fight against her foes, for the protection of her daughter, and was answered.

Everypony looked up in fear, the sun had been blocked of its light by the moon shooting up over the horizon and, for the first time in thousands of years, pulsated an eerie blue as it eclipsed the sun. Velvet opened her eyes, revealing a freezing aura within as she glared at the dragons. She held out her right hoof, and the air seemed to cool around it, freezing the water particles in the air to form a thin rapier of ice.

“Umm…” Ash stuttered.

Fluttershy fought to stay awake through the pain, the sight of Velvet’s transformation chilling her with fear. “Mama! No you shouldn’t, there has to be another-!” She chocked, her pleas cut off by another squeeze from Crush.

Velvet twitched for a moment, forcing herself to make eye contact with Fluttershy. “Y-you have to stop me…” Another shudder ran through her body for a moment, and then she looked around with cold indifference.

When her gaze fell on the dragons, her eyes narrowed and wings spread outward, taking on an aggressive stance. Her glare flicked between all three of them, studying each of them carefully. A crack of a rib breaking caught her attention. Her eyes took in Fluttershy as she cried out, some part of Velvet fought to the fore front of her mind, the need to protect her daughter from the dragons.

“Uh, guys, that pony is doing something…” Ash said, slightly concerned.

“Ah shut up Ash, it’s just a puny pony. It can’t do anything to us-” Garble was suddenly cut off by a high pitched scream, not from the captive pony, but from Crush. He and Ash whirled around to see what had happened, and what they saw was something out of a nightmare.

Crush was rolling around on the ground, clutching the bleeding stumps of his arms to his chest. No matter what Crush did, the blood continued to flow from the double amputation. Velvet was standing protectively over Fluttershy off to the side, rapier in hoof with blood trailing its length and dripping into a puddle beneath it.

Garble took the scene in, using his cunning mind to figure out what to do next. If that pony truly was a danger to them, it needed to be dealt with right away. Crush was bleeding profusely; if nothing was done he would bleed out before he could return to the mountains for medical aid. “Ash, roast that pony, we need to get Crush out of here.” Garble commanded.

Ash nodded and advanced on Velvet while Garble went to attend Crush. Garble leapt on top of Crush and grabbed his arms tightly. “Crush, this is going to hurt a lot.” He warned. He took a deep breath and exhaled a concentrated stream of fire onto the wound, cauterizing both stumps while Crush howled out in pain.

Ash cringed at the sounds Crush was able to produce, but he remained focused on the shifty mare in front of him. “You’re going to regret that.” He said coldly. He took in a deep breath then unleashed an emerald inferno that enveloped Velvet.

Unseen through the flames, she held up her blade defensively at the last moment and routed the flames around her body leaving her unscathed. After a moment the flames died out, revealing her to the horrified crowed and speechless dragon. Once more she brought the blade to her side aggressively, then surged forward on her wings.

The sudden action caused Ash to panic and he quickly breathed another blast of fire. Velvet slashed through it, causing it to dissipate harmlessly. Ash swung out his left fist to knock her from the air, but she twisted her body with the swipe of her blade and bucked out with her hind legs. She made contact, the power of the moon fueling her strength snapped Ash’s arm at the elbow.

Ash reeled back with a grunt of pain, then leveled an enraged glare at Velvet. He took a steadying breath and swung out wildly in a berserker rage. Velvet was forced to fall back for a moment to avoid the wild strikes as she calmly waited for him to tire out. He over swung his right punch, over extending his body. Velvet quickly rushed forward, but she didn’t see his tail fly down from above. His tail smashed into her head, cracking her skull as it was slammed into the ground and sent her sword flying from her grasp.

Ash stood there panting for a moment, waiting for Velvet to make any movement. He had truly feared for his life for a moment, the adrenalin-fueled panic for his life had really taken it out of him. A twinge of pain in his arm made him wince, but before he could tend to his injury he heard something that re-ignited his terror. He slowly brought his head back to focus on Velvet.

She was slowly making her way to her hooves and breathing heavily, a thick trail of blood ran from her mane, over her left eye, and dripped from her chin. She once more summoned her blade to her side and took to the air. Ash tried to follow her movements, but his exhaustion was slowing him greatly. He tried once more to swipe her with his tail, but she had been waiting for just that. In one swift motion she dove under the swing, bringing her sword up in an arc. It met with a slight resistance before slicing through the tail like butter.

As Ash roared out in pain, Velvet flapped her wings to spin her around and gain momentum to drive the sword into his back, piercing his heart and exploding out of his chest. Ash stood there for a moment, stunned and in shock at what had just occurred. He reached up to try to grab the ice rapier, but his arm grew heavy, as did the rest of his body. He quickly collapsed onto the ground, dead within moments.

Velvet jumped from the body, materializing another sword in her hoof as she advanced on Garble and Crush, both in shock at what had just happened. Neither could recall when the last time one of their kin were slain, and until that moment had considered themselves immune to such things.

She spread her wings and launched herself forward, bringing the sword down in a great arc to split Garble in half. However, Crush being forever faithful, pushed Garble out of the way. Velvet didn’t care, he was just another dragon to put down. She followed through with her mighty swing, the sharp edge of her sword piercing deep into his chest, ripping through bone and organ on its way from left shoulder to right hip.

There was a moment of silence as she stood on the ground, sword still held out. That silence was replaced with a bloody cough, and a spray of bloody chunks of flesh from the mortal wound. Crush fell in a heap, blood pouring out around his body in a grotesque puddle.

Velvet turned to Garble. He froze in terror, a light splattering on the ground indicating that he just pissed himself. Unseen by either, Fluttershy managed to get herself up off the ground and rush toward them as fast as her legs could carry her.

Velvet once more brought up her sword to finish the job, but Fluttershy was able to get inside her swing and grab her arm.

“Mama that’s enough! It doesn't have to be this way, please!” Fluttershy pleaded. She stared into the cold eyes of her mother, searching for a glimmer of her former self, but none was to be found. She was too late, she had lost her mother to the curse of her bloodline.

She held back her tears as Velvet tried to squirm from her grasp. Instead she closed her eyes, hoping to do the impossible, to do the unthinkable. Velvet finally broke free and dashed towards Garble, but her swing was parried. Garble looked down towards the sword held in his claw, the one that Ash knocked out of Velvet’s hoof, with a glimmer in his eyes. He might just be able to fend off the mad mare and live through this.

Unfortunately for him, Velvet simply undid the enchantment and returned his blade to nothing more than mist. Now disarmed and vulnerable, He backed away as quickly as he could. Velvet once more surged forward with her sword posed to strike. Garble tripped and fell onto his back. He screamed in terror and held his arms defensively in front of himself and waited for the end. But instead of searing pain, he heard the sound of the sword being parried once more.

Confused, he lowered his arms to see the pony they had taken hostage with a frozen sword of her own pushing back against Velvet’s. However, there was a subtle difference between the two, where Velvet’s eyes had appeared to have been frozen over, Fluttershy’s had remained their cheery blue. Instead a frosty mist seeped from her injuries as it mended the fractures in her wings and ribs.

Immediately she was beset with visions of war as all the sound in the world faded away, leaving naught but a whispering voice begging for power, offering power, overwhelming her mind with greed and endless hatred. But amidst all this, the thought of her friends and family managed to push back the darkness just as it did long ago on that fateful day. Fluttershy opened her eyes wide with a gasp, finding herself blade against blade with her mother.

“Mama, you have to stop this! I know the whispers are overwhelming, but if you focus you can overcome them!” Fluttershy yelled as she pushed harder against Velvet. She pressed her advance and forced Velvet onto the defensive. She swung downward quickly hoping to catch Velvet off guard, but her attack was parried.

Velvet feigned to one side, making Fluttershy crouch low where Velvet thrust a hoof forward and punched Fluttershy several feet away. She advanced upon the downed mare quickly, but the ground beneath her hooves shifted and caused her to stumble.

“No Mama! Don't do this! Please... don't make me do this...” Fluttershy cried, hoping against hope that her mother was still somewhere deep inside the monster that stood before her, but the glimmer of her mother's kind, old eyes was no more. Velvet lunged forward with another attack as the ground under her erupted in a spray of dirt, obscuring them from view.

As the dust settled, it revealed Velvet being restrained by the dead, decaying limbs of fallen ponies long forgotten by time. It was here that Fluttershy stood, casting a shadow over her fallen mother. And for the first time, Velvet locked her icy glare upon Fluttershy, and spoke.

“You will become my first retribution. Where you tread, doom will follow.” Fluttershy could only stare back silently, tears flowing from the edges of her eyes. She positioned her blade, and as she thrust forward into her Mother’s heart, she heard a voice whispered upon the wind. “Stay strong, my sweet…”