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The path to Fluttershy's cottage was as still and quiet as it had been when she left it. Twilight had repeatedly barred offers to develop the land here, insisting it be kept as a nature preserve. The corporation that wanted the land took the matter to Princess Celestia, and were dismayed that the answer remained the same.

Curiously, there were no animals there to welcome the cottage's resident back. Twilight knocked on the door.

"Go away." Said a quiet voice.

"Fluttershy, it's me, Twilight. I'm here with Rarity and Applejack."

Applejack stepped up to the door, "C'mon sugarcube, don'tcha miss us?"

"I said, go away." Sobbing. "I'm--I'm a monster. I'll just hurt you!"

"Don't you wanna talk about this?"

The door creaked open, showing an aged rabbit with concern in his beady eyes. It opened further, revealing a sight that sent a painful stab into Twilight's heart. Rarity gasped. Fluttershy sat in the center of her living room, her mane, tail, and wings in a disheveled state. Tears collected into a puddle under her head.

"Fluttershy?"

"Please get out. I don't want to hurt you. Please, please..." Her voice dissolved into a quiet whimper.

Twilight nuzzled her and placed a wing around her shoulder. "Fluttershy, we're here to help."

Fluttershy sobbed into her shoulder, whimpering. Twilight turned to Applejack, who had tapped her on the shoulder. AJ was holding a bottle of hard cider in her teeth. Twilight levitated it and gave her a questioning look.

"It'll help her loosen up." Applejack whispered. Twilight sighed.

"Here ya go, sugarcube. Why don't you take a drink, it'll make ya feel better."

Fluttershy accepted the bottle without complaint and took a sip. She coughed and spluttered, then proceeded to drink the rest. She'd stopped crying by then.

"Whoa there nelly!" Applejack gently pulled the bottle away, "Ya feelin' better, sugarcube?"

Fluttershy nodded.

"Now would ya mind telling us why ya think yer such a monster? I remember Fluttershy bein' the sweetest, kindest pony in all a' Ponyville."

Fluttershy shrunk behind her mane, "I killed somepony. You all think I'm a monster now, do you?"

"Now, now Fluttershy. We all know that's not the whole story. You're not the kind to be goin' around and killin ponies left and right, so something musta' happened to make ya'll do that."

She sighed.

"It happened in the hospital, five months ago. We were landed in the Badlands to treat some foals when they arrived."

"Now, this might hurt just a teensy tiny bit, but it'll help you feel better." Fluttershy gently stabbed the antibiotic needle into the minotaur kid's arm.

She gave him the proper dose for his size and weight, and then she cleaned up the injection site and placed a bandaid over it.

"Thanks Miss Fluttershy!" The kid bleated happily and walked out of the clinic.

Fluttershy followed him to the entrance to greet the next patient personally. She came face to face with a griffon, and while he looked uninjured or sick in any way, she still offered aid.

"Good morning sir, how may I help you?"

The griffon raised a wing, revealing the rifle strapped to his chest, "Come with me."

Fluttershy felt her wings lock up, and she squeaked, retreating back into her mane. She backed up as the griffon stepped forward.

"Come with me or I'll shoot."

She looked around and saw the other crew members in similar predicaments: held at gunpoint by either minotaurs or griffons. The kid she had been tending to just a while ago was struggling in an even larger griffon's grip. Suddenly, the kid bit down on the griffon's foreleg, eliciting a yelp.

"Why you little shit." He growled. "I don't need you alive anyway."

The griffon's claw ruptured the minotaur kid's head like a melon. Fluttershy screamed, rushing forward. The last thing she saw was a wing rushing towards her.

Rarity's face was green, and she struggled to keep from retching. "The barbarians!"

Fluttershy was crying again, and it looked for a moment that she was going to stop when she opened her mouth to speak. She barely got a word out when a solid thump sounded outside the door.

"You!" Rainbow Dash was livid, "I told you to give her some space and this is what happens!" She blurred forward, knocking Applejack off her hooves.

"Hey! Fluttershy is our friend too, ya mule! We're jus' tryn'a help!"

"Rainbow Dash, it's okay." Fluttershy whispered.

The sound of hooves smacking into flesh echoed into the still confines of the house.

"You can try to help by staying the buck away!" Rainbow's wings flared out as Applejack pushed her off. "She needs time!"

"She's had enough time to keepin' this to herself already!"

"Look at how hurt she is! You--you motherless--!"

Murderous intent flashed across Applejack's eyes as she snarled, "Don't you dare bring my parents into this! I'll clip yer wings, if I ever hear ya say that again!"

Twilight was stunned. She hadn't seen her friends fight like this since Discord. Twilight reached out and seized them with her magic before the two could come to blows again.

"That is enough!" Twilight screamed over their verbal abuse. "This isn't your time to argue. If you want to do that, take it outside while we try to help our friend over here!"

Suitably chastised, she dropped the two ponies unceremoniously to the ground. "Sorry Twilight." They said in unison.

Fluttershy woke up in a damp cell, illuminated only by an old incandescent. The sight of that kid burned in her mind, and it took a lot of effort to stop from retching, even more to banish it at least temporarily. Near the door was a bowl of foul-smelling stew. It was cold, gray, and seemed to have fish bones mixed into it. She wrinkled her nose in disgust.

"You awake." Said a figure by the door. "Good."

"Excuse me mister. Where are we?"

"We in Warlord Ravenous camp. We break ponies and sell them. You make good toy for warlords."

Fluttershy bit back the urge to vomit and the panic that was seeping its way into her chest as she implications of what the guard said hit home.

"You nice and shy. That good. Easy to break. But first we break foals."

She felt it then, that anger, that other her rising into her consciousness. She tried to fight it, but the guard's glib explanations of their plans only encouraged the other self. It spoke to her, told her that it would not let that happen. It made every kind of sense. It was the only way she could escape. It was the only way she could stop this atrocity.

"Please stop." She said. The guard was taunting her, teasing her. He...it was calling her weak, powerless.

"Stop it, please."

She felt a sharp pain in her thigh as the guard poked her with his spear, the steel point glinting dully in the light. The point came away stained with blood. The guard laughed and tossed a broken rabbit -- Angel! -- into the cell. His breathing was shallow, and yet he crawled weakly to her. That was the final straw. She allowed it to surface.

She glared at the guard, who was watching her curiously. "I said stop!"

This time the guard did stop. She felt its consciousness at the edge of her own, and she dived in. She tore and ripped and sundered, dragging its worst nightmares and greatest fears kicking, screaming to the surface. She brought forth the full power of her gaze, reducing the minotaur to a whimpering, crying, sweating whelp.

It was the guard's turn to beg. Its pleas fell on deaf ears. It was afraid of heights. It was afraid of death. It was afraid of her.

"Open the door." She commanded, crushing the resistance that festered in its mind. "Open the door!"

A shaking hand brought the keys up and inserted the correct one into the lock. It twisted, unlocking the door. The minotaur swung open the door. Fluttershy flapped her wings, ascending until she was at eye level with the object.

"Kill yourself." She commanded. It was a sound decision. It would alert the others the moment she let it go.

"Please...no!" The minotaur whimpered.

Nevertheless, it raised a knife and shakily drew it across its throat. Crimson poured out of the sliced veins, and it choked and gurgled on its blood. The body crumpled to the ground in a growing pool of its own fluids as its consciousness guttered out.

Satisfied, the Other retreated into the depths of her own nightmares, leaving Fluttershy to the task of freeing the other prisoners.

Fluttershy's crying had renewed as she brought the recollection of her experience to a close. "You all think I'm a monster now, do you? It's okay if you think I am. I understand."

"Fluttershy...why?" Hurt, concern shone in Rainbow Dash's eyes as tears streamed down her cheeks. "Why didn't you tell me?"

Fluttershy offered her a sad smile. "It's because you're my closest friend. I thought you'd think I'm a monster...I -- I don't ever want to lose you, Rainbow Dash."

Rainbow Dash reached over to embrace her. "You're not a monster, Fluttershy."

"If there are going to be monsters, it shall be that Warlord Ravenous fellow and his lackeys!"

"But I--I killed--"

"You saved those ponies and Angel, that's what ya done did!"

Twilight spoke softly, so that only she could hear. "You did the right thing, Fluttershy." She leaned in even closer and whispered. "I've learned over the years that sometimes doing that is very hard and sometimes it'll give you nightmares, and it might make you feel despicable. You are not alone here. But Fluttershy, promise me...promise us that you'll only use The Stare when you really have to."

She wrapped both wings and forelegs around Fluttershy, holding her close.

"What matters is that you're safe now. You're with your friends, and whatever happens, we'll be there for you."

"I promise, Twilight." She whispered into her ear.

"Thank you, all of you." Fluttershy broke the embrace, smiling. And then she yawned. "I think I'll go to sleep now, if you don't mind. Come on, Angel Bunny, it's time for bed."

"It's alright sugarcube. If ever you need help, jus' holler and we'll be there."

"Damn straight! And if ever somepony tries to take you away, they'll have to get through me!" Rainbow Dash jabbed at the air.

"And me!" Rarity chipped in.

"Me too." Twilight's horn flared. "But girls, I think we should go now. Fluttershy needs her rest."

Angel waved at them with a thankful look in his eyes as they filed out of the cottage.

"Woo-wee! What a night!" AJ exclaimed, startling a squirrel out of her nest. "Sorry y'all! First time seeing four of my friends in a long time."

"And speaking of which." She turned to Rainbow Dash, twisting her Stetson uneasily. "Rainbow, I'm mighty sorry about what I said earlier. I didn't mean it. I was so caught up I'm the--"

"I know. I'm sorry too, AJ." Rainbow Dash sighed guiltily. "It's water under the bridge."

"Friends?"

Rainbow Dash hugged her. "I wouldn't have it any other way."

"And now I really could use a drink! Who's with me?" Rarity took the lead in trotting back to Ponyville.

"I'll drink to that!" Applejack laughed.

Author's Note

With that out of the way, lets have a few lighthearted episodes and a tour of modern Equestria before we move on to the various problems.

I'm calling this 'Other' Darkershy in discussion, if you don't mind.