Chapter Nine: Fluttershy's Rampage

私の小さい馬：大きな鉱石の物語

MY LITTLE PONY: THE LEGEND OF THE GREAT CRYSTALS

Daikushou: Furattaashai no Bousou

だいくしょう：フラッターシャイのぼうそう

第九章：フラッターシャイの暴走

Chapter Nine: Fluttershy’s Rampage

It was now the next morning after Gash had once again been put into the hospital, this time under greater injuries than the last time. He had just woken up, and it felt like intense pins and needles, all of which were jabbing relentlessly at the large wounds in his hand and shoulder. He coughed out multiple times, each time in excruciating pain. He opened his eyes; he could tell he was in the same room he was in the last time because there was large patchwork on the wall. All he felt he could do was lay there in this pain. After a little while, a doctor came in with a food cart and Gash immediately shot up, hearing the clanking of metal across the floor. He looked at the cart and saw all the things he wanted, but didn’t find himself very hungry.

“Food’s here!” the stallion pushing the cart said. “Oh, it’s you again,” he said, narrowing his eyes at the young human.

“Oh, hi,” Gash replied, drying his mouth from the blood. He sat up in pain and held his head forward, putting the cloth to his nose.

“You put up a pretty good fight. Too bad it had to be against a school filly and an Element of Harmony.”

‘Wonderful. More reminders of what I did to make me feel even more terrible.’

“Have you anything to say about it?”

“I’d rather move on,” Gash said, picking up a plate.

“Do you think it’ll be that easy for all the ponies that witnessed the event to move on from what they saw?” the doctor asked, Gash filling his plate with various foods. The main dish, of course, was fish.

“Of course not. It’s never that easy,” he answered, not looking at the doctor.

“She’s still in here, you know.”

“Will you just shut up about it already!? You think I don’t know all of these things already!?” Gash shouted, a few tears dripping down from his eyes.

“Jeez. Calm down, kid.”

“How am I supposed to stay calm when I have this lingering thought of pain and sorrow in the back of my mind?” he shot back, falling back in his bed.

“Pain and sorrow? I thought that the only things you felt were arrogance and strength.”

“It’s…different now. Things have happened.”

“In two days?”

“I’m living in a crazy world right now,” Gash said, chomping down on his fish. “A world where things rapidly change. Now, can we change the subject?” he asked, the doctor, like last time, being covered in fish bits.

“Fine. How’d you get those?” he asked, pointing to Gash’s two large wounds, now covered by large bandages.

“I’d rather not say. It’s pretty gory and dramatic.”

“Okay. So, I’ll just leave this cart here to fulfill your…dietary needs, and I’ll come back in a while.”

“Can you help me to the bathroom first?”

“Eh…sure,” he complied as Gash set his now bone-filled plate on a table.

Gash sat on the edge of his seat in considerable pain as he winced. The doctor put one hoof around his waist and another under his legs and slowly lowered him to the ground. The sudden shift in body position quickly caught Gash off balance, nearly falling over; he had to use the stallion to balance him. After a minute, he finally stood straight.

“You good?”

“Yeah.”

“Alright. Slowly,” the doctor let on, beginning to walk slowly towards the bathroom.

After Gash had done his business, the stallion helped him back to and onto his bed. He left the room and Gash lay there for a while, falling asleep eventually.

Multiple hours passed, and Fluttershy walked into the hospital.

“Oh, hello Fluttershy. How are you today?” the receptionist asked.

“I’m alright. Yourself?”

“Same! How may I help you?”

“Is Gash available?”

“Let me go see.”

The receptionist walked to Gash’s room to see if he was awake. He was lying there with his eyes closed, so she asked the question.

“Gash, are you awake?”

“Huh?” he replied, his eyes shooting open. “Yeah. What is it?”

“Fluttershy is here to see you.”

"Bring her in.”

“Alright.”

The receptionist and Fluttershy came back a minute later. Fluttershy thanked the receptionist and walked to Gash’s bed, looking over his body. He looked up at her and saw a serendipitous smile on her face, to which he smiled back.

“Good afternoon, Gash. How are you feeling today?”

“Eh, it still hurts, but it’s mainly soreness now. Thank you.”

“’Thank you,’ for what?”

“For caring,” he said, not taking his eyes off of the butter-coated mare.

“Things like that don’t need gratitude. They’re a given,” Fluttershy humbled herself, softly rubbing her hoof through his hair. He closed his eyes in comfort and lay back in his seat.

“Point taken,” he said, grinning. “So, what brings you here today, Fluttershy?”

“I came to ask about that red book of yours. When I got home yesterday, there was this pink one on my doorstep in a basket addressed to me. I was wondering if you knew anything else about this?”

‘Do I tell her about it or hold off? Well, given that my knowledge is still limited, it shouldn’t cause any problems. Still, I’ll ask about it.’

“You found the book on your doorstep? Did it say who it was from?”

“This card,” she started, pulling out a folded piece of white paper,” was with it. It’s really unsettling,” she finished, handing it over to Gash. He unfolded it and saw the words written in red ink. This already creeped him out.

“Dear the holder of this pink book:

You will soon find a dark fate ahead of you. Be warned, for your days are soon limited. The shrill sounds of your own screams will deafen you beyond your minds own comprehension. Your blood will color the world red…

Death Blast”

“Who the hell?” he whispered to himself.

“I have no clue who this ‘Death Blast’ is. What could this mean?”

“It’s a death threat.”

“A-A-A what!?”

“A death threat. This ‘Murder Blast’ wants you dead. I’d go and tell Twilight and the others right after you leave.”

“I-I will…definitely,” she stammered, horrified.

“So, back to your original question. I know a little about the books from what Chrysalis has told me.”

“The changeling?”

“Yes. She has a book as well.”

“Ah. Do tell, if that’s okay with you.”

“Alright…let’s see…Well, every thousand years, one hundred inhabitants of this world are destined to fight. Over the course of their lifetimes, ‘fate’ will lead them to the book and their knowledge about the battle. They will fight through battles until all but one of these spellbooks are burnt, and the remainder will be the winner. Supposedly, the winner is given the opportunity to have a wish of any magnitude granted. That’s all I know.”

“So, that means…I’m going to have to fight?” she shied away.

“Yes. That is, if you can read characters in that book.”

“I-I can read one word in here. It’s-“ she started.

“Wait, don’t-“

“Zeruku.”

“No!”

It was too late, however, as Fluttershy’s book shimmered with a pale-red energy. Fluttershy’s eyes flashed with a malicious, dark-red as her body started to change. Her mane changed from its normal state to spiky and unkempt, bristling at the top and wrapping around her neck, body and book, like armor. The hair surrounding her book retracted towards the inside of her mane, hiding it. Her face turned into an ugly state, with wrinkled lines all around and two crimson lines running under each eye. Two long, needle-like fangs grew from the top of her mouth, down through her bottom jaw, piercing through her chin; the rest of her teeth turning into shorter fangs. Blood dripped from the long fangs as a sheer crackling sound could be heard. Her legs were coated in a metal material, with spikes growing out of her hooves. Her cutie mark had changed from three butterflies to three butterflies ripped into multiple pieces.

“Fluttershy?” Gash asked. “Are you okay?”

There was a loud roar from the now-changed Fluttershy as she stared at him with blood-lust.

“Yes…this power is amazing…I’ll be the one coloring the world in red with this power…” she evilly snarled, turning to the wall. “I’ll destroy them all…” she menaced, backing up towards the bed.

“Fluttershy, what are you talk-“ he tried, but the thought remained incomplete as she burst through the wall, giving a deep, demonic howl. Nurses and doctors rushed into the room.

“What happened?” one asked.

“Did you do this again?”

“We just fixed that wall!”

The nurses and doctors asked and complained away as Gash tried to comprehend what he had just seen.

‘Fluttershy…a demon? That’s so…ironic, knowing her kind, caring personality…’

“Gash!” a voice cried from the doorway. Chrysalis limped into the room, her wounds having healed most of the way.

Chrysalis observed the mess in front of her. She tried to come up with reasons this could’ve happened, but she only came to one conclusion. This was the work of a demon.

“Gash! A demon!”

“I know! It’s…Fluttershy…”

“F-Fluttershy? The kind, yellow mare?”

“Yes…”

“We need to stop her!”

"But...I can't...hurt her!"

"I understand your feelings and all, but this can end really badly if we don't do anything to try and stop her!"

"But...!"

"Ponies can get really badly hurt! It could be disastrous!"

"Oh..." he sighed, not wanting to comply. “I’m kind of stuck here…” he said in attempt to make an excuse.

“Climb on my back!” Chrysalis ordered, walking over to the bed.

“Are you sure? I think that with my weight and your injuries that this would be a bad idea-“

“My injuries don’t matter, and you couldn’t possibly be that heavy. Now, on!” she demanded, grasping Gash in her magic and placing him on her back.

“See, no problem!” she said, walking towards the hole in the wall. “Got your book?”

“I do!” he said, looking to the red book within his mantle.

“Then, let’s go!” she said, slowly cantering out the hole. The doctors looked on to the scene.

“That boy brings nothing but trouble,” one said. The rest were speechless as to what had just happened.

Chrysalis trotted as fast as she could down the streets of Ponyville, trying to locate the almost-possessed Fluttershy. The first thing the two did was go to locate Twilight. They went to the Golden Oaks Library to see if she was there. All the way there, they were given weird stares, some of curiosity, some of intense fear from visions of Fluttershy. Gash knocked at the door.

“Coming!” Spike’s voice shouted, and a few moments later, he opened the door. “Uh…Hello, Gash and…a…changeling…Twilight!” he shouted, not knowing that Chrysalis was friendly. A minute later, Twilight came out, prepared to protect herself from the ‘hostile changeling’ as Spike told her.

“What do you wa-Oh, it’s Gash and Chrysalis. What are you two doing out of the hospital?”

“It’s…Fluttershy. Something’s happened to her,” Gash stated, almost darkly.

“Oh, no! Is she hurt!?”

“No…” Gash informed, pulling out his spellbook. “She was able to read one of the books, and when she did, she went berserk! She gave me this note that came with the book she found. It was on her doorstep,” he told, handing Twilight the note.

When Twilight read the note, she looked horrified at first, but that look quickly turned to that of intense rage. The angry energy was nearly visible around her; it was very transparent.

“Who would dare to even think about giving a death threat to an Element of Harmony!? This pony is in a whole lot of trouble when we find it!” she raged, but quickly calmed down, thinking about the situation. “Anyway, where is she?”

“We don’t know. That’s why we came here,” Chrysalis said. “We were hoping that you would know.”

“That’s unfortunate, because I don’t.”

“Maybe if we ask some of the townsponies, they’ll know,” Gash suggested.

“That’d probably be the best-“ Twilight started, but was cut off by a screaming pony coming from down the street.

“Help! There’s a giant monster! It’ll kill us all!” she screeched, running past them.

“Hey, wait!” Gash shouted, catching the attention of the pony. She turned around to answer them, but when she saw Gash and the changeling, she fainted on the road. Gash limped over to her, softly shaking her head.

“Nuh…ugh…” she muttered, coming to. She took a look up at Gash’s face, and hers paled. She slowly backed away from him.

“Where is this ‘giant monster’ you’re speaking of?”

“Oh…my…there’re monsters everywhere!” she exclaimed, getting up and running away.

“Hey, wait up!” he shouted. It was too late-she was already gone.

“Looks like everyone’s going to be afraid of me, too,” he muttered in a frustrated manner. He limped back to the changeling and got back on. “I’ll guess that Fluttershy is that way,” he postulated, pointing to the direction the mare came from.

“That sounds reasonable enough to me,” Chrysalis agreed, starting to trot off to that direction.

“Wait, Gash! Should I tell the princesses?”

“Nah, I don’t think it’s necessary. She’ll run out of energy for the spell sooner or later, and she’ll probably go unconscious, seeing as it’s her first time,” Chrysalis informed. Twilight nodded, taking a step forward.

“Will you need my help?”

“Probably not in this scenario. Her spell will fade before you can do anything that productive. You should let us calm her.”

“Okay. Stay safe. Oh, and Gash, do you think you’ll need your sword?”

“No. A ‘Zakeru’ should knock her out, if it comes to that.”

“Okay. Be careful.”

“I’ll make sure of it. Chrysalis, let’s go!” Gash demanded. The changeling filly trotted off towards the direction of Fluttershy.

The unusual pair found themselves near Sugarcube Corner, where the now rampaging Fluttershy was terrorizing the townspeople. Around the area, Gash could see multiple, long slash marks across buildings, as well as ponies lying around who had tried to obstruct her path, but were met with large claw marks along their bodies; blood gushed out of their wounds as they lay unconscious. Everypony was now in buildings, staring at the from The two approached the berserker, who turned towards them.

“Oh, Gash!” she howled, giving a maleficent grin. “Come join me, won’t you!?”

“No, Fluttershy. You need to calm down. Now.”

“But, why? I finally have all of the power in the world! No one can look down at me now!” she cried, spinning herself in circles.

“Because, I’ll have to shock you if you don’t. And I’m sure you don’t want that,” he assured, staring her down. She looked back at him once again,

“You think that you can stop me with one of your petty lightning bolts!? I’d like to see you try!”

“No! Why don’t you just hand over the book, and we’ll be on our way?”

“You just want to take away this power. You only want this power to yourself!”

“That’s not true! Fluttershy, I-“ Gash started, but found himself shutting up when she lunged at him.

“Rashirudo!” he shouted as the golden wall appeared in front of him.

“Rashirudo!” he once again incanted, making the shield larger. He thought he was safe for a moment, but that thought was dashed when Fluttershy leaped over the shield. She sent herself straight downwards at them.

“Poruku!” Chrysalis cried, creating a net above her using her mane.

Fluttershy landed in the hair, and then Chrysalis threw her into a building to her side. She trotted to the opposite end of the street, waiting for the dust to settle from the crash. Before it could, though, Fluttershy came charging through the debris. Gash sighed, charging up for a spell.

“Zakeru!” he shouted, releasing the electrifying, yellow energy over Fluttershy.

He turned his head away, not wanting to see the results of his power over his savior’s body. After a moment, he turned his head back, to see cracks in the metallic armor she had sported. She gave a soft moan as she turned away from them.

“Fine. If you’re going to be so persistent, I’ll go somewhere else!” she roared, running quickly down the street.

“No! Come back, you coward!” Gash insulted. He expected Fluttershy to come back, but she kept on running. “She kept going. C’mon, we need to follow her,” Gash informed. He looked down at Chrysalis and saw the pain of fatigue on her face. “Are you alright, Chrysalis?”

“Just…a bit…tired,” she said, her legs all shaking. She took a step, but immediately fell to the ground.

“Chrysalis!” he shouted, jumping off. He put a hand on the back of her head. “Are you alright!?”

“So much…pain…can’t…continue…” she gasped, breathing heavily.

“Hey, what’s going on here?” A tomboyish voice asked from above them. Gash looked up to see Rainbow Dash flying towards them. “Who was that?”

“That was…” Gash started, taking a moment to breathe, “…Fluttershy.”

“Fluttershy!? No way!” she retorted.

“She read one of the books,” Gash explained.

“One of the books?” Rainbow Dash questioned.

“One of these books,” he clarified, showing her his.

“Oh…And it turned her into…that?”

“Yeah. It’s crazy. Anyway, we need to stop her before this gets out of hand.”

“I’m on it!” Rainbow Dash agreed, starting to fly off.

“No, wait!” Gash ordered, grabbing her tail.

“What?”

“Alone, you stand no chance. You need the help of another book reader.”

“Then, come on!” she demanded, floating impatiently in midair.

“Well, I can’t exactly walk or move at any decent pace,” he informed, struggling to stand up.

“Well…I guess you’ll just have to tough this out.”

“Or, we could do the easier thing and let me ride on your back.”

“Really? That’s so degrading!”

“What other options do we have to go on? There’s no other way we can catch up,” he let on, causing her to growl lightly in frustration.

“Grr…Are you sure?”

“Yes! Now, be quiet, and let’s go!” he said, patting her side. Her face dropped, and she finally knuckled under. He got on her back, and looked back to Chrysalis.

“We’ll be back soon,” he let out, her nodding. With that, the cyan Pegasus dashed off towards the beast, slower than normal because of the extra weight.

Partway through their flight, Gash noticed she was going in a direction away from Ponyville-toward her cottage.

“Rainbow Dash! She’s leading us to her cottage!”

“Oh, really? I hadn't noticed!" she sarcastically remarked.

Gash shuddered from the sheer force of the wind as they flew. It was incredibly cold; how Rainbow Dash could stand the frigid temperature was beyond his imagination. He ducked his head down into her mane, to prevent the wind from getting into his eyes. After half a minute of flying, he could feel the wind’s force lessen. He lifted his head up and saw a normal Fluttershy lying in the middle of the pathway, with the pink book a few feet away. Gash got off and walked as fast as he could over to her. When he got to her, he fell to his knees, wincing from the pain in his chest. Rainbow Dash soon flew over.

“Is she alright!?” she worriedly asked. Gash flipped Fluttershy onto her side, placing his head on her chest.

“She’s breathing fine. I think she just needs rest. Her cottage should be just up ahead, so let’s take her there,” Gash postulated. Rainbow Dash nodded, lowering herself once again.

“Lift her on!” she requested.

Gash put all of his current strength into his arms, carefully lifting the pink-maned mare off the ground, onto the cyan Pegasus’ back. She slowly rose off the ground, making sure not to drop the sleeping mare on her back. He squatted and picked her book off of the ground.

“I think we’d better take this one slowly,” Gash said, slowly beginning to walk in the direction of Fluttershy’s cottage.

Rainbow Dash nodded, taking it nice and slow in the direction of the animal-house. It was almost agonizing for Gash, as she was walking at a faster pace than he would’ve liked. Still, he trudged onward, and after a few minutes the two found themselves at Fluttershy’s cottage. Gash opened the door and the two walked inside. Rainbow Dash set Fluttershy down on the couch in the back of the room. Gash sat down at the end of the couch, putting his head in his hands.

“Hey, are you alright?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“It’s just the fact that she now has to worry about being attacked out in the blue.”

“What do you mean?”

“Rainbow Dash, go get Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Twilight, Applejack and Chrysalis and bring them here. I’ll answer what you mean then.”

“Uh…Alright. I’ll be back in a little while with them.”

“Wonderful.”

With that, Rainbow Dash shot out of the cottage towards Ponyville. Gash sadly looked at Fluttershy and the mess that they had gotten themselves in. With all of his strength, he lifted her up onto his back, barely able to stand. He walked over the stairs in intense pain, and took incredibly weighted steps up the stairs. At the top, he dropped to one knee, barely conscious. With his remaining energy, he walked her over to the bed and laid her down, looking over the mare in mixed emotions.

He was worried for her safety because of the chance of another Mamono attacking her, and the thought of her getting hurt led him to anger. He was also sad, because he knew that one day, she was going to have to fight either him or another demon. She would be unable to do anything because of her shy personality, and she would need to rely on the monster that the book turns her into in order to have any chance. Gash was completely torn on how to truly feel about this situation.

With all of these emotions in tow, he staggered down the stairs, limping all the way to the couch and collapsing on top of it. In the last moments of his consciousness, he silently prayed that there would be a better solution to this untimely problem.