Seeing Yellow, The Return

Then it came back. I was flying again. But without wings. I looked down. I saw myself, dead on the ground, surrounded by ponies. One of the ponies, a yellow one, was crying on me. I wanted to go back, but I was being sucked from the group. I looked up. It was true. There really was a bright light. It was above me, shining brilliantly. I headed towards it, but then I felt a small weight trying to pull me back down. Looking down, I saw the spirit Fluttershy pulling at my leg. However, I was still heading towards the light, despite the actions of the ethereal peagsus beneath me, floating just above the very real one on the ground.

"Fluttershy, let go." I told the figure.

"NO!" yelled the spirit, still valiantly trying to pull me back down with her mouth.

This confused me. How could this Fluttershy speak to me without opening her mouth? I let it go.

"Fluttershy, please." I pleaded with her.

"I'm not letting you go!"

"You can't do anything for me now."

"Yes I can! Watch me!" she continued, still trying to pull me down.

"Flutter-"

"NO! NO! NO! I'm never letting you go!"

A single tear rolled down my cheek as I watched the fruitless efforts of the mare.

"Fluttershy. I'm dead. I'm gone. This time, I can't come back."

"But-"

The mare looked at me with her large, sad, iridescent aqua eyes and I had to fight my heart's desire.
"Fluttershy, please... let me go..."

She continued to look at me, her eyes brimming with tears.

"I've said my goodbye, Fluttershy. Now it is time for you to make yours."

I stopped ascending into the light above. It felt like a massive burden was removed from me. At the same time, I saw Fluttershy flinch and her eyes grew wide.

This was her choice now. She could let me go, or bring me back into my destroyed, broken, impossible-to-fix body. She looked down at a vivid image of herself crying over me. She looked back up to me.

"I love you." she spoke in a quavering voice.

She opened her mouth, releasing me. Her spirit tumbled through the air, landing back inside her body. The real Fluttershy's wails of grief intensified, and she looked up at the ceiling. I gazed down at the mare below me, before I tore my eyes away from her, unable to watch her tears any longer. I once again looked up into the brightness of the light above me.

The light enveloped me, and then...

I was home. On Earth. My house was in front of me. But it wasn't the house I remembered. It was different. It looked younger. I opened the door and heard laughter. I closed the door and the laughter died. A figure appeared in the door in front of me. It smiled. It was my father. But, not the one I remembered. Like the house, he too was younger.

"Welcome home." my father said. "Come on through. We want to see you." He walked away.

I walked after him and saw my living room, exactly how it was all those years ago before Fluttershy had entered my life. My family were all sitting on chairs or couches. They all looked at me. It was eerie, me looking at my family. I sat down on a chair. My father clapped his hands together.

"Going to a different world, using magic, getting wings, fighting a war, falling in love with a cartoon character. Well, your life was more interesting than ours. By far.

"You were watching?" I said.

"Of course." said my mother. She looked exactly how I remembered her. "Every passing moment."

"Every moment?" I asked.

"Yup!" said my older brother. He was wearing a Bring Me The Horizon t-shirt. "We have watched you for all these years."

He pointed to the TV. It seemed to be a live feed of Equestria in the Changeling Kingdom. Fluttershy was still crying. All the rest of the ponies were too.

"So, Michael TV? Streaming live 24/7?"

They all laughed. I couldn't help but laugh as well.

My sister stopped laughing and looked at me very seriously. "When we saw who you had fallen in love with..."

My younger brother interrupted her. "We all couldn't stop laughing."

"Laughing?" I said. "Why?"

"'Cause Dad had always said you would love someone special." finished my sister. "A pony, from a cartoon. Really?"

I blushed and looked at my parents. I tried to ignore my other younger brother who was running around happily, obvious to the reunion above him.

"What did you think about me? Me loving someone, not even from my own species?"

They looked at each other.

"We couldn't be prouder." they said together.

I looked at the TV again. Fluttershy was now begging Celestia to heal me, but she was refusing. No spell could bring back the dead to the way they were before. I sighed and snapped my fingers, switching off the TV.

"So, the family is all back together again. What do we do now?" I questioned.

"Same thing we always do." said my family in unison.

"What? Bicker and argue?" I said.

We all laughed again. But then we heard the door open again. We stopped laughing. I got up and to check who it was. It was Princess Luna.

"Luna? What are you doing here? You can't visit dead people's dreams."

"Thou is correct, Mr. Michael. However, thou art not dead." Luna said.

"What? Not dead?"

"Yes."

I looked at my family, confused. They shared looks of confusion as well.

"Thou are needed. Chrysalis is still alive. We need all 7 Elements of Harmony to completely destroy her." Luna announced.

Her normal English was getting better, but she sometimes slipped back into the old language she knew.

"Ummm, Luna? You already have all the Elements of Harmony. Honesty, Laughter, Generosity, Loyalty, Magic, and Kindness. And anyway, there are only 6 of them."

"No. A seventh one exists, one that has been hidden since the dawn of time. It's true wielder finally exists, only having recently arrived in Equestria."

I thought about this for a second. A seventh Element? Come on... I feel like I'm in one of those fanfictions that have some magical new element appears to save the day or some shit like that. But this isn't a fanfiction. This was real life.

"Wait... you're not saying that I am an Element of Harmony... are you?" I questioned.

She nodded.

"No way. It's not possible." I shook my head in disbelief. "I-"

"You have had the Element in your possession ever since your arrival in Equestria."

"In my possession? I don't-"

"You have had this Element ever since your arrival." she repeated. "The Element is something that ties you to your very special somepony. Something that you both have..."

"Why don't you just tell me?" I said. "It would be much easier."

"The Element cannot be revealed without the owner understanding what they possess. So think, human!"

"Fluttershy...the Element... possession...bond...love..." These disjointed words seemed to have no meaning.

Then it hit me. Something we both had for years... something that I was carrying with me to Equestria... something that is like a bond between us... Could it be...?

"You aren't saying that-?" I started to say.

She nodded, cutting me off. "You seem to understand. You must return and destroy Chrysalis."

I looked at my family.

"I have to go, don't I?

My parents nodded. I sighed. "Goodbye. I'll see you later." I wasn't sad. I was happy. My family was still alive, in a sense. And one day, I would see them again.

"Don't do anything stupid." said my older brother. "We are watching all the time."

I smiled and turned to Luna.

"Okay, take me back."

She touched her horn to my head, and I fell into darkness.