Justice

A/N  I did not expect so many people to get the friendly mushroom reference, but I am glad you all did. Quite frankly there are more people who got it than I want to type. So good job to all of you who got it. Also, this story is on FiMfiction as well as Fanfiction. So if I comment on a particular person, and you can’t find that person in the comments/reviews, its because they are on the other site. Anyway, this chapter is only 3k words, but it’s a good one I think. A lot of stuff comes out in the open, and I got quite a surprise for you all. Here is Chapter 14!

“How could this have happened… why didn’t my parents just wake up?”

I am lying down on my friend’s couch. The call telling me my parents had died came just a few hours ago. The funeral is tomorrow.

“It feels almost surreal, as if its not really happening to me, that it is just a dream. Maybe if I close my eyes…”

I close my eyes tightly, but when I open them again everything is the same. Staring at the ceiling, I cant help but wonder what is going to happen next.

“I know I’ll be taken care of… I have cousins I can go live with. They had good life insurance, so I know I wont be poor…”

But all this is just me trying to distract myself from what really happened.

My parents are dead.

Alive and well yesterday, gone forever today. The reality of the situation hits me full force. I bury my head in the pillow and begin sobbing.

Fluttershy’s POV

I fly around the devastated swamp, searching for any sign of him.

Uprooted trees, crushed rocks, and mud cover everything. I land on a particularly tall tree that had been toppled over, and I look around.

Nothing.

A horrible thought strikes me, “What if he’s dead?”

I shake at the thought. “No… he can’t be dead… he wouldn’t do something if it would kill himself… right?” I ask aloud to nopony in particular.

“He has to be okay… he has to.”

I take off and resume my search. Several minutes later, I spot a gleam underneath a fallen tree. I quickly dive down, and I see it is his gauntlet sticking out. I land beside it and look under the fallen tree. He is underneath the tree, but he’s not moving. Fearing the worst, I grab the piece of armor, and I slowly drag him out from underneath the tree. He is so heavy in the armor I have to use my wings as well as my legs to finally get him out.

“His armor looks undamaged, but he isn’t moving. Why isn’t he moving?!?!” I frantically think.

“Please… wake up…”

Twilight’s POV

“I’m sure she flew in this direction. If I keep following this path-”

The insane part of me interrupts myself.

“Hehehehe almost there, gonna get him gonna get him.”

The sane part resumes control.

“Once I find them, I will finally be able to finish this… once and for all. But not in the way the Princess expects.”

I immediately start thinking of the Princess, and all the horrible memories with her. The insane side instantly takes over again.

“Can’t let her get mad at me again, oh no that wont do. Gotta get him gotta get him.”

Sane side.

“This place is really trashed, trees and rocks blown to bits everywhere… my plan won’t work if he is already dead. Fluttershy doesn’t have it in her to take another’s life…”

Insane side.

“Hehehe look at all the pretty rocks! Destroyed and scattered everywhere! Hehehe!”

Sane side.

“They should be just around this corner…” I turn around a large rock and I see Fluttershy huddled over the human who is laying prostrate on the ground.

Insane side.

“Hehe there they are. Gonna kill them gonna kill them!”

Fluttershy’s POV

I hear giggling to my left, and I whip my head around to see what it is. My eyes widen in absolute horror at the figure happily trotting towards us.

It’s Twilight.

While she is still a decent distance off, I hear an insanely horrible melody waft its way over.

“Gonna kill them gonna kill them…”

I rush towards Ty’s head and I start shouting in desperation at him.

“TY!!!! WAKE UP!!!”

Tears start streaming down my face as Twilight gets closer. I start shaking him.

“PLEASE!!! WAKE UP!!!!”

Ty’s POV

Silence.

Blessed silence.

For once I feel truly at peace.

Nothing to worry about, nopony to save, just silence and darkness. However, something is messing with my peace. I feel like far away something is shaking me. I reluctantly open my eyes. Through the visor in my helmet, I see Fluttershy’s tearful face looming over me. She is the one shaking me. But her mouth is also moving… why can’t I hear anything? Half awake, I try and sit up. The weight of the armor makes it impossible. I frown in frustration, and I dismiss my armor back into the Element. With the armor gone, I sit up. Fluttershy is still talking to me, but I can’t hear what she is saying. I reach up to touch both of my ears, and when I pull my hands away they are covered in blood. At the sight of my own blood I jolt fully awake. I’m deaf.

I begin to panic just as I feel the Element contact me.

“Don’t worry, I can heal you.”

I mentally yell at it, “Why did I get hurt in the first place!?”

The Element calmly responds, “Your armor will protected you from the fire of the explosion, the shockwave, and the debris, but it can’t protect you from sound. Otherwise you would be deaf whenever you put your armor on. Makes sense?”

“Yeah… but you said you can heal me?”

Fluttershy tries to turn my body so I can look at something, but I am too busy communicating with the Element to pay attention.

“Yes, I can heal you. It will cost some of your own energy though, so be prepared to feel drained.”

“Sure, whatever. Just get me my hearing back.”

“As you wish”

I instantly feel like the life is sucked out of me, but I can finally hear.

“TY!! She is right here! Do something! Please!”

I hear the desperation in Fluttershy’s voice, and I wearily turn to see what she is pointing at.

I gasp in shock.

Twilight is standing just a few feet away, but there is something horribly wrong with her. She has a crazily large smile on her face and her coat is covered in burn marks. Then I look at the top of her head.

Her horn is gone.

Where her horn used to be, all that is left is a tiny stub coated in dried blood.

“T-Twilight? What happened to you?” I ask in horrified tone.

What happens next scares me even more.

She laughs.

“Oh nothing happened… hehehe I just gotta kill you now.”

“She’s insane…” I mutter to myself.

But then she speaks again. “I’ve come to kill you and Fluttershy, what are you going to do about it?”

The insane smile had left her, as well as the creepy tone.

“She almost seems… normal?” I think. “And why is she trying to provoke me?”

I stand up and stare at her in confusion.

“Well?!?” She demands, “Aren’t you going to attack me??”

I hear pain in her voice, and suddenly I see into her mind. I see flashes of the time she attacked me, and everything bad she has done in her life.

“It must be the Soul Search…” I think.

But then something strange happens.

I see everything bad that has happened to her.

From practical jokes to Fluttershy attacking her, I see it all. And then I see what happened a few days ago at the Palace. I see Celestia imprisoning her. I see guards torturing her with hot irons. And then I see a guard with bolts cutters removing her horn. I cringe and try to shut my eyes against these pictures, but they are invading my mind. She goes insane from the pain, and then I see Celestia give her orders to hunt me down and kill me. In her seemingly mindless insanity, she happily obeys. But then she starts acting different. She acts sane off and on, and eventually my mind stops on a time when she is trotting towards the swamp while talking aloud to herself.

“He already hates me for severely wounding him at the Everfree Forest. It shouldn’t be too hard to provoke him into attacking me. If he kills me, it will all be over. I will never need to worry about Celestia again. If I make it look like I tried to fight him and just lost, maybe Celestia wont kill my parents too. He is my last hope…”

The scenes quickly rush out of my mind, and I fall to my knees.

One thought pervades my mind.

“She wants me to kill her.”

I look up at her, and I see her confusion at me falling back down to my knees. I wearily stand up again, unsheathe my sword, and start walking towards her. Seeing my sword out, she scrunches her face in concentration, and from the stub of her horn come small sparks. The sparks elongate into little blades, and they haphazardly start flying in my general direction. As I walk forward, a few cut my arms and legs, but they never get near my vital areas.

I keep advancing.

Twilight’s POV

Sane. “It’s working… he really is going to kill me. Just a little bit more…”

Insane. “Why isn’t this working?!? I need to kill him! Gotta kill him!”

Ty’s POV

The blades are so haphazard now that a few are even going backwards and cutting Twilight. Only five feet away from her, I stop.

She looks at me in confusion.

I point the tip of my sword down, and I stab it into the earth.

I keep walking forward. Twilight begins to look scared. She starts backing up.

Twilight’s POV

Sane. “What is he doing?? He left his sword behind… what is he going to do?!?!”

Insane. “Yes! Hehehe I’ll show him his mistake for leaving his sword behind, yes I will!”

Ty’s POV

Even though Twilight was backing up in fear, even more tiny blades were being sent towards me.

But even more were cutting her.

I limp forward slightly faster. Twilight backs up into a rock. When she hits the rock, the blades stop firing.

I walk forward a few more steps, and I am literally inches away from her. I bend down and look at her in the eyes. She looks at me with clearly undisguised fear.

“She doesn’t know what I am going to do, and it terrifies her.” I think to myself.

She closes her eyes and I see tears starting to form.

I lean forward, and I hug her.

I hear a gasp from Fluttershy and Twilight simultaneously.

Twilight stiffens in shock, but I just squeeze tighter.

A full minute passes, and Twilight suddenly breaks down and begins sobbing. She leans into me, and I just keep holding her while she cries. I can actually feel the insanity slipping away. Along with the insanity, I see the grey disappear from her coat, which is quickly replaced by a vibrant purple. While I examine her coat, I am reminded of her many wounds.

I contact the Element.

“Heal her wounds.”

“What?!?” The element says back in disbelief.

“You heard me.”

“But, you’re already weak from me healing your ears, and her wounds are much worse than that!”

“I don’t care. Heal her. Now.”

“……”

A blue aura emanates from the Element, and Twilight and I are quickly surrounded. It glows for a minute, and then quickly disappears. I pull away from Twilight, grin, and pass out.

When I come to, I see Twilight on my right and Fluttershy on my left. Fluttershy is giving Twilight a death glare, but Twilight ignores her. She is looking down on my with extreme concern and sadness, but brightens considerably upon seeing me wake up. As I soon as I sit up, Twilight throws her hooves around me and says, “Thank you.”

I return the hug, and Twilight continues, “I looked in a puddle and I saw what you did. You healed me, banished Discord’s influence over me, and even returned my horn.” I pull away for a moment and look at her horn. It is there, not even the scratch from where Fluttershy had cut it is visible.

Twilight looks at me and asks, “But why? How could you forgive me so easily? I tried to kill you…”

Her head hangs in shame and I see tears forming again. I lift her chin up and I look her in the eyes.

“You weren’t yourself. You were under Discord’s influence, and then you were tortured to insanity by Celestia. None of it was your fault.”

Her eyes grow wide when I mention Celestia.

“How did you know about that?” She asks.

I answer, “It’s a thing called Soul Search, I can see into ponies’ pasts. Its just part of being the Element of Justice.”

Her eyes grow even wider as I hold up my left arm to show her the Element.

I look into her eyes again.

“But now there is something I have to ask you. Will you join Fluttershy and I?”

I see fear in her eyes at the thought of disobeying her Princess.

“I promise I will protect you from that tyrant. Our only goal is to kill Discord, and to do that I need to kill the last grayscale guardian. The Dragon. Please, will you help us?”

I see indecision flitting around in her eyes. But then she looks up at me and says, “Yes… I will. Since Discord came back, you are the only person to have shown me kindness. Even when I tried to kill you, your only thought was to help me…”

I see tears form in her eyes again, but this time they are from joy. She smiles, and hugs me again. I return the hug. I stop smiling when Fluttershy hits me from behind with her hoof. I let go of Twilight and turn around to face her.

“What are you thinking?!?!?!?!” She yells at me. “She tried to kill us and your just going to let her join??”

I angrily respond, “I saw her past and I know what she has been through! We can trust her and you know that!”

I see something else in Fluttershy’s eyes as she glares at me.

Jealousy.

“Why don’t we finish our conversation from this morning? I’m sure she would love to hear it as well.”

I turn around to see Twilight looking at us in confusion.

“What is she talking about?”

I sigh and say, “Nothing. Look, could you give us some privacy just for a minute? There is something I need to talk to her about.”

“Sure… I guess…” Twilight gives me an unsure smile, and then trots behind the rock.

I turn back to Fluttershy. She glares at me and says, “Well?”

I sigh and explain everything to her. How where I come from it is morally wrong to love an animal, such as a pony. I say how I really do like her, but how it is wrong for me to love her.

To wrap it up, I say, “I know you loved me, but I just want to remain friends. I’m sorry Fluttershy.”

She was quiet during the entire speech, with her head down.

“Fluttershy?”

She looks up at me, and I see betrayal and hurt so deep I take a step back.

“You…you just think I am a stupid animal don’t you!?!?”

The betrayal and hurt is replaced by rage.

“You thought you could just lead me along and then break my heart like I wouldn’t even care?!?!”

I quickly say, “No! Fluttershy you know I would never mean to do that, I-”

“SHUT UP!!”

I recoil further.

“How dare you…”

Her coat turns a deep, deep black.

“I’m done being used by you. It’s over. Not that there was anything to begin with.”

She turns around and flies off as fast as she can. I fall to my knees just as Twilight comes galloping around the corner.

“What happened?” She asks in worry. “I saw Fluttershy fly off, and her coat was black!”

I nod. “Yeah, I told her something that I should have said a long time ago. Because I waited this long it got really bad and she left. I’ll explain more later, but it is getting late and I am tired. Can you wait for a full explanation tomorrow?”

She frowns in worry and then says, “Of course. My house should be safe for awhile, I could teleport us both there if you want?”

I wearily nod my head again.

She trots right up beside me, and her horn glows purple. Next thing I know I am inside a tree house filled with books.

“You live in a library?” I ask incredulously.

She gives an embarrassed smile, “Yeah… I love reading.”

“So do I.” I say.

She smiles and then says, “I’m not sure where Spike is, so I’ll prepare a makeshift bed for you while you clean up. The bathroom is right over there.”

She points to a door just a little ways from a staircase.

“Tomorrow I’ll see if I can’t get some replacement clothes for you.”

“Okay, thank you.”

She smiles again and trots towards a closet and starts getting out some sheets. I walk into the bathroom, shower, and I put my dirty clothes back on. When I come out, Twilight puts a pillow down on a bunch of blankets on the floor.

She trots over to me and asks in a concerned tone, “Will that be okay? I know its not much but I usually don’t have any guests over.”

I nod, “Yeah, that’ll be fine. Thank you.”

She starts trotting towards the stairs where I assume her room is.

She looks back and says, “I’m not sure what happened between you and Fluttershy, but, I’m sorry.”

I give her a weak smile. “Thanks.”

She goes up the stairs and I stumble over to the blankets. I plop down, and because of my extreme weariness and heartache over what happened, I fall asleep instantly.

A/N Fluttershy has gone to the dark side again, Twilight has been purified, and there is only one more grayscale guardian left. A few dark things came out in the chapter regarding Twilight, but that will be about as dark as this story gets. I know a lot of you will be pissed that Fluttershy has left, but don’t worry, she will be back. Everything I did was necessary for the plot to advance, just wait and see. I hope you liked it, and review/comment if you have any questions, or just to say you like how its going! Cya!