Justice

Fluttershy and I stopped running once we were safely in the woods, and we stopped to catch our breath. After a few moments, Fluttershy finally asks,

“So, do you have a plan as to what your going to do?”

I replied, “Not really, more bulletpoints than an actual plan, what do you have in mind?”

“Well, Canterlot is going to be crawling with guards, and Celestia herself will be coming soon, so we definitely need to go to a different town.”

“Well, where do you wanna go? “

“I was thinking about going back to Ponyville, I have a cottage there, and we can rest for awhile once there. Also, the last two grayscale guardians are nearby.”

“I don’t think so, now that your friends know we are going together, that’ll be the first place they look.” “Oh, right…” Fluttershy said dejectedly, “But…they don’t know which direction we are going, so we could travel to Ponyville, stop by my cottage to re-supply, and then find somewhere else to hide before they even know we went to Ponyville!” She finished enthusiastically.

“All we have to do is make it look like we went in a different direction, then, from wherever we decide to hide, we can go from there to hunt down the guardians!“

I give her a serious look, and say, “That might work, and with the few things I’ve figured out, that’s as good a place to start as any. But I have one big question, I know you trust me and all, and you have earned my trust, but why are you going with me? Your friends will see this as a betrayal, Celestia too, and you might even be killed if your caught with me! Why risk all that?”

She looks down and thinks for a moment. After a few minutes, she looks back up and says with determination,

“Because I don’t want to see Equestria destroyed. Back in the throne room, you were right, Celestia can’t do anything to stop Discord. We have to kill the last of the grayscale guardians, and find the bearer of the hidden element. Unless we do that, Discord will win, and everything Equestria used to be will be gone for good. When we get moving I’ll explain more, but for now we need to get ready to go. I’ll fly into town, grab a few things, and be back in a few minutes, okay?”

I look at her for a second, and think,

“She is hiding something, but I wont pry.“

I then nod my head. “Sure.”

“I will be careful to avoid my friends, and any guards, so don’t worry.”

She flaps her wings and begins to fly off.

“I won’t! Just be back soon, okay?”

She nods and smiles, then is gone. I reflect for a moment on what she said,

“She must really be desperate to save this place if she is willing to throw her lot in with me, I barely have a clue as to what I’m doing.” I thought, “But she seems to have some semblance of a plan, and that’s better than what I have. She said she wanted to save how Equestria used to be, I wonder what she meant by that? In the throne room Celestia even mentioned something about things being different. Are all these ponies that affected by Discord’s influence? Well, I haven’t met any of them before, so I guess what I’ve seen so far is normal. I wonder what they are all really like? If I stick around long enough, maybe I‘ll find out.”

I sit down and lean against a tree, and begin to doze off waiting for Fluttershy to get back…

Back in the armory…

“This is not good, not good at all!” Twilight practically screams.

“If Celestia finds out we let them get away, and that Fluttershy even betrayed all of us and joined the human, were doomed! What’re we going to do!?”

Applejack responds,

“We could always lie… we could say that he took her as a hostage, and then we couldn’t get im on fear of im hurtin Fluttershy.”

Twilight thinks for a moment, “That may be our only option…”

“But what if Celestia finds out!? Then for sure we will be killed!” Rarity melodramatically interposes. “Doesn’t matter, its our only chance!” Rainbow Dash says with conviction while stomping the ground,

“We can’t let Celestia know what really happened. We have to hunt them down ourselves! Even if it means we have to kill Fluttershy when we catch up to them to keep the truth from getting out!”

Pinkie Pie gasps, and says, “Rainbow, you can’t mean that?”

Rainbow Dash replies laughingly, “Ha! Sure I do, your so naïve Pinkie.”

Pinkie Pie narrows her eyes and growls, “Don’t you dare laugh at me…”

Rainbow Dash cringes and backs up.

Twilight steps between the two and says, “Enough! We have to get our story straight before we leave here. The human captured Fluttershy and held her hostage, so we couldn’t attack him, and taking her with him, he escaped. Is that clear?”

Everypony nodded.

Rarity then said, “When we talk to Celestia, we should mention putting up wanted posters with a reward for the human, then if we catch him, we can make some money on the side…”

Her eyes gleamed with greed while saying this.

Twilight then said, “Sure, whatever. Just so long as we keep our stories straight and Celestia doesn’t find out what really happened.”

Everypony again nodded, and then walked out of the armory, heading towards the castle.

Back in the forest just outside of Canterlot…

I woke up against the tree sore, but relived that I wasn’t plagued by dreams this time. As I got to my feet, I heard Fluttershy land, and I see her walk towards me with a two bags, one on either side of her.

I walk up to her, and ask, “Whats In the bags? Food?”

She replies, “Yes, I was able to steal some apples from a vendor in town by talking some animals into doing it for me, you eat apples right?”

I hesitantly reply, “Well yes, but, you stole them?”

Fluttershy looks down in shame, “Yeah, I had to. I didn’t have any money. Normally I would never have done this, but this is what I mean about discord’s influence. At least I feel bad about doing things like this, with other ponies its much worse.”

I nod, “I understand, besides, you did it out of necessity, you gotta do what you gotta do. Anyway, do you know the way to the path back to Ponyville?”

“Yeah, its right this way,” She says while pointing to the south, “We’ll get to the path after just a few minutes of walking.”

I reach down, grab the two bags from her back, and sling it over my shoulder.

“Why’d you do that?” She asks.

“Just polite.” I answer.

She smiles and says, “Its been a long time since anypony has done anything for anypony else just because it was polite. If things ever could be set back to normal, I think you’re the one to do it.”

I smile at the compliment and say, “Thanks, I hope I can help.”

We walk along and eventually see a well worn path snake its way through the forest we came from. We get on the path and continue until the forest opens up into a large valley with a path disappearing far out in front of us to the south. We come to a signpost that points in four different directions.

The signpost says: “Canterlot, North, 1 mile”

It points in the direction we came from.

The second one reads “Appleoosa, West, 76 miles”

It points to a path heading to our right, which disappears towards the mountains.

The third sign reads: “Cloudsdale, Up, 2 miles”

I frown at that one, thinking it to be a joke, but I look up anyway. All I can see is an unusually large mass of clouds. I shrug, and read the final sign:

“Ponyville, South, 30 miles”

“Well that’s where we need to go,” I say, referring to the fourth sign, “But 30 miles is going to be a two day trip, maybe more depending on how careful we need to be. How did they get me all the way here in the few hours I was knocked out?” I ask while looking at Fluttershy.

She looks at me and says, “It only takes one hour if going by air in a carriage, faster if your by yourself.” “Well why don’t you just go on ahead, and I’ll just meet you there?”

She shakes her head and says, “Before, I would, but now it is dangerous for a mare to travel alone, if you know what I mean.”

My frown gets deeper as I understand exactly what she means.

“Things really have gotten rough around here haven’t they?”

She just nods.

“Alright, when we get going you need to have to explain exactly what’s going on here, but first I need to make it look like we went somewhere else.”

Obviously Cloudsdale wasn’t an option, and we just got back from Canterlot, so Appleoosa it is. I begin walking towards Appleoosa, and Fluttershy walks alongside me. Once we had gone about 100 feet, I say, “Alright, you start flying, and I’ll retrace my steps.”

With her hovering over me, I perfectly retrace my steps, stepping in each footprint I left behind in the dirt. Once back at the signpost, I jump off the path into the grass lining the dirt road. From there, I walk about 200 feet up the path towards Ponyville, and I get back on the path.

Fluttershy asks, “Why did you do that?”

I respond, “When they come down the path from Canterlot, they will see our footprints and hoofprints in front of the sign, and then see them go towards Appleoosa. They will assume we went there, and follow. When the prints stop, they will assume we went off the trail to avoid being followed, and keep on going. That way, hopefully they will never sent a group towards Ponyville, because if they did they would eventually pick up our tracks again.”

Fluttershy nods in understanding and starts walking beside me again.

“So, what was Equestria like before Discord popped up again for the third time?” I ask her, “And why has It affected the ponies so much?”

She sighs and says, “It’s a long story, you sure you want to hear it?”

I nod, “Positive. I have to understand what it was like before to understand why it is like this now. Besides, we have a really long walk ahead of us.”

Fluttershy sighs, and then begins, “Equestria used to be great. Ponies used to be able to play and live without fear. Crime was virtually non-existent, and violence was reserved for only the most dangerous creatures. Even then it could usually be avoided if you just talked to them. But that all changed when Discord broke free. Discord slowly turns ponies into the opposite of what they once were. Ponies known for honesty become liars. Others known for generosity become greedy. Even others who were known for kindness become exceptionally violent and cruel.”

She looks very sad while saying that last part,

“During his second awakening, Discord only targeted the bearers of the Elements of Harmony. The Elements of Harmony are ancient artifacts that each represent a different aspect of Harmony, and are extremely powerful. My five friends, including myself, are all bearers of these elements.”

I look at her in surprise, “Really? I remember Celestia mentioning something about that, but I didn’t think much of it at the time.”

She nods and continues, “Each element represents something different. Applejack’s Element is honesty, Rarity’s is generosity, Pinkie Pie’s is laughter, Rainbow Dash’s is loyalty, Twilight Sparkle’s Element is magic, and mine is kindness.”

I glance at her again and think, “So that’s why she looked so sad when she mentioned kind ponies becoming cruel, she was one of them!”

She then said, “Discord influenced the six of us into becoming our opposites, and eventually he succeeded. Applejack was a liar, Rarity was greedy, Pinkie hated laughter and was mean, Rainbow Dash had no loyalty, Twilight was just generally mean and short tempered, and I was cruel. I was the hardest for Discord to change though, He had to force me to become my opposite, so that’s why I think I’m the least affected by his influence this time around. But even I am slowly changing. I’m not as shy as I once was, which I guess is good, but I did steal those apples…”

She sadly concluded.

I spoke, saying, “Don’t worry about it, we will stop him before your as bad as everypony else. You know what is going on, and your resisting. I’m proud of you.”

She looks up at me and gives me a faint smile.

“Thanks, but its not just us anymore. During Discord’s second awakening, he only affected us, but now he is influencing everypony. Everypony is slowly becoming mean and evil, crime is rampant, as well as violence. I’m afraid we may be to late now that it is even affecting Celestia and Luna.”

I ask, “What is the deal with them anyway? How did they become the rulers and why are they so powerful?” She responds, “Celestia’s job is to raise and lower the sun, and Luna’s job is to raise and lower the moon.”

I look at her in shock, “Are you kidding me? They can do that?”

“Yes, that’s why the are so powerful, and it has always been tradition that Alicorns rule.”

“But thanks to Discord, they are the only two left, correct?”

“Yes.”

“Great, I’ve made enemies with the sun and moon.”

Fluttershy chuckles,

“Basically, but don’t worry, they are powerful, but they are just ponies like me.”

I nod, and we keep walking. A few hours pass, and we don’t see anypony or anything on the path. The scenery is the same, a few trees and bushes here and there, but mostly open grassland in between the two mountain ranges on either side of us. It is a bright, warm day, perfect for traveling. I look behind us, to make sure were not being followed, and off in the distance I see a bunch of small specks in the sky, maybe ten. I turn around and say,

“Hey Fluttershy, take a look at those, what are they?” While pointing to the sky behind us. She gasps and says,

“Those are royal guards! We need to find a place to hide!”

I look frantically around, and see a bush just to our right.

“Under there!”

Fluttershy and I dive under the bush, and wait. After a few minutes, we hear the guards fly right over us, and continue on their way to Ponyville. We wait a few more minutes, and then crawl out.

I say, “Well, they weren’t following our trail, otherwise they would have stopped here.”

Fluttershy says, “Yeah, they were probably just taking the news of our escape to Ponyville. Were going to have to avoid the ponies in town when we get there.”

“Alright, well let’s get moving again, we only have a few more miles to the halfway point.”

Two hours later, the sun is beginning to set, and we reach the halfway point.

Thankfully, it is deserted.

Its just a cluster of trees with a signpost in the middle that has an area underneath it for posters.

I walk up to the signpost, and look at all the flyers attached to it. Various wanted posters for criminal ponies, warnings of Discord, last known sightings of the guardians, etc.

Then I see a wanted poster that catches my eye.

I break out in a cold sweat when I see it.

It’s me.

Underneath the big “Wanted” label, there is a perfect picture of me.

“Fluttershy! Your going to want to see this!” I call to her.

She quickly trots over, and gasps at the sight of the poster.

I quickly read what it says,

“Wanted dead or alive, Human. Extremely dangerous, carries a large curved sword. Killed a manticore, attacked royal guards, and escaped from Canterlot Castle, and upon escaping from Canterlot took a pony known as Fluttershy hostage. Last tracks were seen heading towards Appleoosa. 10,000 Bits reward.”

Once I’m done reading, I look at Fluttershy and say,

“Wow, that’s not good.”

She gives me a “duh” look, and says,

“They think you took me as hostage, my friends must have lied about what really happened. At least your plan worked, they really think we are heading towards Appleoosa.”

“I’m just surprised at how fast this got here, we only escaped from Canterlot early this morning.” “Information travels fast when you can fly. Those guards we saw earlier must have stopped here to put up this poster, no doubt more of these will be put up in Ponyville.”

I grab the poster and tear it down.

“Well, lets just get rid of these wherever we can find them, less chance anypony will see them.”

She nods, and we start looking around for a place to spend the night. After a while, we find a good spot next to a tree, and I begin building a lean-to against it. Once that’s done, I build a fire using my flint and steel I keep on me, and we settle down by the fire while it gets dark. Fluttershy opens the bags I had set down, and grabs an apple for each of us. We eat in silence, thinking about what the wanted poster said. After a few minutes, I notice it is dark, and I say,

“Come on Fluttershy, we should be going to sleep now, we have another fifteen miles to cover in the morning.”

Fluttershy tiredly nods and goes into the shelter, then looks back and asks, “Are you coming in?”

I reply, “No, I’ll take the first watch to make sure nopony sneaks up on us. I’ll wake you up in a few hours to relieve me, okay?”

She nods, “Alright. Oh, by the way, I never asked your name, what is it?”

I reply, “My name is Ty.”

She smiles and says, “Ty, I like that name.”

I smile at the compliment and say gently, “You should go to sleep now, okay? We have a long day ahead of us.”

She sleepily grins and says, “Okay.”

She then curls up and falls sleep.

I stand up, unsheathe my sword, and lean against a tree where I can watch the lean-to and the road.

I had no intention of waking Fluttershy up.

After all she has sacrificed by coming with me, she deserves a full nights rest. I look down at her sleeping under the shelter.

“I’m not sure exactly why she is risking all this, but she trusts me, I have to protect her,” I vow to myself.

I look up at the moon slowly rising over the mountains, and think, “Its going to be a long night…”