I'd Sell My Soul to Dream You Awake
She galloped through the field, snow churning under her hooves, struggling under her burden. Her breath burned in her lungs as she fought her way through the drifts, and the chill wind tore at her, grabbing the snow that she kicked behind her with each step and flinging it back at her with a vengeance. She could feel the flakes clinging to her yellow fur and pale pink tail, her snowy coat growing microscopically thicker with each passing step. She spared a brief thought for her wings, wishing that she could simply spread them wide and fly above the snow, but she knew she was a weak flier and would struggle with carrying her burden in the biting cold and bitter wind.
At least the unconscious pink pony on her back was keeping them warm at the expense of slowly growing white herself. Unfortunately, both those same wings and her mane were even now being coated with another, more sinister color as Pinkie Pie’s blood slowly trickled down Fluttershy’s back from the ugly wound in her side. Fluttershy spared a fleeting glance back at her stricken friend, concern vying with terror for dominance on her face as she hoped beyond all hope that Pinkie would last long enough to get help. The manticore’s poison that was even now coursing through her friend’s veins was a slow-acting paralytic with a touch of anticoagulant, enough to give the manticore a chance to track its prey from blood loss and wait patiently until its target was no longer able to move.
Fluttershy held her glance for a moment longer until she was satisfied that Pinkie Pie was still breathing. At least, as satisfied as she could be without stopping, pulling Pinkie off her back, laying her down, and examining her. It would have to do for now. Facing forwards once more, she pushed ahead with renewed determination, ignoring the increasing demands of her body to rest and recover from her ordeal.
Suddenly, all thoughts of getting help for Pinkie vanished as the ground gave out from under her with a loud crack, and she tumbled forwards into the frozen lake, Pinkie’s body flying off of her back and onto the ice in front of her. The air whooshed out of her lungs the moment she hit the freezing water, and unable to recover from the shock in time, she slid under the surface, her body paralyzed from the cold. She could briefly see under the surface ice, noting the dark red trail leading from where she fell in towards Pinkie Pie’s still form a couple of meters ahead before her thoughts vanished and she slipped into a brief memory.
“What’cha doing, Fluttershy?” asked a pink face suddenly appearing inches away from her own.
Fluttershy let out a startled squeak and dove into a snowbank, cowering for a moment before realizing who it was that had spoken. “Oh! Pinkie Pie! I-I’m sorry, I didn’t see you there,” she stammered.
Pinkie Pie reached out and helped her out of the snowbank, quickly brushing her off before pulling out a hairdryer and pointing it at her, one eye closed and her tongue sticking out of the side of her mouth. Fluttershy quickly waved it away before Pinkie could turn it on. “It’s ok, Pinkie, I’m fine,” she said hurriedly.
Pinkie shrugged and put the hairdryer away. Bouncing around in the snow, she giggled for a moment before flopping down on her back in the snow, spreading her legs wide and making a snow angel. “So what’cha doing, Fluttershy? Wanna make snow angels? Ooh, we could get Rainbow Dash and Applejack and have a snow fight! That would be awesome! I would totally win, though, at least until they got Twilight to pull out some sort of snowstorm spell like Trixie did that one time. Maybe I can get her to do it for me first so I can build a snow fort! What do you think, Fluttershy, think she would do that?”
Fluttershy stood there, mouth agape, before her brain finished processing what Pinkie Pie was saying. “O-oh, sorry, Pinkie, but I’m in the middle of going to visit my friend Harry. You see, I usually check up on him while he’s hibernating, just to make sure he’s warm enough, and…” she trailed off as Pinkie sat up suddenly, a great grin on her face.
“That’s just great, Fluttershy!” she cried, bounding to her hooves and shaking the snow from her mane and fur. “I can come with you! I’ve always wanted to meet Harry and see his place. You know, since it took both you and Rainbow Dash to house-sit for him while he was on vacation.”
Fluttershy blushed at the reminder of the little white lie she and Rainbow Dash had told to cover for Pinkie Pie’s surprise party a while back. “W-well, I suppose you can come, if you don’t mind, that is.” She gestured along the path she had been taking, which lead away from town and into the Everfree Forest. “It’s a cave in the forest. I certainly wouldn’t mind some company for the walk.”
“Sounds great!” Pinkie bounced alongside her as they continued down the path. “Ooh, do you think Harry would like a Midwinter Hibernation Party? I’ve got some supplies stashed in that tree just over there!” She pointed towards a large oak tree with a hole in the base and was just about to dash over to it when Fluttershy’s soft voice caused her to halt.
“Umm, I don’t think that’s such a good idea, Pinkie,” she murmured. “Harry gets kinda… grumpy when somepony wakes him up during hibernation.”
“Okie dokie lokie!” Pinkie replied, unfazed. She suddenly gasped, bounding into the air before spinning around to face Fluttershy, a look of joy on her face. “I could hold a Congratulations on Another Successful Hibernation Party as soon as he wakes up! Then he won’t have to get so grumpy when spring comes!”
Fluttershy smiled at her friend’s antics, and nodded. “That sounds like a good plan, Pinkie. We’ll do that after the next Winter Wrap-up.” Pinkie bounding beside her, the two of them continued down the path and into the forest, heading towards the cave.
Fluttershy’s eyes flew open as her whole body was wracked with pain. After a brief moment of confusion at her surroundings, her memory returned with a flash as she found herself submerged in the frigid water. Her lungs burned from a lack of oxygen, and panic began to well up inside of her. Quickly getting her bearings by orienting on the reddish stain on the ice above her, she forced her stiffening muscles into play, pushing herself up towards the surface and aiming for the hole where she had fallen in.
Breaking the surface, she was able to take a great breath before the biting wind nearly stole it from her. As it was, the water on her fur quickly began to crystalize, and she shivered to the core. Pushing herself to the limits, she quickly paddled to the edge of the ice, her gaze locked on the still pink form just a few meters away. Pinkie lay there on the snowy ice, her breathing shallow and the wind whipping her mane around while trying to bury her in snow at the same time.
Her friend’s life in her hooves, Fluttershy carefully tried to pull herself out of the freezing water that threatened to lock her joints into place and pull her back under. She braced her hooves on the ice, praying that it would hold long enough to get her up, but as soon as she pushed down, her hooves slipped and she fell forward, smacking her jaw on the hard ice, water splashing around her and further coating her mane and wings.
Blood welling in her mouth from where she had bitten her tongue, she spat out the coppery taste and braced herself again. Adopting a widespread stance, she was able to get more purchase for her hooves, and between kicking with her hindlegs and flapping her waterlogged and mostly useless wings, she was able to get her belly up onto the ice without any more injury. Pausing for a moment to rest her burning muscles, she laid her head onto the now-warm ice, feeling suddenly sleepy as her hind legs dangled in the comfortably warm water. She watched in fascination as her mane draped over her face, beautiful ice crystals forming on the hairs in the lovely, cozy wind. She smiled blissfully as her mind drifted away unbidden to another memory, one much closer in time…
“Pinkie?” she called ahead to her energetic friend. “Pinkie, where did you go?”
Silence answered her, and a knot of worry began to form in her gut. “Pinkie!” she called again, her gaze travelling this way and that through the snowy forest. You’d think that somepony that bright would be easy to see in all of this white. A chill wind was picking up, and the clouds were covering the sky in a blanket of dark grey, turning a sunny winter’s day into one that was much gloomier. Fluttershy knew the signs of a coming blizzard, and had decided that her visit to Harry’s cave would have to be postponed until the blizzard had passed.
Unfortunately, while she had been studying the weather patterns, Pinkie Pie had bounded away, searching for something. Fluttershy hadn’t heard what she’d said she was after; she was too focused on remembering her weather training. Now she was searching for the party pony, becoming more and more worried by the second. “Pinkie!” she called once again, her voice bouncing off of the barren trees surrounding her.
Suddenly, a roar from nearby caught her attention, one that sounded familiar to her. After connecting the dots, she felt a chill run through her that had nothing to do with the wind. “A manticore…” she whispered, terrified. At this point in the season, beasts like manticores would be even more dangerous than usual, as they would be running low on their food stores. Since much of the fauna would either still be hibernating or not back from migration, they would become much more likely to attack ponies that wandered by their lairs. Which, based on the scream that sounded shortly after, had just happened…
“Pinkie!” she cried once more, rushing towards the sound of the roar. She hurried through the trees, kicking up snow with each step, fluttering her wings for extra speed, but unable to fully fly through the dense barren branches. Finally, after hearing another, closer roar, she burst into a snow-covered clearing to a picture of horror.
Blood was everywhere, coating the disturbed white snow around the two figures on either side of the clearing. The manticore stood on one side, a bruised face set in a snarl, eyeing Pinkie Pie, who was trying to stand on the opposite side, pain in her eyes and an ugly wound on her side that was dripping blood. Seeing her wounded friend, Fluttershy’s eyes twitched in horror to the manticore’s venomous tail, the tip of which was dripping red with Pinkie’s blood.
“Oh, no…” she whimpered, struck by realization. She had to get her friend back home, to the hospital in order to get the antivenin before the poison got to the point of stopping her breathing. A second, much more pressing matter intruded upon her at that moment, as the manticore, noticing a much closer possible meal, pounced at her, jaws agape and tail raised.
Reacting purely on instinct, she fluttered her wings, launching out of the snow just as the manticore landed right where she had been standing, driving its face into the tree she had been standing in front of. With a great deal of hurried apologies and a stricken look on her face, she dropped down, driving her hooves into the manticore’s head in a vicious blow she had learned from Rainbow Dash, knocking it down and out.
Stopping only a moment to assure herself that the manticore would recover, she rushed over to Pinkie Pie, who was smiling vacantly at her. “Hey, ‘Shy!” she slurred, as the poison went to work on her system. “Thanks for the assist!”
“Ohmygoodnessohmygoodnessohmygoodness,” Fluttershy rushed out, panic on her face. “Pinkie, don’t talk, don’t move. I have to get you to the hospital, quickly!”
Pinkie smiled, her head tilting to the side, and she tried to nod. “Okie d-dokie lokie…” she replied, her voice fading as she spoke. Her head continued to tilt, and she slowly toppled over as the poison began to paralyze her limbs. Fluttershy did her best to stem the rising tides of panic welling up inside her as she carefully lifted Pinkie up onto her back.
“I hope I’m fast enough…” she prayed, as she pushed forwards, heading straight towards Ponyville through the snowy fields as the angry, bitter wind began to chase them.
“F-fluttershy…” Pinkie muttered as she pushed on. “T-thanks…”
“F-fluttershy…” Pinkie’s voice came to her, almost swallowed by the wind. Fluttershy twitched, moving sluggishly, as she slowly turned her head towards her friend, feeling an odd sensation as some of her fur and a layer of skin came off her cheek, frozen to the ice below her. The sight of her stricken friend brought a small surge of adrenaline, just enough to shake her from her stupor. Recognizing the danger they were both in, she fought against the weariness of her body and the developing hypothermia, pushing herself up to the faint sound of tearing fur and skin from her belly and the crick-crack of ice breaking on her mane and fur.
Ignoring the brief, dull flash of pain, she dug her front hooves in the ice as best she could, forcing her nearly-useless wings to provide additional support. Pushing herself up with her hooves and her wings, she managed to pull her hind legs out of the water, scraping the ice further across her belly and legs, the sharp edges opening up small gashes that bled very little. Through sheer force of effort, she managed to stand on shaking legs, slipping and sliding a little as she carefully made her way over to her friend, quickly-freezing water dripping from her coat and her wings hanging uselessly at her side.
Slowly, painfully, she lifted Pinkie’s still form from her snowy bed on the ice, noting once more that she was still breathing, albeit shallowly. Draping her over her back, she pushed on as quickly as she could, fighting through the snow drifts and the biting wind. She could feel pinpricks of pain in her limbs as she moved, her blood flow increasing slightly with her movements. She stared into the blowing wind and snow as she ran, searching for any signs that she was getting close to Ponyville and safety.
Suddenly a large tree loomed up in front of her, appearing out of the blizzard without warning. Her focused and cold-deadened mind nearly failed to register this sudden appearance and as such, she was nearly unable to avoid the obstruction. As it was, her numb body barely responded to her orders, and she sideswiped the tree, somehow managing not to dislodge Pinkie’s still form from her back. Unfortunately, she did not escape unscathed as her ears registered a sickening crack echoing from her unfeeling right wing, and she stumbled at the sudden sense of unbalance, though the actual pain was minimal.
Still she pushed on, her body growing ever numb as the wind continued to leech any possible warmth from her, frozen and damaged wings flopping about uselessly and the settled weight of Pinkie Pie increasing with each step. The pink pony was becoming pale, her breathing slowing to the point of being nearly unnoticeable and her blood flow had decreased to a minuscule trickle sliding down Fluttershy’s back. Fluttershy could feel her own breath becoming shallow as her frozen body fought against the exertion, her vision tunneling as spots danced in front of her.
Finally, after what felt like hours, she found herself surrounded by tall, dark forms looming up around her in the swirling snow. The wind had died down to a bitter breeze instead of a deadly gale, blocked by the nearby buildings that now disgorged multiple colorful forms heading urgently towards her and her charge. Relief flooded through her as her body finally gave out its last dregs of strength, and she collapsed, her last act before slipping into unconsciousness being able to utter the word “Manticore…”
She was dreaming. She had to be. That was the only explanation for what she was seeing in front of her. She hadn’t visited her childhood home in Cloudsdale for years, as there had been very few good memories there. Yet here she was, approaching the door to her old home, trepidation growing with each step.
She stepped onto the front porch, gazing around at things she had thought long-forgotten, pushed out of her mind in favor of more recent, happier memories. There was her mother’s old rocking chair, sitting next to a rickety table to her left. To her right lay a small pile of toys where she and her father would play when she had been very young, scattered haphazardly around her father’s well-built chair.
Pushing open the door, she started at the sight of three pegasai, two adults and one tiny filly that she recognized as her younger self. Staring at the faces of two ponies that she hadn’t seen in years, her heart began to melt as she watched the joy in their faces as her parents played with their little daughter. The three of them ignored her presence, focused on each other, lost in the moment of happiness. She stepped forward, hoof raised to call out –
Flash
She slowly lowered her hoof in confusion as she gazed upon the new scene in front of her. Her father sat on the couch, blank-faced and staring at something on the table, ignoring the filly in front of him. Older than her previous vision, but not that much older, the filly stared up at her father, curious and confused as she tried to get his attention, poking her hoof at his leg. When this failed to raise his attention to her, she began fluttering her wings, hovering a short ways off the ground, straining to get up to the level of his gaze, determination plain upon her own face.
Suddenly, her father lashed out at her, knocking her out of the way, and Fluttershy flinched as her younger self crashed to the floor, her determined expression changing to that of pain and surprise. Her father’s expression, on the other hand, changed to that of horror and guilt as he immediately rushed to her, bumping the table and knocking over what he had been staring at. Fluttershy leaned forward slightly, recognizing the object to be a picture of her mother, and the memory stirred in her of her mother’s untimely death.
As she gazed down at what would be the first of many incidents like this between her and her father, a voice intruded from outside of her consciousness, one that tickled at her thoughts, bringing forth traces of recognition. It was followed shortly after by other voices, some also familiar, others not.
“-We came… as we could, doctor-”
“ –Princess Twilight… Not good… miracle she’s still-”
“-The hey happened… her-”
The voices faded as gently as they had arrived, and her attention returned to the two ponies in front of her, the one cuddling the other, tears streaming down his face. She took another step forward –
Flash
The home had changed. The furniture remained the same, even the layout of the home remained as it had been, however, everything had changed. It felt… empty, uncared for. She turned at the sound of the front door opening, and noted with some surprise the older filly slinking into the home. She looked furtive, terrified, and crouched low to the ground, all signs of wanting to go unnoticed. Carefully closing the door behind her, she quietly moved through the house towards the stairs, before a harsh voice caused her to stop and turn, cringing.
Fluttershy couldn’t hear what was being said, but the memories returned, unbidden, as she watched herself being berated by her father, a glazed look on his face as he yelled at her from the nearby chair, spewing insults almost out of habit. He didn’t even bother to turn his chair around to face her, just continued to degrade her in every way he could think of as she shrunk further and further into herself.
As she watched her own spirit being broken, she felt stirrings of protectiveness and determination growing within her, and she took a step forward to protect the young filly from her own family –
Flash
She glanced around in surprise as she took in the change in scenery. No longer was she standing in an unhappy home, but found herself in the hallways of her old school. As she attempted to orient herself, she felt rather than heard the end of class bell ringing, and as more outside voices slipped into her dream, she watched fillies and colts spilling out of the classrooms around her, talking and laughing, all heading in the same direction towards the exits.
“-she make it?-”
“-trying… -thermia… shutting down-”
“-Pinkie… ok… saved-”
She saw herself exiting a room nearby, trying to avoid being noticed by the waves of students, but also trying to avoid being trampled in the mass exodus. Even here, she moved furtively, pushing away all attention as she gathered her things and made her way to the exit.
“-cold… slowed… poison-”
Suddenly, the filly tripped, sprawling on the floor, her books scattered in front of her. Pushing herself up with muttered apologies to those nearby, she saw three colts surrounding her, one standing just behind her with his hoof outstretched, a cruel expression on his face. Once more, Fluttershy couldn’t hear what was being said, yet once more, the memories rose as the bullies confronted her. After some verbal abuse, the largest one picked her up, nodded to the one next to him, who proceeded to open a nearby locker. The young filly’s face grew panicked as she was promptly shoved into the locker, the door slammed behind her.
Fluttershy felt further feelings of disgust and protectiveness, but before she could step forwards to confront the colts, another form came to her aid, that of another filly with a rainbow mane. She watched with some measure of satisfaction as her old friend proceeded to chase away the three bullies and open the locker, letting her younger self out to freedom. She stepped forward to thank her old friend –
Flash
She stood on a cloud, watching herself cowering before the same three bullies, though much older, and the three bullies each had a cutie mark, whereas she still did not. Suddenly, Rainbow Dash landed in front of her, and as she spoke in her defense, the outside voices intruded once more.
“-buck, she’s… shock-”
“-outta the way…nurse-”
“-‘Shy!-”
The young filly stood on another cloud, clutching a flag in her mouth, waving it, being knocked off by the sudden rush of the three fliers passing her. She plummeted to the ground, screaming, and Fluttershy instinctively dove to catch her –
Flash
She watched herself moving into her new home in Ponyville, Rainbow Dash hovering nearby, helping her get her possessions sorted. She saw the smile on her face, watching her younger self settling into her new life on the ground, joy, happiness, and nervousness all vying for dominance in her expression. After the two of them finished setting up her cottage, she gave Rainbow Dash a hug, and they left the cottage, heading into town to start on some shopping for essentials.
As the two of them crossed the bridge over the nearby stream, she watched a pink blur appear out of nowhere, tackling her younger self to the ground as two screams echoed in the air: one a scream of terror, and the other a scream of joy. She watched the two fillies lie there for a moment, before the pink one jumped to her feet, bouncing with joy, excitement plain on her smiling face.
Her younger self just lay there, cowering and curled into a ball, before Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash both helped her to her hooves. Eventually, they managed to convince her that Pinkie Pie meant no harm, and only wanted to welcome her to town. After much encouragement and persuasion, the three ponies headed into town, Rainbow Dash fluttering above the two of them and Pinkie Pie bouncing next to her. Fluttershy knew the other two couldn’t see the expression on her face, but from where she stood, she saw a quiet expression of determination and joy building as they continued down the path.
She stepped forward to follow them –
Flash
“-get her warm-”
“-not enough-”
She was meeting Twilight for the first time, the unicorn surprising her as she was rehearsing with her bird choir for the Summer Sun Celebration. It wasn’t until she noticed Spike that she finally opened up to the two, so excited and nervous to be able to talk to a baby dragon that she didn’t notice Twilight’s exasperation at her actions. She stepped forward to apologize to her friend for her obliviousness –
Flash
She was climbing a mountain with her friends, heading into the dragon’s lair to encourage it to leave and take a nap somewhere else. She flushed at the exasperation on her friend’s faces as she constantly let her fears get the best of her, causing no end of hardships for the rest of them. She raised a hoof to provide herself some encouragement –
Flash
“-need some help!-”
She was facing Discord with the rest of her friends, minus Rainbow Dash, her coat and mane turned a faded grey and a sneer on her face. She watched the four of them mock and abuse Twilight as Discord laughed in triumph behind them all. She stepped forward to give him a stern talking to –
Flash
“-Buck!-”
“-crashing!-”
She was fighting the Changelings beside her friends. She stepped forward to help them –
Flash
“-Fluttershy!-”
“-come on…not losing-”
She was jousting with Rainbow Dash in the Crystal Empire. She stepped forward to encourage herself –
Flash
She was floating in the air, an unexpected and unfamiliar scene before her. The sterile colors of a hospital room filled her vision, as did the moving figures below her. She glanced around, noticing that she was simply floating there, her wings resting at her sides, and noted an odd sense of detachment to her surroundings, as if she was encased in a bubble. Focusing her vision on the figures below her, she felt a stirring of astonishment as she watched the scrambling ponies in the room.
“-need… adrenaline, stat!-”
On one side of the room, a hospital bed held the pony she had risked her life to save: Pinkie Pie. The pink pony was hooked up to multiple tubes and sensors, including an oxygen feed and an IV, and appeared to be sleeping calmly and breathing normally. She was surrounded by the rest of their friends, who were alternating between hovering protectively over her sleeping form and staring in concern and horror at the other bed in the room.
“-dammit…not on my watch-”
The other bed was currently surrounded by organized chaos, as doctors and nurses worked feverishly on the pony in the bed. It wasn’t until one of the nurses rushed out of the room for something that Fluttershy was able to see the pale pink tail peeking out from under the bedsheets. She recoiled as she took in her damaged and broken form, her pretty yellow fur underlined by cold blue skin. Her limbs hung limply, providing no response or resistance to the doctors moving them about, and she noticed that her right wing had been wrapped in a hasty splint that was threatening to unravel in all of the commotion. The fur and some of the skin on her cheek and belly had been torn away, and the flesh underneath would have been red and raw if it hadn’t been an ugly mottling of blue and black.
“-paddles! Charging-”
She tore her gaze away from the unnerving sight of her own damaged form, turning back to her other friends. Rainbow Dash hovered uncertainly, torn between the calmness around Pinkie Pie and the chaos around Fluttershy. Applejack sat with her hat in her hooves, alternately crushing it in agony and straightening it back out. Rarity sat with tears in her eyes, holding Pinkie’s hoof in hers. Twilight kept fluttering her wings as if she wanted to jump in and help the doctors, but knew that she should stay out of their way. Fluttershy could see the pain and anguish in her friend’s faces as her life hung in the balance, and there wasn’t a thing that any of them could do about it.
“-CLEAR!-”
Finally, she looked down at Pinkie Pie, who lay there quietly. She appeared to have recovered, thankfully, and Fluttershy felt a surge of pride at being able to save her friend. As she watched, Pinkie’s eyes fluttered open, peering around blearily at the scene around her. The others hadn’t noticed her come to as of yet, and continued their unbroken vigil of Fluttershy’s bed. Pinkie’s gaze traveled the room, noting her surroundings without too much surprise before drifting to the ceiling, locking eyes with Fluttershy as she stared down. Pinkie’s eyes widened with happiness, and she weakly lifted the hoof that Rarity wasn’t holding to wave at her floating friend. Fluttershy saw Pinkie’s mouth move, and somehow, through the sounds of the doctors trying to revive her, she heard Pinkie’s voice as if coming from a great distance.
“Thanks, Fluttershy. It’s gonna be ok now.”
Fluttershy reached out a hoof to wave back to her as the doctors brought down the defibrillator paddles -
Flash
FlashFlashflashflashflashflashflashflashflashflash
Flashflashflashflashflashflashflashflash
Flashflashflashflashflashflash
Flashflashflashflash
Flashflash
Flash
Light.
