Labyrinth

Continuing their way through the strangely calm hedge garden, Pinkamena eyed Fluttershy with wary suspicion.  The pegasus was oblivious to her stare as she looked around to take in their surroundings.

"Okay, I give up!"  the pink pony groaned.  "Why did you call me your friend?!  I mean, really, why?"

Fluttershy looked at her with surprise.  "Huh?  Oh, well, I suppose so far, you've been the closest thing I have to a friend."  She smiled softly.  "Even though I was rude to you, which I'm so terribly sorry for, you still helped me out, which is what a good friend does...  So, thank you."

"Oh."  The straight pink hair seemed to lift slightly as a few curls sprung forth.  Her eyes lit up as she said, "Friend, huh?  I like that."

The pegasus's ear swiveled and she turned her head to follow a sound nearby.  "Did you hear that?"

Pinkamena's mind was still on the new discovery.  "I've never been anyone's friend before."

A loud sound roared over them, nearly startling Fluttershy off her balance.  The other screamed, jumped in the air, turned tail, and started to run.

"See ya!"

Fluttershy looked over her shoulder.  "Wait!  Aren't you my friend?"

"Nope!   No sir-ee!  I've never had a friend before, so I don't need one now!  Pinkamena is Pinkamena's friend!"

"Ohh!"  She shuddered as another roar resounded.  Running away seemed like an awfully good idea.  "But," she told herself as she took a step forward toward the noise.  "few things are what they seem in this place, so perhaps it's not as scary as it sounds..."

Rounding the corner, the sight before her shocked her more than the roaring.  A large manticore was backed into a corner while goblins poked and prodded at him.  Though to anyone else the creature seemed terrifying, Fluttershy saw him for what he really was:  terrified.

Without another thought she ran forehead and put herself between the manticore and the goblins.  "You big bullies!"  She gave them a stern look and stomped a hoof.

"What?  Ah!  The pony!"

The goblins tripped over themselves trying to back away.

"Pony's here?!  Uh oh!  Big big trouble!"

"Must go go!  Tell master!"

They clambered off in different directions.  Fluttershy turned to look up at the manticore with pity swimming in her turquoise eyes.  "Oh, you poor thing..."  She reached out with both forelegs to hug one of the beast's paws, but he swiped at her.

"Arrgh!"  he roared.

She frowned.  "Now stop that!"

"Arrg...mmh?"  He looked down at her in confusion.

"That's no way to behave."  She turned away from him.  "When you're ready to be nice, then I'm ready to talk to you."

The manticore lowered his head and his ears drooped.  "Manny ready..."

"Manny?"  She twirled around, excitement plastered all over her face as she took her paw in both of her hooves.  "Is that your name?  Manny?"

"Manny."  The manticore nodded.

"It's nice to meet you, Manny.  My name is Fluttershy."  She giggled and rubbed a small, comforting circle into his fur.  "You're such a sweetie, aren't you?"

"Fluttershy?  Ah...  Friend?"

She beamed at him.  Her eyes practically sparkled up at the large but gentle creature.  "Oh, of course!  I'm always happy to make more friends."  She inclined her head to look at the labyrinth around them, her happiness fading.  "Manny, do you know the way to the castle?"

"Hmm, ah..."  He shook his head.  "No."

"You don't know either?"  She sighed.  "I wonder if anyone knows how to get through this labyrinth..."  She closed her eyes, pointed in a random direction, and opened her eyes again.  "I guess that way is as good as any."

After turning a corner, they found themselves in a forest.  Trees towered over them and a heavy fog closed in, making it quite difficult to see.

"Oh, my, a forest?"  Fluttershy tilted her head.  "But I don't recall seeing any forest before...  And these trees are so big!"

The manticore shuffled closer to her.  "Manny scared."

"There's nothing to be scared of, Manny."  She smiled as she let go of his paw and took some steps forward to show him the way.  "See?  It's not scary at all."  She looked over her shoulder and her face fell when she was alone.  "Manny?"  She ran back to where he had been.  "Manny?  Where are you?  Manny!"

Elsewhere, Pinkamena stomped down a corridor of the labyrinth, not concerned with where she was going, as she knew the labyrinth by heart.  "Get through the labyrinth, huh?  Well, one thing's for sure!  That silly filly will never get through this labyrinth.  Never!"  She paused.  "Never... eh?"

In the distance, she heard Fluttershy call out, "Pinkie!  Help!"

Pinkamena's hair stood on end and seemed to inflate like a balloon.  "I'm coming, Fluttershy!"  Just as she turned around, she found herself face-to-face with Discord, and all the life left her as she cowered back, hair flat and straight again.

Discord smiled, though it was sinister and without affection.  "Well, if it isn't you.  And where are you going?"

She returned his smile with a nervous grin.  "Uh, well, that little mare gave me the slip, but I just heard her now.  So I was about to go find her again, and take her back to the beginning, just like you told me to."

"I see."  He stroked his beard as he circled the pink pony like a hungry shark.  "For a moment, I thought you were about to gallantly run to her aid, but oh, no!  That would be stupid of you, wouldn't it?"

She gave a broken, stuttering laugh.  "You bet it would!  Me?  Help her?  Oh, no, no way!"

"Oh, dear."  He leaned down to look her directly in the eyes.  He smiled as she flinched back.  "Poor Pinkwart."

"Pinkamena."

Nearby, Fluttershy yelled, "Manny!"

Pinkamena took a step backwards.  "Well, that sounds like her, so I better be off to take her back to the beginning."

"Wait!"  Discord appeared behind her and she bumped into him.  "I've a much better plan.  Give her-" he paused to hold out a brightly colored peach.  "this."  He tossed it to her.

She caught it with both of her front hooves.  "Wh-what is it?"

"It's a present."

Her ears drooped.  "Will it hurt her?"

Discord raised one eyebrow and crossed his arms.  "Now, why the concern?"

For the first time, she looked up at him and said with courage swelling her chest, "I won't do anything to harm her."

"Come now, Pinkwart!  I'm surprised at you, losing your head over a girl."

She scowled down at the peach.  "I haven't lost my head."

He laughed.  He disappeared and reappeared floating above her, looking down at her.  "You don't think a sweet, lively young filly could be friends with a depressing little scab like you, do you?"

"Well, she said she was..."

"What?  Friends?"  He laughed.

"Ohh, it don't matter."

Discord grabbed her face and forced her to look up at him.  "You give her that, Pinkamena, or I'll dip you head first into the Bog of Eternal Stench!"

Her courage gone, she started down the corridor.  "Yes, right..."

"And, Pinkamena," he said, giving her pause.  "if she ever truly calls you her friend, I'll let you go free."

"You... you will?"

"Free in the land of strench."  He laughed as he disappeared for good.

In the forest, Fluttershy wandered, lost and alone.  Of course, she had been both since she entered the labyrinth, but she was now concerned for where her new friend had gone and it made her loneliness seem all the more apparent.

"Manny?"  she called.  Her voice was tired and strained.  "Manny, oh, where are you?"

Her ear swiveled when she heard noises nearby.

"Yah!"  Something jumped around in the limbs above.  "Yahoo!"

She looked upward.  "Wh-who's there?  What do you want?"

A strange dog-like creature popped out of the foliage with bright green eyes.  "Aha!"

Another, small and light brown in color with yellow eyes, jumped out of a bush.  "We're out to have a good time!"

The first hopped down to land beside Fluttershy.  "Yeah, that's right!"

A third, much larger than the others, stepped out of the fog.  "Whoo!"

They began to hop from tree to tree and plucking red mushrooms off the branches.  The mushrooms were small and glimmered like ruby gemstones.

"We heard you cryin', so we came to show you a good time!"

"We can show you a good time!"

"And we don't charge nothin'!"

"Nothin' at all!"

Fluttershy felt dizzy, watching them gather the ruby mushrooms and talk in sing-song.

"Chilly down with, think small with fire!"

They tossed some of the mushrooms at her feet, which sparked like little firecrackers.

"Hey, listen up!"  The smallest dog jumped down in front of her.  "When your things get fire, chilly down, chilly down!"

The big one picked her up and started to use her like a puppet, forcing her to move with their song, ignoring her startled cries for help.  "Shake your pretty little head, tap your pretty little hooves!"

They broke out into howling laughter and the big one dropped her to grab his sides.

Fluttershy trembled all over.  "Th-th-that was, um, a nice song, I think..."  She rubbed her head with a hoof to make sure it was still on straight after being shaken around.

"Encore, encore!"  the green-eyed one cheered.  "But this time, I get to play with the pretty pony!"

"Oh!  Um, please, no, I think once was enough!"  She backed away as their large clawed paws reached for her.

"No, no, my turn next!"

"No, please--"  When one grabbed her leg, and she found herself backed up against a wall, she cried out, "Pinkie!"

A rope fell down in front of her face.  She blinked, then looked up to see where it came from and smiled when she saw a serious pink face staring down at her.  She tugged her hoof out of the dog's grasp and grabbed onto the rope, which Pinkamena tugged on to pull her up.

"Hey, not fair!"  the dogs cried from below.  They scrabbled at the wall for a bit, then gave up rather suddenly and wandered off.

At the top, Fluttershy embraced the pony with both forelegs.  "Oh, Pinkie!  You came!  You saved me!"

"Now, wait just a-"

"Pinkie, you really, truly are my-"

Pinkamena's eyes widened.  "No!  No, don't say it!"

"-friend!"

The ground underneath them gave way to a hole and they fell through, screaming and clinging to one another.  They landed on a narrow ledge, Fluttershy moreso than the other.

The pegasus quickly covered her nose with one hoof.  "What is that horrible smell!  Where are we now?"

"The Bog of Eternal Stench!  Ugh!"  Pinkamena tried to jerk away from her and knocked the stones beneath her loose.  Her attitude changed and she reached out for the pegasus.  "Help!"

"Hold on!"  Fluttershy caught her hooves and pulled her back up all the way onto the ledge.

Pinkamena paused to catch her breath, then glared over at the other.  "Why did you have to go and do a thing like that for?!"

"Huh?"  She blinked innocently.  "Do what?  But you said 'help'..."

"What?  No, not that!  You called me your friend!"

The pegasus took a moment to try to process this before she giggled and hugged the pony.  "Oh, you don't have to act like such a toughy!  You came to rescue me, so I know you really do care."

However, the ground beneath them had been just disturbed enough from Pinkamena's near-fall that it crumbled and they fell, landing just inches away from a pit of bubbling ooze, and coincidentally just by where Manny was cowering.

They all took a moment to gather themselves before each noticed one another.

"Fluttershy!"  Manny jumped on her.

"Manny!"

"What?!"  Pinkamena stared with wide, confused eyes as the behemoth wrapped both paws around Fluttershy and licked her hair.

Fluttershy giggled as the sandpaper tongue made her hair stand straight up.  "Pinkie, this is Manny.  He's also my friend!"

Manny's excitement over seeing her faded and he put a paw over his snout.  "Smell!"

This reminded her that she was also about to gag from the stench.  "Oh, it's awful, isn't it?"  She looked around and spotted a bridge.  "Look, there's a way out... I hope!"

Manny followed after her.  Pinkamena was still trying to catch up to how the manticore came into the picture.  She shook her head to chase away her confusion.

"Careful!  If you so much as step in it, you'll be stuck with the smell... forever!"  She dragged out the last word dramatically.

When they crested the hill to reach the bridge, they found an odd sight:  a blue pegasus with rainbow hair was sitting, somewhat awkwardly, on the back of a disgruntled orange pony.  The pegasus wore somewhat dulled silver armor with a lance attached to one side at her flank.  Her helmet tied up her hair in a large plume that ran down the middle like a mohawk.

"Stop!"  the blue pegasus said, kicking the orange pony to move closer.

The orange pony rolled her eyes but complied nonetheless.

"Stop, I say!"

Fluttershy took a moment to stare at the pair before she said, "We need to get across this bidge, please."

The blue pegasus puffed out her chest.  "Slow down there!  Without my permission, no one may cross."

"Oh, here we go again," muttered the orange pony in a southern drawl.

Fluttershy looked at her companions, both struggling just as much as her with the smell of the bog.  "We've got to get out of this stench."

"Smell bad!"  Manny roared.

"Stench?"  The blue pegasus raised one brow.  "What stench?"

Fluttershy gave a meek gesture to anything around them.  "The, um, smell."

"I smell nothing.  I live by my sense of smell, and the air is sweet and fragrant."  She glared down at them.  "And no one may pass without my permission!"

"Smell bad!"

"Ohhh!" Pinkamena stomped forward.  "Get out of my way!"

The blue pegasus hopped off the orange pony's back to stand in Pinkamena's way.  "I'm sworn to my duty!"

Free from being ridden, the orange pony leaned against the side of the bridge and yawned.  "Why don't y'all just turn back from where ya came?"

"Please let us get across," Fluttershy pleaded.

"Don't make me hurt you!"  The blue pegasus lowered a lance and aimed it at them.

This did halt them, but Pinkamena rolled her eyes and darted around and past the blue pegasus.

"Pinkamena!  What are you doing?"

However, the pink pony ignored her, continuing on her way to the other side of the bridge.

Manny, having had just about enough of the smell, swiped at the pegasus's lance.

"Hey, you cut that out!"  She unfurled her wings and flew up to land on top of the manticore's head.  "All right, then, I conquer this mountain."  She stood tall and proud of her accomplishment.  When the manticore's tail lashed at her, she flew up to dodge.  "Whoa!  You've got to do better than that."  The tail made another attempt, and she dodged again.  "Give up!  You can't catch me!  I'm the fastest in all of the labyrinth!"

Manny lowered his tail in defeat, though he growled under his breath.  The blue pegasus lowered herself to the ground and faced the large beast.  "Never have I met my match in battle!  Well, almost my match.  Close enough anyway.

Fluttershy put a hoof on the manticore's shoulder.  "Are you okay, Manny?"

"Smell!"

The blue pegasus nodded at hearing her foe's name.  "Sir Manny!  I, Rainbow Dash, yield to you.  Come, let us fight as one!"

The orange pony sighed.  "Oh, brother."

Fluttershy stepped forward to cross the bridge, thinking the matter settled, but she was stopped yet again.

"You forget my sacred vow!  I can't just let you pass."

"But..."

"I must defend my oath to the death."

Fluttershy sat back on her haunches.  "What exactly have you sworn?"

Rainbow Dash put a hoof over her chest, which swelled with pride.  "I have sworn on my life that no one shall pass without my permission, and I never break an oath!"

"Well..."  Fluttershy stood back up.  "May we have your permission?"

This stunned the other pegasus into momentary silence.  "Uh, sure, I guess?"  She looked to her orange companion, who just shrugged, then looked back at the others.  "Yes?"

"Thank you."  She smiled, bowed her head, and started to cross the bridge.

Manny followed behind her.

"Hey, wait for me!"  Rainbow Dash looked over at the orange pony again.  "Come on, Applejack.  Let's go."

"Ya sure we gotta keep doing this?"

She narrowed her eyes.  "A knight always has a steed.  And you're a steed.  So stop complaining and get over here!"

"But ya can just fly!"

The pegasus hopped onto Applejack's back without giving her a chance for more complaining.  "Let's just go before they leave us behind!"

"Oh, applefritters."  The pony groaned.  "An' what about yer oath?  Who's gonna defend the bridge now?"

Rainbow Dash kicked her sides to urge her forward.  "I have a new oath to fight alongside that totally awesome manticore now!"

"Right..."  She sighed and trudged forward.  Though she was a strong pony, the weight of the other's armor made it a little difficult to carry her.

Once everyone had crossed, Pinkamena pulled out the peach.  She glanced around to make sure they weren't watching and held it out to drop it into the stench.

Discord's voice rung sharply in her ears.  "I wouldn't do that if I were you."

Her hoof pulled it back to her and her ears drooped.  "But I just can't give it to her..."  She sighed and put it away, then ran to catch up with the others.

They found their way back to the forest with Rainbow Dash and Applejack's help.

"We should reach the castle well before daybreak," the blue pegasus commented.

In the castle, Discord tossed Angel up and down in his hand like a toy.  He paused to hold him up to the crystal ball he was using to watch the group's progress.  "Look, Fluttershy.  Is this what you're trying to find?"  He pulled the rabbit back to him.  "So much trouble over such a little thing, but not for long."  He grinned wickedly at the trembling ball of fur.  "She'll soon forget all about you, won't she?  Just as soon as Pinkamena gives her my present."