Ah, Appaloosa.
Once known as Equestria's "Apple Capital of the Land", the bustling town was whittled down to a tiny refugee camp of about fifty ponies and twenty buffalo.
And soon, it would find itself with a common visitor.
She seemed to come out of the ever-setting sun, a masked stranger covered in armor. A scythe with incredibly intricate carvings along the blade and handle had found a housing on her back.
As the mare walked through the camp, mares and stallions grabbed their foals, ran into their homes, and locked the door. They all feared her with every fiber in their bodies.
The mare's target was a prime spot for gathering, Appaloosa's tavern.
The sliding doors flew open, and all mirth and joy it held went out with it.
The dancing stopped cold, and even the drunkest pony froze out of fear of this mare.
She made her way to the front, and the bartender knew there was no hiding from her.
Gala Appleby shooed her adamant employee away to face her…customer.
The mare removed her bloodied helmet,and pink wisps of her mane fell neatly against her neck. Just like that, Gala found herself staring into two icy-blue eyes.
Fluttershy slammed seven bits onto the bar. "The usual." she said in a deadpan-like voice.
"T-that's not enough… Y-you need two m-more," Gala stuttered.
The pegasus set both her hooves on the bar and leaned into the mare's face.
"The. Usual." she repeated, her face expressionless, but tone more aggressive.
Gala gulped, and poured her customer a mug of Aged Apple Cider.
The mare in front of her grasped it and chugged it down without taking second to breathe.
She set another seven bits on the counter. "'Nother round."
"A-are you sure? Y-you only s-stop by when someone n-needs you for a job. A-aren't you afraid to f-fall from grace?"
Flutters shook her head.
Gala hesitantly poured her a second drink.
This time, Fluttershy drank slowly enough to savor the taste. Reminiscing in the familiar taste of The Apple Family's special home-brew.
With no other words, Fluttershy sat herself in a corner table to await her contact.
An hour later, a stallion in a trench coat entered the room. A fedora covered the front of his face.
Fluttershy recognized him as the stallion formerly known as the richest pony in Ponyville.
She snickered. "And they say I fell from grace, Filthy."
He frowned. "Rich. Call me Rich."
"Well, you aren't exactly wealthy. BUT, you are filthy. I call them as I see them. What's my job?"
"Kill a dragon."
"Well, I knew that much. But I need reasons. If it ain't doing any damage, I ain't touching it."
Filthy frowned at the incorrect usage of words.
"This dragon was the one who gave me this."
The stallion removed his hat, revealing a blackened and seared patch of flesh that went over an empty eye socket.
The mare scoffed. "That all?"
"This dragon killed my daughter."
"Filthy, you're daughter ran off into the north and froze to death."
"Yes, but she was chased into the north by that dragon!"
"Meh. No pony even liked your filly. She was so bitter a timber wolf would spit her out. Even her lackey left her in favor for friendship."
Filthy's face turned pink. "Look, do you want the job or not!?"
"Oh, I'll take the job. Just give me a location."
"His cave is a few hundred miles to the northwest. In the Smokey Mountains. Not too far from our old hamlet."
Filthy produced a wrinkled and torn map from his pocket.
"I know where the mountains are. Keep the map for one of your smear jobs."
Filthy scowled. "Some "Element of Kindness" you are. I could take the job to someone else and be done with you, tramp."
Fluttershy was not something to be insulted. She smiled in a malicious fashion. "Oh, just like I can kill you and take the money right here, right now? I wonder how many weeks it'd take for some pony to realize you were gone…" Flutters could never bring herself to kill a pony, but he didn't need to know that.
Filthy shuddered and gulped. "Just get the job done!" he yelped.
After a week of almost nonstop traveling, the pegasus mare found her target's place of residence, a giant cave in the center mountain.
Looking through her pack, (a rather handy thing that held useful things. From sleeping drugs to basic survival items) Fluttershy produced a thin sleeping mat and tossed it onto the ground. Digging further in the mass of supplies, she removed a kettle and a vial of stale tea leaves.
She dumped the vial in her mouth, cringing from the foul taste. After the taste faded from her tongue, Fluttershy laid herself on her mat for some much-appreicated slumber.
She awoke many hours latter. The air was just cold enough to turn her moist breath into a thick fog. Autumn was here, despite no pony bothering to change it.
Chills surged through her, but they'd be remedied by the flames to come.
Fluttershy threw on her helmet, gripped her scythe, and began her trek within the cave.
When the scent of smoke was close enough to sting Fluttershy's nostrils, she tossed herself behind a stalagmite.
She stole the largest gem she had from her pack, and laced it with ambien.
With a well aimed throw, she chucked the crystal close to the dragon.
She waited, prayed, then smiled as she heard the satisfying crunch of a gem.
After a long series of yawns, she heard her target settle down for slumber. This was going better than most of her jobs. But now came the hard part, actually killing the dragon.
She revealed herself, cautious not to awaken her victim.
Then she saw him.
Every bit of the new Fluttershy fled her body as she watched the mass slumber.
Tears welled up in her eyes, and she couldn't fight them.
She opened her mouth to cry, but made a fatal mistake in doing so.
Her scythe noisily clashed against the ground.
Fluttershy could only watch as the dragon woke up.
Upon seeing the intruder, he shot a bright inferno in Fluttershy's direction.
She shot into the air, leaving only her pack to be incinerated.
To survive, she'd need to finish her job, but there was no way she'd ever do that to this one.
She balanced herself on a rocky ledge.
Tear streamed from her eyes, and she tossed her weapon beside her.
In a desperate effort to make him see her she called to him.
"SPIKE!"
Spike, despite the admirable call, ignored her voice and swatted the ledge into crumbling rocks.
Fluttershy impulsively reached for her scythe as she fell, but one of the many crumbling stones shattered her weapon into splinters. She flapped her her wings wildly, praying that air would catch them and bring her to temporary safety.
But she crashed against the ground with a sharp THUD.
She clawed her way out of the many stones that had buried her.
"Spike! Please see me! It's Fluttershy! Your Fluttershy! Please, remember, PLEASE!" she sobbed.
Her friend responded by spitting conflagration at her.
Pain gripped the mares body, but she still retained enough agility to fling herself behind one of the many boulders in the debris.
His flame was at all sides. The heat was almost too intense to stand. Fluttershy's mane clung to her neck from the heavy beads of sweat dribbling from everywhere on her body.
After what seemed like an eternity in tartarus, the flames finally ceased.
Spike, however, was preparing for another blast.
Fluttershy knew she couldn't take another blow like that. She squeezed her eyes shut and boldly charged towards her offender.
Both eyes flew open in a wide-eyed, hypnotic stare.
Spike paused for a moment, a very short-lived moment.
The large dragon thrust a final bout of flame towards the element of kindness.
Unfortunately, the pegasus didn't have time to react.
Flame engulfed her.
The pain was completely unbearable, but she couldn't even open her mouth to scream. As her vocal cords were burnt black the second she opened her mouth.
Her mane and tale instantly disintegrated, and Fluttershy felt as her own skin bubbled up until it became seared into flaking, black ash. Her own blood boiled in its veins, as well as the tears in her eyes, which blinded her as they welled up. Yet all of a sudden, she felt plain nothingness.
She collapsed onto the ground as the pain numbed her body. And at last, the flame stopped.
There wasn't much of Fluttershy at that point. Just a blackened body, barely alive.
She couldn't move, couldn't see, and she could barely hear.
What she did here was Spike gearing up for a final blow.
She hacked up as much ash from her throat as she could. In her final, fading breath, she gave the biggest smile she could.
And like that, she was gone.
Spike had reverted into adolescence.
He stared in horror at the blank carcass.
Spike had killed the only friend he'd seen in a year. An element of Harmony no less!
He threw on a scrapped-up cloak and ran towards Appaloosa.
The dragon refused to hide his deed, he couldn't live with that kind of guilt.