When Angels Lose Their Way

~ * ~

        Fluttershy emerged from the cocoon of swirling energies, basking in the glow of her Rainbow Power transformation. The power flowed like liquid light through her body. Her wings and hooves crackled with electricity at even the slightest movement. The rush of power brought forth a giddy giggle. She could totally beat back a hundred centaurs! No, a thousand! Why, if she had to, she’d hurt them, hurt them so bad they would never even think about hurting another pony ever again!

        No! She bit down on that thought, tossing it in the same dark hole. She was not going to let her control evaporate. She could do this. Ponyville needed her with a level head if she was going to do anything to save them.

        She trotted back to Trixie and Big Macintosh, both of whom gaped. “Wow!” Trixie said. “You look incredible! I’ve never seen something so... “ she blushed. “So, ah, powerful. Yes, powerful. Besides Trixie, of course.” Trixie preened.

        Fluttershy set her jaw in grim determination. “We have to hurry.”

        Trixie nodded, spurring into motion, barking orders to her squad. She turned back to Fluttershy and shouted, “We'll take the east side! You take the west!”

        “Got it. Big Macintosh?”

        Big Macintosh gestured to a small group of armor clad, spear armed Sparkle Guard pegasi. Fluttershy smiled as she saw she knew them all: Flitter and Cloudchaser, Blossomforth and Thunderlane, and even Bulk Biceps. The hulking brute of a stallion grinned magnificently as he saluted her along with the rest. She returned their salutes.

        “Okay, everypony,” she addressed them. “We're going to distract those awful, nasty centaurs as long as we can! We have to keep them from hurting the townsponies!”

        “Yes ma'am!” her squad responded.

        “We can do this! I have confidence in you!” And with the Rainbow Power, she finally felt like she had confidence in herself. Of a sort, at least.

        “Yes ma'am!”

        She whirled about, pointing a wing. “Let's move out!” Inwardly she giggled; she'd always wanted to say that.

        They made for the sky exit. Fluttershy felt a tug on her tail as she was about to follow. She looked back to see Big Macintosh holding up a spear. “Last chance, Fluttershy,” he said.

        Fluttershy sighed, pointedly turned her back on him, and exited. Joining her fliers, they took to the air.

        And flew into Hell.

        The streets of Ponyville had never looked so devastated; Spike's rampage had nothing on the sheer carnage. Craters where pockets of magic infused cannon shot had exploded rained flames every which way even as the few remaining ponies of the Ponyville Fire Brigade struggled to douse them. Whole streets of homes raged in volatile infernos, though smaller shields had been deployed to at least try to keep them from spreading too far. Crowds of ponies screamed even as they were escorted in a not quite orderly fashion towards the castle.

        And this was all before the town shields had come down. Fluttershy gulped.

        She led her fliers west, towards the Market District and Town Hall. Or what was left of it. The wreck had been obliterated by an explosion. From within, she realized, noting the pattern of shrapnel.

        She scanned around, and a burst of fury filled her heart when she spotted the culprits: a group of centaur soldiers led by the golden mithril clad one she'd seen earlier out her window. They'd just emerged from the burning wreckage of Sugarcube Corner!

        “Stay in pairs, everypony,” she ordered her squad. She remembered all too well the sight of the single pegasus spit like a pig on her own spear. “Bulk, with me.” The ponies gripped their spears, their eyes filled with fright now that combat loomed. A fright that Fluttershy shared. Her Rainbow Power was the only thing keeping her from shaking to pieces.

        So she used it. “Hey, you!” she screamed, the power enhancing her voice. She posed in the air, hooves on her hips, Glare of Disapproval firmly in place. “How dare you attack our home?! You should be ashamed of yourselves!”

        The mithril-clad centaur stared at her with wide eyes of either astonishment or fright. Fluttershy really really hoped it was the latter as the centaur raised her longbow.

        Fluttershy continued, “What makes you think it's okay to hurt innocent lives? I have half a mind to make you fix every bit of damage—“

        The cold shock of a frost enchanted arrow whizzing scant inches past her ear sent her into a dizzying spin to dodge the others being nocked and loosed by the other centaurs. “Kill them all!” the mithril-clad one ordered.

        “Oh Celestia on her throne!” she heard Blossomforth curse as the six dodged and weaved, closing the distance.

        “Stay together!” Fluttershy reminded them as they flew into the crowd of centaurs.

        Bulk brought his namesake down on a centaur stallion, eschewing his spear for sheer muscle mass. Fluttershy winced at the loud crack of the centaur's snapping spine. The centaur crumpled, dead before he hit the ground.

        At the same time Blossomforth descended, her spear jabbing for the centaur lieutenant's throat. The invader raised her longbow just in time to divert the tip into cutting a groove along her barding, instead of in her flesh. Blossomforth skyrocketed, dodging the arrows of flame and frost newly loosed in her wake.

        Fluttershy herself descended before a centaur nocking an arrow. An electric kick sent it flying from his hands. She brought her forehooves up to box his ears and held him by the head, unleashing a full force Rainbow Power enhanced Stare directly into his eyes. “Sleep!” she commanded. He obliged, slipping into slumber.

        Cloudchaser linked up with Flitter and the two spun a wall of wind that arrows pinged on harmlessly. Blossomforth and Thunderlane used the cover to divebomb with their spears. The centaurs threw their bows aside and drew their melee weapons just in time to clash with the pair of pegasi.

        Bulk engaged another centaur while Fluttershy whisked back, taking stock. Four centaurs down, eight to go. They were doing better than she’d---

She gasped in fright as she felt more than saw the frost-coated blade of the lieutenant's spear slicing at her back. She flipped in the air and alighted on the shaft of the spear. She brought her Stare to bear as she shouted, “I don't want to hurt you!”

        But the lieutenant was made of sterner stuff. She plowed her fist squarely into Fluttershy's jaw, filling her head with stars. “Your mistake!” smirked the centaur as Fluttershy collapsed into the dirt.

        Tasting bile on her tongue, Fluttershy fought the dizziness so she could skirt away with a few wing flaps, though not fast enough to avoid a slice that bit into her right thigh. She cried out as the frost crawled along her limb, stealing the warmth, like a frostbite, freezing the leaking blood into crystals of  crimson ice. She poured her power into it to break the enchantment, leaving it a normal, if bleeding wound.

        She rocketed into the sky and came down behind another centaur, pairing back with Bulk to take down the mare with a blow to the head, wincing at how much strength she'd put into the strike inadvertently. She had to hold back, she reminded herself. It would be so easy to cave in their skulls if she didn't watch herself.

        As she rose she spotted another centaur soldier charging Bulk's rear, spear leveled to strike. “No!” she commanded as she grabbed the spear, knocking the shaft up and hitting the centaur soldier squarely in the jaw. Tossing the spear aside, she followed up with a one-two punch that sent them reeling. Then, using a technique Rainbow Dash had taught her—“in case you can't get away from some jerk pony”— she thumped the ground, producing an air blast just strong enough to knock the centaur a few inches skyward. She flew under and delivered a lightning infused kick to their stomach. They collapsed, gasping for air.

        She took a breath and searched for Bulk, spotting him on the losing side of a wrestling match with the centaur lieutenant. The mithril-clad mare had him pinned down beneath her with her forehooves while her fists repeatedly smashed in his face. He held up his hooves, trying to block her blows, but he was weakening, not able to withstand the punishment.

        Fluttershy wasted no time in bull rushing the centaur, knocking her to the dirt with Shy right atop her. Fluttershy rolled off and up to hover just outside the Lieutenant’s reach as the centaur mare scrambled to her hooves and drew a wickedly barbed sword. “You are becoming tiresome, pegasus!” she shouted.

        Fluttershy crossed her arms, retorting, “And you're an awful, mean person!” She took just a second to glance in Bulk’s direction, smiling faintly when she saw him rolling to his hooves.

        The centaur mare sneered at her, twirling her sword in a deadly display of fencing prowess. “Are you going to fight me, pegasus? Or are you too cowardly to strike me without a comrade as a distraction?”

        Fluttershy glanced at Bulk and met his eyes briefly, trying to send a message of “Help me.” Then she turned back to the centaur. “Why are you doing this?!” she demanded. “Why are you attacking our home?”

        The centaur shrugged. “I only know my orders. And those orders are to kill every single pony in this pitiful excuse for a town.” She flashed Fluttershy a toothy grin. “I savored the deaths of the couple in that bakery.”

        Fluttershy paled. “M-Mister and Missis C-Cake?”

        “Oh, is that what their names were?” asked the lieutenant. She laughed, a gross, awful barking noise that raised Fluttershy’s hackles and made her teeth clench. “I didn’t bother to ask before I cut the stallion down. The mare blubbered pathetically for her life before I gutted her like a fish. She took so long to die!”

        “You…” Fluttershy shook with rage, her aura of power flaring brightly. “You… how could you?” The sight of Bulk sneaking up behind the lieutenant was the only thing keeping her from wringing that disgusting centaur’s neck.

        “The same way I’ll be--” Whatever the centaur had been about to say was lost to the crunch of Bulk’s hooves against the back of her head. She crumpled to the ground, whether dead or unconscious Fluttershy couldn’t say. And, she admitted to herself, she wasn’t sure she cared.

        Joining Bulk on the ground, she said, “Thank you, Bulk.”

Bulk grinned past the welts covering half his face. “No! Thank you, Fluttershy. You saved my life!”

Fluttershy gave him a half smile. “We should hurry and rejoin the others.”

“Yeah!” Bulk raised his hoof in salute. He crouched, readying his wings to fly. And froze, his eyes going wide, his mouth falling open.

        Fluttershy blinked. “Bulk? Is something wrong?” When he didn’t answer, she repeated, more insistently, her voice taking on a tone of panic, “Bulk?”

        Bulk let out a hoarse gasp and fell over, an open spear wound oozing blood in his side. The spear that impaled him stayed aloft, in the clutches of a centaur.

        The centaur Fluttershy had ordered to sleep.

        “No!” Fluttershy screamed. She launched into a rocketing charge, letting go of the restraint she'd put on her power so the charge was as fast as she could fly.

        Far too late.

        Too late, Fluttershy careened into the centaur stallion, knocking him dozens of yards away into the burning wreckage of the Quills and Sofas shop. Too late, she recovered from the crash and sped to Bulk's side.

        Too late.

        Everything dropped from her mind, slipped away, except for this one moment. All her attention focused on Bulk. She carefully placed her arms under him and held up his head, trying not to look at the massive stab wound. “Bulk! Stay with me, Bulk! Please!”

        Bulk coughed, a wet, sucking sound that nauseated her. A trickle of blood leaked from the corner of his mouth. “Fluttershy...?” he moaned.

        Somewhere at the corner of her mind she heard shouts, but she paid them no heed. “Bulk, you're going to be okay. I promise. I'll... I'll get you back to the castle!” She spread her arms underneath his massive frame, trying to keep him steady.

        He hacked another wet cough, with a deep shuddering breath. “No, Fluttershy... please... tell... tell my mom... I... “

        She listened close, but there was no more sound. “Bulk? Bulk, answer me! Please!”

        His eyes were glassy and still, frozen forever.

        She dropped his body, stumbling backwards and falling over. “No... no, no, no! NO!” she screamed.

        The power flowing through her veins fueled her despair as she let out an anguished howl that stilled the battlefield.

~ * ~

        The coronation party was in full swing. Scores of ponies from all over Equestria thronged, nobles and elected officials and commonfolk alike joined in celebration of their newest alicorn Princess. Drink flowed freely, with even the foals getting a (carefully measured and monitored) taste. The Canterlot Orchestral group played in harmony with DJ Pon3's rocking wubs. That... was the proper word, right? Wubs? Pinkie and Rainbow tried to keep her up to date with the correct lingo, but she still messed up sometimes. Like still using “lingo.”

        Under more normal circumstances, Twilight would've been out there in the middle of the action, cutting a rug with Rainbow Dash and Princess Celestia. Who knew the Princess was such a good dancer?

        But she had other things on her mind this evening.

        Fluffing her new wings uncomfortably beneath her dress, Twilight slipped quietly out of the Canterlot Grand Ballroom, searching for some place a little more... quiet.

        As she thought she might, she found Fluttershy in the Royal Garden, humming with the songbirds. For a moment, she watched Fluttershy, listening to that rich, beautiful voice of hers. Then she shook her head and approached.

        “Oh!” Fluttershy's ears drew back as a couple of the songbirds startled and took flight. She turned, her shocked expression softening into a smile. “Hi, Twilight.”

        “Hey.” Twilight's returning smile was strained.

        Fluttershy cocked her head, brow furrowing in a cute fashion that had Twilight feeling warm and fuzzy. “Are you alright, Twilight? Is something wrong?” She frowned. “It isn't your wings, is it? Do you need help stretching them?”

        “Huh?” Twilight was taken aback, though touched, by the concern. Her wings had been aching something fierce earlier. But... She shook her head. “No, no. Just a little too loud in there. Even the new Princess needs her quiet time, right?”

        “Oh.” Fluttershy blinked those oh so gorgeous eyes. “I guess that makes sense.” She beamed, lifting Twilight's spirits with those dimples in her cheeks. “I still can't believe you're really a Princess now!”

        “Yeah...” Twilight slurred, focusing a little too much on Fluttershy's beauty. She coughed, trying to reassert control. “Guess we all need to adjust.”

        A couple moments of awkward silence passed, leaving Twilight time to think, but dealing blows to her confidence as she did so. Pinkie's words from a few months before echoed in her mind, though, reminding her of just how much her feelings had been tearing away at her. And she knew she wasn't going to get a better chance. “Fluttershy?”

        “Yes?”

        Cotton filled her throat. She swallowed, her tongue feeling heavy, coated in syrup. “I... I have to... I have to ask... “

        Shy's smile drooped a tad. “Ask, um, what?”

        Twilight swallowed again, despite the sour feeling floating in her stomach. “Did you... “ she took a deep breath, and blurted the rest, “Did you mean what you said earlier? About loving... me?”

        Fluttershy blinked. “Of course!” She smiled a smile that slipped a knife between Twilight's ribs. “I love all of my friends. You've all been so wonderful to me!”

        “Friends... “ Twilight stumbled. “R-right, friends. Of course.” She shivered, turning so Fluttershy couldn't see the brimming tears.

        “Was... was that bad?” Fluttershy's note of panic twisted the knife. “Should I've—“

        “I love you,” Twilight declared, her cheeks moist from the dripping tears.

        “What?” Fluttershy said flatly.

        Twilight whirled, and placed her hooves squarely on Fluttershy's shoulders. “I love you,” she said in a strangled tone barely above a whisper.

        Fluttershy gasped, almost hyperventilating as her eyes widened wider than Twilight thought possible. “Oh!” Her wings rustled as though she was about to fly away. Twilight could hear a heart thundering like a jackhammer, thought whether it was hers or Fluttershy's—or both—she couldn't be sure.

        Fluttershy's mouth worked like a fish until finally she stammered out, “I... I don't?”

        Twilight's heart shattered into a million pieces. “No... no of course you don't,” she said. She let go of Fluttershy, backing away and dipping her head low to the ground. “I'm sorry for... for springing this on you so suddenly.” She took a few trudging steps back to the palace.

        Fluttershy held out a wing in her path. “No, please, wait, Twilight. It's... “ Fluttershy paused, choosing her words carefully. “It's understandable. I'm glad you told me. It... it explains a few things.” A blush suffused Fluttershy's cheeks. “Like some of the times you've... stared. At my tail.”

        If Twilight sank through the ground and straight into a cell in Tartarus she couldn't have escaped her shame fast enough. She felt dirty, gross. Tainted. What kind of sick pony was she, staring so much at Fluttershy like that? “I'm, I'm really sorry--” she began.

        “No no, it's... it's... well, I'm used to it,” Shy interrupted. That just made Twilight feel even worse, but she gave Fluttershy points for trying.

Twilight nodded sadly. “I hope I haven't... haven't been making you feel too uncomfortable.” Small words from a small mare whose actions she regretted so much.

Fluttershy bowed her head, hiding her face in her mane as Twilight withered from her embarrassment. When she looked back up, Fluttershy’s mouth twisted in a way Twilight couldn’t quite comprehend. “Actually, um, since we’re being so candid… you have. A lot.”

Twilight’s mouth fell open. “I… I…”

        Fluttershy continued, “I’m not sure why I didn’t say anything sooner. It’s flattering… I suppose… but it’s not wanted. Especially not when…” She shook her head. “Nevermind. Point is, it’s not wanted. ”

        Twilight felt the claws of guilt reach up and snag her, trying to drag her into the earth. She looked away, unable to look Fluttershy in the eye. “I understand.”

        Fluttershy raised an eyebrow. “Do you? Then why didn’t you stop before now?”

        Twilight pursed her lips. “I… I don’t know. I guess I was thinking about… about how I’d react to it, and how I’d speak up if it bothered me. Since you didn’t... I’m sorry. I should’ve understood you’d be too shy.”

        Fluttershy was silent for so long that Twilight broke into a cold sweat. When she finally dared to raise her head, the hurt in Fluttershy’s eyes made her recoil. “I’m not weak,” Fluttershy whispered finally.

        At least that’s what Twilight thought she’d said. Just to be sure, despite an instinct in her shouting alarm, she said, “I’m sorry?”

        Fluttershy stomped her forehooves, scaring away the remaining songbirds. “I’m not weak!” she shouted.

        Twilight shrank back, ears folding against her skull. “I, I didn’t say you were,” she stammered.

        Fluttershy spread her wings, nostrils flaring as her eyes bore into Twilight’s like diamond tipped drills. “Yes you did! You think I’m too shy to stand up for myself?” She shook her head in disgust, letting her wings drop.  She pointedly looked away from Twilight. “Go away, Twilight. Now.”

        Twilight raised a hoof, opening her mouth to speak, to apologize, to say anything at all that would save her from her own complete foolishness, but the vitriol she saw in Fluttershy’s glare convinced her to actually listen. So she turned tail and ran. Not towards the party, but somewhere, anywhere, far far away.

So she didn’t have to let anyone see her tears.