The Blacklit Tale of Fighter Shy

THE BLACKLIT TALE OF FIGHTER SHY
Chapter Two: Not as it Seems
Written by TheCrimsonDM

Fluttershy had taken Carmine Savant to the local hospital, just outside of Ponyville. The doctors had taken care of Carmine and she was in an emergency room with Fluttershy sitting next to her. Fluttershy had been worried about Carmine’s wounds, but from the brave face Carmine worn she felt confident that this was not as serious as she had originally believed.

Carmine looked over to Fluttershy and asked, “so are you serious about this, I mean you sure can fight but these arena match’s can be brutal.”

Fluttershy was terrified but at the same time she now knew what excitement fighting had given her. The sense of power and self control, things she had been longing for, for years now were all given to her in a single fight. Now that she had calmed down from the initial adrenaline high she was beginning to second guess her original plan. Fluttershy knew however that if she didn’t’ at least try to go through with this, it would eat her up for the rest of her life. The worst case scenario she could imagine had her going crazy and hurting her friends…and she could never allow that to happen.

Fluttershy closed her eyes and forced every ounce of confidence she had into her words as she spoke, “I am sure, I need to do this…it’s important.”

Carmine seemed to relax a little after hearing that and to Fluttershy’s surprise Carmine actually smiled. Carmine then said, “good, the prize money should be enough split two ways to cover my bills, and get yourself something nice.”

Fluttershy then asked, “how does this work, Do I just go in and tell them you got injured?”

Carmine stayed quiet for a bit and then said, “yeah pretty much, just tell the administrators that you’re my back up fighter. They need a show for the ponies watching so back up fighters are a common thing. After that you just need to don my costume.”

Fluttershy was a little confused as she asked, “costume?”

Carmine smiled and said, “yep, dye your mane and tail red. Wear some red contact lenses and then you may want to color your cutie mark in. Make it look a little more like mine. It will make you look more like the Crimson Fighter.”

Fluttershy could do those things easily enough, she had plenty of red dye left over from one of Rarity’s experiments. The best news was it was all temporary dye, Fluttershy could wash it right out after the fights and go back to being herself. No pony would ever have to know what she was doing.

“There will be a series of three fights you need to win,” Carmine began to explain, “the first one should be easy enough, but the semi final and then final could be hard. There were some tough opponents in the ring this time around.”

Fluttershy didn’t mind, she had faced tough opponents when she learned how to defend herself a long time ago. Though she never actually planned on using any of her training. Fluttershy allowed herself to wonder for a moment about whether Rainbow Dash would be proud of her skills or angry that she was abusing them.

Fluttershy looked at Carmine and asked, “so when is the first fight?”

Carmine gave her a sly grin and said, “tonight.”

***

Fluttershy approached the domed building that Carmine had told her about. This was the place where these fights were taking place at. The place where Fluttershy’s first match would happen, and where she could finally prove to herself that she wasn’t completely helpless like everypony always said.

The inside of the dome was brightly lit and had a lot of ponies walking around and talking. Considering she expected to see a bunch of snarling mean ponies she was surprised to see that they all looked civil enough to Fluttershy. A lot of them had a piercing or a tattoo but Fluttershy had seen all of those things before on the covers of Rainbow Dash’s rock music. To be honest she was actually interested in learning more about these ponies.

Fluttershy quickly checked her mane and tail again to make sure she had dyed them properly. Her mane and tail were now red, and her cutie mark had the butterflies painted gray to look more like moths. She was a good replacement for The Crimson Fighter, or at-least appearance wise.

The inside of the building had a long hallway that rung around the outer most edge of the inside. There were numerous doors some of which were open allowing Fluttershy to see inside them. There were chairs lined all around the room as it dropped in height until the middle of the room flattened out into an arena which was surround by a high chain link fence. Fluttershy could only imagine how scary it was to be watched by all those ponies while in the middle of the ring.

There was a desk next to the largest set of double doors and a light pink mare with a yellow mane sitting behind it. She looked up at Fluttershy as she approached. Fluttershy felt nervous as the pony asked, “what do ya need?”

“I…um…I’m here for the fight. I’m replacing the Crimson Fighter…”

The mare studied Fluttershy curiously for a moment before saying, “right, well come this way.”

The mare then led Fluttershy to a locker room where she would be staying until the ‘show’ started. Fluttershy was going to be alone in the locker room, apparently they liked to keep the fighters separated before the fight. Fluttershy stayed there feeling more and more nervous and scared. She imagined running away and never coming back, but something inside her kept her there, something that wanted to see this through. Something that wanted to fight.

An hour passed by before the pink mare came back to the room. It was time for Fluttershy to go and fight. She was led out of the locker room and through a door where she continued walking down the stairs. There was a small crowd of ponies sitting in the chairs and watching Fluttershy excitedly. Fluttershy made her way down into the center of the room and walked through the open gate on the chain link fence. As it closed behind her she wanted nothing more then turn and flee at rainbow speeds.

The pony standing across from her however was the only thing keeping her routed in place. Standing across from her was a yellow stallion with green hair, scars covered a majority of his body. He gave a hard look at Fluttershy causing terror to begin rising in her heart.

A mare’s voice came over the loud speaker saying, “welcome fillies and gentle colts to the beginning of our this year’s Blood tournament. This time we have Lemon Crush, stallion from the east, and our new competitor The Crimson Fighter. Time to fight everypony, and remember, fight till you drop. Ten seconds and you’re out. Oh and one last thing, absolutely no killing.”

A loud bell was rung and the battle was on. Lemon Crush and Fluttershy walked around in a circle eyeing each other. Fluttershy didn’t like the looks of this pony, and something inside of her was beginning to break. She no longer wanted to do this, she didn’t want to fight this stallion. But she couldn’t leave now, even if she wanted too.

Lemon Crush made the first move. Advancing towards Fluttershy quickly and taking a swing at her with his foreleg. Fluttershy dodged underneath it and used her small size to move under his body. She quickly wrapped her hooves around his waste and using her wings to propel herself. She jumped into the air with the stallion above her. The stallion flailed his legs about and kicked Fluttershy in the face hard. She didn’t expect the blow to hurt that much and dropped the stallion letting him fall to the ground.

Lemon Crush landed on his side hard. And Fluttershy took the opportunity to fly in a circle increasing her speed. Fluttershy was usually not very fast, except for when she was saving animals. But right now her speed was faster then what she was used too, she felt like she could even challenge Rainbow Dash right now.

As Lemon Crush began to rise Fluttershy slammed her front hooves into his side. Her increased momentum added onto her natural strength. Lemon Crush was sent flying into the air and his body crashed into the chain link fence.

Fluttershy moved in for a quick finishing move and just as she approached watched in horror as the stallion moved at an incredible speed. Lemon Crush swung his hoof into Fluttershy’s face smashing her onto the ground. The cold cement hurt as she hit it.

Lemon Crush came down for a second blow and just in time Fluttershy rolled out of the way. He hit the cement with his hoof and Fluttershy quickly jumped back into the air. She began to fly away from him, and then quickly spun around kicking him in the face with her rear leg. As he moved back Fluttershy came at him again and continued to smack her hooves into him. Finally he fell over, and Fluttershy watched in glee as the loud speaker voice began to count.

“ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one. Looks like we have a winner. Everypony give it up for The Crimson Fighter!” just as the announcer finished speaking the crowd erupted into cheers. Fluttershy was scared at first, but something in the way they cheered made her feel special. Looking down at her unconscious opponent Fluttershy realized that she was powerful, she was special. She could do whatever she wanted too, and right now she was the most awesome pony.

***

A few hours later Fluttershy found herself relaxing inside of nice hot bubble bath. Washing the hair dye away was very important, and considering the fact that the next fight didn’t happen for a week she was glad to look normal again. She played with the bubbles for a few minutes trying to hold them in her hooves. A feeling that had long since been missing from her life began returning. Satisfaction, that was what Fluttershy had earned from her fight, and she was truly happy to have it back.

Something still felt a bit off though, and it bothered her that she couldn’t put her hoof on what it was. Fluttershy was satisfied, but uneasy. She could tell that there was something she was missing, but what was it. It bothered her deeply to not know what was missing. The fight had indeed satisfied her, and nothing about the fight itself seemed wrong. But something in her life was strange, it wasn’t something she could point out, but it was something that was deeply unsettling her. Fluttershy relaxed deeper into the tub and tried to forget her worries.

No matter how hard she tried she couldn’t shake this feeling of something being off. She began to wonder what it was. She had visited Twilight right after having nearly yelled at Pinkie Pie. Rarity was acting weird again, and then there was the way Rainbow Dash had teased her…she had almost been brave enough to kiss her, but failed. That had to be what was wrong. Fluttershy had wanted to be with Rainbow Dash so badly, but was too afraid to do anything about it.

Fluttershy swore to herself that she would win Rainbow Dash’s heart, no matter what. Tomorrow she was going to walk up to Rainbow Dash and ask her out. Fluttershy had won some money from the fight so she could afford to treat Rainbow Dash to a nice date. Now full of confidence she was sure she could do whatever she wanted to, and succeed.

Thought’s of Rainbow Dash found their way staying inside her head. Thoughts of what she would do with Rainbow Dash once they fell in love. Holding each other, kissing, intimacy. The last one was very appealing to Fluttershy and caused her to begin dreaming of wild fantasies involving each other. Fluttershy enjoyed the rest of her bath while playing out lustful fantasies of Rainbow Dash in her mind. After her bath she went to bed.

***

Fluttershy found herself running on a long stretch of dirt road. She didn’t know why, but she knew that if she stopped the monsters behind her would get her. They were chasing her, she could hear them slither. There bodies made horrible wet slapping sounds as she continued to run away.

After running for what felt like forever she finally looked behind herself. The monsters were no where to be seen, and the sounds stopped suddenly. Fluttershy stopped running and examined her surroundings carefully. She couldn’t see anything other than darkness all around her. The dirt road was her only sign of direction.

Fluttershy continued walking very slowly down the road and stopped as she heard the sound again. The sound sickened and horrified Fluttershy. Whatever the monster was it she knew she never wanted to see it. Fluttershy began to see a shape out in the darkness, she couldn’t make it out. Suddenly the shape lunged at her and her world went black.

***

Fluttershy sat up quickly. She was in bed and covered in sweat. “It was just a bad dream Fluttershy, just a bad dream,” she told herself trying to calm down.

Angle Bunny hopped onto her bed and looked at her with concerned eyes. She grabbed him in her hooves and held him for awhile until the morning sun began to rise, telling her it was time to wake up.

She usually had a routine set up for every single day, and when things happened outside of her routine it bothered her. But lately she had been lazy in following it. She wasn’t sure what she was going to do today except for telling Rainbow Dash how she really felt. Fluttershy was determined to do that much.

***

A few hours later Fluttershy was walking about Ponyville, she had decided to visit Rarity. Fluttershy had been worried earlier when she looked at herself in the mirror. There were wounds on her face from the fight. So she now walked around with a bandage on the top of her muzzle just above the nose, where she had gotten kicked.

No pony really seemed to notice that Fluttershy was injured, in fact they didn’t seem to notice that she existed in the first place. She continued walking along, secretly prideful of her victory. Although she wanted to tell somepony about how powerful she had become, she didn’t want anypony to know about her secret life.

Fluttershy stopped as she saw a familiar pink pony walking towards her. Pinkie Pie was walking slowly towards her, something was wrong with her though. Pinkie Pie had her head held low, and her hair was flat and dropped down. Pinkie Pie didn’t even notice Fluttershy was there.

“Oh hi Pinkie. Where are you going today?” asked Fluttershy hopping to get her attention.

Pinkie Pie looked up at her and Fluttershy realized exactly what was wrong with her. Pinkie Pie’s left eye had a black circle around it, and her nose had a bandage over it. Pinkie Pie’ pupils shrank as she looked at Fluttershy. Pinkie Pie began walking backwards very slowly and looking from left to right fearfully.

“Fluttershy…what...um what do you need?” Pinkie Pie asked, with a fear leaden voice.

Fluttershy wasn’t sure what had happened but she secretly swore to punish whoever had done this to her friend. Fluttershy decided that for now she would try her best to cheer her friend up. “I’m going to visit Rarity, do you wanna come with me?” Fluttershy offered in her soft sensitive voice.

Pinkie Pie’s eyes widened a little, and Fluttershy hoped she was going to see some excitement in her friend’s expression. But Pinkie Pie quickly closed her eyes and said, “I’m n-n-not feeling so well…can I leave?” Pinkie Pie was quiet for a second and then added in a voice that was just above a whisper, “please let me go.”

Fluttershy felt like her heart was shattered. Pinkie Pie was scared of her, but she couldn’t figure out why. Fluttershy walked to the side and said in the most gentle voice she could muster, “of course. We can hang out later…if that’s okay with you.”

Pinkie Pie heard that and opened her eyes. They were wet as though Pinkie was about to cry. Pinkie Pie noticed that Fluttershy had moved out of the way and then Pinkie took off in a full speed gallop. Fluttershy was extremely worried about her friend, and the fact that Pinkie Pie was scared of her was exceedingly disturbing.

***

Fluttershy made her way to the Carousal boutique and found a few more ponies inside then she had expected. Rarity, Twilight, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash were sitting there talking. Fluttershy was overjoyed to see Rainbow Dash, and wanted to walk up and tell her exactly how she felt. But there was something odd about the way everypony was acting there.

They looked worried, and nervous. Fluttershy wasn’t usually the one for spying on other ponies but right now she was too curious not too. Fluttershy quietly snuck into the boutique and hid behind some clothing racks. It would not have worked if not for the fact that Rarity was working on a dress, and every pony was staring at Rarity. Just as Fluttershy ducked behind the cloths she heard the bell tied to the door begin to ring.

Everypony at once looked toward the door, and stared at it for a few seconds. Rarity finally said, “sometimes it goes off like that. Ever since Sweetie Bell broke it I haven’t been able to rely on the door.”

Applejack offered, “ah could have my brother take a look at it fer ya.”

Rarity replied, “thank you Applejack, but I don’t think I’m ready for a…stallion…to come into my house. Too my shame I’m not entirely healed from our experience over at Manehattan…”

A dead silence fell over the entire room. It was like she had just said the world was ending. Fluttershy understood she was worried about stallions, but didn’t Fluttershy save her. Fluttershy couldn’t quite understand Rarity’s fear. That’s when the feeling that something was very off came over her again.

Rainbow Dash was the first one to break the silence. “So how about Pinkie, what are we gonna do. She was hurt pretty badly.”

Twilight then spoke saying, “I think what happened between them broke Pinkie’s heart.”

Rainbow Dash added, “it also broke her face.”

“That is not funny,” Rarity replied.

Everypony was quiet for a moment before Rainbow Dash said, “it wasn’t meant to be. I’m worried here. I know Pinkie Pie went a step too far again, but this was just…I can’t believe this happened.”

Everypony was quiet for another few moments before the door opened just behind Fluttershy. The bell rung and Fluttershy quickly turned around to see the young Sweetie Bell walk into the room. Her coat and mane were a perfect match for her big sister Rarity, but her attitude was very different.

Sweetie Bell stared right at Fluttershy, and Fluttershy put her hoof to her lips making a shushing motion. Fluttershy really hoped that Sweetie Bell would understand. After a silent moment Sweetie Bell gave her a wink and trotted off towards Rarity. The door closed deftly.

“Sweetie Bell, what are you doing here?” Rarity asked.

In her high pitched voice Sweetie Bell replied, “oh I’m just here for my cape. I left in the washing room.”

Sweetie Bell then trotted off towards the washing room. Right as she left she said, “oh and Fluttershy is spying on you from behind the clothing rack.”

Fluttershy’s heart stopped. The little filly had just ratted her out, why would she do that? Fluttershy wanted to scream and rage in protest but realized quickly that maybe Sweetie Bell was just trying to do what was right. Because spying on your friends despite one’s curiosity is wrong.

Fluttershy walked out from behind the clothing rack shamefully. She looked at her friends who stared at her with expressions ranging from shock, to disappointment. Except for Rainbow Dash who actually looked impressed.

Fluttershy knew she would have to explain why she was spying on them, and her reasons were not very good. She quietly approached them and waited for one of them to speak. Finally Rarity spoke in a gentle voice, “Fluttershy, darling. Why were you spying on us?”

Fluttershy didn’t know what to say, she had no words for what she was doing here. This wasn’t even part of her routine, so she didn’t know how to respond. But being caught was a new kind of excitement. Mostly because she had no idea what her friends would do. If it had been Rainbow Dash or Pinkie Pie they would simply look the other way. But with Fluttershy would they be more harsh?

No pony spoke for a little while until finally Twilight said, “Fluttershy she asked you a question.”

Fluttershy looked at Twilight and could feel the fear of her friends retribution breaking her on the inside. Fluttershy looked at Rainbow Dash and lamented not being able to tell Rainbow Dash how she felt today. Twilight was going to lecture her and she would cry, there wouldn’t a chance for her and Rainbow Dash today.

Something inside Fluttershy decided that letting Twilight rule the show was a dumb idea. Why did Twilight always get to be in charge, why couldn’t Fluttershy be in control of the situation for once. Fluttershy grew a small grin as she knew exactly how to get out of this situation, and get what she wanted at the same time. Fluttershy took in a deep breath and prepared herself.

“I had a..um purpose for coming here today. I wanted to tell Rainbow Dash something, that’s why I came here,” Fluttershy said as she locked eyes with Rainbow Dash. Fluttershy stepped up to her rainbow colored friend and leaned in. Rainbow Dash looked a little confused, but not surprised. At least until Fluttershy kissed her on the lips. Rainbow Dash froze and Fluttershy pressed deeper, slipping her tongue in for extra effect.

Rainbow Dash returned the favor for a second before Fluttershy pulled away. She examined the utter shock on her friend’s faces, they wouldn’t be complaining about any spying now. Fluttershy turned around walked away swaying her tail back and forth. Fluttershy got to the door and stopped just long enough to say, “Rainbow Dash, my house, seven tonight.” Fluttershy then walked out the door, leaving her friends in shock and awesome.

***

Fluttershy had ran after getting a few feet away from Rarity’s front door. She finally stopped and hid behind some houses. Her heart was racing faster than ever before, and panic was rising inside her chest. There were so many ways that this plan of hers could’ve backfired but it seemed to work. Best of all was that if Rainbow Dash had fallen for her hook, then she would be having that date tonight.

Fluttershy couldn’t believe her own behavior but she enjoyed it. She wondered why she ever decided to let her friends talk her into becoming a pushover again. If only she had stayed assertive a little longer then maybe she could have won Rainbow Dash over much earlier. Fluttershy couldn’t stop grinning from how happy she was. Scared and excited Fluttershy began playing out fantasies of what the night was going to be like.

***

Night had settled over Ponyville and the town had fallen quiet. Fluttershy’s cottage was dark save for the candles lit in her living room, and the lantern out front casting light on the road. Fluttershy waited impatiently, and full of nervous fear. Finally she heard three timid knocks on the front door. Quickly Fluttershy flew to the door and opened it.

Just outside stood a nervous looking Rainbow Dash. Rainbow Dash had a rose in her teeth and looked a little embarrassed. Fluttershy however couldn’t be happier. She didn’t expect Rainbow Dash to bring a gift, but she accepted it lovingly. Fluttershy motioned for Rainbow Dash to come inside and sit down on the couch. She took the rose and gently set it down on the table.

The two of them simply stared nervously into each other’s eyes for a while before Rainbow Dash finally spoke, her voice on the verge of cracking, “Fluttershy…I…we’ve been friends for so long…I didn’t expect you to…you know.”

Rainbow Dash’s face was blushing heavily, and Fluttershy found this very attractive. Again there was something inside of Fluttershy pushing her into doing something she didn’t expect…but something that she wanted so very bad. Fluttershy leaned in towards Rainbow Dash and kissed her on the lips. “Shhh.”

Rainbow Dash opened her mouth to speak but was cut off by Fluttershy kissing her again, this time forcing her tongue into Rainbow Dash’s mouth. Fluttershy had no idea what she was doing at this point, she was acting on baser instincts. She felt a familiar warmth coming over her, and she knew that she wanted this now, more than ever before.

Rainbow Dash found herself forced onto her back on the couch. Fluttershy climbed on top of her and said, “it’s my turn to be assertive.”

As Fluttershy slid her hoof down Rainbow Dash’s belly she felt Rainbow Dash grab her hoof and stop it. Fluttershy looked into Rainbow Dash’s eyes and saw the uncertainty that was hidden in there. Fluttershy leaned in and kissed Rainbow Dash again and continued to slide her hoof down. Rainbow Dash continued trying to resist for only a few seconds as Fluttershy began gently rubbing Rainbow Dash’s sensitive spot, Rainbow Dash let out a loud moan Fluttershy felt her face heating up.

Rainbow Dash looked embarrassed, but she stopped trying to fight it and kissed Fluttershy back. The two of them continued progressing like this, and they made this night into a wonderful night of lustful romance. Finally Fluttershy had gotten exactly what she wanted, things were finally going just right for her. And yet in the back of her mind she knew that something was going to go wrong somehow.