“Please help her!” said a voice from behind them causing all of them to jump.

As everyone turned to the sources of the noise the manticores getting ready to defend if need be, Twilight and Fluttershy see a white semi-transparent serpentine baby dragon just floating there.

“Don’t do that!” Twilight nearly screamed.

“Please you have to help her,” the dragon pleaded.

“Who…” Fluttershy began.

Meanwhile, the head the eyes belong to tilted slightly as they focus on Twilight. Then the eyes widen as they came to a decision.

“Who…” Fluttershy began.

Just then a blur of red and black streaked by and tackled Twilight.

As the manticores were about to attack the assailant when the dragon scream, “No don’t provoke her!”

There was a loud purring and they all looked toward Twilight. Where they saw her knock over with a black pony with red tail and mane curled up on her hind legs purring like a cat. The cutie mark, if there was one, was covered by the tail being wrapped around the body.

“Please, she is extremely unstable right now. We need to get her somewhere safe,” The dragon said eying the manticores cautiously.

Fluttershy turned to the manticores and kindly asked them to leave. After she promised that she would tell them what happened and have the pony apologize to them, they final agreed to leave. Turning to the dragon she asked, “um, ah, what do we do now, um, I’m sorry what is your name?”

“Um, I don’t really have a name, I mean there is one I could use but I don’t really want to. I could use Ranko but I kinda need to ask her if it is alright,” The dragon said indicating the sleeping form on Twilight’s hind legs.

“Um, okay, I’ll call you Ranko for now, my name is Fluttershy nice to meet you. So, um, what now?” Fluttershy asked again.

“Well you are a pegasus right? So, can I use your internal magic to move them by decreasing their weight so we can carry them out of these woods?” Ranko explained.

“Umm, what do you mean?” Fluttershy asked as she tilted her head to the side.

“Um,” Ranko began fidgeting a little. “I kinda, sorta,” she started twiddle her fore-claws, “can access and manipulate others internal energies.” She looked away with embarrassment and guilt.

Fluttershy could tell there was something she didn’t want to talk about. It made Fluttershy a little nervous. “Is it safe?”

“Oh, yes. Quite so. I would use the alicorn’s since she has more magic but I can’t ask her and I don‘t want to disrupt her aura, it could be ….” Ranko paused as she thought about it “…bad, very bad,” she said with a little shiver. Realizing something Ranko returned her gaze to Fluttershy. “I’m so sorry I didn’t mean to offend you it just that alicorns usually have more magic than a pegasi and I’m not implying your weak or anything it’s just…”

Realizing the poor dragon was going to keep rambling because she thought she was insulted, Fluttershy decided to end it by saying, “I’m not offended. Twilight is more powerful than me though sometimes she needs our help. Not to mention the power of the other princesses, I would never presume that I could match them in magic.”

“You’re not offended? Really, but why aren’t you, I mean every…” she stop herself realizing something about where they were and a smile started to form.

“Why would I be? All you did was state a fact.” Fluttershy pointed out and the smile brighten.

“Bad experiences we've,” she indicated the pony with Twilight, who was starting to get over her daze from the impact, her smile loss quite a bit of it’s life, “both had. If I didn’t know better I would swear you were the embodiment of the Element of Kindness.” She started chuckling a little while Flutteryshy had a big sweat drop on her head. “WAIT! You’re not suppose to know about the Elements of Harmony they’re a secret… or are they? I’ve kinda been outta the loop.” She started laughing nervously.

“Um, actually…” Fluttershy began a nervous laugh of her own. “I kinda, um, am.”

“Are what?” Ranko asked confused.

“The embodiment of the Element of Kindness,” Fluttershy stated as she blushed.

“Oh. Well that’s… um, wait did you say you’re an element?” At Fluttershy’s nod Ranko began to smile. “Yay, that means I didn’t screw-up.” Ranko sighed as she visually relaxed.

“So, um, what do we do?” Fluttershy asked.

“Huh?” responded Ranko with a blank stare.

“About getting them to somewhere safe?” asked Fluttershy.

“Oh, … Oh! Right, right, sorry about that,” Ranko stated sheepishly. “Well, I can begin now, but…” she began, then looked at Fluttershy nervous, “while it is safe I should warn you that for every hour or so that I use it, you will feel like your being crushed by reality itself for 3 to 6 hours. As I will have to drain straight from your natural flow in excess to make them unusually lighter to allow for the ease of transporting them. The matrix that makes up your magical aura which is a combination of biological, spiritual fluctuations, and magical ambiance, will be stressed to the point of destabilizing. The most common reaction to this is the reversal of the effects of the matrix as the energies reverberate off the matrix in it’s chaotic and therefore constricted state. Of coarse, as the energies resonate with their sources they increase the feedback which slowly repairs the matrix itself. The benefit is it will ultimately increase the matrix’s efficiency and power. In short for every hour of use it will allow you to be able to fly better. Now that is the usual affect and consequence but not the only one.” Ranko’s face turned grim and serious. “If anything else and I mean anything else, no matter how minute it may be, tell me immediately. Okay?”

“Um… okay. So, um, how do we start?” Fluttershy asked a little worried.

“Just walk over there and grab hold of the alicorn’s tail. Um… it’s alright to grab her tail, right?”

“It shouldn’t be a problem, but since Twilight seems to be coming to I’ll ask her.” Fluttershy responded.

Twilight still a little groggy had been only partially paying attention to the conversation. However, when she heard her name she woke a little more and responded, “Anypony get the number of that mountain that hit me?”

“Twilight!” exclaimed Fluttershy. There was a bit of a shift in Twilight’s lap and Fluttershy held her hooves to her muzzle. After a little while the shifting stop and there was once again the content purring coming from the small pony. Relieved that she hadn’t disturbed the sleeping pony Fluttershy began in a much quieter voice, “Twilight are you okay?”

“I’ll be fine I think but what the hay is going on and who is this? For that matter who are you?” Twilight asked indicating Ranma and then Ranko.

“I’ll explain later, but for now we need to get moving,” Answered Ranko.

“Twilight, Ranko is going to use magic to make you lighter, is it alright if I pull on your tail to move you?” Fluttershy asked her friend.

“Sure but, why don’t I just levitate this foal off me so we can walk back to Ponyville?”

The horror and fear on Ranko’s face sent a small shiver down Twilight’s spine. Ranko fidgeted as she answered, “right now, laying in your lap is calming her and separating her from the calming effect of your aura may result in upsetting her. While that by itself might not be that bad, a magical field of unknown origin and purpose might be seen as threatening. Combined with the unintentional effect of partially restraining her and her mobility would more than likely make her feel cornered. The probable result would be her sense of danger and urgency being overloaded. The last time that happened she did destroy an immortal monster of flame that could regenerate instantly. Since she sees you at the moment as being a means of safety and with the vast amount of stress she has been under the last few weeks accumulating in the incident a week ago…” Ranko paused as she tried to hold back a tear. Taking a deep breath she exhale and continued, “so she might feel betrayed,” Ranko spoke the word with the venom she couldn‘t hold back, “and lash out with potentially lethal results.” Ranko took a moment and then said in a whisper, “even if she doesn’t mean to.” But, Twilight still heard the last part.

“Okay so can we get started,” Twilight said a little nervous realizing the danger she may very well be in. Even if it would be unintentional. And, wanting to get into a position she may be better able to defend herself and her friends.

Fluttershy nodded and Ranko began. An aura started to emerge from Fluttershy while she started feeling lighter and lifting off the ground without even using her wings. Just as suddenly as it started the aura disappeared. Fluttershy fell to the ground with a light thud and Twilight with her cargo lifted off in her stead. Twilight watched this magic with awe as she was curious how it worked and decided to ask Ranko about it later. Fluttershy grab Twilight’s tail in her mouth and started leading the way back to her cottage.

As they walked through the Everfree forest Twilight decided to find out about the dragon and the pony in her lap. “So who are you and what is wrong with her?” she asked Ranko while indicating the pony.

“She is my charge Ranma and I have failed her for more years than I can or want to remember. I am …” she paused as she decided what to say, “Complicated. My name is now only known by one being and the last I saw of him was…” another pause as she tried to hold back the tears in her eyes, “not pretty. He had lost himself to madness. Shortly after that I left with her or so I thought. After I had lost her, I was known as Jusendo for so long I don‘t even remember what I was called before. Where the name Ranko came from is a long story but it is hers and it isn’t. That’s why I told Fluttershy it is up to her if I will be able to use that as my name. As for what is happening to her,” Ranko shivered as she indicated Ranma, “it is or rather was a training technique called the neko-ken. Her teacher thought it would make her invincible. Together with the rest of her training and the trials she has faced one would be a fool not to say it comes close. The problems are it requires her to be in a near berserker state at the very least and a fear so intense it triggers the mental state. She has an overwhelming and paralyzing fear of cats. So when the cat things with the scorpion tails and bat wings…”

“Manticores,” Twilight interrupted and corrected.

“…came after we arrived she kinda snapped. Especially after everything else,” Ranko continued as if she weren’t interrupted.

“What do you mean ‘arrived’?” asked Twilight.

“We kinda crashed there,” replied Ranko.

“You were the meteorite.” Twilight nearly shriek causing the little bundle of death, as Twilight began thinking of the pony as, due to the whole ‘destroyed immortal monster of flame’ comment that Ranko made, began to stir. After a few tense moments Ranma snuggled closer and began to purr again.

“Yes, but I’ll explain everything later okay. I only want to do this once and I will need to tell Celestia. That reminds me, what happened to Luna? The moon was bare,” Ranko asked a little nervous and a little anxious.

“Okay, I’ll wait on the explanation. As for Luna she was saved from the Nightmare state by the Elements of Harmony, after her banishment ended a few years back.” Twilight answered.

Breathing a sigh of relieve Ranko went on, “Then I will need to see her, especially her, when I explain. As for her,” indicating the purring pony, “she usually comes out of the neko-ken after she sleeps. However, with everything that has happened, the stress from coming here, and the cats, I think she was pushed deeper than before. Well, except for the first time, and that took a truly calming aura three days for her mind to come back.”

The rest of the journey was made in silence.

When they arrived at Fluttershy’s cottage the dragon was pounced on by a bunny. Ranko asked the first thing to come to mind. “Is he your boyfriend?”

Both mare stared at her like she had grown a second head. The bunny blushed before he bopped her on the snout and walked away in a huff. “What did I say?” Ranko asked confused.

“Um… you know that was a bunny, right?” Twilight asked.

Nervously laughing Ranko replied, “of coarse, I was, ah… just joking. Yeah that’s it, joking.”

Twilight knew there was something more to it than she was letting on but wouldn’t push the issue. Fluttershy brought them over to the couch. Ranko still hadn’t released the spell because she wanted to use what ever mattresses and comforters Fluttershy had to make a spot as comfortable and supportive as she could before the world crushed her. As Ranko busied herself with that, Fluttershy was making lunch for everypony.

Twilight look at her burden one more time and notice something. Around her head was a piece of cloth attached to a flat piece of metal with an image on it. The image was of an apple with a stem and a single leave. Circling the apple was two wings, one curving above and behind the apple, the other sweeping below and in front of the apple. Both wings circling each other from base to feather tips in a clockwise rotation. The one sweeping under starting just above the middle of the apple and the one curving above starting just below the apple’s middle. Curious about the design Twilight started removing the headband without even realizing as it mesmerized her.

Ranko had the mattress and three comforters in her hands when she felt it. A shift in reality that could have only been brought on by one event. She just prayed she’d make it in time.

Just after Twilight had undone the knot in the back and started to remove the headband. A bright light immediately encompassed the room and the very fabric of reality and the universe twisted and bent around a single point. The energy that shot out reverberated and resonated with her horn, wings, and hooves twisting everything it touched as the energy arched across her body. From that point arose a shadow and that shadow began to take form. Just as the wings and horn grew from the shadow, another shadow swooped in grabbed the headband from Twilight’s limbs and starting from the tip of the shadow’s horn slammed it hard to the head. As soon as the headband touched the shadow’s skull reality snapped back with an ethereal shockwave. The shadow popped back to being the little earth pony filly that had been in Twilight’s lap earlier and everyone fell to the ground as gravity reasserted itself. Ranma fell right back into Twilight’s lap.

After everyone was on the ground Ranko retied the headband before glaring at Twilight, “what were you thinking? Don’t ever do that again. Do you know what you almost did?” Ranko stopped realizing something. “Your on the ground… FLUTTERSHY!” she exclaimed before running off to the kitchen.

In a cave, in an undisclosed location was Discord, a creature with a serpentine body covered in fur, a reptile tail, a griffon’s claw, lion’s paw, a leg of a goat and dragon, a wing of a threshal and a peagus, and a the antler of a deer and blue goat horn on the head of a pony. He sudden jerked and looked around, “that was one buck load of chaos. Should I see what is going on in the wonderful world of ponies? Nah, with chaos like that they’ll blame me for it eventually. I should sit back and enjoy the show. Thank you, plausible deniability,” Discord raised a glass of chocolate milk in toast before drinking the glass and throwing the milk. The milk immediately exploded but instead of the usual blast there was a colorful shockwave. That was followed by a fierce pulling as the shockwave, along with the chair he was sitting on, was sucked into a singularity that lasted for a few seconds. Shock painted Discord’s face.

As Ranko went to go check on Fluttershy, Twilight was about to get up and follow when Ranma started to stir. She froze in panic and once again wondered what kind of spawn of Tartarus she had in her lap. As she looked down she noticed that Ranma was awake.

Ranma looked up with eyes wide in wonder, whispered, “You have a beautiful aura,” and passed out.

Author's Note

A. n. would the ponies know what a lap is? Because, I might use the neko-ken again.

A. n. I’m aiming for the more open and easy going Ranma that he was in his youth while still bogged down with the things that force the macho bravado any feedback to help with this in further chapters would be appreciated.

A. n. yes that headband was inspired by naruto so shot me.

A. n. 2700 words. Seriously I was aiming for maybe 1500 at most, but got a little held up with Ranko’s spell. I know what I want from each chapter but not all the details. How I write for the most part, is I have a concept, the back stories and histories of the characters, and some sense of a general plot(mostly for the chapters). So there may be long periods between updates.