A Different Kind of Worldby Just Some GuyChapters[Chapter 3] Annoyances[Chapter 4] Chaotic Decision[Chapter 5] Bonding though the Snow[Chapter 6] Telling the Truth[Chapter 7] Deadly Visitor[Chapter 1] Still Alive[Chapter 2] A Long While[Chapter 3] AnnoyancesAnother day, another cruddy morning living in Fluttershy's home for Airy. This was only her third day here, and she still couldn't get used to the fact she was surrounded but some of the stupidest animals she's ever seen, not to mention Fluttershy's interior decorations skills were sub-par to her. She groaned as she awoke from her slumber, staring once again at the inside of the worst house she's ever been in. She took a look around and saw that the horse that took her in and treated her wasn't there, so at least she could have a peacefully awakening. "Oh good, so I'm not dreaming..." Airy sarcastically said before rubbing her bandaged arm and head a bit "Hmmm... Hurts a little less than yesterday. I think I might be able to go around without them hurting the whole time. For what it's worth, that urchin did a decent job of patching me up." The crystfairy removed the covers from her body and hovered out of bed, letting out a yawn and stretching her one good arm while leaving the other limp. She slowly flew down the stairs and smelled something delectable to her. Looking out from the staircase door, she saw that Fluttershy was cooking something, humming a pleasant tune to herself. Airy tried to sneak past her, but the damn glittering wings made too much noise. The cream yellow Pegasus turned around and smiled. "Why, good morning, Airy" she greeted "Did you have a nice sleep?" "Yeah" Airy answered before smirking devilishly "Then I gazed my eyes upon you." "I see we still have a few issues..." Fluttershy sighed in disappointment before perking back up again "Thankfully, I think I have an idea on how to fix that poor attitude of yours." "Oh? And how exactly are you gonna do that, hmm?" laughed the fairy "Say nice things about me? If that is truly your plan, I'll-" "I've invited a few girls over today" the cream yellow Pegasus smiled kindly, knowing exactly what kind of reaction Airy would let out. Unsurprisingly to her, the crystfairy's utterly shocked and horrified expression nearly made her laugh. "W-W-What?!" Airy stuttered "But... but... I HATE children!" "Which is exactly why you have to endure it" Fluttershy said in her not-used-very-often strict voice "You've been very naughty recently, so you have to be punished. Besides, the girls I invited over aren't that bad. Their hearts really are in the right place." "Only their hearts?" the fairy nervously questioned "N-No matter. I'm sure handling a few smaller mortals shouldn't be difficult. Oh what am I saying?! There is no way you're leaving me with those children!" "Unfortunately, you don't have a say in the matter" Angel smirked, hopping from another room and underneath Airy "Fluttershy and I are going out today to buy some food for her animals, much to my dismay. Either way, you'll be left here with them for the entire day." "INSOLENCE!!" Airy shouted at the rabbit, causing Fluttershy to be very alarmed. "Airy, please don't talk to Angel that way" she picked her pet up and cuddled with him "Besides, he never said anything to rile you up. Isn't that right Angel?" The white rabbit nodded before hugging his owner. When Fluttershy wasn't looking, he stuck out his tongue at the injured fairy, making her scoff in annoyance. "Now, we'll be gone for a bit to get some things for my animals" Fluttershy told her exactly what Angel said not a few moments ago "Though, I suppose I should wait until-" (Music Stop) A knocking sound was heard at the door of the timid Pegasus's abode. She smiled and went to go open the door. As soon as she did, she was greeted by three young equines; one Pegasus with an orange coat and messy purple mane, one Unicorn with a white coat and curly pink and pale purple mane, and one normal horse with a cream yellow coat and a long mane with a large pink bow in it. "Hiya, Fluttershy!" they all greeted at the exact same time. "Hello there, girls" the Pegasus kindly smiled "You arrived here just on time. Would you like to come in?" "Ya bet we would!" the young normal equine exclaimed in a country accent. The three fillies entered Fluttershy's house with smiles on their faces and immediately eyed the fairy floating in the air. They gasped in delight and rushed over to Airy as fast as they could, forcing a scream of horror to come out of the crystfairy, as well as the most surprised and horrified expression one could make. "WOW! A real-life fairy!" the cream yellow one's eyes lit up like a candle "Applejack told me 'ey were only in legend!" "Her wings look so cool!" the orange one gushed. "I really like her mane!" the white one's voice squeaked a bit. "Enough!" Airy finally cried out before pointing to Fluttershy "You! Get these annoying children away from my sight!" "I'm so sorry, Airy" she regretfully smiled "But I really have to go now. Now, girls? Don't touch anything super fragile in my cottage, okay?" "Okay, Fluttershy!" they all said at the same time again, which admittedly was a bit creepy to Airy. Before she could demand the removal of the three young equines, Fluttershy and Angel left the house, leaving her alone with three anthropomorphic ponies she didn't exactly want to spend time with. "You're very pretty!" the white filly said, much to Airy's dismay "Oh, we haven't even introduced ourselves yet! I'm Sweetie Belle." "I'm Scootaloo!" the orange one greeted. "An' ah'm Apple Bloom!" the cream yellow one grinned happily "Together, we're the Cutie Mark Crusaders!" "That's a silly name, you annoying child" Airy commented quite rudely "Just what on Luxendarc is a cutie mark anyway? Don't tell me it's anything like that tattoo on Fluttershy's posterior." "That's exactly it!" Scootaloo cheered "A cutie mark is a picture that appears on somepony's flank when they discover their special talent. For example, Fluttershy's cutie mark is three butterflies, symbolizing her talent for animal care." "So that's what those things were for?" the crystfairy wondered before she scoffed "What a juvenile concept!" "Hey! Cutie marks aren't... ju-vee-nile!" Apple Bloom argued. "Now, now, Applebloom" Sweetie Belle calmed her friend down "Don't you worry. I got this." "Oh, you must be the voice of reason in this group" the rude fairy analyzed "Well then, tell me, what do you three girls like doing in your free time?" she asked before thinking "Maybe I can coax them into leaving me alone..." "Interesting question... Airy, was it? Yeah, Airy. You see, it's actually quite simple..." the white Unicorn professionally spoke before going back to her childish demeanor, a wide smile appearing on her face "The cutie mark crusaders do everything they can to get their CUTIE MARKS!!!" "YAY!!" all three of the girls shouted in unison, forcing Airy to cover her ears. "But what should we do today, girls?" Scootaloo asked. "What 'bout anythin' 'at comes in our head?" Apple Bloom suggested. "Scoots, Apple Bloom, are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Sweetie asked with a small gasp of joy. The other two girls smiled as well and began squealing in happiness. "CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS, FAIRY CARETAKERS!!" they all shouted at the top of their lungs. Airy didn't even bother covering her ears. She was purely terrified at what horrors she would have to endure from whatever the three girls were planning for her. "Dear lord..." Airy spoke, her voice filled with fear. (Music Stop) XXXXXX "More tea, Princess Airy?" Sweetie Belle asked as she handed the crystfairy some of the warm liquid in a small pink cup. It was truly amazing to Airy how how the three young girls managed to hold her down long enough and slip her into a small dress from one of Sweetie's dolls. Even more surprising to her was how they were able to force her into joining them for a tea party, kiddie table, pink dining sheet and all. They were all sitting around the table on stools, with Airy sitting on a very tall tower of empty jars, forming a seat for her. The crystfairy groaned and slowly double face-palmed. "I hate my life right now..." she sighed. "I see Princess Airy is very upset right now" the white Unicorn pointed out "Very well. Princess Apple Bloom, would you care for some more tea?" "Ah would very much so" the cream yellow pony wearing a silver tiara held up her own pink cup with her right front hoof and let Sweetie somehow levitate a teapot over it to pour tea into it. Airy, despite disliking the girls, was curious as to how that was possible. "That's magic that your doing" she pointed out "Is it black magic or white magic?" "Um... what's that?" Scootaloo asked curiously. "W-What?! You mean you don't even have classifications for your magic?!" Airy was shocked from the fillies' confusion "At least the people of Luxendarc were somewhat smart, but everywhere I look there's just someone dumber than the last..." "Y'know, Sweetie Belle, this whole tea party thing is getting a little boring" the orange filly ignored the crystfairy's comment and voiced her own opinion "Can't we do something a little more exciting?" "Exciting?" Apple Bloom wondered before finally realizing what she meant by that "Oh, ya mean 'at! So long as Sweetie says it's okay, then ah suppose we're good ta go." "Well, I guess this tea party is a little bland..." the white Unicorn thought aloud "Alright then, let's go!" "Ugh, finally!" Airy sighed in relief "I get to take off this wretched dress and do something other than pretty princess activities. Honestly, anything other than this will make my day-" (Music Stop) XXXXXX "WAY TOO EXCITING FOR ME!!" Airy shouted as she held onto Sweetie Belle's mane for dear life, her body waving in the wind flowing through the hair strands. Scootaloo, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle got onto a small blue scooter in that order, with Scootaloo being the one driving it, flapping her wings rapidly in order to propel it. At first, the little fairy though the ride would be short and a little fast. But she had no idea that the filly would be so fast. To her, this was even worse than the tea party. At least she didn't have to wear that silly dress. "C'mon, Airy" the orange Pegasus rolled her eyes and smiled "We're only getting to the good part!" "That only make me more afra-HEY-AID!" she called out as the scooter picked up speed "I wish for you to stop this immediately!" "Scoots, maybe if Airy isn't having 'at much fun, perhaps we should turn 'round and-" Apple Bloom spoke before getting interrupted by her driver friend. "Not on my watch!" Scootaloo smirked before speeding up the flapping of her wings, in turn making her go faster "We're almost at this place where I can do an awesome flip!" "Wait, Scootaloo, that's-" Sweetie Belle pointed out at a cliff heading straight into the Everfree Forest in shock. But it was too late. (Music Stop) Scootaloo drove her scooter right over the cliff and into the dark forest, causing them to fall down into the depths of the trees. They all screamed as they plunged into the darkness of the wood, separating themselves. Airy landed on a collection of soft trees, slowly sliding down until she reached the bottom, no more injured than she already was. She rubbed her back with her one good arm and floated up into the air, taking a look around the area before letting out a small sigh. "Perfect, just what I needed..." she said sarcastically "Another problem in the way. At least I'm not hurt. Now you know, urchins, that you cannot... be... hasty..." she looked around and saw they weren't anywhere to be seen "Well, I suppose they aren't my problem anymore." "AAAAAAAAAAH!!" Airy heard a collection of voices call out. There was no mistaking it was the voices of the three girls who got her into this forest she actually wasn't too fond of. She knew they needed help. "I have no time for that" she spoke to herself "I need to get away from here while Fluttershy isn't looking and while I have the- OW!" her arm stung again, forcing her to yelp in a bit of pain. Suddenly, she heard something rustling in the bushes behind her. She slowly turned around and saw two glowing red eyes staring right back at her. "Airy, run!" Sweetie Belle shouted from the other side of the bush. The crystfairy took no time to insult the filly and just began flying away as fast as she could. The eyes jumped out at her and revealed themselves to actually be some sort of wooden wolf. The wolf took chase to the fairy and was clearly faster than her in every possible way. "C'mon, fly faster!" Airy complained to herself "No time to lose!" The wooden beast got closer and closer to her as the chase continued, until finally in lunged out at her and tackled her to the ground, stepping on, unfortunately, her bad arm, forcing another yelp out of her. The creature's face got dangerously close to her own, and she could feel its breath on her body. Just after it opened its jaws to eat her, it felt something hit its back. "Get off her, ya big meanie!" Apple Bloom bravely spoke before throwing away the small log she used to hit the wooden wolf. Despite her courageous attitude beforehand, she trembled in fear the second the beast turned around. However Airy, seeing a perfect chance to strike, leaned up as much as she could and extended her good hand at the creature. "F-F-Fire..." she softly spoke. Much to her surprise, a small flame emerged from her hand and began burning the wolf. It cried in pain and writhed in agony, but eventually it turned into nothing but a pile of ashes. The crystfairy let out a huge sigh and fell back onto the ground. "Airy..." the cream yellow equine said in surprise "The fire, the burnin'... how were ya able ta do 'at?" "I... I don't know..." the fairy looked at her hand "B-But I feel p-powerless now. Was th-that the last of m-m-my power?" "Apple Bloom!" Scootaloo called out to her friend as she approached her, Sweetie Belle right behind her "Are you alright?" "Y-Yeah..."she panted "But ah have Airy ta thank fer savin' me. So, thank ya kindly, Airy." "I... I..." Airy tried to insult them, but with all the pain coursing through her body, she couldn't bring herself to do so "You kn-know what? F-Forget it... I j-just want to r-r-rest..." "She's a bit right, girls" Sweetie nodded "This certainly has been an interesting day, but right now I don't feel like doing anything more right now. Let's head on back to Fluttershy's cottage, okay?" "YEAH!" her two friends cheered at the same time, making the injured fairy on the ground groan. She felt herself be levitated by Sweetie Belle's magic, which was a surprisingly pleasant feeling. She was then carried off. Suddenly, the group stopped unexpectedly. "Wait, which way is Fluttershy's cottage again?" the white filly asked. "Look over there!" Scootaloo pointed one of her front hooves at a bright light to their side "That must be the exit!" "Nothing else, ah guess" Apple Bloom shrugged before the party began moving again. (Music Stop) XXXXXX Fluttershy had arrived home quite late. She never expected to be held up by Pinkie Pie and talked to all day, not that she didn't mind talking to her, but she did have some important shopping to do. However, once she was all done, she looked forward to finally relaxing a bit with Angel and read a book or three. She opened the door and, to her surprise, saw three little fillies and a small Angel-sized fairy piled up on one-another on the couch, sleeping. "Aww, they're so cute when their asleep" she said with a smile "Wouldn't you agree, Angel?" The white rabbit looked up at his owner before smiling and nodding furiously. This caused the Pegasus to giggle a bit before returning her attention to the pile of sleeping bodies. "Somehow, someway, they got Airy to sleep with them" she noted "I'll have to ask them how they managed to do such a thing. Well, either way, I think it's about time we headed off to sleep ourselves. I am a teensy bit sleepy after all..." Fluttershy smiled as she slowly headed back upstairs to where her bedroom was, carefully trying not to awaken the four little ones sleeping on her sofa. She hopped into bed, turned out the lights, and went to sleep almost immediately. Little did she know of the warm smile that appeared on Airy's face. Author's Note Airy is getting better as a character? Maybe. You'll simply have to find out! I took a listen to the final boss theme of Bravely Second and, I'm not spoiling anything, but trust me when I say you will love it. It is better than "Serpent Eating the Horizon" from the last game, and that was awesome! Discord chapter is up next! Be sure to Like, Comment, Favourite and Follow, and until then, don't let your enemies default! [Chapter 4] Chaotic DecisionIf any day during all this to would be the worst to Airy, it would be today. After being brought back upstairs and into her bed on Fluttershy's dresser, she had accidentally slept on her now very injured arm she got from yesterday, and of course felt all the pain of in in the morning. She attempted to get up and her arm hurt more than it should have. She yelped in pain, alerting Fluttershy, who was resting in her bed at the time reading a book. "Oh my goodness! Airy!" she spoke in a concerned tone "What's wrong? Is your arm acting up again?" "N-No..." the fairy waved her caretaker away "I'm fine. Stop pestering me." "You don't look fine" Fluttershy analyzed "Here, let me-" "Hands off me!" Airy flicked her arm away, causing even more pain to flow through it "I... I'm... I'm fine, okay? I don't need any help. I linked thousands upon thousands of- No, you wouldn't understand." "Airy... Your arm..." the cream yellow Pegasus said softly "How is it more injured than it was before?" "I don't have to tell you" she lightly rubbed her bad arm "Just go away and leave me be. It's bad enough I have to stay in the same house as you, so do me a favour and just stop trying to help, okay?" "I... okay..." Fluttershy disappointingly sighed before walking away and going down the stairs. She looked over at her couch and saw that the white rabbit she took care of for so many years was waiting for her to join him. She smiled and went to go sit down with him, rubbing his head lovingly. "Oh Angel..." she sighed "Airy got injured injured yesterday and she won't tell me how, let alone help me heal her. She's just so stubborn sometimes. If only there was somepony out there who could help me." Putting a paw to his face, Angel thought long and hard about what options they had. They could try contacting Pinkie Pie, but that would make things worse than they already were. They could leave her alone, but she would just be more stubborn than she already was. While the rabbit didn't like his final idea, he figured there wasn't any other choice. He shook his owner's leg, getting her attention. "Hmm? Do you have an idea, Angel?" she asked nicely. Angel nodded before pulling a pen and a piece of paper out of nowhere and began drawing. Once he was done, he showed it to Fluttershy. She gasped and looked closely at the picture again just to be sure he wasn't trying to fool her. "Are you sure, Angel?" she asked her rabbit, to which he nodded in response "Well, I suppose if anypony could teach her how to be a lot less rude who was also on her level of cruelty at one time, it's him. Okay, I'll go and give Discord a call." Angel sighed. Despite this being their last hope, he didn't necessarily enjoy Discord's presence or personality. He knew him and Fluttershy were friends, but that didn't mean they couldn't have their differences. Fluttershy entered her kitchen and brought out a whistle from one of her drawers. The whistle was wooden and shaped like that of a snail's shell. It was about as large as her hoof, but the mouthpiece fit her mouth quite nicely. (Music Stop) Putting it in her mouth, she softly blew into it, creating a rather loud whistle and more than likely alerting the crystfairy resting upstairs. Not two seconds passed before a small explosion of confetti appeared in front of Fluttershy, surprising her a little bit. She quickly shook it off once she realized exactly who created the confetti in the first place. "Good morning, Discord" she smiled at her friend. XXXXXX Airy laid in her bed, her head and body facing the ceiling. She felt like her entire body had just given up on her. But she didn't need that pony's assistance; she knew she could heal on her own. She's shrugged off far worse. Then again, that was when she still had her power. The fairy didn't like feeling powerless, and more than anything she wanted her powers back so she could leave this wretched place, pulling a few tricks on the townsfolk for her personal enjoyment once she did. "All in a knot, I see" spoke a male voice very unfamiliar to Airy. The voice was mostly calm and collected, but she could hear that small sadistic side of it. For some reason, she liked the voice. Nonetheless, she didn't want anyone there at the moment. "Whatever you want, I don't want it, so don't pester me" she stated, but the voice continued on. "Okay, I won't pester you" Airy could feel the voice cracking a smile "But I will talk to you and do something about that horrible attitude of yours." "You don't make any sense..." the crystfairy pointed out. "Aww, make sense?" he questioned "But what fun is there in making sense? Besides, I think making sense will be everypony's downfall one day. You can't have a life without having a bit of fun!" "Just who exactly are you?" Airy was a bit curious, if not amused by the voice speaking to her. The answer to her question was a surprising pop of a strange paper-like entertainment product that apparently came in many different colours. Once the initial shock of it was gone, the fairy looked back to see the weirdest creature by her bedside. He was an amalgamation of different animals standing on two legs with two arms at his side, with the head of a horse and a body of just about everything else. His body was noodle-ques and eyes were unnaturally yellow, as well as his long face giving off a mischievous smile that very much fitted him. "My name is Discord, my dear" the creature bowed respectively "But you may call me Discord. I was sent by Fluttershy to help you get acquainted with this place." "Yeah, good luck trying to do that" Airy rolled her eyes "That urchin and her little pet already tried that, and look where that went? What makes you think that this will be any different?" "Because we haven't tried things my way!" Discord laughed. "Ex...cuse, me?" the fairy raised an eyebrow. "Well, what are you waiting for? Hearth's Warming Eve?" the old creature laughed again before scooping her up with the hand that looked like a lion's paw "We have some fun to accomplish!" "W-Wait, where are you-" the crystfairy's sentence was interrupted by the sound of warping she heard so many times when the warriors of light used warp stones to travel around. In a flash of light, she was gone to who-knows-where. (Music Stop) "...now, Discord, be sure not to-" Fluttershy came upstairs only to see that they had gone off somewhere else "-take her someplace else... Well, I suppose if it will help her learn the value of respect... I just hope Discord doesn't corrupt her any more than she already is." XXXXXX Airy and Discord had warped somewhere the former had never seen before. Though, that wasn't saying much; she had only been to two places in this seemingly gigantic world. Wherever it was though, she really seemed to enjoy it. Everywhere she looked was all made out of crystal. The houses, the pathways, the lampposts, everything. The fairy's eyes opened wide and her pupils dilated as her mind took in everything. "Welcome to the Crystal Empire," Discord welcomed his guest "where everything is made of-" "Crystal..." the crystfairy finished his sentence "This is incredible! I love crystals!" "Really now?" the old creature laughed, something in his voice telling Airy he already knew her interests beforehand "Well, I think you'll like it if you turned around for a moment." "Why, what's behind-" she gasped the second she turned around. Right there was a gigantic castle made of light blue crystals, with purple flags hanging down from it. The castle itself was pyramid-shaped with long sides and and four legs keeping it up. Underneath the castle though was what really caught Airy's attention. "That heart..." she pondered "If that crystal heart is anything like the elemental crystals of Luxendarc, I might be able to connect this world to the others and begin my OWN climb to the celestial realm... Then I can leave all these wretched ponies behind!" "Airy, was it?" Discord gained her attention again "I do believe it's time to begin the fun." "O-Oh?" the fairy gazed back to Discord again "Oh, right. This better not be a waste of my time, you old coot." "Oh, I can assure you, this will be more than worth your time" the old creature smiled devilishly before walking off to someplace else. Naturally, Airy followed him. As they walked though the streets of the empire, she noticed that all the ponies there were also made of crystal, oddly enough. However, what really caught her attention were the odd looks Discord was getting from the townsfolk. "I'm sure your wondering why that is, right?" Discord asked his accomplice, as if he knew that's what she was thinking "You see, I'm not fully 'one with the herd' yet, as they say. Like you, I still have many, many lessons to learn, which is why I really do think you should take Fluttershy's kindness into consideration." "Fluttershy's kindness?" lightly laughed the crystfairy "More like Fluttershy's constant worrying for me. I mean, who even does that?" "Fluttershy" the amalgamation chuckled "But that aside, here we are!" they both stopped outside a fairly large but very empty house that looked condemned and ready to be taken down. "Really? Honestly?" Airy was unsure of what to think "This house is your idea of fun? How anti-climactic of you." "Looks can be deceiving, my dear" Discord turned around and smiled "I do believe it's time to officially introduce myself. My name is Discord..." he bowed in respect "...also known as, the spirit of chaos. And this..." he snapped his eagle claw fingers and the door to the house opened up "...is my playground." The crystfairy took a peek inside the house and saw wonderland of insanity inside. It was like an entirely different dimension. Bright colours of purple, red, blue and yellow were in every corner of the pocket world, and different objects floated around aimlessly. Airy though she saw a giant green hamster wheel at one point. Either way, her curiosity shot through the roof. "What is this place?" she asked her host. (Music Stop) "This, my dear, is my home" he smiled before gesturing Airy to enter his dimension "Please, after you. I insist." Airy floated into the space and immediately felt as light as a feather. She had never felt this excited before, excluding the moment when she connected all 100,000,000 worlds of Luxendarc. After flying around the dimension and doing a few loop-Dee-loops in pure joy, she turned back to Discord, who was now closing the door to his world temporarily. "How is this possible?" Airy asked "There is no way any of this can work!" "Perhaps in your reality," the spirit of chaos grinned "but, you see, I struck a deal with a certain Time Lord. I get access to his technology, and in turn I stop stealing his wife's muffins." "What on earth is a Time Lord?" the crystfairy wondered. "Well, enough about me!" Discord ignored her question and magically clothed himself in a tuxedo, top hat and cane "Step right up and be the first one to explore my dimension, including me!" "You mean to tell me you have never explored this place before?" one of Airy's eyebrows rose up. "Can't say that I have" he shrugged "After all, I just received this place yesterday. Who knows how much chaos or power lies in here. Y'know, I think I should dust the place sometime..." The crystfairy's eyes widened at the mention of power. "There's power here, he says?" she thought as a small yet devilish smile appeared on her face "If what he says is true, I can use a small portion of this world's energy to pray on the crystal heart under the castle! Then my plan will be set in motion!" "Say, do you mind if I take a look at some of this power in here?" she asked as politely as possible, her being Airy and such. "So sorry, my dear" Discord gave off an apologetic smile "But that would be chaos magic you'll be dealing with. There is only one soul in this world capable of using such magic in a responsible fashion... And unfortunately for you, he's not here! AHAHAHAHA!!" "So, just to reiterate, I can't use this type of magic?" Airy wondered. "Not unless you have more than 1000 years of training behind you, dear" the spirit of chaos laughed again. "Darn it! He's too smart about this!" the fairy thought "I suppose I have no other choice then. I must to the rite without the magic by my side. But knowing Agnés, that might be painful" "Then in that case, may we go and see that crystal heart under the castle?" she asked her host. "Why, of course!" he grinned and opened the door to the real world again "I'm not sure why you'd want to see something as boring as that, but I suppose if you became interested about anything in Equestria, I'm doing my job." Airy nodded before quickly rushing out the door and towards the crystal. This action got Discord thinking. (Stop Music) "Hmm... She didn't seem awfully hesitant to want and go and see that source of all power in-" his eyes opened in shock as he suddenly realized what Airy was trying to accomplish "Oh no... Fluttershy will ruin me if I let that happen!" XXXXXX By the time Discord got over to the crystal heart in the centre of the Crystal Empire, it was too late. Airy had began praying in front of it, and the heart began to spin, slowly picking up speed as time went along. All the ponies around the crystal stared in worry of what the small fairy was doing. While curious as to how she was doing it, the spirit of chaos knew the consequences if that crystal were to be corrupted or shatter. "Airy!" he called out "You mustn't do that! Fluttershy would hurt me dearly!" "N-Nggg...." was all the crystfairy could mutter out as she tried to awaken the power inside the heart. "What in Equestria are you trying to do anyway?" Discord asked "If you're trying to obtain the power in that crystal, I can safely say your efforts are fruitless. That's-" The maniacal spirit never even finished his sentence before electrical crackling was heard from the heart. The powerful gem was no spinning at full speed, slowly drawing Airy into it. Noticing this, Discord had no time to think before he ran for her, but was halted when a flash of light shone in his eyes, temporarily blinding him. (Music Stop) Over by the praying fairy in pain of attempting to drain the crystal of its power, fear filled her eyes as she got closer and closer to the spinning heart. Stopping for a split second, the force sucking her in seemingly grabbed her and quickly pulled her right through the gem, causing the flash that temporarily blinded all around it. Airy was flung by the force of the pull, sending her tumbling along the ground. At the same time, the blindness from Discord's eyes wore off and he shook his head. "What a doozy..." he lightly chuckled before looking straight at the fairy lying on the ground "Airy! Well, that's certainly not good..." He rushed over to her and saw she was still conscious during all that. She lay on her back, her arms and legs spread out from each other. They, along with her white sundress, had been slightly burned. She breathed heavily, her eyes wide and her pupils shrunken. She slowly turned her head towards Discord and spoke. "W-Why? Why c-couldn't I c-control the c-c-crystal?" she asked him "A-Am I that p-p-powerless?" "I wouldn't know, my dear" the spirit of chaos shrugged "All I know is that I have to get you to Fluttershy so she can patch you up." "Flutter... shy..." was all Airy could say before she passed out. Discord simply sighed before picking her up and teleporting her back to his friend's house in a small and not blinding flash of light. XXXXXX Fluttershy, who had already placed her patient back in her bed on the dresser, inspected her arm and checked her head for any problems she may have gotten from her tumble. Realizing just how bad the injuries were, she sighed and turned to Discord, who happened to be in the same room as her at the time. "She's suffered from multiple arm injuries and a broken leg" she explained "Like a miracle, her wings weren't damaged at all, but even so I wouldn't recommend she'd fly around anytime soon." "Well, at least she won't... you know..." Disord sighed in relief "Well now, I'm sure you want to know how she got injured?" "Very much so..." one of Fluttershy's eyebrows rose up. "I promise you, it wasn't me this time" he made a letter X appear out of nowhere and placed it on his chest where his heart was "She heard about the Crystal Empire's crystal heart and wanted to drain away its power. But something happened." "Something happened?" "Indeed" he nodded "Airy, after attempting to take the heart's power, was sucked into it and flung out the other side. But what do I know? I was blinded by that point." "If your were blinded, how did you..." she sighed "I suppose it doesn't matter now. All that matters is that Airy is safe and sound here. Actually, now that you mention it, doesn't the crystal heart have the power to revitalize one's happiness? Perhaps we could be seeing a new side of Airy very soon." "That would certainly take a load off my back" Discord laughed "But evil souls are not so easily saved. But I can't tell you anything! Spoilers, my dear." "Oh Discord..." Fluttershy giggled softly. (Music Stop) XXXXXX As night fell upon the world, and all inhabitants were snug in their beds with the protective light of the lampposts shining down on the streets, the crystal heart let out an interestingly dark aura. It was small, barely noticeable even, but still there. A small trickle of blackness began forming at the point of the heart, until it finally dripped down onto the ground. After staying there for a good few seconds, it began moving forwards aimlessly. "Why, what could this be, I wonder" someone male said with a smug grin behind the living darkness "Could it be a reincarnation of the one who nearly destroyed the Crystal Empire, or something much, much darker?" He wasn't expecting an answer. He was just curious about the small trickle of living shadow in front of him. With his magic, showing that he was a Unicorn, he took a jar from a belt around his waist and scooped the droplet up for further study. "I don't really care where my experiments lead with this" he said with a small chuckle "All I care about is that this little dark seed of mine grows into a beautiful flower of destruction. At long last, my journey will come to a close..." Author's Note Enter main villain I guess! We know nothing of him yet, other than the fact he wants to destroy the world. Will he return? Well, of course he will! He's the main villain! But when will he return? Looks like you'll simply have to wait. And what WAS that trickle of darkness from the crystal heart anyway? Take a guess in the comments below! I'm sure many of you are wondering why Fluttershy is less of a timid character in this story. Well one, she's around her animals at home, so she's naturally less shy. Two, I can't write shy characters without it sounding awkward. Thank you, sailing101, for your suggestion of putting the Crystal Empire in this next chapter. Your reward shall be... A COOKIE!! Be sure to Like, Comment, Favourite and Follow, and until then, don't let your enemies default! Oh, and my keyboard was acting buggy today, so if you see any spelling mistakes, alert me immediately and I'll fix them. Thank you! [Chapter 5] Bonding though the SnowIt had already been two days since Airy's incident, and for those past two days Fluttershy had worried nonstop for her. Every hour, she would check up on the crystfairy to see if she was doing alright, but more importantly, if she had awoken. Always her excitement was dimmed when she saw Airy still unconscious. But she never gave up hope. Finally, as the shy mare was folding her bedsheets for her laundry, she heard a small groan come from her patient's bed. "Airy?" she questioned the noise. Wasting no time, she trotted over to the fairy and saw her eyes were squinting and her head was moving. Slowly, she opened her eyes to see Fluttershy over her with a comforting smiled. "F-Flutter... shy?" Airy asked "I-Is that... you?" "Yes, Airy," the cream yellow Pegasus nodded "it's me. Are you feeling okay?" "Y-Yeah..." she confirmed, much to Fluttershy's relief, before she rubbed her head with the least injured arm she had "Certainly some way to wake up in the morning... How long have I been asleep?" "Nearly two days now" the Pegasus sighed "I've treated all your wounds, so you shouldn't feel the amount of pain you would in normal situations like this. But you do need some rest." "Two days?" an eyebrow was risen on the fairy's face before her eyes widened "Wait... I've gone a full minute without me insulting you... How can that be?" "Traumatic events usually do that to somepony" Fluttershy explained "Oh, and you touched the crystal heart. The crystal heart has the ability to make ponies, or in your case fairies, happy. But Discord said it might be a bit different with you." "Did he say how?" Airy asked. "I can say that now!" laughed a familiar voice before a certain spirit of chaos appeared in a flash of sparkles, wearing a princess crown and fake fairy wings "Behold, my dear. I am the fairy queen! I shall bestow upon you the knowledge of how the crystal heart affected you!" "What the heck are you wearing?!" the crystfairy gasped in surprise. "Oh, never mind that, Airy" Fluttershy smiled "I mean, unless you want to mind, that is. But I think it's adorable." "I think it's strange..." Angel, who had come upstairs from the loud sound Discord appearing, hopped up next to Airy and spoke in, once again, the language only she could hear. "Shall I begin?" Discord asked his audience before nodding in confirmation "Since I'm older than all of you combined here..." "I doubt it..." Airy thought. "...I would know a thing or two about the mystics of this world. The crystal heart that resides in the Crystal Empire was created to bring happiness to all around it. It holds immense power, but even then its power is limited. While it can brighten the mood of all good-hearted souls, it can only fracture darker ones." "So in short?" the fairy wondered. "In short," the spirit continued with a smile "this means our dear Airy here, who's soul was dark and shrouded, has been given a sliver of light. And like all lights, they will eventually grow into a beautiful flame. But you know what they say about fire; in order for it to grow, you must nurture it." "So, light now exists in me?" Airy asked as she looked down at her body, her good hand touching her chest where her heart was. "So, thanks to the crystal heart, we now have a chance of bonding with Airy?" the cream yellow Pegasus wondered "Quite right, my dear!" Discord confirmed with a laugh "I'm not sure it would have been possible to break through her darkness without that dumb old gem. I took a sense of her when I met her, and that was 100% evil we were dealing with. Nothing could come back from that without a little help." "That aside, what does my situation look like?" the crystfairy wondered "What I mean is how long will I be confined to this bed? "Unfortunately, I'd say at least a week at most" Fluttershy sighed in sorrow "That resets your week, I guess..." "Of course it does..." Airy sighed as well "Well, fine then. What exciting things can I do while laying perfectly still in my bed?" "She's still a bit rude, wouldn't you say so, Fluttershy?" Discord whispered into his friend's ear. "Give her time..." she whispered back before speaking directly to her patient "Well, I may have an idea, but first you have to tell me if you're able to fly a bit." "I think so..." Airy removed her covers and sat up on her bed. She flapped her wings a bit before smiling and slowly taking off, giving everyone else there a wave of relief. After flying around a bit, she finally floated up close to Fluttershy. "They don't hurt at all!" the fairy said in surprise. "That's good to hear" the Pegasus smiled "Now, would you like to know what I had planned?" the crystfairy nodded at her question "Then take a look outside, if you want to, of course." Airy's curiosity grew. With an eyebrow raised, she floated over to the window of the bedroom and took a look outside. As soon as she peered out the window, she gasped. Outside was a blanket of snow on the ground and the trees. The small pond around the cottage had frozen over, and no animals besides Angel could be seen. Winter had arrived in this world. "It's beautiful, isn't it?" Fluttershy smiled as she came up next to the amazed crystfairy "It snowed yesterday. The Pegasi did a wonderful job, didn't they?" "The Pegasi?" the fairy wondered "Ugh... I'll have some questions later. Anyway, I'm guessing you want me to go outside? No way, no how! I hate the cold weather..." "Oh, surely it couldn't be too bad, right?" Discord wondered "Here, I even made you a coat just now! I materialized it with love, of course" he made a white winter jacket with holes in the back for her wings to go magically appear on Airy, as well as a red beanie on her head and some black pants for her legs. "Oh wow, this is really warm..." she snuggled in close to her jacket "Well, I guess we're going out then. So, what exactly can you do with snow?" "Y-You can't be serious!" Angel was taken aback in surprise "You know what snow and cold weather is, yet you have no idea what to do with it? What rock have you been living under all this time?" "Shut-up, you furball!" Airy angrily shouted at the white rabbit. "Airy! Don't be mean to Angel" Fluttershy scolded the crystfairy the best she could "What on earth did he ever say to you anyway?" "You mean... You really can't hear him?" the fairy wondered curiously "Interesting..." "Enough of the talking already!" the spirit of chaos exclaimed "I want to go out and start throwing snowballs!" "Sounds good to me" the cream yellow Pegasus giggled a bit "Just let me get my earmuffs and we'll go out, okay?" "Okay then" Airy nodded before turning back to Angel "I've got my eye on you..." "I'm not the one who's evil here" the white rabbit smiled as he too glared at his now considered rival. "I dearly wish these fools could hear you" the fairy grinned "Then they could listen to the sounds of me strangling you, and me taking great joy in doing so..." "Filthy wench!" "Urchin of a rodent!" "Nerf Herder!" "Nerf He- Wait, what?" Airy became confused by the rabbit's comeback "What on earth is a Nerf Herder?" "Okay, I'm ready to go" Fluttershy came back to the three patiently awaiting persons "Oh, was I interrupting something here? I'm sorry about that. What were you three talking about?" "Oh, nothing much" Discord laughed as he munched on some popcorn he materialized after realizing Angel and Airy would be having an argument before throwing it away "Now, why don't we have some fun in the snow?" "I agree" all three remaining nodded. As they headed out, Airy and Angel continued to glare at each other in hatred and despise, never once looking away. (Music Stop) XXXXXX Airy entered the cold world and immediately felt a chill running down her spine. Even though she wore the full winter attire, it was still very cold for her fragile body. Besides that, she thought the snow looked quite lovely on the ground. Even with her heart still filled with darkness, she always had an admiration for snow, even if she never really showed it all that often. Just as she was beginning to appreciate the weather, a small group of fillies ran towards the group. "Fluttershy, Discord, Airy!" they called out before finally coming face-to-face with them. "Apple Bloom? Sweetie Belle? Scootaloo?" Fluttershy wondered "What are you three doing out here? Not that I mind you being here, that is. It was just a surprise." "We came to see how Airy was doing!" Sweetie Belle squeaked. "She looks fine ta me" Apple Bloom noted "Actually, how are ya doin', Airy?" "Why would you-" she was about to insult them before Fluttershy nudged her a bit, causing her to sigh "...sorry. What I mean is that I'm doing fine, thank you." "That's good to hear" Scootaloo nodded "Anyway, would you like to play with us in the snow?" "I'm sorry, girls," the cream yellow Pegasus apologetically smiled "but remember that Airy was badly injured, so she won't be able to do some of the things you can do right now, if any." "Aww..." all three of the crusaders spoke simultaneously. "Hey Airy?" Sweetie Belle spoke up "I just wanted to thank you for saving us from those timberwolves a few days ago. If it wasn't for you, then I'm not sure if we'd still be here talking with you." "You're mistaken" Airy scoffed "I didn't 'save' you, per say, but rather saw an opportunity to attack the monster and took it. Nothing more than that" her head then hung down a bit before she quietly breathed "But... You're welcome anyway..." "What's this about timberwolves, girls?!" Fluttershy panicked "Are you hurt?! Did you get out okay?!" "Fluttershy, it's okay" the crystfairy intruded "No need to punish them for merely an accident." "W-What accident?" the cream yellow Pegasus asked, slightly cross at the four girls. "Well, ah think 'at's our cue ta leave!" Apple Bloom stated. "Yep!" the remaining crusaders nodded before they all ran off somewhere that wasn't Fluttershy's cottage. The mare in question sighed and let out all her pent up anger. "I don't know what I'll do with those girls..." she shook her head before perking back up and smiling "But let's not let a little anger ruin this day, hmm? I have a whole set of fun things we could do out here." "Such as?" Discord asked his one and only friend. "Well, we could go ice skating" she answered. "What's ice skating?" Airy asked. (Music Stop) XXXXXX "I DON'T LIKE ICE SKATING!!!" the crystfairy wobbled around, trying to stay balanced on the ice. After the group had reached a small frozen lake not far from the cottage, Discord snapped his eagle-like fingers and magically made everyone have skates on their feet/hooves. Without hesitation, the spirit of chaos began spinning around on the ice and generally having a good time. Airy was skeptical at first, but once seeing that Discord was skating with ease, she made her way onto the ice as well. And she did not like it one little bit. "What's the matter Airy?" Angel laughed a bit "Can't handle the ice?" "Silence, rodent! I'm trying to stay balanced!" the crystfairy shouted back at her rival. Finally, she managed to get a hold of her stability, sighing in relief in the process. After looking at how the spirit of chaos seemingly danced around on the ice, she moved one of her legs forward, soon after the next, then the first again. Slowly, she started sliding forward in a fashion which she could control, letting out a small laugh. "I'm... I'm doing it!" she proclaimed "I'm actually doing it!" "Good for you, Airy!" Fluttershy smiled as she came up next to the fairy "See, it's fun isn't it?" "Well... perhaps a little bit..." "This event is beginning to bore me" Discord sighed before teleporting right next to the two females "I suggest we do something a little bit more entertaining. "Oh?" the Pegasus wondered "And what did you have in mind, Discord?" (Music Stop) XXXXXX The party of four was separated into two teams; Airy and Discord was on one side while Fluttershy and Angel was on the other. They had all compacted some snow into fortifying walls, and everyone, even the shy Pegasus present, looked at their opponents in preparation and rivalry. It was then when Airy stopped for a moment to ask a question. "Uh... May I ask, what are we doing anyway?" she wondered. "I think this will answer your question, my dear" the spirit of chaos laughed before packing a ball of snow in his hands and throwing it at the opposing team "SNOWBALL FIGHT!!!" "W-What?!" the crystfairy was taken aback by surprise. Her reaction quickly turned to anger as a small snowball from Angel hit her square in the face. The warmth of her skin quickly melted the snow, resulting in water traveling down her cheek and into her jacket. "AHHH!" she cried out "Cold! Cold! So cold!" "Fear not, my dear" Discord brought out a tennis launcher filled to the brim with snowballs "I've got this..." he pulled the trigger and began firing away at the opposing fort. Fluttershy gasped and hid behind the wall as best she could. Inevitably, the fortifications fell on top of Fluttershy and Angel, coating them in snow. (Music Stop) "HA! That's revenge for you, Angel!" Airy laughed. As she did, a small spark stirred inside her causing her to stop and think for a moment. At first, she didn't understand it; it was a warm feeling, something that was foreign to her yet at the same time very welcoming. Then it hit her: she was feeling pure happiness, and not the fake happiness she used when with the heroes of light. A small smile escaped her lips. "Airy, dear, are you okay?" Discord asked "We won! Don't you see?" "Hmm? Oh, right! We beat Fluttershy and that annoying rodent!" she realized "That was very entertaining. We should do this again sometime, when I'm not, y'know, injured." "Agreed" laughed the spirit "Now, let's help them out. If we didn't, I wouldn't hear the end of it from Fluttershy." The two approached their defeated and buried 'enemies' and did their best to remove them from the snow. Once doing so, Angel and Fluttershy shook their heads, trying to knock off all the snow off. They then began laughing. "That was so much fun" the cream yellow mare giggled after her laughing fit "We should do that again some time again. Though, maybe we should organize the teams a little more fairly next time." "Agreed..." Angel sighed, though none could hear him but Airy. "This really has been quite... entertaining, to say the least" the crystfairy admitted "Is this the limit to the things we can do in winter or is there more?" "Well, maybe not outside, but we can certainly do some things inside" Fluttershy smiled "Okay everypony, follow me!" "You shouldn't feel to happy with yourself, pigeon" Angel remarked to Airy "You didn't even do anything to help Discord. Though, I don't blame you; you're injured. Next time, thing before acting." "I don't need your advice" the fairy scoffed "I'm perfectly fine on my own!" "Suit yourself" the rabbit shrugged "Just remember that I was the one who found you cold and alone in that tree, with nothing around to help you. You would've become timberwolf food if not for me." "I don't need your obnoxiousness either" Airy's voice rose a bit. "Pesky insect!" "Insufferable rodent!" "Grrrrrrrr!" "Grrrrrrrr!" "Now, now, you two rascals" Discord split Airy and Angel apart from one another with his magic "We shouldn't fight... yet. Fluttershy wouldn't like that very much. Besides, there's something more relaxing to do at her home." "Fine..." Airy sighed "But I stay as far away as possible from that rabbit." Angel nodded in confirmation, knowing that Discord could not understand his language. The spirit of chaos nodded before teleporting right next to his one and only friend, the two little creatures still in his magical grasp. XXXXXX As soon as the four got back to the cottage, Fluttershy went into her kitchen and brought out a box of marshmallows and an iron pole. After placing them on her living room table, she went over to the fireplace and, with a little help from Discord, lit a controlled fire. Finally, she brought up a seat and placed it right next to the fire before sitting on it soon after. "Please, take a seat" she kindly asked "I insist." "What is this all about?" Airy asked. "We're roasting marshmallows for our hot cocoa" the Pegasus answered "While Discord can make the cocoa with his magic himself, I always found it fun to-" "Done!" the spirit of chaos spoke almost if on cue, materializing four cups of hot cocoa; two normal for him and Fluttershy, and two smaller for Airy and Angel "Now roast those marshmallows like your life depends on it!" "Okay, Discord" Fluttershy giggled before placing four of the sticky yet plush snacks on her stick and began roasting them. After a few minutes, she picked her pole back up and removed the marshmallows, plopping one into each of the cups. "Finally!" Angel immediately went to drinking his portion of hot cocoa. "Hmm... An interesting taste, for sure" Airy thought aloud after sipping some of her drink "Very chocolatey. How come I've never had this bef-" a thought crossed her mind that she immediately regretted thinking of "Oh, right..." "Airy, are you okay?" Fluttershy asked. "Yeah, sorry..." the crystfairy nodded "But, can I talk with you for a second upstairs? In private?" "Of course, Airy" the kind Pegasus smiled before turning to Discord "Please don't eavesdrop again, okay?" "Oh, alright" he sighed "You're just no fun sometimes..." Fluttershy rolled her eyes before bringing Airy upstairs to her room. She closed the door behind her as the fairy sat in her bed on the dresser again, waiting to tell the cream yellow Pegasus what was on her mind. (Music Stop) "Whatever you want or need, Airy, I'm here for you" she smiled "Now, what did you want to talk about?" "Well, I can't believe it, but in the course of a day you've managed to make me feel something I don't think I have in a long time" Airy spoke slightly nervously "But that's beside the point. I think I'm ready to tell you something you deserve to know." "May I ask what?" "Well..." the crystfairy sighed "Everything about my past..." "Airy, truly?" Fluttershy gasped a little. "Yes" she nodded "But be warned... You might not like it..." Author's Note This was a cute chapter, except at the end when Airy's all like "You won't like it" and stuff like that. But other than that, this was a more relaxing chapter. It'll pick up later because that's what I like doing. Even a Slice of Life story can have a bit of action and adventure. More the former, but I digress. This story is constantly evolving, so if you have any ideas you want to share with me, I'll be sure to take your thoughts into consideration. Anything at all. Just, really. Anything. Yeah... Be sure to Like, Comment, Favourite and Follow, and until then... nah, I'll see you later guys! [Chapter 6] Telling the TruthAiry floated over to and sat right next to Fluttershy on the latter's bed, being careful as not to further hurt her broken body. She wondered if this was the right thing to do; tell Fluttershy all that she's done in the past. She wouldn't be happy. In fact, neither of them would be. However, after a bit more consideration, she let out a huge sigh and nodded. "Are you ready, Fluttershy?" the crystfairy asked "This isn't a very happy story, and I did some pretty bad things..." "I'm ready, Airy" the Pegasus nodded. "Very well then, where do I begin?" she wondered "Why don't we start out in the beginning, when I wasn't as cruel as I was when you first met me..." XXXXXX 10,000 Years Ago... XXXXXX On the plain of time and space, there existed a single, but very large, island. This island was covered in beautiful plains, dense forests and gigantic mountains, all filled with more fauna and flora than one could fathom, some beyond one's wildest dreams. However, no being was more sentient, or more mischievous, than the ruling species of the land: the crystfairies. They roamed the land for generations in villages across the island, but none was more lively than Aurora Village. The town was made of hollowed trees and leaf bridges, the houses being the trees the bridges connecting them all. But most important fact of this village was that it was the birthplace of a certain white-haired fairy. A 13-year-old Airy, still wearing her favourite white sundress, flew out of her home to meet up with her friends, a male crystfairy with short green hair and darker green pants, and a female crystfairy with messy red hair and a red dress. Their names were El and Nym, respectfully. "El, Nym!" the white crystfairy called out "Good to see you two!" "Airy!" El smiled before cracking a sarcastic joke "We've been waiting for weeks! What took you so long? Lemme guess... Reading again?" "Oh, shut-up you!" Nym laughed "You know she loves reading" she turned to Airy and smiled kindly "Airy, continue doing what you think your passion is, okay?" "Okay, Nym" she nodded "So, what're we gonna do today?" "I was thinking about pulling a prank on the mayor again" the male crystfairy snickered "He's so gullible, I swear!" "How're we gonna do it then?" Airy asked as curiosity overtook her. "I dunno" her friend shrugged with a smile "We'll think about it along the way!" "Sounds good" Nym nodded before making her way to the mayor's house "C'mon, you slowpokes!" "Hey, you got a head start!" El laughed before hastily following his friend. (Music Stop) "Wait for me!" Airy called out. However, before she could go, something stopped her in her tracks. A presence she had never felt before flowed through her body like wind. It was a presence filled with darkness and hatred. The crystfairy couldn't believe it. She wanted to forget about it and go meet her friends, but something was stopping her. "Who's there?" she asked the presence, hoping not to receive an answer. Unfortunately, lady luck was not on her side that day. "Airy..." a rather unintelligible voice said, surprising the fairy a bit "Airy... Aid... Me..." "Who even... What even..." she was so stricken with awe and fear that she couldn't finish her sentence. "I am... I... am..." the voice finally faded from her mind as soon as El came back to check up on her. "Airy? Are you okay?" he asked in a concerned tone "You kinda stopped for a sec." (Music Stop) "Um... Yeah, I'm okay..." she lied "So, did you think of a way to prank the mayor?" "Yeah!" he nodded as the two flew off "I was thinking that we'd try and do the same thing as last time, only with a twist! Instead of putting water in the bucket, we could try and put paint in it instead, that way........" XXXXXX Present Day XXXXXX "You've truly lived that long?" Fluttershy asked "Oh, ten thousand years sounds painful. And what's this about being spoken to by a strange voice? That doesn't sound very nice..." "It wasn't at first" Airy sighed "But then, became obsessed with the voice in my head. Ever since that day, I slowly began drifting away from my friends in order to study it. Day after day, I studied and studied but found nothing, and in consequence, I eventually lost my friends." "That's terrible..." the shy mare hung her head and ears a bit. "If only I ignored my lust for knowledge..." the fairy cursed at herself "Asmodeus, darn you... Anyway, I continued researching the voice until, three years later, I came across something very interesting..." XXXXXX 9,997 Years Ago... XXXXXX "Airy, sweetie" the young crystfairy's mother called up "You've been cooped up in your room the entire day. Why not go out and play? Get some sun on your face?" "Not now, mother" Airy, now 16 years of age, shouted down as nicely as she could, straying from her book on ancient voices "I'm just... I just want to do my own thing, okay?" "Airy, your friends have left you, you know" her mother tried to convince her otherwise "Perhaps now is a good time to-" "I said, not now!" the crystfairy's voice rose a bit. Her mother sighed before leaving her daughter to her own business. Airy rolled her eyes before going back to her book and turning the page. After skimming through that one, she moved to the next, then the next, and soon after the next. Finally, she closed the book and gave up, throwing the book away on the ground. "Stupid book!" she complained "That was the last one too! Now how am I supposed to learn about the-" she suddenly saw something slip out of the book's pages before flying over to have a look at it "Hmm? What's this? Some kind of note?" Pulling it out, she saw that it was in fact a secret page of the book. It hadn't much on it, but it was more than enough for her. It spoke of someone called Ouroboros [Or-ob-er-us], a demon sealed away in the island for his power too great. Airy was greatly fascinated by the page, that she spent hours just looking at it. "Ouroboros's goal was to reach the celestial realm..." she read it for the umpteenth time "In doing so, he would wreak havoc upon it and become a god. This is all so interesting... How come I never found this before? Too bad it's only the one page. There has to be more to it!" Another few hours were wasted staring and inspecting the page until finally the fairy began to feel her eyes droop. She let out a soft yawn, signalling it was probably time to head off to bed. Putting the book, and more importantly the page, away under her pillow, she got into bed, brought over her leafy covers, flicked the light and went to sleep. Downstairs, Airy's mother saw her light go out and sighed a small smile from her face. This smile was not a joyous one, however. This smile was filled with sadness and concern. "She's heading down a dark path" she said to herself "I just hope I can bring her out before it's too late..." (Music Stop) XXXXXX Present Day XXXXXX "Your mother deeply loved you, you know" Fluttershy sighed "She was only trying to do the best for you." "You're right, and I should have listened to her that day" Airy nodded before a small tear ran down her cheek "That was the day I began my fall into utter chaos and darkness. It was a fall I thought I'd never awaken from. Of course, thanks to you and the crystal heart, my soul is clearing up." "That's wonderful to hear, Airy" the Pegasus smiled. "Now, the next part of my story happened fifteen years later, when I finally discovered something peculiar about the page" the crystfairy explained "This is the second worst part of the story, unfortunately..." XXXXXX 9,982 Years Ago... XXXXXX Airy, now a grown woman of a fairy at 31-years-old, still obsessed about the mysterious voice she had in her head eighteen years ago. She studied both the book and the page endlessly in her own house, coming out only to eat something once in a while. No one even knew her anymore. She was but an enigma to everyone around her. At long last, she decoded the page, revealing a map to Ouroboros. She couldn't have been more overjoyed, but her excitement had to wait as she heard a knocking at her door. Groaning, she got out of her seat and opened the door. Standing there was none other than the mayor of Aurora Village, with his large belly, fake yellow mustache, white pants and suit and a white top hat. He looked less than impressed. "Airy, we have heard rumors that you are studying about the dark lord Ouroboros" he said in a fake English accent "It pains me to even say its name... nonetheless, if these rumors are true, we cannot have you meddling with that... thing. What if you reawaken it? It would doom every plant and animal on this island!" "So?" Airy asked. "S-SO?!" the mayor was taken aback "So you HAVE been studying it! Guards, take her away and lock her up!" "Wait, what?" the female crystfairy questioned before two burly-looking fairies with sharp wings and silver armour on entered her home and slowly approached her. Taking her book with the page stuffed in it in her arms, she flew out the window to attempt to escape the guards. "Get back here!" one of the guards shouted. However, Airy would not let up. She continued flying hastily, doing her best to outrun the two chasing her. Eventually, thanks to the heavy armour the guards wore, they lost stamina and slowed down, allowing Airy to laugh a bit at their failures and escape. "No good..." one of the guards huffed "She's too... fast..." (Music Stop) "Curses..." the mayor saw the entire thing and sighed to himself "She's gone... For now. We cannot allow her to continue what she's doing... Guards, round up the townsfolk! I wish to send a message to them." "At once, sir!" one of the guards nodded before he and his partner flew off. XXXXXX Eventually, every single fairy in Aurora Village was present and standing in front of the mayor's stage. He looked over the crowd before nodding and taking out his microphone. "Attention, everyone" he called out "As you may know, there have been some rumors spreading that a certain member of our community has been studying dark history. I come here to tell you that, unfortunately, these rumors are true." A collective gasp was heard from the crowd before they began talking amongst themselves. "Order, order..." the mayor shouted into his microphone again, getting everyone's attention and keeping them quiet "Now, as you know, the culprit is none other than Airy, the girl who went into hiding after seeing a rather interesting book on the dark one. She has fled and plans to reawaken the dark one to reign terror upon us once again!" Another gasp resonated throughout the fairies. "However, we will make sure this does not happen!" he continued "We will hunt her down, and then she will pay for her actions! She will not ruin our lives!" A cheer of joy and anger exploded from the crowd. The mayor cheered along with his people before they scattered and prepared for combat. Little did they know that a certain white crystfairy was watching over them. "So I'm an outcast now?" Airy shook her head "You will pay for this dearly..." (Music Stop) XXXXXX Present Day XXXXXX "And so began the hunt for me" Airy finished that chapter of her story "I was discarded as nothing more than an outcast, and all I had left was Ouroboros. So, I tracked him down." "And did you find him?" Fluttershy asked. "Yes, unfortunately" the fairy nodded "It took an entire year, but I finally found out where Ouroboros was sleeping; in a large crater in the plains on the other side of the island's mountains. This was my darkest moment..." XXXXXX 9,981 Years Ago... XXXXXX Airy, now covered in dirt and her dress ripped a bit, trekked across the island, carefully evading her village and any others that may have received word of her betrayal. She didn't care how many were against her; she was close, she had to be. Finally, after an entire year searching and running, she found it. The crater where Ouroboros slept. She was overjoyed, but alas, she didn't have much time to celebrate. The crystfairy flew over the crater and looked down into the darkness. She breathed in the power emanating from, and in doing so she felt like a god. Without question, she delve into the crater and explored around. "There must be something here detailing Ouroboros" she spoke to herself as she searched the area "Surely there-" "Airy..." a familiar and unintelligible voice "Come to me... Airy..." "Ouroboros..." Airy gasped. "If you aid me, you shall receive powers beyond belief" tempted the dark lord "You will be able to exact revenge upon those who discarded you as nothing more than a betrayer of their kind." "Exact... revenge..." the crystfairy should have been disgusted that she was being told about power to destroy her people, but instead, she relished the thought "Yes... That sounds nice... Just tell me where you are and I'll dig you up." "I am located beneath you" Ouroboros explained "There is a switch near you. Only those of pure dark hearts will be able to activate it. "But... What if my heart isn't dark enough?" she asked. "AIRY!!" shouted the angry voice of the mayor as he and his troop of nearly 10,000 crystfairies flew into the crater "You have disobeyed our rules and evaded us for far too long! We should kill you right here, but I'm willing to make a deal with you." "Oh yeah?" Airy shouted back "And what exactly would that be?" "If you leave this behind and never speak of it again, we'll give you your life back" he explained "The only reason you lost it was because of that damn sealed monster! You can live with us again, just please, don't destroy our lives." Airy was taken aback. They actually held out a hand of friendship towards her? After all they did to her? No, she wouldn't have any of it. Before Ouroboros could intervene and persuade her to join him, she flared her wings up in aggression. "A-Airy!" Nym came out from the crowd, still wearing her favourite red dress "You don't have to do this! We can go back to being friends again!" "Just please, Airy!" El flew next to his now wife, still in his green pants "Don't do this..." "You two..." Airy sighed "You left me and never accepted my ideas. We could have learned together, but you just had to get married and abandon me! So you know what?" she backed up and hit something stone-like, cracking a smile "You can all go to hell." The moment she finished her sentence, she was enveloped in a dark aura which sexploded from the switch and slowly began to transform her. Once the darkness vanished, standing in the place of Airy was a large and hideously fat larval monster with eight arms and eight legs, small wings on its back, long white hair and two red gems in its chest and belly. "I am Airy, demon born of darkness and servant to Lord Ouroboros" the creature said in a dark but at least understandable tone "His lordship comes. Bow down, mortals!" "Airy, what have you become?!" the mayor was in full fear from the sight of Airy's new form. "She's shown her true colours now" El said somberly. Just then, a giant beast emerged from the shadows. It's lower body had tentacles as legs, with it's upper body having a horn on its head and four exoskeleton-like arms, as well as a royal frill on its neck. This was Ouroboros, the destroyer of worlds and seeker of the celestial realm. "Now, Lord Ouroboros, allow me to destroy this island and exact my revenge!" Airy cackled. "You are granted permission" the dark lord spoke. The once crystfairy cackled again before raising her arms in the air and summoning a giant ball of energy down upon the land. The entire crystfairy race watched in horror as their lives, their home, came to an end. "So this is how it will end, hmm?" Nym sighed "A rather boring way to move on, no?" "What are you talking about, Nym?" El asked. (Music Stop) "This..." she whispered before becoming a ball of light "This will utterly destroy our species, but at the very least, Ouroboros will be sealed again, and peace can return to this island." "I'm with you" the male crystfairy smiled and nodded before he too became a ball of light "Ouroboros will not destroy this world and reach the celestial realm! Not when I'm alive!" Soon enough, the rest of the crystfairies across the land became balls of light as well. The surface of the island lit up like the night sky and continued glowing a beautiful light. Finally, the lights formed into a much larger ball light above the crater, but more accurately, Airy and Ouroboros. "What's this?" Ouroboros questioned "That light... It is the light that sealed me away many millennia ago. Could it be these creatures are the living personifications of this light? Impossible!" "Lord Ouroboros, we must flee!" Airy called out "You will be sealed again!" "But now, you are by my side" he spoke as he stare right at his new underling "You will survive the light, for you are not powerful enough to be vanquished by it. When this is done, speak to me and I shall give you your misson." "Yes, Lord Ouroboros..." the crystfairy-turned-demon nodded before being enveloped in the light. "Airy, if your heart is still in there, I promise that I'll find a way to save you!" Nym and El, along with every single crystfairy said at the exact same time "And if not me, then someone else. You will be saved!" (Music Stop) The light finally exploded, knocking the island from its orbit in the passage of dimensions and sending it tumbling down onto a green world of water and land. After falling a bit longer, the continent landed firmly in the water with a gigantic splash of water, the surface emerging from the waves. By now, the crater sealing Ouroboros had vanished, leaving a lush hillside and Airy in her original form. XXXXXX "Ugh... L-Lord... Ouroboros?" Airy questioned after awakening from her sleep. "I am here, Airy" he spoke "However, I have been confined to a different dimension. In order to revive me, you must link all 100,000 dimensions together to unlock the seal and advance me- no, us, to the celestial realm." "Oh, Lord Ouroboros!" the fairy nodded "You are most kind! I shall get to it right away!" "However, to do so, you must awaken the four crystals of each world" Ouroboros explained "This is a feat you cannot do alone. You must manipulate those whom have not been born yet to awaken them for you, then destroy them. It will be a long and grueling task, taking thousands of years. But you must do it." "Of course, my lord!" Airy smiled before taking off "But how would I be able to live that long to aid you?" "With my last breath, you have been given the gift eternal life" the dark lord explained "You will have an eternity to do your job, but until the world comes to fruition, perhaps you can familiarize yourself with this world in order to complete your job faster." "By your command, my lord!" the crystfairy bowed before she flew off to complete her task, completely naive to what other plans her 'lord' had in store for her. XXXXXX Present Day XXXXXX "Airy... That's..." Fluttershy was at a loss for words. After hearing Airy complete her story, she couldn't find words to speak. Was she supposed to feel disappointed that the fairy destroyed her own species and home, or happy she was freed from darkness's embrace after all these years. "I know" the crystfairy nodded "I'm not proud of what I did, but I was young and stupid, and so obsessed with a little voice I heard in my head as a child..." "Um... If I may ask..." the Pegasus wondered nervously "But, um... What did you do afterwards?" "Afterwards?" Airy questioned before sighing "Afterwards, I manipulated each group of the same people from each dimension. When they knew to much about me and my power, I'd use it to kill them and move onto the next set of heroes. It was disgusting... but admittedly effective. This continued until I finally did link all the worlds together. All that was left was the heroes' disposal, but I made them too strong and they eventually defeated me. Ouroboros then took my power and sent me here. I hope those heroes managed to defeat him... He deserves it after everything he's done to me." "Airy..." Fluttershy spoke up again. "So, I told you everything... Now what do you see me as?" the fairy asked "A murderer? A demon?" "A lonely soul..." the Pegasus honestly answered. "Wait, what?" "Your heart has become lonely after all this time, Airy" she explained "I don't care what happened in the past, so long as you've learned you lesson and won't ever do it again. You're always welcome here, Airy." "Y-You really forgive me?" Airy was shocked by Fluttershy's apology. "I think everyone deserves a second chance" the cream yellow mare smiled "Your race only did what they did to protect you. And now, their wish has finally been answered. Let's not waste it, okay?" "I... I..." the crystfairy couldn't hold it in and began sobbing. Fluttershy smiled warmly and lightly hugged her patient as not to hurt her further. They stayed like that for a few more moments before separating. "Thank you, Fluttershy..." Airy smiled as tears dripped down her cheeks "I promise I'll make this worthwhile. I promise..." Author's Note This was sad... I'm sorry for this if this made you cry, but this had to be done. But hey, now you know about Airy's origins! Yay! Sorta... If you're wondering where our main villain went off to, don't worry; he'll make an appearance in the next chapter, along with someone, or something, else. Who or what? You'll just have to wait and see... Be sure to Like, Comment, Favourite and Follow, and until then, see ya guys later! Seriously, if you like this story, leave a Like. We're going for a goal! [Chapter 7] Deadly VisitorDarkness surrounded a room filled to the brim with evil, with no hope of pure light ever reaching this place. Alas, there was light, but it was artificial with an aura darker than night. The light allowed a certain Unicorn to view something huddled together in fetal position in a tank filled with water. Although it was naked, no one could actually see anything naughty, so this story was still rated PG, much the the relief of the author. Looking into the tank, the Unicorn smiled. "My, my, what a beautiful thing you've become..." he chuckled. The thing he was talking about was a female humanoid in shape, with long white hair tipped golden at the ends. Sharp, black wings sprouted from her back, signalling the pure darkness residing in her heart. This was none other than the droplet of darkness her found a bit ago. "Sir! Your report!" a fellow scientist came up to him and gave him some papers with his own magic "You'll be quite pleased with the results." "Experiment 04223 is in perfect health" the Unicorn read off the paper "Minor quirks detected, but nothing unrepairable within 24 hours. Hmm... This is good. Thank you for this, Light Streak." "Of course, sir" Light Streak nodded before going back to his own business, leaving the Unicorn to continue staring at his creation "I suppose you'll need a name now, won't you?" he wondered to himself "I'm not good at names, so why not something simple, yet unique. Something like..." He read the tank number and smiled a bit. To him, tank #04223 looked like a name if you turned it the right way. After a bit more though, he finally decided to go with..." "Anne..." he chuckled "I like that... Very well then, Anne. It's a pleasure to meet you. I just hope you aren't disgustingly rude. Oh, who am I kidding? Of course you will be..." (Music Stop) XXXXXX With a small yawn, a little crystfairy hopped out of her bed and slowly flew downstairs, stretching her arms in the process. It had been an entire week since she and Fluttershy sat down and spoke of her dark past, and by then she had healed both mentally and physically. She didn't know if it was because of the crystal heart or if she's just been here too long, but Airy had begun really enjoying life in Fluttershy's cottage. "Good morning, Airy" the timid Pegasus smiled at her as she cooked them some breakfast "The food is almost ready. I'm making some eggs. Would you like anything else?" "Hmm?" the fairy perked up, still half asleep "O-Oh, sure! Could I have some milk?" "Of course" Fluttershy nodded "Anything else?" "A certain white rabbit to stop staring at me..." Airy deadpanned as she glared at Angel, who was in turn glaring at her. "Oh Airy, I'm sure he just likes you" the mare giggled a bit "Now, breakfast is on the table. Go and wash up, okay?" "Sure thing" Airy nodded before heading off to the washroom. As soon as she left, Fluttershy motioned her pet bunny to come over to her. She lightly petted him on his head before going back to setting the table. Suddenly, a hasty knock was heard at her door. Curiously, she went over to it and opened it up. To her surprise, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo were all there with worried looks on their faces. "Hello girls" the mare smiled "What are you-" (Music Stop) "No time to explain, Fluttershy!" Scootaloo interrupted her "You're the only one who can help!" "Oh my goodness!" the timid mare gasped "Is somepony hurt? Did something happen?" "Well, I'm not sure if it's somepony..." Sweetie Belle shrugged "...but certainly something needs your help!" "Nurse Redheart usually does this kinda stuff" Apple Bloom stated "But we were thinkin' 'at yer better at animals than her, and we weren't sure if what er who we found was an animal er a person!" "Did you bring it here?" Fluttershy asked. "N-No, we didn't..." Sweetie lowered her head "I guess we were just so scared that we forgot to bring him..." "In that case, we gotta get going!" Scootaloo pointed out. "Hmm? What's this all about?" Airy floated next to Fluttershy. "Someone or something was found by the girls" the timid mare explained the situation. "Oh, have they now?" the crystfairy looked at the three skeptically "And would this thing have anything to do with the prank you pulled on me a few days ago?" "Girls, what did you do?" the Pegasus sighed. "Um... Nothing..." Apple Bloom lied "But 'at's beside the point! The point is 'at 'ere's somethin' injured out 'ere, an' if we dun do somethin' 'bout it, it'll probably die!" "Out of curiosity, girls," Fluttershy began "just what did this animal look like?" "Well..." Sweetie recalled "I remember it having a tan head, curly white hair, and black scales all over its body. It kept moaning and saying stuff like 'Edea, I'm sorry...' and stuff!" Airy went still. She knew exactly who this was who the girls found. How could she forget the man that nearly foiled Ouroboros's plan? In the long run, she was glad he could hold his own for at least a little while and delay it. But how exactly did he get into this world, and why did he appear so late? Didn't he die before she did? "They tell the truth" she nodded "We have to go and help him now! Besides, I think I owe him something." "Airy, you know about him?" Scootaloo asked. "Yeah, but unfortunately, he didn't like me too much" she explained "Just bring me to him, okay!" "Airy, be nice, okay?" Fluttershy reminded her. "Oh, right... sorry..." XXXXXX Fluttershy and Airy followed the girls in a somewhat lighter area of the Everfree Forest. That wasn't saying much though, as the lighting was still atrocious. Nonetheless, the group pressed onwards to where the cutie mark crusaders thought they saw someone injured. It wasn't long before Fluttershy's body began to tremble a bit. "G-Girls, I'm not sure if-" "It'll be fine, Fluttershy! Nothing to be afraid of in here" Scootaloo nodded, remembering her camping trip with a certain role model of hers "Besides, that guy needs help!" "I'm just afraid of what he'll do after he comes to" Airy sighed "Remember; he doesn't like me all that much." "So stay outta sight" Apple Bloom suggested "Ifin yer right 'bout him not likin' ya, maybe it'd be a good idea ta stay away fer a bit." "You're... You're right" the fairy nodded "But he'll find out about me eventually... And when he does, heavens knows what he'll do then... He could hurt you, or destroy the town, anything really!" "He s-sound... dangerous..." the timid Pegasus muttered softly the last part of her sentence. "Look, over there!" Sweetie Belle pointed over at a black thing lying on the ground with a red sword dug in next to it "That's the guy!" (Music Stop) The five rushed over to the creature that was exactly how the girls described it; curly white hair with black scales over its body. Only, it weren't scales at all. In fact, it was armour coating the poor thing from top to bottom, telling the party that he was part of some sort of military. Fluttershy checked his face, which had multiple scars and bruises on it. "Thank goodness..." she sighed in relief "He's still alive, but I'm not how long he'll last in this place. Well, to be honest, I'm not sure how he already survived this long already what with the monsters and the cold weather." "Well, he has this sword" Sweetie Belle picked up the sword with her magic "Maybe he protected himself with it?" "Or he's too stubborn to die..." Airy sighed "Either way, we have to help him!" "Right" Scootaloo nodded before attempting to pick him up by herself. She was soon joined by Sweetie and Apple Bloom moments later, picking the creature up and bringing him back to the cottage. As they walked back, Fluttershy asked her once-patient an obvious question she wished she asked earlier. "Airy, however did you know of him?" "Him?" the crystfairy questioned "Well, it all goes back to the story I told you. But this was during the final worlds I had to connect. While I wasn't there to witness it myself, this man jumped on board our ship and tried to stop the heroes of light from aiding me. In the end, I'm glad he tried, but it was all in vain." "May I ask what his name is?" "His name?" Airy asked "His name is..." (Music Stop) XXXXXX "Alternis Dim" the creature said "But you may call me Alternis." As soon as the girls brought the creature back to Fluttershy's cottage, they immediately laid him down onto the green sofa in the living room, where the timid owner of the abode got to work immediately. She took off his armour, revealing a white shirt and black shorts, and bandaged up the small wounds on his body. She finally fed him some liquified herbs and flowed them down his throat. After a few more hours, he began to come to, signalling Airy to fly off before he met with his saviors. "Very nice to meet you, Alternis" Fluttershy smiled "My name is Fluttershy, and this is Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo." "We saved ya from the Everfree Forest!" Apple Bloom jumped up and down in glee "But, how in the world did ya git 'ere anyway?" "I walked" the white haired man answered simply. "Through the whole forest?!" Scootaloo gasped "You know that place is full of dangerous animals, right?" "They were not too difficult to slay" Alternis shrugged before looking around the room "Speaking of slaying, wherever did my sword go? That sword is beyond important to me." "Oh, sorry about that..." Fluttershy carefully picked up the red bladed sword with her wings "I didn't want the girls to be hurt or scared by your, um, very sharp blade so I, um, hid it away." "Understandable" the man nodded "By the way, have you seen a blonde girl with a red battle dress around here?" "Sorry, no..." the timid mare shook her head in shame. "Damn..." he sighed "Edea, where could you have gone?" "This is so cool!" Sweetie Belle grinned "Twilight's going to be so happy to see you! To us, you're a totally new species! She'll freak out just how she did with Air-" she quickly covered her mouth, but it was too late. (Music Stop) "...what did you say?" Alternis's voice began to shake. "Um... nothing!" the white Unicorn filly nervously chuckled. "Is... Is Airy... No, it cannot be..." the man clutched his head with his hands as his whole body began to tremble "I failed to defeat her, but could not even Edea stop her?! Is Edea... Is she... no... NO!" He picked up his sword and hopped out of bed, rushing outside to where he finally shouted into the sky "GRAAAAAA!!!" "Alternis!" Fluttershy shouted "Oh no... Airy, please come down quick!" "What, what is it?!" the crystfairy flew down as fast as possible and saw the enraged man outside the cottage "That isn't good... If Alternis gets to town, I'm not sure what will become of it or its inhabitants." Just as Airy finished her sentence, Alternis charged right for Ponyville to unleash his anger. The group gasped in horror, but their hopes shone once again as Discord appeared before them. "Greetings one and all" he bowed before looking at the armed figure running for Ponyville slashing anything in his way "Fluttershy, who in Equestria is that? And why exactly is he in a blood-rage?" "No time to explain!" Airy butted in "We have to stop him or else!" "Or else what?" "Discord, don't make this hard for us!" the fairy steamed "Just use your magic to stop him!" "Oh, very well..." the spirit of chaos sighed before snapping a hand and picking Alternis up from the distance, cracking a smile. His smile soon faded into a look of horror as the man escaped his magic with ease. "Im-Impossible!" he stayed shocked for a while longer "How is he able to break free from my magic?" "If even Discord can't hold him down, what will?" Apple Bloom asked. "We'll have to do it ourselves..." Airy sighed "Let's just hope he doesn't kill anyone before we get there." "Girls, please stay here and wait, okay?" Fluttershy calmly asked the cutie mark crusaders, to which they all let out a collective sigh of disappointment "And Discord, try and look after them, okay?" "Of course, my dear" the spirit of chaos nodded. XXXXXX Airy and Fluttershy finally made it to Ponyville, where fortunately everyone had evacuated from the area. Alternis was still in his rage, and facing him was none other than Twilight Sparkle, the nerdy mare Airy met a week ago. They stared each other down with glares that she swore could kill before the little fairy finally revealed herself. "Stop! Stop!" she cried "Alternis, don't do this!" "You!" he scowled at her "You have caused too much pain for Edea! I will kill you and finally put an end to all this!" "You have it all wrong!" the crystfairy shouted again "I've been reformed! No power flows through my veins, Ouroboros is dead, and-" "SILENCE!!" the man yelled, pointing his sword at Airy "I HAVE HEARD ENOUGH OF YOUR LIES!!" "Alternis, was it?" Twilight brought his attention back onto her "I don't know who you think you are or what you want, but you can't go around harming others! It's not right!" "That wretched beast!" he pointed at Airy "She killed THOUSANDS!! Yet you take her side?! She is deceiving you, all of you!" (Music Stop) "While yes, she was a bit bitter when we first met her," the princess sighed, making the crystfairy roll her eyes "she has visited me many times since then, and she has improved greatly. Just because some of the things she's done in the past weren't good, that doesn't mean she doesn't deserve a second chance." "You horses... You forgive too easily..." Alternis's rage began building up inside him again before he exploded in fury "You helped her, therefore you are responsible for Edea's death!" "W-What?!" everyone said in collaboration. The blonde man didn't listen though. Instead he withdrew his red blade and pointed it right at Twilight. "I am Alternis Dim" he said in pure anger "Dark Knight of the Eternian Council of Six. You have been found guilty in aiding a fiend and a murderer, and for that, I will destroy you!" "I don't want to do this, Alternis!" the lavender mare argued, but was inevitably stopped as the man charged forward, slashing his sword at her. Quickly, she put up a magical barrier around herself, but Alternis kept cutting away until he eventually broke it and lightly scraped the mare's chest in her attempt to dodge. "You are weak!" he shouted "But I suppose the guilty always are!" "Fine, you want to play by your rules?" Twilight asked before summoning an iron sword and gripping it with her magic "It's been a while since I've done this, but either way, you won't get past me!" "GRAAAAA!!" Alternis jumped up into the air and brought his sword down upon the princess, to which she thankfully blocked it. They began clashing swords, Twilight defending and Alternis constantly attacking. However, the man did something she wasn't expecting. "Default!" he shouted. His sword blocked all attacks for a few seconds, and no matter how hard the lavender mare tried to break his defenses, she simply couldn't. She became exhausted from all the swinging around of her sword and eventually collapsed. "Brave!" Alternis shouted again, but instead of guarding, a quick red light appeared around him before he charged right at Twilight with full force. Fortunately, the mare had just enough energy left to cast a magic shield around her again and block the attack. "Why?" he growled "Why do you persist in fighting for that creature?! She is deceiving you, don't you understand?!" "No" Twilight shook her head before getting back up after a rest "What I don't understand is why you want to fight me. I get it that Airy did some pretty bad things in the past, but what did-" "If she is here, she must have killed Edea!" Alternis yelled "Edea was my friend, my sister... my love... And that beast cast her aside like some pile of trash! She was more than that!" "But Alternis, Edea-" Airy tried to explain before getting interrupted. "Don't say her name!" he yelled, looking right at the crystfairy "You have no idea how-" (Music Stop) Alternis's eyes shrunk before he hit the ground with a thud, completely unconscious. Behind him was Twilight who had whacked him on his head with the hilt of her sword. She dropped the blade and lay down to take a breather. "Twilight, you defeated him!" Airy smiled "And you didn't even have to resort to killing him!" "Killing him?!" the princess was shocked by the fairy's choice of words, but shrugged it off anyway "A-Anyway, what do you think we should do with him?" "I-If it's okay with you, Twilight" Fluttershy spoke up "But, um, maybe it would be a good idea to, um, put him in your dungeon for now?" "Probably a good idea..." the lavender mare nodded "Okay, you three. I'll take care of our friend here and bring him in for questioning. You should head back and relax for a bit, okay?" "Okay" Airy nodded before slowly flying back to Fluttershy's cottage "Oh, and give Alternis a chance, okay? The only reason he lashed out like that was because of his love for Edea. He's not that bad once you get to know him. Stale, but not that bad." "Will do" Twilight chuckled a bit before picking the man and his sword up off the ground with her magic and bringing them to her castle. "Oh, please wait for me, Airy!" Fluttershy trotted over to the crystfairy as they both laughed their way back home. However, they never noticed the strange figure watching them from the roof of one of the houses. "So that is the origin of our experiment, eh?" he chuckled "I think my master will be very pleased..." Author's Note Woo! Another chapter for the archives! Sorry for the lateness, but to make it up to you, "That Person's Name Is.../He of the Name" is in this chapter. Don't know what that is? Only the best boss theme I've ever heard in my life! Well, normal boss theme anyway. Have any questions, ideas or concerns? Please comment down below and we can talk it out. Thank you! Be sure to Like, Comment, Favourite and Follow, and until then, I'll see you guys later! [Chapter 1] Still Alive Just a heads up, you can right click on the green words and begin the video/music in another tab. The winds howled around a rocky landscape filled with pure darkness. In the centre of it all was a dark shrine with a red and slightly pink glow emanating from it. A shadowy power seeped through it, in the form of smoke risen from a fire. It surrounded five individuals; four of light and one of darkness. The one of darkness, a fairy-ques woman with pale skin, blonde hair and beautiful butterfly-like wings protruding from her head and back had been weakened by the four heroes of light; two women and two men. "It's over, Airy!" the young man with grey hair and a white village vest shouted. "Your reign of terror upon these world are no more!" the young woman with long brown hair and a white and black dress exclaimed. The fairy, known as Airy, didn't listen to the heroes though. Instead, with her body torn, beat and betrayed, she turned to the glowing shrine and called out to her master. Not moments ago, she was told by her 'Master' that her service to him had ended indefinitely. "L-Lord Ouro... boros..." she weakly spoke "Am I not... your faith... ful servant?!" "Is she speaking to Ouroboros?" the older but still young man with light blonde hair and a light blue furry tunic wondered. "I know not..." the much younger woman with a red battle dress answered the man's question. Airy continued to ignore them as she continued to speak with Ouroboros. "Why, Your... Malevolence?" Airy asked before resorting to her final insult "You are most... unkind- AAAAAAAH!!" she felt a sharp pain in her side before her body went limp and was sucked into the dark light of the shrine. She closed her eyes and expected the worst. However, her death never came. Instead, she heard a deep and almost unintelligible voice speak to her. "Airy" the voice spoke "You have failed to meet my expectations. I will take what is rightfully mine now." Suddenly, the fairy began to feel weaker and weaker as time elapsed. Slowly but surely, her power was taken by the voice, which she presumed to be Ouroboros, in a rather painful manner. "AAAHH AAAAAAAHHH!!!" she cried out as she felt every last drop of her seemingly endless power drain away from her. At last, all of her energy was taken, leaving her nothing but a small, humanoid creature with white hair, large butterfly wings and a simple white sundress. After all that, she wondered why her former master hadn't killed her yet. Her question was answered before she could give it. "Despite your failure, I do show some mercy to those who have aided me thus far" Ouroboros said right before a pair of red eyes shone down upon Airy "You cannot serve me any longer, for you have done your part. However, I will spare your life and send you to a different world in which to wander aimlessly. Now begone!" "L-Lord... Ouro... boros..." was all the small fairy could say before a more intense light was cast upon her, coming out of the shrine and blinding the four heroes. She could feel her body disintegrating away to another world. But by this point, she had fallen unconscious. She knew not of the pain it was supposed to bring upon her. And just like that, she was gone... Fluttershy, a young Pegasus mare with a cream yellow coat and a long pink mane, wandered around her garden of flowers and animals, merrily feeding them water and food respectively. She looked up into the sky and sighed, her bright blue eyes wandering the cloudless atmosphere with a sparkle in each of them. The soft autumn breeze flowed through each strand of her pink hair. She let out a soft giggle in reply to this wonderful feeling. "What a lovely day" she softly but kindly smiled "And not a cloud in the sky. Not that I don't like clouds, good heavens no! But sometimes it's nice to see a clear sky, if you know what I mean." Suddenly, the Pegasus felt a small stone hit her head, meaning someone or something was trying to gain her attention. When she finally did turn around from the hit, she saw that her favourite animal Angel Bunny, a snow white rabbit with beady black eyes and an annoyed expression on his face. In front of him was an empty orange bowl. "Oh, sorry Angel..." Fluttershy apologized with a regretful smile "Let me get you a carrot and-" The rabbit shook his head in denial, confusing the cream yellow mare. "Oh, alright then" she nervously chuckled "Well, how about a cucumber instead?" Angel shook his head once more. "A tomato?" Denied. "Grapefruit?" Nope. "Apple? Orange? Banana? Lime? Lemon? Avocado?" To all of her suggestions, the rabbit continued to shake his head. Fluttershy let out a disheartened sigh and petted him, much to his dismay. Finally, she asked him what he was hoping to be asked. "Okay, Angel. What do you want for lunch?" Angel perked up and grinned happily. He brought out a small, but surprisingly well-done picture of what he wanted and showed it to his owner. Apparently, he wanted a banana split with peanuts, chocolate sauce and syrup, topped with sprinkles and a cherry. Fluttershy let out a small gasp to the rabbit's request. "Well, um, sorry to say this, Angel, but this looks more like a desert than a lunch" the Pegasus kindly reminded him "I'm sorry, but I couldn't give this to you if I wanted to. I'd have to go out and purchase all the ingredients, then make the-" The white rabbit frowned and let out an annoyed sigh before storming away from his owner, the picture still in his possession and being dragged along the ground in his front paw. "Angel, wait!" cried out a worried Fluttershy "Surely you wouldn't mind a carrot, right? Mmmm... Nice a tasty carrot over here! Oh, okay... never mind..." (Music Stop) Angel entered a large, hollow tree covered in moss and mushrooms by Fluttershy's house he liked to go to when he just needed some alone time, especially when his owner couldn't even understand what he specifically wanted for lunch. He looked around the large open space of the hollow and very much dead tree until he finally found a spot and took a rest. He let out a sigh and stared at his picture he so expertly drew all by himself. "Some ponies, I swear..." Angel thought as he looked at his potential treat "A banana split! That's all I wanted and that wretched mare turned it down! The nerve!" As he continued to look at the picture, a brief sparkle appeared in the corner of his eye. He turned to the direction of the sparkle, which happened to be on the other side of the tree, and saw something lying there, motionless. Raising an eyebrow curiously, he set down his picture and went to go and investigate the object. As he hopped closer and closer, he saw it wasn't an object at all, but a pale beige creature with two legs and two arms with white hair and a white sundress. Its most distinctive feature, however, were the two butterfly-like wings on its back. "What in Equestria is this?" Angel wondered "It's like if a breezie and a centaur had a baby, and that baby wore sundresses. It looks a little beaten up... I guess I better take it back to Fluttershy so she can help it out. Still, how'd it get here in the first place?" Putting his questions aside, he picked up the creature and put it over his head. He then made his way out of the tree and straight to his owner's cottage, completely forgetting to pick up his drawing as well. (Music Stop) Racing back to Fluttershy with the injured creature on his back, Angel thought about his unanswered questions. Where exactly did this mysterious thing come from, and why exactly was she injured in the first place? More importantly though, what was its name, if it even had one. Was it even an it, or a boy or girl? All these questions floated around until he at long last approached his owner, a kind smile on her face. "Angel! I'm glad that you came ba-" the cream yellow Pegasus greeted before eying the small creature on her pet's back "Oh my! Angel, wherever did you find it? It looks hurt! Quick, we have to bring it inside so I can help it... or rather, I think it's a girl..." Angel nodded before following Fluttershy back into her cottage to treat the winged creature on his back. He hopped into her home and onto the living room table where he place the deemed-to-be-female creature down. The Pegasus sat on her green couch and inspected the creature's wounds. "Bruises and scrapes everywhere..." she said somberly as she checked her patient's breathing by putting a hoof lightly on her chest "Just what had she been doing before this?" Taking out a medical kit she kept close by her in case of emergency, she opened it up to reveal some bandage and multiple species of healing herbs. Removing one from the box, she rubbed the herb lightly on the creature's right arm and head, which had the most injuries, dabbing some sort of healing agent onto them. She then took a bandage and cut it to miniscule sizes before slowly wrapping it around her patient's treated areas. "There... that should do it... hopefully..." Fluttershy was slightly unsure if her methods were the right ones for this particular creature, but ultimately shrugged it off to ask her pet a question "Angel, wherever did you find her?" The rabbit pointed over to roughly where his favourite tree was. Fluttershy nodded her head before returning her attention to the winged creature on her table. She let out a small smile before gently picking her up with her wings and bringing her upstairs, Angel Bunny following his owner close behind. As soon as the mare reached her room, she walked over to a small bed on her dresser with a red cushion and blue covers used for resting injured animals, and laid her patient down in it. She placed the covers over her sleeping body and smiled before going over to her bed, picking up a pencil in her mouth and her diary with her right wing, and sat down upon her soft mattress. She opened up her book and began writing today's entry. (Music Stop) Airy awoke from her slumber slowly and drowsily. Her eyes still felt heavy, yet she knew she had been asleep for quite awhile. She scanned the area around her and saw she was in a wooden building who's owner apparently liked to collect bird cages and portraits. She tried to move, but instead she felt a sharp pain on her arm and flinched. "Ah!" she quietly winced in pain, staring down at her arm and seeing it was bandaged up. Much to her surprise, someone had treated her to her wounds. Who would do such a thing? That mattered not to her as she began to move again, but her arm stung once more. Another yelp escaped her throat, this one slightly louder than the last. Unfortunately for her, it had attracted the attention of someone in the same room as her. She looked up at the approaching cream yellow figure in fear and anger. Was she the one who helped her? She hoped not... "Goodness!" the figure, now identified to Airy as a female winged horse, much to her surprise "You're awake! I was so worried about you. But it looks like you've recovered well... Oh, how silly of me. I haven't even asked what your name is. May you tell me please?" The fairy remained silent for a good while, staring at the mare with a rather angry look, confusing her. Airy was planning on staying silent the whole time, thinking she was far more superior to this mortal animal. However, she did appear to be the one to treat her back to health, so she owed her something she supposed. "...my name is Airy" she finally let out of her mouth, bringing joy to the mare's face. "Airy..." the mare closed her eyes and smiled before opening them once again and looking back to her patient "What a lovely name. Airy. Oh, I'm sorry... I forgot to introduce myself as well... My name is Fluttershy." "...hi" the fairy sighed and rolled her eyes before turning away from Fluttershy and resting back into her bed. This made the Pegasus frown in disappointment. She thought she could converse with her patient for a bit. "My bunny found you inside his favourite resting place a little while ago" she explained "Do you know how you got there?" "I... no, the reason is far too complicated for you insignificant mortal to understand" Airy rather rudely responded "Now, leave me in peace! I'm trying to get some rest here." "Oh, that's okay..." Fluttershy hung her head a bit "I'll just, um... leave..." The Pegasus left with a few sobs as she slowly walked out of her room. Airy heard them clear as day, and actually felt slightly sorry for her. But she couldn't think of her right now. She had to figure out where the heck she ended up. She remembered everything, from her adventures with each of the four heroes, to her battle with them, to the moment she was betrayed by Ouroboros. She shook her head, trying her best to clear that memory from her mind for the time being. "Think Airy, think!" she thought aloud to herself "What would you do in a situation like this? Hmm... not much, really... You're bandaged up, injured and in bed, and any sudden movements means serious pain... Doesn't look like I'm leaving anytime soon. I'll just have to put up with that wretched-" (Music Stop) She never even finished her sentence when a white rabbit about her height appeared before her with a cross look on its face. Its ears twitched in slight anger from the word she used to describe its supposed owner. This creature appeared to have intelligence, much again to her surprise. First the mare and now this? This was, to Airy, the worst place to end up in a situation such as the one that had befallen her. "And you are?" she asked the rabbit before scoffing "Look at me; trying to talk to a useless, dumb old rabbit. What have-" "I'm Angel" the rabbit spoke in a language only Airy could understand "And I don't like the words you used to describe Fluttershy. True, she can be a thorn in my side sometimes, but she deserves better than that." "What do you know about who deserves what?" the fairy laughed a bit "You're just a rabbit? You know, the lowest animal on the food chain? What could you possibly know about-" The rabbit, apparently named Angel, got up close to Airy and shoved a paw into her mouth, shutting her up. He had just about enough of the girl's cruel words and rude attitude towards his owner. "Now you look and listen to me here..." Angel spoke rather intimidatingly as he held his paw in the fairy's mouth "You may absolutely hate it here. You may dislike the comfort and warmth of a home. You may not care for the things we bring you. And for all I care, you can keep that annoying personality of yours. But if you ever insult me or my family again, I'll personally take care of you. You got that?" Airy nodded slowly in response, in turn allowing Angel to remove his paw safely. She didn't want to get on this creature's bad side, or at least, not right now. She was weak and powerless, not to mention injured, and she knew better than to tussle with them in this state. "I'm still more powerful than you can fathom" she smiled devilishly. "Well Miss Oh-So-Powerful," the rabbit grinned back "that doesn't change the fact you were found in a tree unconscious covered in bruises and scars, and the only savior you had was a white rabbit which you claim to be the lowest of the low. Now you're laying in a bed while recovering and you can't move or you'll hurt yourself. Not so powerful now, are we?" The fairy squinted her eyes in anger and backed off a bit, bringing great joy to Angel before he hopped away from her bed. She was already beginning to hate that little rodent more than the heroes of light, and that was certainly saying something. Still, she couldn't deny the fact he was right about her current situation. She would just have to endure her rescuers company for they time being. "This is going to be a tiresomely long while..." Airy sighed before trying to get some more shuteye. Author's Note Hello everyone and welcome to the first Bravely Default/My Little Pony crossover story in existence! I'm glad I was the first to create it, as I feel very honored! But I suppose I should thank the game based off this story, also known as my favourite RPG of all time. Yes, I like this game even more than Final Fantasy VI. Now, like most of my stories, we'll set a goal! The goal this time will be 55 Likes, and once we reach that goal, I'll create a bonus chapter for a y'alls out there! With what I have planned, this is something you don't wanna miss! Be sure to Like, Comment, Favourite and Follow, and until then, don't let your enemies default! [Chapter 2] A Long WhileAiry awoke in one of the worst possible ways imaginable; having someone else wake you up. Normally for her, it would be tolerable if it was someone she knew very well. But the one who woke her up was none other than the Pegasus horse that nurtured her back to health, the one known as Fluttershy. How she loathed this individual greatly. She hated how unnaturally kind she was toward her, but most of all, she hated that she had to share the same level of intelligence toward a mere equine. How disgusting. "Good morning, Airy" the Pegasus smiled "Did you sleep well? I know you were a teensy bit cranky yesterday, but your wounds should be better today. I coated them in a special agent that speeds the natural healing of injuries." "You did that?" the fairy asked curiously "And what's this about my wounds being better? Does this mean I can finally move!?" "Well, you can move, but I wouldn't-" "FINALLY!!" Airy got out of bed and flew up into the air "Now I can escape from you mortals and at long last- OW!!" she clutched her arm and slowly floated back down into her bed. "Oh Airy..."Fluttershy softly sighed "Your wounds aren't completely healed yet. Just give them a week or so and they'll be all better." "A WEEK?!" the fairy exclaimed in horror "You mean I have to spend a week with you insignificant urchins?!" "Now, now, Airy, no need to be rude" the mare lightly patted her patient on the head, much to the latter's dismay "Besides, this will allow you a chance to bond with us some more." "Ugh..." the injured girl rolled her eyes and slumped back into her bed, her body and head turned away from Fluttershy "I was hoping to leave from this place as soon as possible. You and that rabbit are annoying." "Hmmm..." the cream yellow Pegasus thought aloud "Maybe it would be a good idea for you to go outside for a little while. Would you like to accompany me to my friend Twilight's home? I needed to go there to see what exactly you were." "Twilight?" Airy laughed a bit "You mean there's more of you anthropomorphic horses? That's a laugh!" "Oh yes" Fluttershy confirmed "In fact, there's a whole town of ponies not far from where we live. I'm sure you'd love to meet every single one. Especially Pinkie Pie" she let out a small giggle "She can be funny sometimes." "I am NOT interested in joining you on your trek through this town of equines!" the white haired girl rudely declined "You can do that on your own time. Besides, didn't you say I had some resting to do or something?" Airy's answer actually came as a surprise to her. A cage was put down over her and her bed, causing her to frantically look around. She at last saw that the one who placed the cage over her was the annoying rabbit named Angel from yesterday. His expression was a smug one, as if to say he was better than her. The nerve! The bottom of the cage slid under her bed and firmly attached itself to the cage's lower hinges. "Oh, so now I'M the animal?" Airy scoffed "How disgraceful." "Unfortunately, you have to come with us" Angel spoke once again in the same language only she could understand, a devilish smile creeping onto his face "Fluttershy may be timid, but once she makes up her mind when it comes to helping others, she won't say no. Besides, I'd pay just about anything to watch you in that cage all day long..." "I hate you..." the fairy deadpanned. "I know" the rabbit diabolically giggled. "Well, come along now, Airy" Fluttershy picked up her patient's cage with her wing and began carrying her to her friend's house "I'm sorry I have to do this to you, but you wouldn't come with me if I didn't." "That's probably the most intelligent thing you've ever said, urchin" Airy laughed. Her joy was cut short when Angel appeared at her cage holding onto the bars. A cross expression was on his face, signalling Airy to stop. "Let's just get this over with..." she rolled her eyes and settled back down into her bed. (Music Stop) XXXXXX After a little while longer, Fluttershy, Angel and Airy made it to Ponyville. To be honest, the village didn't seem that bad to the injured fairy. In fact, it was actually quite nice. The only problem? Everywhere she looked there were multicolored talking horses. She prayed to the heavens above something could distract her long enough not to look at them. To her luck, there was! A giant crystal castle shaped roughly like a tree in the centre of town that seemed slightly out of place. If she had to give something to these seemingly insignificant mortals, its that their design and architectural skills were somewhat interesting. "Do you see that castle over there, Airy?" Fluttershy asked her "That's where we need to go." "Wait, honestly?" the fairy was taken by a bit of surprise "You mean to tell me your friend lives in that castle?! What is she, some sort of sparkly princess or something?" "Yes, actually" kindly smiled the Pegasus. Airy went silent. She honestly wasn't expecting that answer, even though she figured it was the correct one. She stayed silent as she, Fluttershy and her pet peacefully walked towards the castle. "I can't believe I have to share the same room as a 'pretty princess pony', as they'd say" Airy thought with disgust "What have I been subjected to. I was the faithful servant of Lord Ourob-" her mind locked up from thinking of that wretched name "Ouroboros... Why did you betray me? After all I did for you... (Music Stop) XXXXXX The inside of the castle was utterly gigantic, especially for the rather small fairy in the cage. She had seen much bigger, but it was nonetheless still very impressive. The walls and floor were crystal blue and polished to maximum sheen. Orange ornaments hung on the ceiling in a rather beautiful fashion with lights shining through them. The light shone on the crystal walls, resulting in a wonderful display of colours that surprisingly didn't blind the trio. As Airy continued looking around the hall of crystal, she eyed a lavender horse with a purple mane and both a horn and wings inspecting the castle walls. Next to her was a small purple dragon with green spines holding a checklist in his right claw, and a quill in his other. "Okay, Spike" the lavender pony spoke to the dragon "The walls are perfectly fine. Check that off the list, okay?" "You got it, Twilight" the dragon, apparently named Spike, nodded before jotting down a check mark on the list "Next it says we have to see if the tree roots are holding up." "Ah, my favourite!" the pony, apparently named Twilight, smiled in glee "I always love seeing those roots. They remind me of all the things I got to do with my friends since I've known them." "Um, excuse me... Twilight?" Fluttershy asked softly. If it hadn't had been for the echo the castle hall emanated, the lavender mare would never have heard her friend speak. Twilight turned around and saw her friend standing a few feet away from her. "Oh, hello there Fluttershy" Twilight greeted politely "What brings you here today?" "Well, um... I was, y'know, wondering if you knew about this little cutie here" she brought up Airy's cage with her wing for her friends to see "Her name is Airy. Angel found her yesterday, and I was wondering if you knew anything about what species she might be." "Hey! I am NOT cute!" Airy frustratingly shouted, getting out of her bed and hovering in the cage with her wings as to not hurt her injured body. "She's a bit angry" Spike pointed out. "Oh my goodness!" Twilight squee'd "A brand new intelligent life form! This has to be the greatest day in Equestrian history!" "But I thought the day you met your friends was the best day in Equestrian history" Spike wondered "Or even the birth of the princesses? What about the defeat of Tirek?" "But Spike, this is the discovery of a brand new species! An intelligent one at that!" the lavender mare squished her assistant's cheeks and brought him up close to her face "Do you know what this means? This means history will be made! I'll call the species... twilifairy!" "Hey! That is NOT my species name!" Airy shouted through her cage again "I am a crystfairy, and I-" her eyes widened as she let out a small gasp before getting angry again "Ohhhhhh! Now you're making me talk about myself! Just stay quiet, you got that?!" "Note: Crystfairies are very angry..." Twilight noted to herself "Anyway, my name is Princess Twilight Sparkle, and this is my assistant and friend Spike. We're very honoured to meet you." "So you're the castle's pretty little princess, hmm?" the fairy giggled a bit with a cruel smirk on her face "I was expecting you to be a lot more... intimidating?" "While it is true that I'm not the most regal of princesses," the lavender princess began "I'm still this town's ruler, and I'm very proud to be as such. Now, onto business... So, Airy was it? Do you remember what happened before you were found by Angel Bunny?" "Yep" Airy nodded. "...do you mind telling us?" Twilight questioned with a nervous grin. "Yep" the crysfairy nodded again. "Well that was fruitless..." the purple maned mare sighed "Are you always this difficult to work with?" "I don't have to answer that question" Airy flicked her head away from the princess in an I'm-better-than-you fashion "Besides, I have better things to do than take your little questionnaire." Twilight's expression deadpanned. She had just about enough of this little creature. Still, curiosity flowed through her veins. Just where did the crystfairy come from? And just what the heck was a crystfairy anyway? "Fluttershy," she turned to her cream yellow friend holding Airy's cage "I'm sorry I wasn't able to help you much. I'd give you a book about this little one, but this is a totally new species. Besides... she's a little rude." "I understand, Twilight" Fluttershy nodded in acceptance "Besides, I'm sure she's just a bit grumpy that she has to stay in bed for a little while. She'll cheer up eventually." "No, I'm grumpy because I hate you..." Airy thought as she pouted, heading back into her bed to refrain from injuring herself against the moving cage. (Music Stop) After saying their goodbyes, Fluttershy and Angel left Twilight and Spike and exited their castle. Once they walked for a good few minutes away from the large crystalline castle, the pink maned Pegasus asked her patient a question. "Airy, why are you always so mean to everypony?" "Why am I- Because everyone here annoys me!" Airy shouted from the comfort of her bed "I mean, it truly is unbelievable how much you pester me so!" "What happened in your life to make you think kindness is annoying?" Fluttershy asked, now slightly saddened. "HEY FLUTTERSHY!!!!" shouted a female voice way too upbeat for her own good. The group of three turned to the direction of the voice and saw a bouncy pink pony rushing towards them. She skidded to a stop as soon as she was right in front of them and began bouncing up and down. "Never mind" Airy deadpanned "I don't even know this urchin, and already I hate her." "Oooooooooooooh!" the pink mare stared intently at the crystfairy in her cage "Who's your new pet, Fluttershy?" "I AM NOT A PET!!" the winged humanoid shouted in frustration "I'm not cute, or adorable, or anyone's pet! I'm just a very annoyed fairy who doesn't like anyone in this town!" "Aww, she's so cute when she's all riled up like that!" the mare giggled and snorted. "D-Did you even listen to me?!" Airy was taken aback by the horse's upbeat and seemingly unbreakable personality "I'm not cute, okay?!" "So what's your name anyway?" she asked as she continued to hop up and down "Is it Ariel? Amanda? Amy? Andrea? Annabelle? Anne? Apple? Air? Axe? Aries?" she leaned in close and whispered her last guess "Is it Navi?" "No, no, NO!" the crystfairy got out of bed and floated around, stomping her foot in mid-air "None of those are my name, you low class mortal! If it will shut you up, my name is Airy! Now go away!" "Oh, hi there, Airy!" the pink mare continued to talk, much to Airy's dismay "My name is Pinkie Pie, and welcome to Ponyville! Wait, does this mean I have to plan a welcoming party for you? YES!! I can bring the streamers, the cake, the cakes and their babies, the party hats, the party cannon, the canon party, and all my friends!" "Good for you!" the fairy sarcastically spoke before deadpanning "Now go away." "Airy, don't be rude" hushed Fluttershy before she turned to her bouncy friend "I'm so sorry about her, Pinkie. She can be a teensy, weensy, teeny, tiny bit mean sometimes." "Well, we better turn that frown upside down, silly filly!" Pinkie Pie smiled. "Actually, Pinkie Pie, I'm not sure if Airy really wants that right now" the timid Pegasus suggested "Not that there's anything wrong with your idea, good heavens no! But maybe she needs a bit of time settling in, okay?" "Okey dokey lokey!" the pink mare grinned and began bouncing off to wherever she wanted to go "Nice meeting ya, Airy!" (Music Stop) Fluttershy waved her friend off, sighing and smiling at the same time. Her smile faded however when she turned back to the crystfairy in the cage being held by her wing. She was less than impressed with her. She let out a long and disappointed sigh before speaking. "Airy, I don't know why you're always so rude to everypony" "Hmm?" Airy' raised her eyebrow. "How can you just go around like that saying those kind of things?" Fluttershy's voice was becoming more cross, at the very least as cross as normal Fluttershy gets "You should be ashamed of yourself. Just what happened in your life that you would become so cruel?" "I have my reasons..." the crystfairy rolled her eyes "But its nothing you would understand. I mean, you're just a mere urchin compared to my power! Why should I share my reasons with an inferior being?" "Because you had the chance to ignore me when we first met, but you didn't" the mare's words became slightly more calm "That must count for something, right?" "Stop talking to me" Airy finally shut her up "Take me back to your crammed-up old house and let me sleep. The faster I get away from all of you the better." "...okay, Airy" Fluttershy sighed and began taking her back to her home. XXXXXX Fluttershy entered her house and slowly walked back upstairs. By this point, even though night hadn't fallen yet, Airy had fallen asleep in her bed, bringing a small smile to the timid Pegasus's face. Carefully, she placed her patient back on the dresser and removed the cage, leaving the bottom still under the bed. Fluttershy took another look at the sleeping crystfairy. For the first time since Angel found her, the fairy's body was turned towards her. Albeit unintentionally, but still nice nonetheless. The cream yellow mare flicked out the lights and headed back downstairs to where Angel was waiting for her on her green couch. She took a seat and gently rubbed her pet's head with her hoof. "Oh Angel..." she sighed "I just don't know what to do about Airy. She's so rude to me and everypony around her. Maybe if I found out what was troubling her, I could help her. But until then... oh, I just don't know..." Angel, with a warm and reassuring smile, hugged Fluttershy's leg, cheering her up a bit. "Thank you, Angel" she smiled before taking a long sigh "I suppose I won't learn about her past today. But let's keep our chins held high, okay?" The white rabbit accompanying her nodded before bouncing off somewhere else, more than likely to get something to eat. Fluttershy simply giggled before taking out a book from under one of the couches pillows and beginning to read to pass the time. "Our chins held high? Hmmm..." Fluttershy thought "I think I may know a few ponies willing to help me and Airy out..." Author's Note Who could these ponies be, you ask? Well, did you check the tags recently? Yes, the next chapter will include the CMC and their antics. Will Airy be pleased? I dunno. Find out soon! Be sure to Like, Comment, Favourite and Follow, and until then, don't let your enemies default!
[Chapter 3] AnnoyancesAnother day, another cruddy morning living in Fluttershy's home for Airy. This was only her third day here, and she still couldn't get used to the fact she was surrounded but some of the stupidest animals she's ever seen, not to mention Fluttershy's interior decorations skills were sub-par to her. She groaned as she awoke from her slumber, staring once again at the inside of the worst house she's ever been in. She took a look around and saw that the horse that took her in and treated her wasn't there, so at least she could have a peacefully awakening. "Oh good, so I'm not dreaming..." Airy sarcastically said before rubbing her bandaged arm and head a bit "Hmmm... Hurts a little less than yesterday. I think I might be able to go around without them hurting the whole time. For what it's worth, that urchin did a decent job of patching me up." The crystfairy removed the covers from her body and hovered out of bed, letting out a yawn and stretching her one good arm while leaving the other limp. She slowly flew down the stairs and smelled something delectable to her. Looking out from the staircase door, she saw that Fluttershy was cooking something, humming a pleasant tune to herself. Airy tried to sneak past her, but the damn glittering wings made too much noise. The cream yellow Pegasus turned around and smiled. "Why, good morning, Airy" she greeted "Did you have a nice sleep?" "Yeah" Airy answered before smirking devilishly "Then I gazed my eyes upon you." "I see we still have a few issues..." Fluttershy sighed in disappointment before perking back up again "Thankfully, I think I have an idea on how to fix that poor attitude of yours." "Oh? And how exactly are you gonna do that, hmm?" laughed the fairy "Say nice things about me? If that is truly your plan, I'll-" "I've invited a few girls over today" the cream yellow Pegasus smiled kindly, knowing exactly what kind of reaction Airy would let out. Unsurprisingly to her, the crystfairy's utterly shocked and horrified expression nearly made her laugh. "W-W-What?!" Airy stuttered "But... but... I HATE children!" "Which is exactly why you have to endure it" Fluttershy said in her not-used-very-often strict voice "You've been very naughty recently, so you have to be punished. Besides, the girls I invited over aren't that bad. Their hearts really are in the right place." "Only their hearts?" the fairy nervously questioned "N-No matter. I'm sure handling a few smaller mortals shouldn't be difficult. Oh what am I saying?! There is no way you're leaving me with those children!" "Unfortunately, you don't have a say in the matter" Angel smirked, hopping from another room and underneath Airy "Fluttershy and I are going out today to buy some food for her animals, much to my dismay. Either way, you'll be left here with them for the entire day." "INSOLENCE!!" Airy shouted at the rabbit, causing Fluttershy to be very alarmed. "Airy, please don't talk to Angel that way" she picked her pet up and cuddled with him "Besides, he never said anything to rile you up. Isn't that right Angel?" The white rabbit nodded before hugging his owner. When Fluttershy wasn't looking, he stuck out his tongue at the injured fairy, making her scoff in annoyance. "Now, we'll be gone for a bit to get some things for my animals" Fluttershy told her exactly what Angel said not a few moments ago "Though, I suppose I should wait until-" (Music Stop) A knocking sound was heard at the door of the timid Pegasus's abode. She smiled and went to go open the door. As soon as she did, she was greeted by three young equines; one Pegasus with an orange coat and messy purple mane, one Unicorn with a white coat and curly pink and pale purple mane, and one normal horse with a cream yellow coat and a long mane with a large pink bow in it. "Hiya, Fluttershy!" they all greeted at the exact same time. "Hello there, girls" the Pegasus kindly smiled "You arrived here just on time. Would you like to come in?" "Ya bet we would!" the young normal equine exclaimed in a country accent. The three fillies entered Fluttershy's house with smiles on their faces and immediately eyed the fairy floating in the air. They gasped in delight and rushed over to Airy as fast as they could, forcing a scream of horror to come out of the crystfairy, as well as the most surprised and horrified expression one could make. "WOW! A real-life fairy!" the cream yellow one's eyes lit up like a candle "Applejack told me 'ey were only in legend!" "Her wings look so cool!" the orange one gushed. "I really like her mane!" the white one's voice squeaked a bit. "Enough!" Airy finally cried out before pointing to Fluttershy "You! Get these annoying children away from my sight!" "I'm so sorry, Airy" she regretfully smiled "But I really have to go now. Now, girls? Don't touch anything super fragile in my cottage, okay?" "Okay, Fluttershy!" they all said at the same time again, which admittedly was a bit creepy to Airy. Before she could demand the removal of the three young equines, Fluttershy and Angel left the house, leaving her alone with three anthropomorphic ponies she didn't exactly want to spend time with. "You're very pretty!" the white filly said, much to Airy's dismay "Oh, we haven't even introduced ourselves yet! I'm Sweetie Belle." "I'm Scootaloo!" the orange one greeted. "An' ah'm Apple Bloom!" the cream yellow one grinned happily "Together, we're the Cutie Mark Crusaders!" "That's a silly name, you annoying child" Airy commented quite rudely "Just what on Luxendarc is a cutie mark anyway? Don't tell me it's anything like that tattoo on Fluttershy's posterior." "That's exactly it!" Scootaloo cheered "A cutie mark is a picture that appears on somepony's flank when they discover their special talent. For example, Fluttershy's cutie mark is three butterflies, symbolizing her talent for animal care." "So that's what those things were for?" the crystfairy wondered before she scoffed "What a juvenile concept!" "Hey! Cutie marks aren't... ju-vee-nile!" Apple Bloom argued. "Now, now, Applebloom" Sweetie Belle calmed her friend down "Don't you worry. I got this." "Oh, you must be the voice of reason in this group" the rude fairy analyzed "Well then, tell me, what do you three girls like doing in your free time?" she asked before thinking "Maybe I can coax them into leaving me alone..." "Interesting question... Airy, was it? Yeah, Airy. You see, it's actually quite simple..." the white Unicorn professionally spoke before going back to her childish demeanor, a wide smile appearing on her face "The cutie mark crusaders do everything they can to get their CUTIE MARKS!!!" "YAY!!" all three of the girls shouted in unison, forcing Airy to cover her ears. "But what should we do today, girls?" Scootaloo asked. "What 'bout anythin' 'at comes in our head?" Apple Bloom suggested. "Scoots, Apple Bloom, are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Sweetie asked with a small gasp of joy. The other two girls smiled as well and began squealing in happiness. "CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS, FAIRY CARETAKERS!!" they all shouted at the top of their lungs. Airy didn't even bother covering her ears. She was purely terrified at what horrors she would have to endure from whatever the three girls were planning for her. "Dear lord..." Airy spoke, her voice filled with fear. (Music Stop) XXXXXX "More tea, Princess Airy?" Sweetie Belle asked as she handed the crystfairy some of the warm liquid in a small pink cup. It was truly amazing to Airy how how the three young girls managed to hold her down long enough and slip her into a small dress from one of Sweetie's dolls. Even more surprising to her was how they were able to force her into joining them for a tea party, kiddie table, pink dining sheet and all. They were all sitting around the table on stools, with Airy sitting on a very tall tower of empty jars, forming a seat for her. The crystfairy groaned and slowly double face-palmed. "I hate my life right now..." she sighed. "I see Princess Airy is very upset right now" the white Unicorn pointed out "Very well. Princess Apple Bloom, would you care for some more tea?" "Ah would very much so" the cream yellow pony wearing a silver tiara held up her own pink cup with her right front hoof and let Sweetie somehow levitate a teapot over it to pour tea into it. Airy, despite disliking the girls, was curious as to how that was possible. "That's magic that your doing" she pointed out "Is it black magic or white magic?" "Um... what's that?" Scootaloo asked curiously. "W-What?! You mean you don't even have classifications for your magic?!" Airy was shocked from the fillies' confusion "At least the people of Luxendarc were somewhat smart, but everywhere I look there's just someone dumber than the last..." "Y'know, Sweetie Belle, this whole tea party thing is getting a little boring" the orange filly ignored the crystfairy's comment and voiced her own opinion "Can't we do something a little more exciting?" "Exciting?" Apple Bloom wondered before finally realizing what she meant by that "Oh, ya mean 'at! So long as Sweetie says it's okay, then ah suppose we're good ta go." "Well, I guess this tea party is a little bland..." the white Unicorn thought aloud "Alright then, let's go!" "Ugh, finally!" Airy sighed in relief "I get to take off this wretched dress and do something other than pretty princess activities. Honestly, anything other than this will make my day-" (Music Stop) XXXXXX "WAY TOO EXCITING FOR ME!!" Airy shouted as she held onto Sweetie Belle's mane for dear life, her body waving in the wind flowing through the hair strands. Scootaloo, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle got onto a small blue scooter in that order, with Scootaloo being the one driving it, flapping her wings rapidly in order to propel it. At first, the little fairy though the ride would be short and a little fast. But she had no idea that the filly would be so fast. To her, this was even worse than the tea party. At least she didn't have to wear that silly dress. "C'mon, Airy" the orange Pegasus rolled her eyes and smiled "We're only getting to the good part!" "That only make me more afra-HEY-AID!" she called out as the scooter picked up speed "I wish for you to stop this immediately!" "Scoots, maybe if Airy isn't having 'at much fun, perhaps we should turn 'round and-" Apple Bloom spoke before getting interrupted by her driver friend. "Not on my watch!" Scootaloo smirked before speeding up the flapping of her wings, in turn making her go faster "We're almost at this place where I can do an awesome flip!" "Wait, Scootaloo, that's-" Sweetie Belle pointed out at a cliff heading straight into the Everfree Forest in shock. But it was too late. (Music Stop) Scootaloo drove her scooter right over the cliff and into the dark forest, causing them to fall down into the depths of the trees. They all screamed as they plunged into the darkness of the wood, separating themselves. Airy landed on a collection of soft trees, slowly sliding down until she reached the bottom, no more injured than she already was. She rubbed her back with her one good arm and floated up into the air, taking a look around the area before letting out a small sigh. "Perfect, just what I needed..." she said sarcastically "Another problem in the way. At least I'm not hurt. Now you know, urchins, that you cannot... be... hasty..." she looked around and saw they weren't anywhere to be seen "Well, I suppose they aren't my problem anymore." "AAAAAAAAAAH!!" Airy heard a collection of voices call out. There was no mistaking it was the voices of the three girls who got her into this forest she actually wasn't too fond of. She knew they needed help. "I have no time for that" she spoke to herself "I need to get away from here while Fluttershy isn't looking and while I have the- OW!" her arm stung again, forcing her to yelp in a bit of pain. Suddenly, she heard something rustling in the bushes behind her. She slowly turned around and saw two glowing red eyes staring right back at her. "Airy, run!" Sweetie Belle shouted from the other side of the bush. The crystfairy took no time to insult the filly and just began flying away as fast as she could. The eyes jumped out at her and revealed themselves to actually be some sort of wooden wolf. The wolf took chase to the fairy and was clearly faster than her in every possible way. "C'mon, fly faster!" Airy complained to herself "No time to lose!" The wooden beast got closer and closer to her as the chase continued, until finally in lunged out at her and tackled her to the ground, stepping on, unfortunately, her bad arm, forcing another yelp out of her. The creature's face got dangerously close to her own, and she could feel its breath on her body. Just after it opened its jaws to eat her, it felt something hit its back. "Get off her, ya big meanie!" Apple Bloom bravely spoke before throwing away the small log she used to hit the wooden wolf. Despite her courageous attitude beforehand, she trembled in fear the second the beast turned around. However Airy, seeing a perfect chance to strike, leaned up as much as she could and extended her good hand at the creature. "F-F-Fire..." she softly spoke. Much to her surprise, a small flame emerged from her hand and began burning the wolf. It cried in pain and writhed in agony, but eventually it turned into nothing but a pile of ashes. The crystfairy let out a huge sigh and fell back onto the ground. "Airy..." the cream yellow equine said in surprise "The fire, the burnin'... how were ya able ta do 'at?" "I... I don't know..." the fairy looked at her hand "B-But I feel p-powerless now. Was th-that the last of m-m-my power?" "Apple Bloom!" Scootaloo called out to her friend as she approached her, Sweetie Belle right behind her "Are you alright?" "Y-Yeah..."she panted "But ah have Airy ta thank fer savin' me. So, thank ya kindly, Airy." "I... I..." Airy tried to insult them, but with all the pain coursing through her body, she couldn't bring herself to do so "You kn-know what? F-Forget it... I j-just want to r-r-rest..." "She's a bit right, girls" Sweetie nodded "This certainly has been an interesting day, but right now I don't feel like doing anything more right now. Let's head on back to Fluttershy's cottage, okay?" "YEAH!" her two friends cheered at the same time, making the injured fairy on the ground groan. She felt herself be levitated by Sweetie Belle's magic, which was a surprisingly pleasant feeling. She was then carried off. Suddenly, the group stopped unexpectedly. "Wait, which way is Fluttershy's cottage again?" the white filly asked. "Look over there!" Scootaloo pointed one of her front hooves at a bright light to their side "That must be the exit!" "Nothing else, ah guess" Apple Bloom shrugged before the party began moving again. (Music Stop) XXXXXX Fluttershy had arrived home quite late. She never expected to be held up by Pinkie Pie and talked to all day, not that she didn't mind talking to her, but she did have some important shopping to do. However, once she was all done, she looked forward to finally relaxing a bit with Angel and read a book or three. She opened the door and, to her surprise, saw three little fillies and a small Angel-sized fairy piled up on one-another on the couch, sleeping. "Aww, they're so cute when their asleep" she said with a smile "Wouldn't you agree, Angel?" The white rabbit looked up at his owner before smiling and nodding furiously. This caused the Pegasus to giggle a bit before returning her attention to the pile of sleeping bodies. "Somehow, someway, they got Airy to sleep with them" she noted "I'll have to ask them how they managed to do such a thing. Well, either way, I think it's about time we headed off to sleep ourselves. I am a teensy bit sleepy after all..." Fluttershy smiled as she slowly headed back upstairs to where her bedroom was, carefully trying not to awaken the four little ones sleeping on her sofa. She hopped into bed, turned out the lights, and went to sleep almost immediately. Little did she know of the warm smile that appeared on Airy's face. Author's Note Airy is getting better as a character? Maybe. You'll simply have to find out! I took a listen to the final boss theme of Bravely Second and, I'm not spoiling anything, but trust me when I say you will love it. It is better than "Serpent Eating the Horizon" from the last game, and that was awesome! Discord chapter is up next! Be sure to Like, Comment, Favourite and Follow, and until then, don't let your enemies default!
[Chapter 4] Chaotic DecisionIf any day during all this to would be the worst to Airy, it would be today. After being brought back upstairs and into her bed on Fluttershy's dresser, she had accidentally slept on her now very injured arm she got from yesterday, and of course felt all the pain of in in the morning. She attempted to get up and her arm hurt more than it should have. She yelped in pain, alerting Fluttershy, who was resting in her bed at the time reading a book. "Oh my goodness! Airy!" she spoke in a concerned tone "What's wrong? Is your arm acting up again?" "N-No..." the fairy waved her caretaker away "I'm fine. Stop pestering me." "You don't look fine" Fluttershy analyzed "Here, let me-" "Hands off me!" Airy flicked her arm away, causing even more pain to flow through it "I... I'm... I'm fine, okay? I don't need any help. I linked thousands upon thousands of- No, you wouldn't understand." "Airy... Your arm..." the cream yellow Pegasus said softly "How is it more injured than it was before?" "I don't have to tell you" she lightly rubbed her bad arm "Just go away and leave me be. It's bad enough I have to stay in the same house as you, so do me a favour and just stop trying to help, okay?" "I... okay..." Fluttershy disappointingly sighed before walking away and going down the stairs. She looked over at her couch and saw that the white rabbit she took care of for so many years was waiting for her to join him. She smiled and went to go sit down with him, rubbing his head lovingly. "Oh Angel..." she sighed "Airy got injured injured yesterday and she won't tell me how, let alone help me heal her. She's just so stubborn sometimes. If only there was somepony out there who could help me." Putting a paw to his face, Angel thought long and hard about what options they had. They could try contacting Pinkie Pie, but that would make things worse than they already were. They could leave her alone, but she would just be more stubborn than she already was. While the rabbit didn't like his final idea, he figured there wasn't any other choice. He shook his owner's leg, getting her attention. "Hmm? Do you have an idea, Angel?" she asked nicely. Angel nodded before pulling a pen and a piece of paper out of nowhere and began drawing. Once he was done, he showed it to Fluttershy. She gasped and looked closely at the picture again just to be sure he wasn't trying to fool her. "Are you sure, Angel?" she asked her rabbit, to which he nodded in response "Well, I suppose if anypony could teach her how to be a lot less rude who was also on her level of cruelty at one time, it's him. Okay, I'll go and give Discord a call." Angel sighed. Despite this being their last hope, he didn't necessarily enjoy Discord's presence or personality. He knew him and Fluttershy were friends, but that didn't mean they couldn't have their differences. Fluttershy entered her kitchen and brought out a whistle from one of her drawers. The whistle was wooden and shaped like that of a snail's shell. It was about as large as her hoof, but the mouthpiece fit her mouth quite nicely. (Music Stop) Putting it in her mouth, she softly blew into it, creating a rather loud whistle and more than likely alerting the crystfairy resting upstairs. Not two seconds passed before a small explosion of confetti appeared in front of Fluttershy, surprising her a little bit. She quickly shook it off once she realized exactly who created the confetti in the first place. "Good morning, Discord" she smiled at her friend. XXXXXX Airy laid in her bed, her head and body facing the ceiling. She felt like her entire body had just given up on her. But she didn't need that pony's assistance; she knew she could heal on her own. She's shrugged off far worse. Then again, that was when she still had her power. The fairy didn't like feeling powerless, and more than anything she wanted her powers back so she could leave this wretched place, pulling a few tricks on the townsfolk for her personal enjoyment once she did. "All in a knot, I see" spoke a male voice very unfamiliar to Airy. The voice was mostly calm and collected, but she could hear that small sadistic side of it. For some reason, she liked the voice. Nonetheless, she didn't want anyone there at the moment. "Whatever you want, I don't want it, so don't pester me" she stated, but the voice continued on. "Okay, I won't pester you" Airy could feel the voice cracking a smile "But I will talk to you and do something about that horrible attitude of yours." "You don't make any sense..." the crystfairy pointed out. "Aww, make sense?" he questioned "But what fun is there in making sense? Besides, I think making sense will be everypony's downfall one day. You can't have a life without having a bit of fun!" "Just who exactly are you?" Airy was a bit curious, if not amused by the voice speaking to her. The answer to her question was a surprising pop of a strange paper-like entertainment product that apparently came in many different colours. Once the initial shock of it was gone, the fairy looked back to see the weirdest creature by her bedside. He was an amalgamation of different animals standing on two legs with two arms at his side, with the head of a horse and a body of just about everything else. His body was noodle-ques and eyes were unnaturally yellow, as well as his long face giving off a mischievous smile that very much fitted him. "My name is Discord, my dear" the creature bowed respectively "But you may call me Discord. I was sent by Fluttershy to help you get acquainted with this place." "Yeah, good luck trying to do that" Airy rolled her eyes "That urchin and her little pet already tried that, and look where that went? What makes you think that this will be any different?" "Because we haven't tried things my way!" Discord laughed. "Ex...cuse, me?" the fairy raised an eyebrow. "Well, what are you waiting for? Hearth's Warming Eve?" the old creature laughed again before scooping her up with the hand that looked like a lion's paw "We have some fun to accomplish!" "W-Wait, where are you-" the crystfairy's sentence was interrupted by the sound of warping she heard so many times when the warriors of light used warp stones to travel around. In a flash of light, she was gone to who-knows-where. (Music Stop) "...now, Discord, be sure not to-" Fluttershy came upstairs only to see that they had gone off somewhere else "-take her someplace else... Well, I suppose if it will help her learn the value of respect... I just hope Discord doesn't corrupt her any more than she already is." XXXXXX Airy and Discord had warped somewhere the former had never seen before. Though, that wasn't saying much; she had only been to two places in this seemingly gigantic world. Wherever it was though, she really seemed to enjoy it. Everywhere she looked was all made out of crystal. The houses, the pathways, the lampposts, everything. The fairy's eyes opened wide and her pupils dilated as her mind took in everything. "Welcome to the Crystal Empire," Discord welcomed his guest "where everything is made of-" "Crystal..." the crystfairy finished his sentence "This is incredible! I love crystals!" "Really now?" the old creature laughed, something in his voice telling Airy he already knew her interests beforehand "Well, I think you'll like it if you turned around for a moment." "Why, what's behind-" she gasped the second she turned around. Right there was a gigantic castle made of light blue crystals, with purple flags hanging down from it. The castle itself was pyramid-shaped with long sides and and four legs keeping it up. Underneath the castle though was what really caught Airy's attention. "That heart..." she pondered "If that crystal heart is anything like the elemental crystals of Luxendarc, I might be able to connect this world to the others and begin my OWN climb to the celestial realm... Then I can leave all these wretched ponies behind!" "Airy, was it?" Discord gained her attention again "I do believe it's time to begin the fun." "O-Oh?" the fairy gazed back to Discord again "Oh, right. This better not be a waste of my time, you old coot." "Oh, I can assure you, this will be more than worth your time" the old creature smiled devilishly before walking off to someplace else. Naturally, Airy followed him. As they walked though the streets of the empire, she noticed that all the ponies there were also made of crystal, oddly enough. However, what really caught her attention were the odd looks Discord was getting from the townsfolk. "I'm sure your wondering why that is, right?" Discord asked his accomplice, as if he knew that's what she was thinking "You see, I'm not fully 'one with the herd' yet, as they say. Like you, I still have many, many lessons to learn, which is why I really do think you should take Fluttershy's kindness into consideration." "Fluttershy's kindness?" lightly laughed the crystfairy "More like Fluttershy's constant worrying for me. I mean, who even does that?" "Fluttershy" the amalgamation chuckled "But that aside, here we are!" they both stopped outside a fairly large but very empty house that looked condemned and ready to be taken down. "Really? Honestly?" Airy was unsure of what to think "This house is your idea of fun? How anti-climactic of you." "Looks can be deceiving, my dear" Discord turned around and smiled "I do believe it's time to officially introduce myself. My name is Discord..." he bowed in respect "...also known as, the spirit of chaos. And this..." he snapped his eagle claw fingers and the door to the house opened up "...is my playground." The crystfairy took a peek inside the house and saw wonderland of insanity inside. It was like an entirely different dimension. Bright colours of purple, red, blue and yellow were in every corner of the pocket world, and different objects floated around aimlessly. Airy though she saw a giant green hamster wheel at one point. Either way, her curiosity shot through the roof. "What is this place?" she asked her host. (Music Stop) "This, my dear, is my home" he smiled before gesturing Airy to enter his dimension "Please, after you. I insist." Airy floated into the space and immediately felt as light as a feather. She had never felt this excited before, excluding the moment when she connected all 100,000,000 worlds of Luxendarc. After flying around the dimension and doing a few loop-Dee-loops in pure joy, she turned back to Discord, who was now closing the door to his world temporarily. "How is this possible?" Airy asked "There is no way any of this can work!" "Perhaps in your reality," the spirit of chaos grinned "but, you see, I struck a deal with a certain Time Lord. I get access to his technology, and in turn I stop stealing his wife's muffins." "What on earth is a Time Lord?" the crystfairy wondered. "Well, enough about me!" Discord ignored her question and magically clothed himself in a tuxedo, top hat and cane "Step right up and be the first one to explore my dimension, including me!" "You mean to tell me you have never explored this place before?" one of Airy's eyebrows rose up. "Can't say that I have" he shrugged "After all, I just received this place yesterday. Who knows how much chaos or power lies in here. Y'know, I think I should dust the place sometime..." The crystfairy's eyes widened at the mention of power. "There's power here, he says?" she thought as a small yet devilish smile appeared on her face "If what he says is true, I can use a small portion of this world's energy to pray on the crystal heart under the castle! Then my plan will be set in motion!" "Say, do you mind if I take a look at some of this power in here?" she asked as politely as possible, her being Airy and such. "So sorry, my dear" Discord gave off an apologetic smile "But that would be chaos magic you'll be dealing with. There is only one soul in this world capable of using such magic in a responsible fashion... And unfortunately for you, he's not here! AHAHAHAHA!!" "So, just to reiterate, I can't use this type of magic?" Airy wondered. "Not unless you have more than 1000 years of training behind you, dear" the spirit of chaos laughed again. "Darn it! He's too smart about this!" the fairy thought "I suppose I have no other choice then. I must to the rite without the magic by my side. But knowing Agnés, that might be painful" "Then in that case, may we go and see that crystal heart under the castle?" she asked her host. "Why, of course!" he grinned and opened the door to the real world again "I'm not sure why you'd want to see something as boring as that, but I suppose if you became interested about anything in Equestria, I'm doing my job." Airy nodded before quickly rushing out the door and towards the crystal. This action got Discord thinking. (Stop Music) "Hmm... She didn't seem awfully hesitant to want and go and see that source of all power in-" his eyes opened in shock as he suddenly realized what Airy was trying to accomplish "Oh no... Fluttershy will ruin me if I let that happen!" XXXXXX By the time Discord got over to the crystal heart in the centre of the Crystal Empire, it was too late. Airy had began praying in front of it, and the heart began to spin, slowly picking up speed as time went along. All the ponies around the crystal stared in worry of what the small fairy was doing. While curious as to how she was doing it, the spirit of chaos knew the consequences if that crystal were to be corrupted or shatter. "Airy!" he called out "You mustn't do that! Fluttershy would hurt me dearly!" "N-Nggg...." was all the crystfairy could mutter out as she tried to awaken the power inside the heart. "What in Equestria are you trying to do anyway?" Discord asked "If you're trying to obtain the power in that crystal, I can safely say your efforts are fruitless. That's-" The maniacal spirit never even finished his sentence before electrical crackling was heard from the heart. The powerful gem was no spinning at full speed, slowly drawing Airy into it. Noticing this, Discord had no time to think before he ran for her, but was halted when a flash of light shone in his eyes, temporarily blinding him. (Music Stop) Over by the praying fairy in pain of attempting to drain the crystal of its power, fear filled her eyes as she got closer and closer to the spinning heart. Stopping for a split second, the force sucking her in seemingly grabbed her and quickly pulled her right through the gem, causing the flash that temporarily blinded all around it. Airy was flung by the force of the pull, sending her tumbling along the ground. At the same time, the blindness from Discord's eyes wore off and he shook his head. "What a doozy..." he lightly chuckled before looking straight at the fairy lying on the ground "Airy! Well, that's certainly not good..." He rushed over to her and saw she was still conscious during all that. She lay on her back, her arms and legs spread out from each other. They, along with her white sundress, had been slightly burned. She breathed heavily, her eyes wide and her pupils shrunken. She slowly turned her head towards Discord and spoke. "W-Why? Why c-couldn't I c-control the c-c-crystal?" she asked him "A-Am I that p-p-powerless?" "I wouldn't know, my dear" the spirit of chaos shrugged "All I know is that I have to get you to Fluttershy so she can patch you up." "Flutter... shy..." was all Airy could say before she passed out. Discord simply sighed before picking her up and teleporting her back to his friend's house in a small and not blinding flash of light. XXXXXX Fluttershy, who had already placed her patient back in her bed on the dresser, inspected her arm and checked her head for any problems she may have gotten from her tumble. Realizing just how bad the injuries were, she sighed and turned to Discord, who happened to be in the same room as her at the time. "She's suffered from multiple arm injuries and a broken leg" she explained "Like a miracle, her wings weren't damaged at all, but even so I wouldn't recommend she'd fly around anytime soon." "Well, at least she won't... you know..." Disord sighed in relief "Well now, I'm sure you want to know how she got injured?" "Very much so..." one of Fluttershy's eyebrows rose up. "I promise you, it wasn't me this time" he made a letter X appear out of nowhere and placed it on his chest where his heart was "She heard about the Crystal Empire's crystal heart and wanted to drain away its power. But something happened." "Something happened?" "Indeed" he nodded "Airy, after attempting to take the heart's power, was sucked into it and flung out the other side. But what do I know? I was blinded by that point." "If your were blinded, how did you..." she sighed "I suppose it doesn't matter now. All that matters is that Airy is safe and sound here. Actually, now that you mention it, doesn't the crystal heart have the power to revitalize one's happiness? Perhaps we could be seeing a new side of Airy very soon." "That would certainly take a load off my back" Discord laughed "But evil souls are not so easily saved. But I can't tell you anything! Spoilers, my dear." "Oh Discord..." Fluttershy giggled softly. (Music Stop) XXXXXX As night fell upon the world, and all inhabitants were snug in their beds with the protective light of the lampposts shining down on the streets, the crystal heart let out an interestingly dark aura. It was small, barely noticeable even, but still there. A small trickle of blackness began forming at the point of the heart, until it finally dripped down onto the ground. After staying there for a good few seconds, it began moving forwards aimlessly. "Why, what could this be, I wonder" someone male said with a smug grin behind the living darkness "Could it be a reincarnation of the one who nearly destroyed the Crystal Empire, or something much, much darker?" He wasn't expecting an answer. He was just curious about the small trickle of living shadow in front of him. With his magic, showing that he was a Unicorn, he took a jar from a belt around his waist and scooped the droplet up for further study. "I don't really care where my experiments lead with this" he said with a small chuckle "All I care about is that this little dark seed of mine grows into a beautiful flower of destruction. At long last, my journey will come to a close..." Author's Note Enter main villain I guess! We know nothing of him yet, other than the fact he wants to destroy the world. Will he return? Well, of course he will! He's the main villain! But when will he return? Looks like you'll simply have to wait. And what WAS that trickle of darkness from the crystal heart anyway? Take a guess in the comments below! I'm sure many of you are wondering why Fluttershy is less of a timid character in this story. Well one, she's around her animals at home, so she's naturally less shy. Two, I can't write shy characters without it sounding awkward. Thank you, sailing101, for your suggestion of putting the Crystal Empire in this next chapter. Your reward shall be... A COOKIE!! Be sure to Like, Comment, Favourite and Follow, and until then, don't let your enemies default! Oh, and my keyboard was acting buggy today, so if you see any spelling mistakes, alert me immediately and I'll fix them. Thank you!
[Chapter 5] Bonding though the SnowIt had already been two days since Airy's incident, and for those past two days Fluttershy had worried nonstop for her. Every hour, she would check up on the crystfairy to see if she was doing alright, but more importantly, if she had awoken. Always her excitement was dimmed when she saw Airy still unconscious. But she never gave up hope. Finally, as the shy mare was folding her bedsheets for her laundry, she heard a small groan come from her patient's bed. "Airy?" she questioned the noise. Wasting no time, she trotted over to the fairy and saw her eyes were squinting and her head was moving. Slowly, she opened her eyes to see Fluttershy over her with a comforting smiled. "F-Flutter... shy?" Airy asked "I-Is that... you?" "Yes, Airy," the cream yellow Pegasus nodded "it's me. Are you feeling okay?" "Y-Yeah..." she confirmed, much to Fluttershy's relief, before she rubbed her head with the least injured arm she had "Certainly some way to wake up in the morning... How long have I been asleep?" "Nearly two days now" the Pegasus sighed "I've treated all your wounds, so you shouldn't feel the amount of pain you would in normal situations like this. But you do need some rest." "Two days?" an eyebrow was risen on the fairy's face before her eyes widened "Wait... I've gone a full minute without me insulting you... How can that be?" "Traumatic events usually do that to somepony" Fluttershy explained "Oh, and you touched the crystal heart. The crystal heart has the ability to make ponies, or in your case fairies, happy. But Discord said it might be a bit different with you." "Did he say how?" Airy asked. "I can say that now!" laughed a familiar voice before a certain spirit of chaos appeared in a flash of sparkles, wearing a princess crown and fake fairy wings "Behold, my dear. I am the fairy queen! I shall bestow upon you the knowledge of how the crystal heart affected you!" "What the heck are you wearing?!" the crystfairy gasped in surprise. "Oh, never mind that, Airy" Fluttershy smiled "I mean, unless you want to mind, that is. But I think it's adorable." "I think it's strange..." Angel, who had come upstairs from the loud sound Discord appearing, hopped up next to Airy and spoke in, once again, the language only she could hear. "Shall I begin?" Discord asked his audience before nodding in confirmation "Since I'm older than all of you combined here..." "I doubt it..." Airy thought. "...I would know a thing or two about the mystics of this world. The crystal heart that resides in the Crystal Empire was created to bring happiness to all around it. It holds immense power, but even then its power is limited. While it can brighten the mood of all good-hearted souls, it can only fracture darker ones." "So in short?" the fairy wondered. "In short," the spirit continued with a smile "this means our dear Airy here, who's soul was dark and shrouded, has been given a sliver of light. And like all lights, they will eventually grow into a beautiful flame. But you know what they say about fire; in order for it to grow, you must nurture it." "So, light now exists in me?" Airy asked as she looked down at her body, her good hand touching her chest where her heart was. "So, thanks to the crystal heart, we now have a chance of bonding with Airy?" the cream yellow Pegasus wondered "Quite right, my dear!" Discord confirmed with a laugh "I'm not sure it would have been possible to break through her darkness without that dumb old gem. I took a sense of her when I met her, and that was 100% evil we were dealing with. Nothing could come back from that without a little help." "That aside, what does my situation look like?" the crystfairy wondered "What I mean is how long will I be confined to this bed? "Unfortunately, I'd say at least a week at most" Fluttershy sighed in sorrow "That resets your week, I guess..." "Of course it does..." Airy sighed as well "Well, fine then. What exciting things can I do while laying perfectly still in my bed?" "She's still a bit rude, wouldn't you say so, Fluttershy?" Discord whispered into his friend's ear. "Give her time..." she whispered back before speaking directly to her patient "Well, I may have an idea, but first you have to tell me if you're able to fly a bit." "I think so..." Airy removed her covers and sat up on her bed. She flapped her wings a bit before smiling and slowly taking off, giving everyone else there a wave of relief. After flying around a bit, she finally floated up close to Fluttershy. "They don't hurt at all!" the fairy said in surprise. "That's good to hear" the Pegasus smiled "Now, would you like to know what I had planned?" the crystfairy nodded at her question "Then take a look outside, if you want to, of course." Airy's curiosity grew. With an eyebrow raised, she floated over to the window of the bedroom and took a look outside. As soon as she peered out the window, she gasped. Outside was a blanket of snow on the ground and the trees. The small pond around the cottage had frozen over, and no animals besides Angel could be seen. Winter had arrived in this world. "It's beautiful, isn't it?" Fluttershy smiled as she came up next to the amazed crystfairy "It snowed yesterday. The Pegasi did a wonderful job, didn't they?" "The Pegasi?" the fairy wondered "Ugh... I'll have some questions later. Anyway, I'm guessing you want me to go outside? No way, no how! I hate the cold weather..." "Oh, surely it couldn't be too bad, right?" Discord wondered "Here, I even made you a coat just now! I materialized it with love, of course" he made a white winter jacket with holes in the back for her wings to go magically appear on Airy, as well as a red beanie on her head and some black pants for her legs. "Oh wow, this is really warm..." she snuggled in close to her jacket "Well, I guess we're going out then. So, what exactly can you do with snow?" "Y-You can't be serious!" Angel was taken aback in surprise "You know what snow and cold weather is, yet you have no idea what to do with it? What rock have you been living under all this time?" "Shut-up, you furball!" Airy angrily shouted at the white rabbit. "Airy! Don't be mean to Angel" Fluttershy scolded the crystfairy the best she could "What on earth did he ever say to you anyway?" "You mean... You really can't hear him?" the fairy wondered curiously "Interesting..." "Enough of the talking already!" the spirit of chaos exclaimed "I want to go out and start throwing snowballs!" "Sounds good to me" the cream yellow Pegasus giggled a bit "Just let me get my earmuffs and we'll go out, okay?" "Okay then" Airy nodded before turning back to Angel "I've got my eye on you..." "I'm not the one who's evil here" the white rabbit smiled as he too glared at his now considered rival. "I dearly wish these fools could hear you" the fairy grinned "Then they could listen to the sounds of me strangling you, and me taking great joy in doing so..." "Filthy wench!" "Urchin of a rodent!" "Nerf Herder!" "Nerf He- Wait, what?" Airy became confused by the rabbit's comeback "What on earth is a Nerf Herder?" "Okay, I'm ready to go" Fluttershy came back to the three patiently awaiting persons "Oh, was I interrupting something here? I'm sorry about that. What were you three talking about?" "Oh, nothing much" Discord laughed as he munched on some popcorn he materialized after realizing Angel and Airy would be having an argument before throwing it away "Now, why don't we have some fun in the snow?" "I agree" all three remaining nodded. As they headed out, Airy and Angel continued to glare at each other in hatred and despise, never once looking away. (Music Stop) XXXXXX Airy entered the cold world and immediately felt a chill running down her spine. Even though she wore the full winter attire, it was still very cold for her fragile body. Besides that, she thought the snow looked quite lovely on the ground. Even with her heart still filled with darkness, she always had an admiration for snow, even if she never really showed it all that often. Just as she was beginning to appreciate the weather, a small group of fillies ran towards the group. "Fluttershy, Discord, Airy!" they called out before finally coming face-to-face with them. "Apple Bloom? Sweetie Belle? Scootaloo?" Fluttershy wondered "What are you three doing out here? Not that I mind you being here, that is. It was just a surprise." "We came to see how Airy was doing!" Sweetie Belle squeaked. "She looks fine ta me" Apple Bloom noted "Actually, how are ya doin', Airy?" "Why would you-" she was about to insult them before Fluttershy nudged her a bit, causing her to sigh "...sorry. What I mean is that I'm doing fine, thank you." "That's good to hear" Scootaloo nodded "Anyway, would you like to play with us in the snow?" "I'm sorry, girls," the cream yellow Pegasus apologetically smiled "but remember that Airy was badly injured, so she won't be able to do some of the things you can do right now, if any." "Aww..." all three of the crusaders spoke simultaneously. "Hey Airy?" Sweetie Belle spoke up "I just wanted to thank you for saving us from those timberwolves a few days ago. If it wasn't for you, then I'm not sure if we'd still be here talking with you." "You're mistaken" Airy scoffed "I didn't 'save' you, per say, but rather saw an opportunity to attack the monster and took it. Nothing more than that" her head then hung down a bit before she quietly breathed "But... You're welcome anyway..." "What's this about timberwolves, girls?!" Fluttershy panicked "Are you hurt?! Did you get out okay?!" "Fluttershy, it's okay" the crystfairy intruded "No need to punish them for merely an accident." "W-What accident?" the cream yellow Pegasus asked, slightly cross at the four girls. "Well, ah think 'at's our cue ta leave!" Apple Bloom stated. "Yep!" the remaining crusaders nodded before they all ran off somewhere that wasn't Fluttershy's cottage. The mare in question sighed and let out all her pent up anger. "I don't know what I'll do with those girls..." she shook her head before perking back up and smiling "But let's not let a little anger ruin this day, hmm? I have a whole set of fun things we could do out here." "Such as?" Discord asked his one and only friend. "Well, we could go ice skating" she answered. "What's ice skating?" Airy asked. (Music Stop) XXXXXX "I DON'T LIKE ICE SKATING!!!" the crystfairy wobbled around, trying to stay balanced on the ice. After the group had reached a small frozen lake not far from the cottage, Discord snapped his eagle-like fingers and magically made everyone have skates on their feet/hooves. Without hesitation, the spirit of chaos began spinning around on the ice and generally having a good time. Airy was skeptical at first, but once seeing that Discord was skating with ease, she made her way onto the ice as well. And she did not like it one little bit. "What's the matter Airy?" Angel laughed a bit "Can't handle the ice?" "Silence, rodent! I'm trying to stay balanced!" the crystfairy shouted back at her rival. Finally, she managed to get a hold of her stability, sighing in relief in the process. After looking at how the spirit of chaos seemingly danced around on the ice, she moved one of her legs forward, soon after the next, then the first again. Slowly, she started sliding forward in a fashion which she could control, letting out a small laugh. "I'm... I'm doing it!" she proclaimed "I'm actually doing it!" "Good for you, Airy!" Fluttershy smiled as she came up next to the fairy "See, it's fun isn't it?" "Well... perhaps a little bit..." "This event is beginning to bore me" Discord sighed before teleporting right next to the two females "I suggest we do something a little bit more entertaining. "Oh?" the Pegasus wondered "And what did you have in mind, Discord?" (Music Stop) XXXXXX The party of four was separated into two teams; Airy and Discord was on one side while Fluttershy and Angel was on the other. They had all compacted some snow into fortifying walls, and everyone, even the shy Pegasus present, looked at their opponents in preparation and rivalry. It was then when Airy stopped for a moment to ask a question. "Uh... May I ask, what are we doing anyway?" she wondered. "I think this will answer your question, my dear" the spirit of chaos laughed before packing a ball of snow in his hands and throwing it at the opposing team "SNOWBALL FIGHT!!!" "W-What?!" the crystfairy was taken aback by surprise. Her reaction quickly turned to anger as a small snowball from Angel hit her square in the face. The warmth of her skin quickly melted the snow, resulting in water traveling down her cheek and into her jacket. "AHHH!" she cried out "Cold! Cold! So cold!" "Fear not, my dear" Discord brought out a tennis launcher filled to the brim with snowballs "I've got this..." he pulled the trigger and began firing away at the opposing fort. Fluttershy gasped and hid behind the wall as best she could. Inevitably, the fortifications fell on top of Fluttershy and Angel, coating them in snow. (Music Stop) "HA! That's revenge for you, Angel!" Airy laughed. As she did, a small spark stirred inside her causing her to stop and think for a moment. At first, she didn't understand it; it was a warm feeling, something that was foreign to her yet at the same time very welcoming. Then it hit her: she was feeling pure happiness, and not the fake happiness she used when with the heroes of light. A small smile escaped her lips. "Airy, dear, are you okay?" Discord asked "We won! Don't you see?" "Hmm? Oh, right! We beat Fluttershy and that annoying rodent!" she realized "That was very entertaining. We should do this again sometime, when I'm not, y'know, injured." "Agreed" laughed the spirit "Now, let's help them out. If we didn't, I wouldn't hear the end of it from Fluttershy." The two approached their defeated and buried 'enemies' and did their best to remove them from the snow. Once doing so, Angel and Fluttershy shook their heads, trying to knock off all the snow off. They then began laughing. "That was so much fun" the cream yellow mare giggled after her laughing fit "We should do that again some time again. Though, maybe we should organize the teams a little more fairly next time." "Agreed..." Angel sighed, though none could hear him but Airy. "This really has been quite... entertaining, to say the least" the crystfairy admitted "Is this the limit to the things we can do in winter or is there more?" "Well, maybe not outside, but we can certainly do some things inside" Fluttershy smiled "Okay everypony, follow me!" "You shouldn't feel to happy with yourself, pigeon" Angel remarked to Airy "You didn't even do anything to help Discord. Though, I don't blame you; you're injured. Next time, thing before acting." "I don't need your advice" the fairy scoffed "I'm perfectly fine on my own!" "Suit yourself" the rabbit shrugged "Just remember that I was the one who found you cold and alone in that tree, with nothing around to help you. You would've become timberwolf food if not for me." "I don't need your obnoxiousness either" Airy's voice rose a bit. "Pesky insect!" "Insufferable rodent!" "Grrrrrrrr!" "Grrrrrrrr!" "Now, now, you two rascals" Discord split Airy and Angel apart from one another with his magic "We shouldn't fight... yet. Fluttershy wouldn't like that very much. Besides, there's something more relaxing to do at her home." "Fine..." Airy sighed "But I stay as far away as possible from that rabbit." Angel nodded in confirmation, knowing that Discord could not understand his language. The spirit of chaos nodded before teleporting right next to his one and only friend, the two little creatures still in his magical grasp. XXXXXX As soon as the four got back to the cottage, Fluttershy went into her kitchen and brought out a box of marshmallows and an iron pole. After placing them on her living room table, she went over to the fireplace and, with a little help from Discord, lit a controlled fire. Finally, she brought up a seat and placed it right next to the fire before sitting on it soon after. "Please, take a seat" she kindly asked "I insist." "What is this all about?" Airy asked. "We're roasting marshmallows for our hot cocoa" the Pegasus answered "While Discord can make the cocoa with his magic himself, I always found it fun to-" "Done!" the spirit of chaos spoke almost if on cue, materializing four cups of hot cocoa; two normal for him and Fluttershy, and two smaller for Airy and Angel "Now roast those marshmallows like your life depends on it!" "Okay, Discord" Fluttershy giggled before placing four of the sticky yet plush snacks on her stick and began roasting them. After a few minutes, she picked her pole back up and removed the marshmallows, plopping one into each of the cups. "Finally!" Angel immediately went to drinking his portion of hot cocoa. "Hmm... An interesting taste, for sure" Airy thought aloud after sipping some of her drink "Very chocolatey. How come I've never had this bef-" a thought crossed her mind that she immediately regretted thinking of "Oh, right..." "Airy, are you okay?" Fluttershy asked. "Yeah, sorry..." the crystfairy nodded "But, can I talk with you for a second upstairs? In private?" "Of course, Airy" the kind Pegasus smiled before turning to Discord "Please don't eavesdrop again, okay?" "Oh, alright" he sighed "You're just no fun sometimes..." Fluttershy rolled her eyes before bringing Airy upstairs to her room. She closed the door behind her as the fairy sat in her bed on the dresser again, waiting to tell the cream yellow Pegasus what was on her mind. (Music Stop) "Whatever you want or need, Airy, I'm here for you" she smiled "Now, what did you want to talk about?" "Well, I can't believe it, but in the course of a day you've managed to make me feel something I don't think I have in a long time" Airy spoke slightly nervously "But that's beside the point. I think I'm ready to tell you something you deserve to know." "May I ask what?" "Well..." the crystfairy sighed "Everything about my past..." "Airy, truly?" Fluttershy gasped a little. "Yes" she nodded "But be warned... You might not like it..." Author's Note This was a cute chapter, except at the end when Airy's all like "You won't like it" and stuff like that. But other than that, this was a more relaxing chapter. It'll pick up later because that's what I like doing. Even a Slice of Life story can have a bit of action and adventure. More the former, but I digress. This story is constantly evolving, so if you have any ideas you want to share with me, I'll be sure to take your thoughts into consideration. Anything at all. Just, really. Anything. Yeah... Be sure to Like, Comment, Favourite and Follow, and until then... nah, I'll see you later guys!
[Chapter 6] Telling the TruthAiry floated over to and sat right next to Fluttershy on the latter's bed, being careful as not to further hurt her broken body. She wondered if this was the right thing to do; tell Fluttershy all that she's done in the past. She wouldn't be happy. In fact, neither of them would be. However, after a bit more consideration, she let out a huge sigh and nodded. "Are you ready, Fluttershy?" the crystfairy asked "This isn't a very happy story, and I did some pretty bad things..." "I'm ready, Airy" the Pegasus nodded. "Very well then, where do I begin?" she wondered "Why don't we start out in the beginning, when I wasn't as cruel as I was when you first met me..." XXXXXX 10,000 Years Ago... XXXXXX On the plain of time and space, there existed a single, but very large, island. This island was covered in beautiful plains, dense forests and gigantic mountains, all filled with more fauna and flora than one could fathom, some beyond one's wildest dreams. However, no being was more sentient, or more mischievous, than the ruling species of the land: the crystfairies. They roamed the land for generations in villages across the island, but none was more lively than Aurora Village. The town was made of hollowed trees and leaf bridges, the houses being the trees the bridges connecting them all. But most important fact of this village was that it was the birthplace of a certain white-haired fairy. A 13-year-old Airy, still wearing her favourite white sundress, flew out of her home to meet up with her friends, a male crystfairy with short green hair and darker green pants, and a female crystfairy with messy red hair and a red dress. Their names were El and Nym, respectfully. "El, Nym!" the white crystfairy called out "Good to see you two!" "Airy!" El smiled before cracking a sarcastic joke "We've been waiting for weeks! What took you so long? Lemme guess... Reading again?" "Oh, shut-up you!" Nym laughed "You know she loves reading" she turned to Airy and smiled kindly "Airy, continue doing what you think your passion is, okay?" "Okay, Nym" she nodded "So, what're we gonna do today?" "I was thinking about pulling a prank on the mayor again" the male crystfairy snickered "He's so gullible, I swear!" "How're we gonna do it then?" Airy asked as curiosity overtook her. "I dunno" her friend shrugged with a smile "We'll think about it along the way!" "Sounds good" Nym nodded before making her way to the mayor's house "C'mon, you slowpokes!" "Hey, you got a head start!" El laughed before hastily following his friend. (Music Stop) "Wait for me!" Airy called out. However, before she could go, something stopped her in her tracks. A presence she had never felt before flowed through her body like wind. It was a presence filled with darkness and hatred. The crystfairy couldn't believe it. She wanted to forget about it and go meet her friends, but something was stopping her. "Who's there?" she asked the presence, hoping not to receive an answer. Unfortunately, lady luck was not on her side that day. "Airy..." a rather unintelligible voice said, surprising the fairy a bit "Airy... Aid... Me..." "Who even... What even..." she was so stricken with awe and fear that she couldn't finish her sentence. "I am... I... am..." the voice finally faded from her mind as soon as El came back to check up on her. "Airy? Are you okay?" he asked in a concerned tone "You kinda stopped for a sec." (Music Stop) "Um... Yeah, I'm okay..." she lied "So, did you think of a way to prank the mayor?" "Yeah!" he nodded as the two flew off "I was thinking that we'd try and do the same thing as last time, only with a twist! Instead of putting water in the bucket, we could try and put paint in it instead, that way........" XXXXXX Present Day XXXXXX "You've truly lived that long?" Fluttershy asked "Oh, ten thousand years sounds painful. And what's this about being spoken to by a strange voice? That doesn't sound very nice..." "It wasn't at first" Airy sighed "But then, became obsessed with the voice in my head. Ever since that day, I slowly began drifting away from my friends in order to study it. Day after day, I studied and studied but found nothing, and in consequence, I eventually lost my friends." "That's terrible..." the shy mare hung her head and ears a bit. "If only I ignored my lust for knowledge..." the fairy cursed at herself "Asmodeus, darn you... Anyway, I continued researching the voice until, three years later, I came across something very interesting..." XXXXXX 9,997 Years Ago... XXXXXX "Airy, sweetie" the young crystfairy's mother called up "You've been cooped up in your room the entire day. Why not go out and play? Get some sun on your face?" "Not now, mother" Airy, now 16 years of age, shouted down as nicely as she could, straying from her book on ancient voices "I'm just... I just want to do my own thing, okay?" "Airy, your friends have left you, you know" her mother tried to convince her otherwise "Perhaps now is a good time to-" "I said, not now!" the crystfairy's voice rose a bit. Her mother sighed before leaving her daughter to her own business. Airy rolled her eyes before going back to her book and turning the page. After skimming through that one, she moved to the next, then the next, and soon after the next. Finally, she closed the book and gave up, throwing the book away on the ground. "Stupid book!" she complained "That was the last one too! Now how am I supposed to learn about the-" she suddenly saw something slip out of the book's pages before flying over to have a look at it "Hmm? What's this? Some kind of note?" Pulling it out, she saw that it was in fact a secret page of the book. It hadn't much on it, but it was more than enough for her. It spoke of someone called Ouroboros [Or-ob-er-us], a demon sealed away in the island for his power too great. Airy was greatly fascinated by the page, that she spent hours just looking at it. "Ouroboros's goal was to reach the celestial realm..." she read it for the umpteenth time "In doing so, he would wreak havoc upon it and become a god. This is all so interesting... How come I never found this before? Too bad it's only the one page. There has to be more to it!" Another few hours were wasted staring and inspecting the page until finally the fairy began to feel her eyes droop. She let out a soft yawn, signalling it was probably time to head off to bed. Putting the book, and more importantly the page, away under her pillow, she got into bed, brought over her leafy covers, flicked the light and went to sleep. Downstairs, Airy's mother saw her light go out and sighed a small smile from her face. This smile was not a joyous one, however. This smile was filled with sadness and concern. "She's heading down a dark path" she said to herself "I just hope I can bring her out before it's too late..." (Music Stop) XXXXXX Present Day XXXXXX "Your mother deeply loved you, you know" Fluttershy sighed "She was only trying to do the best for you." "You're right, and I should have listened to her that day" Airy nodded before a small tear ran down her cheek "That was the day I began my fall into utter chaos and darkness. It was a fall I thought I'd never awaken from. Of course, thanks to you and the crystal heart, my soul is clearing up." "That's wonderful to hear, Airy" the Pegasus smiled. "Now, the next part of my story happened fifteen years later, when I finally discovered something peculiar about the page" the crystfairy explained "This is the second worst part of the story, unfortunately..." XXXXXX 9,982 Years Ago... XXXXXX Airy, now a grown woman of a fairy at 31-years-old, still obsessed about the mysterious voice she had in her head eighteen years ago. She studied both the book and the page endlessly in her own house, coming out only to eat something once in a while. No one even knew her anymore. She was but an enigma to everyone around her. At long last, she decoded the page, revealing a map to Ouroboros. She couldn't have been more overjoyed, but her excitement had to wait as she heard a knocking at her door. Groaning, she got out of her seat and opened the door. Standing there was none other than the mayor of Aurora Village, with his large belly, fake yellow mustache, white pants and suit and a white top hat. He looked less than impressed. "Airy, we have heard rumors that you are studying about the dark lord Ouroboros" he said in a fake English accent "It pains me to even say its name... nonetheless, if these rumors are true, we cannot have you meddling with that... thing. What if you reawaken it? It would doom every plant and animal on this island!" "So?" Airy asked. "S-SO?!" the mayor was taken aback "So you HAVE been studying it! Guards, take her away and lock her up!" "Wait, what?" the female crystfairy questioned before two burly-looking fairies with sharp wings and silver armour on entered her home and slowly approached her. Taking her book with the page stuffed in it in her arms, she flew out the window to attempt to escape the guards. "Get back here!" one of the guards shouted. However, Airy would not let up. She continued flying hastily, doing her best to outrun the two chasing her. Eventually, thanks to the heavy armour the guards wore, they lost stamina and slowed down, allowing Airy to laugh a bit at their failures and escape. "No good..." one of the guards huffed "She's too... fast..." (Music Stop) "Curses..." the mayor saw the entire thing and sighed to himself "She's gone... For now. We cannot allow her to continue what she's doing... Guards, round up the townsfolk! I wish to send a message to them." "At once, sir!" one of the guards nodded before he and his partner flew off. XXXXXX Eventually, every single fairy in Aurora Village was present and standing in front of the mayor's stage. He looked over the crowd before nodding and taking out his microphone. "Attention, everyone" he called out "As you may know, there have been some rumors spreading that a certain member of our community has been studying dark history. I come here to tell you that, unfortunately, these rumors are true." A collective gasp was heard from the crowd before they began talking amongst themselves. "Order, order..." the mayor shouted into his microphone again, getting everyone's attention and keeping them quiet "Now, as you know, the culprit is none other than Airy, the girl who went into hiding after seeing a rather interesting book on the dark one. She has fled and plans to reawaken the dark one to reign terror upon us once again!" Another gasp resonated throughout the fairies. "However, we will make sure this does not happen!" he continued "We will hunt her down, and then she will pay for her actions! She will not ruin our lives!" A cheer of joy and anger exploded from the crowd. The mayor cheered along with his people before they scattered and prepared for combat. Little did they know that a certain white crystfairy was watching over them. "So I'm an outcast now?" Airy shook her head "You will pay for this dearly..." (Music Stop) XXXXXX Present Day XXXXXX "And so began the hunt for me" Airy finished that chapter of her story "I was discarded as nothing more than an outcast, and all I had left was Ouroboros. So, I tracked him down." "And did you find him?" Fluttershy asked. "Yes, unfortunately" the fairy nodded "It took an entire year, but I finally found out where Ouroboros was sleeping; in a large crater in the plains on the other side of the island's mountains. This was my darkest moment..." XXXXXX 9,981 Years Ago... XXXXXX Airy, now covered in dirt and her dress ripped a bit, trekked across the island, carefully evading her village and any others that may have received word of her betrayal. She didn't care how many were against her; she was close, she had to be. Finally, after an entire year searching and running, she found it. The crater where Ouroboros slept. She was overjoyed, but alas, she didn't have much time to celebrate. The crystfairy flew over the crater and looked down into the darkness. She breathed in the power emanating from, and in doing so she felt like a god. Without question, she delve into the crater and explored around. "There must be something here detailing Ouroboros" she spoke to herself as she searched the area "Surely there-" "Airy..." a familiar and unintelligible voice "Come to me... Airy..." "Ouroboros..." Airy gasped. "If you aid me, you shall receive powers beyond belief" tempted the dark lord "You will be able to exact revenge upon those who discarded you as nothing more than a betrayer of their kind." "Exact... revenge..." the crystfairy should have been disgusted that she was being told about power to destroy her people, but instead, she relished the thought "Yes... That sounds nice... Just tell me where you are and I'll dig you up." "I am located beneath you" Ouroboros explained "There is a switch near you. Only those of pure dark hearts will be able to activate it. "But... What if my heart isn't dark enough?" she asked. "AIRY!!" shouted the angry voice of the mayor as he and his troop of nearly 10,000 crystfairies flew into the crater "You have disobeyed our rules and evaded us for far too long! We should kill you right here, but I'm willing to make a deal with you." "Oh yeah?" Airy shouted back "And what exactly would that be?" "If you leave this behind and never speak of it again, we'll give you your life back" he explained "The only reason you lost it was because of that damn sealed monster! You can live with us again, just please, don't destroy our lives." Airy was taken aback. They actually held out a hand of friendship towards her? After all they did to her? No, she wouldn't have any of it. Before Ouroboros could intervene and persuade her to join him, she flared her wings up in aggression. "A-Airy!" Nym came out from the crowd, still wearing her favourite red dress "You don't have to do this! We can go back to being friends again!" "Just please, Airy!" El flew next to his now wife, still in his green pants "Don't do this..." "You two..." Airy sighed "You left me and never accepted my ideas. We could have learned together, but you just had to get married and abandon me! So you know what?" she backed up and hit something stone-like, cracking a smile "You can all go to hell." The moment she finished her sentence, she was enveloped in a dark aura which sexploded from the switch and slowly began to transform her. Once the darkness vanished, standing in the place of Airy was a large and hideously fat larval monster with eight arms and eight legs, small wings on its back, long white hair and two red gems in its chest and belly. "I am Airy, demon born of darkness and servant to Lord Ouroboros" the creature said in a dark but at least understandable tone "His lordship comes. Bow down, mortals!" "Airy, what have you become?!" the mayor was in full fear from the sight of Airy's new form. "She's shown her true colours now" El said somberly. Just then, a giant beast emerged from the shadows. It's lower body had tentacles as legs, with it's upper body having a horn on its head and four exoskeleton-like arms, as well as a royal frill on its neck. This was Ouroboros, the destroyer of worlds and seeker of the celestial realm. "Now, Lord Ouroboros, allow me to destroy this island and exact my revenge!" Airy cackled. "You are granted permission" the dark lord spoke. The once crystfairy cackled again before raising her arms in the air and summoning a giant ball of energy down upon the land. The entire crystfairy race watched in horror as their lives, their home, came to an end. "So this is how it will end, hmm?" Nym sighed "A rather boring way to move on, no?" "What are you talking about, Nym?" El asked. (Music Stop) "This..." she whispered before becoming a ball of light "This will utterly destroy our species, but at the very least, Ouroboros will be sealed again, and peace can return to this island." "I'm with you" the male crystfairy smiled and nodded before he too became a ball of light "Ouroboros will not destroy this world and reach the celestial realm! Not when I'm alive!" Soon enough, the rest of the crystfairies across the land became balls of light as well. The surface of the island lit up like the night sky and continued glowing a beautiful light. Finally, the lights formed into a much larger ball light above the crater, but more accurately, Airy and Ouroboros. "What's this?" Ouroboros questioned "That light... It is the light that sealed me away many millennia ago. Could it be these creatures are the living personifications of this light? Impossible!" "Lord Ouroboros, we must flee!" Airy called out "You will be sealed again!" "But now, you are by my side" he spoke as he stare right at his new underling "You will survive the light, for you are not powerful enough to be vanquished by it. When this is done, speak to me and I shall give you your misson." "Yes, Lord Ouroboros..." the crystfairy-turned-demon nodded before being enveloped in the light. "Airy, if your heart is still in there, I promise that I'll find a way to save you!" Nym and El, along with every single crystfairy said at the exact same time "And if not me, then someone else. You will be saved!" (Music Stop) The light finally exploded, knocking the island from its orbit in the passage of dimensions and sending it tumbling down onto a green world of water and land. After falling a bit longer, the continent landed firmly in the water with a gigantic splash of water, the surface emerging from the waves. By now, the crater sealing Ouroboros had vanished, leaving a lush hillside and Airy in her original form. XXXXXX "Ugh... L-Lord... Ouroboros?" Airy questioned after awakening from her sleep. "I am here, Airy" he spoke "However, I have been confined to a different dimension. In order to revive me, you must link all 100,000 dimensions together to unlock the seal and advance me- no, us, to the celestial realm." "Oh, Lord Ouroboros!" the fairy nodded "You are most kind! I shall get to it right away!" "However, to do so, you must awaken the four crystals of each world" Ouroboros explained "This is a feat you cannot do alone. You must manipulate those whom have not been born yet to awaken them for you, then destroy them. It will be a long and grueling task, taking thousands of years. But you must do it." "Of course, my lord!" Airy smiled before taking off "But how would I be able to live that long to aid you?" "With my last breath, you have been given the gift eternal life" the dark lord explained "You will have an eternity to do your job, but until the world comes to fruition, perhaps you can familiarize yourself with this world in order to complete your job faster." "By your command, my lord!" the crystfairy bowed before she flew off to complete her task, completely naive to what other plans her 'lord' had in store for her. XXXXXX Present Day XXXXXX "Airy... That's..." Fluttershy was at a loss for words. After hearing Airy complete her story, she couldn't find words to speak. Was she supposed to feel disappointed that the fairy destroyed her own species and home, or happy she was freed from darkness's embrace after all these years. "I know" the crystfairy nodded "I'm not proud of what I did, but I was young and stupid, and so obsessed with a little voice I heard in my head as a child..." "Um... If I may ask..." the Pegasus wondered nervously "But, um... What did you do afterwards?" "Afterwards?" Airy questioned before sighing "Afterwards, I manipulated each group of the same people from each dimension. When they knew to much about me and my power, I'd use it to kill them and move onto the next set of heroes. It was disgusting... but admittedly effective. This continued until I finally did link all the worlds together. All that was left was the heroes' disposal, but I made them too strong and they eventually defeated me. Ouroboros then took my power and sent me here. I hope those heroes managed to defeat him... He deserves it after everything he's done to me." "Airy..." Fluttershy spoke up again. "So, I told you everything... Now what do you see me as?" the fairy asked "A murderer? A demon?" "A lonely soul..." the Pegasus honestly answered. "Wait, what?" "Your heart has become lonely after all this time, Airy" she explained "I don't care what happened in the past, so long as you've learned you lesson and won't ever do it again. You're always welcome here, Airy." "Y-You really forgive me?" Airy was shocked by Fluttershy's apology. "I think everyone deserves a second chance" the cream yellow mare smiled "Your race only did what they did to protect you. And now, their wish has finally been answered. Let's not waste it, okay?" "I... I..." the crystfairy couldn't hold it in and began sobbing. Fluttershy smiled warmly and lightly hugged her patient as not to hurt her further. They stayed like that for a few more moments before separating. "Thank you, Fluttershy..." Airy smiled as tears dripped down her cheeks "I promise I'll make this worthwhile. I promise..." Author's Note This was sad... I'm sorry for this if this made you cry, but this had to be done. But hey, now you know about Airy's origins! Yay! Sorta... If you're wondering where our main villain went off to, don't worry; he'll make an appearance in the next chapter, along with someone, or something, else. Who or what? You'll just have to wait and see... Be sure to Like, Comment, Favourite and Follow, and until then, see ya guys later! Seriously, if you like this story, leave a Like. We're going for a goal!
[Chapter 7] Deadly VisitorDarkness surrounded a room filled to the brim with evil, with no hope of pure light ever reaching this place. Alas, there was light, but it was artificial with an aura darker than night. The light allowed a certain Unicorn to view something huddled together in fetal position in a tank filled with water. Although it was naked, no one could actually see anything naughty, so this story was still rated PG, much the the relief of the author. Looking into the tank, the Unicorn smiled. "My, my, what a beautiful thing you've become..." he chuckled. The thing he was talking about was a female humanoid in shape, with long white hair tipped golden at the ends. Sharp, black wings sprouted from her back, signalling the pure darkness residing in her heart. This was none other than the droplet of darkness her found a bit ago. "Sir! Your report!" a fellow scientist came up to him and gave him some papers with his own magic "You'll be quite pleased with the results." "Experiment 04223 is in perfect health" the Unicorn read off the paper "Minor quirks detected, but nothing unrepairable within 24 hours. Hmm... This is good. Thank you for this, Light Streak." "Of course, sir" Light Streak nodded before going back to his own business, leaving the Unicorn to continue staring at his creation "I suppose you'll need a name now, won't you?" he wondered to himself "I'm not good at names, so why not something simple, yet unique. Something like..." He read the tank number and smiled a bit. To him, tank #04223 looked like a name if you turned it the right way. After a bit more though, he finally decided to go with..." "Anne..." he chuckled "I like that... Very well then, Anne. It's a pleasure to meet you. I just hope you aren't disgustingly rude. Oh, who am I kidding? Of course you will be..." (Music Stop) XXXXXX With a small yawn, a little crystfairy hopped out of her bed and slowly flew downstairs, stretching her arms in the process. It had been an entire week since she and Fluttershy sat down and spoke of her dark past, and by then she had healed both mentally and physically. She didn't know if it was because of the crystal heart or if she's just been here too long, but Airy had begun really enjoying life in Fluttershy's cottage. "Good morning, Airy" the timid Pegasus smiled at her as she cooked them some breakfast "The food is almost ready. I'm making some eggs. Would you like anything else?" "Hmm?" the fairy perked up, still half asleep "O-Oh, sure! Could I have some milk?" "Of course" Fluttershy nodded "Anything else?" "A certain white rabbit to stop staring at me..." Airy deadpanned as she glared at Angel, who was in turn glaring at her. "Oh Airy, I'm sure he just likes you" the mare giggled a bit "Now, breakfast is on the table. Go and wash up, okay?" "Sure thing" Airy nodded before heading off to the washroom. As soon as she left, Fluttershy motioned her pet bunny to come over to her. She lightly petted him on his head before going back to setting the table. Suddenly, a hasty knock was heard at her door. Curiously, she went over to it and opened it up. To her surprise, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo were all there with worried looks on their faces. "Hello girls" the mare smiled "What are you-" (Music Stop) "No time to explain, Fluttershy!" Scootaloo interrupted her "You're the only one who can help!" "Oh my goodness!" the timid mare gasped "Is somepony hurt? Did something happen?" "Well, I'm not sure if it's somepony..." Sweetie Belle shrugged "...but certainly something needs your help!" "Nurse Redheart usually does this kinda stuff" Apple Bloom stated "But we were thinkin' 'at yer better at animals than her, and we weren't sure if what er who we found was an animal er a person!" "Did you bring it here?" Fluttershy asked. "N-No, we didn't..." Sweetie lowered her head "I guess we were just so scared that we forgot to bring him..." "In that case, we gotta get going!" Scootaloo pointed out. "Hmm? What's this all about?" Airy floated next to Fluttershy. "Someone or something was found by the girls" the timid mare explained the situation. "Oh, have they now?" the crystfairy looked at the three skeptically "And would this thing have anything to do with the prank you pulled on me a few days ago?" "Girls, what did you do?" the Pegasus sighed. "Um... Nothing..." Apple Bloom lied "But 'at's beside the point! The point is 'at 'ere's somethin' injured out 'ere, an' if we dun do somethin' 'bout it, it'll probably die!" "Out of curiosity, girls," Fluttershy began "just what did this animal look like?" "Well..." Sweetie recalled "I remember it having a tan head, curly white hair, and black scales all over its body. It kept moaning and saying stuff like 'Edea, I'm sorry...' and stuff!" Airy went still. She knew exactly who this was who the girls found. How could she forget the man that nearly foiled Ouroboros's plan? In the long run, she was glad he could hold his own for at least a little while and delay it. But how exactly did he get into this world, and why did he appear so late? Didn't he die before she did? "They tell the truth" she nodded "We have to go and help him now! Besides, I think I owe him something." "Airy, you know about him?" Scootaloo asked. "Yeah, but unfortunately, he didn't like me too much" she explained "Just bring me to him, okay!" "Airy, be nice, okay?" Fluttershy reminded her. "Oh, right... sorry..." XXXXXX Fluttershy and Airy followed the girls in a somewhat lighter area of the Everfree Forest. That wasn't saying much though, as the lighting was still atrocious. Nonetheless, the group pressed onwards to where the cutie mark crusaders thought they saw someone injured. It wasn't long before Fluttershy's body began to tremble a bit. "G-Girls, I'm not sure if-" "It'll be fine, Fluttershy! Nothing to be afraid of in here" Scootaloo nodded, remembering her camping trip with a certain role model of hers "Besides, that guy needs help!" "I'm just afraid of what he'll do after he comes to" Airy sighed "Remember; he doesn't like me all that much." "So stay outta sight" Apple Bloom suggested "Ifin yer right 'bout him not likin' ya, maybe it'd be a good idea ta stay away fer a bit." "You're... You're right" the fairy nodded "But he'll find out about me eventually... And when he does, heavens knows what he'll do then... He could hurt you, or destroy the town, anything really!" "He s-sound... dangerous..." the timid Pegasus muttered softly the last part of her sentence. "Look, over there!" Sweetie Belle pointed over at a black thing lying on the ground with a red sword dug in next to it "That's the guy!" (Music Stop) The five rushed over to the creature that was exactly how the girls described it; curly white hair with black scales over its body. Only, it weren't scales at all. In fact, it was armour coating the poor thing from top to bottom, telling the party that he was part of some sort of military. Fluttershy checked his face, which had multiple scars and bruises on it. "Thank goodness..." she sighed in relief "He's still alive, but I'm not how long he'll last in this place. Well, to be honest, I'm not sure how he already survived this long already what with the monsters and the cold weather." "Well, he has this sword" Sweetie Belle picked up the sword with her magic "Maybe he protected himself with it?" "Or he's too stubborn to die..." Airy sighed "Either way, we have to help him!" "Right" Scootaloo nodded before attempting to pick him up by herself. She was soon joined by Sweetie and Apple Bloom moments later, picking the creature up and bringing him back to the cottage. As they walked back, Fluttershy asked her once-patient an obvious question she wished she asked earlier. "Airy, however did you know of him?" "Him?" the crystfairy questioned "Well, it all goes back to the story I told you. But this was during the final worlds I had to connect. While I wasn't there to witness it myself, this man jumped on board our ship and tried to stop the heroes of light from aiding me. In the end, I'm glad he tried, but it was all in vain." "May I ask what his name is?" "His name?" Airy asked "His name is..." (Music Stop) XXXXXX "Alternis Dim" the creature said "But you may call me Alternis." As soon as the girls brought the creature back to Fluttershy's cottage, they immediately laid him down onto the green sofa in the living room, where the timid owner of the abode got to work immediately. She took off his armour, revealing a white shirt and black shorts, and bandaged up the small wounds on his body. She finally fed him some liquified herbs and flowed them down his throat. After a few more hours, he began to come to, signalling Airy to fly off before he met with his saviors. "Very nice to meet you, Alternis" Fluttershy smiled "My name is Fluttershy, and this is Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo." "We saved ya from the Everfree Forest!" Apple Bloom jumped up and down in glee "But, how in the world did ya git 'ere anyway?" "I walked" the white haired man answered simply. "Through the whole forest?!" Scootaloo gasped "You know that place is full of dangerous animals, right?" "They were not too difficult to slay" Alternis shrugged before looking around the room "Speaking of slaying, wherever did my sword go? That sword is beyond important to me." "Oh, sorry about that..." Fluttershy carefully picked up the red bladed sword with her wings "I didn't want the girls to be hurt or scared by your, um, very sharp blade so I, um, hid it away." "Understandable" the man nodded "By the way, have you seen a blonde girl with a red battle dress around here?" "Sorry, no..." the timid mare shook her head in shame. "Damn..." he sighed "Edea, where could you have gone?" "This is so cool!" Sweetie Belle grinned "Twilight's going to be so happy to see you! To us, you're a totally new species! She'll freak out just how she did with Air-" she quickly covered her mouth, but it was too late. (Music Stop) "...what did you say?" Alternis's voice began to shake. "Um... nothing!" the white Unicorn filly nervously chuckled. "Is... Is Airy... No, it cannot be..." the man clutched his head with his hands as his whole body began to tremble "I failed to defeat her, but could not even Edea stop her?! Is Edea... Is she... no... NO!" He picked up his sword and hopped out of bed, rushing outside to where he finally shouted into the sky "GRAAAAAA!!!" "Alternis!" Fluttershy shouted "Oh no... Airy, please come down quick!" "What, what is it?!" the crystfairy flew down as fast as possible and saw the enraged man outside the cottage "That isn't good... If Alternis gets to town, I'm not sure what will become of it or its inhabitants." Just as Airy finished her sentence, Alternis charged right for Ponyville to unleash his anger. The group gasped in horror, but their hopes shone once again as Discord appeared before them. "Greetings one and all" he bowed before looking at the armed figure running for Ponyville slashing anything in his way "Fluttershy, who in Equestria is that? And why exactly is he in a blood-rage?" "No time to explain!" Airy butted in "We have to stop him or else!" "Or else what?" "Discord, don't make this hard for us!" the fairy steamed "Just use your magic to stop him!" "Oh, very well..." the spirit of chaos sighed before snapping a hand and picking Alternis up from the distance, cracking a smile. His smile soon faded into a look of horror as the man escaped his magic with ease. "Im-Impossible!" he stayed shocked for a while longer "How is he able to break free from my magic?" "If even Discord can't hold him down, what will?" Apple Bloom asked. "We'll have to do it ourselves..." Airy sighed "Let's just hope he doesn't kill anyone before we get there." "Girls, please stay here and wait, okay?" Fluttershy calmly asked the cutie mark crusaders, to which they all let out a collective sigh of disappointment "And Discord, try and look after them, okay?" "Of course, my dear" the spirit of chaos nodded. XXXXXX Airy and Fluttershy finally made it to Ponyville, where fortunately everyone had evacuated from the area. Alternis was still in his rage, and facing him was none other than Twilight Sparkle, the nerdy mare Airy met a week ago. They stared each other down with glares that she swore could kill before the little fairy finally revealed herself. "Stop! Stop!" she cried "Alternis, don't do this!" "You!" he scowled at her "You have caused too much pain for Edea! I will kill you and finally put an end to all this!" "You have it all wrong!" the crystfairy shouted again "I've been reformed! No power flows through my veins, Ouroboros is dead, and-" "SILENCE!!" the man yelled, pointing his sword at Airy "I HAVE HEARD ENOUGH OF YOUR LIES!!" "Alternis, was it?" Twilight brought his attention back onto her "I don't know who you think you are or what you want, but you can't go around harming others! It's not right!" "That wretched beast!" he pointed at Airy "She killed THOUSANDS!! Yet you take her side?! She is deceiving you, all of you!" (Music Stop) "While yes, she was a bit bitter when we first met her," the princess sighed, making the crystfairy roll her eyes "she has visited me many times since then, and she has improved greatly. Just because some of the things she's done in the past weren't good, that doesn't mean she doesn't deserve a second chance." "You horses... You forgive too easily..." Alternis's rage began building up inside him again before he exploded in fury "You helped her, therefore you are responsible for Edea's death!" "W-What?!" everyone said in collaboration. The blonde man didn't listen though. Instead he withdrew his red blade and pointed it right at Twilight. "I am Alternis Dim" he said in pure anger "Dark Knight of the Eternian Council of Six. You have been found guilty in aiding a fiend and a murderer, and for that, I will destroy you!" "I don't want to do this, Alternis!" the lavender mare argued, but was inevitably stopped as the man charged forward, slashing his sword at her. Quickly, she put up a magical barrier around herself, but Alternis kept cutting away until he eventually broke it and lightly scraped the mare's chest in her attempt to dodge. "You are weak!" he shouted "But I suppose the guilty always are!" "Fine, you want to play by your rules?" Twilight asked before summoning an iron sword and gripping it with her magic "It's been a while since I've done this, but either way, you won't get past me!" "GRAAAAA!!" Alternis jumped up into the air and brought his sword down upon the princess, to which she thankfully blocked it. They began clashing swords, Twilight defending and Alternis constantly attacking. However, the man did something she wasn't expecting. "Default!" he shouted. His sword blocked all attacks for a few seconds, and no matter how hard the lavender mare tried to break his defenses, she simply couldn't. She became exhausted from all the swinging around of her sword and eventually collapsed. "Brave!" Alternis shouted again, but instead of guarding, a quick red light appeared around him before he charged right at Twilight with full force. Fortunately, the mare had just enough energy left to cast a magic shield around her again and block the attack. "Why?" he growled "Why do you persist in fighting for that creature?! She is deceiving you, don't you understand?!" "No" Twilight shook her head before getting back up after a rest "What I don't understand is why you want to fight me. I get it that Airy did some pretty bad things in the past, but what did-" "If she is here, she must have killed Edea!" Alternis yelled "Edea was my friend, my sister... my love... And that beast cast her aside like some pile of trash! She was more than that!" "But Alternis, Edea-" Airy tried to explain before getting interrupted. "Don't say her name!" he yelled, looking right at the crystfairy "You have no idea how-" (Music Stop) Alternis's eyes shrunk before he hit the ground with a thud, completely unconscious. Behind him was Twilight who had whacked him on his head with the hilt of her sword. She dropped the blade and lay down to take a breather. "Twilight, you defeated him!" Airy smiled "And you didn't even have to resort to killing him!" "Killing him?!" the princess was shocked by the fairy's choice of words, but shrugged it off anyway "A-Anyway, what do you think we should do with him?" "I-If it's okay with you, Twilight" Fluttershy spoke up "But, um, maybe it would be a good idea to, um, put him in your dungeon for now?" "Probably a good idea..." the lavender mare nodded "Okay, you three. I'll take care of our friend here and bring him in for questioning. You should head back and relax for a bit, okay?" "Okay" Airy nodded before slowly flying back to Fluttershy's cottage "Oh, and give Alternis a chance, okay? The only reason he lashed out like that was because of his love for Edea. He's not that bad once you get to know him. Stale, but not that bad." "Will do" Twilight chuckled a bit before picking the man and his sword up off the ground with her magic and bringing them to her castle. "Oh, please wait for me, Airy!" Fluttershy trotted over to the crystfairy as they both laughed their way back home. However, they never noticed the strange figure watching them from the roof of one of the houses. "So that is the origin of our experiment, eh?" he chuckled "I think my master will be very pleased..." Author's Note Woo! Another chapter for the archives! Sorry for the lateness, but to make it up to you, "That Person's Name Is.../He of the Name" is in this chapter. Don't know what that is? Only the best boss theme I've ever heard in my life! Well, normal boss theme anyway. Have any questions, ideas or concerns? Please comment down below and we can talk it out. Thank you! Be sure to Like, Comment, Favourite and Follow, and until then, I'll see you guys later!
[Chapter 1] Still Alive Just a heads up, you can right click on the green words and begin the video/music in another tab. The winds howled around a rocky landscape filled with pure darkness. In the centre of it all was a dark shrine with a red and slightly pink glow emanating from it. A shadowy power seeped through it, in the form of smoke risen from a fire. It surrounded five individuals; four of light and one of darkness. The one of darkness, a fairy-ques woman with pale skin, blonde hair and beautiful butterfly-like wings protruding from her head and back had been weakened by the four heroes of light; two women and two men. "It's over, Airy!" the young man with grey hair and a white village vest shouted. "Your reign of terror upon these world are no more!" the young woman with long brown hair and a white and black dress exclaimed. The fairy, known as Airy, didn't listen to the heroes though. Instead, with her body torn, beat and betrayed, she turned to the glowing shrine and called out to her master. Not moments ago, she was told by her 'Master' that her service to him had ended indefinitely. "L-Lord Ouro... boros..." she weakly spoke "Am I not... your faith... ful servant?!" "Is she speaking to Ouroboros?" the older but still young man with light blonde hair and a light blue furry tunic wondered. "I know not..." the much younger woman with a red battle dress answered the man's question. Airy continued to ignore them as she continued to speak with Ouroboros. "Why, Your... Malevolence?" Airy asked before resorting to her final insult "You are most... unkind- AAAAAAAH!!" she felt a sharp pain in her side before her body went limp and was sucked into the dark light of the shrine. She closed her eyes and expected the worst. However, her death never came. Instead, she heard a deep and almost unintelligible voice speak to her. "Airy" the voice spoke "You have failed to meet my expectations. I will take what is rightfully mine now." Suddenly, the fairy began to feel weaker and weaker as time elapsed. Slowly but surely, her power was taken by the voice, which she presumed to be Ouroboros, in a rather painful manner. "AAAHH AAAAAAAHHH!!!" she cried out as she felt every last drop of her seemingly endless power drain away from her. At last, all of her energy was taken, leaving her nothing but a small, humanoid creature with white hair, large butterfly wings and a simple white sundress. After all that, she wondered why her former master hadn't killed her yet. Her question was answered before she could give it. "Despite your failure, I do show some mercy to those who have aided me thus far" Ouroboros said right before a pair of red eyes shone down upon Airy "You cannot serve me any longer, for you have done your part. However, I will spare your life and send you to a different world in which to wander aimlessly. Now begone!" "L-Lord... Ouro... boros..." was all the small fairy could say before a more intense light was cast upon her, coming out of the shrine and blinding the four heroes. She could feel her body disintegrating away to another world. But by this point, she had fallen unconscious. She knew not of the pain it was supposed to bring upon her. And just like that, she was gone... Fluttershy, a young Pegasus mare with a cream yellow coat and a long pink mane, wandered around her garden of flowers and animals, merrily feeding them water and food respectively. She looked up into the sky and sighed, her bright blue eyes wandering the cloudless atmosphere with a sparkle in each of them. The soft autumn breeze flowed through each strand of her pink hair. She let out a soft giggle in reply to this wonderful feeling. "What a lovely day" she softly but kindly smiled "And not a cloud in the sky. Not that I don't like clouds, good heavens no! But sometimes it's nice to see a clear sky, if you know what I mean." Suddenly, the Pegasus felt a small stone hit her head, meaning someone or something was trying to gain her attention. When she finally did turn around from the hit, she saw that her favourite animal Angel Bunny, a snow white rabbit with beady black eyes and an annoyed expression on his face. In front of him was an empty orange bowl. "Oh, sorry Angel..." Fluttershy apologized with a regretful smile "Let me get you a carrot and-" The rabbit shook his head in denial, confusing the cream yellow mare. "Oh, alright then" she nervously chuckled "Well, how about a cucumber instead?" Angel shook his head once more. "A tomato?" Denied. "Grapefruit?" Nope. "Apple? Orange? Banana? Lime? Lemon? Avocado?" To all of her suggestions, the rabbit continued to shake his head. Fluttershy let out a disheartened sigh and petted him, much to his dismay. Finally, she asked him what he was hoping to be asked. "Okay, Angel. What do you want for lunch?" Angel perked up and grinned happily. He brought out a small, but surprisingly well-done picture of what he wanted and showed it to his owner. Apparently, he wanted a banana split with peanuts, chocolate sauce and syrup, topped with sprinkles and a cherry. Fluttershy let out a small gasp to the rabbit's request. "Well, um, sorry to say this, Angel, but this looks more like a desert than a lunch" the Pegasus kindly reminded him "I'm sorry, but I couldn't give this to you if I wanted to. I'd have to go out and purchase all the ingredients, then make the-" The white rabbit frowned and let out an annoyed sigh before storming away from his owner, the picture still in his possession and being dragged along the ground in his front paw. "Angel, wait!" cried out a worried Fluttershy "Surely you wouldn't mind a carrot, right? Mmmm... Nice a tasty carrot over here! Oh, okay... never mind..." (Music Stop) Angel entered a large, hollow tree covered in moss and mushrooms by Fluttershy's house he liked to go to when he just needed some alone time, especially when his owner couldn't even understand what he specifically wanted for lunch. He looked around the large open space of the hollow and very much dead tree until he finally found a spot and took a rest. He let out a sigh and stared at his picture he so expertly drew all by himself. "Some ponies, I swear..." Angel thought as he looked at his potential treat "A banana split! That's all I wanted and that wretched mare turned it down! The nerve!" As he continued to look at the picture, a brief sparkle appeared in the corner of his eye. He turned to the direction of the sparkle, which happened to be on the other side of the tree, and saw something lying there, motionless. Raising an eyebrow curiously, he set down his picture and went to go and investigate the object. As he hopped closer and closer, he saw it wasn't an object at all, but a pale beige creature with two legs and two arms with white hair and a white sundress. Its most distinctive feature, however, were the two butterfly-like wings on its back. "What in Equestria is this?" Angel wondered "It's like if a breezie and a centaur had a baby, and that baby wore sundresses. It looks a little beaten up... I guess I better take it back to Fluttershy so she can help it out. Still, how'd it get here in the first place?" Putting his questions aside, he picked up the creature and put it over his head. He then made his way out of the tree and straight to his owner's cottage, completely forgetting to pick up his drawing as well. (Music Stop) Racing back to Fluttershy with the injured creature on his back, Angel thought about his unanswered questions. Where exactly did this mysterious thing come from, and why exactly was she injured in the first place? More importantly though, what was its name, if it even had one. Was it even an it, or a boy or girl? All these questions floated around until he at long last approached his owner, a kind smile on her face. "Angel! I'm glad that you came ba-" the cream yellow Pegasus greeted before eying the small creature on her pet's back "Oh my! Angel, wherever did you find it? It looks hurt! Quick, we have to bring it inside so I can help it... or rather, I think it's a girl..." Angel nodded before following Fluttershy back into her cottage to treat the winged creature on his back. He hopped into her home and onto the living room table where he place the deemed-to-be-female creature down. The Pegasus sat on her green couch and inspected the creature's wounds. "Bruises and scrapes everywhere..." she said somberly as she checked her patient's breathing by putting a hoof lightly on her chest "Just what had she been doing before this?" Taking out a medical kit she kept close by her in case of emergency, she opened it up to reveal some bandage and multiple species of healing herbs. Removing one from the box, she rubbed the herb lightly on the creature's right arm and head, which had the most injuries, dabbing some sort of healing agent onto them. She then took a bandage and cut it to miniscule sizes before slowly wrapping it around her patient's treated areas. "There... that should do it... hopefully..." Fluttershy was slightly unsure if her methods were the right ones for this particular creature, but ultimately shrugged it off to ask her pet a question "Angel, wherever did you find her?" The rabbit pointed over to roughly where his favourite tree was. Fluttershy nodded her head before returning her attention to the winged creature on her table. She let out a small smile before gently picking her up with her wings and bringing her upstairs, Angel Bunny following his owner close behind. As soon as the mare reached her room, she walked over to a small bed on her dresser with a red cushion and blue covers used for resting injured animals, and laid her patient down in it. She placed the covers over her sleeping body and smiled before going over to her bed, picking up a pencil in her mouth and her diary with her right wing, and sat down upon her soft mattress. She opened up her book and began writing today's entry. (Music Stop) Airy awoke from her slumber slowly and drowsily. Her eyes still felt heavy, yet she knew she had been asleep for quite awhile. She scanned the area around her and saw she was in a wooden building who's owner apparently liked to collect bird cages and portraits. She tried to move, but instead she felt a sharp pain on her arm and flinched. "Ah!" she quietly winced in pain, staring down at her arm and seeing it was bandaged up. Much to her surprise, someone had treated her to her wounds. Who would do such a thing? That mattered not to her as she began to move again, but her arm stung once more. Another yelp escaped her throat, this one slightly louder than the last. Unfortunately for her, it had attracted the attention of someone in the same room as her. She looked up at the approaching cream yellow figure in fear and anger. Was she the one who helped her? She hoped not... "Goodness!" the figure, now identified to Airy as a female winged horse, much to her surprise "You're awake! I was so worried about you. But it looks like you've recovered well... Oh, how silly of me. I haven't even asked what your name is. May you tell me please?" The fairy remained silent for a good while, staring at the mare with a rather angry look, confusing her. Airy was planning on staying silent the whole time, thinking she was far more superior to this mortal animal. However, she did appear to be the one to treat her back to health, so she owed her something she supposed. "...my name is Airy" she finally let out of her mouth, bringing joy to the mare's face. "Airy..." the mare closed her eyes and smiled before opening them once again and looking back to her patient "What a lovely name. Airy. Oh, I'm sorry... I forgot to introduce myself as well... My name is Fluttershy." "...hi" the fairy sighed and rolled her eyes before turning away from Fluttershy and resting back into her bed. This made the Pegasus frown in disappointment. She thought she could converse with her patient for a bit. "My bunny found you inside his favourite resting place a little while ago" she explained "Do you know how you got there?" "I... no, the reason is far too complicated for you insignificant mortal to understand" Airy rather rudely responded "Now, leave me in peace! I'm trying to get some rest here." "Oh, that's okay..." Fluttershy hung her head a bit "I'll just, um... leave..." The Pegasus left with a few sobs as she slowly walked out of her room. Airy heard them clear as day, and actually felt slightly sorry for her. But she couldn't think of her right now. She had to figure out where the heck she ended up. She remembered everything, from her adventures with each of the four heroes, to her battle with them, to the moment she was betrayed by Ouroboros. She shook her head, trying her best to clear that memory from her mind for the time being. "Think Airy, think!" she thought aloud to herself "What would you do in a situation like this? Hmm... not much, really... You're bandaged up, injured and in bed, and any sudden movements means serious pain... Doesn't look like I'm leaving anytime soon. I'll just have to put up with that wretched-" (Music Stop) She never even finished her sentence when a white rabbit about her height appeared before her with a cross look on its face. Its ears twitched in slight anger from the word she used to describe its supposed owner. This creature appeared to have intelligence, much again to her surprise. First the mare and now this? This was, to Airy, the worst place to end up in a situation such as the one that had befallen her. "And you are?" she asked the rabbit before scoffing "Look at me; trying to talk to a useless, dumb old rabbit. What have-" "I'm Angel" the rabbit spoke in a language only Airy could understand "And I don't like the words you used to describe Fluttershy. True, she can be a thorn in my side sometimes, but she deserves better than that." "What do you know about who deserves what?" the fairy laughed a bit "You're just a rabbit? You know, the lowest animal on the food chain? What could you possibly know about-" The rabbit, apparently named Angel, got up close to Airy and shoved a paw into her mouth, shutting her up. He had just about enough of the girl's cruel words and rude attitude towards his owner. "Now you look and listen to me here..." Angel spoke rather intimidatingly as he held his paw in the fairy's mouth "You may absolutely hate it here. You may dislike the comfort and warmth of a home. You may not care for the things we bring you. And for all I care, you can keep that annoying personality of yours. But if you ever insult me or my family again, I'll personally take care of you. You got that?" Airy nodded slowly in response, in turn allowing Angel to remove his paw safely. She didn't want to get on this creature's bad side, or at least, not right now. She was weak and powerless, not to mention injured, and she knew better than to tussle with them in this state. "I'm still more powerful than you can fathom" she smiled devilishly. "Well Miss Oh-So-Powerful," the rabbit grinned back "that doesn't change the fact you were found in a tree unconscious covered in bruises and scars, and the only savior you had was a white rabbit which you claim to be the lowest of the low. Now you're laying in a bed while recovering and you can't move or you'll hurt yourself. Not so powerful now, are we?" The fairy squinted her eyes in anger and backed off a bit, bringing great joy to Angel before he hopped away from her bed. She was already beginning to hate that little rodent more than the heroes of light, and that was certainly saying something. Still, she couldn't deny the fact he was right about her current situation. She would just have to endure her rescuers company for they time being. "This is going to be a tiresomely long while..." Airy sighed before trying to get some more shuteye. Author's Note Hello everyone and welcome to the first Bravely Default/My Little Pony crossover story in existence! I'm glad I was the first to create it, as I feel very honored! But I suppose I should thank the game based off this story, also known as my favourite RPG of all time. Yes, I like this game even more than Final Fantasy VI. Now, like most of my stories, we'll set a goal! The goal this time will be 55 Likes, and once we reach that goal, I'll create a bonus chapter for a y'alls out there! With what I have planned, this is something you don't wanna miss! Be sure to Like, Comment, Favourite and Follow, and until then, don't let your enemies default!
[Chapter 2] A Long WhileAiry awoke in one of the worst possible ways imaginable; having someone else wake you up. Normally for her, it would be tolerable if it was someone she knew very well. But the one who woke her up was none other than the Pegasus horse that nurtured her back to health, the one known as Fluttershy. How she loathed this individual greatly. She hated how unnaturally kind she was toward her, but most of all, she hated that she had to share the same level of intelligence toward a mere equine. How disgusting. "Good morning, Airy" the Pegasus smiled "Did you sleep well? I know you were a teensy bit cranky yesterday, but your wounds should be better today. I coated them in a special agent that speeds the natural healing of injuries." "You did that?" the fairy asked curiously "And what's this about my wounds being better? Does this mean I can finally move!?" "Well, you can move, but I wouldn't-" "FINALLY!!" Airy got out of bed and flew up into the air "Now I can escape from you mortals and at long last- OW!!" she clutched her arm and slowly floated back down into her bed. "Oh Airy..."Fluttershy softly sighed "Your wounds aren't completely healed yet. Just give them a week or so and they'll be all better." "A WEEK?!" the fairy exclaimed in horror "You mean I have to spend a week with you insignificant urchins?!" "Now, now, Airy, no need to be rude" the mare lightly patted her patient on the head, much to the latter's dismay "Besides, this will allow you a chance to bond with us some more." "Ugh..." the injured girl rolled her eyes and slumped back into her bed, her body and head turned away from Fluttershy "I was hoping to leave from this place as soon as possible. You and that rabbit are annoying." "Hmmm..." the cream yellow Pegasus thought aloud "Maybe it would be a good idea for you to go outside for a little while. Would you like to accompany me to my friend Twilight's home? I needed to go there to see what exactly you were." "Twilight?" Airy laughed a bit "You mean there's more of you anthropomorphic horses? That's a laugh!" "Oh yes" Fluttershy confirmed "In fact, there's a whole town of ponies not far from where we live. I'm sure you'd love to meet every single one. Especially Pinkie Pie" she let out a small giggle "She can be funny sometimes." "I am NOT interested in joining you on your trek through this town of equines!" the white haired girl rudely declined "You can do that on your own time. Besides, didn't you say I had some resting to do or something?" Airy's answer actually came as a surprise to her. A cage was put down over her and her bed, causing her to frantically look around. She at last saw that the one who placed the cage over her was the annoying rabbit named Angel from yesterday. His expression was a smug one, as if to say he was better than her. The nerve! The bottom of the cage slid under her bed and firmly attached itself to the cage's lower hinges. "Oh, so now I'M the animal?" Airy scoffed "How disgraceful." "Unfortunately, you have to come with us" Angel spoke once again in the same language only she could understand, a devilish smile creeping onto his face "Fluttershy may be timid, but once she makes up her mind when it comes to helping others, she won't say no. Besides, I'd pay just about anything to watch you in that cage all day long..." "I hate you..." the fairy deadpanned. "I know" the rabbit diabolically giggled. "Well, come along now, Airy" Fluttershy picked up her patient's cage with her wing and began carrying her to her friend's house "I'm sorry I have to do this to you, but you wouldn't come with me if I didn't." "That's probably the most intelligent thing you've ever said, urchin" Airy laughed. Her joy was cut short when Angel appeared at her cage holding onto the bars. A cross expression was on his face, signalling Airy to stop. "Let's just get this over with..." she rolled her eyes and settled back down into her bed. (Music Stop) XXXXXX After a little while longer, Fluttershy, Angel and Airy made it to Ponyville. To be honest, the village didn't seem that bad to the injured fairy. In fact, it was actually quite nice. The only problem? Everywhere she looked there were multicolored talking horses. She prayed to the heavens above something could distract her long enough not to look at them. To her luck, there was! A giant crystal castle shaped roughly like a tree in the centre of town that seemed slightly out of place. If she had to give something to these seemingly insignificant mortals, its that their design and architectural skills were somewhat interesting. "Do you see that castle over there, Airy?" Fluttershy asked her "That's where we need to go." "Wait, honestly?" the fairy was taken by a bit of surprise "You mean to tell me your friend lives in that castle?! What is she, some sort of sparkly princess or something?" "Yes, actually" kindly smiled the Pegasus. Airy went silent. She honestly wasn't expecting that answer, even though she figured it was the correct one. She stayed silent as she, Fluttershy and her pet peacefully walked towards the castle. "I can't believe I have to share the same room as a 'pretty princess pony', as they'd say" Airy thought with disgust "What have I been subjected to. I was the faithful servant of Lord Ourob-" her mind locked up from thinking of that wretched name "Ouroboros... Why did you betray me? After all I did for you... (Music Stop) XXXXXX The inside of the castle was utterly gigantic, especially for the rather small fairy in the cage. She had seen much bigger, but it was nonetheless still very impressive. The walls and floor were crystal blue and polished to maximum sheen. Orange ornaments hung on the ceiling in a rather beautiful fashion with lights shining through them. The light shone on the crystal walls, resulting in a wonderful display of colours that surprisingly didn't blind the trio. As Airy continued looking around the hall of crystal, she eyed a lavender horse with a purple mane and both a horn and wings inspecting the castle walls. Next to her was a small purple dragon with green spines holding a checklist in his right claw, and a quill in his other. "Okay, Spike" the lavender pony spoke to the dragon "The walls are perfectly fine. Check that off the list, okay?" "You got it, Twilight" the dragon, apparently named Spike, nodded before jotting down a check mark on the list "Next it says we have to see if the tree roots are holding up." "Ah, my favourite!" the pony, apparently named Twilight, smiled in glee "I always love seeing those roots. They remind me of all the things I got to do with my friends since I've known them." "Um, excuse me... Twilight?" Fluttershy asked softly. If it hadn't had been for the echo the castle hall emanated, the lavender mare would never have heard her friend speak. Twilight turned around and saw her friend standing a few feet away from her. "Oh, hello there Fluttershy" Twilight greeted politely "What brings you here today?" "Well, um... I was, y'know, wondering if you knew about this little cutie here" she brought up Airy's cage with her wing for her friends to see "Her name is Airy. Angel found her yesterday, and I was wondering if you knew anything about what species she might be." "Hey! I am NOT cute!" Airy frustratingly shouted, getting out of her bed and hovering in the cage with her wings as to not hurt her injured body. "She's a bit angry" Spike pointed out. "Oh my goodness!" Twilight squee'd "A brand new intelligent life form! This has to be the greatest day in Equestrian history!" "But I thought the day you met your friends was the best day in Equestrian history" Spike wondered "Or even the birth of the princesses? What about the defeat of Tirek?" "But Spike, this is the discovery of a brand new species! An intelligent one at that!" the lavender mare squished her assistant's cheeks and brought him up close to her face "Do you know what this means? This means history will be made! I'll call the species... twilifairy!" "Hey! That is NOT my species name!" Airy shouted through her cage again "I am a crystfairy, and I-" her eyes widened as she let out a small gasp before getting angry again "Ohhhhhh! Now you're making me talk about myself! Just stay quiet, you got that?!" "Note: Crystfairies are very angry..." Twilight noted to herself "Anyway, my name is Princess Twilight Sparkle, and this is my assistant and friend Spike. We're very honoured to meet you." "So you're the castle's pretty little princess, hmm?" the fairy giggled a bit with a cruel smirk on her face "I was expecting you to be a lot more... intimidating?" "While it is true that I'm not the most regal of princesses," the lavender princess began "I'm still this town's ruler, and I'm very proud to be as such. Now, onto business... So, Airy was it? Do you remember what happened before you were found by Angel Bunny?" "Yep" Airy nodded. "...do you mind telling us?" Twilight questioned with a nervous grin. "Yep" the crysfairy nodded again. "Well that was fruitless..." the purple maned mare sighed "Are you always this difficult to work with?" "I don't have to answer that question" Airy flicked her head away from the princess in an I'm-better-than-you fashion "Besides, I have better things to do than take your little questionnaire." Twilight's expression deadpanned. She had just about enough of this little creature. Still, curiosity flowed through her veins. Just where did the crystfairy come from? And just what the heck was a crystfairy anyway? "Fluttershy," she turned to her cream yellow friend holding Airy's cage "I'm sorry I wasn't able to help you much. I'd give you a book about this little one, but this is a totally new species. Besides... she's a little rude." "I understand, Twilight" Fluttershy nodded in acceptance "Besides, I'm sure she's just a bit grumpy that she has to stay in bed for a little while. She'll cheer up eventually." "No, I'm grumpy because I hate you..." Airy thought as she pouted, heading back into her bed to refrain from injuring herself against the moving cage. (Music Stop) After saying their goodbyes, Fluttershy and Angel left Twilight and Spike and exited their castle. Once they walked for a good few minutes away from the large crystalline castle, the pink maned Pegasus asked her patient a question. "Airy, why are you always so mean to everypony?" "Why am I- Because everyone here annoys me!" Airy shouted from the comfort of her bed "I mean, it truly is unbelievable how much you pester me so!" "What happened in your life to make you think kindness is annoying?" Fluttershy asked, now slightly saddened. "HEY FLUTTERSHY!!!!" shouted a female voice way too upbeat for her own good. The group of three turned to the direction of the voice and saw a bouncy pink pony rushing towards them. She skidded to a stop as soon as she was right in front of them and began bouncing up and down. "Never mind" Airy deadpanned "I don't even know this urchin, and already I hate her." "Oooooooooooooh!" the pink mare stared intently at the crystfairy in her cage "Who's your new pet, Fluttershy?" "I AM NOT A PET!!" the winged humanoid shouted in frustration "I'm not cute, or adorable, or anyone's pet! I'm just a very annoyed fairy who doesn't like anyone in this town!" "Aww, she's so cute when she's all riled up like that!" the mare giggled and snorted. "D-Did you even listen to me?!" Airy was taken aback by the horse's upbeat and seemingly unbreakable personality "I'm not cute, okay?!" "So what's your name anyway?" she asked as she continued to hop up and down "Is it Ariel? Amanda? Amy? Andrea? Annabelle? Anne? Apple? Air? Axe? Aries?" she leaned in close and whispered her last guess "Is it Navi?" "No, no, NO!" the crystfairy got out of bed and floated around, stomping her foot in mid-air "None of those are my name, you low class mortal! If it will shut you up, my name is Airy! Now go away!" "Oh, hi there, Airy!" the pink mare continued to talk, much to Airy's dismay "My name is Pinkie Pie, and welcome to Ponyville! Wait, does this mean I have to plan a welcoming party for you? YES!! I can bring the streamers, the cake, the cakes and their babies, the party hats, the party cannon, the canon party, and all my friends!" "Good for you!" the fairy sarcastically spoke before deadpanning "Now go away." "Airy, don't be rude" hushed Fluttershy before she turned to her bouncy friend "I'm so sorry about her, Pinkie. She can be a teensy, weensy, teeny, tiny bit mean sometimes." "Well, we better turn that frown upside down, silly filly!" Pinkie Pie smiled. "Actually, Pinkie Pie, I'm not sure if Airy really wants that right now" the timid Pegasus suggested "Not that there's anything wrong with your idea, good heavens no! But maybe she needs a bit of time settling in, okay?" "Okey dokey lokey!" the pink mare grinned and began bouncing off to wherever she wanted to go "Nice meeting ya, Airy!" (Music Stop) Fluttershy waved her friend off, sighing and smiling at the same time. Her smile faded however when she turned back to the crystfairy in the cage being held by her wing. She was less than impressed with her. She let out a long and disappointed sigh before speaking. "Airy, I don't know why you're always so rude to everypony" "Hmm?" Airy' raised her eyebrow. "How can you just go around like that saying those kind of things?" Fluttershy's voice was becoming more cross, at the very least as cross as normal Fluttershy gets "You should be ashamed of yourself. Just what happened in your life that you would become so cruel?" "I have my reasons..." the crystfairy rolled her eyes "But its nothing you would understand. I mean, you're just a mere urchin compared to my power! Why should I share my reasons with an inferior being?" "Because you had the chance to ignore me when we first met, but you didn't" the mare's words became slightly more calm "That must count for something, right?" "Stop talking to me" Airy finally shut her up "Take me back to your crammed-up old house and let me sleep. The faster I get away from all of you the better." "...okay, Airy" Fluttershy sighed and began taking her back to her home. XXXXXX Fluttershy entered her house and slowly walked back upstairs. By this point, even though night hadn't fallen yet, Airy had fallen asleep in her bed, bringing a small smile to the timid Pegasus's face. Carefully, she placed her patient back on the dresser and removed the cage, leaving the bottom still under the bed. Fluttershy took another look at the sleeping crystfairy. For the first time since Angel found her, the fairy's body was turned towards her. Albeit unintentionally, but still nice nonetheless. The cream yellow mare flicked out the lights and headed back downstairs to where Angel was waiting for her on her green couch. She took a seat and gently rubbed her pet's head with her hoof. "Oh Angel..." she sighed "I just don't know what to do about Airy. She's so rude to me and everypony around her. Maybe if I found out what was troubling her, I could help her. But until then... oh, I just don't know..." Angel, with a warm and reassuring smile, hugged Fluttershy's leg, cheering her up a bit. "Thank you, Angel" she smiled before taking a long sigh "I suppose I won't learn about her past today. But let's keep our chins held high, okay?" The white rabbit accompanying her nodded before bouncing off somewhere else, more than likely to get something to eat. Fluttershy simply giggled before taking out a book from under one of the couches pillows and beginning to read to pass the time. "Our chins held high? Hmmm..." Fluttershy thought "I think I may know a few ponies willing to help me and Airy out..." Author's Note Who could these ponies be, you ask? Well, did you check the tags recently? Yes, the next chapter will include the CMC and their antics. Will Airy be pleased? I dunno. Find out soon! Be sure to Like, Comment, Favourite and Follow, and until then, don't let your enemies default!
