The Hero of Harmony

        Thistle had never felt such an odd mixture of deep fear, and total confusion. The dark beast towered above them, shrouded in smoke. A row of jagged fangs hung from the jaw of its skull; they were dripping with saliva. Each of the eyeballs upon the creature’s otherwise muscular body, was focused hard upon its target in an intimidating manner. Blood red veins pumped from below the surface of its long, slender front legs. Its hind legs were hard to see, due to the thick shadow and crowds of ghost-like ponies surrounding them, but an enormous spiked tail was swiping around menacingly through the smoke.

The ponies accompanying the monster seemed furious for some reason. They were pushing and shoving one another in an attempt to assert themselves to the front of the group. Then, they scowled angrily at Thistle, and shouted abuse at him.

“You can’t do anything right! You’re small, and weak, and pathetic!” They bellowed,

The monster lifted its front legs and roared, almost as though it was agreeing with them. A trio of unicorn near the front then spoke out in unison from among the insults.

“You let your world die.” They shouted together “And now this world will die too, because of you!”

“W…what is…” Thistle could barely speak, so he turned to the terrified mare cowering behind him, “…this is the… monster?” he asked her.

Fluttershy didn’t answer. She was lying down, covering her face with her hooves and trembling in fear. Something about her terrified state gave Thistle a tiny spark of courage. It wasn’t enough to free himself of his own fears; but it was enough to motivate him to try and do something. He wanted to protect her.

“Listen here Sir.” The donkey tried to sound bold as he addressed the beast, but his voice trembled, as did his knees. “You have no business in this land. Be gone!”

The monster opened its skull mouth and leaned closer to the donkey, snarling in his face in a patronizing manner. The shadow ponies laughed at Thistle’s pathetic attempt,

“You’re no hero!” They taunted him, “you’re shaking in fear! There’s nothing you can do! You pathetic little steed!”

Thistle gritted his teeth, contemplating his next move. He wondered, should he charge at the monster? Perhaps striking its eyes would cause it some pain, then he could start taking out the shadow ponies one by…. No. They far outnumbered him. He most likely wouldn’t even make it to the beasts’ body before being trampled or swiped by a giant claw. That would leave Fluttershy vulnerable …there was nothing he could do.

He looked back at the whimpering yellow pegasus.

“Miss Fluttershy, no matter what happens, I will protect you.” He stated firmly, and then stood as boldly as he could, then turned back to face the creature of nightmares.

The beast gave a loud cry, preparing for attack. It then stretched his back, revealing scaly dark wings coated by sharp spikes which stuck out in all directions. Then, it lifted one of it's muscular front legs and pointed a deadly claw at the small donkey who stood before him. The ghost ponies spoke.

“You have one chance to save this world - but you will fail.” They cackled menacingly, “and when you do, this land will be destroyed along with all of it's living creatures.”

Surprisingly, those words made Fluttershy lift her head, although she still seemed as terrified as before. Thistle was confused; the monster was giving him a chance? It had to be a trick.

“I shan’t fail.” He replied as calmly as he could, “Tell me what I must do, to save this beautiful world.”

The beast snorted, and a trail of smoke flowed from its nostrils. They swirled around Thistle’s hooves, before progressing into the forest behind him. The army of ghost-ponies began stomping together, and suddenly the monster opened its claws, revealing a cloud of black smoke with a strange image inside. It showed a purple peach-shaped fruit, with dark sinister markings upon its skin. As Thistle looked closer, he was surprised to find that the markings actually portrayed butterflies; but butterflies with torn, spiked wings and curved, pointed antenna.

“This fruit is what we desire.” The ponies told him. “If you bring it to us, this world will be spared, but if you fail, we will demolish it, and it will be all your fault.”

“What… a fruit?” Thistle didn’t completely believe them, he was expecting to have to battle the monster, or defeat the army, or carry out some other near-impossible mission.

“I see.” He replied uncertainly, “so, where can I find this fruit that you seek?”

The ponies laughed,

“If you’re too stupid to figure that out, you don’t stand a chance.”

Thistle gave an annoyed growl, and thought for a moment. It was then he noticed the smoke swirling around his feet, and trailing into the forest.

“Come on Fluttershy.” He turned to the pegasus, who appeared to be frozen with fear.

Thistle lowered his body, and lifted her onto his back, and the two of them headed off into the forest, following the smoke that was conveniently showing them the way.

At first, everything seemed as it was before; the same rose bushes grew along the stone pathway, the tree branches swayed gently in the breeze, and the animals approached to greet them from all directions. However, the dark foggy trail was beginning to expand, and it soon started to affect the wildlife. The leaves upon the plants began to droop, followed by the beautiful flower heads and branches. The long grass could barely be seen as the area was gradually blanketed in shadow, and tiny squeaks and coughs could be heard coming from the surrounding plants.

“Oh no!” Fluttershy suddenly gazed around, and without warning rolled herself off Thistle’s back.

The donkey stopped in his tracks,

“What is it?” He asked, and turned to find Fluttershy lowering her wings to the ground.

Mice, bunnies, squirrels and hedgehogs climbed aboard the pegasus’ soft feathers and onto her back. A few lizards gripped onto her sides, and small insects climbed into her tail and mane.

“I’m sorry, please, can we wait just a second?” Fluttershy pleaded. “I just can’t leave them.”

Thistle, touched by her kindness, gave a sweet smile before lowering his own body and allowing more animals to climb aboard. Oddly enough, the smog seemed to subside a little as he did so.

They proceeded at a slightly slower speed, allowing more creatures to join along the way, and making sure to not leave any of them behind. Thistle noticed patches missing from the shadow trail, and it suddenly became noticeably thinner as they progressed. Nevertheless, they continued to follow it, and soon came to a magnificent waterfall surrounded by cliffs coated with ivy.

The smoky trail lead vertically up the craggy rocks, and eventually ended with a dark cloud surrounding a familiar object.

“The fruit!” Thistle announced, “Miss Fluttershy! Look! All we have to do is get up there!”

The Pegasus face dropped,

“Y... yes.” She gulped nervously, “all we have to do… is get up… there.”

“This shall be as easy as a piece of cake!” Thistle grinned; he wasn’t very good at metaphors. “After all, you can fly!”

Fluttershy gasped,

“I… I can fly but…” She mumbled, “it… it just looks so dark and… scary. What if it’s dangerous? What if it’s cursed?”

Thistle rubbed his chin,

“Hm, that could very well be.” He answered, “Never the less, we must retrieve it if we are to save this world.”

Noticing that the mare was too afraid to leave the ground, he gave her a gentle pat on the shoulder.

“Have no fear, fair Fluttershy. I shall be the one to retrieve that fruit!”

“Oh… no… you can’t climb up there! It’s too dangero…” Fluttershy started to say, but Thistle was already climbing.

After some effort, the donkey managed to hoist himself onto a large rock at the base of the waterfall. He then grabbed hold of a creeping vine using his mouth, and tried to use it for balance as he lifted his body and stood on his hind legs, stretching to reach the next protruding area. When he had a firm grip on the surface, he lifted his right hind leg and against the edge of the platform, before kicking off it and leaping, grabbing hold of an unstable, pointed rock a little higher up. Fluttershy watched anxiously as Thistle attempted to walk up the cliff face, using another vine to pull himself up

“Easssy does it…” The donkey told himself, as he eventually managed to balance on the rock, which shook uncontrollably under his weight.

Keeping hold of the vine, Thistle then eyed another suitable platform. This one was coated in shadow, and it was difficult to make out the edge. Even so, Thistle didn’t think twice about attempting to reach it. He crouched, before kicking off the rock he was standing on, sending it falling down the waterfall. Taking a giant leap toward the shadowy area, Thistle reached his hooves out towards it and frantically tried to grab hold. He succeeded, but only just, as his entire body was now dangling from a huge chunk of rock. Once again, the donkey pushed both his hind legs against the surface, and clenched the vine tightly between his teeth as he began to climb up.

However, with one scrape of his bulky hooves, the edge of the chunk began to crumble away; it was not as strong as it seemed. Thistle tried desperately to hoist himself up, but instead found himself eroding the rock, causing the platform to gradually fall.

“Oh no!” Fluttershy covered her eyes, then turned to her animal friends,

“I’m sorry little ones,” She said, lowering her wings to set them down onto the foggy ground, “but I have to go and help Thistle.”

The animals panicked and squeaked, but to their surprise, once Fluttershy’s wings reached the ground, the smoke subsided.

Fluttershy stood at the base of the waterfall, and gulped fearfully as she watched her new friend dangling from the giant shadowy rock. She then flapped her wings as quickly as she could, and began to fly upwards.

When the rock began to tilt, Thistle struggled to hold on as its surface was now breaking away with no support beneath it. He felt his hoof slipping, and tried to struggle frantically for any place to grip to prevent himself from falling. It was no good, and the minute he let go, the entire rock came falling down after him. Expecting to be crushed, Thistle closed his eyes, when suddenly he was pulled out of its path in mid-air by Fluttershy.

“M…Miss Fluttershy… you… saved me.” He panted,

The pegasus didn’t answer, it was taking every ounce of strength she had to lift his stocky figure. She flapped her wings rapidly, but they soon began to descend. They hit the ground with a slight thud, but it was fairly painless. Fluttershy landed on Thistle’s back, and blushed as she climbed off him. After a quick rest, she then began flapping again as she flew up the dark trail to collect the fruit.

Thistle and the animals cheered Fluttershy on, while the pegasus tried to fly wide to avoid the shadow as much as possible. This became increasingly difficult, as the dark fog suddenly seemed drawn to her. Thistle also noticed the smoke around his feet becoming thicker, and once again lowered his body, allowing the animals to clamber upon it.

Suddenly, the ground started to shake beneath his hooves, and Thistle turned to see a familiar dark, skull-headed creature approaching from the distance. He decided not to cry out to Fluttershy; she was so close to reaching the fruit, he didn’t want to startle the Pegasus and cause her to lose her concentration.

However, Fluttershy was having problems of her own. The closer she got to the fruit, the more she could hear sounds of taunting and mockery addressing her among the smoke.

“You can’t do it! You’re too weak! You can barely fly!” The voices teased.

Fluttershy recognised them instantly; they were the shadow ponies who accompanied the terrifying monster. Her heart began to pound as she noticed thousands of eyes appearing in the fog clouds, focusing hard upon her every movement.

“You don’t have the strength to make it!” The voices continued, “you’re just a weak little pony”

Fluttershy shook her head to try and drown them out. She could see the fruit a mere three feet away from her grasp. She reached out to it, while the shadow ponies called to her.

“A weak little pony… who is responsible for destroying Equestria!” They cackled evilly,

Wiping a tear from her eye, Fluttershy struggled to continue.

“And now all of your friends are gone… because of you!”

At those words, the pegasus limbs dropped inches away from the fruit. She started to cry, as memories of her friends being devoured by their elements filled her anxious mind.

The voices proceeded to laugh, while her wings grew heavy and her body started to descend. They were right; she couldn’t do it. The shadow engulfed her entire body, causing her to lose control and become weak and helpless. She couldn’t see the rocks any more, let alone the fruit. The eyeballs circled her, taking pleasure in her hopeless state, and she suddenly felt extremely dizzy.

Then, Fluttershy heard another voice; a very different, and very comforting voice.

“You can do it Fluttershy!” Thistle called from the ground, while the animals cheered her on. “You’re doing fantastically, fair angel of the skies!”

The fog around her seemed to disparage a little, and Fluttershy stared down at Thistle, blushing at his choice of words. He was right; she was doing well, she had almost gotten the fruit all by herself. She regained her balance, and reached out among the smoke; she had to do this, her animal friends were depending on her.

Strangely enough, the voices of the phantom ponies gradually became weaker, and the fog began to drift away. Once she was finally able to see the purple fruit, Fluttershy stretched her hooves, and flapped her wings to hoist herself towards it. Then, she grabbed it and held it close to her chest. The pegasus closed her eyes tightly, expecting some kind of dark magic to sprout from its butterfly markings, but for a moment, nothing happened.

“Oh courageous Fluttershy!” Thistle’s face beamed up at her from the ground below, “You have succeeded!”

“I…. I have….” Fluttershy opened her eyes, and smiled down at him as the smoke surrounding her began to fade.

Then, there was another roar, but this one was somewhat different to before. It was more like a cry of pain, and it was coming from down the path. The entire area began to tremble as though it was suffering the effects of a miniature earthquake.

“Fluttershy! Throw me the fruit!” Thistle called to his friend,

The pegasus complied, although she wasn’t the best at throwing and instead ended up dropping it near the base of the waterfall. Luckily, Thistle managed to dive and catch it just before it hit the floor. The donkey then followed the trail of smoke as it began to disappear, and headed towards the gigantic scaled beast who appeared to be roaring in pain near the forest entrance.

He found the monster in a devastating state, crouching upon its thick hind legs and holding its vulgar skull head in its front claws, scratching the bone while it shook from side to side beneath them. The crowd of phantom ponies watched horrified, as the creatures’ long tail swiped at them, causing them to disappear in groups at a time along with the smoke surrounding them.

Thistle wasn’t sure what to do, so he stood and watched as a giant hole suddenly appeared beneath the beasts’ body and began sucking it in. The monster struggled with all its might to pull itself from the void, but it was no use. Soon, all of the phantom ponies had been devoured, along with the beast's hind legs and tail. The hundred eyes upon its body began to dart around anxiously, and it clawed the ground manically, giving frantic cries of despair.

Thistle noticed that the forest was now completely restored to its original state; free from the blanket of fog which previously shrouded its terrain. He then heard light hoof steps, and turned to see that Fluttershy had joined him. The tired pegasus stood weakly beside the donkey, and watched wide-eyed as the monster’s upper body sank into the dark void.

As the last of the eyeballs upon the creatures’ chest began to sink, Thistle noticed a single tear fall from one of them. Then the skull head let out a final cry, and reached its front claw out towards them as best it could. Thistle gazed at the beast, then looked at the fruit which was grasped tightly in his hoof. He lifted it to his mouth and took hold of the stem, then, he charged forwards.

“Thistle… what are you….” Fluttershy called after her friend, who was racing toward the monster.

Thistle stopped meters away from the black void, and held out the fruit for the beast to take. All that was left of the monster now was the top of its roaring skull, and a single front leg which it swung in all directions. Thistle stayed calm, and stretched his neck to angle the fruit. Then, he let it fall into the palms of the monster.

The second the fruit touched the beast’s scaly flesh, there was a blinding light. Thistle closed his eyes tightly, as he, Fluttershy, and the monster were enveloped within it. When the light faded, the monster was no more, and in its place three pink butterflies fluttered delicately before them.

Fluttershy’s mouth fell open, and soon she found herself drawn to the beautiful creatures. She stood beside Thistle, and for a moment neither of them said anything.

“Do you… think that was a good idea?” Fluttershy asked hesitantly.

“He said he desired the fruit.” Replied Thistle, “in order for this world to be spared - that was the deal.”

After gathering themselves, the two smiled at each other, and the butterflies circled them, gradually picking up speed. Soon, their bodies were surrounded by a sparkling silver whirlwind. Thistle felt himself becoming lighter as he began to float in the breeze, he took hold of Fluttershy’s hoof, and started to once again drift into a dreamlike state.

The two used the last of their energy to wave goodbye to the animals who were watching and waving from the forest entrance. Then, there was another flash of blinding light, and they appeared back in the throne room.