Wings of Courage

Fluttershy cried as Lessa held her tightly, her claws showing surprising tenderness as they stroked her back. "I was afraid this would happen to you..." the green dragon said, her voice hushed with regret as she squeezed Fluttershy.

"Oh Lessa!" the cream colored pegasus wept. "I had to stay... H-he was going to kill Malik! I don't even know if he's alive!" she sniffed. Though she and Malik had seen one another only seldom, Fluttershy valued his friendship as much as any of her other companions, and her kind heart couldn't bear to see him in the state she had.

His appearance had shocked her. Why had he come? To watch over her? If that were the case, then she was thankful, glad to know that her friend had been near all the while. She didn't mind the thought that he was with her for caution's sake, for everything she had set out to accomplish she had done on her own.

But it had cost him dearly, and her just as much so. Fluttershy had never seen so much blood in her life, and the fear for his survival still clutched her hear and poured her soul into tears. She wished that, for his sake alone, he had never come to this place.

"I know," Lessa hummed quietly, rubbing cheeks with Fluttershy, emerald scales ruffling her tear-stained coat into damp spikes. "You did the right thing. My father is looking for him. Even though he attacked Nethrezir, my dad would still make sure Malik made it home safe. I just hope he finds him," Lessa said quietly, stroking Fluttershy's mane.

"What am I going to do?" the pony asked, curled into a fearful ball in Lessa's arms. "I don't want to stay here, Lessa. I'm happy that the dragons have peace with the changelings, but I need to go home! I miss my friends. They must be so worried," she said sadly, closing her eyes and nestling close.

Lessa sighed. Fluttershy had been unable to sleep since her meeting with Nethrezir the previous night, and the green dragon feared that if she did not sleep soon she would get sick, or do something she would regret in an effort to escape. "If it helps, think of yourself like... my sister. Not a prisoner," Lessa said cheerfully. "We're together in this now, and I'll look out for you. We'll find a way to get you home, I promise."

Fluttershy hiccupped in the middle of her cry, doing her best to nod though every muscle in her body trembled from the fatigue of extended sobbing and long hours without sleep. "Thank you Lessa..."

"It's the least I can do," the green dragon said warmly, setting Fluttershy down in the coil of her long tail. The cream colored pegasus looked at her with teal eyes as big as the moon, still full of tears. "You need to sleep," Lessa encouraged, doing her best to make Fluttershy comfortable.

Fluttershy nodded. "I know, but I... I can't. My heart hurts. I may never see my friends again, Malik might be dead because of me... I can't sleep, Lessa," Fluttershy sighed.

"Then I will make you," the green dragon said quietly, determination in her amber eyes.

"How?" Fluttershy asked quietly.

"By easing the pain in your heart and bringing your mind into the dream world," the dragoness replied. "I don't know what effects it might have, but I can sing you to sleep. The magic of song is our greatest gift," Lessa said, referring to her green lineage. "It's worth trying. I'm not very experienced, but I think I can," she said quietly, her eyes full of pleading.

"Alright," Fluttershy said tiredly, closing her eyes, wanting nothing more than for this to work and end her heartache for a short time.

Lessa waited a moment, gathering the words she would need, and the magic into her lungs, much as the fire-breathers did before spouting flame. But instead of heat came blessed sound, crystal clear and beautiful.

"Sleep gently now, my sister dear,

Your friends may yet be worlds apart

But even here their souls are near,

Beating loudly within your heart.

Your troubles, they are only here,

So let your tired mind depart,

To worlds where there is naught to fear,

With skies like brilliant works of art.

Soar swiftly into quiet rest,

Linger not where heartbreak breeds,

Your heart is that which knows the best,

Which call it most willingly heeds.

You need not feel such emptiness,

Your soul like wind within the reeds,

Shall seek out a more ready nest,

In lands for which your sorrow pleads.

Fly far away from this dark place,

Upon the wings of word and rhyme,

Dry the tears from your tender face,

And return to me again in time."

The green dragon could not guess the effects such strong magic would have on her dear friend's dreams, for each word was heavy with arcane power. The words were her own, the spell unique, and so she couldn't imagine anything beyond what she had intended. To bring Fluttershy to rest, and to give her peaceful dreams of her home, far away.

"Nethrezir..." Lessa growled. "Is there anything you wouldn't ruin, just to have your way?" She eyed the moon high above through the rim of Jagspire, and fell into a slumber of her own, curses for the dragon who had hurt her friend's heart resting on her lips.

Fluttershy winced as sunlight glanced into her eyes, lifting a wing to shade herself. The beam was bluish, not the usual golden light of the sun. Puzzled, she gazed around as her eyes finally adjusted to the bright, pale-blue light.

All around her heat danced in the air, blurring her vision, though she could not feel it. Harsh winds tossed the sand of the Enoxxian Wasteland around her, and through her. Beneath her, a scorpion scuttled through her right foreleg, causing her to cry out in alarm and leap into the air.

Her voice sounded as if it were coming through water, and flap as she might, her wings would not keep her aloft and she drifted slowly back to the blue-tinted sand below.

She didn't understand. The words of a strange song echoed in her mind, and she could just remember falling asleep. In that case she would be dreaming, but it was far too vivid. Every thought was conscious and real, every motion she made hers to command. It couldn't be a dream.

She watched the black scorpion scuttle away, noting with interest that something glowed white in its tiny body. A little ball of something that followed it wherever it went. She trekked closer to get a better look, unsure of what to make of it. It was obvious that the scorpion didn't noticed her as she pressed her face closer. But even so near she was unable to make out what the white thing was.

She gasped suddenly as something else walked through her, collapsing beneath her.

Something larger.

"Malik!" she cried, but her shout came out only as a watery, quiet echo. She tried desperately to touch him, to help him back up, but no matter her efforts she simply passed through him.

She watched in horror as he cried out in pain, trying to stand. She could see the hundreds of shards of shell crammed into his bloodstained flesh, and tears stained her eyes as she watched him yank out a large spike of his own hide, gasping with agony. His voice, too, seemed faraway and quiet, but she could hear him. Her heart burned with pain for him as she watched him shudder back to his hooves, taking heavy step after heavy step.

He wandered, eyes shut as he concentrated all of his effort simply on moving. Now and then he would lift his head and scan the horizon for something. He collapsed again as he stumbled on something, but once more he rose shakily to his legs and pressed on.

He too had a white ball of something in his chest. It looked like water inside a glass ball, constantly swirling and shifting, but even though it was much larger than that of the scorpion, she could still not comprehend what it was.

"Water..." she heard him whisper. "I just need... water."

Realizing there was nothing she could do for him pained her, but she was determined to try something, anything if only to make herself feel as if she were aiding him. She ran far ahead of Malik, looking through the haze of heat. She searched for many minutes, until at last she found one. A cactus patch, the only source of water in the hellish desert landscape.

She rushed back to Malik as quickly as she could. She shouted, pleaded, urged him to head in the direction of the patch that his tired eyes could not see so far away. If he kept going the way he was he would never reach it.

But scream as she might, he could not hear her, she knew. She couldn't feel the tears she knew to be welling in her eyes as she realized that Malik would die unless he reached that patch.

Desperate, she tried to shove him in that direction with all her might, dashing into him as fast as her legs could take her. As she had feared and expected, she simply passed through him, stumbling to the sand she couldn't feel.

A scream of frustration halted on her lips as she watched something spectacular.

Malik, tired and unable to help himself, stumbled in her direction with eyes closed, as if he had been nudged gently.

Fluttershy watched the sand flying about. The wind was blowing the opposite direction, so there was no way it had been a gust. She had done that.

She ran back to him, and pushed him again. Just as before, he reacted, stumbling slightly to his right, and closer to the direction of the cactus patch. Her spiritual body never seemed to tire, and so she hit him again and again, nudging him closer to the salvation, the water he needed.

At last he was on the proper path, and Fluttershy kept near him, steering him now and again anytime he got off course. At last he wandered into the green expanse. She watched with mixed joy and fear as he sawed the limb off the cactus with the shards of his own body. He must have been in such pain, she couldn't even imagine the agony his broken hide and wings were causing him.

But he drank, and he would live. Because of her, Malik would live.

She stayed by him until he rose again, seeming already as if he had more strength. She didn't know if this was a dream, or something more; all that mattered was that she could help him. She would guide him to water over and over if she had to, until the dream ended.

She watched with shock as Malik called out to somepony she hadn't seen standing there in the distance. She was even more shocked to see Zecora there. She heard Malik ask for Aurus, to be taken home. To the relief of her heart, Fluttershy saw Zecora nod, her look concerned. Silently and gently, the zebra began to tend to Malik even as he passed out, yanking out the bits of shell and washing the blood away with cactus juice.

The zebra did many other things, including grinding up cactus flowers with her hooves and mixing the juice into a paste with sand, layering it on his wounded back. Once her work was completed to the best of her ability, she got Malik onto her back and began to run. She ran like the wind.

And like the wind, Fluttershy followed.

Fluttershy watched as the healers did what they could for Malik, mending his wings and cuts, repairing his shell. She had followed Zecora for two days, and had still not awakened from this strange dream, if that's even what it was called. She didn't mind though, for her concern was too great to leave.

Upon arriving she had tried to speak to Aurus, thinking that perhaps one of her more magically attuned friends might be able to hear her. By now she had at least assumed she was witnessing things happening in the real world, though nopony was able to see or hear her. No matter her efforts, even Aurus had been unable to sense her presence.

She knew there was nothing she could do, and so she left Malik in the care of the healers as she went in search of the others. She could still see and hear them, and she wanted to discover what her friends had to say about all of this. She had grown accustomed in recent days to simply walking through things; walls, tables, creatures.

She had figured out that her passage would cause candles to flicker and other small objects, like papers, to get caught in her wake and move about. She had some variable influence on the world around her, though it seemed that in general her impact was very small in this state, whatever it was.

Though her concern for Malik was constant, her boredom during the times whenever everypony else was asleep eventually took hold. She'd done quite a bit of reflection on the little balls of water in everyponys' chests lately, though she was no closer to an answer. Some creatures had white ones, like Malik and Zecora. Some had golden colored ones, like Aurus and Twilight.

Looking at her own chest, she couldn't say that she had one like everything else, but as far as she knew, that was just because her actual body wasn't around.

She rounded the corner into Applejack's room in Cliffcrest Castle, letting the thoughts of this strange view of the world fade. There she found her friend asleep, though her rest was fitful. Zecora was staying in this room as well, it seemed, though many others were available.

Despite her mad dash to save Malik over the last two days, the Zebra was not asleep. She sat on the floor in a small ring of candles, eyes closed and front hooves held above her head. She was whispering something Fluttershy couldn't make out in a language she didn't know.

Inching closer to get a better look, Fluttershy was startled as Zecora opened her eyes and eyed the candle directly in front of her spirit. She looked slowly to the other candles, whose flames were burning tall and steady. But the flame of the candle before Fluttershy was bent, as if by a breeze, pushing away from her essence.

Fluttershy watch in curiosity as the zebra looked at her; or at least roughly, for it didn't seem that Zecora could truly see her. Only that the shamanistic pony knew something was there.

"A spirit comes, or so I see. What soul wishes to visit me? How far are you from your host? Speak with me, oh wayward ghost," the zebra sang calmly, startling Fluttershy.

"But I can't!" Fluttershy said sadly, shaking her head. "Nopony can hear me."

After many moments of silence, Zecora sighed. "Perhaps you are one I cannot hear. Yet the candle finds you. If you are there, and can understand me, bend this flame instead," Zecora said quietly, pointing to the candle on her left instead of the one Fluttershy was at.

Eager just to be heard at last, for the first time in days, Fluttershy did as she was told, moving to the other candle and poking at it with her hoof.

Zecora watched idly as it danced suddenly, the other going still. "So you do understand. This is good, for even if I cannot hear you, we may speak. I can ask you many things, to better understand you. All you must do is bend the flames to answer me. Use the one you are at now to answer no, the first to answer yes. It is simple, but it will work well, I feel," Zecora said quietly.

Fluttershy nodded, thinking that it was a fine idea. It was easy on the both of them, though it would make it difficult for Zecora to ever gather any details.

Or so she thought.

"Are you ready?" Zecora asked.

Yes.

"Good. I have felt you on the wind behind me for many days. You have been following me?"

Yes.

"Are you from this place?"

No.

"Was it me you were following?"

A moment of hesitation followed, though the answer eventually came. No.

"You follow Malik, then?"

Yes.

"His fate concerns you?"

The signal for yes flashed twice, amusing Zecora.

"You are someone who cares for him. A friend?"

Yes.

"Are you dead?" Zecora asked quietly.

Fluttershy didn't know how to respond. Her hoof hovered ready to say 'no', but she didn't honestly know. Was she dead? Or was she sleeping? If this were just a dream she should have woken by now.

"You do not know?" Zecora asked, when her answer didn't come.

No.

"I see. Do you know me?" she asked, changing the line of questioning.

Yes.

"Do I know you?"

Yes.

"You are a pony spirit?" she asked.

The candle for yes flickered over and over as Fluttershy's excitement built. Perhaps Zecora would be able to understand who she was!

"You are Fluttershy," Zecora said at length, this one not a question, but certain. The answer came anyways, the candle flickering like mad.

Yes, yes, yes!

"Applejack has told me of your trek into the north," the zebra said sadly. "Dragon lands can be dangerous. It worries me that you do not know if you are dead or not, sweet Fluttershy. When last you knew, were you safe?"

Yes.

"Then rest your heart on that, for you are likely well. Your spirit is merely lost from its body, but soon it will return. I do not know how you came to be out of your own skin, but if it is some kind of magic, it will wear off eventually. For now, rest easy. Malik is safe. I do not yet know what has happened to him. There is much Aurus has not said to me yet, and I fear we will not know until Malik wakes. Do you know what has happened to him?" the zebra asked quietly.

Yes.

"I see. I am sorry, Fluttershy, but I cannot ask much more of you. I have traveled far and am tired. In the morning I will tell your friends of your visit here and-" Zecora paused suddenly as a candle flickered.

No.

"You do not wish me to tell them?" she asked, puzzled.

No.

"I cannot ask you why; the candles cannot produce such answers. Are you certain you do not wish them to know?"

Yes.

Zecora was a silent for a time, then sighed. "Very well. I will respect your choice, though I do not understand. But for now I must take my rest; there is still much to learn about this, and I foresee that tomorrow will be difficult. I do not know how long your spirit will remain, but I hope it is long enough for you to discover the secrets to come as well," Zecora said quietly.

"Goodnight, friend Fluttershy," Zecora said at last, blowing out the candles.

"Goodnight, Zecora," Fluttershy replied, though she knew it would never be heard. She didn't want her friends to have to worry about her spirit being here. What if they thought she was dead? She didn't even know that herself, and so she didn't want to stress her friends anymore than necessary. They had enough on their hooves with Malik's horrible return.

She departed as Zecora slid into her bed, making her way to Aurus' chambers. It felt good to have talked to Zecora, to anypony after two days of silence. But though Zecora was a kind pony, she was not one of Fluttershy's closer friends. She knew that Aurus couldn't hear her, but she desired the company of one of her dearest companions. Applejack and Twilight were both asleep, but she had not yet checked on the king.

She found him awake, standing and looking out his window to the north. Her spirit took up a place next to him, silent and saying nothing, following his gaze to the top of the world, where her body remained in Ebonhome.

"Oh Fluttershy..." she heard him whisper, and it startled her.

Could he sense her, too? After many moments she realized that it was just coincidence, as he continued.

"What happened to Malik? What's happened to you?" he asked with a sad sigh. "I should never have let you go. I am the one responsible for all of this," he finished, his tone full of remorse and guilt.

"No, Aurus, it wasn't your fault!" she replied, unable to stop herself.

"My desire to protect can only reach so far, it seems. Even a king cannot help his friends far away. I should have kept you close, to keep you safe," he said, his eyes tearing up.

"Aurus..." she pleaded, but he couldn't understand her.

"I'm so sorry, Fluttershy. Please be safe. If anything has happened to you, too many hearts will break," he said, closing his eyes and turning his head from the view in the north for a moment, before he was compelled to look again. He would not sleep this night, Fluttershy knew, for his heart was too full of worry.

So she would stand with him, all through the night.

Fluttershy stood nearby as her friends discussed things. She'd been present for Aurus' early morning, 'private' conversation with Korrick, and she was saddened to find his guesses of what had happened to Malik to be very close to the truth.

She was startled as Malik barged in on the scene, bandaged and only partially healed. She wanted to call out and encourage him to go back to his bed, but knew she could not. To her surprise, Aurus allowed him to remain instead of ordering him away.

She watched with a pained expression as Malik shrank under Aurus' questioning. The ball of light in Malik's chest slowly shifted to a pale green all through the conversation. She wasn't surprised by now to learn he had been sent to watch over her.

But she was startled when Malik admitted that he had attacked the dragon in haste. Why would he do such a thing? Fluttershy had been terrified at the time, had been so concerned for Malik as he rushed into battle. Her legs had shaken, she had been unable to run like he had asked her to. Was all of that really for nothing?

"No... he never meant to kill her," Malik said quietly. "I knew from the moment I launched into the fight."

"Then why?" Aurus asked, the dam broken and his anger free. "You swore to protect her, and because of what you've done, now she's in even greater danger than before!" Aurus roared. He strode up to his friend, the friend who had lied to him, who had betrayed his trust. "Why?"

Fluttershy cringed from the look of rage on Aurus' face as he yelled at Malik. It pained her even more to know that deep down, Aurus was right. Malik's haste had made things even more difficult, but she didn't want to admit that.

She looked on with an aching heart as Malik accepted his shame, his failure, the orb in his chest a sickly green.

"I was afraid that he would take her away," Malik whispered, his heart broken by Aurus' rage and his own shame. He could not look his king in the eye after what he'd done, knowing that he had betrayed his promise to guard her willingly for the sake of his own heart.

"Selfish," Aurus accused bluntly, his voice now straining for dominance between rage and sadness. "Do you even realize the damage you've caused?" he whispered harshly.

"What would you have done?" Malik asked, suddenly angry. "What if it had been Applejack he wanted? What would you have done?"

That question didn't faze Aurus, only caused his lips to twitch in anger, the king strongly resisting the urge to bare his fangs. "I would have protected her, not endangered her! Negotiated, and if that failed, challenged him for her life. I would have found a way to free her, instead of forcing her to stay for my sake!" Aurus roared. "I would have kept my promise to her. But in the end, it was your selfishness that forced her to protect you. It was your greed that sold her out to the situation she's in!"

"I did challenge him for her life!" Malik shot back.

The orb in his chest began to churn out of control, the green color shifting suddenly to gold.

Fluttershy felt her breath catch. Malik had challenged Razorwing to a fight for her life? He couldn't!

"You can't!" she cried, her voice quiet as ever in the spirit world. "You can't, you'll die!"

Aurus echoed her sentiments, but Malik paid him no heed, his anger only rising. The ball of water glowed radiantly, blazing like a sun in his chest as he swallowed the shame and replaced it with righteous anger.

"Don't you think I know that?" Malik growled, glaring fiercely. "But what would you know of failure? Or shame? Or defeat? How would you ever know what it is like to see the one you love taken away, and feel as if you can't save her?"

Fluttershy's world stopped.

"The one you love?" she echoed, unable to believe it. Malik, quiet, confident Malik... he loved her? Was that why he had rushed to save her? Why even as his own death had been ready to crush him, he had begged her to run?

Fluttershy's spirit sank to the floor in shock, her eyes wide as her brain tried to make sense of it. He had always been friendly to her, always polite and ready to help her. They didn't talk much, but now that she thought about it he had always seemed to be around, as if he were waiting for something.

Her heart sank. He loved her, and she had brought all of this on him! Her own feelings were unreachable right now, lost in her regret. She had no idea what she felt for him, too concerned for his life. He only wanted to save her, to bring her home and away from that awful place, but she couldn't allow that. He would die if he came back!

If she had just known, she could have stopped him from following her. If she had realized sooner, she could have saved him from all the terrible things that had happened. Tears welled in her eyes as she blamed herself for all that had befallen him, the one who had loved her and she had never known.

"Malik, don't..." she begged, reaching out for him. "I don't want you to die!"

He couldn't hear her, and she listened with shock as Zecora offered herself to the cause as well.

"No..." she gasped quietly, images of her friends dying at the claws of Razorwing flitting through her mind. Spike's name was added to the list, and Fluttershy's heart broke.

"Please, don't!" she screamed, but her voice no longer sounded silent as the bluish veil of the world around her collapsed into blackness. It shattered like glass, shards of the images raining down around her as the void left behind filled her vision with awful darkness.

With a gasp, Fluttershy woke at last.

Lessa dropped the bowl she was carrying suddenly, rushing over as Fluttershy shot awake.

"Oh Maltirith!" she cried, picking the pony up off the window-seat and hugging her tight. "Oh Maltirith, you're alive!" the green dragon sobbed, hugging her tight.

"Lessa... Lessa, what's going on?" Fluttershy asked, immobilized by the force of the loving dragon's embrace.

"I cast my sleep spell on you, but you wouldn't wake up!" Lessa sniffed, squeezing her again. "I thought you'd never wake up..."

"Lessa, it's okay!" Fluttershy squeaked, not a speck of her cream-colored hide visible in the living, emerald hug that was Lessa. "Lessa I'm fine!"

Lessa dropped Fluttershy as she wriggled to get free of the crushing embrace. Once the two of them had calmed down a little, the female dragon spoke up again. "What happened to you?"

"My dream... It wasn't a dream, it was real," Fluttershy said quietly. "I saw everything... Malik's alive, but something terrible is going to happen," Fluttershy said, her eyes tearing up.

"What do you mean?" Lessa asked, a cold feeling in her stomach as Fluttershy's tone neared panic.

"Malik and my friends are coming back to try and save me. Razorwing is going to kill them!" Fluttershy wailed.

"Oh gods, no," Lessa replied, her gaze faraway as that though struck home. Their deaths didn't concern her personally, but on Fluttershy's behalf her fear and shock were genuine. "What... what can we do?"

After a long silence, Fluttershy's voice broke the stillness, oddly calm.

"Vergoth," she whispered quietly.

"What?"

"Send your dad out to stop them, before it's too late," Fluttershy pleaded. "He can keep them away from here, keep them safe," she said quietly.

"Fluttershy..."

"Please, Lessa," the cream colored pegasus begged, tears in her eyes. "I can't let them die."

The green dragon sighed, and stroked her mane gently. This could be her chance at salvation. The odds were not strongly in favor of her friends, but if they could kill Nethrezir and save her, she would be free. But their lives were of more worth to her than her own, Lessa knew. Just as Fluttershy's life was infinitely precious to her.

"Anything for you, sister."