Filly Fluttershy: Uprising

Chapter 11: Luna, Goddess of Nature

Without saying a word, Fluttershy reached the end of the hallway and leapt through the portal to her next mission. Gray, cloudy skies hung above her as the power of flight took hold of her wings, and she could feel the cold air rushing against her face and seeping through her tunic. Several days had passed since her and Celestia’s failed mission in the volcano, the Phoenix’s demise, and the setting of Discord’s plan into motion. She didn’t have to look any further than at the ground below to see the fruits of his schemes.

“The Earth ponies have gone to war with one another,” Celestia said. “They’re killing each other over Discord’s fantasy.”

Mountains and ridges were spread across the horizon in every direction, but the terrain below was flat for miles. Nestled among the mountains on one side of the flatland was a walled city, while a second walled city stood at the other end. In between the two cities, tens or perhaps hundreds of thousands of Earth pony soldiers charged at each other. Trebuchets, breaching towers, and other siege weapons were built behind the battlelines, with the trebuchets hurling fiery stones across the battlefield as ponies fought in the middle.

Fluttershy raised a hoof to her muzzle. “Oh no,” she said. “It looks like entire nations are fighting each other.”

Smoke billowed into the air as several fires raged among the houses in both cities. The armies couldn’t be laying siege to either city, Fluttershy thought, not while they were still fighting outside the walls. Maybe the townsponies were turning on one another within their own cities, all for that fake wish. Fluttershy’s gaze turned up toward the skies, where a swarm of Underworld enemies circled the battlefield overhead.

“The Underworld Army is here to gather souls,” Celestia said. “Clearly they expect many casualties. We can’t stop a war of this magnitude. Focus on the Underworld Army.”

“I’m on it,” Fluttershy said.

Equipped to Fluttershy’s foreleg was a cannon barrel made of rushing water seemingly contained within a golden frame. The gold around the cannon’s muzzle flared back, resembling a crown. Fluttershy aimed her weapon, the Poseidon Cannon, at five Monoeyes and fired. A high-pressure burst of water launched from the cannon, exploding on contact with one of the Monoeyes with enough force to wipe out all five. Fluttershy aimed at another group of Monoeyes and fired, shooting them down with a barrage of smaller jets of high-pressure water. Syrens and Miks descended toward the warring ponies, and Fluttershy opened fire on them as well.

“This is going just as Discord planned,” she said.

“He spread the rumor about the Wish Seed, and the Earth ponies were fooled into believing it,” Celestia said. She guided Fluttershy’s path toward a group of Underworld monsters as they descended on the Earth ponies. “I asked a few gods and goddesses to urge the ponies not to chase after it, perhaps even threaten to rescind their divine protection if necessary. Unfortunately, that wasn’t enough.”

“If only we had a chance to tell them that the Wish Seed was a fake,” Fluttershy said. She blasted a group of Monoeyes with her weapon, then surveyed the battlefield once more. Burning rocks exploded as they landed amid the battlelines, tearing through troop formations and the Earth ponies within them. A cavalry charge made its way through the warzone, each pony wielding a polearm as they went, while a hail of arrows soared through the air above their heads. “Now look at them. It’s like they’ve lost their minds.”

She fired a barrage of water jets at a pair of Miks. A group of Syrens flew down from the clouds above, turning their attention to Fluttershy herself instead of the war below. Fluttershy aimed the Poseidon Cannon at them as they began to circle her, shooting down a few with the weapon’s rapid fire.

Suddenly, Fluttershy heard a gasp from Celestia. She felt her body being wrenched away from the battlefield as the power of flight took hold, even as a scattering of Underworld monsters descended from the clouds. A moment later, a harsh light seemed to burn its way through the cloud cover.

“What’s wrong?” she asked.

“I have to pull you back, now!” Celestia said.

Before Fluttershy knew what was happening, the light grew harsher, and then a burning object pierced through the cloud cover and hurtled to the ground. The object struck the middle of the battlefield, followed by a blinding white flash, and then a massive explosion that emanated from the impact site. Fluttershy’s wings beat harder, pulling her away from the explosion as it engulfed the battlefield, then the two walled cities, and finally the surrounding mountains.

Celestia’s magic brought Fluttershy to an eventual stop as the explosion slowed and eventually subsided. Fluttershy turned around, and her breath caught in her throat. A pink glow shimmered and radiated off of the clouds as they swirled around the impact site, except for a massive hole in the cloud cover directly above it. Strong winds emanated from the site, carrying dirt and debris across the ridges and valleys with that same pink glow. And at the center of the impact site, where there should have been an enormous crater, there was instead a massive dome of what looked like roots and branches all woven together, all radiating that same glow.

“Wh-What was that?!” Fluttershy stammered.

Laughter echoed across the land, and the image of a dark blue alicorn loomed over the landscape and stood next to the glowing dome. A black tiara rested over the alicorn’s starry blue mane, and a black chestpiece with a white crescent moon adorned her chest.

“Superb aim, if I do say so myself,” she said, before her tone of voice changed to a booming shout. “GOOD RIDDANCE, EARTH PONY SCUM! THE WORLD IS BETTER OFF WITHOUT YE!”

“That was the Goddess of Nature, Luna,” Celestia said as the alicorn’s image faded away. “Fluttershy, go investigate.”

“I-I’m on it,” Fluttershy said.

Led by Celestia’s magic, she flew toward the impact site. Small dots emerged from the dome and spread through the surrounding skies. As Fluttershy drew closer, she could make out a group of large chestnuts, each with a single yellow eye and a pair of insect wings. A few surviving Monoeyes rose up and began to engage the chestnut monsters, known as Nutskis.

“So thou art the esteemed Goddess of Light, Princess Celestia,” Luna said. “Thou hast been busy, so I have heard.”

“And you’re Luna,” Celestia said. “Ruler of the earth and all living things.”

“I see my reputation precedes me as well,” Luna replied.

“Why have you done this?!” Fluttershy asked. She flew past the Monoeyes and Nutskis as they exchanged fire with each other. A couple of blue pods, each with an exposed orange core underneath its rocky shell, hovered toward the creatures. One of the pods—called Trynamites—exploded, releasing three fragments of its core that each hurtled at one of the Monoeyes.

“Earth ponies are driven by selfish desires,” Luna said. “They think not of anything but themselves. What was it that they were killing each other for? A wish?! A FAKE WISH?! THEY’VE STRAYED TOO FAR FROM THEIR INTENDED PATH! THUS WE HAVE DEPLOYED OUR RESET BOMBS, TO RETURN EARTH TO ITS NATURAL STATE!”

A few surviving Syrens circled the skies in front of the dome, trading fire with a group of creatures with green, stalklike legs and bodies. The creatures, called Bladers, soared on bladed leaflike arms and fired beams at the Syrens from their single large yellow eyes.

“But aren’t Earth ponies living beings too?” Celestia asked as she guided Fluttershy closer to the dome. “Yet you think nothing of exterminating them?”

“Ironic, coming from thee,” Luna said. “Thou seemst to have no qualms slaughtering Underworld forces.”

“Th-That’s not the same thing,” Fluttershy murmured.

“We’re defending the earth and heavens from those who seek their destruction,” Celestia said. Her magic brought Fluttershy up to the outside of the dome, and then led her around it. A glowing pink haze swirled around the dome’s surface, partially obscuring the tangled mess of roots that formed its exterior. Before long, they found a gap in the roots that led inside. “Let’s take a closer look, Fluttershy.”

Guided by Celestia’s magic, Fluttershy flew in through the gap, taking care to avoid the haze that flowed out. The pink glow that radiated from the dome and everything for miles around it also permeated everything inside. A network of branches extended all throughout its interior, with bunches of vines wrapping between them like cobwebs. As Fluttershy looked on, she could even find the occasional chunk of stone that had been skewered by a branch and now lay suspended in the air. But there wasn’t a single animal roaming around inside, and if there was any sign of any green plant amidst the overbearing pink glow, Fluttershy couldn’t find it.

Instead, she found more of Luna’s troops. Dibble Dops, which resembled hovering pitcher plants with a yellow eye on their top leaves, floated by, while several creatures that looked vaguely like uprooted tree trunks crawling on their roots rested on nearby branches. The latter creatures, called Pew Pews, each bore a chunk of rock that was hewn into the shape of a cannon barrel, with a section of log whose rings resembled a bullseye over their faces. The Pew Pews turned along their roots, seemingly to keep facing Fluttershy as she flew by, which elicited a shudder from her.

“This is a pretty twisted version of nature,” Fluttershy said.

“EARTH PONIES DECIMATE THE TREES AND EXPLOIT BOTH THE LAND AND ITS CREATURES!” Luna bellowed. “THEY ARE THE TWISTED ONES! THEY ARE ENEMIES OF LIFE ITSELF!”

Fluttershy winced as Luna’s voice boomed in her ear. She then raised an eyebrow when Luna spoke again, this time in a normal tone.

“Tell me, Celestia,” Luna said, “why do they deserve special treatment?”

“Because, of all creatures, ponies are closest to the gods,” Celestia said. “And unlike the unicorns and pegasi that serve us, Earth ponies are bound to the land by a special connection. Despite their faults, they work to maintain the earth that they live on. Gods cannot intervene in their affairs as you have, Luna. You have no right.”

“No right?!” Luna said. “Earth ponies trample over the rights of all other living things! Should I do nothing and allow them to continue destroying the earth?! No, I must exterminate them all before it is too late!”

“There’s just no reasoning with her,” Celestia’s voice whispered in Fluttershy’s ear.

“I have to admit, she makes a good point,” Fluttershy said. “But wiping out the Earth ponies? That can’t be the answer. It’s just not right.”

“I agree completely, which is why I’m authorizing you to engage her troops,” Celestia said. “Luna, you’ve given us no choice but to oppose you.”

“Brave of thee,” Luna said. “But I must warn thee. The Forces of Nature are nothing like the Underworld troops to which thou art accustomed.”

Four Nutskis emerged from behind a tree branch ahead of Fluttershy. Fluttershy flinched, and accidentally fired a blast from her cannon. The charge shot missed the Nutskis entirely, but struck a tree branch and exploded, throwing a nearby Pew Pew off. The Nutski’s shells opened, and each one spat a large seed at Fluttershy. Fluttershy swerved to dodge, then fired back with a barrage of water jets. Bladers and Dibble Dops emerged from behind the surrounding branches, along with another creature consisting of a stout, uprooted tree with a thundercloud for a canopy, called a Zert. She panicked, flinching at each new enemy as it appeared and turned her cannon on each of them.

A seed from one of the Nutskis struck Fluttershy in the chest. She grunted in pain and raised her weapon, but another seed hit her barrel, followed by a third one to her left shoulder. A fourth seed grazed her wing, and the rhythm of her wingbeats faltered. She fell for a few feet before the power of flight reasserted itself, and her wings flapped frantically to keep her in the air. Her chest and shoulder still sore, she aimed the Poseidon Cannon and fired. Her weapon’s blast struck a Nutski and exploded, hitting several more within its blast radius.

A Blader fired a beam at Fluttershy from its eye as it flew past. Fluttershy swerved to dodge, aimed her weapon, and fired back with a jet of water. Another group of monsters floated down in a circle around Fluttershy, each one resembling a four-legged water strider. The creatures, called Parashooters, sported a single yellow eye on their bodies and scythe-like blades on their forearms, while their slender, vinelike hind legs held onto a large leaf like a parachute. Fluttershy aimed the Poseidon Cannon and opened fire, shredding their bodies with its barrage of jets.

“WE ARE AMAZED THOU HAST SURVIVED THIS LONG, FLUTTERSHY!” Luna bellowed. “PERHAPS THOU SHOULDST MEET THE WARRIOR WE HOOFPICKED TO DEPLOY WITH OUR RESET BOMB. COME FORTH, BIG MACINTOSH!”

Fluttershy’s eyes darted from left to right, checking behind every branch and every vine. She turned, aiming the Poseidon Cannon as she looked for any more of Luna’s forces. A yellow light caught Fluttershy’s eye from up above, growing brighter with each passing second. She looked up, only for a falling object to rush right past her on its way down. The resulting turbulence sent her tumbling through the air, and she screamed as her body spun out of control.

“Fluttershy!” Celestia called out.

The yellow aura around Fluttershy’s wings flickered and then winked out, and Celestia could only watch as Fluttershy plummeted toward the depths of the Reset Bomb’s forest, her body tumbling through the air on its way down.

* * * * * * * * * *

Fluttershy’s body slammed into a tree branch as she plummeted through the forest. She hit another branch underneath it, and then tumbled through a mesh of vines that hung from the lower branches. Her body hit a third branch, and then landed on her barrel on a fourth branch below it. Her backside slid from the branch before her forelegs could hold onto it, and she fell again, hitting the ground and landing on her back. She lay still for several moments, letting the throbbing pain wash over her and waiting in case the ground beneath her gave out and sent her into another fall.

“Are you okay, Fluttershy?” Celestia asked.

“O-o-oww…” Fluttershy croaked out. Every part of her ached. If it wasn’t an impact from one of the tree branches, it was one of her legs or wings having been painfully yanked by the vines she had fallen through. She groaned as she rolled onto her side, and then again as she brought her hooves under her. She was going to have a few new bruises, but nothing felt broken or twisted as she started to stand back up, putting more weight on each of her free hooves. She could at least be grateful that the forest above broke her fall; it could have been a lot worse.

“FLUTTERSHY, THOU ART THE CAPTAIN OF CELESTIA’S GUARD, CORRECT?” Luna’s voice boomed. “WE LOOK FORWARD TO SEEING HOW THOU FAREST AGAINST BIG MACINTOSH.”

Fluttershy winced again at the sound of Luna’s voice in her ear. She could swear that the pain from her fall was helping blunt the pain of Luna’s shouting in her head, but she still didn’t need either right now.

“Be careful, Fluttershy,” Celestia said. “We don’t know what else Luna has in store, and without you, all I have are the Centurion guards.”

Fluttershy looked around at her surroundings. Branches and tree trunks wove their way along the earth around her as they rose up into the sky, with the trunk of one tree seemingly splitting in two as it twisted around the path in front of her like an archway. She began to walk through the arch, raising an eyebrow at a pair of fuschia crystal formations that grew out of either side of the tree’s trunk.

“I’ll do my best,” Fluttershy said. “But why does Luna keep… speaking like that?”

“That depends on what you’re referring to,” Celestia said. “Believe it or not, languages evolve over time, and what may have sounded normal centuries ago can sound alien to ponies today. Of course, we gods have very long lifespans, and because Luna doesn’t get out very often, at least compared to other gods, her speech remains a bit… antiquated.”

“Excuse me,” Luna said. “What right dost thou have to judge my speech?!”

“Quod erat demonstrandum,” Fluttershy muttered.

A large hole sat at the center of the ground ahead of Fluttershy, with the trunk of another tree rising out of it. Fluttershy stepped toward the edge of the hole, peered down, and then quickly took a step back. The forest continued down for what must have been hundreds of feet, and she couldn’t even see the bottom of the forest floor through the hole. She glanced around at the ground she was standing on. A large outcropping sat to her left, with roots snaking along the ground under it and spiked crystal formations growing out of the roots. It occurred to Fluttershy that the “ground” she was standing on had been uprooted from the earth, either by the explosion or the forest growing underneath it.

“H-Help,” a voice groaned.

Fluttershy looked further along the outcropping and saw an Earth pony trapped against it by a group of vines. The pony was lightly armored, and Fluttershy could see a light brown coat, a brown mane, and an hourglass cutie mark. His body was slumped against the mesh of vines, too tired or weak to pry himself loose, but he managed to stretch out a hoof toward Fluttershy.

“Look, there are survivors!” Fluttershy said.

“Impossible!” Luna said. “My Reset Bomb should have left no trace.”

“They are more stubborn than you realize, Luna,” Celestia said. “Set free any of them you find, Fluttershy. I’ll use my magic to send them somewhere safe.”

“Stubborn indeed,” Luna said. “Like roaches they are.”

Fluttershy raised the Poseidon Cannon, aiming it at the vines ensnaring the Earth pony, but then stopped herself. She pointed the weapon several feet away from the Earth pony, toward the ground, and fired. A blast of water launched from the cannon’s muzzle, exploding when it hit the ground. Fluttershy then aimed back at the vines trapping the Earth pony and fired a stream of water jets from her weapon. Her shots tore through the vines, releasing the Earth pony, who then collapsed to the ground.

The Earth pony took a moment, then began to struggle to his knees. “Thank you…” he managed as a shaft of yellow light shone down on him from above. The shaft of light vanished, taking the Earth pony with it.

“At least they’re grateful,” Fluttershy murmured before making her way past the outcropping on three hooves.

“GRATEFUL?!” Luna shouted. “HA, WE HAVE NEVER KNOWN GRATITUDE TO MEAN SEEKING A WISH BEHIND THE BACKS OF ONE’S PATRON GODS!”

Fluttershy squeezed her eyes shut and gritted her teeth as the sound of Luna’s voice boomed in her skull. “Why are you…” she started to say, then gave it another thought. “Why is she yelling?”

“Another holdover from the distant past,” Celestia muttered. “Often gods would use it either to address their subjects or to talk down to mortals. And I suspect Luna had some trouble mastering speaking through divine telepathy.”

“What did I say to thee about mocking me?” Luna seethed.

“I’ll consider it if you can speak normally to Fluttershy,” Celestia said. “Like you said, she is the captain of my troops. That entitles her to a certain amount of respect.”

“She is an underling, Celestia,” Luna said, “and I shall address her as such.”

“I wouldn’t call the pony who vanquished Nightmare Moon an underling,” Celestia said.

“A feat she accomplished with the aid of an alicorn goddess and a set of divine armaments tailor-made for the task,” Luna replied. “Consider me unimpressed.”

Giant roots and branches wrapped around the ground on either side of Fluttershy’s path as she went. Considering how high up she was, she began to wonder if they were cradling the ground she stood on, until she saw a section of stone wall at the end of the path. She couldn’t tell if the section of wall belonged to the outside city walls or a castle, but was snapped out of her thoughts when she heard a groan to her left. Another Earth pony was trapped between a rock formation and a mesh of vines, trying to break free. Fluttershy aimed the Poseidon Cannon away, firing off a blast of water that exploded in the distance. She then aimed her weapon at the vines and fired, tearing through the Earth pony’s restraints. The Earth pony slumped to the ground, with barely a second to recover before a shaft of light shone down and she disappeared.

Fluttershy continued toward the stone wall, where she noticed a tunnel that had been built into the base. She dropped into the tunnel and began to follow it. “There are still some buildings here,” she said.

“This must have been one of the cities caught within the blast,” Celestia said.

“Reset Bombs will not harm wildlife or natural habitats,” Luna said. “Their only purpose is the obliteration of Earth ponies.”

Fluttershy paused for a moment and glanced back toward the opening of the tunnel behind her. “I don’t see any wildlife here,” she muttered.

“In just mere years, this land shall be completely covered in green,” Luna said. “Flowers will bloom, trees will grow, and the natural food chain will reassert itself. It will be the Earth ponies’ winter and the beginning of Nature’s spring!”

“Nature?” Celestia said. “As in the natural order or your own realm? You wouldn’t be the first god or goddess to expand your influence by trampling mortalkind underhoof. Detonating a weapon with such force? There is nothing natural about that.”

“Thou thinkest me so selfish, Celestia?” Luna said. “So hungry for power? Thou seemst to be forgetting thy plea to the gods. Five of them threatened to rescind their protection and gifts to the Earth ponies at thine request. It seems that the Earth ponies prefer their wish—their own power—over their gods’ blessings, and yet thou side with them.”

Fluttershy reached the end of the tunnel and paused as she surveyed the chamber before her. Stone wall and wood paneling stood along some sections of the chamber, while rough, gray stone and dirt surrounded the rest, and even made up the ground she stood on. Giant roots tore through earth and masonry alike as they wove through the chamber, lit with a purple hue by the glowing, spiky crystal growing from some of them. The Reset Bomb had blown apart so much of the land and towns, it was getting harder to tell what used to be what.

A mesh of roots and vines wove their way through the room, dividing it in two, and a Zert hovered closeby. Fluttershy aimed her cannon at the creature and fired. The blast of water detonated, smashing the Zert’s body apart and tearing through a section of the vines. Fluttershy walked toward the destroyed section, peeking through the gaps in the vines where she could. A Pew Pew stood on the other side of the vines, along with another Zert. Fluttershy aimed her weapon through the opening in the vines and fired at the Pew Pew, blasting it to bits. The thundercloud above the Zert’s head sparked, and a field of electricity expanded from the creature. Fluttershy leapt back from the electricity and fired a stream of water jets from her cannon, shooting down the creature.

Fluttershy looked back and forth from one side of the chamber to the other, and then glanced back at the half of the chamber behind her. With the chamber clear of enemies, she moved forward on three legs, heading toward another tunnel at the other end of the chamber. “Princess Celestia?” she asked, looking down at her weapon. “Where did you find this cannon?”

“It was a gift from Poseidon,” Celestia said. “He wanted to thank us for eliminating the Underworld presence in his sea. What do you think of it?”

“I’m not really sure,” Fluttershy said. “It’s a nice weapon, but cannons are always so slow and unwieldy.”

“It’s not the easiest class of weapon for a pony to use,” Celestia said. “Even so, it won’t be long before Earth ponies devise something like it.”

“What?!” Luna shouted. “They cannot be trusted with this technology! They would shoot at and destroy everything in sight!”

“Does anypony else see the irony in that?” Celestia said.

Fluttershy replied with a muted “yes,” but was drowned out by a “no” from Luna.

The second tunnel led into another seemingly underground chamber. To the left side of the chamber, a set of stone steps led to a section of city wall. Cobblestones lay between the foot of the steps and the wall, and a crumbled well sat at the center of it. Fluttershy continued through the chamber and stepped through a hole on the other side. More cobblestones lay at her hooves, leading into what appeared to be the inside of a silo. She cocked her head at the sight of the structure around her. The surrounding walls looked weathered and cracked, despite being on the interior. Even so, roots and branches tore through the structure and snaked their way up the length of it.

A jump pad rested on the ground in front of Fluttershy’s hooves. She stepped onto it, and it catapulted her up the silo and onto one of the branches above. Looking around, she spotted a hole in the silo’s ceiling, several more branches leading to it, and a jump pad on each of them. She stepped onto another jump pad, which bounced her to the next branch, and then took the next jump pad afterward. She landed on a branch directly underneath the hole, and next to the last jump pad. The last jump pad took her through the ceiling, and she landed on a massive chunk of earth. Two Nutskis flitted above her, while a Blader circled the air, and a fourth enemy resembling a large flower stood across from her. The flower sported three pink and orange petals, with a single yellow eye in the center of them, while its stem split apart into four stubby legs.

The flower monster—called a Lethinium—spotted Fluttershy, and a laser shot out of its eye. Fluttershy stumbled out of the laser’s way, then galloped as the Lethinium turned on its legs, tracking her with its laser. She leapt behind a nearby outcropping, taking cover behind the chunk of rock as the laser swept over it. The Blader soared overhead, and she fired the Poseidon Cannon at it. She then glanced up as the two Nutskis flitted over the outcropping, aimed her weapon, and shot them down with a barrage of water jets.

The Lethinium’s laser stopped firing, and Fluttershy emerged from behind the rock. She fired a blast of water at the Lethinium, which exploded on contact and destroyed the creature. She glanced from side to side as she kept her weapon leg raised, checking for more enemies while taking in her surroundings. Glowing purple vines grew along the sides of the surrounding rock walls, and above her head, Fluttershy could see massive branches rise up into the air. A raised wooden walkway rose above the chunk of earth she stood on, and a nearby ramp led up onto the walkway.

“Thou enjoy eating, dost thou not, Fluttershy?” Luna asked.

Fluttershy raised an eyebrow and frowned. “What are you implying?” she asked.

“Well, everything thou eatest comes from nature,” Luna replied. “So if nature nourishes thine body, WHY ART THOU USING IT TO FIGHT OUR FORCES?!”

Fluttershy flinched and then froze in place, hit by both the boom of Luna’s voice in her skull and the goddess’ scolding tone shaking her to her core.

“WELL?!” Luna demanded.

“I-I mean,” Fluttershy stammered. “It’s not like I’m eating your army or anything!”

“Actually, I’ve heard that the Forces of Nature are quite tasty,” Celestia said.

“WHAT?!” both Luna and Fluttershy shouted.

“Apparently, they’re especially delicious when paired with a hard cheese,” Celestia added.

“That is entirely untrue!” Luna said. “DO NOT BELIEVE HER LIES!”

Fluttershy raised an eyebrow, then shook her head and headed up the ramp. She followed the wooden walkway, which led to another Earth pony—a gray mare with a cutie mark depicting a treble clef—trapped against the rock wall by a mesh of vines. She aimed the Poseidon Cannon away and fired, once again letting the weapon’s charge shot explode away from the ensnared pony. She then aimed the weapon at the vines trapping the mare. The mare’s eyes darted from the explosive blast of water to the muzzle of the cannon now aimed in her direction, and she shut her eyes and flinched. Instead, the Poseidon Cannon fired a series of water jets, tearing apart the vines and freeing her. The mare collapsed to the ground. After a moment, she opened her eyes and looked down at the ground, then back up at Fluttershy, before a ray of light shone down on her and she vanished.

Something caught Fluttershy’s eye, and she leapt back when she spotted a Dibble Dop and a Zert floating about her. Frantically, she fired the Poseidon Cannon at the Zert. The blast of water exploded and destroyed the Zert, but the Dibble Dop swerved away. Its body expanded, and it spat a burst of water of its own from its mouth. Fluttershy sidestepped the burst of water, which erupted into a geyser when it hit the ground. She then fired several water jets from her weapon, shooting the monster down.

The wooden walkway led onto a ledge that overlooked the rest of the uprooted landmass. Fluttershy stepped onto the ledge and continued on, but came to a stop when she saw a Trynamite hovering ahead of her. She started to back away, but the Trynamite broke apart, releasing three fragments of its core that then hurtled toward her. Fluttershy jumped to the side, and the three pieces crashed into the ground. She then heard a crackling sound behind her and spun around to find a Zert generating an electrical field. She hopped back, aimed her cannon, and fired a burst of water. The charge shot passed through the Zert’s electricity and exploded with a rush of water, destroying the creature.

Fluttershy’s eyes traced the path from the ledge back to the walkway, her cannon raised as she glanced up at the air for flying enemies and back down to the lower ground. She turned around, keeping her weapon leg up as she looked down the path ahead for more of Luna’s troops, and then breathed a sigh of relief. She could feel her heart pounding in her chest, but continued down the length of the ledge. She reached the end of the landmass, where a pair of grind rails were waiting for her.

“You can’t go any farther, so I created a set of grind rails,” Celestia said. “The trees tangle together from here, but I was able to wind the rails around them.”

“Calling thee a snake would be an insult to snakes!” Luna said. “But thou art crafty.”

Fluttershy looked out across the landscape ahead, then hopped onto the rails with her three free hooves. As the rails carried her, she could see the ground far below, or at least a much larger chunk of uprooted landmass. All around her, the trunks of massive trees rose up and entwined with one another. The Reset Bomb had grown them less than an hour ago, but from the thickness of them, they could’ve just as easily been thousands of years old.

Several Nutskis emerged from behind the trees and moved toward Fluttershy in a swarm. Fluttershy raised her weapon, but as the grind rails wove their way around the tree trunks, she spotted several more converging on her from behind. In a surge of panic, her hooves fidgeted, as if trying to find somewhere to back away to, but the magic in the grind rails kept them firmly in place. She fired her weapon, first launching a burst of water that exploded amidst several Nutskis, then firing a stream of water jets at the others. A pair of Zerts lunged at her from behind a nearby tree, and two Pew Pews were perched on the branches around her, the sections of log covering their cannon barrel faces splitting open and flipping upward. Fluttershy shut her eyes, firing blindly at the enemies as they emerged.

Through the telepathic void, Fluttershy could hear the slap of a hoof against somepony’s forehead. “Fluttershy,” Celestia said. “I was relieved when I saw that you were no longer frightened by the Underworld forces, and it’s a bit disconcerting to see you startled anew by Luna’s army.”

Fluttershy opened her eyes. She looked around, but found no sign of any of Luna’s troops. “I’m sorry,” she squeaked.

“Just press on for now,” Celestia said. “I will find it more comforting when you are no longer flinching at cannon fodder.”

Fluttershy raised an eyebrow and glanced down at her weapon. “What are the odds you would say that when I’m using a cannon?” she asked.

“The author seems to enjoy terrible puns,” Celestia said. “I wouldn’t be surprised.”

“My forces are not cannon fodder, Celestia,” Luna seethed.

“Well of course not,” Celestia said. “They’re food.”

“I will only say this once, Goddess of Light,” Luna said. “Do not eat my troops!”

The grind rails came to a stop, dropping off Fluttershy on a stretch of cobblestone road that was cradled between the branches and trunks of what looked like several trees. The road led onto an earthen halfpipe structure that seemed to slope and twist like a giant water slide, but at the center of the road rested a golden gyroscopic device. The device’s thick horizontal ring housed a smaller gyroscopic control module on its front, with two wings made of light spreading out from it. The thinner vertical ring looped on the inside of the outer ring, crossing the outer band on its left and right sides.

“An Aether Ring?” Fluttershy said.

“It’s strange to find one here,” Celestia thought aloud. “We may as well make use of it.”

Fluttershy approached the Aether Ring, ducked her head under its horizontal ring, and climbed into it. Her hind legs had barely had a chance to enter into the device when her body floated off the ground. She let out a soft “eep!” as she was pulled into the center of the Aether Ring, facing forward with her forelegs in front of the control module, and the device hovered off the ground. She glanced at the Poseidon Cannon covering her right foreleg, but placed both free hoof and weapon leg on the module, and the Aether Ring began to move forward.

Fluttershy drove the device onto the halfpipe, which began to twist to the right almost as soon as it sloped downward. The curve was gentle at first, but quickly became a sharper turn, and Fluttershy found herself hitting the sides of the halfpipe as she tried to navigate the curve. Thankfully, the Aether Ring bounced harmlessly off the wall and continued down the slope, and though Fluttershy was a bit jolted, she continued along with it.

A pair of Zerts hovered inside of the halfpipe ahead of Fluttershy. Fluttershy moved her hoof along the control module, which fired a stream of energy spheres, shooting down the Zerts. The halfpipe curved left, and a pair of Nutskis and a Pew Pew waited for her around the bend. One of the Nutskis spat a large seed at Fluttershy. Fluttershy tapped the control module with her hoof, and a blue barrier formed around the outside of the Aether Ring. The Aether Ring’s controls locked, but the device still carried enough momentum and slammed into the two Nutskis. The barrier turned off after a few seconds, and Fluttershy worked the Aether Ring’s controls, taking out the surviving Pew Pew with a few energy spheres.

A mostly flat stretch of earth met Fluttershy at the end of the halfpipe, with a rockwall surrounding nearly every side of it and forming a sort of basin. A single raised ledge rose on the left side of the stretch of earth, and looming over the entire basin was a massive tree that rose high into the Reset Bomb forest’s sky. Part of the trunk broke through the ground at the far end of the ledge, and Fluttershy could see the tree’s root network wrap around the basin’s rockface on either side. A group of Nutskis and Bladers flew over the area, and Fluttershy worked the Aether Ring’s controls, aiming and firing at them.

“What’s an Aether Ring doing here anyway?” she asked.

“That’s a good question,” Celestia said. “Luna?”

“WE… I deployed it for my army to use,” Luna said. “But none proved capable of piloting the device.”

“I’m not surprised,” Celestia said.

“You didn’t think of that before?” Fluttershy asked as she fired at a Lethinium.

“AND WHEN, PRAY TELL, WOULD WE HAVE HAD TIME TO CONSIDER THAT WHILST THOU ATTACKED OUR FORCES?!” Luna bellowed.

Fluttershy winced, but then raised an eyebrow. “We attacked?” she murmured. “But you’re the one who dropped the Reset Bomb.”

Fluttershy shot down the last Nutski and then piloted the Aether Ring to the other end of the basin. A short ledge rose above the ground, too high for the Aether Ring to float onto but low enough for her climb even with the Poseidon Cannon on her foreleg. She pulled her hooves from the control module and placed her free hoof on the Aether Ring’s horizontal bar. Yanking herself toward the bar, she slid hindlegs first through the bottom gap in the Aether Ring, landing on her back the moment gravity took hold of her body again. She rose back onto her three free legs and then climbed onto the ledge.

The path ahead took a left turn, and rocky ground once again gave way to cobblestones. To the right, Fluttershy could see the dome of roots and branches that enclosed the Reset Bomb forest, and even some of the horizon beyond. The sky was still a bright hot pink, and bits of white light in the shape of petals swirled up into the air all around, as if caught in an updraft that spanned the entire forest. It was a pretty sight, Fluttershy thought, forgetting for a moment what caused it in the first place. She stepped closer to the edge of the path and looked down, and she felt her stomach drop. It was still a long way down, but at least now she thought she could make out the shape of a crater at the bottom.

Fluttershy turned left and continued down the path. A section of circular stone wall stood to the side on her left, and at the base of the wall sat a large pond. Fluttershy’s eyes widened as she approached the pond and saw steam billowing up from it.

“Look at the size of this hot spring,” Fluttershy said. She waded into the middle of the spring, found a spot where the water reached up to her belly, and lied down. She let out a sigh as the water soaked through her fur and its heat seeped into her muscles. Her body still ached from her injuries against Luna’s troops and the fall she took, but she could feel the pain from them melt away.

“Celestia,” Luna said, sounding perplexed. “Is it normal for the captain of thine army to lie down in the midst of combat?”

“For a hot spring, yes,” Celestia said.

“I fail to understand the appeal,” Luna said.

“You’ve never been in one before?” Fluttershy asked.

“It depends on who you ask, Luna,” Celestia said. “If you ask Pit, your answer is best found doing some light research on Japanese culture. In Fluttershy’s case, try visiting a spa.”

After a few minutes, Fluttershy stood up. She stepped out of the hot spring, wrung out the water from her tunic with her free hoof, and continued back on the path.

“You’re getting close to the center of the forest,” Celestia said. “Big Macintosh will be in the crater that the Reset Bomb left behind.”

“That’s the hoofpicked soldier Luna sent in, right?” Fluttershy asked. “Do you know anything about him?”

“I know very little about Luna’s army to begin with,” Celestia said. “What I do know is that they are called the Forces of Nature. As you can see, many of her troops are made of natural materials, like plants and rocks. As far as I know, Big Macintosh could be a sentient rock, or a tree, or maybe even another pony.”

Fluttershy passed through a stone archway and found herself standing in the remnants of a cobblestone road. To her left, a torn section of the same road sat balanced on top of a tree branch. Further ahead, she could see the broken, teetering remains of several massive stone arches that rose from the crater below. She began to approach the broken arches, but came to a stop where the road ended. Peering down, she could see the crater below, but it was still a long way down.

“Now would be a good time for another pair of grind rails,” she said.

“Unfortunately, I can’t set any rails in this particular location,” Celestia said. “Do you have any powers equipped that could help you down?”

“You mean on my weapon?” Fluttershy asked. She looked at the Poseidon Cannon, scrutinized a tiny 6x6 grid that was etched into its golden frame, and then stared down into the crater. “Jump Glide.” She jumped down and spread her wings. Tiny white sparks drifted from her body, especially from her hooves and wings, and floated from her like stardust. Instead of falling like a stone, she gently floated down.

“I’m amazed that you waited until now to use one,” Celestia said. “Every weapon you’ve taken into battle has a six-by-six puzzle board carved into it. Certain powers can be equipped to it to grant additional abilities when you’re battling on land.”

“On land?” Fluttershy asked. “I can’t use them in flight?”

“Unfortunately, the power of flight overrides any powers you may have equipped,” Celestia said. “Also keep in mind that the powers you can equip vary in shape and size, so you won’t be able to fit all of them onto one weapon.”

Fluttershy gave a light shrug. “Knowing the author, he’ll probably just make it up as he goes along.” she said.

“I’m sure he will,” Celestia said.

Fluttershy looked down at the crater and felt a nervous feeling in the pit of her stomach. She was still high up, and the Jump Glide was taking its time lowering her to the bottom of the forest. She hoped the effect would last long enough to let her down safely. And then there was the large rock sitting in the center of the crater. That could only be Big Macintosh, she thought to herself. She lifted the body of the Poseidon Cannon in front of her and stared at the rock as she slowly continued her descent.

* * * * * * * * * *

Fluttershy’s hooves touched down on the ground after nearly a minute of floating down. The center of the crater was smooth and flattened out, though broken cobblestones littered much of the ground around her. A stone archway stood behind her, and the shattered remains of stone walls, archways, and columns surrounded the center of the crater in a perfect circle. And right in the middle of it all, the single large boulder stirred, shook for a moment, and then crumbled into pieces. Standing amidst the debris was a stallion. Rocks still covered and clung to parts of his body, almost like pieces of barding. He was tall, even for a stallion, and his red coat and orange mane were still visible, though parts of his coat had a pale, sickly color to them. But what caught Fluttershy’s eye was the lack of a horn, or even a pair of wings.

“Big Macintosh is an Earth pony?!” Fluttershy said.

“He was an Earth pony,” Luna said. She started chuckling to herself, but in seconds her chuckling turned into maniacal laughter.

As Luna’s laughter rang in her ears, Fluttershy took a closer look at Big Macintosh. His eyes had an empty, glassy appearance to them, one that matched the cold, expressionless look on his face. The discolored patches of his coat looked decayed, almost moldy, and when Fluttershy looked closer, she realized that his fur had fallen out of those patches. Fluttershy’s blood ran cold as the realization crystallized in her mind. She froze in place, staring in horror at the thing in front of her. She wasn’t staring at an Earth pony. She was staring at what was left of one.

“Y-You… monster,” she murmured.

“I don’t think ‘monster’ is a strong enough word,” Celestia said bitterly. “First the Reset Bomb, and now this?”

Fluttershy started shaking. The look in her eyes hardened, she gritted her teeth, and the blood in her veins started to boil as the horror she felt gave way to an entirely different emotion. “You… MONSTER!”

A rock formed in Big Macintosh’s hoof as he lifted it up, and he tossed it at Fluttershy. Fluttershy rolled to the side to dodge and fired back with a burst of water from her weapon. The charge shot struck his chest, exploding on contact, but did little to faze him. Rocks began to fly toward Big Macintosh, clinging to his body and forming an almost spherical boulder around him. The boulder rolled after Fluttershy, but Fluttershy ran out of its way. The rocks crumbled away from Big Macintosh’s body, and he turned to face Fluttershy, but was struck by another blast of water. Unfazed, he stomped his hoof, sending three shockwaves at Fluttershy. Fluttershy sidestepped in between the shockwaves and fired back with a barrage of water jets, but to little effect.

“Splendid, is he not?” Luna said. “Strong yet silent, just as he was in his final moments.”

“How can you joke about this, Luna?” Celestia said. “What sort of abomination have you created now?”

“Big Macintosh is the prototype for an experimental weapon of mine,” Luna said. “Dost thou see the molds growing over his body? They are of a fungus that I have been devising, one that infects the remains of Earth ponies. It takes control of their bodies, bending them to my will and turning them into the perfect, obedient soldiers. And once their bodies have decayed beyond use, the fungus will release its spores, infecting the remains of any Earth pony within a mile.”

“Given the strength of the Reset Bomb’s explosion, I doubt you’ll find anything to infect in this forest,” Celestia said.

“Perhaps, but I have not yet had the chance to assess Big Macintosh’s combat prowess until now,” Luna said. “Thy little pegasus can scarcely harm him, and the enchanted stones I placed on him grant both protection and power.”

A layer of rock formed over the front of Big Macintosh’s body, and he rose off the ground and launched himself at Fluttershy like a missile. Fluttershy dodged to the left, and Big Macintosh crashed into the ground behind where she had stood. She turned to aim at him, and saw a hole penetrating deep into the back of his head.

“Fluttershy, the back of his head!” Celestia said. “That should be a weak point!”

“What?!” Luna shouted. “Where?!”

Fluttershy fired a charge shot at the hole in Big Macintosh’s head. Big Macintosh’s head jerked forward as the blast detonated. He stumbled for a moment, but turned around to face Fluttershy.

“That should not be there!” Luna shouted. “Dost thou realize how difficult it is to engineer a lifeform that can reanimate the dead?!”

“At that point, why not just drop the pretense and resort to necromancy?” Celestia scolded.

“I am the Goddess of Nature, Celestia,” Luna said. “The ruler of all life. I would not taint my hooves with forces so vile and unnatural.”

“Luna, there is nothing natural about this,” Celestia said.

“Thou shalt find that this is quite natural,” Luna said. “Many lifeforms feed on the dead, and there exist parasitic fungi that control their hosts.”

Fluttershy fired a stream of water jets into the hole in the back of Big Macintosh’s head. Big Macintosh turned, and a ring of large boulders encircled his body, protecting him from every side. The boulders shot out in every direction, but Fluttershy ducked and rolled underneath them. Big Macintosh’s hooves rose above the ground, and his body floated toward Fluttershy. He hovered over her, and then his hooves crashed into the ground, but Fluttershy rolled out of the way. Rising back to her hooves, Fluttershy turned around, aimed her weapon, and fired a charge shot.

The blast of water detonated in the back of Big Macintosh’s head, causing his head to explode. Bits of rock, bone, brain tissue, and fungal matter flew forward from his body, and a viscous mixture of water and congealed blood splashed onto the ground around him. The body stumbled around for a few seconds before its legs gave way and it collapsed.

Fluttershy kept her weapon hoof raised, her cannon trained on the body. Her breaths were deep and heavy, even through gritted teeth, and her eyebrows were still furrowed in a look of barely restrained fury. Luna’s form appeared in the pink sky above, against the backdrop of the dome of roots and branches that enclosed the Reset Bomb forest. Fluttershy’s weapon leg lowered as she cast a murderous glare up at the image of the alicorn goddess.

“A pity,” Luna said. “Even in death, he was useless. But thou shouldst know that the next Reset Bomb is very nearly complete. Now where shall I drop it this time?”

“I can think of a good place,” Fluttershy seethed, aiming her weapon up at the projection of Luna. The projection vanished, and a shaft of golden light shone down on Fluttershy from above.

“This is not good,” Celestia said. “Discord was trouble enough, but now Luna? We need to regroup.”

The shaft of light vanished as Celestia’s magic carried Fluttershy away.

Sunlight filtered in through the stained glass windows on either side of the throne room of Celestia’s temple, casting rays of multicolored light as it illuminated the entire hall. Smooth white marble columns stood along the walls in between the stained glass windows, each one holding a torch that lit the room when the sun went down. A red carpet stretched from the ornate wooden doors at the entrance to the throne room all the way to the foot of the dais where Celestia’s throne stood. A shaft of golden light shone on a spot on the carpet for a moment, and then vanished as Fluttershy appeared in its place. Still fuming, she marched toward the dais, where the Goddess of Light herself stood, her horn aglow with magic.

“Send me back out!” Fluttershy said.

“No,” Celestia said.

“What?” Fluttershy’s eyes narrowed at the white alicorn.

“Fluttershy, I understand your anger,” Celestia said. “But I’m afraid there’s nothing more we can do at this time. Luna is preparing to drop another Reset Bomb, and we need to find out where and stop her.”

“So we’re just going to do nothing?!” Fluttershy said. “Didn’t you see what she did?”

“Yes, I did, Fluttershy,” Celestia said sternly.

“Then send me out!”

“It’s not yet safe for you to use the power of flight.”

“Then I’ll use the Three Sacred Treasures.”

“The Three Sacred Treasures are not as durable as they once were,” Celestia said. “Discord is the more formidable threat. We have to save them for him.”

“Then what are we supposed to do?!”

“FLUTTERSHY!”

Fluttershy flinched. She glared back up at Celestia, only to falter when she saw the stern look Celestia gave her in return. Celestia gave a breathless sigh.

“I saw everything that Luna did in that valley today,” Celestia said. “Her Reset Bomb killed hundreds of thousands of Earth ponies. Not just the soldiers fighting each other, but mares, stallions, foals—entire families wiped out in the name of her genocidal campaign. And I saw what she did to Big Macintosh. I realize that he must have had a life of his own before Luna killed him, and loved ones who may not even know where he is or what happened to him.”

“Then why aren’t we attacking her right now?” Fluttershy asked.

“Because a direct attack on the Forces of Nature won’t accomplish anything at a time like this,” Celestia said. “Luna is preparing another attack as we speak, and we cannot afford to be caught off guard when she drops the next Reset Bomb. Our best option is to wait for her to make her next move, find out where, and then stop her.”

Fluttershy stared down at the ground. Then without saying another word, she gave a curt nod, turned around, and walked out of the throne room.