Chapter 15

"God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are,"—1 Corinthians 1:28

Upon realizing Skywishes had nothing to protect herself with, Fluttershy's hoof instinctively flew to her bandaged foreleg. She knew all-too-well what Bonfire was capable of inflicting and suddenly feared she'd made the wrong call. Her eyes flicked toward Twilight, wanting to shout for her to get Skywishes out of there, but also afraid any sudden movements or noise would provoke Bonfire into attacking Skywishes. Judging from her expression, Twilight was also thinking along these lines. Fluttershy looked back up at the stand-off currently taking place above them.

Skywishes now had her right hoof (and the black watch cap clutched in it) pressed to her heart. Her mouth was forming words, but Fluttershy couldn't hear them over Bonfire's growling. Whatever Skywishes said only seemed to incense Bonfire because the growling suddenly spiked in volume. Skywishes swallowed visibly but did not shrink back from the little hybrid. Everything in her posture said as clearly as words: I chose to take this path and come what may, I'm not turning back.

Is she going to just stand there and take it if Bonfire attacks her?! Fluttershy silently panicked inside her head. Is she really?!

But then to everyone's shock Bonfire suddenly went silent, her eyes bulging as her skeletal frame shook like a leaf in a high wind. Was she having some sort of seizure?

Keeping her own eyes on Bonfire, Skywishes lowered her hoof from her heart, and let her wings slowly extend down and out to the sides. But beyond that she suddenly looked unsure of how to proceed.

Having her view of the world so destroyed also took down the last of Bonfire's defenses, allowing the force emanating from Skywishes to slam unrestrained into her with all the strength of a battering ram. She staggered back from the pegasus but there was no escaping the relentless force. It both surged over her and rushed into her, surrounding and filling her as if intent on drowning her.

Being overpowered both inside and out by such a crushing force should have been agonizing, but to Bonfire's shock it was as if every blow—rather than raising bruises—was applying a soothing balm to already-existing wounds. And what should have brought a sense of drowning panic as it poured into her was instead quenching a thirst that had so long been a part of her she never imagined that it could be satisfied.

And though her heart had never tasted it before, she suddenly understood on a visceral level what she was experiencing.

This ... was...

Love.

And not merely love directed at an image she would be incapable of producing anyway, but love that saw her for what she truly was, in all her worthlessness and with all her inadequacies ... And still refused to cast her aside.

Too overwhelmed to process things any further, the little equine felt her limbs give out beneath her.

As Bonfire collapsed, Skywishes's wings swept forward and came up under her, half-cradling, half-supporting her. The pegasus braced herself to have this gesture repaid with a snarling struggle to escape at best, and a vicious bite or burst of flame at worst. But Bonfire just hung there, emitting a weird keening sound Skywishes had never heard her make before.

"Uh, Bonfire?" Skywishes cautiously moved the little one closer, intending only to examine her, but the action seemed to spark Bonfire's instinct to struggle. However, for the first time she didn't try to move away from her captor but rather closer. Skywishes flinched in surprise, and her wings jerked away from around Bonfire, but the little equine didn't seem to notice in her rush forward. Skywishes tensed but managed not to recoil as she felt Bonfire's skeletal muzzle brush between her forelegs and the bony forehead push into her chest.

As Bonfire pressed against her, trembling all the while, Skywishes noticed that whimpers were now mixed in with that weird keening, almost as if...

Are you crying? Skywishes slowly brought her wings back around in front of her until they were hovering over Bonfire's back, then cautiously lowered them until some of her feathers just barely brushed the heavily ridged spine. When Bonfire didn't react, Skywishes brushed the back of one wing over the spine, and though Bonfire's trembling didn't lessen she didn't attempt to get away. Slowly but surely Skywishes let her feathers caress Bonfire's spine and sides, testing the water in terms of how much contact Bonfire would allow, until she finally summoned up the courage to slip a wing under Bonfire's jaw and nudge her face away from where it was pressed to her chest. As she pushed back, Bonfire's trembling increased and her keening whimpers grew more desperate. That is, until Skywishes brought her other wing around to shade Bonfire's head and back. This action didn't completely quiet Bonfire, but it did seem to calm her slightly with the realization that she wasn't being forced away from Skywishes entirely.

As she looked up at the pegasus, her orange eyes were indeed shiny with tears. You are crying. Skywishes mused. But then ... why is my chest still dry even after your face was pressed against it? Skywishes suddenly wondered if it was physically impossible for Bonfire to shed tears no matter how hard she cried, and the idea raised fresh pity in the pegasus.

Skywishes had always been the type to generally keep her emotions to herself, but that was by choice, and the various tools of communication were still available to her should she choose to use them. Now to think that Bonfire might not be merely mute but also unable even to express herself through tears—

During this musing, the wing under Bonfire's jaw had absently slid up her cheek and over her head. The next thing Skywishes knew, Bonfire's face was buried against her chest once again.

And as Skywishes's wings gently wrapped around the still-trembling hybrid, she thought: It doesn't matter what you can or can't express; your cry has been heard!

Meanwhile down below Fluttershy felt a sudden mixture of rejection and resentment. Why is she accepting Skywishes's comfort now when she's never accepted mine—

"You ... Fluttershy?"

She turned at the gruff voice almost in her ear to see Scout circling her, clearly examining her from every angle.

"I..." she automatically opened her mouth to deny it, then suddenly remembered both that her disguise had worn off, and Twilight had declared Scout a pony.

"And you Wisteria?" he added.

She nodded. Given she was still wearing her purple skirt suit and her tail extensions were still dyed sky blue since the disguise potion didn't affect them as it did her coat and mane, he was evidently putting two and two together.

"Real quick on the uptake, ain'tcha?"

Scout looked away from her at Screwjob's sarcastic comment.

"And you missing wrestlers."

"What gave it—Oof!"

Highflyer had just silenced the taller stallion with a sharp blow to the ribs. "Maybe it's our business attire."

Sure enough, both stallions were still stripped down to their signature wrestling gear. Screwjob rubbed his side and glared back. "I was going to say, our stunning good looks, but with you being here, that hardly qualifies." He turned his attention back to the pinto. "I don't suppose you'd care to bless us with some clever banter by explaining what you were doing snooping around after us back in Canterlot?"

"Boss's orders. Defense seem upset about verdict." He looked pointedly at Fluttershy. "Very upset. Too upset. Strangely too upset." He turned back to Screwjob. "Boss not like that. Get suspicious. Tell Scout look into things. Hold on!" He turned back to Fluttershy, this time his expression indignant. "You at trial! Why you not speak up?"

Fluttershy suddenly felt exhausted. Where do I ... Where do we begin?

Scout's interruption had caused the group to lose focus on what was going on with Skywishes and Bonfire up in their bubble on the ceiling. Thankfully, a quick check proved that all was still well with the duo. With Bonfire continuing to huddle up to her, Skywishes was actually looking back down at the group and their goings on. She gave Twilight a wary smile and nod, letting her know things were well and they could carry on with their business.

With several ponies excusing themselves to watch the hostages, (whose bubbles Twilight had taken care to soundproof yet again so they couldn't eavesdrop) the group began filling Scout in on their side of things. Granted quite a bit of it was a rehash of things he'd already heard at the trial, but now there were added details that essentially turned the whole narrative on its head.

Though the new information doubtless surprised the pinto, he did not express it, only listened intently to all they told him.

"And over here is what was originally your three witnesses," said Applejack, glaring at the images of her family who glared right back at her through their bubbles before turning scornful looks in Scout's direction.

"Certainly fooled you, didn't we?" said the Granny Smith-changeling. "Played you and your beloved boss like a piano."

"Pipe down!" Applejack ordered as Scout's eyes narrowed and his ears flattened.

"Want me to do the honors, Apps?" Screwjob asked, raising his front hooves balled into fists.

"You pipe down too! Twilight, I thought you soundproofed these things."

"I did, but it only goes one way. We can hear them but they can't hear us. I didn't want to give them a chance to possibly communicate without our knowledge. They must have read somepony's lips or just guessed what we were talking about."

This observation turned out to be a blessing in disguise because from that point everypony took care to keep their mouth movements concealed from the hostages as they explained to Scout what had happened while he was gagged and blindfolded. When they got to the part about Twilight using Total Recall's spell to peek into Bonfire's memories and getting an unexpected dose of her emotions as well, Fluttershy exchanged uncomfortable looks with both the alicorn and the two wrestlers. Talking about it was forcibly reminding her, and quite likely the rest of them, just how hopeless and beaten-down it had felt in Bonfire's mind...

Having finally been free a moment to let every pony below know she was alright and not to worry about her, Skywishes was able to once more focus on her own situation. Bonfire's trembling had finally subsided, and she now just leaned against Skywishes's chest in a sort of stupor, probably still trying to process the fact that this pony could actually ... love her.

As for Skywishes herself, she had initially felt relief that Bonfire had chosen not to attack her. But now, with the little hybrid loosely wrapped in her sheltering wings, she began to feel a fresh new unease.

What are you even doing, Skywishes? she wondered as Bonfire shuddered against her chest. You're all wrong for this. You're not a nurturer. You're no Fluttershy.

She felt a sudden rush of gratitude toward Fluttershy as she remembered that moment she had been preparing to fling Bonfire out of the TreeHAB to the forest floor far below, only for Fluttershy to scream for her not to, even while clutching the foreleg Bonfire's teeth had just torn open.

How many other ponies would have reacted like that in such a situation? Skywishes wondered as she felt tears well up in her eyes, half in horror at what she had almost done, and half in relief that she'd been stopped just in time.

But there was still the issue of how in the world she was even supposed to care for Bonfire. Yes, things seemed to have worked out this far, but they couldn't remain in this position forever. Sooner or later, she would have to face the other ponies and the fact that she had chosen Bonfire over them and their friends and loved ones.

You've seen all the pain and stress this situation with the changelings has been putting on Twilight, Fluttershy and all the rest of them. You promised in your heart to fight for them, to do whatever it took to help as many of them survive as possible, and not to give up until they go home with victory over the changelings. Are you really going to just turn your back on all that? All just for this one little hybrid whose own kind even view her as less than nothing? What is that truly worth next to the lives of countless ponies?

At that moment Bonfire raised her head, and Skywishes saw fear in her orange eyes as the little equine pulled back as if she had been struck. Skywishes suddenly wondered if Bonfire was sensing the conflict in her, the second-guessing. The memories certainly seemed to indicate she had this ability, even if she had been constantly suppressing it in an effort to shield herself from expected pain. Was that why Bonfire had seemed so shaken up earlier? Had she dropped hers shields to try and understand Skywishes's motives, and tasted the love that had fueled Skywishes's recent actions?

"I promise from this moment onward to do everything in my power to make sure you're never again exploited for personal gain and only loved at personal cost." Her own words echoed through Skywishes's mind and with them returned the conviction that had led her to speak them in the first place.

Stop trying to make excuses, Skywishes! You knew what you were signing up for when you stopped Twilight. Don't you even dare contemplate leaving Bonfire just because it will likely be difficult. You didn't give up on building the TreeHAB even though you've had plenty of difficulties with it over the years. And Bonfire is far more important than that! You know the Everfree better than anypony else. You can find other places in it to shelter in if that's what it takes to protect her.

Her wings pulled Bonfire in close once again, and though the little one initially tensed at the action, she didn't fight it.

Please take all my doubts away, and give me the strength to do this. To give Bonfire the love she needs. To give her the chance at life she's never had. To give—

As this desperate prayer poured from Skywishes's heart, Bonfire shuddered, then let out a wondering sigh. Though no words were exchanged, Bonfire's reaction brought a new clarity to Skywishes in turn. A reminder that this situation wasn't defined by her fickle emotions, but by the fact that the wounded filly locked in this cadaverous shell was every bit as precious as any other foal in Equestria.

"Skywishes." The pegasus looked up to see Twilight hovering a short distance away before landing on one of the pipes jutting from the cross-section. She guessed that either the situation below had concluded or at least Twilight had been able to step away from it.

"It's okay." Twilight said as Skywishes's posture tensed and she subtly shifted to block Bonfire from the alicorn's view. "I'm not going to try taking her blood. I'm just going to let the two of you out of that bubble."

Skywishes didn't relax, her gaze darted from the alicorn on her level to the ponies below them and back again before demanding, "How do I know that's not just a ploy to get her back and take her blood?"

Before Twilight could respond, Highflyer shouted from below, "I can answer that! Jobs, give me a boost!"

In response, Screwjob rolled backward in a reverse somersault that brought his hind legs up into the air. Highflyer leaped toward him and Screwjob kicked up and outward when the smaller stallion bounced off his hooves. Highflyer shot toward the pipe Skywishes, Bonfire, and Twilight were perched on, caught a hold of it and swung himself up onto it right between Twilight and Skywishes.

"Just get rid of that bubble, Twilight, and I'll take it from there." he said, dropping into his pre-attack stance atop the pipe. Magenta light flashed from Twilight's horn and the shimmering barrier imprisoning Skywishes and Bonfire was suddenly gone. Lifting Bonfire behind her with one wing, Skywishes retreated several steps backward on the pipe. Her other wing whipped out, probably intending to block or swat Highflyer away if he tried to advance. But the masked stallion just dodged the wing, caught a hold of it as it passed, and wrenched it hard enough to throw the bigger pegasus off-balance. This caused Skywishes's other wing to release Bonfire and whip out as she tried to recover. Only for Highflyer to catch and trap that wing as well, forcing Skywishes around into a submission hold.

Skywishes let out a pained cry, but her own discomfort was promptly forgotten when she heard Bonfire's angry snarl. "No, Bonfire!" she shouted, fighting against the submission hold to keep herself upright to act as a barrier between the hybrid and her fellow ponies. Behind her, Highflyer didn't release her wings, but neither did he try to force her flat down on the pipe, keeping just enough pressure on her wings to make it clear who was in control. Meanwhile in front of her, Bonfire's snarl had dropped to a soft but steady growl, evidently having realized she couldn't spit fire or otherwise attack Highflyer, or for that matter Twilight, without first going through Skywishes, which she clearly didn't want to do. As the stalemate stretched between them, Skywishes looked back at her fellow ponies as best she could from the corner of her eye. Twilight's expression suggested she was trying to maintain that balance between being ready to react should Bonfire snap, but also not wanting to inadvertently trigger that snap, while Highflyer's ever-present mask made it impossible to read his expression.

"Well..." Skywishes finally said resignedly. "What are you planning to do from here?"

"Nothing if my little demonstration just proved our point." said Highflyer.

"Which is…?"

"If we were that desperate to get Bonfire, Twilight would currently have her, and you'd be lying on the floor with multiple fractures."

At any other time this might have sounded like the most egotistical of boasts, but considering she'd just witnessed the aftermath of the damage he'd inflicted on three changelings, Skywishes had little doubt Highflyer could back up this claim even without Twilight's help. Then though she still couldn't read his expression, his eyes did seem to soften slightly behind his mask, and when he spoke again his raspy voice was gentle. "Don't forget you're not the only pony who saw and felt what Bonfire's been through."

"He's right, Skywishes." said Twilight, sounding contrite as she rubbed one front hoof on the opposing foreleg. "I admit I kind of lost my head a bit back there when I realized Bonfire's blood was what we needed for a working potion. I thought I was going to have to scrap the original potion, start from scratch, somehow figure out what compound we needed in less than two weeks all without leaving the TreeHAB to find any ingredients we might not currently have, and then to find out it was here all the time..." She trailed off, realizing she was babbling. "Well, you can probably see why I just sort of lunged for what I thought was the solution. ... But that doesn't give me the right to treat Bonfire—" She looked past Skywishes to the still-softly-growling hybrid. "—to treat you like an inanimate object. And I'm sorry for treating you that way."

Bonfire just continued to growl and glare. The apology had clearly done little to mollify her, but given how the changelings had repeatedly used such tactics to toy with her in her memory, that was understandable. Not so much a case of once bitten, twice shy as it was a case of repeatedly being chewed up and spat out.

"Let me try something." Skywishes whispered to the ponies behind her before raising her voice. "Bonfire."

The growling stopped and small ears pricked attentively.

"Bonfire ... can you trust me?"

This was greeted with an inquisitive trill.

"If you can trust me... Then trust in the fact that I trust these ponies. They're worth fighting for. Just like you are."

Bonfire studied her for several long seconds before lowering her head in silent acquiescence.

Skywishes looked back toward the ponies behind her. "Just let me get my camo back on, and we'll join you down there." She gestured with her eyes to the group below.

Twilight nodded first to her, then to Highflyer, who took this as a signal to release her. As he jumped down, and Twilight flew down, Skywishes sat up and rolled her wings in their sockets. Then she scooped up her camo from where it had landed, draped on a pipe and began resuming it. As she pulled her black watch cap back down over her skull, she turned back to face Bonfire. When the bubble had dissolved, Bonfire's blanket must have fallen to the floor. With both it and her usual shimmering barrier gone, the little hybrid now looked exposed and vulnerable in a way Skywishes had never seen, or at least never noticed before.

"Hey," said Skywishes, keeping her voice as soft as she could. When Bonfire looked up, Skywishes extended a wing to her. "Come here." When Bonfire obeyed, Skywishes opened her camo coat, and wrapped it around the both of them, tucking Bonfire against her chest as she took off.

As Skywishes landed with Bonfire bundled in her camo, Fluttershy felt her earlier resentment come rushing back to replace her empathy. Even as she moved forward to greet them, she found herself silently seething at Skywishes: I've been trying to help her from the start and now you just swoop in and take all the cred—

These thoughts were interrupted by a vicious snarl from Bonfire as the little hybrid suddenly lunged out of Skywishes's camo.

"Hey!" shouted the coral-colored pegasus. Fluttershy recoiled in shock as Skywishes tried to restrain Bonfire, but the hybrid was already out and moving. However she hadn't taken more than a few steps before a ragged, stained off-white blur slammed into her ridged chest, knocking her back. Then Skywishes was there, wrapping one wing around Bonfire, and using the other to swat aside Mache Max. Or at least attempt to swat aside Mache Max, since the paper parrot seemed to have attached himself to her feathers as stubbornly as a piece of tape.

"Fluttershy, will you get him off!" Skywishes gritted through clenched teeth.

When Fluttershy moved cautiously forward, Bonfire snarled at her, and Skywishes turned her glare on the hybrid. "Don't act like that! She loves you just as much as I do, if not more so!"

Bonfire flinched, seeming to shrink at the harsh tone, and Fluttershy suddenly felt ashamed at her earlier thoughts toward Skywishes. Just a little while ago, you were wondering if it was even possible to ever get through to Bonfire. Now you're angry that Skywishes managed to do it instead of you? Are you really that petty?

It seemed that in fact, she was, but oh, how she didn't want to be.

This was it, Bonfire thought. When Fluttershy had come forward, Bonfire had sensed a hostility coming from the pony not directed toward Bonfire herself but toward Skywishes. With her memories of being the target of such feelings so fresh in her mind, the idea of this pony who loved her being forced to endure the same infuriated Bonfire as nothing had before, and she had responded accordingly, hoping to drive off the source of those hostile feelings.

But now it seemed her response had been wrong. It had turned Skywishes against her. Had cost her Skywishes's love. Had—

At that moment Skywishes let out a weary sigh. "Bonfire, I love you. You hear me? I love you and nothing is going to change that. I don't want you snapping and snarling at Fluttershy when she's done nothing to deserve it, but that doesn't mean I'm just going to abandon you because of it. Do you understand that?"

Did she understand it? She both did and didn't. She understood the words Skywishes was saying, but the idea that Skywishes's love hadn't been shaken by her recent action ... That she still had trouble comprehending.

Please don't let this be some sort of lie, she prayed as she once again reached out to read Skywishes's heart. She let out a choked gasp as Skywishes's love surged into her, unchanged, every bit as strong as it had been the last time. Then Fluttershy stepped closer, and their proximity caused Bonfire's groping ability to inadvertently read her heart as well.

She felt Fluttershy's regret at her earlier feelings toward Skywishes. Fluttershy reminding herself that it wasn't a competition; that what mattered was Bonfire's healing regardless of who delivered it.

And the love Skywishes had mentioned? It was there, as strong as Skywishes had said it was, and so longing to be offered to ... her ... to ... Bonfire.

While Skywishes and Bonfire were focused on each other, Fluttershy had moved in, intending to remove Mache Max from Skywishes's wing while Bonfire was distracted. But before she could even touch Mache Max, he released the wing on his own and shot away from the group. At that exact moment, Bonfire let out a choked gasp, commanding Fluttershy's attention.

The little hybrid was staring at both her and Skywishes, swaying with a shell-shocked expression on her skull-like face. Then she fell against Skywishes with a ragged whimper shaking her body. Keeping one wing wrapped around Bonfire, Skywishes now lifted the other toward Fluttershy, beckoning her in. As Fluttershy stepped into the embrace, she wished she could have added her own wings to it, but settled instead for brushing a hoof gently over Bonfire's side. The little one tensed, but allowed the hoof to stay there, and eventually relaxed. It seemed that Skywishes's request to be trusted had given her the courage to receive other ponies' attentions if not yet to return them.

Taking this as a cue, Twilight, Spike, Applejack, Highflyer, Screwjob, Dinky, and Amethyst all slowly moved in and one by one, each laid a hoof, or in Spike's case, a claw, on Bonfire. Silently affirming that in their own way, they had become a herd and Bonfire was now part of that herd.

Soon after, everyone at the TreeHAB was asleep with the exception of a few who had opted to handle guard duty for that shift. While it seemed that their captives were sleeping as well, the ponies preferred not to take any chances leaving them unsupervised. In the sleeping group, Skywishes and Fluttershy had ended up side-by-side with Bonfire between them. Skywishes had a wing draped over Bonfire, and Fluttershy would have done the same if she'd had her wings. This was probably the most acutely she had felt their loss.

Fluttershy thought back on all that had happened earlier that day. The tension of the trial; the guilty verdict and the news that Discord would be executed in a month; Highflyer dashing off in a fit of rage to extract vengeance on the closest target, which had resulted in a hasty attempt to avoid discovery, which had in turn resulted in them now having several hostages, but unintentionally abandoning Rarity and Discord.

Still, who could have imagined what had then resulted from that situation? That they would finally learn the details of the trauma that had shaped Bonfire into the mistrustful creature she was, and in such an unexpectedly intimate way. That her blood would turn out to be the key to seeing through changeling disguises, only for pragmatic Skywishes to vehemently strike down that idea.

As Fluttershy felt herself drifting off to sleep, she focused on Bonfire's motionless skull-like face, and listened to her calm steady breathing, watching for any sign that Bonfire was experiencing her usual nightmares. So far there had been none.

In spite of everything else that had happened, in spite of her worries for Discord, Rarity, and everypony else out there, Fluttershy now found a degree of comfort in watching Bonfire experience untroubled sleep for what might have been the first time in her life.

"Why didn't you wake me up to take a guard shift?"

"Because the three of you just looked so peaceful all snuggled up together."

"Ha. Ha."

Skywishes and Twilight's voices drew Fluttershy from her slumber, and she lifted her head at Skywishes's sarcastic laugh.

"How long were we asleep?" Fluttershy asked, stretching her front legs out before her to get the stiffness out of them.

"A good couple hours, I think," said Twilight. "I don't remember exactly how late it was when we got to sleep, but it's morning now."

"Where's everypony else?"

"Spike and Dinky are making breakfast; Amethyst and Applejack are inventorying supplies; Highflyer and Screwjob are guarding the changelings; I just finished checking Derpy's vitals; and Scout ... he's not really doing anything at the moment."

Fluttershy remembered how the night before Scout had abstained from their welcoming of Bonfire, and even though they had explained things to him, he still seemed like an outsider. Maybe it was the fact that everything was new to him, and he had not lived through it as the rest of them had. She mentally grimaced at the memory of his unbridled glee at Discord's guilty conviction only the day before. While she understood he hadn't known the truth back then—And to be fair, none of her other friends had questioned Discord's possible guilt until Derpy, Amethyst, Dinky, Highflyer and Screwjob had that unexpected tangle with the changelings—the memory still left a bad taste in her mouth.

"How's Bonfire?" Twilight asked, pulling her back to the present.

Skywishes lifted the wing she'd draped over Bonfire. "Still aslee—"

At that instant Bonfire's eyes snapped open, and her limbs thrashed out. Flailing herself onto all fours, her head whipped this way and that, eyes wild and a savage snarl tearing from her throat, causing Fluttershy and Skywishes both to flinch back from her reflexively.

Twilight's horn lit with magenta light. But before she could fire off a spell, Skywishes lunged forward, wrapping both forelegs around Bonfire from behind, and lifting the struggling hybrid from the floor.

"Don't touch her, Twilight!" Skywishes shouted over Bonfire's snarls and shrieks. "Bubble the pair of us!"

Light flashed from Twilight's horn and the familiar shimmering bubble enclosed Skywishes and her struggling captive just as Bonfire spat out a blast of fire. The fire splashed against the inside of the bubble's membrane, and for an instant Fluttershy thought it would dissipate harmlessly as it had many times before. But then Skywishes let out a sharp cry, and still holding Bonfire, flung herself onto her back where she began rolling from side-to-side as best she could without squashing Bonfire, trying to smother the flames consuming the feathers on her right wing.

All this time Bonfire continued to struggle and scream. Skywishes had her in a hold that prevented the hybrid from bringing her snapping teeth into play but she could still spit flames.

"Bonfire, remember the pledge I made to you!" Skywishes shouted. "I promised you'd never again be exploited for personal gain, but only loved at personal cost! Remember that?!"

Upon hearing these words, Bonfire suddenly seemed to snap out of it. She stopped struggling. Her shrunken skeletal chest rose and fell as breath rushed in and out of her nasal cavity. She took in the familiar shimmering barrier surrounding her, then seemed to register the fact that Skywishes was holding her from inside that barrier. At the sight of Skywishes's now-burned right wing, she seemed to tense up in the pegasus's grasp.

Twilight, Fluttershy, and Skywishes all waited anxiously to see what the hybrid would do, but Bonfire seemed to be waiting for something just as anxiously.

Finally it was Dinky's voice behind them that broke the silence. "So, um, now's not a good time for breakfast, I take it?"

"Why do you suppose she acted like that?" Twilight asked a short while later over their thankfully still-warm breakfast. "Or why she's been acting like a statue since then?"

When Bonfire seemed to have calmed down, Twilight had cautiously released her and Skywishes from the bubble. Skywishes kept her forelegs wrapped around Bonfire, ready to snatch her up should she have another fit. But Bonfire just stayed stiff and unmoving, only turning her head to watch when Fluttershy came forward to tend Skywishes's burnt wing, having made a quick run to the medical supply stash to fetch the burn supplies kept there.

Skywishes let out an involuntary hiss of pain as Fluttershy extended the wing to examine the charred feathers and the inflamed skin below. Fluttershy braced herself for a snarl from Bonfire for daring to hurt Skywishes, but surprisingly the hybrid only cringed in Skywishes's grasp. As if she somehow understood she was responsible for Skywishes's current pain.

"Maybe she was afraid everything that happened last night was just a dream, and she was waking up to face a reality where nopony could possibly care about her." Fluttershy said in response to Twilight's first question. When this was greeted with curious stares all around, she felt a blush surge into her cheeks. "I ... When Discord was gone the past year, I used to have these really vivid dreams where he returned. I'd always feel so convinced they were real, and so glad he was back. But then I'd wake up every time to the disappointment that he was still gone. It just reminded me of that." Though now that she thought about it, she couldn't remember having any dreams like that since arriving at the TreeHAB. Was it because she now knew where Discord was? Was it because the stress of worrying about his welfare left her too exhausted to spare energy on dreaming about him?

Skywishes's grim exhalation pulled her back to their current situation. "I suppose it's not that surprising Bonfire would react that way. We might have gotten through to her last night, but when you're essentially dealing with wounds and trauma that have been untended and left to fester for years, you can't expect them to just heal overnight." She looked down at Bonfire. "Is that why you've just been hanging there, not letting yourself react to anything? You're afraid we'll snatch our love away if you make the tiniest misstep?"

Bonfire turned her head and let out her inquisitive trill as if to say: Of course. How else could you possibly react? Despite what she'd experienced the night before, the idea that she could be loved unconditionally was still just too alien to her.

"Bonfire, I'm too stubborn to let this—" she gestured to the wing Fluttershy was still tending. "—stop me from loving you. I didn't appreciate your fire burning my wing. It hurt!"

Bonfire flinched.

"But I love you anyway!"

Her head snapped back up to stare at the pegasus in shock.

"Yes! And do you think Fluttershy enjoyed it when you bit her? Of course she didn't, yet she still begged me to let you stay. And why? Because she loved you then and still does now!" She wrapped her good wing around Bonfire's shuddering frame, her voice softening. "That's what real genuine love is."

Bonfire shivered, wanting so hard to believe Skywishes's words, yet so afraid they were a trap like the changelings had set up for her so many times.

But then how had Skywishes known about making that promise if Bonfire had only imagined it? And this self-enforced immobilization was in its own way as much of a torture as the immobilization the changelings had subjected her to. In desperation, she mentally reached into Skywishes as she thought she might have the night before and was instantly overwhelmed with the same fiercely unrelenting love she had felt before. It was too much, far too much, yet she couldn't seem to get enough of it.

As Bonfire slumped against her once again, Skywishes looked up wearily. "Where's the cocoa? I need cocoa. Heavy on the cayenne pepper."

Twilight quickly floated a mug of the requested beverage and a shaker of the requested spice to her.

"Skywishes?" Twilight asked as the pegasus alternately sipped and doctored the cocoa to her liking. "If you don't mind my asking ... Why'd you stop me last night from taking Bonfire's blood?" She glanced down at the hybrid who currently seemed to be in too much of a stupor to notice the conversation. "I'm not saying you were wrong to do it, I'm just wondering what your thought process was. I mean, um, how should I say this...?"

Twilight fidgeted while Skywishes just watched her silently over the edge of the cocoa mug.

"You don't seem very ... sentimental about things. And I don't mean that in a bad way; it can be a good thing. You've helped the rest of us stay focused on what we can do practically when we've been feeling overwhelmed, and that's been really great.

"But based on how you've handled those situations, I would have expected you to be in favor of using Bonfire's blood just from a purely pragmatic standpoint. So ... why didn't you see it that way?"

Skywishes lowered the mug, swallowed the cocoa still in her mouth, swiped a hoof across her lips, and actually cracked a faint smile. "That's just it. I did see it that way."

Twilight blinked. "You did?"

The smile faded and Skywishes bowed her head. "When you were preparing to draw her blood, it made perfect sense to me. There may have been some physical discomfort, but it wouldn't have killed her, and it would have made things so much easier for the rest of us. Plus I had told Bonfire I wouldn't bend over backwards to help her if it meant sacrificing any of you; essentially told her that if things got bad, she'd be the first one I'd abandon. That may sound harsh, but that's how I'd been viewing things with her. So you're right I should have been on board with it."

Skywishes let out a heavy sigh. "But then you used that spell that allowed us to experience what she's been through. Up until then, I'd always looked at her only as a potential threat. But afterwards, though I kept reminding myself about her bite and flaming, I just kept seeing a damaged filly desperate to be rescued."

She paused a moment, possibly collecting her thoughts, then went on. "You know, in a way Applejack was right, about me not having anypony out there to worry about. And I have to admit that if I had as many friends and loved ones out there as the rest of you, I might have felt justified in taking Bonfire's blood to save them. I even told myself that while you were looking for the best place to put that syringe.

"But after experiencing things through Bonfire's eyes while the changelings were using her for their own gain, I just couldn't unsee the similarities between what they had done and what you were planning to do. With the possible exception of Mache Max, none of us have messed with Bonfire in the time she's been here. We hadn't crossed that line into using her for our own benefit, but once you purposefully took her blood, we would have crossed that line, and Bonfire would have every right to view us in the same light she views the changelings.

"So while I understood and sympathized with your choice, I couldn't let you go through with it."

"You mentioned a pledge earlier. About making sure Bonfire wouldn't be used for personal gain and only loved at personal cost." said Fluttershy, looking up from slathering ointment on Skywishes's wing. "Is that what you told her while the two of you were up on the pipes? I couldn't hear what you were saying at the time."

Skywishes nodded. "It was where I promised her that."

Twilight cleared her throat. "Skywishes, in hindsight, I am glad you stopped me. If it were a matter of using my own blood, you can bet I wouldn't hesitate to give as much of it as I could to save my friends. But I don't have the right to force Bonfire to make that sacrifice."

She turned her gaze on Bonfire directly. "Bonfire, I am sorry again for what I did to you. I'm the Princess of Friendship. I should know better than to judge others by their appearance and to view them as other than beings in their own right. But ... I am also a Princess of Equestria. Given Luna and Celestia ... maybe the last one." Fluttershy couldn't miss the hitch in Twilight's voice and the emotions playing on her face as she worked to hold back tears. While Twilight had been stoic throughout this affair, a pillar of strength, for the first time, Fluttershy wondered just how deeply it was all affecting her. "Your blood is a solution to a problem we desperately need to solve, and when I realized that..." Twilight trailed off, her mouth twisting with regret as she briefly averted her eyes. "When I tried to take it, I was acting as a ruler, doing what I thought was best for Equestria as a whole, even if it was at the expense of one individual. I was not acting in a way that a friend would do, and I shouldn't have acted that way towards you. In trying to help others, I lost who I was myself." She fidgeted, her wings rustling as she reseated them. "All that, though, is just an excuse. I am sorry, Bonfire. Truly. I shouldn't have treated you the way I did, and for that, I hope one day you can forgive me."

Throughout this speech, Bonfire remained pressed against Skywishes, her ears hearing Twilight's words, but her heart struggling with them. Skywishes had asked her to trust the rest of the ponies—or at least trust in the fact that Skywishes trusted them. And Twilight's words certainly echoed the conviction she'd first read in Skywishes's heart: That she, Bonfire, was worth saving not for whatever use they might get out of her, but merely because she existed. But could she truly lower her defenses against Twilight as completely as she had first with Skywishes then with Fluttershy? The words were enticing, but so had been the ones her previous captors had used to lure her in only to break her time and time again. What were the odds that—?

"I agree with Twilight." said Fluttershy as she finished bandaging Skywishes's wing. "I mean about being glad in hindsight you stopped her. I'm still worried about Rarity and Discord, but last night I began thinking: If I were in their position, would I have wanted Bonfire to be used against her will to save me?" She shook her head. "No. I wouldn't."

Skywishes gave them a grateful smile. "I'm glad you can see it that way, because I was really sure last night that my decision would have turned all of you against me." She then turned her head to look at the rest of the group. "Well, it looks like we've got less than two weeks to get Rarity and possibly Discord out of their current predicament. So I'm currently open to any suggestions that don't involve Bonfire."

Spike raised a claw. "We did discover my message-sending flame works on me the way it does on other things, but I don't have to wrap up like the rest of you. If we could somehow get me and a paper travel blanket in the same room as Rarity and Discord, I could bundle them up, send them here, then send myself along right after them."

"Hmm, not a bad idea," said Skywishes. "Though there is the issue of getting you to Canterlot to pull it off."

"I'll get him there." It took the group a moment to realize the determined voice had come from Fluttershy of all ponies.

"How?"

"I'll walk."

"Walk?! Have you seen the weather? It's freezing out there! Not to mention storming!"

Fluttershy seemed to wilt at this, then rallied her resolve. "That doesn't matter. It won't be the first time I've braved a snow storm for Discord."

"Scout go too!" the pinto piped up. "Scout speak to boss!"

"Ooh, not a good idea." said Twilight. "While we now know you're a real pony, we still don't know if your 'Boss' is the real Tequila Mockingbird or a changeling posing as her."

"They said they played boss along with Scout!" he argued.

"Yes, but we don't know if they've replaced her with a changeling in the time you've been away from her."

"Plus, don't you think it will raise a lot of questions if Wisteria and Scout show up looking like they just trekked through a blizzard?" said Skywishes. "I think it'd be better if I flew Spike to Canterlot and once he's there, Twilight can send any of you through to him like she did last time."

"Fly through a blizzard?" Fluttershy squeaked. "With that burned wing?"

Skywishes's response was to fan both wings out, lift herself into the air, and ignoring Bonfire's protesting chirps at being left behind, circled above the group to land on one of the larger pipes. However, there were tears streaming from her eyes when she landed, and she didn't so much light on the pipe as she slammed into and scrambled atop it; unintentionally making it clear to the observers that though she could still fly, it was quite painful and her ability to maneuver was severely compromised.

As she dropped back down to land heavily on the floor, and Bonfire raced to her side in a limping run, a fierce debate erupted amongst the group. They didn't want Skywishes flying through a blizzard in her current condition. Not only was the weather a concern, but for all they knew the skies could be filled with changelings practically invisible in their semi-transparent forms. This led some of the group to conclude it would be safer to send several of them on foot toward Canterlot and to rely on a combination of stealth and safety in numbers. Skywishes agreed that ordinarily she was all in favor of stealth but as time wasn't on their side—and a major reason they couldn't just wait until her wing healed completely—she must bow to speed this time around. It was brought up that if the changelings caught them, Spike might be able to escape by sending himself straight to Twilight with a blast of fire but any ponies with him would not be so fortunate unless they were wrapped in one of the paper blankets. Could they travel with the blankets just wrapped around themselves the whole time? Maybe, but the blankets were cumbersome to move in and would slow them down even when knotted around their necks like capes. And Skywishes trying to fly with one flapping around her was definitely out of the question.

Finally Twilight silenced the increasingly heated debate. "Look, before we get any plan set in stone, let's wait to hear back from Rarity. We need to know if anyone has found out the three witnesses as well as both lawyers' assistants are missing, and if they're doing anything about it so we're not just waltzing in there blind."

They all agreed this was probably for the best.

"But one more thing." said Skywishes. "If we do end up using my idea to fly Spike to Canterlot and something happens to me..." She looked down at where Bonfire was pressed against her chest before looking back up at the rest of the group. "If I get caught and Spike manages to send himself back here. Look after Bonfire—" The hybrid's head snapped up at her name. "—Okay? I'm going to trust all of you to honor the promise I made to her."

"Don't worry, Wishie. We'll make sure she's provided for—" Fluttershy's reassurance was interrupted by a harsh chittering protest from the hybrid in question.

Skywishes looked down at her. "You'll be all right, Bonfire." she said, using her good wing to push Bonfire toward Fluttershy. "They'll protect you and love you."

Bonfire tried to back up against Skywishes's wing. I don't want their love! I want yours!

Never before had she wished so desperately to put her feelings into words. When Skywishes had mentioned the possibility of getting caught, all Bonfire could think of was seeing the life get strangled out of Sunny Daze. But now she was imagining Skywishes in the same position. And the image wouldn't go away no matter how hard she tried to suppress it. She felt hooves meant to comfort being laid on her, and heard voices meant to soothe, but they could do nothing against this new fear that she might soon lose someone she suddenly couldn't bear to lose.

Since she'd been brought to the TreeHAB, Bonfire had fixated on Skywishes more than all the other ponies because she had come to realize that somehow Skywishes's word was law here and her life could instantly end at the coral-colored pony's say-so. But last night, when Skywishes had metaphorically leapt down from her lofty perch and literally put herself at Bonfire's mercy, the whole nature of their relationship had changed. Somehow the anchor that had kept Bonfire secured in place even as it pinned her under the water had now become the rock lifting her above that water. And with that change had come a strange new need to ... preserve Skywishes.

Without warning Bonfire jerked away from the group of ponies and bolted to the HAB lab. They gave chase, but she was back almost immediately with a syringe clamped in her teeth. She limped as fast as she could to Twilight and made a jabbing motion toward her own shoulder with the syringe.

Skywishes's eyes widened. "Bonfire, no! I promised I wouldn't let anypony use you for their own gain and I meant it."

Bonfire chittered around the syringe in her teeth and repeated the stabbing gesture more forcibly.

"Bonfire, that's not going to—"

"Wait, Skywishes." Fluttershy silenced her by laying a hoof on her wither, then turned to the hybrid, hardly daring to hope what she was witnessing might be true. "Bonfire, are you saying you want to give us your blood?"

The hybrid nodded furiously. Skywishes shot Fluttershy a steely glare, but for once Fluttershy didn't cower at it, only faced it head-on. "Skywishes, I know you promised Bonfire she wouldn't be exploited for our gain, and I understand and agree with that. But are you also going to forbid her from choosing to offer us her blood if she wants to?"

Skywishes continued to glare silently at her for several long seconds. But then the coral-colored pegasus looked away first and let out a long breath before turning her attention to Bonfire as well. "Bonfire, I want you to understand you don't have to do this. If you decide not to offer your blood, it won't make me love you any less. ... But if that's what you want to do, I won't stop you."

Bonfire chittered back once more in response then looked up at Twilight.

Bending her knees, the alicorn princess lowered herself until she was almost level with Bonfire, her gaze meeting the little equine's. She projected her overwhelming thanks and gratitude at something finally going right for them, even letting a tear run down her cheek in relief. "Thank you, Bonfire. Thank you so, so much."

Fluttershy and Skywishes both offered Bonfire hooves to hold onto while Twilight once again searched for an opening in the hybrid's exoskeleton where she could best insert the needle. Finally she found it in a jointed segment high on Bonfire's bony back. With the combination warning reassurance that Bonfire would feel a sharp pinch but it would be over real soon, Twilight plunged the needle home. Bonfire let out a short hiss, clamped her bony lashless eyelids shut, and dug her skeletal hooves into the larger ones enveloping them, but to her credit she stayed stoically in position until the needle was withdrawn.

"It's done, Bonfire." said Twilight as she deposited the blood in a vial and corked it. "You can relax now."

Bonfire didn't relax so much as she slumped, her body trembling as if she had just completed a grueling race while she hung suspended by the hooves she still clutched.

While Twilight blended the new potion, Skywishes and Fluttershy moved their cadaverous charge to a makeshift bed of camouflage material. Once they had her settled in, they stayed close to monitor her.

It was impossible for Bonfire to pale, covered as she was with that black exoskeleton, but she seemed drained, and given how small and thin she was, Fluttershy guessed she probably didn't have much blood in her body to spare. Once again Fluttershy felt a rush of relief that Skywishes had jumped in to stop Twilight from initially taking Bonfire's blood as it seems it would have hurt the little one far worse than they'd originally thought.

"Are you okay, Twilight?" Fluttershy asked a short time later as the alicorn arranged thirteen mugs on a tray in the kitchen. Four of them contained hot cocoa, while the remaining nine each contained a swallow of potion. "You seem ... nervous." Fluttershy observed, noticing how the mugs were rattling against each other.

"I suppose I am." Twilight admitted. "It's just ... I've been trying for so long to create a successful potion and now to suddenly have it here ... I guess it just feels unreal in a lot of ways."

"I know what you mean." Applejack said somberly. "Spending all those years hiding out disguised while trying to find a way to see through their disguises ... I can't count the number of times it felt hopeless."

"That's another thing that's worrying me," said Twilight. "I know I got all excited about this potion earlier, but even though we have it, there's still the issue of getting it and ourselves where it can actually be of use to the rest of Equestria—"

Skywishes cleared her throat sharply.

"I know, I know," said Twilight. "Let's find out how soon this potion kicks in and how long it lasts before deciding where to go from there."

Skywishes gave her a brief wry smile before moving to join the remaining seven ponies and one dragon in a strategically loose line. One by one they each took a mug containing potion. They then proceeded to meander about, each making a show of sipping from their mostly empty mugs, while Twilight moved with the tray of the remaining four mugs toward the hostages. As she moved, she occasionally heard somepony behind her call out a soft "Ready" until she had heard nine readies in total, signaling everyone was in position. Plunking straws into three of the cocoa mugs so the bound hostages could drink more easily, she raised her own mug to shield her mouth from the hostages as she gave the order "Go!" Then she took a long sip of her own cocoa, and focused all her attention on floating the remaining mugs of cocoa through the bubbles' membranes to the captives inside.

At Twilight's Go, everyone tipped their mugs all the way back and downed their allotted potion. Fluttershy winced as the acidic taste burned her tongue, but didn't let it distract her from surreptitiously watching the changelings from the corner of her eye. For a brief second nothing seemed to happen. Then it was as if some veil had suddenly been ripped away from her eyes. Twilight still looked exactly the same, but in the bubbles near her, the three ponies had suddenly gone so translucent that in places they almost looked transparent. And shining clear as beacons through the translucent images were the pulsing blue-green shapes of their true changeling selves.

As Fluttershy moved back to check on Bonfire, it was all she could do not to cheer. Granted her cheers seldom rose over a whisper, but she didn't even want to risk the accompanying joyful expression giving anything away.

Giving her blood had left Bonfire feeling exhausted, and yet at the same time strangely exhilarated. As if somehow the act of choosing to offer her blood had given back to her far more than it had taken away.

She felt feathers that she hoped were Skywishes's brushing the length of her back. She thought she distantly heard Fluttershy murmur "Thank you, Skywishes." Then she felt a hoof gently caressing her skull with its patched-up wound in the back, and its scant wisps of hair on top. The touch was accompanied by a rush of love, gratitude, and a soft but heartfelt, "And thank you, Bonfire."

Fluttershy smiled with tears in her eyes as Bonfire snuggled herself against the pony's touch. Some ponies might not have seen much difference between just taking some of Bonfire's blood, and the little one freely choosing to offer it, but Fluttershy knew better.

It made all the difference.

Author's Note

And cue Legacy by Kutless aka Bonfire's theme!

Man, I've been longing to get to this point ever since I first posted the prologue to The Ponies who Played with Fire, and now we're finally here!

As always a big thank you to Nightwalker for his suggestions and editing.

Bonfire Fun fact: In my headcanon I defy the convention of using women to voice young boy characters by instead using a man to voice a young girl character. Translation: In my headcanon, Bonfire is voiced by Frank Welker. And if any of you Disney/Animation/Voice-acting fans out there don't know who Frank Welker is, shame on you, because you've probably heard him in more things than most other voice-over actors put together.

Hmm ... and what's been happening on Rarity and Discord's side of things throughout this? We'll find out in the next chapter. Man, only five more to go. Hang in there folks, we're going to make it.