Fluttershy gripped the scythe in her front hooves, swinging it wide. Her opponent saw it coming, catching it at the base of the blade with his sai, attempting to twist it out of her grip. This is exactly what she wanted him to do – with his force focused on her scythe, she drew two swords off her back with her wings, bringing them down toward his neck.
He had not been expecting this, but he still reacted admirably. He forced himself toward her scythe, moving upward so his back hooves could kick her blades out of the way. Fluttershy allowed her weapons to fly out of her wings so she could take to the sky, swinging her opponent like a foal’s toy. He yelled out in surprise as his previously perfect landing resulted in him faceplanting into a dry bush.
“And Red Rage is out!” a tall, back stallion shouted, “Fluttershy is the winner!”
Fluttershy smiled brightly, holding out a hoof to Rage. “Gotcha!”
Rage rolled his eyes, accepting her hoof. “You’re just too fast…”
“And strong,” she added, using her muscles to pull him up off the ground.
“She does tend to beat you in every hoof wrestling contest,” Rage’s sister, Red Riot, pointed out.
“Ahem. Riot?” the black stallion said. “As you were our spectator for this bout, do you mind telling us what Red Rage did wrong?”
“Uh…” Riot’s face blanked. “He relied too much on his sai?”
“While technically correct, that as not the main mistake. Fluttershy?”
Fluttershy smiled. “As a unicorn, Rage could have grabbed hold of my discarded swords with little effort and used them to end me.”
“Knowing this, why did you take the risk?”
“Since when has either of the Reds remembered they were unicorns in the middle of a bout, Ender?”
“A fair assumption when you know the opponent, but a risk you should not take in an actual confrontation.”
“Use every tool at your disposal in every situation.”
“Be wary of your own understanding of the situation.”
“There is always a moment when a risk must be taken for the sake of the civilians.”
“Ugh, we get it!” Riot said, nudging Fluttershy playfully. “You’re the prodigy, you don’t need to run your word games with Ender all the time.”
Ender smirked softly. “She needs to be challenged just like you two – and all the other students in the Academy, for that matter. You are here because you are better than the rest. I will meet all of you on your playing field.”
“Won’t be long before Flutters is beating you into the ground,” Rage commented.
Fluttershy rubbed the back of her head, embarrassed. “I’m just a second year…”
“You almost won the last Academy-wide combat fest.”
Fluttershy flexed a wing and a leg, smirking. “…I guess you can feed my ego just this once.”
“All three of you are excellent,” Ender declared. “I see great hunters in all of you. Even now, I would gladly fight by your side should the situation arise.”
“You grace us, Ender,” the three students said with a bow.
“Good. Remember that when you hate me for what I’m about to put you through.”
“Huh?” Fluttershy asked, cocking her head.
Ender pointed at the blue chest behind him. “You finally get to see what’s in the box.”
“It’s a monster isn’t it?” Fluttershy asked.
Ender fixed her with an annoyed glance. “I just can’t have my surprises, can I?”
“We… we get to see a monster?” Riot gasped. “I’ve only ever seen them in the distance…”
“We’re not far enough along to face anything real!” Rage countered.
“…But we are,” Fluttershy said, picking up her swords and readying her scythe. She prepared for the fight of her life in those moments – slight stretches, quick motions of her wings, and careful control over her pegasus magic. Use every tool at your disposal. She cast a simple flash spell to ready her magical muscles, brightening the area in front of her wings briefly.
“You and your spells…” Riot muttered.
“You’re just jealous your horn won’t cooperate,” Fluttershy ribbed.
“Meh.” Riot pulled out her three crossbows, loading them with her telekinesis.
“Remembering you’re a unicorn?”
“Shut up,” Riot laughed. She put one in each forward hoof, the third staying in her magic grip.
Rage was simpler – he had sais strapped to every hoof and a sword on his back. Both he and his sister wore black armor, while Fluttershy opted for a simple tunic. As a pegasus, she wanted full range of mobility, and heavy armor just bogged that down.
“I think we’re ready,” Fluttershy said, grinning.
Ender grinned. He tapped the chest once. It shimmered and shook with magic sparks before popping open and shut quickly. A single orb of light shot out of the chest and grew to something larger than a carriage. Within a few seconds, a reptilian being had taken shape with two clawed legs, four powerful arms, and a narrow head more predatory than any animal’s. Fluttershy could tell it was a monster because of its eyes – no other type of life had those deep, red slits alit with black flames.
The monster let out a roar of rage and attacked – as all of it kind did. The red twins charged; firing, slicing, and poking at the beast with amazing skill, if considerable caution.
Fluttershy didn’t move. Her four hooves remained planted in the ground, like ice. The swords in her wings were still poised to strike, but her scythe had fallen to the ground. Eyes wide and unblinking, she stared at the beast as it roared.
She couldn’t hear it anymore. All she could hear was a constant whining buzz in the back of her head, like a thunder spell had malfunctioned perpetually. Her heart was racing more than it ever had before. Somewhere within her psyche she identified the monster as a reskilan, noted the perfect way to approach its back and sever its head from the spinal weak point, and made an escape plan. But all her training and knowledge did nothing to actually make her move. The significantly larger part of her psyche that was telling her to run wasn’t getting anywhere either.
Everything had locked up.
If she had mental awareness, she would feel like a prisoner in her own body.
The reskilan knocked the Red twins to the side easily, moving quickly to Fluttershy. It raised a claw to skewer her and she didn’t even react. Her eyes focused directly on the incoming point, her jaw slack.
Ender jumped between them, raising his shield and breaking the beast’s claw. He threw out a small orb from his satchel that unleashed several dozen metal bolas enchanted with thunder magic, wrapping around the reskilan in several different places, pinning its limbs and forcing its mouth shut.
It landed on the ground with a thud – growling angrily, alive, but very much trapped.
Fluttershy felt the sensation return to her legs in that moment. She was finally able to breathe as fast as she wanted. Immediately she clutched her chest and began heaving, sweat pouring down her face and onto the ground in droves.
“What happened Flutters?” Rage asked.
“I… I…” Fluttershy could barely breathe.
“She froze,” Ender said, smiling softly. “It’s a thing I’ve seen happen to many students when first encountering a monster directly. Though most at least react when the claw is about to hit them. At least you didn’t scream or flee, like most do.”
Oh. Oh, this is normal… Fluttershy let out a sigh of relief. I was worried there for a second… She regained control of her limbs and stretched them all again. Turning to Ender, she pointed at the reskalin. “May I?”
“Sure,” Ender said.
Fluttershy took to the sky and landed on the back of the restrained monster. She prodded its back with her sword, removing a scale easily. Looking at the base of its neck, she knew she could strike the weak point right now and kill it instantly. “For future reference, Reds, you should go for the back of the neck on these creatures.” She pointed. “Their spine is easy to break right here.”
Riot nodded. “Guess we can’t always assume you’ll just be able to tell us everything, huh?”
Fluttershy blushed. “I… guess not.” She flexed her wings, tossing a light fireball spell at the reptile’s rump. It growled at her, but still couldn’t move.
“…Could you release it?” Fluttershy asked.
“Fluttershy…” Ender cautioned.
“I just want to get past this,” she said, preparing a larger offensive spell by pulling her wings back, prompting every feather in her limbs to glow. “All I have to do is release the spell. Should be simple.”
“Very well,” Ender said. The three hunters-in-training lined up once again, though this time Fluttershy forewent the blades for pure magic. The spell was to be a simple blade construct: requiring a lot of energy to create a sharp crescent that would cut the beast’s head off.
All she had to do was release the spell.
“Ready,” she said.
Ender nodded. He couldn’t recall the bolas, but he could keep them from shocking the monster by destroying the magical artifact they had come from. The monster didn’t hesitate – it stood up and tore off all the restraints, roaring.
RELEASE THE SPELL.
Fluttershy’s body didn’t listen to her. The magic remained in her feathers, ready to unleash… but she could do nothing. Her mind screamed to run, to fight, to do something, but every muscle in her body was as useful as ice.
And the noise. The endless whine in the back of her mind… It was all there was to hear. Maddening.
Rage and Riot moved beautifully. Riot shot the beast in the face, forcing it to recoil. In the midst of this, Rage drew his sword with his telekinesis and forced the blade into the back of the beast’s neck, paralyzing it from the injury down in an instant. Fluttershy’s advice had been perfect. The creature fell, dead.
“Good work Reds,” Ender said as Fluttershy’s sensibility returned to her. “You worked quickly and learned from your previous mistakes.”
“Thank you, Ender!” the twins said, bowing.
“And Fluttershy…” Ender put a hoof on her shoulder. “Your teammates would not have been able to do it without your knowledge.”
Fluttershy nodded slowly. “I… At least I know my stuff? Heh.” Fluttershy looked him in the eye. “Are… are you sure this is normal?”
“Yes,” Ender said.
Fluttershy could see the uncertainty in his eyes.
~~~
Rage, Riot, and Fluttershy shared a dorm room in the Academy. This was mildly unusual, given the mixed genders, but they had all lived together basically all their life so an exception was made. The trio of soon-to-be hunters from the border town of Musk, that was them!
Technically their dorm could hold four ponies on the two bunk beds, but the Academy’s dorms had never been full enough to warrant sticking a fourth pony in the room. The twins used the lower beds while Fluttershy switched back and forth between the two top bunks, depending on which of the two twins was annoying her more at the time. Besides the bed, there was a closet embedded into one of the walls where they stored most of their weapons and armor. A small semicircle table sat under the window with a gas lamp on it. Said table was almost always covered in books about monster theory, the sciences, and a few of Fluttershy’s magic books.
“The great Butter of Vengeance finally found something difficult huh?” Rage mocked as the three of them entered the dorm.
“Rage!” Riot chided as she slid out of her armor. “Fluttershy has had a bad day, you don’t need to go piling on!”
“It’s fine, I could use the motivation,” Fluttershy admitted, stretching her wings.
“Flutters, you’re the most determined pony I know,” Riot encouraged. “You don’t need us to push you to succeed.”
“Can’t hurt, can it?”
“I mean, given Rage’s track record with tact…”
“I say what I mean and I don’t say anything else,” Rage huffed.
Fluttershy carefully put all her weapons away and sat down at the desk, flipping open one of her more advanced spellbooks, one filled with spells far too complex for her to master. She loved reading about them anyway, not just for academic purposes, but also imagining what she might be able to do in the future.
“Sure you don’t want to be a wizard?” Rage asked.
“If I became a wizard it would be a hunter-wizard and you know it,” Fluttershy said, flipping through the pages of the book until she came across the chapter devoted to fire magic. Seemed interesting enough, so she started reading.
“I can’t believe you’re studying at a time like this,” Riot said. “It’s almost midnight!”
“Just let her study. I’m convinced the books help her fall asleep.”
“Ugh… Just keep the gas lamp on low light, okay? We would like to sleep.”
Fluttershy did as asked, turning the lamp down to its lowest setting – barely better than a small candle in terms of light. “Night Reds.”
“Night,” the two of them said, flipping into bed at the same time. Twins.
Fluttershy continued to drag her eyes across the words of the spellbook, but it didn’t take her long to realize she was only reading on a subconscious level, dragging her eyes across the words by force. She’d probably be able to pass a test on fire magic theory, but she’d never actually be able to cast even the simplest spells like this…
Who was she kidding, she couldn’t focus right now. All she could do was replay her encounter with the monster. Both times, instantly frozen, like a switch had flipped inside her. She’d never felt anything like it... right?
She tried to think back to her time back in Musk, when monster attacks were common. She would always hide in the cellars, as instructed. She would see destruction, dead monster carcasses, and occasionally a pony would be lost… but had she ever actually seen one of them alive, up close, and dangerous?
She could remember a few. That time she passed out… that time she might have frozen, but she was quickly saved by the hunters… and…
Fluttershy put the book down and closed her eyes. Ah. Yes… Two or three years before she had come to the Academy. She had already been training herself and the Reds to be hunters. She’d basically been doing that all her life, since she knew she wanted to stop the constant suffering the monsters brought to border towns like Musk. The three of them had gotten it in their heads that the hunters were in over their head and needed some help…
So they had done the stupid thing. Left the safety if the cellars, grabbed their weapons, and moved toward the monster. It has been a tremendous blimp thing that fired lightning down onto the ground. The three of them arrived. Red and Riot wondered how they were going to hurt something that was flying that far in the air – but Fluttershy remembered something else.
She remembered the noise.
The Reds hadn’t noticed her acting unusual. They had deliberated for about a minute before the hunters managed to bring the thing down – and promptly scolded the three of them for thinking they could just come out. “You don’t get to become a hunter if you don’t live to see the Academy!”
Fluttershy had taken that line to heart and forgotten about her freezing – until today.
But it was normal, right? Freezing up in fear? Ponies were peaceful herbivores by nature, required to fight only by necessity. This was surely just a part of her equine nature she had to move past.
…Ender had seemed uncertain. And it certainly didn’t feel natural. She should have at least been able to run... or prepare herself or something.
She turned off the lamp and crawled into the bed above Riot, staring at the ceiling.
I’ll get past this. I’ve pushed through every difficulty in the past – I can push through this.
Despite her own reassurances, she was unable to fall asleep that night.
~~~
Fluttershy walked into Ender’s office. For a teacher at the Academy, his office has a remarkably small number of monster skulls lining the walls. “Ender, we need to figure out what triggers my… freezing.”
“…Are you certain?”
“I need to resolve this as soon as possible so I can move on. Can I assume you have a quick way to restrain monsters and release them repeatedly?”
“…I can procure an advanced capture node. Very expensive, but I have connections with the wizards.”
“Thank you, Ender.”
“What are you going to try first?”
“Blindfolded.”
Later that day, Ender set out the capture node in the middle of a forest clearing they had regularly used for sparring. The older students would go deeper into the forest to find monsters to hunt, but here there wouldn’t be anything besides what Ender was about to throw at her.
“Let me see it first,” Fluttershy said.
“It’s a blismir,” Ender said, pointing at the node. It was a small, blue ball that flashed pink every few seconds, indicating it had something trapped inside.
“Go for the center eye, twist to snap the bone, cause brain failure,” Fluttershy recited.
“Very good. Plan?”
“I’ll be blindfolded, so such precision isn’t an option. Will attempt blade rush and likely fail.”
Ender nodded. He tapped the node with his hoof, summoning the monster. It took the form of an oafish blob-creature with three eyes and a gaping maw filled with razor teeth. The eyes were as red and black as all monsters…
Fluttershy froze, the noise hammering at the back of her ears. Even though she had been expecting it… it felt no different. Paralyzing…
Ender recalled the creature. “Di-“
“Yes, I froze,” Fluttershy gasped. Quickly, she took the blindfold off her back and tied it around her eyes, plunging herself into darkness. “Ready.”
She heard the device summon the blismir once again. She found she could still move her legs and wings. Good. Now to-
It let out a gurgling roar, and that was enough. All noise faded to the background and she froze. Even though she was in darkness, her fear wasn’t any more intense than usual. It felt the same.
After she came out of it, though, she tore the blindfold off and looked at it like it was a monster itself.
“Fluttershy…”
“Earplugs. I… am going to try earplugs.”
Earplugs didn’t work, vision triggered it as well. Blindfold-earplug combo worked until she felt the thing’s breath on her, after which she froze in mid-swinging motion, falling over.
“So… it happens as soon as I know it’s actually there and ready to attack me,” Fluttershy said, pacing. “No matter what…”
“I’m not sure what to tell you.”
“Ender, I know only wizards with special licenses can use mental spells. But you can get one here, right? See if… limiting fear could help?”
“If you rely on that…”
“I’ll get the mental magic license myself if I have to, but I need to know if it works first.” She looked to him with desperate eyes. “Please.”
In the few weeks it took Ender to arrange that, she tried a few other things. She killed multiple copies of the same monster while they were restrained, hoping to get herself used to it. But she couldn’t even act out of instinct when they were free and wanted her dead. It didn’t matter if the monster was cute, monstrous, or even invisible, she would still freeze.
Ender had surprised her a few times with monster attacks she didn’t expect – allowing her one retaliation strike while she thought it was a normal test instead of an actual fight. But if that retaliation didn’t kill…
She could not weaponize her own ignorance, no matter how much she wanted to.
One day, the mental magician arrived. A tall, bearded unicorn by the name if Cosmere, well renowned in the royal courts for his work in removing corruption. “This is a waste of my time.”
“Just try to keep her stable,” Ender said. “If you are able to do it, she will work to join your ranks.”
“A hunter with mental magic… hmph.”
“Please, lord Cosmere…” Fluttershy said with a bow. “I need this. There… has to be some way past this.”
“I no doubt have the solution. And given the shimmer on your wings, you do have the capacity to perform these spells yourself. I just find it… unconventional and roundabout.” He lit his horn, touching her mind. She felt like she had been poked on the backside of her skull – it wasn’t painful, just highly disturbing.
Ender held up the capture node and released a three-headed worm covered in red spikes. Vanyitter Worm, attack the rear end – all three heads will feel that pain and lose cohesion.
She felt the freeze. Somewhere, her mind thought come on Cosmere…
Cosmere thought back. Attempting override…
Nothing happened. She remained frozen.
“Stop,” Cosmere called. Ender recalled the beast. The old wizard turned to Fluttershy with a mixture of surprise and sadness. “My child… I…”
“You can’t do it,” Fluttershy said, simply. She smiled sadly. “It’s okay. You tried. Thank you.”
“I am so sorry.”
Fluttershy nodded, wiping tears from her face. “You… weren’t the last resort. I have… one more thing.”
“What is that?” Ender asked.
“You’ll see soon enough.”
Two weeks later Fluttershy had gotten enough money to purchase the ‘one more thing’. She walked up to Ender one day with one of the most prestigious kind of weapons known to ponykind – the arc rifle. Instead of shooting arrows or little bullets, this long, pointed weapon would shoot beams of lethal magic as far as a pony could see.
To demonstrate, Fluttershy, hefted the arc rifle in her wings and powered it with her magic. She pointed it out an open window and shot a tree in the distance, knocking it over.
“…How did you afford that?”
“Favors. Extra jobs. Sold the armor set I never use.” She lowered the arc rifle. “If I can’t fight directly, I will fight from afar.”
“You aren’t good with ranged weapons.”
“Yet.”
Ender nodded, looking more than a little tired as he did so. “Very well. …Do you have any other ideas?”
Fluttershy bit her lip. “This… this is the last one, Ender.”
And so they tried it one last time. Fluttershy stood on top of the Academy’s main roof, hooves planted firmly on the white bricks that made up the school. The sun was high in the sky and the clouds were bright white. A soft breeze blew through her mane, letting her know how perfect the day was and how beautiful everything looked.
The Reds were behind her, cheering her on.
In the far, far distance, Ender stood with the capture node in his hoof. He let out a shout and activated it.
Fluttershy put the scope up to her eye and aimed right at the slow frog-beast that popped out. It had no idea she was even looking at it. There was no way it even knew what an arc rifle was. It moved to attack Ender, bouncing off his shield easily. Everything was fine.
But the moment she told her wingtips to pull the trigger… she froze.
There was only the whining buzz in the back of her head.
When Ender captured the creature again, tears started rolling down her face in waterfalls. She finished pulling the trigger, sending a pulse of orange energy into the ground where the frog had once been, harmlessly.
She took her eyes off the gun’s sights, still crying. Turning to Riot, she handed the unicorn the arc rifle. “This… is yours now.”
“Fluttershy…”
“I… I just need some time alone…” Fluttershy swallowed painfully and walked back to the dorms. She didn’t even take off her weapons or bother flying up to a higher bunk. She flopped onto Riot’s bed and wept bitterly into the pillow.
Why am I so weak? Why does this have to happen to me? I was a prodigy! I was the best student at this stupid Academy! I can save so many ponies’ lives with everything I know! I could probably take down a high dragon! If only I wasn’t… so… mentally… WEAK!
What’s the point of knowing all this stuff about the monsters if I can’t do anything about them!? Why am I like this!? I should be one of the best hunters!
What is wrong with me!?
With no answer forthcoming, she cried herself to sleep.
~~~
Fluttershy woke up to the sound of swords falling over. Her eyes shot open, prepared to give Rage a lecture on being careful with their belongings.
But neither of the Reds were in the room.
Instead, there was a pony wrapped entirely in dark, back fabric, rooting through a pile of swords noisily.
A thief! Thieves are so rare, why – oh. Probably thinks I have the arc rifle.
She realized she had fallen asleep with her sword on her – horrible practice for a hunter unless planned for, but lucky for her today. She reached for it with her wing…
And then the thief noticed she was awake. With a quick motion there was a knife pointed at her neck. She knew what to do: twist to the side, cast a quick burst spell to kick the knife away, then point her sword at the offending pony’s neck.
Except she couldn’t.
She was frozen.
The pony said something, pressing the knife to her neck. Still she couldn’t react.
With a sigh, the pony removed his mask, revealing it to be Ender. “I… I was hoping…”
Fluttershy was at first relieved – it was just some kind of test. But then she realized that she’d frozen. Not at a monster, but at a pony. No dark or evil magic there…
Fluttershy gulped. “Ender, what does this mean?”
“I had been hoping to send you to the capital,” Ender shook his head. “Even if you couldn’t fight monsters… there are ponies who need to be stopped as well. With your skills, you would make an excellent agent of the crown.”
“If I could fight.”
“If you could fight…”
“Why can’t I fight?” Fluttershy asked. She wasn’t really expecting an answer.
To her surprise, she got one. “When Cosmere was here, he scanned your brain. It’s… not like than a normal pony’s brain. He said something about the neurons being wired… differently.”
“…He said wired wrong, didn’t he?”
“Yes, that is what he said,” Ender admitted. “He believes you were born with it. A neural pathway that just… locks you up in any situation you actually believe is life-threatening.”
“Are you saying I can’t actually act brave?”
“I don’t know what I’m saying,” Ender admitted.
Fluttershy looked down at her hooves. “I… I just wanted to help ponies…”
“You still can, Fluttershy. You know the material more than any of my other students, and you are one of the best sparring partners out there. You can become a teacher, like me.”
Fluttershy nodded slowly. “That’s… something, at least.”
“I’ll take you on as my protégé,” Ender promised. “I know it’s not what you want.”
“It isn’t…” Fluttershy forced a smile. “But thank you. I… I need to think about it.”
“You don’t need to decide anytime soon.” Ender bowed. “Sorry for waking you.”
“You were trying to help me. That’s all that matters.”
Ender grimaced. “Are you sure?”
For the first time in a long while, Fluttershy wasn’t.
~~~
Fluttershy never spent much time in the Academy temple. She’d never felt much respect for the gods ever since she was a filly, with the exception of one.
And today, she needed to feel close to that particular one.
She walked through the immense marble archway, right into the main sanctuary. The four statues of the personal gods dominated the first view – Mercury, Venus, Mars, and Ceres, gods of Earth, Sea, Love, and Wisdom. She passed by their ornate depictions without a second glance – she didn’t care to ogle over their hairless monkey-like appearance.
She didn’t even stop when she reached the lone, bearded statue of Jupiter, king of the gods. He always looked too proud anyway.
She entered the back of the room, where the distant gods lay. Statues of Uranus and Neptune, gods of Time and Sky, flanked Pluto, goddess of Death. Situated in front of the immense, foreboding statue of Pluto was a much smaller statue of a goddess holding a spear in the air, her mouth open in anguish. The base of her statue was cracked, unlike all the others whose forms were in perfect, pristine condition.
This was Saturn, goddess of Battle, Power, Courage… and many other titles Fluttershy didn’t have the mental faculty to dredge up right now.
Fluttershy looked up at the anguished face of Saturn, replaying the legend of the goddess in her mind. When the world was young and the monsters had just begun to rise out of the earth, Saturn had declared she would fight the king of monsters in direct combat. Uranus took a look into the sea of Time and told her a simple, clear prophecy – if she sought to fight the king of monsters, she would die. She was ordered by Jupiter himself not to fight.
She did anyway.
She died.
That was what the crack in the marble meant, after all. Saturn was the lost goddess, the one who gave her life trying to save the world. In the end, she did nothing but get herself killed, and it fell to the ponies of the world to fight the monsters on their own. Thousands upon thousands of years of pain and suffering. Only in recent history had things turned around…
Fluttershy laid a hoof on the statue. If she had done this to any other statue, the priests would have kicked her out for sacrilege. But there was no Saturn, anymore. No goddess of power to pray too. All the others would hear her cry if she went to them. But not the one she needed.
The one all of them needed. Saturn.
“I… I’m never going to be a hunter…” she said, tears falling down her cheeks. “I… I can’t avenge you. I am sorry.”
There was no response. There could not be.
~~~
Fluttershy suited up – swords and scythe. She would have grabbed the arc rifle, but Riot had already taken it out. The twins were out in the forest with Ender, doing some sparring. Fluttershy had decided it was time for her to go back to them. If she was going to be a teacher, she still needed to keep in shape. Be the best.
…She knew her heart wasn’t in it anymore, but she couldn’t bring herself to pack it all in and go home. She’d go out there, find Ender, and tell her she accepted his offer.
Would she be happy?
Maybe. Maybe not. It definitely wouldn’t be anything like what she had wanted her entire life.
But it was something. And she was going to make the best of it.
She spread her wings and took to the sky, scanning the forest to see if she could find them. She was mildly surprised to see they weren’t in the usual clearing, but this didn’t concern her. Ender would regularly go a little deeper if he thought it would be worthwhile.
But then she saw it. The Ice Serpent, lifting its head above the tree line and hissing angrily at the black stallion on the back of its head. Fluttershy gasped as the chilling reptile twisted its head, kicking Ender off with ease. She caught sight of the Reds trying their best to damage the creature, but the ice was too slick for blades to pierce, and the creature was simply too big to be affected by the arc rifle. With a swish of its tail, the ice serpent knocked both Reds off their hooves.
They need to use fire, but none of them have a fire weapon…
Her wings had locked up and she was losing altitude – not that she could do anything about that, frozen as she was. All she could do is watch as the ice serpent intercepted every attack Ender tried to throw at it.
What was such a powerful monster doing in this forest anyway? Even the deep parts of the foliage didn’t have something this monstrous… the best hunters in the world had hunted those beasts out of the Academy’s forest before Fluttershy had even been born!
It could have been the monster cult, but there didn’t seem to be any reason why…
Eventually, she lost enough altitude to run headfirst into a tree and fall to the forest floor – upsetting a large number of squirrels who apparently thought an ice serpent rampaging around wasn’t anything to write home about.
On the ground, Fluttershy realized she wasn’t really aware of the ice serpent anymore. She knew where it was, and could maybe hear it slamming its tail into the ground, but she wasn’t certain.
She could move.
Quickly, she rose to her hooves and prepared to charge in and help them. She had to force herself to stop and think. You’ll just be a liability! Yes, you have to help, but you can’t do it like that!
They needed fire. She had fire – she understood the concept and could cast the spells required to melt the monster’s icy skin. But she couldn’t cast spells in combat, even pre-prepared ones wouldn’t release. She needed a way to have something other than her will activate the spell…
Her eyes widened as she got an idea. It was crazy, but it was the only idea she had. She took one of her swords off her back and held it between her wings, trying to remember all she could from the various spellbooks she had read.
Deep, personal fire poured out of her feathers into the sword, fusing as much magical energy as she was willing to give up to the blade. It glowed a bright, lively red as she empowered it.
After she was done, she swung it in the air to test. The blade produced an arc of fire in the air without any external assistance.
It was a primitive enchantment, wouldn’t last very long, and probably had numerous downsides she wasn’t aware of, but it was pretty good considering she had never actually done a full enchantment before.
She wasted no time. She put the blade in an outstretched hoof and started galloping through the forest on three legs, yelling all the while as she did so. It had to be done – there was a slim chance this would work anyway, she needed to give it every possible chance even at the expense of her own safety.
Upon charging past a tree, she saw the ice serpent smack Riot into a rock. Instantly, Fluttershy froze, her yell dying in her throat and her hooves locking into the ground. The sudden shock of motionlessness tore the blade of fire out of her hoof, throwing it a fair distance past where she stopped. It landed a few meters away, lighting the grass around it on fire.
Red Rage was right next to it when it landed. He looked at it – and then looked at Fluttershy, understanding exactly what she had done.
Then, remembering he was a unicorn, he picked up the blade in his magic and drove it into the back of the ice serpent. It slid through the icy exterior like a butter knife, puncturing one of the monster’s vital organs. It hissed – but it was not dead.
Ender jumped through the air, smacking the snake on the side of the head with his shield. He held out a hoof to Rage, and the unicorn understood. He threw the sword at Ender in a wild arc, but Ender caught it anyway. The hilt was hot enough to burn his hoof but he grunted through the pain, entering a spinning whirlwind maneuver with the sword and shield in hoof.
The shield smacked the serpent’s head once again. The sword followed quickly thereafter, melting through the serpent’s skull and turning the dazed snake into a dead snake. It collapsed to the ground, missing Riot by a few inches.
“W-wow!” Riot said, breathing heavily. “T-that was close!”
Ender dropped the sword, wincing at the burns on his hoof. “Rage, where did you get this sword?”
Rage pointed at Fluttershy, disbelief on his face. “Her… she gave it to me.”
Fluttershy had a hoof to her chest, trying to calm her breathing.
“You… gave him that sword?” Ender asked, walking up to her.
“Yes. Made it just now.” Fluttershy shook her head. “Sorry about the burn, I haven’t exactly done a full enchantment before a-“
“Fluttershy, nopony ever succeeds on their first full enchantment spell.”
Fluttershy blinked. “Wait…”
Ender broke out into a grin. “You have more gifts than you realize.”
Fluttershy looked at the flaming sword on the ground, charring away at the grass, getting dangerously close to causing a forest fire.
“How does being a weaponsmith sound?” Ender asked.
Fluttershy looked at him with tear-filled eyes – and the biggest smile he had ever seen on her face.
“That sounds… perfect.”
~~~
“And the top hunter of this year’s graduating class is…”
Fluttershy held her breath.
“Red Riot!”
“YOU DID IT!” Fluttershy cheered, forcefully picking up her childhood friend and dumping her on the outdoor graduation stage. This action got a few chuckles from the crowd and a warm smile from the master of ceremonies himself, Ender.
“Flutters!” Riot laughed, pushing her away. “I should walk up just like everyone else!”
“Psh, you’re the top hunter, go get your extra fancy pin.”
Riot smiled brightly and walked right up to Ender, taking the ‘top graduating hunter’ pin and placing it proudly on her armor. The entire crowd clapped.
Ender gave a short little speech about how Riot proving that intellectual pursuit and a sharp mind alone can make an excellent hunter, and ponies need not rely on brute strength to get the job done. Near the end of his speech, though, his jovial smile turned into a wry one.
“Now, something a little unusual has happened to this graduating class…” Ender said, addressing the crowd once more. “Almost every year, the top hunter also gets the most distinguished student award at the Academy. However, we are lucky enough this year to have a pony from another major take the spotlight. And she just so happens to already be on stage.”
Fluttershy’s pupils shrunk to pinpricks. “What…?”
“Ladies and gentlemen, the most distinguished student of the Academy this year is the soon-to-be-legendary weaponsmith, Fluttershy.”
Fluttershy couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Like a zombie, she walked toward Ender. Her immense plate armor enchanted with ‘lightweight’ clanked impressively with every step she took, and her assortment of personally crafted weapons ranging from swords to bows to guns sparkled in the sunlight. She looked up to Ender, disbelief in her eyes.
“Fluttershy has proven that some ponies have impossible hurdles.” Ender smiled sadly. “Sometimes the world is cruel, cursing us with afflictions and maladies that debilitate us in ways we could never anticipate. But some of us also have dreams. It takes a strong mare to look her own mind in the face and say ‘I’m going to do this anyway’. Fluttershy, you have worked harder and with more determination than many hunters will exert in their entire careers. You’ve more than earned this.”
Fluttershy beamed as Ender pressed her pin onto her armor. Taking a deep breath, she turned to the crowd gathered for graduation.
“I can’t fight,” she said, simply, without a hint of shame in her voice. “But I can put everything I have into helping others fight. If you ever need strength, power, knowledge, or even just a shoulder to rest your weary head – I’ll be there. And if you ever see me standing frozen while a monster is attacking ponies…” she gestured at the weapons on her back. “I will never be without a suitable armament of powerful artifacts. Please, take them. You do not need to ask my permission to defend this world we have worked so hard to create.” She pulled an old, beat up flaming sword off her back and held it high. “And with time, we will rid the world of monsters!”
The crowd erupted into cheering.
A single tear of joy ran down Fluttershy’s cheek.
She had made it.
Author's Note
This is not the end. There are more questions to answer.
Who is Applejack?
Who is Pinkie Pie?
Who is Fluttershy?
Who is Twilight Sparkle?
Who is [ERROR]?
Who is Rarity?
