The Rise and Fall of Chaos

Chapter 4 - A Shy Breakdown

“Such meaningless exertion, my child. They mean nothing to us yet you flaunt our powers in front of them as if they are worth our time.” “You can't blame me for wanting to have a bit of fun.” “No, I suppose I can't. I certainly have trained you well, haven't I?”

Fluttershy lifted her head and looked around, overwhelmed with confusion. She could have sworn she was just at the palace in Canterlot, not laying down and relaxing at home. She bit herself to make sure she wasn't dreaming, feeling a slight twinge of pain.

“Oh my, what a relief! I must have dozed off... that was such a horrible dream!”

She got up and stretched, relieved that she wasn't actually in the palace at Canterlot, facing down an evil creature. The fact that she even had such a dream bothered her a little, but she was trying to push it from her mind.

It wasn't exactly working. As she made her way outside, she couldn't help but feel a bit worried. Her dreams had never been so dark or realistic before. Everything in it had felt so incredibly real and scary that she was starting to doubt that it was really a dream at all.

Before she could think about it any longer, she heard a large bang. She gasped and looked toward the sound, seeing that something had crashed into her chicken coop, completely demolishing it. Emerging from the wreckage was a small blue shape, with just a hint of rainbow-colored hair.

Fluttershy gasped, “Rainbow, are you okay?”

“Yeah yeah, I'm fine,” Rainbow snapped back at her, “no thanks to your stupid chicken coop getting in my way!”

Fluttershy was taken aback by Rainbow's attitude. Sure, she had a slight temper, but she seemed unusually annoyed today.

“Is everything okay? You seem a little agitated...” Fluttershy asked her friend.

“I said I'm fine!” said an increasingly annoyed Rainbow, before quickly taking off and flying away.

“I wonder what that was all about...” Fluttershy said quietly to herself.

She sighed and set to work repairing the chicken coop, having completely forgotten about the dream she had.

***

After she had finished the repairs, Fluttershy decided she would head down to Sugarcube Corner to see if any of her friends were there, hoping she could find out what was bothering Rainbow Dash.

When she got there, she found Pinkie Pie hanging out by herself.

“Hi Pinkie, have you seen Rainbow Dash today? She seemed a little troubled and I was just...” began Fluttershy.

“Nope, haven't seen her.” Pinkie said coldly, interrupting Fluttershy mid-sentence.

“Oh, okay, well, if...”

“Outta my way.” Applejack said, rudely pushing her out of the way.

“Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't see you...”

Applejack snapped her head around and looked angrily at Fluttershy “Well maybe if'n you paid more attention you'd know when someone was about to come up behind ya!”

Fluttershy began to back away slowly, looking hurt. “Okay... I think I'll just be going now...”

“Fine by me!” Applejack said.

Fluttershy walked out of Sugarcube Corner, more confused than ever. She couldn't figure out why all her friends were being so rude to her. As she walked down the street, she felt as if she were being watched. She looked around and saw that nearly everypony was staring at her, looks of contempt on their faces. She was about to turn her head when she accidentally bumped into somepony.

“Oh! I'm sorry, I guess I wasn't paying attention.” she said.

“Hmph, watch where you're walking, you moronic little whelp!” said the pony.

“Y-yes, I'll be more careful...”

“Oh would you just shut up already! I've never come across a more annoying pony in my entire life! Stop apologizing and GET OUT OF MY WAY!” shouted the rude pony as he pushed Fluttershy aside, knocking her to the ground.

Tears began welling up in her eyes, and she could hear laughter coming from all around her. Everypony that had been watching was laughing directly at her. She quickly took flight, trying to get away from Ponyville as quickly as possible.

Just then, a blurry shape rushed past her and nearly knocked her out of the sky. She turned around to see who it was and saw Rainbow looking back at her with a scowl.

“Why is everypony being so mean to me today?” she asked Rainbow, tears flowing down her cheeks.

“I dunno, maybe it's because you're a pathetic little whiner that always lets everyone push her around?” she said with a shrug.

Before Fluttershy had a chance to react, Rainbow started flying around her in a circle, causing her to spin uncontrollably.

“Haha, see you later loser!” Rainbow shouted as she kicked Fluttershy and sent her flying towards the ground.

She landed in a small pond just outside of Ponyville, and quickly swam to the surface. She got out of the water, shook herself off, and began to cry heavily. She could take other ponies being mean to her occasionally, but not her own friends. She was used to having somepony to turn to when she felt down.

“I know, I'll talk to Twilight, maybe she knows what's going on. She's always nice to me!”

She walked back into Ponyville after wiping her tears away, ignoring the stares and the laughter as she headed towards the library. When she got there, she knocked on the door, and was greeted by Spike.

“Oh, hello Spike. Is Twilight home?” she asked timidly.

“Oh, it's you. Uhh, nope, she's not here. Last I heard she was heading to Sugarcube Corner to meet up with everypony else.”

“Oh no, I can't go back there...” she thought to herself. “Umm, thanks. I'll just be going now.”

“Good.” Spike said as he slammed the door in Fluttershy's face.

She tried her best not to cry after yet again being treated like dirt, and decided maybe she would make her way down to Sugarcube Corner after all. She needed answers, no matter what. She had to know why people were acting like complete jerks, even if it meant having to deal with her friends being mean to her yet again.

As she approached Sugarcube Corner she could hear muffled talking coming from inside. She stopped just outside the door and listened in.

“Can you believe that Fluttershy?” said Applejack.

“I know! Just before, I slammed into her chicken coop and tore it to shreds, and she had the nerve to ask if I was okay, like I'm some kind of weakling or something!” Rainbow exclaimed.

“I hope you did that on purpose.”

“Of course I did!” Rainbow shouted. “I wanted to see what she would do. I was half expecting her to actually apologize to me or something, but all she did was get all upset when I told her it was her fault for putting it in my way!”

“You actually said that? You're a riot Rainbow Dash!” Pinkie said with a laugh.

Fluttershy couldn't believe what she was hearing. Rainbow crashed into her chicken coop on purpose, and everypony was laughing about it like it was some big joke!

“I think it's simply dreadful,” began Rarity, “the way she's always apologizing to people for their mistakes, as if they were her fault. That girl has no spine at all! Why, she practically lays down and lets people walk all over her! So pitiful.”

“What do you think, Twi?” asked Applejack.

“You're all definitely right. From the very first moment I met her, I could tell she had issues. She could barely even look at me, let alone talk to me! It wasn't until Spike showed up that she even started talking at all.”

“Why are we even allowing her to hang out with us anyway?” asked Rainbow.

“Cuz she's good fer a laugh, that's why.” said Applejack.

The girls all nodded in agreement and laughed.

Fluttershy had been crying the entire time. She couldn't take this, not at all. Her best friends were secretly laughing at her behind her back, the friends that she thought were always there for her. She could feel her body trembling with rage. She had felt anger before, but not like this. Before she knew it, her anger had completely taken control and she burst into the bakery, tears streaming down her face.

“Well well, look who it is! Fluttercry! And hey, she's actually crying, big surprise!” Rainbow said as the rest of the girls were laughing.

“I heard everything you all said! Every last bit of it!” Fluttershy shouted at them.

“Yeah? Well what're ya gonna do about it? Gonna be a tough girl for once and do something, or are ya gonna run away and go back to yer little animals again?” Applejack said with a smirk on her face.

“Just leave me alone!” cried Fluttershy as she turned around and left the bakery in a huff.

“Yep, that's what I thought.” said Applejack.

The girls all laughed as Fluttershy took off and headed back to her house. She couldn't remember the last time she ever felt so hurt and alone. She could literally feel her heart breaking, the pain gnawing away at her chest. Her friends meant the world to her, but now they had all suddenly turned on her. What made it worse was the thought that they had all thought that way all along, that they never really liked her or cared for her.

She thought back to all the good times she shared with her friends, her heart aching more and more with each memory she recalled.

“They never cared about me. Oh sure, they'd say they did to my face, but then they'd go and laugh at me when I wasn't around, and talk about me and how 'weak and pathetic' I am. Why did they lead me on like that, all this time? How could they be so cruel?”

She could barely focus on where she was going, her eyes blinded by tears and her head clouded with despair. Still, she managed to make it back to her house and stopped outside her front door.

“At least I still have my animal friends...”

She walked in the door and was immediately attacked by all the animals she kept inside. They all clawed and bit her viciously, as if they were possessed. She shook all of them off, her eyes wide with fear and shock.

“What are you all doing? What's going on?!”

She opened the door to try to get away, and the animals all ran out the door as quick as they could, leaving Fluttershy behind in confusion.

She felt the anger building inside her again.

“Fine! Be that way then! I don't need any of you!” she screamed.

She made her way over to the rest of the animals around her house, and began yelling at them.

“Get out of here! Get away from me!”

When every last one of them had made it off her property, Fluttershy collapsed on the ground and curled up into a ball. She began crying and shuddering, wracked with despair. The only thing she could think of was the intense pain she was feeling, now that everypony she had ever cared about had turned on her, knowing that they never cared about her at all. Even her animals had turned on her.

She could feel every last ounce of strength leave her, until even her very will to live was completely gone.

***

“Alas, poor Fluttershy. Oh well, at least now she's out of the way.” Goatroth said with a grin.

He got up and made his way to the hallway where just a few hours ago he had banished Celestia and Luna to the underworld. He stared out at the palace grounds, content with the absolute destruction he saw.

“Oh dear, it looks as if my little display with the building earlier created a bit of a mess.” he said with a chuckle.

Many of the trees had been crushed by the falling debris, and a piece of the palace wall had caved in, leaving bits of rubble strewn all over. Goatroth thought something was still missing.

“Aha, I have just the thing...”

The sky, still a shade of deep red, grew even darker and began to ripple with energy. Meteors began to fall, causing widespread destruction all over Canterlot. The streets soon filled with panicked ponies attempting to escape before their buildings were destroyed with them inside. Goatroth burst into a fit of laughter, his eyes wide with glee.

“Now that's what I like to see! Run my little puppets, run... amuse your Lord with your unbridled fear!”

He suddenly felt something... a very vague feeling, a sort of premonition. He paused for a moment, unsure of what had just happened.

“That... was odd. Hmm, no matter. It's gone now.”

He turned his attention back to the window and saw that the meteors had destroyed much more of the palace grounds, much to his delight. He decided he should make an announcement to the ponies of Canterlot concerning the recent “freak meteor shower”, and chuckled to himself.

“Attention, citizens of Canterlot. Your Lord Goatroth is aware of the horrible meteor shower that has destroyed much of his beloved city. Unfortunately, it simply could not be avoided.” He had to stop briefly to compose himself, as he was nearly overcome with laughter. “Rest assured, however, that I will do my best to stop such... accidents... from occurring again!”

He quickly took a tally of the live ponies and concluded that none of them had died, but a few were injured.

“Oh and do make sure you get your injured friends and/or family members to the hospital straight away, hmm? Wouldn't want them to suffer now, would we?”

He suddenly felt tired, like he had lost a significant amount of energy. He ceased the broadcast and nearly passed out from exhaustion.

“I really must rest for a while... I'm expending far too much of my power for the sake of my own amusement. At least, I think that's why I'm so tired...”

That foreboding feeling returned, albeit very briefly, as he slowly made his way back to the throne room.