Fluttershy resisted the urge to groan loudly in annoyance from all the talking Upper Crust did in front of her, at the very least she wanted to roll her eyes at the amount of stupid questions that were practically thrown her way but instead the pegasus plastered a small, extremely fake smile on her face and nodded along to what she was being told with only one thing on her mind at this point in time.
She needed a cigarette.
Luckily for the twenty six year old mare, she was saved by Starswirl the Bearded trotting towards them to no doubt speak to her before he was noticed by the unicorn next to her.
She quietly tried to slip off onto the balcony to enjoy a relaxing smoke before a booming voice nearly made her jump out of her skin, or at least such a sound would have in the past. But that was five years ago.
“The Fallen Pegasus!” Prince Rutherford shouted to the once timid pegasus who allowed a more sincere smile to cross her face as she merely waved a hoof his way in greeting before continuing on to her destination.
The drunk and soon to be king of the Yaks had a fondness for the former shy mare, after she killed the Yeti queen that had attempted to go to war with the Yaks, according to Yeti culture the one who kills the king or queen in combat became the next in line for the throne but she had no intention of being queen or pissing off the offspring of the queen so instead she chose a suitable candidate from the family and made them vow that they would never attempt to go to war with Yakyakistan or Equestria as long as she lives.
She did not expect them to agree but despite their language being rather rough to learn and their brutal tribe laws, she had no doubt they could be an ally...in time.
She didn’t want to make enemies of an entire species….again.
As she walked she felt the familiar weight of the chains wrapped around her front hooves, fused to her bones and covered with bandages so that none saw the scars, once melted flesh and fur and stared for too long as they once had in the past.
The long, curved, jagged swords placed on her back behind her wings and held in place by magic sparkled from the care of the mare who wore them, so much so that they looked brand new if one did not know any better, though magically rust free and crafted for the sharp blades to never dull very few knew just how much blood had stained the blades in all the time Fluttershy had worn them.
It was not by choice that she was given the fire enhanced swords that could never be removed unless the weider died. She had simply tried to help a dying god, how was she supposed to know that the Blades of Destruction that the cat god offered her were the very reason why he was being hunted.
Fluttershy Breeze was no stranger to death, in fact for her it was an old friend in times of comfort for those in her care, and she often welcomed its embrace to stop the suffering of her animal friends.
But having magical chains wrap around her front hooves and burn with such heat that they melted her fur, skin, muscles, veins and bones only to infuse with the bones was a pain Fluttershy would never wish upon anyone, ever.
She died three times in the hospital from shock and blood loss, with the blades unable to be touched by anyone other then Fluttershy as others have learned when the swords erupted into blue flames and magically resistant to gods themselves, it was safe to say that even with Discord’s advice and aid that Fluttershy was on her own.
It took a full year for the mare to get used to them and for normally weapon free areas all over the nation to make her an exception especially with the help of the Princesses and Spike, being as good as a friend to the rulers of the dragons and Changelings as he was, it took just as long for her animal friends to accept the new change, tripping over the chains that had at one point dragged to the floor nearly made the pony tear her mane out.
“The Pony of Flames!” She heard a dragon far off in the distance shout in victory with his native language as she gave a small chuckle with the memory of the entire dragon race bowing before her after she killed the large fire resistant scorpion king in a war that lasted nearly two years.
It was such a stressful time that King Thorax and Dragon Lord Ember nearly divorced and at the time no one would blame them, but Cadance had a way of getting to the heart of the matter, the two were a very strong team, rivaling even Shining Armor and Cadance in their united kingdoms and passion for each other, Fluttershy chuckled at the memory of Spike crying in joy when they got married.
But that was a long time ago as she turned to watch the now adult Spike joke around with his cousins as Blueblood and Cadance teased and mocked each other about the past, Fluttershy could not help but smile before Spike caught her eye and winked before blowing an air kiss as she blushed.
War had a way of pushing romance to the mind during times of brief rest, and it was no longer a secret that Spike and Flutttershy had fooled around more than once.
The eighteen year old dragon had a way of igniting a fire within her that she did not know she had. But though they often made love even with the wars they fought in, it was the thought of dating that made the pegasus pause.
She could not blame Spike for wanting more, after all he was a very emotional and loving dragon and she liked that about him, but though his claws and scales were stained with blood he was still the same innocent dragon she had known him to be, to a degree at least.
She did promise to give him an answer if she wanted to be more than friends with benefits at the end of the night and she intended to give him an answer, even if she did not know herself what that would entail.
With a small shake of her head, she focused on the here and now rather than what was to come as she walked closer to the balcony.
“The Mare of Carnage.” A voice spoke behind her that caused her to freeze and immediately narrow her eyes before she turned around and saw a male caribou in front of her.
Reindeer, a very old and once powerful species beyond the borders of Equestria that wanted to join forces with Equestria, all would have been fine, even perfect to a point before the queen noticed the weapons meant to kill gods on Fluttershy’s back.
An offer was made and was refused, not once, not twice but thrice and each time she had refused the queen became more and more angry.
When the queen offered her gold, knowledge and power in her kingdom and was refused, she became cold and cruel, when she yelled and bargained and was shot down she became furious and when she struck Princess Luna in her rage then the horns of war were called.
At the time, Fluttershy fought as was her duty but did her best never to kill, even in self defense and it worked for nearly a week, but when Rarity was severely hurt and lost her right eye, something in Fluttershy snapped and she became more brutal in her attacks and began to use her swords.
To this day she could still hear the screams of the female caribou who killed a hippogriff right in front of Fluttershy as the pegasus simply...lost it and drove the sword in her right hoof deep into the reindeer’s chest.
The Mare of Carnage was the very first title Fluttershy Breeze was given from her enemies, it was a name that was rarely used outside of her foes.
With the Yetis it was merely a one on one combat to prevent war with the Yaks, with the Scorpions, Equestria was asked for aid by the dragons and changelings and did not hesitate to defend their friends.
But with the Caribou, it was personal.
She never harmed a child, it was her one rule no matter who she fought for any reason even if the stories she heard about herself say otherwise.
But the thousands she slaughtered….those were not stories.
Even after all this time with a king and a peace treaty with Equestria and the other races and with Fluttershy herself trying to justify what she had done, sometimes with prayer with was ironic since she was an atheist and which quickly didn’t last once she fought gods and sometimes with the bottle which became such a problem that she had to go to rehab and then AA meetings once she got out, she would be three months sober next week.
Drugs mixed with alcohol but she stopped once it got to the point of injecting herself, she was haunted and cursed with her guilt but even that would not surpass her fear of needles.
Cigarettes were the only thing that seemed to do the trick so far….other than suicide but with God Slaying weapons such an act would literally doom the nation with the amount of gods wanting the swords for themselves, she could proudly say that she had the death of at least two gods under her ‘belt’ not something to really be proud of when she really thought about it but it helped protect Equestria for a time.
As she stared at the reindeer that she wanted to forgive with all her heart for what they had done to her race in front of her she merely kept her face emotionless as the male did nothing more than spit in her face before he turned around and walked away.
Fluttershy could feel the waves of rage that Rainbow Dash was giving off before the pegasus even reached her as Fluttershy wiped off the saliva with a hoof and sigh.
“Shaggy coat motherbucker!” Rainbow Dash growled next to her as Fluttershy didn’t even bother giving a response.
She had her own demons to fight and though she emphasized with Rainbow Dash who had lost her wife Night Glider in the war with the caribou, she was with Gilda now and they magically had a child together so Fluttershy felt that maybe it was time to let the past go, if not for the mare’s sake then for her son.
But wounds of war were not something that could be forgiven easily, in Fluttershy‘s case she knew she would always be regarded in Caribou’s history as a monster….the Mare of Carnage, the Pony of Flames, the Fallen Pegasus.
The last title she had earned by her own race, Celestia herself to be more specific after having her wings burned off fighting a minotaur god, one of six if she remembered right. The wings healed in time but even now they still felt off to the pony and even then, the name stuck.
She patted her old friend on the back who gave her a ghost of a smile as she walked once more to the balcony and took out a Diseased Stallion cigarette that was held in her left ear and placing it in her mouth before she expertly lit it with the fire magic from a sword in her hoof before placing it onto her back as she closed her eyes and inhaled deeply before removing it with a hoof and exhaling as she opened her eyes and almost flinched seeing Twilight in front of her.
“Hey.” The Alicorn spoke softly with a nervous almost awkward smile as if she didn’t know how to approach the mare in front of her. It didn’t help with how much support Twilight had thrown for the Caribous to learn from them and their culture before the war and even after it she still supported them, if not for Celestia and Spike it’s clear that Twilight would be branded as a traitor even to her sister in law and brother, though with how rare the two talked now and days, Fluttershy didn’t know if she had been completely forgiven.
With all she went through, even the Element of Kindness had a limit after all.
The Science division of Equestria was something that Twilight took great pride in founding and though she knew she should have been happy for her friend, Fluttershy had a level of unease around Twilight that never went away even after all this time.
That was not to say she was doing anything illegal even with those that worked under her but with the rumors of diving into Scorpion territory that clearly belonged to the dragons, aiding the Caribou when the country’s truce with them was fragile at best and hearing from Twilight herself that she wanted to learn more about the Yetis when the truce was as recent as six months, it made Fluttershy question to herself just how far her friend would go for knowledge and with that the thought that if she was ordered to, if she would bring her in to face justice or if necessary, take her out permanently.
Throwing the painful thought to the very back of her mind, Fluttershy took a step back and gave a rather half hearted smile towards her friend before taking another drag of her nicotine.
“Hello, Twi.” She spoke calmly and with a tone that held a rather guarded caution to the Alicorn before her.
Twilight winced visibly, though Fluttershy didn’t know if it was the nickname that she never used or the shame of support she had given even after the Reindeer queen struck Luna, from what Fluttershy had heard, the Princess of the Night had still not forgiven Twilight and the wedding the two had at one time was called off, Twilight was lucky they did not get married for Luna would have taken every single bit Twilight had after the incident.
But though she felt bad for both of them, Twilight’s love life was not her concern and she questioned if the Elements of Harmony could even still work if the six drifted apart or stopped being friends because at this point Fluttershy was close to cutting off ties with Twilight completely.
Pinkie and Discord had moved to Mount Aries two years ago, taking their daughter, Screwball with them but Fluttershy knew that it was not hard at all to get in contact with them since she was so close to the God of Chaos.
Rainbow Dash moved back to Cloudsdale and since she had a family Fluttershy knew that she was thinking of moving to Griffonstone.
Rarity had gotten married to Thunderlane and moved to Manehattan even before the first war and she was close to having a second child.
Applejack and Soarin were close to having their third kid and due to family ties, AJ was the only one who still lived in Ponyville.
Spike had moved back to Canterlot and was working closely with his family to be king when he felt ready and Twilight had moved back in with her parents after the wedding was called off, though Fluttershy had heard nasty rumors that Twilight was hated just as much as Equestria’s former enemies, either for what she had done or the wedding that had been called off but she didn’t know for sure.
She had heard that Twilight was dating Sunburst but didn’t know much and honestly with how busy she was she didn’t really care.
As for Fluttershy herself, after losing Angel to old age she released her animals back into the wild and gave her animal sanctuary to Ponyville to take care of, it’s been about a year and a half since she’s seen it so she planned to visit Ponyville and more importantly Applejack tomorrow morning, from what she was told Apple Bloom and Rumble went to visit Zebrica with Zecora during the year and a half Fluttershy had been gone, using the money after selling her cottage to stay in hotels around the world and refusing to move back in with her parents she had traveled the world, using her skills from the wars to fight gods, the supernatural and monsters.
There was not a creature in the world who did not know the name of Fluttershy Breeze, good or bad. Even with retaining traces of her personality before she was given the blades, she made more enemies than friends along her travels but as long as innocent lives were safe then that was fine with her.
“I was hoping we could...talk.” Twilight asked as Fluttershy spotted Rainbow Dash watching them out of the corner of her eye as Fluttershy gave a more honest smile and nodded.
“Sure Twilight. What did you want to talk about?” She asked taking another drag of her cigarette making the mare in front of her light up with relief as the two talked about the many things that was going on with their lives after they had lost contact.
Fluttershy was no longer the mare she once was six years ago, she was the Mare of Carnage, the Pony of Flames, the Fallen Pegasus and maybe even the marefriend of Prince Spike the dragon should he play his cards right tonight.
But through the nightmares, pain, fear, blood, guilt, rage and even no hesitation she had in combat.
Fluttershy Breeze will always be the Element of Kindness first and foremost.
Author's Note
Apologizes for this not being edited. This was just an idea I had in my brain for a while and wanted to know what you all thought, if you like it I'll make it a full story, including a custom cover art. It's been a long time since I wrote but I hope you all like it, enjoy.
