Twisted

CHAPTER TEN

Things felt too good to be true for one very sensitive mare. Fluttershy, as much as she missed her friends and wanted them back, was unsure.

"Now hold on a second. I think we're getting ahead of ourselves. I mean..." Fluttershy sighed and tried to find the words to say. Few appeared. But something else did, named courage. "Dashie, you started partying way too much! I know that I wasn't much fun, I wasn't "cool" company, but I was your best friend!! Please, why did you have to leave? You used to pick me up when I was down! YOU DID!"

Rainbow Dash stood through the outburst, her mouth wide open. She'd always pushed Fluttershy to be more assertive and courageous, and she finally was. At the worst possible time. She felt her blind fury rising again and struggled to contain it. Nopony insulted Rainbow Dash! She threw her hoof at Fluttershy. But it was Fluttershy, the meek pegasus who always needed care. She stopped her punch at the last second and dropped it loosely to the floor.

Fluttershy turned to Twilight, her rage becoming sweet confidence. "And TWILIGHT! You always nitpicked me, everything! You were so busy with everyone else in the split, you COMPLETELY overlooked me! It hurt. I thought you might be the one to remember and care for me...I thought..."

Twilight was taken back by Fluttershy's comment, making her heart and stomach ache. She had never heard Fluttershy get like this, she always thought Fluttershy was calm...and kind...the outburst from her friend was too much to take, Twilight had thought she had fixed things!

Fluttershy turned at last to Pinkie Pie. "And Pinkie Pie. You used to delight in making everybody smile. You always remembered my birthday, Angel's birthday, and you always took fine care of me. But what happened? You're so...violent now!"

Pinkies mood dropped, her happiness was gone, the sparkle of joy in her eyes was dead, and she looked down to her hooves. Fluttershy didn't understand that Pinkie needed her too. It hadn't just been a one night thing.

"ALL OF YOU!!" Fluttershy turned at last, her rage taking over. Her face flushed and she pawed the ground in angst. "HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO ME?! I NEEDED YOU!!"

Suddenly, she was back in her parent's basement, a small, frail, shy foal. She could hear her parents shouting and throwing items upstairs, both unicorns.

"Damn it, THIS IS THE LAST STRAW, YOU HEAR ME?!" her father screamed, smacking her mother across the face with the blunt front of his hoof. Fluttershy could hear her mother scream and skid across the floor. At the time, Fluttershy didn't understand why her father was so angry that she was a pegasus. Her parents were both unicorns, but Fluttershy felt so blessed to have little wings of her own. She didn't realise at the time that her mother hadn't been faithful to her father, and she also didn't realize why he suddenly hated the small filly so much.

"FLUTTERSHY! GET THE FUCK UPSTAIRS!" he screamed. Fluttershy shook in terror and slowly inched her way upstairs. As she entered the room, she noticed her mother was still lying on the floor, blood spilling from a crack in her head. She gasped, terrified and completely unsure of how to handle the situation.

"Daddy! Mommy needs help!" Fluttershy shouted, running over to comfort her mother's wounds. But her father yanked her away, in a swift and violent movement. He stared at her, rage in his expression. Their eyes met, his purple and hers blue.

"Fluttershy, did you know that two unicorns can't have a pegasus together? No one in our family is a pegasus, Fluttershy. Except you."

"Mommy says that's because I've got a free soul," Fluttershy giggled nervously, taking a step back from her fuming father. She was more confused than anything. Her father was letting her mother die, and now he was interrogating Fluttershy. He had never acted so mean or violent in all his years. "Um..."

"Free soul my fucking ass! YOUR MOTHER FUCKED A PEGASUS!" Her father screamed, smacking the tiny filly her hard across the face. She hadn't seen such a blow coming, and hit the floor in shock. She couldn't believe her father had hit her, and so hard. She continued to lie on the floor, in pain, tears beginning to form.

"Get up," her father ordered. Fluttershy obeyed, shaking. "I want you to fly."

Fluttershy's legs shook and her heart began to beat faster. She didn't know how to fly, her wings were underdeveloped and she had so much trouble balancing just right.

"But...I can't fly, Daddy! I don't know how yet!"

"YOU'RE GOING TO FLY OR YOU'RE GOING TO DIE TRYING!!" her father screamed, scooping the tiny filly up and dragging her quickly up the stairs to the roof.

Fluttershy shook her head, regaining stability.

"I'm sorry..."

When she opened her eyes she saw a cyan arm holding holding her close and felt the warmth of Rainbow Dash's body. Despite the sunny day she felt cold and sick.

"I know, Fluttershy, I know." Dash whispered comfortingly. Fluttershy poured the tears out on her friend's shoulder. Twilight Sparkle and Pinkie Pie looked sympathetically at the pair, the mood suddenly defeated.

"I'm going home..." Twilight said, "I'll catch up with you girls later."

"I'll see you later..." Pinkie whispered, and the two mares left. They all seemed sincere, despite the sadness. Fluttershy continued to cry. The pale mare had missed Dash so much. All the fun, the encouragement, and the loyalty and protection her friends always seemed to provide. She wished she could have her Rock back, and she hoped Dash would stay for good.

Fluttershy stopped crying a few minutes later and realized that she had really hurt her friend's feelings. She felt that it was very important for her to find Pinkie Pie, considering that she had very strong feelings towards the mare. Fluttershy pushed away from Rainbow Dash a little bit and sighed.

"Thank you, Dash. We...we need to find Pinkie Pie," Fluttershy said. Dash met Fluttershy's eyes and nodded.

"If you're up for it, Shy. I'll come with. She's probably gone back home. Stick with me, I can show you the way." Dash smiled again. Fluttershy nodded to Dash, anxiety slowly growing in her. She sighed, relived to have a brave pony like Rainbow Dash at her side. It had been so long.

"Yes, please come with me. You know how...hyper Pinkie can be. I can't deal with that alone."

Dash started a canter and made sure that Fluttershy was right next to her. Fluttershy seemed obsessed with making things up with Pinkie, and was an unfortunately poor conversationalist. Rainbow Dash wasn't much better though. She knew the weather forepony would be looking for her soon to sort out the rain. She'd better hurry this up.

A few minutes later and they were stood outside Pinkie's place. The door seemed to be unlocked, and there was still a faint trace of blood on the earth from where Dash had stopped briefly to get her bearings.

"We're here. You want me to go with?" Dash asked.

"Yes please." Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash slowly entered Pinkie's home, which was darkly lit and very messy. The walls seemed void of decoration, despite being painted dark colors. Flutters could hear Pinkie's wails and moans echo throughout each room and in the halls. The environment was dark and eerie, leaving Fluttershy quite startled. Even though Pinkie's cries were muffled, Fluttershy could make out her own name. She shook with overwhelming fear, exchanging a worried look with Dash. As soon as she looked into those rose colored eyes, she knew that she would have to be brave.

"Pinkie?" she called out into the darkness, her own voice echoing off the walls. Pinkie went dead silent, and the whole house was more quiet than Fluttershy ever could have imagined with a friend like Pinkie Pie. Of course, she wasn't really Pinkie Pie anymore. She was Pinkamena Diane Pie, and Fluttershy knew she had to be more fierce.

"Pinkamena Diane Pie, where are you?" Fluttershy shouted, stamping a hoof down on the floor.

"I'm here Fluttershy..." Fluttershy heard Pinkie wail softly. The two mares ran upstairs to find Pinkie Pie lying on her bed in tears.

"Dash? Why are you here too?" Pinkie asked, confused.

"Because I care, Pinkie." Dash said, firmly.

Twilight was still at home, now about half-way through a book, and she had learned a lot! After finishing page 342 she decided it was time to write a letter to Celestia about all the good she and her friends had done that day. Twilight pulled a scroll from her stockpile and lay it on the desk, using her magic to control the feather

Dear Princes Celestia,

Today my friends and I had a small falling out, but it was soon resolved and now were back like nothing happened. It has helped me learn that even in our darkest moments true friendship will still come back and true friends will never leave our side.

Your faithful student,

Twilight Sparkle.

Twilight read over her message for mistakes and read back the last sentence. She felt lonely, but not defeated. She decided to try a new spell that afternoon, a dark spell. her magic was ready for it.

Suddenly Twilight heard pounding at her front door. Who could that be? Ponies rarely visited the library anymore! Twilight made her way downstairs and opened up the door, surprised to see three unexpected guests.

"Well well! The Cutie Mark Crusaders! I thought you three had broken up!"