Brothers In Friendship

Ben was still petting Fluttershy's hair. He was thinking about the time he had spent in… What was this place called again? Oh yeah, Ponyville, Equestria. Ben took Fluttershy out of his lap, and carried her to the edge of the park; he was going to take her to her cottage, but…

Fluttershy at times made a snoring sound, which sounded really cute. Ben streamed his fingers through her mane. "Oh Fluttershy, why you be so cute?" he whispered to himself. Maybe a relationship with a pony wouldn't be that bad? Then again, she does need someone at this time, but it seems weird if I asked her out now.

At that time, the three girls from earlier came around the corner. "There he is!" said the orange one with purple hair.

"Scootaloo, was it? I'm just glad you're alright" he said. The girls stood there, looking very happy,

"Yeah, but if you didn't wake up, we, erm…" said the yellow one, but Ben laughed,

"No, I would have woke up anyway, I have sensitive smell, the smoke would have awakened me" he said.

"Cool, do you have any other abilities?" said the last one, a white one, who looked like Rarity.

Ben hadn't actually met her yet. "Well, I don't know about Abilities, but I have autism" he said. The yellow one ran up closer to him,

"What's autism?" she said. Ben thought, and couldn't remember their names,

"First, your names?" he said. The orange one spoke up,

"I'm Scootaloo, as you guessed, that's Sweetie Belle, and-" she said, but the yellow one shouted,

"Applebloom!"

Ben stared at her, "Ok. Autism is a learning disability, it means my brain functions differently to everyone else's" he said. The girls just stood there, smiling.

"Cool!" they all said. Sweetie belle looked at a shop of sorts, it looked like a giant cake, and Pinkie was running over to it.

"C'mon girls, Pinkie is finally here!" shouted Applebloom, and they ran off.

Suddenly Ben heard a voice, "Hey you!" it said. He turned around and was hit in the face by a stone, he stumbled backwards and fell over, blackness coming into view, and he fell unconscious. Before he did, he pinched Fluttershy and she woke up.

"Run" he mumbled. She looked up, and a shadow loomed over her. The last thing Ben heard was Fluttershy screaming quietly.

MEANWHILE

The group had arrived back at the library. Kushal wanted to help someone to take the situation off his mind. "Twilight, where is Rainbow Dash?" he asked. Twilight looked slightly agitated,

"Kushal, she went to clear the clouds, Pinkie is really busy, and Applejack has to buck some apples" she said. Kushal looked surprised,

"How did you know I wanted to help someone?" he asked. Twilight shook her head,

"I didn't" she said.

Kushal walked over to applejack who was about to leave, "Mind if I help you out with your job?" he asked. Applejack jumped,

"Don't scare me like that! And yeah, the more the merrier, help all ya like" she said. Kushal walked beside her and wanted to talk to her.

"So Applejack, what exactly do you do?" he asked. Applejack laughed,

"What do ya think? I buck apples at the farm" she said.

Kushal felt silly. "Well, I'm going to change the subject to something else" he said. Applejack laughed again.

"Yeah, that was a pretty silly question, what do ya wanna talk about?" she asked. Kushal thought about it. He came up with an answer,

"How do you 'buck' a tree?" he asked. What is bucking? Applejack thought this was hilarious, as she laughed yet again.

"You're a mighty slow learner" she continued.

"Well, what is it?" he asked again. Applejack became a bit more serious,

"Well, I kick a tree with ma hind legs and collect the apples that fall" she explained to him. Kushal looked confused and felt embarrassed to ask the next question.

"So, how do I help? I can't buck apples, and I certainly can't reach them…" he said as they arrived at the farm.

Kushal saw the trees and realized how big they were. "I suppose I could run into the trees and hit them with my shoulders?" he asked.

"Yeah, maybe-WAIT!" she shouted as Kushal ran off, and straight into one of the trees. About 10-15 apples fell off.

"Well?" he said. Applejack looked amazed,

"Wow, that's impressive. You've never tried this before?" she asked. Kushal shook his head, and then fell to his knees.

"AARGH, my frigging arm!" he said, the pain went through his arm badly.

"You know how bad apples bruise?" asked Kushal in an ironic tone. Applejack ran over,

"Well, everything has a price…" she mumbled. Suddenly the pain went from his arm.

"No, it's better now, I think it was shock" he said. Applejack looked at another tree, and went to buck it. Kushal watched her as she kicked a tree and saw so many apples fall. "Whoa…" he mumbled.

MEANWHILE

Twilight had told Spike to stay at the library. She had gone to visit Rainbow Dash to ask her precisely why she was in Kushal's bed at the sleepover. Spike was concentrating on putting books in the correct places. He had finished A-V. Luckily X and Z were small.

There was a knock at the door and Ben appeared at the window. Spike failed to notice him. He just finished X and started on Y. "Just a second" he said. Ben was outside; he was panting and looking extremely worried. He knocked again, "Just a minute!" shouted Spike. Ben went back over to the window. He thought about how he'd get in because the door was locked.

"SPIKE!" he shouted. Spike looked up and saw Ben, he had a blue like mark on his eye, "Spike, let me in!" he shouted. Spike ran over to the door and unlocked it. Ben ran in with a bruise on his face.

"Ben? What's wrong?" he asked. Ben looked around furiously. Spike looked at Ben, he was sweating. "Ben, hello?" he said. Ben noticed Spike again,

"Spike, someone took Fluttershy!" he shouted.

"What?" said Spike, he didn't understand. Twilight appeared at the door with Rainbow Dash.

"Twilight, someone took Fluttershy. I think it was the person who set the cottage on fire" he said. She just stood there, looking terrified,

"Who? Why would anyone kidnap her?" she said sadly. Rainbow Dash was looking scared though.

FLASHBACK [Ben also tells them what happened as the flashback progresses]

Screaming is all he could hear. He slowly opened his eyes but found it hard since there were no lights on. He tried to move his hands, but they were bound with rope. "Hello?" he asked. No reply, he could hear heavy breathing. "Who-"

"Ah, human, you have awoken", came a voice from somewhere. Ben tried to look around,

"Who is that?!" he shouted.

"Me? My name is Jackson!" he said. The shape came over, but it wasn't human. Ben assumed that Jackson was a human name. "Why-",

The shape hit Ben in the face really hard. "You will stay quiet!" he shouted. Ben assumed he was in some sort of basement.

"Fluttershy?" he said, but Jackson came over and hit him again. Jackson was some sort of ghost, or so it seemed. When he hit ben, his hands were dead cold, and he breathed mist. "Where is she you lunatic?!" shouted Ben.

From somewhere across the room, which he could not tell how big it was came the squeaky voice of a panicking Fluttershy. "B-B-Ben, p-p-please h-help me…" she mumbled. Ben could finally see her when a light above her flashed. She was strapped to a wheel looking device, like something on a game show. Written behind her on various colour cards were six sections each labelled; death by knife, death by wire, death by dissection, death by friend…

At this point, Ben gave in trying to read them. Jackson walked over to Fluttershy, "So pretty' he stroked her face and then laughed maniacally, 'It's a shame you will die, and that your new friend will have to watch. Jackson was black and had strange eyes. He had holes in his legs and hooves.

Fluttershy's face became one of sadness and a look that said 'I am going to die and there's no way I can escape!'

Ben looked over at a table and saw a small knife he could reach. He looked back at Jackson as he was about to spin Fluttershy. He reached over and grabbed the knife. He hid it behind his Back. "You know, I'm sorry I have to kill you first, but my queen requested it be you first" he said. Fluttershy changed from sad to angry. "You evil changeling!" she shouted, and then spat in his eye.

"Vile things, pony's…" he mumbled, and then almost span the wheel but Ben cut the rope tying his hands together and stood up, Jackson turned around to early and hit Ben in the face, but he ran away.

"Fluttershy, I will come back! I swear on my life!" he shouted. And with that he left.

"Fool, now your girlfriend will die!" he shouted.

Ben thought to himself, 'If she dies, so help me I will rip every artery out of your body until you are about to die, then I will crush your skull!' [He didn't tell Twilight about that part].

FLASHBACK ENDS.

"I ran through town, and a pony called Bon-Bon helped me to the Library, although she had to go with someone to somewhere. I think her name was Lyra" he said. Twilight was still in the doorway. Rainbow was looking around. Twilight looked at the quick-moving rainbow,

"What are you looking for?" she asked. Rainbow stopped, "What do you think? I'm looking for something I can use to protect myself!" she shouted. Twilight had a look of disbelief,

"Is that all you care about?" she asked.

Rainbow stopped. She had a dead serious face, "Twilight, you may think I am the cool one, and I may get nervous or anxious, but when one of my best friends is in danger…" she stopped speaking as she grabbed a lamp. "I am the element of Loyalty!" she shouted in a 'This is Sparta!' way. Twilight looked around, then smiled whilst looking at her horn, or at least trying to, and ran after Rainbow.

"Twilight wait, I know where this place is!" said Ben. Twilight looked back,

"C'mon then, we've got to get the others!" she shouted.

Ben, Twilight and Rainbow left the library. Spike was stood in the doorway watching them leave. He had an expressionless face, "I hope you find her…" he mumbled after closing the door.

MEANWHILE

Kushal had collected a grand total of about three hundred apples. He had put them in a cart that was pulled away by a large red stallion. "Applejack, who's that?" he asked. Applejack could not stop laughing today,

"That's ma brother!" she said.

"You mean the one Twilight has a crush on?" Kushal asked. Applejack stopped, and then laughed again, trying to say yes but kept Stuttering.

"Can I tell him?" said Kushal. But Applejack was on the floor laughing, so Kushal thought why not. He marched over to the red stallion, Big Mac. "Excuse me my good sir?" he said. Big Mac stopped and looked at him,

"yes?" he said. Kushal was sniggering,

"Do you know Twilight?" he asked, but suddenly from behind him came,

"Don't you dare!"

It was Twilight, with Rainbow and Ben. "Applejack, Fluttershy's been kidnapped by Jackson" she said, at this Applejack became very serious,

"Jackson? OH!" and she ran off, Twilight looked at Big Mac who seemed to be staring at her.

"Hello" she said.

"Ben, what happened to your face?" said Kushal, Ben looked at him and stopped breathing hard,

"Sorry, but I've been running for like 5 minutes not-stop" he said, "Jackson punched me in the face" he said. Kushal looked at him,

"Now where even" he said.

Kushal ran after Applejack and Rainbow, "C'mon Ben!" he shouted, Ben looked at Twilight, he ran over to her, and whispered in her ear,

"Twilight, if you really like him, just ask him" and ran off after Kushal.

Twilight's pupils got small, "Heh, err, Big Mac?" she asked. He carried on staring at her,

"Eeyup?" he said, which made Twilight giggle, "Goodness, it's so cute when you do that…" she stopped at thinking about what she just said, and she felt like passing out, but that would be way too cliché.

MEANWHILE

Fluttershy was now facing the wheel so she would see what would kill her. "So, Fluttershy, What do you hope it lands on?" Jackson asked. Fluttershy couldn't speak in fear he might hit her. Her yellow face, which was now orange due to crying so hard, was covered in tears.

"C'mon, just answer the question. Or do you want to die now?" he asked.

"NO!" screamed Fluttershy. Jackson came up close to her face,

"Answer then!" he shouted. Fluttershy looked at the options she had to choose,

'Oh Celestia, please hear me!' she screamed in her head. "I-I can't!" she shouted. Jackson raged.

"That's it!" he shouted. He jumped over to a metal bench and picked up a knife with a hoof. He marched back over to her, "If you don't choose now, you die now!" she shouted, spitting on her slightly.

"I don't know. Death by…' she couldn't think straight. But her thinking was cut short when Jackson raised the knife and slit her throat slightly, just enough for blood to come out.

"KNIFE!" she shouted. Jackson had a smile on his face. He then looked over to a curtain, where a scream came from,

"Oh, she's woken up…" he mumbled. He walked over to the curtain and behind it was…RARITY!

"You fiend!" she shouted, but he simply picked up a needle and stabbed her in the neck. After a rew seconds she mumbled and fell over. He put the needle, which must have just been a knock-out drug, back where he got it from.

"Now, for you my dear" he said. Jackson covered Rarity with the curtain again. He walked over to the wheel, and spun it as hard as he could, laughing evilly.

"HAHAHAHA!" he shouted. Fluttershy started to cry again.

"NOOO!" she screamed.

TO BE CONTIUED!