Sunday, February 28, 2016
Sunday, February 28, 2016
Today's Horoscope (Virgo): STAY AWAY FROM ZODIAC UNTIL YOU GET BACK TO THE CITY!!
Early Morning
Twilight, Pinkie, and I stare at my phone as, outside the tent, the rooster is just starting to crow.
"Wow. Caps lock much?" Pinkie says.
Twilight frowns. "Yesterday's sounded pretty desperate too, didn't it?"
"Yeah..."
"You know, if Fluttershy's Eris and she's the one hacking your horoscope, she's doing a pretty sucky job of protecting herself," Pinkie comments. "I mean, this is like, the exact opposite of convincing."
Outside, we hear everyone starting to stir around. I sigh and pocket my phone. "Let's go get breakfast and do some chores. We'll worry about this when we can slip away."
Once again, Fluttershy opts for the chore of feeding all the animals. After breakfast, Big Mac sends me out to the stables to replace some bad boards. "Wood's already cut an' sanded an' all," he says. "Jes' gotta pull out th' ones Ah marked an' nail up th' new ones, then paint 'em. Everything's already out there."
I head out to the stables. There are half a dozen horses out there; they nicker and whinny softly as I approach. I've never been around horses before...
I find the place where Big Mac set everything up and quickly get to work. It doesn't take quite as long as I expected; only about forty minutes. I'm just finishing up painting the last board when I spot Fluttershy approaching the stables, carrying a large bucket.
I find a place to hide and watch her. When she reaches the stables, she starts filling feedbags with scoops of oats, then gently straps a feedbag onto each horse, stroking their manes and scratching their ears. She looks so serene, so kind, so gentle...
I feel my heart drop into the soles of my shoes.
How could someone so kind and gentle be...?
But everything points right to her...
As Fluttershy picks up a brush and approaches one of the horses, I realize that now is the best chance I'm ever going to get to find out for sure.
I don't have time to wait for the others. I pull out my phone...
Zodiac
The sounds of the horses, the distant sounds of the chickens, the sound of the wind...everything stops. The world turns red and black. The horses disappear.
Fluttershy doesn't disappear. She's standing right there, the brush still in her hand. She tenses up.
I step out of my hiding place.
Fluttershy turns. Her head is bowed. She drops the brush and clenches her fists.
"You asshole," she says.
She pulls out her phone and taps the screen several times.
The jeans, sweater, and boots she's wearing change into the all-too-familiar black and grey costume of Eris...minus the hooded cloak and mask.
"You STUPID FUCKING ASSHOLE!!" Fluttershy charges at me and jumps high into the air, somersaulting before extending one leg for a flying kick. I drop to the ground and roll, letting her sail past me. She recovers in midair, flipping away like a gymnast.
"Fluttershy, STOP THIS!"
"How retarded can you possibly be?!" Fluttershy screams as she rushes toward me, her staff appearing in her right hand. "What part of don't fuck with me didn't you get?"
Strike Attack
She swings her staff at my head; I barely dodge. I try to sweep her, but she jumps over me.
"Are you the one who's been hacking the horoscope app?" I ask.
"DUH! God, you're stupid!" She summons Eris, buffeting me with harsh winds.
Garula
I summon Kuma and counter with ice.
Bufudyne
"I've been TRYING to help you, you fucking idiot!" She trips me with her staff, then dives on top of me and starts raining punches on my arms, face, and torso. She's impossibly strong...
She's also crying.
"GET OFF HIM!" Pinkie yells.
Orgy of Destruction
Euphoria appears and slams into Fluttershy, sending her flying.
I stagger to my feet. Pinkie rushes up to my side. She looks pissed...and sad. "Fluttershy, why?" she asks.
Rainbow, Twilight, Rarity, and Cadance all come running. Twilight gasps. "No..."
Rainbow frowns. "Dammit."
"I never would have believed it," Rarity says.
Fluttershy looks around at all of us. "PERSONA!"
Evil Smile
In a red burst, Eris appears. A cold wave of...something washes over us. Pinkie and Rarity both curl inward on themselves, clutching their heads and whimpering. Whatever Fluttershy just did, it's reduced them to shivering balls of terror...
Ghastly Wail
Then, Eris starts making the most horrendous, bone-chilling noise I've ever heard. Pinkie and Rarity scream and fall to the ground, dead.
Twilight screams. "NO!"
"KUMA!"
Samarecarm
Kuma appears and resurrects Pinkie, who sits up woozily.
"Whoa," Pinkie says. She glares at Fluttershy. "You did NOT just KILL ME," she growls.
"Pinkie, help Rarity!"
"Oh...right. PERSONA!"
Samarecarm
Euphoria appears, resurrecting Rarity. Meanwhile, Rainbow runs at Fluttershy and tackles her to the ground.
"What the HELL, Fluttershy?!" Rainbow yells as she grabs Fluttershy's hair and pulls it. "Just...what the HELL?"
Fluttershy yells and throws Rainbow off her, then stomps her gut, grabs her by the legs, swings her around, and throws her at us.
"ATHENA!"
Ziodyne
Athena appears and zaps Fluttershy. She absorbs the attack harmlessly.
"ERIS!"
Garula
Fluttershy counters with a blast of wind that blows Twilight off her feet. She then releases that familiar scrambling effect...
Tentarafoo
Rarity, and Twilight double over, clutching their heads. "What...what is this?" Rarity cries.
"She's sealed our Personas!" I reply. "Dammit, Fluttershy!"
"EUPHORIA!"
Amrita
Pinkie's Persona spreads a wave of sparkling rainbow light over us, and the scrambling effect fades away.
"I've had enough of this," I mutter. "Fluttershy, why are you—"
"JUST SHUT THE FUCK UP!" Fluttershy screams. "YOU BROUGHT THIS ON YOURSELF!" She starts to tremble. "You...you..."
"YOU SHUT UP!" I yell. "I NEVER DID ANYTHING TO YOU, AND YOU'VE TRIED TO KILL ME, THEN LET SUNSET SHIMMER INTO THE DORM TO RAPE ME!" I feel a cold rage overtake me, and I rush at Fluttershy. She's shaking, covering her ears...
Haymaker
I punch her right in the face, and she falls to the ground.
"MERLIN!"
Agidyne
In a rage, I unleash Merlin's fire magic on Fluttershy. She screams as she burns.
"Flash...that's enough," Twilight says. I feel her hand on my shoulder. She pulls me away.
I look down at Fluttershy. She's burned and blistered and...and...
Rarity walks up, a solemn look on her face. "Persona," she says quietly.
Recarm
Pure light washes over Fluttershy, and she sits up, coughing. She glares up at me, her face stained with soot. "Bastard." She reaches for her phone, but Rarity picks it up and slips it into her own pocket.
"You're not running away from this," Twilight says. "You owe us answers. A LOT of answers."
Fluttershy picks herself up, rubbing her arms. Her eyes glow red, and Eris appears above her.
Pinkie gasps. "No way!"
"I don't need my phone to control my Persona," Fluttershy says. Her voice is strange, distorted. "If you don't let me go, I'll keep fighting you until we ALL die. Trust me...it's better this way..."
Evil Smile
That cold wave of fear is flowing out from Eris again. Rainbow, Pinkie, and Twilight have already succumbed, and I feel it freezing up my veins.
Whatever this fear attack is, I've already seen how deadly it is.
"Rarity, break her phone, quick," I say.
"That won't work this time," Fluttershy says. "I am my Persona, and my Persona is me. We are the same..."
Spirit Drain
The multitude of cables snaking out of Eris' head lash out, the plugs at the ends sticking into each of us. The halo of screens above Eris' head glows brightly and spins more rapidly as dozens of new images appear...
"We need to get out of here!" Cadance cries.
"Do that thing!" I yell. "Like you did when that Death thing showed up!"
"I can't!" Cadance cries. "I can't summon Aphrodite!"
"Our phones..."
"I WILL NOT LET YOU ESCAPE!"
We can't escape Zodiac...Fluttershy and Eris are too strong...
We can't disable her Persona, and she's about to...
As long as we're in Zodiac, we're at Fluttershy's mercy...
We need a way to disable Fluttershy...somewhere she has no power and can't escape...
That terrifying noise starts to emanate from Eris again...
"Help me..." Fluttershy whimpers. Tears stream from her still-glowing eyes...
The image of a door fills my mind. The one place only I can enter...
The room nobody but me can see...
It's safe there...
I think...
"Wha...what is that?" Twilight asks.
"Where'd a door come from?" Rainbow asks.
I open my eyes.
The door to the Velvet Room has appeared in our midst.
It flies open, and a swirling blue vortex appears.
Eris screams as she explodes into red static. The rest of us all yell in confusion and panic as we're sucked into the door...
"Hmm. Goodness. It has been some time since we have had this many guests in the Velvet Room."
I look around. Igor and Zecora are staring at us. Igor looks politely puzzled; Zecora seems bewildered and affronted. All of us have been completely healed from our battle with Fluttershy...even Fluttershy herself.
The girls look around. "Where...where are we?" Twilight asks.
"I do love the decor," Rarity says.
Fluttershy looks around wildly. "What? Where...? What did you do?! Where are we? PERSONA! ...PERSONA! ...Eris?" She stares at me with terror and rage. "WHAT DID YOU DO TO ME?!"
"Shut up," Rainbow says, head bowed and fists clenched. "Just...just SHUT UP."
Zecora clears her throat. "Guests, please, do not shout. Unless you desire to be thrown out."
"Flash? What...what's going on here?" Twilight asks.
"This, my dear girl, is the Velvet Room," Igor says. He looks around at the girls with mild, polite curiosity, hands folded under his chin. "I bid you welcome Magician, Star, Chariot, Lovers, Empress, and...oh dear..." He stares at Fluttershy. "Reversed Priestess." He shakes his head and tuts. "You have gone astray, haven't you?"
"It is most curious," Zecora says. She gives me a hard stare. "This breach of contract is most serious."
"I...I'm sorry," I say. "My friends and I were all about to die..." I glare at Fluttershy. "This was the only thing I could think of."
"Mmm," Igor says thoughtfully. "All things considered...I believe we can overlook this slight." He frowns. "Am I correct in assuming you have unfinished business with the Reversed Priestess?"
I glance at him, then back at Fluttershy. "Priestess..." I frown. "Then she's supposed to be—"
"Perhaps...we should be more discrete about that topic," Igor says. "Forgive me. I so rarely interact with humans, and never more than one at a time." He spreads his hands. "Please, take all the time you need. Conclude your business with the confidence that this Velvet Room is neutral territory." He frowns. "But know that this is the one and only time this intrusion will be allowed. Only the one who has entered into a contract may enter here at will."
"I do not recall 'interrogation venue' being one of the services listed on our menu," Zecora says sternly.
Igor chuckles. "Even for such as us, life delivers the occasional unexpected surprise," he says. "Well...we will leave you humans to your business." Igor and Zecora vanish.
Rainbow grabs Fluttershy by the shoulders and forces her into a chair. "You," she growls, "are in really deep shit."
Fluttershy bows her head.
Cadance sits across from her. "You do know you're about to get kicked out of the dorm," she says. "Probably also expelled."
"No," Twilight says. "We're not doing that." She frowns at Fluttershy. "If anything, we need to keep her on a very short leash from now on."
"Why not just tie me up and hide me in a closet?" Fluttershy asks.
"Because you'd twist that around to make US look like the bad guys," Rainbow says. "Dammit, Fluttershy, what the hell is wrong with you?"
"What's wrong with ME?" Fluttershy demands. "What's wrong with YOU? It takes you idiots forever to figure out who 'Eris' is, then you pull this half-assed ambush shit on me? Without even knowing how bad you just fucked everything up? We'll be really lucky if there's a dorm to go back to at all after this!"
"What's THAT supposed to mean?" Rainbow asks.
"It means...Fluttershy isn't the only one we need to worry about," Twilight says.
"Wow. Figure that out all by yourself?" Fluttershy asks. "You're supposed to be the smart one...good grief..."
Rainbow slaps Fluttershy. "Watch it," she says.
"No, YOU watch it, Rainbow DOUCHE!" Fluttershy snaps. "I've had just about enough of you! Why do you think I decided to humiliate you in front of Celestia like that?"
"And that blackmail video?" Cadance asks dangerously. "Was that you too?"
Fluttershy pales. "N-no," she says. "That...that wasn't me." She looks at Pinkie sadly. "It wasn't me that got you kicked out of your family either. I...I'm sorry about that. That was way over the line." She looks at me, and swallows heavily. "A-and...I didn't know Sunset Shimmer was...was going to do what she did to you. I thought she was just going to fake some blackmail photos..." She shakes her head and runs her hands through her hair.
Twilight frowns. "Sunset Shimmer...she's Mephistopheles, isn't she?"
Fluttershy nods miserably. "Yes." She looks up. "I...I've been doing her dirty work for over a year now."
We all sit back and digest this.
"Okay, so..." Cadance begins. "We go back to Canterlot, turn you over to Celestia, you confess everything, we pull the plug on Canterbook, Sunset Shimmer gets arrested...and we can all go on with our lives."
"No," Fluttershy says, shaking her head. "That...that won't work." She looks down at her hands, which are clenched in her skirt. "Canterbook is backed up on three secret servers, all set to go active at the touch of a button. It's Sunset Shimmer's failsafe. If...if Canterbook is taken offline and they try to arrest her, she switches Canterbook over to those servers, and...and they're set to spam every single user's feed with all the blackmail information she has on everybody. Including that video of you having sex with Flash Sentry." She pauses. "And...and audio of Flash and Twilight..." She blushes. "A lot of audio of Flash and Twilight."
What...?
Twilight leans forward. "What...exactly...is Sunset Shimmer doing with audio of us?"
Fluttershy sighs. "Every room in the dorm is bugged," she says. "I planted the bugs myself."
Cadance scowls. "You're taking every last one of those out as soon as we get back to the dorm," she says.
Fluttershy nods. "A-alright. I...yeah." She sighs. "I...I'll be in a lot of trouble with Sunset Shimmer for that, but..." She trembles. "I...I've wanted out...for so long. I...I never wanted to hurt any of you—"
Rainbow snorts.
Rarity glares at Fluttershy. "You never wanted to hurt any of us?" she asks. "Your actions today have proven otherwise."
"I PANICKED, OKAY?" Fluttershy yells. "I...I was scared. I've...I've been leaving hints for so long, trying to clue you all in, but you kept ignoring them or not catching them, and...and then you did figure it out, and I got scared. Because...because..." She sighs and looks away. "Because I don't even know which way to turn anymore. I can't keep working for HER, not after..." She trembles. "She's...she's gone crazy," she says. "Lately, she's...she's getting more and more unstable. That thing with Flash...a year ago, she'd never have done that. Killing Snips...she'd never have done that for no reason. And..." She swallows. "I'm pretty sure she burned down Haflinger Hall, but I can't prove it."
I look around at the girls. Everyone's digesting this.
"Anyway, if...if those backup servers go online, it won't just spew all that blackmail for the whole school to see," Fluttershy says. "It'll reboot Zodiac too. And...and if I'm right, it'll revive all the Hunter Shadows you've already killed."
Pinkie gasps.
Fluttershy looks around at us. "If...if I thought turning Sunset Shimmer over to the authorities was the right thing to do, I...I would've done it the night she raped Flash. But..." She shakes her head. "She's too dangerous. In the real world and in Zodiac." She shudders.
Wait...what?
"Wait...WHAT?" Twilight asks.
"Sunset Shimmer...has a Persona?" Rainbow asks.
Fluttershy bows her head. "Her Persona is...is terrible," she whispers. "I...I tried to fight her...once. It...it didn't end well for me." She looks around at us. "You can't fight Sunset Shimmer and win. Not in the real world. Not in Zodiac. If you even try, she's going to kill us all. Not just you guys, or me...she'll burn down the dorm. Applejack, Sonata, Coach, the girls...she won't stop until we're all dead. Or worse."
A long silence follows this.
"Well we can't just...we can't just lay down and...!" Rainbow cries.
Cadance leans forward. "Fluttershy...will you help us? Will you...will you fight with us?"
"No," Fluttershy says immediately. "I can't. I'm sorry. I..." She bows her head. "I won't fight you anymore. But...I can't help you either." She looks at me. "I'll keep using the horoscope app to give you information when I can. And I'll get rid of the bugs. That's the best I can do."
I shake my head. "That's not good enough."
"Well tough, because it's all you're getting," Fluttershy says resentfully. "After today, I'll be lucky if she doesn't come after me next." She looks around, fidgeting. "Now will you please let me out of here?"
"We're not done with you yet!" Rainbow yells.
Fluttershy shrugs. "So? You know where to find me," she says. "You said it yourselves...I'm pretty much your prisoner now. Even if I tried to run away, you'd just track me down. Or do something stupid like go to the cops." She crosses her arms, a sullen pout on her face. "So? Can we go back to the farm now?"
I sigh. "If you're gonna be this much of a bitch about it...yeah. There's no point in staying here."
Morning
The cold February sun shines down on us as the stable grounds return with all their sounds and smells.
Fluttershy picks up the brush, walks over to the nearest horse, and starts brushing out its mane.
We all look around at each other awkwardly.
"Cadance? Will you stay here and help her with the horses?" Twilight asks. "The rest of us need to get back to our own chores."
Daytime
Somehow, we manage to get a fair amount done today despite everything that happened this morning. At no point do we allow Fluttershy to be alone. The Apples and Shining Armor seem to have picked up on the tension in the air, and after lunch, Applejack suggests we take the afternoon to relax since we've already worked so hard. I end up playing poker with Big Mac and Shining Armor. Applejack, Fluttershy, Sonata, and Cadance go off to ride the horses. Twilight, Rainbow, Pinkie, and Rarity disappear somewhere, presumably to discuss the situation.
Everything Fluttershy said today...
I don't think she's telling us everything, but she's obviously terrified of Sunset Shimmer.
Assuming that wasn't an act. I don't think any of us can trust Fluttershy right now...
Evening
After dinner, Twilight, Pinkie, and I retreat to our tent.
"So...what are we gonna do?" Pinkie asks.
I shrug. "For now? I guess...we just keep doing what we've been doing. We...should probably try to get some more information out of Fluttershy."
"We'll need to tread lightly with her," Twilight says. "I don't think we should press too hard too fast." She frowns. "I just...I still can't get over it. Fluttershy. How could she be...well...that? It doesn't make any sense..."
"Yeah," Pinkie agrees sadly. Her hair is almost completely flat. "I don't wanna hate Fluttershy..."
"I don't either," I say. "I think she needs our help. But...I don't think she's gonna make it easy for us to help her."
"All this time...Sunset Shimmer's been behind everything..." Twilight shakes her head. "I knew she was a bitch, but..."
"I always suspected her."
"I know you did." Twilight sighs. "How does someone like Sunset Shimmer wind up controlling some weird alternate reality full of psychotic monsters?"
"I don't know," I say. "But...one way or another, we're going to have to face her and put a stop to her." I run my hands through my hair. "But we're gonna need a lot more information before we go after her. Especially if she's got a Persona. Especially if she's so strong Fluttershy is scared of her."
Twilight frowns at me. "Are you sure you wouldn't rather just...you know...press charges against Sunset for raping you and hope for the best?"
I sigh. "I don't think it'd stick," I say. "And after today, I'm not sure it wouldn't make things worse."
None of us have an easy time getting to sleep...
