Tuesday, March 29, 2016

2015
2016
JANUARY
FEBRUARY
MARCH





APRIL
MAY
JUNE
JULY
AUGUST

The sounds and smells of the sea return. The waves roll against the shore, and the moon sheds a soft light overhead. Fluttershy looks around at all of us, laughs ruefully once, then faints dead away.

As Rainbow and Twilight check on her, Sonata looks at me—and turns beet red. She tries to say something, but can't; she frowns and looks around for anything to write with. Finding nothing, she sighs and turns away, covering her face.

Cadance raises an eyebrow. "Umm...Flash? Rarity? You might want to...head inside and get some clothes on..."

Oh my God...

I forgot that when we woke up in Zodiac, I was naked...

Our clothes are all the way out at the outcropping...

Rarity yelps and covers herself with her arms, shuffling awkwardly to the front door. Twilight looks at me, shakes her head, and picks up Fluttershy, carrying her inside. The others follow her; I trail behind them.

Early Morning

Fluttershy is upstairs asleep in her bed. Sonata is watching over her. The rest of us are exhausted, but with everything that just happened, none of us can really sleep...

We sit around the living room, nursing cups of hot tea. "Well," Rarity says, "it would seem Fluttershy has a new Persona."

"In more ways than one," Twilight says. "She...she looked...different."

"Yeah," Rainbow agrees. "I just...I hope when she wakes up, she'll...she'll talk to us and tell us stuff and...and not be such a bitch..."

"I hope so too," Cadance says. "When she wakes up, we all need to sit down and have a long talk. Fluttershy has a lot of things to explain and apologize for..." She looks around the room. "And all of us do as well."

"Yeah," I say, wringing my hands.

"What the HELL was that...that Haytrix-lookin' Sunset Shimmer shit?" Rainbow demands, throwing her hands up in the air. "What did she even DO to Fluttershy?"

"Whatever it was, it wasn't good," Twilight says. She shudders. "If...if she can do that to the rest of us..."

"If she could do that to the rest of us, she'd have done it already," Cadance says. "As far as I can tell, that whole thing had something to do with...with what happened the day we confronted Fluttershy. You know, when she summoned Eris without her phone?" She shrugs. "It's just...the data Aphrodite was feeding me makes me think it's connected somehow."

"Well...we'll find out when Fluttershy wakes up," Twilight says.

Pinkie sighs. "I wish I wasn't so tired," she says. "We were just getting to the good part..."

"The good part?" Rainbow asks.

"Gah! Pinkie!" Twilight cries, blushing.

"If there's one thing I hate, it's coitus interruptus," Cadance says, grimacing. "I didn't even get a turn..."

We all stare at her. "Uhh...what?"

"Nevermind!" Twilight says hastily. "So...Flash! How about you and Rarity, huh?"

Rarity smiles. "Well, we had a most marvelous time," she says silkily. "We were actually just about to—" she breaks off for a yawn. "—fall asleep in one another's arms on the beach when that whole Zodiac debacle broke."

"YOU were already asleep," I point out.

"Details..."

Cadance laughs. "I'm glad you two had a good time," she says. "You have no idea how lucky you are, Flash. Do you know how many guys would kill to make love to a girl like Rarity?"

"Believe me, I know," I say. "And if I didn't already have a very loving and wonderful girlfriend, I'd do my best to take Rarity off the market."

Rarity blushes. "Flatterer."

Twilight smirks at me. I cough. "Of course, I do have an amazing, beautiful, sexy girlfriend."

"Awww, shucks," Pinkie says. "I'm not all that special..."

We all laugh. Cadance shakes her head. "Well...the whole thing with Fluttershy aside, at least that's one more Shadow down. The next one is Taurus..." She turns to Twilight. "Applejack's a Taurus, right?"

Twilight sighs and nods. "Yeah. At this point, I...I don't know."

"Well..." Rainbow tilts her head. "Sunset Shithead's gone after everybody else in the dorm. Odds are she'll go after Applejack too."

"We can't assume that," Cadance says. "But...I have a feeling she will." She yawns mightily. "I think...we should all try to get some sleep. We've got a lot to talk about later on."

We all head off to our rooms. I'm so exhausted I fall asleep immediately...

Daytime

When I wake up, it's ten in the morning. I gently nudge Twilight, who stirs beside me; I get up and head to the bathroom, taking a long, hot shower. When I'm done, I put on a pair of board shorts and a T-shirt. Twilight hugs me and kisses me, then strips down to take her own shower. I grab my phone; there's a new message notification.

Her hick accent's easier to understand than her texts...sheesh. I pocket my phone and head out. As I approach the kitchen, I smell something wonderful. I look inside to find Fluttershy and Sonata working quickly and quietly. "Uhh...hi," I say.

They turn to face me. Sonata's cheeks turn pink; Fluttershy gives me a nervous smile and plays with her hair. "Oh...good morning," she says. "We're...we're making breakfast for everyone. I think I heard some of the others getting up..."

Rainbow and Pinkie walk in. "What smells so good?" Rainbow asks. "Oh, uh...hey 'Shy," she says.

Fluttershy glances at her. She looks down at her feet. "Hi, Rainbow." She picks at the hem of her shirt; Sonata lays a hand on her shoulder and smiles reassuringly at her.

"They're making us all breakfast," I say. "Twilight's in the shower right now."

"Oh, cool," Rainbow says. "What are we having?"

"Oh, we're having biscuits with honey and fried ham," Fluttershy says. "And scrambled eggs, and orange juice..."

"Sounds great," Rainbow says. "Uhh...need a hand?"

"We've got it, but...thank you," Fluttershy says. She smiles. "Just...wait in the living room, okay? We'll...we'll have everything out soon."

Rainbow, Pinkie, and I head to the living room. Twilight and Cadance join us soon. Rarity is the last to arrive. "Did you all get that text from Applejack?" she asks.

"Yeah," I say.

"Poor Applejack," Twilight says, sighing. "We...we need to do something special just for her, and soon. So she knows..."

Cadance shakes her head. "No, because then she'll feel like we're taking pity on her. What we need to do is...is just let her know we're not shutting her out on purpose."

"Even though we totally are," Rainbow mutters.

"I agree with Nurse Cadance," Fluttershy says as she and Sonata walk in, carrying a LOT of food between them. "I think...I think Applejack's feelings are hurt. In fact, I...I texted her this morning apologizing for the way I acted yesterday. I told her...I'm just dealing with a lot right now, and...and you've all been trying to help me, and that's why..." She trails off, shuffling her feet, then sits down.

Cadance smiles. "That was good thinking, Fluttershy," she says. "So...we're absolutely having a party for you later today. What do you think you'd like to do?"

"Umm, well..." Fluttershy starts spooning honey onto a biscuit. "There's...there's a very nice zoo here in Haytona...they even have a cetacean exhibit..." She looks up. "I...I'd like to go, if...if that's okay..."

"The zoo it is," Cadance says.

"I'll have to buy you a ready-made cake," Pinkie says apologetically. "We'll...have to find a nice bakery after we go to the zoo."

"Actually, I think I'd like an ice cream cake...if that's okay with everyone."

"Hell yeah it is!" Rainbow cheers. We all agree. Fluttershy smiles.

"It's nice to see you like this for a change," Twilight says.

Fluttershy ducks her head. "I...I want to try to be...nicer to everybody," she says. "Like...for real nice, instead of always thinking really awful, hateful things about you." Her eyes widen. "Oh. Oh, I'm sorry, I mean—"

"Nobody expects you to change overnight, Fluttershy," Cadance says. "Hell, I'm still seeing that damn therapist."

"How IS that going?" Twilight asks. "I mean, I thought the therapist was supposed to cure you of being a slu—" She coughs. "A nymphomaniac."

Cadance gives her a frown. "I...deserved that," she says. "But...no. The therapy sessions aren't to 'cure' me of enjoying sex. They're...well..." She coughs. "It's all about setting boundaries for myself and understanding how my behavior affects the people I care about." She ducks her head. "That's...actually..." She takes a sip of juice. "Shiny and I have had some very long talks about...all that, and..." She looks around. "Well, let's just say that he trusts me the way you trust Flash."

Twilight blushes. "Okay. I...I wasn't sure about that, but...it's good to know." She ducks her head. "Especially after what almost happened last night..."

"But we're here to talk about FLUTTERSHY, not me," Cadance says firmly. She looks at Fluttershy. "What happened, exactly? That weird Sunset Shimmer ghost...what did she do to you, and...where'd that new Persona come from?"

"It's...hard to explain," Fluttershy says. "I don't really understand it myself. All I know is...Sunset Shimmer destroyed Eris. I...I think I went into shock. But then..." She shakes her head. "I...I realized that...I don't want to be alone anymore. I want to...to have friends. Real friends. And..." She shrugs. "I can't...have real friends if you're all dead because you tried to protect me, so..." She flails her hands. "That's where Echo came from."

"Oooh...kaaaaaay," Rainbow says.

"Fluttershy," Twilight says, "are you...are you ready to explain everything to us?"

Fluttershy looks around the table, then sighs shakily. "I...guess I do need...need to talk about it," she says. She takes a deep breath...

"Up until high school, I was homeschooled. My mom and dad sheltered me. The only friends I had were my pets and my computer. I love computers. Since I was ten, I've been learning everything I could about computers. Anything related to computers, too. I've done all sorts of things with small electronics over the years. But I never had any real friends.

"When I got old enough, Mom decided I needed to go to high school. So she enrolled me in CHS and put me in the dorm, and...I was really nervous, and shy, and scared, and...and the other kids weren't very nice to me. I've been picked on a lot. I know you all know about some of that.

"Well, I figured out how to access everyone's text logs through Canterbook. I can get past every security protocol Canterbook has, they might as well be tissue paper. There's nothing there I can't see or read. And I realized...with that kind of information, I had power over the kids that picked on me.

"So...I started using some of the stuff I found against them. And...and once I started, it started feeling really good. So I kept doing it. I...I became a bully. A really nasty online bully.

"Well, one day, I...I found something buried deep in Canterbook that didn't seem normal. It...it was Zodiac. I tried and tried to figure out what it was and what it did, but it just didn't make sense. Then I found an app that seemed to be a front end for it. I downloaded it to my phone and accessed it." Fluttershy snorts. "You can guess what happened next. I was up to my butt in Shadows.

"I was scared out of my mind. I ran and ran and I cried, but eventually they cornered me, and...and then I realized I didn't have to be scared, because I was tougher than anybody else at CHS. Because I knew things and could really hurt people if I wanted to. So...that's where Eris came from.

"Once I had Eris, I...I felt like I had this amazing power...REAL power, and a secret that made me better than everybody else. I started spending more and more time in Zodiac, figuring it out, digging deeper, learning its secrets...all while training my body and my mind." She giggles. "I turned myself into a secret ninja in there."

"So that's how you've always been able to kick our butts?" Rainbow asks.

"Mm-hmm." Fluttershy pauses for a bite of eggs, then smiles at Rainbow. "And I can still kick your butt any day of the week, Rainbow Dash." She giggles again.

Rainbow smirks. "I'll take that as a challenge."

"Of course, I...I couldn't let anybody know I was...well...strong," Fluttershy says. "I had to...I had to keep pretending to be weak, helpless, afraid of everybody...and the whole time, I was using Canterbook and Zodiac to learn more and get stronger. I..." She looks down. "I have blackmail material on every single student and teacher at CHS. I used to think that made me special, but...now I'm starting to understand it just makes me a...a bitch." She starts to sniffle.

"A-anyway...one day, Sunset Shimmer started pushing me around. I went into Zodiac and started trying to dig something up I could use against her. This was...this was a while back. I had just started learning how to use Zodiac to mess with the real world in little, subtle ways...

"And then, it happened. I went into Zodiac and ran right into Sunset Shimmer. I...I was drunk on power. I started talking trash at her, told her what I was going to do to her, summoned Eris...

"And...and then she summoned Mephistopheles and beat me to within an inch of my life." Fluttershy shudders. "After...after it was over, she dragged me out of Zodiac and...and told me..." She swallows. "She said she knew all about everything I'd been doing, all the bad things I'd done, all the dirty secrets I had on everyone..."

Fluttershy bows her head.

"She knew about...the teacher I crippled."

We all gasp. "WHAT?!" Twilight cries.

Cadance frowns. "Are you talking about Amethyst Star?"

Fluttershy nods. "I...I found out she was having an affair. And that she was using drugs. I...I got sloppy, careless. I gave myself away as the one who had been blackmailing her. She confronted me, and..." Fluttershy squeezes her eyes shut. "I beat the hell out of her. I shattered her knee and her elbow. I told her...if she ever told anybody who attacked her, I'd expose her...and...and post videos of her having sex with a married man all over Canterbook."

"Oh my god," Twilight says, eyes wide.

"What...did she do?" I ask.

Fluttershy looks up at me with clouded eyes. "She overdosed."

Shit...

"It...was bound to happen sooner or later," Fluttershy says. "She had a serious drug problem and wasn't getting help for it..." She bows her head. "If...if I'd understood her problems, I wouldn't have..." She sighs. "Anyway...Sunset Shimmer knew about...about all that..." Fluttershy squeezes her eyes shut. "She...she said if I didn't do everything she told me to forever, she'd...she'd make sure I went to prison." She starts to tremble. "I...I couldn't...deal with that, and...and her Persona really scared me. I realized...there was still a bigger bully, and I was still weak and helpless...so..." She buries her face in her hands. "I..."

Sonata moves over and hugs Fluttershy.

"I-I'm a t-terrible p-person," Fluttershy sobs.

Cadance sighs. "Fluttershy..." She shakes her head. "I can't say for sure how much of that was you, and how much of it was...was that nightmare of a Persona you had poisoning your mind, but..." She swallows. "You are sorry for the things you've done, right?"

Fluttershy sniffles and nods. "I...I hate myself," she says. "I...I've hated myself for a long time now..."

Sonata hugs her even harder.

"I won't lie," Cadance says. "Everything you've just said...it disturbs me. And...and after we've dealt with Sunset Shimmer and...and everything...you're going to have to answer for all the things you've done. You understand that, right?"

Fluttershy swallows and nods.

"But...I think Principal Celestia is compassionate enough and understanding enough that...that she'll go to bat for you if the rest of us do."

"And we will," Twilight says.

"Fluttershy," Rarity says, "is there a way to shut down Zodiac?"

Fluttershy shakes her head. "I don't think so," she says. "I've never been able to figure out how something like Zodiac can even exist. The best I can do is figure out how to manipulate it...to a degree..." She shrugs. "I think the only thing you can really do is what you've already been doing. Kill the Hunter Shadows. If there are no Hunters, Zodiac isn't dangerous." She frowns. "Well...it's still...connected, somehow, to the minds of everyone at CHS. But...the Hunters are what make it dangerous. No Hunters, nobody gets sucked in, nobody dies."

"And we've only got a few left to deal with," Twilight says. "Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, and Aquarius..."

"Umm...there's...there's one little problem with that," Fluttershy says. "I've...never actually seen Leo. I don't think it's ever even attacked anybody."

"I've never seen Leo either," Cadance says. "It's strange...it never showed up, it never hunted anyone...I honestly thought the whole thing was over with until Virgo attacked Flash..."

"So maybe somebody already killed it?" Rainbow suggests with a shrug.

"But who could kill a Hunter Shadow?" Twilight asks. "I mean, look how hard it is for US!"

"W-well...Sunset Shimmer's birthday is August 1st," Fluttershy says. "I know because I was...I was at her birthday party." She blushes. "She made me...do something really embarrassing..." She shakes her head. "A-anyway—"

"What did she make you do?" Rainbow asks, tilting her head.

"I...don't wanna talk about it," Fluttershy whispers.

"It's okay," Twilight says. "You don't have to." She frowns. "So Sunset Shimmer is a Leo, and she has a very powerful Persona..." She scratches her cheek. "Maybe her Persona was awakened like ours were, and she killed Leo herself."

"So...we just need to take out the rest of the Shadows, then kick Sunset Shimmer's butt?" Rainbow asks. "Sounds easy enough."

"It's...not that simple," Fluttershy says. "We have to find and disable her backups. We have to destroy all her blackmail evidence. And..." She shudders. "I...I'd rather not try to fight her in Zodiac again. You...you have no idea what kind of a monster her Persona is..."

"But you are going to help us hunt down the rest of the Hunter Shadows and take them out, right?" Cadance asks.

Fluttershy sniffles and nods. "Y-yes," she says. "And...and I want...I want to start over with all of you. I...I watch you all, and I..." She looks down. "I feel so jealous of how close you all are, how you're all such good friends..." She smiles. "I want friendship like that. But...I know it'll be hard to earn your trust after...after everything I've done." She looks around at us with a faint frown. "And...and I'm sorry, but...some of you haven't...really been very nice to me lately. I mean, even though I deserved some of it, I..."

We all look at each other; everyone except Sonata looks ashamed.

"I'm...sorry, Fluttershy," Rainbow says. "Really."

"Me too," I say.

The rest of us apologize to Fluttershy. She smiles softly. "Well...you can all make it up to me at the zoo. And with ice cream cake. And..." She tilts her head. "Well, we'll see from there."

With the addition of Fluttershy, our chances just improved...

More than that, we just gained a new friend.

We finish eating breakfast, then start getting ready to go to the zoo. Fluttershy texts Applejack to let her know to meet us there.

The zoo outing is enjoyable, uneventful, and a great way to unwind after everything that's happened today. Watching Fluttershy get excited over all the different animals, I can almost forget that just yesterday, she was hostile, surly, and adversarial. Today, she's just a cute, friendly girl who likes animals and gets excited about animals the rest of us don't see anything interesting about.

We spend almost three hours at the zoo. At some point, Pinkie found out where the best place to get an ice cream cake in Haytona is and pre-ordered one; by the time we get to the place, it's ready and waiting for us. We hurry back to the dorm with it; we decide to let it chill for a bit while Fluttershy opens her presents. Cadance orders pizza, and we all settle in for an evening together with friends.

Evening

Fluttershy is pleased with her presents and thanks us all. We spend the rest of the evening eating pizza and ice cream cake and watching animal movies.

"Thank you, everyone," Fluttershy says as the party is winding down. "I...I don't deserve friends like you..."

Rainbow throws an arm around her shoulders. "That's the thing about friends," she says. "They forgive."

Fluttershy flinches slightly, but then shakes herself and smiles. "Rainbow...about...what happened after the Fall Formal..."

We all tense up. "Yeah?" Rainbow asks.

Fluttershy steels herself, then sighs. "You...really were just scared I'd been raped, weren't you?"

"Yeah, I was."

Fluttershy smiles and hugs Rainbow. "Thank you," she says. "For caring about me. But...next time, maybe care about me with your words, instead of..."

Rainbow laughs sheepishly and rubs the back of her head. "Yeah," she says. "I know, I'm an idiot."

Fluttershy looks at Twilight, Pinkie, and Cadance. "Oh, and...I'm sorry I called you all degenerate sluts," she says. "I—"

"We forgive you," the girls say in one single, resigned chorus.

"I think that's enough apologies for one day," Cadance says, laughing. "Come on, let's get this mess cleaned up. I don't know about you kids, but I'm beat."

We all pitch in to clean up the mess, then head off to our rooms.

Twilight and I are getting ready for bed when there's a knock on the door.

"Come in," Twilight says.

Fluttershy walks in. "There's one thing I forgot," she says.

"Oh?" Twilight asks.

Fluttershy walks over to me, sticks her hand in my shorts, and pinches my dick. Hard.

"AAHHH!" I cross my legs and cover my crotch. Oh god it hurts...

"What the—?" Twilight cries.

Fluttershy smiles. "Now we're even for you grabbing my breast," she says. She sticks her tongue out at me, then leaves.

I crumple onto the bed. It takes a while for my dick to stop hurting enough that I can sleep.

I guess she does still have a way to go...oww...