Chapter Six – Poo-Tee-Weet

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Rarity

Rarity mustered all the grace she could as she wearily sauntered over to her assigned tent. It had been four hours since Luna had raised the moon, but only ten minutes since the very same princess had allowed everypony to break for the night.

The endless task of digging was ever present in the white unicorn's mind. She had been selected to help with one of the large ditches that would act as a mass grave for the thousands of dead Cloudsdale residents. Her muscles burned at the memory, but they weren't the only sign that she had spent the day in the dirt. Her usually styled mane was caked with mud, and her hooves were chipped and messy. The rest of her white coat had been spared simply because of her heavy armor had suffered the blows of filth for her. Unfortunately, it only added to her burden as she nearly collapsed in front of her tent.

Pushing the flap open, Rarity ignited her horn in a blue aura and began unlatching the heavy, cumbersome armor. The straps that bound her to the metal gear fumbled; her magic was sloppy and ill formed, having been just as taxed as her muscles from all the work. Grunting in defeat, she canceled the spell and forcibly ripped off the armor with her hooves. The various bits of chain mail poked into her coat as she did, eliciting a few grunts from the white unicorn. The only thing she bothered to leave on was her Element, the purple diamond having escaped all of the evening's dirt.

She did allow her meticulous nature to get the better of her when she set the metal coverings off to the side. Her tent had barely any room, and most of it was covered by a ratty looking mat she assumed was meant for her to sleep on. Rarity was honestly too tired to care as she laid herself down.

The white unicorn was about to close her eyes when she saw a soft glow through the diaphanous sheets of her tent. It was followed by the low chattering of familiar voices.

What are they still doing up? Rarity thought to herself. As exhausted as she was, the curious mare pushed herself up and went outside to investigate.

By the light of a small fire, Rarity saw the majority of her friends huddled together, seemingly in deep conversation. The white mare approached cautiously, not quite wanting to interrupt what it was they were saying.

"… did ya see the way she reacted ta the mass graves idea?" Came Applejack's southern accent.

"I honestly thought she was going to attack Princess Luna." Twilight responded.

"Maybe we should have… um… supported her, just a little bit, when the Princess said no." Fluttershy meekly contributed.

Only a few yards away now, she noticed that all of her friends except Spike and Rainbow Dash were present around the campfire. Spike, being a baby dragon and likely overworked form the events of the day, was probably already asleep, but the white unicorn had no idea where Rainbow could be. Rarity cringed as the sudden snap of a loose twig made all her friends turn to look at her. The white unicorn felt blood surge under her cheeks with embarrassment at being caught eavesdropping.

"Hiya Rarity!" Pinkie Pie spouted out, her usual chipper voice lacking enthusiasm. Rarity also took note that the party pony's hair was deflated a little, likely due to the fact that they had all been handling dead bodies since noon. Not even Pinkie could keep a happy spirit after that.

"Umm, hello everypony." Rarity said after clearing her throat. "I hope I'm not interrupting…"

"You're fine." Frostburn said, giving a weary smile in her direction. "Care to join us?" The blue stallion indicated an empty spot on the ground right next to him.

"Thank you, darling." She accepted. The white mare made her way around the circle and huddled up in the space near Frostburn, making sure that she was close enough to just brush up against the stallion's coat. "So, who were you talking about before I arrived?"

A few of her friend's gazes were directed away from her while others began twiddling with their hooves. Applejack was the first to acknowledge the truth. "It was Rainbow." The orange farmer admitted. The other's nodded, a little uncomfortable about gossiping behind the cyan pegasus's back.

"Because she…" Rarity trailed off, not needing to fill in the answer. They all still had it fresh in their minds.

Princess Luna, in an attempt to make the job of grave digging a little easier on the soldiers, decreed that they would construct a series of mass graves to bury the dead. When Rainbow Dash heard that, she flew right up into the face of the Princess of the Night, demanding each individual pegasus get their own grave. It devolved into a one-sided shouting match from there, with the dark alicorn adamantly sticking to her choice and Rainbow Dash not compromising. Everypony feared the hot-headed pegasus would have attacked Luna had Applejack and Twilight not dragged her off and calmed her down.

"She was acting pretty crazy." Twilight said somberly. This was met with a chorus of nods from most. The white unicorn furrowed her brow, confused as to why her friends would agree.

"Well, what do you all think?" Rarity asked. Glances were exchanged. "Should we have dug mass graves?"

"Uhmm, well... I guess." Fluttershy managed.

"I-It is more efficient." Twilight offered. Clearly the purple mare wanted to take Rainbow's side but logically couldn't.

"Ah guess we didn't have much of a choice." Applejack responded, while proceeding to push her brown hat down to cover part of her face.

"It's just… so sad." Pinkie dejectedly said staring at the ground. Fluttershy offered a kind hoof on the party pony's shoulder. "I knew coming to war wouldn't be fun… but I just thought the changelings would fight fair you know? Maybe we wouldn't even have to fight at all. Maybe I could have just thrown one huge party and everypony could forget why we even started fighting in the first place."

"War doesn't work like that." Twilight said dismal, failing hopelessly to console the pink mare.

"I know." The Element of Laughter responded with tears in her eyes.

"It's not your fault you couldn't throw that party." Fluttershy said, doing a better job than the purple unicorn. "This massacre happened before we even got here."

"We should have dug the graves." Frostburn suddenly spoke up. Five heads swiveled to face him. His eyes stared deeply into their little campfire as he spoke. "It's only right. Everypony gets a grave when they die, why should these pegasi be any different?"

"But Frostburn," Twilight started. "There are thousands of them, it's unreasonable–"

"No. Death is unreasonable." He replied. Rarity gently set her head against his shoulder. Though she wasn't a mind reader, the white unicorn had no doubts that Frostburn was mulling over the deaths that had been his fault. She wished there was a way to comfort him.

There was silence after that. Rarity assumed her friends were digesting everything they had just heard. Twilight looked exhausted, dark circles from lack of sleep rallied below her eyes. First dealing with missing family members, and now the slaughter they had just seen; Rarity could only imagine the nightmares the purple unicorn was facing. Applejack was doing her best to keep it together, but wasn't succeeding. Fluttershy looked in deep thought, but Rarity could only guess what the yellow pegasus would be thinking about. Pinkie Pie was… flat-maned.

"Room for one more?" A voice asked. Six heads snapped to attention to see Rainbow Dash ambling towards them.

"Of course." Twilight replied.

"You can take my spot." Fluttershy whispered. "I have somep– something to check up on anyways." The butter cream mare stood up to make room between herself and Frostburn, and spot that Dash filled quickly. Rarity instinctively buried her head into the blue stallion's neck just a little more, and felt blood rise beneath his cheeks.

Fluttershy waved good-bye, causing a collective curiousity to sweep silently through the group. No pony capitalized on it as the shy mare disappeared into the night.

"What were ya up to, Rainbow?" Applejack asked. "The days work ended a while ago."

"I was…" Rainbow trailed off as her head turned to the vast field where hundreds of unseen bodies still laid. She sighed. "I was looking to see if my parent's were… among the dead."

"Oh." Applejack replied, rueful for even bringing up the topic. It was an eerie silence after that. "Were they?"

If Rarity had been close enough, she would have smacked the farmer for her insensitive bluntness. Of all the things she could have possible asked Rainbow Dash!

"They weren't." Was Dash's curt reply. "I think they were supposed to be traveling this week. Dad always wanted to see Las Pegasus."

"Well that's a relief. It's awful when ya don't know if yer loved one are okay or not."

Rarity almost did smack the orange farmer that time. It would have been futile, and judging by the cringe that came from Applejack, the Earth pony had just realized what she'd said. Twilight Sparkle looked on the brink of tears.

"Oh gosh Twi, Ah didn't–"

"I'm going to bed." Twilight attempted to say in a firm manner, but her shaky voice betrayed her. The purple mare stood and galloped away. Applejack immediately got up.

"Twilight wait! Ah'm sorry!" The orange farmer shouted, cantering after her. A flash of purple light in the distance let Rarity and everypony else know the Twilight had teleported away, likely to her tent. Applejack came back, head lowered.

"Ah'm an idiot." She muttered. Pinkie Pie stood up by the orange mare.

"Don't feel bad. Twilights just in a bad place right now. We all are."

Applejack shut her eyes, and pressed her lips together. "Ah should probably go ta sleep too."

"We all should." Frostburn admitted, moving to get up. Rarity almost wanted to stop him, hoping to just lie next to him for a few more minutes. She didn't, and resigned to standing as well.

"Aren't you going to sleep too, Rainbow?" Rarity asked the cyan pegasus.

"No… I'm just going to sit here… for a while." Was the response. The white unicorn silently nodded, and trotted to catch up to Frostburn in order to have somepony to walk with back to her tent.

Rarity focused, and used some of her remaining energy to form a beam of blue light from her horn so the two of them could see.

"I'm assuming it's not normally like this when you all hang out." Frostburn said with uneasy sarcasm.

"No, it isn't." Rarity said. "I mean, I expected things to take a slightly darker tone since we're on the battlefield, but that was… really bad actually." Frostburn shot her an inquisitive glance. Rarity elaborated. "No pony was their self. I mean, we were talking about Rainbow behind her back. We've never done something like that before. Pinkie was depressed, Fluttershy was… evasive. Applejack was really insensitive and Twilight…"

"Yeah, that was pretty dysfunctional." Frostburn said. "You don't think it had anything to do with me, do you?"

"What?" Rarity asked, shocked. "No! You haven't hurt the group just by being there. In fact… I rather liked having you as a part of our late night campfire session." Both exchanged blushes, but Rarity quickly returned to the topic at hoof. "I think it's this stupid war. It was a mistake to come here. We should have declined the second Celestia offered."

"Well, we're here now. Not much we can do to change it." Frostburn said. Rarity stopped as they reached her tent.

"Except win." She replied. Frostburn nodded.

"Except win." He agreed.

They said their goodnights and Rarity ducked inside the tent. She curled up into a sleeping position quickly, but actual slumber eluded her for much longer. The white unicorn mare was uneasy about what was happening to her friends and where it would all lead. Eventually, she fell asleep from pure exhaustion.

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Fluttershy

The cold night air bit into her coat as she stumbled in the dark. Her hooves moved surreptitiously over the plains grass, making soft crunching noises as she moved.

The yellow pegasus knew he was around here somewhere, he'd promised to meet up with her in this area. She scanned the horizon, the bitter darkness broken only by the moon and a handful of stars, and they were mostly covered by the cloud fortress above her.

Cloudsdale had been shrinking rapidly, and Fluttershy knew why. A city built using clouds was only stable if it had a constant flurry of pegasi on it, their natural internalized magic keeping the bonds between the white, fluffy patches sky from breaking. There weren't enough pegasi in the army to keep the steady constant for the city, and even if there were, they wouldn't be around for much longer. Princess Luna planned to move out as soon the last body was in the ground.

The last thought made Fluttershy shudder. She had handled many dead pegasi today, and it felt like each time she set one in the ground, a little bit of her soul had gone with them. The shy mare seriously doubted she would be able to offer Smoking Dagger any happiness tonight, but she had to try.

"Fluttershy!" A muffled whisper called out to her. She "eeped" in surprise, but calmed down upon realizing who it was.

"It's just me." Smoking Dagger whispered, appearing from behind her. The changeling was still in his disguised form – a snow white stallion with rich brown hair and eyes as clear blue as the sky. Fluttershy felt her tiny heart beat a little faster just being around him and she wasn't entirely sure why.

"H-hi Smoking." She said softly.

"Are you okay?" He immediately asked, eyes lighting up in concern when he notice how much she was shaking.

Is he legitimately showing concern for me, or just worried about his food source?

"I'm just, kind of scared." She whispered. "After today, with the massacre and everything."

"It was fairly gory." Smoking Dagger admitted. "I'm surprised Chrysalis ordered such an assault."

"Really?" Fluttershy asked. Smoking raised an eyebrow at her. "I mean, it is a war, wouldn't that seem normal?"

"Changelings aren't warriors, Fluttershy." Smoking said. "Most of us hate the idea of fighting as much as ponies."

"Sorry, I didn't know." Fluttershy said. Smoking Dagger seemed to brush off her apology, and instead closed his eyes. He stayed silent for quite some time. Eventually, Fluttershy felt curiosity overcome her.

"W-what are you doing?" She asked.

"Feeding." Came his curt response.

"Oh, okay. I just didn't think there would be a lot of happiness for you tonight." Fluttershy admitted. Smoking Dagger opened his eyes, the deep blue piecing into hers.

"There wasn't much." He replied. "But it's better than starving." Fluttershy smiled awkwardly, unsure if Smoking was making a joke or not.

"I'm sorry I couldn't give you more." She said. Smoking Dagger looked at the ground unsurely, and then back to Fluttershy.

"In a way, I suppose you did." The changeling replied, but then gave an immediate look that told Fluttershy he hadn't meant to say that out loud.

"W-what do you mean?" She asked cautiously.

"It wasn't… just happiness I managed to feed off you." He said, acting as though he was confessing to a crime.

"What?" Fluttershy asked. "But what else was there? I didn't think you could feed off things like sadness and depression."

"No, no. It wasn't that." Smoking Dagger bit the inside of his cheeks, and Fluttershy sensed she would have to drag the information out of him. Time to be assertive… I suppose.

"Tell me." She said firmly. The white stallion in front of her looked at her.

"Infatuation, dammit!" He said, immediately biting his tongue and looking away. Fluttershy recoiled from his use of foul language, but then recovered.

"What do you mean, infatuation?" She asked, taking a step closer. He backed up.

"I tasted tangerines – the flavor of infatuation." He muttered. "It means that your… well… attracted to somepony. Somepony nearby."

Wait, does he mean…

"I'm… attracted to you?" She whispered. Smoking Dagger's eyes immediately buldged.

"No! Well, yes. Not me exactly, but I think it's just my current form." He stumbled upon the words, trying to make sense of them for Fluttershy and himself. "You did say I looked handsome like this." He muttered. "I guess you just find this form attractive."

"Oh…" Fluttershy said, her face turning beat red. Thankfully it was hidden by the night. "Y-your right, I suppose. It is just your form. Is that… a bad thing? Should I stop?"

"Well… I want to say both no and yes." Smoking admitted. "Infatuation is easy to get, and can sustain me. But I don't really think it's a good idea for you to stay… attracted to me."

"What if you changed forms?" Fluttershy asked. The stallion shook his head.

"I've already enlisted looking like this. If I change now, ponies will wonder will get curious." He kicked the ground awkwardly. "So I'm stuck like this."

"B-but is it such a bad thing?" The cream-colored pegasus asked shyly. "I mean, you get food, and it's not like it'll hurt me to just be attracted to what you look like… right?"

Smoking looked at the ground. "Right." He replied. "It just feels a little weird. Maybe we should–" Suddenly, the changeling's head snapped up in surprise. Fluttershy flinched reflexively.

"What is it?" She asked concerned.

"It's… I suddenly can taste so many emotions. They're familiar, and befuddled, and... sour." He mumbled inaudibly to himself for a bit, before remembering that Fluttershy was next to him. "Changelings." He whispered.

"What!" Fluttershy squeaked with fear.

"They're moving fast, but maybe won't get here till morning." He said. "I think Queen Chrysalis sent them out looking for insurgents."

"So everypony in the camp…"

"Is in danger." He said.

"We have to warn everypony!" Fluttershy cried as loudly as she dared. The pink maned mare began dashing off. Smoking easily caught up to her and blocked her path.

"Wait!" He said. "You can't tell anypony just yet."

"But they have to know!" Fluttershy insisted. Smoking nodded.

"Yes, they do. But when they ask you how you know you can't tell them a changeling that you helped sneak into the army's ranks was able to sense them. We'd both be in trouble then."

"Oh." Fluttershy whispered.

"Here's what your going to do." Smoking said, taking charge of the situation. "Wake up Princess Luna, or whoever is in charge, and tell them that you were out flying before going to sleep. Say that based on the moonlight, you could see a changeling army in the distance."

"o-Okay." Fluttershy whispered. Smoking grabbed her forelegs hurriedly, causing her face to break out in a blush.

"Fluttershy, this is really important! You have to stick with that story no matter what! When they ask questions you just repeat that story. When they ask for more details you repeat that story. When they doubt that story you…"

"…repeat that story." The yellow pegasus filled in. Smoking nodded and released her.

"Now go. Hurry!"

Fluttershy didn't need to be told twice. She broke out into a run and didn't stop until she burst through the opening into Luna's tent, raving about oncoming changelings.

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Award thyself ten awesomeness points if you get what the chapter title is referencing. If not... eh go ahead and give yourself five awesomeness points (I'm feeling generous).

Well, that was the new chapter. A little heavy focus on the social aspect while building to a battle sequence that will be happening over the course of a few chapters, so you've got that to look forward to I guess.

This chapter as a whole, I wasn't sure about. Writers block plus wisdom teeth removal made me put this one off for a while, but I like to think it came out okay. Let me know in the reviews! (oh yeah, and happy Easter. If you don't celebrate Easter, than happy average day of the week!)

In Bronyhood,

Fire Gazer the Alchemist