Chapter 14:

'Kindness and Mystery'

"Now remember, be good Angel, I'll be back soon, ok?"

Shining Armor watched as Fluttershy said goodbye to the little bunny at her door. As she approached him, he noticed the small bag she was carrying. "If you don't mind me asking Fluttershy, what's in the bag?"

Fluttershy opened the bag and looked inside. "Oh nothing much, just some herbs and bandages in case something happens. Since we're going into the Everfree Forest I...I wanted to be extra prepared." She said as she managed a smile.

Shining Armor smiled in return before turning to move on. "Alright then, let's go, follow me."

Fluttershy nodded and followed the Captain of the Guard away from her cottage and towards the Everfree Forest.

Upon reaching the entrance to the forest, Fluttershy found herself shaking when she looked at the darkness up ahead.

Shining Armor put a hoof on her back. "Don't worry, I'm here, you have nothing to be scared of." He was the first to head in.

Not willing to be let him get ahead of her, Fluttershy rushed on and stayed close to him. She looked from side to side every five seconds, nervous that something was going to jump out and attack them.

"It's this direction right?" Shining Armor asked.

Fluttershy nodded. "Yes, I can feel my Element calling from this direction." She said as she trotted in front of him for a moment.

Shining Armor walked on ahead, keeping an eye out for anything hostile. Fluttershy remained by his side.

They were tasked by Princess Celestia and Princess Luna to retrieve the Elements and return them to Canterlot where they would be safer. Even though the enemy did indeed get a hold of them, it was only because they had no idea they had infiltrated Canterlot, that and they didn't think the enemy would be after the Elements of Harmony either. Celestia and Luna stated that the Elements would be placed in a more secure area to keep them safe from the Iron Empire. Now that they knew the enemy was trying to obtain them, protecting them would be easier.

Shining Armor had every confidence that he and Fluttershy would be able to get her Element before the Iron Five. He would die before letting one of them get their hoofs on it. Of course, he couldn't forget his other duty aswell, he was here to protect Fluttershy also. He knew Twilight would kill him if something happened to her.

They walked on for atleast a good ten minutes, Shining noticed Fluttershy was still nervously looking back and forth, thinking something was going to jump out and attack them. When they reached a small open area, the Captain decided it'd be a good idea to stop for the moment. "We'll just rest here for a couple of minutes and then continue. We don't want to exhaust ourselves."

Fluttershy sat down and gave him a nervous look. "Are...are you sure?"

"Of course." Shining replied. "There's no harm in resting for a bit is there?"

Shaking her head, Fluttershy said, "N-No...I guess not..." She looked at the ground for a moment before turning back to Shining Armor, who was busy looking at his spear while keeping an eye out. "Umm...Captain...do you-"

"Fluttershy please, we're friends, just call me Shining." Shining Armor replied with a friendly smile.

"Oh...ok...Shining. I'm...I'm sorry if I offended you." Fluttershy replied.

Shining Armor chuckled. "Of course not." He looked around again. "As soon as we find your Element, we'll head back immediately, I don't like being in this forest anymore than you do. Once we get back to Ponyville, we'll return to Canterlot, I'm sure Princess Celestia and Princess Luna will be glad to see all of the Elements of Harmony back in our possession."

Fluttershy nodded and managed a smile. "They will...I just hope we can stop those Ponies from stealing them again." She looked at the ground again. Suddenly, a thought entered her head. She turned back to Shining Armor and asked, "Umm, Shining?"

"What is it Fluttershy?" Shining replied, still smiling.

The shy Pegasus looked down at her hoofs for a moment, figuring out a way to ask her question. "I...I was wondering...what do you think of them?"

"The Iron Five?" Shining Armor's smile lowered a little.

"Yes..." Fluttershy said with a nod.

Shining Armor sighed as he looked at his spear again. "Honestly Fluttershy, I really don't know. I can say without a doubt that they're really dangerous. Air Break, he's quite a tough one, he almost had me yesterday when we fought each other. I really don't know what to think about Kickback though, in fact, he acts a lot like your friend Rarity."

Fluttershy couldn't help but giggle at his words. Shining Armor's smile lowered as he continued. "As for that silver Pegasus, Blitz Bolt I think his name was, well, he better pray that Princess Celestia and Princess Luna are forgiving enough to overlook what he's done. The Unicorn, Vanisher..." He stopped.

"Yes?" Fluttershy said, curious about the Captains thoughts.

Shining sighed. "I don't know, he's a complete mystery. Cloud Hunter is a different story..."

When thoughts of Cloud Hunter entered her mind, Fluttershy couldn't help but blush a little. She immediately looked at the ground to hide her blush from Shining as he turned to her. "He's...he's a hard one to judge. He didn't exactly seem the evil type when I think about it, after all, he did spare Rainbow Dash's life."

Fluttershy nodded. "He did...and...and that's why I think we can reform them. If Cloud Hunter isn't evil, then the others can't be either."

Shining Armor shrugged. "I'd like nothing more than to believe that Fluttershy. However, until I actually see a change in them myself, I'm going to stand by my current opinion."

"Oh...ok." The Pegasus replied in a slightly sad tone.

"Hey don't take it the wrong way Fluttershy, I'd actually like to have those five on our side. Air Break would make a good sparring partner." Shining said with a chuckle.

Fluttershy giggled again at his words before getting to her hoofs. "Well, I guess we better keep moving." She started focusing on her Element again before turning in another direction. "This way." She said as she pointed to a small narrow path.

Shining nodded and led the way, Fluttershy stayed close to him as she followed.

As the two continued their way through the dark forest, Fluttershy started remembering something that had transpired yesterday. It was the nightmare she had, the nightmare she had before she woke up yesterday morning. The black Unicorn she saw in that nightmare continued to haunt her mind. She was able to push the thoughts of it out of her head for a good while, but as soon as she stepped into the Everfree Forest, she started remembering it again.

It was familiar, but she couldn't exactly remember where she had seen it before.

She decided that now would be a good time to talk about it, and Shining Armor would be the first Pony to know. "Umm, Shining Armor...there's something I've been meaning to talk to you about..."

"What is it Fluttershy?" Shining asked.

Fluttershy started to get nervous. "Well...it was actually something that...that I meant to talk to everypony about...but I just couldn't."

Shining stopped walking. Fluttershy stopped behind him. "You see...yesterday morning before I woke up...I...I had a..."

"Fluttershy...stand back." Shining said in a very low tone.

Confused by his words, Fluttershy looked up from the ground and faced him. "What's wrong?" She asked him, but no reply came.

The Pegasus slowly stepped to the side to see what the Captain was looking at, and her eyes widened in shock. "W-What's that...?"

Shining Armor tightened his grip around his spear. Something was approaching them, but they were unable to make it out due to the thick fog. It was a Unicorn though, that much they could tell just by the shape of its shadow.

The Unicorn slowly approached them, and as it emerged from the fog, Fluttershy and Shining Armor were able to identify it.

"Vanisher." Shining Armor said.

Fluttershy watched as Vanisher stopped not far in front of them. As usual, he was still wearing that blindfold around his eyes, and his mouth wasn't twisted in the slightest to show any expression. His face was, as always, blank.

"Oh dear..." Fluttershy took a short step back.

Shining turned to her. "Fluttershy, you go and keep searching for your Element." He turned back to Vanisher. "I'll deal with our silent friend here."

Fluttershy slowly approached him. "A-Are you sure...I could stay here and-"

"No. Just go, I'll be okay. Find your Element, and when you do, go straight to Ponyville, I'll catch up. Got it?" Shining said.

Knowing he wouldn't take no for an answer, Fluttershy nodded. "I...I understand..." She unfurled her wings and took flight. "Good luck, Shining Armor." She said softly as she flew on ahead.

As soon as the Pegasus was out of sight, Shining Armor turned back to Vanisher. "Tell me something, what do you intend to do with the Elements of Harmony?"

Vanisher said nothing.

Shining Armor narrowed his eyes at the Unicorn. "Can't you speak?"

Again, Vanisher said nothing and merely looked blankly at the Captain. Shining sighed. "Fine then..." He pointed his spear at the silent Unicorn. "Vanisher, I'm going to give you one chance to just turn around and leave right now. I would prefer not to fight, but I will if I have to."

Vanisher's horn began to glow. Shining Armor braced himself for whatever magic the Unicorn was planning on throwing at him.

No magic came however, instead, two small blades appeared out of thin air and levitated in front of Vanisher. Shining Armor raised a brow at the strange looking weapons. The blades were small like daggers, but they looked a lot like claws.

Vanisher stood up on his hind legs and grabbed the two blades with his front hoofs, one in each hoof.

Shining Armor's eyes widened a little when Vanisher twirled the blades around in his hoofs before getting into a fighting stance. 'This might be a little more difficult than I thought.' He thought in his head.

As he readied his spear, Shining Armor took a moment to study Vanisher. 'Ok...let's see. Vanisher is just about as tall as myself, only an inch or two shorter. He's a bit slim but at the same time he's slightly built, nonetheless, I should have the advantage in terms of strength. And I will certainly not lower my guard just because he's blind.'

Vanisher remained where he stood, he didn't move at all and remained in his fighting stance, waiting for Shining Armor to make the first move. Shining stayed where he was however, knowing that the silent Unicorn was waiting for him to strike. 'He wants me to make the first move, too bad that isn't going to happen.'

The two continued to face each other, neither of them moved from where they stood. Atleast a good few long minutes went by, and Shining Armor was actually starting to get impatient. 'Darn it! Would you move?!' He said in his head. He wanted Vanisher to make the first move but clearly the silent Unicorn was more patient than him.

Finally, he had enough, Shining decided to grant Vanisher his wish and made the first move. He aimed his spear and threw it at the silent Unicorn.

Vanisher, much to Shining's surprise, jumped to the side, dodging the spear. Knowing he had no weapon now, Vanisher started rushing towards the Captain.

Shining Armor used his magic and teleported his spear back into his hoofs just in time as Vanisher leaped at him. As soon as he landed, Vanisher started unleashing a flurry of quick strikes. Shining could do nothing but continuously block them all, as the silent Unicorn was literally that fast at throwing so many strikes.

Vanisher went to impale him, but Shining stepped to the side and twirled his spear around. He swung it at Vanisher's head. However, the silent Unicorn pulled his head back, the tip of the spears blade just barely missing his blindfold. Vanisher did a backflip and landed a few steps away from his opponent, he stared blankly at him again.

Shining narrowed his eyes. 'Ok, he's good, really good. How in Celestia's name can he fight like that even when he's blind?'

Vanisher twirled one of his blades before throwing it at the Captain. Shining used his spear to block it, he then saw the other blade flying towards him and knocked it aside also. He then charged at the silent Unicorn, but just as he was about to land a clean hit on Vanisher, the small blades came flying back and forced the Captain to jump away before he could finish his attack.

He glared and noticed Vanisher had used his magic to levitate the blades back into his hoofs. Vanisher then surprised him when he teleported behind him. Shining quickly turned around just in time to block his two blades. Vanisher pulled back for a second before unleashing another flurry of strikes. Once more, the Captain could only block as the silent Unicorn was too quick.

Vanisher circled around the Captain as he continued to swing his blades at him nonstop. Shining Armor then finally got a break when he managed to swing his spear, forcing the silent Unicorn to jump back.

He decided to go on the offensive now and started thrusting his spear forward, but Vanisher dodged all of his strikes. Shining then started swinging his spear at him, but Vanisher stepped back, sidestepped and even twirled around to dodge all of his attacks, almost like he was breakdancing.

The silent Unicorn then saw Shining recoil from his last strike and quickly leaped forward and started swinging away with his blades. Shining didn't have enough time to block, all he could do was stumble back and let out a loud growl as Vanisher's blades cut away at various parts of his body. Thankfully his armour protected the most important parts of his body.

Then, an idea popped into his head. Shining lunged forward and grabbed Vanisher's hoof just as he was about to strike again. Vanisher looked up blankly at him.

Shining Armor pulled his head back and then hammered it right into Vanisher's head, both of their horns just barely missing each other.

Vanisher stumbled back a few steps, clutching his head with one of his hoofs. Shining was surprised, considering he was wearing his helmet, he expected that headbutt to knock Vanisher out immediately, that and he was also surprised his opponent wasn't crying in pain right now.

Finally, Vanisher looked back at him, his face remained blank, showing no signs of pain whatsoever, much to the Captain's shock.

Shining Armor was able to make out a line of blood slowly dripping down from the top of the silent Unicorn's head. The blood was slowly sliding down Vanisher's face and disappeared behind the blindfold for a few seconds before reappearing at the bottom of the blindfold.

All of a sudden, Shining Armor started to feel himself growing weaker. He looked down and found himself standing in a small pool of blood. He then looked at his body and noticed blood was dripping from almost every part, minus the parts that were covered and protected by his armour. Still, all of the cuts looked very bad and he could feel his body was actually starting to give out.

Knowing he had to end it quickly, Shining rushed forward one last time. He thrust his spear forward, but Vanisher sidestepped it and swung his blades down at the Captain. Shining used the long hilt of the spear to block the blades, thankfully the hilt itself didn't break.

He then shoved Vanisher back and swung his spear at him again, but Vanisher leaped over the Captains head and landed behind him.

Vanisher then turned to deliver another strike, but Shining had him this time.

The Captain pulled his spear back and stabbed the hilt right into Vanisher's chest. Though it didn't actually injure him, it stunned him just long enough for Shining Armor to turn around and hammer the hilt of his spear into the silent Unicorn's head.

Vanisher was brought to the ground. Shining Armor panted heavily as he slowly approached the silent Unicorn. Vanisher slowly turned his head and looked up at the Captain, his face, surprisingly, remained blank, and his blindfold was all red from the blood.

"Do you surrender?" Shining Armor said as he pointed his spear at the silent Unicorn.

Vanisher said nothing and continued to stare blankly at the Captain.

"Alright then, I'm taking you back to Canterlot, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna will decide what to do with-" Before Shining Armor could finish, Vanisher charged up his horn and teleported.

"What?!" The Captain was about to turn around, but stopped when he felt a cold feeling in his side.

Slowly turning his head, Shining saw Vanisher standing right behind him, with one of his blades pierced right into his side.

Shining Armor coughed out blood and fell to the ground, suddenly, he started losing all feeling in his body. He was able to summon up enough strength to turn his head and look up at Vanisher, who looked back down at him, face blank as always.

Vanisher's horn began to glow and his small blades disappeared. He turned around and started to walk away. As he began to fade into the distance, Vanisher disappeared in a blue flash.

Shining Armor, knowing he couldn't get up to go after him, let his head fall back to the ground. He closed his eyes and muttered softly. "Fluttershy...I tried."

________________________________________________________________________________________

Fluttershy could feel her Element getting closer and closer. She had stopped flying and decided to walk the rest of way due to flying into too many branches. The worst that could possibly happen at this point was running into a wild beast, Timberwolf, Manticore or any other vicious animal.

After walking for what seemed like forever, Fluttershy had made outside of the forest. She took a moment to rest before focusing on her Element again. She could feel it calling to her, just up ahead. Unfortunately, as she moved on, she was able to make out a large cave up ahead. She tried to turn around but her Element was calling to her, from inside the cave.

"H-How...how did it get inside that cave exactly?" She said in a nervous tone.

Suddenly, Fluttershy's eyes were blinded by a blue flash.

After rubbing her eyes, she waited until her vision was normal before turning to the source of the flash, she regretted it.

Vanisher stood before her, staring blankly at her. "V-Vanisher..." She slowly backed away from the silent Unicorn.

He merely looked at her for a moment before charging up his horn, causing him to turn to the cave.

Fluttershy set her eyes on the blood covered blindfold around his eyes, aswell as the blood that still continued to flow down from his head. "Oh my...are you...okay?"

Vanisher turned to her again.

"Y-You're...you're bleeding real badly..." The Pegasus said as she pointed at his head.

Vanisher said nothing.

Fluttershy became even more nervous when she remembered that Shining Armor had stayed behind to hold him off. If Vanisher was standing before her now then that could only mean...

"W-What...what did you do...what did you do to Shining Armor? Where is he?" She asked, trying to keep herself from being intimidated by his blank look.

Again, Vanisher said nothing.

Fluttershy knew she didn't stand a ghost of a chance against the Unicorn. She heard how he had given the Princesses a tough fight yesterday, and that being the case, she wouldn't last a second against him.

However, she couldn't keep her eyes off of his bleeding wounds, and she felt her helpful side kicking in. "Those wounds look...really painful..." She slowly started to approach him. "Here, I can help you...if...if you don't mind that is..."

As soon as she reached him however, a small claw looking blade appeared before her. She yelped when Vanisher grabbed the blade and pointed it at her.

"I...I...I...I didn't...I didn't mean to offend you...I'm sorry..." Fluttershy said, unable to hide the fear in her eyes.

Vanisher looked blankly at her before turning to back to the cave.

"You're after my Element aren't you?" Fluttershy asked.

Surprisingly, Vanisher actually acknowledged her words this time. He turned and nodded at her.

Fluttershy carefully approached him. "Umm...I...I really need my Element too because...because I was asked to find and...take it back to Canterlot."

Vanisher just looked at her before facing the cave again. Fluttershy finally worked up the courage to stand next to him. "It's inside the cave..."

No reply came from the silent Unicorn, instead, he started making his towards the cave entrance.

Fluttershy followed him. However, just as they made it right to the entrance, a twig snapped under Fluttershy's hoof, causing her to let out a loud high-pitched scream.

As she hid behind Vanisher, a loud and powerful roar came from inside the cave. Fluttershy started trembling as she recognized it. "Oh no...that sounds like a..."

Vanisher looked down at her before turning back to the darkness up ahead. The cave started to shake uncontrollably as something large was heading their way.

Wasting no time, Vanisher teleported himself and Fluttershy further away from the caves entrance, waiting for whatever was inside to come out.

A long minute went by, after listening to the sound of loud steps slowly approaching, the source of the roar finally emerged from the darkness. A Dragon.

"Oh...oh dear..." Fluttershy said as she continued to tremble at the sight of the large green beast.

Vanisher looked up blankly at the dragon.

Fluttershy watched as another claw looking blade appeared out of thin air. Vanisher stood up on his hind legs and grabbed the blade with his other hoof, twirling it before getting into a fighting stance.

"Y-You're not actually going to...fight it...are you?" Fluttershy asked, her tone filled with fear and worry.

Vanisher said nothing and waited for the dragon to attack.

Fluttershy couldn't believe what she was seeing. Vanisher was actually going to fight a dragon. He was definitely insane, that much Fluttershy knew. His head was still bleeding and, despite the continuous blank expression on his face, she knew he was exhausted.

The dragon roared and took a step towards them. Vanisher however took the fight straight to the dragon, as he teleported right on top of its head. Fluttershy watched in shock as Vanisher started swinging his blades away at the dragon, cutting and impaling its head with his blades. The dragon let out a loud roar as it used its claws to swipe him off of its head.

Vanisher jumped off of its head and teleported while he was in mid-air, reappearing at the dragons side. The dragon turned and breathed a large wave a fire at him, but Vanisher once again teleported, this time he teleported into the air, behind the dragon.

Unfortunately, Vanisher hadn't anticipated the dragons senses, and he was too late to avoid the large tail that came flying towards him.

Fluttershy watched in horror as the dragons tail smacked Vanisher into the rocky wall next to the cave entrance. She quickly flew around the dragon and next to the cave entrance where she could see the silent Unicorn.

Vanisher was struggling back to his hoofs, but his face continued to show no expression whatsoever, much to Fluttershy's surprise.

The two Ponies turned back to the dragon and watched as it prepared to breath another wave of fire at them.

Fluttershy slowly backed away into the cave, while Vanisher teleported inside. As the fire came blasting out of the dragons mouth, Vanisher charged up his horn and unleashed a powerful beam at the ceiling of the cave.

As the beam collided with the top of the cave, Fluttershy watched in shock as the whole ceiling began to collapse. The fires were stopped by the large cave in Vanisher had just caused.

It continued to collapse however, and Vanisher had to teleport further down the cave to avoid getting crushed. Fluttershy followed and, thanks to the light coming from Vanisher's horn, they were able to see where they were going.

They had finally reached a small and dimly lit open cavern, and the tunnel behind them was blocked by all of the rubble, there was no way the dragon would be able to get them now.

Fluttershy sighed with relief and looked on ahead. She wasn't too surprised by what she saw. There were chests filled with gold everywhere in the cavern, jewels, emeralds, diamonds and various other types of jewellery. No doubt the dragon would be furious now that it no longer had any way of getting back into the cave to sleep with its possessions. There was also a large pond at the lower part of the cavern, clearly the dragon wouldn't have gone thirsty either.

Suddenly, she heard a loud thud. Fluttershy turned and saw Vanisher lying on the rocky ground. She gasped and quickly rushed to his side. It was only now that she was able to make out the various cuts all over his body, no doubt he got those from that hit he took earlier.

He was breathing quietly and the expression on his face remained blank as usual. "Vanisher are you okay?"

Vanisher slowly looked up at her before resting his head on the ground again.

She knew how dangerous he was, and she knew he was the enemy. But now that she looked at how weak, injured and defenceless he was right now, she couldn't let him suffer from those injuries, even if the blank expression on his face said otherwise.

"Hold on...hold on Vanisher..." Fluttershy said as she put her small bag down, thankful she still had it. She took out the bandages and walked back over to the silent Unicorn. "I'm here to help...ok?"

Vanisher just looked up at her again before letting his head fall to the ground.

Fluttershy started with the upper parts of his forelegs. She gently wrapped the bandages around his forelegs until she was no longer able to see the cuts. She then moved to his left hind leg, which had a slightly large gash on it. She wasted no time in wrapping this one up, as it looked just as bad as the deep cuts on his chest.

The shy Pegasus gently picked Vanisher up and placed him on his back so she could get a better look at the cuts. She started wrapping the bandages around his chest and the lower part of his neck. The blood was staining the bandages a little so she continued to wrap more around him until she was no longer able to see any blood.

Finally, she moved to his head. She sat down and gently placed his head on her lap as she started wrapping the bandages around the top of his head. Since he already had the wound on his head when he showed up, she made sure to wrap extra bandages around it.

Vanisher didn't move, his face remained blank and he didn't wince in pain once. Fluttershy had to give him credit for that and it only made it easier to patch him up.

She kept his head on her lap, knowing that laying on a rocky ground wouldn't help any. Suddenly, she got very curious when she stared at his blood covered blindfold. 'I wonder what his eyes look like...I mean...I know he's blind but...'

Letting her curiosity get the better of her, she slowly lowered her front hoof towards the blindfold around his eyes. Just as she was about to touch it however, Vanisher's front hoof swiftly shot up and stopped her.

"Eep!" Fluttershy was taken aback by his quickness. She didn't like the look of the blood on the blindfold and just wanted to clean it when she looked back at the large pond at the lower part of the cavern. "I...I just want to get rid of the blood on your blindfold...that's all."

Vanisher looked up blankly at her for a moment before lowering his hoof.

Satisfied that he was allowing her to do so, she gently removed his blindfold.

She looked at his face and let out a soft gasp. His eyes were closed, there were no marks or scars, he just looked like he was sleeping, sleeping peacefully too. Fluttershy turned her head away and blushed a little. 'He's...he's actually quite cute. Adorable even.'

Vanisher slowly shuffled off of Fluttershy's lap and sat against a large rock.

Fluttershy, remembering what she was doing, quickly got to her hoofs and flew down to the lower part of the cavern where the pond was. She approached the pond and held the blindfold tightly as she placed it in the water. As she cleaned it, she cringed as she watched the blood flow around the water.

By the time the blindfold was rid of the blood stains, Fluttershy took it out of the water and squeezed it tightly to lose most of the water that soaked it. She decided to take one of her bandages out and soaked that also before flying back up to where Vanisher was.

Thankfully he hadn't moved.

Fluttershy approached him with the soaked bandage and the damp but clean blindfold. Vanisher held his hoof out, obviously he wanted his blindfold back.

"I'll give you your blindfold back in just a minute...first thing first..." Fluttershy said softly as she kneeled down next to him. "We need to clean your face of that dry blood."

Vanisher just continued to look blankly at her as she gently wiped the soaked bandages across his face, slowly getting rid of the dry blood. When the blood was gone and his face was clean, Fluttershy picked up his blindfold.

Again, Vanisher held his hoof out but Fluttershy didn't give the blindfold to him. Instead, she put it back on for him.

"There we go, you're all clean and patched up, you should be fine now." Fluttershy said softly as she smiled at him.

Vanisher looked blankly at her again.

Fluttershy was very curious as to what he was thinking right now, but she would never know, even asking him wouldn't help. "You really are a mystery Vanisher..." She said softly.

As usual, Vanisher didn't say anything. He slowly shuffled himself over and lay down.

Fluttershy looked at him for a moment. She had no idea why she did it when she moved and laid down next to him. She slowly unfurled her left wing and wrapped it around the silent Unicorn, she had no idea why she did that and she was quite surprised by her actions, but she didn't mind too much.

The two Ponies didn't move an inch and rested for a good long while.

Their peaceful slumber wasn't to last however, as they heard a loud crashing sound above.

Fluttershy and Vanisher quickly got to their hoofs and looked at the ceiling of the cavern. A large green claw came smashing through.

"Oh no..." Fluttershy muttered. "The dragon is back..."

Vanisher charged up his horn and quickly looked around the cavern.

Fluttershy knew what he was looking, and she gasped when he actually found it. "My Element!"

Turning to her, Vanisher used his magic to place the Element around his neck.

"Vanisher please...let me have my Element back..." Fluttershy pleaded softly.

No reply came from the silent Unicorn.

Sunlight started shining through the ceiling of the cavern as the dragon smashed its way through even further.

By the time the silent Unicorn had approached Fluttershy again, the dragon had created a large enough hole to fit through. As it roared at them, Vanisher charged up his horn and immediately, he and Fluttershy disappeared in a bright blue flash, leaving the furious dragon alone.

________________________________________________________________________________________

Fluttershy opened her eyes and was surprised at where she found herself. Upon looking around, she found herself, right in front of her cottage. "I'm home?"

Again, she looked around. There was no sign of Vanisher anywhere. He had taken off, with her Element. "Why...why Vanisher?" She could feel tears starting to form in her eyes.

"F-Fluttershy...?"

Fluttershy's eyes widened and she turned around. She let out a loud and terrified scream when she saw a bloodied Shining Armor on the ground in front of her. "SHINING ARMOR!" She rushed to his side. "Are you okay?! Please, say something!"

Shining Armor slowly opened his eyes and smiled at her. "I'm...fine..." His smile then lowered. "What...what about...you? Did...did you get...your Element?"

Fluttershy just stared into his eyes, unable to say anything. Shining could see it in her eyes however and let out a weak sigh. "I...see..."

"I'm sorry Shining Armor. I'm so sorry...I...I..." Fluttershy stumbled on her words as she tried to explain what happened.

The Captain smiled weakly at her and placed his hoof on her own. "Hey...it's okay...we all fail from time to time...just...just look at me..." He let out a weak chuckle.

Fluttershy helped him up and turned to her cottage. "Come on Shining Armor...let's get you inside so we can get those injuries patched up."

As the two slowly entered the cottage, Vanisher watched from afar.

The silent Unicorn remained under the tree he was hiding behind before turning to leave. He looked at the necklace he had around his neck, the Element of Kindness. A gold necklace with a pink butterfly-shaped gem. He completed his task.

Suddenly, he found himself looking at his bandaged foreleg. He remained frozen in that position for atleast a good long minute.

His attention was then caught by something else. He looked up at the sky.

The sun was slowly being eclipsed.

Vanisher knew what this meant and immediately charged up his horn. He took one last look at Fluttershy's cottage before disappearing in a blue flash.