Fluttershy groaned as her eyes blinked open. Her head ached. Her wings felt like she’d flown a marathon. Her legs felt overused and sore. She shifted her gaze and stared up at the roof above her. Clean white tiles. The pegasus turned her head and realised there was a pillow beneath it. Her hooves rested on a plush white blanket. Her breath caught in her throat and she sat up suddenly.

The yellow mare choked back a sob, burying her face in her hooves. She wanted to stop, to tell herself there was no reason to be sad. But they had looked so much like Twilight. When Fluttershy looked into the imposter’s eyes, she hadn’t seen the narrowed purple eyes with draconic slits for pupils. She had seen large violet orbs filled with compassion and friendship. It made no sense, but…

Fluttershy was distracted when the door to the room opened. It was only then that she realised she was in the hospital wing of Canterlot Castle. The door opened to reveal one of the many Royal Guards.

“Ah, Miss Fluttershy, you’re awake.” He smiled. “I was afraid I’d have to wake you.”

“What do you want?” Fluttershy growled, a little angrier than she’d meant to.

“Princess Celestia sent me to fetch you and the other Elements, ma’am.” He explained.

“The other Elements?” The pegasus gasped. “Where are they?”

“They’ve already awoken and are waiting for us in the throne r-”

The guard would never get to finish his sentence. Fluttershy leapt up, took off and flew out of the room in less than second. The pegasus sped down the hallways and reached the throne room in record time, knocking on the door and forcing the doors open.

“Fluttershy.” Celestia smiled. “It’s good to see you up and about.”

“Cut the pleasantries.” Fluttershy growled. “Where’s the imposter?”

“In the dungeon where she belongs.” Rainbow scoffed. “Why’re you worried, anyway?”

“Because she doesn’t belong in there!” the yellow mare shouted.

“And why not, Fluttershy?” Celestia frowned.

“Didn’t you hear her at the end? The real Twilight is in there somewhere!”

“Whatever are you talking about, darling?” Rarity worried.

“Celestia!” Fluttershy turned to the alicorn with pleading eyes. “You must’ve heard her! We were right next to her!”

“I don’t know what you’re referring to, Fluttershy.” Celestia tilted her head slightly.

“Wh-what?” the pegasus’ eyes widened. She took a few steps back before turning and fleeing from the room. Her friends called after her, but she ignored them. The guards in the hallway reached out to her and asked if she was okay. She wasn’t, but she didn’t tell them that.

After her countless… ‘visits’ to the dungeons, the route was burned into her mind. She saw it whenever she closed her eyes. Much like how she saw… no… she couldn’t think about that now! But… it was such a strong memory…

Fluttershy hummed quietly as she braided her mane, her bird friends sliding flowers into each knot. Her Element hung about her neck, just as it had each day since the war began. Her tail was wrapped protectively around her, leading to her friends commenting about how she was acting like a cat. She didn’t mind; she loved animals.

The pegasus looked up in surprise as the door opened. The dark, polished wood shifted to reveal an elegant lavender alicorn. The purple mare trotted into the room, tail twitching impatiently. The door slammed shut, causing Fluttershy to squeak in surprise and hide behind her tail.

“Sorry, Fluttershy.” Twilight sighed, collapsing on the bed and groaning loudly. “Discussing war tactics is hard.”

“Oh, I’m sure it’s not that bad.” Fluttershy smiled warmly.

“It wouldn’t be if it weren’t for the fact that five alicorns and five Elements of Harmony, one of which is actually both, all wanted to voice their opinion at once!” Twilight whined, burying her head in Fluttershy’s pillow.

The yellow mare stood and walked over to the bed, resting a hoof on Twilight’s back. “I’m sure you’ll all figure it out. Why don’t you tell me about it and see if we can think of something?”

Twilight brought her head back up and grinned. “You should be in there helping too. You’re the only pony in Equestria who could keep peace between the most powerful creatures on Equus.” Fluttershy blushed a little. “Seriously, we’ve got a teenage dragon in there! Ugh, this is why I came to you to relax with.”

“Oh, well, I-I don’t think I would be that good talking about war. I just want peace after all.” Fluttershy lowered her head and shifted from hoof to hoof.

“Exactly! You would bring a new perspective!” Twilight told her, sitting up and resting a hoof on her friend’s shoulder. The alicorn smiled before lying down again and motioning for Fluttershy to join her. “When I first walked in, everything was fine. We started by discussing the progress both sides have made so far.”

Fluttershy nodded as she sat down beside her friend.

“But when we moved onto what we were going to do next, everything went to Tartarus!” Twilight growled, eyes flashing. Fluttershy decided not to mention that the alicorn’s pupils were narrowing. “First, Rainbow suggested that we launch an ambush on the nearest batpony camp. Pinkie relented and said that we should charge them head-on. Rarity thought we should make some super intricate battle plan, but Applejack insisted we keep it simple so that nopony would get left behind.”

Sensing her friend’s distress, Fluttershy spread one wing and covered Twilight’s back. Her birds finally settled down and rested in her half-braided mane. One dared to perch on Twilight’s crown, but was quickly shaken off.

“Cadence decided that we should go with Rarity’s idea, making a detailed plan. Flurry Heart wanted to follow Applejack and Rainbow’s plans, using an ambush to make sure none of our warriors were caught off guard. Then Celestia said she liked Pinkie’s idea of charging them, but Luna said it would risk too many lives.” Twilight explained. Fluttershy was starting to worry about the alicorn’s draconic eyes. And the fact that her horn was glowing bright green and purple. “They asked me what I thought, and I said that we needed to seriously think things out, but not make it too complicated. Then everypony started shouting at each other until the meeting ended!”

Fluttershy pulled her friend closer with her wing. The pegasus rested her chin atop Twilight’s head and muttered, “I’ll all work out, Twilight.”

“No it won’t!” Twilight yelled, rearing up and knocking Fluttershy off. Her magic flared and black crystals began to sprout from the walls. Fluttershy squeaked and shied away from the crystals until she was stranded in the middle of her bed. Her birds flew around madly before fleeing through the window.

The yellow mare turned to Twilight, who had curled up on the bed, hiding her face beneath her hooves. Fluttershy slowly crawled over to the alicorn, avoiding random blasts of magic. She spread her wings and wrapped them around her friend, burying her face in the purple mare’s shoulder.

“Twilight, please. I know it’ll work out.” Fluttershy winced and the crystals began to press against her back. “But if you don’t try to help, then nothing will ever get better! You need to put in effort to keep things under control, or else it’ll never stop being so stressful!”

Her words were having an effect on the alicorn, as the crystals slowed their progress. Fluttershy gasped as one pressed against her wing, but gritted her teeth and kept talking.

“You need to calm down, Twilight. Everything will turn out okay as long as you work with your friends.” The pegasus breathed, wing twitching painfully. “And why is that?”

A muffled noise came from the alicorn. Fluttershy held back a giggle and asked again.

“Because friendship’s magic…” Twilight muttered.

“I can’t hear you.” Fluttershy grimaced as the crystal began to poke through her feathers.

“Friendship is magic!” Twilight cried. The aura around her horn shifted from the black and purple to a bright raspberry. The crystals stopped entirely and began to retreat. The alicorn collapsed suddenly, drained by her sudden use of dark magic.

Fluttershy sighed in relief and lay the purple mare down on her bed. The pegasus hopped of the bed, manoeuvring around the remaining crystals to her bathroom. She took a cloth, soaked it and began dabbing at where the crystal had hit her wing. Sure enough, a small amount of blood stained the fabric. The yellow mare sighed and cleaned up the wound, “Twilight, you really need to stop using dark magic.”

She trotted back into her room and glanced at her friend. “You can’t control it.” Fluttershy shook her head and climbed onto her bed, lying down and facing Twilight. To her surprise, Twilight was smiling.

Twilight often came to Fluttershy after meetings, to rant and cry about everything that had happened. More than a few times, it had ended with Twilight using dark magic and sleeping in Fluttershy’s room for the night. Each time that happened, she would talk the alicorn down before Twilight passed out and spent the night with Fluttershy. But never had Twilight smiled.

Fluttershy smiled back and rested her head on her pillow.

Fluttershy gasped and opened her eyes, the image of Twilight smiling still imprinted on her vision. She panted heavily, begging for breath. Tears streamed down her cheeks and wet the floor beneath her. The pegasus looked around wildly, her short mane sticking to her face. She flicked her tail before spreading her wings and taking off again. This time she flew faster, reaching the dungeons in just a few seconds. Rainbow would be proud.

The pegasus trotted down the stairs, Element swinging slightly at her neck. She sniffed and stopped to wipe her face. The yellow mare caught her breath before continuing, wings flaring involuntarily. Fluttershy bit her lip and paused when she reached the bottom, as unprepared as ever to see the consequences of her actions. After a brief inward pep talk, she set off at full sprint, eyes wide and hopeful for any sign of Twilight. The imposter. Whatever.

As she ran, she could hear the screams echoing in her ears, the weight of her deeds pressing down her like a brick wall. She tried to block out the noise, but it kept coming back. Only when she saw the imposter did she stop. She took a deep breath, brushed away her mane and strode towards the cell with a cold gaze.

“What do you want?” The imposter growled, not even turning to look at her visitor. “To torment me some more? Don’t bother.”

“And why shouldn’t I?” Fluttershy knew immediately that it was the wrong question, but she didn’t really care at this point.

“Tell me.” The alicorn laughed. “What would break a pony the most? Losing a friend? A sibling? A parent?”

Fluttershy’s mouth opened to answer, but no words came out.

“I’ll tell you the right answer.” The imposter turned to look at Fluttershy, a wide grin on their face. Their fangs flashed evilly, their eyes narrowed to slits. “Finding out that they’re not even real. Realising that whenever their mother looks at them, it gives her great pain and shame.”

The pegasus didn’t know what to say. She had to use all of her will to not run away from the fanged, dragon-eyed monster in front of her that no longer looked like Twilight.

“Knowing that being born brought everypony around them pain,” The imposter hissed. “Is real humbling, you know that? But what if a pony is already humble? It forces their self-esteem through the ground!”

Fluttershy was starting to consider fleeing with her tail between her legs as a valid option.

“And I’ve been forced through that. So, Kindness, would you be cruel enough to hurt me even more?” The imposter asked quietly, closing their mouth and hiding their fangs. Their draconic eyes widened again, filling with grief.

Fluttershy already knew her answer. She turned away from the cell and walked off, distant hoofsteps alerting her that the imposter had done the same. The pegasus trotted up to a nearby cell, where a black alicorn lay.

Her coat was patchy, being black and some sort of dark blue. Her mane was a mess, partially made of the stars and partially made of limp blue hair. The stars flowed aimlessly around the cell, while the hair hung sadly by the mare’s head. Her cutie mark constantly switched from purple and white to black and white, changing whenever the stars passed by.

Fluttershy stared at the mare pitifully. She glanced up and down the hall before pressing against the bars and looking closer. Whenever her cutie mark changed, so did her half-lidded eyes. Eventually they stopped on teal orbs with rounded black pupils, staring confusedly at Fluttershy.

The pegasus smiled. “Don’t worry, Luna. It’s me, Fluttershy.”