Fluttershy's Giant

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Part Three

Twilight lifted her head up and blearily looked around, just barely recalling the events of the previous night. "Fluttershy... thing... " She thought some more, searching for something that would indicate why she was sleeping downstairs. "Crashing... oh. Oh. OH! Spike!" she yelled. "Wake up!" She darted upstairs and shook his small body urgently.

Spike groaned and slapped her hooves away. "It's too early, Twilight," he grunted.

Twilight pouted and prodded his rear again. "Wake up, lazy bones. if you get up now, I'll let you eat as much ice-cream as you want today."

The baby dragon poked his head out from under his blanket. "As much as I want? Without interrupting?"

The unicorn nodded. "Mhm. Pinkie promise." She made the motion across her chest. "Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye."

Spike heaved himself out of bed and climbed onto her back. "Fine," he grunted and yawned. "What do you need?" he asked as she trotted downstairs.

"Well, I don't really know to be honest, I've never seen or met something falling from outer space before." The unicorn blushed as she spoke. For once in her life, she actually had no plan as to how to proceed.

"Wait." Spike stopped her from continuing and hopped down from her back. "You mean you don't have a plan?"

Twilight shook her head and blushed again.

"The great Twilight Sparkle, prized student of Princess Celestia... doesn't have a plan?" he teased and put his claw to his face dramatically, "Oh whatever shall we do?" he said in a mock Rarity voice.

The unicorn glared at him.

"Spike this is serious! I have no idea how I'm supposed to talk to this thing, let alone if it's hostile."

Spike rolled his eyes and sighed. "Well, how about you send a letter to Celestia? Maybe she could come talk to it."

Twilight shook her head. "If she did, she might -no offence to the princess of course- she might take it away and have it studied," she murmured with doubt.

Spike snorted. "Hardly. She's the kindest princess ever right? She'll probably just say ''Hi, how are you?'' and that'll be it. C'mon Twilight, don't be so negative. Remember when she asked you to visit the Crystal Kingdom? It's because she trusts you to do the right thing."

"That was different. We at least knew something about them and Sombre. And I am not being negative, I just want to have the chance to-"

"To what? Twilight, are you planning to dissect this alien?" Spike patronized her.

She blushed and sat in silence for a few moments.

"I'm gonna go see Fluttershy now. Watch after the library would you, Spikey-wikey?" Twilight teased, making kissing noises when she used Rarity's pet name for him.

Spike turned scarlet and glared at her. "Hrrrm. Don't go starting any intergalactic wars, I'll have to clean that up too I guess."

She laughed and hugged him. "See you soon."

As she trotted to the door, she heard a faint knocking and very quiet weeping sounds.

"Fluttershy?" she asked as she opened the door.

"Oh thank goodness, Twilight, it's just simply disastrous, the girls... the Cutie Mark Crusaders... they've... disappeared," the crying pegasus whispered and flung her hooves around Twilight's neck.

Twilight widened her eyes. "What do you mean ''disappeared'', you were with them all last night, weren't you?"

Fluttershy sniffed and released her friend. "I d-don't know where they c-could have gone... I woke up and the door was wide open. Twilight... last night... there was something on my doorstep," she confessed.

Twilight's eyes widened. Any more and they would break out of her skull. "What do you mean, something?"

Fluttershy shook her head. "A giant... bulb thing.... it looked like an eye. I was scared, Twilight. I was so scared..." she whispered again and tears threatened to overtake her thought process again.

"Alright, Fluttershy. It's alright," Twilight murmured and hugged her back, giving her a reassuring pat on the wings.

"Mmm. Twilight... you and... mmm... Fluttershy should go investigate." Spike said through a mouthful of ice-cream.

"I know Spike, but Fluttershy's clearly still upset." Twilight scowled at the dragon.

He just shrugged and walked away, plopping down on a large bean-bag and digging into his tub of ice-cream.

"L-let's g-go now Twilight," Fluttershy stammered.

"Are you sure? I could make some coffee, if you wanted." Her friend looked over her with pity. "I'd hate to be as scared as she was all the time," Twilight thought.

"No. Let's go find the girls. Perhaps Zecora's seen them," the pegasus said, feeling slightly better at having one of her best friends there for her whenever she needed her.

Twilight nodded. "Spike, stay here and-"

"Watch the library, yeah yeah," Spike waved a claw at her and licked his lips.

The unicorn rolled her eyes at him and trotted after the pegasus.

"I do hope they're alright," Fluttershy whispered as they galloped towards the Everfree.

Twilight nodded nervously as they plunged into the density of the forest.

***

"I think it went this way," Applebloom cried to her friends as they followed the trail of the large thing from last night.

"How can you tell?" Sweetie asked as she joined her earth pony friend. "It all looks the same to me. Like the time with teh cockatrice."

Scootaloo pointed to the ground. "Tracks," she said simply.

"Oh."

Applebloom and Scootaloo rolled their eyes at their friends derpyness. "C'mon. Let's get after it. Ah bet it's cool whatever it is." The young far pony laughed and bounced along into the long grass.

Scootaloo nudged Sweetie forwards and fluttered after her.

"So what do you reckon it is then?" Applebloom asked as she glanced over her shoulder.

"I still say it's an alien." Sweetie said and bushed a twig out of her mane.

Scootaloo snorted. "Sure. And unicorns can fly."

Sweetie scowled. "You haven't met the Cake wins, have you?Well what do you think it is then?"

The orange pegasus shrugged. "Beats me. I bet it's awesome though. I bet Rainbow Dash would like it."

"Rainbow Dash this, Rainbow Dash that. Is that all you ever think about, Scoots?" Sweetie argued.

Now it was Scootaloo's turn to scowl. "No! But she is the bestest, most awesomenest pony in Ponyville."

"That's not true! Rarity's ten times more cooler than Rainbow Dash." Sweetie pouted.

"Hey girls?" Applebloom whispered with fear.

They didn't listen.

"Nuh uh! Rainbow Dash can beat anypony in a flying contest, the only thing Rarity does is make dresses."

"Nuh uh!"

"Ya huh."

"Girls." Applebloom whispered again, slightly louder.

They still didn't hear, and continued bickering.

"Girls!" Applebloom shouted and backed away.

The two fillies stopped arguing and looked at Applebloom, and looked at what she was so scared of. "Oh... my..." Sweetie murmured as she gazed up into the cold, yellow eyes of a vicious manticore.

"Girls, run!" came Twilight Sparkle's voice as the unicorn leapt in front of them.

"Oh thank goodness you're alright." Fluttershy cried as she covered them with her wings.

"Just run!" Twilight shouted again and flared up her horn.

The manticore pounced from it's hiding spot and smashed against Twilight's shield.

Fluttershy picked the girls up by the scruff of their necks and galloped away with them, leaving Twilight to fight the beast by herself.

"Stay here," she told the terrified trio of fillies as she dropped them off, a safe distance away.

They nodded silently and huddled together in utter terror, while their foalsitter flew back to Twilight, intending to help. "Don't worry, Twilight, I'm here-" She froze mid-flight as she spotted the rest of the manticore pride closing in.

"T-T-Twilight! W-W-Watch out!" Fluttershy squeaked as loudly as she dared as the manticores crept closer and closer to her friend.

Twilight glanced around and saw the rest of the pack. "Oh... bother," she murmured and sent up a stronger shield, just as the manticores pounced. "Ugh!" she grunted with the strain. "Shining does this, not me."

Their claws and tails pounded on the invisible wall and they howled with anger.

One of them spotted a petrified Fluttershy and licked his lips.

Fluttershy didn't notice it as it swerved around, moved behind her, and opened it's jaws.

Suddenly, everything froze in a pale green light.

A loud creaking sound made the manticores screech in terror and flee.

"What happened?" Applebloom whispered.

"I d-don't know. Stay close, girls." Twilight said and teleported over to them, nudging a frozen Fluttershy.

The pegasus squeaked in absolute terror as the light intensified around them, making them all huddle together.

*Beep*

*Beep*

*Beep*

A beeping sound made them all turn and see a large, circular object with a blue light on it's tip, rolling further into the light.

*Beep*

"Run," Twilight said simply.

They didn't need any more encouragement, especially after a grating sound came from the owner of the beeping noise.

Fluttershy spread her wings and flipped Applebloom and Scootaloo onto her back, while Twilight flipped Sweetie onto hers, and they ran. They ran and ran, and ran. Eventually the thing was left far behind them in the depths of the forest.

They ran as quickly as their legs would carry them to the edge of the forest.

"What... was... that?"  Fluttershy panted, having calmed down slightly since they left the forest.

"I don't know, Fluttershy." Twilight murmured and gazed back into the forest.

The trio of fillies huddled together as they jumped off the backs of their saviours.

"And you three!" Fluttershy turned to them. "You had me worried sick! Don't go running off like that again. No more trips into the Everfree. Not while that... thing's there," she scolded. "Celestia knows what else is in the forest now."

The crusaders nodded silently and dragged themselves towards Ponyville.

"Ah'd b-better get h-home now..." Applebloom whispered.

"M-me t-too," Sweetie agreed.

"See you guys later," Scootaloo murmured as they parted, still shaking with fear.

Twilight turned to Fluttershy. "Are you alright?"

Fluttershy sniffed and shook her head. "I think... I'm just going to go home... and sleep. Thanks for helping, Twilight." She sighed and turned towards her home. "And thanks for helping me get the girls back. I don't know what I might have done if anything bad happened to them." She shivered at the thought. "See you soon... I hope," she quietly added.

Twilight nodded. "No problem, Fluttershy. It's what friends do." She sighed too and turned towards her own house. "So much for making a good impression of other life-forms," she muttered to herself. "What spooked the manticores though? I'll have to look up any sources of pale green light. And beeping objects."

The bookworm unicorn picked up the pace with a new resolve. She was determined to get to the bottom of this, even if it killed her. "Well maybe not that far," she chuckled as she reached the literal tree-house's door. "Spike? Where are you? I need you to send a letter to the princess."

Spike groaned and rolled over. "I ate too much ice-cream. Sorry Twi."

Twilight snorted with disapproval and looked him over. "This is why I don't let you eat as much of it as you want. C'mon, into bed."

The baby dragon picked himself up and wandered over to his basket, groaning and clutching his belly.

Twilight's horn flared up again as she began to write her letter to the princess.

Dear Princess Celestia,

Today, myself and Fluttershy discovered something... unnerving - to say the least - in the Everfree Forest. What, exactly, we don't know. But we do know that it made us all run away in sheer terror. Just a heads up if we have an epidemic on our hooves.

Your faithful student.

Twilight Sparkle.

She sighed contentedly as the quill's scratching came to a stop. "Spike? Could you send this off please?"

Spike groaned and rolled over again.

"Maybe not then. Don't worry, we'll do it tomorrow." Twilight smiled at him and rubbed her hooves together nervously. "I hope... whatever it was doesn't come to Ponyville. Who knows what would happen..."

***

As Fluttershy reached her home, she turned back to the trees. A cold wind blew across the trees and pushed some of her mane aside.

It felt as if something was calling her, wanting her to go back into the dark, free-willed forest.

"N-no," she whispered to the air. "I don't want to go back in there-"

As if on cue, a low whine could be heard, just inside the tree line.

Fluttershy bit her lip and sent her ears back. "Oh... but what if something's hurt?"

She danced on her hooves in indecisiveness. "I really shouldn't..." she thought. "But something sounds hurt. I can't just leave it... can I?"

"No," she bravely told herself. "Oh but... what if that thing's still there- no! I will go and find the poor creature. Nothing's going to stop me. I help my friends and they help me."

She trotted forwards, to the edge of the forest, and froze again.

"Ohhhh Fluttershy... what are you doing?" she murmured and hung her head. "You'e no hero. That's Rainbow Dash and Applejack. And Twilight and Rarity and Pinkie Pie. I'm just a coward. A useless, shaky... c-coward." her voice broke on the last word, as did her morale.

She sat and wept for a few moments at her own cowardliness. Then she remembered something her mother told her, all those many years ago:

Fluttershy, my darling. You are what you choose to be.

She thought about this for a while, as the sun warmed her neck.

"I choose... to be brave." she whispered and smiled to herself. "Thanks mom."

She took a deep breath and plunged back into the dark trees, searching for the one who made the low whine.