Please no...

Sadly there was no way around it. Only one possible thing can cause a gigantic beam of light like that one, and that was when you kill someone who holds an element. Fluttershy looked around at her friends, who all appeared to understand what just happened. They were all in too much shock to shed tears, except for Applejack. Pinkie's hair deflated as she sank to her knees. The music stopped. Conversation stopped. Nopony even blinked.

"What just happened?..." asked Dash.

Applejack cringed. "Ah shouldn't of let her go. Ah shouldn't of. This is my fault..."

Rarity pulled the orange mare in and held her as tight as she could. "No. You did what you could, Twilight would not have let you assist her. This is not your fault, it is Luna's."

Dash screamed in anger. "Can anypony just tell me what the hay is going on!?"

"Dashie..." said Pinkie Pie.

"Rainbow Dash. Have you no idea of how the elements of harmony work?" asked Rarity, shooting the cyan pegasus a glance.

"I know how they work! Nopony ever told me about some big light stick!" she retaliated.

Rarity sighed. "The tower of light appears when the holder of an element releases control of their element."

"What!? So you mean Twilight isn't our friend anymore!? She's just gone off to Canterlot to live with the princess and not care about us? You bring me to where she is, I'll show her who's boss. Nopony messes with my friends." defended Dash.

Rarity scowled at the pegasus. "You really are an idiot, aren't you?"

Dash growled. "Me? Anypony who doesn't stand up for their friends is an id-"

"Twilight's dead, Rainbow." interrupted Applejack, stumbling on every syllable.

All of her anger immediately vanished as she just now understood what was going on. "W-What? No. You're lying."

Applejack sighed. "Ah'm the element of honesty, sugarcube."

Dash hung her head and walked in closer. "I'm so sorry..."

"It's okay, Rainbow." replied Applejack.

The tower of light finally subsided. Fluttershy still had her wings locked to her side, shivering. Her friends were now huddled together and crying. She couldn't take it. She couldn't just watch everypony suffer like this. Her one instinct took over.

Run.

And she did just that. She took to the sky and flew off as fast as she could towards Canterlot. Faster than Rainbow Dash could ever dream of going without falling vertically. Fluttershy grit her teeth and closed her eyes as a cone of air formed around her. The pressure of it was something she didn't want to deal with, it hurt to do this. She slowed down to a normal speed and continued a long nights journey to the capitol city.

----------

Fluttershy returned to her home in Canterlot later that night, when night was actually supposed to happen.

"Did ya see that, Fluttershy?" asked the red stallion as his wife landed before him.

She didn't say a word. She held Macintosh as tight as she could, letting out the emotions she had repressed on the trip back to Canterlot. Twilight was dead. They had been friends for years. This wasn't fair.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

Dumb of Fluttershy to expect Macintosh to understand the elements of harmony. Dash was one of them, and she didn't even know what the tower of light meant. She explained to Macintosh what had happened, and he pulled Fluttershy in closer as a response.

He let out a sigh. "Ah'm sorry..."

"It's okay." she replied.

"So what now?" asked the stallion.

The pegasus looked off into the distance. "I think that we should just live our lives, Mac. There's no point in fighting anymore, It's best that we just stay here."

Macintosh took in a deep breath. "Yer probably right. What about everypony else?"

"I don't know. I don't want to know. I can't live with that happening again. At least, I can't live with knowing it happened." she said.

"So ya just want tah detach yerself from the world?" asked Macintosh.

She cried. "No... I mean... I don't know what I want. I love my friends, and now everything's different. What if somepony else is killed? What will Luna do now? What about your job in the guard? I'm scared, Mac... How am I supposed to do this?"

"Ah don't know either. We don't need tah think about it now. Let's go to sleep, okay?" he asked, ashamed that he didn't have the answers his wife needed.

She sighed. "Mhm."

----------

Twenty seven years passed. Fluttershy grew more tired, more impatient. She was no longer afraid of things anymore, at least not nearly as much as she used to be. If not for Macintosh at her side, she would have lost her connection with the element of kindness completely.

Luckily, she still had quite the menagerie. The house that Celestia had originally given them came with a huge barn for her collection of animals. Most of the animals were cows for milk, and pigs for fertilizer, however she maintained the exotic set of animals she had obtained decades ago.

The world had changed around her. Harsh laws and taxes had replaced the morals that had once controlled Equestria. Magic was no longer a gift, it was a science. It was studied. It was explained. Corporations figured out how to make goods quicker, how to mass produce them. They even bribed the weather ponies to send rain their way, so they could grow vegetables at incredible rates. The home farms were now obsolete, and they disappeared slowly over the decades.

What were once clean, beautiful cities, now are polluted and overpopulated. Factories and skyscrapers dominated most of Equestria. Jobs were scarce, nobody needed ponies to work anymore, and even still, the population just kept growing. Hate grew between ponies as they competed for jobs, they were no longer equals. The unicorns and pegasi targeted earth ponies, and made them out to be obsolete. An inferior race. A unicorn could kill an earth pony just for being an earth pony, without the slightest bit of doubt that what they were doing isn't right.

Ponies without jobs stole from other ponies. Killed other ponies. To stop the spread of crime, Luna employed her guard to keep control in the city. She gave them the ability to use force when necessary. Anypony who did not obey her law, would be locked in a cage until she said they could come out. Depending on what they did wrong, time would vary. Many were locked up until they died.

Fluttershy and Macintosh never left Canterlot, save for his royal duties and short visits with Applejack and Rainbow Dash. She hadn't seen Rarity or Pinkie Pie for twenty seven years, she never really thought she would to be honest.

Fluttershy groaned as her alarm clock went off and she saw the morning sun. Macintosh was already awake, making coffee. All the years working at sweet apple acres must of done it for him, she never could understand why he would get up so early. She walked into the kitchen and saw his face. Her annoyed expression instantly turned into a smile, despite how tired she was.

"Good morning, Hun." she said with a bright smile.

She was met with a quick kiss on the cheek. "Mornin'."

The yellow mare giggled. "Going to start tilling today? I think the weather is finally perfect."

"Eeyup. Just readin' tha paper. Did ya hear about tha new law regardin' dragons?"

Fluttershy looked at the newspaper on the table. "No I didn't. What's happening?"

Macintosh let out a sigh. "Any dragon who don't sign up tah work at an electric company is gonna be banished." said the stallion.

Fluttershy gasped. "That's... That's terrible... Wait, what will happen to Spike?"

Macintosh chuckled. "Spike? Ah don't think anypony will ever find Spike. Ah heard he's been livin' in the mountains fer decades now. And even if they did, Spike would drop dead before he worked fer Luna."

"I can't help but be worried for the poor little guy..." said Fluttershy.

"Ah don't think he's so little anymore, hun." reassured Macintosh.

"I'm going to go talk to Luna about the new law." said Fluttershy.

'Hmph. Good luck with that one." he said.

-----------

Fluttershy stormed into the castle as she arrived, not stopped by any of the guards seeing as they knew exactly who she was. Luna had sometimes invited Fluttershy and Macintosh for royal parties and dinners, so they had no reason to intervene. Fluttershy saw a familiar gray pegasus walking down the hallway near her. She hated talking to him, but It was unavoidable now.

"Hello, Miss Fluttershy, element of kindness." said Aquarius.

Fluttershy walked passed him. "I don't have time for this."

A look of disgust appeared on his face as he followed the mare through the castle hallways. "What on earth is your problem?"

"Going to go tell Luna not to persecute the dragons. They deserve to be free."

Aquarius laughed. "She isn't going to revoke the law for you."

"Then follow me and watch me fail." challenged Fluttershy.

The pegasus growled. "You know, I can help you."

Fluttershy stopped and laughed. She turned to the pegasus. "You're joking right? Remember what happened last time you helped a pony?"

"It's different now! Anyways, I've learned from my mistakes. Can't you forgive me?" lied the general.

"No."

"Hmph. Luna will never stop hunting dragons. I can give you one, though. As a token of my sincere apologies."

Fluttershy lit up, her previous anger gone with the wind. "You... You can give me a dragon?"

Aquarius chuckled. "Of course dear, your farm has quite enough space, and you are amazing with animals. I just need you to do one thing."

Her eyes narrowed. "What's that?"

"Your husband, Colonel Macintosh, is quite useless commanding a force of many pegasi from the ground. If you could train the dragon to listen to him, and allow him to ride the dragon, then I shall give him to you. Do we have a deal?"

Fluttershy gulped. "You want me to make an animal... A killer?"

"Better than it being banished to the sun, or enslaved in a power plant for it's entire life." argued the gray pegasus.

Fluttershy thought about it. He was right. A life with her and Macintosh, free and happy, was better then the alternative. "Yes. We have a deal. Can you show me to him?"

Aquarius grinned. "Of course."