Rainbow Dash was trapped.

It had been as jarring as it was sudden, and she had no time to react or recover. The moment the consumption had ended, the memories slammed into her like a freight train.

This wasn't like any of the other times she had absorbed the memories however. No, with these memories came something else, something the cyan pegasus wasn't expecting to be there—something she wasn't prepared for.

A will.

She thought she had worn her down enough so that she couldn't put up a fight, but that seemed to be far from the case. How could she have known it would work this way? The answer was that she couldn't, and due to that lack of foresight, she was overpowered with the memories of the griffon hen she had defeated.

And that griffon hen had used those memories to beat Rainbow's consciousness into submission. She tried to fight back, but it was too late. She had tried to call for help, desperately trying push through the wall of memories in order to reach out to the friend she had been clinging to for dear life.

But it was to no avail.

She could hear Svanhild's voice screaming in her head—hear her furious screams and mocking laughter, feel her bottomless rage and never-ending fury, and through the seemingly endless sea of memories, she could sense her boundless pain, sorrow, and regret as though it were her own.

That had been the last straw.

With the weight of Svanhild's consciousness pressing down on her, combined with these powerful emotions, memories, and her own slippery grasp on what was happening to her, Rainbow Dash's identity was effectively assimilated and pushed back into the subconscious where she wouldn't be a bother to anyone.

She was no longer Rainbow Dash, the brash, confident, and loyal Wonderbolt hopeful. With both her and Svanhild's pasts, experiences, and feelings mixed up like some kind of horrible cocktail of egos, she didn't quite know what she was now.

She knew she was angry, she knew she was hurting, she knew she needed her friends, she knew she hated her friends, she knew she had to be there for them no matter what, she knew she had to end them no matter the cost, she—

I thought you were stronger than some worthless no name griffon, Rainbow Dash... but I guess I was wrong.

Well... she knew she wasn't going to take that lying down.

Fluttershy stirred, the slight pressure against her neck bringing the yellow pegasus back to consciousness. She groaned and blinked several times, trying to rid herself of the bleariness she felt.

Another nudge to her neck made her look over and up to see Bright Fang looming above her. He gave a worried whimper and Fluttershy gave the massive fleshy wolf a warm reassuring smile in turn.

"I'm sorry for causing you and the girls so much trouble, Bright Fang," Fluttershy said, petting the wolf's head as he lowered it to her level, "I'm okay now, so you don't need to worry anymore."

The wolf gave a satisfied bark before growling and casting a significant glance over to where the others were. Fluttershy frowned and followed his gaze to where Twilight was standing over a familiar looking griffon pinned to the ground by a black aura and struggling to break free.

"Is that... Svanhild?" Fluttershy muttered. furrowing her brow, "what's she... wait..."

She rose to her hooves and began trotting over to where her friends were, her eyes narrowing slightly. Rarity stood next to Twilight, her horn aglow with the same black aura that held the griffon down.

The rest of the girls stood to the side watching the scene with various expressions ranging from angry, to worried, to flat out unreadable. As Fluttershy got closer, she could make out what was being said.

She didn't quite catch the last thing Twilight had said, but the resulting cackle from the griffon rang loud and clear in her ears.

"YOU THINK EGGING HER ON IS GONNA WORK?" came the mad screech of Svanhild, "SHE'S GONE! SHE'S A PART OF ME NOW, NOT THE OTHER WAY AROUND, YOU FLOCKING IDIOT!"

Fluttershy's eyes widened at those words, and suddenly, all the pieces came together. Though she never indicated as much, Fluttershy was not ignorant of the possible consequences of what Rainbow Dash had done.

If Svanhild was here, and Rainbow Dash was nowhere to be seen, Fluttershy knew that could only mean one thing. With Bright Fang following just behind her, the butter yellow pegasus picked up her pace—her jaw tightening and her eyes blazing.

She had a friend to save.

Twilight sighed.

If there was one thing she had been afraid of happening, it was this. This was something she did not need. This was something she did not want, yet here they were.

She hadn't known exactly what was going to happen, but she knew it'd be something along these lines. If she was being completely honest, she was angry at herself.

She should've warned Rainbow Dash of the potential danger of consuming another infected, but she didn't bother due to the fact that she believed Rainbow wouldn't have listened anyway.

So she instead let it happen and hoped for the best... but she got the worst, and inwardly, below the anger, malevolence, and complete desire to tear Svanhild's head from her shoulders in the most literal of ways... she felt regret that she hadn't at least tried to warn Rainbow.

She might've listened, she might not have, but as her friend, she should've at least said something. Now it was too late, and all she could do was be the spark that lit the flame of Dash's resolve.

And now that her job was done, she just needed somepony to stoke that fire...

"Twilight... move... now."

The lavender mare gave the confused and angry griffon one last glare before stepping to the side and smiling sweetly at Fluttershy as she passed.

"She's all yours!" she chirped, "have fun you two!"

"Do be careful not to do anything rash, darling," Rarity added with a small smile of her own, "Svanhild may be a brute, but Rainbow Dash is still in there somewhere."

As Twilight, Rarity and Bright Fang moved to stand next to the others, Fluttershy stepped forward. Svanhild scoffed and shook her head and tried to struggle out of Rarity's magical iron grip once more.

"How many times am I gonna have to tell you ponies, it's useless!" Svanhild growled, glaring up at the pegasus now standing before her, "we're one single creature now, she can't escape me because she... is... me..."

Svanhild's words died out as she looked into Fluttershy's eyes.

She couldn't look away from her. Svanhild had thought she knew anger, thought she knew rage and unfathomable fury. She was convinced she had enough ire to burn away all of Griffonia and then some.

Her fury was a small quiet whisper in the dark before Fluttershy's Glare.

The pegasus didn't say anything... she didn't need to say anything. The look in her eyes said it all, and as much as Svanhild suddenly wanted to run, she couldn't.

Though she had no actual organs to speak of, she swore she could hear her heart pounding in her ears and her blood freezing in her veins.

She shivered.

All the while, Fluttershy continued to Glare at the quaking griffon beneath her. Gone was the kind, compassionate mare. Gone was the big-hearted animal caretaker. Gone was the meek, shy, and introverted pegasus.

In its place was something else... something unrecognizable.

In its place was a creature with a rage dark and terrible enough to make all the demons in Tartarus quiver. And all of that rage was directed at the lone griffon keeping her friend's identity locked away.

Fluttershy narrowed her eyes a small fraction and took another step forward before leaning in close to the griffon. No one—not pony nor griffon—noticed that Rarity had long since released her telekinetic hold on Svanhild.

Still, she didn't move.

She couldn't move.

All she could do was stare into those bottomless pools of unrelenting fury. She didn't even register the growing and insistent presence pushing its way to the forefront of her mind.

Fluttershy finally broke eye contact with Svanhild as she moved past her face to speak directly into her ear. When she finally spoke, it was in a quiet, almost breathy whisper that somehow carried across the entire clearing.

I can sense you, and I don't need to use hooves or monstrous tendrils to break you. I can do it by simply looking at you. So bring my friend back... or I'm going to break you, Svanhild.

Try to take over her again... and I'll break you, Svanhild.

If you so much as whisper in her mind... I... will... break you... do you understand, Svanhild?

Dead silence filled the air as Fluttershy retreated back far enough to stare into Svanhild's eyes. For several long seconds, no one spoke—the girls rendered completely speechless from shock and horror. Twilight had since reverted back to her normal self and stood frozen along with the rest of her friends.

More silence reigned.

Fluttershy stood impassive and expectant as she looked at Svanhild.

Svanhild stared back in mute horror.

More silence reigned.

The griffon suddenly disappeared in a writhing mass of tendrils.

A few seconds passed and a shaking, panting cyan pegasus appeared before the five quiet mares. Rainbow Dash groaned and slowly rose to her hooves before shaking her head.

She blinked a few times and swept her gaze over her surroundings, her eyes finally landing on Fluttershy. The yellow pegasus smiled and pulled a yelping Rainbow Dash into a tight hug.

Feeling somewhat awkward, Rainbow glanced over at the other girls and saw that they were all beaming in her direction. She couldn't help but chuckle as she turned her attention back to Fluttershy.

Her grateful smile lasted only a few moments before she pulled away from Fluttershy's hug and gave the other pegasus one of her signature smirks.

"Heya, Flutters, did ya miss me?"

I love me some Flutter-rage.

But yeah, Fluttershy's Glare is super effective on other infected, and well... a lot of things, really—but infected especially.