Heartfinder (MLP Fan Fiction)

Metal Mountain Majesty

Blooming Rose stumbled as the Butterwhat tugged on the rope. "Okay, okay. I get it." Blooming Rose said. "I'm too slow for you. To be fair," she added, "I'm not flying half the way." The Butterwhat gave another firm tug on the coarse rope in response.

"Hurry up. You're as slow as a Dragonwing."

Blooming Rose bit her lip to stop firing back a response, fighting back her rising anger. How dare that Butterthingy insult the people who had taken her in? The lessons in fighting fire with fire that had been taught to Blooming Rose growing up told her to attack the Butterwhat with everything she had. But if she lost her cool, she may never find Northern Lights. She needed to rely on that, rather than what had been beaten into her, if she was ever going to get away from the Butterwhat.

Suddenly the Butterwhat stopped in her tracks and Blooming Rose hooves got tangled in the rope, crashing head crashing head first to the ground. "Hey!" she called up from her position on the ground, trussed up like a turkey with her legs bound together in the air. "What was that?" Butterwhat for once, didn't give a biting retort, but stared at the sky as if lost in a dream. For that moment, her face was clear and she swayed forward as if she was going to take flight. Without the sneer on her face, she seemed like a different pony, like one that had seen the sun after a year without light. It lasted for only a second before the joy fell from her eyes and the old Butterwhat came back.  Grinning, she gestured to the sky. "Welcome to your new home."

Blooming Rose tilted her head up and squinted her eyes. "I don't see anything," she remarked. "Unless you mean that bird." The Butterwhat stretched her grin a bit more. "No," Blooming Rose said. “Are you going to strand me on that bird?" The Butterwhat's grin only deepened, turning away to dig in her pouch. "Why? With the Batwings it at least made sense," asked Blooming Rose.

"You'll see," the Butterwhat responded, pulling out four small unnaturally bright orange squares. She grabbed Blooming Rose's front leg and quickly examined the magic horseshoes. "Interesting." she remarked. "Where did you get these?"

"Nowhere."

The Butterwhat frowned and opened up her mouth to response, then snapped it shut quickly again, so quickly and nonchalantly that it was like she had not granted question worth looking into. Grabbing one of the bright squares she had taken from her bag instead, she lightly placed it on the horseshoe, like snow kissing the ground. She said nothing as she put all the other three onto the other horseshoes, but instead had this sort of misty face on, as if she was thinking deeply of something else.  Blooming Rose questioned this new and rather welcomed change in the Butterwhat. What did it mean if she wasn't of enough importance to the Butterwhat to keep insulting? Was it because the Butterwhat's job was almost done when she left her wherever? Or because the Butterwhat had something else weighing on her mind? Had she missed her only chance to escape before there was no hope of return? If she fell from that height, she might make it, but what if what if the orange things messed with her horseshoes so that she couldn’t glide?

The Butterwhat suddenly broke the silence. "Whatever you do, stay still and don't struggle. It gets confused when you struggle." With that, she clasped on a light blue cuff with a silver coat of arms onto her leg. Straightening, she called out a command.

"Ascend!"

Blooming Rose rose slow into the air, as if by magic. She was flying! She was actually flying! She lifted out a leg and pushed down hard on the air, letting it dangle and swing as if swirling it in a pool. Is this what it feels like to not have a deformity? She thought to herself. If so, how do I steer?

"I command your flight through the cuff and squares," the Butterwhat said as if reading her mind. "So don't try anything."

Blooming Rose nodded slowly. If only she could get her hooves on that blue cuff, and she could go anywhere, even away to Equestria. Imagine flying like a Dragonwing, free as a bird, with no one to bring her down. It would be a dream come true.

"Return to base!"

Blooming Rose began rising slowly, quickly gaining more and more speed until she was at a wind howling point. It felt so good, the wind whipping her hair, the sun shining on her face, and her heart thumping whenever she glanced down at the small trees below. She flew past the Butterwhat and past all limitations. She was filled from top to bottom with joy until she remember that the flight wasn’t her own. Glancing up, she stared at the small, black object she had mistaken as a bird growing larger and larger. Whatever it was, it meant business.

The Butterwhat called from below, somehow overpowering the roar of the wind. "That's Polis," she yelled.

Blooming Rose faced the growing black shape, settling into the brave posture she always put on when she was scared. What would happen when she got there? Would they throw her into prison? Make her a slave? Sell her to scientists to investigate her deformity? Whatever they did, she made a promise to herself that she would take it bravely, like Cutedrop and Glen would be proud of. She could do for them, even if she couldn't get off Polar or whatever Butterwhat had called it to see Cutedrop in time.

She tucked in her head to look at the shining gold necklace around her neck. What would happen if she never really did make it back? Cutedrop would die. Northern Lights would go wandering the wilderness, forever exiled. The Batwings would eventually be attacked again, and mostly likely be wiped out before ever meeting their ruler. Everything she and they had given up would be in vain. Resolve began gathering in her brain. Could she really stand by and let that happen? Just hoping for a rescue? Even if she couldn’t save both of them, she should at least try to save one. Northern Lights may have the belt, but she had the necklace. If she stayed here, everyone wouldn’t have a prayer.

There was a small tremor in her hooves as she landed on a smooth metal surface. Blooming Rose lifted her head with determination, but was astonished by what she saw. Tall, raw looking buildings shone sharply in the rising sun, ranging from a variety of shapes and sizes and heights and designs, the only thing that brought them together was the silver metal they were made of. Brightly colored Butterwhat blurs flew into them and out at astonishing speeds, and as Blooming Rose stopped trying to follow them with her eyes, she could see that they interacted with each other much like the Dragonwings at home, but at a speed that made seconds into minutes. She stood dumbfounded at all around her.

"Time to go," her Butterwhat said softly. "Free ride's over." As a sharp click sounded behind Blooming Rose as she suddenly dropped to the walkway. Underneath her hooves, a thick hum shook her entire body, as if the metal city was a large animal, breathing deeply in its sleep. She wanted to fall down and hug the ground like everything was about to come crashing down, and at the same wanting to jump up and run around as if she had a sugar high. Instead she just stayed glued to the ground, fixed upon the ground like a newborn fawn as it tries to walk for the first time. It took a soft push before Blooming Rose could be dragged away from her spot, and then the clumsiness fled her body and her legs moved on their own accord, like she had been transformed into a part of the living city. The Butterwhat and Blooming Rose moved onward through the large, but empty streets, on to the center of the city, watching the life all around them zip around in. Everything around her seemed so right, so perfect, that she wished that she could go and whiz with everypony else. Instead she and the Butterwhat marched on the streets, stuck in slow motion, pinned on the ground. No matter how much she tried, she could never belong in this perfect world, like how she had never really belonged in anywhere else. She could see the charge in the air already taking its toll on her Butterwhat, and the grumpy pony seemed to glow with happiness, with a deep longing in her eyes that couldn't be suppressed, shown by her hovering hooves. She wanted so deeply to fly up there and be part of it all, but she was tied down by her duty. It seemed to weigh her down enough to keep sliver of awareness in her eyes in this dreamland.

The Butterwhat blinked her eyes three times, and then stopped suddenly. "Welcome to the Lepitera," she whispered to Blooming Rose, gesturing to a majestic tower of black metal sprouting out of the ground. "And to the court of the Chrysalis."