The black sand ended at a miniature cliff, with grass coming over the top. Weeds sat at the edge, staring down as if ready to grasp an unsuspecting prey. Fluttershy climbed up this edge, and her hoof hit a very odd patch of ground. Looking down, she realized this was the grass. It was prickly, black and sharp. Her hooves would get used to it after a while.
The undergrowth shrouded whatever sky could exist here, be it blue, black or red like blood. Her look at the leaves were correct, as they were black and crystaline. The forest seemed to go on for a long while, as she had gone nearly 200 meters without even a slight change in the scenery.
Until the webs began.
Hundreds of webs, silky and white. The black land was shining with webs, ranging from miniscule cobwebs to ones... larger than any spider Fluttershy had seen. She had remembered something when these webs began... her chronic fear of spiders. Fluttershy remembered what Twilight had said, how fear was a choice.
It sounded confident before, but now it just seemed impossible to chose confidence.
She stood still and took breaths. This isn't real. it's just your imagination. The webs aren't there. As much as she wanted to believe that, she couldn't. They felt real, they looked real and they even stuck to her... as if a real web. She kept trotting. Fear was lessening it's grip on her, and the webs began to fade as quickly as they had begun. Soon there were only small strands left.
The webs were just about finished, when something caught her eye. A black ball, with eight legs. It hung from a tree. Her head whipped around to see it, but it was gone as quickly as it spawned in to life.
Giant spiders. How amazing. Fluttershy said to herself. She wasn't as much afraid, as she was ready to kill whatever the hell decided to appear in her eyesight. Her ears perked up at the sound of... hissing.
She froze in place. Her hooves began to slowly raised to her claymore, as a soft thunk landed on to the ground behind her. Then another, and another. Her hoof grasped the hilt of the sword, and the sheath made a shhhhhink sound, and she spun back to see the enemy behind her.
A giant spider, easily as large as a water tank, was on the ground. The legs were slender and strong, and the eyes were a powerful gray, as if a storm grew inside of it. The spider's torso and abdomen were non-existent... simply a head out of one of Fluttershy's nightmares.
The claymore flashed from her back, taking a cleave at the spider. The first one missed, however the second one took a chink in to it's leg. The spider hissed in a gout of pain. It shrugged it off rather quickly, and lunged it's fangs at Fluttershy. Her blade blocked the mouth's blow, and she quickly recovered from the hold the spider had on her. Fluttershy's blade came down on the spider's eye, and the spider hissed in a pain, Fluttershy could only imagine.
Her blade struck the spider's leg, cutting it clean through. Her brain nearly tingled with a pure terror she had never felt before. Killing an animal was... simply unthinkable to her, but she remembered this was only a figment of imagination. White blood spewed from the base of the spider's leg. She couldn't hear the spider's scream over her own rage with the thing.
She whipped the sword from the right side of the spider. She took the claymore in her hooves she thrust the tip in to the spider's head. It made it's destination with a sickening thunk. White blood dripped from the sword's tip, and the spider's leg twitched, then simply stopped. The spider was dead.
Fluttershy had a sense of fury and pride unlike any she had ever felt. Good riddance, you little bastard. She was startled at her own thought. Sweet Celestia, what is going on with me?
She sat, staring at the spider. The first thing she ever killed was one of her greatest fears. In the look of the white blood dripping from the slightly rectangular slit the blade had left in the being, she felt... calm. Her calmness nearly surprised herself.
By the time she was ready to move on, the clouds began to lower to make a foggy sheet over the ground. At least, they seemed like clouds. There was a large bank of clouds, and a chilly wind blowing on to her face. Her next fear was coming to fruition.
Fear of the blizzard.
Cold wind bashed her face, as black snow flipped past her face. The area around her was colder than anything she could have imagined, more frigid than the north where the Crystal Empire resided... and that was the most chill she had ever felt. Somehow, Limbo had duplicated her fear ten times over. Fluttershy's body nearly went still with the cold, however her form was... unaffected.
Her eyes were set forward, being helped by the sword on her back, the only source of warmth in a sea of cold. She sheathed the sword, and help it in both her hand. An old rhyme came in to her mind... one that illuminated a sun stone.
"In the blackest night, the stone shall guide me. In brightest day, the night will not rise. The blade of light shall be my key, to stop the darkness that clouds my eyes. Beware the shine of the sun's MIGHT!" She yelled the last part of the rhyme, and the blade shone the way forward. With the incredible light, the storm dissipated, and warmth returned to the world.
Good, let's get out of here. She trotted forward, once more. There was only one more fear, the one she dreaded the most.
Rainbow Dash's death. Sure enough, there was an oak tree ahead of her. Hanging from it was the cyan form of the Element of Loyalty.