//------------------------------// // The Dark Star // Story: Royalty and Pleasantry // by Iced Glory //------------------------------// Day turns to night. The cold air wisps Fluttershy’s body, waking her. She opens her eyes and looks around. The animals she once saw; faded away, into a white mist. The ground below her re-textures from a light, grassy meadow, into a stone terrace. The pond dissolves, and a dark forest rises in its place. The earth around her slowly bends and twists into a small hill. Fluttershy turns around, and sees a small cottage, fade in to reality. She walks towards a moat that runs around the cottage. Fluttershy lets out a long sigh; as she realizes, everything she experienced was just a memory. “Why aren't things that way anymore?” Fluttershy asks, as she looks towards the stars. A creek of a door opening can be heard ahead of her. Fluttershy looks down from the stars, to see a bunny hopping down the stone path, towards her. “Angel? What are you doing up?” she asks with intent curiosity. Angel points to his ears and covers them. He then starts stumbling around, attempting to balance himself. “There’s a loud noise keeping you up? And you can’t keep your balance because you’re too tired?” Fluttershy asks. Angel shakes his head and points towards the stars. Fluttershy looks up at the sky. “I don’t under -” Fluttershy sees a bright white light come into view in the far distance “- What’s that?” she wonders. The white light leaves a ribbon of eerie black in its wake; its speed faster than the fastest pegasi in Equestria. It starts to plummet to the ground in an unpredictable fashion. Its pattern becoming more erratic, as it nears the earth, zigzagging from one side of the sky, to another. The ground begins to shake as it flies overhead. Angel hops back to the cottage; in an effort to escape the tremors, of the unknown light. Fluttershy loses her balance, and falls to the ground. She watches; as it crashes into a dark forest, in the distance. Fluttershy gets up off the ground. “Oh my! I better make sure no one is hurt!” Angel starts to hop back out of the cottage. “No; you better stay here Angel. The Everfree Forest is too dangerous for you!” she remarks. Angel hugs Fluttershy’s leg. “Don’t worry Angel, I’ll be fine,” she says confidently. Angel hops back to the cottage. He reaches the door and turns around. His instincts start reacting violently; to disobey Fluttershy, and prevent her from leaving. He looks at Fluttershy for a sign that she will definitely be okay. Fluttershy nods back with charitable delight. Angel stares back at her for a few seconds, but then obeys, and hops back into the shining, safe, secure cottage. Fluttershy starts walking towards the Everfree Forest. Her nerves stay strong and relentless as she enters the forest edge. The Everfree forest is considered one of the most dangerous places in Equestria. Everypony dares not enter the forest, lest they become daunted by its corruption of evil within. Fluttershy however doesn't flinch, at the endeavours, faced within. She had grown up in her later years beside the forest. Most of the creatures would become affronted against ponies that entered, and wouldn't hesitate to strike against them. But Fluttershy treads with little caution, and greets every creature she meets, as she trots through the forest. Fluttershy watches the trees swiftly go by her, as she strolls through the forest. The tops of the trees cover the night sky, almost completely. The darkness of the forest is vaster than she remembers. Her vision is clear, to only a small distance in front of her. The shrubbery starts to lessen, as she goes further along. Soon a clearing can be seen in the distance. Fluttershy walks out to the edge of the forest and looks around. The forest forms an almost perfect circle around the clearing. Fluttershy looks off in the distance and sees a shimmering white light. Fluttershy tenses up and begins to stutter and shake in place. Fluttershy hadn’t faced the unknown in a long time. She had faced everything that could happen in the Everfree forest. Nothing in the forest had scared her or alarmed her in the longest time. Except now, where there was old and predictable; there was new and unforeseeable. Fluttershy gets a hold of herself, and takes a big gulp. She takes off from the ground. Her wings gently flap, propelling her forward; as she cautiously flies towards the light. Fluttershy watches the light stop growing as she gets closer, and instead sees a small crater hold the light in its grasp. Fluttershy stops before reaching the edge of the crater, and plops to the ground; to examine the object more closely. The object was more than a radiant white light; it was shaped like a sphere, and sleeked a metallic structure. The bright white light was shooting out of the gaps missing in the objects structure. Its size was proportionate to that of a large globe. Fluttershy walks closer and starts to close the gap between her and the edge of the crater. As she walks; something else appears in the sky. Fluttershy doesn't see it and continues to inch forward. The entity in the sky starts to dart towards Fluttershy. Its speed and velocity move incredibly fast towards her. Fluttershy continues to still press forward; not realizing that at any moment she would be faced with another conundrum. The entity lands directly in front of Fluttershy; causing the ground to shake violently and knocks Fluttershy back a great distance. The object in the crater for a moment emits a pulsating glow and shutters in the crater; but then lies back to the ground and dims. Fluttershy screams and flails about, as she shoots over the top of the ground, and lands halfway between the forest and the crater. Fluttershy lifts her head and becomes dazed. Her vision had become blurred and her balance out of proportion. She tries to get up but falls back to the ground. She looks around as her vision clears. Her eyes spot the crater but with something else by it. She regains her balance and starts to walk towards the entity. As she moves closer, she realizes the entity is actually a mare. The mare has an incredible stance, with a riveting, shining cobalt blue mane. Her wings spread out over the ground, with intense charisma; her face hidden, by the shadows of the night. Fluttershy continues to get closer, nearing a short distance away from the mare. “Stop!” the mare shouts. Fluttershy hesitates and stops walking. The mare turns around and looks towards Fluttershy. Her face exhibits another feature; a horn that spirals out to the sky. Fluttershy now realizes who the mare is and starts to speak to her. “Princess Luna! What are you doing here?” Fluttershy asks. “You should not be here young one! Leave now!” Luna says, infatuating a serious tone. “But I don't understand. What’s going on?” Fluttershy wonders. “Go!” Luna says using the Royal Canterlot Voice. “Okay.” Fluttershy whispers. Fluttershy starts walking towards the forests edge; her head gravitating towards the ground. Fluttershy lets out a small tear, as she walks away. Fluttershy reaches the forest edge and turns around. Luna can be seen in the distance, at the edge of the crater, examining the object. Fluttershy turns back around and lets out a long sigh, as she takes the first steps back into the forest. A squirrel scurries across one of the branches above Fluttershy. As it runs across, it knocks over one of the twigs laying on it. The twig falls unwillingly toward the ground. The twig lands on Fluttershy’s back as she walks by. Fluttershy squeezes her eyes shut, and lets out a dastardly scream, as she dashes back towards the crater. Luna hears the scream and turns around, to see Fluttershy speeding towards her. “I command thee to stop!” Luna says, as she stomps her hoof, shaking the nearby trees. To no avail though, Luna’s attempts were in vain. Fluttershy had retreated into her head, and refused to hear anything. She had become overturned with fear and couldn't cope with anything the outside world wanted to tell her. Luna attempted yet again to stop her, “STOP!” Luna commanded, this time using her Royal Canterlot Voice. Luna’s outcries, continued to have no effect on Fluttershy. As Fluttershy got closer, the object began to shutter, shake and glow. Seeing no alternative, Luna, in a desperate attempt, leapt at the object, grabbed it and attempted to fly away, but it was too late. The object let out a blast of white light, which engulfed them both. Luna was immediately blinded, and let go of the object, but still attempted to fly away, as fast as she could. To no avail though, she couldn't escape the light, and began to be sucked in towards the object. With all her might, she tried to fight the force dragging her down to the object. The more she fought though, the more it fought back; after a few moments she had given up and let herself go. Fluttershy, still running towards the object, was hurdled through the air, when the force became more than she was exerting. They had both hit the center of the force, with the object in between them. The object was now floating in the air above the crater; however the area looked like a white abyss, with nothing else visible. Almost immediately, both Luna’s and Fluttershy’s front hooves glued to one another. Both of them opened their eyes, the light now not so blinding, as they began to wonder what was going on. “Oh no, it’s happening,” Luna said, with fear in her voice. “What’s happening?!” Fluttershy said, her voice shaking and pitching with fear. “It’s beginning to…” before Luna could finish, the object began to send out spiralling black swirls around their arms. The spirals soon began to engulf around their bodies. The object then sent out another beam of white light, this time knocking them both into a comatose state. The black swirls soon completely surrounded their bodies into a cocoon. The object then let out one last enormous explosion of bright white light, with the light being able to be seen all the way to Ponyville. The light then immediately extinguishes, and Luna and Fluttershy start their weary descent, towards the ambiguous ground below.