The Darkness Within

by Natsumushi

Whispers in the Dark

The Darkness within
Chapter 2
Whispers in the dark

Fluttershy couldn’t remember how long she had been flying for. Minutes? Hours? It was all such a blur as she tried to make sense of what had just happened. She was okay with Dash bathing her, but when she got to her wings, it excited her, so much that she wanted more. But it was Dash! Her oldest friend, and there was no way that was normal! ‘Could it have been something to do with whatever is happening to me? I never really stopped to think of anypony that way, had I. Oh dear, oh dear! This is so scary! What am I turning into?’ Fluttershy thought as tears found their way to the rims of her eyes, she was too busy trying to hold the tears back to realize she was in front of her cottage door.

As her hoof stretched out for the handle, the door, as if by magic, suddenly swung open. Fluttershy leapt back and shrank back unto her hindquarters, when suddenly Applejack came through the door with some animal feed. Surprised, she gawked at the cowering pegasus before a big grin broke across her face, “Well ah’ll be! Howdy Fluttershy, ya feelin’ better now?” she asked.

Sighing in relief, Fluttershy quickly composed herself, “Thank goodness, I thought a robber was coming out.”

“Uh, no. Didn’t Rainbow tell ya ah was a gonna care fer yer critters? Thought you’d be up in her fancy cloud house getting’ pampered. Said you were in pretty bad shape.” She responded.

“I was, but she took such good care of me that I’m feeling much better now!” she bluffed. Applejack knew that tone of voice Fluttershy used when she was trying to do anything against her nature.

“Yer about as good a liar as ah am. What’s wrong sugarcube?”She asked. Fluttershy’s head drooped, knowing full well lying wasn’t her forte.

“I just have some stuff on my mind, but I am feeling better, I can do my own work now, you needn’t stay. I know you always have so much to do on the farm, and I don’t want you to fall behind on anything.” Fluttershy replied truthfully, looking up only to have her sight lock on to the blonde cowpony’s cutie mark. She felt the hunger begin to creep up within her, and a strange tingling course throughout her body. Her mouth watered and her canine’s started to ache ever so slightly. She was so caught up that she had completely missed what Applejack was saying, and was brought out of it when an orange hoof was waved in front of her face.

“Fluttershy! You in there?” she said loud enough to illicit a small squeak from the timid mare.

“Oh, I’m sorry, what was that again?”

“I asked why you were starin’ at mah rump like a fresh apple pie. There ain’t nothin’ on it is there?”

“Oh, no. I just kind of zoned out…sorry A.J., but I should really head inside. Angel’s probably worried sick!” Fluttershy said.

“Well don’t you worry none. Big Mac’s takin’ over my tasks fer the day so ah can stick around and help out with yer critters. But I gotta say, you do look a mite better then you had been. Tell ya what? Hows about ah make ya some o’ granny’s famous stew? Ah’ma sure that’ll put some more meat on those bones and have you better in no time! An like ah said: Ah’ma do your chores fer today. You just focus on getting’ better ya hear? Ain’t no trouble at all.”

“But, I can’t ask you to do all that! I-”

“Hush now, silly filly, you ain’t askin’, ah’m insistin’. Now git yer rump inta bed ‘n let me help ya. What kind of friend would ah be if ah didn’t stick around ta make sure you were really fine? Ah’ll have the stew ready before the cows come home.” she said with a smile, before trotting off to feed Fluttershy’s animals.

Fluttershy, now feeling guilt for making her friends help her, obeyed the orange earth pony, knowing that she’s only has Fluttershy’s best interests in heart. As she entered her home, she began to call for her white rabbit, “Angel! Angel! Mama’s home! Where are you Angel?” After a few brief moments of hunting for her beloved pet, she finally found him huddled in a bunch of blankets under the bed.

“There you are Angel Bunny! I was so worried about you!” and she hurried over to scoop him up in her hooves, but instead, he burrowed deeper into the pile of bedding. “Angel? What’s wrong? It’s me, don’t you recognize me?” Fluttershy asked, struggling to keep her emotions in check. Slowly he began to emerge from his hiding place. She looked like mama, sounded like mama, and even smelled like mama, mostly. But her scent was not quite the same; there was something else, something sour. But nonetheless, this was mostly mama, and so he hopped into her loving embrace and nuzzled into her chest.

“Don’t worry Angel Bunny, mama’s home now.” She reassured the rabbit, squeezing him lovingly. ‘Mama’s definitely gotten stronger' he thought, and then slowly allowed himself to drift off into restful sleep. ‘It was probably just a nightmare after all.’

***

The streets of Ponyville were almost as barren as a ghost town. The markets closed up early and nopony dared leave their home despite it being 10 A.M. Nopony, save for a baby dragon, and a pony. Curiously, Twilight Sparkle examined the scene of the crime, looking for any clues as to what could have done such a terrible thing. As she circled the area, the wind began to pick up, causing a lone tumbleweed to roll across the square, knocking over a wooden bucket that was in its way. She chided herself for planning this in such windy weather as she meandered over to pick up the bucket to where it originally was. After all, the most important thing to do during any investigation was to leave the area as untouched as possible. However, as she levitating the basket with her magic, something small and white fell out of it.

“Spike! Come over her and bring the evidence bag!” she called to the drake.

“S-sure thing Twi`.” said the baby dragon as he peeked out his head from behind a nearby tree, making sure the coast was clear. He quickly dashed over to her and latched onto her hind leg. Twilight felt his uncontrolled shuddering as he tried to hand her the bag.

“You know you could’ve stayed home Spike. This isn’t something a baby dragon like you should be seeing.” Twilight said, hoping that he would change his mind.

“B-but if I did that, then who would protect me if whatever did this broke into your new castle-library-home thing?” he stammered. Twilight conceded; he was right, and she still had to wait a few more days before Flash Sentry could occupy his new guard post at the Golden Oaks Castle with his own squad of guardponies. Twilight hated the idea of needing her own royal guard, but she was a princess with her own, albeit small, kingdom now. It was kind of in the job description.

“Don’t worry Spike; I’m sure that whatever did this has long since fled back into the Everfree Forest.” She said, giving him a light nuzzle to try to calm down her number one assistant.

“You sure it wasn’t zombie ponies Twi` or one of those things in the Everfree called blanks?” Spike questioned. Twilight vaguely recalled the old pony’s tale, but quickly dismissed it as just that; a Pony’s Tale.

“I’m sure Spike.” Twilight reassured him as she scooped up the curious clue in her magic and put it in the bag. After getting a close look at the oddity, she soon realized that it was a dead Starspider. This was very odd, seeing as they never seem to leave the forest near where the Royal Sisters’ old castle lay in ruin.

“Okay, we only got one more place to go Spike. The alleyway where that drained stallion claimed he was before he fell unconscious.” Determined to get to the bottom of these horrific attacks in Ponyville, her Kingdom, she needed to make haste. But as she began to leave the area, Spike said something to make her stop, “Hey, Twilight, I think you missed something, look at the ground there.” and pointed to it. Unsure of how she could have missed anything, she went over her mental checklist again and went to see what it could be.

The closer she looked, the more anxious she became, seeing nothing but the bloodstained earth, until a stray beam of light broke through the clouds and caused a thread on the ground to shine. She quickly got closer, and pulled it with her magic, pulling up not one but several long threads of silk; spider silk.

“How in Equestria did you spot that?” she inquired to Spike.

“You know, terrifying thing on the loose, adrenaline going a mile a minute, and the fact that we dragons have an eye for shiny stuff.” He rambled off, half sarcastic, half serious.

“That’s weird, but it can’t be a coincidence. C’mon Spike, we need to hurry!” and with that she levitated Spike onto her back and headed toward the second attack site.

***

The way to the next attack sight had been on the other side of Ponyville near a shady little bar simply called The Ponyville Pub. The closer the two got to it the more Spike began to tremble, unintentionally digging his little claws tightly onto Twilight’s sides.

“Ow! Spike that hurts!” she said wincing as another tremor went through him.

“Sorry Twi’. It’s just that…this has always been the bad side of town. What if there’s somepony waiting to shank us and take our things!” he said nervously.

“You know, we need to really reconsider what you read.” Twilight said in an almost motherly tone. “And you know as well as I do that everypony is inside their homes. Granted that this would be an ideal situation for most thugs, but I’m pretty sure they fear for their lives more than they would care to mug other ponies given the current circumstances. Honestly Spike, just try to relax a bit. And don’t forget that I was Celestia’s personal student. You’ll be fine.” She reassured the little dragon.

Quietly the two entered the alleyway where the stallion claimed he was attacked in. Even in broad daylight the alley had an eerie feel to it, as if whatever was here left behind a residual taint. For the next two hours Twilight and Spike scoured the alleyway for clues. As they made their way to the end of the alleyway, away from prying eyes, she saw a blood stain upon the ground, as well as a few strands of pink hair hanging off of a rusty nail near that very location. Twilight immediately put the hairs in the evidence bag with her magic and took notes of the sight.

“Spike, reach into my saddlebag and grab the camera please. Take some shots of the area, I’m going to look around for anything else that could be of use, okay?” she asked.

“Y-you’re not going to leave me are you?” he stammered as he grabbed the camera.

“Of course not! I’ll just be a few paces away. I want to see if there are any other strands that could have been pulled off on the bricks. I want to be as thorough as possible.” She reassured him. He nodded to confirm his acknowledgment, and then began to take photos of anything that would be considered relevant.

Meanwhile, Twilight began the second sweep of the alley. There didn’t seem to be much else until she glanced upward. Hanging off of a damaged waterspout was what looked to be a small, torn, yellow handkerchief. Using her magic she gently lifted it off and brought it closer for further inspection, which was revealed to be something else entirely. It looked to be made of a thin leather-like material, almost membranous in fact. As she continued to study the strange material, she suddenly felt something small slam into her side. Looking down she saw Spike pointing a claw to the direction to which he had come, yelling, ‘MONSTER!’

Twilight whipped her head around, barely catching a glimpse of whatever it was that had scared Spike. Grabbing up Spike with her magic she charged after the thing. It was fast, and skittered about on what looked like four long spindly legs before leaping clear over a wall. Teleporting, Twilight reappeared opposite the wall, but found nothing.

“Wha-how? That’s impossible! That was only a second! How is that possible! HOW!” she cried whilst stomping her hooves in frustration, looking everywhere for their quarry and after what seemed like hours of searching, were unable to logically figure out where it went.

“Twilight, w-what was that?” the dragon asked, terrified.

“I don’t know Spike, but it was incredibly fast and agile. I only got a quick glimpse of it, so I don’t even have that to go off of other than for its legs. C’mon Spike, we need to get back to the castle, it’s starting to get late and we don’t want to be out with whatever that was on the prowl.” Twilight informed him. He nodded in agreement.

As two began their trek home, Spike suddenly had an idea, “Hey Twi’, do you think Zecora would know? After all she lives in the Everfree. Maybe she might be able to shed some light on this.” He proposed. Twilight paused.

“That’s a great idea Spike! Maybe if we leave now we could get to her place before sundown!” she said enthusiastically. Spike began to immediately regret his suggestion, and cursed internally.

“I meant tomorrow Twi’, when the sun is still in the sky. We have all that evidence to look over you know.” Spike added, hoping to not go anywhere else for the day.

“You’re right, we’ll go first thing tomorrow morning. I’m sure that the samples we collected will be perfect for the scrying spell I just learned, and maybe even give us our answers quicker than we anticipated.” She said, then hurried back to their home.

***

She hadn’t realized that she had fallen asleep until she was awoken by Angel’s whiskers tickling her nose. Sneezing, Fluttershy awoke also to the smell of vegetable stew being made and it smelled delicious.

‘How long was I asleep?’ she pondered as Angel stirred from his slumber as well, stretching out his little paws a letting out a big yawn.

“Did you sleep well Angel bunny? I think that stew that Applejack was going to make is just about ready. It smells wonderful, don’t you agree Angel?” she asked the sleepy rabbit, stifling a yawn of her own. He simply looked at her and shrugged. Soon afterwards there came a knocking upon her bedroom door.

“You awake sugarcube?” A.J. asked through the door.

“Oh! Why yes, you can come in.” Fluttershy replied. The door opened to reveal Applejack wiping sweat from her brow; from cooking no doubt.

“Well it’s about time! You must’ve really been out of it, you practically slept all day! Guess ya weren’t as better as ya thought. No worries though! I came ta check on ya two or three times to make sure you were alright and started gettin a mite worried when you didn’t answer. I knew you were quiet ‘n all, but it was too quiet, even for you. Anywho, the stew’s about ready, so come on down when you’re ready.” She said with a smile before trotting back down the stairs and into the kitchen.

Fluttershy couldn’t help but to stare as she watched Applejack leave, and felt a strong hunger clench around her stomach as well. Ignoring the hunger pains as best she could, she began to rub the haziness from her eyes and blinked a few times. Something was different, off almost, until she noticed some dust particles dancing in a stray beam of light filtering in through a small rip in her currently closed curtains. Her vision was clear, the colors more vibrant and the images sharper than they had ever been before.

‘No…this, this is still happening? Oh Celestia why wasn’t it all a bad dream? I-I can’t think of Applejack, not like that! Even now I-I can smell her…her sweet, marvelous scent...No, no, no! I need to stop this. Oh dear, oh dear…’ she thought to herself as she paced around her bedroom, anxiety beginning to swell within her at the terrible realization that this was a reality now. She could feel the craving building within, deep down to her core, but also, she took notice just how heightened her senses had truly become. Through every feather, every feather barb, and even every strand of fur, she could feel a breeze caress her from the kitchen, along with every scent and every sound. The rhythmic pounding of A.J.’s heart was hypnotic, beckoning even, and her scent was like fresh apples and apple blossoms. The scent seemed to highlight the rich smell of the stew, making her mouth water.

Steadily she made her way to the window to open it in the hopes that by allowing the air from outside that the smells would become diluted and easier to ignore. Throwing open the curtains, she was awestruck at the sight of the glorious full moon bathing the world below in its light. Night had fallen, and Fluttershy found it difficult to believe that she had quite literally slept all day long.

“Oh my goodness! I really must have been out of it!” she thought aloud.

“You alright sugarcube?” Applejack called from the base of the stairs.

“Y-yes…I’ll be down in a moment!” Fluttershy called back, hoping that the beast within could be restrained long enough for Applejack to make it home safely. But as Fluttershy made her way to the kitchen, she caught a glimpse of herself in a nearby mirror. Everything looked normal, except that now her eyes were glowing crimson as her hunger resurfaced.

Author's Note:

Sorry for taking so long to get this up, It's been a busy past couple weeks, but now I think I can allot a little more time to my fanfictions, but I won't make a deadline quite yet. Also, the next chapter will start delving into some grimdark. Just to give fair warning, however I hope that little insider info won't deter you (my wonderful readers) from continuing this tale.

Comments

[Chrome Masquerade]

But as Fluttershy made her way to the kitchen, she caught a glimpse of herself in a nearby mirror. Everything looked normal, except that now her eyes were glowing crimson as her hunger resurfaced.

[youtube=http://m.youtube.com/index?&desktop_uri=%2F#/watch?v=YI-Kq0G8djM]

[Natsumushi]

4591497 lol!

[ward282]

Mama’s defiantly gotten stronger'

needs to be definitely

[Natsumushi]

4592553 thank you.