//------------------------------//
// Spirits 
// Story: Power Up 
// by Sun Aura 
//------------------------------//

The Everfree Forest was dangerous to most ponies. Too many wild animals that could attack. But for Fluttershy, it was practically a walk in the park. Most of the animals respected him, and would steer him away from the ones that didn’t.
Even so, he didn’t want to be here after sundown. Normally he wouldn’t even be in the forest this late, but renovations on Hearthstone Castle had run overboard. And then everyone left ahead of him because he had stayed to help family of raccoons relocate out of the ancient kitchens. 
Fluttershy debated with himself over flying home. It would be quicker and have less dangerous animals. But the winds over Everfree were strong tonight. He didn’t want to risk being blown out of the sky and breaking something in a crash unless he had to.
He heard a rustling from the bushes. It was probably just a bunny, but he was prepared to bolt in case it was something dangerous. The thing that burst through the bushes was a small filly. While Fluttershy wasn’t nearly as familiar with Ponyville’s citizens as Pinkie was, he was sure he’d never seen the filly before.
She couldn’t have been more than nine. Her coat was brown, maybe a little rust-colored actually. And her mane was two shades of raspberry pink. She was an Earth Pony as well.
“Hello, are you lost?” Fluttershy asked.
The filly shook her head.
“You know where you’re going?” he asked.
The filly nodded.
“Do you need help?” he asked. 
The filly nodded again.
“I’ll help you,” he offered. “Do you live in Ponyville?”
The filly shook her head. She pointed deeper into the forest. 
“If you know where to go, lead the way,” he said. 
The filly giggled. She trotted forward, confidently enough to reassure Fluttershy that the filly knew where to go. He wondered why she needed help.
Soon it was almost completely dark. Only a few shafts of moonlight were enough to light up their way. That is, when the wind wasn’t whipping the branches around.
The filly didn’t seem to care about the dangers of the forest. She practically walked off a cliff before Fluttrshy could catch her. She didn’t seem scared of manticores, or even timberwolves. 
Stars that had been terrifying. When Fluttershy heard them growling he had frozen in place, except for the shaking. He wanted to run, but the filly was still walking ahead, as if she hadn’t heard it. He grabbed her and hid behind a tree. He felt guilty when the filly struggled, but knew it was for the best. 
He could feel the timberwolf’s breath move his mane as it sniffed the tree. Somehow it didn’t smell them. The pack moved on. As their steps faded, he let out a breath he didn’t know he had been holding.
The filly looked up at him with an expression of confusion and annoyance.
“Timberwolves are dangerous,” he explained. “They’re terrifying.”
The filly rolled her eyes. 
“I’m sorry I grabbed you,” he said. “I don’t want you to get hurt.”
The filly looked surprised. 
The two of them traveled on. Fluttershy lost track of the time. It felt almost like they were going in circles. Every time he began to question the filly, they were at a new landmark. The Castle, the canyon where the Tree of Harmony was, the blocked path to the mirror pond. 
He swore he saw Zecora’s hut out of the corner of his eye, but when he looked it was gone. He must have been imagining things. After all, Zecora’s is in the other direction, right?”
They finally reached an end to the trees.  He could see the Rambling Rock Ridge in the distance, meaning they were on the complete opposite side of the forest from Ponyville. Looking up at the moon, it was quite late into the night, but not late enough to be considered ‘early’. 
“Are we in the right place?” Fluttershy asked the filly.
The filly nodded and pointed in the distance. She saw a group of buildings just a little bit away. It was too small and too close together to be a town. Maybe a campsite of some sort? A lantern was still lighting up the porch of the main building, which meant somepony was awake. They walked up to the cottage. 
Fluttershy hesitated. Sure the light was on, but it was probably just that somepony forgot to turn it off. He didn’t really want to bother them. But this filly needed someone. He took a breath and knocked on the door.  
After a moment, a tired-looking stallion answered the door. He was an Earth Pony around Fluttershy’s age. His coat looked very similar to the filly he had been helping, but his mane was two greens instead of two pinks. 
“Hello?” the stallion asked, tilting his head at him. 
“Uh, hi,” Fluttershy replied a bit too quietly. “I mean, hello. Do you know-“
He turned to gesture to the filly, but she was gone. He spun, looking around for that pink mane. There wasn’t anywhere to hide, unless you were as fast as Rainbow Dash. 
“There was a filly here!” Fluttershy exclaimed. “She was just here! Did you see where she went?  I have to find her!”
“Hold on!” the stallion said. “I think you’ve been led on by a spirit.”
“A-a spirit?” he felt frozen again. He could feel himself shaking.
“One of Everfree’s ghosts,” he said. “There’s a handful of lost souls hanging out in there. They’re lost. Well, of course they are. They aren’t called ‘lost souls’ for nothing. But they tend to have trouble leaving, so they ask ponies for help.”
“That explains why she wasn’t afraid of the Timberwolves,” he sighed. “They wouldn’t hurt her.”
Fluttershy was still looking around, hoping he could see the filly despite his trembling. A Lost Soul. He’d heard Twilight mention them before. Ponies that died but couldn’t find their way to the Underworld. It made him sad when he first heard it, but actually seeing one wander, lost forever, was different.
“Is there anything I can do to help her?” Fluttershy asked the stallion.
“I-I don’t think so,” he said. “You want to help her?”
“Of course I do!” he replied. “She’s just a little filly, lost and alone. Yes, ghosts are scary, terrifying even, but she has to be scared too. I’m sorry if this sounds rude, but somepony needs to do something. I can’t just leave her there!”
He felt something wash over him. Warm and electric. It felt soft, like Mama tending to a scratch he got as a kid, or Mom’s soup when she was sick. Like the softer side of Rainbow Dash, comforting him in the middle of a panic attack. 
The stallion was staring at him, but he didn’t know why. It seemed brighter now. Fluttershy looked up to see the sky hadn’t changed. 
“Uh, I’ll be right back,” the stallion said. 
True to his word, he was only gone a moment before bringing out a small mirror. He held it up for Fluttershy to see his reflection.
His eyes were practically beacons of light. Even more light came from the lines on his body, looking almost like an extention of the butterfly antennae of his Cutie Mark.  His mane had gained some color as well. Thankfully it was only a single streak of a darker pink. 
“Oh my,” he said, resisting the urge to faint. 
Of course, he’d never been very good at that.