//------------------------------// // Chapter 25 - Fluttering Fears // Story: Fear Within // by VirtualCipher //------------------------------// Fear shined over her like sunlight, however, it wasn't heavenly nor was it pleasant, it felt more unnatural. The steps she took felt light, failing to accomplish any sound as she moved. Her presence was silent as the fog clouded her path; dimming her trail. The mare continued to move as her body shuddered in trepidation; violently shaking through the mist that would expand her world of terror and nightmares. Unsteady, weak and light-headed, Fluttershy observed her surroundings frantically, her head twisting from left to right as an anxious expression grew clear on her face. Her doubts were heavy, weighing her down like an anvil. Despite the current state that she was in, the fog's illusions had not performed any tricks. Her confidence drained and she hesitated to move, she was making herself scared while heavily doubting her abilities. "I... I can't do this..." Fluttershy's fragile and soft voice spoke, sounding agitated. "I can't do this..." Her thoughts began to question her inability to carry on through the fog. Why must there be a voice that questions her courage; to make her hesitate, why can't she remain confident like her friends? Only now did she begin to realise that the decision she made was stupid, running off into the mist without telling Pinkie Pie or Rarity anything. Fluttershy grew sick to the negative thoughts that dawdled in her mind. "Oh... Poor Rarity and Pinkie Pie." She sulked. "I knew I should have just stayed with them." Being there for her friends put Fluttershy in a spot of negativity, she wanted to help Rainbow Dash and the others deal with this breakout, but now she just felt like a fool for barging into the fog alone. She chose to recollect her memories; her past adventures and the deeper she dug into her memories, her confidence steadily rose. Stopping Nightmare Moon, reforming Discord, saving an empire, saving her friends from a dragon, this fog of illusions was nothing compared to them. Her uncertainty no longer blocked her progress. "No! I can do this," Fluttershy said to herself, washing away her negative thoughts and hesitation. "I can do this... I can do this!" She brightened up with determination. Confident, she marched onwards, deeper into the fog. Nothing stood in her way, however, something caught her off guard, it didn't frighten or alarm her. Fluttershy's eyes could help but target a butterfly hovering in front of her path. Gracefully, it lingered around her until finally, she raised her hoof and landed it ever so delicately. The butterfly's wings were patterned with the colours red and orange, sticking out from the silver mist, expressing its colours. Her mind felt unbalanced; confusion taking over her mind. Out of the blue, a butterfly happened to have come into her path and make contact with her. What was a butterfly doing in a miserable fog like this? What was doing anywhere near a prison filled with monsters? Somehow, the presence of animals, bugs and insects always soothed her; calming her from the storms of worriment. "Hi there." She gently greeted the insect on her raised hoof. "You shouldn't be in a scary place like this. I'm sure those sick brutes would take pleasure in harming defenceless insects like you." She couldn't help but turn right to see a unit of five butterflies nimbly fluttering their wings towards her, they each carried the same colourful patterns on their wings, red and orange, their warm, prepossessing colours reminded her of the sun setting after a nice day. She couldn't help but produce a smile, seeing the dainty creatures hover towards her. "Are these your friends? You all look very pretty," Fluttershy admired. As the butterflies gracefully flew around her with tranquillity, she couldn't help but feel immersed by the wings, they didn't look natural, instead, they appeared sharp. Her attention focused back at the majestic insect on her hoof, she was absorbed the wings, however, something began to grow. The colours of red and orange were still visible, but darkness began to wash over, forming an unnerving face that looked like it was screaming at her. Dazed by the butterfly's wings, Fluttershy couldn't help but feel a little intimidated but fascinated as well. Never in her life had she encountered an insect to form different colours, this must have been used to scare off predators she thought. With her hoof still risen, the insect directly launched itself at Fluttershy's face, it's wing grazing her cheek. It was very unlikely for her to flinch to the movement of bugs and insects when they crawled over her, but something was different. After the butterfly making contact with her cheek, she felt a cut that began to slightly burn her with pain. "Uh..." Fluttershy began to tremble; intensely shaking. "Ow..." Not knowing how to present her feelings towards the butterflies, she saw their wings as a sign of danger. She considered it an accident and decided to leave the group of insects to fly off, however, they followed her. "You best leave this place," Fluttershy warned. "It's dangerous." She couldn't help but feel afraid of them as they possessed such sharp wings to hurt her. Without care, they ignored her warning and launched themselves at her. Fluttershy blared in fear and pain as their sharp, pointed wings pierce her wings, legs and body. They began to swarm around her as she struggled to back away, the wounds they produced cut deep and deeper with each slash. Swiftly, they repeated their attack over and over, now Fluttershy was overcome with pain; her wounds irritating her body as she broke down onto the ground, screaming and crying in agony. Her hooves collapsed over her head as she hid from the world, however, her pain continued. Tears coursed down her cheeks as she cried in pain, not wanting to move. No... She was too afraid to move, inviting the pain to overwhelm her. "Stop..." Her cries failed to reason with them. The pain continued, the sharp wings deeply scratching her which rose her annoyance and pain. "Stop..." She repeated, her tears rolling down her face. She had the ability to communicate with animals, bugs, insects and creatures, they proved to be ignorant. "Stop!" She screamed, rising from the ground. Despite the terror that she was placed in and the fact that she wanted to run, her body halted. The butterflies were gone; simply faded away from her sight. Her hooves, legs, body, wings, face, she was covered in cuts that burned her, she held her tail and softly cried into it like a pillow. Her cries were silent, however, she would occasionally construct a sniffle, she was traumatised by what had happened and wished for comfort, she hated being alone. Negativity and doubts consumed her yet again, she had no idea what she was doing. Furthermore, she resumed crying into her tail, frightened to move on. However, through her tears, she caught a glimpse of two green eyes, they illuminated through the fog. Fluttershy only felt fear, but soon would transform into surprise. Finally, the glowing green eyes forged closer towards her, revealing a familiar face. She sniffled through her tears, startled. "Sp... Spike?" His eyes resumed to illuminate green; glowing brightly to the point where his pupils were hidden. Immediately, Fluttershy knew something unusual about Spike other than his burning green eyes, he was walking on all fours, he even produced a growl while presenting his razor-sharp teeth. "Spike? It's me... It's me, Fluttershy!" She spoke, wiping away her tears and doing the best to ignore her cuts. Spike didn't bother answering, instead, he continued to growl, advancing closer towards the pegasus who remained surprised as well. Fluttershy was overwhelmed with bewilderment, to see her tortured friend here, but looking quite fierce by his movement. "Spike?" She whimpered. Finally, the dragon stood up on his two legs, his claws scraping his head in what appeared to be in anger and pain as he howled. Frightfully, his claws sharpened as well as his tail, the dragon's body produced terrifying wings as he began to grow rapidly. His appearance was no longer from the form of a baby dragon, he looked nightmarish, grown and vicious as his eyes burned with malice. Overwhelmed by his sudden change in appearance, Fluttershy just stared into his eyes, showing nothing but fear. This fully grown, terrifying dragon blasted a roar in front of her, his mouth being ignited in flames. "Spike... Spike! It's me!" Fluttershy cried, backing away from the nightmarish dragon. Furiously, the dragon exhaled fire; shooting flames directly at her. In response, Fluttershy cowered behind her hooves, too scared to move once again. Even though the fire was directly targeted towards her, she was left unscathed, the pain did not come across her mind; she wasn't hurt. All the flames did was picture her surroundings differently, the fog was still recognised, however, the land around her was barren. Encircling her were numerous dragons, roaring and viciously growling at her. Bones and dust scattered the land like a battlefield, a sign of death and sadness had fallen upon this land. Impotent and afraid, she didn't move an inch. Her mind was commanding her to run, but her fears blocked the signal. Surprisingly, the dragons didn't attack, however, one spat fire in front of her which caused the Pegasus to fall back; retreat until a cold, rough surface connected with her back. Behind her was an ancient, deserted, dead-looking tree. It was grey and devoid of any life and beauty, but that's not what caught her attention. There were five weak branches with five nooses tied to them. Hanging there were her five friends. Twilight... Pinkie Pie... Rainbow Dash... Rarity... Applejack... They were all hanging on each branch, dangling as they hung there from the ropes. Thier bodies were lifeless; vacant; not inhabited by a single soul. Her wall of emotions came crumbling down, the tears punched her eyes as she formed a frightened expression. Her scream was silent, only now she found a way to ignore the dragons watching her, another fear is what blocked them away from her worries. Ongoing, her tears brimmed her eyes as she stared at the corpses of her friends. Inside, her heart almost stopped beating, the bones within turned cold like a statue. The sound of her desolate sobs carried on until her eyes firmly locked shut for a second, she was in for surprise. Forthwith, the moment the Pegasus' eyes opened, the withered tree had departed; ceasing to exist. However, her friends still hung in the air like a pendant. Somehow, even though she cried a river of misery while mourning the loss of her friends, she located the dauntlessness within her system. The grieving mare raised her head upwards to realise the branches took the form of fraudulent fingers as the ropes tied around the tips of the fingers. Furthermore, Fluttershy's sight followed upwards to see a colossal form of Fright glancing down at her, his hand that contained her deceased, hanging friends lifted away while the other held them into his palm, grinding them into dust, nothing more, nothing less. "You're too easy." He insulted. As the remnants of her friends crumbled down before her, all that was left was a puddle of dust. "You're frightened of everything, when you're not kind you're paranoid," Fright mocked. Fluttershy began to back away from the enemy she feared most, his detestable and disgusting face looking down at her as his eyes dripped terror. "You're afraid of dragons, changelings, monsters, losing your ability to communicate with your friends, heights, losing your friends, death. But you fear me the most, don't you?" His words harshened. "You hold back your friends because you're a coward; a pessimistic mare who constantly fails to defeat her doubts." She failed to produce words, her tongue felt knotted caused by anxiety. "You failed to stop me in Manehatten, you could have turned the tide of this conflict and rescued Spike, but you couldn't. Unlike your friends, you give into fear more easily, you allow it to take over rather than fighting it because even then, you're too scared to overcome it. You do nothing but disappoint and stagger your friends' progress, they don't need you." "Please... Stop..." She cried. His hands crawled closer to her like spiders, resting them as he continued to break her. "You know this is the truth, you entered this realm of nightmares just to prove a point to all of them because you know they look down on you. At the end of the day, you're not fighting me, you're fighting yourself. You failed to trial your terrors and now, it's time to suffer." Fright indicated. Upon hearing his signal, the dead-looking dragons breathed ink-black flames that consumed the Pegasus which enthralled her instantly. Strangely, Fluttershy wasn't burning, she was being transported to another location; another nightmare, one where she didn't have to experience it alone. Fright's tormented words twisted Fluttershy's mind, weakening her confidence. Needless to say, she was still crying, being branded as a burden and a coward. She couldn't argue, she knew what she was... "I know your fears, doubts and struggles. They plague you and soon you will crumble into the hands of horror..."