//------------------------------//
// Chapter 3 
// Story: The Slender Pony 
// by The Poet of Silence 
//------------------------------//

“I’ve got to have something in here somewhere!” Twilight said as her and Fluttershy neared their third hour of looking through her extensive library. “Are you sure that you have a book on mysterious bird migrations?” Fluttershy inquired. “Well, maybe not that exactly, but I am almost positive that I have a book on something similar to that,” Twilight replied.

“Spike, any luck on your end?” twilight asked. Spike the dragon stuck his small purple head over the balcony. “Nothing, Twilight. Can I just say, that whenever we re-arrange your library, I have never once seen a book on anything relating to ‘mysterious bird migrations’,” Spike said as he nibbled a sapphire. 

“There’s got to be something, I just know it!” Twilight muttered under her breath as she shelved a book. She moved a book to the side. “Fluttershy, find anything?” “No, Twilight,” Fluttershy responded as she flew up and gave a book to Spike for re-shelving. 

Twilight descended her ladder and flopped onto the floor. Her head rested against the cool wood as her aching hooves seemed to stop working. Fluttershy sighed and sat down next to her friend. “You know, maybe this is the first time ever that this has happened,” Fluttershy said. “That would explain why I don’t have a book on it,” Twilight grumbled. 

“Hey, guys. It may not be exactly what you’re looking for, but check this book out,” Spike called as he tossed down a rather large tome. It landed with a massive boom, which caused Fluttershy to squeal and jump. Twilight blew some dust off of the cover. “Mysterious Animal Behaviors in Nature! Fluttershy! This is what we’re looking for!” Twilight said with glee. “Yay!” Fluttershy said softly.

Twilight flipped open the book to the table of contents. “Magical salamanders, no. Raining frogs, no. Bunnies growing from trees. Weird, but not what we’re looking for,” Twilight muttered as she skimmed the page. “Find anything, Twilight? Oh, I hope this book has what we’re looking for,” Fluttershy said. “Lizards, bunnies, snakes,” Twilight read aloud. Fluttershy jumped back a little at the last animal Twilight read off. “Zebras, Mules, fish. Wow, this book is extremely disorganized,” Twilight remarked, her OCD kicking in.

“Aha! Mysterious bird behaviors!” Twilight read. Fluttershy hurried over to her friend’s side. “Well, what does it say, Twilight?” Fluttershy asked. “Hold on, I’m reading,” Twilight responded. She skimmed over the pages. “Dang it! There’s nothing in here about mysterious bird migrations, except for a few footnotes on storms created by weather ponies, and there’s nothing like that going on in Ponyville for weeks,” Twilight huffed. “Are you sure there’s nothing, Twilight?” Fluttershy asked. Twilight nodded. “I’m sure, but here. You take the book.” Twilight handed the book over to Fluttershy. “Maybe you’ll find what you need better than I can.”

“Oh, thank you so much Twilight. I will take good care of this,” Fluttershy said as she picked up the book. She leafed through a couple of pages. “Just drop it off when you’re done with it,” Twilight said as she watched Fluttershy fly out the door. “Bye, Twilight! And thanks again for letting me borrow the book,” Fluttershy called. ‘Bye Fluttershy! You’re welcome!” Twilight replied.

Night had begun to fall as Fluttershy walked to her house at the edge of Everfree forest. The trees cast long shadows over the house as Fluttershy opened the door and sat the book down on a nearby table. Fluttershy let the bag she had been carrying around all day fall from her haunch to the floor, where she then picked it up with her teeth. She carried the bag over to a hook on the wall and hung it up.

Angel, Fluttershy’s pet bunny who acted more like a roommate than a pet, hopped down the stairs and ran up to Fluttershy. “Oh, hello there Angel. What are you doing out of bed at this hour? You usually are fast asleep by now,” Fluttershy said as she stroked the rabbit’s head. Angel’s soft white fur felt familiar to Fluttershy, and it helped relieve the fears that she had about the woods at night.

Fluttershy yawned. “Well, I think I will go to bed. Goodnight, Angel!” Fluttershy said as she walked up the stairs to her bedroom. Angel hopped along behind. Fluttershy rolled her shoulders and crawled into her bed. She pulled the blanket up to her chin and rested her head on the pillow. Sleep came surprisingly fast.

Fluttershy dreamed. She dreamt that she was in Everfree forest at twilight. The sky was painted a beautiful orange, a color that reflected with brilliant intensity off of the stream that ran next to Fluttershy. Fluttershy felt a sense of peace here.

She looked to her left. Rainbow Dash and Twilight both stood there. Well, Twilight stood there, poking a flower with her hoof. Rainbow Dash was flying upside down, doing odd tricks. “Uh, Rainbow dash? Why are you flying upside down?” Fluttershy asked. The pegasus ignored Fluttershy and continued doing loops in the air.

“Twilight, do you know why she is flying upside down?” Fluttershy asked. Twilight ignored her as well. To her, prodding the small yellow flower that was growing out of the ground was more important than answering her friend’s question.

“How very odd,” Fluttershy muttered as she kicked a rock into the shallow stream with a splash. Several interesting looking fish scattered and hid under rocks as the stone sank into the water. “Oh my goodness, I am so sorry, fish!” Fluttershy exclaimed, “Please come back out. I promise not to scare you again.”

The fish did not re-appear. Fluttershy sighed and turned back to her friends.

The scenery changed. The sky was not pitch-black. No stars, no moon, no clouds, just an inky darkness. The trees had also changed. They were now black as well, from end to end. Black roots occasionally poked out from underneath the now-black ground. Black leaves fell from black branches and blended in with the black earth.

“What is this place?” Fluttershy asked, her heart rate increasing, “This doesn’t look like Everfree forest.” 

“This is your new home, Fluttershy,” the voice of Rainbow Dash called out. “R-Rainbow Dash? I-Is that you?” Fluttershy replied. There was no reply. A thick fog had begun to seep out of the ground, a grey sheet that rose to Fluttershy’s chin and blocked all view of the ground. 

“We all belong here,” the voice of Twilight called. “Twilight! Are you there?” Fluttershy nearly screamed. The sound of her heart racing nearly blocked out the sound of Twilight’s reply. “We are all here, Fluttershy,” Twilight’s voice replied.

From the mist emerged two ponies: one Rainbow Dash, who was flying a bit off the ground, and the other was Twilight. The colors on their manes and bodies had been muted considerably, to the point where they were almost completely grey.

“What happened to you guys?” Fluttershy asked, bowing her head slightly in fear. “We are alright, Fluttershy,” the ponies replied in unison, “And soon, you shall be as well.” They began circling Fluttershy. Fluttershy noticed that their cutie marks had changed: they now both bore a circle with an X drown though it on their flanks. Their eyes had changed as well: they were simply black voids.

As Fluttershy watched, black tentacles began emerging from the eyes of her friends. “Oh my goodness!” Fluttershy gasped, her breathing increasing rapidly. The tentacles began extending from the empty eye-voids and reached towards Fluttershy. One of them dragged itself across her snout. Fluttershy squeaked in fear.

“Join us,” Dash and Twilight said in unison, their voices blending with another, sexless voice. “Join,” the three voices repeated.

Fluttershy awoke in a cold sweat. She screamed and thrashed in her bed, throwing the blanket off herself. As she squirmed, she managed to roll off of her bed and land on the wooden floor, hard. She laid there for several minutes, not moving, feeling an unusual and completely foreign chill sweep over her body. 

When she did rise, Fluttershy noticed that it was morning outside. Several birds were chirping in the distance, but Fluttershy couldn’t notice them. For now that the chill had passed, another feeling overcame the mare. She held a foreleg to her mouth and ran to the bushes outside her house. There, she vomited.