“"I can make all your troubles go away, Fluttershy," a voice called from the darkness of the forest.” Just… come to me. You will find peace in me." Fluttershy’s eyes widened. The voice was sexless, lacking male or female attributes. There was an incredible charisma to the voice, and it seemed to soothe Fluttershy’s worst fears.
Fluttershy felt the terror of the hallucinations ease away. It was replaced by a burning desire that filled her from her hooves to the tip of her tail. She wanted to find the mysterious voice. She wanted it to end her fears, to show her peace. For a moment, she wondered if the voice as Discord, since both the voice and Discord had a way of talking that could twist and bend the will of the one who it was addressing, but Fluttershy dismissed the notion. Discord was still a statue, in the gardens at Canterlot, imprisoned by Fluttershy and her friends.
She took one step forward. “Yes, that’s it. Come closer,” the voice said. Fluttershy felt a smile rise to her lips. Yes, yes she would come closer. She would find solace in this voice. Her footsteps were muffled by the spongy forest floor as she left the clearing. Dash groaned and tried to get up, but only managed to fall back down again. Fluttershy paid her no mind; she merely walked on, eyes forward.
After five minutes of walking, Fluttershy noticed that there was a mist growing, rising higher and higher as she moved towards where the voice was guiding her. It started off as a light sheet of grey carpeting the ground, not even an inch thick. But as she got closer and closer, it grew, to the point where Fluttershy was walking through walls of fog as high as the trees.
Fluttershy stopped, facing a wall of grey fog that stretched fifty feet in the air. She noticed that she could see her breath as she stared blankly into the fog. “You have come,” the voice said simply. Fluttershy did not reply. Black tentacles began creeping out from under the fog. “Many have come before you,” the voice continued. The black tentacles extended and groped at Fluttershy. Her mind was clouded, however. She neither saw nor felt anything, save for the burning desire to be united with the voice.
“Fluttershy!” Dash’s voice ripped Fluttershy back to reality. She shook her head, and saw the black tentacles that were almost wrapping themselves around her legs. “Dash!” Fluttershy screamed. She reared up and stomped down upon a tentacle with all her strength. The appendage melted into shadow as Fluttershy’s hooves made contact.
“Don’t fight,” the voice crooned, “You’ll only tire yourself. It would be so much easier if you just give in. Let yourself fall into my Void.” Fluttershy felt the darkness in her mind try to take hold again. She clenched her eyes shut and muttered, “No.”
The voice was silent. Never had this happened, in all its long life. “I will NOT go with you!” Fluttershy yelled, glaring daggers into the fog. “It was never optional,” the voice hissed. Fluttershy picked up a stick in her mouth, and brandished it like a sword. “Put that away,” the voice roared. It had lost all of the previous charm and charisma, and was now distorted, demonic roar.
Dash burst through the fog and saw Fluttershy holding a stick and waving it at a wall of fog. “Fluttershy! Are you alright?” Dash asked as she checked her friend for injuries. “Man, Fluttershy! You really got me good,” Dash said as she rubbed her sore jaw. “I-I did?” Fluttershy asked, her eyes never leaving the fog in front of her. “Yeah. You were going all crazy and stuff, so I tried to hold you down, so you don’t hurt yourself, you know? Anyway, when I tried to grab you, you bucked me real good. Took me a couple minutes to stand up after that!" Dash exclaimed.
“Dash, I need you to follow me,” Fluttershy said, steely resolve in her voice. Dash was taken aback. ‘Umm, alright. Is this about the cockatrice?” she asked. “No no no, I… I just need you to follow me. That’s all,” Fluttershy said. She walked into the fog in front of her, Dash right behind her. The world seemed to change behind the fog curtain. The shadows were darker, the colors not as bright, the sounds more muted. Trees seemed to go up taller than usual.
“Don’t get lost,” Fluttershy said. “You know, it’s usually ME telling YOU not to get lost. Who are you and what have you done with Fluttershy?” Dash joked. Fluttershy smiled sweetly and kept walking. She noticed that the animals in this area of the forest, if there were any to begin with, were silent. There were no noised besides the faint crunch of wet leaves being squished underhoof and Fluttershy’s thundering heartbeat, both of which were incredibly loud in Fluttershy’s ears.
It made a mistake. For so long, it had believe itself to be all powerful, omnipotent even. For millennia it had stalked the dark woods, invading the recesses of the minds of the ponies that it chose, lured them into the forest, and took them. For centuries this had worked.
But it had not fed in decades, not since two foals had wandered into the forest of their own accord. They had been ripe for the picking. For as long as it could remember, it had stalked mostly the young, or even the elderly at times, for they were the easiest prey. Every hunter, every predator knew that.
This… This small pony had defied it; defied its sheer force of will. Oh how it had raged at seeing the yellow pony escape from its mental hold, and how it had nearly murdered the pony where she stood when she defied it of her own free will. How it looked forward to ripping the pony’s insides out. It loved the idea of plunging its tentacles into her eyes, finding her brain, and squeezing.
But no, that would wait. For this pony was different: she was the bearer of the Element of Kindness. The inborn power of Friendship Magic was stronger in this one. It watched the yellow pony, accompanied by the blue pony; tread further into its domain. Yes, she would be broken. She would use this blue pony, this “Dash”, against the yellow pony. And she would break.
But it was hungry. The long decades of stalking through the forest, searching for stray ponies, had left it weak. It needed food. If it was going to spare the blue and yellow ponies before it, it would have to leave the forest and stalk again. For the moment, it would have others, other creatures that dwelt in the darkness stalk the two ponies below. It would find food, and when its strength was returned in full, it would slaughter.