//------------------------------// // Explosive Friendship. // Story: The Ring : Seven Neighs // by Full Bloom //------------------------------// Fluttershy let the fear of the moment overtake her delicate frame. Each calculated exhale of air was ice cold as steam escaped her muzzle slowly. The demonic mare simply sat there reading from her first edition mockingly, perhaps planning to pounce forward at any given moment.  Using rotted hooves to strangle the life out of her petrified frame. Or perhaps one single gaze from the underworld itself, would engulf her mind with pure wickedness and stop her heart instantly.  This monster is heinous and full of malicious hate. The simple act of waiting for her doom that of true agony, Fluttershy began to gasp for air as her chest tightened and waves of sweat-drenched her brow. "You wouldn't happen to have any Ramen?" She gazed up from the novel with a polite tone of voice. "REGULAR OR SPICY!" Fluttershy erupted in a shockwave of fear and uncontrollable anxiety before flinging to her hooves as if possessed.  "Uhhh, spicy?" She scrunched her muzzle cutely.  Fluttershy shivered uncontrollably as she let the Ramen cook over her stove. Adding a few spices to the noodles for a bit of added flavor. The ghostly mare suddenly appeared behind her with those large empty eyes, nose sniffing the pleasant aroma emitting from around the pot. "So you're not going to kill me?" Fluttershy nearly jumped out of her coat as the mare appeared from nowhere in particular. "Wow, that's kind of harsh." The mare narrowed her eyes suspiciously to the pegasus.  Fluttershy blushed lightly as her heartbeat began to slow back to normal. "Isn't that what you do?" She quickly began to stir the noodles with a wooden spoon embarrassed. "The neighs just evoke my presence, I get summoned to appear usually during a nap." The mare yawned as a few streams of black sludge trickled down the sides of her muzzle.  "Ooops, sorry I drool when I sleep." She smacked her lips. "Oh dear, I woke you up?" Fluttershy removed the pot from atop the stove and shifted it over to the table. "Kinda, and also then dumped me into some cake which wasn't cool." The mare rolled her eyes annoyed.  Fluttershy fluttered to a high shelf to grab a few bowls with a sheepish giggle. "I'm sorry for the inconvenience, my friends and I were just telling scary stories. " She placed the bowls down on the table before filling them. "I get those a lot. Birthdays, bonfires, mostly sleepovers though. " The mare smirked as she hopped up onto a nearby chair childishly.  "Well, I'm Fluttershy, nice to meet you." "Sadmarako." She flashed a rotten grin as a leech clung to the inside of her cheek. Fluttershy let a wave of green flash across her cheeks before pushing her noodles aside. "Pretty name. Not many around here like Mangas." She giggled as she trotted to a nearby shelf covered by a cloth. "I got into them after accidentally scaring a Convention Salespony off a cliff," Sadmarako spoke between slurping as her whole muzzle was plunged into the bowl. "Would you like some chopsticks?" "Nah, why?" Sadmarako lifted her muzzle covered in orange noodles out of the bowl.  "No reason, tada!" Fluttershy tugged the cloth free from the darkness of the corner, Sadmarako looking upward in awe as her muzzle fell open and filthy mud water splashed across the table. Limited edition Mangas stacked the bookshelf impressively as more than a few were even signed by their respective creators. Hoofmade figures of protagonists were decorated upon the wooden frame each crafted with love and attention to detail. Lastly, an originally drawn manga prototype sat lovingly atop it all, no doubt a project years in the making. "No way!" Sadmarako poofed into a cloud of black smoke as she reappeared near the collection of beauty like no other. "Dragon Soul Z, Caramel ½, One Buck Mare, and My Harmony Academia!" Sadmarako was sent into shivers of excitement as her filthy hooves dared to touch a single exquisitely drawn cover. "Including the special limited edition Dragon Soul Orb replica!" Fluttershy handed a fiery blue orb to her new friend, who squealed girlishly in the excitement of the moment.  "I…don't make too many friends but I'd be honored if we could be so." Sadmarako blushed shyly as Fluttershy beamed happily ear to ear. "I'd like that." "Awesome, I could bring over my favorite Mangas and we could share ideas on arghhhh…it burns!!" Sadmarako exploded in a sludge bubble of muck and rotten slime. Fluttershy was drenched in the decay of death as her coat dripped in green ooze. "Uhhhh." She whimpered in shock and horror as a wet slug slid slowly down her forehead.  "I saved you, Fluttershy!" Rainbow Dash gasped for air breathlessly at the kitchen window as she had yanked the curtains down allowing bright sunlight to pour into the room. "She's in my mane." Fluttershy squeaked as an eyeball hung from her pink locks. "What the buck was that thing!?" Rainbow crawled into the cottage to check on her spooked friend worriedly.  "My…friend. " Fluttershy gazed to the floor in a somber gaze. Rainbow scrunched her muzzle confused as she tilted her head. "The dead zombie thing was your friend? " She snorted aloud with a few giggles unsure of how to take that information.  "It's not funny." Fluttershy pouted towards her technicolor companion.  "I'm sorry it's just she popped like a balloon, so much for an all-powerful demonic force! Guess I'm just an awesome ghost hunter!!" Rainbow flew into the living room to pose much like a heroine.  The manga on the floor flipped open before waves of black mane erupted violently from within, like horrible slime-covered tentacles they wrapped around the pegasus in mere seconds. Rainbow screamed in utter terror as she was slammed violently onto the ground, her hooves scraped the wooden floors in terror as she was dragged into the novel painfully. She gasped and screeched for air compacting in size as the mane squeezed her tight, forcibly pulling the mare into the book with a pop. All that echoed was a chilling scream of agony.  "Mm-hmm, I'm going to faint ooooh!" Fluttershy stumbled back weakly to crash into her bookshelf, stopping to regain her composure and swooning before she collapsed in the opposite direction entirely.  As she hit the floor, all went black.