There was something wrong with the trees.
Fluttershy was a pegasus, not an earth pony, and her mark was for animals, not plants. Many ponies like her would only ever see a tree from above, their concept of a forest being the view below them as they flew over a sea of green. She could recognize an apple tree by virtue of constant exposure, could pick out a few more types common to the area around Ponyville, and that was where her knowledge began and ended. Yet, some part of her, a deep instinct, knew that something was off. In the hue of the bark, the shape of the branches, the movements of the leaves...
There was no breeze. The leaves shouldn't be moving.
Fluttershy tried to gauge Zecora's reaction, if she seemed to notice something was wrong too, but it was hard. Even as one of the ponies closest to her, there were ways that her body language was still murky to read. She was tense, but her gaze was still sweeping the surroundings in search of Harry, and Fluttershy couldn't tell for sure what any little twitch of muscle beneath the striped coat meant.
Zecora stopped, her ears twitching, and for a moment, Fluttershy thought she may have heard something, and rotated her own ears in hope of catching it too.
The cawing sounded like it was getting closer.
She couldn't hear any other animals at all.
But rather than report a sound, she looked to Fluttershy and asked, "Remind me, dear friend, we were led this far to what end?"
"I..."
She blinked, and for the first time really thought about why she was here. Harry had needed...
Had needed...
"I... don't remember either." Fluttershy's soft voice started to quiver, her body following suit, and she looked around. "I don't see the path anymore." She couldn't remember when she'd last seen the path. "Do you know the way back?"
Zecora shook her head. "The Everfree may be my home, but this is a place within I have not roamed."
The caw turned to a screech, twisted and distorted like claws tearing down a chalkboard.
What descended was not a bird. As the thing towered over pony and zebra alike, most of the body looked indistinct, with the only things that looked solid being the edges of tattered wings, twisted and gnarled claws, and a skull-like head with purple light pouring from its sockets. It was more like something had taken rotting, blackened wood, burning smoke, and discarded feathers and tried to craft something that resembled a bird from the pieces, and the sickening scent of rotten flesh rolled off the creature in a torrent.
no not creature not real not true
not animal not flesh not alive
figment falsehood
will without life
The plants that had been around its miasmic body blackened and shriveled, and she backed away from the wisps of purple that floated on the air as it tried to breathe its rot at her.
magic tainted broken warped
poison decay sickness death
wants to spread
Then a potion bottle went hurling through the air, striking in the middle of what could have been a torso. "Keep back, unnatural beast! On us, you will not feast!"
A flash of green erupted as the glass shattered, and another screech tore through the air as branch-like claws tore through the air. The not-bird writhing in something that may have been pain was the last thing Fluttershy saw before Zecora's shoulder slammed into her, urging her to turn away and run.
Her hooves didn't stop until she could taste fresh air, and could no longer hear the screams.
If they weren't lost before, the blind run through the woods would have ensured that they were now. When it finally felt safe enough to stop and catch their breath, both looked around, but there were simply trees in every direction, dots of silver moonlight filtering through the canopy.
Moonlight? Hadn't it just been sunlight...?
How long had they been out here?
Everything felt off-kilter, and Fluttershy wasn't sure she could blame that purely on the exertion from running for her life. She looked to Zecora, and felt the urge to cling to her and not let go. She was the one solid, real thing when everything else felt distorted, like if she looked at a branch, a leaf, or a stone too long it would start to unravel and look more like the bird-shaped thing.
She made her way over on unsteady hooves, and opened her wing to drape it across Zecora's back. She stiffened, briefly, at the contact, and then slowly leaned in. The two mares stood like that, two figures in the silent moonlight, until Fluttershy found herself softly asking, "Are... are we even... still in the Everfree?"
Silence, for a time, and then Zecora's head sank. "I don't know."
Fluttershy waited for the second half of the rhyme, and it never came. But after several silent breaths, she started to hear something else.
Distant speech.
It was in no language either understood, but it unmistakably was speech, the voices rising and falling in the cadence of conversation. It was the first sound since the not-bird they'd heard, and so they'd both decided, simultaneously, to follow. Where there was speech, there was something intelligent, and potential sapients meant potential help.
As they walked, the endless trees started to thin, and the light that flowed from between the trunks was... warm. A soft blue-green, she could see glimpses of the glow as the voices shifted from conversation to the rhythm of a chant, and something about it calmed her every time it met her eyes. It felt earthly, felt welcoming...
Almost as if it were calling her home.
She wanted so badly to go home.
As the trees continued to thin, the source of the glow showed itself. A clearing opened up, and within were several stones that towered at least three times a pony's height. The glow came from them, pulsing in time with the voices of the creatures within the circle of stones.
"Oh... they look like deer," Fluttershy breathed as she watched the antlered figures swaying to and fro. "A... little bit like deer," she amended as she noticed the bipeds' forehooves, split into a crude set of what looked like stubby fingers. She glanced at Zecora, who was staring hard at the center of the strange gathering. "Maybe they can help us?"
Zecora shook her head. "While they may resemble deer, something tells me we may have reason to fear."
The motion sent light shining off Zecora's earrings and dzilla, and a glint of gold cut through blue-green. One of the figures turned a masked head toward them, and that was when Fluttershy smelled the blood of the limp, furred something it was holding, along with the knife in its other hoof-hand.
no eyes through the holes no muzzle under the mask
no face no face NO FACE
ᴛⷮнⷩEͤY CͨAͣN S͛EͤEͤ MⷨEͤ
By the time that Fluttershy came back to her senses, her wings were open, soaring at speeds she often forgot she could reach, and her legs were all pressed to Zecora's barrel in a pressure carry, lifting the larger mare with strength borne of desperation and sheer terror.
Or maybe more than that.
magic called
magic wanted
i'm here for a reason
why did i come here why can't i remember
Fluttershy slowed into a hover, and carefully lowered to the ground, making sure that Zecora had all four hooves underneath herself before she let go. Then she unceremoniously dropped to the ground, trying to catch her breath and trembling in the aftereffects of adrenaline.
She looked up, and thought she saw bruises forming beneath the places where the white fur most easily showed it. "I'm sorry... did I hurt you...?"
Zecora shook her head, though it was followed by a wince. "A small price to pay." She offered a weak smile. "When you've saved the day."
Fluttershy opened her mouth, the words ready to point out that Zecora had saved them both earlier, and so she was just returning the favour. Then a sound left her falling silent, and perking her ears. Zecora briefly looked confused, and then her ears perked too, as she heard it.
The grunts and growls of a bear.