My Little Minecraft: At the End

by Journeyman


Chapter 13: I've Got My Eyes on You

Chapter 13: I’ve Got My Eyes on You

Fluttershy stood in the library doorway, watching the dark clouds above. She was not often emboldened to fly home on her own while in the midst of a thunderstorm. She had made it a priority to keep tabs on the weather team’s schedule for storms to avoid them entirely, but there were occasional instances where she had to brave them, like today.

Ponyville was as much her home as it was Twilight’s, and Fluttershy was more than willing to brave a storm to help out. She had played her part, now it was up to Twilight to put the pieces together.

Boom!

“Eep!” That still didn’t mean she had to like storms, though. She especially did not like loud and very close thunderclaps.

Fluttershy was very tempted to fly back. Sure, she’d get wet, but the less time in the storm, the better. However, even a novice flyer would know to never fly in a thunderstorm. Fluttershy’s mind was settled then; she would walk, even if it tacked on another twenty minutes.

Fluttershy bit her lip as she walked. Her umbrella was taking a beating, but still held, thank Celestia. For a brief moment, she was tempted to return to Twilight’s house.

“No, I still need to feed the animals,” she said to herself. Fluttershy did not expect to be out so late, so she had not made preparations for the various animals staying in her cottage. Like it or not, she needed to head back and take care of her charges.

Water had pooled in the dips in Ponyville’s cobblestone roads, which tacked on even more time for Fluttershy to avoid them. “No need to get my saddlebags wet.” The streets lights fought the darkness brought on by Luna’s night and the relentless onslaught of rain. The lights cast shadows in the alleys between buildings that hid much and promised little. Fluttershy never liked the dark.

Walking alone unnerved Fluttershy even more, however. For a brief moment, a section of cobblestone flashed with light and darkened.

“Ah!” Fluttershy squeaked. She looked up and, upon seeing the light post, sighed, “It’s just a reflection in water, Fluttershy. Stop being such a scaredy pony.”

The tension in the back of her mind did not vacate her. Every step seemed to increase the steadily-growing nervous feeling creeping up her spine. Lights flickered and darkness swayed. The storm didn’t help either. Her wings kept twitching with the instinct to fly home and escape the source of her fear, but that was still not an option.

Further she walked, listening to the rain pelt her umbrella and the thunder rage above. She recalled the soldiers she had seen just that afternoon. “What could be so important that ponies would fly in a storm this bad?” Fluttershy wondered. Had something happened that required haste that soldiers would risk a lightning strike? The air was saturated with the aura of thunderstorm; every breath brought in moist air and tingled the back of her throat with the air’s magnetic charge.

Whatever the reason they left, it was something to think about at another point in time. Fluttershy passed the post office and Ponyville Town Hall; she was halfway through town... but the shadows worried her.

The dark felt unnatural, even with the severity of the weather. The light posts seemed to fight the darkness encroaching on Fluttershy. Every flicker of magic or fire in them dimmed as she passed. The shadows approached Fluttershy, coming closer and closer and –

“Stop it, Fluttershy,” The mare chided to herself. Worrying about what she could not control and jumping at every shadow would get her nowhere. Her words were meant to encourage herself.

That didn’t mean it would work.

Fluttershy shuddered with cold. It felt like somepony slipped a cold hoof across her spine, making her shiver and her fur stand on end; she could not shake the itch in her shoulders telling her she was being watched. Fluttershy quickened her pace to a canter and moved on. It was already an unpleasant night; she’d need to nurture some fireplace coals when she returned to her cottage.

She stopped by Bon Bon’s bakery display window for a moment to shake off some of the water that managed to collect on her fur. She did not mind the sensation, but it her situation felt unpleasant enough as it was without the feeling of rivulets running down her back.

Fluttershy froze. Out of the corner of her eye, her reflection turned and stared at her. She stopped breathing. It did not move.

Staring. Watching. Waiting. Listening. Learning.

Slowly, as slow as she possibly could, Fluttershy turned her head towards the window. Her reflection did not move in the slightest. Fluttershy saw the wooden border framing the window. A little further, and she saw a sign depicting some of her freshly baked fudge bars stuffed with nuts. Then there was empty plates that would brandish tasty treats for all to enjoy.

She gazed upon her reflection, and it gazed back. The two just stared at each other for a few moments and did absolutely nothing.

Experimenting a little, Fluttershy shifted her head to the left. Her reflection did nothing. She shifted to the right. Again, her reflection did nothing. Fluttershy wasn’t sure what to do.

It smiled.

Fluttershy turned and galloped down the street, making no effort to avoid any puddles of water with the same care she had only just taken. The shadows started snuffing out the lights one by one, darkening the streets as she she ran. The darkness was following her.

Fluttershy skidded to a stop. In front of her was a wall of solid black. Not shadows, not darkness, but an absolute void. She turned ninety degrees and ran down the alleyway and let out a whimper of fear once she discovered it was a dead end.

Fluttershy quickly scanned the alley; it contained nothing but the refuse and garbage of the adjacent buildings. Judging by the rotten food and discarded napkins shoved into some of the trash bins, she was next to a restaurant, but that fact would not calm her beating heart. There was nothing else other than some discarded newspapers, several large trash bags bulging out of a dumpster and...

A lone lantern lying in the middle of the alley.

Fluttershy tilted her head in confusion and approached the lantern. It looked like it had leftover oil, so that was good. What was it doing in a random alley? Fluttershy didn’t question her fortune. The wick was engorged with oil, so Fluttershy just hit the lantern’s striker and lit the wick, filling the alley with a rich, yellow light.

Fluttershy picked up the lantern handle with her teeth and turned around–

And came face to face with a pair of eyes. There was some... creature enshrouded in darkness staring right back at her. It vaguely resembled a pony, but its form kept shifting and moving with the slightest wind that funneled through the alley.

But the creatures eyes were exactly like a pony’s. Cyan eyes, just like hers.

“Stay in the light...”

Fluttershy panicked and ran around the strange shadow pony and reentered the cobblestone street.

And everything was fine. The lights were working correctly, the moving shadows were gone, and all seemed normal. Fluttershy gave a shiver and coughed with the lantern still in her mouth. Her heart was beating rapidly and she struggled to control her breathing, but she needed to check. She needed to check for herself, give herself a little peace of mind.

She turned and examined the alley she exited; it was as empty of life as it could be.

Fluttershy gave a great sigh of relief and started panting to catch the breath she didn’t realize she lost. Even with the rain shaken from her coat, her body was still cated in a sheen of liquid; she had been sweating from fear and exertion for the past several minutes. The strangeness of her situation, the unobtrusive appearance of the shadow pony, it was all putting heavy strain on the poor, timid pony’s nerves and body.

But she had a lantern now. ‘Why was there a lantern there? And what did that pony mean?’

‘Stay in the light.’ What did that mean? Was the pony just giving her a light source to ease her fear? There seemed no other reason a lantern would be in a random alley.

Fluttershy’s breathing calmed to manageable levels. She had a lantern now. She could do this.

Boom! 

“Eep!” Perhaps she could go to Rainbow Dash’s sky home. That would be closer. Fluttershy had always been afraid of thunder as much as she was afraid of the dark.

Fluttershy set off at a brisk trot. The street lights emitted a respectable amount of light, but having her own source gave her courage a boost. The lantern’s light was a comforting and warming presence, especially for one as cowardly as Fluttershy.

Rainbow Dash’s house was closer, but that involved leaving the roads early. Rainbow Dash flew everywhere she needed, so she was never too particular to have roads near her house. It was the unfortunate choice to leave the brightly lit Ponyville side streets and trot out onto the grass, exiting Ponyville proper and entering the outskirts. That meant less ponies and buildings and a clearer line of sight, but in return, offered less opportunities to call for help.

Fluttershy wished she could call for help, or at least go to another pony’s house. Wherever she looked, something... lingered. It was unlike the vanishing lights that accompanied her only moments before. Encircling her in every direction, shifting with every step she took, shadows lurked in the corners of her vision.

And they were moving.

“Please no...” Fluttershy pleaded no pony in particular. The darkness appeared as a thick, black mist that consumed every iota of light behind it.

Fluttershy began to gallop once more to Rainbow Dash’s house. Even if the pegasus was not there to open the door, Rainbow Dash had given her a key long ago.

Her self-preservation instincts took over and she spread her wings. Normally, her wings locked themselves to her sides when she was confronted by even the slightest startle or threat, but the shadow pony and encroaching fog overroad her mental block.

Her wings opened and flapped, creating a cushion of air to help her fly. It also had the side effect of dimming her lantern wick. The light shuddered and died from the rush of air.

 She set down on the saturated, grassy earth. “No no no no no no no!” The instant her wick went out, the shadows rushed towards her position. She frantically hit the striker on the side of the lantern. The first time, nothing but a spark. Then another spark.

On the third try, the lantern came alive with inviting light. The shadows stopped their advance on the mare in a circle thirty feet in diameter. It was enough to see where she was going and her current direction.

Still, she couldn’t help but be fascinated at the source of her fears.

“Pretty...” The particles in the shadows sparkled and dulled at random intervals, giving the entire black expanse a look of ethereal beauty similar to Will-o'-the-Wisps that occupy the Everfree Forest.

Thump! Thump!

Fluttershy’s heart leapt; there was another pony nearby! Walking right to her, no less.

But there wasn’t only a moment ago before the mist advanced. Fluttershy’s heart dropped into a pit in her stomach. What was it then? The shadow pony? Even if the shadow pony was helping her, it was too scary for her to want to meet it again.

Fluttershy trotted forth a few steps, took off her umbrella, and wormed her way into a hedge to hide. Encircling her lantern with a wing to block out the protruding light, she held her breath and didn’t make a noise.

Thump! Thump!

Fluttershy noticed something strange about the steps. A pony’s steps came in pairs, but this one did not. A single leg for every step forward. Her heart dropped even further; the creature from the portal had two legs. She didn’t want to meet that thing even more than the shadow pony.

Thump! Thump!

She could hear the creature coming closer. Not a breath, not a sound.

Thump! Thump! Th-Thump!

It had stopped right next to her hiding place. The fog had not moved since she kept her lantern lit, but the intertwining vines, leaves, and petals hid almost everything from sight. Only a few pinpricks between the obstruction let her see beyond the confines of the shrub, but her lantern-bleached eyes and the darkness created by the shifting mist made discerning anything utterly impossible.

Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump!

She could hear the creature, whatever it was, walk away. Fluttershy counted to ten after she could no longer hear the steps and exhaled the breath she had been holding. That had been an unpleasant experience.

Fluttershy backed out of the shrub and shook off the water that had been drizzling down her neck and back. She dragged the lantern and the umbrella out of the bush. The light was still burning strong; that was good. It looked like there was enough oil to get her back to her house if needed, but her mind was still set on Rainbow’s cloud home. She hoped Rainbow wouldn’t mind her bags being soaked due to the deluge while hiding in the bush, but that was a price to pay. Fluttershy grabbed the umbrella with her teeth and turned to attach it to her saddle.

Fluttershy froze once again. She knew what she was seeing, but her conscious mind could not keep up.

Eyes. Eyes attached to a bipedal creature over twice her height. A pair of glowing eyes looking directly back at her.

Not pony eyes. Alien eyes.

Fluttershy turned and ran.

Her mind was frantic with fear, misplaced or not. Her hooves clopped against the ground with every gallop. She had left the lantern and umbrella, but she did not care. Escape. That was her concern. She was close to Rainbow’s house as it was.

The mist flooded Fluttershy’s vision like some great, dark breaker wave. Her wings spread and she took to the skies, blinded by sheer terror and fear. She couldn’t help it and looked back.

It was right behind her. Right in her face. The creature was either inequinely fast or had used magic to teleport. She did not care. Fear. Escape. It was right behind her.

Following.

The shadows clung to her, but slowly burned off as she made her way upwards.

Flash! Boom!

Fluttershy was nearly knocked out of the sky with the proximity of the thunderclap; it had to have been within a mile.

Upwards she flew, through the black mist clinging to her body. For just a moment, she swore she felt a pressure from the mist dragging her back down. It did not last, for the light started bleeding through the shadows.

Rainbow Dash had her lights on. She was home already.

The closer she came to the cloud home, the more the shadows dissolved in the presence of light. Sweet, merciful light.

She quickly found the front door and wrenched it open.

“Who’s that? I have a knocker, you know!” A voice called from the adjacent room. Rainbow Dash, mane and tail, soaked and plastered to her body, walked into the cloudy door arch. Fluttershy had never been so happy to see the mare.

“Fluttershy! I just heard from Great Scott that some ponies and Princess Celestia are going back to Canterlot. Something about an attack. Can you believe it – Fluttershy? Are you alright? Why are you cryi – ACK!”

Fluttershy had tackled Rainbow Dash, nuzzling her neck and holding her in a death grip.

“Fluttershy, if you want to come over, all you had to do was ask.” Rainbow put her hooves around her friend and attempted to push her off.

“No! No! Please... just... stay here.” Fluttershy whimpered. Rainbow could do nothing as her friend cried into her chest. Rainbow looked out the window and saw nothing but Ponyville and the black expanse of the storm above. She didn’t see anything abnormal or any monster from the Everfree; was Fluttershy that scared of the storm? A fragment of guilt slipped into her mind due to leaving Fluttershy to her own devices so soon after Twilight’s meeting.

There was little else Rainbow could do to help the frightened pony. Fluttershy whimpered and sniffed, and Rainbow stroked her back and mane, letting her release whatever sadness and fear she had accumulated. The two remained on the floor, one weeping and vulnerable, the other doing all she could to comfort a distressed friend.


Minecraft/MLP:FIM crossover.
Chapter: Commentary: LINK
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Edited by: Wolfmaster1337, Material Defender, Cor Thunder, Deathscar