//------------------------------// // Collapse // Story: Pony Zero: Crimson Fluttershy // by pmcollectorboy //------------------------------// Collapse Sweetie Belle found herself shoved into a small room, facing a strange, scowling pegasus filly. She found herself pushed up against one of the room's walls, the filly edging extremely close to her. "I figured you might come back, Butter Cream," the strange pegasus said. "I don't know why I put up with you. It's bad enough you've found that earth pony coltfriend." Sweetie Belle's jaw dropped as she fought for the words to say. "Who... Who are you? Why do you keep calling me Butter Cream?" "I was willing to put up with it for a while, just to humor you with you being so inferior and, well... you being what you are." As the berating came, aimed at a pony whom this stranger was mistaking for somepony else, Sweetie Belle felt like crying. "What am I?" The pegasus snapped her head and brought a hoof to her chest. Then a smile formed on her lips, and it unnerved Sweetie Belle. "Why your mother is our mother. But your father is her brother." The pegasus got close again and Sweetie Belle sniffled. "Oh don't cry. You need me, and I am here. I need you and you are here." Sweetie Belle struggled to back away as the pegasus leaned in even closer, almost as if she were aiming for a kiss. "Wha... What?" she said. "You know what you have to do. You don't feel for the boy the same way you do for me. You know you can feel the truth in your heart. You have to break up with him. Oh! Listen to that! Can you hear it?!" She heard the sound of a bell tolling slowly. "It's time for another earth pony to be sacrificed." Sweetie Belle's jaw dropped at the stranger's audacity. "You... You're sick!" "But it's for the greater good, dear sister! My happiness depends solely on the happiness of the Hell Grove! And if it's not happy, then I'm not happy. Then if I'm not happy..." She pulled back slightly, a weird crooked smile parting her lips, with an equally crooked laugh escaping her throat. "We all die." She then leaned close again. "It's really strange in a way. You're the freak of nature, and I'm the one with the curse. Does that make you happy? My happiness is your happiness. If you want him to live and be happy with me, you would break up with him." Sweetie Belle, suitably unnerved, slipped to one side of the pegasus and made a break for the door. "This is too weird," Sweetie Belle exclaimed. She darted down hallway and turned down another. She passed by a strange colt quickly running in the opposite direction, but she didn't stop or turn around. Pushing open a door, she found herself in a large courtyard. Strange red butterflies fluttered all around, filling the air. Scootaloo sat in the middle, sobbing and raging about something that puzzled Sweetie Belle and rocking back and forth as the tears flowed. "Scootaloo!" Sweetie Belle exclaimed. Scootaloo looked up, and her eyes widened as she backed away in fear. "No! You're dead! You're dead you're dead you're dead!" "Scootaloo! Snap out of it! It's me!" Sweetie Belle gave Scootaloo a light slap. Its effect was immediate as Scootaloo stopped crying, shook her head and finally noticed Sweetie Belle standing before her. "Sw-Sweetie Belle? You're alive!" Her friend tilted her head and gave her a confused look. Then, standing up, Scootaloo uttered, "Where am I? And where's Apple Bloom? What's going on?" "Apple Bloom and I got separated. I hope she's okay, but..." The two of them had to steady themselves as the earth heaved slightly, and they heard a deep rushing sound, almost resembling a dragon taking a deep breath. "I am just about sick of this place!" Sweetie Belle finished. The commotion sent the butterflies in flight, and they hurriedly made their way over to one of the courtyard's doors, the same one Scootaloo saw the procession go through. "The butterflies!" Scootaloo exclaimed, remembering her friend's words and chasing after them. "Wait! Scootaloo!" Sweetie Belle said as Scootaloo hastily departed. * * * A tremendous collision sent Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle to the floor as soon as they had bolted through the door. Upon clearing away the cobwebs and rubbing the pain in her backside, Scootaloo looked up to see what had happened. Four ponies had all blindly headed towards the same place at the same time from different directions. The two other ponies were... "Apple Bloom! Fluttershy!" Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle exclaimed in unison. After an exchange of hugs, Fluttershy smiled. Gladness filled the hearts of the three fillies to know that their friend was safe and sound. "Hello there girls," Fluttershy cooed. "It's not safe here. You should all go hide. There's something I have to do first." "But..." Scootaloo started, her heart fluttering with anxiety over the thought that Fluttershy would leave them again so soon after they had found her. Fluttershy motioned towards a stack of crates piled up against one wall of the tunnel they had found themselves in. She then frowned when another heaving afflicted the ground. "Go hide!" she exclaimed firmly. Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom did as they were told, hiding inside the crates, but Scootaloo frowned as she watched Fluttershy walk away. Scootaloo wasn't about to let Fluttershy go alone when something big was about to go down. She secretly followed the yellow pegasus mare, much to the anger of Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom, but the two of them couldn't chase her in time, stuck as they were inside their hiding spots. Scootaloo followed Fluttershy down the tunnel, trailing slightly behind her to avoid being seen. When they exited the tunnel, Scootaloo stumbled backwards upon spotting a terrifying scene. Fluttershy, however, calmly kept walking forwards. Before them seemed to be a grove of twisted, pitch black trees. Their branches reached like the arms of skeletons over an impossibly large pit, which seemed to expel writhing shadows and blasts of air. On the ends of the branches of each of the trees around the pit hung what appeared to be nooses and other restraints made of rope. Most horrifying of all to Scootaloo was that the ropes appeared to move on their own. In front of the pit stood the horrible white pegasus Scootaloo saw in her dreams. The white pegasus' pitch black hair dangled down in front of her face, obscuring her eyes. Fluttershy boldly stepped forward a couple steps. "Whatever happened to you in the past, it's not your fault," Fluttershy said. "It's nobody's fault. It's not the earth ponies' fault. Please stop causing so much misery. Everything's going to be all right." A chilling cackle echoed throughout the grove. "You seem a bit of earth pony yourself. Perhaps you'd like to join them." Scootaloo darted forward. "Fluttershy, be careful!" Fluttershy whipped her head back towards Scootaloo and a mass of writhing shadows surged forward from the pit and plunged into Fluttershy, knocking her up against the tunnel wall. She fell to the ground, limp as a rag doll. "Fluttershy!" Scootaloo hurried over to where Fluttershy lay, only to discover her unresponsive. She closed her eyes as tears streamed from them, and an uncontrollable anger welled up inside her. "You!" she exclaimed, rage sending the blood vessels in her eyes to near bursting. "Mother! Stop!" Scootaloo looked up and saw a strange pegasus filly that looked remarkably like her. She didn't care if there was another filly there, though. Her anger still burned inside her, and she would get it out even if it killed her. "Butter Cream is dead!" "My friend is dead!" "It's over, mother! I..." "Can't go on like this!" "What's the use? I'm tired of this madness! Why don't I just kill..." "Myself and take you with me?!" "You did this to me!" "You did this to her!" "It's all your fault and..." "I..." "Will..." "NEVER FORGIVE YOU!" The rumbling of the earth intensified to earthquake levels, causing the strange filly and Scootaloo to pitch to their sides and stumble around. Then, much to Scootaloo's surprise, Fluttershy flew over the tops of their heads and landed in between them and the white pegasus mare. Fluttershy then took a deep breath, drew herself up, and opened her eyes wide into her famous "stare". The white mare, shocked into submission, stumbled backwards and fell into the pit. She screamed as she fell, but it seemed she wouldn't go down without a fight. Several of the pieces of rope reached out and dragged Scootaloo and the other filly into the pit as well. Thinking fast, Fluttershy darted into the pit to attempt a rescue. They had already fallen far by the time she reached them, and she wasn't sure she would have the strength to fly the both of them back towards the surface once she grabbed them. The shadows swirled around them, filling her with dread and sadness and thoughts of wickedness. Somehow, though, she managed to dig in deep and find confidence in herself. She reached out and grabbed the two fillies and powered her wings to flap, using every once of strength she had to flap towards the surface. She then found her feet touch the ground, and she released the two children and fell forward, breathing a sigh of relief. The shaking of the earth reached a feverish pitch. Scootaloo reached out and shook Fluttershy. "Fluttershy, stand up! We have to get out of here! This whole place is collapsing!" Fluttershy slowly got to her feet, gave the two kids a quick glance, and then nodded. "I think you're right." The three of them hurried towards the tunnel, and Fluttershy gathered up Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle before they all made a hasty retreat towards the mansion's entrance.