//------------------------------// // Chapter 1: The Start of something weird // Story: The Death Mare // by Lunar Awesome //------------------------------// Today started off like any other day in Ponyville. The dew lined the blades of grass, the sun was peaking over the horizon, giving the atmosphere a warm feeling after the cold night. Fluttershy crept out of her little cabin to do her daily chores, outside. She thought to herself about how lovely the sun looked over the dark looming trees, giving them a thick, glowing outline of orange and yellow. How the grass felt cool and wet to the touch, as it brushed upon her hoofs when as she walked to the chicken coop. She wondered how other ponies were enjoying their mornings. The little fillies must have been waken up for school, around this time, she thought warmly. They're lucky to witness the same scenery that she is experiencing at this exact moment. Her friend Applejack is probably outside right now, bucking away at the red delicious trees right now with big Macintosh. Twilight was probably trying to awaken the small baby dragon, Spike, by shaking him ferociously with her magic. Rainbowdash would be practicing new moves to try and impress the Wonderbolts, if she ever of had the chance too. Rarity would probably be getting her beauty sleep, so she could be "fabulous", as she would say. Fluttershy chuckled at the very thought of it. PinkiePie was probably thinking of party ideas or eating Mr. and Mrs. Cake's food by the hoof full. She stopped thinking of the other ponies life's as she reached the entrance of the coop. She approached it with a basket she had been carrying in her mouth, to collect the eggs with. She arrived at the dark, gloomy entrance to find a strange sensation running through her body. A strange stillness and silence made Fluttershy curious of what was going on. Usually her feathered friends would have greeted her with a small chuckle or squawk, but no something was different. She gently put the basket on the floor. Grabbing an oil lantern, lying on a nearby shelf, so she could admit light to see what the problem was. The flame flickered as she lit it, to reveal a strange lump on the floor and the terrified chicken faces. "Now what is the pr- problem here?" she whispered shyly to the chickens. Not a single response was given so Fluttershy took actions into her own hoofs, and crept forward slowly, as though she was sneaking up on some pony. She held the lantern out above the coiled lump to see a huddle mass of what use to be a pony. Fluttershy jumped into the air with a little shriek, and scurried to the door, trying to keep the oil lantern from dropping on the wooden floor. The images raced through her mind, and seemed like they would never leave. What she saw was a corpse that appeared to be blue, but there was so much blood that it was hard to tell. It laid there with its cold dead eyes, staring endlessly into her soul. There was blood spattered against the walls, with guts that had been leaked onto the floor boards, leaving a puddle of blood on the wood. Her brain kept these images in her head making her breathe faster, and get dizzier. The images continued to flash before her very eyes and wouldn't stop. The feeling of fear and disturbance had never grown to a level this high in her whole entire life. The pony's eyes began to slide shut, and before she could run to get help, her body collapsed to the ground. She had hyperventilated, no doubt about it, over the dead corpse that laid in her chicken coop. The pony was awaken with a slight nudge and a hushed familiar voice that was calling her name. Fluttershy, Fluttershy, Fluttershy! The voice kept saying her name in a calm, distance voice as if it was calling her from a long ways away. As she started to become conscious, and the voice became louder. She started to hear more voices, like a crowd of talking and mumbling ponies. The noise became louder as she attempted to open her eyes but it seemed hopeless, as though they were locked by a tight latch. She manage to pull her light yellow eyelids apart to reveal Apple Jack. "Fluttershy, What have y'all been up to?" Apple Jack said with a very concerned face. Fluttershy was unable to speak because of the recent events. She looked up to see that a crowd had appeared over time around the chicken coop. The Royal Guards were blocking off the curious ponies from the scene of the crime with their large spears and muscular bodies. "Fluttershy?" Said the worried pony. "What happened?" Fluttershy responded with slight amount of fear in her tone "You passed out from hyperventilation the doctor said," Apple Jack replied, "he told us to wait little bit, 'til ya wake up." "Is it rea-e-ll-l-y a-a de-e-ad b-bo-ddy?" She said very startled like, while her whole body trembled. Apple Jack looked around at all the other ponies for a second and replied to the scared, yellow pony who started to bite her pink mane. "Why don't the two of us head on down to Sugar Cube Corners to get a quick bite to eat. Then we can continue our littl' conversation in a more private place. Doesn't that sound good with you?" "Okay." The scared pony replied. The two walked away, with poor little Fluttershy still staggering along. It was about another 30 minutes until they arrived at the restaurant only to be greeted by a pink bouncing pony named Pinkie Pie. "Hey guys! What's up have you heard? Pretty scary? Fluttershy you must be pretty freaked out that a savage, blood thirsty, evil, psychotic, ravage, de—" "Pinkie Pie!" Apple Jack interrupted her. "She is already scared enough!" "Is she freaked out because a savage, blood thirsty, evil, psychotic, rav—" "PINKIEPIE!" She interrupted once again. "Go get the others to meet here, we need to talk." "Okey Dokey!" She replied, and pink pony bounced away. Fluttershy had become more scared and frighten then she had ever been in her entire life, the images reappeared from this morning. Apple Jack muttered something probably about Pinkie Pie and was too distracted to notice that Fluttershy had started hyperventilating again. Apple Jack looked at Fluttershy to see the damage Pinkie Pie just caused. She noticed the pony trembling even more then before. Fluttershy eyes began to close, an her body started to tilt on her side. Apple Jack rushed to try and catch Fluttershy on her back, but fell with the fainting Pinkie Pie. –––––– Pinkie Pie was happily bouncing merrily down the dirt path to go collect the others. She didn't see any pony on her way to her first destination, Twilight house. All of shops were closed because all of the commotion at Fluttershy chicken coop. She didn't mind that all the other pony weren't roaming the streets, but she did miss the attention she would get by smiling pony that she would pass. A little ways up the road the saw a large dark figure, wearing a black cloak. The figure stopped at the sight of the pink pony. Pinkie Pie started to get a little nervous about this foreign stranger in Ponyville, how the cloaked pony stopped at the sight of her. This gave hear a sudden sense of fear that went from her head to her tail. Pinkie Pie sensed something weird about this stranger, either that or something was going to fall. A flower pot suddenly fell from a building and crashed against the hard earth bellow. Yep, she was right, something did fall. Enough of her predictions, she was more concerned about the cloaked pony now looking at the broken pot and then looking back at her. The intense stare lasted for less than 15 seconds, but for Pinkie it seemed like hours. Her heart rate started picking up and beat faster and faster. The mysterious pony took a step towards the frightened mare. Who was still paralyzed with fear. Then another step... Then another step... The another step. The figure approached Pinkie until it was in hooves reach. The figure lifted its hoof to pull back the black hood on the cloak. Slowly the hood was pulled back to reveal... To be continued...