Fluttershy felt no less scared her second time going through one of the mystery portals. I wonder, am I even more scared because I could have not gone in this time? I suppose it doesn't matter. She was a little thankful the portal had at least been exactly the same as the last time, so far.
Fluttershy did her best not to dwell on it. Still, at first, new thoughts had paraded through her head about what may happen, such as her disappearing forever or never escaping.
With so much time to herself—at least it seemed like a long time—Fluttershy used it to reinforce in her head that the portal had to lead somewhere. I just hope that it's home... she thought fearfully. In her heart, she knew that wherever it was taking her, eventually she would get home.
The shifting colors still made Fluttershy sick to her stomach, so her eyes kept themselves shut tight as she tumbled in the nothingness. Why does this take so long to get to wherever they’re going?... Or is it all in my head? The surroundings didn’t quite feel right to her, as if the world and all the air around her was different somehow. It somehow managed to feel thick, and not at the same time. It’s a bit like the dream with Luna, actually. I wonder, is any of this even real? The thought made her think about what real even was, which wasn't typically the sort of thing she thought about. Oh, where's Twilight when you need her? I am so... helpless.
Fluttershy sniffed and hugged Root tightly to herself, unable to speak to him in the strange place they found themselves. He was her only sure sign that real was still real, in a way.
It came suddenly, whatever forces controlling the portal stopped without any real warning. The only sign that anything had changed was the sudden sound of rain, and the feeling of a natural, cool wind.
Fluttershy opened her eyes and blinked several times; the sky was above. She felt Root, still clinging to her leg, while her body was unmistakably sprawled out on its back. The clouds overhead were grey, and rain water began to trickle and splash onto her face. She stared up a moment, mouth opening in her delirium to speak, but hesitated. Her head felt dizzy, or stuffed with hay.
She forced herself to lean up a little and look around, despite her eye's desire to shut. “I guess we’re here, Root," she mumbled weakly, her throat dry.
The fox-squirrel let go of her leg and hopped onto her stomach to look down at Fluttershy. He sneezed, then wrinkled his nose, and appeared no worse for wear from the ordeal.
Fluttershy cleared her throat to speak. "Oh my, don't catch a cold now." She managed to laugh in relief while sitting up. She was happy to be out of the portal, and made optimistic by all of the trees surrounding her. With luck, she hoped, they were a sign of home.
Root hopped from his perch atop Fluttershy, then ran in a double circle around her, before stopping to sit and wait nearby.
More relief washed over Fluttershy at seeing his spirited condition. Her smile lasted until realization crept in that it was raining very heavily. Both her own fur and Root's were quickly becoming matted and sopping wet.
"It's raining, of course, and night time, too." Fluttershy made a cross between a whimper and a groan. Her hooves took her as far as a thicker part of the forest canopy before she stopped again, looking around.
"But did I make it back?" Fluttershy wondered aloud. She got no answer from anypony while looking around at her surroundings. "Wait here, Root." She took a couple of deep breaths and shot up into the air, the rain and wind was working against her wings, but she held her upwards course.
Fluttershy breached the leaves and branches, shooting up above the forest gracefully. She hung there, flapping just hard enough to stay aloft, her eyes taking in everything they could. I don't recognize these trees. The stars weren't out, it was too cloudy. The clouds seemed wrong, too. This doesn’t look familiar at all... In the distance were buildings, but they looked like none she had ever seen before, either. Things aren't looking very... good.
Fluttershy spun once more in the air, carefully searching the sky and land around her, hoping to see a pegasus, or even a dragon. Something familiar would be fine, anything. As she scanned, she noticed both the weather and nature felt different. For instance the clouds here were incredibly high up.
A pegasus was in tune with nature and Harmony, even one that wasn't expressly talented with it like her. Still, it wouldn't take a pegasus to recognize how much colder the rain was than back in Ponyville. Or anywhere, for that matter, she imagined.
Fluttershy realized the feeling of oddness she had noticed was familiar. This new place felt like the world she had left behind.
Despairingly, she lowered herself from the sky and spiraled back down towards her friend. At least this place has clouds. And water. And no humans... Her hooves landed on the forest ground with a muddy splash.
Fluttershy panted, not tired, but anxious. She spoke quickly to Root, already galloping in a random direction. “We should get out of this rain. Follow me, stay close, now.”
The little critter turned his head chittering, and followed after the pony into the forest.
At first, Fluttershy galloped quickly to find cover from the weather. With the weight of the situation bearing down on her as it was, though, it quickly became a trot, then a slow walk as she searched. The thought to merely fly somewhere came to her, perhaps even above the clouds, high up though they were, but down here underneath the trees was better than soaring through a downpour. She continued on, but so far there was just forest.
Soon, Fluttershy came to a strange, black road that had to be some sure sign of civilization. The oddness of it raised doubts in her gut though. I've never seen a road like this before. Her hoof poked it gingerly once, and then she settled into walking along its side, hoping to find somepony. I don't think this is Equestria.. She looked down sadly at Root, doubt and fear edging her mind.
The soles of Fluttershy's hooves clopped loudly on the bizarre ground. It was unlike anything she had ever felt before. The surface was hard, black colored, and had seemed to be smooth rock at first, but further examination during her trek revealed tiny rocks embedded into it. Though strange, it was hardly the most noteworthy thing she had recently come across.
Fluttershy stopped when the she finally spotted something, it was an odd little building beside the road. She stared at it in a daze, until movement from Root towards it formed a thought for her. At least it’s some kind of shelter. Slowly she began walking again.
Deciding it was their best and only shot to get out of the rain anyway, Fluttershy weakly clambered up the single wooden step into the shack's open faced cover. She sighed in relief when the water that had only moments ago been soaking her, was stopped.
Fluttershy collapsed onto the wooden floor of the odd building and let out a deep breath. “Root, I can’t keep this up,” she muttered to the squirrel-like creature.
Root replied with a long stare, then a harsh nuzzle and several chirps of noise, then another stare.
Fluttershy smiled weakly before answering her friend. “Thank you. I didn’t mean it. I'm just tired...” Her wings flapped up behind her. One of them began nudging the little guy closer, until she could wrap its feathers around him. Root rolled onto his side and folded his paws up against Fluttershy.
The two stayed huddled together in the odd, open faced building for some time, just listening to the rain.
Fluttershy thought the building may have been a wagon stop of some sort, but it was in the middle of nowhere. It had signs all over it, but they were unreadable; the words all slashes and odd curves. Still, the shelter was the only thing keeping the rain off of them, so she forgave its oddness for that fact.
So, Fluttershy opened her eyes and stared out across the strange, black road. If this isn't Equestria either, where am I? Less importantly, she also couldn't decide on why such a building existed in a forest. I guess it doesn't matter, maybe it's to keep lost critters warm in the rain? A chill ran over her soaked fur and caused her to shiver abruptly. Well, the construction ponies did a bad job. Oh dear, that was a little harsh.
Root wiggled closer as she did so to help.
The rain pouring all around them began to come in heavier. It was so thick now that making out the trees and road in front of her was nearly impossible. She wouldn’t exactly say that she felt afraid, but being away from her friends and Equestria made it seem scarier than it should be. On top of that, even with Root beside her, there was the cold present that sank to the bone. Like the desert, the elements did not seem as forgiving as her home.
Overall, Fluttershy felt tired, bruised and utterly dispirited from her travels. Despair came from the very thought of how to even get home. She had no clue how to begin with that. Twilight would have known how to begin though, or even Spike. I'm just... useless. Her eyes shut for a moment.
“Twilight, what am I supposed to do?” Fluttershy's head picked up and she looked up to the sky, as if her friend could hear her if she tried hard enough. She didn’t wish her friends to be in her situation, stuck far from Ponyville with her, but she couldn’t help a part of her wanting it anyway.
A sigh broke Fluttershy's lips when no answer came. “I know my saying this is getting old, little guy,” she said over the rain’s ruckus, “But I just want to go home.” Root slid his head over the boards of the floor to look at her.
Fluttershy put her head down again, lowering it onto her muddy fore hooves defeatedly. “Maybe I should stop thinking about them altogether.” She sniffled just thinking that, but the more she remembered her home the sadder she became.
For a long while, the pegasus mare was content to simply stare at the rain. Her breathing slowed with each successive minute that past by. Despite everything, her exhaustion was winning out over her fear. How long had I slept before? Oh well, maybe when I... I wake up, the sun will be out... There was a pinching sensation beside her. Looking over, she noticed that Root was trying to get her attention.
“Ow, please stop that, Root… I'm trying to rest, we should move again when the rain stops.” Fluttershy sighed when the squirrel creature stopped biting her and then looked off into the distance. He began again right after though. Unable to ignore it, she turned her head to face him fully. “What is it little one?” She looked up and gasped aloud, eyes widening to their fullest.
Standing next to their shelter from the rain, was a tall, dark brown shape.
Fluttershy wasn’t sure if the new creature heard her, but it didn't acknowledge that it had. Oh my, is that a bear? She studied it and decided it was bigger than any bear she had ever seen. No, I don’t think it is a bear. The closest thing she could recall from memory about this new encounter was an ursa minor, but that wasn’t quite right either.
Fluttershy watched the silent bulky figure warily. It stood on two legs, and was easily five times taller than her. The rain made it difficult to make out the finer details, but she clearly saw bear like claws for hands on each side. It was also extremely fluffy looking.
Had Fluttershy not been so frightened by the surprise, and it wasn't raining, she might have ran forward just for a warm hug right then and to say hello. The urge was suppressed though, as beleaguered as she was, she wasn’t above manners. Not only that, but the stranger was a little intimidating.
Just as Fluttershy had been doing only moments ago, the new creature simply stared straight ahead and out across the rain pelted road. How the bear-like thing had snuck up on them without her noticing was anypony’s guess; she certainly had no idea.
At that moment Root—who had also been eying the new creature curiously—rose from under Fluttershy's wing and moved towards it, out into the rain.
Fluttershy watched, holding herself back at first, then reached out with one leg to stop him. He was already too far out of her reach though. The memory of the creatures from before resurfaced in her mind. Oh no, Root, no! Without a second thought, she sprang forward after him, then just as quickly stiffened up and halted in her tracks. Root also froze, just in front of her.
The massive creature had turned to look down at them both.
The pony stood next to the fox-squirrel in the downpour, rain slicking her hair back down against her side. They stared up together dumbly at the thing that now met their eyes with its own. And in one claw, it held an umbrella.
It’s a cat. That was the first thought that sprang to mind when Fluttershy saw it from this angle. A cat with the body of a bear that might also be a cat, maybe? Her thoughts were a little jumbled in her panicked state, as if Pinkie Pie had helped come up with them.
After the awkward pause in which the three stood staring at one another in the rain, the creature opened its mouth and did something that would very much qualify to be one of Rarity’s “worst possible thing’s”. It began bellowing, with a very boisterous, ear splitting and unintelligible voice. It was deep and rumbling. Wind and rain poured over the two slighter figures standing before it.
Root quickly wheeled about and began hiding quite snugly between Fluttershy’s legs and hooves, while she herself was still standing still as a statue on the ground where she’d started.
When the creature stopped yelling, its cave of a mouth closed, and it looked back down at them to smile cheerfully.
While its eyes looked vacant, Fluttershy could still see some emotion, and most of that seemed to be extreme happiness. As another long pause began to form, she decided to try speaking with it, since it just seemed incredibly odd to her by now, not dangerous, maybe. That and all the creature did was stare at her.
“Um,” The pony’s voice quivered, but she forced herself to keep going, “I don’t suppose you speak Equestrian?” She asked in a hopeful tone with a nervous grin.
The new creature blinked a few times and then smiled even wider, but it did not respond in any language or gesture beyond the corners of its mouth turning up.
Fluttershy did not know why, considering the grin it wore was very creepy, but the creature itself did not creep her out in the slightest. “Well, I’m Fluttershy and this is Root.” She gestured to both of them with a hoof, and the large creature nodded in return. “Um, oh why am I even asking?...” She bit her lip and wondered deep down if it was even worth the effort or energy to try talking to another alien creature. But, Root had helped before, so why not him? If it is a him... “Do you perhaps know of any way I can get home? I need some help to get back to Equestria...to my home? Please?” At this point she felt ashamed for feeling so desperate, but she was out of ideas and at the very least the creature might understand the word help.
A little surprisingly, the large cat bear responded right away. The creature looked up from Fluttershy and narrowed its eyes, then let out a large sigh. It inhaled another breath after, then bellowed with a deep, resonant voice the same way it had before, but this time out into the forest. Wind began to pick up with every second that the large cat’s mouth stayed open.
Fluttershy did her best to keep Root from darting away, which was made a little difficult as her eyes were closed the entire time. She was starting to assume that all this intelligent animal could do, was scream. Which considering the size of its mouth would make sense. She thought, wincing and holding her ears down to defend from the onslaught. Oh dear, why can't I run into a quiet giant animal? Her ears poked up when the experience ended.
As mysteriously as the wind had been summoned, it vanished, along with the noise. It left behind a light of some sort that crept into Fluttershy’s tightly clenched eyelids. When her trembling stopped, she looked up and was at a complete loss for what she saw.
There on the black topped road, lay a gigantic cat. It almost looked constructed through the eyes of a filly’s imagination. On top of its head contained two sets of lights shaped like rats, and flanking each of its sides were six legs, totaling in twelve.
Fluttershy decided then and there that she did not want to know if those were real or not. I am starting to think this entire place is filled with nothing but awkward looking giant kitties. Other than that, her mind was at a loss. She inspected the newer creature further and saw it had places and seats for someone to sit down, where its insides should have gone. It wasn’t a dream, she knew that much, but the massive cat made her doubt that belief.
The cat craned its neck while Fluttershy watched on, and spotted the other bear-like cat, all the while wearing a wild looking grin of its own.
Fluttershy managed to look away long enough to make sure Root was still with her, sure enough he was huddled where she’d last felt him. She realized she felt more confused than scared now. I really don’t know what’s going on at all. The inner declaration of cluelessness was all she could manage in spite of recent events.
Looking up, Fluttershy watched the strangest greeting ritual she had ever seen before unfold.
The bear cat screamed at the...hollowed out cat, and the lights on top of it started flickering for a moment. Next, a sign plastered between the rat eyes—which was written in that strange language from the shack building—began switching until finally it settled on “役立つ”.
The hollowed out cat-like thing then spoke. “Yakudatsu!” It screamed with a happy voice.
Fluttershy jumped at the sudden sound of a language that was something other than an indiscernible yell. Her hooves began to move backwards, and she was dragging Root back cradled in one foreleg as she did so.
The bear-cat then looked down to Fluttershy and grinned widely again, so widely this time in fact, that its mouth was the size of her own body two times over.
Fluttershy replied hurriedly, unsure if she should stick around. “Um, I’m terribly sorry, but I can’t understand or read that...”
The bear creature blinked in confusion at her, but the bigger twelve-legged cat thing in the road was not having it. Its sign switched slowly and showed something in perfect Equestrian that said “Help”.
“Help!” The cat like thing spoke out. Fluttershy figured that’s what a cat would sound like if it could speak Equestrian, almost whiney, but not quite annoying.
The pegasus mare felt conflicted. Already through their travels she and Root had gotten into loads of trouble by simply being near strangers, and now the strangest looking creature yet, a cat-thing of questionable origin, had shown up offering to take her to help. It simply made no sense, even Discord would be scratching his head.
Fluttershy looked down to Root who offered no help in her choice to enter the strange, very fluffy looking creature. Her decision was almost made for her as an open window in the fluffy creature opened up wide for them to step in. She gulped and looked to the bear thing. It was still smiling wide at her, the same as the cat she was about to step into.
“Okay,” Fluttershy murmured uneasily. “Just please don’t eat me, Mr. Kitty...” She nervously stepped inside, and was surprised to find that the entire thing almost looked like a carriage composed out of bunny and cat hair. Her hooves carried her to one seat and she awkwardly laid down on the plush surface, the creature’s insides furrowed around her in a comforting motion. Strangely, it smelled just like opalescence, not at all anything offensive.
“HELP!” It called out again suddenly, and in an instant Fluttershy regretted ever setting hoof inside.
The cat faced bear-thing out the window waved, then trees started to morph into blurs as the massive cat that Fluttershy rode inside of exploded forward into motion.
Fluttershy's eyes widened from the sudden burst into motion and cried out. "UHWAAAAH!-" Her scream lasted until she had to stop for breath, while the cat-bus continued to quickly pick up even more speed. Both Root and Fluttershy were pressed back into the plush seat as the trees and forest blurred past them. She looked frantically out of the windows on either side in her newly achieved state of panic.
Fluttershy’s nerves were on edge as every fiber of her being told her to run somehow or fly away, but the cat would have none of that as it soared up into the sky itself. They were airborne suddenly, climbing above the tree tops at speeds that Rainbow Dash flew with.
This was a mistake, this was a mistake! Fluttershy looked down at Root, whose ears were laid back and eyes were shut tight. The pegasus was hoping upon hope already that this cat meant well, and that it was in fact helping her and not trying to eat her or something worse. Where exactly is it taking us!?- Her thoughts were cut short as the cat suddenly jerked to one side, pressing her muzzle solidly against the side of the seat she was in. Luckily it was still quite soft.
Up ahead of her, the cat yowled as if to apologize.
Oh, when will this end? Fluttershy lamented, crawling back to the center of the seat.
After ten minutes of being swayed back and forth, Fluttershy decided she had endured enough.
“Stop now! Uhm, please!? Please stop!” She called out twice, the second time more frantic, she was feeling sick and her body simply couldn't take it anymore. It was anypony's guess what Root was feeling.
After several seconds Fluttershy heard the cat thing call out, “FULL STOP!” And it did just that, somehow she was able to stay in her seat when it did, by splaying out all four of her legs against the back of the seat in front of her.
Fluttershy continued to pant for several seconds after the abrupt end to the breakneck speed. In an effort to calm down, she wrapped herself in her own wings. After a moment of sitting there on the chair, just the sound of her chattering teeth and Root for company, the doorway from before opened up. The cat yowled again, as if to motion for her that she could in fact now leave.
Reluctantly, Fluttershy poked her head out into the isle and peered out of the door. Her hooves shakily plodded down onto the ground, and with Root in tow she took careful steps out of the giant cat-bus. "Th-thank you." She stuttered, almost having to hold a hoof up to her muzzle in order to quell the urge to sick up.
The two misplaced beings looked around and spotted a rather large looking building, a mansion of some kind made out of bricks and stone where they had stopped. While it was still raining out, the place looked deserted, but not unfriendly.
Fluttershy recognized right away that it couldn’t possibly be a home for ponies. She turned around and looked defeatedly at the massive cat, which grinned back at her just as happily as it had when she had met it. "U-uhm, I don't understand."
"HELP!" It shouted again, closing its eyes and widening its grin.
Fluttershy tilted her head and depend her frown, thinking of what else she could do, but the cat began to step away. "Wha- Wait!" It took a mighty leap away, then dashed off into the night without another single word. Fluttershy tried to call it back, but the creature was already gone. "Oh..." She was left standing there in the dark, in the rain, with just Root for company once again.
Turning around, Fluttershy looked up towards the looming building that she had been brought to. Help.... She swept what she could see with her tired eyes, and took a couple steps towards it. The hesitance to explore the grounds of the mansion desperately beat against her will, but it was raining hard enough that she had to forfeit the reluctance. Sighing, her hooves broke into a dash for the front door abruptly, Root scampering to keep up behind her.
Fluttershy stopped at, then hesitated again before the...human sized door, then knocked.
The rain continued to pelt her back and neck, Root stood underneath her, sheltered somewhat from the rain. They continued to wait outside.
"Well, at least you're sort of out of the rain, Root." Fluttershy managed a giggle down at her friend, then sighed.
After several minutes of waiting and more knocking, there was still no answer. Fluttershy finally brought a hoof onto the door and frowned when it would not budge. There were two door knobs at head level with her, she mentally scolded herself for considering just going in...but decided that she could ask for forgiveness. Surely they'll understand, this weather is horrible.
After giving the door's knob a turn, it opened easily, and was not locked. The two castaways dashed inside and shut the door. The inside was just as dark as it was outside, or darker.
Fluttershy took a few seconds to dry her coat off somewhat, shaking a few times. I don't like that it has to be so dark in the one place that's warm for us. "Hello!?" she called out.
Her bearing steadied after getting the wet out of her eyes. From what she could see, the front of the house had a long stretched hallway with various paintings and pictures on the walls that depicted more humans. She stared at the framed photographs. I guess that confirms it, I'm not home yet. This must be the same place too, if there are humans. The thought seemed accurate enough, but she supposed she wouldn't know for sure unless she met somepony else that would somehow know.
A weary sigh escaped Fluttershy while she looked up at the portraits in the dim light. After trotting past them, she and Root rounded a corner to their right. They entered the next room slowly, taking in the details of the darkened furniture and various wood fixtures.
Fluttershy froze along with Root when she heard a loud noise, and saw something move.
“What was that!? Root?” Fluttershy asked out of panic. She would have felt silly forgetting he couldn't answer her, were she not gripped with fear. Her eyes looked down to see if maybe he was nodding or something, only he wasn't there.
"Root!?" Fluttershy called out frantically. After looking all around the darkened room, she spotted him by a window.
The fox-squirrel was inspecting a crack in the walls just in front of them.
"Oh, phew, there you are- What are you doing?" Fluttershy looked around again, fearful still of what she may have just seen.
Meanwhile, the squirrel’s nose slowly edged its way into the crack.
A moment later and just as Fluttershy looked back, a flurry of tiny, black critters sprang out of the crack at a speed that would make the Wonderbolts seem sluggish. They all found another crack higher above and hid inside, leaving a shocked squirrel and pegasus to stare at the wall.
"Uhm." Fluttershy had been so taken by surprise that she hadn't even developed a reaction until they were already gone again. "O-okay, then." She decided right then that messing with those creatures was a very bad idea, so she coughed to break Root out of his own trance. “Why don’t we go find some food, Root... maybe?”
The squirrel hissed at the crack and swiftly jumped back to Fluttershy’s side.
Taking that as the sign for, let’s go get some food, Fluttershy started walking away. She took a few steps and on the way she saw those black creatures return several times, but never once did they seem to come closer to her. Twice, she warily watched where she saw them, but they only seemed to react when she got closer to them, not the other way around. She was getting nervous, and decided to have faith that this place was safe.
The cat-bus took me somewhere that would 'help', after all. It had seemed like a very friendly... cat... thing.
Fluttershy's wandering took her into a room that looked familiar. “This looks like a kitchen... I hope.” To her, it looked like an eating area for Minotaurs or something, she had a feeling it was for humans though. I don't think I'm in a hurry to see those again...
The tables and chairs were certainly not made for ponies and were much taller than furniture she herself owned.
Fluttershy found a pantry and nudged it open with her nose, inside there was food, just none she recognized. She didn't particularly want to, but she started sifting through metal cans and cardboard boxes, most of which did not have pictures on them. “Oh, I hope this isn't stealing.” It was, but the growling in her stomach reminded her she hadn't eaten for perhaps more than a day; there was no telling how long she had been in the portal.
Sighing, Fluttershy poked her head up and listened to the rainfall outside. It was still going. I should just go outside and find some flowers, or just grass. Anything is fine after- Her stomach chose then to growl ferociously at her, enough that she yelped and flinched inwardly. After she realized it was just her taciturn tummy, she straightened and frowned down at the cupboard again. M-maybe I can pay them back... or at least leave a note.
Fluttershy sank onto her haunches again and picked up the least expensive looking container. “Are these noodles?” The box she came upon had a picture of cooked noodles on them, or so she assumed. She smiled and looked back at the kitchen and spotted a stove top. After fluttering up to the counter for a better view, it looked to her to be very simple to use.
Fluttershy studied the little knobs a moment. "Oooh, I see." Her hoof clicked on one of the burners and it lit up, just like her own would do in Ponyville, despite how different this one looked and sounded. The fire had a hissing noise beneath it when she listened closely. It seemed quite different from the appliances she knew of, but fundamentally worked the same.
Sighing, Fluttershy shut the flame off again and her eyes readjusted in the dim light offered from the nearby window. She looked over at it sadly. I wonder what time it is back home? A shadow flashed in the corner of her eye. "Hm?"
Creatures had filled the room while she wasn't looking, the strange, black things that had scurried about the house. Each and every crack in the kitchen started filling up with them. Root was hissing from where he'd curled up on the floor to wait.
Fluttershy didn't know how to react, just as before, but her body stiffened up instinctively and her hooves clacked back onto the tile floor. A squeak fought to escape her lips, but it was only just held back from escaping. After several panting breaths, and no movement from around her, she found her voice. “Root what do we do?!”
What would Twilight do?! Fluttershy thought a moment and didn't come up with anything she found immediately helpful. Probably use magic, oh, but I can't use magic!
Fluttershy took a step back. What would Rarity do? Oh, probably faint... That wasn't helpful either, she decided.
Fluttershy took another step back, this time, her flank bumped into a cabinet behind her. Applejack!? Well, she would probably buck at them... She groaned, knowing full well her kick wasn’t exactly the strongest. Rainbow Dash? Oh, she would just scare em off... I could try that? The thought did a poor job of convincing her she could. Opening her mouth to give something to that effect a shot, just let out a squeak.
This was it for her, Fluttershy decided. These black creatures were going to close in at any second and do her in, she could feel it. She had no escape, no friends, no Elements of Harmony, or any other tools to stop them. Even the windows were covered by the black things. She huddled down and shivered, awaiting the end while the teeming mass of twitching black hung around her.
Then, a memory flashed in her mind's eye.
Don’t let those nasty things scare you! You just gotta laugh at 'em silly! Pinkie Pie flashed through Fluttershy's head. Every time they had encountered something scary, Pinkie had laughed at it.
“Laugh?” Fluttershy said under her breath to herself. I'm not sure if it makes sense to laugh in this situation, but then when did Pinkie ever make sense...? Something inside her said that the creatures certainly looked funny enough, frightening though their numbers were. She giggled a bit, feeling silly for doing that at a time like this, but tried to giggle louder.
Amazingly, the creatures all stopped at once, and then in synchronized unison paused, backing away slowly.
Fluttershy watched from the crack between her front hooves at what had happened. Of all the times for Pinkie to make sense... She cleared her throat and started laughing as loud as she could, which wasn't very loud, as well as raspy. Some of it was even starting to scare Root, but she huffed each time adding in forced bits of laughter and giggling.
The creatures paused again, shivering amongst all the random surfaces of the kitchen, then left right away, flying off into the windows and cracks around the house. Little motes of dust and shoot fell behind in their wake. It only took a second for them all to zip into hiding.
Fluttershy's laughter stopped and she felt at ease to watch them flee into the night. They quickly faded as if the shadows themselves were absorbing them. Her mouth hung a little open in amazement, shocked from having just escaped certain death, or... whatever it was the soot things did, and all through laughter.
Fluttershy looked down to Root. “Well that was strange...” Her hoof pawed nervously at the ground, while she was completely unsure of what to make of the event. An odd seeming idea came to her. I do hope this wasn't their home... Somehow, she doubted that last thought.
Left with little else to do, Fluttershy opened the strange bag of noodles, and with some scrounged kitchen ware, attempted to make some of the food she hoped wasn't too expensive. In the kitchen window, the sun slowly began to raise.