//------------------------------//
// Prologue 
// Story: MLP: Two-Face Part 1 
// by DarthWill3 
//------------------------------//

The area was dark, covered in silver mist. Shades of gray mingled with the black atmosphere. The ground was hard. It felt like marble. Not a single tree, blade of grass, flower, or any type of greenery could be seen. Neither were there any houses, town signs, even corners of something to lean or lay back on. This was not something found in the average map. It seemed endless like a desert… or a void.
As for the sky – if there was a sky in this place – it was hard to tell whether it was day or night; the same dilemma could be said on which way was north or south, east or west. No sun, no moon, no stars, no streetlight, no lantern, no fireflies, no house light shone to show whatever direction anypony was taking.
But all of this mattered little in comparison to the horror chasing Fluttershy.
The pale gold Pegasus with the long, light pink mane and tail, moderately cyan eyes, and cutie mark of three butterflies – bodies in the same color as the eyes, and wings matching the mane and tail – was running like she had never run before. She panted hard. Drops of water flew from her eyes onto the floor. She didn’t care if either she was losing breath so rapidly, if her legs were hurting, or if she was going to get a stitch. She just wanted to be as far away as possible from the most frightening, most painful, most dangerous experience she had ever encountered in her life.
Suddenly, Fluttershy lost her footing and dropped to the ground. She was so tired. Sweat trickled down her face. Placing her front hooves close to her body, she managed to raise herself up a little bit before hanging her head down. She wanted to keep going, but knew she needed to catch her breath.
Perhaps the horror was a long distance behind. At that moment, Fluttershy felt safe. Yes, she was sure of it… Nothing could harm her now.
“Fluttershy…”
Fluttershy gasped. Her pupils shrank as her eyes opened wide. Her body began to shake. She felt like her heart stopped beating for only a second.
It was that voice; that sultry, almost velvety, smooth mare’s voice, mixed with a dark tinge; that very voice that had haunted her since she was a filly. And she was calling out to her. Toying with her, like this was just a game of Hide and Seek.
“Oh, Fluttershy…”
Fluttershy shut her eyes tight and placed her front hooves on her eyes. “No!” she cried, kneeling on her hind legs. “Keep away! L-l-l-l-l-l-l-leave me alone!”
She wanted to take off on her wings, but somehow, she couldn’t. They just wouldn’t work. It was almost as if they were clipped, yet they weren’t. They were sticking like glue on her body.
Finally getting herself back on all fours, Fluttershy resumed running in the direction she was taking. The tears in her eyes continued to drop. She was trying her best to stop crying.
She had to get her wings unstuck, or else her doom would be at hand.
Then, an arctic chuckle sounded through the air. “Where ya goin’, Fluttershy?” asked the voice, amusingly. “This isn’t the Annual Running of the Leaves, you know. You can’t get away from me, not matter how far ya trot…”
After running for about twenty meters, Fluttershy could feel her wings unfolding. “Thank goodness,” she sighed. One moment, they were in a situation close to paralysis. The next, they were usable again. It was a miracle.
She lifted herself off the ground with all haste. The air rushed by her as she climbed higher and higher. It was still dark and there was no wind to help increase the speed of flight. But that didn’t matter. She had regained the ability to fly.
Fluttershy felt a spark of hope inside her heart. Her sobbing ceased. Her face was dry. After all those years, after everything she had been through – physically, emotionally, and mentally – she was beginning to fight the surrounding shadows. There was light at the end of the tunnel, as the saying went. If she could just make it…
“…or fly, for that matter.”
All of a sudden, two eyes appeared out of the gloom, right in front of the fleeing Pegasus.
Fluttershy let out a shrill scream of fright. She screeched to a halt in midair. Her wings were locked back onto her sides. Then, she began to fall. This was just like when she stopped in the middle of flying towards that dragon’s cave last year.
The hope had completely evaporated from her. There was no escape. No chance of freedom. No rest. No peace. Not as long as there was the demon lurking.
The fall was quicker… and softer than Fluttershy had anticipated. All her bones were intact. No bruises were visible. Whatever made the ground seem like a mattress at impact was beyond her understanding.
Her physical condition, however, was not what she was worried about.
The eyes were still staring at her from the sky, the evil glimmer they held unchanged. They never lost track of her descent. And Fluttershy never lost track of them, either, unfortunately. Even if she couldn’t see the body, she recognized the eyes’ shape, the color, everything.
“See what I mean?” asked the voice, smugly.
Slowly, the eyes dipped towards the floor. Fluttershy could hear wings flapping as the eyes went lower. The movement was far more graceful, probably more practiced than how she could normally fly. It was exactly like Rainbow Dash’s, except this wasn’t the best flyer of Equestria looking at her.
The sky was starless and darker than the misty ground level. It would be hard for anypony to recognize a figure in the fog, but not for Fluttershy. There was only one being she had ever known living in this environment. She knew who it was.
She knew all too well.
Out of all the foes she had faced in her life – Nightmare Moon, the now reformed Discord, Queen Chrysalis, and the late King Sombra – none of them were as horrible as what was before her. This was her worst fear, even more frightening than dragons.
“I’m really disappointed in you,” spoke the demon, in a manner almost as lavishing as Rarity’s. “Do ya really think that all that learning how to be assertive and more self-confident can keep me away? That only hurts you even more, prolongs the suffering you’ve had all these years. Your pathetic pals can’t save you from what’s inside, deep down. Not even the Princesses. I’ll always be there. Nopony knows that better than you… and me.”
Fluttershy tried to pick up courage. “Stay away!” she croaked, barely keeping herself from stammering. “I don’t want any part of you!”
“I’m afraid you already are…”
A small shaft of sky blue light penetrated the darkness, as if a single light bulb was being turned on. It stopped just a few inches ahead of the shadowy demon. A front leg was drawn forward into the beam, where the illumination revealed its fur tone: yellow. Light, but pure gold.
It was just like Fluttershy’s fur and flawlessly so.
On the hoof lay a silver bit. But this wasn’t just any silver bit. It was a silver dollar. Bright and bold as polish, it was larger than the average bit. The surface looked a little worn, yet it still looked inseparable to any other coin of the same brand.
Fluttershy couldn’t escape the sight of that coin. It looked all too-familiar.
Suddenly, without warning, the demon’s foreleg tossed the coin into the air. The coin switched from side to side over and over again as it ascended. Then, it began to go down.
Fluttershy flinched. She couldn’t take it anymore. “No!” she cried, getting down on her hind knees. She placed her front forelegs over her head and pressed them on her ears. She didn’t want to hear the wind blow with each of the coin’s rotations. They had been haunting her for every single nightmare she’d ever had.
A coin toss would take only a second. But to Fluttershy, this particular toss was like six seconds; to say that it took ages would be too much to bear, overstated as it sounded.
The coin landed back on the demon’s hoof. Fluttershy knew it wouldn’t last for a minute. One moment’s pause and the coin had been tossed again.
Water formed once again in Fluttershy’s eyes. “S-s-s-s-s-stop it!” she sobbed, letting the tears run down her cheeks. “Just stop it! Please!” Yet she knew, in her heart, that this would never stop.
“It’s time, Fluttershy,” said the demon, her hoof catching the coin. “It’s time…” And so, she threw the coin up again.



“NOOOOO!!!”
For one moment, Fluttershy was screaming in hideous darkness.
But now… as she opened her eyes, she found herself back in her cottage, in her bed, under the covers, feeling all sweaty and panting heavily. Everything was bright. She turned her head left and then right, viewing her surroundings. All was still. There was not a sound to be heard, save for the birds chirping from outside.
Fluttershy let out a long, heavy sigh. It was all just a dream. No. Not a dream. More like a nightmare. There was no telling when it would come again in her sleep.
The Ponyville clock chimed at one, then two, three, four, five, six, and stopped at seven. It was seven in the morning for sure.
Suddenly, there was a knock on the door, followed by a familiar voice. “It’s time, Fluttershy!” called Rainbow Dash. “It’s time!”