Twilight Sparkle, Pinkie Pie and Scootaloo left the burning streets of Ponyville far behind as they made their way to Fluttershy's cottage. Canterlot was barely visible from their location, and was probably mostly destroyed by now. Huge stacks of black smoke from both Canterlot and Ponyville seemed to congregate and mix together and blacken out the Cloudsdale-less sky, obscuring the portals that had been torn open in it. Neither of them said anything. Not even Pinkie Pie, which disturbed Twilight Sparkle seemingly to no end. Scootaloo stared at the ground, only looking up occasionally to see where she was going. Twilight Sparkle thought that she was probably thinking of Rainbow Dash. Twilight Sparkle thought hard of how to reverse the effects of The Combine. She wanted everything to be how it was before. Her wanting for things to be how they were before distracted her trail of thoughts for a solution. While straining her mind, she found nothing but dead-ends and black pits that riddled her mind. While keeping a straight face, inside she was screaming in frustration.
From around a corner in the path, Fluttershy's cottage came into view. Windows were smashed and the building sat there ominously silent. “I wonder if she's still alive,” said Pinkie Pie scornfully. Twilight Sparkle looked at her sympathetically, before heading towards the bridge to check inside. She could hear the sound of Scootaloo and Pinkie Pie's hooves behind her. Once in the middle of the bridge, she gasped at what she saw; her garden was littered with the corpses of animals.
Dogs, cats, various rodents and reptiles lay lifeless. Twilight Sparkle would have thought some were sleeping, if they had been breathing. Most of them had holes in their flesh, surrounded by dry puddles of their blood. Some of their wounds were so wide and so deep that the animals' bones, lungs and heart were visible. The carcases of the animals were clearly flesh; flies hadn't yet taken advantage of the free food.
Twilight Sparkle, Pinkie Pie and Scootaloo trudged across the grass to Fluttershy's front door, moving around the dead animals and their blood. Once all three of them had reached the front door to Fluttershy's still intact home, Pinkie Pie suddenly began to back away. “H-h-hold on, do you think we really should go in there?” She asked.
“She's an Element of Harmony, remember? And a friend. We have to make sure she's still alive,” said Twilight Sparkle seriously, unafraid of mentioning the possibility that Fluttershy could be dead. Scootaloo winced at the thought that Fluttershy might not be alive while Pinkie Pie nodded nervously. Twilight raised a hoof at the door, and knocked three times. But, to her surprise, the door opened a few centimetres to her knocking, creaking as it did. The three ponies exchanged nervous and inquisitive looks, before quietly entering with Twilight Sparkle leading.
“Fluttershy?” Called Twilight Sparkle.
The interior of the cottage, once neat and full of life, was now completely still and ramshackle. A dead, semi-decapitated familiar-looking white rabbit lay on the torn apart sofa. Each pony looked around, their eyes fearfully darting around to inspect the damage and look for any sign of life. “Maybe we should check upstairs, or..” Twilight Sparkle began to suggest.
The sound of whimpering interrupted Twilight Sparkle. “Where did that come from?” Said Scootaloo, looking around.
“I-I think it came from in there,” said Pinkie Pie slowly, indicating at the under stairs cupboard. Without looking behind, Twilight Sparkle made her way to the cupboard's wooden door, levitating the latch to unlock it, and swung the door open.
Inside, curled up with her hooves and messy pink mane covering her eyes, was Fluttershy. Blood trickled down her flank as she looked up slightly at the sight of Twilight Sparkle, her little nose poked through her mane as she very timidly took her hooves down, before rapidly ascending them back to cover her eyes again. As the light of the door opening hit her, she gasped and lifted up her body, flapping her wings and flailing her legs until she had moved herself into a dark corner. The inside of the cupboard smelled of urine, and Twilight Sparkle could see a wet patch where Fluttershy was previously sitting, and stains between her hind legs.
“Fluttershy? It's me, Twilight Sparkle.”
“T-Twilight?” Tears seeped from Fluttershy's covered eyes, her voice was barely a whisper.
“Yes, it's me,” she said as she crept forward into the dark cupboard while Scootaloo and Pinkie Pie looked on worridly. Fluttershy removed her front hooves away from her eyes, squinting at Twilight Sparkle through her now-messy mane that was faded with dust. Tears began to flow out. It was then when Twilight noticed that the blood on Fluttershy's flank was her own, and where the wound was.
“Someone get me a bandage!” She called back to Pinkie Pie and Scootaloo. Then spoke softly to Fluttershy, “it's going to be okay.”
“No it isn't!” She wailed, “they came here and they...they...” Fluttershy's tears came out with much more intensity than before as she screamed quietly, having reminded herself of the day's previous events. Twilight Sparkle hugged her friend as Scootaloo came running back, carrying bandages for Fluttershy. Twilight Sparkle levitated the bandages, tightening them around Fluttershy's wound. It was a while until Fluttershy stopped crying, and a while until either of them said anything.
Twilight Sparkle was eventually able to lead Fluttershy away from the dark under stairs cupboard, sitting her down.
“H-hey, someone's watching us!” Said Scootaloo loudly, turning back to them after looking out of a kitchen window. Twilight Sparkle rushed to the window, almost forgetting about Fluttershy and standing next to Scootaloo.
“Where?” She asked, looking from the left to the right, scanning the scenery.
“T-there! It was right there!” Scootaloo pointed to a tree.
“I don't see anything.”
“But I saw someone there. I swear!”
“What did, um, they look like?”
Scootaloo thought for a moment, “um, I don't think it was a pony. It was someone, hmm, only walking on their hind legs. Carrying a briefcase.”
Twilight Sparkle walked quickly and calmly back to Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy, “we have to go,” she demanded, “now!”