//------------------------------//
// Chapter 2 
// Story: Amnesia: Fluttershy 
// by Yukito 
//------------------------------//

Fluttershy opened the doors ever so slightly, and peeked inside before moving any further ahead. She took a good, long look at the room. It was a fairly large room, and very well lit. There were many lit torches all around, and the middle of the room had a ray of sunlight shining directly down. She looked up at the ceiling and saw a huge hole. It was too high up for her to reach, unless she used her wings. It was then she noticed something. Her wings were bound. In all the confusion from earlier, she never even noticed that her wings were bound quite tightly by a strong leather strap. She tried to break it by spreading her wings, but it was no use. No matter how hard she tried, it just wouldn’t break even slightly.

She sighed and gave up, and then continued looking around the room. It was like the hallway from earlier; very medieval looking, with a lot of suits of armour lined up along the walls (although many had fallen over), and dark grey stone making up the entire room. There were a few windows, each one letting in some sunlight into the room. The room gave a sort of dark, cold feeling, like it was cut off from the rest of reality, and that anypony that set even one hoof in there would be all alone. But Fluttershy already felt like she was all alone, and mustered up the courage to walk inside.

As soon as the door closed behind her, the room began to shake a little, and a faint roar was heard. The door behind her suddenly clicked, and when Fluttershy tried to open it, she realised that it was locked. “Ok, just calm down Fluttershy…At least that thing from earlier can’t get to me now…” She re-assured herself, trying desperately to forget about how it broke down a door just fine earlier.

As she walked deeper into the room, she made a note of her surroundings: there was rubble all around her, and paints both on the wall and on the floor. There were 4 doors: the one she came from, one directly opposite of it, with a sign above it reading “Library”, and two more up a flight of stairs. The trouble was that the stairs was blocked off by rubble, and she had no way to get around it. In the middle of the room was a fountain that was spraying water. There was another door that she noticed, but it was completely buried behind rubble, and the corridor it lead to appeared to be caved in. She examined it, and it looked clean enough. She washed her face to cool herself down, and took a minute to calm down and relax. Finally, she decided that it would be best if she pressed on. Her vision was much clearer than earlier, and her breathing was more steady. She had noticed that various features in the room that scared her before, such a painting of one pony carving open another pony with a knife, were mere illusions brought on by the state of chaos that her mind was in before.

She moved towards the door to the library, and on her way, she noticed a few tinderboxes and a bottle with a label that read “Laudanum”. She read the instructions, and discovered that it was for treating injuries. Deciding it could be useful, she took it and the tinderboxes with her.

She picked up a key that was lying on the floor next to the door to the library, and stashed it away in her bag. It had no tag on it, or any engravings, so she had no idea what it was for, but there were two other doors in this room alone, so she decided that it could be useful. She carefully opened the door to the library, slowly peeking inside, and, deciding that it was safe enough, entered.

The library was very dimly lit. There were many lanterns hanging from the ceiling, but only a few were actually lit, and with no windows and any other way for light from outside to enter, the little light that was coming from the lanterns made the room very dark, and hard to navigate. Fluttershy waited for her eyes to adjust to the darkness, all the while staying in the light, so that she could things next to her clearly, and wouldn’t get freaked out by them. As expected of a library, there were many bookshelves, and books scattered all over the floor. Suddenly, Fluttershy started to feel faint, and started hearing voices again.

“Where is it!? I know I hid it here somewhere!” The voice sounded like it belonged to a young mare. It was loud, and very panicky. “Damn it! Where is that- Ah! Here it is!”

“Um, are you sure you want me to hold on to it? What if-” This voice was Fluttershy’s. She found it strange hearing herself in her own head, and hearing a sudden roar around her didn’t help. Yelping, she hid behind a bookcase, still hearing the voices of herself and somepony else in her head.

“It’s fine. Just don’t drop it like the guest room key. Now come on! We have to get this sample to Zecora before- Oh no! She’s here! Hide!”

The voices faded, and the headache that they brought on somewhat subsided. When Fluttershy realised that there was nothing on the other side of the bookcase, she slowly came out from hiding, still being very cautious. She was shivering from the both the frigid temperature of the library, and also from the sudden shock she just suffered. She wanted to stop and rest, but when the quiet of the library was interrupted by the squeaking of various rodents all around her, Fluttershy jumped up, and started searching around the library. She just wanted to find anything that may be able to help her, and then get out of there, as quickly as possible.

As she passed through the library, she made sure to check all of the bookshelves that she passed, picking up a few tinderboxes, oil vials, and laudanums on the way. She finally found a note on a table inside a small room that she assumed was for private research of whoever lived in this mansion. She picked up the note, and read it:

August 31st –

It has been three months now. Why did we have to pick up that accursed object? And why are we being punished for it? All we wanted to do was to understand the secrets of all there is. Is that so wrong? Are we sinners for seeking knowledge? If so, maybe this isn’t the Devil…Maybe we’re facing God’s  wrath.

…No. Impossible. To think such a being would really exist. Even if it did, there’s no way we would be able to ward it off with blood. I just have to keep cool. I can’t lose my mind. Kurt says he will ward off the Shadow if I bring him more blood. I don’t trust him, but so far he has done as he said. If we can just survive a little bit longer…We can beat this thing! I know we can!

There was more writing below it, but it was smudged in ink. Fluttershy examined the top of the paper carefully. There was some kind of mark on it. It was an ink mark, but in a very strange pattern.  The patter was cut off at the top and bottom, and she saw what seemed to be the rest of it on the floor. She concluded that it must have been a print made from standing on the paper. But she had never seen anything like it before. It quite clearly wasn’t a hoof mark, and she couldn’t recall any animals with feet that would produce such a pattern. They must have been wearing something on their feet, but the print was too long for it to be from a pony.

Her train of thought was interrupted by a loud crash in the previous room. She let out a loud shriek and turned around quickly. “The door!” She dashed to the door and slammed it shut, placing her ear to it and listening closely. When she heard nothing on the other side, she slowly opened the door to check outside. She slowly peered through the crack in the door, and breathed a sigh of relief when she realised that the noise was just the wind knocking over a few books. She stepped through the door, and began heading back towards the hallway. She noticed a note pinned to the door the leads back to the hallway. She grabbed it with her hoof, and began reading it:

September 2nd –

I’ve had it! I’ve had it with these lies! That bastard doesn’t care about us at all! The Shadow has claimed all of our friends. Only two of us remain. Another day and we will surely be dead too…But I’m not going alone. Kurt, I will see you in hell!

Fluttershy placed the letter in her bag, and noticed another letter behind the first one fall to the floor. She picked it up and read it:

To Fluttershy:

We’re out of time. Zecora’s going to make her potion tonight. The corridor to the back hallway will be collapsed (you’ve probably noticed). This is to slow her down. Use the dumbwaiter in the kitchen instead. And remember to lock the kitchen door afterwards.

The Shadow is closing in. Hurry.

Twilight Sparkle

Another clue. Fluttershy put the letter away with the other ones, and made a mental note to head for the kitchen and use the dumbwaiter to move on. The problem was that the stairs were inaccessible. She decided to head back outside and see if there was anywhere else to go.

As she entered the hallway again, she started to feel sick, and the entire room began to shake violently. There was a loud roar, and on the other side, she saw the same monster from earlier break down the door and run towards her. Fluttershy was completely frozen with fear. She couldn’t think straight, and just stood there, completely helpless.

Suddenly, the roaring and shaking stopped, and in its place, a whole lot of strange, pink, fleshy matter began to fill the room. Some of it appeared beneath Fluttershy, burning her and snapping her out of her state of terror. Some more appeared where the monster was, and tore it in half. Blood splatter across the room, some of it landing on Fluttershy’s face, which caused her to jump back and almost throw up, until she got burned by more of the strange pink matter. She yelped and dashed as quickly as she could to a space where the pink matter had not appeared yet, and breathed heavily.

By this point, her heart was beating very quickly, her entire body was trembling, and her vision was completely blurry from tears covering her eyes. She took a few minutes to collect herself, and once she had stopped crying, and caught her breath, she reached into bag, took out a bottle of laudanum, and followed the instructions in order to treat the burns from the pink matter.

“Alright. T-time to press on…” Fluttershy turned towards the stairs, which were now clear, as the pink matter from before tore up most of the rubble. The downside is that she would have to walk over the pink matter, but she decided that she had no choice if she were going to press on. She took a deep breath, and charged forward, passing over the pink matter as quickly as she could, and eventually found her way to the top of the stairs. “Phew, made it!” She had somehow managed to avoid harm whilst running over the pink matter, and took a second to catch her breath. She looked at the two doors, and saw that one of them lead to the kitchen. She turned the handle, but the door wouldn’t budge. She remembered that the note told her previous self to lock the door.

“Great, now what do I do?” She looked over at the other door, and walked over to it. It was also locked, however, she noticed that it lead to the guest room. She reached into her bag, pulled out the guest room key, and attempted to use it with the door lock. She heard a click, and tried to open the door a second time. It opened, and she entered the guest room.

The moment the door closed behind her, a blinding light passed through the room, and a second later, the sound of thunder rang throughout the room. Fluttershy felt like she was about to jump out of her skin, and her heart wasn’t sure it would survive any longer. She didn’t feel particularly afraid of the thunder and lightning, but something inside her told her that it was frightening. Maybe it was a fear that her old self had. In any case, when the light died down a bit, Fluttershy was able to see the room properly. It was different than the rest of the building that she’d explored so far. Instead of stone walls and floor, there was wooden flooring and wallpaper. The wallpaper was dark red, and torn in various places, revealing the stone wall behind it. The room was very well lit, which relieved Fluttershy a little bit, until she noticed the blood stains on the floor, next to half a body. She wasn’t sure what it belonged to; it wasn’t a pony, in any case. It had to legs, but instead of hooves at the end, it had feet, like a monkey’s, only without the hair. Or much less, to be precise. The body stopped at the waist, and intestines were spilling out of it, making Fluttershy feel like she was about to throw up. She looked around at the various furnishings in the room: 2 wardrobes, a few bookcases, 4 wooden chairs (one of which was broken), and a desk.

What caught her eye the most was the window above the desk, which was open. And within reach. Suddenly, the letter left for Fluttershy from Twilight didn’t matter anymore. Freedom was within reach! Or so she had hoped. She climbed onto the desk, and peeked outside of the window. She knocked something off the table and onto the ground. Something metal. She could tell that it was metal from the sound it made of the floor. She didn’t bother to look at what it was though, as she was more interested in climbing out of the window and ending this nightmare. But it was not as easy as that.

When she looked outside the window, she saw the same pink matter from earlier completely covering the outside, and even worse, when her head poked outside the window, she heard the same roar from earlier, and suddenly, the windows slammed shut, knocking her onto the ground. “Ouch!” She rubbed her nose a little bit, and then got back up and looked around the room once more. She saw something shiny on the floor. She knelt down for a closer look, and found it to be a key. It must have been what she had knocked off the desk moments before. “Let’s see…”Ptry?” The engraving on it was faded, so she couldn’t make out what it said, but she decided to keep it with her none the less.

“Right, now then…” She looked at a door that was to the left of the room, and slowly made her way towards it. She entered with extreme caution, and found it to be a bedroom. It was similar to the room she was just in, only half its size, and much less furnishings; only one bed, and a desk. “Hold on a second…” She noticed that the desk was different than the others. It had wheels on the bottom. She pushed it aside, and saw that there was an air vent behind it. No, not an air vent. The door was designed to be opened with ease, and the desk was obviously designed for quick access to it. It was more like a secret tunnel. But where did it lead? Before she could ask herself whether she should check it out or not, she heard a loud crash behind her. She quickly spun around, and saw that the door to the guest room had been broken down. There was dust blocking her vision, but she could tell what was there. It was another one of those monsters, and it could see her! She was too far away from the door to close it, and even if she did, it wouldn’t stop this thing for very long.

Fluttershy panicked, and looked around the room for some way to escape. It didn’t take long for her to remember the tunnel that she had uncovered, and without a second thought, she jumped inside, slamming the hatch shut, and crawling through as fast as she could. She recalled that the previous monster was much bigger than she was, and she could just barley fit inside, so hopefully…Yes! She could no longer hear the monster, meaning that it wasn’t following her anymore! But now she had another problem on her hands: continue through this cold, dark tunnel to god only knows where, or wait a little bit, and then turn back?

She didn’t have to think for long, since the tunnel made up her mind for her; it suddenly collapsed under her, causing her to crash down into the room below. “Ugh…Owowowow!” Fluttershy slowly managed to get up, despite her entire body aching from the crash just now. She coughed heavily until the dust settled, and then she waited for her eyes to adjust to the darkness. She saw a few torches on the wall, and lit them so that she could see a little better. She was in what appeared to be a dining room. It wasn’t very interesting, just a standard dining room, with the furnishing made of a very fancy looking wood. She saw only one door in the room, in the corner. However, the rubble caused from tunnel collapsing was blocking it off, and Fluttershy was too tired to move it out of the way.

She noticed a dumbwaiter on the other side of the room, and decided to see if it was still working. She pressed to button to summon it, and to her delight, it was starting come down. “Ok, with this, I should able to access the kitchen…” As soon as the dumbwaiter had arrived, she got inside of it, and pressed the button for it to go back up. It wasn't the most comfortable fit, but at least the ride up didn’t take too long.

“Uhhh…” Fluttershy started to feel sick as another flashback rang through her head.

“Let’s see…To get to the back hall through the kitchen, I’ll need to take the dumbwaiter to the storage area. That would be…The top-right one!” Fluttershy heard her own voice echoing inside her head. She then heard what sounded like a door opening, and then herself gasping. “Oh no! A Grunt!...But…It’s dark enough in there…Maybe I can sneak past it…Ok, h-here goes nothing…”

The flashback ended just as the dumbwaiter reached the top, and as it did, Fluttershy’s suspicions about this “Grunt” being one of the monsters she’s been seeing so far was confirmed, as she saw another one of these monsters in the kitchen, right in front of her, moving slowly to the right.

She waited for it to move on, and slowly climbed out of the dumbwaiter. The kitchen wasn’t very big, but was rather long. There was a counter running down the middle of it, with cabinets that hold various things. The monster – or “Grunt” – was on the other side of the counter, seemingly circling around it, making rather unsettling grunting sounds that made Fluttershy hold her hooves to her mouth to stop her hard breathing from revealing herself. She looked to both her left and her right. To her left was the doorway that lead back to the hall from earlier, and to her right was a dead end. There were many dumbwaiters along the walls, but she remembered her flashback and deduced that the dumbwaiter to the storage was to her right…Unfortunately, that was where the Grunt was, and to make matters worse, it was sta
rting to turn around the counter and move down the side that Fluttershy was on.

Fluttershy had no time to lose. She started moving very slowly, trying not to step or breath too loudly, but not too slow that the Grunt would catch up to her. It was very dark, meaning that Fluttershy had to be careful not to hit anything on the floor. There were many torches all around her, and she really wanted to light a few to let some light into the room, but the darkness was the only thing keeping her safe at this point in time.

She made her way to the other side, and circled around the counter, so that she could move over to the other side of the room. She had to continue crawling, so that the Grunt would not recognise her. Her tail accidently knocked a frying pan off the counter, causing her to freeze up in terror. She heard the Grunt stop, and waited. She heard its breath right above her head. She didn’t move to check, but she could tell that it was right above her, leaning over the counter. She had her hooves pressed to her mouth, whimpering as quietly as possible, tears dropping down her face and hitting the floor. Finally, the last straw was pulled. Fluttershy felt something on her back. A bit of saliva from the Grunt.

“AAAAAHHHHHH!” Fluttershy shot up and starting galloping as fast as she could, unable to hold her voice in any longer. The Grunt promptly gave chase, after smashing through the counter to get to Fluttershy’s side. She could hear it catching up to her, making the most terrifying sounds that she had ever heard, that rang through her head, as she continued running. She saw the end of the kitchen, with the dumbwaiter to the storage on the other side of the counter. However, to her horror, the dumbwaiter was currently down in the storage, and she would need to summon it. She hopped over the counter, ran to the dumbwaiter, and pushed the button to summon it.

“Oh god…” She heard the Grunt smash through the counter yet again, and she ducked behind the end of the counter, thinking in her mind that this was it. It was all over now. However…”Huh?” She noticed that the sounds of the Grunts had changed. They were now similar to the ones it made earlier, when it was simply patrolling around the kitchen. Did it forget about her already? Or did it think that she got away? Either way, she could tell that it wasn’t the most intelligent of creatures, which she made sure to remember.

The sound of the dumbwaiter arriving rang through the kitchen, and when she peered past the counter, she could see the Grunt moving away from her, and towards the other side of the kitchen. Wasting no time, she dashed towards the dumbwaiter, hopped inside, and pushed the button to send it down the storage area.

“Ok, calm down Fluttershy…You’re safe for now.” She regretted saying that when a very familiar roar rang through the building again, causing a slight tremor that gradually grew larger. The dumbwaiter stopped for a second, and then started again, but much faster. It was falling at a high speed now. “AAAAAHHHHHH!” Fluttershy screamed as the dumbwaiter fell through the mansion’s levels and eventually crashed into the storage area.