//------------------------------// // Alone // Story: A Shy Pegasi's Wing // by Dark Tempest //------------------------------// The next thing Fluttershy knew, she was underneath a very heavy object, along with Twilight and Rainbow Dash. Her vision blurred, and she realized she was still in great shock from the impact. Ahead of her, she saw the Shadow telepathically hoist the rest of her friends up in the air. They bucked, yelled, and flapped desperately. The Shadow cast a spell, and a wave of inky blackness surged from him, radiating through the room. As the spell began to take effect, Fluttershy began to feel drowsy, and she called out her friends' names one by one as she slowly lost consciousness... Fluttershy saw visions as she slept. She saw Rainbow Dash strung up, an enourmous gash lining her underbelly, dripping blood to fill a large black jug beneath her. Fluttershy saw Twilight sitting alone, weeping, her wings' feathers stripped from the bones, her horn ripped right out of its socket. Fluttershy tried to scream, but not a sound escaped her. It was as if she had no mouth, no voice. She turned about her, seeing more of her friends lying dead or dying all about the pressing darkness. Just when she thought she could not take the sight of death any longer, she spotted Matrixwing's body, oddly positioned as he lay there, his chest pierced by a studded lance, thick, red blood seeping into his coat, his eyes staring blankly into the nothing, still blind, but no longer bearing any signs of life, none of the usual tendrils of emotion. Fluttershy awoke, screaming at the top of her lungs: "Matrix! NO!" She eventually stopped as she realized that was only a dream, something the Shadow wanted her to see. Fluttershy was about to sigh in relief, but she let out a quiet and fearful scream instead as she heard a twig snap somewhere behind her. She spun around as she pulled herself up into a hover, looking frantically about the dark wood she suddenly found herself in. Hot, fresh tears stung in her eyes as she realized that she was very much alone,not a trace of her friends anywhere in sight. "T-Twilight? Applejack?" Fluttershy called out to her friends, but nopony answered her cries, nor made any effort to show themselves. She whimpered as she began to consider her dream. Could it have been real or premonition? Then, she heard a distant rising whistle from the distance, similar to fireworks, from behind her. She turned to see a red magic bolt shoot up, over the distant trees, straight to the skies. She remembered what Twilight had told her a few weeks ago... "When you see a red flare, it means somepony is in trouble," the purple alicorn had said. Fluttershy snapped out of her thoughts and began to sprint through the darkness towards the floating red light's origin point. After galloping for no more than a few minutes, she found herself tumbling into something squishy: she had tripped straight into a bog. She pulled herself out by using the force of her wings, settling into a hover over it. She then realized that she could've already been flying her way to her destination. She blushed as she mumbled quietly to herself. "Oh... yeah... wings, right." She pulled herself together, then started to fly towards the treetops, getting closer to the top... THUNK! Fluttershy had hit an invisible barrier of force separating the treetops from the skies, which sent her spiraling back to earth. Luckily, she landed in a bush, the branches and their leaves breaking her fall. Fluttershy hauled herself to her hooves, and instead of flying, she surveyed her surroundings. The magical barrier didn't stop moonlight, so her vision was a lot better than no moon at all. Through the tangles of trees (which were a little too thick to fly through), plants, and roots she saw what appeared to be a small stream leading straight towards the flarelight's origin. She also saw that she was in a swamp. Moss, fungi, and groundwater were clearly visible in the moon's silvery light. Fluttershy knew she had to save her friends and help them to stop the Shadow, so she gathered up her courage and stepped out of the bush. Fluttershy began to follow the stream deeper into the uncharted forest, her eyes searching for the red light in the sky. A pulse of both relief and fear forced its way through her every time her eyes found it. All around her, the forest was alive with the sounds of insects, the skittering of miniature nocturnal paws, the rushing of the water in the stream, and other sounds of the night. But it was not these sounds that caused the next chill to coax its way down Fluttershy's spine, but instead, something unnatural. She heard a low, pulsating thrum that wasn't too distant from her current position, and she quickened her pace as she came to the realization that the flare was almost directly overhead: she was nearing its origin point. As Fluttershy pushed onward, she began to hear screams and angry yelling, so she galloped the rest of the way, eventually happening upon Rainbow Dash, Twilight, and Matrixwing. The three ponies were standing in a large clearing, having an all out argument, Rainbow Dash attempting to buck her way out of a magical bubble to get at Matrixwing's throat. "...but can't you see?! He's a liar, he wants us all to die! He told me that as soon as we turn our backs, he would leave us to die!" Rainbow Dash cried out at Twilight. "Rainbow Dash! That was the Shadow! How can the Shadow possess the Elements? They're too pure to be touched by one so evil!" Twilight argued back her point, and Rainbow Dash fell silent. "Oh... umm..." Fluttershy spotted something... off with Rainbow Dash's armour. "Dash... where is your Element?" Rainbow Dash spun around to face the yellow and pink mare, a strange expression on her face. Was it amusement? "I uhh... I lost it," she replied quickly. Twilight splayed her wings angrily. "Impossible. Don't lie to me, Dash. You can't lose an Element of Harmony, especially when it's fastened around your neck." Rainbow Dash began cackling maniacally, her voice slowly warping into the Shadow's. "You catch on quickly." The Shadow disappeared, his wild and insane laughter still echoing through the trees. "Erm... would you mind letting me out now?" Matrixwing nervously pawed at the ground beneath him. "Oh, right." Twilight Sparkle released her spell, and Matrixwing collapsed on the spot. As Matrixwing stood again, Fluttershy rushed forward to hug the two ponies. "Oh, I was so afraid! I couldn't stand not knowing if my friends were okay or not! Where are the others?" Twilight gazed around, her eyes having a look of fear and sadness within them. "We're not sure..." Fluttershy was suddenly with the realization that her friends could be in serious danger, or worse. "Can't we do anything?" Twilight was silent for a while before she began speaking again, explaining slowly. "Well... I learned a new spell a while back... Meant only for an alicorn. I can choose a pony, then teleport to that pony, taking anypony I wish with me." "Well, why didn't you say so before?" As Matrixwing asked this, he raised his eyebrow questioningly. Twilight blushed as she looked away. "I've never tried it before, I'm not sure I can use the spell correctly." Fluttershy knew in her heart that the forest was too dense to fly through, and too foreign to try to walk through on hoof, so she turned to Twilight as she told her: "There may be no other way to find the others, we have to do this." Twilight Sparkle sat on her haunches as she pondered her decision. Fluttershy could tell that she was debating the pros and cons of the results of the final conclusion. At last, Twilight stood back up, dead silence falling over the clearing, as if each blade of grass were holding their breaths, waiting. "We have to rescue our friends and get back the Elements of Harmony. If we don't, all of Equestria will look like Canterlot. Stand close, you're both going to feel nauseous after this." Fluttershy and Matrixwing move closer, standing side by side. As Twilight began casting her spell, her eyes began glowing white, her horn pulsating magic until a great flash caused the three ponies to disappear, leaving not a trace of their time spent in that clearing.