//------------------------------// // Chapter 2: Darkness // Story: Watching eyes // by knetch //------------------------------// Darkness One Word. That have feed the imagination of thousands stories, that keep ponies in fear of the unknown since the beginning of times and that now, it was the only companion to Fluttershy in the tunnels of the Everfree castle. Fluttershy trotted through the halls of the tunnel trying to find a way out from this maze, she didn’t know how much time it has been, since she descended the stairs looking for shelter and the oppressive air of the dungeon was feeding her imagination about the stories of the terror novels on Twilights library, she wouldn’t admit it, but in has been a guilty pleasure of hers, yet she never thought that one day, she would be living the experience. “and here it is again” that thought was a common occurrence in her mind, ever since she almost got crushed by the Gargoyle statue, she had been seeing it on the far side of some halls, staring, expecting, and as same as before every time she blinked, the statue would just disappear. “how that can it be, the statues should not be able to move, this darkness is like tendrils trying to rip my sanity apart, maybe I did imagine the first statue and the hole was there to begin with” she was questioning herself, the occurrence of having multiple fears always made her cower but the fear of the unknown and the paranoia of being stalked was taking its toll. “And now, what on Equestria is that sound” she said out loud, the sound has been on for a while, it was rock sliding with dirt and it wasn’t helping Fluttershy in keeping her fears on check, “the darkness was bad enough and now that estrange noise that comes from the wall on my right”. “Wait… what?” as a knife cutting through butter a gargoyle crushed the walls barely hitting her. Fluttershy decided that she have enough of the Everfree castle to last a life time, with panic she started running, and the adrenaline overrode every pain of her earlier wounds. After passing several passages, she suspected that she was getting lost, but the sound of rock sliding behind her quickly made her forgot about that, she casted a glance at her back and there was the statue, perfectly still with tracks on the floor behind it as in mocking her, “why did it stopped?” maybe the statue was just preventing her to go somewhere. Gathering all her courage, she decided to approach it “hello? Please I don’t want to cause trouble, I am just looking for an exit” she said hopping to calm the statue, only to look deep into those empty eyes, she couldn’t look anywhere else, it was like a vacuum that trapped her glace every time she look. And at the moment she blinked and like the flash of a thunder, pain exploded from her side. She opened her eyes to see what was wrong, only to watch the statue standing at mere centimeters from her face, and with one of its claws sticking out from her side. Many emotions were running wild on her mind. “Did it attack me? Am I going to die? How did it move? It moved only when I blinked… I must get out of here immediately” Fluttershy galloped like never before, with a speed that putted every participant of the Run of the leaves at shame”, yet she didn’t care, there was only one thing on her mind. GET OUT, NOW. Fluttershy had manage to loss the statue somewhere and now was hiding in an old closet near the dungeon’s jail, she didn’t wanted to leave the closet and occasionally she would hear the sound of sliding rock . “Alright Fluttershy, think there must be a way out from this place, i must find it and…. And “she shook her head, ever since the gargoyle has clawed her, she would feel more and more tired, she checked her wounds, they were not bleeding, but that didn’t change the blood she lost on the way to the closet “maybe poison?” with a rising panic, she remembered that the claws of the gargoyle where strangely purple when the light hit them “oh no” while moving her hooves frantically, one of her hooves scratched some moho from the walls. “That Moho, I remember that Zecora use some of it to treat a snake bite on one of my bears, she said that it won´t neutralize a venom, but at least will delay it” she applied the moho on her wound, it didn’t matter if she got infected as long as she manage to get medical assistance in Ponyville. She thanked nature for the small blessing, and with renewed hope she exited the closet, but making the door’s hinge dislodge from the mood and fall to the rock floor with a loud CLINK!! Fluttershy didn’t have to guess to know that the Gargoyle would have heard it and now it was standing at the archway, blocking the only exit to the dungeon’s jail. She was feeling her eyes were getting dried up, but Fluttershy knew, the moment she blinked she would die. “So that was it? This is how I die? Maybe I can squeeze between it at the archway, no, it’s too tight and oh, I need to blink!” despair was setting in, she could swear the claws of the statue twitched in anticipation, longing for blood, to feel the flesh of her insides and stain them with the venom dripping from it “wait a minute, why I can see the venom?” two her left there was a tiny window, that let a full moon to be seen, and cast its light on the room. As In reading her thoughts, while she wasn’t looking it moved at the space between Fluttershy and both possible exits, blocking the archway and it giving Fluttershy not enough time to react, if she decided to use the statue to destroy the window, nothing was going to stop it from the taste of blood, it has been far too long since the last time and the rumbling coming from the floor was not going to deny the Gargoyle. Her eyes were begging her to close up, the pain was unbearable, both the adrenalin and the natural analgesics of her body were wearing down, the pain of all the wound of that day was hitting her hard. “Please be quick” Fluttershy resigned herself to fate, and with a long blink expected the final blow of the Gargoyle, the pain she was expecting never came instead came the sound of a shriek while in symphony with the sound of cracking rock, curious about what she would encounter she opened her eyes, to see a sight, that would haunt her for the years to come. The Gargoyle was not moving, but it was screaming with all its might, while it was being impaled and ripped apart from the inside by a strong green bindweed that ripped through the floor. When it was finished with the remains of the gargoyle, it threw it to the window, collapsing it, Fluttershy saw her chance and made a dash for the window, only to be grabbed by the plant and suspended by her hind leg. “Eeeeeeeep……. Please, let me go!” a liana latched itself to all her legs, Fluttershy could feel the pain coming from her joints, the plant was looking forward to dismember her, some vines were looking for her wound in order to rip her apart. Several green lights in the corner of her eye, as in before with the timberwolf, it came from somewhere at her right where the window ones was, the lights catted the plants holding her burning, and obliterating every vine. Fluttershy dropped to the floor, and heard one single order. RUN!!. Fluttershy dashed trough the remains of the window, and she could swear she saw a black figure with some kind of a glowing green circle with estrange symbols at one of its hooves. “FLUTTERSHYYYY, Where are you?” the voice of her friends, like a golden road of hope lighting all the despair, and fear she rushed even harder to her friends , she didn’t care if she opened her wounds, she Was Going To Get to her friends. “Fluttershy!! What happened to you? Are you okay?” her friends distressed by her appearance, bloody, bruised, and one of her wings was covered in some solidified green goo. Fluttershy just sobbed, all her near death experience, her fears , her pain, she sobbed and then passed out, only to cast one last glance at those green glowing eyes that were watching the group from the distance, before turning away.