//------------------------------// // Fallen Angel // Story: The Darkness Within // by Natsumushi //------------------------------// Darkness within Chapter 1 Fallen Angel Sunlight Beamed into the spacious, cloud-sculpted bedroom; decorated with metals, trophies and Wonderbolt paraphernalia. Fluttershy had awoken in a very comfortable queen sized bed as the sun’s beams came to a rest upon her face. As she opened her eyes, there was a sensitivity there that she had never experienced before, and it made her stomach churn. Her head was pounding and her breathing was labored. 'Wha-what happened? And where am I?' She pondered. Her answer came shortly after as a rainbow maned pegasus poked her head into the bedroom. "Fluttershy! Glad to see you're finally awake, ya had me worried." Rainbow Dash beamed as Fluttershy started to realize that she had somehow ended up in Rainbow Dash's cloud mansion. "Rainbow, what happened? H-how did I get here...and can I get a...bucket ...?" Rainbow Dash, quickly realizing her friends' implication, raced to the bathroom and grabbed a trash can. The moment she returned and hoofed her the can, Fluttershy, as if in queue, began to heave into it. "Eww… not cool." Dash murmured as she watched her ill friend retch violently into the trashcan. "Well, to answer your questions, I found you lying unconscious on the hill we all used for that meteor shower a year ago while I was on my way to work. You reeked of booze." she said before Fluttershy gave another heave. Rainbow Dash suddenly saw something odd and tentatively asked, “...are you throwing up blood?" Fluttershy opened her eyes to confirm or deny what she was asked. As her eyes started to focus again she saw the crimson splatter and everything came back to her in full force. The drunken stallion, her sultry words, the amazing taste of life nectar, as well as the hospital and that infernal wailing that escaped her lips thereafter. She then retched one final time as these thoughts enveloped her mind, breaking her down as tears began to openly stream down her face. 'How could I have loved the taste of blood so much? How was I even able to seduce a stallion, let alone flirt with one? What's wrong with me?' she screamed in her mind, currently oblivious to Rainbow's presence. "Yeah...I'm gonna go get a doctor. That is not a good sign." Dash announced. As she began to fly off, she was suddenly jerked to the floor by an unexpected force that left her dazed for a second or two. "No! Don’t!" Fluttershy protested, "I'll be fine!" Startled by Fluttershy's sudden outburst of unexpected strength, Rainbow Dash quickly tumbled to all fours and gave Fluttershy an inquisitive glare. "Whoa, whoa, whoa! Since when can you yank me down in mid-flight? Yesterday you could barely stand or carry your groceries. There's no way you’re Fluttershy!" Rainbow Dash challenged, preparing to charge. "What? Dashie, it is me! We used to play knight and princess, remember?" Fluttershy cried in surprise, bringing Rainbow's misguided assumption to a halt. "Well...yeah but, that's not normal! Neither is puking blood." Dash argued. "No, really Dashie...I'll be fine...i-it’s not blood. It's...strawberry and passion fruit juice." she said looking away from Rainbow Dash, and then quickly added behind a false smile, "and I also made a special medicine from the herbs I bought yesterday afternoon." Rainbow Dash looked unconvinced, and Fluttershy soon felt her brave front crack under the pressure of Dash's fierce stare. Fear overcame her as she struggled with the potential possibility that if her friends indeed found out what had transpired and that she was now some kind of monster that loved to drink blood, that she'd not only lose all of her friends, but also be banished or even worse-- executed. Tears continued to pour as these thoughts swirled within her mind, threatening her to steal her away into the darkness recesses of her mind where could never escape from. She soon felt the gentle pressure of a hoof on her shoulder, "Fluttershy," Rainbow Dash began with a sigh, her expression no longer that of a warrior ready for battle, but now that of a soft and ashamed mare. "I know that you haven't really been yourself lately. I mean, for the past few months you've started to get pretty thin, not to mention smelling like booze. And I know for a fact that, unless you're either with me or Pinkie, that you never drink. So what gives Fluttershy?" Her mind raced to find an excuse, but none presented themselves. In her panic she just blurted out the first thing that came to mind. "I'm a grown mare! I-I was just trying to be more social was all...I guess..." she whimpered. Rainbow Dash saw the pain and confusion creep across Fluttershy's face, and as softly as she could manage said," Fluttershy, look. Whatever it is you're going through, you know you can talk to me about it, right?" Fluttershy nodded, “then you know I don't leave my friends hanging either. I'm only trying to help you, and if you have some kind of crazy medical condition, you should really get it looked into. And also you shouldn't be out alone at night either." Fluttershy's ears perked up when she said that.'did she somehow know I drank somepony's blood? Why would she say that?' she thought. "Wa-What do you mean?" she exclaimed. "Oh, right. Probably should've mentioned it earlier. Two ponies were hospitalized last night. One was drained of his blood! The other had their leg, literally ripped off by some thing at the town square! Crazy, scary stuff going on! Everypony's so terrified that anypony out after dark needs somepony else to accompany them, or to just stay the night at wherever they're at. I'm really glad I found you all in one piece, for the most part." Fluttershy gasped in horror at the latest news. She was mildly aware of her victim, but to hear of another, more gruesome attack that, she hoped, was unrelated to her, sent shivers down her spine. “Oh dear! Are they alright?” Fluttershy asked with genuine concern in her voice. “Aside from the maimed colt missing a leg, they’ll both live from what I hear. I’m just really glad that you’re okay and in one piece! I-I don’t wanna think about losing anypony, especially somepony as close as you and the girls. It honestly scares the hay outta me.” Rainbow Dash confessed, shuddering at the mere thought of losing a friend. “I’m sorry I worried you. And really, I’ll be fine. I’m just going through some strange … changes …” Fluttershy replied. As she went to give Rainbow Dash a hug, a cyan hoof stopped in front of her face. “I appreciate what you were about to do, but you might wanna wash the… uh, red puke off of your chin and chest. It’s kinda matted and gross. No offense, I just don’t wanna hug anypony covered in their own gross. Bathroom’s down the hall to the right.” Rainbow deadpanned. Fluttershy looked down and realized the stallion’s blood was still covering her. “Oh, right. Sorry Rainbow.” She nervously replied, and began to trot out the door, when Rainbow Dash suddenly added more to her previous statement. “Oh and Fluttershy, don’t worry about your pets and animal friends, A.J. said she would take care of them. I told the girls I found you in pretty bad shape and brought you to my place to get better. So take as long as you need to and just chill here today if you really don’t want to see a doctor. Though I can’t really blame you, you know how stubborn I was during that one incident.” “Oh, okay. Thank you Rainbow.” Fluttershy said as she continued her trek to the bathroom. As she walked down the hallway of Rainbow Dash’s cloud mansion, she couldn’t help but to notice the similarities between the house Rainbow’s parent’s had built and Dash’s own. It had been so long since Fluttershy had been to Dash’s home and if memory served well, the two had still been fillies. The years just seemed to really fly by; it was almost frightening to think about it. She stopped, and looked down the stairway, and could even see the phantom images of filly Dash and herself playing knight and princess. A tear fell from her face as the moment played itself over and over again in her mind. Little Dashie had a toy sword in her mouth as she bravely called out to Fluttershy, “I’ll save you princess!” as she batted away cloud monsters and dragons with her little sword. And then when all the ‘monsters’ were ‘slain’ Fluttershy would exclaim, “My hero!” and the two would continue to frolic as one would expect; with a pretend wedding followed by laughter, and a bath if Fluttershy was spending the night. The recollection was like a knife being plunged deep into her chest. She was no longer the innocent filly of her youth, but now a monster; a ravenous, blood thirsty monster. Her innocence was lost the moment she sank her fangs into that stallion, nearly killing him; and the guilt weighed heavily on her conscious. She pushed the memory to the back of her mind and continued onward. Upon entering the bathroom, she caught sight of her reflection. She looked absolutely horrid! The blood stained her golden coat and her mane was frayed and splattered with bile, but the look in her own eyes, that’s what terrified her the most. Those were not her soft, loving azure gems, but instead they were the eyes of a predator. Suddenly her eyes began to shift and glow, becoming a fiery, red and orange color. She began to back away from her reflection, but the reflection did not follow her lead, but instead inched closer, warping and contorting with a diabolic smile breaking across her blood stained lips. The reflection unfurled its leathery, bat-like wings and lunged at Fluttershy through the mirror as high-pitched screams rang in her ears-- Her Screams. Rainbow Dash immediately sprang into action and bolted into the restroom, fearing the worst, as she went inside, she was surprised to find Fluttershy unharmed and safe, but curled up in the corner, covering her head with her hooves, tears running down her face, cowering for an unknown reason. Gingerly, she asked, “What’s wrong Fluttershy? Are you okay? C’mon talk to me!” “M-m-monster…” she weakly whimpered while pointing a hoof to the mirror. Rainbow Dash examined the mirror, and then looked over to Fluttershy. “There’s no monster Fluttershy, though I will admit that you do look pretty bad. I’m guessing it was one heck of a party.” She said, trying to illicit at least a small grin from the golden mare, but to no avail. ‘I’m gonna regret this.’ She thought “Hey, look…Don’t take this the wrong way, but would you like me to shower with you? It’ll be kinda like back in the day when we’d get a bath after a long day of playing.” She asked, feeling a slight warmth of embarrassment in her cheeks. Fluttershy nodded her head after a few moments of contemplation. “Okay, right then.” Dash said with a sigh, helping Fluttershy into the bath tub. She then found a good and ready raincloud and gave it a gentle buck so that it would let out a steady shower of water instead of a quick downpour. This felt very odd to her, sure it didn’t even seem like a second thought when they were fillies, but they were both grown now and an awkward silence fell as Dash began to lather up Fluttershy with a special soap that Rarity had given to her some time back, saying it would help her to win points with Soarin when Dash met with the Wonderbolts. But Helping Fluttershy out was more important to her at the moment, and Dash made sure to thoroughly wash every inch of Fluttershy, who was simply sitting there as if catatonic. When Dash began to wash Fluttershy’s wings, she heard her let out a shuddering gasp and asked, “Did you want me to stop? I can if you want.” “No, please Dashie... don’t stop…” Fluttershy replied lasciviously. She felt as though she was in a trance as Rainbow Dash caressed her body and lathered her up, a sense of pleasure started to well from within before quickly clapping a hoof over her mouth. Startled and embarrassed by her own statement and feelings, she quickly leapt into the air and said, “Oh wow! Look at that I’m clean. Thank you so much Dashie but I think I should go-” She felt a sharp force yank her down, followed by Rainbow Dash asking, “Whoa! Since when can you talk like that?” she questioned. Fluttershy looked up at Rainbow Dash and noticed how shocked she looked; after all, nopony would ever expect such a suggestive tone from such a timid mare. “To many romance novels?” she offered before yanking the shower curtain aside and running out the door, leaving a trail of precipitation, as Fluttershy made her way out of her friend's house, leaving behind a dumbstruck and anxious Rainbow Dash who was heavily blushing. As the last of the rain water poured over Rainbow Dash, one thought began to slowly creep into her mind, ‘Did I really just, enjoy that?’