It seemed to her that the fall was taking forever. Time slowed down, giving Fluttershy the opportunity to observe all that was happening. She saw the gaping hole which she'd fallen through, along with the rotten floorboards underneath, some of these were falling with her. She saw the hole grow more distant with every passing second as she pin wheeled down, down, down.
The left side of her body connected with something extremely hard, allowing time to return to its normal pace as her fall morphed into a tumble and she found herself rolling down the side of a rocky embankment. Head over hooves she went, tumbling like a boulder falling down a mountain, its path changing whenever it hit something. Each side of her body was slammed against the rock face and flipped like a chef would flip breakfast pancakes, until with a final and bone-jarring crash, she stopped rolling and landed with an audible ‘oof’ against soild ground.
Fluttershy's weak and pained moans reverberated throughout the darkness as she lay there. There was continuous thudding, smashing sounds as debris from above followed, landing all around her as the dust settled. She took her time getting up, making sure nothing was broken or dislocated. Steadily she rose to her hooves as she flexed her abused limbs, they responded with twinges of pain where the various cuts, scrapes, and bruises had manifested. Only her left wing refused to cooperate. Her right could just extend out half way before pain would shoot through the wing, causing her to pull it back in quickly. Wincing one last time, she folded it back, before looking up at the hole she'd fallen through. It was easy to see against the rest of the ceiling as the large dark black hole contrasted against the dark grey granite from above.
It was obvious to her that the hole she was now looking at had once been the floor of the pit toilet.
Rotted away from above, or destroyed by something from below?
Blinking, she lowered her gaze and looked around. Fluttershy’s eyes were starting to adjust to the darkness, and she was able to make out the basic details of her surroundings. Her bloodshot eyes widened all of a sudden as her memory from earlier returned with a vengeance. He gaze darted around the room she now resided within, barley lingering on any precise detail for more than a second. That creature. Where was it? WHAT what is? Was it down here with her? Was it still up there in the bathroom?
Although she saw no sign of the monstrous apparition, she was able to decipher her surroundings. She was in an enormous underground cavern of sorts. Stalagmites protruded down from a vaulted ceiling like melting candles. At some points, they touched the stalactites growing from below and dissolved into the ground. The ground itself curved upwards, giving the entire tunnel the illusion of a warped gaping mouth with horribly long teeth that sloped downwards on a 15-degree angle towards inky, pitch blackness.
Looking in that direction, Fluttershy felt that all too familiar, repulsive chill. She hadn't felt this cold since she visited the Crystal Empire for the first time. The ever present frigid sensation was by-passing her fur to dance across the skin beneath. It was noticeably worse than when she'd first tried to enter the bathroom. She had forgotten about her need to hide from the creature above as she stood there, her gaze frozen with fear she couldn't understand, looking in the direction that the tunnel travelled down.
A sudden breeze wafted up from the darkness to grip at her mane. As it did, she felt it pull at her, almost tugging her downwards towards the darkness. It grasped her mane, her fur, her tail and even her injured wings, both gently ruffling at them and chilling her body like a sudden winter breeze as if some unseen force were trying to coax her onwards.
And then, just as abruptly as it came, it was gone. Her whole body went stiff as a board and she found herself unable to move. For what felt like an eternity, she stared ahead of her, down, down into the gaping mouth of the cavern, staring at the unseen origin of that demonic wind. Her eyes froze, locked facing forward, directly ahead into that gaping maw of darkness, unable to tear her vision away. She wanted to run in the opposite direction, but the terror that gripped her was slowly gaining control over her body. Her limbs refused to obey her commands as they rooted themselves to the spot.
All attempts to achieve locomotion was met with violent shaking as they were locked in position. The wind picked up again, and was it her imagination or was it more forceful this time. There was now no doubt in her terrified mind that whatever evil haunted the train station lay down there, somewhere within the blackness of the cavern. Staring in vain into the darkness, Fluttershy's thoughts ticked over the inevitable questions. How long was that tunnel? Where did it lead? And most importantly, what lay and its end? An echoing silence had prevailed in answer to her questions as the darkness before her refused to give up its secrets. A silence almost identical to the one that resonated throughout the underground cavern.
It wanted her to venture forward, there was no doubt about it. It had been trying to coerce her into visiting since she first arrived. Her attempts at escape had proven rather horrifying and almost fatal. The wind picked up again, groaning as it flowed past her. The sounds it made as it streamed around her caused Fluttershy to collapse to the ground in fear, covering her eyes with her hooves. She was unaware of how long she lay there, whimpering. Now and then the wind would pick up, blowing at her, almost pulling at her. It wanted her to move. The wind shot through the tunnel like a passing train, almost roaring. Fluttershy screamed and buried her face into the ground, as the memory of that monster from the bathroom returned.
“Go away!” she cried, her words muffled by the rocky floor. Then to her surprise, it stopped. Fluttershy still lay there, trembling as she wished for some miracle to simply magic all her problems away.
Slowly, she lifted her head and peeked out from behind her mane to find the cavern still empty. Nothing was approaching her with malicious intent. Carefully, she climbed to all four hooves, wincing as pain reminded her of her wounds. Once she was fully standing, she tested her injured wings again before turning to look back up at the hole in the ceiling. Even if the creature from the bathroom were still up there, there was no way she was getting out through that hole without the power of flight. She had no choice but to journey on down through the cavern. She shot the hole a suspicious look. Where was that monster? Why wasn't it down here with her? She turned to look down the cavern. Was it forbidden to follow? Or was it something else? She turned back to the hole and briefly entertained the idea of calling out to the monster, to ask if it were still up there. She decided against it. That would've no doubt would've scored her a reprimand, or even an accusation of stupidity from one of her braver friends, particularly Rainbow Dash, but that was her nature: Kindness. She honestly felt the need to ask if she were still being followed, even if the gesture were not reciprocated.
Staring at the hole, Fluttershy lost track of time until it was clear to her that nothing was coming down to join her. In that instance, the words of her father returned to her yet again. The dark is nothing to fear, because there is nothing there but our imagination, and nothing is in the darkness that wasn’t there in the light. It was likely that wasn't the case, but the thought that nothing was there was a pleasant idea to entertain. She wasn't sure how long she kept her gaze glued to that empty black hole, but eventually she turned away and started walking down the cavern. It was clear to Fluttershy, that whatever ruled this hellish place wanted an audience with her. A sudden wind swept up from behind her, causing Fluttershy to stumble in the direction of the darkened cavern.
That message needed no translation. It didn't like to be kept waiting.
Fluttershy wasn’t even conscious to the fact that she was walking through the impenetrable darkness. Her legs continued to steadily carry her forwards. It was as if she had forgotten about all the dangers that had threatened her from before, that she was unarmed and knew nothing about either this tunnel or the dangers that lay in wait for her at its conclusion. Her conviction was that nothing posed a threat to her as long as she was following the path the wind wanted her to. At that moment, she had forgotten about her inescapable fear of the monsters. She had lost connection with the pain receptors of her body that had previously reminded her with every step that she was seriously injured.
The echo spoiled everything. Because this cavern was so empty, the sound of her steps carried both above and beyond. They reflected from the walls; they rumbled and gradually receded and passed. Then the echoes returned to her shortly after so that it seemed Fluttershy was not walking in the cavern alone. After some time, this perception become so acute, that Fluttershy's whole body was shaking like a jackhammer out of fear as her imagination conjured up the idea that the echo of her steps had a life of its own. She wanted to stop, to listen and discover the truth behind her wild fantasy. She struggled with the temptation for Celestia only knew how long as her walking pace became slower and quieter, listening to hear if this affected the loudness of the echo. Finally, Fluttershy came to a complete stop.
She stood like that in the impenetrable darkness and waited, afraid to take a deep breath, lest the sound of air entering her lungs interfered with the perceptiveness of the slightest murmurs in the distance.
Silence.
Now that she had stopped moving, her perception of the reality of space again vanished. While she was walking, it was as if she was grasping reality by the bottom of her hooves. When she stopped in the middle of the darkness of the cavern, Fluttershy suddenly no longer understood where she was.
It seemed to her, when she again began to move that the barely perceptible echo of her steps reached her ears before her hooves managed to step down onto the rocky floor. Her heart began to beat more acutely, and she tried to convince herself that paying attention to every rustle in the caverns was silly and served no purpose. For some time, Fluttershy tried not to listen to the echo at all. Then, when it seemed to her that the most recent of the fading echoes were drawing closer, she flattened her ears against her skull and continued to move forward. But even this didn’t work for long.
All four limbs were now trembling with trepidation as she walked. She wanted to stop, to curl up and pray that whatever was following her would just pass her, or preferably leave. But she was too terrified to stop, least what ever was following her would catch up. Was it that thing from the bathroom? Fear drove her forward, and away from the ghostly presence.
The echo of her hoof steps began to grow in volume. Then to her horror, she found that the sounds were getting louder in front of her, as if they were approaching. She stopped dead in her tracks, and before her the encroaching sounds did as well: Although there was a slight delay. She peered ahead of her into the darkness, hoping to see nothing in order to calm her dangerously shot nerves. Several minutes passed in which she stood there on shaking limbs, staring intently into the dark cavern ahead.
The shadows stayed motionless.
It was just her imagination. Fluttershy swallowed the fear building in her throat. She told herself that she had already been through way too much to be scared by darkness and an echo. Was it an echo? She put one hoof in front of the other as she slowly started up again, heaving a sigh of confidence as she strode forward. The echo was getting closer, there was no doubt about that. Fluttershy stopped one last time when the phantom steps could be heard about twenty metres ahead of her. This was so inexplicable and weird that she couldn’t stand it. She wiped the cold perspiration from her matted brow and with her voice cracking, shouted into the emptiness: “Is anypony there?”
The echo reverberated frighteningly close, and Fluttershy didn’t recognise her own voice. The rolling echoes chased each other into the depths of the caverns, shedding syllables: “Any pony there . . . pony there . . . there.. ..” And no pony answered. Slowly, she raised her ears from their position against the back of her head and listened. The silence was deafening. Almost imminently, the echo started to come back, repeating her question, her voice recomposing itself in an impossibly loud and warped garble of voewls that became louder, as though some pony about thirty paces away had repeated her question in a mockery of her sweet and soft voice.
Fluttershy could not endure this. Turning around, she went back, trying not to walk too fast at first, but then she started to run, having completely forgotten about not encouraging her fears. She stumbled as the pain in her limbs reminded her of her own limitations. She didn't care about going to meet the master of this place. She didn't care that she couldn't get back out the way she'd come in. All she cared about was getting away as fast as possible from whatever it was that lay before her. After a minute of running, she understood that the reverberating hoof steps continued to be heard at a distance of twenty metres. Her invisible pursuer didn’t want to let her go. Gasping, Fluttershy ran without understanding in what direction, and tripped over a large stone to crash face first into the ground. The echo immediately abated.
She lay there shaking, unsure of time its self as she listened to the sounds around her. No hoof steps could be heard. She had no idea how long it was before she could gather up the will power, get up and take a step forward. It was down the slopping cavern, the direction the mysterious wind wanted her to go. She had managed to gather some semblance of rational thought and she remembered that if she wanted any hope of seeing the dawn rise again, she had to go where the wind wanted her to. With each passing metre, the sound of steps shuffling against the rocky floor became closer, moving towards her. Only the blood pounding in her ears slightly suppressed the ominous rustling. Every time Fluttershy stopped, her pursuer stopped in the darkness as well. Now she was now sure it was no echo.
This continued until the steps sounded as close as one’s outstretched foreleg. Yelling, she blindly swung around to face where she reckoned the source of the steps had to be. Her eyes saw only the empty blackness of the cavern. Nothing stood before her scrutinising gaze. She turned back the other way and was rewarded with exactly the same vision as behind her. Time lost all meaning as she stood there in the cavern, turning back and forth, trying to penetrate the darkness with her eyes, hoping to catch a glimpse of what it was that was following her.
As soon as she caught her breath and made one more step towards her intended destination, she heard a heavy shuffling sound right in front of her. She screamed and flailed the air uselessly with her front hooves, yelling, jumping back, and moving her forelegs out to either side in an effort to seize an enemy she could not see in the darkness. All she found was emptiness.
There simply was nothing there. Fluttershy felt she was losing her mind.
Straining her eyes until they hurt, she tried in vain to see something, anything at all, and her ears tried to catch the nearby breathing of some other creature, but there simply wasn’t anything there. Having stood immobile for several long seconds, she reflected that maybe what she was experiencing wasn't some ghastly apparition of the night but that the explanation for this strange phenomenon might be something else entirely. She remembered Twilight once explaining to her the mechanics of acoustics, of how in long tunnels, sounds can be warped and twisted into something completely different.
Looking off into the darkness in both directions, Fluttershy sighed with relief. No doubt about it, she had been running not from some unseen monster, but her own shadow. A smile crossed her lips, and a low giggled escaped them. She suddenly felt embarrassed, and she could feel her skin reddening beneath her fur. “Nothing but my imagination,” she muttered.
As she brought her front hoof up to take another step towards her destination, some pony quietly whispered directly in her ear: “Remember what you are.”
“Who’s that? Who’s here?” yelled Fluttershy, breathing heavily. But no pony answered. She was again surrounded by a deep emptiness. She stood there, half crouched, ready to sprint off at a given notice. Nothing. Slowly, rising back to a standing position, wiping the sweat from her matted brow with the back of her hoof, she hurried off in the direction that she was being asked to go as fast as her bruised limbs allowed her. The phantom steps of her pursuer matched her pace as she moved in the opposite direction, gradually fading in the distance until they fell silent, and only then did Fluttershy stop.
She did not and could not know what it had been. Twilight had never told her of any phenomenon like that before, but whoever it was who whispered into her ear and told her to remember what she was. What did that mean? She was a Pegasus. She couldn't fly out of here, her wings were too badly injured from the fall. She turned back in the direction she came, no longer fearing her mysterious stalker. Curiosity now replaced her terror. Did she have a friend down here? An ally she could count on?
For an unknown lenght of time, she stared off into the darkness before finally turning away and heading off down into the cavern. From that point on, she simply walked forward, trying not to think of anything, stumbling at times over loose stones lying on the floor, but nothing more terrible happened to her.
Eventually, off in the darkness, she saw a faint glow. Fluttershy hurried her pace a little as the glow intensified. It was light! Something was lit up down here. She spurred on, in spite of the protests coming from her sore limbs. Light was safe, Fluttershy told herself. She felt a slight trepidation at the thought of what might lie up ahead, but she didn't care. She wanted out of these dark caverns.
The light eventually grew so bright that she had to shield her eyes. She squinted as she passed through the doorway and into an open room. It took some time for her eyes to adjust to the brightness after being in darkness for so long, but she was able to blink the room into focus. Then she blinked her eyes in disbelief, before rubbing them with both hooves, and blinking again. Fear was replaced by disbelief as the scene she beheld was utter madness. What she was looking at was clearly intended to be an ancient temple of sorts, but the architecture was wrong. No. It was impossible.
It appeared as if gravity the room just simply ceased to exist. Well, 'ceased to be' would be an exaggeration. It was rather broken up into three different sources, each being orthogonal to the other two. Stairs not only led up and down, but sideways. Level platforms held the illusion of imitating walls and ceilings, while grotesque statues and other arcane ornaments were upside down and horizontal, holding their position in defiance of the laws of physics. Fluttershy's gaze slowly arced across the whole room, trying in vain to grasp any logic to this nonsensical place. Here and there, granting her a better picture, sprouted flaming torches like toadstools in a forest, their flickering light casting wavering shadows all around her that held the illusion of disembodied ponies engaged in some macabre and never ending dance. Her eyes searched high and low, left and right, but the room remained the same. Slowly, with trembling hooves, she moved forwards and into the bizarre room. The path she travelled abruptly ended at a protruding platform, not too far from the entrance. With ever shaking limbs, she stepped up to the lip and cautiously peered over the edge.
The room continued downwards in an ever confusing spiral, disappearing into a jumble of walkways and doors. Tilting her head up revealed the same uncanny pattern stretching above and beyond. To both the right and left, the room corkscrewed off into an even more perplexing mess. She struggled to quell the fear within her as she observed the flaming torches, burning perfectly in an upside down position.
The explanation behind everything lay somewhere within this maze, and as much as she hated the idea, she once again reminded herself that finding it was going to be the only way she'd ever get out of this wretched place. She sounded like a broken record, constaly reminding her self of this, but it was the only motivator to keep her moving. She tried to move her wings, but they still afflicted her body with sharp pains if she so much as budged them an inch. She sneaked a peak over the edge of the platform once more. How in Celestia's name was she supposed to get anywhere in this place without her wings?
She wasn't even aware of her legs slowly moving her backwards towards the entrance to this crazy temple until the view below the platform was gone. Her ears focused on the sounds of her hooves on the stone floor as they moved her away from the unbelievable sight of the temple and back into the cave tunnel. As she approached the threshold, a new sound reached her ears. A low rumbling began to fill the air before it became a shuddering roar, rooting Fluttershy to the spot. Frozen with fear, she was unable to move, until she realised that the sounds weren't coming from the temple, but from behind her.
Her head spun, just in time to see a large stone door sliding closed, blocking her only exit from the cursed place. She raced for the door, reaching it as it shuddered to a stop, completely sealing her within.
“No!” Fluttershy screamed. “No, please, open! Open up! Let me out! Let me out!” She pounded her hoof uselessly on the door until she had to cease due to the pain that crippled it. Nursing it gingerly, she slowly retreated back to all fours, wincing at the pain as she planted her hoof back on the ground before slowly, turning back to face the temple.
The horrible conclusion which had been gradually intruding itself upon Fluttershy's confused and reluctant mind was now an awful certainty. She was completely trapped, completely, hopelessly trapped in the vast labyrinthine of this mammoth temple. Back in the caverns, there had been the hole that led back up into the bathroom, and no matter how difficult or impossible it would've been to use that exit, it had still been an exit of sorts. Now... now there really was no avenue of retreat. The air was still and quiet as the yellow Pegasus turned back to confusing vision before her. She understood that what ever resided within these illogical walls had done that as a display. It wanted her to understand there was no escape.
But where else was she supposed to go? Turn as she might, in no direction could her straining vision seize on any object capable of serving as a guidepost to set her on the right path. Nervously, she tip-toed back to the edge of the platform and beheld the maze of confusing and twisting passageways and stairs that gave the illusion of leading everywhere, and yet nowhere at the same time.
All at once, the wind picked up. It was queer in its operation, as it seemed to come from somewhere up ahead, while pulling at her mane and fur from behind. To her left, it grasped at her with invisible claws, dragging her. Fluttershy squeaked in fear as she felt her body being dragged towards the edge of the platform. The grasp wasn't strong enough to take hold of her, but it did force her towards the edge and empty air.
Her pitiful squeaks became a terrified whinnying as her front hooves began scrabbling at the lip of the platform, dislodging crumbling stone to plummet straight down. “No don't!” Fluttershy begged. “Please, don't!” Her words trailed off in a fearful scream as her front legs slipped off the platform and over the edge, pulling the front half of her body with them. Everything shot past in a blur as her vision caught a whirlwind glimpse of the entire temple as she fell over the edge.
Her jaw banged painfully against stone, cutting off her scream and transforming it into a painful yelp. Slowly, her eyelids cracked open, only to spring open completely at the vision she now beheld. She was on level ground. She blinked with scepticism before raising her head up. The world, along with herself was upside down, but her tail and mane acted as though they were the right way up. In a slightly comforting way, it reminded her of her youth in Cloudsdale, the way other Pegasi would hover upside down in the air. Many of the Unicorn and Earth Pony tribes found the sight unsettling and most Pegasi chose not to do this in front of their earth bound cousins. She hadn't given much thought to this effect until now because her Pegasus mind hadn't thought it unnatural behaviour. Only the realisation that this temple was made of stone and not clouds brought it to the forefront of her mind.
Cautiously, she rose to all four hooves and looked around. She now stood at the bottom of a flight of stone steps proceeding upwards. Following them, she saw that the stairs terminated at a narrow archway that proceeded into an even narrower corridor. Curiosity squashed her fear as turning around, she peeked over the lip of the new platform she was standing on. To her amazement, it was the underside of the other platform where she'd previously been. Beyond, the closed stone door that had been the entrance stared back at her with mocking silence. The wind pulled at her with impatience, forcing her to return her gaze to the stairs leading upwards. Or was that downwards? The phantom win pulled at her again, and she stumbled towards the steps, before finally forcing herself up on quaking limbs.
Upon reaching the top of the stairs, she peered through the archway into the narrow corridor. It travelled forward a few feet, before ending at what appeared to be a wall. Carefully, placing one hoof in front of the other, Fluttershy crept down the corridor towards the end. As she reached it, she realised that it wasn't a wall, but rather that it was another platform to yet another set of stairs leading downwards towards a ledge like catwalk that had an opening to another corridor.
Staring at it made her stomach churn as from her angle the corridor and the wall it was situated in looked like a hole in the floor. She hesitated at the first step, but the demonic wind pushed at her, more forcefully this time, giving her no other option but to proceed. Reaching the wall, Fluttershy cried out in a mixture of surprise and fear as her whole body reacted to the switching of angles. Much like when she'd first gone over the edge of the starting platform, her whole body tilted as her hooves moved from the floor to the wall-like platform as if gravity remembered it had a job to do. Her view was one of the world from a sideways perspective, but just like before, she felt no shift in weight or gravity and all four hooves remained on the stone beneath them.
Suppressing wild emotions, she forced her limbs forward, down the stairs, towards the catwalk, and she nearly tripped as she switched angles from the stairs to the wall-like catwalk. Creaping along it towards the new corridor, and with tremendous effort, she forced her shaking head to peer around the side of the archway. A flight of stairs lead down into darkness in an endless spiral pattern. In spite of the numerous flickering torches that flanked its sides, the bottom of the stairs could not be seen. The wind pushed with intensity and her whole body staggered into the new room.
Fluttershy peered over the edge and looked down through the centre of the spiral staircase. She could feel her limbs trembling as her eyes attempted to penetrate the inky blackness below. When this proved impossible, she turned to look at stairs. Like the rest of the stairs, she'd encountered in this place; they were made of stone that looked like it had been around since the dawn of civilisation. Old, and yet well looked after in appearance. She crept over to it and peered intensely at the first step.
Without even realising it, she reached out one hoof and placed it down on the first step. It felt sturdy as she tested it, before moving her other hoof forward onto the second. Nothing happened. Then she was on the third, fourth, fifth.
Fluttershy paused as she looked down into the darkness. Its secrets still remained hidden from her scrutinising gaze. As much as she did not want to go down there, the wind that flowed through these halls left with little option. Working her bottom jaw in remembrance of being forced over the entrance platform reminded her that attempting any form of resistance would most probably end in pain or worse. There was no way back, and even if she tried, that strange wind that flowed through these passages would force her down. As if on cue, she felt the wind pick up, and she turned away from the sight and continued descending the stairs.
Step after step, Fluttershy edged her way down the staircase, not bothering to look behind her to see how far she'd travelled or down to see her intended destination. Instead, she kept her eyes locked on each step before her, trying to block out everything around her.
She wasn't aware that she'd stoped, standing under the flickering orange, yellow glow of a torch and waited, afraid to take a deep breath, lest the sound of air entering her lungs interfered with the perception of the slightest murmurs in the distance. Silence reigned supreme. Now that she had stopped moving, her understanding of the reality of where she was returned to the forefront of her mind. With slow, deliberate movements, Fluttershy gradually peaked over the edge towards the ground. Nothing. The stairs vanished down into darkness; the bottom still could not be seen. She looked back up, and realised that the top of the stairwell was now obscured from her view. Like the bottom, it too vanished into the darkness.
A terrified squeak passed her lips as the shaking began anew. Her trembling body backed up against the cold, stone wall of the stairwell as she closed her eyes and wished to be home once again. She couldn't help it. That was her nature. Fear just incapacitated her at the most inconvenient times. There was a sudden roar that that echoed up and down the stairwell. It built up from below, before bellowing up past her to vanish high above. Then it returned, roaring down to return from whence it came. Fluttershy couldn't help herself. Curiosity over-road her fear and she peaked over the edge of the stairs and down into the darkness. The same empty sight from before greeted her.
Something tickled at the back of her neck, and she turned her head to look behind her. The stairwell remained quiet and devoid of life. Something persisted in her mind, and Fluttershy began to scrutinise every inch of the stone steps, walls, support structures and torches.
All at once, however, her attention was fixed with a start as from the darkness above, she heard the sound of soft approaching steps on the stone staircase. In the unearthly stillness of this subterranean stairwell, the sounds of whatever was out there were soft, and stealthy, as if they were the padded paws of some fleet-footed predator.
Instantly, her eyes shot to the darkness directly below her, only to be rewarded with the same, black empty void as above, but thankfully no sounds issued from below. She turned back, looking up the spiralling stairs, her ears straining as the steady, rhythmic sounds, increasing in volume, methodically made their way down through the darkness towards her.
High above, one of the distant torches winked out all of a sudden and Fluttershy stiffened. Another torch died and another. One by one, the torches were shutting off in a systematic pattern that descended the stairs towards her. Her legs were racing down the stairs before she was even aware of it. Running as fast as she could, Fluttershy kept her eyes locked on the stairs directly in front of her, not daring to look back.
The perusing steps were louder now, running as if to catch up with her. Fluttershy's whole body ached with pain as she increased her speed. Behind her, she could make out in her peripheral vision the torch lights winking off closer and closer towards her with the errily audible ‘woof’ of each torch as the mysterious source extinguished it. Her heart pounded fiercely against her chest, and the blood pumped ferociously throughout her body.
The torch lights above her disappeared, and she felt something grasp at her tail. She screamed as loudly as she could, as her front left hoof caught on a step, and she tripped. Fluttershy banged her face against the stone step and flipped over to land on her back before repeating her unintentional sumasalt. She kept her downward momentum going as she rolled all the way down the stairs, before finally crashing into solid ground.
She didn't even moan with pain as she lay there, shaking with fear. What had chased her? Was it that thing from the bathroom? Her mystrious ally who pursued her through the cavern? Time seemed meaningless as she lay there, unable to move. Finally, she opened one eye, and a long corridor greeted her.
She opened the other eye. She was at the bottom of the stairwell, laying before a large open door that led into another long corridor. Lifting her head, she saw that at the other end was a bright light. Light was good. She turned to look back up the stairwell, and gasped in disbelief to see tiny lights spiralling up into the darkness. It was as if her panicked flight down the stairs from her unseen stalker had never happened.
“Nothing but my imagination,” she muttered with dubiety. She wasn't even sure what was real and what wasn't anymore. This crazy temple, being perused by something that ended up being nothing. Was this the doing of the temples owner? Everything that ended up being nothing had just seemed so real. Was she losing her mind? She shook her head as she extinguish the thought.
Slowly climbing to her hooves, she turned and looked down the corridor. It was tall, long and narrow, just big enough for a pony of her size to walk down by herself. She didn't like the idea of doing that. Then again, she didn't like the idea of being down here to begin with. Hesitantly, she walked up to the threshold and placed one hoof over it. Nothing. She walked fully inside. Nothing. She was walking down the corridor before she even knew it. Nothing within jumped out to scare her. The walls were as blank and empty as the rest of the temple.
As Fluttershy crept along the corridor towards the bright light, she could feel her whole body trembling with a combination of both fear and anticipation. Again, she wanted to turn and flee, but there was no other alternative but to go forth. Each step she made with a trembling hoof was stilled as it was planted firmly on the stone ground beneath her, only to continue its tremors as it was lifted once again in sync with her body's forward locomotion.
With trembling hooves, Fluttershy edged closer and closer towards the archway. The closer she drew, the intensity of her fear was magnified. The source of everything sinister about this wretched train station lay just beyond, and she had no choice but to greet it face to face. She squeezed her eyes shut as tightly as she could, while she carefully place one hoof in front of the other when she passed directly beneath the arch.
Now she was inside the room. She stood very still as she listened to the sounds around her. The ambient background noise was identical to the one that resided outside the train station: Silence. The harsh, rapid-fire breathing emitting from her throat was the only sounds that filled her ears. Deep within her chest, her heart pounded furiously, as for what must have been the millionth time that night, her legs were unable to move.
Instead, she collapsed to the floor, covering her face with her front hooves as she shook uncontrollably at the thought of facing the final nightmare. What could it be? Some deformed monstrosity from the deepest, darkest bowels of tartarus? Was it an invisible entity with psychic powers? Or, was it already hovering over her, leering at her through glowing eyes and wicked teeth? Readying talon like claws to tear her asunder? She screamed and inadvertently opened her eyes.
There was nothing.
She blinked with uncertainty and looked directly ahead of her. A low, primitive stone altar in the shape of a rectangular table stood before her, corralled by a circle of flickering candles. Atop it, sat a battleship grey chunk of rock and nothing else. She looked to her left, only to be greeted by a stone wall. No inscriptions, no doorways leading elsewhere, nothing. She turned her head to the right only to be greeted by an identical sight. A sudden deep rumbling sound caused her to turn and look behind her just in time to see a large stone slab slide down, blocking the exit, leaving her trapped. She emitted a high pitched squeak as it slammed down with a mighty thud that resounded all around the empty chamber. She stared at the sealed door for a few moments, before turning around to face the centerpiece of the whole room: the rock.
In spite of the terror coursing through her veins, she couldn't help but admit feeling a little disappointed at the result. A rock? This was the reason behind all her fears, all her pain, all her torture? A rock? A bland, uninteresting piece of granite no different from the billions of bland, uninteresting pieces of granite she saw nearly every hour of the day?
She rose to all four hooves as her eyes furrowed every so slightly.
“Alright,” she whispered in defiance. “Here I am.”
The room began to darken. The candles began to dim and even sputter, but they did not go out completely. From within the centre of the large rock, a dark shadow began to spread forth and it began to vanish into the darkness that was engulfing it. From its base, a low, black mist began to steadily seep forth and fold out across the floor, enveloping it. Fluttershy watched with anxiety as the mist unfolded out towards her. The fog seemed deliberate in its slowness as if to erode what little remained of her calm. She took a hesitant step backwards, but the darkness reached her before she could retreat further. It flowed around her hooves, and passed her, as though she were nothing but an annoying obstruction. It continued its expansion, reaching the walls, before surging up them to crawl across the ceiling, obscuring the whole room and leaving her trapped within an endless void of black space. All that remained was the alter, the candles and the rock. Everything else had been concealed beneath a shorud of darkness.
Fluttershy made a trembling withdraw from the alter. From behind her, the fog that covered the floor reared up with tendril like fingers, wrapping and curling around her hind quarters. Fluttershy gave a sharp scream at its touch and tried to flee, but the tendrils pushed, pulled and herded her forwards.
Forwards, towards the alter.
Fluttershy was too terrified to even utter a minute squeak as she was dragged within the circle of the candles. Her hooves scrabbled at the obscured floor, trying desperately to find any sort of traction that would at least slow, or even stop her unwanted momentum. It didn't even slow her down the least bit.
Once she was inside the circle of candles, the light that they produced began to dim. All around her, the darkness that obscured the walls and floor began to creep closer and closer. The creeping fog was deliberate in its slowness as if to erode her nerves and grated what ever calm still resided within.
She could feel the sweat upon her brow as the darkness closed in on her from every direction. Turning her head left, right, and up revealed the same unwelcoming sight of the fog gently rolling towards her. The darkness pulled at her again, and she was dragged towards the large rock before her. As it was now inches away from her, Fluttershy finally managed to squeak out a pitiful, “No.” Her request was ignored.
The shadows rolled past the candles, reducing the flickering lights to a dull orange glow, that faded and vanished as the fog crept towards her. Now the room was encased within total darkness.
Fear was now coursing through her veins. Her eyes were wide as saucers while sweat completely mattered her brow. She looked left. Nothing. She looked right. Nothing. Above, below and behind. Nothing. All that remained was the rock that now glowed with an insidious deep purple light that appeared to be emanating from within.
The shadows swirled up, wrapped around her front right leg and lifted it up into the air. Fluttershy opened her mouth to scream, but all that came out was air as her vocal cords refused to function. She could only watch with impending dread as her hoof reached out and touched the rock. As it connected, she screwed up her face, her eyes lids slamming down like shutters and every muscle within her body tensed as it awaited what ever sensation would come.
Nothing happened.
Still, she dared not open her eyes. She scrunched up her face even tighter as her limbs started to shake in anticipation of what ever would follow. Would it be painful? Would it be quick? Would she not even feel it?
Nothing happened.
Slowly, very slowly, one eye cracked open. The rock was the first thing that greeted her vision. The strange violet light from beneath its granite surface pulsed like a steady heart beat. Her own heart thumped heavily within her chest as she could feel the terror well up within her entire body, spreading like a cold sensation throughout her limbs.
The other eye gradually opened, and she was now staring at the glowing rock, her hoof still connected to its surface. Carefully, she looked towards the heavens. Nothing appeared to menace or taunt her.
Cold, spindly claw-like fingers slowly worked their way up her left shoulder like spider legs. Fluttershy felt her whole body stiffen as the wind gently blew from behind her left ear. The master of this temple was now behind her. She could feel its presence, touching her with a cold evilness that was indescribable. She was now trembling like a leaf in a strong breeze; her heart was thudding against her ribcage like some demented animal who was determined to escape its cage. Her breath came in ragged gasps as she attempted to from at least one comprehensible syllable.
Then, like a passing wind, a single word flowed through her mind.
...Remember...
For the briefest of moments, the fear fled her mind as she attempted to remember what it was she was required to. Remember? Remember what? Her eyes widened as a memory dawned like Celestia's rising sun. She blinked in shock, before feeling the rocky surface more thoroughly. Then, her hoof stopped feeling the surface, and the fear returned like a sudden gale. She knew. She knew what it was she had to remember. She remembered where she had seen, and what this rock was.
It was a piece of the moon.
Memories passed through her jumbled mind like slideshow stills. Memories of nightmares and Rarity being kidnapped, having to journey to the moon to rescue her from…
Her bottom lip quivered as her eyes widened ever larger. Rescue from the entity of Nightmare Moon.
Fluttershy finally found her voice and screamed, as she jerked her hoof away from the rock. Her back hoof didn't move as fast as her front half, and she tumbled backwards like a bowling ball and landing in a pathetic heap not too far from the moon shard.
The silence that filled the room was deafening, leaving only those she made. Laying there on the ground in a heap, Fluttershy's mind began to relive those moments up in the station. Those monstrosities she encountered. The masked creature in the bar, the invisible monster in the engine room, and that creature in the bathroom stall. All of them had been from her nightmares, the ones she had envisioned all those years ago in the Cloudsdale Museum. She understood now. It had not been a coincidence that she had brought those horrible memories up.
This nightmare creature had deliberately dredged them up from the hidden recesses of her mind, looking for something which to terrify her with. That time when Rarity had been kidnapped, she had suffered the exact same thing, being snatched off the train. Deep within the recesses of her mind, it showed her that countless ponies had been lured down here for the sake of tormenting them, toying with them as a predator would with its prey. But this was only a trickle. Like a spoiled child, it wanted more. Only recently had its psychotic mind finally realised that it needed to leave. She understood now. It wanted her. It was trapped down here. It wanted to escape. It needed a pony, a living pony in order to leave this place and experience all the nightmares from the inhabitants of Equestria. And she had just delivered it a means to leave.
Fluttershy's entire body went rigid with fear. It was going to turn her into a monster like Nightmare moon had done to both Luna and Rarity. However, in spite of the fear within her, she felt rage building up as well. How dare this creature torment her. What gave it the right to torture her with her own fears, to toy with her. To use her for purposes of evil. All her rage built up and erupted in the loudest shout she'd ever managed.
“Go away!” she screamed at it. It wasn't exactly the most clever line, but it was all her mind could conjure up. She wanted it gone, to leave her alone. She wanted it to go away. Black fog began to roll forth to circle and intertwine amidst her legs. She shivered violently at their touch. It was identical to the feeling she'd experienced in the bathroom, causing her bottom jaw to quiver as she inhaled a shuddering breath.
“G-go aw-way,” she stuttered as the black fog slowly spiralled up her legs. She wanted to vomit from the sensation. Most importantly, she wanted to run. Unfortunately, her legs refused to cooperate. She was too petrified with fear and unable to budge an inch. Her breath caught in her throat as she felt the darkness snake its way up to her torso.
She could feel the darkness creep up her neck, slowly and deliberate, just like before. She squeezed her eyes shut as she felt it inch up past her muzzle. A few teardrops sneaked out from her clenched eyelids and rolled down her cheek before they were swallowed up by the creeping darkness as it completely covered her entire body. Silence ruled as she stood there, not daring to open her eyes out of fear of what she might see.
“Fluttershy?” The voice was familiar.
Her eyes shot open to see Twilight Sparkle, standing not too far away with a look of concern in her eyes. The darkness was gone, and instead was back in the altar room. The candles still flickered around the moon shard, but the fog was gone. Fluttershy's heart filled with joy at the sight of her best friend and she leapt up and began limping all the way over to her.
“Twilight!” she shouted. “You're here! You found me!”
“Of course,” Twilight said as Fluttershy embraced her friend in a loving hug. “But it's not just me.” Fluttershy leaned back to see that Twilight was pointing behind her. Following her indication, her heart soared as she spied the rest of the mane six, all clustered around her.
“My friends!” Fluttershy cried out. Her expression turned serious. “We need to get out of here; this place is dangerous!”
“We know,” Rainbow Dash said. “We couldn't leave without saying goodbye.” Fluttershy's jaw dropped. She tried to ask why her fellow Pegasus had said that, but all that transpired was her bottom jaw soundlessly working.
“Its absolutely true, darling,” Rarity chimed in. “We just felt it necessary for closure's sake.”
“Why?” Fluttershy finally managed to cry, as she turned from one familiar face to the next.
“Why not,” Pinkie Pie chimed in. “You're always so timid and afraid that you end up slowing us down whenever we go on adventures.”
“Yeah,” Applejack added. “You aint what we need when the goin' gets tough.”
"No!" Fluttershy protested. "That's not true!" Twilight ignored her.
“So we figured that the best solution is to find a new friend,” she finished off. Fluttershy turned from one pony to the other, horrified. Their expressions all mirrored each others. Cruel and tormenting smiles glared balefully back at her. She felt the tears once more welling up within her eyes.
“No.” It took her a few second to realise she had uttered that.
“Yes,” Pinkie Pie chirped. “We're going to leave you behind, you scaredy cat, so we can find us a new bestest friend in the whole widest world.”
“One who isn't a complete and utterly useless chicken,” Rainbow Dash spat.
“Ta-ta!” Rarity chimed as she waved her hoof dismissively.
“NO!” Fluttershy screamed. She reached out to grab hold of her friends, but her strength abandoned her and instead ended up collapsing to the ground. A few pathetic sobs escaped her lips as some tears rolled down her already matted cheek fur. “No.” Her voice was a hoarse whisper.
“See ya round, Klutzershy,” Rainbow Dash jeered. Then she paused dramatically, before adding, “Oh wait, no we won't!” All five ponies burst out laughing as though it was the funniest joke in the world. Their mocking laughter echoed and reverberated around the whole room. Fluttershy covered her ears in an attempt to block it out, but it made its way inside, tormenting her hearing no matter how hard she tried to ignore it.
“Who should we get to replace Fluttershy, girls,” Twilight called back over her shoulder more to taunt the yellow Pegasus than to ask the others.
“How about Dizty Doo,” Rainbow Dash offered. “She maybe a few feathers short of a duck, but you can rely on her not to chicken out when the going gets tough.”
No.
It was just like the last time. These weren't her friends. That statement wasn't true when Applejack had said it, and it wasn't true when Rainbow said it. Fluttershy rose to all four hooves. “No!” she said defiantly.
“Excuse me?” Rainbow Dash said. All five of them had stopped.
“I said no,” Fluttershy snapped. “You five are NOT my friends. I know my friends. My friends know that they can count on me when the going gets tough, because, in spite of my faults, I would never abandon them. And my friends wouldn't just abandon me in such a horrid place like this.” She pointed a hoof at them. “You are not them! You aren't even real!” she cried. Her voice echoed up and down the entire room.
As her echo faded off into the distance, the five ponies before her began to smile. Not a warm, welcoming smile given from one friend to another, but one of cruel, malicious intent. “Oh, we're real,” Twilight said as the five of them started casually trotting back towards her. “Just not in the sense you're used to.” She sighed with disappointment. "We were hoping that this would all go smoothly. I guess we're going to have to do this the hard way."
Fluttershy felt her courage begin to drain away from her. She lowered her hoof and tried to back away from them, but after taking one step, she found that once more, her legs were immobilised. As the five drew near, they spread out to surround her. Fluttershy turned with trepidation from one familiar face to the next.
“W-what are you?” Fluttershy finally squeaked.
“We are those who came before,” Twilight answered. “Before we were sealed up by that idiot.”
“Huh?” Fluttershy turned to face Twilight. What did she mean by 'That Idiot.'
“We were all trapped here; that is until you fell into our grasp. He took you and brought you here.” She grunted with irritation. “Sadly, he couldn't bring you all the way here, his power isn't as great as it used to be. We tried to 'encourage' you down here, but you had to go wandering off on your own.” She smiled. “So we just pushed you a little.” She smirked. "And... well, let's just say that he and those two fillies arn't the only ones who like to play games."
Fluttershy understood that. They used her nightmares against her. “But... what about those fillies?”
“He likes them,” Twilight said with an air of annoyance. “He lets them play all by themselves. They remind him of himself: The way he likes to play. He usually steps in to stop them from going... too far, but thankfully, you proved to be more resourceful than we gave you credit for.” She looked thoughtful for a moment. "I suppose looking back on it, I guess that its not a shock were going to do this the hard way."
“He?” Fluttershy asked. “Don't you mean, they? I thought Nightmare Moon was a collective?” All five ponies laughed. It was a low, insidious chuckle that reverberated all the way up the yellow pegasus’ spine.
“Not this one,” Twilight said.
“But how...?” Fluttershy asked when Twilight held up a hoof to silence her.
“He's been alone for so long,” she said. “He wasn't meant to be alone. A thousand years is such a really long time. All he wants is company. Lots and lots of company. That's why were all down here.”
"Where is he?" Fluttershy dared asked as she looked over at the moon shard.
"He is everywhere, and everything," Twilight answered. "He is this world. The station, the forest, the caverns and this temple. But he is weak, and growing weaker. He can only perform small feats. He needs us for most of the hard work... and talking. Only recently, while there has been no more ponies coming to this station, has he finally understood the need to leave." She followed Fluttershy's gaze over to the moon shard. "That is only his heart. With you, he will have a new heart. You can find out the rest of the answers once you have surrendered to him."
“I won't!” Fluttershy cried out. “You can't destroy my resolve anymore. I won't give my self over to him, or whatever he is.” The sinister chuckling resumed.
“And just what are you planning to do. Use the stare? That cold iron poker?” Twilight paused as the smile grew wider. “Or perhaps you would like to quote the holy scripture from the book of the Great Maker in a childish attempt to scare him into retreat?” She looked bored. “Its all been done. Literature is nothing more than words on a page. Threats of physical, magical and theological violence... They just don't work. All of it, it only makes him stronger.” Listening to everything, it only now dawned on Fluttershy why the world above and around her didn't make sense. This was his world. His rules. He could simply cheat when ever he wanted to, just as he'd done those countless times in the station above. She could feel her blood pumping furiously within her veins. Her heart thudding like the echoes of the cavern, the veins throughout her body throbbing with all the intensity that they could.
"You won't break me!" Fluttershy said quickly, more to reassure herself.
“Oh, you'll break,” Twilight hissed, her voice now lower in tone. “Have you forgotten what he is?” There was a horrible wet crunching sound from behind, and Fluttershy turned to look just in time to see Applejack's body break in two. From beneath the fur, came out not quite a changeling, but a hybrid between a reptile and an insect. It shed off her former skin and turning towards Fluttershy, hissing menacingly.
She screamed as she turned from one pony to the next. Rarity appeared to be stuck in a half melted phase, her body looking more like a warped mannequin with no eyes and a huge circular sharp toothed worm like mouth covering her whole face. Pinkie had morphed into a giant spider creature, her eight spindly pink legs ended in spiked daggers, her normally poofy hair was sticking out in all directions and blown back while her face was dotted with numerous eyes and her mouth warped into a hydious vertical toothy maw that was lined with four sharp pincers. Rainbow dash was enormous. A cross between a bat and a dragon, she clung upside down to the ceiling, her muzzle full of jutting teeth while her rat like tail swished impatiently back and forth.
“Have you forgotten what his weapon of choice is?” Fluttershy turned to see Twilight standing before her. Although her voice was still unrecognisable, she was still normal unlike the rest of the group. “Terror!” At that word, her face split apart from her mouth in four different directions like a flower bud, revealing rows of razor sharp teeth and an elongated tentacle like tongue that was reaching towards her. “And in that realm, he has no equal!”
And yet, they did not advance her. Turning from one twisted apparition to the next, Fluttershy didn't understand why they weren't attacking her. They were just teasing her, standing beyond their reach. That's when she noticed it.
The flame that lit the torches were now dancing wildly. Twisting and turning, weaving and dodging, reaching higher and higher into the still air. Now their bright, shining lights were casting shadows that danced and flickered in sync to some silent rhythm. Then they took on the appearance of ponies, distorted and warped into cruel mockeries of their real life counterparts. They appeared to rear up on their hind legs, before falling back down to all fours. Fluttershy watched with horrified fascination, which quickly turned to dread as all their leering heads turned as one towards her.
Materialising from the walls, the floor and even the ceiling above. They streched out from their confines, like pushing through an invisible silk curtain, before breaking the fourth wall and raising up to stand before her like ghosts. Deep within the recesses of her mind, she knew what these things were. Those Who Came Before. The souls of all the victims who had befallen to the Nightmare Creature. There came not one, not a hundred, but a thousand souls. They then moved with no sounds, imitating no vocal noise as they stealthily crept towards her. There appeared to be no end to their demented conga line as they moved in step with each other.
She took a step backwards, only for terror to once more grip her muscles with paralysis as the mockery of Applejack hissed at her. The strange shadows steadily surged towards her. A small whimper escaped her lips as she willed her body; any part of her body to return to functional status. It did not. Struck down with uncontrollable fear, she could only shake violently in her attempt to get her legs to move. Sweat was now dripping off her cheeks as the shadows drew closer, and closer.
Her bottom lip began to tremble with fear. Fear at the thought that nevermore should she behold the blessed light of day, or scan the pleasant hills and forests of the beautiful world outside. Hope had departed. Her eyes widened to impossible widths as the first of the shadow creatures reached her. The first of the shadows raised a transparent hoof towards her, and began to slowly merge into her body.
Fluttershy squeezed her eyes shut. She couldn't imagine what it would be like, taken away from your friends and family, never to see them again. So many ponies. So many families who will never see their loved ones again. Being forced to do the bidding of some cruel and malevolent non-entity. She looked up into the shadow faces. Did they know what they were doing? Did it fill them with sorrow that they would forever doom another pony to this life of servitude?
Laying there on the ground, feeling her strength fading like the last rays of sunlight, Fluttershy felt no ill-will to any of them. She felt... Pity.
The shadow demon that had been morphing into her body pulled back the merest of an inch, as if stung by some unseen menace. Fluttershy did not see this slight retreat, but she sensed it. The shadows then flung themselves upon her, increasing their fever. Fluttershy could feel their anxiety, and it only fuelled her compassion for them. Anxiety changed to anger. She didn't understand why her feelings seemed to make them incensed. As the shadows swirled around her like a hurricane, she felt one of the shadows briefly break off from the pack, to float past her ear. As it did so, it quietly whispered directly in her ear: “Remember what you are.”
Now she understood. Before, back in the caverns, she hadn't known what that meant. What she was. Now, it was as clear as a sunny blue sky. Threats of physical, magical and theological violence never worked against the Nightmare Creature. It did not even phase it. But she was the element of kindness: An element of harmony. What had she learnt from being an element? From all the scary, dangerous and frightful adventures she'd been on? Violence never solves anything. The power of friendship was the key needed to save the day. Friendship was the element of harmony. Kindness was an element of friendship. Kindness was not only WHO she was, but WHAT she was.
The instinct of self-preservation was finally stirred within the yellow Pegasus, and the thought of escape from the oncoming peril rapidly began to override the fear that kept her body rooted and ridged to the floor. Slowly, she stood up, the swirling shadows growing further apart from her.
She would not fight terror with violence. She would not even fight it. She would be herself. She would be kind.
Standing defiantly before the nightmares in the room, Fluttershy concentrated on all the suffering she had endured that night, all caused for the sake of terrifying her. Weakening her, so that the nightmare creature could escape. With that feeling coursing through her veins, she spoke truthfully and from her heart. “I forgive you.”
The shadows swooned away.
“No!” It took her a second to realise that was Twilight. “Stop!” Fluttershy instead hung her head, blocking out all attempts to reach her as she concentrated on the sorrow that all those who came before must have felt. To have their lives cut short, and their families weep over their loss. To never know what their fate was, and spend years searching for an answer that would never be revealed. Tears began to well up in her eyes, not from fear, but from sorrow.
She then raised her head to the heavens and said, “I love all of you.” The shadows dissipated like water on a hot summers days. All that remained were the mockeries of her friends, now staggering under some unseen weight. “I can't hate you anymore,” Fluttershy spoke truthfully. “Not after what I've seen. Not after understanding why you've done what you've done. I can't.” One by one, her friends screamed and melted into the ground. Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash. All gone save for one. Twilight.
“You're a creature that knows only terror. How miserable you must be to exist like that. Never knowing love or laughter, or generosity,” she paused. “Or kindness.”
“S-stop!” Twilight had reverted back to her normal self, her normal voice. It was losing its power. Then again, had she not said that its power was weak to begin with? That would explain her helpful friend who reminded her of what she was, and gave her a method of fighting back. Fluttershy lowered her head. That kind pony, who ever they were, deserved a fate better than the one they received. Still, she did not hate the creature. Terror was all it knew. If she could teach it the meaning of kindness, of forgiveness, of love, then maybe there was hope for this creature. She had conquered Discord that way. She could do the same. She slowly walked over to Twilight.
“Stay back!” she hissed. “Stay back you witch, you're killing him!”
That made the yellow Pegasus pause. Killing him? The phrase, killing with kindness floated past her mind. Was she really proving to be fatal for the poor creature? There was good in every pony, so why would…
This creature wasn't just terror. It was was also evil. Twisted and insane, it was a combination of both. All the dangers she had fought had in the past had been simply chaotic, not evil: Discord was proof of that. The elements had only defeated them. She realised that she had never truly used the power of kindness against pure evil before. Evil was vastly different from Chaos. Her element, kindness, wasn't defeating him. It was killing him.
“P-please stop.” She looked over at the cowering form of Twilight. She was now a blank-flank filly, cowering in the corner of the room. Her eyes were wet with tears. Fluttershy took a step towards her and the little filly screamed. Not in terror, but in pain. “Please! Don't kill me.” A trick. It was trying to stop her from getting closer. In one hesitant second, she foolishly let her focus fade, and she felt a twinge of fear out of what she was doing to the little filly. That was all it needed.
The filly roared with anger as it exploded into a giant hideously deformed pony. Its features were a mockery of filly Twilight, with an impossibly long ghastly grin with razor sharp teeth. The bone white eyes glared down at her as its skinny, skeletal body began to lumber towards her. Fluttershy baulked and took a step backwards. The floor around her suddenly crumbled away as tongues of flame licked up from the newly formed holes around her. She looked up to see horrid faces of deformed ponies, melting down like wax from a candle. They all were screaming in agony. Turning back to the ginormous monster filly, she found herself caught by its eyes. Looking into its depths, she saw the true form of the nightmare creature along fear at its purest form. Unbridled terror along with horrors of unimaginable scale. It was throwing everything at her. Fear rooted her to the spot as the nightmare creature grew in strength once more.
She tried to feel sorry for it, to feel kindness, but she couldn't. She was afraid of what would happen to it should she do so. She couldn't kill it, no matter what it had done, and no matter how many lives it had taken. If she could, then she wouldn't be the element of kindness. It wasn't within her to do so.
The monster drew closer, its hooves now shattering the stone floor with every step as it filled Fluttershy with terrors from the very bowels of Tartarus. She still couldn't find the will to kill him. It was a living, breathing creature. She couldn't. It was then that she finally felt herself give up. No. She couldn't cross the line, no matter what was at stake. The creature was right. When push came to shove, she couldn't be counted on. She wasn't going to kill this creature to save her own life.
Her eyes flew open. But what about the lives of her friends? If she let this creature win, it would torment them too: Possibly even kill them. That's what all this was about. Destroying her will so that it could take over her body and spread terror throughout Equestria. No. Not just terror. She had seen and experienced the difference of this creature from the Nightmare Moon she had twice encountered. It was warped, deranged. Evil. She could not let something like that out and into the world. Then a thought hit her. Could she control this creature? If she willingly let it take control of her, she could keep it down here, away from her friends. She knew she could. After all she had witnessed this night and right now, staring into the most hellish nightmares imaginable, nothing could scare her anymore. Being the element of kindness, she could control fear. Slowly, she rose to all four hooves and stared definitely into the nightmares before her.
In a sick, twisted way, the nightmare creature was right. She would abandon her friends when the going got tough. No. She wasn't abandoning them: She was saving them by sacrificing herself.
“I will give you what you want,” she said sternly to it. Her eyes blazed with determination as she spoke. “I will let you take control of my body. To save my friends, I will become one with you.”
A loud painful scream pierced the air, causing Fluttershy to cover her ears. It vibrated throughout the room like a sonic boom, knocking Fluttershy to the ground. She lay there, trying to block out the most horrid noise she ever heard when just as suddenly as it appeared, it ceased. She lay there on the ground, breathing harshly, feeling the blood pumping throughout her body. Finally opening one eye, Fluttershy looked up at where the nightmare creature had been. All she saw was blank empty air.
She opened both eyes and lifted her head so that she could survey the room. Nothing. It, along with all the damage it had wrought was gone. Slowly she clambered to her hooves and looked over at the rock atop the altar. The pulsing purple light was gone, leaving nothing but a bland shard of moon rock. Hesitantly, she walked over to the rock and touched it. Nothing. She felt no fear. It was gone.
Her eyes went wide as she realised what she'd done. She had agreed to a selfless sacrifice. The ultimate act of kindness. And in the end, that had proved fatal to the nightmare creature. It was no more. At first, she felt horror, shame at what she'd done. She had destroyed the creature; she'd killed it. That was against everything she had stood for.
The feeling of snuffing out another life gave way as a low rumble made its way through the room. It sounded like heavy stones tumbling in some distant quarry, muffled and distorted as if the vibrations had to traverse miles of solid rock just to make itself herd. Standing where she was, Fluttershy could feel a cold vibration surging up her limbs and through her body as though she were part of the rock itself. The feeling was almost soothing and left her with a slight dizziness.
That sensation was quickly squashed as the rumbling grew louder, breaking her out of her trance. It surged through the room more emphatically now. Fluttershy cast a nervous glance to the ceiling as dust, and tiny bits of stone began to rain down from above and she started to whimper with fear. The rumbling was now like a passing train, shaking the whole room violently. Fluttershy had to steady herself as the floor beneath her hooves threatened to knock her to the ground. The shuddering was unbearable.
Whole stones were now falling from above as huge cracks began to zig-zag their way around the walls. Another shuddering jolt knocked Fluttershy off her hooves, and she hit the ground hard, crying out in pain. The whole room was shaking violently, and the sounds of the vibrations were deafening as Fluttershy crawled her way into the nearest corner. The tremors intensified as from above, came the ominous sound of cracking. Looking up, she saw a dark fissure snake across the ceiling. It ran from wall to wall and then spidered in every direction. She just found the time to cover her face as the centre of the ceiling gave way and a thousand tons of rock and stone came crashing down, smashing the shard of moon rock and the altar it rested upon.
She understood what was happening. With its master dead, the temple was dying. From the collapsed ceiling came a slither of light. Fluttershy locked her eyes on it, even though her vision was blurred from the tremors. Light. Natural light. That meant an exit. Fluttershy crawled along the floor towards the destroyed centre of the room, where the collapsed ceiling had formed a pyramid of debris that disappeared up into the newly created hole in the ceiling. A section of the wall collapsed behind her, and the force of the impact threw Fluttershy the rest of the way across the room.
She banged painfully into the debris in the room centre and rolled all the way down to the bottom of the heap of rubble. Raising her aching head, she looked up. The light was now above her and blinding. Shutting her eyes, she reached out a hoof and to her delight, found solid footing.
Through the rock and stone, she could feel the whole temple caving in on itself. She could feel the vibrations growing in strength as they prepared one last blow to finish off the wretched temple once and for all.
Finding the strength, she reached out with her other hoof and pulled her battered and bruised body up. The light grew brighter. It was like an aphrodisiac, and she found the will to reached up even further. Her grip loosened a few stones, and they bounced and rolled down and into her face. She winced from the pain but ignored it. She had to keep moving. Reaching out with her other hoof, she gripped and pulled. Her body climbed higher and the light grew brighter.
A smile formed across her lips as she reached out again and pulled. She could feel the loose stones and rocks, sliding under her belly, stabbing her with their sharp corners as she climbed. She ignored it. She ignored the increasing sounds behind her. She ignored the aching in her limbs. She ignored the light, now stabbing past her close eyes lids and stinging her sensitive eyes. She ignored the multiple stones and rocks that bombarded her face from above. She ignored everything, but the will to escape. She reached out with her hoof and pulled.
Fresh air hit her nostrils, and she inhaled sharply. She reached out and felt not rock or stone, but fresh dirt. She reached out with her other hoof and pulled. Now the cool earth was sliding under her belly as she climbed. The light was growing brighter and brighter, almost painful. Still, she did not relax the slightness even as the rumbling below her began to build in strength for one last time. With the ground she clung to shaking so badly, Fluttershy had to struggle to hold on.
Then, it struck.
Like a ferocious dragon, the cavern below gave one last tremendous roar, as shards of stone and clouds of dust blasted her from below, and Fluttershy was thrown. She screamed in fear more than pain as she was hurtled skywards. Her body tumbled head over heel as she spun endlessly through the air, screaming all the while, until with one painful crash, she landed in a heap, rolled over and over, before finally coming to a stop.
She lay there how long, she wasn't quite sure. Her form was motionless, save for the rapid rising and falling of her chest, courtesy of the hard climb. Gradually, her breathing slowed, giving her poor beating heart a chance to decrease its rapid pounding against her rib cage. She was aware of the warm sensations flowing throughout her body, lulling her into an almost peaceful slumber. Curiously, she opened her eyes.
She had to shut them again as the bright light stung her sensitive eyes. She whimpered in pain as she raised a hoof to shield her vision, before opening her lids yet again.
Sunlight.
Her mouth opened in a soundless gasp as she gently eased herself upright. It was Celestia's sun, beaming down from just over the tops of the trees. Judging by its position, it must have been early morning. Slowly and steadily, Fluttershy rose on shaky hooves and to her credit, didn't collapse. She once again looked directly up into the sun using a hoof to protect her eyes. It was real.
Fluttershy wanted to jump for joy. To scream out her triumph to the whole of Equestria, but her injuries were still restraining of her actions. She had survived, but more importantly, she had escaped. The nightmare was at last over, and she was free. Free to finally go home.
Turning away from the sun, she looked back at the large hole that she'd escaped from. The collapsing debris had completely sealed up the temple. All that remained was a large sink hole that funnelled down into nothing but dirt and rock. Turning away from that, she laid eyes upon the station.
And gasped.
It was nothing but a charred husk of a ruin. Where there should've been a train station, stood instead rotten and burnt out skeletal structure that lay broken, collapsed and covered in vines. The train tracks were rusted and barely visible through the grass that sprouted up through the gravel and wood. The surrounding forest was lush full of greenery and alive with ambient sounds.
It was all over. The nightmare creature would never bother any pony ever again. No more would it lure unsuspecting victims to their doom. No more would this graveyard of macabre memories be a house of horrors. It, along with the souls of all those before her could finally rest in peace. These facts helped her somewhat overcome the horrid feeling that plagued her mind about killing the creature.
She knew she would never be the same again. In its own way, the nightmare creature won. It had forever scared her, taking a piece of its influence with her as she left: Exactly as it had wanted. She had hypocritically claimed that she would never abandon her friends, even though she had been willing to sacrifice herself in order to keep them safe. She had done the one thing she had sworn she'd never do: Kill a living creature. However, she also understood that sometimes you won't have answers to situations that are always ethically pleasing. It had been a warped version of fear, boarding on evil, and there was no way she could let something like that out into the world. She was glad it hadn't escaped. It would take time to heal her mental scars. Still, in spite of what she had done to win, she understood that, just like with all the others, she had put its tormented soul to rest also.
Surveying the charred ruins, she finally understood who was 'That Idiot' who had trapped the nighmare creature below. The one who had saved her. Who had whispered to her the words she needed to hear. A single tear welled up in her eye as she whispered, “Thank you, Ratchet Gear.”
Turning away from the ancient burnt out building one last time, Fluttershy slowly limped down the train tracks, back towards Ponyville, her friends and home.
THE END.