'' Hello...? She's gone. ''
'' Hurt, hurt everywhere. First kiss in the barn, what was his name ? Can't go back, home is gone, fire, burning, cleansing. Faces blurred, time lost, who am I ? I'll always be alone... ''
'' Air thick as lead, I can't move. They're coming for me, but I forgot my name. Mother ? No gone they took her...Father ? no gone, lost. tired, tired, sister told me it was like a dream. I can still hear her...echoing.''
Fluttershy awoke to the echo of whispers, some she knew, some she didn't. She tried to open her eyes but everything was fuzzy, like trying to see through a foggy window. Her face felt like it was glued to the cold tile of her bathroom, but was it really her bathroom ? Her body was limp and her joints stiff. How long was she out ?
The air around her was chilling, with a hint of warm roasted chestnuts. Her heart fluttered softly in her chest, she could hear it thump in her ears. She tried picking herself up, but her limbs were cold as ice. Was this a dream ? Like the others ? Or was this reality. She couldn't tell, these past 'days' seemed like one long fever dream.
With a weak back she placed herself just under the sink. The coolness of the wood did little, her coat was borderline numb. She tried rubbing her eyes to clear her vision but she when she did she let out a little gasp. The colors were... Wrong. The greens and browns of her home were replaced with blinding white and blue. As if everything was a photo-negative copy.
Her breath became shallow as her heart started to race. Her ears suddenly twitched violently as she heard the thundering of Angle's hops again. She almost felt like trying to call him, but she could barley move her head. Craning her head towards the door, she could see the clock that hung in her hallway. It was difficult, the colors blurred but she could make out... 12:23 am.
So, it was night. The cold air and sore limbs singled as much, it had been hours. Her stomach suddenly rumbled and she gnashed her teeth in pinching pain. If this wasn't a dream, she hadn't eaten in days, but simply going to the kitchen was out of the question. She tried to figure out what to do next, but the only path the found was just to lie there, and wait.
Tired, cold, and hungry were the least of her problems. Her rising fever proved much more...sicking then she had first expected. The chill was removed from her coat, but it was still freezing. As boredom and the thought of being paralyzed set in, Fluttershy softly closed her eye-lids, nightmares would be more forgiving then this.
'' AGGHHHHHHHHH ! Oh Celestia I'm on fire ! '' She screamed.
With a sudden burst of energy Fluttershy threw herself to the cold tiles, hunched over in pain. Pounding rang loud in her ears and she screamed to the high heavens. She hadn't talked for so long her voice seemed foreign, it bellowed like thunder. She coughed and heaved, it felt like her blood became acid. She raised her head and screamed a bloodcurdling shrill, like the wolf the garden.
For a moment she stopped screaming and only distressed gasps came out. She felt her organs shift, her bones snap and move about her body. She looked at her hooves and widened her eyes in horror. Her hooves were pale, bony and slender. Muscles and bones shifted up and down her limbs
She snarled and cried and begged to Celestia to stop the agony. Again out of desperation Fluttershy claws at the tiles and suddenly stopped as she starred at her hooves. For in instant the world stopped and everything was quiet. When she thought the pain was over, four slender mandibles shot out of both her front hooves. They were slimy and covered in red muck, were these figures ? Or bare bones !?! She let out a horrendous scream and fell on her side.
She looked down to her fleshy underbelly and saw her stomach shifting violently in place. Suddenly it shrunk and her rib cage shot forward. Her hooves, or her hands shook and she tried clawing at herself, trying to relief the hot pain. But only yellow and pink splotches of fur cropped up and down her body.
Fluttershy gasped, begged, cried and begged again as her hind bones shifted and broke into new and abnormal positions. She had prayed that she would black out form the pain, but her senses only became sharper with each passing moment. She pressed her sweaty head to the cold tiles for aid, but they were hot and wet from her thrashing.
Even the gnashing of teeth did little to dull the pain of her bones morphing. She stopped screaming, but only because her snout started to elongate and change. Teeth jutted out wildly from their usual places and they resembled more like yellow razors then normal teeth. She let out a sicking cough as her jaw shifted and grew in place.
The pain was too much to bare, how the shadow in the garden could even stand after it's transformation was a mystery to her. This can't be real, this isn't happening, I'M DREAMING ! She screamed at herself from inside.Then when she thought death was near, her wings stabbed into her back, snapping like a twig. Bone and feathers melded with fur and flesh, she begged for death. She let out one final screech before falling still. Her new limbs and body parts twitched about, ever so slightly.
'' Heh-heh-heh-heh...'' She cackled.
The pain was gone,but she different now, even her mind. Her cackling grew and she soon burst into a fit of deep laughter as she brought herself up to the mirror. A yellow and pink wolf with wild eyes of emerald starred back in the mirrors refection. She stood and her mouth curled into a sadistic grin, only one word remained in her mind-
Hunger.
. . .
( Knock, knock, knock... )
* sigh *
(...Knock, knock, knock.. )
'' Gha ! Shy you even in there ? '' Asked Dash.
It had been about two days since she had last seen her friend. Her training with Soarin was...longer then expected and she impatiently waited for her friend to respond to her knocks. It had been ten minutes since she had first knocked and the chill of the night air had worked threw her winter scarf.
She knew at least somepony was home because the light was on and she heard rustling in the back rooms. How long was it gonna take her to answer the door ? Just as she was about to knock for the fifth time, the door slowly creaked open. Confused, Dash was about to investigate further when she was suddenly knocked to the cold ground.
With a furrowed brow face Dash looked for whoever knocked her down. She looked behind her and froze when a giant yellow wolf looked back at her. It's pink hair fell just over it's right eye. It had an eerie tinge to it, like Dash knew her. Before she could finish her thought the wolf howled, to be honest it was more like a broken trumpet. After the thing was done it rushed off towards Ponyville, what for Dash did not know.