2nd: Fluttershy’s Request
When Princess Celestia raised the sun that was time for most ponies to get up. Afterwards it took about an hour or two until the streets of Ponyville came back to life when first ponies went to their work and the shops were to open soon.
For Fluttershy however, the day began a little different. She got up before the first rays of daylight. She wasn’t an early bird, in fact she was awake when most of the Ponyville’s early birds where still asleep. Her daily routine started with waking up the nightingales in the trees outside her cottage so they could ring in the end of the night. When the sun finally rose Fluttershy had to wake her rooster so he could welcome the new day as well.
Her work was important though it was derided by some ponies and not even noticed by most of the townsfolk. But Fluttershy didn’t mind being smiled at for what she did, she was glad she could help. As far as she knew she was the only one who understood how important an accurate procedure for the tamed nature of Ponyville was. She woke her birds and her birds in turn could wake the other birds in town.
So Fluttershy performed her routine, day by day, without ever wanting any credit and she was happy with her very special talent. But when Fluttershy woke this morning, she knew at once something was different: The animals she hospitalized in her cottage were well up and awake. That fact on its own was uncommon enough for Fluttershy was usually the first one to get up.
“What’s wrong? Please tell me.” she asked her pet, the white rabbit she called ‘Angel’. The rabbit sat in front of the window and was constantly staring outside. Angel turned his head, he was nibbling nervously. Of course he couldn’t tell her what was wrong, so he rolled his eyes as if he wanted to say ‘C’mon, I can’t talk.’
“Oh, you don’t know either?” Fluttershy asked. The bunny shook his head and his ears flapped. Then Angel pointed with his small paw to the window. Something’s out there, was what the gesture was supposed to mean.
If her animals were worried then Fluttershy was, too. She opened the window and bowed outside.
Silence. It was the first thing she noticed. Her cottage was located on the brink of the Everfree Forest. At any time of day or night a pony who would listen carefully could hear the voice of nature: Birds and other animals, the wind blowing through the branches and leaves. Ever since Fluttershy had lived in the cottage it had always been there.
But not today. There was no sign of any animal at all. The yellow pegasus gulped. Everfree-animals needed no one to take care of them, they were wild. So there was no reason for them to stay silent. Unless something really, really bad was happening. Fluttershy wasn’t brave but taking care of animals was her calling. And because of that she simply had to go and check out, what was going on. And then make it go off again! …Or at least ask politely if anypony else could help her make it go off.
At her door, Fluttershy hesitated. She didn’t knew what was out there, did she? It could be anything. Anything extremely dangerous and frightening. There was simply no way she could open the door and step out!
Or could she? Together with her friends she had faced the most dangerous threats, Nightmare Moon, Discord and the changelings. And this time she only had to open her front door and go outside. Her hoof rose for the doorknob. Angel at her side rolled his eyes again.
‘Don’t be a scaredy-cat!’
The rabbit hopped and clung to the knob. Slowly the door opened and Fluttershy finally went through.
Outside the air was chilly and it was dark. Fluttershy noticed she had woken up way too early. The moon still stood in the sky and the sun wasn’t to rise within the next hour or two. But even then, Fluttershy thought. It shouldn’t be that quiet out here. Not even the slightest wisp of wind, no animals at all, it was almost as if the whole forest was holding its breath…
Nervously she took a few steps. An overwhelming feeling of being watched troubled the animal caretaker. Though nearby everything seemed just fine.
Then Fluttershy looked to the forest. Her eyes went wide with horror for what was lurking, just vaguely perceptible in the blackness under the old trees of the Everfree.
For a single moment that felt like eternity she just stared at the thing. Then, with a faint scream, Fluttershy rushed back to her cottage, shoved Angel back in, then jumped through the door herself. Fluttershy slammed the door behind her and shut it up. Then shut a second lock and a third. Finally she blocked the door with any furniture she could move in front of it and pressed her back against the improvised barricade.
That day, Fluttershy didn’t wake the nightingales so they could sing the night to sleep and she didn’t wake the roosters so they could welcome the new day. That day all birds were worried when they finally awoke after Princess Celestia had risen the sun. The ponies didn’t take notice.
Except for one…
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It was close to noon, when Valor set off for Fluttershy’s cottage with the uncertain feeling that there was something he should be concerned of, although he couldn’t quite put his hoof on it. He knew little about Ponyville (and to be honest about Equestria as a whole) but a small yet nagging voice in his head told him something was wrong. With the animals, maybe the nature as a whole.
He needed an expert for nature around town. And that was why he was on his way to the meadow cottage, to ask if Fluttershy had noticed anything strange or uncommon. The trees alongside the path to her place were hung with bird tables and nesting boxes and their inhabitants watched Valor with interest as he went by. He himself was more a fan of the untamed nature, the wilderness, the forests and the mountains but Valor Edge had to admit that Fluttershy kept her garden flawless and appealing.
Yet some cobwebs were flying over the small creek flowing in front of her cottage, blown by a gentle summer breeze and glimmering in the sunlight. The spiders’ threads made the whole scene mystical in some way… Gossamer sure was early this year.
As Valor crossed the wooden bridge that lead to Fluttershy’s door he noticed that the animal caretaker had completely rammed up her house. All shutters were closed, as was the door. The bowls Fluttershy had set up for her animals were empty. And judging by the rabbits, ferrets and birds waiting impatiently in front of them, she hadn’t fed them yet.
Seriously now, something is wrong, Valor Edge thought. Fluttershy would never neglect her furry and feathered little friends. I shall check on her!
He quickened his pace to reach the door. The animals took a critical look at him as he arrived but Valor took little notice of them. He knocked at the door.
“Fluttershy?” he called. “Is everything alright?”
No answer. Valor Edge leaned his head against the door and pressed his ear against the wood. He could be mistaking but he thought he could hear somepony breathing heavily behind the door.
“Fluttershy?” Valor repeated then grabbed the doorknob with his teeth. But the door didn’t budge. Oh, come on, Fluttershy, he thought. Say something… I want not to kick in the door.
But as he was about to try and break the door, to his great relief he heard a faint voice from inside.
“Is… Is it gone?”
Valor wound up his brow and wondered what exactly all that was about. Anyway, he answered: “Everything is fine out here, Fluttershy. Come, see thyself!”
Valor Edge heard a rumbling behind the door, like if heavy pieces of furniture were shunt aside, then a metallic clattering and the finally the upper half of the door was opened a crack.
“It’s… It’s daytime, already?” Fluttershy asked.
“Daytime? Dear Fluttershy, it is already past noon!” Valor laughed though keeping a skeptical eye on the pegasus. She seemed startled, but eventually stepped outside.
“Fluttershy”, the stallion decently gave vent to his concern. “Is everything alright? Thou look like having seen a ghost, my friend.”
“I don’t know… I think….”
Fluttershy stopped, a shadow came over her face and she closed her eyes. “Of course, I remember!” she whispered. “It was cold and dark and… and I was… I was…”
“It was not real, Fluttershy. Nothing but a bad dream”, Valor quickly gave comfort. “So now shake off the darkness!”
Contrary to his bright words he now was really concerned.
Fluttershy opened her eyes again and the shadow on her face vanished.
“Nothing but a bad dream…” She paused as again something came to her and her confused expression also changed into a concerned one. “No, that’s not true. Please don’t lie to me, Valor! Something was wrong with me, wasn’t it?”
He didn’t answer.
“Something was out there”, Fluttershy remembered. Now that the shock was over she felt surprisingly calm. But after all, only few nightmares lasted during daylight.
“I know not”, Valor replied. “But what thou said earlier sounded somewhat familiar.”
Fluttershy shook her head as Valor didn’t get that she wasn’t just thinking out loud. “No, Valor, you don’t understand. There was something out there”, she stressed. “It was dark outside, but I saw it. I thought I was going to die and then I remember nothing. That is until you knocked on my door.
A brief smile flitted over Valor’s face, before he became absolutely stern again. “Thou actually did, did thou not? That makes sense. So what if somepony, or more likely something not wanted to get interrupted… Did it cast a curse on thee? Oh, I like not the way this affair is headed…”
Fluttershy rose her hoof like a school-filly to get Valor’s attention. There was something she had thought of and she needed to tell Valor before he got completely lost:
“Valor, that isn’t important right now.”
Valor Edge turned his towards Fluttershy a bemused expression on his face.
“Pardon me?” he asked.
The yellow Pegasus who hadn’t really expected Valor would actually listen to her was a little intimidated at once and blushed. But then she pulled herself together. What she wanted was too important for her usual shyness.
“Whatever is out there, it frightened all the animals, even in the Everfree Forest. I take care of all the animals here so this ‘whatever’ is my concern. But I can’t do it on my own: I know my animals but I’m no expert for monsters.”
“Which I am?” Valor gave her a half smile. “Well I guess the whole affair with the Filly in the Mirror must have left that impression…” He sighed. “Alright, I guess thou now want me to help thee since Twilight is not around?”
“If it isn’t too much trouble… But I’d understand if you don’t want to…”
“No, not at all”, Valor replied happily. “Always glad to help! I wanted to ask thee for help myself, but it works the other way round as well.”
He paused for a moment. “Oh, but first things first”, he then said. “I think we need to feed thy animals. They are already getting nervous.”
<0>
So this was the first time Valor Edge really entered the Everfree Forest. He wasn’t actually afraid of the dark and enchanted woods but had a fair portion of respect for them. There was something in the air that told him right away this forest was far different from an ordinary forest. Maybe it was because the Everfree was the only piece of untamed nature around Ponyville, maybe in the whole country of Equestria even, that it was so queer. Everything in here was much more alive, more aware of what was going on, so to speak, than in Ponyville. At night Valor thought to hear the trees whisper to each other.
There were paths that led through the Everfree Forest but Valor didn’t doubt that this was only because the forest allowed them to be there…
Even now, in the afternoon, Valor could feel the will of the wood turning towards them, watching and waiting.
“So here it is, where thou saw the shadow lurking?” Valor asked. Fluttershy who carefully had eyed at the trees and bushes around. She answered half-heartedly.
“I’m not sure. Likely…”
An eye-witnesses testimony, Valor thought. Vague as usual. But that didn’t really bother him:
“It was big, thou said” he turned to his friend again. “Something big cannot move around through all those bushes and underwood, without leaving traces. So if we enter the forest here, we are bound to find something. By the way, is there something else thou remember? It might help me to figure out what exactly I am looking for.”
And with that he tried to make his way through the underwood, as careful as possible. Fluttershy stood a little behind for she was afraid to disturb his circles or destroy a clue if she stuck to close to him.
“It was huge… pitch-black…” Fluttershy slowly answered. Even now, it was scary to remember what she had seen. “I couldn’t see it clearly, at first… But… But I’m sure it was some kind of dragon.”
Valor’s head appeared behind some brambles. “Could not see it clearly, huh? How is that?” he asked with his brow wound up. Fluttershy thought about that for a moment.
“Well, it was quite dark but something moved in the darkness”, she said. “I couldn’t figure out what it was… Then I saw the head of a dragon winding out beneath the trees. And that’s all I can recall. I think I may have passed out.”
Valor’s expression was hard to read as he looked at Fluttershy. Then he impetuously asked her: “And do thou fear them? Dragons, I mean?”
From Fluttershys unhappy nodding he was absolute sure that he wasn’t mistaking. More than fear…
Valor turned back to the forest and searched for any trace Fluttershy’s attacker may have left behind.
“At least we know one thing for sure”, he called over his shoulder.
“And that is?” she asked back.
“It was most definitely not a dragon!”
A few moments of silence were the result of Valor’s odd statement, then a rustle in the bushes behind told him, Fluttershy was eventually closing up to him. She carefully tried to avoid the brambles, though.
“You don’t believe me?” Fluttershy murmured. Her face turned sad which made Valor at once correct himself.
“Oh no, Fluttershy. That is not what I meant”, he quickly explained. “I do believe thee, every word thou said. But that is exactly the point… Look around and tell me what thou can see!”
Fluttershy did as Valor had requested, now wondering what Valor’s point was. She really carefully looked around. Just few steps into the woods and the air had turned hot and stuffy and Fluttershy had the feeling the trees bowed a little towards them to better hear what the two ponies spoke. It was hard to focus when even the presence of trees themselves was menacing but Fluttershy did her best. But she couldn’t find anything that caught her eye.
“Exactly”, Valor confirmed, without her even saying a single word. “I take from thy confused expression that thou have noticed. There is no possible way a dragon could disappear without leaving any traces. Nor do they even try, for that matter. But there are little evidences something was here at all. Howbeit, I can see some snapped off branches and twigs over there.”
He pointed his hoof at some trees and bushes in close proximity.
“But that is all. No footprints which alas is common if we consider that the ground is dry as a bone and covered in leaf litter. But a dragon should have at least left some claw marks… Now that is a riddle…”
He went to look closer at the broken branches. Valor corrected his assessment from little to almost no evidences. Any big animal could have broken the twigs… He struggled to get through some thick and tough bushes beneath the trees.
Fluttershy watched as Valor literally dug into the greenery. He sure seemed to do nothing half way. And again Valor vanished behind the leaves. Still, he kept calling over to Fluttershy.
“Whatever we are after is most definitely not a dragon. It half scared thee to death, and that can be taken literally. As far as I know, there was only one dragon that was able to strike sheer terror and he was slain centuries ago (and in another world, come to think of it).”
He had added the last part in a very low toned voice as if he had been talking to himself lately and this wasn’t for anyone else to hear.
“I think it was something else, disguising himself as a dragon because thou are afraid of dragons. Some very serious black magic”, Valor now spoke louder again. “That is what it casted on thee. Crude, yes, but very serious. Bless the heavens I came by!”
“You think. it could have gotten worse?” Fluttershy called back.
“Yes…” Valor sounded not very happy about Fluttershy bringing that topic up again but he answered eventually. “Those spells inflict fear. At least that is what I suppose. It drowns one in his own fears, veils him in dark thoughts until there is nothing left but despair. In the end one even loses the will to live. We used to call it the Black-Scare-Curse, cruel and evil, without any doubt. Luckily, it only takes…IIIAAAH!”
Valor Edge interrupted himself with a sudden scream.
“Valor, are you alright?” Fluttershy worried.
The reply came immediately. Too immediately even and it sounded a little sheepish.
“I am fine, I am fine. Just ran into a cobweb. The mother of cobwebs actually… Oh, fie! I hate spiders… But never mind, I just need to pull myself together and the cobwebs out of my mane…”
Fluttershy couldn’t help to chuckle a bit. Funny, it almost sounded like Valor was afraid of spiders. But at the very moment she had thought that a vehement rustling of leaves announced the swordstallion’s return.
“Just for the record”, Valor said sternly as he stuck his head out in the open again. “I am not afraid of spiders. I just not like them. But know what, I may have stumbled upon an actual clue. Now what would thou take this for?”
Valor held up his left forehoof and presented to Fluttershy the thing he had found. It was black and not unlike a hair, about twelve inches long.
“That’s not from any animal I know”, Fluttershy stated. “It’s too thick, don’t you think Valor?”
The stallion nodded. “Way too thick, diameter almost an inch. And also too stiff for a hair and kind of spikey at the tip. In the name of everything sacred, I could use this as a sewing needle! So now the major question is what kind of creatures has fur it could poke somepony’s eye out with and is able to cause sheer terror on sight?”
“I… I don’t know”, Fluttershy stuttered who now could almost feel again the dark power’s grip that had laid upon her. And what was worse was that for the first time since they had come here, Valor seemed uneasy. Not curious or agitated, no, actual uneasy.
“Neither do I”, Valor muttered. “But I not like it. Not one single bit. This hair, or whatever it is. It is somehow familiar… I know not how, though. Fluttershy, I have the off feeling that there is something I am missing… ” For one heartbeat, even a glimmer of fear flickered in Valor’s right eye. “Am I missing something, Fluttershy?”
The yellow pegasus shook her head, partly to ease Valor’s bewilderment and partly because she really didn’t know what Valor could be possibly missing…
His stern expression only lasted for so long before his face brightened up again.
“Now, now, no need to let that bother us right now. If we not get any further here, there is only one thing we can do anyway… And do thou know what said thing is, Fluttershy?”
“Egghead-stuff?” Fluttershy guessed and used Rainbow Dash’s favorite phrase for studying and research.
A smile whizzed over Valor’s lips. “Exactly”, he replied.
And with that they both turned and headed back towards town. Valor however ever now and then looked over his shoulder. He couldn’t get rid of the feeling that unfriendly eyes kept watching him, biding for the right time to strike.
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