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// Chapter 4 
// Story: Amnesia: Fluttershy 
// by Yukito 
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Fluttershy kept her distance as she followed Pinkie Pie down the dark corridor, hiding in the shadows and trying her best to keep her breathing a quiet as possible. The corridor was dark when she initially entered, but Pinkie Pie was using a lighter to light up all of the torches along the way.

Despite the brightly lit area, and the soothing quiet of the corridor, Fluttershy was more on edge than she had been when exploring the rest of the mansion. Not just because of the psychopathic pony in front of her holding a large knife, but also because she was afraid that she would be spotted by either Pinkie Pie or one of those monsters. There wasn’t really anywhere for Fluttershy to hide, and whenever Pinkie Pie turned around to check behind her, she thanked her stars that there was an open room nearby that she could duck into.

Unfortunately, the rooms she hid inside of were always the same: dark rooms, with a corpse of a pony inside each one, all cut up in different ways, but all similar in that their Cutie Marks had all been cut off.

Fluttershy had to close her eyes and hold her breath whenever she hid inside one of these rooms, unable to stop feeling sick whenever she saw the corpses, or inhaled when near them. The sounds of footsteps moving away from her were the most delightful sounds she had heard in a long time, as it meant that she could finally move away from the corpses. Although that joy was short-lived when she saw the pink pony that she was tailing. There were many times that she wanted to turn around and just get out of there. Gallop away at full speed, and never look back. But she gathered her nerves, and continued quietly following Pinkie Pie.

Pinkie Pie stopped at a large, metallic gate, mumbling something under her breath. Fluttershy examined the gate closely, seeing that it was connected to some sort of mechanism. She followed the mechanism across the ceiling, and saw it leading around a corner. Shortly afterwards, she saw Pinkie Pie moving down that corner. Presumably to open the gate via the mechanism attached to it.

Fluttershy peeked around the corner, and noticed how narrow the hallway was, along with the lack of possible hiding places. She decided to wait here, and move through the gate once it had opened. That way, she could get ahead of Pinkie Pie, and hopefully reach Twilight Sparkle first. ‘But…What if I get lost? Maybe I should wait for her to return, and then continue tailing her…But this may be my best chance…’

Fluttershy sat down underneath a torch, waiting for the gate to open so that she could move through it. She only moved when a group of cockroaches neared her, jumping up and yelping when she felt them on her. She heard a sound from down the corridor where Pinkie Pie had gone. She saw the corridor start to distort, and pieces of debris flying towards her. Something was nagging her in the back of the head. Something she couldn’t quite put her hoof on…

“Wait…” She noticed that the debris was flying at her quite quickly, but there was no wind at all. As the debris drew closer to her, she also notice shards of broken glass and sharp rocks also heading towards her. She flinched as they flew quickly towards her face, unable to dodge in time.

Closing her eyes, she simply waited for the pain to strike her face. But nothing happened. She waited a few more seconds, and then opened her eyes. The corridor was still twisting around, but the debris that was flying towards her was gone. Was it a hallucination?

She suddenly turned around as she heard the sound of machinery moving, and saw the gate opening slowly. She waited until she could move through, and then wasted no time in proceeding down the dark corridor ahead of her. Unfortunately, she had to slow down when she realised that, without Pinkie Pie in front of her, she would have to light the way herself. She was going to light a few of the torches as she moved forward, but decided that that would only cause Pinkie Pie to move faster, since she would not have to light the way herself, and she may realise that somepony else was down there.

She instead took out her lantern, filled it with what little oil she had remaining, and lit it up. She moved through the cold, damp corridor, and stopped when she saw a staircase leading down in front of her. The floor below her was flooded. It wasn’t so deep that she would have to swim, but it would stretch about halfway up her legs, making it harder to move about. Not to mention louder.

She took a deep breath to ready herself, and proceeded on into the water. She pulled back quickly after feeling how cold the water was, and then put her hoof back in, more slowly this time.

She waded through the water slowly, pushing aside barrels and crates as they got in her way. She heard a splash further down the corridor, and paused for a second. When she saw nothing ahead of her, she pressed on, guessing that it was just some water splashing down from the ceiling.

She stopped once she reached a four-way intersection. This was just what she was afraid of. Without Pinkie Pie to show her the way, Fluttershy had no clue which path to take. She could guess, but if she guessed wrong, Twilight would die. “Um…Oh no, let’s see…Maybe…”

She felt a sudden pain in her head, and fell down to the floor. She was hearing voices yet again, but this time, she could see something, too. She could see…A white Unicorn, with a purple mane. She was talking to this Unicorn, but the words were muffled.

“Oh, really?” The Unicorn said, her face completely blank. For some reason, Fluttershy could not remember her face at all. “Well, if she says it’s urgent…”

After that, the Unicorn walked off in the opposite direction, and a sudden feeling of guilt passed through Fluttershy. She could feel her heart beating fast, but not through fear. She started crying, tears splashing down into the water below her. “I’m sorry…” She said, but was unsure why. She must have done something to hurt this Unicorn, is what she was guessing. “I’m sorry, Rarity.”

“Oh, there’s no need to feel sorry.” Fluttershy froze in place, her mouth and eyes as wide open as they could be. She heard splashes behind her, drawing closer. “After all, you were only doing what you had to to survive.”

Fluttershy managed to work up enough courage to turn around face the pink pony that had managed to catch up to her. She was bearing a huge grin on her face. One that made her look positively insane. “P…Pinkie…Pie?” She was hoping that she was wrong, but she knew in her gut that this was indeed the murderous pony that was after her life.

“Yeppers! I have to thank you for helping me capture Twilight, Fluttershy! And Rarity, too. Unicorns are soooo hard to subdue.” Pinkie Pie raised her hoof, and pointed her knife towards Fluttershy, who started to back away. “Hey! I have an idea! Why don’t I take you to the Chamber of Sealing so that you and Twilight can be together for your last moments! I LOVE the look on another pony’s face when they see their friend being tortured!” Pinkie Pie’s body started to shiver, and she let out some odd sounds, wriggling her body oddly. “It’s the best! It really helps me get off, y’know?”

Fluttershy continued backing away, but Pinkie Pie soon started to follow her. After hearing a loud splash behind her, Fluttershy turned around instinctively, but then realised her mistake. She turned back to Pinkie Pie almost immediately, expecting to see a knife heading towards her face at high speed. What she saw, however, was the pink pony running off, and around one of the corners at the intersection. Fluttershy was confused, but relieved nonetheless. The relief was short-lived, however, when she heard another splash behind her. Followed by another one. And another one. Each one closer than the last. She turned around, and saw…Nothing.

Nothing, besides the water splashing about on its own, the splashes drawing closer to her in succession. She didn’t know what this was, but something inside her was telling her to run. Which is exactly what she did. She took off, and turned at the intersection, quickly realising that this was the same path that Pinkie Pie had just taken. She turned her head, and saw that the splashing water had also turned around the corner, and was seemingly chasing her. It was too late now; she couldn’t turn back. She just had to keep running, and hope that it would turn out well.

At the very least, Pinkie Pie seemed afraid of whatever was currently chasing Fluttershy, so she didn’t think that she’d have to worry about Pinkie Pie for now. But that thought was scary all by itself. Something that scared Pinkie Pie away…That must mean that it was pretty bad.

Fluttershy increased her speed as she ran as fast as she could down the flooded corridor, jumping over obstacles as she encountered them. Behind her, along with the splashing of water, she could hear the crates, barrels, and rubble behind her being smashed to pieces. She started to slow down, her energy starting to run out from so much running recently, and she could hear the splashing getting closer much faster.

She jumped onto a crate that was in front of her, and started to cross over a path of barrels and crates in the water. She was expecting to be caught any second now, however…

“Huh?” She stopped moving, and turned around to face the direction where she was just running from. “It…It stopped?” She saw a few more splashes heading towards the barrels, but then they stopped. Was it no longer after her? Why? She took another step onto a crate, and looked down at her hooves. “Is it because I’m no longer in the water?” She looked down at the water in between the crate she was on, and the barrel in front of her. She placed a hoof into the water, and suddenly, the splashing continued moving towards her, crashing through the obstructions in its way. She pulled the hoof out as quickly as she had put it in, and the splashing stopped.

“I see…So if I stay out of the water, I’ll be safe…I hope.” That last bit came out in a whimper, as she very cautiously moved from platform to platform, much like a foal playing “The Floor Is Made Of Lava”. She heard the splashing continue behind her every now and then, along with some more crashing sounds as some of the obstructions in the corridor were destroyed, but the splashing never moved that close to her.

She had to be careful as she moved on, as the corridor was very dark, very little light available for Fluttershy to see ahead of her. The makeshift platforms that she was using were beginning to get further apart from each other, and she had to start jumping from one to another, instead of simply walking across them. She slipped on one particular barrel, and fell down into the water, creating a huge splash that was quickly followed by a series of smaller splashes and a series of crashes moving straight towards her.

She tried to get up as quickly as possible, but she slipped and fell down into the water again. She heard the splashing really close to her, and attempted to get up again. She succeeded this time, managing to push herself to her hooves, and continuing her mad dash down the corridor. She saw a door dead ahead of her, that was swinging open. She moved through it, and slammed it shut, hoping to trap whatever was chasing her outside. Not taking any chances, she continued running anyway, hearing a loud bang behind her as she turned a corner. Another loud bang, followed by a final bang and the sound of the door exploding open caused her to try and pick up the pace. She finally saw something ahead of her that made her smile, though not for long.

Ahead of her was a small stone staircase, and at the top of it was a pony. It looked similar to the Grunts that she had seen so far, except that it had its lower jaw intact, and its right front hoof should have been, there was a long, rusty blade. It turned to Fluttershy and made the cow-like sound that she had heard earlier.

Behind this new monster was a ladder, and at the bottom was the knife that Pinkie Pie was carrying earlier. Or what she assumed was Pinkie Pie’s knife. She guessed that Pinkie Pie had gone up the ladder, running from this thing.

Fluttershy’s choices were limited; she could either let this new monster kill her, or the thing following her. She didn’t really have the luxury of thinking fast, so she decided to take a risk. She charged at the monster ahead of her, which was also charging towards her. She ducked down, and attempted to squeeze past the monster. Unfortunately, she wasn’t quite nimble enough to dodge the swinging of its blade, which cut across her skin, causing her to start bleeding, and to slow down as she continued moving towards the ladder.

Despite the injury she had sustained just now, she managed to reach the ladder and start climbing before the monster was able to chase her. Although as she looked back down, she realised that the monster had been caught by whatever had been chasing her through the flooded corridor, and was tearing it apart, spraying blood and body organs everywhere. Fluttershy averted her eyes, looking up towards the top of the ladder as she continued climbing, trying not picture the image of the monster being torn apart, as it made her feel sick. As she climb the ladder, she remember her injury, and was starting to feel unwell. She tried to pick up the pace, wanting to treat her injury as soon as possible.

Once Fluttershy reached the top of the ladder, she sat down on the cold stone floor, using her tail to brush away the rats when they were too close. She reached into her bag and pulled out a bottle of laudanum, and applied it to her wound. It burned slightly, but the pain was nothing compared to when she received the wound in the first place. The wound started to close up, and the pain started to fade away. She wanted to take a few minutes to catch her breath, but she had to catch up to Pinkie Pie before she reached Twilight.

Fluttershy looked at her surroundings. There were three different pathways that she could take, but only one was lit. She guessed that that was the path that Pinkie Pie had taken and, having nothing else to go on, followed it.

She was limping from the pain of her wound, but she tried to move as quickly as possible. Not just to rescue Twilight, but because she didn’t want any more monsters to find her. As she moved thought he corridor, she noticed the walls starting to close in on her, and the floor starting to vibrate. It didn’t take her long to realise that this was her eyes playing tricks on her, and she tried to shake it off.

However, while she was concentrating on the corridor, she didn’t notice the pink pony appear from around a corner. She crashed into her, causing both of them to fall to the ground. Fluttershy stood up, rubbing her side, and looked at what she had just crashed into. She screamed when she saw that it was Pinkie Pie, who was lying on the floor, growling at her with an enraged look on her face.

“Fluttershy? You’re still alive?” The pink pony’s angry face quickly changed into a menacing grin, as she got up and reached out towards Fluttershy with her hooves. Fluttershy immediately started running down the corridor. “Hey! Stop moving!”

Fluttershy ran as fast as she could through the dark corridor, which wasn’t very fast, thanks to the wound that she had on the side of her body. She could just about make out the images of a few doors on either side of the corridor, but didn’t chance trying to open one. At least not until she heard a loud cow-like sound ahead of her. She knew what was waiting for her down the corridor, and acted immediately, running towards a door on her left and hoping that it was unlocked. “Yes!” She yelled out instinctively, diving into the room and slamming the door shut.

It was dark, so she couldn’t see much, but she could see a few barrels in the corner, stacked on top of each other. She ducked behind them quickly, curling up and waiting. She heard the door opening, and maniacal laughter at the door. She tried to keep her breathing quiet, but she was so worn out that she was breathing very heavily. There was no doubt that Pinkie Pie knew where she was, and when she heard footsteps heading her way, she prepared to make a run for the door.

“Wheeeeeeeeere’s Pinkie Pie?” Pinkie Pie sang out, the sounds of her footsteps stopping all of a sudden. The barrels suddenly scatter all over the room, and Fluttershy looked up at Pinkie Pie, who was towering over her, her hooves stretched out in the air. “HERE I AM!”

Fluttershy noticed something behind Pinkie Pie moving, and ducked further behind the barrels. Pinkie Pie laughed and started to move around the barrels, but stopped suddenly. Fluttershy dashed out from her hiding place, running around both Pinkie Pie, and the monster that was towering over her, after slashing her from behind with its blade. It turned its attention towards the yellow Pegasus, and began to give chase, stopping when the door to the room slammed shut. It started to attack the door, destroying it in two quick, powerful strikes.

Fluttershy had managed to put some distance between her and the monster, but she could still hear it chasing after her, groaning as it followed her down the dark corridor. She saw a door ahead of her, marking the end of the corridor. It was different from the other doors that she had seen in this corridor. The pattern on it resembled a magic circle. She opened it up, happy to see that it was unlocked, and dove into the room, slamming it shut behind her.

She was now in a rather large room, filled with an eerie purple light, from torches all around the room, which emitted enticing, purple flames. There were red circles all over the walls, floor, and ceiling. She turned her eyes to the centre of the room, where she saw a purple Unicorn, with a roughed up, striped mane and tail, sitting in the centre of a large, glowing, red circle. She had shackles attached to each of her hooves, with the other ends being attached to the ground, preventing movement, and there was a metallic ring placed around her horn. She turned her head up, and smiled at the yellow Pegasus. “Fluttershy. You’re safe.”

Fluttershy noticed that the entire left side of the Unicorn’s face was bruised, and that blood was pouring out of her nose and mouth, though it looked dry, so it wasn’t from bleeding recently. She moved closer to the Unicorn, stopping just outside of the glowing circle. “Twilight…Sparkle?”

“Come on, Fluttershy. My face isn’t that beat up, is it?” Twilight asked, letting out a small chuckle. She was relieved to see her friend alive and well, but horror struck as she realised what her being here meant. “Wait. If you’re here…That must mean that Zecora’s potion didn’t work…” She turned her head to the ground, frowning once again and mumbling something to herself.

“Um…I’m not sure…” Fluttershy responded, causing Twilight to lift her head up once more, looking at her with a confused look. “You see…I can’t remember…Anything.” She reached into her bag, and pulled out the letter she had written to herself. She threw it to Twilight, afraid to enter the strange circle. “I found this shortly after waking up here. I’m not sure what’s going on, but…”

“You…Can’t remember anything?” Twilight read over the letter, and gasped when she crossed over the part regarding Zecora’s potion. “Wait…The potion…You must have drank Zecora’s Amnesia Potion. But why?” Fluttershy’s silence showed that she honestly couldn’t remember anything. “Hm…Well, in any case, we should hurry up and get out of here. If Zecora’s still alive, then we might have a chance to get out of this place.”

“Um…What should I do?”

“Come closer. I need you to remove these shackles.” Twilight raised her left front hoof as high as it would do. “They’re not too hard to break. There are plenty of rocks around that you can use. I also need you to remove the magic restraining device from around my horn.”

Fluttershy nodded, and grabbed a nearby rock. She moved closer to Twilight, and starting getting to work on removing the shackles. “Um, Twilight…What is this “Shadow” that was mentioned in that letter to me?”

“The Shadow…That’s the thing that’s been chasing us, ever since we arrived here.” With one shackle removed, Fluttershy gave Twilight a rock, so that she could help with removing them. “It seems to be related to the orb that was excavated in the Ponyville quarry a few months ago. For some reason, it doesn’t want us to understand what the orb is. It didn’t start attacking us until we tried to use our magic to determine what the orb was. After that, the entirety of Ponyville – or what remained of it – was transported here. It seems that the Shadow, when dealing with a large group, isolates everyone in this mansion, so that it can kill them off without having to worry about them running away.

“We found a lot of notes from previous victims of the Shadow, that included details on how to slow it down. And also, how to beat it. You simply have to relinquish the orb, without learning anything from it. If you can do that, then the Shadow will let you go. The problem is that the Shadow doesn’t take any chances, and we can’t just simply give it the orb or anything. Zecora’s potion was designed to seal the orb away, making it so that we could never touch it. It’s a long shot, but if we can do that, then the Shadow may just let us leave with our lives.”

“But what about Pinkie Pie? Why did she…Why did she kill all of our friends?”

The last two shackles were removed, and Fluttershy began work on removing the ring on Twilight’s horn. “Fluttershy was the first pony to come into contact with the orb. We think that she may have gone insane when she did so. She was in a come for two weeks, and was mumbling something strange in her sleep. But, Pinkie Pie being Pinkie Pie, we didn’t think too much of what she was saying. When she woke up, she started to kill of our friends, one by one. It wasn’t until we had all been transported here that we realised what she was doing. Some of the ponies she killed were turned into mindless puppets. The monsters you no-doubt saw on your way here.”

The ring shattered with one final bash with the rock that Fluttershy was using, and Twilight stood up, slowly. She had to stretch her legs, and almost fell back down to the floor. “Are you ok?” Fluttershy asked, supporting Twilight.

“I’m fine. I just haven’t walked or eaten in days. I’m a little thirsty, too…Anyway, we should go. The Shadow is going to catch up to use soon. We don’t have much time.”

Fluttershy gasped as she looked at the only way in and out of that room. “Twilight…One of those things…It was outside, chasing me earlier.”

“Ah, yeah…” Twilight said, now standing with her strength. “That’d be the Brute that Pinkie placed to guard me. It won’t be able to breach that door, but…It’s probably still waiting for you to open the door. We have to be careful.”

“What can we do?”

“Under normal circumstances, I’d use my teleportation magic. Unfortunately, having your magic sealed for a few days is hard to recover from. At most, I can only stun it for a few minutes.” Twilight walked closer to the door, and stood to the side of it, signalling Fluttershy over. “Alright. You open the door, and I’ll take care of the Brute.”

Fluttershy reluctantly nodded, and then slowly walked closer to the door. She placed a hoof on the door, and gulped. “Ok…Here goes…”