Fluttershy's way home.

by PsychopathOfTheYear

Chapter nine.

Fluttershy hung there in the dimly illuminated cave, trapped in her own negative thoughts. She had lost track of how long she had been tortured by these things, but she knew she must have been here for weeks, going through worse pains and hardships than she had imagined possible, being tortured every waking minute.

She had been been beaten, burned, cut up, and left a bloody pulp. She was completely scarred from head to toe. Even if somepony came to rescue her, they wouldn’t be able to tell who she used to be. Her tormentors had cut her pink mane off of her scalp, leaving a small ponytail in the center of her head with a pentagram carved decoratively around it. Crusted dried blood had long since run down the entirety of her body, causing her fur to change color from its soft and vibrant yellow to a muted ugly brown.

From her almost shaved head to her mangled and scruffy tail, she hated herself. In a twisted, ironic way, her physical appearance now more closely reflected the awful creature she had become. She had selfishly left all of her friends behind; she could only imagine the grief and sorrow that she had caused them by letting them lose her. She let herself down. She let her friends down.

She then turned her mind to her giant feline friend that she had let down. She had been too weak to help him. She was completely helpless to do anything.

By the time she had begun thinking of Abdukar, her small trickle of tears became a steady flow of them. She was trembling and screaming, the emotional pain deep in her heart forming a heavy knot of guilt in her stomach, the physical pain from of her body only amplifying her screams.

Then, to her horror, the creatures were face to face with her. Suddenly, she snapped.

“Leave… me… alone,” she growled in a low tone, her tidal wave of emotions all shifting to anger and ferocity.

The creature stepped forward, holding what seemed to be a jagged drill in its hands. When it was within range, she swung back in her chains and shot forward, sending a kick into the creature’s chest that would rival Celestia’s power.

The hood on the being’s head shot off as it was sent tumbling backwards onto the floor. It lay there, rasping for air. When it tried to stagger back to its stilted feet, Fluttershy sent another bone-crushing kick straight to its face.

She had knocked it out completely cold, leaving its gray, wrinkly figure lying there on the floor, blood streaming from its mouth.

Fluttershy hung in place, clenching her teeth as hard as she could, an inferno of anger rushing through her body. She couldn’t feel anything: no fear, no guilt, no remorse. All she could focus on was hurting these things for hurting her.

"An eye for an eye," she quietly growled.

---

Abdukar laid on the warm cave floor. The faint sound of his raspy breathing broke the silence of the dark place.

He slowly came to his senses, at first barely able to lift his eyelids, let alone any part of his body. He looked around, taking in his surroundings. He had no clue as to where he was; the last thing that he remembered was being attacked by a swarm of black bats.

He remembered dying.

The life drained out of him as Fluttershy bawled into his chest. His vision faded before turning black. He heard his families' voices once again.

“H-How am I... alive?” he uttered to himself.