A Dark Shade of the Past

by InfinityBreach

Boulder Bogging

A Dark Shade of the Past
by InfinityBreach

Chapter 31: Boulder Bogging

I opened my eyes, the sun brightly shining through the window in the barn.

"That was a good nap…" I blankly said to myself, stretching.

I took a look out the window and looked at the sunrise.

'Wait.. the sunrise?'

I immediately facehoofed, realizing I had just slept through the afternoon, night, and part of the next morning.

'Well, I imagine that the Apple's should be starting up with work soon, so I guess I'll check to see if they need anything.'

I walked out of the barn, glancing around for the ponies I lived with, when I noticed that there was a note hanging on my door.

Hey there, Eclipsal. Saw you sleeping like a log in the barn, so thought I'd let you get a good nap for a bit. We won't be needing your help with the farm today. Applebloom got in trouble at school, so she's on duty for harvestin, and stuff. Enjoy the rest of your day!

"Applebloom got in trouble?" I blankly stated, remembering the two fillies that were causing her and her friends trouble before. "Hope it didn't have anything to do with those jerks…"

I cast a glance around the land, thinking maybe something would tell me what I should do today.

I got my answer when I saw a yellow pegasus flying around above the acres.

"Hey, Fluttershy!" I called out. She turned to me, and started floating down to me.

"Oh, hello, Eclipsal." She said with a warm smile. "Do you happen to know where Applejack is?"

"She left me a note saying she wouldn't be working here. Apparently Applebloom got in trouble, and her punishment is to take care of things around here." I explained, before feeling a bit curious. "Why do you need her?"

"Well there are these huge rocks, blocking the river that most of my animals drink out of. I was going to get Applejack to deal with them, because I'm too weak to.. but she's really strong." She said, explaining the situation. "Well, I guess I'll go see if maybe Twilight can help me…"

"Wait!" I said, before she was able to fly off. "Can I help? I'm kinda strong, and I never got to properly repay you for helping me after the storm.."

Her face brightened, as another smile enlightened her face. "Sure thing, Eclipsal! I would love to have your help."

"Froggy Bottom Bog?" I asked, curiously poking some green goo around my hooves, the sound of ribbiting echoing around the area..

"Yes, this is where a lot of the clean water comes from, surprisingly. The algae and moss clean the water, and a ways past the where the river begins, there are some rocks that remove the algae from the water, making it perfect for drinking." Fluttershy explained, wearily looking through the area.

"So this stuff is algae..? It looks like it's just grass that covers everything." I said, now following her gaze. "Is there something you're looking for?"

"Not really something… oh, nevermind. I'm sure he's not here today."

I gave her a curious glance, and shook my head, ignoring it. "So where is this pile of rocks?"

"Oh, they're over here." She replied, fluttering over a small hill.

I got to the top of it, and saw the rocks, completely blocking the waterway that led further into the forest. The water on the other side of the blockage was backed up, making the swamp look as if it was slowly growing.

"So, do you think you can move these rocks?" Fluttershy asked, landing beside me.

I looked at the rocks. While they were sorta big, I figured I could move them.

"Yeah, I think so. Might as well try, at least.." I replied, rubbing mo hooves together before hitting the ground.

My magic slowly encircled the cluster of rocks, and I began trying to life them up, to no success. Realizing I wouldn't be able to move them in one go, I decided to take them off one at a time.

I picked up the one at the top, slowly lifting it into the air. It was a bit of a strain from how heavy it was, but I could handle it. "Fluttershy, where should I put the rocks?"

"Place them on the outer sides of the swamp. Be sure to not hit any little critters though!" She replied.

"Don't hit the frogs; got it." I nodded as I placed the rock a few feet away from us.

This process continued until there were about 6 or so rocks left, none of them really being a big deal except for this huge one in the middle of the stream.

I picked that one up, my hooves sinking a little bit into the ground, as I floated it over to the other rocks. I closed my eyes trying to stay concentrated. The deeper my hooves got into the ground, the less power I felt I had over my magic, and this rock was feeling heavier by the second.

I peeked open one eye, and saw my magic shorting out around the rock, eventually just giving out and dropping it onto the other rocks, making them role into the water.

I let out a sigh, and lifted my hooves out of the mud, shaking them off, as Fluttershy walked up to me.

"Are you okay? That looked like it strained you a bit…" She said, worrying eyes scanning my form.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I just need contact with something solid to use my magic, and mud isn't exactly solid, you know?" I got the rest of the mud off my hooves, and moved to somewhere more solid, then looked towards the blockage.

Apparently moving the largest rock let the water flow into the empty canal, moving the rest of the rocks out of the way, as the sound of flowing water filled the area.

It was peaceful for a moment as the only sound was the water flowing from the swamp into the river.

That's when I realized the problem; that's all I heard.

I quickly turned to Fluttershy. "Hey, did I hurt any of the animals when I dropped that rock?"

Her eyes widened, as she shook her head. "No you didn't, I was watching when the rock dropped. The frogs were still croaking after you dropped it though…"

'So if I didn't scare them off, what did?' I thought to myself.

I saw a shadow in the swamp. I thought I was just seeing things for a second, but the shadow was getting bigger.

A dragon-like head grew out of the water, as I took a step back. Fluttershy froze, slowly turning her head around.

Four more heads grew out of the water, each slithering about and glaring down at us.

I was frozen in fear as well, the ground shaking as the monster took step after step towards us. It let out a prideful roar, and then all of the heads went for it's prey;

Fluttershy.

I yelled out her name, stomping my hooves on the ground as my magic shot out to her, creating a sphere of protection around her. The heads of the monster crashed into the sphere, which I had expand to force them back into the water. They fell backwards, roaring from rage and possibly pain, as I ran up to the frightened yellow pegasus.

"Fluttershy, we have to go, now!" I said, trying to pull her out of her daze.

She shook her head, and began speaking back to me. "I-I've been through this area before. We have to go this way!" Fluttershy said, running through the muck towards a few hills.

I followed her, as I heard the ground begin to shake again, and chanced a look behind us. The monster was up once more, catching up to us, quicker than I would have liked. I looked back to Fluttershy, who was running towards one hill as fast as she could.

"Fluttershy! Go ahead and fly there, I'm fast enough to keep up!" I yelled at her.

"I-I c-c-can't! My w-wings get stuck to me when I'm s-scared! I can't fly right now!" She yelled back, her voice shaking.

"Well whatever the hay that thing is, is catching up to us. We have to get there faster, and you have to take the lead because I don't know where we're going!" I explained, now running alongside her.

"I-I know, but I can't go any faster!" She replied, her pace quickening slightly.

We got to the top of the hill, and I saw that we were heading to a small cliff that had a ledge on the other side.

"Get ready to jump!" Fluttershy said, as we approached it.

"We're going to jump over THAT?" I asked, feeling doubtful we could make it.

She looked up at me and said, "Don't worry, it's just a hop, skip and aaHHHHH!" A huge boulder fell right between the two of us, as we narrowly avoided it.

"This thing throws stuff now?!" I questioned, turning to see all of the heads having either trees, boulders, or old trunks in their mouth, systematically throwing them at us.

I tried hitting the ground with my front hooves while running to block the random stuff being thrown at us, but I couldn't access my magic for whatever reason. I looked down to see that my hooves were covered in muck, blocking my capabilities to do magic.

We got to the cliff, and Fluttershy jumped, reaching the other side easily. I jumped too, following her to the other side. The hydra stopped when he got to the cliff though, and continued throwing things at us.

I followed Fluttershy around a corner, when another rock landed in front of us, blocking the way around.

I saw Fluttershy jump behind me, yelling at me to watch out. I turned to the monster, to see a tree heading for me. Fluttershy jumped between me and the tree, it hitting her in the side with a thud.

I scrambled towards her falling body, as both her and the trunk were heading down the cliff.

"FLUTTERSHY, NO!" I yelled, as I jumped after her. My legs came in contact with the cliff, forcing me into a slide down the cliff, shattering the dried muck around my hooves.

A dark aura wrapped around me, as a line of my magic shot towards Fluttershy, connecting me with her. I jumped off of the side after her, my hooves extended to reach out to her.

When I came in contact with her, I closed my eyes, wrapping my hooves around her to protect her from the imminent crash we were about to have.

A final roar echoed through the canyon, the monster realizing it wouldn't get it's meal.

Author's Note:

(A/N) Hey guys! I really updated REALLY late this time. I apologize for that.. Pokemon White 2 and Black 2 came out last week, and to put it simply, I got the game on Sunday and beat it on Tuesday. I was so excited about it that I wasn't in the mood to actually write, and what I wrote turned out to be crap. Then I felt like writing at school, so I brought a laptop one day. But there were so many issues with the charger of the laptop, that it was just... sigh. Also, Alex Barkhorn mentioned me in his story, which I'm guessing is where some of you reviewers came from, and then I didn't update for a week... I am so sorry ;-; Also, go check out his story. I've actually been reading it from the start, and it is pretty good :) it's called 'Torn between Two Worlds'. Anyway, I'm going to hopefully update again on Tuesday, so that I'm caught up with the chapters again. Onto the reviews!

FanFiction:

Kiri the brony- There could be a pattern, there could not be... but I can't reveal that ;)

DerpyDragon- Sorry about not updating sooner ;-; at least you can keep reading now

GAMMA DAWN14- It's fine :P and I dunno about cutie marks never changing before, I think I read it happen in a different fic, but not in the way I represented it. But thanks for telling me the chapter was written well! I always worry about that.

Dylan Boggs- I have someone who knows my pains of writing reviews on mobile devices! ;A; and thank you for saying my story is good! I appreciate it :)

FiMFiction:

toasty_muffinz- yeah well ashkgakgff

Telly Vision- MUFFINS :D

Comments

[SpikeDark]

no flutter shy!!!

[toasty_muffinz]

flutter seems a bit out of character but, whatevs, i only has constructiv critisism

[kragor]

1438648 well maybe she's gotten less shy?

[toasty_muffinz]

1440934 less shy?!?!¿¡¿¡¿!?!?¿¡!?¿¡!?¿!¡!¿?¿!¡ ;A;
y would u do this to me...;

[InfinityBreach]

1442532
She tends to be less shy around her best friends.