Wilds

by Rainbowcrash51

Into the Woods

Wilds
Chapter One

It was an especially beautiful day in Ponyville. The birds were chirping, the sky was a rich shade of blue, and all was peaceful in the town. It was an ideal day for Fluttershy. Only, she couldn’t enjoy said beauty due to an incident that happened earlier, forcing her to go into the Everfree Forest in search of her beloved pet bunny named Angel.

By mistake, when she was making Angel’s “extra-special” breakfast, she had used spinach instead of lettuce in his salad. The resulting chaos of an unhappy bunny ensued. It wasn’t Fluttershy’s fault. She had run of lettuce and forgot to get more at the market. The salad was practically identical aside from the minor mishap, and Fluttershy was so sure he wouldn’t notice.

But he had. And, out of anger, Angel had run away into the Everfree Forest, knowing that Fluttershy was terrified of the dark, creepy wilds. Angel had always been like this. A feisty little spirit, and Fluttershy loved him for it. But, it was moments like these that had her quite upset with him.

So, Fluttershy, of course, went into the forest to bring Angel home. She could have asked one of her friends to come with her, and she really did ponder the idea, but it was only a few days away from Gala and everypony was very busy. Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and Rarity were busy with the cutie mark crusaders, making sure they had magnificent dresses for the Gala. Rainbow more or less was indifferent to the whole “perfect-dress” thing to admit, but Fluttershy still didn’t want to bug her. Pinkie Pie had told them jsut the other day how crazy busy Sugarcube Corner has been recently, and Flutterhsy didnt want to pull Pinkie away from her work. And Twilight, bless her heart, was practically driving herself crazy by trying to organize the entire event. So, Fluttershy was left with no choice.

She had to enter the abyss, alone.

It wasn’t so bad at first. She followed the heavily totted trail, calling out to her beloved furry friend. Only, she hadn’t noticed Angel slip back out of the forest just seconds after she entered. All around were the twisted, dark trees. Barbed wire covered the trail on all sides. And, Fluttershy had every right to become queasy as she continued on her journey.

“Angel!”

“Angel Bunny! I’m so, so sorry about your breakfast! How about we go home and I’ll make it just right?” Fluttershy called out.

No response.

Disheartened, Fluttershy reconsidered her solo journey, and turned around to go back to town and ask Rainbow Dash for her assistance. Only, Fluttershy found herself frozen in place. Right above her, resting on one of the thorny branches of a tree sat a mass. A mass with fully extended wings, a tail, and piercing red orbs as eyes. A deep, primal growl erupted from the beast, and Fluttershy was awestruck that she didn’t pass out right then and there.

A series of wild life survival guides flashed in Fluttershy’s memory.

1.) Appear bigger than the animal

Considering its size, that wasn’t going to happen.

2.) Make loud noises to scare it away.

Nope!

3.) RUN!

That seemed liked the most sensible action to take.

With a small whimper, Fluttershy turned tail and ran. She didn’t have to check behind to her see if it was following. The loud wing beats and roaring behind her were all the hints she needed to know it was coming for her.

Celestia save me!

Her legs seemed to be clumsier than usual. She kept stumbling over patches of thorns and scraping her legs. It was only due to her ducking while stumbling that saved her from the beast’s grasp as it approached.

Another roar could be heard from above. Fluttershy dared herself to look up, and to her horror, another monster was flying above her in pursuit.

Fluttershy knew that she had reached her limit. She never really had a high endurance for running, and her weak form was practically deteriorating from the long distance run. She chanced one look behind her. The beast was practically breathing down her neck. A chill went down her spine.

This was it.

Or, at least she thought it was until she found herself stumbling down a steep slope.

She hadn’t been paying attention to where she was going, and found herself rolling her way towards a river embankment. Her form plopped on the ground with a grunt. The black, winged creature was diving down the slope in the direction of her fall, but a broad expanse of branches eluded it from her location, for now.

Slightly dazed from the impact, and from the tiny lacerations littering her body from the briers she was slammed against on the slope, Fluttershy’s mind was working overtime. Something called “survival-mode” kicked in, and she did what she was trained to do when she couldn’t handle a dangerous, wild animal. Make herself invisible.

She rolled herself in mud, ensuring that it clung to her coat ad mane. Once she was sure that her body was fully covered she sought refuge. She had no choice but to take hide in the brier patch since that was the only available source to hide in. Fluttershy was sure that if the monster didn’t find her, the thorns lodged in her pelt would reside their permanently. Yet, despite all of the discomfort and pain she was experiencing, she prayed that said monster hadn’t gotten to Angel. The bunny she had raised from week one, to his present, sassy self. It pained her to think that he could have met such a horrible fate. Had he been captured, it would have been all her fault.

All of Fluttershy’s thoughts were abruptly cut off when the beast made its descent on the clearing. From this new perspective, with the light of the sun’s rays fully reaching the shadows, and illuminating the monster’s figure, Fluttershy felt a new swell of terror fill her. Its head was almost wolf-like, yet its entire body was wrapped in scales. She wanted to categorize it as a dragon, but, she knew that despite all of her fears of dragons, this was much darker, and dangerous. Its tails switched back and forth as it lowered itself to the ground to sniff out her location. It had broad shoulders, yet a lithe lower frame. Its claws left deeply etched scuffs in the mud. But, it was its eyes that freighted her most. They were purely crimson, with no pupils. Never before had Fluttershy seen a creature like this, and should she survive, she would dedicate her life to never seeing one again.

It seemed like she had been sitting there an eternity before the creature seemed to give up on finding her. By now, Fluttershy was beginning to feel the symptoms of a mild concussion due to the impact of her fall, and the tiny stings of thorns covering her form was not making the situation any better.

With a seemingly frustrated growl, the beast spread its massive wings and ascended to the sky. Fluttershy, true to her timid nature, waited a good while before attempting ot escape her refuge. Yet, she was cut off when a series of roars erupted from above.

Petrified, she scrambled even further into the brush. By peeking through the vines, she managed to catch a glimpse of the scene unfolding above.
It seemed that the two monsters were having some sort of altercation. Fluttershy recognized the one that had hunted her from its darker complexion. More than anything, Fluttershy wished that the two would just forget about her and leave, but instead, the two continued to bicker.

The curious thing was that Fluttershy couldn’t understand them. Sure, they weren’t talking pony, but Flutter was an animal whisperer. She knew all roars and growls from bears to Angel’s upset tummy. Yet, the language that the two were roaring was completely untranslatable for her.

Fluttershy was jumbled from her musings by a yelp of pain. She quickly glanced back up to the two, but only one remained. Falling from the sky was the smaller creature, even from quite a distance away; Fluttershy could make out the sight of its detached wing trailing after it. Dread set in. The things that these creatures were capable made her already cloudy vision more nauseous.

A thump echoed across the clearing as the injured monster hit the ground a few meters away. Birds erupted from the tree tops, spooked from the sudden invasion. Despite all the terror that Fluttershy felt as she was being chased, at the moment, all that she felt was sorrow.

With one final roar, the second monster took off across the sky. Away from the crime it had just committed. Finally, Fluttershy was alone, and safe.

That what Fluttershy kept in mind as she raced away from her hiding spot. She was safe, she could go home, and she could get help for her injuries. Everything was going to be OK.

Despite it all, Fluttershy found herself stopping.

She turned back the way she had just come from. Out to the distance where she knew that someone needed her help.

“Oh Celestia, please help me.” She whimpered.

For no reason but pure kindness, Fluttershy began to head towards the beast’s approximate location. Quivering from head to hooves, she ventured on to help.

Author's Note:

I'm hoping to update at least one chapter a week. But with school going on and all, well...life happens.

Message me any error, after all this is my first attempt at a Fimfic.

If you like it so far, please let me know in the comments!

Inspiration goes a long way :D

Comments

[1BeeCat3]

I enjoyed this! I really did, I think it will be a great story!

PS, I know how you feel with school.

[Rainbowcrash51]

I hope it turns out the way I want it to. If so, you are in for quite a ride.
And schools stinks! Lol