• Published 11th Jun 2012
  • 3,255 Views, 776 Comments

A Study In Nonsense - Professor Piggy



A compilation of stories written for Thirty Minute Ponies

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Quiet

Fluttershy lay on her bed, staring into the lukewarm cup of tea before her and wishing it would rain. It didn't seem like too much to ask for. Pegasi were supposed to be in charge of weather, after all – why, if she really wanted to she could just fly up into the air and fetch herself a rain cloud and nopony would bat an eye. Except she couldn't do that, not really – it was very, very dark outside. And even besides that, the weather ponies needed every last rain cloud they had, and it would have been terribly inconsiderate to take even one and that meant that she had absolutely no choice but to stay inside where it was safe and bright and quiet.

She missed Angel Bunny. Everything from the thumping of his tiny feet and his adorable, ever present smile to the comforting sound of his breathing in the dark, and the knowledge that he was there to protect her if a monster should find it's way out from out of a corner, or under her bed. To cling to if she were to wake up and find something at her window, staring in at her. Waiting for her to fall asleep.

Her heart beat a little faster as she turned her eyes to the nearest window, staring intently out into the empty black and hoping desperately that it would stay empty. Because if it didn't, there was nothing she could do – not all alone, with nopony to help her. She could see it now, in the back of her mind, grinning at her. Waiting to be seen. When she looked up, it would grin even wider and press it's face against the glass. And then it would start to scratch.

It was out there. She knew it was, even though she knew for certain that it couldn't possibly be. Monsters like that didn't exist in the world – sure, there were all kinds of scary things, but most of them were just animals that people didn't really understand. There were no monsters. Nothing living under her bed or lurking outside her window, ready to gobble her up or carry her off. She knew that. But she also knew that, on very quiet nights when she was all alone, there were.

Fluttershy hated being alone. She hated the dark. She hated the quiet. But most off all she hated herself, for the way her mind would conjure up monsters. Every rustling of the leaves, every snapping twig, every creak and sound became a footstep, a warning, a sign to run and hide. And she couldn't do anything to stop it. She'd tried reading, only to find her mind wandering from the stories into dark places where things with sharp claws and wide grins crept up on little ponies with their noses buried in books and reached out slowly, slowly, their breathing growing heavier in her ears as chills ran down her spine and -

And tea. She'd tried that, too. It had been Rarity's idea, and sometimes it worked if she wasn't going to be alone for too long, and if it wasn't too quiet. But tonight it had just made the churning in her stomach and the spinning in her head worse. Singing, too. That had been her mother, when she was very small. It had never worked, of course – no doubt it'd been meant to be comforting, but it made no sense at all. If she sung, she wouldn't be able to hear them, wouldn't know when to run and hide. She'd be helpless, defenseless! Still... it had been her mother's advice, and so she'd tried it, clung to it for many years before realising that it only made things worse.

Holding in a sigh, she leaned over to blow out her candle and found her chest tightening and pricked her ears as darkness crept into the room. She hated it. Every instinct she had screamed for the candle to be relit, but she knew better – she hated the dark, but it kept her safe. Nothing staring in the window would see her, no creature creeping into her home would be drawn to the light. It was safer, better, and only a little more terrifying.

And with that there was nothing left to do but to curl up under her blankets and hope that morning would come soon.

Author's Note:

Just a little thing I wrote because I felt like writing and nothing would come. Enjoy! Or don't! Whichever happens.

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Comments ( 1 )

Welcome back, Prof!

Yes, our Flutters is somepony who seems genuinely scared of everything. This makes the fact that Discord, one of the most alien creatures (both in body and in mind) in the FiM canon is counted amongst her friends.

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