The Following

by AusFlick

Chapter 3: Crystal Charoite

Many hours had passed, to the point where Fluttershy had lost track of time. This was her intention, trying to let her reading distract her from the world around her. The sunlight that once seeped through the closed curtains had died down, and Fluttershy was forced to turn her lights on. After turning on all of the lights and feeding Angel her dinner, Fluttershy went back to her couch and continued to read.

As she was quietly reading on her couch, she was startled by her clock chiming. Fluttershy looked up towards it. It read six o' clock.

"Oh my," said Fluttershy. "I forgot about the party." Fluttershy got off the couch and headed for the door, but then she remembered the figure. If she was to leave her house, she was positive she was going to encounter it, whatever it was. Fluttershy backed away from the door and rushed to one of the nearest windows. She pulled back the curtain ever so slightly, and peeped out. Seeing outside was difficult. Due to the light in the room, the most of what Fluttershy could see was the reflection of herself and the curtain, and what she could make out of the outside was just pitch black. Fluttershy hesitated, then opened the window. She was immediately met with a cool breeze blowing through her mane and coat. Aside from the wind and crickets chirping, she couldn't hear anything. Despite the darkness of the night, Fluttershy could at least see a fair distance outwards, and she was able to see that her yard was completely empty.

Hang on. What was that? A new noise was sounded, though Fluttershy failed to see where, who or what it was coming from. It was the sound of something moving through the grass, which soon changed to the sound of hoof steps on the gravel outside her house. Fluttershy strained her head to look as far over to the gravel to see where it was coming from. She spotted the black figure of a pony, silhouetted by the moon approaching her front door. Fluttershy slammed the window shut, locking it and shoved the curtain back across it. Fluttershy went dead silent. She didn't see the red eyes on the figure, but she didn't want to take her chances.

That's when she heard the knocking at her door.

Fluttershy scanned the room, looking for a place to hide.

The door knocked again.

"Fluttershy, I know you're in there," said a voice. Fluttershy instantly recognized it. This was not the figure that had been haunting her for the last day. While the voice of the figure was low, raspy, and definitely the voice of a male, as well as being able to hear it inside her head, this voice was the voice of a female, muffled by the wood of Fluttershy's front door. It was the voice of a friend.

"Twilight?" said Fluttershy, wanting to confirm it was her.

"Yes, it's me," said Twilight. "Can you please open the door?" Relieved to know it was just her, Fluttershy went back to the door and opened it. Twilight walked into the cottage. "I was heading over to the party, but I wanted to stop here first."

"How come?" Fluttershy asked.

"To check on you," said Twilight. "How's your leg?" Fluttershy lifted her - still bandaged - foreleg for Twilight to see. There was still a blood stain on the bandage from where she initially scraped it, but it felt as though the blood had dried up. Though her leg was still feeling a little sore, she could walk properly. But she still had to be careful when walking on that specific hoof.

"A bit better, thanks," she said. "I should be able to get this bandage removed in a few days."

"That's good to hear," said Twilight. "But all things considered, I haven't seen you all day. About an hour ago Pinkie Pie had just been discussing with me about what happened to you at Sugarcube Corner. Add that to what happened last night and... Fluttershy, I'm worried about you. Are you alright?"

Fluttershy didn't know what to say. It was clear to Twilight something was very wrong, maybe it was wise to tell her. Fluttershy wanted to tell Twilight what was going on, but at the top of her head it was incredibly difficult to figure out how to explain it to her, or where to start. In addition, they were running late for the party. Not knowing how to tackle the subject Fluttershy just said the best thing that she could come up with at the top of her head.

"It's complicated." Fluttershy wanted to tell Twilight about what had been happening, but she didn't think now was the right time. "We're late. We should probably head over to the party."

"Good idea," Twilight agreed. "But promise me we'll talk about this later."

"I promise," said Fluttershy. This was a promise she intended to keep. She just needed more time.

---

Twilight and Fluttershy agreed to walk over to the party together. While it was Twilight's idea, Fluttershy agreed to it in a heartbeat. Having her friend by her side made her feel that much safer during the walk to the party. Throughout the entire trip Fluttershy kept looking in all directions, looking for any signs of the figure.

Not far from the main hall, the sight of the shadow of one pony made Fluttershy jump, but sighed in relief when she found out it was just Colgate.

"Are you sure you're alright?" Twilight asked. "You seem rather jumpy tonight." There was a moment of silence before Fluttershy responded.

"Do you ever get the feeling you're being watched?"

"No," said Twilight. "Not really, though I think Pinkie Pie does. She once told me she feels like we're constantly being watched by an invisible source, and she like to 'break the fourth wall." Twilight rolled her eyes. "Whatever that means. It's probably just Pinkie Pie being, well, Pinkie Pie. Why do you ask? Do you get the feeling you're being watched?"

"Unfortunately, I do," said Fluttershy. Fluttershy turned her head to look behind her. In the distance, she spotted the same red eyes watching her. Just like it promised it would. She gulped.

"What's wrong?" asked Twilight.

"Can't you see that?" said Fluttershy, not taking her eyes off of its eyes. Twilight turned and looked directly at the red eyes. "You can see it, can't you?"

"See what?" said Twilight.

Fluttershy's mouth fell open.

"How can you not see it? You're looking right at it!"

"I can't see anything."

Fluttershy blinked, and the next thing she knew, the eyes were gone.

"Never mind," said Fluttershy. "It's gone now, I think." Fluttershy glanced back at Twilight, who looked really concerned.

"Fluttershy," said Twilight. "You're really starting to scare me. I can't put my finger on what, but I think something is incredibly wrong. You need help."

"I do," Fluttershy agreed. "I really do."

"We have got to talk about this further in the morning," said Twilight. Fluttershy nodded.

The rest of the trip was spent talking about the new pony that has just moved to Ponyville, the reason Pinkie was throwing this party in the first place.

"So,"said Fluttershy. "Have you met this new pony?"

"Yeah, I have," Twilight replied. "Granted, I didn't talk to her for very long. I said hello to her but that's pretty much as far as it went, because I didn't want to come off as invasive. When I first came to Ponyville, everypony wanted to be my friend, and since everypony was right up in my face, it made my first few hours in Ponyville quite uncomfortable. So I was being cautious to make sure she didn't feel the same way."

"Did it work?" asked Fluttershy.

"I don't know," said Twilight. "I hope it did."

"What's she like?" said Fluttershy.

"From the little time I've spoken with her," said Twilight. "She's really nice. She was rather calm and reserved, but she also seemed quite friendly. I think you'll like her."

"What's her name?"

"It's been a few hours," said Twilight. "So I can't really remember. You'll probably know her when you see her."

---

Their conversation abruptly came to an end upon arriving at the town hall. There weren't many ponies with them approaching the entrance, most of them most likely had already gone inside. After all, they were running late.

Upon entry Fluttershy was startled by the huge crowd. In front of her was a sea of ponies, filling almost every available bit of space in the hall. She would have thought that Pinkie Pie had invited everypony in Ponyville, though, knowing Pinkie Pie, she probably did invite everypony in Ponyville.

The first thing Fluttershy noticed walking in aside from the gigantic crowd was the music. Playing on the speakers was an instrumental song that sounded like it was in the pop, dance genre, with a hint of dubstep. And it was loud! So loud in fact, for a split second Fluttershy had the urge to cover her ears.

She emerged through the crowd. In the centre of the room there was a massive bright and colourful dance floor. It was surrounded by a large portion of the ponies in the hall. They appeared to be watching somepony dancing. Upon further glance, Fluttershy spotted two large spotlights shining down on two ponies that were taking up the dance floor. Everypony was surrounding the floor, watching Applejack and Rainbow Dash trying to out dance each other. Judging by the massive smiles on their faces, they appeared to be having the time of their lives, despite their intense competition. Their dance moves were highly energetic and very over the top. It matched the music they were dancing to perfectly.

In the corner of the room, Fluttershy was able to see the source of the music. DJ-P0N3 was at his disc jockey, mixing the music that was booming from the massive speakers that surrounded the room. He was bobbing his head in sync with the music, and of course doing all of this while wearing his headset. Sitting a few feet away from her was Octavia Melody. She was dressed in her usual formal attire, with her cello in a suitcase next to her. She seemed pretty bored, most likely because she wasn't a fan of the genre of music DJ-P03 was playing.

Behind the dance floor was a long table full of all kinds of food. Roughly in the middle was a pile of the muffins Pinkie and Fluttershy made earlier that day, along with a bunch of other sweets, including cakes, and a plate of cookies that Pinkie must have made after Fluttershy left. The rest of the table was filled with what seemed like apple related deserts. Apple fritters, apple pies, apple sodas, everything. Fluttershy assumed those were baked by Applejack.

The entire room was decorated with ribbons, balloons and confetti. Fluttershy guessed those were set up by Pinkie Pie and Rarity.

As Fluttershy was observing the room, she heard a very familiar high pitched voice.

"Twilight! Fluttershy!" They turned around in response to their names being called. Pinkie Pie was bouncing towards them, her face beaming with excitement. Despite the blaring music Pinkie Pie was so loud and energetic that hearing her over the music required little to no effort. "So glad you two could make it!"

"Thanks," said Fluttershy quietly. Too quietly, as her voice was drained out by the music, unlike Pinkie's.

"So am I," said Twilight. Fluttershy could faintly hear Twilight trying to say something else, but her voice was too being drained out by the blaring music.

"I'm sorry, I beg your pardon?" asked Pinkie Pie.

"I said, you've really outdone yourself this time!" Twilight yelled.

"Thanks!" said Pinkie. Fluttershy slowly moved away from Twilight and Pinkie. Trying to talk to them over the music was proving to be too difficult for her. She walked passed the dance floor, which Applejack and Rainbow Dash were still dancing on, while the rest of the crowd watched and cheered them on.

She made her way towards the table full of treats and desserts, and helped herself to a glass of punch. Upon pouring her drink, she watched Derpy wolfing down the muffins as fast as she possibly could. If anypony else wanted a muffin, they just lost their chance.

After finishing her drink, Fluttershy backed away from the table. She spotted somepony sitting down near the table, eating a slice of apple pie. Fluttershy didn't recognise her. She was a purple unicorn with a curly mane, and violet eyes. Her mane and tail consisted a mixture of lavender and white, and she had a white stars for a cutie mark. Was she the new pony everypony was talking about?

Fluttershy didn't notice Rarity walking up to her side.

"Hey, Fluttershy!" Rarity yelled. "How are you doing?"

"Ok, I guess," said Fluttershy.

"What?" Rarity called.

"I said I'm ok!" Fluttershy said as loudly as she could, which wasn't very loud by her standard. She wasn't very good a raising her voice.

"Have you spoken to that pony yet?" asked Rarity, looking towards the purple unicorn Fluttershy was just watching. Fluttershy didn't want to attempt battling music again, so she just shook her head.

"You really should!" said Rarity. "She's quite devine, an absolute gem."

"That's nice," Fluttershy said, or at the very least tried to.

"You should go talk to her," said Rarity. "She's really nice." Fluttershy shook her head again.

"I don't think I should," she said. "I wouldn't know what to say."

"Relax," said Rarity. "You've got nothing to worry about. It'll be fine."

"But..."

"Go on!" Rarity used her front hooves to shove Fluttershy closer to the purple unicorn. There was no backing out now. Fluttershy cleared her throat, and approached her. The purple unicorn looked up to Fluttershy and smiled.

"Hello!" she said. By her moving lips, Fluttershy knew she was trying to say something else, but just like before, her voice was muffled by the painfully loud music.

"What?" Fluttershy yelled, moving her mouth in a way so the purple unicorn could at the very least read her lips. The purple unicorn raised her voice.

"I said, what a lovely party!"

"It is," said Fluttershy.

"What's your name?" the unicorn asked.

"Um, I'm Fluttershy," she said, but once again her voice was drained by the music.

"I'm sorry, what was that?" said the unicorn.

"My name is Fluttershy," Fluttershy said again.

"Didn't quite catch that!" the unicorn called out.

Fluttershy sighed and gave up.

"I'll talk to you later," she said, not knowing whether or not she could hear her. With that, she turned around and walked away. 'Now that was pathetic' Fluttershy thought to herself shaking her head.

Fluttershy spent the rest of the night sitting in the corner of the room near the front door, completely isolated from the rest of the group. Despite the party, and Pinkie's intentions, Fluttershy wasn't having a very good time, in fact quite the contrary. She spent the night feeling defeated, unable to push that thing out of her mind.

What was it? Why was that thing targeting her? What did it want from her? However, out of all of her questions, this was what confused Fluttershy the most; how did that thing seem to know exactly where she was one hundred percent of the time? Everywhere she's gone, no matter where she was, or what direction she looked, it always managed to know exactly where to look, and it was always eyeballing her. Not once could Fluttershy remember an occasion where she saw those eyes, and they weren't looking straight back into hers. The knowledge that it came from the Everfree Forest, and nopony else seemed to be able to see it gave Fluttershy all the more reason to stay as far away from that thing as possible.

Fluttershy was able to think to herself more clearly, since while she was sitting there DJ-P0N3 finished playing her music and she had packed up her gear. Now the music was being played by Octavia, who was playing a much more calm, classical style of music. The calmer music was more relaxing, but Fluttershy was still burdened by her current situation.

After sitting in the corner for what felt like a long while, she was eventually joined by Applejack.

"Hey, Fluttershy," she said. Fluttershy looked up.

"Oh, hey, Applejack," Fluttershy replied in an unenthusiastic voice. Thanks to the calmer nature of Octavia's music, they didn't have to yell and they could hear each other perfectly fine. Applejack wiped her sweat off her forehead.

"Wow, that dancin sure was fun," Applejack glanced back at the dance floor, which nopony was using. "Pinkie Pie really went all out this time, didn't she? I hadn't had this much fun in ages."

"That's nice," said Fluttershy, in such a monotone voice she almost sounded sarcastic.

"What's the matter, sugarcube?" said Applejack.

"Well, it's just... I... I, you see," Fluttershy stuttered. Fluttershy was at a loss of words, much like she had been with Twilight earlier that night.

"Is everything alright?"

Fluttershy was about to tell her no, but realised that there was no point in trying to burden Applejack with the knowledge that she wasn't ok if, she couldn't even tell her what was wrong.

"I'm fine," she lied.

"Fine?" Applejack repeated to herself. "You sure about that?" Fluttershy nodded. "Then why are you sitting here all by yerself?"

"I just don't do well in large crowds," said Fluttershy. "You go ahead."

"Suit yerself," said Applejack, and with that disappeared back into the crowd.

Fluttershy stopped to think to herself. When Pinkie Pie throws a party, Fluttershy usually has a blast. She couldn't put her hoof on why, but there was something about this party that felt incredibly off to her. Maybe it was just the concept of being with everypony in ponyville when she really just enjoys being with her friends. Maybe the music just wasn't her cuppa tea, or maybe the fear of that thing showing up again at any time prevented her from enjoying herself. Unable to pinpoint the main reason, there was one thing that was clear. This party wasn't doing anything for her, so there was no point in staying. With that, Fluttershy stood up, walked out of the town hall, and headed for home.

---

Much to Fluttershy's surprise, the figure didn't show up once during her entire walk home. Though in her eyes, that was a good thing. Fluttershy didn't get much to eat at the party, so she cooked herself a nice hot meal for dinner, had a shower and went to bed.

The next morning, the weather was just as pleasant and beautiful as it was the day before. Throughout her entire morning routine, Fluttershy was contemplating whether or not to leave the house at all, despite the beautiful weather. Staying at home all day would mean she wouldn't encounter that creature, or beast, or figure, she didn't know what exactly to call. Anyway, since she has never seen it when she was at home, she speculated that in theory, that meant she was safe at home. As a result, spending all day at home was tempting. However, staying home all day also had many drawbacks. For starters, Fluttershy promised Twilight she would tell her more about what has been going on, so she would eventually have to go out to find her. She also couldn't just stay cooped up in the house for the rest of her life. Unless this thing just decides to go away, she wouldn't be able to hide from it forever. After about an hour of self debating, despite her temptation, Fluttershy decided against staying inside.

Fluttershy had no major plans for the day, so she decided to just spend some time under the sun. After casually walking through Ponyville for a good hour with little to no consideration on where she was going, she finally stopped in the centre of the town near the town hall. Fluttershy spent a good five minutes sitting nice and quietly, listening to the splashing of the water fountain nearby. A noise that Fluttershy had always found relaxing. The sun was blazing Fluttershy with warmth, and she closed her eyes sniffing the fresh air.

"Fluttershy!" yelled a high pitched voice. Fluttershy opened her eyes to see who it was.

"Hey, Pinkie," said Fluttershy. Pinkie Pie was bouncing towards Fluttershy from the entrance to the town hall.

"I've been looking all over for you," said Pinkie.

"Really? You have?" said Fluttershy. Pinkie Pie nodded.

"Uh-huh."

"Why?" Fluttershy asked.

"Well, shortly after we stopped the dancing, we set up the tables to prepare for a feast," said Pinkie. "Everypony sat at the table and a bunch of ponies made a toasts to Ponyville's new civilian. Soon she made a toast herself stating how thankful she was for us going out of our way to welcome her, then we ate, and we all had a great time. We also saved you a seat, but when I was rounding everypony up for the feast, I was informed that you left. Applejack told me how you weren't acting very happy and must have left shortly after you spoke with her. When Applejack told us this Twilight wasn't the same for the rest of the night. She's really worried about you."

Fluttershy immediately felt a great weight of guilt on her back for leaving so abruptly. She bent her head down.

"Oh, Pinkie, I'm so sorry. That was very insensitive of me, I shouldn't have left like that."

"It's ok," said Pinkie. "If you had something going on you could have just told us you had to go. We would have understood."

"Thanks, Pinkie," said Fluttershy.

"I'm just curious to know why you left so suddenly in the first place," said Pinkie. There was a moment of silence while Fluttershy thought of the appropriate way to respond.

"It's complicated."

"I understand," said Pinkie. "Did you at least get to meet the new pony."

"I tried to," said Fluttershy. "I just wasn't sure if it was her or not. I don't know everypony in Ponyville like you do Pinkie. Even if it was her, I tried talking to her but it didn't end well. The music was too loud, and we couldn't hear what we were saying."

"You should try again," Pinkie said. "She's just over there by the water fountain." Fluttershy looked over to where Pinkie was looking. She was right. Right next to the fountain was the same purple unicorn from last night. She was lying on the grass, her horn glowed blue as she was using a levitating spell to read a hardcover of a purple book.

"I don't know," said Fluttershy, turning back towards Pinkie.

"What's wrong?" asked Pinkie Pie.

"I guess I'm just, nervous," said Fluttershy. "What should I say to her?"

"Hello usually works," said Pinkie. "Come on, Fluttershy. What's the worst thing that could happen?"

Come to think of it, there really wasn't anything that could happen that could be any worse than what Fluttershy had already been through over the last couple of days.

"Alright," said Fluttershy. "I'll give it a try."

Fluttershy walked towards the fountain. She stopped about three feet away from the purple unicorn, who was still reading her book. Fluttershy cleared her throat.

"Um, hello?"

The purple unicorn looked up from her book.

"Oh, hi," she said in a surprised, but uplifting tone. "I remember you, you're that yellow pegasus from last night."

"Yeah, I am" said Fluttershy.

"I'm sorry, but I never got your name," said the purple unicorn.

"I'm Fluttershy," said Fluttershy.

"Nice to meet you, Fluttershy," said the unicorn. Her horn stopped glowing as she placed her book down, leaving it open on the page she was up to. "My name's Crystal. Crystal Charoite." Crystal leant out her hoof. Fluttershy shook it with her opposing hoof.

"Hi, Crystal," said Fluttershy. There was a moment of silence. Fluttershy looked over to Crystal's book.

"What are you reading?" she asked out of curiosity.

"Oh, this?" said Crystal, glancing back at her book. "It's an excellent book. It's called 'Harry Trotter and the Philosopher's Stone' by A.K. Yearling. Though for some reason, back in Canterlot, it's called 'Harry Trotter and the Sorcerer's Stone.' I have no idea why, but it's a fantastic story, I highly recommend it."

Fluttershy's eyes widened.

"That was written by A.K. Yearling?"

"Yeah, it was," said Crystal. "Have you heard of her?"

"I thought A.K. Yearling was known for writing 'Daring Do'," said Fluttershy, puzzled.

"She is," said Crystal. "While 'Daring Do' and 'Harry Trotter' happen to be her most popular books, A.K. Yearling actually writes quite a wide variety of books.

"Harry Trotter and the Philosopher's Stone," Fluttershy repeated to herself. "I'll have to tell Rainbow Dash about that one."

Fluttershy was about to ask Crystal more questions about 'Harry Trotter', like what they're about, and how many books are there in the series, but Crystal seemed to be distracted by something else.

"What happened to your leg?" Crystal pointed to Fluttershy's bandage on her foreleg. While the pain was still getting better, her leg was still quite sore, the blood stain was still on the front, and she still had quite a while to wait before she had completely recovered.

"I scraped it against a rock," said Fluttershy. Crystal's eyes widened.

"Oh my goodness," she said. "Sounds painful."

"It was," said Fluttershy. "It's slowly getting better though."

"Let me take a look at it." said Crystal. Before Fluttershy could say anything Crystal grabbed her injured leg, and her horn glowed again as the bandage slowly began to unwrap itself.

"Crystal, what are you doing?" Fluttershy asked nervously.

"Shh," Crystal said gently, as if to say 'Calm down, you can trust me.'

Fluttershy's leg stung as the bandage continued to slowly unravel. The bandage was stuck to her coat, and was pulling on her fur as it peeled off her leg, like removing a band-aid. As the pressure on the bandage loosened, Fluttershy could feel the injury underneath it. A large scab had formed from where she scraped her leg. Eventually the bandage came off the wound, ripping the scab off her leg, causing the wound to bleed.

"Ow!" Fluttershy yelped.

"Sorry," Crystal said quickly. Finally, the bandage was completely removed. There was a patch that was a brighter yellow compared to rest of Fluttershy's coat where the bandage had been, and the wound was incredibly swollen. "Oh dear, this looks awful! This is worse than I thought."

"Do you think I should go to the hospital or something?" asked Fluttershy. Crystal continued to study the wound.

"That won't be necessary," she said. Crystal closed her eyes and her horn glowed once again, as she lowered her glowing horn closer and closer to Fluttershy's wound. Fluttershy squirmed for a minute unsure of what Crystal was doing. "It's alright, trust me."

Crystal's horn made physical contact with Fluttershy's wound. For a minute, her wound stung upon the contact, however, Fluttershy almost immediately felt a great sensation flowing through her body, and into her foreleg. The next thing Fluttershy knew was her pain. It was fading. She watched in astonishment, watching her wound disappear before her very eyes.

After what felt like a minute, Crystal's horn stopped glowing, and she stepped away from Fluttershy's leg. Fluttershy looked at it in amazement. She was no longer bleeding, her scab was gone, and she now felt absolutely no pain in her foreleg. Her leg had completely healed, as if she never injured it in the first place. She placed her hoof back onto the ground with her mouth wide open.

"How did you do that?" she asked.

"It's a healing spell," said Crystal. "It's very advanced magic. I studied it when I was still living in Canterlot."

"You lived in Canterlot?" said Fluttershy.

"Yeah," said Crystal. "I grew up in Canterlot, I grew up training to be the best at magic as I possibly could."

"Then why did you leave?" said Fluttershy, "If you don't mind me asking."

"It just wasn't for me," said Crystal. "I was doing excellent in my studies, I just found the living style of Canterlot way too formal for my taste, and I wanted to move somewhere more casual. I did some research and I heard Ponyville was one of the friendliest places in Equestria, so I decided to move here."

"Fair enough," said Fluttershy. She smiled at Crystal, and Crystal smiled back, but Fluttershy's smile quickly dropped into a frown. Crystal lifted her eyebrow.

"What's wrong?"

Fluttershy could feel heavy breathing on the back of her neck, giving her a tingly sensation through her entire body, her hair standing up. The breathing was hot, and very humid, followed by huffing and puffing. Fluttershy's eyes shrunk, as she slowly turned around to see what it was. Right smack in front of her face was the pitch black figure with glowing red eyes that were piercing into her soul. Fluttershy's head was flooded by the loud, low and raspy voice.

"Always, watching!"

Fluttershy screamed, and the next thing she knew, she was running for her life. She ran for her cottage as fast as she possibly could, and she didn't dare look back.