Lost in the Dark

by Silver Moon

Fluttershy

The sun was hanging low in the cloudy sky as Fluttershy walked away from the Carousel Boutique, her head lowered. She had spent all day at the spa waiting for Rarity but the white mare had never showed. Fluttershy had eventually grown tired of waiting and left, but not before her hooves had wrinkled. Feeling abandoned, Fluttershy had told herself that Rarity hadn’t shown because she had been swamped with work, but a detour past the unicorn’s home and shop had shown that it was closed. There had been no answer when Fluttershy had knocked on the door and the sun had been setting by that time. Fluttershy had decided to go home.

The walk seemed to take longer than usual as the Pegasus dragged her hooves along the empty road. Although the spa had been rather empty, Fluttershy still felt embarrassed about sitting alone all day. The more Fluttershy thought about it, the more she realized that there hadn’t been many ponies out over the past few days. She hadn’t seen Rainbow Dash or Applejack for several days, although the farm pony was probably just working hard on her farm and Rainbow probably was working on her tricks again. Looking up, Fluttershy spotted a few Pegasi flying through the air corralling the clouds but Rainbow’s face was not among them. Spotting Fluttershy, one of the Pegasi swooped down and landed next to her.

“Hey,” the mare said, “you’re friends with Rainbow, right?”

“Um… yes,” Fluttershy said with a soft squeak. She hadn’t seen this Pegasus much before and was never very good at talking to ponies she didn’t know. To make matters worse, this pony seemed angry about something.

“Well, do you know where she is?” demanded the irritated mare. Fluttershy shook her head meekly and the mare let out an irritated snort. “Well, next time you see her, could you tell her to do her job? She hasn’t shown up for weather crew in days without an excuse.”

“Oh, okay,” Fluttershy muttered from behind her mane, shifting her weight uneasily.

“Cool. Thanks,” said the mare, seeming much less irritated. She took to the air again but paused and turned around. “Oh, and you might want to get inside. We’ve got a thunderstorm scheduled and you don’t want to get too wet.” Without another word, the mare flew off.

“Thank you,” Fluttershy whispered to the windy air. The rain started slowly but grew rapidly. Even when she picked up her pace to a run, Fluttershy was still soaked by the time she got home. Lightning flashed as she shut the door behind her and the timid mare let out a squeak. “Angel Bunny?” she called into the darkness. “Angel, where are you? Oh, you’re already asleep,” she muttered softly. Indeed the rabbit was; curled up on the foot of his owner’s bed and twitching slightly as he dreamt. “I should really dry off before I go to bed,” Fluttershy said, yawning widely. “Oh, but I’m so tired. I guess I can just go to bed n-” She broke off with another frightened noise as another bolt of lightning fractured the sky.

“Oh,” Fluttershy muttered as she climbed under her comfy blanket, “I hope I don’t have any nightmares tonight. I could really use a good night’s sleep.”

Within seconds, Fluttershy’s soft breaths filled the air, mixing gently with Angel’s frightened moans as he fought his own nightmare.

Fluttershy: Flight School Fears

“Alright, Fluttershy,” droned the teacher, “your turn.”

“Oh!” squeaked the filly as she looked up with wide eyes. “Are-are you sure? Isn’t there somepony else-”

“No, Fluttershy,” said her teacher in the same bored tone. He glanced down at his clipboard once again to check before looking at the scared Pegasus right in the eye. “You’ve already let everypony go before you. No more stalling. Let’s see what you got.”

“Oh. Um… OK, I guess…” Fluttershy trailed off softly from behind her mane. She took a few cautious steps forward until she could look over the edge of the cloud. The distance fell away and the filly jumped back with a frightened squeak. Flailing backwards, her hoof caught on a stray tuft of cloud and she tripped. With her wings stuck to her sides with fear, Fluttershy had no way to balance herself and fell on her rump. Yet another squeak slipped past her lips as pain radiated from her blank flank at the sudden landing.

“What a pathetic blank-flank,” sneered a foal from where they were perched on another cloud. Other fillies and colts snickered at the comment, their faces safely hidden by a blue-black fog.

“Yeah, she can barely fly,” another agreed, drawing more giggles from the others. Tears in her eyes, Fluttershy looked up at her teacher hopefully. At times in the past, he had defended her but as she looked past her tears, she saw him holding his clipboard over his face to hide his chuckles.

“Fluttershy’s a blank-flank,” somepony smirked.

“Useless,” a colt laughed.

“Pathetic,” another agreed. The voices continued.

“Can’t fly.”

“Hopeless.”

“-ground her-”

“-never going to have any friends.”

“N-no,” Fluttershy begged, trying vainly to make her soft voice heard over the cacophony of insults, “p-please st-st-stop!” Tears fell from her eyes like rain but it only goaded the others on. One of the attackers nudged the one next to them and the two of them started to chant. Slowly but surely, the chant grew into an endless roar.

“Fluttershy, Fluttershy, Fluttershy can hardly fly! Fluttershy, Fluttershy, Fluttershy can hardly fly! Fluttershy, Fluttershy, Fluttershy can hardly fly!” the foals chanted cruelly. As one, they rose into the air and flew over to the cowering filly, surrounding her with their jeers and laughter. The teacher’s low voice cut over the younger ones but instead of offering kind words, he was just as cruel. His cold voice mocked her for her lack of ability to fly. He sneered at her lack of skill, complained about how she lowered the average grade of his class and prevented him from getting a better job.

“Please stop! Please!” Fluttershy begged.

Her pleas fell on deaf ears.

Unable to take the ridicule any longer, she got to her hooves and ran. Blinded by her tears and mane, Fluttershy ran without looking. The clouds she ran on didn’t end and, although she could not hear the sounds of wings in air or hooves on clouds, the voices didn’t either. When Fluttershy looked over her shoulder, all she could see was the same blueish-blackish fog from earlier. The fog ate her pleas but magnified the laughter. She could not outrun it. No matter how hard she tried or how fast she ran, the cruel chant followed her, keeping pace and biting at her ears and scratching at her emotions.

Try as she might, Fluttershy could not run without stopping for much longer. A dip in the cloud before her appeared faster than she could react and the filly fell to her knees. Before she could raise herself back to her hooves to run, her pursuers were upon her once more. Rather than merely circle her, they decided not to give her the chance to escape. Several stalked closer and pinned the weeping filly down as the others chanted.

The chant was unoriginal; the same one they always used. But it did what it needed to. Unable to flee the cruelty, Fluttershy could do nothing but weep pitifully and try to block out the laughter.

She lay, waiting for the bullies to grow tired of their teasing, to turn and fly away as they always did. But the teasing didn’t stop. The chanting didn’t cease. The mockery, the teasing, the cruelty, the chanting, they all continued, going on and on and on.

Forever.

Author's Note:

Whelp, sorry this took so long. I had school and then family issues and then medical issues and, long story short, just did not feel like writing. (At least not this story.)
I give no promise as to when the next chapter will be up, although it will be Pinkie’s nightmare.
Anyway, I hope you all enjoy this chapter and, as always, feel free to point out any errors you see.

Comments

[Crimson Mist]

Awww... Poor Fluttershy... This is a great story, I can really feel the pain of certain past experiences *coughcoughTEAMROCKETcoughcough* seeping through into this. Well done, my friend, and if I catch any mistakes reading it another time through, I'll be sure to let you know.