Shattered Past

by thunderclap

What Did You See?

Fluttershy was forced awake by a knock at her door. She had just had a very strange dream, but she didn’t have time to think about. Her top priority was seeing who was at the door. She made her way downstairs, failing to notice the animals that, up until earlier had been sick. She opened the door a crack and said, “Hello, Who’s there?”

“Fluttershy, it’s me, Twilight.” Fluttershy opened the door completely and let out a sigh of relief.

“Oh, hello, Twilight, please come in, I was worried that you were something scary for a second.” Twilight noticed her friend’s disheveled mane and couldn’t help but ask.

“Fluttershy, did you just wake up?”

“Yes, I did… is there something wrong with that? I’m so sorry Twilight!”

“No, there’s nothing wrong with it.” Twilight said, trying to calm the pegasus down with a wave of the hooves. “It’s just that it’s almost noon, you’re always such an early riser that it was surprising is all.”

“Well, I did have a strange dream, so I guess I could have oversle… wait, noon? Oh no, I need to go collect herbs for my sick little animals!” Fluttershy was about to rush out the door when Twilight stopped her by stepping on her tail.

“Fluttershy, what sick animals? All of the animals in here seem to be fine.” Twilight observed.

“Huh?” Fluttershy was unsure what the purple unicorn meant, there were obviously sick animals here last night. She turned around to show her friend, but all of the animals in the room were healthy. “This doesn’t make any sense at all. Unless, they got better on their own. I’m such a terrible caregiver I can’t even help a few sick animals.” Fluttershy was about to burst out into tears, but her friend gently stroked her mane with one of her hooves.

“Fluttershy, you are not a terrible caregiver. If anything you’re the best one in all of Equestria.”

“You really think so?” She asked, sniffling a little.

“Of course, now you mentioned something about a strange dream. If you told me about it, it may shed some light on the situation.” Twilight concluded, feeling proud of herself.

“Well, if you think so, but it was just a dream, I don’t see how it could help.”

“Trust me, Fluttershy, some of the greatest ponies in Equestrian history found answers in seemingly strange sources.”

“Ok, you get comfortable, and I’ll tell you over tea.” Fluttershy, accepted.

Twilight couldn’t wait to hear what Fluttershy was about to say. Being a scholar at heart she loved to solve mysteries that nopony else was able to solve. Not only that but she really did want to help her poor confused friend. Twilight had to stop her thoughts from racing when she heard Fluttershy clear her throat before she spoke. “My dream started out with me collecting herbs in the Everfree forest for my sick animals.” Fluttershy began, slowly.

“Isn’t that what you were going to do when I first came in?”

“Yes, but it gets stranger from there.” Fluttershy gave a small nod before continuing. “I had just picked the last herb I needed, when I saw something really scary in a clearing.” Fluttershy said, lost in thought.

“What did you see?” Twilight asked, trying to coax her friend out of her thoughts. Fluttershy gave a quick jump, but paid it no mind as she continued her story.

“In the clearing I saw a dead manticore.”

“What’s so scary about that?” Twilight was confused, she knew that Fluttershy didn’t really like manticores, but to call a dead one scary was strange. If anything she had expected her to call it sad.

“It was the way that it died.” Fluttershy answered, tears forming in the corners of her eyes. “There were definite signs of a huge fight, and something had cut off its tail and there were weird openings along its back.”

“That sounds horrible!” Twilight gasped, trying to keep herself from being ill with little success.

“Yes, but as I examined its wounds I noticed that Somepony had placed some wildflowers from the forest in front of the manticore’s face. Without even thinking I asked what could have done all of that with tears coming down my face. Then something very strange happened.”

“Yes, yes?” Twilight pressed, trying to break the stupor gripping Fluttershy.

“A voice popped in my head and told me that it was the one that did all that to the manticore.”

“I don’t understand what you’re trying to say, Fluttershy.”

“I don’t really understand it myself, but the voice was definitely male and it sounded like he was a little younger than me. At first I was very scared and hid behind the manticore. Then I realized that the voice had sounded so, caring and remorseful, that I poked my head out and called out to it. The voice apologized for scaring me but I told it I was alright and said I never had anypony talk to me in my head before.”

“I can imagine.” Twilight said the gears in her mind were turning like clockwork trying to understand what it was hearing. “Telepathy is an almost unheard of skill. There are no books on the use of it. Hay, I don’t even know if the princesses can do it!”

“This is where the dream gets especially strange. The voice told me that it wasn’t a pony.”

“Not a pony!” Twilight exclaimed, hardly believing what she had just heard. “If it wasn’t a pony then how was it using that kind of advanced magic?!”

“I don’t know, when I asked what it was all it said was that it was a scary forest monster. I hid behind the manticore again, but the voice told me that it was joking. So, I asked what it was again, but it told me that it didn’t know.”

“How can something not know what it is?”

“Actually, it said that it knew what it was but didn’t know what it meant to be what it was.” Fluttershy corrected herself.

“So what did this voice say that it was? Did it have amnesia or something?” Twilight asked, eager for more.

“That’s what I asked it and mentioned that it had to be horrible. The voice made a joke and it was really calm about the whole thing so I stepped out from behind the manticore giggling. Then I asked if I could see him because I have a way with animals, but he told me that it was a bad idea.”

“Is that where the dream ends?” Twilight asked eager for more.

“No I finally convinced the voice to let me see him, but he asked me to promise not to tell anypony about him. Ooooh and I’ve been telling you all about him. I am such a bad pony!”

“Fluttershy, you are not a bad pony, you broke your promise because you want to help this thing.” Twilight was trying her best to console her sobbing friend, but nothing seemed to be working.

“You don’t understand, Twilight, I made a Pinkie Pie promise!” Twilight grimaced at the prospect. She remembered what the pink pony had done when Apple Jack broke her Pinkie promise.

“It’s not that bad, Fluttershy. It was just a dream after all.” Twilight said it with a sheepish smile. This seemed to calm the timid pegasus down as she wiped the last tears out of her eyes.

“You might be right Twilight. It was just a dream.” Fluttershy’s eyes became glazed for a moment as she stressed the word dream.

“Uhhh, Fluttershy, can you tell me what this voice looked like?”

“He was… tall, and didn’t have any fur except for the top of his head, and that was short and black. His eyes were a deep emerald green; he didn’t have a muzzle so his mouth just sat close to the bottom of his head and his head had kind of sharp features. He was almost completely covered in clothing, which was all white except for a few places that were colored red. Part of his clothing was ripped up and was being used as a bandage. He also had something that almost looked like a kitchen knife on his shoulder. Then there was the most surprising thing of all was that he stood up on his hind legs.

“Then what about his fore legs?’

“They dangled at his sides, and instead of hooves he had something similar to Spike.”

“Is there anything else you can tell me?” Twilight asked, pressing down on the table with almost all of her weight.

“No, that’s where the dream ended. I’m sorry I couldn’t be any more help, Twilight.” The pegasus’ head hung low at the end.

“You did fine, Fluttershy. I’ll just have to check for something that matches that description to determine if this really was a dream or not.”

“What do you mean, Twilight?”

“Something about this whole thing seems fishy to me, and I plan on getting to the bottom of it.”

“You shouldn’t work too hard. Hearts and Hooves Day is coming up, and I’m sure you’ll get something nice.” Twilight was about to say that she didn’t have time for a silly holiday when there was research that could change Equestrian history. Until, she pictured Princess Celestia with a disappointed look on her face and asking Twilight why she had wasted an opportunity to learn about friendship by studying.

“I suppose you’re right.” Twilight replied, sighing as she did so. “I’m sure this research can wait a few days.”

[Author's note]: Hey its me. Every time I add a chapter I keep regretting that I don't have an awesome cover image. I'd do it myself but I have zero artistic ability, and using an image already on the internet seems like cheating. So, if anyone is interested then please tell me.