Conception
- Golden Oak Library, First Floor
12:16 pm
“Thanks for coming, everypony. I'm so sorry for bothering you all so late at night, but this is an emergency.”
Angel Bunny clung to Twilight Sparkle's foreleg with dried tears in his eyes, trembling and looking at the floor. The rest of her friends sat in a semi-circle in front of her, each of them sharing a similar look of worry. Applejack had taken her hat off and was biting her lower lip, her eyes also fixated on the floor. Pinkie Pie had scooted up against Rarity, fidgeting in place. Rainbow Dash tried her best to stay put, but it wasn't even a minute until she started flapping her wings again.
“Emergency doesn't even begin to describe it! Have you seen her lately?!” Rainbow yelled. “The bags under her eyes are so big, I could use them for luggage! She keeps mumbling weird things under her breath! Not to mention that it's obvious she's hiding something from all of us! What gives Twilight, I thought that book was just some - ”
“Gibberish, I know...” Twilight interrupted. “I've seen a book just like it in the fiction section here, so I thought it was harmless. I don't know, maybe it was cursed, or-or maybe there was an evil seal on it...”
Rarity gasped, bolting up from her kneeling position. “Oh my goodness...! Then what exactly are we doing standing around here just talking about it?! We have to help her!”
“Barging into her home without a plan could just make things worse. Look, I'm just as worried as all of you, I really am. But we can't act until we've got a grasp on the situation. I don't want any of you to get hurt, especially Fluttershy...”
Twilight ran a hoof through the fur on Angel's head, calming him down enough for him to stop shaking. Rarity shuffled her hooves and scrunched her mouth shut like she wanted to say something, but opted to sit back down, leaning back into Pinkie Pie. Her friend's reasoning was enough to pacify her, albeit only slightly. Huffing a bit, the aforementioned pink pony reeled up on her hindquarters and started flailing her right foreleg around, shouting, “We've gotta do something! I never thought Fluttershy could be so scary! And what's worse, I don't think she's even trying to be scary! You shoulda seen what happened last week!”
Angel hopped onto Twilight's back as she turned around. Stopping in front of one of her many bookshelves, she said, “I'm already on top of it, Pinkie. In the meantime, why don't you tell us all what happened? It might take a minute or two for me to find what I'm looking for.”
“Uhh...alrighty...” Pinkie Pie gulped, stepping forward in front of everypony else. “Okay, here's how it went down...it was a dark and stormy night. Lightning crashed throughout the night sky, the wind howling and the rain bearing down in sheets thick as lead - ”
“Uh, Pinkie Pie? We haven't had any rain all month,” Rainbow deadpanned.
She jerked to a halt with her mouth hanging open and her eyes looking up. Tapping a hoof to her mouth, she responded, “Oh yeah! I'm sorry, even my memory is getting scarier! Ahem...what I meant to say was, it was a sunny and clear afternoon...”
----
- Ponyville Market Square, One Week Ago
12:19 pm
“Fluttershy? Fluttershyyyyyyy! Hello~o, anypony hooooome?!”
After no response came from the yellow pegasus across the street, Pinkie Pie grimaced and puffed her cheeks at her backside. Guessing that she wasn't being loud enough, she stepped in place a few times and jumped clear across the way without even squatting, bypassing everypony walking by and tackling Fluttershy with a glomp. The two tumbled forward before coming to a stop, with Pinkie straddling her and unable to restrain her giggling.
“Hee hee heh ha ha! Hiya! Whatcha doin' standing in a dark alleyway and – GAH!”
She jumped away at the sight of her friend's face, her jaw shaking in an attempt to find something to say. Fluttershy was a mess. Her mane and tail looked unwashed and tangled. Her half-lidded, bloodshot eyes stared back at her lethargically, like the life was sucked out of her. Even her coat looked a shade duller that it normally was. Not breaking eye contact, she climbed to her hooves at a snail's pace, her mouth slowly curling into a smile while remaining open.
“Oh, I'm so sorry Pinkie. I didn't mean to ignore you...is something the matter? Your face looks pale.”
Fluttershy slid up against her and started rubbing her face with her hoof, her gaze still fixated on her. Gulping, Pinkie brushed her friend's hoof away and looked to the left, purposely breaking eye contact. “U-uh...shouldn't I be saying that about you? Are you...doing okay?”
“Well...now that you mention it...I am pretty exhausted...” Her face inched closer to Pinkie's, the smile plastered on her face only getting wider.
(“Magat...suhi...”)
“W-what was that...?” Her eyes darted every which way, doing everything in their power to avoid looking directly at Fluttershy. Unfortunately, her efforts would eventually be wasted as the pegasus spun around her and pressed her forehead into Pinkie's, her hot breath fogging up her vision and sending a jolt down her spine.
“Could you...help me with something? Something back home? You're the only one...I can count on, Pinkie Pie...”
Her voice had become a weak, droll, monotone. Feeling like she'd had enough, the pink pony slid away so fast that her legs couldn't even be seen moving, leaving Fluttershy to fall onto her face. Gasping, she put a hoof out and responded, “Oh! I'm so sorry, I didn't mean that! Are you okay?! I-I mean really, is something wrong? You normally don't act all creepy and pushy like this!”
She planted one hoof down to stand, her foreleg shaking from the stress. Lifting her face out of the dirt, she looked back at Pinkie, her eyes now glassy and lifeless. The smile she had earlier had reversed into a frown, and her ears were drooped down. She forced herself to stand before saying, “Oh...it's fine. You don't have to help me if you don't want to. I don't, ugh...want to force you...”
----
“...and she just flew off after that. Ohh, I'm so worried! She wasn't acting like herself at all! It's like that time she turned into a bat, except this time Fluttershy's the apple!”
Twilight glanced at her upon hearing such a weird analogy, while everypony else gave her the usual 'Pinkie's being Pinkie' look.
“Ah don' know, y'all...don'cha think ya might be exaggerating just a little?” Applejack said. “Ah'll agree that somethin's mighty wrong with Fluttershy right now, but sayin' that she might be possessed or cursed might be takin' it a little too far. Maybe she's jus' stressed out, or overworking herself takin' care of all those little critters.”
“As much as I want to believe that, it's far from the truth,” Rarity responded, looking down. “Fluttershy hadn't been coming to our usual spa meetups for the past two weeks, so I decided to pay her a visit yesterday...and I almost didn't believe what I saw.”
----
Fluttershy's Cottage, 16 Hours Ago
Rarity stopped in her tracks and gaped at the sight, briefly wondering if she had taken a wrong turn somewhere. The normally bustling atmosphere of the countryside was instead dim and deserted. Most of the animals that frolicked about were not seen anywhere, and those that were still around were slumped over and unmoving, like they were overcome with a deep depression.
“My goodness...something must be terribly wrong. Fluttershy? Fluttershy, are you home? Is something the matter? Where are all of your animal friends?”
Trotting up to her front door, she soon realized the door was locked after a few turns of the knob with her magic. Looking left and right, she decided to step around the house to peek inside of a window, despite her personal misgivings of invading somepony's privacy. The curtains were drawn on most of the windows, though she inevitably found one slightly ajar.
“Fluttershy? If you're there, please say something! I understand if you want me to leave you alone, but at least let me know if you're alright!”
A flash of deep, crimson light shone through the crack in the curtains, stopping her in her tracks. Rarity felt her pulse quicken and her breath become short as she stared at the window from afar. Something was very wrong here.
(“What...what was that...?!”)
A low, garbled hum could be heard in the background, followed by Fluttershy's voice overlapping it. The pause had unintentionally given her ears enough time to adjust to the quiet atmosphere, and what she was hearing wasn't pleasant at all. Rarity swallowed to clear up the dryness that suddenly appeared in her throat, stepping forward and peering into the window. The room was too dark to see anything out of the ordinary, but she was clearly able to make out the yellow pegasus hunched over an open book. Squinting, she found that it was the same one that SeaBreeze had given her before they left his home.
(“That silly, little monster compendium? What is she doing with that?”)
Another blast of crimson light flashed in her face, taking her by surprise. Temporarily blinding her, Rarity stumbled backward, her rear hoof scraping the cliff behind her. She couldn't make out what exactly it was that blinded her, but what she could see didn't put her mind at ease. It was a grid of red runes, arranged around what looked like a cylinder. Shaking off the assault on her eyes, she stumbled forward with the intention of calling out to her friend, only to be met with half of her face staring at her from behind the curtain. Rarity paled at the sight – the one eye that she was showing was glazed over, exhaustion filling her visage. Fluttershy drew a quick breath and said to her in a tired voice, “Go away...”
----
“She slammed the window shut after that. She wouldn't even say anything back, no matter how many times I called out to her. She's one of my best friends, and I can't do anything to help her...”
Rarity buried her face in her forelegs, failing to hold back her tears. “I'm so sorry, everyone...I should have come to you all sooner...”
*squeak, squeaksqueak*
She raised her head at the sounds of Angel Bunny throwing a squeaking fit, with every other pony in the room giving him their attention. He had hopped from Twilight's back onto an open book she was holding with levitation, slamming onto the floor and jumping up and down on a single illustration over and over again. As Rarity stepped over and got a good look at it, she brought a hoof to her mouth and gasped.
“That's it! That's what I saw in Fluttershy's home!”
“Wait, this thing? But that can't be right, this is the book I was talking about! The one that's supposed to be fiction!” Twilight levitated the book back up, reading aloud, “Oh ye who pines for revolution, let chaos crawl from the dark abyss, razing the world from ashes to ashes. Oh ye who pines for rebirth, let order shine from the remaining, blessing the world with divine creation. From the terminal, comes the...conception.”
The illustration that had upset Angel so was a silver cylinder, with multitudes of runes and markings adorning it from all around, arranged perfectly in a grid. Twilight made a nervous face, staring at the page. “I don't know what this is all about...but this talk of 'razing the world' can't be good. Come on girls, Fluttershy's in danger!”
----
- Fluttershy's Cottage, 12:27 pm
They had arrived not a moment too soon. Crimson light poured out from every window of her home, making the surrounding area feel like a dark room. Rainbow Dash flew in front of everypony while pounding her hooves together, ready to bash down the door.
“Don't worry Fluttershy, I'm comin'!”
“Rainbow, stop! Don't go in by yourself!” Twilight yelled and put a hoof out trying to stop her, but she was beyond reason. The cyan pegasus reeled back and flew forward with her forelegs outstretched, her speed nearly reaching mach 1 in the span of only a few meters. Though when she was mere inches away from the front door, a wave of crimson energy burst forth from within the house, catching her wings and flinging her back to her friends. Twilight generated a partial barrier from behind to catch her before manifesting it around them completely, her eyes fixated on the light show in front of her.
“Oh no...something's coming! Everypony, get ready!”
A column of bright, red light shot into the sky from the center of Fluttershy's home, tearing past the clouds and into the stratosphere. The shocking display left Twilight at a loss for words, the concentration on her magical barrier nearly failing. Pinkie and Rarity were hugging each other, unable to look away. Applejack was helping Rainbow to her hooves, putting one of her forelegs around her neck while gazing at the light show.
(“Is this it? Is what that book said actually going to happen...?”)
(“No! It can't end like this! I won't let it end like this!”)
“WAAAHHH!!! The world's gonna be covered in energy ketchup and it's all our fauuuult!”
The light continued to pour into the sky, leaving the ominous air hanging about for what felt like hours. After a full minute of this, the column narrowed and dimmed until it vanished completely. Twilight dispelled her barrier, raising an eyebrow and scratching her head.
“But...it said 'the world would be razed.' What is going on here?”
Almost on cue, the front door opened to reveal a still tired-looking Fluttershy. She closed her eyes and smiled weakly, but also sadly. “Hello everypony. Hello Angel. I'm so sorry to have worried you all...”
Angel Bunny bounded past the other five and into Fluttershy's foreleg, crying his eyes out. Twilight was the first to step forward, shouting in a stern voice, “Okay, you've got some explaining to do! What was the freaky, crimson light all about?! Why was it coming from your home?!”
“Why'd you get all cozy with me last week?! You should save that stuff for your coltfriend, or at least your mom!” Pinkie Pie was mimicking Twilight's accusatory pose, pointing a hoof in her direction. The other ponies around her groaned.
“I know, and I'm sorry Pinkie. I was just a little delirious after having all of my magatsuhi drained out. Please forgive me...” Fluttershy said, lowering her head.
“Magat-what now?” Applejack questioned.
“Magatsuhi. It's kind of like life energy. I had to give the terminal what I had, otherwise...well, you read the book too, right?”
"But, Fluttershy...that tome that SeaBreeze gave us was just a compendium of fictional creatures Just ridiculous, fake information written to scare little fillies. How could any of that drivel be real...?"
“I'm sorry, Twilight...but that's all I can say. If I say any more, then they might come back....please, you'll just have to trust me. At least, for now.”