> Umbreka
>  by Armanico Vita
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> On the Edge of Equestria
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	The morning sun greeted her like a furious torch. Golden beams of light glistened off the fresh dew residing in the blades of grass below. The air smelled sweet, honey and flowers intertwined together tickling at Fluttershy's nose. She felt a cold gust of air rippling across her tail; a cool, refreshing breeze ran through her mane, and she knew the final throes of night were over.

Fluttershy took a deep breath. She closed her eyes and basked in the warmth of the rising sun. A pair of shaded goggles reflected a green world as she tilted her gaze earthward. Folding her wings to her sides, Fluttershy carefully dove down through the air until she was skimming across the grassy surface of the rolling plains. Sporadic ponds and rippling sapphire streams interrupted what was otherwise an immaculate landscape of high grass and strewn foliage. Several lakes loomed in the distance ahead, resonating platinum reflections of the rising sun.

Fluttershy's nostrils flared.  As she darted mere inches over pond fronds and cattails, the scent of the air changed from sweet and sugary to lilacs and a freshly cut lawn. With grace, she spun upside down—gliding—and allowed her wings to break the top of several emerald blades.  As a result, she was christened with a liberal spray of fresh dew. The sensation was cold, tickling the skin beneath her butter-colored coat .It was the first thing that made her smile in hours.

There was a deep lake up ahead. The waters were so tranquil that it seemed as though the basin had been filled with a piece of the baby blue sky. Feeling suddenly enervated, Fluttershy lowered herself to the sandy banks, relaxing her wings for the first time in the past hour.

Her hooves twisted and dug into the mud, relishing in its wet mushy feel against her tingling limbs. She loved how the tame tides tickled as they brushed up against her hooves. Trotting to the very edge of the lake, she raised her goggles, exposing a pair of squinting teal eyes that took in the sunrise, and then tilted down to take in her own reflection.

Fluttershy's mane was windblown, its pink colored threads flying wildly as a testament to her nocturnal journey. Her coat was disheveled, bespeckled with dust and glistening with the fresh dew from her sound landing. In spite of her emaciated features, the one thing not remotely affected was her eyes. They appeared as alive and awake, filled with curiosity as she looked around and examined the setting she was in. She watched as humming birds flitted through the air, and rabbits scampered from hole to hole as they avoided the watchful eye of winged predators from above. She let out a sigh at this sight, glancing into the pool and looking herself over. Then, she reached two hooves up to her goggles.

Removing the article, she sat down and examined them closely in her grasp. There was a great deal of condensation and grime gathered on the lenses. Fluttershy leaned forward and breathed out, deeply onto the goggles. Using her condensation, she wiped the twin lenses free, then moved to slap them back on her forehead.  She paused, however, upon seeing the canvas strap of the item. There was an image of a prismatic, dashing mare, along with the initials 'R.D.'

Fluttershy stared intensely at the strap, lost deep in a maze of thoughts. She finally placed the article back on her head and gave her reflection one last look. Her yellow wings lifted, exposing a pure white saddle bag strapped around her body, tailor-made to fit snuggly around her fragile frame. Two pouches lined the outer side of her bag. One was fastened shut of that of an emblem of a full moon. The other one containing that of a ball of flame surrounded by solar flares. The solar bag alone was of big enough size to hold a generous amount of food. Instead of stocking herself up on nothing but bread, she balanced things out by bringing along basic first-aid supplies incase anything unfortunate were to happen.

Just then, a familiar sensation struck her, that of a golden glint being shone into her face. Fluttershy glanced lethargically at what was weighing on her neck muscles. A golden pendant hung just below her throat, emblazoned with a cotton candy colored pearl, formed to the shape of a butterfly. For the briefest of moments, she felt a sharp jolt of pain jump across each of her temples, and grasped onto it tightly. Her pain skyrocketed, the insides of her head felt like it had been filled with hot grease off of a frying pan. She gripped it tightly but the pain would not cease. Finally, she threw herself from the sandy shore into the cool waters presented before her.

After a major dunking, Fluttershy flung her head straight up. She gasped as her wet mane filled the air with a wild splash of lake water. Reveling in the cold sting, she grinned, finally the pain died down and she felt like her normal self again. She waded around in the neck deep water and relaxed as time passed her. She shut her eyes and imagined the good times back when she used to visit the salon with one of her best friends, Rarity.

Realizing that an hour had passed by, she snapped up out of the water back onto mushy shore. Shaking the mud off her hooves, the slipped her shaded goggles down, and took off once more towards the sky, gliding east.

The air bit harshly against her wet face.  It served to remind her that she was alive and she was a free mare.

Afternoon came, and the hilltops drifting lazily beneath Fluttershy turned into jagged promontories and the green grass became rocky terrain as she came upon the crest of a mountain range. The sun was well overhead, approaching its peak climb over the globe of the sky. Fluttershy realized she was still squinting, so she raised a hoof up to her goggles and turned a dial.  With a gentle click, the shades of the lenses popped back to reveal a clear pair beneath. She relaxed her teal eyes and kept floating eastward.

The earth turned progressively uneven below. When the mountains began, the topography shattered into a craggy affair. The air above these sharp formations grew misty, coalescing into thick clouds that gathered into a gray miasma above the sharply rising landscape. She distractingly traced the winding paths with her hooves. It looked like people used to travel out this far before, but it has probably been years, maybe even decades since anyone has walked these roads.

She touched down onto the ground and walked across the dehydrated gravel covering the caravan path. Very little rain made it out from the grassy knolls and treeless plains. The air was dry, and the lack of a breeze made the air sufficiently hotter than most places she was used to. It reminded her of one of her vacations to the desert landscape of New Mexicolt. From her position, the sun's ray bent over the peak of the tallest mountain in the range. It cast a spectacular array of orange hues casting a breathtaking sight. After taking in all of her surroundings, Fluttershy lifted up off the ground and continued following the trail east.

As she flew further inwards, the clouds descended closer and closer towards the ground. The thick tufts of fluff compiled together to form a barrier, blocking most visibility starting there and traveling eastwards. Fluttershy had no choice but to fly into the thick of it. Things eventually became so blinding she could barely see within a ten foot radius of herself. With exercised caution, she backed herself out of the fog and looked for a way around.  She was adamant about making a speedy pass over the mountains, but she wasn't about to stupidly plunge into any hidden rock faces beyond the clouds.

Rays of sunlight danced around Fluttershy in swathing beams. In mid-glide, she reached a hoof out and played with the many yellow bands.  Her mind wandered, and for the briefest of moments she could have sworn she heard the sound of little foals playing around and enjoying their days off from school. Her eyes blinked beneath her goggles, and the sensation left her, trailing on the fringes of a deep sigh.

The was a sudden gust of wind. If not for Rainbow Dash's training to help bring water to Cloudsdale, she would have been tossed wildly into the ether, but she swiftly countered for the gale attacking her wings.  She leveled out and hovered up, getting a good view of the landscape beneath her as the misty clouds parted.

She spotted a sudden dip in the mountains. A deep ravine had formed suddenly, and a heavy current of cold wind was billowing down to fill the canyon.

As Fluttershy coasted the top of this landscape, the clouds dissipated, and she was taken back by a sight ahead of her.  Two mountain ranges rose sharply and met a single point, as if bluntly colliding. The result was a pair of tall summits, twin spokes of ancient rock that pierced the sky like granite antennae.

Fluttershy hovered in place, staring for a prolonged period of time at the image. She couldn't help but feel as if the twin peaks looked familiar. Bothered by her lapse in memory, she spun cyclonically through the mountainous currents until she found a dry mesa of pale rock to perch on. A sharp rise in craggy stone behind her canceled out the wind, giving her a peaceful spot to touch down and reach back for her saddlebag.

She slowly removed the contents of her pack: a canteen of water, five loaves of dry, crumbling bread, 2 rolls of bandages, some gauze, a bottle of antiseptic, a compass, a container of flint and steel, three blankets, and finally a green-bound book.  This last item she placed carefully back in the bag, not wanting to tear the binding or dirty the pages. One last time, she reached into the very bottom of her saddlebag and dug around inside. She produced a paper scroll with a royal seal from the depths of her bag.

Unrolling the scrap, she stretched out a rich detailed map labeled 'Known Realms.'  In the center of the amber parchment was a landscape etched in black ink. Fluttershy's eyes started at the mountainous summit of “Canterlot Mountain,” then traveled to the right past “Everfree”, then past a broad stretch of dotted paper titled “Rambling Rock Ridge.”  She traced her hoof even further across the paper, past “Dodge City,” past “Hayseed Swamps,” even further past “Baltimare,”. There wasn't suppose to be anymore land past this point, the map showed everything east of Baltimore to be a long stretch of sea. And still she traveled, days after leaving the city and there has yet to be any water.

Fluttershy looked up. She saw two enormous peaks lingering two kilocanters in front of her, bathing a thick shadow across the grand, misty ravine surrounding the plot of land she was standing upon. She looked back down. The land simply didn't match up with what was printed, there wasn't anything marking down the two hulking masses of land ahead.

Unsurprisingly, this made her worry. She was about to leave Equestria, leave the safety of the princesses, and travel onwards into a land unknown to her. This all seemed a little daunting to her, she wasn't sure how much further she would have to walk, to fly, to swim. Eventually there would be no more land to travel, the world couldn't possibly stretch on endlessly.

She rolled the map back up. She put away her belongings, making sure not to break anything or trash the inside, and clasped the saddlebag shut with its crescent-moon and solar flare buttons. Hoisting her goggles back over her eyes, she stood against the wind, glanced back to give the terrain one final good-bye, and floated up into the air before taking off, soaring between the two peaks as if they were a doorway into a new land. One with new creatures for her to meet and new environments to see.

> Rest and Relaxation Under the Setting Sun
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	When Fluttershy's stomach began growling, the mountain range had begun to slope into the brightest, greenest landscape she had seen for days. The air was moist here, filled with the most delicious scents of spring. Freshly sprouted bluebells and lilacs lined the ground as she coasted through the air and took in the near-tangible aromas. She could taste the sweet nectar of honeysuckles. It reminded her a lot of everyone's favorite party pony back home. She reveled in these thoughts for as long as possible before her attention was stolen by a sudden influx of dense foliage. She gazed down as she saw lush forests dotting the eastern edge of the mountains.

The mid-afternoon sun warmed her flank as she touched down in an emerald meadow. Several small woodland creatures bounded away immediately after her landing. After a little coaxing, Fluttershy managed to call out the many woodland creatures who thrived in this glade. She watched as families of rabbit, flocks of hummingbirds, and packs of monkeys all crowded around her. They had never seen a pony before and they were just as interested as she was. They all felt naturally attracted, like magnets to her. Fluttershy glanced around, she must have been the first pony in centuries to set hoof in this beautiful, alien landscape.  Her insides gurgled once more as she desperately scanned the nearby trees.  She thought of the moldy, old bread she still had sitting in her backpack. She had been ceaselessly nibbling on it for the past few weeks and the thought of eating anymore made her grimace.

Her heart sank. There was not a single fruit tree to be seen. She sighed and let her messy mane cover up her sullen expression. Seeing this brought the group of animals together. They were puzzled at this sudden shift in emotions. Just a few moments ago she was frolicing around and now she was just drained of all energy. Another loud grumbling pierced through the thick silence. This was enough to clue in on what the problem was. Fluttershy felt a slight tug on her mane. The small family of rabbits were trying to grab her attention. She looked up out of the protective curtain of her mane and  noticed the animals lining up a path in front of her. Reluctantly, she followed the animals. Anything was better than sitting around in the middle of that meadow and starving to death.

She pushed her way through the dense shrubbery and stepped over the large, protruding roots sticking out of the leaf ridden surface. After trotting through the thick forest for the better half of an hour, she finally was able to see a lick of sunlight breaching through the branches impeding her path. Pushing through, she stepped out into another meadow, similar to the last. The difference was, this one was filled with loads of fruit bearing trees. Happiness flew back into Fluttershy's face, a smiled cracked on her lips and she ran forward, leaving her animal companions in the dust. She trotted past rows of orange trees, bushes full of blueberries, and patches of carrots. At the far end of the glade, Fluttershy noticed towering trees speckled with the color of a deep red fruit. She  broke into a breakneck gallop and charged straight for the orchard ahead. She skidded to a stop as soon as she was underneath the desired branches, and she actually drooled.

They were apple trees, and the fruit hanging off them were of a plump and ripe nature befitting a pegasus' dreams. With a gentle flap of yellow wings, Fluttershy hovered until she was nose-to-skin with the brightest apple in sight.  She gave it a close sniff and could already sense the sweetness.  With two hooves, she plucked the apple loose, raised her goggles, and turned the object over in her grasp.

The skin of the apple looked perfect, but she was hardly a qualified judge. She could tell there was no parasites hiding deep with the massive fruit and it didn't seem rotten. It was just the perfect apple, no bruising and the way it detached with ease off of the branch signaled how ripe it was. She gently nibbled a small piece of the apple and shifted it around in her mouth. It was the greatest thing she had eaten all month. Her taste buds went crazy with the new edition of the succulent fruit being introduced. This was such a great change in pace from her usual diet of a few pieces of dry, moldy bread every day. She let it roll around, touching all four corners of her mouth before swallowing the piece whole. Then without thinking, Fluttershy took a huge bite.

Immediately, her mouth was filled with a flooding river of euphoria.  Her teal eyes flew back in her head, and she let herself fall like a feather to the downy grass below.  She took another bite, reveled in the heavenly taste, and giggled like a foal, her voice echoing gaily across the emerald clearing.  Less than two minutes later, the entire apple had been scarfed completely.  No sooner was Fluttershy finished with this gluttonous feast, she was darting back up to the tree for a second fruit, then a third, then a fourth. She tucked these under her hooves, forelimbs, and even her wings. When her animal friends caught up, she caught a quick glimpse at the pleading eyes of the wingless animals. They were not able to scale the tree high enough to get to the far reaches of the fruit-bearing branches. One by one, she plucked and inspected each red delicious apple before handing them out to the critters below. When she was done feasting, she flew down to a soft patch of grass resting just outside the shade of the tree, took her bag off, and laid it down right next to her position. Pulling her blanket loose from the saddlebag, she laid it out along the soft blades of grass and laid herself down so that her forward half was in the shade and her rear half was warmed by the toasty sunlight. The family of rabbits walked up and rested themselves right beside her. To her it felt like another day at the spa.

So luxuriously reclined, she took her time savoring the succulent fruit. Every apple she grabbed, she split into small pieces and shared it between her and the rabbits lying beside her. Her eyes danced with the rays of sunlight glittering through the waving leaves above. Her mind toyed with errant thoughts, bursting through her head in cadence with the felicitous tastes bursting in her mouth. She let a giggle leave her lips, then another. Soon, the first three apples were consumed. Tossing the cores away, she polished the fourth and last apple against her chest and raised to her lips.

But then she stopped.

Flutteshy blinked. Slowly, her jaw clamped shut. She gazed with a solemn expression at her face being reflected in the immaculate red skin of the apple. Her nostrils flared, and scents that didn't belong to the emerald glade were now assaulting her. The next breath from her mouth was painful, and soon her eyes fell to the reflection of the tourmaline butterfly hanging from her neck.

A sour lump formed in her throat.  Fluttershy said nothing. She didn't eat the apple.  Shadows began filling the glade as the sun was setting beyond the mountains behind her, to the west. It was still early in the afternoon, but Fluttershy no longer felt like flying—not yet.  The wind had been taken from her wings.

With a gentle yawn, she grasped the blanket in her mouth and dragged it to the base of a tree, where the shadows were thickest.  Pulling a second blanket out of her saddlebag, she wrapped it around her yellow body and settled down on folded legs. Fluttershy lingered before resting her head. Gnawing on her lip, she reached once more to the apple. Instead of nibbling on it, she merely cuddled it close to her.

Exhaling, Fluttershy shut her eyes. There was a touch of moisture to her lashes, but she paid it no heed as she happily embraced the lulling kiss of slumber.

Fluttershy stopped staring at the ground, and the first thing she saw was Pinkie Pie's bright blue eyes.  A breath escaped her lips as she saw her friend waving towards her from the front entrance to Sugarcube Corner.  More bright colors joined the fray, with Rarity winking and Twilight giggling and Rainbow Dash and Applejack strolling around the bend.

Pinkie Pie cupped her hooves around her mouth and hollered something before motioning Fluttershy dramatically towards the group.

With a bright smile, Fluttershy wasted no time. She pranced across the street and opened her mouth to greet the group... only to blink confusedly at what she saw.

Pinkie Pie was making a strange face. Twilight Sparkle was squinting. Rainbow Dash and Rarity stared in shock, their mouths agape while Applejack marched up and pointed worrisomely at Fluttershy's figure.

This served to confuse her.  She turned to look in the windows of Sugarcube Corner.  Her reflection glossed over. In a blink, deep lines began forming on her forehead, and next to the ends of her eyes. Her cheeks began to sink inwards and her frame began to brittle. Before she had a chance to react to this, a lock of her mane fell limply from her head.

She fell on her haunches and raised two hooves in time to catch the limp hairs.  When they fell in her grasp, they lost all of their color, turning to a pallid gray. She then noticed her image was becoming translucent. She gasped, glancing at her limbs, she was vanishing right then and there. She heard a whimpering sound.

Spinning, Fluttershy glanced towards her friends, but they were gone.  Sugarcube Corner had also vanished. Fluttershy hyperventilated, she needed to find Twilight, she'd be able to fix everything. She flexed her wing muscles, but all her feathers were suddenly gone. Just as she felt the urge to scream, she heard the whimper again, only this time it was directly overhead.

She tried looking straight up, but her neck was being weighed down by a golden pendant.  After much sweat and aching, she finally gazed skyward, only to be overwhelmed by another of her intense migraines.

Fluttershy shot up, gasping. She clutched for something—anything—and found a canvas blanket surrounding her. She hugged herself, shivering, under the shroud of fallen night.  Her breaths slowly settled, as well as the frenetic beat of her heart.  Sighing, she glanced down at her saddlebag and other belongings, dull shapes under the kiss of starlight.  She looked around. Leaves rustled overhead. The murmuring chirps of various nocturnal animals serenaded her from the apple trees bordering the glade and much to her surprise, she did not manage to wake the little bunnies laying by her side.

It wasn't until five full minutes had passed that Fluttershy realized she was caressing the golden pendant about her neck. It felt heavier than ever. Each stroke of the gem caused it to illuminate a bright pink luster. Gnashing her teeth, Fluttershy held dearly onto the tourmaline-studded pendant. She breathed in heavily, and then exhaled with just as much force. She repeated that over and over until she felt herself at ease.

A cold wind blew through the shrouded valley. Fluttershy felt her mane kicking like a flag behind her head. She prayed that there'd be colors when the sun rose. Gazing skyward, she regarded the stars with jaded interest.  Her afternoon “nap” had carried her well into the fall of evening, but now she had become completely restless. With a small whimper, she stood up, collected her blankets, her other belongings, and stuffed them into her saddlebag.

Last but not least, she found the crimson apple lying in the grass. She picked it up like an infant, cradling it. Another breath left her, only this time she managed a slight smile. Eventually, she pocketed this too away. Just as she snapped the saddlebag shut, her eyes lingered on the royal princess buttons to her pack. Thoughtfully, she looked up towards the night sky once more.  A plume of pale clouds wafted far overhead. A dim glow suggested a waxing moon rising over the edge of the mountaintops.

Fluttershy rubbed a hoof over her pendant. She stood quiet and listened. Nothing happened; the golden necklace was just as quiet and dormant as ever.  She knew better than to expect otherwise. After all, it wasn't a full moon yet. Even though she was almost glad for that fact, she still couldn't help but keep a countdown running in her head for the night to come.

Before she took off into the night, Fluttershy felt a small tap on her back, left leg. She turned around to be greeted by one of her cottontail companions. He held in an outstretched paw a single flower. It was a snow-white petunia, hand-picked just for her. Fluttershy reached her hoof out and retrieved the flower. She held it in her hooves and stared, meaningfully into it, a small tear streaming down the front of her face. She brought it up onto her head, and without too much difficulty she was able to fasten it into her hair, just above her left ear. In a swift motion, Fluttershy picked the bunny up and held him close to her. She probably wasn't going to see any of these creatures again and she wanted to leave on an act of pure kindness. Reaching into her bag, Fluttershy pulled out one of the blankets she brought along and wrapped it tightly around the small animal. "A gift for a gift," she told the rabbit before placing him on the ground and petting his head.

Wasting no more, time, Fluttershy flapped her wings, ascended in a graceful spire, and aviated her way eastward—away from the taller mountain ranges.

For hours, she glided under the glittering cosmos. The ivory band of the Milky Way stretched majestically above her, unimpeded by any stray lights or colors. Fluttershy's nostrils flared as her goggled eyes took in the dull horizon looming beneath her, awash in the pale haze of celestial tranquility. She was alone in the sky, a single spot of warmth burning ever-eastward like a comet. At times, she closed her eyes and imagined she was one with the stars, beautiful and insignificant all at once. Her mind wandered to places as grand if not grander than the nightscape bowing beneath her, and she knew—secretly, she knew—that she was all that mattered in the grand silent dream of it all.

A dozen miles of flight later, Fluttershy descended. She was attracted by the sound of rippling water. In the starlight, she spotted a glittering sight below. Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be a babbling brook, cascading down lower and lower crags of jutting rock. The water started as a trickle, combined to a rippling stream, then coalesced into a majestic waterfall that emptied into an elevated spring cradled by the convergence of several mountain ranges.

Landing beside this high altitude pool, Fluttershy raised her goggles and gazed with naked eyes. She produced a whistle of wonderment. The water was so fresh and pure, that even in the dim starlight she could see three dozen feet straight down to the bottom of the spring. Smiling, she tilted down and gave the liquid a gentle lap with her tongue. Her upper body shuddered, words cannot describe how it tasted. It was the cleanest water she had drunk in all her adult life.

She drank liberally, like a foal lapping at delicious milk. She cupped her hooves together and filled them with some of the water. She brought it up to her face, and with a splash, her body felt instantly refreshed. This wasn't enough. After removing her saddlebag and petunia, she dipped her hind hooves into the chilly water and shivered. The water was cold, but it felt smooth like milk. The feeling was incredible. Slowly, she lowered her whole body into the spring and let herself relax. She forgot about the starlight, about the moon, about dreams. She was simply alive.

Fluttershy exhaled long and hard. She had to carry some of this beauty with her. Pulling herself out of the spring, Fluttershy reached into her saddlebag and produced her empty canteen. Swiftly, she filled it to the brink, smiling victoriously at her acquisition. Just as she finished screwing the top back on, something bright and lavender darted on the edge of her peripheral vision.

Fluttershy gasped. She spun about, blinking. She wasn't alone in the tiny spring clearing. "Twilight?" Fluttershy called out. There was no response; this made her heart beat even faster. The more she thought about it, the less secure she felt. Her heart sped up, matching the pace of a locomotive's engine. Her headache began to slowly creep back in.

She squinted, gazing sideways towards a crest of jagged rock to her right. Murderous beams of gold were setting the air on fire as the first slivers of sunlight pierced the otherwise tranquil moment. A part of her shuddered, regretting the death of darkness.

With icy resolve, she picked herself up, pocketed the canteen away, and faced the burning dawn. Raising her hoof, she twisted the dial of her goggles and covered her teal eyes with dark lenses. The pure taste of spring water was like an angelic song on the tip of her tongue.  She savored it, as she did all pleasant flavors that still clung to her, and carried the weight of the pendant with her as she flew into the horizon.


> When Isolation Rains on Your Parade
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Fluttershy saw a plume of smoke rising up in the distance. It rose up high into the air and drifted off, mixing with the clouds above. She hovered mid-flight staring quizzically at the strange sight. There was only one explanation for the abnormality before her. The way the smoke was contained as it spiraled up into the atmosphere, she knew this wasn't just a natural forest fire. She also knew now that she truly wasn't alone anymore. She had to check things out for herself.

She fluttered her wings as fast as she could over to the sight of the occurrence. The area the thin line of smoke expelled from was devoid of trees and most forms of life. How weird that there could be rocky patch of land in the middle of a forest biome. The only sign of life she saw were the white-speckled red fungi growing through crack in the ground below. No matter how hungry she was, Fluttershy knew she would rather starve than go near any of those vile, poison-laden umbrellas.

She found herself a nice, grassy patch just outside the rocky terrain and decided to begin her descent towards the earth. Her legs were splashed with the refreshing feeling of dew from the grass beneath her feet. The grass's soft touch stifled a giggle in Fluttershy as a smile pierced her lips. It was as soft as clouds, fit for a princess to sleep on: although currently to Fluttershy, anything was better than sleeping on the cold hard rock mesas or the sharp, protruding tree branches again. As she trotted through the small field, she saw a bald spot of soft dirt. It looked as if someone had ripped the grass out from the topsoil of ground. All that was left were the previous inhabitants of ladybugs and beetles crawling their way along the fresh dirt.

Fluttershy pushed her way through the tall layers of grass and her hooves finally met up with the stiff terrain of dirt and cracked rock. It must have been eroding away for the past few centuries. She felt it slip and crumble under her as she shifted her weight to walk. One of her steps fissured open a crack in the rock and caused a small chunk the fall in. Fluttershy gasped, the rock she was standing on wasn't solid as she had thought. Looking down she noticed a thick, black smoke rising up out of the lines traced beneath her. It twirled it's way up in the air and wafted directly for her snout. She trudged backwards in horror. The charred smog followed her backwards creeping up on her. Fluttershy took in a giant breath of fresh air and sealed her lips tightly together. She was petrified of the sight, her legs locked up. Her mind was yelling at her to run, do anything just stay away from the looming peril. She was paralyzed, she could only sit and watch as the dense pollution swam through the air and seeped into her nostrils, all without her inhaling through her snout. Her vision went black. Her head began to spin as a dancing prismatic array of lights flickered in front of her. She watched as they all blurred by, leaving their entrails in the dust. She could hear the laughter of little children echoing in the back of her mind; they were all laughing at her.

Fluttershy, Fluttershy, Fluttershy can hardly fly...

The blurring lights died down, giving Fluttershy a chance to breath and pull herself together. The black background was sudden replaced with that of Ponyville. She watched in horror as she grabbed a tourist by the neck and launching him off into the distance for making her drop that day's mail. Two other ponies, Rarity and Pinkie, trotted up with horrified looks plastered on their faces. Fluttershy wanted to look away, close her eyes, stop her other self from saying those next few cruel sentences.

Both ponies stepped forward, equally disappointed looks were drawn about their faces.

"Fluttershy! What are you doing?! That's no way to behave." Rarity berated the brute.

It was all so surreal. The scene was playing out exactly as she remembered it down to every last detail and she could recite every last word that came out of her vision's mouth.

"Did you see what he did to new Fluttershy? And he thought new Fluttershy was a pushover!" The current Fluttershy found herself mouthing every word that came out of her counterpart's mouth. This wasn't the first time she's had this nightmare. It had been following her every step of her journey east.

"No sweetie he didn't, we saw the whole thing. We think you have taken your assertiveness training a little too far." Rarity continued to push her luck against the thuggish animal Iron Will transformed her friend into.

"What?! You just want new Fluttershy to be a doormat like old Fluttershy, but old Fluttershy is GONE!" The mean Fluttershy flew up into the air, flapping gusts of wind strong enough to knock her friend off balance. The impatience built up in her heart was finally breaking lose and she was venting it out at two of her closest fiends alive.

"New Fluttershy? Old Fluttershy?" Pinkie couldn't keep up with the things spewing out of her friend's mouth. It had to take a whole new kind of crazy to keep Pinkie Pie from comprehending what the conflict was drifting into.

"What about the nice Fluttershy? We want that Fluttershy back." Rarity pleaded.

"NO! You want WEIRD Fluttershy, you want PUSHOVER Fluttershy, you want DO ANYTHING TO HER AND SHE WON'T COMPLAIN Fluttershy!" She snapped. All of the bullying and the rudeness she endured in her life was now coming out, and she was unleashing a flood at her friends.

"Ahhh! Too many Fluttershy's to keep track of, just make it stop!" Pinkie couldn't keep up with her friend, and was swept away in the flood.

"Things getting too complicated for your simple little brain Pinkie Pie?" Pinkie Pie wasn't the one coming to scorn her for her actions. Why had she burst out at her like she did?

"Now stop right there! Let's not let things descend into petty insults." Rarity stepped between the two. She wasn't the element of loyalty, but she wasn't about to let Fluttershy talk down to them like that, even if they were best friends.

Fluttershy crossed her arms, she was serious about what she was going to say. "Why not? Petty is what you're all about, Rarity, with your petty concerns about fashion."  Rarity's eyes began to well up. She had never heard anypony insult her pursuits in such a manner and it made her heart ache to experience it from Fluttershy, of all ponies.

Seeing her friend cry, Pinkie jumped forward. She stood upright, infusing each swing of her hips with attitude. "Hey! Leave her alone. Fashion is her passion!"

"And what are you passionate about? Birthday cake? Party hats? I can't believe the two most frivolous ponies are trying to tell new Fluttershy how to live her life while they are throwing their lives away on pointless pursuits that nopony else gives a flying feather about!"

Fluttershy's eyes shot open, beads of nightmare-induced sweat dripped down her sweltering head. Waking up snout down in a pile of jagged rocks wasn't her definition of a fun time. She spit out a mouthful of dirt and wiped the tears away from her eyes, slowly recovering from just reliving one of the worst moments of her entire life. That was the day she had become a monster and if it wasn't for her friends she would have stayed that way too. Whatever that smoke was, it was gone and she was glad about the lack of its presence.

She looked around, spotting something laying down next to her in the dirt, a circular formation of smoothed out stones. In the center of the ring rested a pile of smoldering ashes, the embers still fresh from being stomped out recently. Around her were two wooden structures. To her right, she saw a massive heap of collapsed timber, all painted with fluorescent lime green mildew. From the size of the foundation, the wooden heap probably used to house a family inside of it. Now, there was nothing left to shelter. To her left was a similar structure, but much smaller in size.

Fluttershy ambled over to the entrance of the shabby structure and took a gander at it. The door to the front entrance laid in pieces, cluttering the way in. She walked by and stood at the archway of the small building, lifted her shaded goggles up to her crown, and stared nakedly upon the worn "interior" of the place. Most of it was left in ruin. It lacked an apparent roof and the excessive amounts of mildew growing on the wood and moisture lying about clued her in that this shack was the victim of countless rainy days.

There was not too much to look at inside of the old lodging. The walls and floor were covered a thick green slime of mildew. The windows had all been busted out of their framing. Due to its size and lack of a bed, this place was obviously not made for residing. Ironic enough how this managed to survive through the cruel effects of the elements longer than its counterpart home. The creaky floor screeched and howled as she sauntered across the soaked floor. Probably the prettiest sight in the whole room was where sunlight breached into the building and struck the floor. It's afternoon glow detailing the scene in a rising, platinum mist.

A few things  in there stuck out to her. A thick, slimy residue marked a few spots on the cracked floorboards. There was an ensemble of leaves and grass lying in the corner of the abode. It was all bundled together with tied up vines gathered from the treetops. The fireplace was full of dried logs that, unlike everything else made of wood, was not painted over with green mold and algae. They probably were using the fireplace as storage for the next night. Fluttershy had an idea who had left the pieces of lumber there and discovering all of this made her happy. For a bit she was worried that she was deviating off of the path. Now she knew she was flying the right direction. On top of everything, she knew she was close.

Gaining every bit of knowledge she needed, Fluttershy turned and headed out the doorway.

Fluttershy soared up into the sky, much higher than what she was used to going. She panned around the broad horizon of leafy, green trees. She coasted left, then right. She needed to find her soon. Out on the horizon, Fluttershy spotted a massive, anvil shaped cloud drifting in from the east. It's ashen color menacingly stood out against the otherwise sapphire colored sky. There was a bright flash of pure white light and static emitted from the center of the storm. Fluttershy had heard about these kind of tempests back in flight school. These "super storms" were only produced in places like Las Pegasus where the temperatures got to be higher than most areas.

She heard the calls of animals from all around her, mainly the howler monkeys. They were all signaling to each other of the forthcoming storm. Fluttershy frantically flew around the sky scanning for any signs of movement. The foliage was too thick for her vision to penetrate through. Ultimately, she quickly drew to the ground. There is no way she's going out searching for somepony in a storm like this. 

The large sparking anvil was barreling towards her and it was like nothing she had ever seen before. It's size rivaled that of the city of Cloudsdale. She needed to find somewhere safe to hide and quickly. She took off galloping in the opposite direction of the blanket of clouds. As the daunting storm closed in on it's prey, Fluttershy felt the full force of it's wind power. She was swept up off of her feet and thrown, full-force, into a tree and held onto it for dear life. The wind was so powerful her legs were dangling horizontally off of the ground as she held onto the closest branch to her. The first bolt of lightning crashed through the air and struck the ground with a loud crackling sound. The sonic boom emitted when the lighting struck was enough to make Fluttershy flinch and release her iron grip on the tree. She was shot through the air like an arrow from a bow, getting close to the same speeds Rainbow Dash would usually fly at. The wind let up and she was swatted out of the air by gravity. She skid across the leaf ridden floor before coming to a stop before the mouth of a mountainside cave. Without hesitation, Fluttershy picked herself up off the ground and limped her way inside before crashing on the cold, damp stone.


> Once Bitten...
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Fluttershy lay there, on the cold, solid ground. Fortunately, she wasn't hurt too badly, mostly just shaken at the sudden turn of events. She felt the icy trickle of of the cave's saliva pelt her on the snout. She was too sore to move, but the steady stream of droplets was compelling to her to do otherwise. She sat up on her haunches, retired her goggles up to the crown of her head, and blankly stared out the mouth of the cave. The gorgeously, chromatic world she was just a part of had turned gray in a matter of minutes. The massive cloud was large enough to blot out any sunlight that was still left in the afternoon gleaming. Dark greens and brown turned to black and the melodical chirping of birds changed into the howling roars of thunder. The soft pitter-patter of droplets turned into a symphony of crackling precipitation.

Fluttershy waited for her eyes to fully adjust before standing up on all fours. She let her wings extend outwards as she gently fluttered them. Any loose moisture that had collected within the barbs of her feathers had now been shaken off of her. She let her wings retract back into place and studied the room around her. The cave was a monotonous shade of gray, at least the visible portion was. It stretched back a long distance, even further than her vision would let her. There was no telling how far it stretched on or even where it leaded to, and she probably didn't want to find out either. 

The thunder was letting up for now, maybe that meant the storm was coming to an end. She relaxed her back up against a spire of stalagmites and rested her eyes shut. She welcomed the rhythmic pounding of the rain into her ears, it lent her gentle heartbeats a pleasant ambience. The sounds rebounded off the stone walls around her, providing a gentle tune that tickled her eyes. Fluttershy lent her own percussion into the mix, tapping her hooves to create a light beat. She hummed out the tune to one of her favorite songs. It was the song her mother used to sing to her when she was just a little foal. When the song was over she was overcome by an immense feeling of exhaustion.

Fluttershy was about to slip into the warm embrace of slumber when a bolt of lighting struck down, impetuously, near the mouth of the cave. It's deafening boom echoed off every surface around her, pelting her ears with an explosive shock. Her vision doubled and her thoughts were pierced by a sharp ringing sound resonating in her eardrums. She stumbled around the room, trying to regain her bearings. Another strike landed nearby, this one being more drowned out than the first; it sounded like she had been dunked into a large body of water. 

The bright flash being cast down into the cave highlighted the arrangement of stalactites and stalagmites near the front entrance just long enough for her to catch a quick glimpse. The horizontal projections shot downwards towards the ground and sharpened off at a needle-point tip. They were the canines of the mouth, the teeth that were used to rip fresh clean off the bone. They all looked eerily enough like rows of the jagged teeth found inside most carnivorous monsters. The sight of this left Fluttershy distraught. Her concussed head allowed her to see more than one pair of teeth, grinning wide as they shifter closer and closer.

Fluttershy felt her sanity dropping quickly and she needed to get out of there. The sharp crackling of downpour against the forest floor was turning into the guttural growls of an ancient dragon, ready to gulp her up in one fell swoop. Using the stalagmite as a crutch, she pulled herself onto her feet and stumbled around looking for a way out.

The options she were left with were less than she had hoped. If she went back outside in that weather, she wouldn't be able to hold out until the storm dried up let alone survive an entire hour. She played the scenario through in her head. There was only one choice left, she had to continue down the dark corridor behind her; it was a much better option than getting splattered against the thick wood of an oak. Swiftly, she turned tail and blindly ran into the seemingly endless tunnel of limestone rock.

Her momentum was brought to a slow crawl as the tunnel began to narrow itself in around her. She rubbed at the element hanging around her neck, each passing stroke caused the tourmaline gemstone to radiate a bright pink light. The polished stone was painted painted in the pink glare of her glowing pendant. As she tilted her head left and right, the swath of pearl light bobbed with her. She proceeded slowly, her gait slow and cautious, for what had to have been several minutes in the heart of the hillside.

The air was dank and moist, though it wasn't from the storm that was still roaring against the surface of the world far above her. The subterranean passage had a finely preserved quality; the walls and floors of the place felt as if they hadn't been disturbed in ages. The deeper Fluttershy went, the more shocked she was to find herself breathing normally.  She was still getting plenty of oxygen and if she didn't know better, she'd imagine that she had been breathing just as easily in the open air.

Fluttershy had assumed that this was a natural cave. As she glanced left and right, she noticed the lack of etchings on the walls. There weren't any signs of knicks from a pickaxe, or insignias marked into the rock. However, the tunnel was so smooth and perfect in its descent that she couldn't help but assume that something had willfully dredged it.  She imagined that perhaps this chamber she had stumbled upon was built in ages long gone by.  Maybe weather and time had eroded the material to its present smoothness, she knew a lot about nature but she wasn't going to try and pretend she was an expert on weather. She merely trotted forward and explored.

Further on down the ramp she heard the echoing splashing of water colliding with the surface of stone. She held held her pendant up to her face and aimed it around the tunnel. A small flicker of light reflected off the steady stream of crashing raindrops, sending small flickers of pink light into the cornea of her eye. She walked closer to the curtain of water, letting her pendant create a small kaleidoscopic show of glistening colors off the falling droplets. There was suddenly a cold dust of air, as if a mysterious wind was being funneled through the chamber. The opening in the ceiling where the constant stream of water was flowing in from led all the way back up to the surface of the mountain above her. Clicking her goggles into place and grabbing onto her butterfly pendant, she stood under the waterfall and looked upwards. Through the constant pounding of heavy raindrops against her face, she was able to make out a branching set of paths winding off from the original that led straight into the sky. Fluttershy stepped back and shook her mane dry, grinning at this discovery. She knew now that she wasn't straying too far from the surface world.

Glancing down, her eyes followed the brook's path as it rivered down the tunnel in front of her and hanging a sharp right into a far steeper tunnel. She covered her bag as she stepped through the imposing wall of liquid. The water was chilling to the touch and the light breeze whisking in from the tunnel above. The corridor echoed with each splashing stepped as she trudged through the icy rainfall. The current grew faster as she hooked right and proceeded down the steeper incline. The tunnel she was following was joined in by many smaller, subsequent tunnels. The all bled together and converged into one path like the veins in a pony's body.

More time passed by as Fluttershy carefully followed the highway of interconnecting paths, hers being the artery. Every new tunnel she passed emptied off into hers, filling the tunnel up to the top of her hooves in water. In the distance she could hear the echoes of the trickling stream double, triple, and then turned into a gentle roar that drowned out the storm above the mountain overhead. Fluttershy noticed that her gem's glowing stopped piercing the path ahead. If the tunnel she was just in was an artery, this had to have been the heart.

She stood at the entrance to the large underground cavern. She closed her eyes and focused in on the element of kindness. She let her mind ease up and meditated deeply. The gentle sound of oiled gears turning and then an abrupt clicking noise could be heard. The pink glow intensified. She found herself squinting, then lifting her water-slicked goggles to get a good look at what she saw.

The chamber was spacious, a surprising contrast to the claustrophobic corridors that had led her down there.  Pooling about a forest of limestone stalagmites was an underground lake, stretching left and right—from wall to wall—at a width of over three hundred feet. How long the chamber was, Fluttershy couldn't tell. 

The lake water below her was covered in a thick layer of brown-green mucus. She could have sworn she spotted a peculiar arrangement of pale stones below the surface. Dropping a rock into the murky depths, she watched as the ripples part an opening in the slime for her to see. Not to far below the muck, she could make out the outline of hundreds of white spheres resting on the bottom of the abyss. Fluttershy let out a gasp, "These aren't stones, they're..." She could feel warm, bated breaths roll down her neck and onto her spine. She closed her eyes and nervously rotated her head one-hundred eighty degrees. Her heart rate speed up tremendously as her eyes began to peel open. "...Quarry eggs." All she could see were a set of grinning blood-stained yellow teeth and the scaly red face they were attached to.

The quarry mother made the first move. It's head reeled backwards, jaw opening up wide enough to swallow even Princess Celestia in a single gulp. The eel lunged forward ready to finish Fluttershy off, it's shear force was enough to shake the walls around it, and just enough to make the edge Fluttershy was standing on to chip off. Fluttershy flailed around as she plummeted into the vile gunk below her.

There was a sick, crunching noise as she smashed into the water. Her fall was broken by grand cluster of eggs, all piled together in a spire of black adhesive. The landing sprayed a dark tar in all direction. Fluttershy emerged from the depths gasping for air. Her mane was stained black and her face was covered in green bile. Enraged at the loss of her children, the mother quarry eel bulleted out of the hole and aimed itself straight at the yellow pegasus's head. Fluttershy dove down into the depths, narrowly avoiding decapitation and causing the eel to slip overhead, crashing itself through a few healthy clusters of eel eggs. The eel fumbled around in the black glue encasing it's body in a sticky tomb. It let out a hostile shrill. Under normal conditions, the cry would have been loud enough to be heard from at least a mile away. The cave they were in amplified the sound to echo all throughout the underground labyrinth. Fluttershy trembled as eyes all around the room lit up from their peaceful slumber.

One by one they each crawled out of their holes and flopped their way into the breeding chamber. Each one nose-dived into the water just to arch out and fly in her direction. Fluttershy dove down once more, dodging clamping jaws by shifting left and then right, her outstretched hooves reaching for the stone floor. Once her hooves clapped up against the limestone floor, she threw all of her weight against the surface and propelled herself out of the water like a torpedo towards the entrance; a jet of water following her escape. She slipped through the jaws of one eel and managed to smoothly land on the cliff above. Using all of her strength, she galloped forward, climbing up the rising incline. Her heart beat skyrocketed and her lungs began gasping for much needed air. She was rapidly exhausting herself, but she couldn't stop running. Each eel threw itself forward in attempts to rip a chunk out of her hindquarters. Due to their recklessness, the cave began to shake and crumble around them. Fluttershy strafed left, narrowly avoiding a large piece of ceiling that instead, struck one of the eels between the eyes and impeded the path of the melee behind her.Without stopping to look back, Fluttershy made a straight beeline for the hole she discovered not too long ago.

Fluttershy skid to a stop underneath vertical escape tunnel. It had stopped raining some time ago and now a bright sun beam shone down on the spot she needed to be. Slapping her shaded goggles on, Fluttershy aimed herself skyward and began her steady climb to the safety of the surface world.

Fluttershy collapsed into a heap of yellow hair and feathers right next to the entrance of the hole. Her eyes burned as the adjusted to the sudden change in lighting. She wheezed and coughed as her lungs took in the well deserved oxygen they needed. She took her goggles off her face and threw them to ground. Her whole body went numb, minus the tingling sensation she felt in her legs. Even though it was daytime, she felt like she could sleep for days.

As she was digging through her saddlebag, she heard the sound of a repulsive, crunching noise from behind her. At first she didn't feel anything, but after she turned to see what happened, she let loose a blood-curdling scream. One of the eels had latched it's teeth onto her right wing and it was intent on dragging her back into the den with it. Fluttershy, had to break free from this monster's iron grip on her wings. She kicked and she struggled as she was slowly being dragged back towards the pit, but nothing she did seemed to work for her; there was only one last thing she could do if she wanted to save her own life. She put all of her weight to one side of her body and swiftly rolled over to the other side without hesitation. She heard the deafening pop and her appendage went limp. Painfully, she wrapped both hooves around her wing and squeezed it free from between the clenched teeth, allowing the eel to plunge to its rocky grave below.

Fluttershy's wing lay useless at her side, unable to even retract back to its original placing. She stumbled as far away from the hole as her legs would allow her and rested her body up against the thick of a tree. Lifting up her wing, Fluttershy noticed that the eel had torn into her skin and left a gash running the length of her wing.The warm blood trickled down her feathers into her torso and mixed with the dirt to form clumps in her fur. Before she had the time to bandage her wounds up, her vision doubled and she passed out from the immense pain.


> Uncertified Self-Aid
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	A rush of cold air flushed over Fluttershy, tickling the raw wound engraved into her wing. Her fresh gash tingled and oozed with the constant breeze pushing up against her body. Her bruised eyelids peeled back into her head revealing the rising sun basking the world in it's heavenly glow. Its warm radiation tanned her skin and helped to warm her body up from the frigid vice-grip of death's osseous fingers.

She couldn't believe it, had she really been exploring the underground labyrinth all night? Surely she wasn't incapacitated for too long, she would be feeling a whole lot more refreshed if that was the case. She let her vision drift from left to right as she tilted her head to scan her surroundings. The gaping crater in the center of the field had once led led down into the heart of the mountain. Now it was a nothing more than a clutter of rocks sealing away the carnivorous eels into a tomb below her. It wouldn't be able to hold them in forever but it would give her enough time to exit the premise.

She groaned as she pulled herself up off the tree, wincing in pain as her wing throbbed with each passing heartbeat. She looked back, remembering the horrible unfolding of events that occurred to her recently. Her mouth gaped open in horror as she observed the bloodied mess she made of the forest. A pool of blood collected in the spot she was just sitting, just barely beginning to coagulate from the fresh morning air. She began to hyperventilate. The most blood she had ever seen was from the occasional scrapes and cuts her woodland creature got from exploring the Everfree Forest. The rusty smell of her own vital fluids made her nostrils flare up and her stomach gurgle.

Her mind began to wander off and she felt her head starting to lighten up, making her dizzy. The world around her began to careen like a boat in a monsoon. She stumbled back and forth trying to maintain her balance. She attached on to the nearest thing next to her, a thick, sturdy elm, and held on tightly, her front hooves digging into splintery tree as she tried to hold herself upright. Closing her eyes only made this sensation amplify. Her face went green with nausea as she fought to hold back her previous meal from rushing out of her system.

The muddy ground underneath her back hooves gave out, launching her face-first into the rough tree bark. The jagged wood scratched and tore at her skin all the way down the length of the tree until her head rested upon the soft fabric of her saddlebag. Her lungs gasped for air as she wallowed in the crimson-stained grass. Her brain was being denied the amount of blood it desperately needed and she was beginning to fade in and out of consciousness.

She clenched her teeth down on the button of her saddlebag and jerked her head back, tearing the solar insignia from it's rightful place on the sack. As she fumbled around inside the bag, she let it slip out of her grasp and all the contents of the celestial pouch spilled onto the floor creating an organized heap of chaos. Her nostrils flared up and her heart pounded heavily inside of its ribcage prison. She used one of her hooves to hold her body up and the other to rummage through the mound of supplies. Grabbing some bandages, gauze, and a thick branch lying next to her, she proceeded to sit up on her haunches. Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath in, holding  onto it for three seconds before slowly releasing it back into the atmosphere. Fluttershy brought the thick branch up to her mouth and clenched her teeth down on it, the taste of dirt and nature saturated her tongue and parched her lips. She held onto her to her limp wing, letting it dangle in her loose grasp.

"One..." She braced herself for the consequences of her gutsy actions to follow.

"Two..." The grip she had on her feathers tightened this time, the necessity for bravery and brevity was ever so present.

"Three!" The shout of her countdown was followed by a grotesque popping noise as she forced the joint back into its socket. Her teeth bore down into the block of wood, cracking and splintering it. She could now fully feel every ounce of pain coursing through her wings; it stung her like a red, hot iron being pressed down against her flesh. She could feel the wound throb with each fluctuation of her heart.

She collapsed to the ground sobbing, she was in shock at what she had just done to herself. Her wing began to stiffen and swell around the joint. Most of her blood had clotted while she was unconscious, though her wound still managed to sputter blood and pus through cracks in the scabbing. She tore off a big enough patch from the gauze she picked up and firmly held it up against her injury. She continued to wrap herself up in the sterile cloth starting with her shredded wing. She carefully wove the bandage up and down the length of the laceration making sure she wrapped up every last inch of skin. She then struggled around for a bit, trying retract her wing fully to the side of her body. After a few attempts and a little force, she managed to hold her wing still long enough for her to splint it together with her torso.

The air filled with the faint sound of crunching leaves, the wind carrying the disturbance towards her. Her ears perked upright. The noise grew louder and louder as it approached its witness from behind from behind. This impetuous crescendo of rustling caught Fluttershy off guard, causing her heart to skyrocket up into her throat. She flipped herself around to brace herself for the intruder only to be shot down in agony by a large jolt of pain residing in her side. She picked her face up out of the mud and cursed her dumb decisions. She had brought everything she needed to keep a herself in good health except for painkillers and antiseptic, the former of the two she longed for right now.

She couldn't see whatever was stalking her through the thick caking of mud on her face; she could feel it though. She could feel its warm, bated breath causing the hair on her neck to jolt up. She could feel a thick, slimy appendage wiping back and forth across her face. All she could do was sit there and let it taste her, hoping she wasn't that appetizing.

A moment passed by and nothing, she was still there and her stalker was still licking away at her face. She tilted her head upwards and pried her eyes open. Hovering just a few inches away from her snout, she could make out the the face of a forest reindeer staring right back at her like he had been caught committing a felony. The deer cocked its head off to the side in curiosity before running off into the deciduous abyss. She nervously laughed the whole situation off. She was just a little shell-shocked from her scuffle with the quarry eel and the copious amounts of blood lost recently was making her a little edgy.

She stared out into the mess she had created while fixing her dislocation. Her green-bound book sat page down in a soft patch of grass away from the pile of bread, blankets, and bandaging. She walked over to the hardcover and picked it up, cherishing it. She did not wish to read it just yet, she wanted to save it for another time, one when she was in need of its salvation the most. She sat their cradling the open book in her arms like it was her very own foal. The hard-bound covers snapped shut and she slid it in perfectly at the bottom of the saddlebag.

The next thing she noticed was the apple.

She picked up the red delicious, her warm breath glossing over the top layer of its skin. It had lost some of the luster it carried with it back at the orchard and now she was trying to coax it into giving her one last little gleam of light. Rubbing it up against her coat she gazed into the reflection trying to make out anything. She noticed a glint of golden sun shimmer up off the top of the apple. Fluttershy contorted her face, the reflection she saw in the apple wasn't that of hers. The pony being mirrored back to her had their hair brushed and tied back, unlike that of Fluttershy's curtain-esque hairstyle. The other pony let off a warming smile at her, bearing six rounded freckles spread evenly across two cheeks. Fluttershy wiped the tears out of her eyes and glanced back into the apple, but this time she didn't see anything. Seeing this made Fluttershy unleash a gentle stream of constant tears, not out of sorrow or grief, but out of jubilation. With newfound hope, Fluttershy let off a huge grin though all of the tears and placed the fruit back into the bag, above the book.

She realised she needed to leave soon, remembering she had just stirred the hornet's nest down below her. She knew she didn't want to be there to greet the quarry eels when they eventually dug their was their way up through the surface. Everything else that held little sentimental value to her was tucked away into blanket-wrapped bundles and piled in on top of everything else.

The clasps on her bag gave off a loud snap, clueing her in that it was securely fastened to her waist. With everything buttoned down and prepped for the expedition, Fluttershy turned east and ambled off to continue on her journey.


> The Thinking Mare
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	The day passed on as Fluttershy continued to walk eastward; she had been traveling non-stop since she had witnessed the anomaly that morning. A long piece of cloth dangled from her body while she trotted onwards, collecting filth as it dragged across the ground. The opening in the wrap revealed to the world the skin around her scabbing. It had turned a darker color, closely resembling the black of night. The area around it was discoloring with patches of a reddening web shooting out from the center and continuing on under the rest of the bandaging, out of sight. Fluttershy could feel it constantly tingling with each passing moment. She could feel the blood coarsing through her veins, each pump throbbed under her skin. Her eyes turned irritated and bloodshot. Fluttershy considered settling down so she could rest up and check it out. The more time she had to think about it though, the more inclined she was to keep walking. Her pace had been slowed to a brisk gait and if she was going to make any ground, she needed to compensate for the lack of flight by cutting back on her stops.

Every step she took felt like a needle jabbing directly into her back; she was begining to grow oddly accustomed to it. She actually liked the feeling it produced. It's a funny how the one thing that keeps many of us from accomplishing our goals in life is also the thing that reminds us that we are alive. Those who are always successful are the ones finding ways to break the boundaries set for them by natural limitations. 

Fluttershy took the pain and made it into something theraputic. The more she thought about it, the more it reminded her of her spa dates with Rarity. The fiery prodding reminded her of the smooth stones they used to heat up by the fire before lining them down the length of their backs. The feeling warmed and relaxed her muscles, the imagining of it was surreal, euphoric even.

The path she was walking wound off, like a serpent through the thick of the trees. The night had fully arrived and all vision was lost to an abysmal shroud of navy blue, the same color as her Princess from back home. If not for the glimmer of the stars above, Fluttershy would be covered in pure darkness. It was amazing how Luna created the sky. It seemed like the sky was a ceiling, far above the reaches of the world and luna hand-painted every glistening star in the form of a mosaic above. She was bewildered by how no matter where she went, the constellations managed to always stay the same. She wondered if she had even traveled any distance at all. 

Other questions were brought up into the pondering mare's mind. How far does this world stretch on? She couldn't have been nearing the end of it all, there were still signs of ponies once living in this desolate landscape. She imagined the end of the world to be barren of all life, far from the benevolence of Celestia. Something within her was terrified of walking up to see such a sight. What if she just dropped off of it, like spilled milk dripping off the edge of a table. Even though the thought made her slightly uneasy, Fluttershy couldn't help but grin. She was a pioneer for Equestria, only one other pony had traveled out farther east than her.

The path she was traveling on twirled about through the forest, undecisive of which direction it favored. The numerous amounts of time it warped around corners and disappeared into the trees made it difficult for her to even tell if it was traveling east at all. She reckoned she could probably cover twice, maybe even three times as far of a distance in the same time if she were to disband from the convoluted trail and head east through the dense woods. She peered inside to get a look at things. The low light made it difficult to tell where she was going. She could walk into a tree and break her snout or worse, walk into the mouth of creature much larger than her. For all she knew, this place could be like the Everfree forest. Cockatrices, timberwolves, and manticores could be waiting on the other side of the veil for her to cross the threshold.

Fluttershy thought about the choice that lay ahead of her. She could be blindly walking to her doom, if she were to encounter any trouble this time around, she wouldn't be able to run and fend for herself. She would be consumed by the nocturnal monsters, waiting for their opportunity to lunge in and secure the kill. If she was going to succeed though, she was going to need to willingly let go of the old values she used to hold onto and adapt to the new world she was blindly flying into. Life was full of lessons, and through experience, Fluttershy learned that she was going to need to be braver, not just for herself, but for all of Equestria. Fluttershy gazed off into the depths of shrouded trees and darkness, then she placed her foot down away from the dirt-lined path and continued onwards.

> Bad Part of the Woods
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	The forest canopy blotted out any chances of starlight making its way to the surface. Fluttershy gripped onto her amulet, remembering what Celestia taught her. She breathed in calmly before relaxing her eyelids and giving it a little rub. On cue, the tourmaline encased within the gold frame dimly illuminated the environment surrounding her. Fluttershy felt her head lighten up as the element around her neck siphoned a little bit of her energy to power the glow. She made sure not to use too much power, she didn't want to risk blacking out in this perilous area.

The pink glow of her kindness illuminated and defined any obstacle impeding her path. 

In front of her, surfacing roots shot upwards, out of the ground, creating obstacles in the path. Fluttershy noticed  The closer to the trunk she got, the bulkier the. The roots of the tree thinned out as they reached outwards, away from the source. The thin tubes of roots at the end gnarled and wretched themselves in and out of knots before returning to the ground.

Vines dropped down through holes in the leaves, dipping down before climbing up and connecting with the next tree. To anchor themselves, they coiled up around a tree and wrapped all the the way into the bottom. With their serpentine shape, they latched on the the trees and sucked them dry of water. The low dipping vines could have acted as clotheslines for any unsuspecting wanderer. They were close enough to the ground to entangle itself around an adult stallion's throat and sturdy enough to flip them on their back.

Low hanging branches jutted downward from the ceiling-like canopy. Each branch was pruned of each one of its leaves; they instead resided on the floor below. The ends of each branch stuck outwards, thrusting through the air like a fine rapier. The shadows casting from the colliding of branches and her light eerily reminded Fluttershy of aciculate, bony hands. 

As she continued to push on away from the trail, her skin started to crawl at the sudden drop in temperature. Her muscles quivered and shook as her body tried to adjust itself to the new environment. She could remember the humid air of Spring showers keeping her warm through the night. Now, it felt like Winter had snuck its way into the forest and Fluttershy wasn't properly outfitted for the occasion. 

With all of this time by herself, Fluttershy found plenty of opportunities to think about her situations. After the first lunar cycle had past, Fluttershy began to lose track of time itself. Eventually, she just stopped caring for it. Time is a crime, why should she bother keeping track of something completely out of her control. What did it matter to her knowing how much time she had in each year? She didn't want to count down each and every day until the hour of her death, no one did. It was all funny that she thought of this, her birthday was was coming up soon at the end of Spring time. The thought of this would usually make her happy, but this time was different. She was all alone now and she had no one to spend the day with.

The hushing of the wind turned the frozen scene silent, breaking her out of deep thought. The melodious chirping of birds ceased and the rustling of thick foliage came to a halt. Even as she trotted forward, the noise emitted from the striking of her hooves against the leafy terrain had been silenced. It seemed as if time around her had come to a stand-still.

The air she was breathing began to turn dense. Her breathes grew heavier with each passing moment. When she inhaled, her chest froze up, it felt like a snowball had been lodged inside of her lungs. Exhaling didn't help much with quelling the chill, all it did was leave her lungs starving for oxygen. The visible vapor puffed out of her mouth and then dissipated, fading away like a phantom. 

All color in the world began to slowly drain right before Fluttershy's eyes. Any chromatic hues began washing away like water cleansing pastels. The dark greens and browns of trees were dripping off of branches and being absorbed deep into the ground. When she brought her hooves up to rub her eyes, she noticed the butter color she had come to love draining out of her coat. She felt completely enervated now, her eyes drooping down into their sockets. Every essence of life had been flushed from her spirit and now the gentle lull of slumber was tickling at her mind. She too, like everything else, was slowly fading into this drab and boring 'otherworld.'

A loud wailing rang out through the forest, cutting through the air like a finely sharpened blade. It echoed all around inside the core of Fluttershy's perked ears. The unnerving noise shook Fluttershy to the core; the cry was that of a familiar mare, one that hardly ever shed tears. 

She figured the origin had to be nearby; whenever a cry was was let out, the first sound she received was loud and clear only to go silent a second. Then, she was hit by a wave of echoes, rebounding in from every direction. She knew it couldn't be real, none of this could be, but she felt entitled to check it out. She was being strangely drawn towards the constant sobbing, each step she took hit the ground harder than the last. It felt like the dense air surrounding her had formed a bubble around her and was forcing her to the ground. Sweat beaded down her forhead as she lifted each leg up into the air and crashed it back into the ground, inching forward ever so slightly until she was hovering over the bush she was crawling towards. The sobbing was at its loudest now.

Fluttershy placed her hooves in pockets of the bush and grabbed onto the thorny bramble. She tightened her griping the branches. It felt strange to her, she could see where the barbs dug into her skin, where they scraped her skin and tore hair from her coat. She just couldn't feel any of it; she couldn't feel the sting, couldn't feel the barbs digging under her skin, nor the warm trickling of blood dripping from her hooves. The only things she felt at that moment were cold and alone, the latter taking a grander tole on her morale. With her grip now tightened, she pulled the thicket of leaves apart and peeked inside. 

Much to her dismay, her former beliefs had been correct. Inside the bush lay a mare, not just any mare though, it was everypony's favorite pink party mare contrasting her bright colors against the scene. Fluttershy shuddered, she had only ever seen Pinkie cry one other time and that was when... she didn't even want to think about that horrible incident. A well of sorrow was now building itself up within her heart. She sat down next to Pinkie and locked her in a warming embrace. She didn't want to see her best friend cry right now, she needs her to be strong, all six of them need to be strong for Equestria.

Fluttershy no longer felt cold anymore. She could feel the warm blood now pumping throughout her body. All of the color she had recently lost was now returning back to her. She tried hard to hold in all of the emotions flooding through her head, but this whole situation was just too overwhelming. Tears of joy flooded soaked her friend as she held tightly on to Pinkie. It didn't matter if any of this was real or not. Her presence alone was enough to elicit elation in her head. She buried her head into Pinkie's cotton candy mane and shut her eyes.

She found humor in the irony of this scene. Her intentions were to console with her friend, but it was Pinkie who had been giving her happiness in these times of despair. Pinkie always had a way of cheering other ponies up, even if it was unintentional.

Fluttershy lifted her head up from the cover of her friend's blanketing, silk mane. Opening her eyes, the first thing she noticed was a sullen, pink face hovering over her frame. Its pair of bloodshot eyes, sunken back into the skull, staring right back into hers pleadingly. It's ashen face lacked a snout, somehow it was able to live on without having to breathe. Fluttershy jumped back onto her flank, her dreams were suddenly being swamped out by this nightmarish figure. 

The bony figured dragged across the ground, it's ribs digging lines in the dirt. Fluttershy could only watch in horror as it drew closer and closer with each and every tug at the grass. She tried to let out a loud a scream, she wanted to call out for help. There was nothing. Her mind raced; it was yelling at her commanding her to run. When she opened her mouth, the only thing she felt come out was the same frozen air she had felt from before. Not a single sound had blossomed forth from her vocal cords. Her mind race; it was yelling at her, commanding her to run away, run far away from this forest. She couldn't muster up the strength to budge though, she was petrified and her solidly planted legs were vigorously shaking under her weight. 

Despite it's atrocious demeanor, she was getting a different vibe from the creature's looks. It actually looked like it was suffering, it's eyes we're pleading for an end to it's misery. A pang of guilt rose up in Fluttershy's chest. What if she had been wrong, maybe this 'thing' was her friend begging to be shown mercy, a final goodbye. Either way, she couldn't watch this thing, her friend, continue its pitiful clamber towards her. A heavy stream of tears stained her cheeks as she forced herself to look away from the tormented soul. Fluttershy shut her eyes tight and held her breath.





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A large snap broke Fluttershy out of he daze. One of the large claws detatched from the tree body and was now swing straight towards the ground. She wasn't fortunate enough to be able to react. Without warning, the pronged branch slammed full force, swiping her from the side. She let out a shrill in anguish as she felt her wing crack from the impact. Her skin tore open as the broken bone snapped and shot up through the healing scab. Inside her wing, the splintering bone formed deeper cracks running from each tip of the bone. Small fragments chipped off and imbedded themselves below the top layer of her skin. Blood and pus sprayed the ground, painting everything with the bright crimson of her fresh blood. She rolled around as the sharp pain began to course it's way throughout her body. 

She lay there, paralyzed. A constant ringing noise flooded into her thoughts and hindered her ability to perform tasks. Her mind was pleading for her body to get up, do anything. Her knees trembled as she stuggled to lift herself from the ground. She tried to elevate her torso into the air, she tried to stand up, but no matter how much effort she put into everything she wound up collapsing back onto the floor. She needed to tourniquet the wound fast or she would bleed out. Fluttershy tried to reach back into her bag and grab her supplies, but screamed as she felt her bone being pushed out even further through her actions. 

Fluttershy gave up, laying herself face down in the pool of her own blood. It didn't just trickle out of her wound, it sputtered and squirted like a fountain. The trees next to her were drenched in the shower; the blood dripped down the bark to be absorbed into the soil. The leaves around her filled like cups with her bodily fluids. The faint sound of hoofsteps pounded in sync with every pulse of her migraine. She was going crazy, these desolate woods were too far from any civilization she knew of to have ponies wandering around in them. 

This was it. She was going to die here, all by herself. How long would it take for somepony to discover her carcass, if ever? Fluttershy turned her body over to catch a glimpse at the world around her one last time before she leaves the realm of the living. The same hoofsteps from earlier began to grow louder and more prominent. Her vision flickered on and off, capturing snapshots of the beauty of nature around her. As she faded in and out of consciousness, the figure of another pony, a unicorn, inched its way into her view. The mare-like frame of the mysterious pony kneeled over next to Fluttershy's body. The last thing she remembers seeing was a searing, lavender light burning through her pupils before her eyes rolled into the back of her head.

> The Crumbling of Catarina
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

*Clank* *Clank*

Stray Banter patrolled around the camp being the self appointed alarm as he does every morning. In one hoof, he dawned his bulbous metal helmet, and in the other, he wielded a solid metal spoon. Combined, the two objects created a sound loud enough to wake a hibernating ear from its slumber.

"Rise and shine sweet cheeks, we've got a lot of traveling ahead of us if we ever plan on reaching Catarina anytime soon!" 

The sound of metal pounding against each other ebbed its way into her thoughts, ricocheting around inside her head. Sonnet rolled over onto her stomach and blanketed herself from the world. Trying to repell any outside annoyances was going to be futile, the sound of banging metal began slowly drilling holes in her sanity. The only thing she could think of that was more irritating than Banter's alarm was the cacophony of nails grinding screeching against a chalkboard. This had been the third night in a row she only was allowed three hours of sleep to grace her complexion; the other times were due to Glasseye's stertorous snoring and having to clean up the mess she made of their pots and pans while trying to brew up a potato stew. 

The countless days they've been traveling since their last stop at Izalith, the underground unicorn metropolis, haven't been too kind to her looks. She was disheveled; her long, silvery hair, all matted, draping over her snout. She blew the hair out of her face and let out a disaproving sigh. She wasn't one to worry about her looks but the amount of matting and knots she had in her hair was begining to irk her.

Sonnet peeled herself up off the bedding, sat up straight, and let out a loud yawn. Evident dark circles under her eyes revealed how exhausted she truly was. Her vision blurred in and out of consciousness as she stared off into limbo. Her mind wandered on and off, she couldn't think straight at the moment either. She lifted her hooves up to her temples and rubbed them profusely. After mentally preparing herself for the day, Sonnet collected herself mentally and began lifting up onto all fours. Her knees began to wobble around as a small wave of dizziness washed over her. She had stood up too quickly and was paying the price for it. After judging it was safe to move, Sonnet dragged herself across the camp ground towards the makeshift fire. She found herself a nice spot between Glasseye and Pastel and plopped her hind onto the fallen, waterlogged tree trunk.

"Nice of you to join us, Sonnet. Love what you did with your mane, you're looking as spiffy as ever!" A few stifled laughs arose from this comment. None of this was meant to be taken in a demeaning mannner, Banter had only been trying to lighten the mood and it was for this reason why Sonnet decided to play along with his little game. She stood up and sauntered over to him, a smug grin plastered on her face. When she reached him, she lifted a hoof up to his mane and held it out in front of him.

"Oh Banter, how fitting of you to be talking about hair. I mean look at yours, it's practically falling out as we speak." Sonnet gave a light tug and watched as a few strands of his thin hair plucked freely from his mane; a deep blush forming on the confines of his cheeks. Glasseye let out a chortle while Pastel was having trouble keeping his composure. Banter just sank down in his seat, hiding beneathe the protection of his rounded armor.

"Alright you two, knock it off." Ironhoof, the caravan leader stepped in to intervene with their little show. "We need everyone at the top of their game for when we begin to traverse the white light." He was talking about the thick haze surrounding the outskirts of their city. 

For thirty-six years, the ponies of Catarina have been living under the constant fear of death. The Earth Pony town had been struck with famine, every single harvest has turned up unsuccessful. Carrots pulled up turned grey and shriveled; tomatoes never matured, they stayed green and solid like rocks. Not everything they grew shriveled and died off though, in fact, the exact opposite happened. The berry bushes slowly became detrimental to their way of life. The strawberry and blueberry shrubs began to uproot and crawl out of the soil, their long, wiry frame easily towering over all ponies. 

The first encounter with these 'Ents' left a few citizens severely injured.  The fog had caused a flash sweat reaction to occur in their bark, making them highly resistant to any means of burning. The torches used by farmers held no effect on the brambly shrub. The only way to take one down is to keep on hacking at its roots and branches until you have a clean shot at its central vein.

The Ents were the least of their worries, because residing in the various nooks and crannies of the fog reside basilisks. The poisonous mist exhaled by these cursed frogs, in large enough doses, can paralyze a pony, encasing them in a crystal tomb. Their bite is even more potent than its bark and can ensue a fate worse than death. If it sinks its fangs into your skin, you slowly begin to decay as the venom eats away at your flesh and brain. Once your mind starts to deteriorate, you lose control of your body and go on rage-induced rampage against anything nearby. They call this disease, "hollowing".





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Ironhoof opened his mouth up as if to talk. He was just about to brief everyone for the day when a large, lavender ember shot up into the air,  illuminating the morning sky. The purple flare hovered in place above a small grove to the west of where they were resting. Everyone exchanged a quick glance before hopping out of their seats and running up towards the wall of trees, ready to discover the cause of this commotion.

 
> Unicorn Fodder
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	The hissing of the ember filled the air of the forrest, echoing inside the ears of all life in the vicinity. The thoughts of each pony was drowned out by its consistant crackling. The cool morning air turned arid as the flare's warming glow covered her surrounding in a wave of lavender warmth and painted the green scenery in a purple twilight glow. With each expected flicker of the flame, a menagerie of sparkles could be seen shimmering within the heart of the fire. Beads of sweat dripped down from each pony's forehead. The sweltering heat being radiated made the forest feel like the inside of a furnace. Despite it actually being quite hot, the feeling wasn't uncomfortable in the slightest; in fact, it was actually therapeutic. They felt relaxed, it was as if the heat from the fire was soothed them of their aches and pains. 

A quick question was brought up to Sonnet's attention. Could this even be classified as fire? It had a magical aura to it, something she had never felt before. Maybe it was something from the Dragon School of Vinheim, the college of gifted unicorns; the school where all unicorns proven to be precocious in magic are taken there to delve in the art of sorceries. Most unicorns that lived in the area were taken away to go live in Vinheim, on the far side from where Catarina is located on the map. Sonnet, along with most of the Earth Ponies from Catarina never actually witnessed a true display of magic because of this inconvenience. Most Earth ponies haven't even seen an actual unicorn in their lifetime. To be able to see one with your own eyes was a miracle in itself; even the neighboring Izalithians seldom left the caves they bound themselves to. Although living in complete isolation, they have shown the most generosity out of all the neighboring cities with their offer of three years worth of rations up for trade. Loaves of wheat bread line the outer-edges of the bread bags they carried in wooden carts. Wheat grains, piled upwards in mounds, filled up any empty spaces residing within the center of the sack. Bushels of broccoli and pounds of potatoes fill their white bags to the brim. Colors ranging in variety of purple grapes, cherry-red tomatoes, and orange carrots mixed together in abstract designs. The aromas mixture of fruits and vegetables would seep through the cloth and stew within the nostrils of the sleeping campers. On top of all the food, they even offered to give what little medicine they could scrape up. It wasn't that much, but a few bandages and antibiotics are enough of a safety-deposit to carry the caravan into town. What the ponies of Izalith did for them was a saving grace. 

As the quintet of ponies continued to push onwards into the thick jungle of trees, Sonnet caught a quick glimpse of something popping into her peripheral. She darted her head left, the faint image of a pony darted from tree to tree. From afar, she could only make what she believed to be a horn, and the color of her coat. The coat was purple, matching that of the forest lilacs. With each trotting step, the pony was moving closer and closer to the group's direction, yet it still did not make an attempt to contact them. From her distance now, Sonnet could make out the slightly under-weight pony's frame. It's chest slightly bared its ribs and starved physique. The pony's bounds were accompanied by facial ticks, the cringes of its discomfort. 

Sonnet stared off in confusion. Why would anypony be out here, alone in this neck of the woods? "Glasseye? Please tell me I'm not the only pony seeing this." Somepony else had to have been seeing this too, she thought.

Glasseye turned his head back and gave her a peculiar look. "What are you talking about? I can barely see the path in front of me. Honestly, if it wasn't for Banter's loud armor clanging together, we probably would have lost our way by now" 

"How can you not see it? Look, out to the left! There's another pony, one not from our group, running away from the flame."

"Uh... Sonnet, are you ok?" Glasseye said, tilting his head sideways in bewilderment.

"Ugh" Sonnet just sighed. "Don't worry about it, it isn't important anymore." She didn't feel like trying to point it out to him.

Sonnet turned her head back to the left, squinting her eyes to try and focus in on the fleeing figure. A dim light was now glimmering in front of the pony's forehead, reassuring her that she wasn't going crazy. She could now tell for sure the pony was a unicorn with this light display. She could see its head now hung low, teeth gritting together as its muscles strained to keep it from collapsing to the ground. The pony turned its head in the direction of the group, revealing the sullen face of a distraught mare. The whites of her eyes were filled with branching lines of red. The orb of light, what Sonnet figured to be magic, expanded in size and disconnected from the horn it was anchored to. It floated upwards, into the canopy cover, and disappeared. Looking back at the pony, a lonely, crystalline tear formed at the edge of the unicorns eyes. It rolled gently down her cheeks, dropping off her face at the point of her chin. Before it could hit the ground, the pony faded away, vanishing from existence.

Sonnet halted all movement of her legs, her hooves digging into the ground as she slid to a stop. She couldn't believe what she just witnessed. Should she tell somepony of what she just saw? She was highly considering to speak up to either Pastel or Ironhoof, they probably wouldn't believe though, just like Glasseye. She just needed to keep moving, maybe she'll find more answers further on down the road. Sonnet shook her head of all of her thoughts and pushed on ahead to catch up with the rest of the group.

Her little deviation from the trip caused her to fall far behind the lead pony. Banter, with his bulky iron armor somehow managed to be at the head of the group, cutting them a path straight through the leaves for them. She was a bit of a ways behind him, barely catching up to Ironhoof. For his age, ironhoof was in fantastic shape. She didn't know his exact age, it was rude to ask that of an elder, but she figured he was around fifty years of age. He was definitely nowhere close to being as agile as Pastel or as quick as Banter. She could tell he was more exhausted than any of the other three she was just with. Even with this in mind, he could still run a fair distance when needed to.

Ironhoof cleared his throat of the build-up of thick slime collecting in the back of his dry mouth. "Sonnet, I need you to be helping me watch for anything suspicious on the way there. I don't like the idea of us charging into the unknown and I need to know if things are going to get worse." Ironhoof spoke of his disapproval through bated breathes.  Even with her lack of perceiving his expression, Sonnet could tell Banter's childish side had gotten the best of him. When he wanted to be, Banter could be a serious and straight-forward pony; this was not one of those times. 

"What, you don't trust Banter with our safety? He may be a foal-at-heart, but he knows better than to lead us into trouble."  Sonnet figured that curiosity had gotten the best of Banter and he wasn't going to stop until they found the got to the root of things.

"I have complete trust in our friend, I just think it naive of everypony to be chasing after the unknown. We need to be more careful of what we do this close to the city borders." 

Sonnet thought about what Ironhoof just told her, about their conversation. She wanted to mention what she had just seen, she wanted to tell him of the mysterious unicorn. He trusts her to keep an eye out and tell them if she noticed anything unusual. She decided to hold her peace instead. Whatever it was had just vanished, not posing any sort of threat to them now. She continued to trot along, following the trail made just for them, hoping the decision she just made was the right one.







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"Over this way! This place is right below the flame." Banter called out to the rest of his team. He stopped himself at a hedge of bushes. These were the only things standing between them, and the truth. Sonnet watched as he slowly reached his hoof forward, ready to peel back the thick leaves blocking their path.

"Wait!" A bellowing voice caught the group off guard, causing them to jump back from fright; the abruptness of Ironhoof's shout was enough to grab the attention of everypony there. 

"Sheesh Ironhoof, what crawled up your skirt?! All we're doing is checking out what this bustle is all about." 

Ironhoof strolled up exhausted, stopping to catch his breath from the run. "Banter..." Ironhoof clamped his teeth down onto a hanging branch and locked in his jaw. He dug his hooves a nice little pocket in the dirt a prepared himself. He jerked the branch as hard as he could and with a loud crack, the branch snapped free from its jointed position and landed between the quintet of ponies. A thick cloud of dust spat up into the air and collected into a suffocating smog. Everyone coughed and wheezed in reaction to a few stray specks of dirt sneaking their way into the group's lungs. 

"...Look."  The air finally cleared out and they were all able to see and speak again. Sonnet's pried her watering eyes, all bloodshot and irritated open. Her mouth hung open, aghast at the sight before her. The thick branch lying on the ground was encrusted in a thin layer of dried up crimson. Everypony had been caught off guard by the bloody omen lying before them.

"Wha... what could have done this?" Glasseye rubbed his left eye, his good eye, in disbelief. "Have I gone mad? Please tell me I'm not the only one seeing this."

"Maybe we've all gone nuts, I'd feel a lot better if that was the case." An uneasy grin, tinged with discomfort, crept onto Banter's face. "Unfortunately, I think we might have a frog problem on our hands." The fear of being cursed plugged up the holes left by the emptiness of their silence. Terror swept over the group, filling in the thoughts of everypony there. 
> Shades of Pastel, Lines of a Sonnet
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	The dreaded thought of those demons lying in ambush for their group engraved itself into Sonnet's head. They could barely defend themselves from one or two of these at a time, but what if an entire swarm decided to charge at them in? Things would end tragically for the group, she already knew it. Splitting them up, breaking a wall in their defense would not be a difficult task to accomplish. If the threat of being overwhelmed ever drew near, they would all scatter, leaving each other to fend for themselves. In the end, it didn't matter how far they could run. They would all be hunted down, one-by-one, and consumed just as those who tried to escape the city during the first signs of trouble were.

Their city wasn't built with its military in mind. The main intent of Catarina was meant to be a powerhouse in the produce industry. Their city was a settlement of farmers built on the foundation of growing food to prosper and sell, not for defending against the supernatural. This meant that there was a lack of trained soldiers actually ready incase of an emergency as dire as this one. It was for the same reason there was only one pony actually trained in combating the demons on their land accompanying the group. He may seem rash and unprofessional at times, but Banter knew how to make an impression. He's traveled through the baneful fog on countless occasions in search of sane ponies who might still be surviving out in the forsaken burg. With his help, they could easily make it through the fog without any conflict. 

"Calm down everypony, the Basilisks can't wander past the white veil that they are bound to. Like chains, the fog binds them to their posts, living out their immortal days in a hazy trance." Ironhoof stated, his wisdom led him to act as the voice of reason in situations like this; this was one of the many reasons Sonnet looked up to him, not only as a leader, but as a fathering figure. "Without the fog, they begin crystalize and turn to stone."

During the consultation, Sonnet noticed a certain ginger-maned pony missing from the group. A few quick glances around revealed Pastel hunched over a broken off section of the tree. She nonchalantly paced over to her friend and peeked over his shoulder. He was examining the bloodied section of the branch with close scrutiny. There were feathers, of a daisy color, caked onto the surface. Along with the feathers, were clumps of fur, also the same color. Pastel scraped off a few flakes of the dehydrated blood in his hoof and brought up to his face in scrutiny.

"Caught you red handed Pastel, literally. I always knew you were a vampony since the moment a met you." Sonnet playfully announced her presence, causing him to jump back and yelp out of shock.

Pastel collected himself, clutching onto his chest for a quick breath of air. He let out a sigh of relief and then raised himself off of the ground. "Don't scare me like that Sonnet." He could only chuckle at how ridiculously jumpy he was. "You should know better than to confront us blood-suckers in such a manner. Last thing you need is for me to go feeding around the camp." Pastel said, raising his hooves up to his mouth. He opened his mouth, forming a wide grin, and pointed his hooves down as if they were needle-point canines. 

To this, Sonnet raised an eyebrow. She used her eyes to stare directly at him in condescending demeanor. "Sure pal, you of all ponies would be the least of my worries. If you were to try something, I'm positive I could easily pin your scrawny flank down; in fact, I have a couple of stakes back at the camp if you want to try me." Sonnet teased. "What's gotten you so jumpy anyways, did you find anything unsettling about the blood?" Sonnet asked.

"Yeah, I don't think Basilisks had any sort of involvement here, look at the blood."  He held his hoof out for examination. "It's still a fresh crimson. If we were looking at a bite injury, the tainted blood would have turned black with toxin." He motioned for her to come closer and see for herself.

"Hold up, are you saying we don't have anything to worry about then?" Sonnet grinned, a bit of relief filled her mind.

"Not exactly, we just don't have to worry about being cursed. What ever caused this could be anything from Ents to Wandering Hollow Ponies." Pastel raised himself off the ground and walked over to a collection of shrubbery. "What's got me so unsettled is that the blood isn't that of any of the woodland creatures. It's too thick to be a bird's blood. It has to be the blood of a pony, yet there are feathers marking the site." 

"Ponies don't have feathers though, right? Are you sure that it isn't canary blood or something?"

"I'm positive. My mother, who used to be a resident nurse at the city Hospice, taught me a little bit about what her job entitled. At the end of the day, when she was done caring for the fatally ill, she taught me about different medical studies---first-aide being one of them.

"Wait Pastel, where do you think you're going?" Sonnet interrogated. "You even said yourself, we don't know what could be roaming these woods. For all we know, that Capra Demon that has been constantly harassing our city could be looming in the concealment of the tall trees and innumerable shadows." 

"Do you think a Capra would wait in the shadows to strike a group of poorly armed travelers? You know from personal experience how they treat us ponies. It would strike us right now and wipe us out without a second thought, that's how those brutes are." Sonnet cringed, his remark stung her like a hot flame.

"O.. Oh, I'm so sorry! I shouldn't have even brought that up around you. I was just trying to put you ease..." He let out a heart-felt sigh. "...and help you realize that everything is going to be alright." A frown began to furrow on the creases of his lips. The confidence in his eyes turned soft and his ears drooped down onto his face. 

Sonnet knew he didn't mean any harm by what he said. It was true, she had personally witnessed the heinous acts the Capra committed during his visit to their The event he was mentioning had drastically changed her life; whether it was for better, or worse, she has yet to find this answer for herself. "It's no problem, I'm not mad at you. That happened over five years ago, I've gotten over things by now... I just need to worry about taking care of my mom and myself above everything else right now." Sonnet shifted around on her legs. 

"Speaking of which, how is Cheyenne doing? I know I haven't been able to visit with you two at all the last couple of years and I'm sorry for that." Pastel reminisced about their foalhood. The two ponies used to be best friends all throughout their early lives. Back when the sky was still slightly visible from within the veil, they made the best out of the time they had spent together. The two would spend each day, after kindergarten, hanging out high above the cemetery grounds. Their meeting spot, a black oak on the outskirts of the resting grounds, proved to be a nice, secluded location for the two. Without the watchful eye of adults, the two were free to do what they pleased; This was back when it was still safe to wander the streets without a companion.

Sonnet brought her attention away the ground and looked Pastel in the eyes. "Last time I saw her, when we first left for Izalith, she was doing fine. She was a little worried about me when she first found out I signed up for this, but what do you expect? I'm all she has left in this world, and her and I are going to need to stick together if we both plan on making it though this mess." It was for this reason she had signed up for the trip to Izalith. She felt like she needed to protect her mom, and by bringing home supplies for the city, she would be doing just that.

"That's good to hear. Once we make it back home, I promise I'll drop by your house and help you take care of the place. With all the kindness your mom has shown me, it's the least I could do." Pastel said with sincerity. 

Sonnet chuckled, "Well, Cheyenne always did love you like her own child. I'm positive that she'd be elated to let you spend a couple of days at our house."

Sonnet gazed up into the sky, staring deep into the floating flame. The way it mysteriously warmed the forest in a relaxing bliss and how it sparkled with all of its essence appealing to her. Deep down, she knew she was just as curious as they all were to figure out what they were being led into. "Alright Pastel, I'll bite." Sonnet said, giving into temptation. "Let's just hope that you're right about this dangerous predicament, I'd hate to have to save you from becoming some monster's breakfast appetizer."

"Well, you better start hoping because we're about to find out." Pastel said. He placed his hooves inside the grooves of the hedge and shifted them around for a brief moment. The muscles in his forelegs tightened as he latched on to a pair of branches. Pastel turned his head to face his friend, "Are you ready?" he asked her.

Sonnet placed her hoof on his shoulder and gave a quick nod. Now with her consent, Pastel ripped apart a clearing in the barrier, allowing room for both ponies to push their way through the branches. What they saw was far from expectations. The magical aura they were chasing spiraled above their heads. Tiny sparks of light shimmered within the corkscrewing pattern. Sonnet looked deep in with bewilderment, she was caught in a trance by its alluring image. The time was now late in the morning, yet she could still see the starry night being displayed above. She could see a stream a residue trickling down from the center of it. The thick substance stretched down all the way onto the ground, coming in contact with, she couldn't believe her eyes, another pony. 

The duo walked forward, growing worrisome the closer they got to the pony. Splotches of blood painted the ground in the area it was laying. They now stood right over the winged pony, hovering in disgust. What was once a shocking discover now diverged into a dreadful sight. A mess of tattered feathers were strewn about, lining the site they arrived at. Red cloth dangled off of its wing, which now was bent perpendicularly away from the body. Sonnet peeled her eyes away from the mess, dragging them upwards to meet with Pastel's disgusted face. They both gagged at the putrid smell of death filling the air; they had to plug their noses to keep from getting sick. The pony wasn't dead yet, they could tell by the faint bobbing of breaths in its chest. Even with her lack of experience, Sonnet couldn't just condemn this thing to death. She lowered her hoof away from her mouth and plastered a determined look on her face. "Pastel, go get everyone else. Don't make me wait either." There might not be much left to save, but at least she would feel better knowing that she made an effort in doing so.
> The Veterinarian Dream Team
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Gleaming rays of orange and yellow struck down upon the land as the sun peaked its crown out from the coverage of clouds. Fluttershy grinned as she was slowly engulfed in the sun's catering warmth, the icy terror she had felt beginning to melt away. She basked in this warmth of the mid-afternoon glow. In contrast to the humid forest days and freezing nights this felt surreal. As she rubbed her hoof through the uneven blades of grass she let her senses overwhelm her. The cool dew remnants from the recently melted snow made her neck hairs stand up on end. She reveled in the feeling, how the coolness felt up against the flat of her hoof. This was all fresh and exciting to be feeling the soft mushy texture of grass in contrast to the rocky cave structures and grimy forest floor. She sprawled herself out across the ground, stretching her limbs and reveling in this exuberant feeling. 

Today was marked as the first day of Spring. Winter Wrap Up was finally over and again, for the second time in a row, and once again they were able to wrap Ponyville up on time. Canaries and Robins chirped tunes of joy from within the comforting compounds of their decorative nests. Daffodils were newly sprouting in to compliment the snowdrop flowers already in bloom. Every detail of nature contained traces of their hard labor for they had once again pulled it off the Earth Pony way, without the use of magic. 

She looked down to grassy fields where her friends were playing from her haven below the towering oak tree. From the hill she resided, she had a clear view of the both Ponyville and the Everfree Forest. Everything felt so lucid, looked so real, yet she knew this was only a dream. She still was stuck with the memories of past events engraved into her mind and in contrast to now, Ponville couldn't have looked any more happy. This was, for the first time in weeks, she got to feel what it was like to finally experience peace. She didn't have to worry about this being another nightmare, serving to haunt her dreams and impede her progress eastwards. It was missing that burning emptiness inside of her head that accompanied those events from her past. After breaking through the depths of her memory banks, their only purpose was to remind her of what she did back in Equestria. She already blamed herself for what happened. Isn't that enough punishment? Much to her pleasure, for once, those finally left alone. She saw her opportunity and took it, embracing this façade with open arms and mind. She just lay there, Angel resting upon her back, as everypony else played on, completely oblivious to her presence.

From the top of the hill, she could see her friends all enjoying their time together. It was just another pet play date for them, like things used to be. Applejack ran laps around the fresh-grown grass, closely followed by a pursuing Winona. A broken tree branch hung limply from her mouth as she dragged it across the ground. She led her pet around the field in circles, keeping her from latching onto the makeshift play toy. Whoever says exercise isn't fun has never met these two before. 

Fluttershy tilted her head up into the sky to the sight of a prismatic bur whirring on by her. Rainbow Dash was rehearsing her companionship act with the oscillating turtle, Tank. The duo ascended higher and higher, disappearing into the cover of clouds. Without warning, Rainbow Dash fell from the clouds attached to Tank, her wings retracted back into a relaxed position. Using his rotors, Tank spun his owner in circles in an increasing speed. She span so fast her tail emitted entrails of rainbow light, forming into a spiral display of beauty. 

Fluttershy took her eyes off of the spectacular display and lowered her view towards the ground. Rarity and Opal were sprawled out atop a decorative blanket. Rarity used her magic to levitate Opal's brush, stroking the feline fur until it lay smooth. Much to Opal's displeasure, Rarity seemed to have been enjoying herself.

A cool breeze rolled up Fluttershy's spine, carrying the faint sound of whispering into her ears. To her, the voices were unrecognizable. One of the voice she distinguished was feminine, yet it didn't resemble any of the ponies she knew. The other speaker at the moment was a stallion, but in comparison to Big Macintosh it was much more immature. 

"We're good, I can still feel her pulse. Can I trust you with this? As soon as you start doing it, you can't stop until it's fixed."

"I'm not going to chicken out, if that's what you're asking. Did you send everyone out to grab our supplies?"

"Everyone except for..." the voice faded away, becoming hardly understandable before she could hear any names. Why would there be a conversation between ponies she had never heard of before stitched away within her dreams? This left her in a confused state of mind. There was always the possibility she was just being forgetful. Or maybe those voices were originally from past times when she attended school up in Cloudsdale. If she would have wanted it, she would have found it possible to hear bits and pieces of what the conversation was like, if not the entirety of the dialogue. She would have to strain herself, but she would probably pick up on everything being said. She was too caught up in the past to pay any attention towards anything unfamiliar to her; those voices were unimportant as of now, she was with her friends for the time being. She let her mind clear itself of all distractions, taking in this blissful world once again. 

She looked down towards the group, Twilight could be seen in the mix now. With a book in her hooves and Owlowiscious between her legs, she sat in a small patch of grass, reading the story of Odysseus to her pet. She could tell this because it had the same archaic design as the copy she checked out from the library to read in her spare time. They both looked heavily engrossed in the reading. Twilight was acting out each scene for Owlowiscious, using her hooves to perform gestures in the air. This was the same way Fluttershy would read to her animals, whether it be before she laid them to rest, or during illness recovery.  

Another chilly gust brushed past Fluttershy. "Just tell me what to do, Pastel." 

"Hold the tip right here... No don't let it touch the ground!" The voices were beginning to rise in tone again, breaking her concentration and making it harder for her to drown them out. "Here, take this rag and clean her wing up for me. It's already infected badly, we're going to have to clean it."

"Sonnet, Pastel, we're back from the camp! We brought what we could grab." Another voice, different from the first two played in her ears. It mentioned two names this time. Along with the first pony, Pastel, Fluttershy picked up on the second name being spoken. It was probably the female voice she was hearing for the past hour.

"Alright bring everything here, did you at least grab any antibiotics?"

"Here, are these what you're asking for? I grabbed the one with the green label."

"Yeah, this is perfect. Banter, can you sort all of this together and get ready to hand it off to Sonnet and I?" She could now match a name up with the third voice. "We're going need this all within our reach. Also, I need the bandages to be dirt-free for when we use them. Sonnet, how does the... oh my."

"Yeah, I don't think it's suppose to look like that. I managed to clean the grimy tar and muck out from inside the skin, but..."

The voices were cut short for a brief moment. What was it that they spoke of, Fluttershy wondered. It's possible that the ponies talking could have been vets, just like she once was. The way they spoke of cleaning up 'her' up reminded her of how she used to work on the little birdies in the Everfree forest. What baffled her were the names of the ponies. It was her dream, everything had to hold some kind of connection to her, yet the names Sonnet, Pastel, and Banter didn't ring any bells. 

"Alright, I have her held down, just make sure you do it quickly. Remember, we don't have painkillers right now in case she wakes up. On three, snap the joint back into place."

"Alright," the mare exhaled, "I'm ready to do this."
> Winter Wrap Up, Winter Wake Up
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	There wasn't anymore dialogue left to be heard. With that last sentence, "I'm ready," her hearing was no longer distorted and she was back to enjoying her time off in this blissful world she created.

There was only one mare left to see so she can call this experience complete. Pinkie Pie had to be somewhere nearby, it shouldn't be too hard to spot her. Fluttershy opened her eyes and focused her attention back towards the ground. Sure enough, she spotted her friend running along, pulling her crazy antics. With a Sherlock Hooves hat resting on her crown, and magnifying glass in hoof, Pinkie scurried around the plains, taking the time to stop and scrutinize each different molehill dug into the grassy earth. Who knew what she was up to this time. It's commonly agreed upon that there's never a dull moment to be found when Pinkie's around; she's always having fun in her own unique ways and intentional or not, it rubs off on everpony else.

The pink party pony skid to a stop mid-way to her next target. Her head swung around from left to right before relaxing in Twilight's direction. A wide grin reached across her face, ear-to-ear as she inched her way closer to Twilight, trying not to make any noise. It didn't take long for them to be within an outstretched hoof's distance of each other and it definitely wasn't long before Pinkie coiled her back legs and prepared to launch. Without warning, she snapped up off of the ground and propelled herself forward, colliding into a mess of feathers and flying pages. Before Twilight could react, Pinkie used one hoof to plug her mouth up, and the other to tell her to shush. She lifted her face up away from her friends, looking around frantically before stopping to look at a mound of dirt next to them. By now she had attracted the attention of everypony playing in the plains. Whatever it was she wanted to do, she was probably going to want to do it soon.

She slowly crawled her way off of Twilight, who was currently immobile from shock, and inched herself closer to her next target. Once she was within reach, she sprung off of the ground and dove straight into the hole, barely fitting the top half of her body inside of the ground. 

Pinkie's antics caused a flurry of dust to pick up in the winds as she kicked dirt up into the air in her efforts to plant her hooves in the ground. Fluttershy searched hard, but she lost her friend in the brown-fog that concealed Pinkie and whatever had piqued her interest. Curious as to what her friend was up to, she slowly rose up from her hill-top point and walked over to the edge. Realizing that Angel was still left sleeping on her back, she gently lifted him up in her mouth and set the lazy rabbit down in the relaxing bed of grass she was previously in. After taking care of her dear pet, she took her first step in descending the slope, trying hard not to stumble downwards. Without fault, she made it to the bottom, beside Twilight. Just like everypony else, she had gotten up closer to check up on Pinkie with the exception of Rarity who watched from afar. With confused looks plastered on their faces, they sat and awaited an end to the dirt cloud.

Once the spring breeze caught wind, it wasn't long before the plain was clear again. Sure enough, Pinkie's distinct outline began to appear as the air was cleansed of earth and her motives began to clear up as she bounced her way outside the translucent brown veil into the sun's glare. From head to hoof she was smothered in mud, more than enough to make her look like a chocolate-covered pony while something odd dangled, limply from her mouth. She shook herself clean, sending dirt flying in all directions and making Rarity, despite her distance, cry out in terror. Now that their friend was back to normal they could see what antics she was up to now. 	

From her mouth, her pet alligator, Gummy, hung completely oblivious to its surroundings. Everypony laughed as they realized her whole, ridiculous plight was just a game of hide-and-seek. Fluttershy loved seeing her friends all having fun and enjoying themselves, for the time being. She joined in on a group hug and embraced her friends, this moment was the closest she's been to them in weeks and she loved it. 

"Alright everypony, who's ready for some food?" Applejack was the first to speak up.

"Food?! Count me in, I've been starving all morning." Rainbow Dash blurted to which everypony agreed.

Fluttershy looked back up to where Angel was resting, she was thinking about going to get him to come eat. He might not take kindly to her interfering with his sleep though. Angel only sleeps at noon when he's had a big breakfast and he was probably stuffed. Her stomach growled as she thought over what she should do, solidifying the decision to stay with her friends. 

"You coming Fluttershy?! C'mon I'm starving," Rainbow Dash said, dragging out the last syllable of her sentence.

"I'll be right there. I was just checking to make sure Angel would be alright for a bit." Fluttershy walked up to the picnic area Rarity had set up and found herself a nice spot on the fabric between Twilight and Pinkie. 

"Alright everypony chow down, and feel free to help yourself to seconds. I brought a whole bushel of apples so there's plenty to be passed around." 

Rainbow Dash was the first to reach forward, pulling two hooves full of apples out of the barrel and back to her spot. Twilight and Rarity used their magic to levitate a few apples towards themselves, taking small, reasonable bites in comparison to Dash who swallowed chunks of apples in gulps. Pinkie, in an unusually calm manner, reached up into her mane, keeping a straight face as she pulled an apple out and bit down into its juicy flesh. 

Fluttershy looked into the mound of red fruit before her. It definitely looked delicious, and real just like everything around her. Maybe it tasted real too, she thought as memories of her friend's old apples filled her mind. Their smell filled her nose with delight and coated her already watery mouth. Applejack and her family grew the best apples in Equestria, how could they be anything less than perfect?

"You just going to sit there and stare Fluttershy? Everypony's eating except for you, is everything alright?" Applejack broke her out of her daze.

"You really should try these, they're simply marvelous." Rarity added.

"Yeah, I was just waiting for everypony to eat first before I grabbed one myself." 

"Are you sure? You've been acting strange lately, sitting up on top of the hill all by yourself." Rainbow Dash said between each chew of her full mouth."

"Don't worry about me guys, I was just up top looking after Angel bunny to make sure he didn't fall down and hurt himself." She definitely wasn't the Element of Honesty. Her stomach began to growl again, this one being louder than the last. 

"It's alright sweetie, your stomach is screaming at you to eat though. I'd say you better chow down soon before Rainbow eats the whole bin." Applejack looked over to the blue pegasus who was helping herself to another helping of apples. "Ahem!" she cleared her throat.

Realizing this was directed towards her, Rainbow Dash put the collection of apples she had amassed in her arms back in the center of the group. "Hehe, sorry." Fluttershy watched her friend as she stared into the last apple she was holding on to. "Here Fluttershy, I was saving this one for later, but maybe you should have it. It's the biggest one I found and it definitely looks like it's the best." She set the apple down onto the blanket it and rolled it Fluttershy's way.

Fluttershy opened her mouth in protest, but the sound of her stomach overpowered her. "Thanks Rainbow, this one looks very good." Fluttershy stared into its glossy skin examining her clear reflection as if it was a mirror. She lifted the apple up to her mouth and took her first bite of the succulent fruit and just like it's smell, the fruit's juices coated the inside of her mouth. In comparison to that apple she had a few weeks back, this one was simply immaculate in taste. 

She happened to be more hungry than she thought. She bit off each piece in moderation, taking care not to stuff her mouth full. By the time she finished the first apple, she was already reaching forward to grab another one. This one didn't last very long either.

"Whoa there Fluttershy, you keep on eating apples at this rate and you're gonna give yourself and awful tummy ache." Applejack reached her hoof into the barrel and pulled herself an apple out. She raised it up into her mouth and took a bite, chewing off half of it in one snap.

"Fluttershy, I do say, you might want to hold back on eating so much. Our spa date is today and I don't want you getting sick on me an hour before." Rarity chimed in. 

"I know guys, I just think it would be rude of me to not eat any of this delicious food brought here for all of us." Fluttershy said finishing off a third and final apple. "Don't worry about me eating everything though. That was the last one for a while, I'm too full to eat anything else." She laid back, closing her to relax and let her food settle in. 





~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*





"Ok, I'm going to start counting down, be ready to snap it straight. One..." 

Wait, what? Fluttershy thought. Those strange ponies from before, whoever they were, were carrying on with their initial plans set into motion. She tried to hold onto her silence for fear that a single misspeak would most likely raise her friends' suspicions.

"Two..."

She remembered their intentions to help what she believed to be a bird and how they were going about fixing it the wrong way.  

"Hold on everypony!" one of the ponies stalled. "Are we sure it's a good idea for us to be doing this, what if we mess up? And I don't mean mess up as in permanent scarring either. I mean, what if we completely botch her wing up and she can't use it anymore? We should probably think everything over before we do this."

"Look Banter, I really wish we had other options, but look at all of this grime mixed up into her cut. She'll die of an infection if we don't do anything."

"I don't think we should be doing this operation though, none of us even have the experience or the equipment to help her out completely. We should just clean her up for now, just so we can stop the bleeding. When everything is wrapped up, we can take her back to Catarina. I'm pretty sure there are a few tents set up with doctors that can do more to help her than we can right now." 

Fluttershy began to grow a little suspicious. How bad could things actually be for them that they would need to take it to this Catarina place? It didn't help soothe her anxiety knowing that none of them were actually trained. 

"Catarina's a full day's walk away for five healthy ponies. Having an injury with us is only going to make this even longer than it should be. Plus, all this blood is going to draw out any unwanted visitors, we really should get it done right here."

"Sonnet's right about the blood, Banter. We're probably going to attract more creatures than needed if we bring her back like this. I may not be a doctor, but I know enough that she's just going to keep bleeding all over us if we don't close it up properly."

"Well..." He paused momentarily, "Fine I'll go along with you two." he sighed.

"Wow, that was a lot easier convincing you than usual. You aren't going soft on us now, are you?."

"Oh yeah?" 

"Yup, you aren't going soft on us now, are you?" the mare teased.

"Don't get too excited, I might have kept going if chief Ironhoof over there wasn't giving me 'the look' again."

"Oh Banter, you're so generous," she said in a sarcastic tone. "What would we ever do without your help?"

"From the looks of things, I wouldn't be able to call you Snow White anymore, Blood Red would be more fitting. Here, let me clean some of this up for you."

"Alright guys come on we have to do this quickly. Sonnet, I'm not going to count down any more, just pull when you're ready and Banter you hold her down incase she starts to squirm. Once it is straightened out, let me step in and get things wrapped up for her." 

Following the orders was a short pause. Under the current circumstances, the few seconds she sat through felt much longer and more drawn out to her. Then, shattering the silence, a loud cracking noise rang out. Fluttershy shot up straight, her eyelids opened wide, and her eyes rolled out from the back of her head. She was back to normal, except now she was greeted by the presence of five new, unfamiliar ponies. 
> Foreign Exchanges
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	 "Ah!" The terrified shriek rang out from the white mare closest to her, motivating a flock of birds to soar from their resting spot in the trees. Her flailing body flung through the air, landing hooves up in the grass.

Fluttershy followed suit, yelping as well, except she took caution to not break anything of use to her. She was in a different place from when she was last conscious. Everything was more spaciously spread apart. She was beside a tree the last time she was awake and now she lays in the center of a sun-drenched meadow. The forest roof parted ways so that angled glints of non-midday struck down around her. Just as it was before, the days were still very beautiful under the glistening sun.

Her snout bore the marks of a thick, purple stain. Her eyes crossed together just as dueling swords in attempts of seeing the splotch resting between her panning eyes. It held no pattern of note, it was simple splatter across her face. The flower gift she received a few week back still had yet to wilt. Through everything it still managed to sit peacefully in the strands of her flowery mane; how it has not withered is still a mystery.

The quintet still stood above, staring down at her with mostly puzzled faces, time locked in place. Her only line of defense was the cover of her mane that used to separate herself from the group of five ponies she just woke up to. Nopony dared to make a move towards Fluttershy in fear of the reaction it would elicit and she surely wasn't going to be the first say something. Up until now, she didn't have any knowledge of pony civilization past the Equestrian borders. From what she knew, to the north and south of Equestria resided large bodies of water, inhospitable ocean currents fueled by the polar caps of the world. The eastern and western borders of each map she had seen, including the one in her saddlebag, always ebbed off and died right at the edge of Equestria. She had no idea that she would find another pony, aside the one she sought, this far past Equestria's growing country borders.

She thought back on that vivid dream she was yanked from. All throughout that 'day' she was hearing voices in the back of her head, mainly the mentioning of three ponies: Sonnet, Pastel, and Banter towards the end of it. At first she thought they were her mind creating the illusion of veterinarians—a parallel drawn with her talent—with the only difference being their lack of advanced knowledge. Clearly understandable now, those ponies truly existed and now stood right above her.

Through the splits in her ruffled mane she could see them all, filtered but visible, without exposing herself to their gazes. Her mane, her eyes, her necklace, her wings, they all were subject to an unrelenting barrage of judging eyes. The way they all reacted, the way they examined her, they all looked extremely similar.

There was only one mare in the group, so from what she already knew, Fluttershy assumed that she was Sonnet. She was a white pony from head down to her torso. It wasn't until her coat reached slightly above her hooves where a new colors starts to fade in. Her light blue hooves raised above her head as she used them to brush dirt from her silver mane and following up with cleansing her entire body of filth.

Sonnet was the only one of group she knew, even if it was by just name. It didn't really matter much anyways, they all looked similar, not by face but by shades. The colors of their coats didn't vary much between them, they looked as if their coats were blended with a touch of white. Instead of the bright hues that Equestria was known for, they shared a more pale common ground. Like faded clothes taken from a washing machine, their colors were lackluster in comparison.

Most of them really didn't look threatening at all.  Four of the ponies were dressed in nothing more than cloth pouches and sacks. All kinds of different shapes, squares, triangles, circles, had been patched onto their bags. The straps were being held together by sewing string unevenly threaded through the fabric. The exception to this plain ensemble was the metal-plated pony kneeling beside her. Even his oddly-shaped outfit looked exhausted. From hoof to torso he was caked in mud, grass, and whatever other filth he collected from the ground. It was with this attire that they seemed quite the opposite of threatening.

The white mare was the first to break the silence treaty: "Pastel," she tilted her head backwards and whispered. "Look up," her hoof waved through the air, gesturing towards the sky, "the sky is clear now. There isn't even a single cloud to be seen."

The beige colt planted his flank down onto the ground and looked up into the air, rubbing his eyes in disbelief. "This is so strange, where did that flame go? It just vanished on us."

Sonnet, was now looking into the sky, holding her mane in one hoof and stroking it with the other. "I felt it disappear right as soon as we woke up that winged-pony. Once I pulled her wing straight I felt that relaxing warmth flush from my body only to be replaced by something more unsettling, the fear of traversing these woods and not making it to town."

"Yeah... and now that you mention it, I do feel a little, no, a lot colder than when we were running through the woods. It feels like everything is normal now."

"I know we aren't just imagining any of this either. Her face still bears stains from its trickling magic. All that we just experienced had to come from her. Just look at that pendent hanging around her neck. No ordinary pony walks around wearing something as flashy as that."

“Do you think that she may be royalty? We’ve never seen a... a Pegasus, I think that’s what they’re called, before. We’ve only read about them in those childish fairy tales from our foalhood.”

Fluttershy looked down at the element hanging from her neck,  taking note of its never-fading gleam. She knew, being an outsider to the group and the only pony there sporting wings that they were talking about her. Their talk of flying fire and its relation to her served to only confuse. She was a mere Pegasus, unless she were to randomly grow a horn, she was only capable of moving clouds and not much else.

The older stallion, who she believed had to be either Ironhoof or Glasseye, was now walking towards the two younger ponies in conversation. As he strolled along, his hooves dragged through the slender blades of field grass. There was a confident air about him, he wasn't trying to make his presence unknown to her with his head held high and his strides in step. He leaned over, his face now close to Sonnet's ear, and whispered into it. They talked too low for Fluttershy to actually hear more than muffled words.

The pony next to her lifted himself up off the ground, his heavy frame left imprints of his knees where he resided and his hooves struck the ground on his way to join Sonnet. Pastel soon followed the iron pony, connecting with the triage of ponies and turning the triangle into a circle. Now there was four huddled together, the last pony sitting by himself, still yet to say a single word.

Almost all attention was off Fluttershy now. Their concerns were still related to her identity and sudden appearance, but now there was four less eyes glued to her figure. Much to her relief, there was only one pair of eyes examining her body. It was the fifth and final pony, the reclusive one, still yet to be addressed. Of all the ponies she could have left with he was probably the worst one in the group to watch over her. She couldn't tell if it was that one static, amber eye that stayed locked onto her even when the other drifted elsewhere that were more unsettling, or if it were the paper-thin scratches running the lengths of his grey face, down onto his throat. As before, they both sat in silence as his eyes drifted their glances over the lengths of her body.

They had all left her She thought about turning tail and charging in the opposite direction, but her condition if she tried to run, another accident may occur, only this time she may not wake up. She may not even have to run though, these ponies seemed nice enough. Their intention were definitely in the right place. They could have easily carried on with their previous tasks, if any, yet they still stuck around with her and helped her out.

Then the circle unraveled, yet again there were five pairs of eyes, all attention on her. The old pony, with clear intentions, took the initiative and stepped forward. “Hello pony, you mustn't be afraid of us. My name's Ironhoof, and with this band of travelers: Sonnet, Pastel, Glasseye, and Banter I live my days." As he each name he pointed in said pony's direction, each one gesturing her a welcome response. "Do you have a name, or shall I call you ma'am?"

“Nice to meet you Ironhoof. . . That's very nice of you, but my name’s Flutt...Fluttershy. You don't have to call me ma'am unless you want to.” She spoke out in a tone lower than average, but much improved from the whisper it used to be.

“Fluttershy huh? That’s an odd name, not that it's bad or anything, it’s just like it reflects your personality. I mean, atleast you seem shy.” Banter stepped forward to talk with her.

"I guess I am kind of shy. I've been working on fixing that, though I still get a little anxious at times. If anything I'm more nervous than scared to talk to you all."

"There's naught to be afraid of, Fluttershy, it should actually be us afraid of you." Ironhoof commented. Fluttershy didn't pose a threat to them and she knew that. Still, his intentions were clear and she grew ever more relaxed. "I feel we really must get moving, else we lose daylight. Would you like to accompany us to camp? We already started fixing your wing up, if you plan on going your separate way at least allow us to finish doing so."

"That sounds nice." Her broken body ached. One wing sore from her plightful flight and the other was yanked from a quarry eels' maw. Her raw hooves bore fleshy wounds from the grueling path she set about walking. Within the span of a week, she managed to burn through nearly all of the supplies she brought along. Her bag was noticeably lighter from when she departed much to her back's pleasure. With such a generous offer, she couldn't refuse to tag along, even for just a brief moment.

"Well it's an hour's walk if we make haste, but a two hour stroll with what state we're in. Do you think you would be able to make it, or must one of us carry you?"

"I can walk, just let me wrap myself up beforehand. I would really hate to pass out on my way there." Fluttershy lifted her bag up to her lap, her hooves wavered to the point where even unfastening the straps became quite a challenge. She was struggling to open up the celestial pouch that held what she needed, the contents of the astral pouch still an enigma.

"Pastel, hand me those if you're just going to watch." Before Fluttershy could snap the bag open, Sonnet interjected. "Here, if bandages are what you're looking for then we have some for you to use. Come here and let me wrap your wing up so you don't have to." Without complaint, Fluttershy allowed her to circle around to her back into position. "Wow your mane is gorgeous!" She felt the rest of her mane being swept off of her back and over her shoulder.

At this gesture, a blush rose up unto Fluttershy's face. "Thanks, it's not really that big of a deal though." While Sonnet was working on wrapping her back, she thought of this to be a great opportunity to try and break out of her shell. Lucky enough they happened to be talking about appearance, a topic not uncommon to her. "I used to have friends with manes similar to mine, but even more fashionable, or more awesome than mine." Her voice was a little shaky, and the words were a bit uneasy, but she was making progress.

"You really shouldn't sell yourself short. Back at my home town, most mares, including myself, would love to have hair as long and vibrant as yours. Mine's kind of just boring and flat from how little sun I get to see. So these friends you speak of, are they Pegasi such as yourself?"

"Well. . . not exactly. We were a diverse group, not that that's an uncommon thing. Out of six ponies, really only two of us were Pegasi." She felt her mane dance back and forth between her caretaker's gentle hooves. The slow, gentle motions ensured it would not be ripped from her skull.

"How in the world did you manage to keep up a cross-racial relationship?! Having to travel across the land just to be able to see your friends, you mustn't have been able to visit them that often. They had to have been real special to warrant that kind of trouble."

"Yeah, they were real special ponies." A sigh released itself from her lips, head hanging at the thought of her friends. It felt as if time was flying by, taking everypony with it and leaving her to slowly crawl along the path of life. It hadn't been that long since she last departed from Ponyville to Canterlot and even less time from Canterlot to the borders of Equestria and beyond. Going of her scheduled meetings with the princesses, it had been two months, or at least she hoped, since she last saw the other Elements of Harmony, with her third meeting rearing it head.

There was something odd mentioned that did happen to catch her attention. Sonnet said something about traveling to meet her friends. What did she actually mean when she said that? In a way, it was a bit worrisome, there was something that she wasn't quite fully grasping. "I'm sorry if I don't understand what you mean, there's probably a good explanation for it, but why would I have to travel across the land to see my friends? We lived in the same town as each other, only a stroll away if we wanted to meet up."

"You mean to say that there's a town where Pegasi and Earth Ponies live together?"

Still unsure of what she was trying to say, Fluttershy nervously pawed at the ground, carving circles with the tip of her hoof. "Unicorns lived with us as well. Although the town was started by Earth Ponies, Pegasi and Unicorns are other common pony residents."

At hearing this, Sonnet leaned over Fluttershy's shoulder and peaked her head around. Her eyes, along with Pastel's and Banter's grew as large as saucepans. Banter and Pastel swiveled their heads towards Fluttershy, then back to each other, and then towards Fluttershy once more. Expressions of intrigue were plastered on their faces.

"Where in Boletaria did you used to live?! Unicorns have always lived separate towns from us for as long as I've known. They either are found living in that prestigious magic school Vinheim, or they're stuck in mining the miasma caverns surrounding Izalith."

The question asked was a bit forward for Fluttershy, she had never heard of Boletaria before. There was the possibility that a new civilization of ponies lie ahead, more land for her to wander atop its expanse. "Boletaria, excuse me for not knowing, but what is that?"

Ironhoof took the initiative and stepped forward. He explained to her that Boletaria was the name of the province she was currently in. "Izalith and Vinheim, both places mentioned are part of our province. Neither do we live in though. We are Earth Ponies so we hail from a different city. We live in Catarina, a farming city nearing the borders of Boletaria. I think it lucky of you to choose a place so close to our travels to rest. Others may not have been as generous as us."

She was right about the world. It continued to stretch onwards, and yet the end was nowhere in sight. She learned a little more than what she did about it before, but she still felt it an insignificant amount. The world was much more grand in size than she once previously thought. Not once did she suspect there to be more ponies past Equestria's borders.

And maybe she was lucky that this group stumbled upon her when they did. This isolation was making her crazy. She was seeing things that weren't there, her friends to be specific. Her dreams were beginning to phase into reality, more so the nightmares she's dreamt up.  She needed a group to carry on with. It would be useful to learn how this new province worked, and I would help to have company along the way. Just a few hours would be enough to satiate her taste and help her carry on a bit more. And even if she was shy, some company was better than no company at all, to which she found ironic to be thinking.

"There you go, uh hehe," the laugh came about nervously."It's. . . something at least." With one last flick of Flutershy's mane, Sonnet finished up with her task and walked back into view. "So are we ready to get walking? It's probably best if we head start heading out right away."

"Why, what's wrong?" Fluttershy dared to ask.

"It's nothing to worry about! We're just running out of daylight and we can easily make it back to the city before the next day rises." Sonnet helped lift Fluttershy onto her feet. Now with everypony ready to go, the expedition of both parties commenced. Fluttershy continued traveling east and the band of ponies continued onwards to what's left of their ill-omened homes.




> Where oceans should be, land resides.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	The sun struck mid-sky, pouring its warming gaze about the forest. By the time they reached the campsite, morning had finally passed on along with the cool air it accompanied. Humid air met with their exhausted bodies, and with sweat drenched coats they pulled into camp. Their hooves struck against the heat-encrusted dirt, cracking deeper blemishes in the otherwise beautiful land.

This forest followed this same pattern day by day and night by night. By noon the ground dries and hardens out. By midnight it spreads itself thin and softens into mushy dirt. It was earlier that Fluttershy learned of how nature in Boletaria has learned to take care of itself. Without the Pegasi around to keep the weather in check, nature began to take over. Like the vines and weeds at the overgrown cabin she last visited, nature has learned to care for itself. In comparison, it reminded her a lot of the Everfree Forest she lived by and also of the lands she traversed following the end of the Equestrian borders. Weird as it may seem, she has grew accustom to the leisure she found in worrying about that one less aspect of life.

The questioning had finally ceased as the ponies dispersed, each had their own job to do around the camp. It had become habitual for them, packing up and moving on to the next stop just to set up camp yet again. They did so without ever being ordered and without the slightest detest. Their drive was found in what they hoped for, to see their home again. Every day for six months they repeated their days, just as the forest repeated its pattern. Dawn to dusk they walked, only stopping to set up when their path becomes shrouded by the dark, invisible to their naked eyes. 

Usually they took it easy, taking their time to pack up made it certain their energy was saved for the day's endeavor. But now, their home was a day's worth of time away, enough of their morning already wasted out of curiosity. Knowing this only served as fuel for their determination to make it back by nightfall. It was important they didn't take their time now.  

Banter and Glasseye were the first two to begin. Being the biggest of the group, set out to do the heavy lifting. Fueled by motivation, both ponies stood at the back of the carts, hastily throwing things into an unorganized, miscellaneous heap. Sonnet squashed the last embers of the lingering campfire, the last remains of their trash being tucked away in an over-the-shoulder bag while Ironhoof checked around the camp, uncertain of finding any unwanted stowaways among them. 

Pastel ushered Fluttershy to follow him, leading her towards the smaller of the two masses of ratty cloth they had set up. Its insides held gifts of bandages and medicine, and like promised, Pastel fixed her wing up. 

The time he took was much less than that of Sonnet's attempt. A brown bottle, wrapped snuggly in it's lime green label and unknown to her, he poured its contents out over her raw flesh. It burned her wound as an antiseptic would, she figured that's what it had been. He went straight to work, fixing up her wound as any physician would, and just as any normal physician, he filled in the time with his own chatter. He had questions of his own, but didn't want to press her any further. Friendly, idle chatter would suffice.

"I hope you know how brave you are for traveling through the Darkroot alone. Most ponies aren't as lucky as you, walking away with nothing more than a broken wing." He pressed a splint against the length of her wings, tying it down and dressing it up. He touched everything up on her wing, tightening the wrap together and leaving the tip open to breathe in the fresh air. 

"Uhm. . . Why do you say that? I don't. . . what's wrong with Darkroot?" She was afraid to ask, knowing the answer could be something she didn't want to hear. Pastel saw her uneasiness and decided to play things off.

"Oh, you know, just that forests can be a dangerous place when you're by yourself at night. Now that I think of it, being alone in the dark can be just as scary no matter where you go." It was a good move. 

"Oh no, I'm far from being brave, sir. I can be quite the opposite at times." Warming up to this group wasn't going to be so bad. Her voice grew less shaky and she began to ease up. Talking with them individually was easier than being bombarded by an entire group.

"Haha well you definitely don't seem it. Just a little shy is all, nothing wrong with that at all." he said with jest. Like Sonnet, he spoke in a soft tone. Everything he said was light-hearted and friendly. It was this that made them easy ponies to get along with.

He thought back to a few hours ago, when they first found her. There had been a flame, being different than most flames he accompanied on his travels. Similarly, it was hot, but stretching out more so than any fire he built, it heated the entirety of the forest like a miniature sun. A small glint reflected from around her neck, catching his eye. She wore a mysterious, gold ornament around her neck, easily differentiating her from all other ponies on the outskirts of Boletaria. Shockingly, she bore a striking resemblance to those residents of Vinheim.

"Yeah I agree, but I wouldn't say I'm so much as afraid of the dark as some of the things that can be lurking inside of it. You may not believe me, but I've actually been to worse place than the forest." She cringed at the thought of the nest she had stumbled upon. "There was a place not far west of here inside of the forest and it was one of the most beautiful places I had seen in weeks." She recollected the past, a recent happening of her journey.

"Beautiful? In this part of the forest? No way, the only thing you'd stumble upon here is poison ivy and a bad cold." He joked with her. What once was genuine concern had now fallen victim to the stallion's japes. Pastel continued wrapping her along the path down her wing, leading into her torso. Finishing with the bottom layer of gauze, he held the splint to her fracture, ready to bind the two.

"You really only experience something like this in the few caves unexplored by miners or adventurers." Fluttershy closed her eyes, recalling the day she spoke of. "The walls were lined in gems, hundreds of tiny stars twinkling as I shined my light on them. It was a serene place. If I listened close enough, I could hear my very own heart's beat as it kept in tune with the stray beads of water dropping from the ceiling." 

Pastel sat there, nearly finished with his job, connecting her wing with its adjacent body and wrapping her chest up tightly. He continued working hard, wanting to do the best job he could, but also keeping an ear on what she had to say. This story of hers was interesting, and he wanted to know how it ended. 

"Peaceful as it was, I didn't expect to find the danger I did at the end of the tunnel. It wasn't a cave that I stumbled upon, it was a nest, and the quarray eels living there weren't too happy with me treading around their caves." She continued on with the tale. 

At points, he would stop and ask her a question. To better help him, she crudely illustrated her story on the dirt floor. The ground was her stage, and her etchings were the props, the setting, and the cast. She was no professional, but this kind gesture of hers received no complaints from the gazing stallion. 

When he asked what an eel was, she drew it. Its long, slender body encompassed a large area around her. She let her self carry on a bit too much with her artistic integrity. Leaving out the important things like sharp-edged scales, and teeth like razors only confused him more. After sharing a nervous laugh with herself she smudged out the picture and started over, redrawing it only ever-so-slightly scarier.

By the end of the story, all that she traversed had been drawn, and then mostly smudged out when the tunnels began collapsing.  "And there I was, at the top of the shaft." She placed her hoof down, the rounded print representing her. "I was extremely lucky to make it out of there alive." She would like to believe it was luck that seen her through, but she knew who deserved to be credited for her survival.   

"That escape must have given quite the rush!"  Pastel applauded as he wound the dressing around her again, making a tightly-fit bandage undergarment. "So, if you don't mind me asking, how did you manage to break your wing in such a way? You look as if you had been mangled, your wing itself was riddled with bite marks by the time I got to check it out."

That part of the story Fluttershy had wanted to keep secret. She hid that single detail under lock and key in hopes of dodging the question; so far, it was just a small accident of nature in their eyes. But here Pastel was, asking for the grim ending of the adventure she had just shared. 

She for one was not a fan of these darker endings, but as life has come to show, they are the most realistic way to finish a story. Her intention were not to hide the truth in order to make herself seem more brave, courageous and daring, like the main character of Rainbow's favorite series of books. She had wanted to make herself seem of use. She didn't want to be classified as weak yet again. 

"Well. . . it happened when I was. . ." she paused herself, throat drying up in the swelling heat. She bit down on her lip.

"You don't have to tell me, if you don't want to." he reassured with a smile on his face, one that you see all the time from at a dentist office. "You're free to leave if you want to, I just finished up properly." He stood himself up from the sleeping mat she resided on and walked towards the exit, ready to leave.

"No wait, I'm just a little shaken from it, and maybe a little nervous too." Pastel slowly turned himself to face her, his attention having been caught again. "I thought I was safe at the top of the tunnel, most of the eels weren't able to make it past the collapsing tunnel. Just as I took off my goggles and began to settled down, I was taken by surprise. One of them latched onto my wing and would not let go. It wanted to drag me back down there with all of its friends." she recalled being stuck in the fish's maw, no choice but to rip herself out. "I was locked in between the tiny gaps in his teeth, forced to break myself and pull what remained out." She sputtered as if the words were sour lemons.

The two ponies resided in silence, her story causing an uneasy tension. It was uneasy for her to choke those words out, and it was even harder for him to hear her struggling. 

"I'm sorry, I probably shouldn't have asked you retell something like that." He was overridden with the guilt, feeling like he had overstayed his welcome. "I always hear these terrifying stories other ponies have to tell, but I've never really experienced anything for myself. I'd like to think I'm lucky for never having to experience any of the things I've heard, but I can't help but feel my life is too boring. Well, at least you're safe with us now, feel free to walk around if you please." He turned around, ready to leave the canvas home. Just before his exit, his head turned to face her, still bearing his same welcoming smile. He still had something left unsaid. "Don't worry about feeling like a bother to anyone, if you have anything you want to say, just come find any one of us." With nothing else on his mind, Pastel  opened up the tattered flaps, filling the room with the outside's humid air. The heat replaced his presence, filling in the spot he stood as he disappeared back into the world. 

Fluttershy waited around a little time longer after she was left to her privacy. In these moments she watched over the exit, checking to make sure no one else would come visit her. Once she was certain the tent would be barren of company, she let out a sigh of relief. For the first time in hours, she was finally alone, left to contemplate her situation.

Pastel's words lingered around her thoughts, ". . .if you have anything to say, just come find any one of us." It was true, she still had many things left to say, questions of her own she still needed answered. How they managed to find her was beyond understanding. Traveling west to where her coma-induced body lay was counterproductive to their southward pursuits. 

Then she remembered something.

She was still carrying her saddlebag, it had been left untouched by Ironhoof's group. The pouch of gifts Celestia gave her stared back, gleaming at her with its pleas. Her curiosity was been piqued now, the pouch was calling for her, waiting to be unwrapped as if it were a present. There was something festering inside of her, an itch that was in dire need of a scratch.  

She pulled it off of herself, showing no haste in unlatching the bigger of the two pouches, the one stamped with the sun. The top flipped open only to be greeted by an awful mess of assortments that her backpack has became. She flung her head back, flinching in disgust as a sour wave of odorous air swelled out of the bag. Her hoof worked wonders at blocking out the smell tickling at her disgruntled nose.  

With her available hoof, she raised the bag onto her lap and peaked inside. The bottle of antiseptic had been smashed inwards, an accidental result of her crushing blow. It lay open at the bottom, what little remained leaked out of the fractured bottleneck.

At the very top of the heap lay a red mass of flesh, bruised, and battered from the beating she took back in the forest. Fluttershy reached into the disgusting bag, pulling it out and continuing to sift around inside of the strewn mess. 

Like the apple, the rest of her accoutrements were drenched in the undesirable liquid. The last of her life's fuel turned no longer edible, her bread soaking in the medicine like a sponge.

She sifted through the top, still disgusted as she pulled out the reserve of bandages she was saving for later. Lying below the cluttered mess of spongy wrapping she found what she was looking for, her map. 

She pulled parchment out, by the tip of its corner, holding its sogginess away from her. She shook it dry, letting the liquid drip off. The watery stains left into the paper had, for the most part, washed out its image. Still then, she managed to see what was waiting for her at the eastern edge of the map. 

There was no other lands recorded to be east of Equestria, just a vast expanse of water, and yet here she was. This whole new province unknown to her until just recently, something Celestia happened to leave out of her motivational speech.

She rolled the map back up again, feeling odd at this discovery. 

She must not have traveled out this far herself, royal duties must keep her stuck inside her castle at all times. It could be possible she didn't know. 

She tossed these ideas around inside of her head, looking to give her princess a plausible excuse. There must have been a reason Celestia left that part out. Perhaps this little endeavor of her was something unexpected, it could have been that the princess didn't expect it to stretch out this long in time. 

If only, she thought, if only I could fly better, maybe then I would be done with this all. I don't want to be out here, this far from my home anymore. She lacked the motivation to continue on. Her morale had been destroyed along with her body, and the trail she found in the cabin earlier was probably useless to her now.

The time she lost while walking was tremendous. The eel's spite ripped through her flesh, it had effectively anchored her to the ground. Celestia's guide, the Element of Kindness that hung from her neck, was the only thing she believed to be certain in her life up until now. It's her last connection to the pony she held dear. 

The princess told her its piercing beam shoots in the direction of the wearer's desire, of what they deem important. For Fluttershy, the beam pointed in the direction of her best friend.