That light.

Burning brightness, wretched and foul. No darkness around, no respite, all shadows burned away by that vicious burning light.

Not even the pits of Hell are free from that wretched glow, and it's incessant burn. Trapped. Trapped down here with an idiot. An imbecile.
An ingrate.

But. These minor setbacks are nothing. They will not, cannot anger me. This is nothing new. I am immortal, ageless. An entity beyond the grips of time itself, I have had my fair share of foolhardy morons who fall to that wretched light. Some may not be fond of the power I can offer, but what do they know. I am the ultimate embodiment of shadow and darkness, and I cannot be rid that easily. I will confess, I am not undefeated. But I am unstoppable. From the ashes and scorched earth I would arise with my host.

The looks on their faces are always almost palatable.

Their faces themselves are very palatable.

I have been placed in this trap once more, but I know how to leave.

The Age of Stone. For a brief moment, I met Myself. I did not dawdle in killing him, and claiming my territory. Before his demise, however, I learned something. A way to move between worlds, or dimensions. I would be restricted to the same host, albeit that of another universe. This is a greater gamble than it seems at first. I could, as one would hope, meet a more powerful "version" of my host. Someone stronger and more suited to accepting my power. Or I could find a version where that...wretched light inhabits the same host. You see my problem?

However, I must weigh my options. Spend centuries with this...idiot, or take a shot in the dark, heh, and at the very least I might not be trapped in hell.

I hope I meet a host with more teeth.

This is odd. I'm not used to this.

To say Fluttershy was having an odd day would be an understatement.
The first thing Fluttershy woke up to was not the call of one of the many early rising animals. It was not Angel tossing something at her to get her attention. And it most certainly was not Discord attempting to juggle her and several animals without waking them. Again.

Today Fluttershy woke up to aching back pain.

She also noticed that Angel was not throwing some sort of tantrum or simply indifferent. He was looking at her, genuinely concerned. It was almost a nice surprise. The pain sure has dampened this change of pace thought Fluttershy to herself.

Shaking, she pulled herself out of bed, only to notice the pain had vanished. Suddenly and without any remaining aches, it simply stopped. Fluttershy stretched her wings out as she ruminated on how odd this was. She couldn't complain, since no pain was better than that, regardless of how strange it was for it to simply vanish. She did NOT like the strange feeling she had now, however. A very unusual sensation, almost as if a snake were worming around on her back. She'd had snakes ride on her back before though, and it did not feel like this. But this feeling was similar to that, in a way she couldn't quite place. This was something she would have to bring up with Twilight. Fluttershy didn't exactly want to burden Twilight with this problem, but spontaneous back pain in the morning was something to be concerned about, and the hospital might want to take samples and do tests. Fluttershy wasn't terribly fond of this idea. Angel was still looking at her, worried.

"Oh it's okay Angel dear, I'm fine really." she reassured the distressed fuzz-ball. "Now let's get you and our animal friends fed and seen to."

It took Angel a minute to consider and accept her reassurance, and he hopped down the stairs as Fluttershy followed.

She was disconcerted to find not only Angel was concerned for her. As rare as it was for Angel to show that he cared, it wasn't out of the question. The rest of her animal friends all seemed concerned aswell, and some were even afraid of her. That was terribly unusual. As she went about feeding them she had to constantly reassure them that everything was fine, but they seemed less convinced, and Fluttershy decided something was amiss. During her own breakfast, she decided Twilight might be able to help. After she was finished she headed out, to library to talk to Twilight. Halfway there however, she felt the pain in her back once more and stopped.

"Sssooooooonnn..."

Startled, she imediently jumped into a near-by bush in fright, forgeting about the pain which had gone almost as soon as it had came. She peeked out of the bush and looked around. "H-hello...is anyp-pony there?" she asked, quivering. But nopony was there. From the bush she couldn't see anywhere somepony could hide except for the bush she was currently hiding in, which immediately caused a shiver to tingle up her spine. She quickly made her way out of the bush and continued towards the Library, at a much quicker pace.

Fluttershy knocked on the door of the Library, Still spooked, and quickly glanced around her as she waited. After a few moments, Twilight answered the door and noticed her friend's obvious distress. "Fluttershy!" she said, concerned. "Are you alright? You're shaking!" She gestured for Fluttershy to come into the library, and as she did Fluttershy said "I-im alright Twilight, I just thought I heard something on the way here and it startled me." Twilight Sparkle was dubious at first, but Fluttershy was often nervous of most things. Rassured by this, Twilight gave a little grin. "Well as long as you're alright Fluttershy" Said Twilight. "Now, what brings you here? I was going to settle down for some tea. Care to join us?"

Fluttershy explained to Twilight about the strange pains and about how her animal friends were unusually worried around her. Twilight wanted to ask why she went to her instead of a Doctor, but Fluttershy wasn't a terribly complicated pony to begin with. She wagered Fluttershy wasn't the biggest fan of hospitals, but decided to recommend seeing a doctor anyway.

"Well, I figured you might know something more about it." said Fluttershy, eyeing her cup of tea. "I do live on the edge of the everfree afterall, and strange things do happen there. I would go to see Zecora but...she scares me."
"Fluttershy, I understand, but I'm not sure I can help you with this. It doesn't sound like any kind of spell I know. I can try to have a look but I don't know what I can do, really."

With that, Fluttershy found herself enveloped in Twilight's magic, and she could feel it's tingling exporation. During this magical examination, she felt the writhing snake-like feeling again, and was dismayed to notice Twilight not picking up on anything. Twilight found nothing wrong with her, and strongly insisted she go to the doctor. That was exactly what Fluttershy didn't want to hear, but with her head hung low, she made way for that unpleasant place.

But the doctor could find nothing wrong with her either. They checked her back, and her wings, and found no medical faults or problems. She left the building a little peeved at that. She just didnt get it, Ponies didn't feel pain that just vanished for no reason. She decided that since she was in town, she would do a bit of grocery shopping. Again, she felt the squirming sensation, but thought little of it. After she was finished, She started to make her way back home. She had a long list of things to take care of. The animals all needed to be fed lunch, the shed in the back needed to be fixed, and she needed to stop Discord from turning the nearby river into some random liquid, as he did on every third Tuesday of every other month of a leap-year. His idea of 'Organized Chaos'. It was a disconcerting notion, but it kept him occupied and somewhat sated.

As the day went on however, fluttershy noticed it was getting hotter and hotter outside, Yet the weather schedule called for a nice cool breeze and it was fairly cloudy out. Yet Fluttershy felt as if it was the middle of Summer. Again, All the Animals seemed worried for the yellow pegasus, but she kept reassureing them that she was fine, she was just tired from working all day. That must be it she thought. Even as the sun began to set , she began to feel hotter. However, it was becoming much better. A comfortable heat, almost. Finally as the Moon was in the sky and she was heading in to make dinner for Angel and Herself, she paused for a moment to look at the moon. The large white orb almost seemed to have a calming effect on the pegasus and she took a moment to just relax is cool night breeze.

What wasn't relaxing was the return of that morning's back pain. Only this time it was far more intense.
Fluttershy didnt have to feel it for very long though, as she fainted soon after.

Darkness. Total darkness. And that was just he way he-
Suddenly there was light again. Well, as much light as you could get from Nighttime.
Ah well, beggers cant be choosers.
The Darkness swivvled a tentacled head around. He was near a cottage out by the woods. He could see quite a few animals cowering at the sight of him nearby.
'That was easier than I thought' He thought to himself. He began to let out a laugh but was cut short as he looked down.

He was greeted by the sight of a Small horse-like creature. That was yellow. With pink hair. That was a Small-Colorful-Horse creature that he was coming out of the back of.
'...What?' he thought as the flow of memories from his...His...His host? came flowing to him.
It was a Pony. Named Fluttershy.

No.

She was the Embodiment of Kindness.

NO.

In a land filled with Happiness, Kindness, and SUNSHINE.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUGH!"
His scream of rage peirced the silence of the night, and he could almost hear The Angelus laughing at him.

That wretched light...

Author's Note

This here is another collaboration between me and This Fig right here. Again.

Don't you worry, I'm alternating between this and MLF:FiW

Its all good. I think.