ECHIDNAby CesareBlancChaptersPony (Part I)ContaminationSolitudeEternityShapePony (Part II)WaitPony (Part I)Pony (Part I) It was happening again. This time, it announced itself as a dull ache in the centre of her chest; Fluttershy felt it in the morning, while she was giving the ducks their breakfast with bread and water. She breathed in quickly, and in the air it sounded like a hiss; the ducks raised their necks to look at her, and Fluttershy smiled, one hoof pressed on her chest as the pain contracted and swelled like a fist made of wires. She breathed heavily for a few moments; and then, just like that, the sensation was gone. In the golden light of the summer morning, Fluttershy shuddered, feeling cold and empty, her head swimming in a vertigo of anxiety and fear. Again...? It was too soon, too soon for her to... she looked down at her yellow hoof, pressed against her warm chest, and she slowly shook her head, making her pink curl sway. Maybe... maybe it was something else? Maybe it was just a fleeting pain, and not...? Maybe it would just go away, if she she decided to ignore it...? She bit her lips, while the ducks merrily feasted on the bread. No, she needed to stay strong. Because, yes, it could just be some casual ache – maybe she hadn't slept well? - but if she was wrong... what if she was wrong, and it wasn't 'just a fleeting pain'? The risk was too great for her to take. Slowly, Fluttershy removed her hoof from her chest, looking down at it like waiting for another string of pain to come and grip on it, but nothing came. Then, she looked down at the ducks, and smiled at them. “It's nothing,” she said in her soft voice. It was necessary to reassure them, make them know that nothing was wrong. “There's nothing wrong. Nothing at all.” Yes, not her, definitely not her, she was reassuring the ducks. She left the ducks to their lunch, and then she trotted towards the cottage, greeted with a smile the animals who were just going to get up, and snatched Angel Bunny from the point where he was snoring on the couch, putting it delicately on her back with her wings. She felt like needing his company, right now. She came to the aviary, and she saw that her hawk and eagle were already awake and enjoying their meal; they both turned to her and saluted with their wings. She nodded at the gesture, and then, in a soft voice, she said: “Oh, hmm... good morning to you both. I was... I was wondering if you could send a pair of letters for me?” The birds looked at each other, and then at Fluttershy again. “Oh, but first please finish your breakfast, of course! If it's not a problem, I mean...” The eagle just saluted again, and went back to pecking with renewed vigour. The hawk followed in tow. Fluttershy smiled, and then she took the cards and the pen that she kept near to the aviary, and started to write two short letters. It had been less than two months since the last time. Too soon. A big part of her wanted to stop writing those letters and just go to the bedroom, close the windows and tuck down beneath the sheets, and hope it would go away. Another part of her, smaller but stronger, knew that it would be a big mistake. Then, Fluttershy finished the letters, and when the birds were ready, she attached them to their claws, and instructed them where to go – even if they both knew it well, because they had been there many times already. She saw the birds take flight until they disappeared, and then looked back at the still sleeping form of Angel Bunny, caressing it to find a bit of comfort. She had to leave soon. ContaminationContamination Fluttershy woke up panting, and with her hoof she searched frantically for the lamp; her hoof hit the hard wood of the bedside table, once, twice, before touching the cold iron of the lamp. Between whimpers of pain, Fluttershy tried to turn it on, but her frantic movements only managed to make it sway, roll, and crash on the floor. A gurgle of disappointment and fear escaped from her mouth, and she just stood there, limbs wide, wings sprained open, eyes wide in the darkness. Her right hoof was pressed on her chest, and thin tears were streaming across her cheeks. It was back, and it was back with vengeance; thin razors of pain scratched her chest, contracting and expanding, contracting and expanding, like a spring made of thorns. Her low voice panted shards of words in the night. “Plea-”, she whimpered. “Plea... pleas-” she coughed again. Please stop, she tried to say, but words failed her. Too soon. It was too soon, but definitely there. It was happening again, and the fear of realization washed over her, a black tide that left Fluttershy trembling on the bed until the pain eased, and her shivers passed. She exhaled slowly, again and again, until the pain was gone; she briefly looked down at the lamp, broken on the floor, and at the blot of oil that bickered in the silvery hue of what dim moonlight passed through the windows' covers. She had rarely felt so bad, and never so soon; it looked like this time was going to be... harsh. Harsher that she thought, or hoped, anyway. Fluttershy prayed that her little friends were happy and safe at home, in the cottage; prayed to come back soon and enjoy a little peace. She had learned how useless was praying for all this to end very, very long ago. Nor Celestia, nor Luna could her with this. Not even her friends. At last, after she had wiped away her tears and carefully flapping her wings to take her on the other part of the room without stepping on the glass splinters, she entered the small bathroom, and turned on the lamp. In the quivering light, she looked at herself in the mirror, eyes wide, pupils like pinprick, streaks of tears on her coat, and, down to her muzzle, and neck, to her yellow chest; she passed her hoof there. There was nothing; her coat and skin looked as good as ever. Fluttershy gulped in the night, and another current of fear passed through her. SolitudeSolitude Given how worse her fit had been in comparison to the precedent occurrences, Fluttershy had decided to take the train sooner, and she had not waited to take rest in Dodge City; she just walked to the room-renter Pony and said to him that she had changed plans. He had just nodded, had traced a long black line in a register on his deck and had wished her well. All in all, that had been almost a pleasure: to act as assertive as she had made her feel better. The fact that she had anyway paid full price for the room she had booked and not used was just a minor detail. She had been so assertive and she had put her hoof down; in a good way, this time. And who cared for a few bits. What was important was to take with her food and water to spare, so she headed to the emporium, and she took with her the necessary; when asked why she was buying provision for three days, Fluttershy felt like crying, but she steadied herself – she had done so good just a moment before! - and mumbled something about throwing a party. It looked like, in a way, Pinkie was helping her, at distance. The thought felt both sweet and sour. She came out of the emporium with her saddlebags filled to the brim, and then, with her hat and shades on, Fluttershy traversed the town, aiming for the south. A few ponies raised their eyebrows when they saw her passing the outskirts of the city, directed toward the hills, and apparently towards what was behind the hills; a few even recognized the strange yellow pegasus who periodically passed through those streets. Nopony ever stopped her from going into the Badlands. And, Fluttershy thought the day after, when she arrived in the barren, ochre wasteland, where the soil was crumbling with thirst and the air thin with boiling heat by day and heavy with lingering cold by night, it wasn't such a bad place all in all. The Rocs, who were considered such a grave threat by the ponies in Dodge City, were in fact real sweethearts when one took her time to know them; they might look spooky with their curved beaks and tangerine eyes and big claws, and wings that were larger than Ponyville's Town Hall, but they were... peachy. But for that first time, when one of them had tried to eat her... but it had been swiftly resolved with a quick explanation, and the giant bird had even offered to make her travel on its back. How sweet of him, Fluttershy thought smiling at the thought. The arrow-lizards living in the cracks in the floor, instead, weren't nearly as nice. And the glass scorpions, carved by sand and heat in the depressions where the sunlight came at absurd temperatures, were... naughty. And yet, for all its adverse weather and temperamental critters, the Badlands were Fluttershy's favourite way to her destination. Because she was alone, miles and miles away from everypony. That way, when she felt the pain come back – two times - the seizures taking over from her chest to her shoulders and barrel, grinding under her skin like sheets of glass-paper against each other, there was no one that could see her, worry for her, think that, maybe, just maybe, could help her with this, and thus, soon or late, get hurt. Oh, and being alone, she could also let go and scream and scream and scream to the top of her lungs. EternityEternity She had had three more fits after leaving the badlands, that had left her in a sweaty mess like she had just wake up from a nightmare. She had been out of food and water for hours, and yet Fluttershy was slowly trotting across the razor plains, under the pale sun and the shivering moon. She was now in a place where the normal rules that comforted ponykind didn't apply; the air was filled with encircling fog-like forms, and low howls of what might have been wind, but most likely wasn't, filled it from time to time, stretched like rubber bands. Fluttershy panted, lips parched, chest heaving, wings hanging from her sides like two old rags that she had forgot to took from her back; she thought of Angel Bunny, and of her cottage. From some reason, she couldn't remember the flavour of hayseed, nor what colour Rarity's coat was. Maybe it was grey? Or not? Maybe it was something else. Rarity who? Under the sun, that vibrated and shifted in the sky following a strange pattern, and the moon, and feverish stars that looked down on her like eyes, following every step, in a land made of corners, in a landscape of thorns, dirty and spent, swaying left to right, Fluttershy kept going. And she kept going until, on the horizon, she saw the familiar form of two thin towers, stretching to the heavens like mummified hands, their fingers filled with strange curved shapes, the sky bent towards them; and Fluttershy smiled, because she was almost there. She felt a bit of ease caress her heart. That was the moment when she had another fit; she collapsed on the ground, screaming, and the howl of the wind mocked her. Fluttershy curled in a ball, her dishevelled mane covering her face like a blanket, while she kept both hooves on her chest, and barrel, and the base of her throat. She smelled dust and ashes, and she tasted iron and copper. Slowly, like a dark lake shrinking, the pain went away, leaving her crying in a ball, her hooves and wing moving in twitches; it took her what seemed ages, but Fluttershy got up, and hobbled towards the two towers; step after step, the frame of a great gate, black as the mouth of a cave and old as time, showed itself. Fluttershy smiled; almost there. And an infinite time later, she came before the gate, and she looked up at a huge, three-headed dog, black itself, that looked down at her and sniffed her. Fluttershy smiled weakly at him, and the she scratched with her hoof on the surface of the gate. Once, twice, she tapped her hoof on the harsh metal, scattering leaves of rust. The third time, she even tried to push it. Then her forces left her, and Fluttershy closed her eyes, slumping on the dirt. Over her, the huge dog leaned in with his central head, and lapped gently at her with his tongue, raising her coat in a small tide; then, it took her gently between his fangs, as carefully as he might have done with a fragile piece of crystal, and opened the gate with his great paw, entering it. ShapeShape Fluttershy opened her eyes in the timeless, howling currents of chaos of Tartarus; standing before her was the three-headed dog, who left out a howl of appreciation at seeing her awake again. Fluttershy smiled at it and caressed his left paw with her hoof. The dog swayed his tail like a puppy. Then, Fluttershy felt the pain mounting again, this time slower, and she knew that it was coming. It looked like she had come here just in time. When it was the moment, it always built up slowly; she steadied on her hooves and closed her eyes, and the dog took a step back, looking down at her with an expression that looked like a mix of worry and solemnity. It was like a tide, far in the horizon, coming, coming; Fluttershy was steadfast in her decision to face it bravely, so she stood on her four hooves, and she even opened her wings, but she couldn't stop the crying. Or the screaming. Or the small bulges that started to form under her coat, under her skin, under her flesh and bones, coming out from who knows where, who knows when; Fluttershy shuddered, and sweated, and bit her lips, but she stood up, arching her back like a scared cat. Then, it started to come out; it looked like small drops of substance, of the colour of ochre, but maybe it was something else, the light in Tartarus was always strange, pouring from her chest and barrel and throat, building up in her mouth, even. Fluttershy tasted something wrong in her mouth. And with a gurgling sound, a yellow mass of something came out of her stretched mouth, wet and pulsating, strange in its form, and gurgling obscenities in a language made of clatters and snips and short crackles, rolling on the ground. Fluttershy coughed, and reeked, expectorating more of the ochre matter, until she batted her eyes, and passed her hoof over her mouth, gagging. The gibbering globe rippled and thrashed, small mouths and eyes, and limbs, and some other things Fluttershy had no name for opening on his body – if body was. The dog, behind them, stood in silence, but two of his head looked warily to the thing, and the central one was fixed on Fluttershy's form, slowly walking towards the newcomer. Maybe sensing that something was coming, the globe turned... or did something like that, and leapt towards Fluttershy; tentacles sprouted from its form and attached themselves to her back, and small mouths bit into her chest and neck. The dog growled, but Fluttershy made him sign to stay put, and instead, shivering under the assault of claws and teeth of the... thing that had came out of her, she cooed and caressed its sticky surface... skin... or what it was, talking slowly. “Shhh... calm down now, calm down, it's all right, now...” The thing didn't stop; two tentacles unfurled like flowers of rotten flesh, revealing curved spines, that positioned themselves before Fluttershy's eyes, waving back and forth. She ignored them. “Hush now, quiet now...” Fluttershy sang, her voice for some reason unaffected by her long journey, the pain, the fatigue. “Hush, now, quiet now...” The thing... trembled, for a moment, like took by doubt. Fluttershy smiled. “Hush now...” she passed a hoof over its... skin, and the thing emitted a low sound, like a flute put underwater. “... quiet now...” and the thing retracted its tentacles, and stood between Fluttershy's hooves, its small eyes pointing to her smiling muzzle. “... hush now...” Fluttershy repeated, and the thing retracted again in a featureless yellow glob, save for one large eye, that looked at her. “... quiet now, it's time to lay your sleepy head...” The thing cooed, and emitted another fluting sound, before pulsating slowly and caressing Fluttershy's hooves. “... hush now, quiet now, it's time to go to bed.” The thing's eye slowly sank into its mass, and it emitted one last fluting sound, before standing still and silent, and finally quiet and peaceful. Fluttershy nuzzled its skin before putting it down to the ground. The three-headed dog snorted in appreciation. Then, appearing from the encircling darkness, tentacles, eyestalks, fingers, claws, tongues, and paws all moved to encircle Fluttershy. Pony (Part II)Pony (Part II) Fluttershy smiled and let herself being carried up by the branches of flesh that surrounded her; she caressed them, smiled at the eyes, mouths, and hulking shapes to which the limbs belonged, recognizing every single of them, Slivering tongues lapped at the marks left by the newcomer, and Fluttershy felt the healing action of the sedatives making her scratches go numb; other appendages massaged her sore limbs and wings, and Fluttershy left herself be carried away by the pleasant sensation. Even if it was becoming each time more and more difficult, she always came here. And the things encircling her, those who had been there for mere months and those she had known for years, awaited her visits with eagerness and joy – and she too was happy to see them, it was one of the things that made the journey through half of Equestria to the Gates of Tartarus more bearable. She had no other choice, after all. The first time, the very first time this had happened, she had been too afraid to think straight, and the creature coming out of her had just left for the Everfree. She had come to meet her, from to time ; it was faring pretty good. But, given it had happened just six months after she had had her Cutie Mark, Fluttershy had just called it an odd accident, and had prayed it never happened again. Six months later, it happened again. And again the Everfree was the place for it, but, Fluttershy reasoned that this couldn't go on much longer. After all, the ponies living in the outskirts of the forest had said to have seen... strange things moving through the leaves. Strange even by the pretty high standards of the Everfree. So much strange, so much odd, and so much frightful that a hunting party was dispatched, and they had got the beast after a week and three dead, half-digested ponies. Fluttershy had wept. And she had decided that it wasn't going to repeat, ever again; she studied the old maps, and the old legends, to find for a place where her... her... awkward friends could live. A few she had dropped on the northern hills. But it was here, in Tartarus, that Fluttershy had decided to leave them be; here they had everything they could hope for: food, water, and playground. Even if the rivers and the food that was here was... pretty strange... they seemed to enjoy it. She had believed to have found a solution; though in later years her leaves of absence had become closer and closer. Six months. Five. Four. And now she had had the last one just two months before. Fluttershy opened her eyes, looked around at her friends, and smiled. Oh, well. She would find of a way to fix that too. Like she always did. And then, she stood on her hooves, and, foretasting the two or three days of playtime – if talking of days in this place out of time had any sense - she was going to have before coming back home, she started to sing for the enjoyment of her friends. At least, no one of them was a dragon. ECHIDNA THE MOTHER OF MONSTERS END WaitWait The train rolled to Appleloosa, and Fluttershy looked outside of the window. She had paid a lot of bits to purchase a seat in first class, but she was enjoying what she had paid so much for: solitude. She was wearing a large, yet thin, hat, that hid well her form – courtesy of Rarity -, and a pair of shades over her eyes, and she was looking away from the corridor; she had never met anypony during one of these trips that could have recognized her, but you can never be too sure. The cottage had been left in the capable paws of Angel Bunny; she smiled at the concerned look on his face while he had seen her take flight – take flight! - in the early morning, while the sky was still so very dark, to take the very first train. He didn't know why she left, from time to time. And Fluttershy was sure that it was for the best. Once in Appleloosa, her contact would provide her with the room for the night, waiting for the next train, the one that would have taken her to Dodge City, and then... then to the South. She had yet to feel it again, though; passing her hoof idly on her chest, she reflected that, maybe, if she didn't feel anything to the time she came to Dodge City, maybe she had been wrong. It was definitely too early. The last... occurrence had been four months before, and the second last one, four months prior. Maybe she was going to come do Dodge City and just enjoy a day or two of vacation... maybe, who knows, befriend a few of the animals living there, see if she could help... The noise of the doors opening made her start, and a little eeep of surprise came out of her mouth; she looked at who was coming in, and it was just the mare with the sweets hand-cart. She briefly had a flash of what Pinkie's face would look like at such a sight. She just waved away at the gesture of the mare to offer her a few candies, maybe a hay sandwich, or a small bottle of fresh cider? Fluttershy looked down and away, and she was relieved when the mare left for the next car. Better to stay alone. Yes, alone. No contact with anypony, and just wait for something to happen. For the dull pain to return, or for it to go away. Fluttershy passed her tongue on a pair of very dry lips. Just wait. The train kept rolling, its soft hum on the rails echoing the beat of the heart in Fluttershy's chest.
Pony (Part I)Pony (Part I) It was happening again. This time, it announced itself as a dull ache in the centre of her chest; Fluttershy felt it in the morning, while she was giving the ducks their breakfast with bread and water. She breathed in quickly, and in the air it sounded like a hiss; the ducks raised their necks to look at her, and Fluttershy smiled, one hoof pressed on her chest as the pain contracted and swelled like a fist made of wires. She breathed heavily for a few moments; and then, just like that, the sensation was gone. In the golden light of the summer morning, Fluttershy shuddered, feeling cold and empty, her head swimming in a vertigo of anxiety and fear. Again...? It was too soon, too soon for her to... she looked down at her yellow hoof, pressed against her warm chest, and she slowly shook her head, making her pink curl sway. Maybe... maybe it was something else? Maybe it was just a fleeting pain, and not...? Maybe it would just go away, if she she decided to ignore it...? She bit her lips, while the ducks merrily feasted on the bread. No, she needed to stay strong. Because, yes, it could just be some casual ache – maybe she hadn't slept well? - but if she was wrong... what if she was wrong, and it wasn't 'just a fleeting pain'? The risk was too great for her to take. Slowly, Fluttershy removed her hoof from her chest, looking down at it like waiting for another string of pain to come and grip on it, but nothing came. Then, she looked down at the ducks, and smiled at them. “It's nothing,” she said in her soft voice. It was necessary to reassure them, make them know that nothing was wrong. “There's nothing wrong. Nothing at all.” Yes, not her, definitely not her, she was reassuring the ducks. She left the ducks to their lunch, and then she trotted towards the cottage, greeted with a smile the animals who were just going to get up, and snatched Angel Bunny from the point where he was snoring on the couch, putting it delicately on her back with her wings. She felt like needing his company, right now. She came to the aviary, and she saw that her hawk and eagle were already awake and enjoying their meal; they both turned to her and saluted with their wings. She nodded at the gesture, and then, in a soft voice, she said: “Oh, hmm... good morning to you both. I was... I was wondering if you could send a pair of letters for me?” The birds looked at each other, and then at Fluttershy again. “Oh, but first please finish your breakfast, of course! If it's not a problem, I mean...” The eagle just saluted again, and went back to pecking with renewed vigour. The hawk followed in tow. Fluttershy smiled, and then she took the cards and the pen that she kept near to the aviary, and started to write two short letters. It had been less than two months since the last time. Too soon. A big part of her wanted to stop writing those letters and just go to the bedroom, close the windows and tuck down beneath the sheets, and hope it would go away. Another part of her, smaller but stronger, knew that it would be a big mistake. Then, Fluttershy finished the letters, and when the birds were ready, she attached them to their claws, and instructed them where to go – even if they both knew it well, because they had been there many times already. She saw the birds take flight until they disappeared, and then looked back at the still sleeping form of Angel Bunny, caressing it to find a bit of comfort. She had to leave soon.
ContaminationContamination Fluttershy woke up panting, and with her hoof she searched frantically for the lamp; her hoof hit the hard wood of the bedside table, once, twice, before touching the cold iron of the lamp. Between whimpers of pain, Fluttershy tried to turn it on, but her frantic movements only managed to make it sway, roll, and crash on the floor. A gurgle of disappointment and fear escaped from her mouth, and she just stood there, limbs wide, wings sprained open, eyes wide in the darkness. Her right hoof was pressed on her chest, and thin tears were streaming across her cheeks. It was back, and it was back with vengeance; thin razors of pain scratched her chest, contracting and expanding, contracting and expanding, like a spring made of thorns. Her low voice panted shards of words in the night. “Plea-”, she whimpered. “Plea... pleas-” she coughed again. Please stop, she tried to say, but words failed her. Too soon. It was too soon, but definitely there. It was happening again, and the fear of realization washed over her, a black tide that left Fluttershy trembling on the bed until the pain eased, and her shivers passed. She exhaled slowly, again and again, until the pain was gone; she briefly looked down at the lamp, broken on the floor, and at the blot of oil that bickered in the silvery hue of what dim moonlight passed through the windows' covers. She had rarely felt so bad, and never so soon; it looked like this time was going to be... harsh. Harsher that she thought, or hoped, anyway. Fluttershy prayed that her little friends were happy and safe at home, in the cottage; prayed to come back soon and enjoy a little peace. She had learned how useless was praying for all this to end very, very long ago. Nor Celestia, nor Luna could her with this. Not even her friends. At last, after she had wiped away her tears and carefully flapping her wings to take her on the other part of the room without stepping on the glass splinters, she entered the small bathroom, and turned on the lamp. In the quivering light, she looked at herself in the mirror, eyes wide, pupils like pinprick, streaks of tears on her coat, and, down to her muzzle, and neck, to her yellow chest; she passed her hoof there. There was nothing; her coat and skin looked as good as ever. Fluttershy gulped in the night, and another current of fear passed through her.
SolitudeSolitude Given how worse her fit had been in comparison to the precedent occurrences, Fluttershy had decided to take the train sooner, and she had not waited to take rest in Dodge City; she just walked to the room-renter Pony and said to him that she had changed plans. He had just nodded, had traced a long black line in a register on his deck and had wished her well. All in all, that had been almost a pleasure: to act as assertive as she had made her feel better. The fact that she had anyway paid full price for the room she had booked and not used was just a minor detail. She had been so assertive and she had put her hoof down; in a good way, this time. And who cared for a few bits. What was important was to take with her food and water to spare, so she headed to the emporium, and she took with her the necessary; when asked why she was buying provision for three days, Fluttershy felt like crying, but she steadied herself – she had done so good just a moment before! - and mumbled something about throwing a party. It looked like, in a way, Pinkie was helping her, at distance. The thought felt both sweet and sour. She came out of the emporium with her saddlebags filled to the brim, and then, with her hat and shades on, Fluttershy traversed the town, aiming for the south. A few ponies raised their eyebrows when they saw her passing the outskirts of the city, directed toward the hills, and apparently towards what was behind the hills; a few even recognized the strange yellow pegasus who periodically passed through those streets. Nopony ever stopped her from going into the Badlands. And, Fluttershy thought the day after, when she arrived in the barren, ochre wasteland, where the soil was crumbling with thirst and the air thin with boiling heat by day and heavy with lingering cold by night, it wasn't such a bad place all in all. The Rocs, who were considered such a grave threat by the ponies in Dodge City, were in fact real sweethearts when one took her time to know them; they might look spooky with their curved beaks and tangerine eyes and big claws, and wings that were larger than Ponyville's Town Hall, but they were... peachy. But for that first time, when one of them had tried to eat her... but it had been swiftly resolved with a quick explanation, and the giant bird had even offered to make her travel on its back. How sweet of him, Fluttershy thought smiling at the thought. The arrow-lizards living in the cracks in the floor, instead, weren't nearly as nice. And the glass scorpions, carved by sand and heat in the depressions where the sunlight came at absurd temperatures, were... naughty. And yet, for all its adverse weather and temperamental critters, the Badlands were Fluttershy's favourite way to her destination. Because she was alone, miles and miles away from everypony. That way, when she felt the pain come back – two times - the seizures taking over from her chest to her shoulders and barrel, grinding under her skin like sheets of glass-paper against each other, there was no one that could see her, worry for her, think that, maybe, just maybe, could help her with this, and thus, soon or late, get hurt. Oh, and being alone, she could also let go and scream and scream and scream to the top of her lungs.
EternityEternity She had had three more fits after leaving the badlands, that had left her in a sweaty mess like she had just wake up from a nightmare. She had been out of food and water for hours, and yet Fluttershy was slowly trotting across the razor plains, under the pale sun and the shivering moon. She was now in a place where the normal rules that comforted ponykind didn't apply; the air was filled with encircling fog-like forms, and low howls of what might have been wind, but most likely wasn't, filled it from time to time, stretched like rubber bands. Fluttershy panted, lips parched, chest heaving, wings hanging from her sides like two old rags that she had forgot to took from her back; she thought of Angel Bunny, and of her cottage. From some reason, she couldn't remember the flavour of hayseed, nor what colour Rarity's coat was. Maybe it was grey? Or not? Maybe it was something else. Rarity who? Under the sun, that vibrated and shifted in the sky following a strange pattern, and the moon, and feverish stars that looked down on her like eyes, following every step, in a land made of corners, in a landscape of thorns, dirty and spent, swaying left to right, Fluttershy kept going. And she kept going until, on the horizon, she saw the familiar form of two thin towers, stretching to the heavens like mummified hands, their fingers filled with strange curved shapes, the sky bent towards them; and Fluttershy smiled, because she was almost there. She felt a bit of ease caress her heart. That was the moment when she had another fit; she collapsed on the ground, screaming, and the howl of the wind mocked her. Fluttershy curled in a ball, her dishevelled mane covering her face like a blanket, while she kept both hooves on her chest, and barrel, and the base of her throat. She smelled dust and ashes, and she tasted iron and copper. Slowly, like a dark lake shrinking, the pain went away, leaving her crying in a ball, her hooves and wing moving in twitches; it took her what seemed ages, but Fluttershy got up, and hobbled towards the two towers; step after step, the frame of a great gate, black as the mouth of a cave and old as time, showed itself. Fluttershy smiled; almost there. And an infinite time later, she came before the gate, and she looked up at a huge, three-headed dog, black itself, that looked down at her and sniffed her. Fluttershy smiled weakly at him, and the she scratched with her hoof on the surface of the gate. Once, twice, she tapped her hoof on the harsh metal, scattering leaves of rust. The third time, she even tried to push it. Then her forces left her, and Fluttershy closed her eyes, slumping on the dirt. Over her, the huge dog leaned in with his central head, and lapped gently at her with his tongue, raising her coat in a small tide; then, it took her gently between his fangs, as carefully as he might have done with a fragile piece of crystal, and opened the gate with his great paw, entering it.
ShapeShape Fluttershy opened her eyes in the timeless, howling currents of chaos of Tartarus; standing before her was the three-headed dog, who left out a howl of appreciation at seeing her awake again. Fluttershy smiled at it and caressed his left paw with her hoof. The dog swayed his tail like a puppy. Then, Fluttershy felt the pain mounting again, this time slower, and she knew that it was coming. It looked like she had come here just in time. When it was the moment, it always built up slowly; she steadied on her hooves and closed her eyes, and the dog took a step back, looking down at her with an expression that looked like a mix of worry and solemnity. It was like a tide, far in the horizon, coming, coming; Fluttershy was steadfast in her decision to face it bravely, so she stood on her four hooves, and she even opened her wings, but she couldn't stop the crying. Or the screaming. Or the small bulges that started to form under her coat, under her skin, under her flesh and bones, coming out from who knows where, who knows when; Fluttershy shuddered, and sweated, and bit her lips, but she stood up, arching her back like a scared cat. Then, it started to come out; it looked like small drops of substance, of the colour of ochre, but maybe it was something else, the light in Tartarus was always strange, pouring from her chest and barrel and throat, building up in her mouth, even. Fluttershy tasted something wrong in her mouth. And with a gurgling sound, a yellow mass of something came out of her stretched mouth, wet and pulsating, strange in its form, and gurgling obscenities in a language made of clatters and snips and short crackles, rolling on the ground. Fluttershy coughed, and reeked, expectorating more of the ochre matter, until she batted her eyes, and passed her hoof over her mouth, gagging. The gibbering globe rippled and thrashed, small mouths and eyes, and limbs, and some other things Fluttershy had no name for opening on his body – if body was. The dog, behind them, stood in silence, but two of his head looked warily to the thing, and the central one was fixed on Fluttershy's form, slowly walking towards the newcomer. Maybe sensing that something was coming, the globe turned... or did something like that, and leapt towards Fluttershy; tentacles sprouted from its form and attached themselves to her back, and small mouths bit into her chest and neck. The dog growled, but Fluttershy made him sign to stay put, and instead, shivering under the assault of claws and teeth of the... thing that had came out of her, she cooed and caressed its sticky surface... skin... or what it was, talking slowly. “Shhh... calm down now, calm down, it's all right, now...” The thing didn't stop; two tentacles unfurled like flowers of rotten flesh, revealing curved spines, that positioned themselves before Fluttershy's eyes, waving back and forth. She ignored them. “Hush now, quiet now...” Fluttershy sang, her voice for some reason unaffected by her long journey, the pain, the fatigue. “Hush, now, quiet now...” The thing... trembled, for a moment, like took by doubt. Fluttershy smiled. “Hush now...” she passed a hoof over its... skin, and the thing emitted a low sound, like a flute put underwater. “... quiet now...” and the thing retracted its tentacles, and stood between Fluttershy's hooves, its small eyes pointing to her smiling muzzle. “... hush now...” Fluttershy repeated, and the thing retracted again in a featureless yellow glob, save for one large eye, that looked at her. “... quiet now, it's time to lay your sleepy head...” The thing cooed, and emitted another fluting sound, before pulsating slowly and caressing Fluttershy's hooves. “... hush now, quiet now, it's time to go to bed.” The thing's eye slowly sank into its mass, and it emitted one last fluting sound, before standing still and silent, and finally quiet and peaceful. Fluttershy nuzzled its skin before putting it down to the ground. The three-headed dog snorted in appreciation. Then, appearing from the encircling darkness, tentacles, eyestalks, fingers, claws, tongues, and paws all moved to encircle Fluttershy.
Pony (Part II)Pony (Part II) Fluttershy smiled and let herself being carried up by the branches of flesh that surrounded her; she caressed them, smiled at the eyes, mouths, and hulking shapes to which the limbs belonged, recognizing every single of them, Slivering tongues lapped at the marks left by the newcomer, and Fluttershy felt the healing action of the sedatives making her scratches go numb; other appendages massaged her sore limbs and wings, and Fluttershy left herself be carried away by the pleasant sensation. Even if it was becoming each time more and more difficult, she always came here. And the things encircling her, those who had been there for mere months and those she had known for years, awaited her visits with eagerness and joy – and she too was happy to see them, it was one of the things that made the journey through half of Equestria to the Gates of Tartarus more bearable. She had no other choice, after all. The first time, the very first time this had happened, she had been too afraid to think straight, and the creature coming out of her had just left for the Everfree. She had come to meet her, from to time ; it was faring pretty good. But, given it had happened just six months after she had had her Cutie Mark, Fluttershy had just called it an odd accident, and had prayed it never happened again. Six months later, it happened again. And again the Everfree was the place for it, but, Fluttershy reasoned that this couldn't go on much longer. After all, the ponies living in the outskirts of the forest had said to have seen... strange things moving through the leaves. Strange even by the pretty high standards of the Everfree. So much strange, so much odd, and so much frightful that a hunting party was dispatched, and they had got the beast after a week and three dead, half-digested ponies. Fluttershy had wept. And she had decided that it wasn't going to repeat, ever again; she studied the old maps, and the old legends, to find for a place where her... her... awkward friends could live. A few she had dropped on the northern hills. But it was here, in Tartarus, that Fluttershy had decided to leave them be; here they had everything they could hope for: food, water, and playground. Even if the rivers and the food that was here was... pretty strange... they seemed to enjoy it. She had believed to have found a solution; though in later years her leaves of absence had become closer and closer. Six months. Five. Four. And now she had had the last one just two months before. Fluttershy opened her eyes, looked around at her friends, and smiled. Oh, well. She would find of a way to fix that too. Like she always did. And then, she stood on her hooves, and, foretasting the two or three days of playtime – if talking of days in this place out of time had any sense - she was going to have before coming back home, she started to sing for the enjoyment of her friends. At least, no one of them was a dragon. ECHIDNA THE MOTHER OF MONSTERS END
WaitWait The train rolled to Appleloosa, and Fluttershy looked outside of the window. She had paid a lot of bits to purchase a seat in first class, but she was enjoying what she had paid so much for: solitude. She was wearing a large, yet thin, hat, that hid well her form – courtesy of Rarity -, and a pair of shades over her eyes, and she was looking away from the corridor; she had never met anypony during one of these trips that could have recognized her, but you can never be too sure. The cottage had been left in the capable paws of Angel Bunny; she smiled at the concerned look on his face while he had seen her take flight – take flight! - in the early morning, while the sky was still so very dark, to take the very first train. He didn't know why she left, from time to time. And Fluttershy was sure that it was for the best. Once in Appleloosa, her contact would provide her with the room for the night, waiting for the next train, the one that would have taken her to Dodge City, and then... then to the South. She had yet to feel it again, though; passing her hoof idly on her chest, she reflected that, maybe, if she didn't feel anything to the time she came to Dodge City, maybe she had been wrong. It was definitely too early. The last... occurrence had been four months before, and the second last one, four months prior. Maybe she was going to come do Dodge City and just enjoy a day or two of vacation... maybe, who knows, befriend a few of the animals living there, see if she could help... The noise of the doors opening made her start, and a little eeep of surprise came out of her mouth; she looked at who was coming in, and it was just the mare with the sweets hand-cart. She briefly had a flash of what Pinkie's face would look like at such a sight. She just waved away at the gesture of the mare to offer her a few candies, maybe a hay sandwich, or a small bottle of fresh cider? Fluttershy looked down and away, and she was relieved when the mare left for the next car. Better to stay alone. Yes, alone. No contact with anypony, and just wait for something to happen. For the dull pain to return, or for it to go away. Fluttershy passed her tongue on a pair of very dry lips. Just wait. The train kept rolling, its soft hum on the rails echoing the beat of the heart in Fluttershy's chest.
