This is going to be a terrible night...
It was a busy afternoon in Ponyville, and Fluttershy found herself in the marketplace. “Oh, hey Fluttershy, what brings 'ya out here?” She turns around to find Applejack standing near her apple cart, holding an apple.
“Oh, just picking up a couple of things.”
“Hopefully one'a those things ain't apples right now, 'cus I'm on break” Applejack rubbed the apple against her chest, and took a moment to admire the sheen. She then took a big bite out of it, juice oozing from its flesh. A stream of juice trickled down the skin of the apple, just the sight of which was enough to make Fluttershy's mouth water. “You feeling a bit hungry? You got a little something right there” Applejack asked, and made a motion to the corner of her mouth.
“Oh,” replied Fluttershy, as she wiped away the saliva, “Well, I wasn't, until I saw that apple...”
“Heheh, funny how your stomach works like that sometimes.” Applejack mused as she took a second bite of the apple. The tantalizing smell of the apple played at Flutershy's nostrils, Its glistening flesh just as enticing. The more she stared at the apple, taking in its sights and smells, the more she craved it. In that moment, she wanted nothing more than to bite into a big, juicy apple. Applejack's eyes met her friend's stare. “'Ya want one?”
Fluttershy nodded meekly. “That would be nice.” Applejack grabbed an apple off the cart, and held it out toward Fluttershy. As her eyes locked on the apple, it felt as though some chained-up beast inside her broke free. Her eyes snapped shut. Her brows furrowed. A pair of fangs protruded from her upper jaw. The last thing she could remember, is the look of terror in Applejack's eyes, as she drew closer and closer to her.
***
Fluttershy awoke from her bed with a start, her heart beating furiously. Her mind raced with thoughts of the dream she'd just experienced, as her heart did so in kind. She took a few deep breaths. Fluttershy shook her head and rubbed her eyes with a hoof. A rhythmic thumping sound came from the stairs. Angel appeared at the top of the stairs, carrying an empty bowl with him. He pointed at the bowl, then toward his mouth.
“Oh, sorry Angel,” she said, flipping her mane out of her eyes, “I've not been sleeping well lately. I'll get you fed soon.” Angel hopped up onto her dresser, and pointed to a picture sitting on it. “You think I should ask my friends for help?” Angel nodded. “Okay then, I will” Angel once more pointed at the empty bowl. “After I feed you, of course” Fluttershy assured.
With her daily chores completed, she left the cottage, with Ponyville set in her sights. As she walked along the road, her mind recalled the events of the dream. The primal urge taking over her, the helpless look in her friend’s eyes, it felt all too real to her. As the familiar sights of Ponyville drew closer, a doubt began forming at the back of her mind. What if her friends couldn’t help? What if there was no fixing this? Fluttershy did her best to dismiss these thoughts from her mind, but try as she might, she couldn’t entirely silence them.
Upon reaching Ponyville, a thought entered Fluttershy’s mind. Just who should she ask? Since Twilight’s magic was the main cause of the problem, perhaps it would be best to consult her. With her mind made up, she went off in search of twilight. Her first stop was the library, since she was most likely here at this time of day. Fluttershy knocks at the front door.
The door swings open. “Oh hey, Fluttershy. What do you need?” Spike stood at the entrance, holding the door open.
“Hi, Spike, is Twilight home?”
“Yeah, she’s upstairs. Twilight you have a visitor!”
Hoofsteps could be heard upstairs. “Oh? Who is it?” Twilight came into view at the top of the stairs. “Fluttershy? What brings you here?” Twilight tilted her head as she stared at her.
“I had a question for you…” Fluttershy said, rubbing the back of her neck with a hoof.
Twilight descended the stairs, and took a brief moment to examine her friend. Her eyes were bloodshot,and dark bags under her eyelids. “Fluttershy, are you okay? You don’t look so good.” Her mouth curled into a frown.
“Ever since what happened at Sweet Apple Acres, I’ve been having these strange dreams, and they’re keeping me up at night.”
“Could you tell me what kinds of dreams you’re having?
“Well...” Fluttershy recalled her dreams at depth, with Twilight listening intently the entire time.
Twilight’s furrowed her eyebrows as she rubbed her chin with a hoof. “Hmm, I think I may have something that can help,” she said as she levitated a few books off of a nearby shelf, “but it’ll take some time to set up, you wouldn’t mind hanging around for a few hours, would you?”
She shook her head. “Not at all.”
As she prepared the spell, the afternoon hours whittled down, The sunlight fading to an amber glow on the horizon. “All right, Fluttershy, its time.” She glanced over to see Twilight looking over stack of parchment held in front of her by magic. “Now, I’ll need you to take a nap.”
“Are you sure this is a good idea?” A knot formed at the pit of her stomach at the thought of taking to sleep.
“You have to, if we’re to find the cause of it. I even prepared a bed for you to sleep in” Twilight motions to a small bed set up in the library. Fluttershy heaves a sigh and walked over to the bed. As her head hit the pillow, the energy she had melted away. Her eyes felt heavy and fell relatively uncontested.
Sleep soon followed. The first few hours passed without incident, but as the last scarlet rays of the dying sunlight faded away, Fluttershy’s demeanor took a turn for the worse. Her face contorted into a grimace, and she began thrashing about in her sleep. Twilight cast her spell, searching for anything out of the ordinary.
Fluttershy suddenly awoke, breaking the spell. The feathers in her wings receded, giving way to large, membranous wings. Fangs sprouted from her jaw. She lunged out the nearest window, flying off into the distance.
***
“Who wants cider?” Granny Smith called.
“I know I sure could use some, after all the work we put in” Applejack replied, stretching the stiff muscles in her neck.
“Mac, be a dear and fetch a barrel from the cellar, would you?”
The stoic stallion nodded and left the room. A few moments later he returned, a barrel of cider in tow. Granny Smith poured four mugs of cider and placed them on the table. Applejack raised her mug. “To another successful apple harvest.”
“Here, here” they all chimed in, toasting their accomplishment. Apple Bloom knocked glasses with Applejack, spilling part of her drink on her in the process.
“Oh.. Sorry, Applejack.”
“Ah, don’t worry about it, sugarcube.” She wiped the cider from her shoulder.
A rustling sound from outside catches Applejack’s attention. “Did y’all hear that?” The others shook their head in unison. “I’ll go check it out.” She peered out into the darkness from the doorway. Nothing to be seen. Another rustling sound. She ventured outside. “Hello? Anypony out here?” A sudden gust of wind and Applejack found herself face-to-face with Fluttershy, all too eager to bear her fangs at her. She struggled to keep Fluttershy’s fangs from meeting her skin. A sudden flash of light sent Fluttershy flying away.
“Applejack, are you okay? And why do you smell like apple cider?”
“Oh, Twilight,” Applejack said with a sigh, “Am I sure glad to see you. We brought out some cider to celebrate another successful harvest, and Apple Bloom accidentally spilled some on me. Now, care to to explain just what in Equestria that was about?”
“Well, apparently my last spell didn’t remove all of the vampire fruit bat’s influence from Fluttershy.”
“‘Ya think?”
“She came to me because she was having weird dreams, and asked for my help. Based on some of the notes I’d taken of the spell I cast last time, I suspected a part still remained in her subconsciousness, so I prepared a spell to find and remove it. Unfortunately, as I blindly searched for it, it found a way to escape her subconscious, and take over.”
“Uh huh…” Applejack said slowly, processing the information just given to her. “Shouldn’t we get the others?
“There’s no time, Applejack, if the orchard is clear of apples, then there’s no readily accessible apples for miles. Hard telling where she’d end up by the time we rounded up everypony else.”
“Do you at least have a plan?”
“Yes, but we’re gonna need that cider…”
***
The cider barrel sat in the distance, the smell of cider drifting on the breeze. “You see her yet?” Applejack calls out to Twilight.
“No, not yet. Keep your eyes peeled.”
“There she is,” Applejack whispered, pointing toward an approaching Fluttershy. She landed near the cider barrel, bringing her head toward the opened end of the barrel. Twilight cast a spell to immobilize Fluttershy, freezing her in place. With her friend successfully bound, she cast the spell to remove the last of the bat’s influence from her. With it gone, Fluttershy’s bat-like features reverted to her normal pegasi form.
She shook her head as she stirred. “Is it gone for good this time?”
A smile swept across Twilight’s face. “It’s gone.”
Author's Note
Whew, finally fixed. Lesson learned, don't upload a document to google drive, convert it to a google document, then upload it to fimfiction... that caused more problems than I thought it'd eliminate. Also, I can't believe I hit the wordlimit for this >.> I even had to remove some details, just because I was running short on wordcount. Well, if for nothing else, this was an excersice of how well I could "Show, not tell", which I'm not immediately sure I've done well with.
