"Foals, your performance was miserable. Your parents will all be receiving letters instructing them to love you less." The elderly schoolmare adjusted her wire-rimmed glasses before looking down at the painfully neat stack of papers on her otherwise bare desk with distaste. Aged wooden paneling and a stone floor made a sharp contrast against the bright coats of the unicorn foals seated opposite her, but the riot of warm colors did nothing to warm the classroom against the chilly regard of their teacher.
"As not one of you managed to even accidentally answer half of the questions correctly, you will each have the privilege of answering one for me now." Turning her gaze on the mint green filly in the first row, the teacher's tone shifted from disapproval to poisonous sweetness. "Lyra, could you please tell the class the proper spell formulae for moving an object via levitation?"
As Lyra gave her teacher an overly bright and obviously forced grin and began to recite what she hoped was the proper spell, the purple coated unicorn three seats down did her best to appear calm. Inside, however, Twilight Sparkle's thoughts raced with growing panic as she realized that she didn't remember any of the test questions.
"That will do Lyra." As the schoolmare turned her focus to the next colt in line, Twilight's desperation suddenly gave way to an idea. Sliding down in her seat a bit, she ever so quietly slid her notes out of her desk, scanning through them furiously as the teacher questioned the next in line.
Line after line of nonsense in her own handwriting flying before her eyes, Twilight felt a hard lump of fear growing in the pit of her stomach, alongside the desperation rushing through her veins as she read and re-read the paper, willing it to tell her what she needed to know.
"Twilight. Twilight Sparkle!" The terrifically loud slap of a yardstick landing in the middle of her notes startled Twilight out of her search with a muffled squeak of fear. Timidly, she looked up through pink and purple bangs into the stern glare of the teacher towering over her desk.
"Y..yes, Ms. Rose?" Her voice was the quiet squeak of a terrified filly, but inside her head Twilight's thoughts were screaming in panic.
"The answer, Miss Sparkle?" Cabbage Rose's impatience was clear, and the rest of the class huddled in their own seats, silently thankful that they were not the target of her baleful stare.
"Um…" The lavender filly smiled awkwardly up at her teacher, queasy with panic. "What was the question again?"
A few muffled snickers from the back row were quickly silenced by a glare from the teacher, which was turned back on Twilight as well. "See me after class, Miss Sparkle." Turning to the one of the colts who had chuckled, Ms. Rose began her next question.
For Twilight, the question was drowned out by internal panic. She had completely blown it, in front of the entire class, and now she was going to have to stay after class and face one of Ms. Rose's infamous lectures. Embarrassment, shame, and fear roiled inside of the young unicorn as the rest of the period crawled by, and the other foals filed out towards their next class, leaving her alone with the teacher.
With the rest gone, Cabbage Rose settled behind her desk, seemingly having forgotten entirely about the small purple lump of unicorn-shaped misery left alone in the front row of the room. As the teacher began sorting through the test papers, minutes dragged by like hours for the filly as she waited for the other horseshoe to drop.
At length, the elder unicorn set aside her papers and gave Twilight a long and considering look. "I was there for your entrance exam, young lady, and while you managed to pass by some fluke, I begin to think this is not your place."
"But… I..." Twilight could only stammer in response, staring wide-eyed at the older mare.
"This is a school for gifted unicorns, Miss Sparkle," Ms. Rose continued, favoring purple unicorn filly with a stern look, "And clearly you lack the focus required."
Her vision swimming with tears, the young unicorn stared speechlessly at her teacher, desperately afraid of what was going to come next. Stepping out from behind the desk, the schoolmare headed for the door, leaving her last words to echo in Twilight's mind.
"Princess Celestia will be so disappointed..."
***
Gasping, Twilight Sparkle sat up in her bed, clutching at her blanket as her teacher's words echoed in her mind. Blood pounded in her ears as her heart raced along with the panic in her mind, and then began to quiet as she recognized the familiar outlines of her own bedroom in Ponyville's library-tree.
With a sigh, the lavender mare fell back against her pillows, waiting for her racing pulse to calm as she stared out one of the high windows at the calming velvet expanse of the night sky, scattered with twinkling stars. Twilight's eyes wandered until they caught sight of the moon high in the sky, shining bright and pure, unmarred by the signs of Nightmare Moon's imprisonment.
The remembered brush of a warm coat and the sweet words of a beloved mentor brought a soft smile to Twilight Sparkle's face as she settled back down to peace and quiet.
"She's not disappointed."
The leaf-strewn floor of the Everfree Forest flew beneath Fluttershy's hooves as the yellow coated pegasus ran onwards. How long had she been running? How far into the forest had she come? Another surge of panic washed away her questions as she remembered what had brought her into these dark woods.
It all started with a chicken. Silly creatures, really, which had spent so many generations living alongside ponykind that they just weren't prepared to defend themselves in the wild anymore. Of course, that didn't stop them from thinking they could, the poor dears. One of the small flock who looked to Fluttershy for protection was especially stubborn, and had wandered off several times. Elizabeak was usually easy to find, as she wasn't really brave enough to wander far, but she had a talent for slipping past the fencing that kept other animals out of the chicken coop.
Of course the silly bird would choose the worst time to take off on her little adventure. Fluttershy had been too distracted by the hyperactive trio she was fillysitting to notice the sound of the fence being pulled aside, but her charges hadn't missed it. Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle were long gone by the time their panic-stricken hostess realized the situation. Tiny hoofprints and chicken scratches both lead down the path into the Everfree Forest.
Forcing herself into the creepy woods, especially at night, took every bit of courage Fluttershy had. She hated this place even in daylight. In the darkness, the trees loomed like monsters out of a old mare's tale, their branches seeming to reach hungrily for the yellow pegasus. Her headlong flight down the wooded paths had given her several scratches from branches that she had no time to dodge, and several soft feathers decorated the brush where they had caught up and been left behind. She ignored the sting. It was nothing compared to her worry.
Fluttershy knew the dangers of these woods were far beyond just looking spooky. Untamed creatures roamed here who would have no qualms about making a meal of a full-grown pony, much less three fillies and a chicken. She had to find them before something else did. Oh, curse these endlessly twisting paths! Hopping over a fallen log, the pegasus spotted a lightening in the pitch black canopy ahead, where the path widened into a clearing.
The crescent moon above cast a weak and pale light through the thin clouds, but compared to the solid ceiling of overgrown trees the clearing was bright. A light mist hugged the ground, silvery in the moonlight, outlining the blessedly familiar figure of an unexpected pony. Hope surged though Fluttershy, and she slowed from her heedless flight to call out to her friend.
"Twilight, is that you? Oh, thank goodness you're here, I need your help!"
There was no response. Halting a few feet from the unicorn, Fluttershy tried again, the hard knot of fear beginning to tighten once more in her stomach.
"Twilight?"
A light breeze stirred the fog as the moon slipped from behind a cloud to further light the small clearing, and the yellow pegasus realized what the small, frightened voice in the back of her head had been screaming since she set eyes on her friend. Twilight was not moving. Not even with the slight motion of breath. The drifting fog and darkness could hide a multitude of things, but the breeze did not stir the unicorn's mane. Wide-eyed, Fluttershy carefully crept forward, reaching out to nuzzle her friend, only to be met with cold stone instead of a warm purple coat.
"Oh… oh no…" Tears sprung up at the corners of her eyes as the yellow pegasus flinched back, shrinking into herself as if to hide behind her pink mane. How had this happened? What could have done such a thing? Her mind raced, but one answer came to mind. A cockatrice. The terrible half snake, half chicken creatures would hunt this way, turning unsuspecting creatures to stone to be eaten later. But if an accomplished mage like Twilight had fallen to one, the fillies had no chance. She had to find them. But where?
A sound from deeper into the forest pulled her back alert. Young voices, shrill with fright, drifted on the wind from ahead. With a strength born of terror, Fluttershy took wing. Something had already found her charges, and her blood ran cold at the thought of what could be happening to three fillies alone in these woods that would draw such screams. She didn't have far to go, touching down in another small clearing seconds later, but even those few precious seconds were far too long.
It almost could have been the sort of sculpture one sees in childrens' museums at first glance. Three fillies in cloaks all huddled around the base of a tree, staring up at a stone chicken nestled in the lower branches. That is, until the mind's eye caught the details. A tiny pegasus standing between the others and the tree was reared back defensively, her face set in a terrible mixture of fright and determination. Behind her, a despairing little earth pony stood over a fallen unicorn, eyes wide with shock as if looking for somewhere to run, to hide from whatever had come after her.
But the worst was the unicorn. Sweetie Belle had clearly seen the creature that struck her down first. She lay on the ground, rear legs locked as if standing, but her front hooves stretched out towards her friends as if pleading with them to flee and save themselves. It was too much to take in. The sheer desperation of the filly's expression drove Fluttershy to her knees, keening softly to herself as she wept.
"Oh… oh Celestia no…" She couldn't think. It was as if a yawning pit of grief and shame had opened in front of her very hooves, and swallowed her whole. Brokenly weeping, Fluttershy knelt in the clearing. She paid no attention to the sounds around her until hot, fetid breath on her ear made her startle and look up into the beady red eyes of a monster. Their gazes locked, and the critical little voice that was always at the back of the shy pegasus' thoughts began screaming in incoherent terror, demanding escape.
The slowly growing numbing cold in her limbs was almost welcome. At long last, this was the end to all fear. Fleeing now was impossible, she could no more get to her hooves than move a mountain, but it was alright. The cold crept over her flanks and towards her wings as Fluttershy took one last sobbing breath.
"I failed you…"
Then, there were no more words. The small statues before her faded as the world went gray and quiet, but in the silence of her mind, a voice was screaming…
~~~~~
Fluttershy startled awake, ears still ringing with the echoes of the scream. Groggily, she tried to sit up, panicking as something resisted her movement and thrashing for freedom until she realized her captor was just a sweat soaked sheet. It took a few moments for the still-shaky pegasus to get free from the sheet, and she immediately collapsed back on the bed in a huddle of wings and disheveled mane. A roll of thunder outside told her that the storms that had been promised had come at last.
A quiet sound of hooves from the hallway, followed by the slight movement of somepony putting a hoof on her bed drew Fluttershy to peek out from the messy concealment of her mane at the small figures in her doorway.
"Fluttershy? Can we… EEP!" Another crack of thunder interrupted Apple Bloom's question, and suddenly the shy pegasus was the center of a trembling pile of frightened fillies as they all sought shelter from the storm.
With a gentle smile, she spread her wings over them comfortingly.
"It's okay, girls. I won't let anything hurt you."
