The electrified tension between the past and present.
Twinkle, twinkle, little star. How I wonder who you are.
"Luna? What are you doing still up?" Princess Celestia had awakened to raise the sun, finding her sister still on the balcony overlooking the stars in the same spot when she had risen the moon.
"If I am tired, I will rest during the day." She turned her head slightly to the right, just enough to look at her sister. "If one does not mind."
"I do want you to get your rest." said Princess Celestia, worried. "Why don't you lie down now?"
Princess Luna sighed. "Tia, something worries me. The night skies are what I am most familiar with, and yet..." she trailed off, eyes to the stars.
"What's the matter?" Princess Celestia scanned the skies trying to find what might have been bothering her sister.
"There's a new star. I have not added any new stars, and if I have, I had forgotten." Princess Luna rested her head on the balcony. "I never forget my stars..."
"Go to sleep, Luna. You need your rest. I'm sure it's nothing."
"I hope so too. Good morning, Tia."
Fluttershy woke up in the peace of her cottage, several of her critter friends waking up before her, the animals standing on the windowsill to see the sunrise of their Princess. The light yellow pegasus remained in bed for a few more moments, watching the sunrise from there, climbing out when the sun had become to bright too look at.
"Good morning, every pony." Fluttershy started to feed all the animals, washing her face and hooves afterwards. She stuck her head out the window, taking in the scenery and fresh air. Feeling confident, Fluttershy decided to pack her saddle bags for a trip into town. Her friends lived all over Ponyville, making the trip really seem like a journey. The closest friend was Twilight Sparkle, living in the town library. She took her time trotting there, occasionally talking to any creature who cared to walk beside her. It wasn't long before she was in front of the wooden door to the carved in tree her scholarly unicorn friend happily called home. She raised a gentle hoof to knock on the door when the words of her friends stopped her.
"-why in the world would you suggest such a thing, Rainbow?"
Twilight's voice stopped Fluttershy in her tracks, the unicorns voice defiant with a side of appalled.
"She asked me herself. Sure, she was a bit tipsy, but you what know they say."
"What is it that they say?" challenged Twilight.
"Drunken words are sober thoughts, but anyways, I was thinking and this brilliant idea popped up that you bashed on because you were jealous an egghead like you didn't think of it first."
"But why this, Rainbow? You couldn't think of anything easier to start with?"
"Nothing that wouldn't get her hurt."
Fluttershy gulped.
"What about you, egg head? Aren't you supposed to be the one with all the ideas?"
"I have one!"
Fluttershy jumped at the sound of the voice on the verge of complete squeakiness.
"Pinkie Pie? How'd you get in here?"
"Same way you did."
There was a moment of silence as Fluttershy imagined the two ponies staring at Pinkie Pie with a borderline glare with the thought of Pinkie Pie just being Pinkie Pie running laps inside their heads.
"Anyways," Pinkie continued, "I have a story that just might do the trick. I read it in ten seconds flat!"
"That's my line." growled Rainbow Dash.
At another moment of silence, Fluttershy pushed open the door with a polite hello, remaining on the doorstep. She smiled, Pinkie Pie bouncing towards her after she yanked a dark blue book out of her saddle bag.
"Here you are!" she said, stuffing it into Fluttershy's saddle bag. "It's a good story. I found it in between the frames of time. Evan would've been jealous."
"That's not scientifically possible." commented Twilight, but Pinkie just batted her eyelashes at her while Twilight muttered something about the ridiculousness of 'time frames'.
"It's a horror story to teach you to be brave!" Pinkie explained.
The yellow pegasus gulped, eyes growing while her pupils did the opposite. She stuttered over the genre.
"That's right! Just remember, Fluttershy. It's only a story." Pinkie Pie bounced over her, disappearing when the other three ponies blinked. Rainbow Dash shrugged, flying out the window with a 'see ya' leaving Twilight Sparkle trying to smile encouragingly, but there was an exasperated sense to her eyes.
Fluttershy softly coughed to break the silence, eyes darting to the ground. "Well, I guess I'll go back home and read..."
"Only if you want to." said Twilight.
Fluttershy nodded, said good bye and quietly returned to her trot on the streets, but she didn't know what to think. The few moments she got to look at the book had given her a weird feeling and even though it was concealed, she feel it emanating from the depths of her lightly packed saddle bag. Fluttershy tried to ignore it, walking for a few more steps before abruptly turning around and racing home at the speed of two point three wing power. I'm so sorry, Rarity. I'll make it up to you. Her eyes began to water and in the brief moment she wiped them her head was reintroduced to the door. In a few clumsy moments, Fluttershy feels the rug underneath her hooves and throws off her saddle pack, inadvertently aimed by a couple of unsuspecting bunnies. She quickly apologizes, looking at the book that fell out of it. Fluttershy could feel her throat lock up and her heart pound against her chest like the sound of war drums. Timidly, she walked over close enough to tap it with the corner of her hoof if she stretched out her hind legs as far as she could. It was rough to the touch, the edges peeling and the pages yellowed. She crept a little bit closer trying to find a title in the solid cover, the color seeming to suck in her thoughts, the binding calling for attention. The pegasus took in a deep breath, and flipped over to the first page, reluctantly opening her eyes to black loopy lines, shiny and threatening to smear if she turned another page.
Fluttershy backed into a corner, hoping there would be some pony, notably Rarity, to knock on her door and distract her from the letters latching into her coat and pulling her in like barbed wire around her front legs. "Fine!" she yelled, giving into the pull as she jumped in front of the book, and ventured its tale.
Day 0
I felt alone, even in myself. Every pony, even my sister, had visibly abandoned me until I was left to turning on myself. There were so many secrets, so many memories weighing me down as I faced away from my small village and ran for days on end until my horse shoes had become mobs of thorns cutting into my hooves. I wound up in a roadside cafe, the speckled tile a sight to behold after a lifetime of dirt roads and weed floors. A unicorn behind the counter took pity on me, offering a cup of liquid emanating a pungent smell called coffee, a notion I took as more than enough evidence not to take a peek in any reflective surfaces. I couldn't get past the first sip, something I'd like to blame on the temperature, ignoring a group of unruly earth colts headed by a unicorn famous in my town. The nice unicorn started yelling at the gang, but this time he was armed and did not flinch. My ears rang as my eyes fell upon what was now the shattered remains her head. The other unicorn swore, the large object held by his magic making another loud sound, a machine that had to have been stolen from Cobalia. A machine that was now shakily pointed at me.
"Once more and forever more." he said, breathing hard.
This was the second time it happened, their hearts pounding in my ears, their bodies, scratched up from what must have been the thorns. I panicked, electricity pouring into those tiny cuts, filling their veins, corrupting their hearts. I walked over to the gang leader, who was barely alive, his heart gradually becoming quieter in its decrescendo. Giving up on conscious thought, I told him the first of my secrets to his soon to be lifeless eyes.
There was a knock on the door of Fluttershy's cottage, the sound reverberating through out the home, still and dark, despite the sun's high and mighty position in the sky.
"Fluttershy!" called out a voice that penetrated right into the depths of Fluttershy's shaken mind which had one thought stuck on repeat. "Fluttershy, I heard from Twilight that you were trying out a horror novel. How courageous of you! Of course, since I'm complimenting you through your door perhaps you may need some pony to help you 'rough it out' as they say. " By now, Fluttershy emerged from her hiding spot rushing in the door to let Rarity and the light she always had with her inside the dim cottage.
Rarity batted her eyelashes, her blue eyes sparkling even more that usual, if that were 'scientifically possible'. "Darling, are you okay?"
Fluttershy knodded gratefully. "I am now. Thank you for coming. I'm sorry about not going visiting you earlier."
"Oh that's all right, dear." Rarity stepped in, illuminating the main room with her horn. "So, how about this horror novel? Shall I take a peek?"
Fluttershy hesitantly gestured to the corner which the book had been flung into to. Rarity trotted over, Fluttershy turning on the lights behind her. The unicorn skimmed the first couple of pages, making muttered comments, the book enveloped in a blue glow. Fluttershy jumped when Rarity shouted out one comment louder than the others.
"Sorry about that." She floated the book in front of her face. "I must say, I wouldn't say this is as horrific as it is interesting. It certainly has a unique voice to it."
"Pinkie Pie gave it to me." Fluttershy mumbled.
"Well that may explain the style. How far have you gotten?"
Fluttershy turned the pages back to the first one, tapping halfway through.
"That settles it! We are making hot cocoa, wrapping up in a giant blanket and we'll read this together!" Rarity headed towards the kitchen. "Sound like a good idea?"
"Oh, it sounds like a great idea. Thank you, Rarity." Although, Fluttershy thought a better idea was getting rid of the book, but she didn't mention this.
Rarity came back to the main room to give Fluttershy a peck on the cheek. "No problem, dear. It's the least I can do."
Day 11
I couldn't rest for a couple of days, the glare from those innocent ponies were as painful as I could imagine the unicorn's machine to be. My mind raced, but no pony had any open cuts so I dashed, not stopping until my hooves began to loudly protest and the sun was beginning to set, night moving in, stars showing their true glory. I was captivated, reversed into the few peaceful days of my very young childhood.
Star shine, star light
How I gaze upon my star tonight
I wish I -
The sudden sound of light footsteps dragged me kicking and screaming to the harsh reality. I whipped my head around to face a small filly, an earth pony with colors I couldn't determine in the low lighting. The filly stared, taking a few stumbling steps back.
"I saw you in a paper! A printed paper!" The filly exclaimed, jumping up and down. "You must be FAMOUS!"
I urged her to quiet down, not feeling far enough from the cafe for loud bursts of sound, but she laughed in my face.
"No pony is around here for miles." she chased her tail in circles, the sound of kicked rocks become glaringly apparent. She threw on a fake southern accent, crossing her eyes. "Yer on a rock farm. We hur grow ROCKS!" Looking back at me she sat down, waiting.
"I- I.... I was just in a forest! Where... "I spun around, almost tripping on my own hooves. "Where did all the trees go?"
The filly said nothing.
"There were just trees, big trees! Trees, like roses... like..."
"You wanted to be far away." said the filly, her voice drifting off, like now she was far away. "So now, you are. Very far away. Like I said. No pony out here for miles."
I looked around again, the sky now becoming lighter, night over in a flash, the filly, gone. I breathed a heavy sigh, the adrenaline vanishing into wisps of moments turning into a few hasty steps. The colors of the ever changing sky shined into my eyes, blinding me to my knees as I decided to fall asleep.
"See, Fluttershy?" Rarity ceased her telekinesis, inadvertently allowing Fluttershy to jolt and smash into the wall. Multiple times while the unicorn was reading aloud, the pegasus tried to escape until Rarity used her magic to pin her wings. "It's not scary!"
Fluttershy trembled, Rarity walking over to pet her on the head. "Couldn't you feel it though?" Fluttershy whispered.
"Feel what?" Rarity asked quizzically.
"Those letters are like ropes of splintered wire wrapped around me, dragging me into those pages. The pages give off a haunted feeling, like something horrible is going to happen! It invades my mind, it makes me think too much." Fluttershy whimpered. "Couldn't you feel it? It's a voice!"
"Maybe that's why they call it a horror story?" Rarity suggested softly. "It is just a story." The unicorn glanced at the clock and nudged Fluttershy's head in the general direction. "Should we head out for a bite to eat?"
"The sun's still out, right?" Fluttershy covered her head again, the question raising out muffled.
"It normally is during lunch time. I know an excellent restaurant that just opened up. It's near the Sugar Cube Corner too so you can give Pinkie Pie a piece of your mind if you want." Rarity started trotting over to the door, stopping by a mirror to get her mane and tail in order.
Fluttershy followed, looking at Rarity through the mirror, confused. "Why would I want to do that?"
"That's up to you, darling."
Rarity took lead of the conversation as well as the role of filling most of it up as Fluttershy chewed on her hay fries, eyes set to some imaginary object in the distance. Rarity had noticed this, but after a few one word replies she let her in her thoughts until the pegasus' expression started to turn serious, mouthing out a few words that couldn't be heard.
"Snap out of it!" Rarity jostled the table, catching Fluttershy's attention and offering her a glass of water. "What's going through your mind?"
Her eyebrows furrowed. "It's that book! I told you, Rarity. It gets inside my head. It's so far away but I can still hear it!"
"Want to take me up on that offer?" Rarity asked quietly.
Fluttershy nodded.
"All right then." Rarity waved down a waiter to pay for the food, Fluttershy already heading towards the door. "Darling, wait for me!"
Rarity caught up with her just as Fluttershy's hooves found the ground, her head low. The unicorn nuzzled her neck and gave her a warm smile, but the troubled pegasus wouldn't look up.
"Sugar Cube Corner, right?" Fluttershy asked, although she was already headed on her way there, guided by the scent of sugar and frosting, sure that a team of pegasi was gathering up a cluster of clouds to signify her dark mood. Once inside, Rarity took the conversation up by storm, cutting herself off when she saw that Pinkie Pie was at the front counter marking off completed orders while taking in new ones.
"Okey dokie lokie! Come tomorrow afternoon!" the earth mare set back the phone and looked up at the unsettled unicorn and brooding pegasus. "What's wrong?" her question was directed at Fluttershy, but Rarity answered.
"Oh, we were reading that book you gave her earlier. I must say, it's very interesting." she turned back to Fluttershy who had her snout pressed up to the glass, observing the intricate details of the baked goods that rivaled the mastery of the Carousel Boutique.
"Those are some of our best ones," mentioned Pinkie. "They're made of cardboard though since no pony buys them since they're really expensive." Pinkie leaned over to look at them from Fluttershy's dull eyed point of view. "Rarity bought two of the last year!"
"Yeah, I remember. They were delicious." Fluttershy marveled quietly.
Rarity laughed, remembering the taste herself. "Fluttershy has a question about the book." She nudged Fluttershy to say something, but she only whimpered, mushing her forehead against the glass.
"Remember what I told you?" Pinkie winked at the pegasus.
It's only a story.
Rarity and Fluttershy went back outside to the streets,the sun beginning it's slow decent into the horizon before the princess came up to take over with the moon. Rarity glanced over to the Ponyville clock tower, gasping, then hastily apologizing. " I need to go and feed Opalescence. If you want, I'll come over to your cottage afterwards."
Fluttershy shook her head, appearing a bit calmer. "Oh that's alright. I'll visit you tomorrow morning if I can remember."
Rarity gave her a kiss before trotting off in the opposite direction. "Have a nice night!"
Fluttershy jumped at the word 'night'. "You too!" she called out before flying off to her cottage for the moon could beat her to it, inches from pummeling her face back into the door before grinding her hooves into the concrete. She checked her horse shoes, noting that if she made this a habit, she'd need new ones with in a couple days. Calming herself down, she pushed open the front door, a shadow rustling out of the corner of her eye. An animal, she thought with no opinion at all, but it stirred again, much to big to be the kind of creatures that roamed through her house. Her breathing quickened, wings trying to melt into her waist in a futile attempt to apparently become an earth pony.
The pegasus stood there, scraping her hooves against the ground, trying to work up the courage to face the shadow.
"He-hello?" Fluttershy crept timidly towards, the shadow trying to shrink into the wall on the other side of the corner. "M-My name is Fluttershy."
A head peaked out towards Fluttershy's voice, a mare with a tan coat and dark blue hair with streaks of crimson in several places. Her eyes seemed lost for a moment, shaking with the gravity of what was behind them, but quickly concentrated on Fluttershy's trembling cyan ones. The mare stood up, revealing she was an earth pony with a what looked like a heart wrapped in barbed wire as a cutie mark.
"Hello," The pony smiled, but it brought Fluttershy no comfort. "Sorry about hiding." Fluttershy stumbled back. "My name is Tesla Hart."
The sound of Fluttershy's heart flooded her ears, her throat choked up, inhibiting her already disjointed response into a long line of what resembled the bastard child of a gutter growl and squeak.
The mare brushed on hoof off the other her eyes refusing to leave the terrified pegasus' face. The gaze was steady, glimmering, emanating with the strong pull of a thorny grasp, cutting into her into skin. "I guess I'll be going then." Her voice was the same way.
"P-please..."
The sound of Tesla's hoof beats echoed off into the distance as she headed towards the Everfree Forest. Those eyes had Fluttershy by the her delicate throat, threatening to take away everything she held precious to her heart.
'All in the name of secrets, my dear.'
Fluttershy shook her head, keeping her eyes open in the growing darkness. No pony was around her, the silence now a screaming monster in her ears. Even as she stepped inside her cottage she interpreted the abnormal stillness inside as a claw waiting to drag her away by the tail.
The book remained on the rug where it was left earlier, defiantly protesting its part in all this, a spoiled filly used to grabbing her way out of blame. Fluttershy growled, a rare moment of aggression, taking the book by the teeth and tossing it out the window where it made its final bout of existence in a brief, startling flash of blue sparks instead of a soft, barely audible thud on the ground. The pegasus stared, her head blank from the unexpected reaction. The moment her brain reached a vapid conclusion she made her way to her bed in three wide leaps up the stairs, pretending the inexorable pull had ceased.
It seemed like two seconds into eternity after Fluttershy buried her head into into her pillow when she heard the blue sparks again, this time far off into the distance, covered by curt shriek before hollow silence took back their rightful place. Fluttershy jolted up, feeling as if the air had been electrified, catching her wings in the progress. She couldn't stay here anymore, the pull raising up into her conscious, the thorns digger deeper into her body, the rope becoming taught in the direction of the forest. Fluttershy made a mental note to start saving up for new horse shoes, dragging each step across the ground as she made it through her cottage to the chilling air of the night sky, the darkness as dark it would ever get with tiny specks of light defying this feat. Fluttershy tried to beat her wings in the direction of the far off cluster of unlit homes, the exception being the lone window to the top floor of a hollowed out tree...
The coolness of the grass sent a shiver of calm up her spine, Fluttershy not even realizing that she began walking towards the line of trees shaking hooves with the sky. Her wings felt heavy against her body, as if they were detached sandbags dropped on her back, hanging off the side with a coarse rope connecting then that couldn't be felt. She finally managed to stop walking when she was close enough to spot the mare she had encountered earlier, a slumped figure in front of her. Fluttershy was about to walk away in the numb moment between the transition of having no will and being able to control herself when a voice slid out of the mare, curving around to Fluttershy's now alert ears, just daring her to trot away.
"I lost my father at a young age. A pegasus, like the rest of the family, but stood out for his odd demeanor. No pony knew better than my brother that it hinted at my father's true insanity. One night, I heard screams and I ran towards the sound, unlike my sister who cured up in a ball in a futile attempt to ward them off. I followed the sound to just outside of our house, the echoes ringing in my ears and off into the distance. I found my brother on the ground, silenced by a silvery glint sticking out his throat, his wings reduced to a scattering of feathers around scraped bone, his hind legs hammered to the ground by giant rusty nails, spreadout wide.
"So he wouldn't get away, my father explained, his statement stained at the edges with a bout of laughter. He turned towards me, his face bruised from kicks, had, his front legs bitten and bleeding. I still remember the tint of his voice, the command that his last words surged up, like needles in my throat and thorns around my legs. You're next, little whore."
The mare stood up and faced the pegasus, proving to her that it was Tesla. Fluttershy cringed, the Tesla's eyes bringing up the same feeling. A trait that must have been inherited.
"That was the first time it happened." Tesla continued, her hooves coated in a dark liquid, several streaks of it splattered across her face like the mismatched color in her hair. "That was the night I had been given my own star." she whispered, coming closer to Fluttershy. Tesla patted her on the back, accidentally smearing blood into her coat and wings, the iron heavy scent invading her snout with the information of its identity. It rose up in her throat, bile being the primary resident making Fluttershy realize she hardly ate in the last day.
Tesla drew back, causally apologizing and wiping her hooves on the grass as if she had dropped a soda on the yellow mare's new dress. She looked up once she deemed that one front leg presentable, her eyes shining from the star light. Fluttershy stared at her, stammering in her reaction, wondering if she should cry, scream, or try on hysterical sobbing fits for size. It wasn't until Tesla nudged her in the direction of her cottage with her clean hoof that Fluttershy remained on appearing overwhelmed. The pegasus stood up, the earth pony offering to escort her home. Fluttershy couldn't think anymore, following the earth pony blindly only because she was walking away from the forest.
Once on the doormat, Tesla pushed open the door and smiled at Fluttershy who was coming to her senses, eyes demonstrating the first stages of panic. Tesla galloped away, her hooves an unheard wave against the trees when Fluttershy sprinted towards the Carousel Boutique without another thought.
Fluttershy woke up in much more lavish surroundings than she was used to, initially disregarding this fact to drop back to sleep only to immediately rush out, racing down the stairs, pausing briefly to gently open a door, then continue racing out to nearly crash into Rarity who was chatting with a customer. Fluttershy was almost surprised that she new the house so well, taking a moment to revel in the feeling as a nice break from what she had been recently experiencing.
Rarity popped a 'good morning, Fluttershy' before excusing herself, letting the customer wander into the midst of hoof made dresses.
Fluttershy was happy to be back within Rarity's reach, the unicorn's blue eyes back in their sparklier-than-sparkly state.
"Thank you so much for letting me spend the night over, Rarity."
"But of course, darling! You were so distraught that I made sure you could sleep in. Opalescence was nothing but a doll since you came in, but you're always so good with her anyways." Rarity started organizing a rack of dress by means of color, then by length past the flank and then back again.
"Fifteen minutes," breathed Fluttershy, earning a borderline roll of the eyes from Rarity as she let the dresses be. Fluttershy started to talk about what had happened last night, every time anxiety rose in her throat, Rarity's calming gestures would always shove them back down to fester in her stomach.
Rarity didn't miss a beat when Fluttershy took a deep breath to signify her finish in the unicorn's mind, but was only a pause in her exaggerated explanation. "It's sounds like your having nightmares, sweetie."
Fluttershy squeaked. "Wha-? No! They're not nightmares, they're much worse! They're real!"
Rarity tried not to laugh, sporting another warm smile to reassure Fluttershy and to stop herself. "It's fine if you get nightmares after thinking about a horror store or terror film. Some ponies find them riveting, other ponies may not consider then as feasible."
"Rarity, nooo. Listen to me, I'm telling you, it's real! This pony is real!" Fluttershy started to run out of breath again, her mind clouded with fustration.
The customer approached Rarity with a glittery dress thrown over herback.
"I have to tell Pinkie Pie." Fluttershy fumed as she headed towards the door, turning to apologize with a brief 'no problem, dear' popping out of Rarity's fashion related conversation as Fluttershy walked out.
Once on the streets, Fluttershy could smell the sugar in the air even though the Sugar Cube Corner and other food bearing buildings were a few streets over with the weather pegasi adamantly trying to make the wind blow the other way. Fluttershy's grumbling stomach pined for the luxuries of anything edible. She started off a little faster, hoping Pinkie would toss a misshapen cookie her way until she could gather up her courage to retrieve bits from her saddle bags.
She didn't get far though, thorned vines reaching out of the ground to stop her in her tracks. Over her shoulder, Fluttershy could see an earth mare gazing inside the Carousel Boutique through the window, but whether she was fascinated by the rows of carefully arranged fabric of with the sparkling white coat of the unicorn's now slightly jealous girlfriend was unapparent, the pegasus slowly creeping towards the mare. Once she was close enough, her mind caught up with her location, urging her to turn around and run but again, a voice stopped her.
Tesla didn't turn her head in the slightest to acknowledge the pony, her voice creating a small jump in the pegasus' nerves. "I was only admiring those pretty pretty dresses and thinking about how their adorned gems almost made them as pretty pretty as the grand outfit of the starry skies, which in turn made me think of a nursery rhyme my mother got to sing to me once in my very very early fillyhood." Tesla tilted her head back, closing her eyes to block out the currently present sun, no doubt imaging the return of the moon and her children in her mind's eye.
"Star shine, star bright,
How I gaze upon my star tonight.
I wish I may, I wish I might,
Go and join its starry light."
Tesla put her head down, finally turning towards Fluttershy to smile at her, the gravity of her eyes multiplying. "I've never told anypony that before. It would be kind of sad if it died with me, I guess it won't anymore."
"I... see." Something cold had grown inside Fluttershy's lungs.
"You know, when I saw you, I thought about how you rival the beauty of the stars."
The pegasus remained silent, again, not knowing how to respond. In return, Tesla let her faint smile slip for a fraction of second, supplying the pegasus with the drive to speed trot all the way to Sugar Cube Corner, and then some.
Eventually, the pegasus burst through the door into the atmosphere with a sugar to oxygen ratio that could only be maintained by the enigmatic Pinkie Pie, who seemed to always be present at the front counter when Fluttershy came falling in.
This time, the pegasus jumped right to the point, probably pricking herself along the way. "I SAW HER!"
Pinkie tilted her head, smile still present.
Fluttershy took a deep breathe. "I saw the pony in the book you gave me recently."
"It's not as if I give you many books." Pinkie commented, still smiling.
Fluttershy growled, catching herself and quickly apologizing to Pinkie who just nodded her head.
"I'm serious, Pinkie. I saw the pony in the book."
Pinkie Pie took a deep breathe of her own, her smile faltering. "Fluttershy," Her voice was a million shades darker. "The book never describes the pony. It never names her. How are you so sure this pony is from there?"
Fluttershy crept closer, glad that PInkie seemed to be taking her seriously, but apprehensive having to retell why. "It's her eyes..." she began, Pinkie's face adopting a serious poker face expression that seemed out of character, yet flawless, like it was practiced. "Whenever I look at them I start thinking about nothing but the book. They bring on thorns wrapped into my body, pulling me towards the edge of the Everfree forest. It's the same feeling from the book! It's dark, Pinkie, you have to believe me."
Pinkie dropped all four hooves on the ground and walked around the display counter to face Fluttershy head on. "Don't talk to her Fluttershy. She can't kill you if you're not bleeding. Your wings will be your weakness if you prioritize ahead of your hooves."
Fluttershy nodded, pretending to understand completely with only an inkling with what Pinkie might have meant. The pegasus opened her mouth to say something but her stomach rudely interrupted, springing Pinkie Pie back into her bright mood.
"Aww, you poor pegasus! Stay here while your auntie Pinkie Pie whips you up a snack." Pinkie Pie bounced away, Fluttershy not bothering to mutter about their age difference. She tried to look forward to whatever it might be that would come out of the kitchen.
Fluttershy went back to Rarity's to stay for one more night, 'just one more', the pegasus promised, to which the unicorn pouted.
"But I like you being here!"
Later that night, Rarity took Fluttershy to a grand dinner, even though they had already attended a six course lunch, to make up for the day the already slender pegasus hadn't been able to able to eat. As the sun was beginning to set, they walked home without the fear of the night, laughing loudly on Rarity's part and gleefully giggling on Fluttershy's. The Moon was already halfway awake when the Carousel Boutique came into view, with it, another mare who's eyes had managed to glow brighter than before without the full help of the moon. The mare was outlined in an electric blue, her eyes presenting a red laser dot as Fluttershy trembled before the sound of sparks, her wings now disabled and Rarity frazzled, but the whimpering of her girlfriend put her heart and mind in a certain place.
The unicorn bravely took a step towards the mare, berating her for harming Fluttershy. It took her a split second to long for her notice the mare was an earth pony, not an egotistical unicorn, and little too late for her to spot the silver glint kept steady in her mouth. Tesla took a swipe for Rarity's throat who acted faster on her second chance and abruptly turned around, the knife grazing her flank and the unicorn's hooves planting a diamond hard kick on her snout. Fluttershy screamed, the recess of her brain relieved in having finally dispatched a proper reaction to the the mare. Rarity gave the terrified pegasus a look that begged for forgiveness before chasing after the mare who was making great leaps towards the Everfree Forest.
"Rarity, DON'T!" Fluttershy ran as fast as she could, her wings weighing her down, stilled paralyzed from the initial attack.
The unicorn wasn't listening, her headstrong personality rearing in, sights set for the mare.
Tesla was a fast runner, easily making the length between the business of town and the edges of the plains before the mob of trees. the other two kinds of ponies, however, nearly falling to sharp breathes and spastic muscles. The earth pony stopped before bumping into the first tree between Ponyville and wilderness. Rarity stopped, far enough from the mare to keep her wits about her, but close enough to yell out a loud string of insults that overshadowed Fluttershy's frantic screaming. Tesla politely smiled, patiently waiting until Rarity seemed to have run out of dastardly things to say before she was outlined in electric blue, eyes adopting the red light as Rarity dropped to the ground. In all of her verbal attacks, she ran out of voice to project one last one into the air. Instead, it was Fluttershy who screamed for her.
"Fluttershy..." Tesla calls out.
Fluttershy screamed back, angry, shocked, and confused as to who to direct it to her hooves displaying this. Tesla's gaze focused on the stumbling pegasus, hesitating just long enough to spot a surge of blue sparks behind Fluttershy.
The earth pony's jaw dropped, the knife landing in the grass, hidden from the star light.
"I thought- you're supposed to be dead!"
Fluttershy whipped her head around, Pinkie Pie taking dark steps towards the other earth pony. Her eyes were iridescent blue, her voice traveling the opposite direction. "You never get to think, Tesla. Your impulse decisions are even faster than the speed of light. Did you stop to think that the pony you 'took care of' was a little to big to be a mare younger than you?" Pinkie Pie was now ahead of Fluttershy, Tesla glaring, daring the pink pony to trot any closer, Pinkie willingly accepting the challenge. "Thankfully, it's a little tricky to kill ponies that don't exist, so I suspect Bubble will wake up in his rightful world with nothing more than a migraine."
Tesla started to glow again, the blue outline barely showing.
"Still, I can't have you tricking the boundaries of Ponyvillian warped territory."
"Would you just shut up!" Tesla raged. Her pupils turned red, electrifying the air to the point where the blue sparks where almost visible to the normal eye, and Pinkie Pie was knocked back to where she was, knocked out.
Fluttershy screamed, more salt injected into the wound that was torn open at the death of her girlfriend. "You killed-!"
Tesla started walking towards the pegasus, words forming in her mind involuntarily, starting the trek down to her throat and past her lips which had recovered the faint smile from before. "Up until now, all of my secrets had come from the past, rising up with all the anguish, fury and tragedy of my earlier days."
Fluttershy pressed her ears against her head, the thorns directing her towards Tesla, who started walking where her flank was to the sleeping town and Fluttershy was cornered by the trees.
"But tonight, a different kind of secret is placed before me. One kept out of watchfulness, borderline anxiety and pure happiness."
Fluttershy shook her head. She didn't want to hear this. Tesla came forward, the pegasus taking another step back, hoof landing on something rigid, cold, and..
Tesla's smile grew wider, her eyes even more devoid of life. "This is the first secret that I am glad to tell." Her face was inches away from Fluttershy's. "My dear-"
Blood overcame the next words of the mare. She stumbled back, initially shocked, but when her head hit the ground and her eyes locked with the sky, she lost her anger before she gained it.
"Oh, Fluttershy..." Tesla coughed up blood, not bothering to look down at herself. There was that silvery glint at the bottom of her peripheral vision. A reflection that caught the true loveliness of the stars had been buried deep into the mare's lungs.
The pegasus was silent, trying not to think about the blood on her hooves, staining her coat that must have been perfectly clean at one point. She walked slowly to her friend who was already back on her hooves, her short term recovery ignored.
"Fluttershy," called out Tesla, her voice weak, losing the grip it used to have. Fluttershy shook her head, biting her tongue, but the mare went on. "I've grown to like you. To think if I had the perfect opportunity to have been able to kiss those soft lips of yours-"
"Shut up."
Pinkie cocked her head, unsure if this thought was verbal or telepathic. Regardless, Tesla went on.
"I would have fallen in love with you."
"I said, SHUT UP!" Fluttershy trembled, the reality of Rarity's death now coming over every inch of her being like a cold front on a warm night, each one more painfully honest than the last. "You're nothing but a monster to me, Tesla."
"Say my name again." Tesla's voice was becoming noticeably weaker, drowned out by iron filled gurgles.
"MONSTER!" Fluttershy yelled, her voice echoing off into the distance as her tears began to surface in the settling silence.
Pinkie Pie turned her head to the sky, waiting. Fluttershy followed suit, but could only see the stars that had been forced to represent mixed feelings between the monster's affection and the sights that rivaled Rarity's essence.
"Star shine... star bright..."
Fluttershy grumbled, subconsciously deciding that the moon and her children had adopted the former.
"How I gaze upon my star tonight."
The pegasus lowered her head, the voice conjuring up alien feelings of escalating fury and sickening depression as quick as she could shove them down. She resorted to memorizing the skies, a swirl of dust around the moon with one particularly bright star dominating the rest. It flickered with the weakness in Tesla's voice, something that told Fluttershy that displaying her bitter anger would be a waste of time.
"I wish I may, I wish I might.
"Go and join its starry light."
Fluttershy gasped. The brightest star fell out of the sky leaving nothing but of a fleeting streak of silver taking Tesla's dying breathe with it. Pinkie Pie started scratching her hoof on the ground, eyes glowing once more as blue sparks sealed up an invisible crack out of the corner of Fluttershy's eye. The earth pony shifted her glance to Rarity's body, nothing more than a dark silhouette against the horizon that seemed to become less apparent as the sky began to shift colors.
Fluttershy wet her lips, almost unconscious of her first statement of the new day.
"It's only a story."
"Right."
