Twilight knocked her hoof on the wooden door and waited patiently outside. She breathed in, taking in the fresh air, then exhaled. The feeling of a light breeze brushed against her hair as she waited at the door of Fluttershy's tree house. Beyond the door, Twilight could hear the sound of hoovesteps approaching. The door opened. Fluttershy erupted from the doorway and smiled cheerily at Twilight.
"Oh! Hello, Twilight. How are you?" Fluttershy asked in her quiet and timid voice. Twilight smiled back at Fluttershy.
"I'm doing alright. So, what was it that you needed? The letter you sent me gave me the impression that there was something important that you needed," Twilight asked.
"Oh, it wasn't actually anything important. I just wanted you to come with me on a walk. I know this trail that is perfect for this kind of weather, and I don't want to miss out on it," Fluttershy explained. Twilight gave her a puzzled look.
"Really? It seemed like you wrote the letter in a bit of a haste. Is there something wrong?" Twilight inquired. Fluttershy shook her hoof.
"No, there's nothing wrong here. I just wanted to take a walk, that's all." Twilight replaced her puzzled look with a smile.
"Alright. If there's nothing wrong, then I guess it wouldn't hurt to take a walk." Fluttershy beamed.
"Perfect. Shall we get walking?" Fluttershy started to turn around. Twilight didn't follow. Fluttershy stopped as she noticed that Twilight wasn't following her. "Well? Shall we?"
"Oh! I thought maybe that we can bring some of our other friends. Rarity seemed pretty tired, and maybe she would definitely appreciate a-" Twilight said before being interrupted.
"No. It's alright," Fluttershy said dryly. Twilight raised an eyebrow. "It's just that I wanted this to be a more personal walk. You know, maybe get some time alone. We haven't really talked in a long time, and I just wanted to take this opportunity to finally make that chance."
Twilight thought about that for a moment. Twilight has been busy during the last few days, and maybe spending a little time with one of her best friends wouldn't hurt her. Besides, Twilight knew that Fluttershy was busy herself, so maybe she just needed a little time off from her animals. Twilight took this into account and nodded.
"Okay. That sounds good. Maybe we can take some water with us?" Twilight said.
"Sure! I'll go get it."
Twilight stood at the face of the forest that stood in front of her. The bushes swayed back and forth as the cool summer breeze blew through. Tall trees towered above the two ponies. Inside the forest, only some rays of light entered through the forest, making the forest seem a lot darker than it should. A dirt trail led into the forest. Twilight glanced at Fluttershy.
"So, what is this trail called?" Twilight asked.
"It's called White Light Trail. It's named that because when it gets to a certain point in the day, the light rays become more brighter than usual," Fluttershy explained, not taking her eyes away from the entrance of the forest. Twilight looked back at the entrance. She nodded; she could see how it could be that way. Twilight looked back at Fluttershy.
"Why have I never heard of this trail before?"
"Not too many ponies know about this trail. Which is a good thing, because then I can have it all to myself. I take a lot of walks through here," Fluttershy said. Twilight looked back at the entrance again. The song of birds inside the forest was very inviting, and Twilight couldn't wait to stretch out her legs.
"Alright! Let's start!" Twilight shouted with an excited tone. Fluttershy smiled sweetly and led the way inside. Twilight followed suit.
Inside the forest, the sound of wind calmly played in Twilight's ears as she followed the trail beside Fluttershy The air was cool and the rays of sunlight shined down to the ground. The sound of snapped twigs sounded off below the ponies hoovesteps. The dirt trail stretched on as far as the eye can see and twisted and turned as if to avoid the towering trees.
Twilight was enjoying the experience as the two ponies quietly walked along the trail. Fluttershy kept looking forward, sometimes taking some gulps of water. Twilight did the same. After about an half an hour, they both stopped at a lonely tree stump and catched their breaths. Twilight stretched out her wings and took in the fresh air. The calm atmosphere made her feel at peace. She was glad that she took that walk.
"So, what's it like to be a princess?" Fluttershy cut in as Twilight was deep in her thoughts. Twilight blinked at Fluttershy; the question took her completely by surprise.
"Oh, uh, well...it's pretty good. It is a lot of hard work and everything, but Princess Celestia and Luna help me to work through that," Twilight replied. Fluttershy nodded contently as Twilight took another gulp of her water. Twilight screwed the cap back on to the flask and put it back to her knapsack. "Well, I'm re-energized. Shall we continue?"
Fluttershy got up and started walking along the trail without saying anything else. Twilight got up as well and catched up to her. Twilight walked beside Fluttershy, who kept on looking in front of her. Instead of the cheery face of hers, it was replaced by an emotion of discontent. Fluttershy glanced at Twilight. Twilight immediately looked away and stared at a nest of birds. Twilight focused her eyes on Fluttershy. She kept on looking straight, and nothing else. Twilight thought nothing of it and continued to walk.
Another half hour later, they came across another tree stump, but with a tree log that could stand two sitting ponies. Twilight ruffled through her knapsack and pulled out a bag of trail mix. She opened the bag and picked out a couple of nuts. She munched on the crunchy peanuts. She glanced at Fluttershy and motioned for the nuts. Fluttershy shook her head and took out a carrot from her own knapsack. Twilight shrugged and continued eating her nuts.
"What responsibilities does it take to be a princess?" Fluttershy asked. Twilight was caught in mid-crunch of a nut. Twilight rolled her eyes around. Immediately, she had no idea what to say. She stuttered before she started.
"Uh, well, I guess you would have to have some leadership skills. And I suppose you should be well versed in the realm of politics. One wrong move and you could be skinned alive." Twilight chuckled nervously. Fluttershy nodded again. "Why do you want to know?"
"I was just wondering," Fluttershy said. She finished the carrot and got up from the tree stump. Twilight quickly packed up her things and got up as well. They both trotted along the dirt path. The hour has gone and the sun was going to set in a couple hours. The forest was considerably darker than before, and the air was colder and the wind becoming more tense. Twilight's legs became sore far more quickly than she previously thought. Sweat was starting to drip down from her forehead. She thought that this was going to be relaxing, not tiring.
Less than fifteen minutes later, Twilight stopped in the middle of the trail to catch her breath. Her legs were painfully sore, and sweat was dripping down faster than ever. Fluttershy kept on going. Twilight reached out for Fluttershy.
"Hey, Fluttershy. I'm getting really tired. Maybe we should head back," Twilight said.
"We should keep going. There's much more to the trail than this," Fluttershy protested.
"I think we find that out another time. Right now, my legs are really sore and I don't think I can keep this up much longer," Twilight complained. Fluttershy frowned and walked up to Twilight.
"I thought Alicorns were supposed to be stronger than this. Aren't they immortal or something like that?" Fluttershy quietly hissed. Twilight gasped in surprise.
"Excuse me? I have no idea what you're talking about. And why do you keep asking me about being a princess anyway?" Twilight shot back. Fluttershy got into Twilight's face, causing Twilight to back up a little.
"I was just wondering about things. Why can't you put that through your skull?" Fluttershy quietly yelled. Twilight grew hotter as her face turned red.
"Fluttershy, this is nothing like you! You have been acting weird this entire walk! Is there something wrong?" Twilight said. A crash sounded off behind Twilight. Twilight jumped up and twirled her body around. A large tree fell on the trail, some of it's branches falling off on the crash. Twilight's heart beat became much more tense. "What was that?"
Twilight didn't receive an answer. Twilight turned around, only to see that there was nopony there. Twilight squinted, and wildly looked around the forest. Fluttershy was nowhere in sight. Twilight called her name, in hopes that maybe that would attract her. No sound came out of the forest except the sound of singing birds and whooshing winds.
Twilight decided it was about time she headed back to Ponyville. The walk was completely fine. It was Fluttershy that made it weird. Fluttershy was being oddly intrusive to Twilight, and she didn't like a minute of it. Twilight hopped over the fallen tree blocking the path and trotted the other way.
Along the way, Twilight thought if maybe she was too harsh on Fluttershy. Perhaps maybe she was going through something, and she left to collect her thoughts. She may have ran off, which would explain why she had mysteriously disappeared. Twilight kept walking, trying to ignore the pulsing pain in her legs. It was becoming more and more harder to ignore as she walked.
If there was something that she noticed as she walked down the trail, it was that the wind was becoming more and more fierce. The wind transformed from calm and soothing to harsh and uncomfortable. Her wings were drifted by the wind, causing Twilight to walk off course multiple times. The sky morphed from a shiny day to a gloomy overcast late afternoon. Twilight's legs were becoming more and more sore, making her walk more of a slow limp.
Twilight folded her wings as she sat down at the tree stump that she saw before. It was probably the worst walk that she had ever taken in her life. Not only was it not pleasant, it was uncomfortable. The wind calmed down and some clouds moved away to let the sun shine through. Twilight squinted up at the sun for no reason. The sun beamed into Twilight's eyes, irritating her. She held a hoof up to her eyes to shield the rays, but they were becoming more tense. Twilight's senses deteriorated, and the light was suddenly becoming dimmer and dimmer, until she could not feel a thing in her body.
Twilight's senses came back to her. A sweltering wave of heat smacked at her face. She slowly opened her eyes and tried to stretch out her wings. The thing that was stopping her was rope. Twilight suddenly became much more aware of her surroundings as she woke up. A campfire was set in the middle of a clearing on a dark night. She struggled, but she soon noticed that she was bound to a chair, a mixture of knots tying her together.
She wiggled and bounced up and down, but nothing came loose. She tried to break free as hard as she could, but the rope stayed put. It seemed a lot easier in Daring Do novels. She shouted out for help, but nopony came. She gritted her teeth as she tried again and again, but to no avail. She relaxed a little and breathed heavily, her body dripping with sweat.
A crunch came through the bushes. Twilight tensed up, her eyes widened. Out of the bushes came Twilight's friend, Fluttershy. Twilight sighed in relief.
"Oh, thank goodness you're here, Fluttershy! I was hoping somepony could get me out of h-" Twilight said before she looked down at Fluttershy's hooves. Fluttershy stood on a large looking butcher knife, with what looked like red stains of blood spilled over it. Twilight glanced up at Fluttershy, who was staring dead straight at her. Twilight breathed heavier. "Fluttershy, what are you doing with that knife?"
"Did you ever know I wanted to be a princess too, Twilight? It was something I dreamed of ever since I was a little filly," Fluttershy said calmly as she rubbed the knife slowly. Fluttershy glanced at Twilight. Twilight sweated heavier and heavier as the flames snapped and crackled.
"Fluttershy, you tied me up?" Twilight asked worriedly. Fluttershy chuckled.
"Well, if I didn't, it would ruin the entire plan," Fluttershy said calmly as she approached Twilight. Fluttershy faced Twilight closely, almost touching each other. She raised her knife and gently rubbed it against Twilight's cheek. Twilight watched in horror as the knife started to slice through her cheek and blood dripped down. Twilight felt a little burn of pain and let out a small whimper.
"Do you think I would make a good Alicorn princess? I think I would look beautiful in a royal dress. I would be able to rule over Equestria, once Celestia is done with her turn," Fluttershy said calmly as she slowly motioned her knife across Twilight's neck. Twilight's eyes started to water, and tears dripped down to her cheek, mixing with the dripping blood. "The only thing that i'm missing..."
Fluttershy turned around and stared at the fire for a moment. Twilight's lip quivered as she tried to make words. Fluttershy glanced back at Twilight.
"...is your horn."
"Please, Fluttershy. If there was anything that I have ever done, I swear I will use all my power to correct my mistake! Just please, don't hurt me!" Twilight protested as she cried. Fluttershy walked to Twilight and gently rubbed through her mane.
"Twilight, you silly filly, you never have done anything to me that would make me want to kill you. I just wanted to become a princess, like you. But we can't all be princesses, can we? So I have to take something from you, even though you won't like it." Fluttershy raised her knife above her level. Twilight's eyes widened.
"Don't be afraid. I'll make it quick and painless."
That was all that happened before Twilight fell into darkness.
The only thing that she could hear after that was the soft humming coming from Fluttershy before she died.
