Labyrinth

Fluttershy hummed softly to herself as she trotted through the meadow just outside of Ponyville.  On her back were her saddlebags, filled to the brim with special treats for the wild animals she called friends.  It was a beautiful day, the sun shining bright without being too hot, while a gentle breeze drifted lazily by to keep things cool.

A butterfly flitted up from a flower to hover near her face and she giggled at the ticklish touch of the tips of its wings kissing her cheek.  This put her in such a good mood that she broke out into song, singing the words she had been humming.

"But down in the underground, you'll find someone true

Down in the underground

A land serene, a crystal moon

It's only forever, it's not long at all

Lost and lonely... that's underground."

At this point, she had a whole chorus of birds chirping and rabbits dancing around her, all reaching out for the treats in her saddlebags.  She blushed and put a hoof over her mouth.

"Oh, I'm so very sorry, here I am singing while you are all hungry!  Here you go little ones..."  She picked up the saddlebags off her back and set them on the ground.  "Now, now, each of you just take one, please, so there's enough to go around."  She pulled back the flaps to expose the variety of carrots, apples, and nuts inside.

She watched happily as the animals gathered in an orderly fashion, taking one treat from the bags and bowing thankfully before scampering or flying off.  She resumed her humming as she waited for the animals to all be served.

A little red bird landed on her head and chirped quizzically.

"Hello Mrs. Tanager!  What song is that?  Oh, it's just a song that's been stuck in my head."  She smiled, looking off into the distance.  "I don't really know where it came from.  Actually, I don't know why I like it at all!  It's such a sad little song, don't you think?"

While she talked with the bird, a rather strange owl watched from above.  It was mostly different shades of brown, but while one of its feet was a normal claw, the other looked almost like a lion's paw.  Its yellow eyes with unusual red pupils peered at the oblivious pegasus below, quietly observing.  The other animals took notice of the outsider and avoided the tree it was in, but made no other fuss about its presence.  After all, they were near the border on the Everfree Forest, and it wasn't uncommon for strange creatures to wander out from time to time.

A bell sounded in the distance, marking the time, and Fluttershy jumped up.

"Oh dear!  Oh, I'm going to be late!  I'm terribly sorry I can't stay any longer, but I have to go."  She put the now empty saddlebags back on her back and turned around to run back to Ponyville.  "Goodbye!  Goodbye, little ones!"

The animals waved her off, then resumed their normal daily activities.  A couple of the smaller ones scurried under bushes when the strange owl flew from its branch, circled overhead, then returned to the Everfree Forest from where they could only assume it came.

As she was hurrying through Ponyville, rain began to fall.  She skidded to a halt and looked up with the same confusion that the other ponies around her had.

"Rain?  But it's not scheduled to rain today...  Is it?"  She looked to the nearest pony, who shook his head.

Overhead, a group of pegasi zipped by, yelling something mostly incoherent about the weather.

Fluttershy tucked her wings over her saddlebags to try to protect them from the rain and resumed her running.  "Oh, dear, that can't be good..."

The day's errands were made almost twice as difficult with the rain, but she worked through it, as they had to be done.  All over town she ran from morning to afternoon, buying the things she needed and stopping to check in on her friends.  She looked up at the town's clock tower to check on the time and gasped.

"There's no time for lunch!  I still have to go by Rarity's to bring her the spider's silk she wanted, and, oh my...  I guess Angel Bunny won't mind if I miss our lunch together just this once."

By the time evening rolled around, she was exhausted, thoroughly soaked, and ready to step into a hot bath.

Unfortunately, the moment she opened the cottage door, she was greeted by an irate little bunny.  He hopped up and down, chittering and rambling about the neglect he had suffered.

"Oh, I'm so sorry, Angel Bunny, but I got stuck in the rain..."  She shivered, as the bunny was standing in the middle of the doorway, and she thought it would be awfully rude to step over him to get inside.  "May I please come inside?"

The bunny stomped a foot and crossed his arms.

"Please, Angel Bunny?"  The weight of the rain in her mane made it hard to keep her head up.  "I'll make you your favorite snack..."

This intrigued the bunny enough that he stepped aside and she hurried in.  She set down her wet saddlebags, which fell over and landed right on Angel.

"Oh!  Angel Bunny, I'm sorry!"  She grabbed the nearest cloth and tried to dry him off.  "I didn't know that would happen...  Please hold still, just one second..."

The bunny pushed the cloth away and hopped away.  Every time he landed from a hop, a bit of water got onto the floor, leaving a trail of wet spots behind him.

Fluttershy's eye twitched.  "Angel, please, just-"

He hopped onto the couch and in a fit of rebellion, rolled around on it to dry off.  He stood back up and stuck out his tongue at her.

The cloth dropped from her mouth and she took a deep breath.  She closed her eyes, then opened them slowly, giving him a strained smile.  "Okay, I know I deserved that...  Now, let me make you a snack..."

She went into the kitchen and prepared a gourmet salad, making sure to remember the cherry on top.  As she worked, her hooves trembled, as the cool air of her cottage brushed over her wet coat and made her feel chilled to the bone.  However, he had a good point.  She said she would come home to make him lunch and she didn't keep her promise, as she just hadn't had the time.

"Okay, Angel, here you go!"  She set the bowl on the floor and nudged it toward him.

The bunny hopped forward.  He sniffed at the salad, tilted his head this way and that to examine it, then kicked it right into her face.

She went completely still as the bowl slid down her muzzle before hitting the floor.  She then tried to very calmly wipe the salad off her face, but her cold shivering started to turn into irritated shaking.

"Angel..."  She slowly stood.  It suddenly became very clear to Angel that he had gone too far when her eyes opened and he could almost literally see fire in them.  "I...  I'm so angry right now...  I've been in that rain all day and I just wanted to come home and relax...  Oh...  Oh sometimes you make me so mad!"  She stomped a hoof, though it only lightly thumped against the ground.  She turned away, unable to look at him.  "When I was a filly, I heard a story about a wicked Goblin King, who took away nasty little troublemakers...  I know it's just an old mare's tale, but... but Angel, sometimes you make me wish the Goblin King was real and that he'd take you away!"

She breathed heavily.  Her shakes turned back to cold shivers as her anger deflated and she turned her head to look over her shoulder.  "I'm sorry, Angel Bunny, I just need a hot ba-"

Where the bunny had been sitting, there was nothing.

"Angel?"  She looked around and started to search the room.  "Angel, please come out now, I really didn't mean it..."

"Who?"

Fluttershy squeaked, jumping straight into the air and whirling around in the direction of the deep, almost sinister voice.  On the windowsill of a window she could have sworn was closed was perched an unusual owl, staring directly at her.

"Oh, hello Mr. Owl."  She smiled.  "I haven't seen you around before.  I'm looking for Angel..."

"Who?"

"Of course, you wouldn't know his name!  Angel is a little white bunny."

"Ah, then you must mean him."  The owl lifted off the windowsill and entered the room.  In a bright flash of light, a being even stranger than the mismatched owl stood before her.

She cowered back, pressing her wings tight to her sides as she trembled, now in fear.  He was a tall creature unlike any she'd ever seen, made up of different animals.  A calm but wicked grin spread across his lips as he held out a crystal ball for her to see.

She hesitated to lower her gaze from his but relented and looked into the ball.  She gasped when she saw Angel pressed up against a wall, terrified, strange creatures closing in around him until they blocked her view.

"Angel!"  she cried, stepping forward.  Tears started to well up in her eyes.  "Wh-what did you do to him?  Where is he?"  She looked back up at him, into those narrowed eyes.  Realization struck her and she cowered back further away from him.  "You...  You're him, aren't you?  You're the Goblin King."  The tears started to grow so big that they fell down her cheeks.  "Please, give me back my Angel!"

The Goblin King twirled the crystal ball in his hand, weaving it deftly between his claw's talons.  "What's said is said."

She bit her lip.  "Oh, but I didn't mean it, honest!"

He looked down at her and raised one of his white brows.  "You didn't?  It certainly sounded as though you did."

"Please, where is he?  He's just a little bunny, please bring him back!"

He clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth.  "My dear Fluttershy, go upstairs to your room...  Take your warm bath and enjoy the peace and quiet."  His tail flicked from side to side behind him as he extended the ball once more.  "I've brought you a gift."

She didn't dare look at it again.  "Wh-what is it?"

"It's a crystal, nothing more.  But if you turn it this way," He tossed it into his lion's paw and rolled it around.  "and look into it, it will show you your dreams.  But this isn't a gift for an ordinary mare who takes care of a spoiled rabbit.  Do you want it?  Then forget the rabbit."

She shook her head, just slightly, her courage still weak.  "I-I can't."  She swallowed.  "I ap-appreciate the gift, but I want my Angel Bunny back.  He must be so frightened.  He's just a little bunny..."

"Oh, Fluttershy..."  He sighed and tossed the crystal at her.  "Don't defy me."

As the crystal flew through the air, it turned into a snake that opened its mouth wide, fangs gleaming.

She cried out in terror and shielded her face with her hooves.  The snake bounced off, hit the floor, and turned into a little goblin that laughed and ran away.  She spun around, hearing the laughter of little goblins in every direction, but wherever she looked she saw only her little critters cowering in the nooks and crannies of her walls and furniture.  She turned back to the Goblin King.

"You're no match for me, Fluttershy," he cooed in a soft, velvety voice, as though he were trying to seduce her.

"Please, Goblin King, I need my bunny back."

He snapped his talons together and in a flash of light, they were overlooking a great and vast labyrinth.  In the center was a tall, menacing castle, surrounded by a city.

As Fluttershy looked out in awe at the foreboding sight below, she hardly noticed that she was suddenly perfectly dry.  The Goblin King put a paw on her shoulder and lowered his head to hers, pointing out with his claw.

"Your bunny is there, in my castle.  Do you still want to look for him?"

She flinched when she realized he was touching her, but didn't pull away so as not to anger him.  "Is...  Is that the castle beyond the Goblin City?"

He pulled away from her.  "Turn back, my dear.  Turn back before it's too late."

By this point, she had gained some courage, mostly out of necessity.  Angel was locked up in the castle, scared and alone, and it was her fault.  She had to be strong for him!  "I can't."  She looked up at him with determination.  "Don't you understand that I can't?"

He sighed and stroked his beard, shaking his head slowly.  "What a pity..."

She looked back out over the labyrinth.  "Besides, it-it doesn't look that far..."

"It's further than you think, and time is short."  He waved his paw.  A clock appeared in front of her, ticking away happily though its arms didn't move, seeming to be frozen with the minute hand on 12 and the hour hand on 13.  "You have 13 hours in which to solve the Labyrinth before your baby bunny becomes mine...  Forever."  He looked at her with a sadness she didn't see, as her attention was focused on the journey ahead.  "...  Such a pity," he said just before disappearing.

"What is-"  She looked over her shoulder where he had been and blinked a few times before sighing heavily.  "The labyrinth..."  Her gaze traced its twists and turns. "It doesn't look all that hard...  Well."  She took a step forward.  "Come on, hooves."