It had been ten hours since Twilight Sparkle stopped by Fluttershy's cottage on her way to the Everfree forest to visit Zecora. That was what worried Fluttershy the most. The fact that what should've been a simple stop for medicine lasted twice as long as most political summits. So the meek pegasus decided it would be for the best if she went to check up on the Princess of Friendship, make sure she was okay.
The minute she ventured deep into the canopy of the Everfree, she regretted her decision. The blanket of darkness practically consumed her, causing her to wander around in the cover of the night, nearly stepping into poison joke more than once. However, thank Celestia, it eventually lessened, allowing Fluttershy to actually see where she was going.
But the problem?
She wasn't confident that she was going the right way.
The land seemed... Different. Trees were laden with strange vines, and small streams ran through the ground like fissures. Fluttershy looked around the alien landscape, only to notice a strange shimmer from up on a cliff. As soon as she focused on it, there was a rustle in the bushes and it was gone.
Fluttershy felt uneasy. Was something watching her? No, it must've just been some local fauna she thought, shaking it off. Trekking forwards, she found herself enthralled by the strange landscape. Every instinct telling her she was going the wrong way was overshadowed by the mesmerizing sights of waterfalls and rock formations. Ocassionally, she'd see the strange shine again from other locations, but easily brushed it off.
Yet eventually, when the canopy of trees became thick again, she saw quite the curious sight.
A lone parrot, flapping its wings and squaking. "Why, hello there mister parrot!" Her expression brightened as the bird landed just in front of her, opening its mouth to sing.
"SQUAA!" It squealed, causing Fluttershy to recoil slightly, a dart flying past where her head once was. Fluttershy shuddered as she looked at the projectile, currently planted in a tree mere inches from her head. She gulped, looking back at the direction from where the dart was fired... And saw that gleam from earlier, and a long piece of metal sticking out from the foliage.
There was a clank as the bolt was pulled back on the rifle.
Fluttershy took off in a sprint, more darts flying past her head and embedding into the soft dirt. When a log was in sight, she slid down to her stomach, slipping right into the hollow makeshift cover.
All was silent for an agonizing minute.
And then she heard the crunch of leaves.
And again, this time louder.
That was when it hit her that something was walking up to the log.
Fluttershy held her breath as the presence approached, cracking twigs and crunching more leaves. On the other end of the log, she saw two legs, similar to that of Spike or a minotaur, walk past.
But then the parrot fluttered down, stopping just in front of Fluttershy. Her blood froze, and time seemed to slow. The parrot opened its beak to squawk...
And Fluttershy looked it in the eye with the most menacing stare she could muster. The parrot stopped mid-squawk. Time resumed to its normal flow as the crunch of leaves became more and more faint. Fluttershy broke her stare for the slightest moment to catch her breath.
"SQUAA!"
And with that, she bolted out of the log, taking off in the fastest sprint her legs could allow. The parrot flew after her, continuing to squawk and squawk as she took off. Eventually, the squawking grew distant as she stopped to rest against a rock. As her breathing steadied, she looked around her surroundings.
She was deep in the forest, sharp rocks jutting out from the ground. Dead trees surrounded her, and there was light rainfall. However, one thing in this twisted forest caught her eye. A smashed wheelchair. The metallic husk of the chair was bent and crumpled up, a bag strewn right next to it.
Fluttershy inspected the sack, only managing to draw out a bird feeder. Could this be... she thought to herself, lifting it in the air. There was no doubt about it. This was what that beast used to feed the parrot. Fluttershy felt sick as she stumbled back, nearly crashing into a tree. Her breathing was shallow as she heard the footsteps of the approaching monster, but that wasn't what frightened her.
It was the purple feather on the ground.
Fluttershy thundered down the trail of purple feathers, dodging rocks and trees as she heard the monster gaining on her. Darts flew over her head with a woosh, and the squawking of the parrot from earlier rang in her ears as it flew at her. She ran deeper and deeper into the Everfree, not even caring about the poison joke she was brushing up against.
But that was when she saw something that made her stop. A clearing, just ahead.
And inn the clearing, she saw a fallen purple pony, with a dart sticking out of its neck...
Fluttershy's breathing was rapid. Her pupils were dialated. I have to stay strong she thought, but her thoughts couldn't stop the panic. She looked down at the pony laying before her, sprawled out with a dart in their neck. Her eyes slowly drifted from the shine of the dart's tip to the pony's lavender side, bearing a cutie mark of a star.
"Twilight..." she managed to squeak out, wrapping her hooves around the fallen alicorn. As a tear dropped from her eyes, she heard a rustling in the bushes behind her. "Hello?" she sniffled. "Is anypony there?"
Silence.
"Please... Leave me alone..." She knew who it was, deep in her gut. It was him. The figure that stalked the everfree. The same one that had been hurting the animals. The creature she had encountered earlier. From the bushes rolled a small, metallic ball that landed right at Fluttershy's hooves.
The pegasus took a moment to process what just happened.
And in doing so, she wasted one of the most precious seconds in her life.
There was a flash of blinding light as Fluttershy felt a sharp pain in her neck. And then...
Darkness.
