Fluttershy was lost.
All she wanted to do was get some berries for some of her little animal friends. It was a simple task, one she had completed a number of times. Sure, it meant she had to go into the Everfree Forest, and Celestia knows the wretched place scares the heck out of Fluttershy. However, the Element of Kindness was brave, or at least brave enough to get berries every once in a while from the outskirts of the forest. Bravery did her little good now that she was lost in the middle of the Everfree Forest.
She almost never got lost in the Everfree Forest. The forest was basically her backyard, and she knew it like the back of her hoof. Well, she thought she did. One wrong turn back at that third tree, going up the creek instead of down, and mistaking some berry bushes for something else led her to a place she did not intend to be. Compounding the issue was her nervousness, which after many moments spent grappling with the fact she didn’t know where she was, turned to fear.
Then she realized that she wasn’t just lost in a town, and would have to ask for directions. She didn’t know which way Zecora’s house was, she hardly knew which way anything was. Her fear kept her wings glued to her sides, not allowing her to fly above the treetops to take a simple peek at her surroundings. It would be dark very shortly, meaning that she was stuck in a sprawling, hostile environment, with no fathomable way out.
Her fear quickly turned into crippling terror.
Fluttershy started to panic. Using all the will and might in her heart she tried to summon the courage to press on. Fighting her was the desire to find a hole under a tree and curl, and her chest was burning with adrenaline. Moving a trembling hoof forward, Fluttershy started to walk. She didn’t know where she was walking to, and she hardly even wanted to walk. With only the power from the courage in her heart, she kept putting one hoof on front of the other. She was determined to get out of the Everfree Forest, and she would do it with her head held high.
The canopy grew thicker, and the day grew darker, but a feeling inside the yellow pegasus grew brighter. A sense of certainty grew out of her courage, and fantasies of her telling the story of how she got lost to Rarity at the spa or Pinkie at Sugarcube Corner danced in her head. It would just be another story, and fade into memory like the rest of them.
The snap of a twig rang through the forest, and to Fluttershy, the entire world froze in time. She did not move, she did not breathe, and she did not blink. All she could do was listen for more sound, anything else. The warm feeling in her heart turned to ice, and all certainty she once held was gone. Terrifying thoughts ran through her mind, thoughts of the awful, vicious beasts that were coming for her. No pony knew of the dangers that lied within the Everfree Forest as well as Fluttershy, and she saw them all with her own two eyes.
Another snap and a rustle came from her right, and so her eyes followed. A bead of sweat ran down her forehead, threatening to break her concentration. As she brought her mind back in order, away from ideas of her untimely and gruesome demise, a plan began to develop. It wasn’t a great one, or a complex one, but a sensible enough one that anypony would agree with it and anypony could do it.
Just run.
When a branch rusted to her right, her eyes stayed to her left, and her hooves started beating a path in the same direction. Dodging trees and plants, the terrified mare ran faster than she had ever run in her life. Her eyes started to water and tear up, partially from the wind, but mostly from the sound of other creatures right on her tail. Not far in the distance, she saw a small opening in the canopy, the light of Luna’s moon pouring through. She damned her fear of flying and spread her wings, preparing to take off between the trees and into the sky. Anything was better than on the ground. With a skip and a hop, she pushed off a log with her hind legs, launching herself at full velocity towards the whole, and straight into the maw of a leaping timberwolf.
The feeling of her body hitting the ground was only second to the blinding pain in her right foreleg. The feeling of a something warm and sickly covered her face and chest, and she knew too well it was her own blood. She desperately tried to get up, to keep running, but her strength had deserted her. Helpless against further assault, she felt herself lifted up and flung in the air, landing and rolling through a thorny bush of berries. Fluttershy strained to keep her eyes open, but through the dirt and blood she was able to see the little berries she had set out to find. The sight gave her no solace, but served as a welcome distraction the new pain in her hind legs.
Her mind refused to accept the reality of her situation, so with a morbid curiosity she craned her neck to the side, wanting to see why her flank was throbbing with pain. She could only stare at what she saw. Where there were once three beautiful butterflies against her beautiful yellow fur, there was only one left, stained with dark red blood. Below it was only a mass of quivering flesh, bending and twitching and bending in unnatural ways.
Finally, the reality of her injuries set in, and with it a dreadful feeling of finality. She felt broken and without motivation to press on. She closed her eyes and took deep breaths, trying so hard to keep thoughts of her friends in her mind amidst the flurry of emotions raging inside her. Lost in that flurry were thoughts of courage and bravery, thoughts of returning to her best friends and living life normally again, and no longer being afraid. But as the timberwolves growls grew louder, and her vision grew darker, she could only think about how she was going to die alone.
--
“Twilight!”
Twilight stood at the doorstep of her library, staring up into the stars. She wondered about the stars a lot, especially at night.
If anyone could see all the stars from anywhere in the world, doesn’t that mean the stars could see anyone in the world?
“Twilight!”
If only she could be a star, for just a moment. She could see the whole world from above, and all of the little ponies within it. Right now, she didn’t want to see all of the ponies in the world, she just wanted to see one of them.
“Twilight, aren’t you listening?”
Twilight ripped her gaze from the stars and back to the things around her, specifically, an orange farm pony standing two inches from her.
“Yeah Applejack,” she said, clearing her throat. “I’m listening.”
“I just got back from Fluttershy’s,” she said, panting from the long run. “We checked all over the house, she’s not there, but Angel is. He seemed pissed she wasn’t home yet, apparently she went to get berries from…”
“No,” Twilight said, unable to look her friend in the eye.
She knew where this was going, but she didn't want to believe it. It was too awful a reality to be true.
“Twi, she went to get them from…”
“No,” Twilight repeated, shaking her head.
“Twi, she went into the Everfree Forest!”
Neither pony said a thing. The only sound in the air was of a cricket chirping off in the distance. Twilight Sparkle thought of every possible outcome, every scenario, and every single way in which this night could go bad. Rainbow Dash had scoured the skies, Rarity checked everywhere Fluttershy liked to go, Pinkie Pie asked every person in town, and Applejack checked her house top to bottom. Her brain took all the information they had, and kept reaching the same unacceptable conclusion.
“Applejack,” she whispered. “It’s too dangerous.”
“Twilight! We can’t leave her!”
“Nighttime in the forest is too dangerous.”
“I don’t give a damn!” Applejack yelled, stomping a hoof. “That’s our friend out there.”
“We could get hurt,” she, bringing her gaze level with Applejack’s eyes. “We could die.”
Applejack slumped to the ground, a tear running down her cheek. She lowered her head in sorrow, letting her hat cover her anguish.
“She would die for us. We’d sure as hell all die for her too.”
“Yeah,” Twilight said, nodding her head. “We would.”
Twilight trotted over and put a hoof on Applejack’s shoulder. The farm pony looked back up at Twilight, who was wearing a small smile. The lavender unicorn had quite enough of listening to her brain, and decided to listen to her heart for once.
“I don’t give a damn either. Let’s go find Fluttershy.”
With that, the two ponies set off to find the others, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Rainbow Dash, so they could all look for their lost friend, together. All five of them knew in their hearts that they would succeed, for there was no other option. None of them had the heart to deal with that they found left of their friend in the Everfree forest.
The waiting room was filled with a deafening silence, enough that there was still a dull ringing in Twilight’s ears.
Countless times during the night, Twilight found herself staring off at a point in space for no reason. The more her focus drifted, the quieter the world got and the louder the ring in her head grew. Her senses dulled, overwhelmed by the never ending show being put on in her head, a slideshow moving from moment to traumatic moment. Her studious brain picked apart the scenes, the blood that seemed to permeate everything around her, the smell of her best friend’s flesh torn from her body, the sound of that bloodcurdling scream amplified over and over.
As the ring buzzing between her ears became the only thing she could hear, she realized it was the sound of her own horrific scream and no one else. While her muzzle might have not budged an inch, she couldn’t stop the screaming inside her own head.
Twilight Sparkle found Fluttershy that night, and she almost wished she hadn’t.
Reality came crashing back as an orange hoof waved in front of her face. Jerking her head to her left, she saw the orange earth pony that hadn’t left her side all night.
“Sugarcube, you okay?” She asked, her voice scratchy and dry.
“Yeah,” she lied, nodding her head. “I’m fine.”
“You were spacing out again, I just wanted to-“
“I’m fine,” she said again, staring back at Applejack with deadened eyes. “I’m fine.”
The entrance of Rarity into the waiting room bought the attention of the four other ponies there, who could only see the dreadful look on the unicorn’s face and return it with their own.
“H-how bad is it?” she choked out, the tracks of tears painfully visible on her cheeks.
“She’s still in surgery,” Applejack responded. “We don’t know what’s happenin’.”
“She’s not going to die, is she? She can’t die!” Rarity cried, growing more anxious and fidgeting around. “She just can’t! We were supp-“
“She’s still in surgery,” Twilight said tersely.
Rarity jerked at her forceful reply, choosing to stare at her hooves. She took a seat with the rest of her friends, the tears welling up again. Once Applejack wrapped a hoof around her friend’s shoulder, the dam burst, with Rarity sobbing into the farmer’s side.
“We were supposed to go to the spa today…” she said mournfully before returning to crying her heart out.
She wasn’t the first to shed tears for their friend that day.
After many more minutes of unbearable waiting, Rainbow Dash stood up and walked out of the room, muttering something about getting coffee. Waiting and doing nothing to help Fluttershy went against everything she knew and held dear. After all, she was the Element of Loyalty, and sitting around simply felt wrong to her. Sensing something was up, Pinkie Pie quickly followed after her, hoping she could do something to raise her friend’s spirits.
The pink party pony found Rainbow Dash sitting at a table in the corner, sipping the cheap cafeteria coffee and sulking. Sitting down at the other end of the table, she put on a little smile and put her hoof on top of her friend’s.
“Hey there Dashie.”
“I should have done more…” the pegasus pony muttered. “I could have flown faster, or been smarter, or something…”
“Hey, don’t think like that!” Pinkie Pie proclaimed, pressing Rainbow Dash’s chin up with a hoof. “You did the best you could, we all did!”
“And it wasn’t fucking enough!” She yelled, pulling away. “If our best means Flutters might die in there, then our best isn’t that great, is it? Why the hell should I even be the Element of Loyalty if I’m not even there when my friends need me the most?!”
Pinkie Pie sat back, surprised at the outburst that just occurred. She was silent for a moment, tapping a hoof to her chin and pondering what to say. After thinking it over, she looked back up at Rainbow Dash, a more genuine smile on her face.
“Dashie, look at me.”
Rainbow Dash took a quick glance up from her cup and just as fast glanced back down, unimpressed.
“Why?”
“Because,” Pinkie declared, raising a hoof in the air. “My hair is still poofy!”
“So?” Rainbow Dash said, shrugging. “What’s that got to do with anything?”
“It’s got to do with everything!” She cried, flailing her arms. “I don’t think I’ve ever been this scared Dashie, and I don’t want Fluttershy to die either, but…”
She paused for a moment, contorting her face in though, gathering her words carefully.
“But I believe in her. I just know in my heart that she’s gonna make it through this! So we have to be there for her when she does, and stay positive! We don’t wanna be Grumpy McGrumperson all down in the dumps and stuff. I know Fluttershy wouldn’t want that.”
Rainbow Dash turned her gaze away from her cup and up to the party pony across from her. She took a moment to consider what had been said, and started to feel ashamed for sulking like she did. With a sigh, she looked Pinkie Pie in the eye and cracked a little smile.
“…you’re right.” She said, slowly getting up from her seat. “You’re right. We have to stay positive.”
“Exactly!” Pinkie Pie cried, beaming at her uplifted friend. “Positve. For Fluttershy!”
The blue pegasus pony nodded in agreement, giving her funny friend a nuzzle before starting the walk back to the waiting room. They would make sure that everyone was staying positive and upbeat, for the sake of their ailing friend. Rarity was onboard immediately, declaring her full dedication to the recovery process and whatever Fluttershy needed. Applejack soon followed, pledging extra work on the farm to help pay for whatever would be needed. It took little time for the four of them to start forming plans and ideas for the future, and the mood almost became a happy one for a while.
Twilight sat in her seat, oblivious to the developments the other ponies discussed. Her ears were ringing again.