This is a story I wish wasn't true. The more I think about that time, the more it seems like a horrific nightmare than reality. All of my friends are gone. There is nothing left here for me, and there is no reason that I would want to stay behind.
There are things in our world that are not understood, so they are feared. Fear drives the unknown to madness and fuels it's hatred and rage. There are those times where it is a good idea to fear the unknown, but there are also times that it works better to show the darkness love in the hopes that it will become light, shining across the land to make the unknown common knowledge. I made the mistake of loving the darkness I should have feared.
....And now I must pay my toll.
~~~ 2 Months Ago ~~~
Silently I stood on the edge of the mountains as the wind whipped past me, carrying the scent of wildflowers into the air as it sank into the valley below. This was where I always went to relax. I felt alive just starring off across the land, watching every little detail and planning my route. Of course, I never was the best at planning, I always preferred to wing it. I looked up into the clouds above my head with a small sigh as my wings unfurled, each of my cyan feathers catching each little change in the wind and with a deep breath I ran forward and dived off the cliff. The wind lost it's flowered smell as the warmth of the summer sun was replaced with the freezing gusts that fell towards the ground with me.
I closed my eye and listened. I listened to the sound of the air rushing by, to the occasional bug that soared past my head, and to the rhythm of my own body. My heart was racing with excitement, pumping adrenaline throughout my body as I reached top speed. My mane and tail whipped around in the air like a fish out of water, sending strands of many colors across my vision. My own personal prism effect, as Twilight had called it. I opened my eyes as my wings tilted, my body rocketing upward just seconds before reaching the ground . Pushing myself to the edge was the only way I felt truly alive anymore. The thrill of a near death dive kicked my mind into focus and took it away from everything else. It was just me, the wind, and the never-ending sky in front of me.
I tilted the feathers on my right wing a bit as it sent me into a tight spiral, before leaning back and barrel-roll back-flipping back onto the cliff. My hooves touched the loose dirt and small pebbles of the cliffs edge as I folded my wings back in. I smiled as I yelled out across the valley. "I am the greatest pony ever to have lived!!"
Of course I knew I wasn't the greatest pony to have ever lived, but I was sure to be a close second or third.
I turned around and walked down the path that lead back to Ponyville, the town that I have called home for almost half of my life now. Don't get me wrong I loved Cloudsdale, but Ponyville is where my friends are... or well where a few of them are anyways.
Applejack still lives and works at her apple orchard, Sweet Apple Acres. She has been running it alone now for about 4 years since her older brother moved away with his young bride and Granny Smith passed away. Apple Bloom still lives in town, but she is pretty busy with her repair shop and still running around with that crazy gang of hers. Rarity and Sweetie Belle moved to Manehattan in February, a few days after my birthday. She had gotten some contract to work with a famous designer out there and now owns her own boutique. I'll admit I haven't been out there to see it for myself because I'm not into all of that girly froufrou nonsense, but I hear that it is doing pretty well. Pinkie Pie ran off to go join Cheese Sandwich on an around the world partying adventure. The last I heard from her she was heading off to Saddle Arabia to do a party for one of their princes, I just hope she doesn't decide to spike the punch again. Twilight is still living in her castle in Ponyville, but no one really sees her that much anymore. She has been really busy with her royal duties and teaching a few classes at the University of Canterlot. The last time I saw her was about 3 weeks ago at my show in Stalliongrad.
Oh, I completely forgot about that. I finally got into the Wonderbolts! Best flipping moment of my life is when I saw that letter of acceptance into the main flying team. I think I was so happy that I actually kissed Fluttershy.
Fluttershy....
There isn't much I can say about her. She died a few years ago for what seemed to be no apparent reason. I remember walking over to her house one morning and knocking on her door. She didn't answer so I went up to her bedroom window to see if she was sleeping.
I found her lying on the floor a few feet from her bed. The coroner said that she had been dead for at least six hours, but they didn't know why. She didn't choke, she didn't get bite by a venomous animal or anything. She had simply gotten walked back from her bathroom to her bed and died before she reached it.
We were all devastated by it, as you would expect us to be. Losing a friend like Fluttershy is something that I wouldn't even wish upon my worst enemy. Everything that we did after that was agonizing. Planning her funeral, distributing her estate, and even sending her animals off to different sanctuaries made the world stand still to me. I couldn't believe it was true, even as I sat there watching her coffin being lowered into the ground outside her cottage. It just seemed like a bad dream.
I bought her cottage as soon as the mayor decided to sell it. I was so angry with her when she put the sign out in front of it that I punched her in the face. Spent a few days in jail for that, but I still bought it. I couldn't bare to see it being lived in by some random pony. It was sacred ground now, at least to me anyways. Plus, you have to admit that if somepony decided to buy it...it would be really weird for a pony like me to come up onto their land to talk to no one at a random headstone in their backyard. Really.Really. Weird.
I continued to walk the path back into town as the sun began to set in the distance. The walk back into town isn't that long, but it does get pretty dark when the sun goes down and it is way to overgrown to fly through. So I started to run the trail, watching as the trees zipped passed me and the lights of the town started to grow brighter. I tried my best not to think about Fluttershy or my other friends. The last thing I needed right now is to walk back into town with tears streaming down my face, I do have a reputation to uphold.
Dashie....
I stopped dead in my tracks and turned around. My heart had nearly stopped as I heard someone say my affectionate nickname right into my ear. It wasn't the fact that I heard the voice, nor was it the fact that there was no one there to say it. It was the fact that the voice....I knew it anywhere. There was no mistaking that tone, that softness, or that pitch.
It was Fluttershy's voice.
I couldn't move for what seemed like forever. I was to scared to move. That voice sent a chill through my spine, it hurt just to even think about it. Just the way it was it seemed like it was taunting me, but whatever it was used Fluttershy's voice. The fact that it had to have picked that voice made me lose it. As soon as I could feel my hoof leave the ground, I took off like a bullet. I closed my eyes and didn't look back. Whatever had said that, be it a joke or to purposely freak me out, had struck a bad chord with me and I just wanted to get out of there.
I kept running and running until I felt the cold dirt turn into the hard touch of the cobblestone paths that crisscrossed through the town. I opened my eyes to look around town. I could see all of the town, each street brightly lit by the street lamps and store signs that broke the darkness. I walked towards Mane Street, my heart still racing as I refused to turn around to see if there was anything following me. I didn't want to know if there was or not. Not very many ponies were out tonight which struck me as kind of odd. I know Ponyville is a small town and really there is nothing to do here, but even it has somewhat of an active night life.
I kept walking, passing by the now dark Sugar Cube Corner. It too was particularly inactive tonight, but that wasn't too odd. Even with Pumpkin and Pound Cake helping out, the usually didn't stay open very late. I continued to walk and turned down Stirrup Street, only a few blocks away from the cottage now. I took it upon myself to stay in Fluttershy's cottage whenever I came back to Ponyville for more than a week, which I haven't been able to in the last three years. Not counting the few times I stayed the night cleaning the place up.
As I continued to walk down the street, I heard the sound of hooves coming from behind me. It was probably nothing, but call me paranoid. I thought they were following me. I walked a bit faster, trying to keep ahead of the sound.
But it kept getting louder and louder as I went on...
I took off at a full speed run and reached the cottage in record time. By now the sound was a good ways behind me, but I could still hear it getting closer. I reached down and kicked over a small rock, the bottom of it carved out so that a key could fit firmly inside of it. I pulled the key out as I heard hooves starting to come down the path that lead to the front door. I fumbled with it, my mind and heart racing at full speed. I slid the key into the lock at the exact moment that I felt a hoof tap on my back, and like a foal I screamed at the top of my lungs and I curled up into a ball to protect myself.
"Rainbow! For Celestia's sake calm down!" I looked up and saw the glint of purple mane hanging down in front of the face of the pony that had been following me.
I quickly got back onto my hooves, my fear turning into anger. "Dang it, Scootaloo! You know better than to scare a pony like that!"
I brushed the dirt off of my coat as she started to laugh. "I'm sorry Rainbow, didn't know you were that jumpy." She laughed even more as she help me dust off myself. "I just heard that you were back in town and wanted to come say hi. I wasn't trying to actually scare you....although that was priceless!"
"Scootaloo! That isn't funny!" I snapped. "Making voices like that and following ponies. Not cool Scoots." I said looking back at her, and I'll admit that I was surprised to see a look of confusion on her face.
"What are you talking about? I wasn't making any voices." She shook her head. "I know it was wrong of me to follow you without calling out to you, but it was all in good fun!"
"So, you didn't sneak up behind me and whisper my nickname in my ear back on the mountain?"
"Nope, how could I? I haven't even left town all day." She gave me a concerned look and stepped a bit closer, putting her hoof to my forehead. "Are you feeling alright? You look like hell."
I knocked her hoof away and turned back towards the door. I turned the key and pushed it open, stepping inside before looking back at her. "I'm fine, Squirt. Just had a long day."
"Oh, alright then. Well I better let you get some rest then." She said with a smile before turning around. "By the way, I'm not a squirt anymore."
I chuckled, expecting that kind of reactions from her now that she was almost a full grown mare. "Even so, you'll still be a Squirt in my eyes until I die Scoots. Now get on outta here."
"Hehe, see you tomorrow Dash." She said as she took off into the night sky. I do have to mention that watching her fly away was a win in my eyes. Scootaloo was never the best at flying, but the fact that she could go long distances now at high altitudes because of my help made it all worth.
I slowly shut the door and flicked the light switch on the wall, revealing what time had done to a once lovely place. The ceiling was starting to buckle from a combination of rot and from water that constantly poured in during heavy rain storms. The bright paints and wallpapers that had adorned the once cheerful walls were now faded and starting to flake off into pile on the floor. Grasses and weeds had started to reclaim this place as their own, sneaking their way past the plumbing and through the rotting wood floor and up the stairs a bit. Frankly this place should have been condemned months ago, but I just couldn't let it be torn down or resold. I wanted it here until it was fully reclaimed by nature.
I walked through the living room and up the stairs that lead to the single bedroom on the second floor. The wood creaked beneath my hooves, a few of the loose ones shifting and nearly breaking as I continued the climb. It wasn't the longest set of stairs, and even with the minor set backs I still made it up there faster than anyone else in the world could. Why? Cause I am just that awesome.
I pushed open the door and walked over to the bed that sat with it's headboard pressed up against the far wall. It was one of the few things that I had repaired a bit so that It would last a while longer. The frame was new and so was the box spring, but everything else was the same as it had been. Same blanket, same pillows, same fluffy mattress. I turned on the lamp that sat on her nightstand, my eyes drifting down to the picture it illuminated.
It was a picture of all of us at Twilight's palace, playing some random party game of Pinkie's. It wasn't the best picture in the world, but It was one of the last ones that Fluttershy had been in before she passed on, this one only a week or so before. I stared at it, brushing the dust away as I looked at her face. The look on it was one of happiness, life and joy, but her face must have betrayed what she was really feeling. I had always wondered what she had felt in that last week, If she had known she was sick and didn't want to tell us... or if she was faking her happiness and was actually suicidal like all the guards thought she was. I don't know what it was, and I would have given anything to find out.
I was about to set the picture down when I noticed something strange about one of the corners. It looked like it was folded up and tucked under the back of it. I quickly reached over and pulled the backing off of the frame, letting the picture fall out onto my hoof. Carefully, I bent the corner forward.
There was nothing there but a strange smudge that seemed to have been caused by it being bent, but this smudge was dark black and looked a bit like smoke. I looked at it for a few minutes before a loud crash of thunder snapped me back into reality. I looked out the window into the night as the rain started to fall heavily on the roof. Luckily the bedroom was the one room that there were no leaks in, so I wasn't to worried about a late night thundershower. I actually found it to be quite relaxing.
A yawn escaped my throat as I leaned back onto the bed, resting my head against the soft, down-filled pillows that had remained untouched for weeks on end. I rolled over, letting the picture fall lightly to the floor as I buried my muzzle into the pillows. I took a long sniff, getting a few subtle whiffs of what remained of Fluttershy's scent. She always wore this light flowery perfume that was never too strong, and the smell of fresh air passed by my nostrils as I took a deep smell. I know it seems weird, but It was the closest thing that I had to her at the moment.
"Fluttershy....why did you have to leave us."
The storm raged outside as lightning struck all around. The wind whipped around like crazy as the rain continued to fall heavy on the ground. The lightning flashed and struck, hitting a small row of candles that stood on Fluttershy's tombstone, igniting them in a flash of red.
The ground rumbled slightly as a large crack split the headstone in half, a few bits of marble chipping away and falling to the ground.
"Why did you have to die." I said as a few tears started to stream down my face.
The head stone split more as an eerie red light poured out from the ground below it and a sinister laugh filled the air.
I closed my eyes and held a pillow tight as I slowly began to drift off to sleep. I took one last look at the window before my mind went blank. "Come back..."
Oh, don't cry Dashie.
I'm already home...
Author's Note
Well...yeah this happened....
Here you go have fun with this. This story is kind of one that I have had on the books for a while and just never got around too, so this story will be a filler story while I figure out how the heck I am going to continue my other stories.
Yep..
