Near the outskirts of the Everfree Forest, a cottage could be found. In said cottage ponies could usually find the timid animal-carer, Fluttershy, who had located her home near the terrifying forest. Perhaps she wanted to be nearer to her beloved animals, but when you think about it didn't make sense.
The most easily-spooked pony in all of Equestria was to live nearest to one of the most dangerous place in all of Equestria (second to Tartarus!). How exactly did she cope, you may ask? Why, she found comfort in her animal friends, of course! That was her special talent, after all. Anyway, back to the story...
Fluttershy was currently outside in her backyard, feeding all her beloved animal friends.
"...And here's your berries Mr. Bear. Blackberries with a side of blue." Fluttershy said to her final customer, Mr. Bear, while hoofing over the berries. Mr. Bear, in response, began to engorge himself by thrusting his head into one of the several baskets filled to the brim with berries in order to chow down. Fluttershy chuckled softly at the display.
"Well, that's the last-" She was interrupted by a tugging on her leg. Fluttershy looked down at the sensation and saw her even more beloved, Angel the bunny. Angel made a motion with one of his front paws pointing at his mouth, while the other was rubbing his stomach.
"Oh, don't think I forgot about you, Angel!" Fluttershy cooed, lowering herself and petting Angel's head. This earned her a annoyed look from Angel, as his stomach rumbled. His made the same motion as before.
"Okay, okay, let me get you your carrot." Fluttershy said as she began trotting over towards the carrot bags. She placed a hoof into the bag.
There was nothing there.
Fluttershy, confused a little, moved her hoof around the inside of the bag, until she eventually looked inside. Nothing.
She looked back at Angel, who was silently thumping his foot.
Fluttershy, meanwhile, was having a small panic attack.
"OhdearhowcouldthishavehappenedIthoughtthatIhadboughtmorecarrotswhenIwenttothemarketearlierbutthatconflictswithwhathasactuallyhappeneddidIforgetordoIhaveasparebag???" she thought.
Thinking in a way only Pinkie could talk, Fluttershy managed to blurt out "O-oh, I think I got s-some better carrots for you."
Angel's face was unreadable.
"In the house."
Eyebrow slightly arched.
"Upstairs."
Finally, Angel decided that would do and pointed at the back door, indicating to Fluttershy "Well get going!"
Mentally sighing with relief to herself, Fluttershy approached the back door and walked inside her cottage. Looking around, she took note that everything was clean... for the moment. Usually the animals would be in the house, but at feeding time they all went in the backyard to eat.
That meant that when the back door suddenly slammed behind her, it was eerily quiet. Save for Fluttershy's sudden jump at the door closing. By jump, I mean she actually jumped, flapped her wings once, her wings locked up, and she fell back down with a soft *squee*.
In the position she landed (upside-down and backwards), she could clearly see that it was the door that made the sudden slamming noise. "That's weird..." she thought "It must have been a strong breeze."
Reminding herself of her mission, she turned away from the door and realized she could not see into the black void ahead. For whatever reason, all the window curtains were closed and the only light that could be seen was from the small window at the top of the back door. All the lights were off as well.
Fluttershy, now slightly spooked, mumbled "I-I could have sworn I had turned on some lights." That's when she realized...
The light switch was on the other side of the room.
You could say that Fluttershy was afraid of the dark, but that wouldn't be true. It's just a matter that she is, well, timid. It would have been natural if Fluttershy was just scared of more things then other ponies. It would have been natural that she could be afraid of what is in the darkness. It would have been natural if she suddenly started doing minor sweating and over-dramatized hyperventilating an-
Ok, she wasn't afraid of the dark, but it was rather the fact that she was alone in the dark.
Shaking, she looked back through the window. She could be with all her animal friends and Angel would-
A image of a disappointed Angel appeared in Fluttershy's mind. Although 'disappointed' would probably not be Angel's reaction, Fluttershy didn't know that. All she then knew was that she had to do this.
Slowly, she began towards the darkness. One hoof, then the other. One hoof, then then the other.
As Fluttershy slowly edged towards the light switch, she could feel the darkness surround her, as if it was consuming her.
That's when she heard it. It had started soft, almost inaudible.
"OOOooooOOOooooOOOoooo..." Fluttershy's ear flicked, as if shooing off a fly. It had to be the silence making the noise, right?
"OOOooooOOOooooOOOoooo..." At this point Fluttershy was shaking slightly, but continued edging forward. Does silence make a noise? She hardly thought about it as she looked back at the back door. It and it's light seemed to stretch out miles away.
She turned to face forward, until a sudden gust of cold wind whipped her mane into her face. Surprised by the pink hairy onslaught, she tried to wipe her mane from her face with a hoof. She noticed that her hoof was trembling. "Wait, how could there be wind if all the windows are clos-"
At this point Fluttershy practically threw herself at the light switch. She missed, and actually hit the wall instead (with yet another *squee*).
Shortly after that, she tried again (this time closer to the switch) and actually managed to turn it to "On".
*Click*
A second passed.
Fluttershy wondered if whatever made the noise was still out there.
Another second passed.
After what seemed like an eternity (which really was two seconds), the lights finally sputtered to life. It was no longer dark!
Sighing heavily with relief, Fluttershy sat down for a few seconds to calm herself. "I really have to get rid of this fear..." she thought.
She looked around her newly-lit room. There was the couch where Discord slept, the curtains that were still closed, the-
The curtains that were closed. And it was daytime. And her room was dark so she took the long route to flick the light switch.
Slowly, she trotted over and opened a curtain. From there, Celestia's sun was glowing, near the horizon. Opening and closing her mouth was all she could do to respond to what would be called "stupidity".
Fluttershy shook her head to get rid of that thought, and decided to distract herself by thinking of other things. "What was that mysterious noise? Why were all the curtains closed?... What was I doing again?
Suddenly, a picture of Angel on a nearby table reminded her of her mission. To get Angel dinner.
After a quick look in the kitchen, she confirmed that there were, indeed, no carrots to be found. Panic started to rise inside her, but it decreased as she remembered that she had one place left to look. The attic.
Fluttershy usually got her animal food from the local delivery pegasus, who had a nasty habit of crash landing through the attic window.. Eventually, Fluttershy ended up keeping the window open and turning her attic into a storage. You could deem that 'unsafe' because of the massive weight of the food, but she didn't really stockpile her food. Only in the winters, when the animals that weren't hibernating needed food, would she add extra support beams to the underside.
After going over to the attic entrance, she pulled down the stairs towards said attic. Darkness loomed upward.
Gulping slightly, Fluttershy knew that she had to, once again, do this. One hoof, then the other hoof. One hoof, then the other hoof.
As she emerged from the hole to the attic, she poked her head out. The usually open window for the mail delivery pegasus to crash through was closed. Not only that, but what seemed to be a sheet was covering the window, significantly dimming the light available. Fluttershy had a sudden memory what she had told some of her animals...
"Just cover up the old furniture and anything else you think should be covered with some bed sheets. We don't want them to be dusty, now do we?" She had said.
Apparently the animals had taken her request above and beyond, covering most (if not all) of the various objects inside the attic. That included the window.
As she walked out from the stairs onto the attic floor, the light coming from the stairs were her only comfort.
That's when they began to flicker.
Fluttershy whipped her head around towards the stairs. Then she heard it again...
"OOOooooOOOooooOOOoooo..."
"I-i-is somepony t-there?" Fluttershy barely squeaked. The noise stopped. It was then replaced by another noise, the attic stairs beginning to snap shut.
Fluttershy watched in horror as the stairs, her only escape, closed down on her. She was frozen in fear. She could hardly see anything now.
"...Fluttershyyyyyyyy..." The mysterious noise said, confirming that it was actually a voice.
Fluttershy could not believe her ears. She heard her name... eerily... in a attic. Another memory popped up, one of Rainbow Dash 'taking' her to a movie. She didn't know that it was a horror movie, and about 1/22 of the way through she ran for her life.
"Fluttershyyyyyyyyy..." The 'voice' said again. Fluttershy, in her frozen shock and fear, realized that it might be waiting for a answer.
"Y-y-y-y-y-y-e-e-e-e-e-e-s?" She managed to stutter.
"... Do you believe in ghosts...?"
"W-w-w-ha-a-t?"
"... I am the ghost of all the animals you failed to save...
Fluttershy's pupils shot to pinpricks. Her frozen state became one of shaking. She couldn't respond.
"... OOOooooOOOooo... Why couldn't you save us Fluttershy?... Whyyyyyyyyyyy.....
At that point, Fluttershy no longer cared about herself. She only cared for the animals. Her animals.
"I'M SOOOOOOORRRYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!" Fluttershy screamed at possibly her loudest yet. She then promptly ran for the bed sheet window and crashed through it.
It was this time that she realized that a) she had just flung through a window b) the window was actually open c) she had managed to wrap herself in the bed sheet and d) her wings were still locked up.
Falling at a horribly fast pace, Fluttershy couldn't see where she was going for the bed sheet was covering her body. No matter how hard she tired, she couldn't open her wings to fly to safety.
As she tumbled in what seemed to be in slow motion, Fluttershy's mind stopped to ponder...
That was when she finally hit something. Something... soft. She had not expected that. She was frozen in such shock for a few moments until she decided to unravel herself and see where she landed.
She had landed on Mr. Bear's stomach, who was napping on the ground from his dinner, with berry juice that could still be seen around his maw. Mr. Bear was now aware at the sudden intrusion at his stomach, and looked at Fluttershy. A puzzled look was all she got... from Mr. Bear and all the other animals.
Fluttershy took a moment to look around and see all her animal friends. Her beloved animal friends. Tears started to appear in her eyes as she realized something...
In her act of throwing herself out the window, the only thought was of the safety of the animals, not herself. She was so selfless, she realized, when it came to her friends.
Angel hopped over to her and climbed onto Mr. Bear's stomach. He landed next to a teary-eyed Fluttershy. He made a motion she didn't notice.
"I'm so sorry. I'm sorry..." Fluttershy whimpered.
Angel looked around Fluttershy and noticed that... she had not returned with his carrot. Angel thought he should 'say' something...
... Then again, here she was, all sad as Fluttershy kept saying "I'm sorry" to what seemed to be herself.
Fluttershy felt a tug on her leg, and finally looked over at the sensation. Angel was hugging her.
"There was nothing I could do, Angel. I'm sorry."
Angel thought this was extraordinary, how disappointed his owner was! All because she didn't bring back a carrot! Angel decided that he should probably forgive her. He made a series of motions.
Fluttershy, still looking at Angel, said softly "I know Angel... I'm ok. It's ok."
"Besides," she said, suddenly her voice stronger "I have, well... all of you!" She waved a hoof around at all her animals.
Angel was now thoroughly confused. What was she-
A rumbling sound was heard. It was Angel's stomach.
Fluttershy looked back at Angel. "Oh no! I forgot to feed you, my poor little Angel..." Fluttershy said "How instead of a carrot..."
Angel arched a eyebrow.
"... We get you a carrot cake!"
Angel, deciding that whatever was bothering his owner wasn't worth it in detail, went with his stomach's feeling and took up her offer. Angel climbed up on Fluttershy's back, and they began to walk towards Ponyville to get a cake.
All the other animals, seeing their owner leaving, decided to continue their individual feasts and Mr. Bear decided to go back to his slumber.
While no one was the wiser, a lone figure appeared at the attic window. All that could be seen was it's extreme paleness and unusual tall height.
"...Sooooooo..." The mysterious figure whispered.
It clapped its 'hands' together and was about to say probably what would have been a major plot point, but it was suddenly interrupted by a grey mass swooping into the window and promptly crashing into the figure.
On this particular same day, we find our story driven more 'inward' into the town of Ponyville. More specifically, Rarity's botiqe.
Botique.
Boutiqy?
Hold up, hold the phone, hold your ponies, I am not entirely sure that is a word. Lemme check.
...
Ok, so apparently it is a word, meaning a small shop that that specializes in fashionable clothes and jewelry. I suppose this makes sense, considering Rarity lives in her shop. What even is her pay if she lives in her shop!?
Oh wait, she practically gives away everything for free because she is freaking the element of Generosity. Seriously, owning a shop and being extremely generous is not the way to go.
... Hm? Oh yes, the story! Anyway...
===============================================================================
Rarity was, like most times, extremely busy. Sure, she spent time with her friends and practically gave everything aw-(No, I'm not going back to that argument.)
` Either way, Rarity was currently working on her latest 'invention'. Actually, you could say it was a invention, considering a bit of technology went into it! Her newest dress schematics had come in days before, showing off a new dress/tech combo.
Apparently, one Vinyl Scratch had asked for a dress (and by that I mean Octavio forced her to get one for the later Gala). Behind Octavio's back, Vinyl put one little tiny new idea in the blueprints...
She wanted a fully working miniature speaker to be installed in the dress.
Of course, when Vinyl came with a bribe, Rarity refused it, stating that she would add it free of charge!
Now Rarity, almost complete with the final bits of wiring, mumbled to herself, "This whole wire idea better be like stitching fabric together, otherwise this might all be wrong..."
However, this was the precise moment of the whole entire operation when, of course, Sweetie Bell walked into the room.
"CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS SOLO OPS!"
Rarity, profusely startled by this sudden outburst, ripped her needle (with wire in tow) straight into the air, where all the wires followed.
"Oh marshmallows!" Rarity swore, turning towards the intruder, "Sweetie Bell, what did I tell you about barging in when I'm working?"
Sweetie Bell, brought a hoof to her chin as she thought about it. "Oh," She said cheerfully, "you said that I shouldn't barge in when your working!"
"No darling, what did I tell you?" Rarity sighed.
"... Oh! You said I shouldn't barge in when your working!"
Slightly impressed with Sweetie Bell getting the pronunciation correct, Rarity looked back at her latest masterpiece.
It was a mess of cables and wires, as if the dress's organs were forcefully ripped out and lain across the ponnequin . A hair popped from her mane with a sharp twang.
Sweetie Bell looked around Rarity at the crooked bundle. "What exactly is that?" She asked.
"My latest failure, Sweetie Bell. Would you care to-" Rarity whipped around "- try it on?"
Sweetie Bell, seeing the gaze of Rarity combined with the fact that she most definitely didn't want to try it on, started to back away slowly. "N-nah, I'm good sis!" She said, ears splayed backwards.
Rarity cackled with glee and started towards Sweetie Bell. That's when she bolted from the room, with Rarity in tow.
The room was now silent, save for the slight sparking of the wires.
The wires started to give off a little smoke.
...
Eventually, said small smoke became big smoke, as it condensed into a tall oval-ish shape. From the smoke emerged a pale cloaked figure...
==========================================================================
Rarity, now quite tired from her little 'jog', trotted back inside the room.
While walking around, she noticed something odd. First, she glanced at it from a distance. Then, she slowly came towards said odd image. What she saw was horrifying.
Several hairs had strayed away from her luxurious mane, and now she looked kind of crazy unfit to be seen in public. "No no no, this just won't do!" She said to her reflection in the mirror.
Rarity found a comb and used her magic to fix her disaster hairdo. While working, she began to hum a little tune that I'm sure everyone is aware what tune it was.
As she hummed and her horn hummed, another hum began to join in with the little symphony. Eventually, Rarity figured that she should make her tune go in sync with her horn and the other hum. You know, just for giggles?
After quite a outstanding orchestra of humming (which would be impossible to do in this written story) she finally realized that her mane was, once again, perfect.
As she stopped humming, the hum continued. Puzzled, Rarity tried to stop humming again. The humming continued. There didn't seem to be any vibration in her mouth, but yet she heard a hum.
Looking around, she discovered nopony (except her) was present, as well as everything looked normal. Her bed, her mirror, the dress, her-
The dress was gone.
Staring at the spot her dress was, the humming unknowingly intensified a slight bit.
"That's strange..." she murmured, slowly walking to the spot the ponnequin once was. All that was left was a circle of dust, originally where the foundation of the suspended dress was. The humming got louder.
Rarity now fully aware that the humming was steadily growing in intensity. Her eyes widened as she put a hoof to her forehead.
Through the humming, Rarity could barely make out another sound.
"OOOooooOOOooooOOOoooo...
Eyes darting in their sockets, Rarity did a full 360 to try to find the source of the noise. Nothing
Rarity tried to speak, but she couldn't hear what she was even saying! She briskly walked to the exit of the room, hoping that she would escape the noise.
Eventually, Rarity was in full gallop. She rushed from her room, to the hallway, past Sweetie Bell's room (who said filly was hiding inside a masterfully constructed pillow fort) and towards the stairs. The hum continued to get louder and louder.
Of course, your not supposed to run down stairs, but Rarity didn't care anymore. Her own disregard led her to promptly fall down the stairs.
Hitting the bottom wall, which was conveniently placed next to a light switch, a dazed Rarity quickly got up.
The humming had stopped. Rarity, first confused then overjoyed, looked around. The lights at the first floor of the botiq- the fashion store were out.
Rarity took a moment to think. "What was all THAT about? And where is my ruined masterpiece?
Suddenly, a light in the middle of the room came into existence. It seemed to be a spotlight, but we'd never know where the light was coming from because Rarity was looking straight at the thing in the light.
It was the ponnequin, dress included, 'standing' in the spotlight.
"OOOooooOOOooooOOOoooo came a mysterious sound.
Rarity whipped her head around, but saw nothing except darkness and the ponnequin.
She felt... compelled to get closer. So, she slowly started to inch on over.
Then, the mysterious voice(?) continued...
"Rarity... Rarityyyyy...
Rarity was quite shocked by this now confirmed voice. She then realized that the voice was coming from the ponnequin.
"Rarity...Rarityyyyy... why must you hog the spotliiiiiiight..."
"E-excuse me?" Rarity said in a mix of confusion and, strangely enough, fear.
"... You are a divaaaaa... continued the voice, "... You want to seem to be perfeeeeeect..."
A slight bit of anger rose in Rarity, but it was quickly diminished by the whole spookiness. "What ever could y-you mean, darling?"
"... You don't want everyon- er, everypony to know your secret...
"What secret?" Rarity asked with interest and concern.
After a few seconds, the ponnequin continued, "You don't want ponies to knoooooowwww.... you haven't always made perfect fashiooooooon...
Suddenly, from the spotlight's light, came scattering down numerous papers and pages. One even floated down to land in front of Rarity.
... It was a schematic for a dress, with a big red REJECTED stamped on it.
Rarity looked from the page to the ponnequin, then back to the page, then back to the ponnequin, who apparently decided to move a few inches closer when she wasn't looking.
"... Why did you reject us Rarity, whyyyyyyyyyyyyy?...
She recoiled a bit, then said "Oh, this is THE WORST. POSSIBLE. THING!"
And with that, her horn lit for a brief moment, she swooned, and she plopped herself on a conveniently summoned couch.
...
Then, the light's flicked on. Sweetie Bell was at the base of the stairs when she saw...
Rarity passed out on her couch and the ponnequin with dress.
her couch and the ponnequin with dress.
the ponnequin with dress.
...dress...
"Oh, this is THE WORST. POSSIBLE. THING!" screamed Sweetie Bell, swooning off the stairs and summoning a miniature couch of her own to plop on and pass out.
It took all the willpower of a third party to not "da'w".
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"...and that's all I remember. What do you think?" Rarity said to her beloved spa friend, Fluttershy. The two were currently in the mud jacuzzi, discussing various gossip and whatnot. That is what they would have been talking about, if not for recent events.
"W-well, I would suppose that this isn't a coincidence..." Fluttershy said softly, "I think somepony might be pranking us. Are you sure it isn't Rainbow again?"
Rarity put a hoof to her chin, which was covered in mud. The end result was Rarity "blah!"-ing to her now muddy chin. "Well, I suppose it could have been her. We should at least ask..."
A bubble formed in the middle of the jacuzzi.
The two mares shared a glance as another bubble came, then another, until suddenly, a mass started to slowly rise.
Fluttershy and Rarity instantly screamed "MUD MONSTER!!!" and quickly jumped the edge of the jacuzzi and ran for all their life's worth. They would have done that, if it wasn't for the fact that they were caked in mud and were slipping about.
...
Finally, the mass rose from the mud jacuzzi, creating what seemed to be a tall oval. It looked around at the now empty room.
"How the heck am I going to get this mud outta my s-"
The 'Mud Monster' was most likely going to say something important to the plot, but it was then that a gray mass came swooping in through a nearby window, landing messily in the jacuzzi and, more coincidently, on the muddy oval itself.
As the grey mass rose from the mud, it simply stated, "I just don't know what went wrong..."
