That Which Darkness Sends

Megan found herself in a clearing deep in the woods. She had a splitting headache. Not far away, Fluttershy sat, rubbing her head with a forehoof.

"Owowowowow my head hurts," Megan complained.

"Megan, are you alright?" Fluttershy asked, hobbling over to her.

She pressed her fingers to her temples. Memories flooded her mind. The weird thing was that they were her memories, but they also weren't her's. There were flashes of a blue pegasus and a white unicorn, both in a situation that started out like this.

Tirek once again appeared before her. "Human, once again you have foiled my attempt at giving you pain. Now I will let one of your friends do it for me."

The moon went dark, and Megan was paralyzed by fear. Fluttershy backed away slowly, just far enough away so Megan didn't get hit with a moonbeam. The darkness struck Fluttershy, but Megan just sat there, curled up into a ball, both because of the mental pain and the fact that Tirek was just downright scary at the moment.

The darkness subsided, and so did the confusion of Megan's mind. By the time she stood up, Tirek was already gone, presumably watching from a distance. She looked over to where Fluttershy was, only to see a bundle of yellow fur that barely resembled a pony. But Megan knew that Tirek had something up his proverbial sleeve, that Fluttershy couldn't just be dead. No, Tirek would make her try to hurt her.

Megan remembered how Rainbow Dash shrunk in size when she was hit with the Darkness, and how Rarity became slimmer in the same way. Just like those two, Fluttershy had a physical characteristic altered, but what Rainbow and Rarity lost, Fluttershy received.

The yellow mass rose to its (hooves?). It looked like a blob on four short stumps. For some reason, it also looked awfully cute. This trait was lost after the blob on top started to grow and shake. The skin inflated like a balloon until it was pulled taut. Something inside was struggling to get out. Muscles bulged at the seams A split appeared at the top.

Suddenly, the skin was torn to shreds. A huge, black, scaly beast ripped out of its outer casing and kept growing. Elongated claws pierced through the end of its appendages. Dagger-like teeth filled its mouth. Think of a reptilian Ursa Minor.

The monster increased in size until it was as tall as the trees. It bellowed a thunderous roar. Megan knew that this thing used to be Fluttershy, according to what Tirek had done before.

Megan tried to step backward as quietly as she could while Fluttershy was occupied, but a branch on the ground had other plans. The resulting *snap* sounded as loud as a cannon blast. Fluttershy's head whipped around and focused on Megan. She growled at her, approaching like a predator stalking its prey.

Megan turned tail and ran like she was going to die, which she was. Fluttershy pounced and landed on top of her. The human found herself being thrown up, up, and away by Fluttershy. It was a nice view, all the pretty stars and trees.

Then she noticed there were seven other clearings surrounding the moonbeam. In each one, she saw a different version of herself and a mutant created by Tirek. She then realized that her past experiences with Rainbow and Rarity, as well as the ones she would presumably have to fight in the near future, are all happening right now at the same time!

Then Megan noticed the ground. Normally, the ground is nothing to scream about. It had bushes and grass, all things normal for ground (except for Fluttershy, of course). The thing about it was that it was coming toward her very rapidly, so she screamed.

As Megan was falling, Fluttershy swatted at her, not unlike a tennis ball and racquet. She punched through the leaves a couple of trees, narrowly missing fatal branches. The leaves cushioned her fall a tad bit, but it was still enough to break her left arm. She would have howled in pain, but her voice was already sore from the screaming.

Megan's ears picked up the thunder of Fluttershy pounding on the ground. She desperately searched around wherever her head could turn for something useful. Nothing immediately could be spotted from her position, but then she saw something. Under a nearby piece of shrubbery was a rabbit in red overalls. He stared questioningly at her.

"Psst! Rabbit!" Megan tried to get his attention. "You, uh, Habbit! No, that's not it... Uh, oh! Angel! You're Angel, Fluttershy's bunny!" He rolled his eyes, yet nodded. "Listen! Tirek has turned Fluttershy into a monster, and I seem to have fallen and I can't get up!"

Angel snuck out from under his bush. In the not-too-distant distance, they both heard Fluttershy growling and rampaging through the forest. Angel actually started hopping toward Megan instead of away in fright. He promptly stood on her chest. Before she could question it, the tree nearest to her tumbled over and almost fell on her.

Fluttershy barely slowed before she was almost directly on top of Megan. She raised a clawed hoof, ready to finish her off when she locked eyes with Angel. Angel stood taller, and the sight of him slightly disoriented Fluttershy. She stopped and blinked, then shook her head and held her hoof high again.

Angel pointed to Megan's arm, and Fluttershy's expression softened again. She reached down with a foreleg and felt along her arm with a scaly claw. Megan started whimpering again, so Fluttershy knew where the fracture was. She gave a look of fear and disgust, as if she could sense something else was wrong.

Fluttershy's claw sunk down into Megan's arm, but Megan made no noise, even with the pain. The claw found it's way down until it hit something out of place. It was not bone or anything else normally found in the human body.

Fluttershy carefully dug out the object. It was smooth and round, and felt somewhat familiar for some reason. She examined it closely, then recoiled at the sight of one of her own scales.

She realized she had hurt her friend, something she swore she would never do. Processes ran through her head, trying to find why she would ever do this. All of her results led back to Tirek.

"Tirek!" she shouted. Her voice slowly transformed from the rough, beastly voice to her normal, silky smooth voice.

"I was beaten by a bunny," Tirek complained after he appeared. "Never have I been defeated by such a dumb animal."

This comment threw Fluttershy's fragile mind into a blind rage. "You had better take that back, you... you... meanie!"

"Hmm... How about not?" Tirek blipped out of sight and blipped back in right next to Megan. He picked her up. In the other hand he took her broken arm and bent it backwards at the elbow. Megan screamed in agony. "I will cause you pain, human, before this ends. And the pony can do nothing about it." Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Fluttershy lunging for him. He snapped his fingers, and her body shrunk back down to just a pony with scales.

"Do you think you can just hurt anyone without me interfering?" Fluttershy said when she picked her face up off the ground. "I couldn't believe it when I hurt a friend, so why would I stand by when someone else hurt her?" Her eyes flashed to a bright pink hue. "I have to help ponies, Tirek! *For I am Fluttershy, Element of Kindness!*"

The sky erupted into an adorable pink glow, blinding everyone's eyes.

When the glow faded, Megan was sitting on the ground, clutching her arm. Without a second thought, Fluttershy rushed over with a couple of sticks and some strengthened blades of grass and fashioned a splint.

"Oh, thank you, Flutters," Megan said. "That helps a bit. So is this what you look like in your world?"

Fluttershy looked over herself. She was her normal butter-furred self (as opposed to her host's teal fur), and all evidence of Tirek's magic was gone.

"Yeah, I guess it is," she replied. She helped Megan to her feet. A tear almost dripped from her eye. "Listen, Megan, I'm sorry for everything I did. I never realized I could be such a monster."

"It's fine," Megan reassured. "Everyone else has done the same thing so far."

Fluttershy had a curious look on her face. "Everyone else?"

"Yes, Rainbow Dash and Rarity have already experienced something like this. After they used their, um, 'Elements', we headed into the moonbeam over there. I think we should go there now."

Without any other word, Megan and Fluttershy soon arrived at the antilight. Megan motioned that they should go in.

One human and one pony stepped forward into the moonbeam and saw seven other human/pony pairs.