It is a lovely sunny day. Describe it however you want it, whether you want to be fancy and say it's "delightful" or even use metaphors, or whether you want to be simple and lazy - and say it the way I am saying it now. At any rate, it is lovely, it is sunny, and it is a day.
No clouds hang in the air, as Fluttershy trots over to meet her friend. There is a huge smile on her face, which still manages to capture the natural shyness and sweetness of her usually silent face, yet also expressing all the unexplained happiness she is feeling that minute.
What makes her so happy today? She doesn't bother asking herself, as she sees Pinkie Pie's house in the distance. The Sugar Cube Corner. Impressive name, Rarity always tells her, except that it needs a little more...elegance to it. Words are more powerful than any bro-hoof, than any painting, than any thought...
Fluttershy's eyes sparkle like diamonds among rocks. Twilight is right after all. Words are as she always says so. Maybe Fluttershy should hook up with a book at Twilight's library tonight.
Fluttershy never really cares to think about these things, but today has this strange strange force than drives her to do some thinking. It's not a surprise that a random thought hits her without her consent. Pinkie Pie? What is the thing that makes Pinkie Pie so...strange?
Who are Rocky and Madame Le Flour? Why are they "Pinkie's friends"? And why do they only appear when she is alone, sad or depressed?
The sweet smile on her face vanishes, as she knocks this phenomenon out of her head. She knocks on Pinkie's door with a hoof, as she unstraps her saddlebags with her mouth. As soon as she is done with this, she looks up, and knocks again. "Oh my..um...Pinkie Pie? It's me..." Her voice trails off into an inaudible mutter. However, Pinkie Pie knows her friend's voice when she hears it, and she opens the door right away. "Hello, Fluttershy! Coming to feed Gummy again?"
Fluttershy is flung onto the roadside, due to the suddeness of the swinging door. Her eyes are derped, and cartoon-y stars and other weird objects swirl and encircle her head. Pinkie Pie stares at her, and asks, "Are you okay, Fluttershy? You know I didn't mean --"
Fluttershy shakes her dizzy head, and smiles, saying, "Oh, it's okay, Pinkie Pie. I'm fine. No hard feelings?" Pinkie Pie answers, "No hard feelings!" She drags Fluttershy by the hoof into SugarCube Corner.
Fluttershy nods, and she steps right in, feeling a little dizzy, but unhurt all the same. Yet she doesn''t know that the accident had knocked the weirdest question back to the back of her head.
Gummy is sitting on a low table, gnawing at a balloon with his toothless mouth. Or not toothless at all. Pinkie Pie bounces to him, and then exclaims, "Oh, that reminds me! Gummy's two today! It's his birthday! Well...fifth birthday in one week.." She lets out a little merry-hearted giggle.
"He's growing a tooth," the pink earth pony points out, as she pats her pet on the head. "Open up, Gummy!"
The green alligator obeys, and opens his mouth wide. Fluttershy whimpers, and backs away slowly. Alligators...aren't alligators the big crocodile-like creatures who nearly killed her little Angel when she visited the Swamp last week? She cringes, and asks, "An alligator? With teeth? Oh my...isn't that a little...dangerous, Pinkie Pie?"
Pinkie Pie giggles, and shakes her head. She stands up on her hind legs, and raises a hoof to her head, in a smart "Salute-ish" way. "No, sir ma'am sir! Gummy's tame," she replies, much to Fluttershy's relief.
It is only a matter of five minutes, when Fluttershy remembers her previous thoughts on her friend. She doesn't want to ask, but she can't help but let the words escape her tangled mouth. With a meek quiet voice, she asks, "Um..Pinkie Pie? Who is Rocky? And Madame Le Flour?"
"Oh, you mean my friends?" Pinkie Pie asks, as she turns to Fluttershy. Her excited smile melts away into a short serious stare. Her eyes are almost popped out, due to all the trembling and shaking they're doing. Pinkie doesn't wait for Fluttershy's answer. She asks, "Fluttershy, can you keep a secret?"
Fluttershy is confused, but she nods anyway. She has a feeling that something is wrong, but she hates to disappoint her friend. "Okay, Pinkie Pie," she whispers, the words almost sounding ghastly and ghost-like. Pinkie Pie starts talking, but Fluttershy isn't listening. The tip of her pretty pink mane is standing up on one end. What is Pinkie driving to? She can hardly hear what Pinkie Pie says, until --
"Try it, Fluttershy!" The pink earth pony shouts, transforming back to her normal party-loving self. Fluttershy displays a look of sheer confusion, and Pinkie Pie reads her mind and her face as well as she reads ponies' futures under the name "Madam Pinkie. "Let me help you!" she giggles. "First, you have to pretend everything is not there! Then, you have to concentrate! Just think of what you want most to appear, silly filly! It's called bringing "using your imagination" to a whole new level! Try it!"
Fluttershy nods, and bites her lower lip. "Oh my...." she whispers to herself, but she is not audible to anypony else. She blocks out Pinkie's additional talking, and shuts her eyes, blackness appearing everywhere. A bunny. She ponders over what she wants to appear, and she finally makes up her mind - for a little fluffy pet. Focusing hard on the active side of her brain, her eyes flare white, and they shoot open, as if a strange mysterious power or force has somehow pointed out of them.
Suddenly, a little cute bunny appears, and Fluttershy rubs her eyes, thinking she's seeing things. "Oh..my! How - how did I do that? It...it really worked, didn't it, Pinkie Pie?" she asks, turning to her friend.
Pinkie Pie giggles, nods, and says, "Oh silly filly! Anypony can do that! Just use your imagination! That way, when you're bored, and your friends are away, you can make up your own friends and talk to them! Twilight calls it schizo-schiza --" She then giggles once more, and adds, "Ooh, what a funny word! I have to remember that one!"
Fluttershy looks intrigued, even though she really isn't. But still, she doesn't want to disappoint her friend, and she asks, "Oh my..um..Pinkie Pie? Do they come by themselves? I mean --"
Pinkie Pie explains, "Of course, Fluttershy! You don't really MAKE your own friends! Well...you do, but there ARE some...consequences." The last word....it is said in such a deep dangerous voice, and Fluttershy seems to have noticed this. Pinkie giggles, and says, "Alright, goody-bye, Fluttershy! Mrs. Cake wants me to deliver these cupcakes to their customers! See ya later!"
Fluttershy nods, and backs away, her head low. There are consequences....What did Pinkie mean when she said that? She starts to wish she never asked the question. "Oh my..." she whispers to herself. A determined look appears on her face, as she shuts her eyes, and tries to concentrate. "Do it for Pinkie.....um....do it for Pinkie!"
As she tells herself that, repeating the words in her head, there is a sudden change in the room around her. She opens her eyes, and gasps. The walls fade away...everything blacks out...and some things almost melt to the darkness. She feels like screaming, but there is a strong hoof clasped over her face, and a drop of liquid (whether water, sweat, ot other liquids) trickles down her neck.
Her eyes are forced open, and there seems to be a metal object ripping her delicate skin to shreds. She can all feel it happening, and she winces, as the "metal" touches her tiny legs. She seems to be held back by silver chains, unabling her to move, and a thin strap of leather (the kind which is easily bitten through) is laid across her forehead, holding her into position.
"Oh, girls, she's finally here!"
The icy heartless voice sends chills down Fluttershy's spine. Yet its owner is unknown, and Fluttershy tries to see through the blackness and darkness to find out who is speaking. Adrenaline pulses up her veins, as an icy hoof is laid upon her smooth shoulder. It feels as cold as death itself, and is enough to ignite the spark inside Fluttershy's heart which suggested something bad. Fluttershy feels her body heat up dreadfully, but screams as she finds her sweat turn to dark-red blood before her eyes.
"Darling, what's the matter?" the speaker asks. She reveals herself, and steps in front of the pegasus's face, with a cruel smirk on her face. "I'm 24 Hours. We're here to hold a party for you. And as we devour you, you shall permanently be one of us, darling. Think of all the fun we'll face. I simply cannot believe you're here with Pinkie, are you?"
She clasps her hooves together, and there is a huge BOOM! A flash of lightning suddenly strikes, and the whole room becomes white. Fluttershy screams, as she is revealed six faces staring at her, each with their own cruel features. The flash only lasts for one second, and the light dies down, blending back to the original darkness of this strange world.
Fluttershy's heart is beating fast - POUNDING under her torn chest, and she is sure she will have a heart attack in at least five minutes. 24 Hours points a hoof beside her, at a chained-down pony barking and growling like a pyscho dog. Her eyes are derped, and her teeth are showing, long, sharp and savage. Slowly, the insane pony fades to nothing, and 24 Hours reappears, this time, with a knife.
"Oh my...um..hello, 24 Hours," Fluttershy mutters, not trying to be rude. She tries to shake the chains off her hooves, but in vain. "B-Back so soon?"
The mare before Fluttershy laughs, and her deathly giggle echoes all over the room. "Of course, dah-ling," she says. She looks and talks almost exactly like Rarity, except that her eyes are red, her body black, and her icy voice is dripping with dark sarcasm. "What's the matter? I thought you loved new animals."
Fluttershy doesn't want to say anything, but she forces the words out. "Oh, my..look at the time, 24 Hours," she says, glancing up to the wall beside her. However, she sees nothing but black. She gasps, and screams, "Help! Somepony help! Angel! Help me!"
24 Hours catches the squirming pony, between two hooves, and asks, "Oh, what's the matter, dah-ling? Nopony's going to help you. Nopony can even see you, now, dah-ling. Just as you can't see anypony else." She nods her head towards an invisible shape. Fluttershy turns her head, and gasps, as a pegasus pony forms by the black matter of the ground under her. One of its blaring red eyes are pulled out of its sockets, and blood streams from the wound. Its body is all black, and it grins a wide creepy smile at her.
"Heya, Fluttershy," the creature says. It lifts off the ground, and starts flying using its wings to glide toward the mare. Fluttershy gasps, as she discovers that the mare's left wing is nothing but bloody bones. She shivers, gulps down her anxiety, and asks, "Who - Oh my..who are you?"
24 Hours giggles, and she says, "Oh, dah-ling. Your manners, please. This is 400, the pegasus. She's here to teach you how to live - how to control your life, dah-ling. Not all ponies are entitled to freedom, and when we're done - NOPONY is." She giggles once more, and asks, "Does anypony want a dress? Much like mine? With extra blood, too, dah-ling?"
24 Hours trots away, and disappears into the shadows. 400 comes closer to Fluttershy. "You're not gonna talk?" she asks. Scratch...bite..scratch...bite...scratch...bite.. Fluttershy hears voices in her head, and she feels sharp claws digging into and tearing out her tender skin. She winces, and nods her head vigorously. "I am! I am!" she squeaks, terrified that 400 will do something bad to her.
400 laughs, "Bwahahahahahaha! Awesome!" She leaps off her hooves and does a somersault in the air. Fluttershy is terrified at how 400 resembles her friend, Rainbow Dash. 400's mane is not rainbow, but has six different shades of blood-red, and her cutie mark is not visible. One of her eyes is already pulled out, and her voice is shaky, but cold and heartless. "Soooo..." 400 looks around. "It's your birthday, remember? Wanna race? Your other friends are waitin' for you at the park. Yes, the blood...red...park.."
400's voice turns softer, slower and even more dangerous than ever. She whispers the details of the park in vivid description, even though her vocabulary is one of the worst in Calalini. She clears her throat, but this includes the coughing up of blood, which spills all over Fluttershy's left hoof. She pulls it back quickly, screams, and is about to faint. 400 lays a steady ice hoof on her shoulder, the blood dripping down onto Fluttershy's mane. The yellow pegasus gasps, and slowly closes her eyes.
"This part is the weakest, Miss 24," an unknown voice asks. She sounds like a darker version of Twilight Sparkle, but Fluttershy keeps a firm hold of her curiosity, and makes sure she cannot see another horrifying sight. "Princess Molestia is waiting. If you please, I'll get the knives and the jacksaws.."
400 and 24 Hours turn to each other, and share a strange but evil look. Each grabbing a knife, they dig the ends into Fluttershy, and scrape it across, untill they meet a big round circle. There follows cruel laughter. Fluttershy winces, and screams in pain.
"Let me do the picking, 400," 24 Hours says, kindly. "I am the only pony in Calalini with taste, darling. You can tell her the story we always tell to new ponies here to join our feast..."
400 makes a "salute" sign with her rotten hoof, and she proceeds to step two. Crawling up to Fluttershy, she begins the story in a voice that suggests danger, death and other horrible things.
"....Rain? Ha, you gotta be kidding me. Water is SOoooo old school. We've got BLOOD."
The very chill, the darkness in 400's voice seems to be getting to Fluttershy. The mare gasps, and her eyes are riveted on 400. She wants to say something - she wants to tell 400 to stop talking, but no sound comes out of her speechless strangled throat.
"...And 24 Hours will be bringin' her dresses. Made of blood, bones, organs, and cool stuff like that.."
Fluttershy is given a vivid vision of the party 400 is describing. There is a park. The grass is black tinted with the horrifying colour of dark red...the colour of blood. The sky is red, and black stars seem to be falling from the sky. A body the colour of darkness, who looks like Pinkie Pie, giggles and asks, "Who wants punch? I made punch...Punch with the insides of our new guest!"
400 laughs, and replies, "Of course, WED! Who wouldn't want this? This stuff is awesome! Nothing is better than the squishing and chewing of a new guest's intestines...blood..bones...veins...it's all good..." She can't help herself, and she falls face-first into a bone goblet, gulping down the beverage at once. At this, Fluttershy feels like throwing up. "Wake up!" she shouts to herself inside her mind. "Wake up! Oh my, I can't!"
400 reads her mind, and enjoys the pain she's causing, and so does 24 Hors.
"...You'll be wearing a dress too. And Wednesday - the old Southern applefarmer - will be bringing all sorts of AWESOME apple tarts and fritters and stuff DIPPED IN YOUR GUTS.......Come on, cheer up. It's gonna be awesome! "
Suddenly, 400 exclaims, "Alright! I gotta go. I'm gonna perform a Sonic PainBlood! You know, nopony else in history can do this because THEY'RE too scared to sacrifice an organ to spill all that blood. See ya later, Fluttershy!"
Fluttershy is glued to the ground. As 24 Hours fingers her organs, and 400 plays with her mind, she almost feels left dead upon a wooden cross.
24 Hours places a hoof upon a muscle, and pulls it upwards, as she hums to herself a new song she recently learnt from Wednesday. "Ah, this one is perfect, darling," she says, as she pulls it. SNAP! Fluttershy feels like fainting once more, but 24 Hours slaps her with a shout, "Don't be rude, dah-ling! Don't you dare turn down your friends!" She digs her knife into Fluttershy once more, tugging away at everything in its path. "Ah, that's enough blood for Wednesday's punch!"
Fluttershy can't hold it anymore. As 400 continues talking about how the party will be like, 24 Hours is rapidly pulling out organs, and sculpturing images and shapes on Fluttershy's ice-cold flank. The pegasus wants to vomit, but alas, 24 Hours gives her a lecture about manners, and threatens her if she'd DARE do such a thing.
It is almost nightfall, and 400 shoots a look at 24 Hours, who is helping herself to some of Fluttershy's blood. "Mm-mm! This tastes amazing, darling! You should try some of this. I simply cannot imagine how fabulous this dress shall be!"
Fluttershy can't stand it. She screams in agony and pain, and breaks the chains open with meer force. Her tears falling in the cold drift of wind behind her, she gallops away, faster than ever, but all she sees is darkness. Suddenly, she trips over something, and it seems to be somepony's hoof. Fluttershy doesn't want to see who it belongs to. She screams once more, and she continues running, careful to keep her eyes shut.
Time passes in Calalini. The darkness unveils around, and soon, Fluttershy's sight is restored. She is in her room, on her bed, and her heart is pounding like a sledgehammer behind her chest. Angel is trying his best to calm her down, and he is giving her excessive hugs and nuzzles. Fluttershy can hardly dare to breath, as she examines her body in the mirror to see if it had all actually happened. She blinks her eyes, and tries to recall what she has just thought of, but doesn't remember anything, except for the few words....
"We'll be back...."
