The Sting of Life

It was a warm, breezy spring day. The sky was turning to overcast as Fluttershy was getting ready to take another small group of frogs to the swamp in the Everfree Forest.

"Is everyone ready?" she asked kindly. All the frogs croaked with agreement and excitement.

"Alright, here we go!" she said, as she began to flap her wings in takeoff. It was a calm and relaxing flight, as she flew over the dark forest through the refreshing spring breeze. The only thing that had her worried however, were the frogs. They were constantly trying to jump around their bag, and Fluttershy grew increasingly worried the some may fall out.

"Careful all of you. I don't want any of you falling out into the forest. It's extremely dangerous down there" she warned the frogs, who immediately settled down. With a quick smile she continued her flight. Soon enough, she made it to the murky swamp. She was quick to let the frogs out and get them settled in. She did not want to repeat the tragedy of last time. Twilight almost didn't make it away from the hydra when she was attacked here, and she doubted her ability to do it alone.

Within a half hour, she settled in all the frogs into the swamp. She was getting rather tired and wanted to head home. The heat and humidity was getting to her, and it was quickly draining her. Fluttershy quickly gathered her things and was ready to head home for a nice, soothing nap. However, right before she took off, she heard something rather unusual. It sounded like a deep moaning, like something was in pain. She quickly began to investigate, knowing she couldn't leave some poor creature in pain.

She soon found the source coming straight from an old, hollow, rotting log. She peered inside to see an injured frog who had cut himself on a splinter from the log. Fluttershy quickly debated whether or not to take him home, as the sky was now in a dark overcast, and it looked like it might rain soon. She decided to stay and take care of the creature, as she did not want to make another trip back, especially in the rain. If it did rain, she could wait it out in the log.

Fluttershy pulled out a cloth to clean and wrap the wound. She then stayed with it for a while to make sure the frog would be okay. However, her suspicions were soon confirmed, as rain began to drizzle down. At this point, she was half thinking to fly in the rain, as this log was very uncomfortable. However she soon decided against it, as the rain turned into an absolute deluge.

As she waited the storm out in the cramped log, she soon began to worry. The rain lasted longer than she had hoped, as the sun began to set. I can NOT stay here she thought to herself. It took her a lot of courage building, but she decided to brave the forest. It offered some protection from the rain, and was still safer during the day than at night.

She began to squeeze out of the small log, and stepped out into the very wet and muddy ground. She was disgusted, but knew she'd have to live with it if she wanted to get home safely. She wanted to hurry out, but the mud slowed her down drastically. However, as soon as she reached the edge of the forest, her slow trot turned into a very fast gallop as her desire to get home took over her legs.

As she ran through the dark forest, the rain still seeped through the canopy. Within seconds, she was drenched in rain and mud. However, she still pushed through, even though the rain seriously slowed her down. She quickly grew very tired, but her desire to leave the forest was in control, not herself. She was forced through the burning in her legs. She wanted to stop but she couldn't. She had to get home. She however, soon began to pay the price, as she started to lose focus of the surroundings around her. She couldn't focus or think straight, as the only thing on her mind was to get home. Suddenly, she took a sharp turn around a tree and ran head first into a hard branch, knocking her straight to the ground on her back.

Owww, what happened...? she thought as she stumbled around, trying to get up. As soon as she got back on her hooves, she took a good look around, and came to a horrid realization. She had no idea where she was. She was lost. She suddenly felt a flood of panic and screamed. She began to dart around frantically trying to find some way out. Eventually, she began to lose hope, and slumped down against a tree, beginning to cry.

Through her teary haze, she looked up. What she saw startled her, making her gasp. What she saw ahead of her, between a few trees, was a tall figure, hiding in the shadows. She stared at it for what seemed like an eternity. Suddenly, it began to move forward. Fluttershy broke into a frantic sprint, doing whatever she could to get away from the mystery figure. As soon as she thought she had gotten away, she slowed down. However, she suddenly saw the shadow dart on her side. She quickly turned around and continued running, but she soon saw it dart across the path ahead of her.

Panic soon began to control her, as she continued to run through her tear covered vision, continuously seeing the figure around her. However, she eventually made the same mistake again, by not paying attention to the environment. She tripped over a large rock, falling face first to the ground. She scattered to get up, but quickly stumbled to the ground again. She turned around to see the figure again. She screamed in panic as the figure approached her slowly. She noticed it was distinctly pony like, and quickly hoped that it was just Zecora, who would gladly help her. However, she was proved wrong as the figure drew even closer, being less than 2 feet from her. It looked her dead in the eye with an emotionless expression. However, what happened next surprised her.