The Filly with the Purest Heart

Fluttershy and her new company, a rambunctious collection of fillies, had began their search for any sort of treasure that could be deemed interesting. Fluttershy herself was not entirely sure exactly what Scootaloo was hoping to find near her cottage, but she figured that she could devote a few hours to entertaining Scootaloo’s idea. She figured it was only the nicest thing to do.

“Let’s start by looking near that collection of burrows over there.” said Scootaloo with joy as she pointed her hoof in the direction of the area that she wanted to go.

“Burrows, you mean where the animals go to sleep at?” asked Fluttershy with a trace of confusion in her tone.

“Yeah, I do not follow either Scootaloo, why start there?” asked Sweetie Belle, curious to see the plan in detail that Scootaloo had made.

“Does it really matter where we start Sweetie, I mean sheesh, those burrows are the closest thing to us that looks like it could hold something cool, that is all there is to it.” said Scootaloo with minor annoyance in the direction of Sweetie Belle.

“Jeez, they are not going to start fightin’ already are they?” thought Applebloom to herself as she followed her friends towards the burrows that Scootaloo had taken an interest in.

The three fillies and their reluctant chaperone had all arrived near the burrows, which were located beside a fenced in cobblestone pool. There was a garden containing flowers, vegetables, and even wheat to the left, opposite the cobblestone pool.

“Wow Fluttershy, I did not know you had such a beautiful collection of things in yer’ yard.” said Applebloom with a joyful expression.

“I like that pool too, what is it for, do you use it?” asked Sweetie Belle.

“Oh no, that is for the animals that I look after, and that garden over there is where I grow the ingredients to make the various meals for my animals as well.” said Fluttershy with a gentle tone.

“Heh, they are talking about silly things, I guess that I am the only one taking this quest seriously right now.” thought Scootaloo to herself as she started looking down each of the burrows for any sign of gold, emeralds, or just about anything else that she figured would constitute as treasure.

“Anyway, I will search the burrows closest to the garden, Sweetie, you look at the ones near the pool, that way we can cut the time of our search in half.” said Applebloom as she did not want Scootaloo to do it all by herself.

“Alright, you don’t have to join us if you do not want Fluttershy, as long as you know where we are, then Rarity won’t get mad about me and my friends being this close to the Everfree.” said Sweetie Belle politely to Fluttershy.

“No, it’s alright, I assure you, you girls just enjoy yourselves, I am having fun taking in the sun rays myself.” said Fluttershy as she smiled back at the unicorn filly.

“Aww, thanks Flutters!” said Sweetie Belle with a giggle as she joined her two friends in their hunting expedition.

The day was steadily coasting along as the time was now around five in the evening. The chill wind of the evening was a welcome feeling to a certain mare as she was sitting on her haunches right outside of the Golden Oaks Library. She was reading over a certain book that appeared to contain various ingredients for potions, as well as the location where said ingredients could be found. She also had two other books, similar in width, right at her side, as she just finished to one she was reading.

“Huh, that was somewhat interesting, though it does little to calm my suspicions at the moment.” thought the mare to herself as she adjusted her reading glasses and proceeded to levitate another book in front of her eyes with her purple aura-based magic.

“Artifacts and Runes, A Complete Guide to Equestrian Gems Volume 21.” said the mare to herself quietly as she read over the title of the new book that she now had in front of her eyes.

“Twenty-one volumes, really?” asked the mare to herself quietly, almost beside herself, as the door right next to her opened.

A small being walked out of the library and now stood next to the mare. It looked at her with it’s arm’s crossed until the being spoke up, with much haste to it’s voice.

“Any clues to that odd premonition that you spoke of yesterday, Twily?” asked the being with a shining gleam in it’s eye.

“Not yet Spike, despite the fact that I know that I have read over these books at some point in the past, I have to be sure that nothing important was forgotten.” said Twilight as she took a small pause in her speaking before continuing.

“Wait, you don’t mean that you are going to read all of the books in this library to try and find the answer, do you?” asked Spike as he glanced into the window of the library. He took note of the hundreds of books that adorned the library’s shelves, and shuddered at the thought of having to go through every single one of them.

“Haha, no I am not going through all of these books Spike, I am already aware of which books could help with the situation, looking from them will take no time at all.” reassured Twilight to her assistant as she stood up on her hooves and opened the door to her library.

Spike followed her in as they made their way to the living room, which was located in the room left of the main library.

“Don’t you get these weird thoughts from time to time, about possible dangers to Ponyville?” asked Spike as he and Twilight took a seat on two adjacent pillows near the window of the living room.

“Weird thoughts, all of my bad feelings have some merit Spike, you can not discard them, remember my suspicion of the wedding in Canterlot between the fake Princess Cadence and my brother?” asked Twilight as she tried to convey herself to Spike in a manner that would make the young dragon believe her.

“I am not doubting that Twilight, but this time around, there is nothing that would even indicate anything about something bad heading to Ponyville.” said Spike as he tried to get on the same page as his beloved mother figure.

“Nothing that you know of, but until I can grasp the scope of this strange energy that I have been feeling lately, throwing caution to the wind will simply not suffice.” said Twilight with an adamant nature as she levitated the book that she began to read earlier back in front of her face.

“What, do you have the Pinkie Sense now?” asked Spike jokingly.

“Hey, I was not a believer at first either, but even she agreed that something was not right about the overall feeling of Ponyville lately.” said Twilight with some edge to her voice as she continued to skim through the current book she was reading.

“If you say so.” said Spike as he looked at Twilight with a look of confusion as he decided to put his trust in Twilight for the time being.

The evening was beginning to set in as the sun was slowly setting in the horizon. Scootaloo and her friends had finished their search of the animal burrows around Fluttershy’s house, and have since moved to looking around the back yard of the area. When Applebloom noticed that night was slowly approaching, she decided to make mention of it to Scootaloo.

“Um, Scoots, it is starting to get late, I know we had not found anything so far, but maybe we can look some more another time.” said Applebloom to her friend.

“What, it is already this late, I guess time flies when you are as occupied as me.” said Scootaloo with some disappointment to her tone.

“Goodness, I lost track of time too, but don’t worry too much, we can continue the day after tomorrow.” said Fluttershy with a quiet tone to Scootaloo.

“Day after tomorrow, that sounds good.” said Sweetie Belle as she finished up her search around the rabbit cage in the back yard.

“I have to help Pinkie Pie bake some treats for a party tomorrow, but the day after that, I am sure that I will be free.” said Fluttershy with a tone of assurance to the three fillies.

“Oh alright, I guess we should wrap up our little quest today, we should head home before our family begins to worry about us.” said Scootaloo with a saddened feel to her words.

“Don’t be sad Scoots, I am sure that we will have fun tomorrow at school, and who knows, the next time we look for treasure out here, we might find somethin’ special.” said Applebloom as she trotted over to Scootaloo and gave her a warm smile.

“Okay, well, I will see you girls tomorrow, and Fluttershy, I will see you the day after tomorrow!” said Scootaloo as she hopped on her scooter and began to leave the area.

“Um, Scootaloo, do you want me to escort you home, since your house is further out of the way that Applebloom or Sweetie Belle’s?” asked Fluttershy as she could feel some sort of somberness surround the young pegasus.

“No, it’s alright, I will be fine, thanks though.” said Scootaloo quietly as she made her way towards the front yard, and then down the road that led back towards Ponyville.

“I am sure she will be fine, she was just excited about this treasure hunt today, but there will always be next time.” said Sweetie Belle as her and Applebloom began to trot back down the road to Ponyville.

“Okay, I will see you girls in two days then, you take care now.” said Fluttershy as she and Angel both waved the girls off.

“See ya Flutters!” said Applebloom as she and Sweetie Belle began their trek back to the main square of Ponyville.

“Alright Angel, let’s get inside and get you all washed off, you got a lot of dirt on you after helping Scootaloo look in those burrows.” said Fluttershy as she petted Angel on the head. Angel started to hop back to the front of the house as Fluttershy trotted right behind him. She took a look around her cottage at the tree line that formed the Everfree Forest. She always enjoyed the atmosphere of the evening so close to the forest. Despite being known as a timid mare, she had become comfortable with being so close to the mysterious forest, and she was usually never startled by any strange noises that came from within the Everfree.

However as she reached the front door to her house, she could make out the feint whisper of some sort of being not too far behind her. She froze at this notion and proceeded to turn around, her stomach starting to form a knot. She could feel her breathing quicken as she heard the whisper again.

“Help me.” exclaimed a quite, barely noticable whisper as it struck Fluttershy like a hammer on nails.

“Umm, hello?” asked Fluttershy as she responded to the whispering that she noticed. The source of this sound seemed to have came from deeper into the tree line around her house.

Angel had already hopped into the house, taking the rabbit door that was at the bottom of the normal one. Fluttershy dismissed the whispers and opened the door to her house to follow Angel to the bathroom. As she began to close the door, she heard it again.

“How could you leave me like this?” asked the voice as it increased slightly in volume. Fluttershy became visibly shaken at this point as she began to whimper and back away from the still open doorway.

Night had just fallen as she could not make out much of the forest surrounding her house. The only lighting in the immediate area was a lamp post a few feet down the road from her house, and another lamp post in her front yard. Other than this, it was very dark in the immediate area.

“Who is this?” asked Fluttershy, gulping down some saliva as her throat began to tense up.

“Help me.” proclaimed the voice one more time before Fluttershy slammed the door shut. She then locked the door and shut the window blinds around the front two windows surrounding the door. She then trotted backwards, not taking her sight off of the door when all of a sudden, she heard loud and frantic knocking on the other side of the door.

“LET ME IN!” yelled the voice, now in a loud menacing roar as the knocking on the other side of the door began to grow more violent.

“Please, leave me alone, I don’t know who you are... B-but please... Just leave me alone.” said Fluttershy as she began to cry softly to herself. She huddled up into a ball and continued to weep quietly as she was hoping for the knocking on her door to stop.

“Please, help me.” said the voice one final time before the knocking finally died down. Fluttershy could hear hoofsteps begin to leave her front door as she noticed that the sound was heading back to the Everfree Forest.

She managed to calm her crying, but she could not form another thought after this. She also noticed that Angel was now standing beside her with a look of worry over his face. He then hugged one of Fluttershy’s front legs as he tried to consul his caretaker.

“Did...did you hear it too Angel?” asked Fluttershy as she began to notice that the rest of the animals in the house were now huddling up beside her as well.

Angel shook his head in acknowledgment as he and the other animals had also heard the violent knocking and menacing voice from earlier.

“What do I do, what if it happens again?” asked Fluttershy to herself as she stood up and tried her best to cheer up the animals beside her.

“It’s okay my friends, don’t worry, whatever that was out there, it is gone now, let’s just relax.” said Fluttershy, more to herself than the critters around her. The animals around Fluttershy started to go off in their own ways, each of them heading back to their makeshift cages and beds. Fluttershy then turned to Angel with a comforting smile before beginning to speak once more.

“I think it is time for that bath of yours, okay?” asked Fluttershy to her rabbit companion.

Angel still looked worried, and tears could even be seen forming around his little beady eyes.

“Oh Angel what is wrong dear?” asked Fluttershy as she turned on a lamp that sat on a table beside the stairs, which led to the bathroom.

She could see that Angel was staring at something to the right of them. She looked at Angel closer and could see that the bunny was now sitting down as he began to shiver and stuff his head into his paws, crying heavily.

“Oh Angel, please don’t cry, what is....” is all Fluttershy could manage to say as Angel stood up and pointed towards the direction that he was looking earlier.

Fluttershy turned in the direction that Angel was pointing, towards the living room to the right of them. There were three windows in the living room, and all of the window blinds were rolled up, revealing the surrounding area outside of them.

There in the middle window staring back at them was the source of what was no doubt causing Angel to have a breakdown.

Fluttershy stood quietly, with no emotion showing. She could only blankly stare at what she saw in that middle window. Angel had a look of absolute terror on his face as he held his caretaker as tight as he could.

In the window staring back at them, was what appeared to be a foal, a foal without skin.

The animals in the house began to wail loudly as they noticed that Fluttershy was in a mortified state, and once they had too turned towards the window she and Angel were staring at, they then knew why.