Duskwood

by Dunsparce

Rating: teen
Tags: Fluttershy, Adventure, Crossover, Gore, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Dark
Length: 6095

Fluttershy in a dark, hostile forest.

A forest where the time is always night and evil spirits walk free. There are no tales of the forest, only because that no pony has ever gotten out to tell them. Whatever goes on in Duskwood, one mare is about to find out the hard way.

RATED T FOR:

1. Mild language here and there
2. Blood

Published 2012-11-26 06:00:01 UTC
Last updated 2012-11-26 06:00:01 UTC

Duskwood

Darkness, nothing but it surrounded her. Fluttershy laid on the ground in the never ending darkness. The grass was silent, the trees didn't move, everything was watching her, waiting on her to get up and make her move. She had become the prey of the wretched forest known as Duskwood.

She awoke with a very bad headache. How she had gotten to where she was was a mystery to even her. She looked around, but all she saw was darkness and forest. Her heart sank to the bottom of her chest, drowning in fear. She started to shake, mumbling to herself “where am I?”

Duskwood’s hostility didn't even remind her of Everfree Forest. It was too lonely to be anything near Everfree. It had a helpless, horrifying theme to it. It had consumed her, and the only way out was to embrace it, something Fluttershy was not too used to.

She lifted her hoof up off of the ground slowly and looked around. Everything stared at her with stalking eyes. They told her to move forward and see what her greatest fear would be. Her hoof landed on the soft, dead silent grass. As it landed, a scuffle of movement was heard to her right. When she glanced, nothing was there. She hadn't imagined it; there was something over there, watching her. Something alive, possibly angry or hungry. Fluttershy knew one thing: she didn't want to know what it was.

The scared mare spread her wings to attempt to fly, but she crashed down on her face in pain. She looked at her right wing, and she saw as much as the darkness let her see. An exact origin sight couldn't be found, but one thing was clear; her wing had been badly damaged. Blood dripped down from the wing and onto the ground, each drop a bucket of cold water being poured on a fire.

The sound was heard again to her left. This time, a very light grunting noise came from it. Fluttershy shook her head and collapsed on the ground. Tears streamed out of her eyes like a waterfall.

“Please... leave me alone...” She muttered to herself. A slight wind had suddenly picked up. It hit her from behind, waving her blood coated mane in the darkness. It was a beautifully sad sight of which no eyes of interest could see. Only the eyes of The Monster could see. The Monster could see her every move, even when he was not watching.

She had looked up to see that the wind had blown the leaves and twigs in front of her a tad to the side. The wind wanted her to go that way, or at least something did. She took another step, but the sound did not return to her ears. A few more small steps and still nothing happened. Maybe whatever it was had gone away. Fluttershy decided to discard the sound from her mind the best she could and very slowly press forward.

The wind abruptly stopped when she had made it through the bushes, as if to say “good luck, now you're on your own”. Tears still streamed down her face as she pressed on. She muttered that it would be okay as she walked down the unpleasant path of terror. Nothing greeted her nicely. So far, she had not encountered any creatures of the forest, or at least that's what she thought. She froze when she heard the light grunt again. Whatever that thing was, it was following her, observing her every move.

She started to walk faster, to possibly escape the horrid sound, but The Monster kept following her. It grunted and scuffled more and more as Fluttershy ran faster and faster. She had reached the point of sprinting until she crashed into a tree when she wasn't looking.

She opened her eyes to see that something had engulfed her, something rather sticky. Under nothing but the moonlight, it had also appeared to be white. It had holes in it here and there and when she stretched it, it made a hissing noise. Fluttershy gasped as she came to the conclusion that what she had on her was a spider web. But then she processed the thought that webs don't hiss.

Fluttershy slowly looked up into the tree. Eight red dots stared into her soul, petrifying her in place. The dots were attached to a black body with a red mark on the end of it. It had eight hairy, demonic legs attached to it. It was no more than five feet long. The giant spider hissed as it climbed down the tree, making clicking noises on the bark on the way down. Fluttershy scooted away in horror as it hissed louder and louder. Fluttershy bumped into something behind her.

She turned around to see another eight eyes not but mere inches in front of her face. Fluttershy let out a scream and got up on her hooves. She ran past the spider with blazing speed and blindly entered deeper into the forest.

She stopped for a moment to catch her breath once she had lost the spiders. Shaking her head in disbelief, Fluttershy moaned in aggravation.

“This isn't happening. Why me? Why me!?” She shouted into the darkness. The darkness responded with a grunt, a pain-filled, deep grunt. The Monster had followed her yet again. Fluttershy stopped breathing and looked around.

For a quick second, she saw a light-skinned being looking at her from the trees. It quickly grunted and turned to run away. Fluttershy flinched and held her ground she was at. The mare was breathing fast and her heart racing faster than a racecar. She was looking all over, trying to find a way out of the situation she was in.

From behind the tree she had stationed herself at, a questionable growl rumbled. Fluttershy closed her eyes as she gasped. She opened them slowly, breathing heavier than a marathon runner. She started to turn her head slowly, trembling with fear.

She caught a quick glimpse of a fat, pure white arm with red spots all across it. As soon as The Monster growled again she flicked her head back. She kept as quiet as she could in the silent forest, trying not to make any sort of noise. Maybe if she was silent The Monster would go away.

Something had begun to tickle her nose, however. The wretched smell of The Monster pierced her nostrils like a spear. Fluttershy started to sniff to try and get the stench away, but it was inevitable. She closed her eyes and let out an “achoo”. A sudden roar came from behind the tree as running scuffles of leaves made their way to Fluttershy's ears. She screamed at the top of her lungs, which in reality wasn't very loud, and started to run toward a light she saw in the distance.

The roaring grew fainter and fainter as she ran faster and faster. The adrenaline rush that the roar had given her was enough to send her out of range of The Monster. The light was just a few yards ahead and the roars were almost nonexistent.

Fluttershy jumped to the light when she was close enough and slammed into a wooden carriage of sorts. She looked up at the light she had saw to see it flickering on and off. It seemed to be abandoned, judging by the cob webs and the walking skeleton with a bloody axe. Fluttershy quickly thought up that something was a tad out of the ordinary in this picture and started to weep once again.

“Whooo dares walk on the land of Mor' Ladim?” The skeleton demanded Fluttershy. She shook her head and held her hooves up.

“I'm sorry! I didn't mean it! I don't even know how I got here! I'm just trying to get out! Please don't hurt me!” She pleaded. The skeleton held up his axe and roared.

“I said who dares, living fool!” The skeleton roared.

“Fl- Fluttershy!” She squeaked. She held her mane over her face in horror.

“You picked a bad time to get thrown into Duskwood, Fluttershy! Only the damned undead may walk here! If you walk here, you join us...” The skeleton hissed. Fluttershy looked up to see the axe hurling down on her. She gasped and rolled out of the way with a flinch.

Fluttershy stumbled to get up the first time, but the second she sprinted away into a nearby graveyard. She knew it wasn't the ideal place after dealing with an undead, but she couldn't go anywhere else. She cried in fear as she ran. A shack with a lit candle was nearby and she sprinted for it.

She hid around the corner entrance to it and attempted to catch her breath and think. The skeleton had mentioned a name, Mor' Ladim. Who was this Mor' Ladim and what did he have to do with Duskwood? Was he behind the undead or The Monster? Was he The Monster?

Her thoughts were interrupted by a familiar noise. The grunting noise of The Monster was back. This time, however, there was more than one scuffling of feet. Chain clatter was also heard along with the footsteps and growling. They all came to an abrupt end as a voice began talking, a male voice.

“Now, you ugly little monster, you... go to your cage for the rest of the night, please! It's time I go on some errands.” It said.

“Yes... papa...” The Monster responded. His monstrous growling was heard once again as he took steps past the shed.

“Oh yes, wait! If you happen to see that little pegasus you mentioned earlier... kill her. We could use her.” He told The Monster.

Fluttershy's heart stopped and her eyes widened as she heard it. The Monster was now out to kill her and use her for whatever crazy experiments the voice had intended. She had to get out of there and fast, however there was almost no way out. A loud sound suddenly pierced Fluttershy's ears, disrupting her thoughts. It was a metallic, ear-wrenching sound, like a rusty gate opening. It suddenly made a slamming noise, as if The Monster slammed it shut. Fluttershy looked out of the entrance of the shack with caution, but saw nothing. She carefully tip-hoofed over to a nearby table in the middle of the shack. Disturbingly, it looked like an open heart surgery had taken place on the left side of the desk... multiple times.

On the right side of the desk was a piece of paper that looked like blueprints to something. It almost looked like a recipe for some kind of horrid undead soup. The blueprints were too worn for her to read in the kind of dark she was in. She rolled up the piece of paper and wrapped it around her long, pink mane for keeping. Fluttershy had now decided to leave the shed before another thing went wrong. She peeked out of the entrance of the shed and saw nothing once again.

She heard loud, pukey snoring coming from behind the shed and decided that that was not the way to go, yet when she looked over to the graveyard, she saw walking skeletons with knives and hatchets. To her left and right was forest, which contained those wretched spiders and possible rabid wolves or other animals.

The forest seemed like the safest way to go, if only she could go without upsetting the giant eight-eyed cretins. She looked left and right one final time and, with the blueprints in her mane, dashed left into the woods. When she had felt safe from the undead and The Monster, she sat down and sighed in relief. The evil snores of the sleeping Monster could still be heard from a distance, though not as threatening.

Under the moonlight, she opened the blueprints again. Now, she could see it more clearly than in the pitch black shed. She started to read the blueprints with surprise, as she discovered that they weren't blueprints at all. It was a shopping list of all things! Fluttershy was ready to render the list useless until she noticed the paragraph on the back of the list. It must have been addressed to the voice that talked to the monster.

Dear Ambercrombie,

I understand from my scouts that you are quite the undead smith! That being said, I have a proposition for you. Your creation has been quite the sight, so if you are able to make more than one for our cause, I shall reward you with a treaty with my servants. That treaty will allow you to live in Duskwood in harmony with us. In exchange, your creations will slay any pony that stumbles across this wretched land.

With Peace,
Moore Ladimore

Moore Ladimore? The name seemed awfully familiar to Fluttershy. Again, a sound interrupted her thinking process. It was another growling sound, but a tad different than anything she had heard previously... and a lot closer.

She looked up from the paper to see blood red eyes staring into her soul. A wolf like creature stood but a foot in front of her, but on two legs. It liked its lips at Fluttershy and smiled evilly as it growled once again. Fluttershy's heart skipped a beat as she slowly backed up against a tree.

The being flexed its claws in and out as it began to edge toward Fluttershy. It raised its claws up into the air as it prepared a downward slash. Fluttershy covered her eyes as she prepared for the worst.

But the blow never came. She opened her eyes to see what had happened, and she didn't believe what she saw. The wolf had gotten attacked by a spider of all things, as if it was trying to say “run now!”

Fluttershy took the attack to her advantage and sprinted away, leaving the wolf and the paper behind her. She ran in the direction she was heading in the first place, only to be greeted by more growling and hissing. She ignored them the best she could and ran past them. She jumped over bushes, barely acknowledging scrapes from thorny branches. She saw an opening ahead of her and headed directly for it, hoping that it wasn't going to lead her into another prickly situation.

She leaped through the trees and into the opening. She slipped on the mushy ground and slid at least a whole yard before stopping. Looking up, she laughed and cheered at what she saw; a gravel road. She started to dance and laugh uncontrollably at the road until a growl broke her cheerfulness. She then decided it would be best to keep quiet, for it still was the middle of an undead forest.

She started to walk down the trail, thinking back to when her life was peaceful and happy. Rainbow Dash always gave her nuggies when she wasn't looking, Pinkie Pie always cheering her up when she was down. But now, there was nothing to cheer her up. Just her, the forest, and The Monster.

Clouds moved over the moon, suffocating any light she was given by the moon out. Now, she could barely see the trees in front of her. The forest was laughing at her misery, trying to make it harder and harder for her to get out. The forest was trying to say to her that it was impossible. Nopony had ever gotten out of Duskwood, and nopony ever will. They're all alone... and will never be found by anypony. The only thing that will find them is The Monster.

Fluttershy stopped dead in her tracks when she overheard voices talking to her right. She crept up into a bush and looked through it cautiously. An armored skeleton and a robed stallion with a purple hat were talking, the stallion clearly in control of the conversation.

“...Keep an eye on that Ambercrombie for me, Mor'Ladim. One small step he takes in the wrong direction toward us and...” The stallion ran his hoof across his neck, making a “kshhh” sound.

“Yes, Master Fel.” Mor'Ladim bowed. “May I ask you a question, Master?”

Fel turned around. “What is it, my loyal minion?” He asked with controlling eyes.

“Ambercrombie has reported to me that his servant has seen a yellow pegasus with a pink mane wondering about the graveyard. He has also told me that it is quite possible that she is the one who has stolen the letter I had sent. What shall we do about this sly pegasus?” Mor'Ladim asked with caution.

Fluttershy silently gasped as she knew she had been mentioned to a powerful stallion of which she did not want to be mentioned to. This Mor'Ladim was dangerous enough, and The Monster was still after her, making the situation she was in almost too much too handle.

“Hmm... if it is interfering with Ambercrombie's assistance to us by making more of his abominations, find her and eliminate her. Spread the word to your minions.” Fel ordered. Fluttershy's worst nightmare had become real.

“Yes, Master Fel. At once.” Mor'Ladim bowed once again and turned to leave. Fluttershy shook her head in denial that the word of her had reached the two most powerful evils in the forest. She took a step back, but her hoof landed on a stick and snapped it, alerting Fel. He looked up instantly to see a pink sliver below the bushes. He called for Mor'Ladim.

“Commander Ladim! Come back, hurry!” Fel shouted into the darkness. Clacking sounds came rushing back toward Fel. Fluttershy turned to run.

“Yes, Master Morbent Fel? What is the problem!?” He exclaimed at military attention. Morbent Fel pointed in the direction of Fluttershy.

“Our rogue pegasus has been spying on us! Quickly, chase after her!” He ordered. Mor'Ladim saluted him.

“Yes, sir! At once!” He shouted as he drew a sword. It sparkled blue in the dark night. He put the handle in his mouth and jumped through the bushes and started to chase after Fluttershy.

She looked back to see the skeleton chasing her with a bloodstained sword in his mouth. His eyes brainwashed red, and his body almost like a robot. He was fixated on Fluttershy, not stopping until she met her end. Fluttershy couldn't keep it up forever on the trail, so she turned back into the forest to try and lose the undead stallion.

She leaped over bushes, through spider webs, over spiders and sprinted past wolves to escape Mor'Ladim. But every time she looked back she saw the same soul piercing eyes staring into her. She was far enough from him that she could pull a slick move and hide, but where?

She came up on a familiar shed that she hid in before. This was her only hope for cover! She took a sharp left to get out of sight of Mor'Ladim and ran straight into the shed, making a left dive for cover as soon as she entered the shed.

She heard faint footsteps outside of the shed; boney footsteps. Mor'Ladim had momentarily lost her. He scouted the area outside slowly, looking in every direction. Suddenly, he started to speak.

“Hello, Ambercrombie! What a time to meet you.” Mor'Ladim said.

“What seems to be bothering you?” Ambercrombie asked. Mor'Ladim paused for a moment.

“...Eh... that... pegasus your servant told you about is real. I chased her down here, but I can't seem to find where she went. It would be nice if you could look for her while you're doing... whatever it is you do here.”

“Oh, of course!” Ambercrombie said happily. “I'll be glad to rip her guts out for you as well...”

“Good deal, then! Well, get to work again! Morbent Fel wishes to see your work finished soon. I shall be off! Goodbye!” Mor'Ladim said walking away.

“Adios, amigo!” Ambercrombie saluted.

Ambercrombie walked into the shed and dropped many unappealing body parts on his desk. Fluttershy sat curled in the corner, hoping he wouldn't look her way. Ambercrombie started to mumble to himself.

“Pshh. Morbent Fel. That stallion can go shove a zombie uterus up his butt. I couldn't care less about that pegasus interrupting him.”

The stench of the horrid body parts had started to get to Fluttershy's nose. She was on the verge of coughing, but tried her hardest not to, for it would mean her life. She slowly started to scoot herself toward the entrance of the shack, proceeding with caution. Ambercrombie had gotten a knife out and had begun to cut the meat and body parts up violently as he muttered to himself more.

“Why couldn't he have taken his necromancy somewhere else? This is MY forest, and I should just order MY creations to overtake HIM!” He angrily muttered.

Fluttershy had almost gotten to the entrance of the shack and was just about to make a break for it, until Ambercrombie spoke once again.

“Don't think I can't see you, pegasus. Consider me not killing you a gift.” He said. Fluttershy's heart stopped as she closed her eyes and wept.

“Why? Why, mister Ambercrombie? Why does everything want me dead? Why aren't you trying to kill me?” Fluttershy asked, her head buried in her mane.

Ambercrombie didn't even look at her. “Because, I hate that Morbent Fel, but I gotta make a peace treaty with him if I want to survive in this forest. Whatever he wants to happen, I do my best to oppose without getting caught. Someday, this forest will be mine once again. But for now, it's his. Just because I didn't kill you does NOT mean I'm on your side by any means, and in fact, I'm not afraid to slice you in half. My servant is still out to rip you limb from limb, and I'll be glad to use your wings.” He explained. Fluttershy looked up at him with begging eyes.

“But... why does Morbent Fel want me dead?” She asked Ambercrombie, who was stitching meat slabs together.

“Because he thinks all outsiders are out to stop him. If I ran this forest, I couldn't give to craps if anypony entered the forest, as long as they don't find me out and report me. He's a necromancer, making Mor'Ladim and his followers his mindless slaves. Listen, I'm sorry to say, but you’re not making it out of here in one piece, just the pieces I discard as useless, such as your hooves.”

Fluttershy gasped as her eyes shrunk. She sighed in depression. “So, the only thing I can do is... die?” She asked.

“Well, no. The least you can do is run as long as you can and try to find out what Fel's really up to. Gotta warn you, though, Stitches is going to cut you in half, whether you like it or not.” Ambercrombie responded as he put two pieces of bloody meat in a blender. Fluttershy twitched.

“St- Stitches?” She asked nervously.

“My little servant you ran into earlier. He's in his cage right now, sleeping. He's cut up more ponies than you can imagine. He's eliminated a whole entire town by himself! Of course, that was on the order of Morbent Fel. He would never do that by my call. Stitches really makes me proud sometimes...” Ambercrombie wiped a tear from his eye.

“He's gonna wake up soon, so if you wanna survive for a little longer, get your ass up and moving.” Ambercrombie ordered her. Fluttershy closed her eyes and for the first time in hours, smiled.

“... Thank you, Ambercrombie. You're more than meets the eye.” Fluttershy said to the blood coated stallion. He looked back at Fluttershy and raised his eyebrows.

“Don't thank me. I did nothing to be thanked for. Now get out, before I change my mind about killing you.” He ordered. Fluttershy nodded and ran out of the shed. Ambercrombie paused his meat making and smiled. He wiped the tear from his eye and went back to stitching.

Fluttershy slid around the shed and sighed in relief that she was out of the evil shed. However, the terror was not over, for when she looked to her left, she saw a hideous, blood coated monster sleeping with its back turned to her in a cage. She stayed as far away as she could from the cage that held The Monster, which could now be called Stitches.

Stitches snored loudly as Fluttershy attempted to sneak by. She tried to stay to his backside the whole time. She barely rustled the grass with her light steps. She flinched when she heard a hiss from above in a tree. She ignored it to the best of her ability and kept moving. Suddenly, a scream came from far away. It was a scream of not pain, but fear. She couldn't help to think that that could be her soon. It echoed through the air, carrying the scent of unspent blood. It didn't interrupt Stitches' slumber though. The forest was not so quiet anymore, carrying screams, growls, and hisses. One in particular was muttering, which seemed to come out of nowhere and lead to nowhere. It was just there, driving the poor captives of fear itself insane.

More agonizing screams and fearsome growling came from the forest to try and trip up Fluttershy. She was still creeping beside Stitches’ cage, trying her best not to wake up the wretched beast. All of a sudden, lightning struck from the distance, grabbing Fluttershy’s attention. The thunder was not loud, or at least not yet. If it had gotten closer, it could have awoken Stitches. Fluttershy decided it was time to make a break and sprinted for the forest behind the cage. She ran and ran, not looking behind her to see what horrors chased her, if any. The laughter of the forest was the only thing that chased her, but it had chased her since the beginning of the night.

Fluttershy pondered to herself when she thought of the night. Why hasn’t the night turned to day? It has been at least a couple hours since she had awoken. She looked up at the sky, but there was no moon, nor a sun to be found. Clouds covered the sky, making the woods dark and unforgettably dangerous.

She continued to walk on to the forest, more alone than she had felt all night. Fog had now rolled in, but what was strange was the color of it. It was purple of all colors. It became hard to see because of this mysterious fog. A light was in sight from Fluttershy’s view. On closer inspection, it was a house. Somepony was in it, for a silhouette walked back and forth by the lighted window. Whoever was pacing was very worried of something. Fluttershy decided it was her job to find out.

She snuck up on the lower floor’s window and peered inside. It seemed to be clear by the looks of it. She opened the front door and heard loud voices from above, as well as fast pacing. She searched around for the stairs on the first floor, nearly knocking over a glass in the process. She tip-hoofed up the stairs once she found them and listened closely to the conversation in the room on the other side of the wall she had put her ear onto. The voice was all too familiar: Morbent Fel.

“… open her guts and slice her in half! You are my COMMANDER, Mor’Ladim. Or should I call you “Moore Ladimore”?” He angrily taunted.

“N-No master, that name is for my wife only.” Mor’Ladim nervously said.

“Well, then! What is going to happen next time you find that yellow, flying rat of a being!?” Morbent Fel demanded an answer.

“She will die, Master Fel! I will not hold back whatsoever next time!” Mor’Ladim said confidently.

“And…?” Morbent Fel asked.

“And her body will be brought to Ambercrombie for abomination building.” Mor’Ladim added.

“Good. Now, if you so happen to NOT kill her and I find out about it, you will be eliminated completely, along with your wife!” Morbent Fel warned. Mor’Ladim had a sudden breakdown.

“No, please! She is still living! She has a child to take care of!” he pleaded.

“Then I suggest you spill that pegasus’ guts all over the floor, where ever that floor may be! It’s either that or you can kiss you and your family goodbye forever, you stupid undead!” Morbent Fel yelled at him.

Fluttershy took a step back to process the conversation she had just heard and bumped into a dresser. A vase on the edge of the dresser started to spin around due to the vibration of the bump. Fluttershy glanced at the vase as it slid off the dresser’s edge and began to fall. It fell down and down like a missile ready to blow up in Fluttershy’s face, which is exactly what it did.

The vase hit the ground and shattered into a million pieces. In the time span of a couple milliseconds, things had just gone from worst to worse than worst. The sound pierced the other room as screaming was heard from the other side of the wall.

“LADIM, you doofus! She’s been spying on us again! Go! Kill her! NOW!” Morbent Fel demanded.

“O-Oh! Yes, Master Fel! At once!” Mor’Ladim exclaimed.

Fluttershy flinched to her left and dashed down the stairs. The door from the room above burst open with force as Fluttershy dashed out of the house, running for her life for about the fifth time that night and the second time from Mor’Ladim. She screamed at the top of her lungs as she ran straight into the woods. The fog started to disappear, which was mostly good for Fluttershy. The only bad thing was that every time she looked back, she saw the blood red eyes of a traumatized skeleton chasing after her.

For on odd reason, she was not scared this time. She felt not as much fear as she did pity. Mor’Ladim was once Moore Ladimore, an actual person with feelings. Morbent Fel took that all away from him and forced him and his followers to do his bidding in death or his loved ones would suffer the consequences. For a noble reason, she stopped running. She turned around and stared at Mor’Ladim in his cold, red eyes. Out of confusion, Mor’Ladim stopped as well.

“Listen, Fluttershy, I have no time to reason with you. I must do what has to be done for Master Fel.” Mor’Ladim explained as he took out his bloodstained sword.

“You aren’t doing this for Morbent Fel; you’re doing this for your wife and child. That is not an action of Mor’Ladim. That is an action of Moore Ladimore.” Fluttershy said to him. She still stared him down with the most intimidating eyes she could make.

“Maybe so, but I must do it. I can’t deny it.” He said with depression. He was having trouble keeping his sword up.

“Moore, you’re a good man. Why do you follow Morbent? He’s brainwashed you into being his mindless slave! You control the undead in the area! You could turn against him!” Fluttershy exclaimed.

“He’s not that dumb, Fluttershy. He has agents. I may be brainwashed, but either way, I don’t care about anypony’s life anymore. I do what I must without question.” He said, edging closer to Fluttershy. She didn’t move an inch.

“If you didn’t care, you wouldn’t be telling me this information! Just because you are an undead doesn’t mean that you can’t have a heart!” She exclaimed to the undead. He dropped his sword on the ground.

“Maybe I do care! That doesn’t mean I can just let my family go! My wife lives in a town not too far from here. It’s the only town in Duskwood… always has been.” Moore explained. Fluttershy tied what he said back to what Ambercrombie said about Stitches.

“Umm… Moore? Ambercrombie said that Stitches wiped out a whole town on the call of Morbent Fel before. He killed everypony in it.” Fluttershy explained. She became nervous of his response.

Moore’s jaw dropped as his blood red eyes turned blue with fear. He started shaking like there was an earthquake.

“Wh- What? Morbent… told Stitches to wipe out Darkshire…? Killed… everypony?” Moore asked, shivering.

Fluttershy sighed. “Unfortunately, that’s what I was told by Ambercrombie. Believe it or not, he’s a good stallion. He cared about me as well, even if he didn’t show it.”

Moore dropped to the ground and let out of pain-filled scream. He buried his boney face into the ground, crying with no tears.

“Four years of serving that bastard… and he never told me. He never even hinted at it. I’ve slain pony after pony… all for nothing? I… I can’t believe it.” He said to himself, curled up on the muddy ground. The lightning had gotten close now. Rain had started to fall on the two ponies. Fluttershy sighed and went to comfort the undead stallion. She sat down next to him and put her hoof on his boney shoulder.

“I want… I want to go now. I want to go where they are. My wife… my child. I don’t want to live on this cursed land anymore! Those two stallions can duke it out for power, I don’t care. I just want to go.” Moore complained as he curled up into a ball on the ground.

“I know… I know…” Fluttershy said. The moment was broken when growling was heard from the bushes. They both flinched up as Moore reached for his sword. He jumped in front of Fluttershy, in a blocking stance.

“W- Was that…?” Fluttershy couldn’t finish her sentence before another louder growl interrupted her.

“Stitches.” Moore finished for her. “This is the time for you to run and me to fight.”

“B-But you’ll get torn apart by him!” Fluttershy rebutted. The growl turned into a roar from the bushes as scuffling was heard.

“I know I will! This is my ticket out! At least try to escape! This is the last exciting moment you may ever have! Run! NOW!” Moore yelled at her. The rain began to hit harder as she turned around. Before she vanished, Fluttershy turned around to see Moore for the last time. He had become a pony once again. He didn’t need flesh to prove he was a living being.

“Moore Ladimore.” Fluttershy began. “… Thank you.”

Moore stood in a battle stance as he made his boney face smile for one last time. Fluttershy ran off into the forest, smiling in the same way Moore did. A crash was heard behind Fluttershy. She could only assume that Stitches had destroyed Moore’s skeletal body. A roar pierced her ears with the clanging of a chain was heard not too far away. She kept running from it, yet it got closer and closer. She looked back and saw a quick glimpse of Stitches once again. She saw a white arm with red dots all over it.

Suddenly, her running came to an abrupt end as she found herself face first into the grass. Her left leg had caught itself on a root. The scuffling was back, the chain louder than ever, and the growling more fearsome than a tiger’s. Fluttershy started to pull at the root. She yanked the root clean out of the ground and got up, but once she did, the rustling came to an end. The growling was no more than a couple feet away from her, standing still. Stitches had caught up to her. She cracked a smile and started to laugh. “You tried your best. You’ll get it next time!” Applejack always said to her. She was right; Fluttershy did try her best, except there wasn’t a next time.

Fluttershy thought back to when she woke up that same night, confused and scared. She shook her head in disappointment in herself. Now she was clear-minded and confident, more than she had ever been in her life. More than she had ever been. More… Moore. Moore Ladimore taught her the meaning of courage, the meaning she had swore to find if it killed her. Running away from what will kill her is cowardly. She was ready to face the fact that finding out what courage meant was going to kill her. She was ready to be courageous for the first time and last time in her life.

She turned around.