“H-help!” The pink-maned, yellow coated mare screamed in her innocent, frightened voice. Her blue eyes were quivering in fear of the mare in front of her… All around her, horrible things she had never dreamed of were happening. She found herself backed into the corner of the living room in her tree home, an angry mare closing in on her slowly and eerily.

“There’s no one to help you, Fluttershy. Just calm down and be a good mare…” The pink-maned, pink coated party pony took slow, drawn-out steps toward her friend. Instead of her usual light blue eyes, she had larger black pupils and irises that seemed almost colorless.

“P-Pinkie Pie…what are y-you doing?” Fluttershy opened her right wing and propped it over her eyes, trying to somehow disappear from the situation she was in. She let out a quiet squeak of fear before cowering even lower to the floor.

Pinkie Pie picked up her pace only slightly, drawing closer as she giggled, “Nothing for you to be too worried about…” She let her face stretch into a creepy, psychotic grin.

Pinkie Pie stopped after a few more steps to pick up the butter knife that was lying on the table. She scanned it over, and her eerie grin grew wider. Fluttershy immediately knew what Pinkie intended on doing with the knife, and let out another fearful scream.

“Aw, c’mon Fluttershy! It won’t hurt that bad… Or maybe it will… Either way, it’ll be fun!” Pinkie Pie launched herself at Fluttershy, the butter knife pointing straight outward. Although not the sharpest weapon, anything can penetrate the skin when thrust with enough force.

Fluttershy let out one final desperate squeal before a loud thud knocked her onto her side. She carefully retracted her wing to see what had happened. She didn’t feel any pain, so maybe Pinkie had missed. Well, she was almost right… In front of her she saw a massive heap of red and pink laying on the floor.

“Fluttershy, get outta here! Ya gotta git to the Princess!” The orange-maned, red coated stallion screamed at her, his green eyes filled with fear and anger. Before he had time to refocus his attention on Pinkie, she tossed him aside as if he were a blanket. Whatever had gotten into her had given her supernatural strength.

Fluttershy backed up slowly as she nodded and thought about what was happening. “O-okay! The Princess, r-right! Thanks Big Mac…” When Pinkie tossed Big Macintosh off of her, Fluttershy decided it was time to high-tail it out of there. She opened her wings and flew higher and faster than she ever had before.

Normally, Fluttershy wasn’t much for flying fast, or at high altitudes. However, after what she had witnessed, and seeing all the chaos below her, she knew she had no choice but to get to Canterlot and speak with Princess Celestia. If anyone could fix this mess, it would be the Princess…

There comes a time in every pony’s life when they must realize that life isn’t all daffodils and rainbows. For some ponies, this realization can be devastating. For others, it’s hardly a bother. Imagine that, though. To live your life happily living with all your friends and family, only to suddenly be ripped from the comfort of your dreamland into the nightmare that is reality. To some ponies, it can be an event traumatic enough for them to never recover…

Of course, at the same time, you can safely say that all ponies have to face something sad and traumatic at some point in their lives. Some ponies can tolerate this trauma, whereas others are swallowed whole by it. But regardless of some traumatic event or sad happening, there is a little shadow that lurks deep within every pony that lives. Any pony that lives holds at least a small shadow locked within their hearts.

For some, this shadow never sees the light of day. For others, it consumes them, and destroys them piece by piece. Most ponies are never forced to confront this shadow, as in the country of Equestria most things are peaceful and full of happiness. But for the few who do have to face their own shadows… well, it more often than not ends badly. It’s very rare, really, to see a pony face their inner shadow and come out on top, completely unaltered from their previous state of mind.

Keeping in mind that everypony has a small shadow inside them that they more than likely won’t ever have to face, what would happen if that shadow suddenly emerged for no reason? What if there were no traumatic events or sad occasions to bring the shadow out? What if the shadows just suddenly…emerged…one by one in each and every pony? What would any one pony be able to do to stop the madness that would emerge?

Well, there was one pony that had to face this reality. She was the only pony immune to the shadow in her own heart. She was forced to single-handedly shed light on the shadows that consumed all of her friends and neighbors. Of course, I can’t guarantee she succeeded. All I can say is that she had to fight, not only for her friends, but for the entirety of Equestria. To her, it all seemed like a bad dream. Everything was perfectly normal, when suddenly ponies began to freak out. Without warning, she was thrown into the chaos and evil of the shadows of everypony…

The pony I’m talking about is, of course, one we all know and love. One we would never expect to have to take on such a horrific reality. All of her friends called her Fluttershy. I think we will as well. Now, please keep in mind that I cannot guarantee just yet whether or not she succeeded in stopping these shadows, but for all intents and purposes, let’s stay on the positive side.

To Fluttershy, nothing would have been better than to wake up in her bed, finding out that all of this was just a nightmare. Sadly, she wasn’t going to wake up from a nightmare, because the events transpiring in front of her were real. And real scary. She found herself fighting her old friends, animals, and her very own Princess…

Perhaps I’m getting too far ahead of myself here? I might want to explain just exactly how all this mess started. In fact, let me go ahead and do that…

Next Chapter: Chapter 1: The Day the Shadows Arrived Estimated time remaining: 1 Hour, 49 Minutes