Zero months, zero years after meteor…

As she stared down at Angel, tears silently streaming from her eyes, she said the words but couldn’t mean them. They were empty of emotion, and emotion was her specialty.

I should make sure everypony is ok…

But her legs wouldn’t move. Why wouldn’t her legs move?

Nearby, a tree toppled to the ground. The roots that had held it were burned to a crisp. There were patches of fire all around her but they were all small and isolated. It was as if the world had gone through an oven on full blast and came out overcooked.

I bet Pinkie Pie’d make a baking joke, if she were here…

Pinkie Pie, along with the rest of her friends, were in Ponyville. Far off Ponyville. She could see the tops of buildings peeking out from behind trees from where she stood on the side of the mountain. Not once did she realize how far she had gone.

A tug on her hair. Little eyes looking up at her, worried. Scared.

Angel started to pull her along. Fluttershy followed in a daze, only able to comprehend the now.

Something crunched underfoot. Looking down and lifting her foot, she could see the bones of Blue Jay she had crushed. Bits of burnt feathers still clung greedily to the bones. The eye, saved perhaps by a lucky blink, stared up at her.

And Angel continued to pull her along.

Pinkie Pie bounced excitedly, “Oh, come on, Fluttershy! I made you a big cake for your birthday! You’ve got to see it!”

Trying to wipe the sleep from her eyes, Fluttershy yawned, “Pinkie Pie? How did you get in?”

“That doesn’t matter right now, silly! What matters is your cake!” The pink pony couldn’t contain herself and started bouncing around the room.

Fluttershy couldn’t help but smile and say, “Ok, Pinkie Pie, I’m hurrying! What kind of cake is it?” She slipped out of bed and stretched her wings.

Pinkie had stopped her bouncing and was staring out the window in silence.

“Pinkie Pie?” the pegasus said, worriedly, “What’s wrong?”

“…I’m not here…” said Pinkie Pie in a monotonous voice barely above a whisper.

More worried than ever, Fluttershy started walking towards her friend, “What are you talking about…?”

As she got within feet of her, Pinkie Pie’s face slowly turned from the window. Her skin gone, two black pits staring from her skull, she replied, “Pinkie Pie is not in at the moment, please leave a message at the beep!”

The window exploded inward. A wave a heat unlike anything Fluttershy had ever experienced rushed into the room, forcing her up to slam into the wall. Pinkie Pie crashed into the wall beside her, her body now devoid of skin and muscle. As she hit the wall, her bones splintered and disintegrated. The heat caught everything ablaze. For a split second, Fluttershy saw hell.

“Beeeeeeeeeeee-”

3 years, 2 months after meteor…

“-eeeeeeeeeep!”

Startled, Fluttershy lashed out at the alarm clock. When it hit the ground it came apart into a million pieces. The clatter it caused startled her again. Rolling out of bed, blanket still tangled around her, the pegasus stumbled across the dark room to the light switch. She flipped it on and turned in an instant.

The room was empty.

Quiet rain was all Fluttershy heard as she slowly calmed herself down.

It must have been the early afternoon, yet the rainclouds continued to block out the sun and casted her world in perpetual gloom. With the rain had come nightmares. So vivid, so real…

Laughing softly to herself, Fluttershy said out loud, “Dreams aren’t real...nothing like that could ever happen here…”

A thunderclap made her jump a few inches. Thunder had come with the rain as well.

Sighing, Fluttershy untangled the blanket from herself and walked back to the bed. Because of her tossing and turning, Angel had decided to sleep in his home outside. She had protested, but eventually gave in. He had awoken on the floor one too many times.

Though her main protest to him sleeping outside was the cold, the rain did not actually bring cold with it. Instead, it seemed the summer did not wish to relinquish its grip on the world and continued to heat it while fall attempted to invade. Their battle caused an endless list of problems for Fluttershy.

“At least my friends are here to help me,” she said quietly as she finished fixing her bed. There was a small amount of sarcasm in her voice. The rain infected her friend’s moods, making it hard to get them out of their homes and around town.

Bed fixed, Fluttershy crawled back in, leaving the light on. She closed her eyes and forced herself into sleep.

From a deep shadow beneath her bed peered two red, glowing eyes.

When Fluttershy awoke she was alarmed to find half the day already gone. Breaking her alarm clock hadn’t even occurred to her tired mind until she noticed how bright the day was. “Going to have to go into town for another one…”

...which was a problem all its own. She splashed water on her face and tried to think of a way to get the electronic device home without rain touching it. Some sort of weather proof bag…

“Rarity would have one of those!” Fluttershy exclaimed, “I’ll see her after I tend to the field!”

She looked down at Angel…at the floor. Angel hadn’t woken yet. He was still outside in his little home. Sometimes she forgot.

A shadow laughed at her. She dropped a bottle of shampoo to cover up the sound. It opened up. Water poured out. The town had run out of shampoo years ago. The shadow laughed more. Fluttershy ignored it while cleaning up her mess.

Outside, the rain continued. It wasn’t a heavy rain, just a constant one. In a way that made it worse. She was starting to forget life without it.

After a few more minutes of morning routine and breakfast she was out the door and rushing towards Sweet Apple Acres. A green raincoat, with patches of other colored raincoats attached, kept the rain from soaking her. Cresting a hill with a lone tree, she stared out onto the field she had labored over for countless hours.

Though the rain had started relatively recently, enough had come down to drown the crops completely. No matter how much she tried to channel the water away more came pouring down.

A rain drop ran from her eye down her cheek. Fluttershy wiped it away quickly.

“No time for tears?”

“It was rain,” she responded to the pony sitting in the shadow of the lone tree.

“The crops are dead, what will you do now?”

“Applejack said we can grow them in the greenhouse till the rain passes. The seeds I planted just need time to grow…”

“As I recall you had that large dinner for everyone following the running of the leaves…a shame you used up so much food on those who can’t partake…”

Before the shadow pony finished, Fluttershy was rushing down the hill towards the field. The channel still wasn’t complete and was flooding. There was no time to worry about things that already happened. She had to deal with the things right in front of her.

The aqueduct she had built was still flowing and needed to be shut off at the source in the Everfree Forest, while the channel around the field needed finishing. She decided on the channel first.

Using her mouth to pick up a shovel where it leaned against a fence post, the pegasus got to work. The rain mocked the stamina she had built up over the years. It laughed as it managed to slip past the raincoat and soak her hair and fur. Minutes felt like hours. Hours felt like days.

I have to keep going; I can’t stop just because it’s difficult.

Fluttershy repeated the motto she had recently adopted. It had gotten her through the initial shock of losing so much food so fast. It has gotten her out of bed when Angel wasn’t there to greet her in the mornings. When her friends said they were busy and didn’t want to go out. When the rain wouldn’t stop.

She bit down harder on the wood between the two ends of the shovel in her mouth. It was bad for her teeth, she knew that. The knowledge didn’t stop her digging. The channel was almost complete. A little more and-

Her teeth bit through the wood completely. In an instant her brain understood and cataloged that keeping a wooden tool outside in the rain would cause it to deteriorate faster. In the future she would make sure to keep all her tools inside the shed where they belonged. The rain was yet still a new force to her, it would obviously have its surprises.

In the now, splinters jabbed her gums and tongue as her teeth slammed together. It was such a shock that she lost her footing in the mud and slipped into the channel sideways. Her head went below the muddy water; her mouth opened in a scream of pain; muddy water rushed in.

Fluttershy flailed for footing. When she finally got it and crawled out of the channel, she was soaked to the bone. Shakingly getting to her knees, she coughed up mud. Red spotted the green below her.

Her gums. Her bloody gums. They hurt so badly. How would she fix this? Was there enough medicine? Was there any for gums specifically? The nurse would know, nurse…what was her name…she was white and had a red cutie mark…

“Something the matter, dear?”

She always worked at the hospital, seemingly never taking a break…she was there when the Cake’s had their baby…what was her name…

“Fine day to be standing in the rain, isn’t it?”

Every time Fluttershy needed some medicine she went to her and got a prescription…by Celestia what was her name...

“I bet Angel is sitting in his little home crying for his mama while you splash around. Though I guess he wouldn’t cry much before making a new scarf-”

“WILL YOU SHUT UP?!”

The scream echoed across the hills. It cut through the feeble attempt the rain made at noise. Fluttershy almost couldn’t believe she had yelled.

Almost.

Othershy smiled a few feet away from her. The rain did nothing to her. That fact alone riled Fluttershy more than anything else. The rain sapped her friend’s strengths yet left this pony unfazed.

“That makes three, you know,” the shadow pony said nonchalantly, “Three outbursts in three weeks. My, my, you aren’t feeling too well, are you?” Her smile never wavered. Her lips didn’t move either, but Fluttershy saw them move. Fluttershy saw her mock her. Every day. Every. Day.

Fluttershy’s front left hoof began to grind against the mud, digging a little furrow. It was a tick she hadn’t noticed she had developed until a week ago when Othershy pointed it out to her. She did it when angry, when upset, when shy. But lately, only when she was angry. And only around Othershy. Because Othershy was always around now. The constant overcast made the entire world a giant shadow.

There was nowhere Fluttershy could get away from her shadow.

“…Red Heart,” the pegasus said and turned away from the shadow pony. The hospital wasn’t far from the fields. Nurse Red Heart would have everything she needed there. She always did. Fluttershy started off.

“Of course she will, you put all the medicine out in easy reach.”

Ignore her. She doesn’t know what she is talking about.

“You’ll walk in, say, ‘Um, would it be alright if I got some medicine?’, and then pretend the doctors are giving you medicine while you slip around the counter and take what you need.”

Fluttershy closed her eyes and kept walking. She knew the trail by heart. There had been many accidents over the years. Just little accidents. Nothing major ever happened in Ponyville.

“Except when everypony died.”

Fluttershy stopped.

“Oh, you didn’t hear? There was this big meteor and then POOF! All dead!”

There was a moment, just a moment, where the black darkness of her closed eyes turned red. It was just a moment. It doesn’t happen a lot. It’s fine. She’s fine.

Fluttershy forced one hoof in front of the other and hastened her journey to the hospital. Othershy made sure to keep pace, quietly chasing her with a single word.

“Poof, poof, poof.”

0 months, 0 years after meteor…

The roof was on fire.

She recalled a get together once where Pinkie Pie had said they would party till the roof caught fire. It was funny. She started to laugh. Angel looked at her frightened. His paw was shaking.

“What’s wrong, Angel?” she asked, “Do you not get the joke?”

His tiny rabbit head shook side to side.

“Awww, well I’ll explain it when we’re inside, ok?”

Tiny head shook again.

“Hmm? You don’t want to go inside?”

Mouth opened as if to speak, then closed. Angel’s eyes were glistening giants.

“We can stay out here if you like. It’s a beautiful day!” Fluttershy spun a circle and took in her surroundings.

The charred body of a pegasus pony landed a few yards away from her with a crunch. Fluttershy jumped and backed away from it in fright. Angel stepped protectively in front of her. Eyes darting, the burnt pegasus twitched her legs. Yellow offset eyes found Fluttershy.

Derpy tried to speak. Revealed skin around her throat cracked open and blood oozed out.

Angel vomited. Fluttershy screamed and tried to run.

She ran face first into a tree. Darkness came.

It was dark when Fluttershy’s eyes reopened. It was a moonless night. The fires were still burning far off but nearby they had all gone out. Total darkness greeted her.

“A…Angel?”

A shuffling from the dark jolted her to her hooves. She couldn’t see a thing. Angel wouldn’t be far. He wouldn’t leave her. Not when everypony…

“Angel!? Where are you?!”

Blinding light. Fluttershy staggered backwards, eyes shut against it. A small, soft something touched her leg. She flinched away. It touched her again. This time she cracked open her eyes and saw Angel next to her holding a flashlight. He must have just found it. He wouldn’t have left her alone in the dark.

She pushed away the negative thought and wrapped him in a hug. “Are you alright?” she asked.

He nodded, little head nuzzling her cheek as he did. Fluttershy smiled. With him by her side she could overcome anything. “Come on, let’s go inside.” It was a warm summer night.

Just like any other.

3 years, 2 months after meteor…

It was late. The hospital was closed.

Fluttershy shivered in the rain.

The hospital was staying open late.

“Why?”

Because there was a carriage accident from the rain. Nurses and doctors were on staff and willing to help anypony coming in.

“Isn’t that convenient.”

Fluttershy slammed the hospital door behind her. Nurse Red Heart stood behind the counter of the waiting room, ready to meet her. It was dark inside, no doubt due to a power outage from the weather. The weather caused a lot of problems lately.

“Good evening,” Fluttershy smiled, happy to see a friendly face, “I was wondering if I could get some medicine for some cuts in my mouth.” She found it hurt to talk but did not let that stop her.

Nurse Red Heart looked quite busy with paperwork, so Fluttershy decided to help herself. Often she had come to the hospital to help her friends when they were in need. Because of that, she knew where all the different kinds of medicine were kept.

There was an electric powered lantern on the desk, unlit. Fluttershy turned it on as she walked by. No need for anypony to trip in a hospital, she thought. The irony alone would be fatal.

The light revealed empty shelves in decaying cabinets. Only the very bottom held bottles of medicine anymore. Fluttershy leaned in to read the tiny labels. Some were too faded to make out.

A yellow capped bottle caught her eye. The yellow caps were pain killers with magical healing added. She carefully picked the bottle up between her front hooves and opened it with her mouth. When she placed the cap on the shelf she noticed it was bloody. She had read somewhere that gum wounds bled quite a lot.

Without hesitation, Fluttershy shook two of the pills into her mouth and swallowed. She had hated pills before. Now, while she still didn’t like them, she could get the process over with quickly. The effects were instant. The yellow pony smiled as the pain ebbed in her mouth. The pills were a boon she did not know what she would do without. She never dwelled on it.

After replacing the cap and setting the bottle back, Fluttershy said goodbye to Nurse Red Heart and walked to the double doors to outside. She opened one a crack. Nothing but rain greeted her.

Endless rain.

She sighed, “Back to work,” and started off towards Sweet Apple Acres.

Rain falling on her head

Silly pony, you’ll be dead

Endless rain atop her head

Run and run or you’ll be dead

Time flowed on. There was no day. There was no night. Only shades of gray.

Fluttershy was forced to use her hooves to dig the rest of the channel. The mud seemed to come alive and crawl up her legs as she dug. It filled her raincoat. It slowed her movements. It did nothing to her resolve.

It didn’t matter how long it took. There was no time anymore. The time had ended when the rain began. It washed away her food. It washed away her friend’s emotions. It washed it all away.

Othershy was near. Fluttershy didn’t need to see her to know. The feeling she had when the shadowy pony was near was enough.

Like a burning fire from within.

Though she was close by, Othershy did not disturb her. The channel got done. Relief washed over Fluttershy as the water ran away from the field and into the nearby creek. It had been dry previously.

Eyes closed.

It had flowed low previously. Now the water level would rise, but not much. Things would be fine.

Eyes open.

Othershy a foot away, red eyes unblinking, staring with the intensity of a thousand suns. Deep in those eyes was Fluttershy’s reflection. Or maybe it wasn’t in her eyes. Maybe it was all over her.

The sudden appearance of the shadowy pony was so common now that Fluttershy was no longer surprised by it. “Hello, Othershy!” she greeted her warmly, past transgressions forgotten. They were hours old. Or minutes. Or seconds. Perhaps they had never happened at all.

Fluttershy’s eye twitched.

A smile crept onto Othershy’s face. “You should get some sleep,” she said softly, “You look tired.”

“Well, I did do a lot of work today,” the yellow pony responded. Weariness started to creep in as adrenaline from working wore off. “I could use a rest. I’ll see you tomorrow!” Smiling, Fluttershy trotted to the path leading to her cottage.

Othershy watched, smiling. Fluttershy slipped and slid but never fell. It was as if she were walking normally the entire time.

“Angel, I’m-”

Luck ran out. Slip. Crash.

If not for the plush doormat she had lain out, Fluttershy would have knocked herself out. Knocked out half inside and half out in the rain. A perfect way to die.

A shiver ran through her body. She never thought like that before. There was no reason to. No one died in Ponyville. There was always medicine, always cures.

Fluttershy got to her hooves and closed the door behind her. Mud. On the carpet, on the door. She would trail it back all the way to the tub. Months, maybe even weeks ago, she would have cared. But Fluttershy wanted a warm bath, and damn the consequences.

Angel watched her from the couch. His big eyes and bigger smile never faltered. Smiling back, she reached out to pick him up but recoiled. Mud. Some things were too precious to dirty, no matter how tired she was. “I’ll come get you when I’m clean,” she said, resisting the urge to kiss his forehead.

Around the corner. Off with the raincoat. Into the tub.

Water rose. Pony sank down on her back. Eye’s closed.

Baths always felt wonderful to Fluttershy. She loved to swim in the lakes with the fishes as well, though not as recently. Not since she could remember, actually. Maybe she would head to the lake tomorrow…

But no, she couldn’t. The aqueduct needed to be turned off. The journey alone would take a day going and a day coming back, so deep was it in Everfree. Fluttershy would take Angel, of course, and maybe Rainbow Dash or Twilight. They walked much slower in the rain, but the extra company would be worth the added time.

Eyes still closed, Fluttershy reached around for the soap. She found it floating over her. Her eye’s opened as she brought it to her face.

In her hooves was a tiny bunny skull dripping crimson into the blood she lied in.

With a gasp of surprise and fear, Fluttershy dropped the soap into the tub. The slightly muddy water rose and fell. It settled slowly. Her heart kept beating at a hundred miles an hour.

Angel would miss his bath that night.

There was no day. There was no night.

Was the moon full? Was the sun shining?

Fluttershy sat in an open field, flowers blooming all around her. Blooming reds and yellows, swaying like flames. An endless sea of flames all around her and she safe upon the hill.

Was the sun hiding from its mistake? Did it regret what it had wrought? Was it responsible at all? Or was it the fault of its keeper?

“Where am I?” a voice like hers said.

“Possibly dreaming,” Twilight Sparkle responded, flipping a page in her book. She lay within the flames of the flowers. Her eyes were focused completely on her book.

“Dreaming?” asked Fluttershy. “How would I know?”

Twilight gave her an exasperated look, “Does this look like the world you know?”

“I…”

“It wouldn’t,” the unicorn slammed her book shut, “Not since you defaced it.”

“No! Nothing is wrong! This is just like my world!”

“Your dancing on the edge of the abyss is starting to upset us,” Twilight said as she rose, book levitating before her. “You should know to let the dead rest where they lay.”

The flames of the flowers rose. No flowers, only flames. Purple pony among them began to burn.

“Join us…”

Moisture running down her cheek. Was she crying?

Another drop hit her. Fluttershy opened her eyes. The ceiling was leaking. She looked over at the alarm clock that wasn’t there. No time.

No day. No night.

Shakes overcame her. Was Twilight right? No, it was a dream, Twilight was at her home in town-

Where she stood a mass of bones shoddily glued and wired together-

Reading a book most likely, or studying some ancient text. In fact, I bet she wanted to see her right then!

Fluttershy slipped out of bed, ignoring her body’s protests. The previous day’s work, even for her at that time, would take time to heal. Her mouth also felt raw. The medicine had worn off.

She walked to the bathroom, hit the lights, and looked at herself in the mirror. Bags had started to creep in under her bloodshot eyes. So many animals had come to her like this before that she could diagnose it instantly. Insomnia.

She laughed, “Nooooo, no pony could get insomnia in Ponyville! That’s only for silly little animals…” Fluttershy opened her mouth and examined her gums. They were red but on the mend.

Smiling, she skipped towards the stairs. Twilight was at the library waiting for her. They had talked the previous day about going into Everfree Forest to turn off the aqueduct and Fluttershy just needed to confirm it with her.

Back out into the rain.

0 months, 0 years after meteor…

The warmth of the sun woke Fluttershy. It speared though the broken window. It felt good.

How many days? Four? Five?

“Angel? Baby?”

Hopping. And there he was, spots of dirt and something darker stained his fur. They couldn’t get the water to run. Even she was dirty. It was starting to bug her.

“What were you up to, Angel?” she asked with a yawn.

He stared at her, something in his eyes dying. He pointed to something out of her sight. She looked.

Derpy Hooves’ corpse lay rotting yards away.

Angel had his ears covered before Fluttershy screamed. It came back to her. Every day he would show her. Every day he would plead that they leave.

And every day she ignored his pleas.

After the screaming and crying came the wandering. The world as she knew it was dead. The evidence was all around her. She would visit Ponyville, her friends, the shops. Tears would flow throughout. Angel accompanied her twice to make sure she would be safe. After that he allowed her to wander alone.

Fluttershy knew what he was doing, going back and forth from town to her cottage, carrying this and that. He was packing for a long journey. To find a new home. It was a truth she could not ignore. Her home was gone.

But today was different. Fluttershy did not wander today. She stood over Derpy, staring down at her burnt body. It was engraved in her mind. Every crease of flesh, every black spot of melted fur.

And it enraged her.

Fluttershy didn’t want to see it anymore. Every day she saw it. Tomorrow she would not.

Leaning down, she grabbed Derpy’s tail with her teeth and tried to drag her away. The motion caused Derpy’s legs to limply drag as the body moved. And Fluttershy stopped.

“…Derpy?”

The body was still.

Peeking out from behind a tree, Angel watched her.

3 years, 2 months after meteor…

“This kind of paint wasn’t meant to last in the rain, you know.”

Yellow hoof ran down the closed door. Drops of water raced around it. Paint slowly ran from the warping wood.

“You should use a magical paint. They have that, you know.”

Pink hair was plastered to her head and face. No raincoat. It only slowed her down. She shivered. Twilight was inside, but had come out. They spoke in the rain.

Fluttershy continued, “I could get some for you, if you want me to. I’m good at painting…” She turned to her friend.

There was no pony there.

Twilight was inside. Too heavy to move in the rain. Her muscles ached.

Too heavy a burden.

Fluttershy opened the door and walked in, dripping. Othershy stood inside by the door, watching. Twilight Sparkle stood a few meters away, silent.

“Hello, Twilight!” Fluttershy said, forcibly putting a skip in her step. “How have you been? Sorry I haven’t come around lately…”

Her hoof rose to Twilight’s jaw and froze. Her friend’s purple eyes stared into hers, confused. Why was Fluttershy touching her?

“Oh, um, sorry…” Fluttershy lowered her leg and waited for Twilight to say something.

She continued to stare.

“Um…did I upset you? I’m sorry…”

Silence.

“Really, I’m sorry Twilight…please forgive me…”

A drop of water leaked through the roof and hit the floor across the room.

“Please, Twilight, say something…”

The presence of Othershy grew more pronounced.

“Twilight?!” Fluttershy grabbed her friend, “Why won’t you answer me?! I said I’m sorry! What do you want from me?!”

Twilight’s jaw opened slightly from the movement. She was shocked at Fluttershy’s outburst.

“I don’t want you to leave!” Tears streaked down her face. “Why don’t you understand?! We were supposed to be friends forever!” the pegasus screamed, “YOU all left ME!”

The darkness behind her grew. Othershy raised her front legs, red eyes glowing brightly.

creak

Both Othershy and Fluttershy jumped at the sudden sound. It came from deeper in the library.

“Hello?” the pegasus called. She stepped back from Twilight and slowly walked across the room. One corner housed a heap of odds and ends, all tossed there from when Fluttershy had “cleaned”. A large machine the size and shape of a refrigerator, but with no door, dominated the center of the heap. Several steel arms jutted out of it holding colored vials. A half covered water wheel attached to the side of it came to a slow halt.

Fluttershy was transfixed by it for a moment before a drop of water from the roof hit a cup on the end of the wheel. It dawned on her then: the leak had slowly filled up to make it move.

She turned to Twilight to ask what the machine was. The unicorn was facing away from her. Fluttershy closed her mouth. Of course Twilight would be upset after her outburst.

Suddenly an idea struck her. “Oh! Um, Twilight, this machine uses water, right? So it would be much better outside!” She started to dig out the machine before Twilight could answer. Her unicorn friend was often so consumed with her science and experiments that she lost herself in thought. That must have been happening now. If she could help finish the experiment than Twilight would be free to talk again!

Othershy watched silently, the darkness receding.

It didn’t take long for Fluttershy to dig the machine out. It was already placed on a cart so she managed to wheel it outside without any problems. Her muscles ached but she pressed on.

Oh, to hear her friend speak again! It felt like ages since Twilight had been free from her work to talk to her. Just need to get this machine out in the rain where it could work…

Fluttershy stepped back from the contraption after pushing it into the middle of the road outside. Rain had started the wheel turning as soon as it exited the library and sound could be heard from inside it. Squeaking and electrical sounds. They made her tired head ache.

“Um…I’ll come back later and see how it’s going, ok, Twilight?” she said at the open door to the library. Inside, Twilight stared past her to the machine.

Soaking wet, Fluttershy turned and started walking into town, thoughts of asking Twilight to accompany her through Everfree lost.

“Today’s forecast is rain! Followed by rain, and some rain with a chance of-”

An alarm clock smashed into the wall inches away from Othershy. It cracked and fell apart. Othershy looked down at it a moment and then back to Fluttershy.

“Rain.”

The pegasus’ eyes were bloodshot and itchy. She imagined she looked just like Othershy right then. The thought further enraged her. “Get away from me!” Fluttershy screamed.

The shadowy pony raised her hoof in mock hurt, “But, Fluttershy, don’t you want me to be your friend?” She laughed and sauntered around the clock store, “I thought everypony was your friend?”

Fluttershy turned away and continued her search for a new alarm clock, seething. She could hear Othershy continue her weather forecast. The sound of the rain that she normally blocked out seemed so much louder right then.

Why wouldn’t it stop? Never before had it rained for so long. When would it end? What could she do to stop it?

Just shut it off.

She froze. The aqueduct?

Shut it off and the rain will stop.

But…it was deep in Everfree…she couldn’t make the trip in one day…

There is no day…

“…there is no night,” Fluttershy muttered. The room around her twisted one way and then the other. Floral wallpaper peeled in slow motion. Clocks far away ticked on and on.

“I need to shut off the water.”

Her legs carried her past Othershy’s ear to ear grin. Outside…

1 month, 0 years after meteor...

…into the warm summer's day.

The fires that had sprung up from the flash of heat hadn’t consumed many buildings. The clock shop was amazingly secure after the disaster. Fluttershy trotted towards her home with the alarm clock she had found secured in her mouth.

Angel had given up pleading with her to leave. He had, however, tried to move Derpy away. It had become the new argument between them.

The little bunny argued how it was not right to keep the dead body around. Fluttershy tried to explain how having the other pony around made her feel but she couldn’t. It didn’t even make sense to her. Slowly, she was starting to not care if it made sense or not.

Fluttershy found her friend on the path halfway to Ponyville. Her body was decomposing rapidly in the daily heat. The yellow pony sighed and placed the alarm clock lightly on the side of the road, “Oh, Angel…”

Bending, Fluttershy carefully dragged the corpse back to her cottage.

Hours later…

The front door to the cottage opened quietly. Angel carried a sack on his back filled with food he had found in other pony’s homes. He had been making runs constantly to make sure he and Fluttershy were fed. His eyes were downcast.

When he looked up he was startled to find Fluttershy sitting on a chair facing the door. Her eyes locked onto his. Her smile betrayed something he never thought he would see in her.

“Hello, Angel baby,” she said sweetly. “I found our friend, Derpy, on the road to town. She wasn’t feeling well so I brought her over to rest.”

Angel sighed and dropped the sack he carried. The usual…

“But she is just so hyper…”

Angel’s ear’s perked up. He looked at Fluttershy again. This time it wasn’t hard to see it in her eyes.

“…she just loves to fly, no matter how tired she is…”

Something small fell to the floor between them. From the ceiling.

Angel kept his eyes on Fluttershy. He didn’t want to look up.

Fluttershy learned towards him and held out her arms, “Shhh, it’s OK, Angel. Mama just wants to help all her friends feel better. Derpy wanted to fly. But the others might want to play games and sing and dance…we can help them together…come to mama…”

Backpedaling, Angel tripped on the sack he had dropped. He landed on his back and stared up…

3 years, 2 months after meteor…

…into Derpy’s empty sockets. Fluttershy had forgotten all about her. It had taken hours to attach the pegasus to the ceiling like that. She had had flesh when Fluttershy had first put her up. Over time it had mostly peeled away.

“…she’s flying…”

“Of course she is, dear,” Rarity said, gently putting Fluttershy’s coat over her. “Take this before you go back out or you’ll catch a cold.”

Fluttershy looked at her friend, tears coming to her eyes, “Am I dreaming again?”

Rarity smiled back, eyes sad, “It doesn’t matter. You have to go turn off the water.”

“Will you come with me? I don’t want to go alone…”

The unicorn looked away, “I can’t…I’m sorry.”

Tears fell from Fluttershy’s eyes. Quietly, she adjusted the raincoat and walked back outside.

Time passed. She wondered if it mattered how long. Hunger crept up on her. She paused along the path to eat some dried fruit she carried under her wing. Soggy.

The gurgling of the aqueduct could be heard through the trees. It rain parallel to the path she was currently on. Fluttershy looked back the way she had come…

1 month, 0 years after meteor...

…and saw Angel waiting with food. The trip had taken her longer then she had thought it would. She hadn’t taken any food.

“Oh, thank you so much, Angel!” Fluttershy said as she practically collapsed and started eating the vegetables the little bunny had brought out for her.

Angel looked at her expectedly. She hadn’t told him where she was going or even that she WAS going.

Smiling, “There was just something I had to do, that’s all. I’m sorry I made you worry.”

The answer didn’t sit well with Angel, but after he made it clear she should tell him where and when she was going out, he let her eat in peace. She understood the unsaid question of his. Deep inside he still wished to leave, no matter how much she tried to convince him staying was the better option.

“You made sure to feed all the ponies that were hurt while I was out, right, Angel?”

He stiffened. The question had come out of nowhere. Fluttershy didn’t truly even understand why she had asked it. Of course the other ponies wouldn’t eat…but if Angel played along, maybe…

The bunny looked like he wanted to be somewhere else right then. Still, in awkward pantomime, he told her the others hadn’t been hungry.

Concerned, “It might be some sort of stomach flu.”

Angel just nodded, eyes downcast. He didn’t like doing this.

Fluttershy found she didn’t care what he wanted. This was for the best.

3 years, 2 months after meteor…

A slight darkening of the clouds signified night. Or an overly overcast day. Or an eclipse.

Fluttershy turned off the aqueduct by removing the half covered waterwheel she had installed to catch the rain and power it. The solar panels she had ripped from some houses in town were still active, but useless in this weather.

The wheel wasn’t heavy, but her state of tiredness made it feel like lead. She nearly fell face first into the spring. It had risen from the rain but not enough to threaten the waterway she had built.

She did manage to get the wheel away from the water before falling atop it. The larger wheel that moved the water from the spring to the aqueduct came to a halt. Constant rain would continue to flood the water path, but at least she wouldn’t be the main cause of her problems now.

Moving the wheel reminded her of just how tired she was. She desperately needed to get home and sleep. On wobbly legs she tried to make her way back home.

“You went the wrong way,” Rainbow Dash said. She lay on her back next to the cave entrance. Long boards of wood had been put over it, as if to keep something in. Nearly the entire entrance was sealed. “Nearly,” said the rainbow-maned pony. She pointed her hoof at a gap at the bottom of the seal.

Fluttershy stared at it, “I didn’t have enough wood…I thought I had had enough, but I just needed one more piece…and Angel wouldn’t let me go back and finish…”

“What did you put in there anyways?”

Fluttershy looked at Rainbow Dash confused.

Sighing, “It’s a dead end in there, you know? So why did you board it up? Seems like a waste of time to me…”

Head shaking back and forth, “It was important…I…don’t remember…”

“Then we should open it back up and see!” said Rainbow, sitting up.

“NO!” Fluttershy screamed as she took an involuntary step back. Rainbow Dash looked shocked at her, then hurt. “I…I just want to go home…” she said. Before her friend could respond, Fluttershy turned and ran as fast as she could down the path.

“You have to face it someday, coward!” Rainbow Dash yelled from the cave.

2 months, 0 years after meteor…

More string. More glue. More wire.

“Angel, I’m going out for more…medical supplies,” she called behind her as she left the cottage at a trot. The forest around her home sounded so quiet. “All sleeping,” she said to no pony.

Fluttershy stopped at the fork in the road. One path lead into town while the other lead into Everfree Forest. Everfree seemed far less foreboding when all the trees were dead and the sun could shine down it all. Perhaps she’d have a picnic with Angel there this week.

“Ah,” she shook her head, “Got to stay focused. Applejack is almost fully healed! Then she can help me with the field!” Smiling, Fluttershy trotted towards Ponyville.

Twilight Sparkle smiled as Fluttershy approached. Her friend seemed to be all smiles lately. “Twilight,” she asked, “Do you happen to have a book on pony anatomy?”

The head of Twilight, tied to the outside of the library, was silent.

“Inside? Oh, thank you so much!” Fluttershy opened the door carefully and slipped into her friend’s home.

Inside, the library was a mess. Books lay everywhere, most open, and some sort of machine dominated the middle of the lobby. Sighing, Fluttershy started to tidy up a little. Twilight must have been trying to read up on everything about the meteor before it was stopped. By Celestia. Who was very busy in Canterlot. Where they were in quarantine to stop the outbreak of a virus.

Fluttershy stopped and closed her eyes. She had never been incredibly imaginative and it was starting to wear her out. Her foot knocked against a book. “One Thousand and One Nightmare Nights?” the title read.

Flipping it open to the first page, she began to read. Though she never had a great imagination, she did learn quickly when she put her mind to it.

After consuming a few stories and tidying up a little more, she walked out of Twilight’s with a pony anatomy book tucked under her wing. She waved to Twilight as she left, “See you later!”

Twilight Sparkle smiled back.

3 years, 2 months after meteor…

Fluttershy could almost see herself walking out of Twilight’s, waving goodbye to the skull, clutching the book under her wing tightly. Somewhere along the way to Ponyville’s center square she had lost her coat. Cold shakes rocked her from head to hoof.

“You should have listened to Rarity, darlin,” Applejack said, leaning against the side of Twilight’s house. “You’re gunna get sick out here.”

“I’ve survived worse…”

“You don’t have to…”

Applejack closed her eyes and looked away.

“It could all end, here and now.”

“It’ll be quick,” her friend assured her.

In her voice.

In her head.

A clicking from the square.

“The rain will stop,” Fluttershy muttered, “It can’t go on forever…nothing lasts forever…”

Pinkie Pie, from the entrance for Sugar Cube Corner, “All shows end eventually.”

Twilight, from the library, “It’s how things were meant to be. There’s no changing fate.”

Rarity, down the street, “Sometimes we have to do things we don’t want to for the ones we love.”

Rainbow Dash, lounging under the overhang of a nearby home, “You’ve made us wait long enough. It’s time for you to get it over with.”

Applejack, “They’re right, Fluttershy, and you know it.”

Rain caressed her lips. Salty. Tears. “You’re right,” she whispered, “You’re all right.”

The gray around her deepened to black. A pony emerged from the darkness behind her, red eyes ablaze. Fluttershy felt her hungry gaze.

She continued, “I wanted there to be a reason I was left alive…some reason for all of this…but there wasn’t…so I made one. I pretended Ponyville was fine, that everypony was fine. But…I can’t…anymore…”

Fluttershy fell to her knees and sobbed. Othershy approached, grinning ear to ear. The other ponies watched patiently. Soon, they would be together again.

The clicking from the square grew louder.

Fluttershy turned and watched her dark doppelganger approach. Othershy said sweetly, “It won’t hurt a bit.”

“…it will…”

The clicking became too loud to ignore now. Both Fluttershy and Othershy turned to the machine in the center of the square. Electricity arced up and down its frame. A few lightning bolts shot down to slam into it. It nearly toppled but somehow kept upright.

“What in Celestia’s name is that?!” Othershy cried out over the sound the machine was making. It was louder than anything Fluttershy had ever heard. No…it was as loud as…

The six steel arms jutting from it all began to glow different colors. Purple, pink, blue, yellow, orange, white. “The Elements of Harmony,” Fluttershy said, “Twilight said she could extract some of their power…”

“What?!” the dark pony screamed, “That can’t be true! And even if it was how could you know that?” She pushed Fluttershy over into the mud with her last word.

But when Fluttershy looked up at her, it was in defiance, “I know my friends better than anypony else, even you. Twilight was planning this for after the meteor-”

“No!” Othershy spat back, “You weren’t there!” More lightning thundered down. A heavy wind blew through all of Ponyville. Fluttershy’s friend’s all did their best to keep from flying away.

“Twilight told me all about it beforehand!” Fluttershy had to scream to be heard over the noise all around her.

“You…you changed your memories…” red eyes grew wide. “But why do all of this?! Why pretend to fall?!”

“Because there was only one thing I could think of to get rid of you.”

A rainbow wave of energy pulsed out from the machine. It washed over the mud, the broken buildings, the bones of long lost ponies, and changed them. It hit Othershy and ripped some of her shadowy body from her. The pony kept from being pulled along the wave by grabbing onto Fluttershy with her front legs.

“You can’t get rid of me! I am a part of you!” Spittle rain down Othershy’s maw as she screamed her words.

Fluttershy’s legs were dug into the mud to keep herself from being blown away, “I don’t need you! I have my friends!”

Grass started to grow again. The buildings around the two ponies started to rebuild. Flesh took form on skeletal figures.

“This is a lie!” The machine had started to glow brighter in preparation of another pulse, “I will be back and show you the truth! That nothing is as it was and can never be again!”

“Then I will use this again and show you my truth!” Fluttershy yelled as the rainbow wave washed over them again.

Othershy could hang on no longer. Her front legs released and she tumbled in the wave, disintegrating. Bits and pieces dispersed and flew in all directions. Her burning eyes were the last to go. They stared into Fluttershy’s for what seemed an eternity.

As the machine wound to a halt, Fluttershy collapsed. It was not a pleasant place to sleep. Applejack was trying to tell her so. But right then, she couldn’t help herself.

The warm rain felt nice.

One month later…

“…goooooood morning fillies and gentlecolts! Wipe those sleepies from your eyes and get up and at em! It’s looking like another rainy day, but don’t let that stop you from going out and doing your best!”

Fluttershy reached over and turned off the alarm. The voice of the radio caster always woke her up completely. Sometimes it sounded just like her voice. She smiled, “As if I would be on the radio.”

A wonderful smell preceded her as she skipped downstairs to the kitchen. Rarity was there already with a bouquet of fresh roses. “Oh, Rarity! They’re lovely!” Fluttershy said as she took them and placed them in an empty vase.

“I picked them just for you this morning, Fluttershy,” Rarity said, smiling.

“Well I’m glad you did, they really brighten up the room,” the pegasus replied, smiling back. “Let me make you some breakfast!”

The two of them chatted away over the making of, and later consumption, of breakfast. In a dark shadow in the corner of the room, two small red eyes glared out. No shadow seemed to ever fall over Fluttershy as she moved about the room. Her smile never wavered. Her joy never faltered.

But the red eyes did not cease their gazing. A single phrase repeated itself within the shadow pony’s mind.

Nothing lasts forever.

2 months, 0 years after meteor…

She found Angel right where she knew she would: atop the hill overlooking all of Ponyville. It was an amazing sight. Fluttershy couldn’t blame her bunny friend for spending so many hours up there.

“Hello, Angel,” she said politely, “I’m back from town.”

He kept staring out onto Ponyville.

Quietly, she sat down next to him and gazed out too. After a time, “I helped Twilight today. Tomorrow I’m going over to Applejack’s to help her, too. We’ll need both their helps if we want to start planting and growing. I’ve only ever grown a little garden…”

Angel kept silent, kept still. Were he not blinking she would have thought him asleep.

“I know you’re too busy to help me, Angel…but when I get everypony back on their feet, how about we have a party? I could bring everyone over and-”

Tears started to flow down Angel’s cheeks. His lower lip quivered.

“Oh, I’m sorry, Angel…I’ll just…I’ll let you have your alone time…” she turned and started to walk back down the hill. After a few hooves she turned and said quietly, “Everything will be fine, Angel, you’ll see…” and then she ran the rest of the way home.

Angel stayed on that hill longer than ever that day. A part of Fluttershy wished she could read his mind and find out what he was thinking.

Another part feared what she would find.