Author's Notes:

598 views with only 52 upvotes? C'mon ya'll, I know you're better than this.

Let's see how things are doing on the other side of town...

Fluttershy typically liked morning time: it was quiet, no one was around to disturb her, and she could spend the beginning of her day waking up in peace.

Waking up in the morning was a different story entirely, as it generally entailed being smacked with a cotton paw repeatedly. This was the part of her morning she didn’t like.

“Angel,” Fluttershy murmured, shifting to the other side of the bed. “Please, I have an alarm clock.”

She could feel him glaring at her, even though she couldn’t see him. It was a glare that said “I am your alarm clock.”

Fluttershy sighed as she sunk deeper into her pillow while holding another, only to grimace as the paw came down across the back of her head once again.

“Oh, fine,” Fluttershy said, sitting up with a frown. “You don’t have to hit so hard you know.”

Angel smirked. To her, it was endearing, to anyone else, it was sadistic. It was a strange relationship. Fluttershy yawned, salvaging the mess of her mane as she trotted to the kitchen and filled a kettle with tea. It was early enough that the sun was just grazing the horizon, filling her small cottage with a soft warm glow.

Fluttershy hummed to herself as Angel hopped up on her shoulder. She had a good view of the Everfree Forest every morning—despite its insidious presentation—it was actually quite beautiful.

Clink! Clink! Clink!

Her ears twitched at the sound of the wind chimes. Why were the birds at their feeders already?

“They must be really hungry, Angel. I should go out and feed them now,” Fluttershy remarked. Angel, oddly enough, seemed uneasy rather than jealous for once. She’d ask him about it as soon as she was back in the house, she reasoned.

It would only be a minute.

Fluttershy slowly unlocked the door, stepping outside and being greeted with a slight breeze that tussled her feathers. The birds were nowhere to be found.

“Mr. Robin? A-are you awake?” Fluttershy called out. There was a slight shakiness to her voice. It was probably just the wind making her cold, she reasoned.

The vibrant red robin that Fluttershy had so affectionately named did not call back. He was still asleep, she reasoned.

Fluttershy’s ears twitched again as a low hissing reverberated from the treeline.

She didn’t reason this.

“T-tea!” Fluttershy blurted out, the hissing now overshadowed by the sound of the whistling tea kettle coming to a boil. The door slammed hard enough behind her to wake up the rest of the critters. She slowly slid down the door as the whistling intensified.

“S-sorry,” Fluttershy said, attempting to stifle her hyperventilating. “I didn’t mean to wake you all up.”

A baby ferret wrapped itself around one of her hind legs as her ragged breathing slowed. “I’m fine now, thank you.” Fluttershy smiled as she scratched the ferret’s chin, causing him to let out a content purr. “Angel? Would you be a dear and move the pot off the stove?”

She could almost hear his eyes rolling as he begrudgingly hopped onto the kitchen counter.

It took another minute for Fluttershy’s breathing to reach a more comfortable level; shambling across the living room in her weary state, she shakily drained the kettle into a ceramic teapot. Fluttershy felt her eyes wandering over to an object laying on the windowsill above her kitchen sink: a small white feather.

“T-that’s not mine…” Fluttershy murmured as she slowly unlatched the lock on the window, grasping the feather with a trembling hoof. In her peripheral vision, more white feathers littered the ground just outside the window, becoming increasingly red as the trail went on.

Her pupils constricted. “W-what?”

Thud!

Fluttershy yelped as a heavy weight slammed into the ceiling, forcing the window back down as dust from ceiling rained down on her.

“I-it’s just the raccoons making themselves at home in the a-attic.”

“Someone, help me!”

Her ears twitched at the sound of a cry emerging from the Everfree. For a moment, the pit in her stomach vanished, being replaced with a different kind of fear. “S-Sweetie Belle?”

“Is anyone there?!”

“Rarity, your sister…” Fluttershy stood up, filled with a sense of conviction. “I…I have to help her!”

Fluttershy was many things: brave was not one of them. Nevertheless, she found herself bolting toward the front door, ignoring Angel who tugged at her tail.

“Let go,” Fluttershy hissed. “Sweetie Belle is my friend’s sister. I can’t leave in her that forest alone.”

Angel pointed at the mass of bloodied feathers just outside the kitchen window. Fluttershy gulped; her saliva felt like fine sand going down her throat.

“I… I know that thing is still out there, but what am I supposed to do? If I don’t help Sweetie Belle she’ll—” Fluttershy glanced out the window once again, letting out a heavy sigh. “I have to help her. I don’t have a choice.” Angel stopped resisting, nervously biting his lip as she walked outside.

Fluttershy listened for the origin of Sweetie Belle’s voice. Earlier it had been chilly; now it was freezing. She couldn’t tell if blood was still moving throughout her body, considering how hard it was to actually breathe. The voice rang through the air, even more distressed than before.

“I just want to go home!”

“I-I’m coming, Sweetie Belle!” Fluttershy called back, bold enough to raise her voice above a whisper this time. The monster likely heard her too. She’d need to move fast. “Just stay where you are! It’s me, Fluttershy!”

“O-okay!”

Fluttershy kicked up dirt and dry grass as the galloped toward the edge of the Everfree Forest. There’d been no sign of any monster during her sprint, but she had no intention of letting her guard down.

She bowed her head low, panting and heaving for breath as she peered into the Everfree. It had been a short run, but she felt exhausted. “S-Sweetie Belle? Are you there?”

…

Two bright green eyes illuminated the darkness that pervaded the forest. Whatever it was, it wasn’t Sweetie Belle.

“W-what?” Fluttershy tumbled back, her ears flattening against her head. These weren’t the gentle green eyes that she’d grown accustomed to seeing over her many visits to the Carousel Boutique.

It hissed at her, a series of guttural clicking noises emerged from the monster’s mouth, drowning out the panicked thoughts that raced through her head. It sounded like nothing Fluttershy had ever heard: like hornets buzzing around her, threatening to crawl inside her and eat her from within.

Whoosh!

Fluttershy yelped, glancing at her body for any visible signs of damage. She was mostly untouched, save for a lone lock of pink hair that fell to the ground in front of her.

A flash of bright green light erupted from the tree line. A figure emerged from the darkness, the monster’s frame twisted and contorted into impossible shapes, and for a moment, it simply smiled at her. Fluttershy trembled, her body petrified with fear. “P-please… no…”

Angel had finally caught up to her, his eyes widening in horror as Fluttershy turned around to face him.

“Angel!” Fluttershy screamed. “Please, help m—!”

She couldn’t finish her sentence, as a chitinous tail wrapped around her throat, slamming her to the ground as the thing dragged into the heart of the Everfree Forest.

Angel ran.