Fluttershy was wary of each and every tree that she passed. There were times that she expected to round a corner and see writhing tentacles reaching for her. She shivered, her mind filled with images of violent murder and dismemberment. Yet she was partially glad that she was having these thoughts, for it reinforced to her that her mind was her own. The dark presence that had possessed her earlier had gone.

That terrified Fluttershy more than anything else. She had always felt safe in her mind, her own little place to retreat to when things got out of hand. But this thing had slithered in without raising any alarms and taken control of her through methods unknown. It was magic that was unheard of to Fluttershy; she knew of mind control, but to actually manipulate the target’s feelings as well as their body? It was magic far beyond anything she had seen.

Dash knew nothing, obviously. Fluttershy dared not tell her friend what was really going on, lest her friend dub her as insane and try to haul her back to Ponyville. Granted, all Fluttershy wanted was to go back home, to her little house, and bury herself in her bed. Hide there until the memories slowly faded into oblivion. But she would never let herself rest until she found out what exactly she was up against. In the very least, she could have Twilight report a description of the creature to Celestia, and it would help to have some more physical attributes to describe besides, “black tentacles.”

Dash trotted up to be next to Fluttershy. “Fluttershy, are you alright?” she asked. “What do you mean?” Fluutershy asked, nonchalantly. “Well… you’re acting a bit weird. You usually hate the Everfree forest, yet you’re walking straight into the darkest parts of it. You randomly stated screaming and thrashing for no apparent reason back in the clearing. Call me crazy for thinking this, but it seems to me like you’ve gone a bit off the deep end,” Dash replied.

Fluttershy considered this. What if Dash is right? Am I insane? It makes sense, considering that I have been seeing things for a week. Even my friends are starting to think that I’m crazy, Fluttershy thought. She felt a shiver of fear run down her spine. She feared that she was descending on a dark spiral that would eventually end with her being enchanted to where she could not move or speak while being imprisoned in the Canterlot dungeons.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the crunching of leaves. “Dash, stop!’ she hissed as she crouched low to the ground. Damp, dead leaves brushed against her chin as she crouched motionless. She listened intently, every little sound in the forest causing her to jump. Her heart beat heavily in her chest. She started to notice a burning sensation in her chest that was growing steadily. Fluttershy realized that she had been holding her breath, and let it out slowly.

“What is it, Fluttershy?” Dash whispered, “Did you hear something?” Fluttershy nodded. “It sounded like something was walking. I heard leaves crunching.” “What do you think it could be?” Dash asked. Images of black tentacles grabbing her and Dash filled Fluttershy’s mind. “I don’t know. It could be the cockatrice, but I don’t know. We are in an uncharted parts of the Everfree forest, after all,” she said.

The crunching began again. Fluttershy looked at Dash, eyes wide. Dash nodded, signifying that she had heard it as well. The two ponies crouched low to the ground. Fluttershy eyes the treeline, eyes scanning for movement.

For the briefest flash of a second, Fluttershy saw a pale figure dash through the trees ahead, moving faster than anypony she had ever seen. ‘Dash, there’s something ahead!” she shrieked. She scrambled backwards. She saw the pale flash of movement out of the corner of her eye and she screamed.

“What is it?” Fluttershy screamed as she frantically scanned the forest. “Like I would know!” Dash cried as she lifted herself ten feet in the air. She hovered there for several moments. Every now and then she would see the pale flash, and she would turn to face it only to have the flash disappear in an instant.

Fluttershy was terrified as she backed up against a tree. All of the strength and bravado that she had mustered up during her confrontation with the thing in the mist had vanished in the face of this unknown creature, if it was a creature. Fluttershy started to imagine ghosts launching themselves at her. She imagined her flailing hooves making no contact with them as they grabbed her and started pulling every direction. She winced as she imagined the sounds of her bones popping and joints creaking.

She turned to scan the forest again. She had no sooner than turned her head than the flash erupted again, out of the corner of her eye. Fluttershy turned back. Suddenly her world began to spin, the air forced from her lungs. She slammed against the ground hard. She gasped and felt massive pain in her ribs. Her head throbbed.

She looked up, her vision dazed and blurry. She saw multiples of each tree, and for a fraction of a second, she saw three snouts poking out from behind three trees. She screamed and backed up, seeing three separate flashes move from behind the tree. As her vision re-formed, she saw that it was not three creatures but one creature that had been tripled by her concussion.

The flash appeared again out of the corner of her eye and Fluttershy was slammed to the ground again, pinned this time. “Fluttershy!” Dash screamed as she dove at the pale thing on top of Fluttershy. Kicked the pale creature with a rear hoof, feeling a rib break. The creature darted off, faster than anything possible.

Dash reached out to help Fluttershy up. In the very next second, she felt searing agony race down her shoulder. “Agh!’ she cried as she dropped to her knees. “Dash! What happened?” exclaimed Fluttershy as she walked over to her friend on wobbly knees. Dash was clutching her shoulder. Fluttershy saw blood leaking down from underneath her friend’s hoof.

“I-I don’t know. One minute I was helping you up, the next I-I feel this pain in my shoulder!” Dash said through gritted teeth. The creature darted across the tree line again. She heard the wind it generated by running rustle the leaves on the forest floor.

Fluttershy was pinned to the ground again. The creature had attacked from behind while she was still looking for it in front of her. She flailed and screamed as the creature’s head descended towards her throat. Fluttershy screamed again and kicked as hard as she could, to no avail. The creature snarled. Droplets of saliva dripped all over Fluttershy’s coat as the ravenous creature snapped at her. Fluttershy’s forelegs were the only thing keeping the creature from ripping her throat out.

Dash slowly walked over, feeling a strange sensation in her shoulder where the pain was. Her vision was foggy and speckled with red. She coughed into her hoof, which came away bloody. She looked up and saw the pale creature snapping at Fluttershy, heard her friend screaming, and re-gained a bit of clarity. “Hang on, Fluttershy!” she coughed out as she rose into the air. She took in a deep breath and dove at the creature, slamming into it at the highest speed she could muster.

The creature wailed and roared as the force of Dash’s impact sent it flying. It hit a tree and Dash satisfyingly heard bones snap under the force of the impact. The creature was still.

Dash took a wobbly step forward and collapsed into a heap. Fluttershy slowly pulled herself up and staggered towards her bleeding friend. “Here. Let me take a look at it,” she said gently. She extended a hoof and pried Dash’s hoof away from her injury. Dash grunted and gritted her teeth as the pain began again.

Fluttershy gasped as she saw the bite mark on her friend’s shoulder. It was bleeding abnormally, with blood soaking Dash’s coat near the wound. The bite looked to be infected already, most likely from the bacteria in the creature’s mouth.

“W-We need to get you back to Ponyville. Can you fly?” Fluttershy asked. Dash nodded. “B-barely, but yeah. I can fly.” She said as she winced. The bite hurt a lot, more than it should. Dash began to grow worried, fearing that she would have to lose the leg. She was not sure if this was the infection or her own mind talking.

Fluttershy looked at the fallen creature that lay in a heap at the base of a tree. She examined it. To her shock, this creature was not so much a monster as it was a pony. The emaciated form of a unicorn lay at the base of the tree, its coat completely gone and its skin pale. The skin seemed to be drawn tightly over the bones, giving it the appearance of a skeleton or a zombie. Its eyes were hollow, with a highly dilated pupil. Its teeth showed no signs of points, which meant that the bite wound was from bite force alone.

Fluttershy knelt by the pony. “What are you?” she whispered. She was not expecting a reply, and she got none. The creature simply lay there, not moving. Fluttershy turned back to Dash, who was hovering in the air.

“Let’s get back to Ponyville so a doctor can stitch you up,” Fluttershy said as she flew up to her friend. It was not an easy flight, as Dash nearly lost consciousness more than a few times. This worried Fluttershy immensely, since the wound did not appear that bad on the outside. It made her wonder what was going on inside of the wound in the form of infections.

“Hang in there, Dash.” Fluttershy said as Twilight’s library came into view, “We’re almost there.” They touched down at the hospital a few minutes later. “Help! We need a doctor!” Fluttershy screamed, feeling suddenly dizzy. A team of medical ponies sprinted out the doors to the hospital and levitated Fluttershy and Dash into their rooms. A unicorn pony approached and touched the tip of her glowing horn to Fluttershy’s forehead, and she slipped into blackness.