Despite Twilight’s fatigue, her force shield was holding. The rabbits were still going strong.
“Fluttershy, can you use your wings to blow up enough dust to hide our escape?” Twilight asked, her voice strained. Fluttershy, still transfixed by the rabbits, didn’t answer.
“Fluttershy!” Twilight said more forcefully. The pegasus shook her head to clear her thoughts.
“Yes, I can try.” Any other day, the task might have proved too difficult, but today, Fluttershy was too afraid to consider protesting.
“I’m going to drop the shield and we’re going to run to my house. Do you understand, Fluttershy?”
Fluttershy nodded.
The magenta aura that had protected them fell slowly, like a slow explosion.
“Now!”
Flapping her wings harder than she had ever done, Fluttershy managed to raise the dirt in a giant dust cloud. The rabbits were soon obscured by the dirt, but just because something is hidden does not mean it is gone.
“Twilight?” Fluttershy’s voice was even softer than normal as she felt the tips of the rabbits claws. “Oh!”
Suddenly, she felt a nip on the tip of her tail. It was enough to get her into motion and remember the plan.
“I’m coming, Twilight!” Wings tired from churning up dust, Fluttershy ran, desperately hoping she ran into Twilight. Ahead, she saw a faint glow. She sped up, hoping it wasn’t some cruel trick. The dirt cloud she had created was very effective; Rainbow Dash would have been proud. This comforted Fluttershy, for it was a normal thought, and Fluttershy had the feeling she wouldn’t be having many more of those after today.
“This way!” Twilight’s voice called from up ahead, up where the faint light was starting to get brighter. Fluttershy followed that voice thoughtlessly, and finally she and Twilight had reached the library. Immediately, they were inside.
“Spike!” Twilight shouted in a scary tone that sounded almost recklessly urgent. The little dragon, recognizing the Twilight meant business, hurried downstairs.
“What’s going on?” Spike asked, yawning and scratching his scales.
“I need Watership Down.” Twilight said.
“But you just read that last week.” Spike protested.
“Just get me the book, Spike!” Spike groaned and yawned again.
“Twilight, what did you mean earlier? It sounded like you had met that particular group of rabbits before.” Twilight was on her way to her book stand, Fluttershy following her.
“I do know them, unfortunately. I had no idea they were real, though. The aggressive nature, the scars on their flanks, the desolated eyes, it all fits. Efrafan rabbits.” Spike had finally found the book and was about to carry it to Twilight when a magenta glow enveloped it violently and jerked it out of his claws, causing him to fall.
Fluttershy, though still recovering from her previous shock, rushed to help the little dragon up. Twilight, meanwhile, was flipping through the book furiously, nearly ripping out pages in her hurry.
“Twilight, what exactly is going on?” Fluttershy knew instinctively that Twilight was very busy and wouldn’t take kindly to being bothered, but she was scared and worried for her animal friends.
To her surprise, Twilight answered.
“I thought this was a work of fiction, but apparently it wasn’t.” She began, finally stopping on a page with a map on it. “Here it is! This is a map of Efrafa, but it looks different from how it used to look. See, this is the center of Efrafa, the Crixa. Right here is their patrolling area. Right here would be Watership Down, but that’s not important now. This is a pony town; it resembles Trottingham, but the author never calls it by name because it’s not important. Since we’re seeing Efrafan rabbits, that means this is Trottingham, which would make the Crixa…” Here Twilight, who had been pointing at the map and showing Fluttershy all the places she had read about, suddenly stopped speaking.
“The Crixa’s in the Everfree Forest. That’s really close.” Twilight shuddered and closed the book.
“Well, they’re just rabbits. Even if they are extra wild rabbit--” Fluttershy was cut off violently
.
“They’re not just rabbits! They’re dangerous, and if I were you, Fluttershy, I’d go and check on your animals and make sure they’re still there.”
This, to somepony who didn’t know the story, could have been a very disturbing piece of information, but to be disturbed by the information, one would need to lose enough confidence to feel paranoid. Otherwise, it just sounds completely laughable, impossible even.
Fluttershy, unfortunately, thought Twilight was overreacting, as she’s prone to do on occasion.
So she left Twilight’s house to check on her animals, but it was only because Twilight seemed like she needed some time to calm her nerves. Fluttershy took her time smelling flowers and stopping to chat with birds and squirrels, and occasionally one of her friends.
If only…
When Fluttershy finally arrived at her house, nothing seemed to be wrong. All the animals were in their places and they all looked just a little distressed by their strict retention in Fluttershy’s house. The first thing she did, in fact, was allow every animal out of the house and back into their natural habitat in her yard. Angel should have been the only one left inside, but he wasn’t in the living room. Fluttershy smiled; Angel had always loved a good game of hide-and-seek. But she didn’t feel like looking for him right now. It was late evening, and Fluttershy wanted to talk with her bunny friend. He’d surely get a kick out of what had happened to her today.
So Fluttershy called for Angel.
At first there was no answer, so Fluttershy called louder. Then she flew around her house, calling for Angel. Finally she screamed his name, unsettling a whole branch of birds in her backyard.
Finally, Fluttershy had to admit that something had indeed happened to poor Angel.