Chapter 4
Fluttershy let out a soft sigh as she lay on the floor of the examination room. A towel was draped over her head as she breathed slowly, trying to calm herself down and feel better. She had redressed her wounds; her cuts had reopened in the water and were slowly healing again. Her muscles still ached though the Health Drinks had helped a lot. Her shivering had gone away as well, a sign her body temperature was returning to normal.
She had made a makeshift fire with some of the leftover gauze and bandages using a small bit of the lantern oil to help it burn. The fire had provided her with a gentle comfort, warming her body and calming her mind as the flames danced before her. It wouldn’t last for long, but it was serving its purpose.
She had hung her bag to help it dry quicker, as well as getting all the water out of the music box. She was surprised she hadn’t lost the Doll Key in the watery mess, though the map of Ponyville hadn’t fared as well. It was drying as well, though it wouldn’t ever quite be the same.
“…I wonder what Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie are doing right now…” Fluttershy asked herself staring into the flames. She was feeling lonely without her friends, and she was starting to worry about their safety. This place wasn’t welcoming, already she had brushed with death twice…and both times she had been saved thanks to Rainbow Dash.
“…Rainbow Dash…” she muttered quietly, closing her eyes to think about her marefriend.
“THIS IS IT! THIS IS MY CHANCE!” Rainbow dash squealed happily, as she held up a poster to Fluttershy, “The Wonderbolts will be having OPEN AUDITIONS in THREE MONTHS! This is the first time they’ve EVER done this! Apparently they’ve been so amazed at the talent of upcoming fliers that they want to see and personally invite the best of the best to join them!” Rainbow Dash let out another squeal as she was practically dancing for joy.
“That’s wonderful Rainbow Dash!” Fluttershy cheered happily for her, “You’ll finally be able to make your dream come true!”
“I know! Oh, I’m going to have to pick up my practice sessions! This is going to have to call for some new tricks too, tricks nopony has ever thought of! The most death-defying and out-of-this-world tricks any pony has ever SEEN!” Rainbow Dash instantly contemplated anything and everything she could do.
“You shouldn’t forget about using the Sonic Rainboom either, you’re the only pony in all of Equestria who can perform it! They’d let you in for sure after they see that.” Fluttershy happily said.
Rainbow stopped her musing when Fluttershy said that, lowering a hoof she’d had raised eagerly to the ground.
“…The Sonic Rainboom huh…” Rainbow scuffed her hoof against the ground looking a little anxious.
“What’s the matter?” Fluttershy asked, noticing the instant change in behavior.
“Well…to be honest…I haven’t been able to perform the Sonic Rainboom since the best young fliers competition.” Rainbow Dash seemed to grimace at her mentioning failing to do a move.
“Really? Do you not remember how you performed it?”
“It’s not that I forgot how I did it…just for some reason things seem to get too real just as I’m about to perform it. The ground gets too close or I start to panic about not controlling my speed or I think that it must be something to perform only on critical occasions or-“
Rainbow Dash’s frantic rant was interrupted when Fluttershy’s lips found their way to Rainbow’s. Rainbow’s face lit up in a blush at this.
“I know you can do it Rainbow Dash, I believe in you.” Fluttershy smiled warmly at her marefriend.
“Well…I suppose I can always give it another try.” Dash said grinning as she blushed heavily. She spread her wings and shot into the sky at a mighty speed. Fluttershy smiled as she watched her, always loving the way Rainbow flew.
Rainbow perched herself high-up on a cloud, looking over the world. With a quick breath she sprang up into the air once more, flying around as she began to pick up momentum. Fluttershy watched her fly around, realizing Dash was getting a feel for the air first, before Dash stopped high up in the air, almost invisible against the sun.
Then she saw the descent. Rainbow was racing straight for the ground at a tremendous speed. Fluttershy watched in anticipation, as she could see Rainbow begin to form the cone of air around her body. Fluttershy almost held her breath.
For a moment it seemed Rainbow hesitated, Fluttershy could see the change in her flight, she put a hoof to her mouth out of hesitation that she might go flying backwards as she had so many times before…
But at that last moment it seemed a last ditch determination fired in her eyes and her body stretched forward and suddenly-
BOOM
A huge explosion ripped through the sky, a circle of color spreading out as a rainbow shot towards the ground, turning right before it would impact with the ground and rocketing into the sky, spreading a giant rainbow across the sky.
Fluttershy cheered, jumping up and down at the amazing sight.
“…Wait a Moment…an explosion…” Fluttershy’s head popped up from where she had been laying it on her hooves. “The one that woke me up earlier…that sounded a lot like the Sonic Rainboom!”
Now she was worried. What reason could Dash have for doing the Sonic Rainboom here? Unless…
“Oh no…was Dash being chased by the Dragon again?” Fluttershy’s heart started pounding, “She could be hurt, or trapped, or…or worse!” Her heart lodged in her throat as she stood up quickly, shaking her head trying to clear her mind as her towel fell to the floor.
“No, I can’t think that way! Rainbow Dash is okay…and I’m sure Pinkie Pie is too. I just have to find them…” Fluttershy looked at what remained of the fire before her, it was flickering with its last embers, and it would die out very soon.
“Okay, I should be dry enough and my things should be dry enough as well, it’s time for me to find a way out of here. I have to find my friends.” Fluttershy quickly placed her things back into the slightly damp bag. She made sure to pack some of the extra gauze, bandages and health drinks as well, making sure she’d have more medical supplies with her should anything happen along the way.
This would have to do for now as she closed it up and placed it back on her back. She then returned the lantern to around her neck and turned it on, making sure it still worked, before walking out into the hallway.
Instantly the music box began to hiss and wail with the sound of buzzing bees, as the air seemed to become thick. Fluttershy instantly had to struggle for breath as it felt like the air itself was pressing down hard against her body, trying to strangle the life out of her. Her body felt almost frozen as the pressure felt like it was trying to crush her body. Her head slowly turned, looking down the hallway from where it felt like the pressure was emanating.
Her eyes grew wide and her pupils shrunk as she could see two piercing red eyes staring back at her. It was a tall pony-like creature, one that easily overpowered her. It’s body was covered in darkness that seemed to flow and crawl all around it, almost like dancing flames. As it stared at her its mouth began to open revealing a white mouth in stark contrast to its black body, its jagged sharp teeth bared for her to see. It was grinning at her.
It began to walk towards her, each step echoing with a loud thud through the hallway. As it drew closer the air grew thicker and its presence seemed to crush her further, the very air pressing down on her, making her legs shake and her breathing stop as her heart pounded heavily in her chest.
As it grew closer, a word began to echo through Fluttershy’s mind.
Pain.
This creature would bring her pain.
She had to run from it, she had to get away, but her hooves felt glued in place.
Pain. Pain. Pain pain pain pain pain pain pain pain PAIN PAIN PAIN PAIN PAIN.
Why couldn’t she run? She had to run. She was going to die if she didn’t run but she was paralyzed by fear. Fear of what? The wrath of this creature? That’s what she had to run away from!
“I need you to be strong right now, alright?”
Fluttershy’s mind snapped back to reality, instantly turning on her hooves and running as fast as she could.
She was finally able to get air into her lungs as she quickly ran past the doors around her. The hallway was quickly coming to an end though and before her she could see the staircase to the second floor. She couldn’t stop now, she had to run.
Her hooves hit heavily against each step as she ran up the stairs. She seemed to be getting farther away from the creature, the air was breathable and she wasn’t feeling the soul crushing presence, the music box was slowly growing more quiet.
She reached the top of the stairs, panting as she took in the stale air. The world still smelled of mildew and rotting materials, but it was better than being in that creature’s presence.
She quickly began to walk down the hallway of the second floor, when her music box suddenly began to hiss again. She stopped in tracks, expecting that black creature to appear before her, but slowly coming into the view of her lantern wasn’t the black creature…it looked like a nurse…
It was wearing the standard Cloudsdale Hospital nurse uniform, a pink hat with a red cross and a pink coat that fit well around the body but ended just short of the flank so that the cutie mark could be seen, with white stockings on the hind legs and special-made hoof-sandals to keep their steps quiet for patients.
However, that’s where the similarities ended, for the face of the nurse was covered in bandages, hiding its eyes and face, but around its mouth was a metal muzzle with holes for air, but looked like it had been placed to keep the creature quiet. It’s uniform was covered in spots of blood as if it had attacked something, while its white tail seemed spotless.
But most striking of all, was that around its neck it wore what looked like a black necklace of living flames, as if it had come from the body of the creature from before.
Her music began to hiss louder as the creature grew closer. Her head looked back and forth, looking for a way out that didn’t involve going back the way she came.
Her eyes fell upon double doors just in front of her to her right. She jumped at the doors and pressed on them, praying they were open. The door swung open and she ran inside, closing the doors behind her.
The hissing of her music box died down as she could still tell the creature was nearby outside the door. She hoped it wouldn’t come breaking the door down, but she now realized she had just set herself up in a trapped room.
She had jumped into what looked like a supplies closet. However, most of the supplies had fallen to this world’s rotten disrepair. Moths flew around the ceiling of the room, as she could smell blood in the air but couldn’t see any. She looked around, seeing if there was anything that could possible hide her or keep the creature behind the door away from her.
Something glinted against the glare of her lantern on one of the shelves.
“Huh?” She slowly walked over to the glint of light.
It was an orange gem stone in the shape of an eye. It was the only thing in the entire room that hadn’t fallen into a state of rotting; in fact it looked pristine, as if it had been taken care of while everything else fell apart. Something about the gem drew Fluttershy to it, as if it was hypnotizing. The jewel itself seemed to be watching her.
She gulped down her beating heart and placed the gem carefully in her bag. She’d hold onto it, she felt it was important.
She slowly walked back over to the door and placed her ear against it, trying to hear anything. The hissing of her music box had gone silent and she didn’t hear anything past the door.
She opened the door carefully, peeking outside and looking around. The nurse had left, it didn’t seem like it had tried to chase after her and break the door down. Fluttershy let out a soft sigh in relief realizing this.
She exited the supply room and continued down the hallway from the direction the nurse had come, she felt very strongly about not returning the way she had just come from, moving forward was her only option now.
Fluttershy looked around carefully at the doors in the hallway. Many had been boarded up with wooden planks nailed to the frames, making sure no one could enter or exit the rooms. Many looked like they had been sealed with some kind of building material, while others just looked like the locks and handles had been broken for ages and wouldn’t open.
The hallway ended abruptly with a turn, Fluttershy turning with it to continue down the hall. Something immediately struck her eyes as she walked down the hall. She drew closer to it, to get a better look at it, when she stopped and stared in surprise.
On the wall opposite the doors was a giant mural of Princess Celestia. She was facing the pony looking at the mural, with a hoof raised and her wings spread out with an imposing look about her. Above the mural, in large letters looked like a quote she had said once,
“Life is the right of every Pony, may we all bask in the light together.”
Fluttershy blinked in awe at the mural. She had never seen it before, not in all the years that she had been to the hospital at least. Not to mention, something struck her as being odd about the mural, as if something was missing…
Her eyes! Her eyes were missing. In their place were indentations in the wall, looking as if something was supposed to be placed inside of them.
Fluttershy carefully pulled out the orange stone she had found in the supply closet and carefully fit it into the right eye socket. The stone fit in with a click and stayed in place. Now Celestia was only missing one eye. It was likely that the other eye was somewhere in the hospital.
Suddenly, the note from the front desk made sense to her. They had locked away the other eye somewhere because Celestia’s staring was judging them, as if the mural itself could see something that they didn’t want it to see.
Fluttershy put a hoof to her chin in thought, ‘So I have to find where they locked the gem away, and the only hint I have is the word Hide’.
Fluttershy looked around the dark hallway once more, before quickly setting back down the way she was heading. She looked even closer at the doors now, looking for any door that might have some sort of keypad or be open for her to check and see if it would reveal some kind of locked item.
Even after another turn in the hallway, none of the doors revealed any answers, before opening up to another staircase heading back down to the first floor.
She treaded carefully, expecting another creature to start heading for her if she wasn’t careful.
The world remained quiet though, as she came upon a hallway that she recognized from when she was a filly. It was the testing wing of the hospital, one she remembered frequenting with her mother as she was getting help.
In a quiet nostalgia, she began to check some of the doors in the hallway. One door opened for her, as she walked inside.
“Mother!” Came the voice of a little filly. Fluttershy stepped back in shock as she looked at what was happening before her. A ghostly version of her mother was lying on the bed in the room, as a filly version of herself ran up happily next to her bedside.
“Fluttershy, you came to visit again.” Her mother chuckled happily, leaning down to pick up the little filly, hugging her close as she lay in the bed.
“Of course mother, you know I’ll always visit you.” Fluttershy chuckled happily as her mother’s hair tickled her. “When are you coming home mother? I miss you…”
“As soon as the doctor’s finish there testing today.” Her mother smiled happily.
“Really!?” Fluttershy’s face lit up happily.
“Really.” Her mother chuckled happily at her daughter’s enthusiasm, “They said unless it’s serious, I can head home today since I’ll have your father at home to take care of me. We’re so lucky to have him.” She smiled.
“Dad’s the best doctor in the whole world! He’ll make you all better in no time.” Fluttershy smiled happily.
“Indeed he will.” Fluttershy’s mother smiled happily, before turning her head and coughing into a hoof, away from her daughter.
“You really should be resting.” Came a deeper voice. The two girls turned to see an older Pegasus with a doctor’s coat walk into the room.
“Daddy!” Fluttershy smiled happily.
“Hello dear.” Her mother smiled happily.
“Hello you two.” He smiled and walked closer, “How’re you feeling today?”
“Better, my stay here helped, but I’m eager to get home and be with my little one.” Mother smiled, rubbing Fluttershy’s head happily.
“You’ll be resting there too you know, you may feel better but you’re not cured yet. But we’ll find the cure, don’t you worry.” Her father smiled. He looked tired, like he hadn’t gotten a good night’s sleep in a long while.
“I know you will dear. We’ll be a happy family again before too long.” Her mother said happily, before the images faded away.
Fluttershy didn’t know what to make of the images. After they had gone the room had returned to the state of decay as the rest of the hospital was in, the furniture and cloth was destroyed and old, with the smell of mildew hitting her nose.
“Mother…” Fluttershy said quietly. She remembered that memory now, though when she had tried to remember it before it was hazy, but now it was coming in clear as could be. She wondered why, what reason her memories would have for hiding her mother till they showed up like this.
She took a closer look at the room, but nothing else seemed to pop out to her. She frowned a little, hoping she’d find a little more to remember, but it didn’t seem she’d be offered any. She slowly turned back to the door and walked out back into the hallway.
She let out a soft sigh as she tried to gather her thoughts and try to calm down. She walked further down the hall, before her eyes caught the sight of a sign that was lit up above double doors. The sign read ‘ER’.
She hesitated for a moment, she hadn’t been in the ER section of the hospital before and she was worried about what she would find. However, she gulped down her fears and quickly entered the double doors.
She looked around, not seeing any creatures, but the scent of blood caught her nose. She looked down on the ground and saw a trail of blood leading down the ER’s hallway, as if something had dragged a pony’s body down it. Her gut told her that following the trail was the right way to go, but she dreaded what she would find. She didn’t want to see a bleeding corpse.
With another gulp, she began to follow the trail of blood. The trail lead under a door at the end of the hallway, a door that looked like it was used for surgery. She carefully pushed the door open, walking into the room.
It was indeed a room for surgery, torn apart privacy curtains hung from rusted metal rails, a window for observation was broken on one side of the room, a tray filled with rusted medical items lay near a broken table, various machines and devices lay in various pieces around the room, the disinfecting sink was coated with a layer of blood.
The blood trailed ended in the middle of the room, leading to a large pool of blood that lay just underneath the surgical table. On top of the table was a wooden bloodstained box with a padlock on it. The padlock had a dial on it for turning numbers to open it.
Fluttershy carefully walked up to the box and examined it, before noticing a bit of extra blood on the table that had been formed into words.
Turn, turn, turn, the letters into nhmblyrs
The last word was smudged, but it had all been written in blood, she was surprised it wasn’t all more smudged.
She carefully placed a hoof against the padlock and looked at the four dials on it. Each dial went from one to nine, creating a four digit number code to unlock the box.
“Hmmm…the note said that the code was the word hide…and the words here say something about ‘turning the letters’…” Fluttershy thought quietly for a moment, trying to tell her brain what it meant.
Suddenly it seemed to come to her, as she placed her other hoof against the dial and began to turn the numbers.
“Eight…Nine…Four…Five…” She said out loud as she turned all the numbers to what she thought must be the right combination. The padlock clicked, releasing its iron grip on the wooden box. Fluttershy smiled happily at her own ingenious, before carefully moving the padlock aside to open the box.
Inside she saw what she expected, the other gem that was Celestia’s eye, though this one was a dark shade of blue instead of the orange that her other eye was. Fluttershy carefully put the jewel inside of her bag, ready to leave this surgical room.
She turned and exited the room, only to be met with the loud hissing of her music box once more.
Her head instantly looked down the hallway, seeing the same kind of nurse heading towards her, blocking off the path of the hallway. Fluttershy looked around, not sure what to do, not wanting to get attacked but having nowhere to run. She did the only thing she could thing to do and pressed herself up against the wall. With that she very slowly began to walk towards the nurse, hoping the nurse would ignore her and let her slip by.
The nurse’s head turned to snap and look at Fluttershy as she got almost side by side by it. Fluttershy stopped in her tracks as the nurse stopped as well.
The nurse seemed to be staring at Fluttershy through its bandaged face. Fluttershy couldn’t see the eyes, but she knew they were staring deeply at her. Fluttershy stared back in return, as she could feel a cold sweat beginning to form on her forehead.
The two of them were in a standoff and Fluttershy didn’t want to be the first pony to make a move. The tension was thick, only cut by the hissing of the music box telling Fluttershy that she was in danger.
The nurse finally, but slowly, turned its head away from Fluttershy, before walking past her, heading for the surgical room Fluttershy had just left from.
Fluttershy let out a soft sigh from the air she had been holding in from the tension.
The nurse turned around instantly, as it suddenly let out a wailing, ear-piercing cry. Fluttershy jumped, running out of the ER hallway as fast as she could. She turned down the testing hallway, running straight for the stairs to the second floor, when her music box hissed even louder as she hit a wall of thick air that squeezed down on her as if trying to suffocate her.
She skidded to a stop as her whole body felt terror. The dark creature was standing before her once more. It roared at her as its white mouth opened, the jagged teeth coming down swiftly.
Fluttershy’s instinct reacted as she raised a hoof to defend herself. The jagged teeth bore down into her leg and Fluttershy let out a scream in agony as it felt like her flesh was on fire. The dark creature twisted its head before quickly snapping it back, picking up and tossing Fluttershy by her leg. Fluttershy slammed into a wall, the air escaping her lungs as pain soared through her.
She coughed and gagged on the thick air as the dark creature began to walk closer to her, wanting to strike out once more.
Fluttershy scrambled to her legs, her injured leg slipping causing her to crash face first into the floor, eliciting another yelp as her bruised face was struck. She managed to turn her head to look at the creature through blurry, tear-filled eyes. It was drawing too close, she had to escape, she had to get up and run.
Instinct struck again as her wings spread out and she flapped them desperately, trying to pick up her body and get away, get away quickly, she had to get to the mural of Celestia.
Jagged teeth bore down into her wing. Fluttershy screamed even louder than she had before, her sensitive wing being puncture in several places. The dark creature twisted its head again, though this time a loud crack was heard as the bone in her wing snapped.
Fluttershy’s body flailed once more as her screams echoed through the hallway. The dark creature let go of the maimed wing, seeming to grin happily at its accomplishment.
As tears streamed down her face, her legs finally found traction. She put all of her strength and focus into running, wanting nothing more than to put distance between her and the dark creature. Her vision was blurred with pain and tears, making it hard to see where she was going.
She smacked into the end of the hallway, crying as pain shot through her body from the force of the impact. She shakily looked down the hallway, seeing the blurry outline of the dark creature heading straight for her, continuing its slow pace.
She reached her good hoof out in front of her and found a door before her. With haste she opened it, stumbling out. She quickly blinked, whirling her head around. She was on the other side of the lobby, she knew where she was, she could go through the other door, make it up the stairs, and then she could get to the mural.
Her music box had yet to cease its hissing, as a figure came into her blurry vision. Fluttershy turn and ran, only looking back to see the blurry outline of a nurse that had been walking towards her.
She tripped against the receptionists chair that lay scattered behind the desk. She didn’t have time to let the pain settle in, she had to get up. She scrambled back to her feet and reached the other door.
The moment she entered the hallway to the patients rooms, another ear-piercing wail cried out. Fluttershy turned just barely in time to see a nurse raised up on her hind legs, as the front legs came rushing straight for her.
Fluttershy felt the hooves strike her face as she was sent tumbling back into the wall. She panted as she got back up and tried to look around. She could no longer see out of one eye, only half the world came to her vision.
She made out the image of the nurse walking towards her, barely even giving her time to realize she’d been hit. Fluttershy pushed off against the wall and ran past the nurse, the nurse wailing at her as she ran by.
She could barely see, her hoof hit the staircase with a thud sending her face into the stairs once more. Her head was throbbing so much she wasn’t even sure what was happening to her body anymore. She only knew she had to get up and keep running, she had to get to the mural, it was her way out, it had to be her way out.
She climbed the stairs to the second floor. She wasn’t even sure how she did it, but she had managed it. She kept running, she wasn’t even sure how she was keeping up pace with her body, but her legs were running. She made the turn down the second floor hallway, and the blurry image of the mural was in her sight. She ran straight for it, skidding to a stop right before it.
The music box let out a loud hiss as the air began to feel thick. Fluttershy reached into her bag and pulled out the blue eye.
The air began to feel like it was pressing down on her, going to crush her body. She fumbled with the eye, fumbling to put it into the right slot. It nearly fell from her hooves, she shifted it hastily into place.
She couldn’t breathe, the air and pressure was too strong. She swore she could feel breath on the back of her neck as the blue gem clicked into place.
The two gems let out a bright light as a loud cry came from her side. The mural began to move, disappearing into the wall. In its place was another dark hallway. Fluttershy ran for it, she ran through the hallway, ran away from the pressure and the thick air.
It was chasing her, the creature was following her down the long hallway. Her chest was once more on fire but she couldn’t stop.
An office opened up at the end of the hallway. A simple office, a desk, a filing cabinet, chairs, office space. Fluttershy crashed into the desk, throwing her hooves over it as she panted in desperation. Her vision was impaired so much now, she could only make out the outline of the furniture in the office.
The air grew thick once more, she turned her head in fear, watching as the dark creature was drawing closer. It’s blood-covered white smile and jagged teeth shone underneath its red glaring eyes. She couldn’t see anything but its face. Her breath sounded loud, her panting was as loud as the beating of her heart in her ears.
There was no escaping it this time. The mural had led her to a dead end, there was no escape now. Her vision was filled with the dark creature, it was going to kill her, she would die here and her friends would never know what happened to her.
She muttered an apology under hear breath as her face continued to be drenched with her tears. The creature was upon her and her breath stopped. The pressure of the creature’s presence was enough to feel like it would stop her heart.
It opened its mouth as it was going to bore its fangs down on her one last time.
It stopped. The creature had stopped moving. Something had forced the creature to not kill her. Fluttershy meekly stared at the creature, not understanding what was happening. It had the opportunity to kill her, why wasn’t it taking it?
Her ears twitched as she heard the reason. Somewhere in the distance a siren was going off.
The dark creature before her began to disappear, as if the siren had called it forth, than summoned it back. The darkness that surrounded the creature’s body seemed to burn up, the entire creature went up in a black fire before her, disappearing before it could finish her. The music box ceased its hissing as the creature vanished, leaving her in the office by herself.
A loud click could be heard, before the sound of something crashing to the ground.
Fluttershy’s mind was hazed over, she could barely see, she couldn’t understand what was going on, but she dragged herself over to where she had heard the sound. Her body moved on its own now, without her guidance.
Her body stepped on top of a platform; one she was sure hadn’t been there when she entered the room. She felt her body collapse on top of it, laying herself down as she panted.
The platform began to move, she wasn’t sure how or why, but she didn’t care. It was moving up, it was taking her away from the hospital. The platform was moving into the ceiling, through a dark path that she couldn’t see what was around her, but she knew she wasn’t around danger anymore.
The pain was becoming real to her now. Her face came to her attention first, she could feel the swelling around her eye, she was probably also bleeding a lot from her face, but it was hard to tell.
Her leg was no longer useful. Using it so heavily in her panicked state while it was injured, it had gone completely numb to her. She had probably done irreversible harm to it; it probably would never work the same way again. She could barely make out the blood pouring from it.
Her wing…the creature had snapped her wing, broken it. She couldn’t help but remark at that, Pegasus wings were strong and sturdy, one could not normally break it with a twist of the head. They weren’t’ like bird wings that were fragile, they were strong enough to lift the entire body a pony, but hers was now broken. She wasn’t sure how if it could be fixed or not, the one thing she knew about broken wings, was that they could break two ways, a way that they could be used again, or a way that they’d never be useable again. There was very little in leeway.
Her thoughts were distracted when the platform came to a stop. It had reached its destination.
She panted heavily. Her body wanted to stay collapsed, absorb the pain…the pain that was trying to drive her mad. The only thing that was keeping her sane was the thoughts of what damage had been done to her and what she could do to fix it.
But she knew she had to at least get up. If she didn’t get up she couldn’t start fixing her wounds.
She tried to stand up, she put energy to her legs, but they refused to stand her up. She carefully blinked her one useable eye, trying to open it more than it was, but it refused against her actions. She tried to flap her good wing, but it was pressed hard against the platform by her body.
She panted, but she was too tired to panic anymore. She was yelling at herself at get up, but her body was refusing now.
“Hahaha, oh man, that was a good one!” Pinkie giggled happily.
Fluttershy’s eye closed tightly, wanting to escape the pain with sleep, but she forced it open.
“Hahaaaah, man you pull the BEST pranks Pinkie Pie!” Rainbow Dash laughed alongside the pink pony.
Her good front leg lifted weakly off of her body, as she very carefully placed the hoof against the ground.
“…Heehee, that was pretty funny.” Fluttershy giggled, covering her mouth with her hooves.
Her leg started to lift the front of her body up. Her body jerked in refusal, but she held herself up. Her back legs began to weakly move now.
“I told you you’d enjoy yourself!” Rainbow said grinning, putting a hoof over Fluttershy’s shoulder.
Her back legs slowly moved, placing their hooves against the ground. She lifted herself up, she was standing again, she could feel herself dripping. She was losing blood.
“It’s all in good fun after all!” Pinkie laughed, bouncing up to Fluttershy, “After all, who DOESN’T love to share a good laugh?” She grinned brightly.
On three legs she slowly began to walk. She didn’t know where she was going yet, but she could feel the need to go forward.
“You’re right, I’m still not sure that I’m that good at them, but I love doing them with you two.” Fluttershy smiled happily. She loved being around her friends, they gave her such strength. She didn’t know what she’d do without her friends.
Fluttershy stopped before a mirror. She could see herself now. She could see the bruised half of her face swelling around her eye, the maimed wing, the bleeding leg. She was a mess. With very careful precision, she dropped her saddlebag onto the ground. Using her good hoof, she opened the bag and pulled out a health drink.
She very carefully swallowed its bitter contents before placing it down. She then grabbed the bandages in her bag, and very carefully began to wrap the wound on her leg.
“I think that’s enough for one day, but we should totally do this again!” Rainbow Dash grinned at Fluttershy.
“Oh yes, I’d love to. Doing this again would make me happy!” Fluttershy grinned happily. She could ask for nothing more…
Than to spend another day in the loving care of her friends.