Chapter 1:

Home Invasion (I'm Sorry)

It was a dark and stormy night. Fluttershy was cowering under her bed hiding from this frightening cliche. It had been a wonderful day. It had been sunny and warm. It had been productive. Why did they have to schedule a major thunder storm tonight? Why any night for that matter? Fluttershy thought. Lightning lit the room in blinding flashes of blue and white, while thunder shook the window frames. To make matters worse there was also a storm over the nearby Everfree. Fluttershy momentarily wondered if Twilight was having any trouble in the Princesses' old castle. Then the thought was chased out of her head by the next round of lighting and thunder. She cuddled closer to her pet bunny, Angel.

Angel had been Fluttershy's only comfort as the storm built. He had allowed her to keep him close ever since the events at the old castle, but he had been getting restless. Right now though he was faithfully by her side, nestled into her fur, resting. That was some small comfort. She closed her eyes determined to relax and get some sleep.

Then another crash of thunder caused her to leap up and hit the bottom of her mattress. Shakily she reached for her pet and pulled him back to her. Except he felt too soft. Much too soft. She glanced to her side and found that she was holding a pillow. Fluttershy immediately and completely panicked.

"Ohnoohnoohonoohnoohnoohno! Angel. Angel-Bunny. Where are you?" she whispered frantically. Her initial sweep of the room was rapid yet thorough. She suppressed the urge to do another check of the bedroom and moved to search the rest of the house. Fluttershy stepped out of the room and moved rapidly down the stairs. The other animals were clearly agitated by the storm which seemed to be louder down in the main room. She quickly glanced around trying to ignore the pounding of the gale outside and find Angel. Then she froze. She could hear her breath quicken and her eyes widen, because she knew why it was so loud down here. The door was ajar. She stood there for a moment, rooted to the ground, unwilling to leave her home and enter the storm, yet equally unwilling to leave her pet alone in the midst of the same storm.

She then gathered her courage and charged out the door. The instant she was outside her worst fears were confirmed. Her bunny's prints were imprinted in the mud, and as she followed them she saw that they were going toward the wild and terrifying Everfree Forest.

During the day the Everfree was a frightening place for Fluttershy. The clouds moved and rained without any direction from the Pegasi. The plants and trees of the forest seeded and grew without aid from the Earth Ponies. The creatures here were dangerous and untamed. Now though the shapes were fleeting and ever-changing. New and horrible monsters sprouting from the shadows. The only thing preventing her from running back to her home was her fear for the safety of her pet.

Angel-Bunny's paw-prints were erratic and directionless making Fluttershy wonder why she hadn't found him yet. They weren't going down any path the two of them had traveled before, furthering the mystery of his intentions. Why was he out here? Where was he going? She wondered. Then the tracks changed, and her anxiety increased. There were clear drag marks and the prints went deeper into the ground. One of his legs had to be broken. Angel apparently didn't know which way to go for one of the impressions was very deep, indicating that he had stayed there, probably deciding which way to go before pulling himself away from home. She followed this for several feet before a shred of hope lightened her heart. Angel's tracks stopped in front of another pony's tracks.

That hope was quickly replaced by new fears. Such as who would want to take Angel-Bunny? And why? It clearly wasn't any of her friends, the hoof-prints were too large. And too deep. They were a couple inches deep. Fluttershy's mind whirled with possibilities, none of them good.

She followed these new set of tracks which had far more purpose than Angel's. No matter how diverting the path the pony was forced to take, he or she, whichever, always found the exact same line of the previous steps. These prints led her deeper into the forest than she had ever been before she lost them on a collection of flat stones and stopped to see how far the rocks went.

She found that she was in a clearing, but it was too dark to gauge it's size. It was so dark that the act of looking around disoriented Fluttershy almost causing her to panic again. Then she saw a pair of flickering, red lights. Intuiting that her, well, "quarry", was where the lights were she headed that way herself. Then lightning lit the sky and she glimpsed her destination.

Dark and fierce in the momentary light was a great Dragon, maw open wide to devour her. She screamed softly in fright and curled into a ball. Shivering she waited, hoping it didn't see her. And waited. After a while she cautiously opened one eye and peeked out from behind her mane. When the lighting brightened the night again she saw that the Dragon had not moved. She thought.

Fighting her fear and surrounded by the sounds of rain pelting the hard stone, Fluttershy crept forward. As she got closer to the lights the Dragon rose out of the murk and she saw that it was made of stone. It formed the arch to some huge door, a door that was flanked by two torches. The lights she saw earlier. Trembling she moved through the door and out of the rain, and started to call Angel's name.

The first room was dark and vast, extending well beyond the reach of the torchlight. Angel's whispered name echoed back from the shadows, taunting her. It was dry, if drafty, and Fluttershy, who was soaked to the bone, was grateful for that. She continued deeper into the, the castle?, fortress?, by following the lit torches going to her left. Advancing slowly and warily watching the shadows, she found herself experiencing deja vu from when she and her friends were in the Royal Pony Sister's old castle and she had lost Angel and Rarity. That had turned out ok, so she worked hard to convince herself that this would as well.

The light down the corridors was fairly consistent, broken only by gaps in the structure where rain and wind poured in. Even this place was proving to be frightening as the relative silence continued to further unnerve her. There was absolutely nopony around and she was beginning to wonder if she was in the right place when she heard a voice coming from down this hall. Her heart soared as she threw caution to the wind and called out her pet's name. It too echoed back, and the other voice fell silent. Running she rounded a corner and saw her bunny.

He was on a table, enveloped in a soft cloth with a wet towel on the floor nearby. His fur was standing on end making him look like an adorable, white puff ball. He was munching contentedly on a carrot, and waved to her when he saw her. She dashed to him and wrapped him in a bear hug, crushing him to her.

"Oh, Angel, Mommy was so worried for you. Why did you leave the house during the storm? You scared me half to death," she happily squealed. Angel struggled against her trying to break free. It was then that she noticed that his leg had a splint supporting it.

"Angel, what happened?!" she exclaimed. Angel looked at her, exasperated, clearly unable to communicate with her while being held.

"Well, you can tell me when we get home."

Just as she was about to go a flash of lighting tore the gloom apart, and there before her wrapped in the remaining darkness, was a massive creature. It stared at her with mismatched, baleful eyes. The red eye on it's left and the violet one on it's right clearly showed it's displeasure at her intrusion, and that was reinforced by the soft but distinct glow of the right. It did not want her here. She froze utterly terrified as the light vanished, leaving only those intense eye's watching her. Then she saw a flash of white as it opened it's mouth, and she drowned out the following thunder with her scream, then bolted out the door.

The Creature just stood there, stunned. He was expecting to have to threaten the young mare, or tell her to leave at least. He didn't expect her to just, well...react the way she did. He made his way to the entrance of his home and watched as she disappeared into the forest. For a moment he wondered if she would be able to find her way back to her home, wherever it was. Then he pushed her out of his mind and wandered back into his abode. He was alone again and that was all that mattered.