MY LITTLE FUNGUS: EQUESTRIA'S DARKEST DAYS

QUOMODO INCEPIT

!! PAY ATTENTION !!

The TV blared. "THIS IS AN OFFICIAL NATIONAL ALERT FROM THE EQUESTRIAN GOVERNMENT. PLEASE DO NOT DISREGARD THIS MESSAGE."

Due to the rather loud alert, Fluttershy had leaped up out of her bed out of fear and ended up going so high she hit her head on the ceiling, before unfolding her wings and quickly flapping them to catch herself in the air, letting herself gently float down, as she rubbed her sleep-heavy eyes with her hoofs, as the previous message repeated another five times, and only on the sixth repeat did Fluttershy's freshly awoken brain truly comprehend what it was saying, as she quickly pulled her hoof away from her eye to focus as her ear instinctually perked up.

"PLEASE DO NOT TURN OFF YOUR TELEVISIONS OR DISREGARD THIS MESSAGE. THIS IS AN OFFICIAL MESSAGE FROM THE EQUESTRIAN GOVERNMENT AND THE EQUESTRIAN RESEARCH CENTER. THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT! AS THIS BROADCAST PLAYS, A VERY DEADLY, AND LETHAL MONSTER HAS ESCAPED THE EQUESTRIAN RESEARCH CENTER. EQUESTRIAN OFFICIALS URGE THE FOLLOWING TOWNS TO GO ON FULL LOCK DOWN, AND HAVE ALL CITIZENS SHELTER IN PLACE, LOCKING ALL DOORS, WINDOWS, AND TURNING OFF ALL LIGHTS: Canterlot, Ponyville, Cloudsdale, And any city/town within 100 miles of Canterlot. AND FOR ANY CIRCUMSTANCE, DO NOT LEAVE YOUR HOME FOR ANY REASON. IN ADDITION, DO NOT ALLOW ANYBODY INTO YOUR HOME OR OUT OF YOUR HOME. ATTEMPT NOT TO GET ANY INJURIES THAT MAY RESULT IN BLEEDING. IF YOU DO, TREAT AND COVER UP IMMEDIATELY. WE THANK YOU FOR TAKING THE TIME TO LISTEN. AT THIS TIME, ANY AND ALL BROADCASTS WITHIN THE AREAS MENTIONED ABOVE WILL BE CUT OFF FOR THE UTMOST SAFETY UNTIL THE THREAT IS CONTAINED OR NEUTRALIZED."

As Fluttershy heard it, she felt the pit of fear in her chest grow ever larger, however her millions of questions filled it up with curiosity. She had asked herself many of them to see if she had an answer herself: "What escaped?" "How dangerous is it?" "Should I listen or go try to find the girls?" These were all the kinds of questions she had asked herself, and while she felt she wanted to just stay here and hide in some obscure place where a monster would never be able to find her for the rest of eternity, curiosity just didn't give her an option. She took a look at the animals in her immediate sight. "Stay here for me guys, okay? Please don't leave the house, they're something mean and ugly out there!" *She exclaimed, trying to dig it into her animals that they shouldn't leave. She wouldn't want anything to happen to them if... whatever's out there happened to come near her cottage. "Momma will be right back, okay? Be safe you all!"

She informed, as her animals nodded with understanding. She then went to the bathroom and splashed her face with a bit of water to wake herself up, shaking it off and walking out to scoop up Angel Bunny onto her back, putting her satchel sacks on, and approaching the door. She looked at it, rethinking her decision before she pushed through, and slowly creaked it open, staring out the door if anything was there for a couple of seconds before opening it enough to slip out, closing it behind her with her back hoof, starting to walk before she was able to spot Harry sleeping like a baby on a small nearby hill, near her animal pen. She then trotted over towards him, before gently nudging him with her hoof, and as she saw his eyes opening, she lowered her head to whisper something to him, raising her hoof to conceal the contents of her message to him as if there was someone else that could hear. As she finished, Harry nodded, and stood himself up, walking towards Fluttershy's cottage and squeezing himself in through the rather small door, and when he finally got himself through, he pushed it closed behind him.

Fluttershy watched the entire time, her gaze only leaving once she saw Harry close the door, hoping that if anything did come near, Harry would be able to protect the others. She always held Harry higher in expectations than the others, given he was the biggest and strongest animal she had, and how every other one she had couldn't compare in those two aspects to Harry, and she liked to make sure he knew by occasionally talking to him about it. Not that she was bashing the others for lacking those aspects, but it was simply the truth. They likely couldn't defend themselves against whatever was out there based on the description given to her. Hummingway and Constance could've likely flown away should the threat attack them, but the others couldn't, and their questionable ability to outrun or outsmart it is where she needed Harry to come in. Maybe Harry could intimidate it and discourage it from even coming near, or if he did have to fight, either kill it or scare it away.

She kept thinking like this as she walked down the trail towards Ponyville. It felt weird though to think of the need for Harry to possibly kill to save her other animals, as she hadn't thought of anything like that before purposefully. However, her anxious train of thought was broken by a rustle in a nearby bush.

"EEK!" Fluttershy yelled out, her wings quickly unfolding and ready to be used should they need to be, her fearful gaze burning into the bush where she heard it and the surrounding area, waiting to see if anything would come out or if she can spot whatever it was in the darkness of the brush surrounding it. As the bush rustled for a second time, then a third, and fourth, she shrieked out as she saw something started to come out, before she stopped, realizing it was just a hare. She took a deep breath and nervously giggled to herself.

".. eheh...hehe.." She then turned again, folding her wings up and continuing to trot towards Ponyville. In the middle of the walk, she passed by the cow barn, glancing at it before stopping, turning her head to look, before coming closer. Where were the cows? She asked herself. She slowly opened the door to the barn and looked inside, but it was too dark to see much and she didn't wanna go any deeper in there, so she closed the door and continued on her way to Ponyville. After another ten-minute walk, she finally reached Ponyville, the given circumstances making it seem like an eternity. She realized she could've gotten here faster flying, but it just didn't strike her mind to do so at the time, that was okay because she was here in one piece anyway, and that's all that mattered in Fluttershy's eyes. She crossed the bridge over the river and into the city and quickly felt the demeanor in the air change.

As she walked through the city, she saw it was dead. No lights, no ponies, no anything. She knew that it was because of the alert, but it still felt very weird to the mare to see Ponyville so barren, it reminded her of the time Zecora came to town, but she was forced to move into the town following the full close off of the Everfree Forest from any pony but ERD scientists and the Royal Guard. They had to force Zecora out of her hut, but they still gave her back her stuff like her cauldron, herbs, glasses, potions, and all those things, and as she passed by the zebra's home, even hers seemed to be following protocol. Fluttershy thought her best bet would be to go to Twilight with questions, as she would likely know something of what was going on. So, she started to head to the Castle of Friendship, this time deciding to go the faster route, and unfolded her wings, flying over there.

Fluttershy grounded herself right outside the door, and a small relieved grin on her face formed when she was able to hear voices inside, the voices of her friends, but they seemed rather unhappy right now.

"..What is this, Twilight?" Rainbow Dash interrogated.

"I don't know! Princess Celestia hasn't told me anything yet!" Twilight answered.

"You sure, Sugar Cube? I feel like besides Luna, you'da been' the first to know."

Fluttershy decided to then open the door and walk in, closing it behind her as Applejack and Rainbow Dash stopped their interrogation of twilight and the other 2 stopped watching, all 5 of them looking at Fluttershy.

"What's going on, girls? That alert woke me up."

Twilight then stepped forward to respond. "Something escaped fro-"

Rainbow Dash then lept in front of her and cut Twilight off. "Something really weird is happening and Twilight isn't telling us anything!"

Fluttershy responded "Rainbow Dash, that can't be it. I'm sure if you let Twilight talk, she can inform us of everything she knows. Besides, it's not like she knows more than she's letting on. She wouldn't lie to us like that."

Rainbow Dash silently considered Fluttershy's evaluation and moved aside to let Twilight continue. "Fine."

Twilight then smiled before continuing. "Now, something had escaped from the ERD from what I presume was only about an hour ago. I'm not sure exactly what escaped, but the broadcast made it clear that whatever it was was dangerous and capable and fully willing to take life. The princess hasn't informed me much, that's just what I took away from the broadcast, but I'd like for you girls to try to help me take it down before it causes any harm to any pony. And for that, I'd say we need to call upon the Elements of Harmony to get it quickly done and prevent any harm to any of us. Got it?"

Applejack then spoke up. "Uh, one small problem with that, Twi', how would we even find it in the first place?" She asked.

Suddenly, there was a faint but still loud scream that erupted from the other side of town.

"..I think that's your answer," Twilight said, her eyes wide as they looked over to Applejack. "We need the Elements now." She followed up.

END OF QUOMODO INCEPIT