The Crying Mare

 In the more ancient parts of Equestria, there are secrets. Sins left buried, Places that go better left undiscovered, Ponies that are better left alone. Unfortunately, sometimes, lost ponies may stumble upon one by mistake.....

  Fluttershy trotted through the Everfree forest, looking around nervously at her dark green surroundings. She was in a rather obscure part of the forest, on her way to check up on some snakes she had released into the wild a week ago. She had promised them she would come and make sure they were doing alright, but was now regretting her decision. Blowing a piece of pink hair out of her face, she looked up at the sky, noting it's pink tint. "Oh dear... I'd better hurry....." She picked up the pace a bit, grimacing as the pathway she was following began to get more rugged. Vines and weeds grew out of the dirt, and tree roots stretched across the track. She considered flying, but the tree branches were too low for her to go very far, and even if she made it past those, she would lose the trail. 

   The sky grew ever darker as Fluttershy trotted along the unwavering path. Finally, she came to a crossroads. The trail split in two directions. One led to the area were she had settled the snakes. The other led to... well, she didn't particularly know or care.  Biting her lip, Fluttershy looked between the two trails. She couldn't remember which one she had taken before. She peered into the gathering gloom, trying to make out what lay at the end of each trail. "Oh no..... come on, Flutters. Think, think... which way.... Her head swung back and forth a few times before she came to a decision. "Alright. I'll take the left path. If it doesn't lead to the snakes, I'll just turn around and find my way back... in... in the dark." She gulped, a sense of uneasiness growing inside of her. She turned and began trotting down the left path, glancing back every so often. Her breath quickened as the trees grew closer and closer, soon obscuring all light from the sunset. "Ok, time to go back!" Her voice shook, and her breaths seemed to echo through the trees. Fluttershy turned and began to race the way she came, only to realize tat she couldn't see the path anymore. She looked down at the ground, gasping in panic as she realized that in the darkness she had accidentally strayed from the dirt trail. 

     Fluttershy let out a short scream of fright and began sprinting back the way she thought she came. As she raced, uniform trees whipped past her, and a mist began to gather at her hooves. It seemed to her like she was on a treadmill, passing the same trees over and over. There wasn't even any foliage to mark progress, no bushes or weeds. Only dead leaves beneath her hooves and dark brown bark in her peripheral vision. It all began to blur until she no longer picked out individual trees. It was all a colorless streak, consuming her vision and numbing her. Everything turned grey and cold, almost like stone. Her heart began to feel heavy, a weight in her chest.

    She felt grass. Gasping for breath, Fluttershy's vision cleared a little. She was standing on grass. Not dead leaves. Looking up, the first thing Fluttershy registered was her proximity to a grey mare. Their noses were nearly touching. Stumbling backwards, Fluttershy yelped apologies. "Oh! I- I'm so sorry, I wasn't looking where I was going, I almost ran into you! I should have been paying better attention...." Fluttershy trailed off, not getting any sort of response from the mare. She took a closer look.

   The mare was made of stone. She was extremely life-like and detailed, down to the last eyelash. She even had a cutie mark, a question mark with two small wings of flame on either side. Her mane  and tail cascaded down, nearly reaching to the ground, each curl frozen in time. Fluttershy could see small color differences in the stone, indicating stripes of a different mane color. The mare was a pegasus, Her wings elegantly folded and beautifully detailed. Black tears fell from her blank eyes, which were devoid of both iris and pupil, and stained the stone.

    Backing up, Fluttershy looked around. Ringing the entire clearing were other beautifully detailed statues, with the mare she had nearly run into standing in the center. There were mares, colts, fillys, stallions. Ponies of every shape and size, every gender and species. Fluttershy whimpered a bit as she noted the look on their faces. Whereas the Mare in the center had a benevolent smile on her face, all the rest of the statues had expressions of horror and panic, ranging from being startled to being scared for their lives. Beyond the statues were the same strange woods she had just run through.

   The clearing darkened as the sun went down and the moon began to rise. Fluttershy looked up at the sky, hoping for a little moonlight to illuminate the stone ponies around her. The feeling of fright gre stronger as only a sliver of a crescent rose to greet her. "Oh no. Now I have to find my way back in the dark.....and who knows what might live this far out in the Everfree forest? Maybe it's best to stay here, just for tonight. It's too far for me to fly all the way back to Ponyville..." Fluttershy turned around and let out a shriek. The Stone mare, which had been in the middle of the clearing, was now once again nose-to-nose with her. A voice echoed on the wind, whispering to her, surrounding her. "You aren't leaving, are you? Please stay.... It's been so long since I've had a friend..... And I've been so lonely......" Fluttershy backed up, her heart pounding in her chest, gasping in fear. The statue stayed still, staring at her with it's blank eyes. The tears still ran black, staining the pure grey stone.

    Fluttershy screamed in fear and backed up, glancing around at the edges of the clearing. the statues that had once ringed the clearing were gone. Fluttershy galnced back at the crying mare and yelped in terror; she had once again moved closer. Her head was tilted, unlike before, and one hoof was raised. Fluttershy began to backpedal, keeping her eyes on the stone mare and churning the grass with her hooves in her haste to escape. "You're going to leave, aren't you? You're going to leave me alone, just like everyone else did!" The black tears began gushing from her eyes, splattering to the grass in globs. "I WON'T LET YOU GO! PLEASE, STAY WITH ME! I CAN'T LET YOU GO! STAY HERE, BE A PART OF MY FAMILY, I PROMISE YOU'll BE HAPPY HERE!" Fluttershy screamed and bolted into the woods. The mist gathered again, thicker than ever. Through the mist she made out the silhouette of ponies.. Static, unmoving ponies of all shapes and sizes. They were running, just like her, but were frozen in time. "Stay with me! I've been alone for so long.... My heart is so heavy... It feels like stone...  I feel so numb......" Fluttershy screamed, weaving through the trees. "I CAN'T! I CAN'T STAY WITH YOU! I NEED TO GET BACK TO MY FRIENDS, MY FAMILY! I'M SORRY!" The whispering that surrounded her stopped. Fluttershy's vision began to blur. Everything turned grey. Her heart began to feel heavy.......

       "I'm telling you Applejack, something's wrong. I can feel it!" Rainbow Dash trotted along the dirt path, looking at her friend in the dying light. "Fluttershy's been gone for three days now. She told me that she'd only be gone one and a half at the most. Maybe she got lost!" Applejack sighed and looked up at the sky. "I know, sugarcube, but it's gettin' dark. We can't very well search for her if we're blind, now can we? I think we should go back and get the others, then start a search party tommorow. I- Woooaah!" Applejack yelped as she stumbled over a tree root in the way. Rainbow snorted. "Smooth move, A-J." Applejack blushed and adjusted her hat. "Shuddup." She looked up and blinked as she noticed a fork in the path. "Hey Rainbow, look." They trotted over to the split and looked down both trails. Rainbow bent down as she noticed something in the dirt. "Hey A-j, It hink there are some hoofprints here.... they lead to the left."