There's a monster that lives in the Everfree Forest. They call her Flowershy.
Once, long ago, a young pegasus mare by the name of Fluttershy lived in Ponyville.
She had many friends, her closest being the Mane 6, Twilight Sparkle, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and Pinkie Pie, with her being one of the six. They were the holders of the Elements Of Harmony, with Fluttershy herself being the Element of Kindness.
However, her kindness would sometimes get her in trouble.
She was a pushover, a doormat. Ponies say she takes the name "shy" too seriously sometimes. Fluttershy once tried before to be assertive, trying to show others that she was not someone to mess around with. She didn't like what she became.
She saw herself as a monster, cruel to her friends and hurting those who cared about her. When she finally broke free from her self-afflicted curse, she vowed to never be assertive and aggressive to another living being again.
If only she knew that being so may have saved her life.
It was a chilly Autumn night. The full moon was out, and young Fluttershy was in the Everfree Forest, trotting fearfully through the dark mist in search of her precious white rabbit, Angel.
She and the rabbit had gotten into another fight, and in a fit of anger, Angel had scampered into the forest. Fluttershy knew that the Everfree Forest was no place for a fragile little bunny, especially at night, so she gathered up her courage and went into the dark in search of her precious pet.
"Angel?" The yellow Pegasus whispered through the dark fearfully. "Where are you, Angel?"
Suddenly, glowing through the darkness, a beautiful purple light caught Fluttershy's eye. She turned her attention to it and witnessed a few vines crawling around a tree with a bunch of glowing purple flower buds growing on them.
Curious, Fluttershy went over to the strange plant. She had never seen anything so beautiful before.
The light the flowers shined were intriguing, and the their scent was intoxicating. Oh, how Fluttershy would love to have a flower like this growing in her garden.
Suddenly, much to the pegasus' surprise, one of the buds dropped from the vine and fell to the ground. As soon as it fell to her hooves, a vine grew out from underneath the bud, looking for a place to bury itself so it could grow like it's brethren.
Seeing this as an opportunity to have such a flower in her possession, Fluttershy lower her head to lightly grab onto the vine, being careful not to damage it in any way. She thought she could take this home with her and plant it immediately. Then she would have her own glowing purple flowers with their magnificent scent.
However, she had no idea that these plants were actually sentient and were very aggressive when it came to finding a place to plant itself.
Almost as soon as Fluttershy had her mouth around the vine, it suddenly sprang to life and started wrapping itself around the pegasus, slowly but surely.
"Oh, my!" Fluttershy let out a small squeak of surprise, not expecting this at all. "Well, it seems you're alive. Do you mind letting go of me, please? I promise that once I get home, I'll find you some nice soil for you to plant yourself in."
However, the plant didn't listen and continued to grow around her. The bottom of the bud grew out more vines and began wrapping those around her too.
"Please... stop." Fluttershy pleaded, but her voice went unheard.
Suddenly, Fluttershy gasped and cried out in pain as she felt the vines now trying to dig themselves into her skin. One of the vines was even wrapping around her wing, pulling some of the feathers off.
"Please... you're hurting me!" The poor Pegasus squeaked.
The vines had now broke through her skin and were digging through her body, moving through her muscle tissue and pushing organs aside. Fluttershy could do nothing but scream in agony as the vines took over her body, leaving nothing but her flesh and blood.
If only she bad been more assertive, the plants might've listened.
Angel bunny hopped idly through the forest, feeling guilty about leaving his friend the way he did.
He knew Fluttershy was only doing what she thought was best for him, but sometimes he was just so spoiled and a little cruel to her.
Knowing very well that Fluttershy would come looking for him, despite her fear for the forest, Angel decided to go home and attempt and apology.
As he hopped through the forest, a sound made his large rabbit ears twitch. He turned to the direction of the noise, and saw a glowing silhouette of Fluttershy just a few feet in front of him.
Happy to have found her, the rabbit began hopping over to her. However, as soon as he got close enough, he stopped, staring in horror at what he saw.
Vines with glowing purple flowers grew throughout her whole body, breaking through the skin in some places, trailing black ooze of infected blood.
What scared the rabbit the most though, was her face.
Her mouth was contorted in pain and horror, gaping open in an endless scream. Blood leaked from both of her nostrils, and her eyes... there were none. Just empty black holes of agony, with more vines growing through them.
The creature that once was Fluttershy gave a gaspfilled moan, slowly staggering towards the rabbit.
Angel squeaked in fear and began to quickly hop away, running as fast as he could to the only person he knew who might know what is going on.
The white rabbit quickly ran up to the door of the hut and began knocking on it feverishly. Not long after, a zebra opened the door and looked down at the frantic rabbit.
"Angel bunny of Fluttershy. It is a quite odd hour for you to come say hi." Zecora said to the rabbit.
In a panic, Angel tried to explain to the zebra about what he just saw. Zecora couldn't understand a word he was saying, until a noise behind him caught her attention.
She gasped as she saw the Fluttershy monster, slowly making it's way to them. Angel saw the creature too and squeaked in fear, quickly hiding behind the zebra.
"Quick, get inside," Zecora ordered the rabbit. "For that is no longer Fluttershy. The pony you once knew before is now undead, with those vines growing through her head."