The Whitetail Willow

They say everyone has their own world. I say you can make that world whatever you want it to be.

I got off the bus I'd taken into town. It was a sunny day; unfortunately I chose this one to spend two hours shut away in a dark room staring at a big screen. I was wearing a dark plum purple t-shirt, dark blue jeans and my black jacket, my favourite ensemble. I started to head towards the cinema, with my satchel of drinks and sweets over my shoulder and my trademark headphones slung around my neck. As I passed the shops and banks in the town centre, I felt a cool breeze blow past me.

Strange, I thought to myself. I hadn't felt any wind all day, and the sky was too calm for the weather to change too dramatically. The breeze was welcome though, it made me feel somewhat at home. I walked slowly along the pavement towards the cinema, enjoying the warm and sunny weather before I locked myself away with a bunch of other Trekkies and watched what could only be a magnificent film.

I noticed a group of people huddled around the bottom of the steps leading up to the entrance. As I got closer, I realised they were the quote-unquote "popular kids" from my high school.

"Oh dear, here we go..." I grumbled under my breath as I approached the impending encounter with the notorious crowd. I tried my best to avoid the confrontation, but my best efforts were in vain.

"Hey, pony fag!" called the tallest in the mob of teenagers, having clearly spotted me walking past. I repeatedly reminded myself to keep my composure and keep walking, but there was almost no point. Three of the group crossed in front of me, and another two outflanked me. There was no avoiding it now.

"Can I help?" I asked, with a slight tone of sarcasm in my voice.

"No." replied a group member who, quite honestly looked like a manticore.

"Well then, if you'll excuse me, I've a Star Trek film to watc-"

"Oh, not only is he a pony-fag, he's a trekkie-fag as well!" called out another beastly looking gangster.

"There is only one thing worse than a pony-fag, and it's a trekkie-fag. Let's bash this bastard and move on!" called the ringleader.

"Oh shit.." I mumbled, with a quickly rising tone of panic. As the manticore-man went to strike me, everything went black. All I could remember was the same cool breeze blowing again.

***

Fluttershy stepped out of her bathroom, a small sky-blue towel wrapped around her head. She had quite a bit to be getting on with today. Angel needed a bath; she had to feed all of her animals and then head into Ponyville to restock on feed; she needed to visit Zecora to acquire a potion to cure Mr Chipmunk's rather serious case of animal-pox; she needed to be ready for her weekly spa visit with Rarity and then she needed to be on time for Pinkie's "Congratulations on mastering a new stunt" party for Rainbow Dash.

As she put the kettle on the stove to boil water for her morning strawberry tea, she put two slices of bread into the toaster and finished drying her hair. On her way to the laundry room to put away her towel, Angel bounces happily up to Fluttershy and shows her an open cookbook.

"Oh Angel Bunny, you know I can't keep spoiling you with these special meals. They are for treats." said Fluttershy, sweetly.

Angel Bunny stomped his left paw onto the ground with a soft, but audible, thump.

"Angel, I'm sorry but I can't make this fo-" Angel Bunny slapped Fluttershy around the face, not hard, but hard enough to get the message across. "Ok Angel Bunny, I'll make your special recipe..."

Angel shoved the book into Fluttershy's face before bouncing off happily into the garden. Looking over the recipe, Fluttershy put her towel to one side and then realised that she needed a few herbs from the garden for the recipe to be just right for her little saint. As she walked outside and started picking the herbs she needed, she heard a loud bang, followed by a blinding flash of light followed by somepony screaming. All of it came from the Whitetail Woods. She dropped the herbs instantly and took off towards the woods, her caring instincts taking over her better judgement with the smell of burnt toast drifting from her cottage.

When she arrived at the edge of the forest, she landed from her low hover and put all four hooves on the ground. She stared into the woods. The sun was still rising, she thought maybe she should turn back and get somepony else to help. No, this pony could be really hurt, I need to go help them. She took one step forwards into the wood, followed by another, then another, then another.