It was a bright and sunny day in Cloudsdale. The city Pegasi were working, playing and in school. The weather factory was hustling with the arrival of the water through the annual tornado. And in the hospital, a foal was just born.
"I'm a big sister!" cheered a small mint green Pegasus. The yellow foal was wrapped in a pink blanket and cradled in her exhausted mother's arms. The father sat beside his mate, beaming at the sight of his second daughter. "What will her name be?" asked the filly?
The father patted his first daughter's back with his wing, "Settle down, Misty Wind. We should let your mother rest. She's very tired, and your baby sister is tired too."
"But what's going to be her name??"
A grunt came from the mother. "Her name will be Fluttershy."
"Fluttershy," the father repeated, "I really like that name, Checkers."
"My sister's name is Fluttershy!"
"Shush, Misty. Let your mom sleep." The father nudge Misty Wind out of the room with his nose. The white Pegasus mother with black and white streaked mane cuddled her daughter as she went to sleep.
The family was a normal familiy. Hazy Hooves worked in the factory making snowflakes. He worked very hard and was one of the top snowflake manufacturers in the factory. Checkered Flag was a competitive racer and she didn't let having kids slow her down. Her friend and former racing rival was a purple stallion with a rainbow coloured mane named Spectrum Streak. The oldest daughter, Misty Wind, was a competitive flying acrobat. She had won three championships in a row. And then there was tall, lanky Fluttershy who had troubles flying. Her flying was an annoyance with Checkered Flag, but Fluttershy didn't see it as a bad thing. She was happy.
But soon trouble would start.
It was the qualifying race for the Equestrian wide Pegasi races. Checkered Flag took a drink of her water as she prepared to sprint across the sky. She was nervous. This race would determine who would be in the final races and the first place prize was something she wanted badly. It was a total of 50,000 bits. She was preparing for her daughters' futures. She would use the money to get Misty Wind into the Wonderbolts Academy and put Fluttershy into flight camp to help develop her flying. Oh, Fluttershy. Checkered Flag didn't understand why Fluttershy was a weak flyer. Checkered Flag came from a family of racers where champions ran in the family. Foals were able to fly when they were only just weeks old. But Fluttershy was a different story. She didn't seem to want to fly. And when she did, it took a lot of effort for her to even lift her skinny body off the ground. And it wouldn't have come from Hazy Hooves' side. He came from a long line of strong, physically active Pegasi. Fluttershy was a black sheep.
Her thoughts got interrupted by a familiar voice. "Hey there, Checkers." She turned around to see her former rival, Spectrum Streak.
"Hey there, Streak. What are you doing here?"
"Can't a pony wish his friend luck in the biggest qualifying race in Equestria?"
"I guess you can do that, Streak. I think you miss racing."
Streak shrugged. "Yes and no. I enjoy spending more time with my mate and daughter, but when I watch the races, a part of me wants to jump out of the stands and join them. But my out-of-shape wings remind me of the good times I have right now."
Checkered Flag smiled. "Is Rainbow Dash in the stands?"
"Yeah, she's with Firefly. We'll be cheering you on along with your family."
"Thanks, Streak."
"Cross that finish line for me," Streak said as he flew out of the room.
Just then, a voice said from the intercom, "Ponies, prepare to race." Checkered Flag took a deep breath and trotted into the arena. An audience cheered as the other ponies came out to prepare to race. Checkered Flag searched the crowd and spotted two rainbow manes, knowing her family would be right beside them. She smiled.
"Ponies, take your places!"
Checkered Flag trotted to her spot where she had placed 5th. She spread her wings, ready for the big race.
"On your marks..." the racers started flapping their wings and a hum buzzed in the stadium and in the air.
"Get set..." Checkered Flag pushed her body back.
"Fly!"
And all twenty racers dashed away from the start line, starting their laps. Now it would be another 50 laps until the top three Cloudsdale ponies move on in the races.
As Checkered Flag approached the 36th lap, she over took the 4th place pony. The 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th place ponies were clustered the entire time, fighting for a spot for third. Checkered Flag had tried overcoming the cluster, but the cluster was just as skilled as her. They passed the 37th lap and Checkered Flag noticed that 6th place was coming up. He pushed his wings hard and overcame Checkered Flag. She was back in 5th. But the pony kept going. As he approached 3rd place, the 3rd place pony suddenly shifted to the left, knocking out the pony and he started to falter. Checkered Flag saw him slow down, but it was too late. The pony who had overtaken her smashed into her and they fell from the sky.
Checkered Flag and the pony were both knocked unconscious as they fell towards the pillars. The audience screamed and shouted, but they didn't wake up. The two ponies smashed into the pillars, and then they fell to the clouds below. Checkered Flag's face was smashed and bleeding and her right wing was crushed under her body.
Fluttershy waited a week until her mother opened her eyes. Luckily for the family, Checkered Flag remembered them. But then Checkered Flag learned the terrible truth. Her nose had broke, her jaw was dislocated, her left leg was fractured, but that wasn't the worst of it. Her wing was dislocated and broken beyond repair. She could never race again. The doctor's weren't even sure if she would ever fly again. The collision with the pillar also caused her to lose the use of her right eye. The other pony also suffered a broken wing, but his was repairable and he would fly again.
"Mommy! I was so scared. I thought you would have died," Fluttershy said to her mom as she hugged her forearm. But Checkered Flag didn't respond. The inability to possibly ever fly again had turned her spirits down. She felt like she had nothing to live for anymore. Her daughters wouldn't be able to get the money they need to move up in life.
Checkered Flag stayed in the hospital until her leg was healed. In that time, Fluttershy, Misty Wind and Hazy Hooves visited everyday. Spectrum Streak and his daughter, Rainbow Dash came to see how she was doing. Her right wing was mangled, unable to straighten out or furl correctly. She had to get glasses in order to see better from her good eye.
While Checkered Flag wasn't home, it was Misty Wind's duty to take care of her sister. Misty Wind cleaned their house everyday, she made sure that Fluttershy and her got time together and she prepared the meals for when Hazy Hooves came home from work.
One day, while Checkered Flag was still in the hospital, Fluttershy quietly came to her sister's bed.
"Misty?"
"Yeah, Flutters?"
"Will Mommy fly again?"
"I don't know, Flutters. The doctors said that if she does learn how to fly, she'll never race."
"Oh..."
Misty Wind reached her hoof out and lifted Fluttershy's chin. "Why are you asking?"
"Well, Mommy won't be able to teach me how to fly. She told me she would teach me. But now she can't. I'll never fly."
"Cheer up there, Flutters. I'll teach you."
"You will!?"
"Yeah. You'll be flying in no time."
You'll be flying in no time. Fluttershy wish that could have come true. It had been a year after the accident. Misty Wind had to take up a weather patrol job in one of the neighbouring towns on the ground to help support the family. Checkered Flag had been paying a lot of bits on therapy to try to get herself to fly again. Fluttershy usually had to spend after school hours at Rainbow Dash's house. In the summer, when the sun stayed in the sky longer, Misty Wind kept her bargain and would teach Fluttershy how to fly. Misty Wind was able to get Fluttershy off of the clouds and be able to lift herself. But Fluttershy was still weak. She could only fly for a minute before getting tired. But through this time, Misty Wind and Fluttershy bonded. They became the best of friends.
Eventually Checkered Flag's spirits lifted when she realized her legacy could live on with Misty Wind. She saw that the Wonderbolts were holding a contest with the prize being a scholarship for Wonderbolts Academy. Misty Wind would be able to live her dream of becoming a Wonderbolt.
One day, Fluttershy came home from school to see a new pony sitting with Misty Wind.
"Oh hey, Fluttershy! This is my friend Spitfire. She is also training to become a Wonderbolt."
"Oh... hi."
"Hey there, Fluttershy."
"Um... I... Uh...," Fluttershy stammered.
"Yes, Flutters?" Misty Wind asked.
"Um... you said you could teach me more flying after school today because you didn't have to work."
"So I did. Spitfire, wanna join us?"
"Sure!".
That night, Fluttershy woke up to get a glass of water. As she walked down, she could hear her parents talking.
"Misty has been doing so well," said Checkered Flag. "I think she'll make it to the Wonderbolts Academy."
"She is a gifted flyer," Hazy Hooves replied. "She almost flew out of your hooves when she was born."
"She has my family's ancestry running through her blood. I don't know what went wrong with Fluttershy."
There's something wrong with me?
"Oh Checkers, don't say that. She's fine. She's just not strong in flying right now. But she will. I have co workers who have had foals just like her. Now they're strong."
"It's just not natural and right. She's so lean and lanky. Why does she have to be different?"
"Because I have a feeling she's going to do great things. Maybe one day she'll come close to Princess Celestia."
"I don't want a Pegasus in the family who can't fly."
"She will fly."
Fluttershy couldn't take it anymore. She ran to her sister's room.
"Flutters, what's wrong?"
"Mom says I'm different and that I'll never fly?"
"What do you mean?"
"She says you're a good flyer and I'm not, and she doesn't like me anymore."
Misty Wind wrapped her wing around the yellow filly. "Flutters, I think you misunderstood. Mom will always love you. Sure, you're a late bloomer. But that means you hold a lot of potential."
"But what if I don't fly, Misty?"
"Well then, your personality will shine through. You are the kindest pony I know. Ponies will love you for a completely different reason. You don't have to fly to get ponies to like you. It's just to be yourself."
"Really?"
"Count on it, Flutters." Misty Wind wrapped her hooves around Fluttershy and gave her a big hug. Fluttershy never realized that that would be the last time Misty Wind would give her a hug.
It was a cold, windy day. A blizzard was coming in. Misty Wind was at the Wonderbolts Academy location for the contest. She was caught midway when the blizzard hit. And she was determined to get back home. She promised Fluttershy more flying lessons. She would try to make it, or so she thought.
Meanwhile, at the house, Fluttershy stood by the window, waiting for her sister to come.
"Dad, when will Misty get here?"
"She should be here soon."
An hour later, she wasn't there.
Two hours later. She still wasn't there.
Checkered Flag immediately got other ponies to help search for Misty Wind. She stayed home to watch Fluttershy was Hazy Hooves flew in the blizzard with neighbours and friends. They searched for hours, but they couldn't find her.
Until the blizzard cleared, the authority ponies and Hazy Hooves flew out in search of Misty Wind. Fluttershy sat in the corner of the house crying while Checkered Flag sat by the window, searching for her daughter.
Hours later, Hazy Hooves came back, but with terrible news. Misty Wind froze to death. She was found on the ground frozen, her wings extended for flight.
Although Fluttershy was young, she understood what death meant. She would never see her sister, her flight teacher, ever again. Fluttershy ran to her room and she cried. She cried and cried, keeping a photo of her and her sister by her bed. Her sister, who was hte one who raised her, taught her to fly and her best friend was gone.
The household wasn't the same. In the winter, Hazy Hooves worked extra hours to make enough bits for his mate and filly. Sometimes he had to stay at the Weather Factory for weeks on end. It would be Fluttershy and Checkered Flag together at the house.
Checkered Flag was now dealing with the inability to fly, the death of her aspiring daughter, and having another daughter who couldn't fly. With her husband gone most of the time, she started drinking apple cidar and apple cocktails.Things weren't the same anymore.
Fluttershy would come home and her mother would try to teach her, but with her mother being drunk most of the time, she came to fear her mother's teachings. Her fears would cause her wings to snap to her body and she would fall. And after every fall, her mother would yell and berate her.
"Fluttershy, start flying. Are you a chicken? Are you even a real Pegasus? Your sister was a real Pegasus, but what are you? No, you're an ostrich. That's it, an ostrich! Now fly."
"But... but mom," Fluttershy would say in tears.
"FLY!"
The cycle would repeat and Fluttershy found herself hiding herself at Rainbow Dash's house. She got quieter and quieter. Rainbow Dash wanted to help her friend, and one day she came to Fluttershy to ask her a question.
"Hey Fluttershy!"
"Oh... hey Rainbow Dash."
"Hey, do you want to come to Flight Camp with me? You get a discount if you're invited."
"Flight camp?? Oh, I... I don't know..."
"Tell you what, you ask your parents and have your mom talk to my dad, okay?"
"I... I guess so."
"Thank you Fluttershy!" Rainbow Dash sprinted away.
Fluttershy didn't want to go. She couldn't fly well, why would she got to a camp dedicated to fliers. She already felt humiliated at home with the way Checkered Flag treated her, she didn't want it again. But then she remembered, her father would be home. Her dad would protect her from her mother's drunken rage.
That afternoon, she came home to see her father.
"Daddy!" Fluttershy squeeled and she ran into her father's hooves.
"Hey Flutters," Hazy Hooves greeted. "How was school."
"It was okay. Oh, Dad, Rainbow Dash asked if I wanted to go to flight camp and that if I can go, you can tell her dad."
"Flight camp, huh? I think we should discuss this with your mother."
"Only if you want to," Fluttershy squeaked.
The rest of the afternoon involved yelling over whether Fluttershy should go to flight camp. Fluttershy only overheard a couple words from her mother.
"The instructors at that camp will know Fluttershy's my daughter and they expect a racer, and she can't fly! She is an embarrassment and she'll humiliate us." Fluttershy then put her hooves on her ears and waited until her father came in.
"Flutters, we've decided to let you go to Flight Camp."
"Thank you, Daddy."
Weeks later, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash went to Flight Camp together. Rainbow Dash fit in very well. She excelled at all the activities and was popular with almost every other camper. Fluttershy on the other hand was the subject of teasing. Because of her weak wings, she couldn't do a lot of the activities and she would hear, "Fluttershy, Fluttershy, Fluttershy can hardly fly". But the one nickname she got was "Klutzershy" by a couple of trouble making boys. But one day, after crashing into a flag from trying to go through a hoop, Rainbow Dash stood up to her, accidentally knocked her off a cloud and sent her plummeting down to the ground. She was caught by a group of butterflies, Rainbow Dash's sonic rainboom scared the animals and Fluttershy discovered that she could talk to the animals. That is when her cutie mark appeared.
In the evening, the camp counsellors found her on the ground surrounded by the bunnies. They took her back and her parents were phoned in. Because of what happened and her performance, Fluttershy was given the option to go home and she took it.
Hazy Hooves picked her up and noticed her new cutie mark.
"You've got butterflies on your flank."
"Dad, I figured out my talent. Misty Wind was right. I am different because I was made for something special. I can talk to animals, Daddy."
"You can?"
"I love it down on the ground, Dad. I want to live down there."
"Are you sure about this, Flutters?"
"I am so sure, Dad. The animals don't have anyone to care for. I want to care for them."
"Well, Flutters. I guess since you've got your cutie mark, you know best."
Hazy Hooves was supporting of her decision to move onto the earth. But Checkered Flag was not happy.
"What do you mean you want to move to talk to animals??"
"But Mom..... I... I can talk to them."
"Did that fall knock sense out of you?"
"Mom... I..."
"You know, you can't fly and you really are a disappointment to this family. Misty Wind would have been a Wonderbolt, but here you are wanting to talk to animals!"
"Mom... please listen."
"No, you listen. You are an embarrassment to his family. Talking to animals. Ponies don't talk to animals."
"But I can!" Fluttershy shouted and she ran out of the room.
Two months later, Fluttershy had her own cottage. Her father agreed to live with her for a while. Her talent became widespread in the town of Ponyville. She had gained the trust of all the woodland creatures and pets in the area. She was able to tell ponies when their pets were sick. Eventually Rainbow Dash decided to move in with her for a a year until she got her own house. Rainbow Dash and her kept in contact. Fluttershy learned to fly moderately through the teachings of the birds, bats and butterflies. Now she can fly to Cloudsdale and visit her parents whenever she pleases. After Fluttershy moved out, Checkered Flag decided to stop drinking and her attitude improved. Hazy Hooves kept up the good work at the Weather Factory making snowflakes. But Fluttershy was forever haunted by her past experiences, which lead to her numerous fears and her shyness.
