The ponies all gathered in Fluttershy’s cottage to celebrate their victory. Pinkie zoomed around the small area re-enacting the previous night’s adventures. As she collided into various pieces of furniture, animals scurried away squeaking. Many of them ran to Fluttershy, and she comforted them, stroking their fur and whispering kind words. The other four ponies, Twilight Sparkle, Rarity, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash, all stood there watching Pinkie’s antics, shaking their heads at various points as they remembered the events of the night before. Twilight was most embarrassed- spells had gone wrong before, one frog still resides in Ponyville with the head of an orange, but generally her spells didn’t hurt her friends this way. Fluttershy became Flutterbat, which upset her deeply. As she saw the destruction she had caused to Applejack’s crop, she hung her head and walked away in sadness, unable to face the damage. Applejack was hurt too. Her prized apple for the produce fair had been destroyed and many other apples hadn’t fared well, too. The apple family might have a tough winter, and it would be partially Twilight’s fault.
Each pony deposited the food they had brought with them on the table. Pinkie pulled out a cake from her saddlebag. Amid the ensuing confetti, Rarity gently placed a block of cheese on the table. Twilight brought punch, Rainbow Dash had cider from her reserve from last year, Fluttershy brought flowers, and Applejack placed a bucket of apples on the table.
Immediately, the scent of the apples reached up from the bucket and grabbed Fluttershy by the muzzle. She felt fangs grow out of her normal teeth. They poked the inside of her mouth. Fluttershy tried to steel herself against the mouthwatering scent of the apples, but she was having trouble resisting the delicious smell of the apples. She craved nothing more in that moment than to suck the juice of all the apples in the pail.
Fluttershy forced herself to turn away. It was not an easy feat. But suddenly, when Rainbow Dash decided to take a bite of one of the apples, it all ended. The scent was overwhelming. Fluttershy had to get just one drop of juice. She reached into the bucket, pulled out an apple, and sucked its juices as slowly as she could manage. Which wasn’t very slow. The other five ponies stared at her. Then, Pinkie trotted up and yelled “SUSPICIOUS!”
Upset, Fluttershy galloped out of the house. She went towards the woods where she could visit her animal friends. They tried to console her, but Fluttershy couldn’t bear the guilt. She had already destroyed much of Applejack’s crop. What could she do? Apples were common in Ponyville, she couldn’t just avoid them all the time. She would never be able to set foot in Sweet Apple Acres. Fluttershy couldn’t think of a good solution. She would do anything in order to make the fangs go away. Clearly, Twilight’s reversal spell hadn’t worked all the way. Fluttershy feared more hunger could turn her into full-blown Flutterbat again. She couldn’t let that happen. Suddenly, one of the squirrels she was with suggested that she go to Zecora’s. Zecora often had solutions to problems the mane six couldn’t solve themselves. But, Zecora lived deep in the Everfree Forest. Fluttershy would never venture someplace as dark and scary as that alone. But it was too dangerous to bring her animal friends. Because of all the hurt she had caused her friends, Fluttershy decided to risk it and venture out into the forest alone.
As Fluttershy approached the treeline of the dark forest, Pinkie Pie jumped out of a bush.
“What are you doing?!?” she yelled. Fluttershy jumped back, frightened.
“Nothing.” she replied once she had composed herself.
“I doubt that. SUSPICIOUS!” Pinkie yelled again.
“Fine. I am going to see Zecora.”
“Why?” Pinkie inquired.
“I’d rather not say,” Fluttershy whispered.
“Why not? Whenever I do anything I always tell everypony possible. Watch this. I’M GOING TO JUMP A LOT!” Pinkie yelled, jumping up and down rapidly. “Want me to announce more stuff? I’M GOING TO-“
“Fine I’ll tell you,” Fluttershy interrupted, embarrassed of her unwillingness to tell Pinkie, one of her best friends, what was going on. “Uhm, I guess I could just show you...” Fluttershy trailed off. Pinkie stood expectantly, tilting her head. Fluttershy whimpered, then slowly opened her mouth, exposing her fangs.
“SUSPICIOUS!” yelled Pinkie Pie.
“Oh, that’s not necessary,” Fluttershy said quietly. Louder, she continued- “I have to go to Zecora’s. Maybe she can help me fix this.”
“Yeah, Zecora always does that sort of stuff!” Pinkie suddenly broke out into song. “She’s an evil enchantress and she does evil dances. And if you look into her eyes she’ll put you in trances. Then what will she do, she’ll....” Pinkie stopped suddenly.
“Is that how you still think of me? I thought I had changed the image you see.”
“Zecora!” yelled Pinkie. “I was just kidding, you know. I’ll show you and throw a party!” Confetti sprang out of Pinkie’s mane.
“I do not need any party. There is another problem, I can see,” Zecora looked at Fluttershy’s fangs while she said this last part. Fluttershy quickly covered them with her hoof. “Follow me to my place. We will try to fix your face.” Zecora said. Pinkie laughed, but stopped when Zecora shot her a look.
The three ponies walked into the forest. They soon reached Zecora’s home. Zecora walked in and looked through her collection of jars and plants. Pinkie Pie touched everything she could get her hooves on, running around asking “What’s this do? What does this do? What does THIS one do?” until Zecora looked at her sharply again. Pinkie halted. “I’ll just look around quietly,” she said meekly.
Zecora’s eyes lit up as she seemed to find what she was looking for. “Here I will make you this brew. It will take a bit to stew. Drink it right before you sleep. But beware, this potion you must not keep. If anypony else were to drink, there would be consequences of which I do not want to think.”
“Okay.” Fluttershy took the potion, which looked like clear water, to her cottage after seeing Pinkie Pie to the Cakes’. Before bed she removed the stopper and drank as much as she could. She was about halfway through when she passed out. The vial of potion fell onto Fluttershy’s nighttable.
The next thing Fluttershy knew, it was light out and Rainbow Dash was standing over her.
“Hey there, Fluttershy. I just came back from a hard morning of weather control. I drank some of your water, I was so thirsty. I hope you don’t mind. Those pesky clouds don’t clear themselves, and Derpy was helping me, but it wasn’t very helpful. So it took a bit longer than normal. Nothing I can’t handle.”
“Oh it’s all fine, as long as-“ Fluttershy stopped. She glanced to the empty vial on her nightstand.
“What’s that, Fluttershy?” Rainbow Dash asked.
“Oh, nothing.”
“Well, in that case, gotta dash!” Rainbow Dash bolted out of the cottage, with a sudden intense craving for apples.
