Silence. Absolute silence. It wasn't always like this. My small little cottage used to be alive with noise and smells and sounds. My animal friends would go about there daily lives, and I would take care of them. I would provide their food, their shelter, and above all, there safety. They were the most precious things in the world to me, besides my friends. How I miss there company.
Among my five friends, my dearest friend Rainbow Dash is the one I think I will miss the most. She was my childhood and lifelong friend. We were complete opposites of one another, her and I. She was brave, popular, and strong, never afraid to stand up for herself and her friends, and always ready for a challenge to prove she was the best. She was there to defend me from bullies, and support me when things were too much for me to handle. She understood me, and gave me the courage I lacked. We were such good friends, almost sisters in fact.
I remember the day I first met Rainbow Dash. It was also the same day she and I got our cutie marks, as well as our other friends. I was still in school at the time, and how I hated it. My shyness, fear of heights, clumsiness, lack of a cutie mark, and so many other flaws made me vulnerable to bullying from not only my classmates, but my teachers as well. I was an outcast, a misfit, a nopony. Ponies would tease me constantly and persistently, and it was this reason that led me to seclusion.
In the classroom, I would always sit in the corner desk, focusing on the lesson intensely so I wouldn't hear my classmates making jokes or rude comments about me. At first, being able to answer questions correctly and getting good grades brought joy to me. I loved learning about stuff like cutiemarks, and how to write in cursive, but as time wore on, I learned that being a teacher's pet brought me even more harsh persecution from the others. Soon, I was doing bad in all of my classes as badly as I did in gym class, and recess brought me no relief.
Out from under the intimidating superiorness of the adults, the other children could do as they pleased, as long as the yard duty was looking the other way- which she usually was when I was being bullied. Sometimes avoiding the others was impossible, but when I could, I would wander the play-clouds, just walking by myself in deep thought about what I had learned that day, or why my life was so miserable. Why do I have to suffer so much? I don't deserve this! Oh, I wish I didn't have to go to school. I wish I wasn't teased. I wish I wasn't shy and wimpy Fluttershy.
It was during one of these little degrading discussions with myself that the three worst bullies of mine decided to pick on me. Unlike the others who would tease me and make jokes about me, those three would pull mean pranks on me, and sometimes even hurt me by tripping me or bumping into me. There names were Dumb-Bell and Hoops.
"Hey, Klutzershy!" Dumb-Bell taunted. "Are you ready for gym class? I heard we're practicing flying through hoops again."
Hoop-breezing, one of the many activities that I disliked doing in gym class. Scratch that, I hated everything in gym class. My wings were underdeveloped as a filly, so the most I could do was a hover for a few seconds tops. It was so embarrassing.
"Yeah, I can't wait to see you mess up- again!" Hoops jeered. The bell rang, signaling that recess was over, and I had to go to my next class: gym class.
The two bullies walked to the the courtyard on both sides of me, laughing and shoving me along. I whimpered, fearing what was to come. Before I knew it, I was among my classmates in the middle of the courtyard. The courtyard was a wide expanse of clouds with a track, slopes, hoops, goals, and other things molded into it. Mrs. Hardball approached us, menacingly.
"Alright class! Settle down!" Everypony went silent and waited for her to continue. Nodding in approval, she did just that, her loud voice pounding against our flattened ears.
"Today, we will be using the track and the hoops. I want you, with a partner, to run three laps around the track, then trot three laps the other way. Then, I want each of you to individually practice hoop-breezing with all ten of the hoops. Once your finished you can rest until class is over. The longer you take, the shorter time you have to rest. Let's go!"
I hung back awkwardly as my classmates quickly chose there partners. They made there way to the track, and only the teacher, a colt, and I were left.
"You two can be partners. Now hurry up!" The colt and I followed the others to the track and started to gallop side by side, but the colt soon sped up and left me far behind, probably preferring to run by himself than be seen with me.
I don't need him anyways. He's just a big dumb meanie like all the others. I completed the track, and walked slowly over to the hoops. My classmates were already flying through the hoops, and I waited to go. Once it was my turn, I flapped my small wings as hard as I could, faltering a bit before I managed to reach the first hoop. I smiled, but my happiness left me as quickly as it had come when my fore hooves caught the bottom of the hoop. I tripped, and before I knew it, I was falling. I landed on top of one of the slopes and slid down it, my speed launching me into the air and into one of the flagpoles. The flag wrapped itself around me as I continued to fall. I couldn't breathe, and I couldn't scream. My wings were glued to my sides. When I crashed into the clouds, I wasn't hurt, but it sure took the wind out of me. And then, they were there, ready with insults. Dumb-Bell laughed.
"Nice going, Klutzershy! They outta ground you permanently."
"HA! My baby brother can fly better than you!"
I was so humiliated. Maybe I do deserve this.
"Leave her alone!"
What? I looked up. A blue filly with a rainbow mane had taken a defensive stance in front of me. Is she… defending me? Why would she do that? I didn't have much time to ponder about this though; Hoops and Dumb-Bell quickly went on the offensive. If they had been surprised, they didn't show it. Hoops spoke next.
"Ooh, what are you gonna do, Rainbow Crash?"
"Keep making fun of her and find out!" Again my mind couldn't make sense of it all. I could feel a head-ache coming on.
"You think you're such a big shot? Why don't you prove it?" Challenged Dum-Bell. The blue filly grinned.
"Whaddya have in mind?" She asked.
~
I held a checkered flag that Mrs. Harball had let us use for the race. Dumb-Bell, Hoops, and the blue filly waited at the starting line, and on clouds on both sides of the track our classmates watched us. For the race, Mrs. Harball let us use the track for the older ponies. Unlike ours, in this track you didn't gallop on clouds- you had to fly in open air with nothing but the ground beneath you. I waved the flag.
Immediately, the three competitors whizzed by me. Catching me off guard, the wind generated from their wings spun me like a top off the small patch of cloud I was on.
Later on, long after the race, Mrs. Hardball apologized to me and explained that because everypony had their eyes on Rainbow Dash, nopony had seen her fall. She had lied. I know there had been ponies watching me fall. I saw there heads looking down from the clouds they sat on, watching me as I fell, never once opening there mouths. I hate them.
I fell. I screamed, and flailed my fore legs and hind. The ground came closer, and closer. It was the stuff of nightmares- of my nightmares. My worst fear had come true. I would be nothing more than a small stain on the ground below, and my blood would be washed away by the rain, my flesh eaten by the timberwolves, and my bones dissolved into the earth. Nopony would remember me. My parents would probably be relieved with joy when they heard the news. Poor little Fluttershy, nopony cares about you. Your death will be a blessing to everypony who ever knew you. Accept it.
I closed my eyes, and waited for the cold embrace of death. Instead, I felt myself stop. I had fallen on something soft, and moving, and alive. I dared to open my eyes, expecting to see a monster of some sort. I was shocked to see that instead of the image of a giant, snarling, timberwolf that had formed in my mind, I was being carried by a flight of small, beautiful, insects. I had never seen such beautiful creatures before.
"Huh?" I asked very intelligently.
