It was a beautiful morning in Cloudsdale. Spring was coming to a close, which meant one thing for all the little pegasi: school was starting. Within the city, tucked away in the suburbs rests a young Fluttershy. Her mother quietly walked into the room to wake her sleeping daughter.
“Wake up my little filly,” the mare said softly to her sleepy daughter, “today’s the first day of school.”
Fluttershy tiredly looked up at her mother, “Do I have to go mama? What if the other fillies don’t like me?” Fluttershy always had trouble making friends and since she never had any siblings, it made her even more nervous about her first day at school. She mainly stuck close to her mother and some nights she couldn’t sleep without laying right beside her.
“What’s not to like about you?” her mother replied. Fluttershy timidly looked down at the floor
“Umm…well I could be…umm…” she trailed off like she normally did when she didn’t know what to say. Her mother gave a little chuckle as she pulled the covers off of her small daughter.
They then went about their normal mother-daughter morning routine. They would both go to their rooms and make their beds. Afterward they would head downstairs for some breakfast and catch up on any news that had happened. They had to adjust it a little bit now that school was starting. After Fluttershy had her bath her mother wanted to be sure that she looked good for her first day so she spent her time brushing her hair for her.
“Mama?” Fluttershy asked.
“Yes dear?” she responded
“How do I make friends?” Fluttershy said.
“Well honey, you just need to talk to people. Eventually you will know who would be a good friend. Who knows maybe your new friend will talk to you first,” Fluttershy found comfort in her mother’s words. She always seemed to know what to say like all mothers should. Fluttershy’s mother pulled her daughter’s hair back and faced her toward the mirror.
“You look so much prettier when people can see your eyes. Do you like it?”
“Yes mama.” Fluttershy said reluctantly as she looked at her reflection.
“Ok go pack your bags and get ready to leave. I’ll be downstairs come get me and we’ll walk to school together.” Her mother left Fluttershy in the bathroom and proceeded downstairs. Fluttershy looked herself once more in the mirror, she did like her new hairdo but she couldn’t hide behind it with her hair back. She quickly let her hair down and ran off to her room. She packed her bag and met her mother in the kitchen.
“Mama I'm…um, ready to go.” Her mom turned around and gave her daughter a discerning look when she noticed that her daughter had changed her hair.
“Alright,” she said with a sigh, “well we should get going, we don’t want to be late.”
The two left the house and headed toward the Cloudsdale Flight Academy. Fluttershy and her mother always flew everywhere in Cloudsdale so Fluttershy could get more comfortable with flying but they stayed close to the cloud walkway just in case Fluttershy got too nervous.
“Mama, what’s school like? The kids I mean.” she asked trying to keep up with her mother.
Uncertain about how to approach the question she simply replied with, “I’m sure you’ll make plenty of friends dear.”
A few minutes later they approached the school. As they approached the school Fluttershy could see the large cloud building, surrounding it she could see the large obstacle course the ponies would eventually have to fly. She then looked down at the other ponies getting dropped off at the school. As far as she could see there was no pony her size, all the other ponies in front of her were close to twice her size. Fluttershy slowly backed up and flew closer to her mother almost hitting her mother’s win as they moved closer to the school. The two landed softly on a cloud then her mother turned to face Fluttershy and bent down to talk to the young filly.
“I want you to do your best today and try to make some friends,” Fluttershy looked up at her mother through the eye that wasn’t cowering behind her pink mane, “don’t worry about these bigger ponies, they won’t be in any of your classes it’ll just be other fillies like you, ok dear?”
Fluttershy looked down at the cloud shyly. She was about to say something when she felt her mother’s muzzle kissing her forehead. She put her hoof under her daughters chin and lifted her daughter’s head.
“I love you. I’ll pick you up right here after school.”
“I love you too mama.” Fluttershy reluctantly flew off toward the school. Once she landed near the steps to the front door she looked back to see if her mother was still there. She caught a glimpse of her mother waving as other ponies walked in front of her trying to get to the school. Fluttershy fought back tears as she walked into the school. On the opposite side, Fluttershy’s mother was fighting back tears herself, once she lost her daughter in the crowd she turned around and started flying toward home.
Fluttershy entered the school; other fillies flew through the halls all around her. The laughter of the young ponies talking about their summer break filled the halls. Everyone seemed to already know one another, everyone except Fluttershy. She stuck mainly to the cloud floors, away from everyone else. Most of the other fillies liked to fly everywhere they went, the only reason they landed was to get into the lockers that reached the floor.
After searching the halls, Fluttershy finally found her classroom. She stood outside of the doorway just looking inside. From where she stood she saw other fillies flying into the room; she silently thought to herself that anyone of these fillies could possibly be her friend. Finally after a few minutes of staring into the room the bell rang. The halls emptied quickly and left the shy filly standing alone in the hallway. Fluttershy took a deep breath and slowly walked into the room.
As Fluttershy entered the room she felt a little better. All the other fillies in her class were almost as shy as she was now. Her mother was right, no one knew anyone. Fluttershy flew over to the empty desk that sat in the back of the room and looked sheepishly looked around the room. She looked at the many posters that hung on the walls; the colorful pictures calmed her down. The young filly didn’t know what to do with herself before the class started so she did what she always did, hide behind her hair and stare down. She eavesdropped on the other fillies introducing themselves to each other and thought to herself, I can use what they’re talking about to introduce myself. She looked up and took a breath and just as she was about to say something the teacher walked in.
“Hello class,” she introduced, “my name is Sky Hopper, but you can just call me Ms. Hopper.” Fluttershy let out a little squeak as she exhaled her breath and looked back down at her desk. The class went on and the teacher didn’t let the class have much time to talk with each other, as she was too busy introducing what the class would entail for the year.
Finally at lunchtime the young ponies had some time to get more acquainted with each other. The lunchroom filled with the sounds of fillies laughing and talking. Fluttershy became overwhelmed with the amount of people in the crowd. Her thoughts shifted from “who should I make friends with,” to “how am I going to find a friend in this crowd.” Fluttershy flew over to the corner table with the lunch she and her mother had packed that morning and ate by herself. She reassured that maybe another pony would come over and talk to her, maybe she wouldn’t even have to make an effort.
Unfortunately the lunch period went by and no one had come up to talk to her even during free fly time she spent her time laying on a cloud while the other fillies played their games. She just watched them flying through the hoops and showing off their abilities. One particular pony particularly mesmerized Fluttershy. She was cyan with a rainbow colored mane but she would never be able to be friends with such a majestic looking pony. The rainbow maned pony had a little trouble flying but it was mainly due to the fact that she was too busy trying to fly faster than any other pony at the school. Near the end of the period Fluttershy noticed a group of foals surrounding another pony. She couldn’t hear what they were saying but Fluttershy knew they were mocking her about something. Luckily one of the other teachers came over and broke it up before something bad happened. From her cloud Fluttershy saw the teacher walk back in the building with the darker colored filly who was obviously crying.
Fluttershy wondered who it could have been. Most pegasi are brighter and softer colored and she was sure she would have remembered someone who looked so odd. Shortly after she saw the two disappear inside the cloud building the teachers called everyone inside. The day was over and Fluttershy hadn’t made any progress in making any friends. As soon as the doors opened to the front of the school all of the young ponies flew out to see their parents to tell them about their day. Fluttershy lazed behind all of them, even though she wanted to fly right into the comfort of her mother she also wanted to look for the dark colored filly she saw earlier but there was no sign of her anywhere. She flew slowly to her mother still scanning the large crowd of ponies.
“How was your first day of flight school hun?” her mother asked as her daughter slowly approached her, “Did you make any new friends today.” Fluttershy was still too focused on the crowd and barely heard her mother.
“Fluttershy?” her mother asked curiously.
“Huh? Oh…umm…I don’t think so.” Fluttershy responded. Puzzled by the response Fluttershy’s mother simply took her daughter under her wing and turned toward home.
The sight of a dark colored pony boggled Fluttershy’s mind. “I mean it’s not possible for an earth pony to be in Cloudsdale,” she muttered under her breath, “they can’t stand up here.”
“What was that, Shy?” her mother asked. In Fluttershy's deep thought she hadn’t noticed her mother had asked her a question.
“Oh, I'm sorry what did you ask me?” she responded.
Her mother gave her a look and asked, “What has you so distracted today.”
Fluttershy didn’t know how to respond and she didn’t want to explain the pony she saw as her friend. She simply responded with, “Umm…nothing, I just didn’t hear you.”
Her mother rolled her eyes and the two continued on their way home.
Later that night as Fluttershy laid in her bed the thought of the other filly and how she had not seen her around Cloudsdale before took over her thoughts and continued until her mind forced her into a deep sleep. The next morning Fluttershy awoke to the feeling of her mother nuzzling up against her.
“Rise and shine my little Fluttershy,” her mother whispered softly, “Celestia already raised the sun.”
“I’m sorry mommy, I had a lot on my mind last night,” she replied groggily, “I guess I just stayed up too late.”
Fluttershy’s mother grew more and more curious about her daughter. She never obsessed about anything this much before but she knew not to press things with her daughter. If she wanted to tell her mother something then eventually she would tell her. The two’s morning went on like the morning before and Fluttershy went off to school. She didn’t see the dark Pegasus from the playground at all that day.
Weeks went by and Fluttershy had almost completely forgotten about her. “Could I have made her up?” she thought to herself as she flew home with her mother after school one day. “I guess it would make more sense than a dark Pegasus.”