The Huebirds of Happiness

The Huebirds of Happiness: Fluttershy’s Frantic Fracas

Fluttershy flew around Ponyville as fast as she could, desperately searching for any signs of the pink huebird that got away from her grasp. All throughout the flight, Fluttershy bemoaned her lack of attention towards all the huebirds and hoped that the pink huebird didn’t go off too deep into Ponyville. Celestia forbid the thought of how the residents would react upon seeing a bird that nopony had ever seen before!

Fluttershy flew into the bustling town of Ponyville, completing ignoring all that was around her. Her mind was entirely focused on finding the leader Pink Huebird, so much that she began bumping on many of the ponies she flew past. Fluttershy continued flying around in a complete frenzy before she bumped herself into Rarity as the earth pony was just getting ready to head back to her farm after a long day of selling apples to the town. Both ponies tumbled across the stone road, with Fluttershy toppled on top of Rarity.

Rarity quickly shook her head and slowly got up, shoving Fluttershy out of the way. With Fluttershy still laying down on the ground, Rarity gently helped Fluttershy up to her feet.

“Oh… I’m sorry Rarity.” Fluttershy meekly apologized once she regained her composure moments after getting up.

“Well whatever are you doing flying around like that?” Rarity asked Fluttershy. “You could easily have hurt yourself flying like that!” Rarity continued with growing concern on her face.

“Ohh… I’ve been in a frantic search for a critter that trotted away from my house!” Rarity scratched her chin with her hooves. Then she remembered the huebird that Pinkie Pie was talking about on her way to Sugarcube Corner…

“Wait a moment… is the creature you’re looking for a huebird by any chance?” Rarity raised her right eyebrow, almost expectant of what would come next… Fluttershy gasped. This wasn’t supposed to happen at all! She wanted to keep the huebirds a secret…

“H-h-how… how did you know?! You weren’t supposed to know!” Fluttershy shrieked in reply, her worst fears being realized.

“Well, Pinkie Pie trotted back to Ponyville and waved at me. She was talking about a tea party she enjoyed with you earlier today. Apparently, you showed her these creatures called ‘huebirds’ or something like that.” Rarity explained, but before she could ask more about the birds, Fluttershy gasped.

“Oh Rarity! Have you seen a strange bird creature that has a pink hue and straw-like legs?! That’s a huebird!” Fluttershy frantically asked, grasping for hope of any signs of the leader pink huebird.

“I haven’t seen any bird looking like that in Ponyville today Fluttershy!” Rarity paused, growing increasingly concerned at the worried look that was glued on her face.

“Oh Rarity! If you find a pink creature like that, let me know!” Fluttershy immediately flew off to continue her search, leaving Rarity confused.

“And she leaves without an explanation of these so-called huebirds and whether they’re harmful… This won’t do…” Rarity scratched her chin in thought, trotting back to her Carousel Boutique in hopes of coming up with some sort of plan…

Fluttershy had no choice. If she wanted to find the pink Huebird, she had to get help. Fluttershy scolded herself for letting Pinkie Pie know about the huebirds during their tea party. She should have remembered that Pinkie Pie was quick to spread the word about something, especially if it was something related to the strange and the new.

Fluttershy flew as quickly as she could to the smartest pony she knew. She arrived at Ponyville’s crystal castle that lay just at the town’s borders. Fluttershy quickly trotted to the castle’s front doors and knocked on it, hoping that Twilight was home. After a few moments of jittery waiting, the large golden door was opened by none other than Princess Twilight Sparkle.

Twilight gave out a smile to Fluttershy, but the smile soon turned to concern upon noticing how worried Fluttershy looked.

“Hey Fluttershy. Is… everything alright?” Twilight asked. Fluttershy looked beyond Twilight, hoping that her beloved creature was somewhere inside her castle. Twilight immediately noticed Fluttershy’s unusually erratic expressions.

“Umm… Fluttershy… what are you looking for?” Fluttershy immediately gasped, not having realized that Twilight just asked a question to her.

“Oh! I’m sorry!” Fluttershy apologized before continuing. “You see, I’m looking for a critter that ran away from home today. It’s a huebird, if Pinkie Pie already told you about it.” Twilight Sparkle put herself in a thinking position, tapping her chin and closing her eyes in thought. She immediately opened her eyes once again, having recalled her conversation with Pinkie Pie.

“Fluttershy. Before we continue the search for the huebird, I need you to tell me more about the huebirds. All Pinkie Pie told me is that the creatures aren’t from Equestria. I just finished some royal dealings, so I can help you see if there’s anything Equestria knows about the huebirds.” Fluttershy slowly nodded before she started describing the huebirds,

“Well you see… these creatures came out of the Everfree Forest. They started off as a group of two hundred scouts but were taken off course into the forest. There they were attacked, losing the majority of their company. Now there’s only twenty-five left.” Fluttershy paused briefly. “That’s all I know about the huebirds. I’m sorry I don’t know more. I’ve spent much of today taking care of the birds before and during the tea party.”

Twilight Sparkle immediately invited Fluttershy into her castle and trotted down a flight of stairs that were located to her right. Fluttershy trotted alongside her down the winding stairs, wondering where Twilight was taking her. She didn’t want to lose too much time while at Twilight’s. All Fluttershy could think about was her fear of losing the leader huebird because she didn’t take good care of her. While deep in her worried thoughts, Twilight spoke in her usual academic tone.

“Now, my biggest concern with these huebirds is that they’re like the parasprites you welcomed to Ponyville. I don’t want these huebirds destroying Ponyville like the parasprites did in the past. I don’t even know what these creatures are, so we have to act quickly.” As soon as Twilight finished her response, the two mares arrived at a large wooden door. Twilight turned the doorknob to open the door and reveal a large room filled with bookshelves stacked with books in them.

Fluttershy looked around the room, filled with awe at now neatly organized all the books were. They were all organized in alphabetical order, bold letters placed at every other shelf to signify the shelves’ positions on the alphabet. Fluttershy immediately flew to the shelf labelled “Hu-”. Once she flew to the shelf, she felt distraught that there was no book on huebirds at the shelf.

“Hmmm… I don’t think we’d have any books directly related to huebirds, but I’m sure we can find something inside a bird encyclopedia!” Twilight immediately flew to the shelf labelled “B” and picked up a bird encyclopedia.

The bird encyclopedia was a book thicker than most books in the castle’s library. Twilight flew back to Fluttershy and turned the pages to “H”, hoping that there was an entry on huebirds… The thickness of the book left Twilight and Fluttershy very hopeful.

Then. Twilight found something! An entry on huebirds!

“Here we are! Huebirds!” Twilight exclaimed with excitement as she motioned Fluttershy to look at the entry. But what the encyclopedia said left Twilight disappointed. A brief pause led to a piercing silence between the two ponies before Twilight gave out a disappointed sigh.

“This book only tells me what you already told me, along with a picture, and it was the most in-depth bird encyclopedia I have.” Fluttershy gave out a sigh, but appreciated what Twilight did for her.

“I’ll keep searching for anything on the huebirds.” Twilight assured Fluttershy. But there was still one thing that bothered Twilight.

“Fluttershy… was there anything special about this particular huebird?” Twilight asked Fluttershy, hoping that she could learn more from the missing huebird. Fluttershy scratched her chin.

“Well, he’s the leader of the group of huebirds that came by to visit me.” Twilight scratched her chin once more in her characteristic thinking pose.

“Hmmm… If he’s the leader, then I’m sure he can handle himself on his own. What you need to do is to make sure the other huebirds are fine and that they don’t cause trouble in Ponyville.” Twilight pointed her hoof to Fluttershy. “I don’t want another parasprite incident.” Fluttershy nodded.

“Thanks Twilight. Let me know if you find the huebird ok?” Fluttershy shyly requested Twilight, to which she nodded.

“I will. Now go back to your home. You need to care for the other birds. I don’t believe our leader went too far away from your home. He’ll turn up.” Fluttershy nodded. She always appreciated Twilight’s wise advice.

“I’ll be sure to do just that Twilight. Good bye!” Fluttershy waved goodbye as she flew away towards her home, hoping that none of the other huebirds left either. Meanwhile, Twilight was left to sit and ponder… what were these huebirds? What lessons could she learn from them… Where did they come from for that matter? Twilight had much to think about as she trotted back up the stairs towards her throne room…