The small things

Fluttershy was walking through the woods, she was accompanied by a couple of birds who were pirched on her back.

"Lovely day, wouldn't you say, Chirpington?" Fluttershy asked the bird nearest her head. He replied with a high pitched chirp, a yes Fluttershy guessed. It was a lovely day after all, the sun was setting, though there was still plenty of light to see by. White puffy clouds were flouting through the air.

And the forest was just as beautiful: trees reached high into the sky, a nearby stream filled Fluttershy's ears with a quiet trickle. A soft crunch could be heard when Fluttershy stepped on the dried leaves that littered the trail she was walking along. Fluttershy hummed along to the distant singing of other birds.

After a few minutes of walking, Fluttershy reached her favorite spot, next to a lake. The light of the sun reflected perfectly off the water, Turing the water a light orange. The lake wasn't very large, though still large enough to be called a lake. All around the edges, there was a ten-foot area where no trees stood, separating the water from the woods.

By this time, the sun was just about to fall behind the trees on the other side of the lake, which was one of Fluttershy's favorite times of day. When the sun went behind the trees, it cast long shadows across the lake, Fluttershy just loved the way it looked.

Fluttershy laid down at the edge of the water, waiting for the sun to set. The feeling of the grass against Fluttershy's belly was one of the most soothing things she had ever felt.

"Don't you just love this?" Fluttershy asked the birds, they chirped in reply. "Oh, it's time!" Fluttershy said, getting a little excited.

The sun had set behind the trees across the lake. The trees cast long black shadows across the lake, in perfect contrast to the parts that were still shimmering in the sunlight. It was like somepony had taking a knife and cut the lake into sections, light, dark, light, dark. The pattern made the lake even more beautiful than it could ever be on its own.

"Wow," Fluttershy said quietly, she couldn't help herself, even though she had seen this a thousand times before. She lie there, simply enjoying the sights, it wasn't until the sun had completely gone down that she finally got up. Her bird-friends had gone back to their homes, so now it was just her. She started walking back to her cottage, she walked along the trail slowly, waiting for the moon to come out.

If the lake was beautiful, than the night sky was unbelievable. This was beyond a shadow of a doubt, Fluttershy's favorite time. She looked up, through the tree branches she could see the stars and moon. The stars filled the night sky, Fluttershy could spot many constellations. But there were more stars than she could count in ten years. And the moon, it was a crescent moon, only a sliver of it was visible, but that was Fluttershy's favorite.

Fluttershy eventually made her way home, though the stars distracted her for almost an hour. When she got home, she went inside and closed the door, she leaned against the door after she shut it behind her. She slid down the door until she was laying down, completely bewildered by the sky,

There wasn't munch in the world that could compare to what Fluttershy had seen.

Twilight Sparkle frantically flipped through the book in front of her. She was sitting in her library, with stacks of books on both sides of her. Along with a pile of opened books behinds her, books she had discarded for lack of the proper information Twilight was looking for.

"No, no, no, no ,no!" Twilight said, progressively getting louder as she flipped through the pages, in rythm with her cries of disappointment. Twilight had been given a special task from Celestia, Twilight had received a letter from Celestia that told her she was supposed to research a certain emotion. Bliss, but Celestia made it clear it wasn't the emotion itself, but a certain way of achieving it. Celestia never said how Twilight was supposed to do that, only that it was something Twilight had never experienced.

So naturally, Twilight decided to poor herself into books until she found it, but so far, no luck.

"How am I even supposed to find something like this?" Twilight asked herself, a bit frustrated at how uninformative the letter was. Twilight had been at this all day, the sun was already going down. Twilight let out a long sigh, and closed the book she was reading. Twilight had all kinds of books in her library: magic books, potion books, flower books, even magic flower potion books. But books on emotions, Twilight guessed only somepony like a therapist would have those kinds of books.

'Emotions are just emotions, there's not much to them.' Twilight thought to herself, getting off her chair and walking to a window. She looked outside, it was already dark. Twilight saw ponies finishing their business for the day, walking by the light of the moon and stars. Twilight let out another sigh, and walked back to the table and sat down. Twilight started racking her brain for ideas, 'Maybe one of my friends will know?' Twilight thought. She didn't know what any of them would know about bliss, but it was better than endlessly flipping pages of books that yielded nothing good.

'I'll go see them tomorrow,' Twilight thought, it was probably too late to visit each of her friends right then.

Fluttershy was walking home, she had been to town to get carrots for Angel. Remembering the feeling of last nights walk, Fluttershy decided to take the scenic route home: it was a trail that passed over hills and into ditches. Fluttershy enjoyed the view from atop the hills: great open valleys, lushes green forests, white puffy clouds. The warmth of the sun on Fluttershy's fur made her want to lie down in the grass and just sit there. But Angel would be upset with her if she didn't get home quickly.

Fluttershy walked through the front door to find a white bunny sitting in the middle of the room, arms crossed and taping his foot impatiently.

"I'm so sorry Angel, I got I little distracted on my way home," Fluttershy said apologeticly, as she walked closer to Angel, and lied down in front of him, offering him the carrots as a peace treaty. Angel just held his nose high in air. "Pretty pretty please," Fluttershy said with a pleading expression on her face, she pushed the carrots closer to Angel. Angel only held his nose higher, until his stomach growled. Angel stopped tapping his foot and looked at the carrots. Deciding that the carrots met his standards, he grabbed them and hopped away.

Fluttershy smiled, "Oh 'goody." Fluttershy got off the floor, she went into the kitchen to make herself some food. She was just about to chop the apples when she heard a knock on the door, Fluttershy walked over to it and opened it.

"Oh hey Twilight, Do you need something?"

Twilight woke up, she sat up on her bed, rubbing her eyes. She got out and stretched, she saw the letter from Celestia resting on her night stand. Twilight looked at it for a second, then, realizing she had work to do she said, "Spike! I'm leaving!" She yelled, rushing to get out the door. Spike was waiting outside her door with a bed tray and breakfast.

"Twilight I made breakfa--" Spike started to say, before Twilight galloped past him, spilling the tray all over his front.

"Sorry Spike! 'Gotta run!" Twilight said as she ran past.

Twilight burst out the front door of her castle. Celestia needed the letter by that night, and Twilight still hadn't gotten the information she needed. Deciding to start with Rarity, Twilight started galloping towards her boutique.

Twilight needed to find a certain way of achieving bliss. Celestia never said how, just that Twilight would know it when she felt it.

After a few minutes of galloping, Twilight arrived at Rarity's boutique. She opened the door with her magic.

"Hello, welco-- oh hey Twilight, what are you doing here?" Rarity asked as Twilight walked through the door.

"Rarity, how do you achieve bliss?" Twilight asked, stressed and hurriedly.

"Oh, er, um... Bliss?" Rarity asked, confused.

"Yes, bliss."

"I'm sure I don't know what you mean Twilight,"

"How do you--ugh never mind!" Twilight said, Turing around and zipping out the front door. Rarity rolled her eyes and went back to her business.

Twilight took to the sky, heading towards Applejack's farm. When she got there, she found Applejack bucking apples in one of the fields. Twilight flew in and landed next to Applejack.

"Agh!" Applejack screamed, Twilight had apparently surprised Applejack by coming out of nowhere and landing with a loud thump.

"Applejack!" Twilight said, "how do you achieve bliss?" Twilight asked, stress still very evident in her voice.

Applejack looked a little confused but said, "Bliss? Well, when I'm done with along day 'a work, that feels pretty good."

Twilight was getting irritated at everyponies lack of understanding her question. Twilight sighed loudly, flapped her wings, and took off.

Twilight saw Rainbow Dash sleeping in a cloud over Ponyville. Twilight flew over to her and landed on the small cloud Rainbow was on.

Twilight poked Rainbow Dash in her side, "Rainbow? Get up Rainbow." Rainbow merely groaned. "Rainbow, how do you feel bliss?" Twilight asked rather loudly into Rainbows ear.

"Sleep," Rainbow said both grumpily and sarcastically.

"Ugh!" Twilight said as she took off.

Twilight face-hoofed, 'Pinkie Pie! Duh!' Twilight thought, she quickly started flying towards Suger Cube Corner.

Twilight landed just out side the front door, she quickly opened it and trotted inside.

"Pinkie!" Twilight called, "Pinkie Pie!"

Pinke pie's head poked up from behind the front counter. the store was empty besides a few cakes set up on tables around the store. On the front counter were many cupcakes and other pastries.

"Twilight?" Pinkie said, the rest of her body appearing from behind the counter, "What's up?" Her tone was calm and questioning.

"Pinkie Pie! How do you fell bliss?" Twilight said, desperate for a helpful answer.

"Fun!" Pinke said, streamers and confetti exploding all over Pinke Pie, "it's all about fun!"

Twilight sighed, she turned around and walked out the door.

"Twilight? What's the matter?" Pinke called from inside,

"Nothing," Twilight said, spreading her wings and taking off again. There was still one place that Twilight could go, Fluttershy's cottage. Though Twilight wasn't sure how Fluttershy would know much about anything other than caring for her animals.

Twilight landed outside the small cottage that sat next to the forest. She reached up and knocked on the door.

"Fluttershy, I'm desperate here, how do you achieve bliss?" Like she said, Twilight sounded desperate.

Though the question confused Fluttershy a bit, she answered truthfully, "Well, the small things in life," Twilight looked confused. Fluttershy peered past Twilight and looked at the sky, the sun was going down.
"You know what?" Fluttershy said with a smile, "let me just show you."

Fluttershy walked past Twilight, Fluttershy was heading towards her favorite spot, the lake. Twilight fallowed close behind Fluttershy, "Where are we going?" Twilight asked.

"You'll see," Fluttershy said simply, she continued to walk until she was at the lake. "Okay, we're here," Fluttershy said, laying down at the edge of the lake. Twilight gave Fluttershy a confused look, "Come on," Fluttershy said, gesturing for Twilight to lay down.

"Fluttershy, I'm kinda in a hurry here, I've got to wire a letter to Celestia by tonight!"

Fluttershy put a hoof to her mouth, "Shh, Twilight you want true bliss right?"

"Yeah,"

"Ok than, close your eyes,"

"Okay," Twilight said reluctantly.

"Listen to my voice Twilight, focus on what I'm saying," Fluttershy's voice was infinitely more soft and gentle than her normal tone. "Clear your mind, don't worry about that letter, put it out of your mind. Don't think about anything that troubles you. Just lay there, with an empty head."

Fluttershy reached out and grabbed Twilight's head softly, Twilight jumped slightly at the touch; Fluttershy turned Twilight's head so she was looking at the lake, the sun was almost in position. "When I tell you, open your eyes, and just look, And I mean really look Twilight."

"Okay," was Twilight's only response.

"Now,"

Twilight's eyes fell open: the view of the lake filled her sights, the beautiful shadows, the amazing shimmer of the water. It was unlike anything Twilight had seen, any-thoughts of trouble or problems had completely disappeared from Twilight's head.

"You see?" Fluttershy asked finally, Twilight had ended up laying there, --blank faced and mouth hanging open, for over ten minutes. By which time the sun had almost completely set. "Twilight, all it takes is just to slow down, take a few minutes to just enjoy life. Listen to the birds in the morning, look at the flowers, enjoy the small things."

Twilight turned and looked at Fluttershy, "I think I know what I'm going to write about,"

Princess Celestia sat in her bed chambers, she had just finished reading Twilight's letter. She was chuckling at how Twilight had ended her letter. "Why do I feel like you set me up for this? Anyway, that is my discovery of bliss. Until next time princess, Twilight Sparkle."