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                  The Hardest to Forgive                   
                         -by B D-                          
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                         Prologue                          
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Prologue
It was a fairly nice day in Ponyville. The midsummer sun shone warmly on the ground, with a few clouds giving light shade. There was heavy rain the day before, leaving grass and leaves glistening in the sunlight. You could hear birds chirping all across town, but sounds of nature were increased tenfold around a certain little cottage near the edge of the Everfree Forest.
It was a perfect day for a walk, Fluttershy decided. She needed one to get her mind off of how shallow and selfish she had been while vying for her friend Twilight Sparkle’s Grand Galloping Gala ticket. Oh, how terrible she had been. They had only been friends for a short time, but she might have already ruined everything. No, no, she needed to stop thinking about these things.
Whitetail Woods was the best place she knew for long, relaxing walks where ponies could get their mind off the stresses of life And besides, many of Fluttershy’s little animal friends called the woods home. It would be a perfect time to check up on them.
So she set off at a slow trot towards her destination. The burbling stream calmed her troubled mind, and the birdsong raised her spirits. She could point out the names of the bird behind every chirp. However, one of them was missing. Spencer the sparrow always loved to sing at this time of the morning, but not that day. He needed a checkup on his sprained wing anyway, so Fluttershy decided to see what was going on.
As she walked towards Spencer’s nest, she noticed the entire forest had gone quiet. Fluttershy quickened her pace, starting to get a little worried. When she was only a few yards away, she heard terrified squawking, and broke into a gallop. She found the sparrow with his wing trapped under the fallen remains of the tree he once called home.
Fluttershy lifted up the tree and gently pushed Spencer out from under it. “What happened, Spencer?” she quietly asked, worry evident in her voice. He screeched a few times, shaking in fright. “Something on fire fell from the sky and crashed into your tree?” She translated. With a final squawk, Spencer shakily flew onto the branches of one of the nearby upright trees. “And something's still there?” A fair bit upset and with curiosity sparked, she checked the crash site.
She screamed.
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