The Filly with the Purest Heart

“What is going on?” asked Rainbow as she trotted towards the employee desk of the bakery with confusion rattling around her mind. She had heard Fluttershy yell something unintelligible as she had just entered the establishment. She also noticed Pinkie standing in front of Fluttershy with a confused look of her own on her face.

“Oh... My.” whimpered Fluttershy to herself as she backed away from Pinkie and turned her attention to Rainbow.

“Fluttershy.” said Pinkie to herself quietly as she also focused on Rainbow, just now noticing that she had arrived.

“Fluttershy, why were you yelling at Pinkie Pie?” asked Rainbow as she was standing on the other side of the counter, but staring straight into Fluttershy’s eyes.

“I... I don’t know.” said Fluttershy solemnly as she averted her gaze from Rainbow and stared at the ground.

“It’s not like that, Dashie, Fluttershy has not been feeling well, she was supposed to help me with some baking today, but she is not feeling up to it.” said Pinkie as she regained her composure and approached Fluttershy gently.

“Oh, I see.” said Rainbow as she trotted behind the counter to stand beside Pinkie. “Did she tell you what was bothering her, she can be hard to pull an answer out of at times.” continued Rainbow as she was now standing in front of Fluttershy.

“No, that is the thing, she will not tell me anything, she got really upset when I continued to try and ask her, and well, you know the rest.” said Pinkie with an awkward look on her face.

“Okay, I got it, don’t worry Pinkie, I will take it from here.” said Rainbow as she placed one of her forehooves gently under Fluttershy’s chin.

“Hey sweetie, it’s okay, just relax, take deep breathes.” said Rainbow with a soft tone of voice towards her suffering friend.

Fluttershy began to whimper some more before she finally lifted her gaze from the floor and met Rainbow in the eyes once again. Her breathing began to soften as a relaxed look now fell upon her face.

“There, that is better, now let’s go somewhere else and talk about this, so that way Pinkie can get back to her work here.” said Rainbow with a gentle smile as she gave Fluttershy an endearing hug.

“Oh Rainbow.” whispered Fluttershy as she gratefully returned the hug, holding her friend very tightly.

“Aww shucks girls, you are going to make me cry again, haha.” said Pinkie as the uplifting sight before her began to move her on a positive level.

“But Rainbow, I still have to help Pinkie, I did promise her after all.” said Fluttershy with a tone of guilt as the two friends had ended their hugging embrace.

“Oh don’t worry about that Flutters, you and Dashie go somewhere and relax, I can handle all of this here, really.” insisted Pinkie to her distraught friend.

“Umm.. Okay, but only if you are sure.” said Fluttershy quietly as she began to leave the area behind the counter and returned to the outer part of the bakery.

“Hey listen to Pinkie, she will be alright, now let’s go to the Flower Sister’s Shop and look around, that has always put you in a chipper mood.” said Rainbow as she trotted to stand right beside Fluttershy.

“You girls have fun, see ya later!” said Pinkie happily as she began to bounce around playfully before returning back to the kitchen to finish up her work for the day.

“You heard her, let’s go.” said Rainbow with excitement as she made sure to stay right beside her friend as the two left the bakery, and headed out into the streets of Ponyville.

“Th..thank you Rainbow Dash, I appreciate this.” said Fluttershy with a soft voice and a warm smile on her face.

“Don’t mention it, now let’s go to the flower shop!” said Rainbow as the two pegasus ponies slowly, but surely trotted off in the direction that Rainbow had in mind.

Elsewhere, Twilight had finished her preparations for the day as she had left Spike behind at the library to look after the chores that needed to be done. She had more pressing things to focus on, such as the source of the strange energies that she had began to detect in the past week. She had a book levitated in front of her while she trotted slowly down one of the streets of uptown Ponyville. She waved and greeted a few ponies here and there, but she was mainly focused on looking for the source of the disturbances that she was sure had to be close by.

“Not here, maybe if I get closer to the Everfree forest, then the signal might become clearer.” thought Twilight to herself as she turned her attention to one of the streets that she knew would lead to the outskirts of the mysterious forest.

“As long as I do not tread too far into the forest, I should be fine, but, I do need to find the source of this soon, otherwise it will drive me crazy, hehe.” laughed Twilight to herself as she was now moving along by herself down a lone road that led in the general direction that she wanted to go.

“I can hear Spike now, he will probably tell me that I am over reacting to this, but I have to believe my intuition here, it has been rather reliable in the past after all.” thought the unicorn to herself with great conviction.

She had made it a good bit down the road as the sight of the outlying trees of the Everfree began to appear in her vision.

“Aha, there is it, and I can feel the signal of disturbance growing, whatever has been making me feel uneasy, it is not far from here.” said Twilight to herself as she moved off of the road itself and simply trotted over the grassland that surrounded the road, which would get her to her destination quicker.

“I hope this works.” thought the unicorn to herself, when suddenly, she felt a shiver down her spine as she saw something, feint, but present none the less, standing just barely into the trees of the forest. Twilight was only around two-hundred feet from the forest herself, but she could not make out the features of this mysterious being. Instead, she continued to trot towards the forest slowly, as she tried to focus on the being that was shadowed in the forest.

“Who in Equestria is that, could it be Zecora, or is it somepony else?” thought Twilight to herself as she had slowed down her pace, and began to cautiously look around her to see if any other ponies were nearby. There were wheat and flower fields around the area, and a few wooden windmills here and there, but there was no other ponies around this part of the town. Only Twilight herself and the strange shadow occupied this area for now.

“Should I introduce myself, maybe once I get closer to him, or her.” thought Twilight to herself as she continued to approach to shadowy being slowly, making sure to keep her focus on the area around the being as well, as to not let anything unexpected to happen.

Once she was within fifty feet of the tree line of the Everfree, she could see the being clearly. It was a pony, a stallion, but the rest of the being was still hard to make out, as the sunlight could not pierce the trees that the pony was standing under, making it hard for Twilight to see anything else of the strange pony.

“Umm, hello?” asked Twilight as she put the book that she was levitating into the saddlebag on her back. “Are you okay, I noticed you here from afar, and you have not moved at all since.” said Twilight calmly, but with a feint tone of caution.

The pony did not respond, but did slowly inch closer to Twilight’s location, as he had exited from under the trees, allowing the sunlight to bathe him and reveal his full appearance.

He was a unicorn, with a auburn-brown coat, a slicked back brown mane, and a full beard and mustache which sat upon his face. He was clothed in a traveler’s cloak of sorts, with only his front hooves and face visible. He had blue eyes, which had an indifferent expression about them, as he now stood only a short distance from Twilight Sparkle at this point. Twilight backed up slightly once the mysterious pony had arrived in front of her, as she was taken aback by the fact that he was at least three times larger than her. His fore hooves were also rather muscular in appearance, and she assumed the rest of his body shared a similar physique as well.

“H... Hi.” said Twilight meekly as she fell upon her flank with a tone of fright and uncertainty. She was not sure who or what exactly this pony was, but she was certainly intimidated by his stature and facial expression. She had to be sure to leave some distance between them, in the instance that something bad happened.

“What are you doing here, leave.” said the stallion with a harsh, coarse voice as he looked down at Twilight with a frown on his face.

“Wha.. What?” asked Twilight as she continued to sit on her flank, staring up at the large stallion with a look of confusion and fear on her face.

“You heard me, leave.” said the stallion as he reiterated his statement from earlier towards the frightened and confused mare.

“Wait a minute, what is going on here, who are you, and why are you near Ponyville?” asked Twilight as she stood back up on her hooves and decided to trot only slightly closer towards the stranger pony. She had mustered up some confidence at this point, as she was sure being close to her hometown gave her some kind of advantage.

“I like your headstrong question, not backing away from me in fear anymore eh?” asked the stallion as he stood his ground, not moving an inch, and still keeping a look of anger and aggression on his face.

“I am not going to let somepony like you scare me, just because you are larger than me does not mean that I am weak, and it certainly does not give you the right to be so rude.” said Twilight as her eyes narrowed and an angry expression now covered her face as well.

“That is understandable, I am not trying to use my size to intimidate you, it is your own mind that is making you think that.” said the stallion with a calm and clear tone.

“Wait, what are you on about?” asked Twilight as her anger turned into confusion again. “Are you trying to scare me or confuse me, I cannot figure out which right now?” continued the mare as she now took a few steps towards the large pony, albeit with a scared body language.

“Fine, I will give you a moment, but tell me, why are you here, forget about why I am here, tell me your reason for coming to this forest first.” said the stallion as he brushed one of his fore hooves through his slicked back mane and continued to stare intently at Twilight.

“Why should I tell you anything, for all I know, you could be the pony causing all of these strange energy readings that I have been detecting lately.” said Twilight as she suddenly realized in saying this, she basically did tell the stranger why she was there.

“Hehe, works every time, you told me your reason even when you did not want to.” laughed the pony to himself as he stepped forwards and stood right in front of Twilight, with only two feet on distance separating them at this point.

“Darn it, I told him too much.” thought Twilight to herself as she looked up at the stallion in his eyes with a quiver in her mouth. She let out a soft whimper as she began to tremble some, and she had began to back away slightly upon growing more uncomfortable with his presence.

“Aww, do not be scared my lovely mare, just relax, I am not here to hurt you.” said the stallion as he relaxed his facial expression and smiled gently at Twilight before beginning to speak again. “Your own paranoia is getting to you right now ma’am, and you ought to try and focus a little, what is your name anyway?” asked the stallion as he sat on his own flank and leaned his back against one of the trees on the tree-line that they stood within.

“And.. And why should I tell you my name?” asked Twilight suspiciously as she managed to regain her composure slightly and sat on her haunches, trying to relax herself enough to get more clarity on the situation.

“See, you’re paranoia is messing with you again, now you will not tell me your name because you are a stuck-up pretentious unicorn.” said the stallion with a slight smile.

“Hey, don’t call me that, it’s just...” said Twilight before she had lost thought of what it was she was trying to say.

“Since you seem to be having trouble even remotely functioning in any kind of self-respecting way possible, I will tell you my name instead.” said the stallion as he laid his back on the ground and stared up at the leaves and branches which covered the blue, sunny sky above them. He rolled over to his side and rested one of his fore hooves under his cheek as he stared at Twilight with a curious look about him.

“You are kinda cute you know.” said the stallion as he laughed slightly at his own words.

“Eh, what?” asked Twilight as she stood back up on her hooves again, and began to blush a vivid crimson.

“Anyway, about my name, I will tell you.” said the stallion as he looked at Twilight with the same indifferent expression in his eyes that he had when she had first seen him.

The bell had sounded for recess at the Ponyville school, as all of the students raced out towards the playground where they could spend the next half hour musing over each other’s activities and interests for the day. Except, there were a few fillies who had other plans for this afternoon recess.

“I see them over there.” said Silver Spoon as she was trotting slightly behind her friend, Diamond Tiara. The two fillies were near the swing set when Silver Spoon noticed the Cutie Mark Crusaders hanging around the cobblestone fountain in the middle of the playground.

“Hey, that is where they were hanging out yesterday, it’s like they don’t care that we see them anymore.” said Diamond with an annoyed expression.

“Remember when we first started teasing them, they would use to hide from us all of the time, especially Scootaloo, but now here they are, just out in the open without a care in the world.” said Silver Spoon with a hint of anger in her voice.

“I guess they have grown too big for their own good, let’s go knock them down a peg Spoony!” said Diamond with a mischievous tone to her voice as the two friends trotted towards the water fountain, with the Crusaders being their only focus at the moment.

Applebloom and Scootaloo were drawing pictures with paint brushes, which they were holding in their mouths. Sweetie Belle was watching them with a joyful expression, until she looked up and saw that Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon were now approaching them from the swing set.

“Hey girls, look who is coming over here.” said Sweetie Belle with a slightly worried tone.

Scootaloo and Applebloom looked over in the direction that Sweetie Belle was, and indeed they saw the two trouble makers now standing right across from them.

“I knew we could not just have a nice and relaxing time, now could we?” asked Scootaloo to her two friends with a sarcastic tone as she stared at Diamond Tiara with a look of defiance in her eyes.

“Hey Scoots, don’t loose ya’ head over this, just stay calm okay?” asked Applebloom as she tried to reason with her friend.

“This time I am here too, you no good blank flanks, so there is no getting out of this like last time.” said Silver Spoon as she put her hoof around Diamond Tiara with a gesture of assurance to her friend.

“Yeah, and now you are going to tell us about what the hey happened yesterday, and no lying, tell us the truth.” said Diamond Tiara with anger in her eyes as the mere sight of the Crusaders made her stomach turn.

“She is still upset with us, why?” asked Sweetie Belle to herself quietly as she could not figure out the source to Diamond Tiara’s anger.

“Don’t fret over it, these two are just salty that they can never be as cool as us!” said Scootaloo with laughter as she approached the two fillies and eyed Diamond Tiara, face to face.

“I am actually glad that you are being honest in your hatred towards us, that makes sense.” said Diamond as she returned the gaze back at Scootaloo, the two fillies now in each other’s faces.

“Scoots, I told you to remain calm, don’t act like this, it will solve nothing.” said Applebloom as she approached Scootaloo and gently tugged her back, away from Diamond Tiara.

“Hey Applebloom, what gives, she is antagonizing us, we have to stand up for ourselves!” yelled Scootaloo towards her friend as she was frustrated that Applebloom would try and stop her.

“Ah’ don’t care, acting like that will only prove their point, just stay calm and don’t let ‘em get to ya.” said Applebloom calmly as Sweetie Belle trotted over and stood beside Applebloom, with the same gentle smile on her face too.

“See, they did this yesterday too Silver Spoon, Scootaloo is acting normal, but those other two, they will not get mad at me, in fact, they are trying to act nice to me.” said Diamond Tiara as she turned towards her friend with a look of confusion and worry on her face.

“Huh, you are right.” said Silver Spoon as she did not know what to do about this current development that had transpired.

“Remember what I told you yesterday, about what Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon teased me about, how they made fun of me for not having parents?” asked Scootaloo to her two friends as she tried to make a case for her anger towards Diamond and Silver Spoon.

“What, did we do that?” asked Silver Spoon with a look of fear and sadness on her face as she turned towards Diamond Tiara for an answer.

“Yeah, so what, it’s true.” said Diamond Tiara as she let out of stream of air from her nostrils in anger, looking at Scootaloo with resentment.

“But Diamond, that is not funny, why did we say that?” asked Silver Spoon as she took a few steps back from her friend in shock at what she had just heard.

The Crusaders noticed this too and stared on with their own feelings of shock and confusion.

“What, are you going to turn on me too Spoony?” asked Diamond Tiara as her look of anger turned into desperation.

Silver Spoon turned towards Scootaloo and looked at her with a blank expression on her face.

“When you told me that these three teased you yesterday, I thought you were being serious, but now I can see that the only one who was doing the teasing, was you Diamond.” said Silver Spoon as she turned her attention back to Diamond Tiara for a moment.

“No, it is not like that Spoony, don’t try to side with them, you have always approved of my teasing of them in the past.” said Diamond Tiara as she tried to reason with her friend, trying to justify her actions in a somewhat dignified manner.

“And for that I was wrong, do you see it Diamond, look at Scootaloo right now.” said Silver Spoon as she was motioning her friend to look upon the little pegasus filly that stood before them.

“Yeah, and what about it....” said Diamond Tiara as she cut off her words immediately as he mouth opened to form a gape.

Scootaloo stood in front of her own two friends, she had tears rolling down both of her cheeks as she was crying softly. She was trying her best to hold the tears back, but thinking about how she was teased for not knowing her parents only pushed her to cry even more.

“Scoots, don’t cry, it will be okay.” said Sweetie Belle with a gentle voice as she patted the distraught pegasus lightly on the back.

Diamond stared at Scootaloo, and could feel her stomach forming into a knot as she tried to say something else but she could not bring herself to do so.

Silver Spoon then turned her own attention back to Scootaloo and began to speak. “Scootaloo?” asked Silver Spoon with an unusual gentle tone as she slowly approached the three Crusaders with a gentle smile adorning her face.

“Y-yes?” asked the orange pegasus as she was still wiping away tears of hurt from her eyes.

“I... I am... Sorry, I am sorry, I AM SORRY!” yelled Silver Spoon as she fell to her haunches and began to sob into the grass below her.

“What?” asked Scootaloo to herself as turned to look at both of her friends with confusion.

“Oh my, I did not see this coming!” said Sweetie Belle with a surprised look of her own.

“Silver Spoon?” asked Applebloom as she trotted towards the crying filly and place her left forehoof gently upon Silver Spoon’s head.

“I am sorry Scootaloo, please don’t let what we said hurt you, I was wrong to say that, and I understand if you hate me.” continued Silver Spoon as she was sobbing even fiercer into her hooves, unable to bring herself to look up at the fillies that she had tortured for so long.

“Spoony, why, WHY!??!” yelled Diamond Tiara as she began to cry herself. Diamond Tiara then ran away from the fillies and out of the playground. She had to get away from this scene. It was simply too much for her to bare at the moment. A ton of conflicting emotions began to fill up in her mind as she could not get the image of Silver Spoon laying on the ground, and crying out of her head.

“I do not care right now, I just need to get home.” said the filly to herself as her own tiara had fallen off her head while she was racing towards the direction of her home. She did not care though, she only wanted to be alone, in her bedroom right now. For that was the only place that she could find solace at the moment. The only place where things seemed to make any sense.