Beaten To Shyness

It was beautiful day in the city of Cloudsdale. The pegasi flew about their day; moving clouds, letting out rainbows and some were just napping on the plushness of the clouds they created. There wasn't a care in the world, everything looked and felt perfect to the inhabitants. It was almost as if the entire city was sighing in relaxation.

One particular was flying gently in the air, not gaining speed yet not going slow. It was just a small little filly, her butter-yellow coat showed no signs of a cutie mark and her rose-pink mane fell lightly over one teal eye. Her light voice graced the air with soft singing, today had been a great day for the small filly.

"Fluttershy!"

The small filly's ears pricked up and she hovered for a moment before spotting her mother waving her in. She beat her small wings a bit harder and flew into her house faster than she should have. Her small hooves hit a small bump in the clouds and she stumbled, falling into the house and spreading more cloud everywhere.

The pegasus mare helped her small daughter up. "Dear are you ok? That was quite a fall." She fussed, brushing cloud tufts off of the small filly. She wrapped her wings around her in a hug.

The mare was butter-yellow in color, her cutie mark was a white snowflake and her mane was a light teal, which she had done up so that it looked like her good friend Ms. Cake.

Fluttershy nuzzled her mother affectionately. "It's ok Momma, I'm fine." She said, a bright smile on her face.

"Shut up Feather Flutter, Fluttershy needs to learn to fly better."

A harsh, uncaring stallion voice grunted. The stallion in question was sitting in the shadows of the room, his cold ice-blue eyes glaring at his daughter. There was a slight creak as he moved his chair and stalked into the full view of the light.

The stallion was large. His coat was the color of the sands on a beach, with two red boxing gloves emblazoned on his flank. His mane was strikingly blonde and it fell above his ice-blue eyes, which were staring down at the butter-yellow pegasus he called his daughter with hatred in them. He flared his wings threateningly.

Fluttershy bristled. "Daddy, why do you hate me?" She asked, straightening up and glaring at her father.

Feather Flutter gasped. "Boxer please, she's just a small filly. Why can't you leave her alone? She never did anything to hurt you." She said, resting a hoof on one of his huge shoulders.

All Fluttershy saw was a hoof the size of a dinner plate smacking her mother across the face. She saw her mother fall back with a cry of pain and her eyes streaming with tears.

Boxer snarled. "Weakling." He turned on his daughter, but there were only hoof shaped prints where she had been standing. He looked to his wife and saw his daughter standing over her, crying.

"Momma! Momma please get up, please be ok!" She wailed, eyes wide with distress. Tears fell from her teal orbs and pearled on her mother's fur as she cried.

Feather Flutter groaned. "Fluttershy I'm fine... He's done this before. He always does this. Run sweetie, run!" She croaked out, a large hoof-shaped bruise had formed around her eye and her pale fur was matted and wet with tears. She looked at her small filly, who was crying in fear. "Run!" She cried.

Boxer felt something run passed his hooves. His daughter was running away and she broke through the clouds of the door, leaving a gaping hole. He snorted like a bull and charged after her, eyes blazing with fury.

Fluttershy ran past her father and broke through the door, crying and wailing. "Help! Somepony help me!" She wailed. Nopony answered her calls. She looked back and saw Boxer burst through the door, leaving small shreds of cloud where it had once been. She was swamped with artificial light as a door opened and she cried out before falling, something snagging her hind leg.

Boxer dove. He hit the clouds just short of his daughter, but he managed to hook one fore hoof around her hind leg. She fell with a squeal and he lunged forwards, biting down on her tail and dragging her back.

Fluttershy screamed as her father bit down on her tail. She tried digging her front hooves into the ground, but he tore them out and continued dragging her. Through her tear-blurred vision, she saw the shape of a pegasus and heard somepony screaming. She cried out again, begging for help. She felt her tail come loose and she got up to run, but something hard whacked her across the head and she fell unconscious.

Boxer heard Fluttershy scream again. He dropped her tail whipped around and slapped her upside the head. She fell limply, her form spread out on the cloud as blood trickled from her jaw. He grabbed her by the wings this time and dragged her back home, his eyes full of menace and hatred.

~~~

Fluttershy's eyes fluttered open. She looked around through tear-blurred eyes, not knowing where she was. All she knew was that her wings were burning with pain and her throat was throbbing. She wiped the tears from her eyes and looked around again, her vision clear.

A hospital room greeted her.

Fluttershy squeaked, but it sounded... Muffled. She sat up and cried out in pain, again her voice sounded muffled. She looked behind her and saw that her wings were bandaged up. She became aware of the sensation of bandages rubbing against her neck fur and she whimpered, covering her eyes with her hooves.

"Fluttershy?"

The filly put her hooves down as a voice hit her ears. There was a doctor standing in front of her. Other than his white jacket, she could see a dark blue coat and a light blue mane that spiked up a bit. She caught a glimpse of a white cross cutie mark. Glasses were perched on his nose and behind them were bright green eyes.

Fluttershy gulped. "What?" She could barely hear her voice it was so soft. "There's something wrong with my voice!" She cried out, but it sounded more like a whisper. She started trembling, fear seizing her limbs.

The doctor rested his hoof on her throat and nodded. "After you feel unconscious, your father broke your wings and hit you in the throat. Sadly, the damages are going to be permanent. Your wings will be weak and your vice isn't going to recover. He threw you off the cloud after that and stalked home, leaving you behind. Lucky for you, a certain little filly saw the whole thing and saved you, she's waiting outside, I'll let her in."

Fluttershy couldn't hold back. She started sobbing uncontrollably, her entire form was shaking as the tears flowed like a waterfall down her face. She whimpered and sniffled and cried out. She thought they would never stop until a hoof touched her foreleg and she opened her eyes, wiping the tears from them. "Y-Yeah?" She asked.

A cyan filly like her stood there, a sympathetic look in her magenta eyes. Her mane was fuzzy and every color of the rainbow. She waited until the rose-maned pegasus stopped sobbing and held out her hoof. "I'm Rainbow Dash, the filly that caught you. What's your name?"

Fluttershy cracked a tiny smile through the tidal wave of saltwater tears. "I'm Fluttershy, nice to meet you Rainbow Dash." She shook the small filly hoof.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Years Later...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Fluttershy was flying alongside Rainbow Dash, the mare who had saved her life so long ago. Both of them were full grown now and had their cutie marks, both of them earning them at the same time.

Rainbow Dash had been in a race to defend Fluttershy's honor. She had gone at such a speed that she had pulled off a Sonic Rainboom, leaving a blazing prismatic trail behind her. The cloud with the rainbow lightning bolt was still a space of pride for the older mare. She still cracked a grin whenever she told the story.

Fluttershy had been knocked off of a cloud in that race. Because of her weak wings, she wasn't able to fly up. She had been caught by a swarm of butterflies and had discovered all the animals down on the ground. She had identified them all, despite never seeing them before. When the Sonic Rainboom had frightened them into hiding, she had discovered her talent for speaking to animals. She had coaxed them out of hiding and the three pink butterflies had appeared. She still told the story when asked, always happy to recount it.

The two mares stopped and sat on a cloud, glad to be in each other companies. "Remember when we first met?" Rainbow asked, her eyes brimming with slight curiosity.

Fluttershy flinched. "How could I forget? It was the day everything changed. It's why my voice is so soft, why I'm such a weak flyer and why I'm so shy. Did I ever tell you the story of how it all happened?" She sighed wistfully, then looked at her best friend.

Rainbow cocked her head to one side. "No, I don't recall it. If you don't want to tell me, that's fine. If you do, I'd love to hear it." She said carefully. Every time she had asked about how her friend had been landed in the hospital, Fluttershy had politely refused to oblige but the cyan mare had seen the tears.

Fluttershy sighed. "I guess now would be a good time to tell you." She took a deep breath and began.

"I wasn't always so shy. I began as a cheerful, loud and proud young pegasus. My mother's name was Feather Flutter, my father's name was Boxer. So I got home one day and..."