After destroying Cozy Glow, Chrysalis and Tirek and becoming the new ruler of Equestria, Fluttershy returned to Ponyville, her hometown. Some ponies, who have returned after leaving town to hide from the wrath of the Evil Trio, started to rebuild the town. Now that all evil is defeated, the ponies can finally go back to a peaceful life full of harmony until the end of time.

Fluttershy though was in a flurry of emotions. Even though she was happy that she was able to defeat Cozy Glow, Chrysalis and Tirek all on her own and took Equestria back, which ponies have been working on rebuilding it for a few days now, she still was sad. Her best friends were gone, and there was no way to bring them back, no matter how hard she tried.

"I mean... I'm happy that I took Equestria back...", Fluttershy thought, "But I miss my friends... Why, why, just why did I go to Zecora with Angel?"

Fluttershy cried her heart out again. Of course she was thankful that the Evil Trio is defeated, but the loss of her friends sits very deep, even deeper than the loss of her Sweet Feather Sanctuary. Again, she got depressed very quickly and it made her current circumstances very negative. She wished that she could turn back time and never go to Zecora. Then none of that would have happened and her sanctuary would still be open and her friends still alive. Regardless of what Spike said to her, she just wanted to try it. She knew that the future can't be worse than that, and she didn't want to be alone without her friends...

"Wait... Didn't Twilight once mention something about time travel spells in the Canterlot archives?", Fluttershy thought. And since she was an alicorn now, she was now able to cast spells. It was a chance, a chance she had to take.

At long last, she saw a faint light at the end of this dark tunnel...

She didn't think twice, she flew to Canterlot as quickly as she could and soon reached the ruins of the castle that once was the home of the former princesses. Soon, Fluttershy found the remains of the archives, and went through all the books, scrolls and everything and soon found a scroll that held a familiar spell. One that Twilight casted a long time ago. It was the spell that allowed her to travel back in time, but it was fixed a long time ago, so now, she could go back indefinitely unless the future was somewhat changed.

"I only have one shot at this. If I mess it up, the future will get even worse than this...", Fluttershy knew. And she knew all too well that Equestria, the princesses, and the life of her friends was at stake here. One mistake, and everything was gone for good.

She casted the spell, charged herself up and with a pink discharge, she vanished into the past...

Some time ago, in the Sweet Feather Sanctuary, Fluttershy and Angel were in the supply room of the sanctuary. Angel pointed to a container with concentrated carrot extract inside.

Fluttershy was confused. "Concentrated carrot extract? That's for reviving energy-sapped herbivores. Are you feeling rundown?", she asked, worried for Angel.

Angel opened his mouth and pointed inside. He wasn't feeling rundown, but he was hungry, and he would give everything to get his tongue on that taste.

Fluttershy became angry though. "You just like the taste?!", she said, quite irritated, "Ugh! Angel, that extract is in short supply! What's gotten into you? Every day this week, you've been causing trouble when I have work to do!"

Angel became angry as well. He had no one to talk to and the only one who listened was occupied all day.

"Of course I know you can't talk to anypony else. But that's not my fault. I have responsibilities!", Fluttershy said angrily.

Both Fluttershy and Angel growled at each other before both ultimately gave up.

"You're right. We can't go on like this.", Fluttershy admitted, realizing that something was horribly wrong, "I guess we do need to see Zecora for help."

Just as the two wanted to head to Zecora, a pink blast went off just outside the supply room and a yellow, pink-haired alicorn came sprinting through the door, making Fluttershy startle. She looked just like her. "Me as an alicorn? Is she from the future?", she thought.

However, the Fluttershy from the future went straight to the point. "Fluttershy! You have to listen to me!", she said, "The fate of Equestria depends on this!"

Fluttershy got scared at this sentence. "Oh no, what is it?", she asked.

Future Fluttershy became serious. "Do not, I repeat, do NOT go to Zecora!", she said.

"But why? We have to ask her for help.", said Fluttershy.

"No! She won't help you!", said Future Fluttershy, "She'll give you a potion which has you and Angel swap bodies! And once you swapped, Angel has to take care of the sanctuary, and since he can't handle it, Dr. Fauna will close the sanctuary down, and this in turn puts you into deep depression, and eventually, into Tartarus, leading to the end of the world!" She said it as quickly and clearly as possible so Fluttershy wouldn't miss one single detail.

The pegasus gasped. "H-how do you know?", she said in disbelief, "Maybe Zecora will help us and everything will work out--"

"I'm coming from a few weeks into the future, and a very dark future at that.", Future Fluttershy said.

"Dark like what?", asked Fluttershy.

"Equestria gone, the princesses missing, and your friends DEAD."

The last word made Fluttershy's blood freeze in her veins. "D-d-dead!?" Saying that word alone was terrifying for her.

"Yes, dead. And you would be the only one remaining.", Future Fluttershy said.

Fluttershy couldn't believe what her future self was telling her. "Is... that... true? That my friends will die if I drank that potion?", she asked.

"That's right.", Future Fluttershy responded.

"But why would Zecora do that to me? Why would she want to close down my sanctuary that I worked so hard for to get it going?", Fluttershy asked.

Future Fluttershy just pointed at Angel. "Ask your bunny.", she said.

Fluttershy looked at Angel. "Angel, I don't know what to say, but if what my future self said is true, then I think we should have a word in private.", she suggested.

Angel crossed his arms and rolled his eyes. Future Fluttershy took notice.

"I forgot to mention...", Future Fluttershy began again, "If you drink the potion, Angel will die as well."

Fluttershy gasped again. "What? Why?", she asked, in more shock than before.

"Because you're the one killing him," Future Fluttershy said, "and this in turn gets you to Tartarus because you can't handle killing an innocent creature."

Fluttershy was scared beyond belief. And since Angel could understand everything that Fluttershy tells him, he understood Future Fluttershy too. He clutched at his owner's hind hoof.

Future Fluttershy turned around, still looking at the two. "Just try to make amends on the spot, and once you did, this future will be erased. I'll leave you two alone for a moment.", she said.

Before Future Fluttershy left the supply room, Fluttershy wanted to know something. "Wait! How did you become an alicorn? Do I actually get a horn in that future?", she asked in curiosity.

"Yes.", Future Fluttershy said, "By touching Grogar's Bewitching Bell, a powerful artifact that can store alicorn and chaos magic. Now, if you'll excuse me..."

Fluttershy's future self went out of the supply room and left the two alone. Once Angel let go of Fluttershy, the pegasus started talking.

"Angel...", she started, "I hate to say it, but after what my future self told me, I have no choice but to believe her. We can't go to Zecora. And I'm sorry if I didn't have the time or attention for you recently, but I'm really overworked with my duties as a teacher for the School of Friendship as well as leading the sanctuary here. And you saw how turbulent things can go, and how much I have on my list. I don't get much downtime from that. Imagine you were in my hooves. Like she said, there's no way you can handle it all. It's a lot to do, and you would be overwhelmed in a minute, and this would cause the sanctuary to close, and all these... horrible things to happen..."

Angel's eyes filled with tears. Now finally understanding Fluttershy's dilemma, he actually realized what kind of an abuser he was all this time. He clutched onto Fluttershy again and shed tears. "I'm so, so sorry, Fluttershy...", Angel squeaked, "I was a terrible bunny, and I made so many bad decisions. I don't deserve someone as cute and caring as you... You cared for me, did what you have to do, and all I did was command you around like I'm an overlord... I'm so awful..."

Fluttershy comforted her pet bunny by patting his back softly. "There, there, Angel.", she said, "You're not a bad bunny. Everypony makes mistakes, and very few have the courage to admit them. I appreciate your apology, Angel."

Angel let go of Fluttershy and looked deep into her cute, light blue eyes.

"What do you say? Friendship?" Fluttershy held out her right hoof. Angel gladly took it, and then, they fell into a hug, with Fluttershy giggling a little. "Now come on, Angel. I know how I can get you the attention you want."

From outside, Fluttershy heard what her past self said, and when she heard her giggle, she knew. "Yay! It worked!", she said to herself. And then, she started to glow, and looking down on herself, she disappeared into the air, leaving only a swarm of glowing, pink butterflies that her past self saw once she and Angel exited the supply room.

"Thank you, my future self... Thank you for everything.", said Past Fluttershy.

Back in the present, Fluttershy opened her eyes. She was no longer in the Canterlot archives. Instead, she was out on the streets of Ponyville. And it looked like a clear and sunny day.

She looked around. Equestria was not destroyed, and when she tried to recall her memory, she remembered her and her friends, as well as every befriended creature in Equestria defeating Cozy Glow, Chrysalis and Tirek and Celestia and Luna entombing them into stone for eternity.

"It... worked! I did it... I saved the world!" Fluttershy couldn't believe that this worked. She was no longer the depressed princess of Equestria who missed her dearest friends... No, she was the real Fluttershy, cute, shy, happy and no longer alone.

And when she saw her friends who were meeting themselves in front of Sugarcube Corner, Fluttershy galloped to her friends and fell into a deep hug with one of them, and it was Rainbow Dash.

"Whoa! Fluttershy, what's gotten into you?", asked Rainbow Dash, certainly confused about the sudden hug.

"Oh, Rainbow... I'm so glad you're all okay... I had a terrible nightmare, about my Sweet Feather Sanctuary being closed, me killing Angel, Equestria being destroyed, you girls being dead, and me having to fight Cozy Glow, Chrysalis and Tirek alone... It was so horrible...", Fluttershy explained, crying while she said it.

Rainbow consoled her pegasus friend. "Hey, Fluttershy. It's okay. It was just a dream. You're here, we're here, it's all good. Right, girls?"

The rest of the Mane 6 agreed and nodded.

Fluttershy was so happy. A few weeks ago, she lost her Sweet Feather Sanctuary, her friends and the entire world, and now, she managed to set history right and saved Equestria and her friends.

After spending the rest of the day with the Mane 6 as well as checking on her Sweet Feather Sanctuary, she went home...

After returning home to her cottage come nightfall, Fluttershy yawned. She has gone through an awful lot these past few days. But she managed to set everything right. She saved her sanctuary, she saved Angel, she saved the world and her friends. And now, she deserved a good night of sleep.

She turned to Angel, who is fast asleep in his bed. "Oh, Angel.", she whispered, "You're just the best bunny that a pony can have, even if we have an argument sometimes... Good night, little one..."

And then, Fluttershy climbed into her bed, turned off the lights, and drifted off to sleep, dreaming a dream that she always wanted to dream about. Flying high in the sky, going faster and faster, eventually breaking the sound barrier and unleashing a yellow and pink burst of color in the sky...

An Angelic Flutterboom...

THE END

Author's Note

You might notice that this chapter was written before the others. That's because I wanted to create a start and an end before working on the content in between.

Thank you for staying until the end, and I hope you liked the alternate timeline to the worst episode of MLP: FiM (in my opinion at least).