Green Is Your Color

Chapters

Attitude and Pizzazz
The Return of Flutterguy
Haute Couture, Please
The Best Garden Ever
The. Worst. Possible. Thing!

Attitude and Pizzazz

“I just don’t understand the appeal of… what did you call it? ‘Talking turkey,’” Rarity said as she watched her sister and her friends trying to imitate a turkey.

“It’s all in good fun,” Applejack chuckled. “And there’s an art to it. You can’t just make the same gobbles over and over, otherwise the turkey’s gonna get bored. Whoever can keep the turkey’s attention the longest wins the turkey call.”

Rarity smirked. “Has Fluttershy been in a turkey call before? Why, she could talk to an animal for hours on end!”

“I reckon so!” Applejack agreed. “I asked her to join last year’s turkey call, but she was too afraid to get on stage in front of everypony during the competition.”

“The poor dear,” Rarity lamented. “So, everypony has to try and gobble with a turkey on stage? Like a performance?”

“Yup.”

Rarity watched as Sweetie Belle made some uncivilized gobbling noises at one of the turkeys. The turkey stared at her blankly for several seconds, then abruptly swished around, giving the filly a face-full of plumage. “Ouch!” Sweetie Belle exclaimed as Apple Bloom and Scootaloo giggled.

Rarity gasped as the gears in her brain turned. “IDEA!” she exclaimed, so loudly that the turkey let out a loud gobble and waddled off. With a glint in her eye, Rarity rushed over and placed her hooves on Sweetie Belle’s shoulders, a very wide smile on her muzzle. “Sweetie Belle! You have got to let me design you a hat for the turkey call! It’ll have big bright plumes just like a turkey’s, to look elegant on stage and keep the turkey enraptured. It’ll be sure to help you in the competition, while adding style to boot!”

Sweetie Belle’s eyes widened as she cowered beneath her sister’s appraising gaze. “No way, sis!” She scrambled away, then threw her hooves around Scootaloo. “Make the hat for Scootaloo instead! She’d make a way better turkey!”

“Hey! Why me?” Scootaloo cried.

“Um… because… you have wings?” Sweetie Belle squeaked.

Scootaloo glared briefly then rolled her eyes. “Well, I say the hat should go to Apple Bloom. Her mane is like a turkey!”

“What?! No it’s not!” Apple Bloom protested.

“So none of you three want a turkey hat?” Rarity asked. “I promise it’ll look good!” She tutted at the retreating fillies, turning to the only other pony. “Applejack? How about you?”

Applejack scrunched her nose. “Uh, mighty kind of you, Rarity, but I think I prefer a more natural look for the competition.”

“Fine, but I will not let this idea go to waste.” Rarity grinned, rubbing her forehooves together. “I’ll just have to make it for myself!”

“Perfect!” Rarity exclaimed as she stitched the last blue feather onto the headpiece. “And just in time for the spa!” She levitated the turkey hat onto her head and stepped out of Carousel Boutique, ready to show the world her latest creation. She trotted through the town square on her way to the spa.

“Rarity!” Applejack called from her apple stand. She hid a chuckle behind her hoof. “That your new design?”

“It most certainly is!” Rarity chimed. “What do you think?”

“Oh, it’s something.”

“Something extravagant?” Rarity tried to tease out, fluffing the feathers on top with a hoof. “Or something plain? Something magnifique?”

Applejack shrugged. “It’s cool.”

“Well, you just wait until everypony wants one for the turkey call,” Rarity declared.

Applejack chuckled. “If anypony asks for a getup, you know I’ll send ‘em to you,” she promised.

Rarity continued on her way to the spa, catching a few more looks from other ponies; whether good or bad, Rarity needn’t mind. She closed her eyes and raised her head up high, knowing the route to the spa by heart. Even if many other ponies laughed or scoffed, Rarity knew the design would speak to at least one pony out there, and then all the fuss would be worth it.

“Stop,” a curt voice spoke out.

Rarity opened her eyes; before her were two ponies carrying a light blue pony with a white mane and black-and-white striped outfit on a pillow. In an instant, all of Rarity’s legs froze. “P-Photo Finish! T-The most famous fashion photographer in all of Equestria!”

Photo Finish leaped off the pillow and trotted around to Rarity’s side, her purple goggles angled towards Rarity’s hat. “Yes, yes…”

Rarity turned her head to address the celebrity, barely containing herself. “You like my hat? I made it my-”

“Stop!” Photo Finish exclaimed, darting to Rarity’s side and making her face forward. “No move. I observe.”

“Uhm,” Rarity mumbled as she stood stiffly, waiting for permission to move again.

Photo Finish did a full three-sixty wearing a stern expression. Then once she was done, she said, “Absolutely marvelous.”

“Ooh, thank you!” Rarity beamed, finally relaxing.

“Canterlot is too saturated with more of the same,” Photo Finish said. “Fashion world needs something new. I come to Ponyville to rediscover… the magics.”

“The magics?” Rarity asked.

“The shape - such attitude, one can’t help but look. The green feathers - such pizzazz.” She outstretched a hoof, and one of her helpers tossed a suitcase onto the ground, which sprang open into a camera. Rarity only had a split second to pose before Photo Finish snapped a picture. “Will take Canterlot by storm. Must see more.”

“Well there’s certainly more where this came from,” Rarity proudly declared. “I am Rarity, owner of Carousel Boutique, where every garment is chic, unique, and magnifique. Every outfit can be custom tailored to bring out everything that makes a pony special.”

Photo Finish gave a single nod. “I want to see more of your creations. But first I must see all Ponyville has to offer. Your shop, four o’clock.” She snapped her briefcase closed and leaped onto her cushion. “I go.”

Rarity blinked several times, then raised her hoof to her forehead and collapsed in the dirt. No matter - she was headed to the spa anyway. I can’t wait to tell Fluttershy about my new opportunity!

I wish I never told Fluttershy about my new opportunity, Rarity seethed. She watched from afar as Photo Finish ushered Fluttershy into the makeshift studio. Rarity had seen the pictures from the photo shoot at the park; the outfits did not have much to speak of, although Rarity had to admit they did go well with Fluttershy’s coat. Most of Rarity’s objections came from how Photo Finish always seemed to snap the pictures at the strangest times, like whenever Fluttershy was scared or trying to hide. They were hardly what Rarity thought were the best representation of her friend, but somehow the pictures were such a hit in Canterlot that every big name in fashion was coming all the way to Ponyville to see Fluttershy walk the runway in the flesh. Rarity sighed and trudged away.

Meanwhile, in the studio, Fluttershy wished she could trudge away.

“How do you feel? Excited? Overjoyed? Thrilled beyond your wildest dreams?” Photo Finish asked.

“N-nervous…”

“Nervous? Don't be ridiculous. All these ponies came all the way from Canterlot to see you. They are going to love you.”

Fluttershy’s eyes widened. “Oh no, why did you bring them all the way here? They’re not going to like me, and they’ll be so mad they came all the way from Canterlot to see such a let down…”

“Too much competition in Canterlot and all the models do the same flashy things,” Photo Finish explained, shaking her head. “These ponies need something new to see! Now that they are in Ponyville they only have you to look at, whether they like you or not. You see my genius plan, yes?”

Before Fluttershy could respond, music started playing in the showroom. “Your cue. Now go!” Photo Finish commanded.

The moment Photo Finish shoved her past the curtains, Fluttershy was bombarded by bright lights and flashing cameras. She immediately tried to hide behind her mane, but her usual pink curtain was tied back. Fluttershy was frozen; everypony would certainly laugh at her.

You must do this for me, Rarity’s voice echoed in Fluttershy’s head.

Fluttershy exhaled a breath and put one hoof forward. “I can’t let Rarity down,” she mumbled to herself. “I must do this.” She angled her head down and closed her eyes and ears to ignore all the ponies looking at her, trying to imagine that she was simply walking across the little bridge in front of her cottage, surrounded by her animal friends. “I must, I must, I must!” she repeated with each step.

She opened her eyes just in time to avoid walking off the end of the runway. She flinched at the drop and the ponies below staring up at her. She jerked her head up and to the side, squeezing her eyes and ears shut again. Sure enough, everypony started laughing at her. The sound pierced her ears, making her want to melt into the floor as she endured the crowd’s judgment.

“So graceful,” a voice commented just below Fluttershy’s left.

“So lovely,” another responded.

Fluttershy’s ear perked, and she peeked her eyes open to glance to her left. The two mares were gazing at Fluttershy with warm smiles, not cackling sneers. Unfolding her ears fully, Fluttershy realized that the crowd seemed like they weren’t laughing at her, but actually cheering for her. Fluttershy stood up straight and dared to put on a small smile.

“So perfect for my new advertisement!” a voice exclaimed, followed by a new wave of camera flashes. Fluttershy grimaced as all the lights blinded her and rooted her to her spot. Her wings twitched as she fought the urge to undo her mane’s styling and hide behind it, cursing the hair bands holding back her protective curtain; the whole outfit felt like a prison by now. She stood there waiting for all the attention to end, but it never did. Only when she finally cracked her eyes open again and begrudgingly looked around did she see Photo Finish at the curtain urging her to walk back. Of course! She was supposed to end it! Taking a deep breath, she slowly walked the length of the runway back to the curtain, afraid to look at anypony or falling.

“Phew, glad that’s over,” Fluttershy sighed as she slipped behind the curtain.

“Flootershy! We already have ten clients lined up for individual photos,” Photo Finish exclaimed, grabbing her shoulder. “We go!”

Fluttershy mewled in discomfort as she was dragged to the fitting room. “W-what are we doing next?” she gasped out.

“These ponies want pictures of you wearing their outfits or holding their products. We will go through the requests one at a time.”

One of Photo Finish’s helpers entered backstage; Fluttershy glanced through the doorway and saw the long line of dressed up ponies. She slumped in resignation, letting all her limbs go slack as the helper switched her outfit. At least modeling for one pony at a time wouldn’t be as bad as all those ponies staring and judging her on the runway.

Won't you just take the picture already? Fluttershy internally begged while enduring ten whole minutes of tiny adjustments. The last three clients hadn’t taken nearly as long, but this time the mare fussing with the blue dress with white frills just wouldn’t stop. The mare would adjust the flowers on her headpiece, stare for ten seconds, then nudge them a little and repeat.

The client finally walked back to Photo Finish behind the camera. “Wait, the armscye is too loose,” she said, strutting back to Fluttershy.

Fluttershy groaned and slumped, her wings drooping. She squeaked when the mare pulled on the dress, tightening its hold on Fluttershy’s forelegs. By the time they finally took the picture, Fluttershy could barely feel her front hooves.

The next client was a stallion who made stylized tea kettles and wanted a picture of Fluttershy showing off the kettle while wearing a matching dress. Photo Finish picked out an outfit with a middy collar, they took the picture, then the client asked to add a shawl lapel. Photo Finish shoved it on, they took another picture, then the client decided to take it out and swap more things in, repeating the process many times over.

“You are making my dress’s pleats look so uneven!” another client wailed. “Turn the other way. More. No, go back. Now the other direction. Good, now let’s do it three more times!”

“This here is my latest toile masterpiece,” the next client proclaimed, forcing Fluttershy into a white dress with matching shoes and a crown. It was the worst outfit she had had to wear so far, so tight and itchy.

Finally, Fluttershy could see the light at the end of the tunnel. There was only one client left in line, a mare who looked a little younger than herself. “Hi!” the young mare chirped, skipping through the door with a light green dress. “I’m a new designer and I’m so glad for the opportunity to feature my couture with an amazing model!”

Fluttershy tried her best to smile as the mare brought the dress to her. “Happy to help. It’s nice.”

“Oh no no no,” Photo Finish exclaimed, whipping her tail at the dress. “You used a backstitch here when it clearly called for a topstitch or maybe even a traditional blanket stitch.”

“What’s wrong with the backstitch?” the young designer asked.

“It went out of style years ago. It lost… the magics. Now go.”

The mare bit her lip with wide eyes, then turned for the door and rushed out with her head low, dragging her dress along the ground behind her. Fluttershy gasped.

“Flootershy! Excellent work, my shining star! Now rest up and get ready for tomorrow.”

Fluttershy was about to speak up about giving the last mare a chance anyway, but the realization that she was done for the day took over. She was done. She was done! Now she could go home, rest with her animal friends, talk to Rarity about her horrific experience, and never enter the studio again. Then she stiffened.

“Wait, tomorrow?” Fluttershy whimpered. “What are we doing tomorrow?”

“We have more clients already lined up for tomorrow. And as photos and gossip spread across Canterlot tonight, more ponies will come straight to Ponyville tomorrow because they will not want to miss out! You will be a star that shines across all of Equestria!”

Right. I can’t give up now, I have to shine across all of Equestria, Fluttershy lamented. She crawled her way to the door, but before she could escape, the tea kettle salespony was back, bursting through the door; Fluttershy squealed and hid behind a clothes rack.

The salespony spat a bunch of pictures onto the floor at Photo Finish’s hooves. “Look at these photos. The hems are clearly machine-stitched, and the overdesign is reminiscent of prêt-à-porter and not true Prench haute couture!” He crossed his right foreleg over his left, closed his eyes, and stuck his nose into the air.

Photo Finish eyed the pictures. She then abruptly whipped her tail. “Flootershy! Where are you going? We must redo this shoot.”

Fluttershy collapsed at the doorway in defeat.

Rarity could hardly believe her eyes and ears as she trotted down Mane Street and through the town square. Canterlot ponies - no, not just Canterlot ponies - ponies from all across Equestria were here, in Ponyville, wearing the latest trends and speaking in many accents. And it was too obvious what they were here for.

“Get yer Sweet Apple Acres apples! Fluttershy’s favorite apples in all of Ponyville!” Applejack hollered across the square. Every apple crate at her stand had a picture of Fluttershy carrying apples. Daisy, Lily, and Rose’s flower stand had a poster of Fluttershy holding out a bouquet of flowers. Nearly all the stands had some Fluttershy-related advertising and the ponies from out of town ate it up. A shadow cast over Rarity, and when she looked up she saw Rainbow Dash flying a banner of Fluttershy enjoying carrot juice.

“Howdy Rares!” Applejack called out. “Check out these here photos Fluttershy got for me! Her popularity is doing wonders for my business.”

Rarity tried so hard not to roll her eyes in a most unladylike fashion. “How generous of her.”

“She’s helping out the whole town,” Applejack smiled.

“I can see that,” Rarity deadpanned.

“Hey, I heard you were the one who got Fluttershy the job with that highfalutin fashion pony. So I gotta thank y’all too.”

Rarity bit her lip. “Oh, it was nothing. I’m glad for Fluttershy.”

“Next Cutie Mark Crusaders sleepover is on me, promise!” Applejack laughed. “Now, shouldn’t you be at the shop selling some Fluttershy-themed dresses? I’d bet my barn door on all these ponies being mighty interested in a yellow dress with pink frills right about now.”

“Hmm,” Rarity thought, putting a hoof to her chin. She looked around the street, bombarded with all the Fluttershys winking at her. She had been so caught up in her jealousy that she hadn’t even thought of the silver lining. “You know what, Applejack? You always did have the most practical ideas. I’m off to the boutique.”

“Good luck!”

An hour later, Rarity grimaced at the cheap creation she had thrown together - a yellow dress with pink frills. What was I thinking? Of course Applejack doesn’t know the first thing about fashion. She tossed the dud aside and perused her fabric shelf. What would scream ‘Fluttershy’ the most? Green for nature, for sure. Light green, for natural beauty and grace. Flowers, certainly, and butterflies too. But keep it simple. Hmm, that dress Photo Finish gave her could be a good start. She chuckled to herself. What was I thinking with that sparkly and feathery getup?

Suddenly she heard a commotion outside the boutique, followed by the ring of the welcome bell and a slammed door. Fluttershy was here, and she was so much larger than life that she could brush off all the fashion reporters with attitude and pizzazz. “Wow. Look how popular you are,” Rarity remarked. She quickly composed herself. “You must be having the best time ever!”

Fluttershy tried to smile but couldn’t, still trying to catch her breath and get all the camera flashes out of her vision. “Oh yes… best time ever…” she breathed out, which couldn’t have been farther from the truth. She had just crawled out of the studio in order to go to the spa with Rarity early and escape all this madness.

The bell rang again before Fluttershy could continue. Turning her head, she spotted Photo Finish rushing in, like a dragon who had spotted her prey. Fluttershy grimaced; good thing she was facing away from Rarity.

“Flootershy! I have been looking for you everywhere. We have the thing at the place!”

Fluttershy held in a groan, the hope of an early, extra long spa session fading away. She couldn’t refuse Photo Finish; not in front of Rarity. “I’ll see you at the spa? Our usual time?” Fluttershy managed to get out.

“Of course! I can’t wait to hear all about the… thing at the place,” Rarity forced out, not even managing to keep up a smile. She had to hide her face behind her coiffure. By the time she looked back, Fluttershy was nowhere to be seen, hidden beyond the crowd of ponies outside the boutique. Rarity growled to herself. I found Photo Finish first! I’m the one who should be mobbed by strangers wherever I go!

Another ring of the welcome bell gave Rarity a jolt, and she quickly cleared her head. “Welcome to Carousel Boutique!” she greeted the newcomers.

“Is she still here? We heard Fluttershy was here,” one of the ponies asked, looking around.

“Sorry, you just missed her,” Rarity said exasperatedly. “But, you’re still in luck! I’m having a huge sale on some of my best designs!”

“And you are?”

“Rarity, of course,” Rarity said, striking a pose.

“Never heard of you.”

Of course. Ponyville was currently mobbed by ponies across Equestria. For one reason and one reason only. Just as the tourists were about to leave, Rarity exhaled and put on another fake smile. “What if I told you Carousel Boutique is Fluttershy’s favorite place for all things fashion?”

“Yeah right,” one of the lost customers scoffed. “I don’t see any endorsements here.”

“Maybe I could believe you if you had anything in here that even sort of resembled Fluttershy,” the other pony remarked, slamming the door.

The thing at the place turned out to be a ballet showcase at the studio. A designer named Hoity Toity handed Photo Finish a piece from his brand new ballet line to put on Fluttershy. Nopony heard Fluttershy’s protests about not knowing a thing about ballet. Now she was on stage with a blue stallion with a bright orange mane and an outfit that complemented her outfit’s colors. The stallion pranced around her, moving in elegant circles. He repeatedly tried to invite Fluttershy to be part of his elaborate performance, but Fluttershy withdrew from his inviting hooves with a whimper each time.

Eventually her co-star gave up on a joint performance and proceeded solo. Fluttershy stood still and stiff as a statue, blocking out the dignified cheers and whoops from the audience. She tried to imagine she was sitting still in a mud bath instead, thinking of the spa visit that she was surely going to miss at this point. At long last, the graceful stallion took a bow to the tune of much applause. Hoity Toity walked onto the stage with a rack of related designs and started talking about his new ballet-inspired fashion line. Fluttershy took the opportunity to start sneaking off the stage.

“Fluttershy, my dear,” the ballet performer suddenly spoke up. “You are even more endearing up close than from afar. Would you be mine for the evening?” he asked, extending an inviting hoof.

Fluttershy stood in place, looking between the handsome stallion’s eyes and the welcoming hoof. She pulled away, hiding behind her mane.

“The performance is over,” the stallion continued. “It would be an honor to get to know you better. No need to be shy,” he encouraged, giving a warm smile.

The whole studio had gone silent; everypony had stopped paying attention to Hoity Toity, who had, in turn, stopped advertising. All eyes and ears were on the two performers.

“I heard a place called Sugarcube Corner is a popular spot,” the stallion mentioned. “A favorite of yours, I suppose?” Pause. “Or perhaps you would prefer to lead the way around your fine little town?” he asked.

“Um…” Fluttershy tried to start, twisting her hoof on the floor. Whatever she tried to say from behind her protective pink curtain came out as only high pitched squeaks, followed by chilling, freezing silence.

“My apologies,” the stallion finally said. “That was rather forward of me.” He gave a serene smile. “I wish you well on your career, Miss Fluttershy.”

“Ugh,” Rarity huffed, surrounded by several failed yellow and pink designs littered across her creation room. “Why does everything have to be Fluttershy, Fluttershy, Fluttershy? Why can’t anypony notice my designs?” she complained. She had spent days trying to take advantage of Ponyville’s momentary status of a hotspot, but her jealousy got in the way of making anything she would even remotely consider selling, even after admitting the problem to Twilight.

Rarity could always go to the studio herself and ask Fluttershy for a poster to hang outside the boutique. Fluttershy would make it for her right away. How could Rarity be so jealous of somepony so kind? Somepony who was her best friend!

“Some best friend I am,” Rarity lamented. “I haven’t even gone to one of her fashion shows to support her.” She stood up resolutely. “Time to correct that,” she decided, putting aside her failed dresses and heading to her wardrobe. If she was going to a high society event, she was going to dress her best. “Just because Fluttershy is famous doesn’t mean I can’t be fabulous!” she declared.She settled on a layered purple cape with a blue collar and matching headdress that wrapped around her horn. Yes, she would catch eyes for sure!

A quick trot across the Fluttershy-infested town, and Rarity was strutting into the studio. She quickly realized two things. One, there were no seats left because the place was utterly packed, and two, all eyes were on the runway waiting for Fluttershy, so obviously nopony would notice her in the back. “Guess it’s time to see what all the fuss is about,” Rarity huffed, looking towards the stage.

Rarity watched Fluttershy walk down the runway slowly with her head down, as if watching every step. If Rarity didn’t know better, she would have thought Fluttershy was scared of something; her friend did often scare easily, after all. That was supposed to be me up there, Rarity thought bitterly. All those eyes on Fluttershy were meant for me!

“Oof!” Fluttershy squeaked as she suddenly face-planted on the floor. The whole room gasped. Fluttershy got up, stretched her limbs, only to trip again.

Rarity smirked. Come on, Fluttershy! I never would have done that!

The next moment, Fluttershy was making all kinds of animal noises. Rarity was taken by surprise, but then shrugged it off. Communicating with animals was Fluttershy’s special talent, after all. Still, the ponies here wanted a certain high fashion image, one which Rarity still thought she could provide better than Fluttershy.

“Get her off the stage!”

“She’s an embarrassment to all things fashion!”

Rarity felt heat rise in her cheeks. They’re supposed to be her fans! How dare they yell at her for trying to be creative and sharing her special talent!

“I, Photo Finish, have made a terrible mistake!”

Rarity snapped to attention at that statement. That’s not true! Fluttershy is a graceful, thoughtful, creative pony! All the ponies were yelling and heckling at this point while Fluttershy cowered on the runway, as if frozen by the spotlight. And she’s my best friend. I can’t leave her like this!

“Bravo!” Rarity shouted over the crowd, stomping her hooves on the ground as loud as she could without chipping a hoof. “I say bravo! Such attitude! Such pizzazz! She’s invented an entirely new type of modeling!” Rarity noticed the crowd turning their attention away from the cowering Fluttershy and towards her, so she made her “bravos” and stomps louder. Anything to let Fluttershy escape with some dignity intact.

“Bravo!” another pony suddenly shouted, stomping their hooves too. The whole crowd soon followed. Rarity grinned wide, the outcome even better than expected. She had gotten everypony to see the error in their ways and appreciate Fluttershy for who she was! But when Rarity looked up at the runway, Fluttershy was practically crawling back to the curtain with her head down. Rarity wanted to comfort her friend right away, so she started walking towards backstage.

A lavender mare with a yellow mane pushed through the crowd to intercept Rarity. “You clearly know a thing or two about fashion. Would you be interested in attending my own show in Canterlot?”

“Oh, can we talk later?” said Rarity, not stopping her trot. “I need to find my friend.” She bumped into another pony.

“You there, miss fabulous! Can I interest you in-”

“Terribly sorry, but I have something very important to attend to at the moment, if you could excuse me…”

“Your head piece is magnificent! Where did you get it?”

“I love how your cape sparkles!”

Rarity pushed past the growing crowd, scrambling to get to the backstage door no matter who or what got in her way. After much tussling and brushing ponies off, she crashed against the door and knocked her hoof against it several times.

“What do you think you’re doing?” the security pony next to the door demanded.

“O-oh… I’m Fluttershy’s friend, you see, and I need to talk to her,” Rarity said with a sheepish smile.

“A likely story,” the security pony rolled his eyes. “I cannot let just any rabid fan in.”

The backstage door opened and one of Photo Finish’s clothing designers popped her head out. “Ooh! What a fabulous outfit! Come in and let me see!” she exclaimed, grabbing Rarity with both front hooves, pulling her in and slamming the door before anypony else could comment.

“Why, thank you, darling, but I’m here to talk to Fluttershy. Do you know where she-”

“Wow, the fabric has the perfect amount of sparkle, and what brilliant color choices,” the designer gushed.

“Ahem, yes, how about I let you examine the outfit while I go find my friend?” Rarity said. She trotted behind a changing blinder, came out and handed her dress and headpiece to the mare then ran further backstage. She burst through the first door she saw, but was met by an empty room full of props. Slowing down, Rarity shuffled past each door until she heard Fluttershy and Twilight’s voices.

Rarity threw the door open. “Fluttershy! Are you alright?” she asked.

Fluttershy’s wings snapped up in surprise. “I’m great! I’m a super famous fashion model,” she said, attempting to bat her eyelashes. “Why wouldn’t I be great?”

“Up there on the runway, everypony was turning on you, and-” Rarity paused. I couldn’t stand how unthoughtful they were? I wanted to scold them for making fun of your creativity? No… that’s not what my first thought was… Rarity’s eyes started tearing up. “Oh Fluttershy, it’s so awful…” Rarity cried, squeezing her eyes shut. “I wanted them to,” she admitted softly.

“You did?!” Fluttershy gasped.

“I’m jealous!” Rarity screeched. “I wanted all the attention, and instead it was going to you! I even started hoping that you would do something silly so your modeling career would be over. But then, when it started happening, all I could think was, ‘How could I want you to fail at something you love so much?’”

Fluttershy blinked away her growing scowl, letting out a soft breath as she turned a softer gaze towards the floor. “Oh Rarity, I hate being a model.”

“You do?”

“More than anything,” Fluttershy sighed, closing her eyes. She didn’t want to see Rarity’s reaction to her snubbing her best friend’s dream.

“Then why did you keep doing it?” Rarity asked, confused as ever.

“I was afraid if I quit, you’d be mad at me for not wanting to shine all over Equestria.” Fluttershy looked at Rarity, hoping her friend wouldn’t be too offended. The best case scenario would be if Rarity fainted on the spot.

“Of course not, darling,” Rarity responded. “And I thought if I told you how jealous I was of your success, you’d think I was a terrible friend,” Rarity got out before she steeled herself, praying that Fluttershy didn’t think so. She would dearly miss their spa days.

“Never,” Fluttershy immediately answered.

Rarity’s eyes widened at Fluttershy’s kindness. Here she was, wasting days of work trotting around town being jealous and begrudgingly trying to upheave her whole boutique selection over a problem that could’ve been solved on the very first day. “All this time…”

Every grueling fashion show and client could have been avoided. “If we had just told each other the truth…”

Rarity smiled, meeting Fluttershy’s eyes. “I promise never to keep my feelings a secret again.”

“Me too,” Fluttershy agreed. “Pinkie promise?”

Rarity nodded. “Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye!” the two of them recited in unison, holding their hooves to their hearts, then pointing to the sky, and finally over their eyes, laughing afterwards.

“You were brilliant. Brilliant!” called out the eccentric and dreaded voice of Photo Finish. “I’ve already got six photo shoots lined up for tomorrow alone.”

Rarity winked. Fluttershy beamed. “I’m sorry, Photo Finish, but I don’t think I can make any of them.”

“Whaaaaat?”

“We go!” Fluttershy and Rarity declared simultaneously with a hoof bump, giggling past Photo Finish.

“Can we head to the spa?” Fluttershy suggested as they trotted to the exit. “I could really use some relaxation after this whole mess.”

“Of course, darling! I was just about to suggest it,” Rarity smiled. She pushed open the door.

“It’s Fluttershy!”

“Fluttershy, over here!”

A mob of fans surrounded Rarity and Fluttershy the moment they stepped out of the backstage door and into the main gallery of the studio, and the guard pony was mysteriously missing. Fluttershy whimpered and hid behind her mane. She had forgotten that her career wasn’t over in the slightest.

“Don’t worry,” Rarity whispered into Fluttershy’s ear, wrapping a hoof across her shoulders. “Just keep walking with me.” Rarity pushed through the crowd with Fluttershy in tow, using force when necessary. Fluttershy buried her face in Rarity’s mane and kept walking, ears folded to drown out the noise. When they got out of the studio, Fluttershy fluttered into the air, feeling free.

“Fluttershy, you absolute star!” a mare called out, following them out of the studio. “I want you for the cover of my magazine!”

“Excuse me, dear, but Fluttershy is done for the day,” Rarity interrupted, shooing off the pony.

“Fluttershy! Tell me all about your thoughts on your latest photo shoot!” a pegasus reporter with a notebook in hoof demanded, flying up to Fluttershy’s face.

Fluttershy whimpered and landed beside Rarity, nestling into Rarity’s side again.

“Don’t you ponies know the first thing about personal space?” Rarity spoke sharply, pushing the reporter away with a little magic. As more ponies pursued them, Rarity hollered, “Fluttershy is not in a mood to speak with anypony. You can all go home now!”

“Thank you,” Fluttershy murmured as they hurried over to the spa.

“It’s the least I can do,” Rarity said. “I’m so sorry I got you into this mess in the first place. I should have known how much you detested the spotlight, but I was only thinking of myself and my own desires.”

Fluttershy gave Rarity a tight hug. “As long as you’re here, it’ll be okay.”

After many more struggles, the two of them finally made it through the spa’s doors. “Miss Fluttershy!” the blue spa pony, Lotus, exclaimed. “What can I get for Ponyville’s latest star?”

“The usual,” Fluttershy smiled.

The Return of Flutterguy

Fluttershy hummed a sweet tune as she fed the animals inside her cottage, but stopped when she heard a knock on her door. After staying frozen for several moments, she crept up to the door and opened it a tiny crack. “Ooh! Good morning, Rarity!” she greeted cheerfully, opening the door fully with a wide smile.

“Fluttershy, are you alright? Nopony has seen you for days,” Rarity said.

“Oh… I’m fine,” Fluttershy mumbled, scuffing a hoof against the floor.

“Are you sure? You’re not sick, are you?”

“No…”

“Is there an animal who’s sick? Shall I make them a scarf?”

“No, no creature is terribly sick at the moment.” Fluttershy smiled. “I’m just spending some extra time with the animals. They missed me while I was busy modeling.”

“I see,” Rarity chuckled with a sheepish smile. “I guess I was getting worked up over nothing, then. It’s just that nopony’s seen you at the market for days. Do you have enough to eat?”

“Well… I guess I’m starting to run out of carrots,” Fluttershy whispered.

Rarity’s face lit up. “Is that so? We simply cannot let that happen.” She gestured towards town, raising a hoof dramatically. “To the carrot stand!”

“Um…”

“What’s the matter, darling?”

Fluttershy looked into Rarity’s sapphire eyes and sighed. “I don’t really want to go into town,” she admitted. “I’m afraid of getting mobbed by fans.”

“Oh…” Rarity hummed. She put on a determined look, lifting Fluttershy’s head up with a gentle hoof beneath her chin. “It won’t be so bad, dear, I promise. Photo Finish and all the reporters are long gone from Ponyville. And if there are any lingering ruffians, I’ll handle them!”

“You, um, you don’t have to do that,” Fluttershy whispered.

Rarity looked into Fluttershy’s worried eyes. “Nonsense. I got you into this mess, so I will see it through with you for as long as you need,” she declared.

Fluttershy stared back, then slowly smiled and nodded. “Alright. I’ll go get my saddlebags.”

“And I simply must tell you about my latest spark of inspiration,” Rarity chatted as the two of them trotted towards the market. “In the paper, I saw an article about these four stallions who perform together at a manedressers. The article said they had the most exquisite singing voices, although I haven’t heard them yet. But what I do know is they were absolutely charming,” Rarity said with a sigh, gazing across the sky with a hoof to her forehead and a goofy smile. Fluttershy sported a genuine smile but couldn't help but give a good-natured roll of her eyes.

“The only problem was, their suits were rather… last season. So I came up with the perfect design! It’s going to be mainly teal with some yellow and a bow tie. If it turns out well I might try to reach out to them.”

“That sounds lovely,” said Fluttershy. “I’m sure they’ll love it.”

“It’s Fluttershy!” somepony called.

Fluttershy immediately tensed up and tried to hide behind Rarity. Peeking over Rarity’s back, she saw a light beige mare with a red mane in front of a flower stand grinning at her. “H-Hello Rose,” Fluttershy mumbled.

“Hi! I just wanted to thank you for all the ponies you brought to Ponyville this past month,” Rose said. “You really helped our business flourish.”

“Oh, um… you’re welcome,” said Fluttershy, rubbing her leg with a hoof.

“Want a flower? Free of charge,” Rose offered, gesturing towards the stand with a leg.

“Go on,” Rarity encouraged with a grin, giving Fluttershy a little nudge.

Fluttershy looked at the wide selection of flowers at the stand. She sometimes wore flowers in her mane, but usually the birds would pick for her. “Which one should I get, Rarity?” she asked.

“Hmm,” Rarity thought, looking at her friend. A light pink flower would go well with Fluttershy’s soft demeanor, but her wonderful mane already had it covered. The next best color to go with the pink was a light blue. It would also go perfectly with the green dress she had been brainstorming for Fluttershy. “I have the perfect one,” Rarity announced, picking up a light blue flower with her magic.

Fluttershy turned her head so that her mane faced Rarity and closed her eyes. She smiled as she felt the stem weave through her mane. When she opened them again, Rose held up a mirror for her to look. “It’s perfect,” she giggled. “Thank you.”

They trotted over to the carrot stand, where Carrot Top was also happy to see Fluttershy and thanked her for the carrot juice ad. “See, darling? No more rabid fans screaming to get in your face. It’s just our Ponyville friends who are so happy to see you again,” said Rarity.

“I guess you’re right,” Fluttershy admitted with a sheepish smile.

“Fluttershy! How lovely to see you,” called a gray mare with glasses and a scroll for a cutie mark.

“Hello, Mayor Mare,” Fluttershy greeted.

“I’m so glad you brought so much attention to Ponyville. All our local businesses have been booming! You really put Ponyville on the map! So, when is your next fashion show?”

“Um, n-next fashion show?”

“Next fashion show!” the mayor repeated enthusiastically, with dreamy eyes. “I can’t wait to see all those ponies again coming from all over Equestria to see what our town has to offer. So when is it going to be? Next month? Next week? Tomorrow?”

“I-if you r-really want one…” Fluttershy gulped. “I guess it can be t-tomorrow… if that’s okay with you-”

“Mayor Mare,” Rarity interjected, “Fluttershy is done being a model.”

“What?!” the mayor gasped. “But you were so incredible! So popular! Everypony in town loved what you were doing!”

“Fluttershy never enjoyed being a model,” Rarity stated firmly. “It was nothing but an unpleasant experience for her.”

“But you have to!” the mayor whined. “Ponyville has never had an Equestria-wide celebrity before! We were doing so well with all the tourists you brought in!”

“Oh, if you really want-” Fluttershy barely whispered, but Rarity put her hoof around Fluttershy’s shoulders.

“I am sorry, Mayor, but I cannot allow you to put my dear friend through such a horrid ordeal again,” Rarity insisted. “Besides, trends come and go; nopony knows that more than me. If you want to bring ponies to Ponyville, you should start a new trend! Think of some other event to bring ponies here.”

“Oh, alright,” the mayor conceded. “I’ll come up with something else.”

“Be bold!” Rarity declared, striking a pose. “Now that Ponyville is on the map, ponies are certain to give it a try if your idea is bold enough.”

“Rarity,” Fluttershy whispered once the mayor was out of earshot. “I shouldn’t be saying no to the mayor. She’s my boss.”

“She’s not your boss, darling. Nopony can boss you around,” Rarity asserted.

“But she’s the one who hired me to take care of the animals so that we don’t get baby bunny stampedes and other animal-related disasters, remember?” Fluttershy said.

“Of course I remember. I suggested it,” Rarity said proudly. “But she is only your boss for matters related to protecting the town from critters. She can’t order you around for other things.”

“But, but what if she gets so upset with me for quitting modeling that she stops paying me for watching over the animals?” Fluttershy asked, curling in on herself.

“I don’t think that’s legal, dear. And even if it is, I don’t think you’ll have any trouble with bits after all the modeling advertisements you did,” Rarity winked. “Don’t you worry. You don’t have to model anymore.”

Fluttershy looked into Rarity’s sincere eyes and relaxed. “Thank you,” she said, giving her friend a nuzzle. Rarity giggled and returned it.

The next day, the mayor approached Fluttershy again. “Don’t worry, I’m not thinking about fashion shows,” she promised. “I came up with a whole slurry of new events to bring ponies to Ponyville. We have the turkey call coming up, and I thought, why not have a pet drive? We can showcase all sorts of animals who are looking for owners and ponies can come from all over to adopt them.”

“That sounds like a wonderful idea!” Fluttershy exclaimed. “I have so many wonderful creatures at my house who would love to be somepony’s special pet.”

Rarity listened to a recording of the four stallions from the manedressers while she finished putting together her first teal suit that she planned to sell to the group. “Oh, but what if they’re not interested?” she muttered to herself, circling the ponyquin. “It would be a terrible waste… wait a moment. IDEA!”

She trotted over to the mayor’s office at the town hall. “Mayor Mare, are you open to event suggestions to bring ponies to Ponyville?”

“Why, of course, Rarity! Tell me, what have you got for us?”

“Only the most fabulous idea! I want to start a music group! It’ll be four ponies with different vocal ranges blended together to make it truly unique. And we’ll be wearing dazzling matching suits! I have one design already made. I’ll call it… the Ponytones Quartet!”

“I love it,” the mayor approved. “When do you want to perform?”

“Oh, ehem, I don’t quite have a whole group together yet,” Rarity chuckled sheepishly. “Do you have a good time and place in mind?”

The mayor lit up. “The turkey call is scheduled next Saturday, and I’m planning Fluttershy’s pet drive the following evening in hopes of ponies staying in town overnight. How about we have a concert before the pet drive to further incentivize the crowd to stay?”

“Wonderful!” Rarity beamed. “Wait. Does that mean I have less than a week to prepare? Oh dear.”

“Is that too soon? We can always plan another time,” the mayor offered.

“No, no, it won’t be an issue at all,” Rarity chuckled. “Success waits for nopony! You can count on me to be ready to go!” she declared.

With no time to spare, Rarity found Fluttershy and talked about her idea for the Ponytones. “I’ll be able to show off my latest creation, and perform in front of all kinds of ponies!” Rarity squealed.

“It’s going to be wonderful,” Fluttershy smiled.

“So, in addition to finishing the outfits and finding ponies to sing with me, I also need a song to perform. You’ve made songs for your birds to sing before. Could you write one for me?”

“Oh my. I’ve never made a song with lyrics or different instruments before,” Fluttershy said. “My bird songs are just melodies and harmonies.”

“Not to worry. The style of music I have in mind is all about melodies and harmonies! And you don’t have to write the song alone. I just know that you can certainly make a wonderful first draft.”

“Alright, I’ll give it a try,” Fluttershy agreed with a smile. “Oh Rarity, you’re going to shine across Equestria for sure this time.”

Rarity worked tirelessly on the other Ponytones outfits and found two other ponies to wear them. The first was Toe Tapper, a blue stallion who owned a music store; he also offered to help write the song. The other was Torch Song, a theater student from Fillydelphia who was on break for the summer. She had travelled to Ponyville to see Fluttershy’s fashion shows and had decided to stick around town until school resumed in the fall. Fluttershy presented to them a first draft of a wonderful song which she called “Music in the Treetops.” The group finalized the lyrics together; since they were expecting a more urban audience from out of town, they put less emphasis on nature and renamed the song to “Find the Music in You.” Tender Taps fleshed out the draft into a full musical arrangement complete with a recorded background beat. Now Rarity just needed to find a pony for the base tone.

“Oooooh!” Pinkie Pie awed as Rarity struck a pose in her brand new Ponytones outfit. Rarity’s record player played an upbeat four-tone acapella from the group she drew inspiration from.

“Isn’t it magnifique?” Rarity proclaimed, batting her eyelashes. “Now, I’ve already found two other wonderful ponies to join me on stage, but I still need somepony for the bass harmony. You know every pony in Ponyville, don’t you, dear? Can you point me to somepony with a deep voice?”

“Hmm,” Pinkie trotted up to the recorder, her ears twitching. After sticking her head in and out of the megaphone, she decided, “The only pony in Ponyville with that kind of voice is Big Mac!”

“Big Mac, you say?” Rarity smiled. “He’ll be perfect!”

“Yeah! It’ll be so amazing! You’ll be there on stage, basking in the hooflights! The center of attention! A shining star!”

“Now Pinkie Pie, I mustn’t get too overconfident,” said Rarity. “What if everypony will be looking at me thinking they could be way better than me? And then, when I choke, they’ll turn on me!” Rarity exclaimed, flopping onto her nearby chaise lounge. “They’ll become a seething, angry mob, and I’ll be horribly humiliated, never able to show my face in Ponyville ever again!” Rarity finished with a hoof to her forehead.

“Pft! Hahaha! That won’t happen at all, silly!” Pinkie Pie giggled.

Rarity grinned. “I suppose that would be a tad unlikely.”

Pinkie woke up to the feeling of her ears flopping against her pillow. Just as she opened her eyes, her whole body shuddered, sending her blanket into the air. Then both her ears flopped again. “Whoa, I’ve never had that combo before!” Pinkie said aloud, bolting up. “Whatever it means must be a doozy!” Her ears flopped, she got another full-body shudder which made her fall off her bed, and her ears flopped again. “At Fluttershy’s cottage!” she exclaimed.

Pinkie rushed out of Sugarcube Corner and straight into the library. “Twilight! Spike!” she hollered.

“Pinkie…?” Twilight groaned, covering an ear with a hoof and refusing to leave her comfy covers. “The library doesn’t open until-”

“I woke up this morning because my ears were flopping, then there was a full-body shudder, followed by my ears flopping again! I’ve never had that combo before! There’s going to be a doozy at Fluttershy’s cottage! Come quick!”

Twilight’s eyes snapped to attention. “A doozy? I’m on my way!”

Spike stirred awake just in time to see the end of Twilight’s tail disappearing out the bedroom door. “Twilight?” He shrugged and pulled his blanket over his face. “It’s too early…”

Pinkie Pie abruptly woke Rarity from her beauty sleep next, then bounced her way over to Sweet Apple Acres. Along the way, she spotted Rainbow Dash doing tricks in the sky, pulled out a megaphone from her mane, and hollered the same speech she gave Twilight and Rarity. With three disheveled friends in tow, Pinkie Pie quickly found Applejack in the field and dragged her along towards Fluttershy’s cottage.

“I’m mighty surprised you’re up bright and early, sugarcube,” Applejack chuckled at Rainbow Dash.

“Hey, it’s not every week that the Best Young Fliers’ Competition is coming up,” said Rainbow Dash. “I’m practicing my moves so I can show the Wonderbolts my stuff. I mean, I know I’m awesome and all, but-”

“Shh,” Twilight hushed, abruptly closing Rainbow’s mouth with her magic. She pointed her head towards Fluttershy’s cottage. “Look!”

“There’s music in the treetops, and there’s music in the vale, and all around the music fills the sky~ There’s music by the river, and there’s music in the grass, and the music makes your heart soar in reply!”

The five ponies watched in awe as Fluttershy belted out the most amazing melody ever while flying around with her animal friends. “Woooooow!” Pinkie Pie cheered at the end.

Fluttershy’s eyes widened, she froze up, then slowly retreated onto her rump, holding her forehooves close to her face. “Oh… you, um, you didn’t hear me, um-”

“Singing in the most beautiful voice ever?!” Pinkie screamed.

Rainbow swooped right up to Fluttershy with a grin. “Yeah we did!”

Fluttershy shuddered, trying to hide behind her mane from her friends’ stares.

“Wow, I’ve never heard you sing a solo like that before!” Twilight said.

“It was like a little slice of heaven,” said Applejack.

“With ice cream on top!” Pinkie Pie added.

Rarity smiled. “Fluttershy, are you sure you don’t want to share that stunning voice of yours at the concert?”

“Yeah! It’ll be so amazing!” Pinkie Pie interjected. “You’ll be there on stage, basking in the hooflights! The center of attention! A shining star! With everypony staring at you, judging you, jealously noting how they could be way better than you! Why wasn’t it them? Why wasn’t it them?! And then, when you choke, they’ll turn on you, becoming a seething, angry mob, and you’ll be horribly humiliated, never able to show your face in Ponyville again!”

“Pinkie Pie!” Rarity scolded. “Don’t be ridiculous!”

“Aw, but it was your joke-” Pinkie started, only to find Rarity’s hoof in her mouth.

“Now Fluttershy,” Rarity said calmly, holding out her other hoof to help the scared pegasus up. “We all thought your singing voice was incredible.” Everypony else voiced their agreement. “So why don’t you join me for the performance?”

“Um, well, I…” Fluttershy stammered, scrambling for an excuse. “Then we would have to rearrange all the music.”

“Hmm, that is a problem… but not to worry! We can share my part!” Rarity suggested. “Yes! Now come, Fluttershy, you will join the group, making the Ponytones Quartet the Ponytones Quintet!”

Fluttershy shuddered, images of flashing lights and judging eyes streaming through her mind’s eye. “No!” Fluttershy asserted. “I do not want to perform.”

“Why not, Fluttershy?” Twilight asked.

“Well, you see…” Fluttershy glanced towards Rarity, hoping she would understand, but Rarity only looked disappointed. “I have…” she turned the other way to hide. “Um, I have-”

“Spit it out!” Rainbow encouraged, putting a hoof on Fluttershy’s shoulder.

“I have stage fright,” Fluttershy whimpered.

Pinkie Pie gasped loudly, hiding behind a bush. “Is it contagious?!”

“Stage fright isn’t a disease, Pinkie,” Twilight assured. “It just means that Fluttershy is scared to perform in front of everypony. And I think I understand. All those fashion shows were really stressful. Is that it, Fluttershy?”

Not exactly, but that was part of it, so Fluttershy nodded. “I’m very thankful the Ponytones are singing at the pet drive, and I’m really looking forward to the performance, but I’ll be watching safely from the audience.”

Rarity sighed. She was sort of glad Fluttershy was being upfront, but still disappointed in the missed opportunity. “Well… I think it’s a terrible waste of an exquisite talent, but I understand that you’re not comfortable. I promise I won’t make you do anything you don’t want to.”

Fluttershy smiled a big smile of relief. “Thank you.”

Pinkie Pie peered out of the bush, her thoughts working double time. She had to cover her mouth with her hooves to keep them from spilling out. Fluttershy has the best singing voice ever! But she has stage fright! But she loves singing! But she’s afraid of other ponies! Buuuuuut she had the biggest, greatest, most amazing smile while she sang, and smiles don’t lie! I have to get her on stage so she can live her true dreams!

“Oh! Angel’s right,” said Fluttershy, responding to her faithful pet bunny’s hops. “We’d better get going. There’s a lot of work to do before tomorrow’s event.” The others followed Fluttershy to the park, with Pinkie Pie bouncing along with a determined and mischievous smile trained on Fluttershy.

“Hi Torch Song!” Pinkie Pie chirped.

“Hi Pinkie Pie,” Torch Song smiled.

“So you’re performing with the Ponytones tomorrow night, right? Right?” Pinkie asked. Torch Song nodded. “Well… what if I told you a racoon broke into your house and you had to hop on a train to Fillidelphia right away to catch it before it ate all of your food? Would somepony have to take your place in the show?”

“Uh, what? That didn’t happen, did it?” Torch Song asked.

“Nope! But hypothetically…” Pinkie Pie urged, rolling a hoof.

Torch Song laughed lightly; she was still getting used to Pinkie Pie’s antics. “I guess if I had to leave, we would have to find a replacement quickly,” she said.

“And that pony is?” Pinkie prompted.

“Not sure,” Torch Song shrugged. “Rarity didn’t talk about backups.” She grinned at the hyperactive pink party pony. “Are you saying you want to be our backup, Pinkie?”

“Who, me? Nuh uh,” Pinkie said.

“Oh.”

“What about Fluttershy?” Pinkie blurted out. “After all, she has an amazing singing voice.”

“She does, doesn’t she? Not to mention she helped write the song we’ll be singing,” Torch Song added.

“Ooh! Yeah! Exactly!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed, adding this new information to her “Information to get Fluttershy on stage and be a shining star” vault.

“But Fluttershy is pretty shy about singing in front of others,” Torch Song stated. “I couldn’t make her fill in for me. Are you sure you don’t want to be a backup? I know you’ve got the voice for it after that ‘Welcome to Ponyville’ song you sang for me!”

“No thanks!” Pinkie said.

“Aw, okay. Well, I’m sure there are plenty of other mares who could fill in for me,” said Torch Song.

Pinkie went through her mental records and came up with more vocal range matches than she could count. “Yeah, you’re right,” she sighed. “Oh well. Catch you later alligator!” she said, bouncing off.

Pinkie Pie hopped along aimlessly, coming up with dozens of plans to get Fluttershy to sing on stage and crossing them out. Each one she came up with seemed more unlikely than the previous one. She was stopped mid-bounce by a hoof.

“I thought I should give you a poke, for before you lies a bed of poison joke.”

Pinkie opened her eyes and took in her spooky surroundings and the zebra at her side. “Ooh! Thank you for stopping me, Zecora! I definitely don’t want to hop into those silly plants again! Can you imagine not being able to talk anymore? Can you? Can you? And I definitely wouldn’t want to not be able to use my horn if I had one, or become a teensy weensy super duper little pony, or have hair for fur, or crash into everything, or get a super duper duper deep voice that’s almost as deep as the deepest and most unique voice in all of Ponyville-” Pinkie suddenly gasped a very loud gasp that made her float into the air, and she immediately zipped out of the Everfree Forest.

“Pinkie, why do you have a turkey with you?” Twilight asked.

“This is Trevor!” Pinkie introduced. “During our talk yesterday, he said he would love to see somepony singing, so I brought him with me!”

A million questions flooded Twilight’s head, but she decided to let most of them go. Instead, she looked around the crowd of ponies assembled for Rarity’s concert. “Where’s Fluttershy?” Twilight voiced.

“Probably hiding,” Applejack remarked. “You know how much that pony hates the spotlight.”

Pinkie Pie simply grinned at the stage, waiting for the big reveal.

Except it didn’t happen. Big Mac was on stage. “Oh no, did Zecora actually have a remedy for Big Mac’s voice instead of giving Fluttershy the poison joke?” Pinkie gobbled to Trevor. “Or did we not talk for long enough? I can talk forever and ever, but I thought for sure Big Mac couldn’t sing after all that! Now I have to come up with another plan!”

“Cut it out, Pinkie,” Applejack huffed, nudging the pink pony. “Big Mac’s lookin’ at us. You already beat him at the turkey call fair and square. Ya don’t have to go rubbin’ it in during his performance.” She pointed up at the stage. “Look at how nervous he looks up there!”

Rarity played the opening note on her harmonica, and Big Mac took a deep breath and opened his mouth.

“Bum, Bum, bum-ba-da, ba-da! Bum, bum, bum-ba-da, ah!”

Pinkie perked up, a very wide grin spreading across her whole face. The concert was a smashing success with the Ponytones garnering a huge applause. Pinkie spotted Fluttershy walk out from behind the stage and bounced over. “Fluttershy, you were on the wrong side of the curtain! You totally missed the show!” she exclaimed with a wide grin.

Fluttershy stood there frozen, her mouth shut and eyes wide peering up at Pinkie Pie.

“Uh, just like a true professional, Fluttershy was backstage making sure everything ran smoothly!” Rarity interjected.

Pinkie knew that smile that Rarity wore. It was a cover-up smile, the kind you put on when you weren’t telling the full truth. Rarity was good at that smile, better than most ponies, and especially Applejack. But Pinkie knew smiles. And seeing that smile on Rarity made Pinkie Pie smile.

Trevor pecked Pinkie on the leg. “Did you like the show?” Pinkie gobbled. “I really liked it, but it’s not fair how Fluttershy didn’t get any applause for her wonderful singing! I’m glad she enjoyed performing, though! The plan worked half-way, now I just need to come up with some more steps for Fluttershy to shine!”

Applejack stared at Pinkie Pie bemusedly. “Why, if I didn’t know any better, I’d think that turkey could really understand you.”

“There’s music in the treetops, and there’s music in the vale, and all around the music fills the sky!” Fluttershy belted out in her temporarily deep voice as she fed the animals the next morning. The sun was shining, the air was fresh, and she could see Rainbow Dash flying out in the distance. “Rainbow’s up early,” she remarked to herself, her ear twitching; it was still so strange to hear her altered voice. Upon hearing her voice and realizing that Rainbow was flying towards her, she gasped and ducked into the nearest bush.

Fluttershy watched and tried to control her shivering as Rainbow hovered over her cottage and looked around before landing at the cottage door and knocking. After a minute, she knocked again. And again. “Fluttershy? Are you home?” she hollered. Eventually, an angry Angel bunny opened the door.

“Hey pal,” said Rainbow. “I’m looking for Fluttershy.” Angel continued to stare up at the mare. “I have this new routine I’m practicing and I want her help,” Rainbow continued. She groaned at the bunny. “Just let her know to come find me, will ya?” Then she zipped off.

Fluttershy double and triple checked that Rainbow was gone before crawling out of the bush. She wasn't safe here. She needed a place to hide until the cute-ceañera this afternoon.

Rarity heard the jingle of the front door and trotted out of her workroom. “Welcome to Carousel Boutique! Oh, Fluttershy!” Then she gasped. “Whatever happened to your mane?” She immediately fetched a brush with her magic and started removing twigs.

Fluttershy kicked the door closed with her back leg and looked every which way around the shop before speaking up. “Rainbow Dash came by my cottage looking for me but I hid in a bush. Can I hide here until the show?” she said in a deep whisper.

“Hiding from Rainbow Dash? Whatever for?” asked Rarity.

Fluttershy looked at the ground, her mane reaching the floor as Rarity brushed it. “I can’t let anypony hear my voice, otherwise they’ll know I sang at the concert last night.”

Rarity gave a proud look. “And what makes that a problem, darling?”

“I just don’t want anypony to know,” Fluttershy shuddered. “I’ll perform at the party this afternoon, then I’ll take the antidote. If you want, I can help you stitch dresses until then… if that’s okay with you.”

“Got the music in you!”

Fluttershy held a wide grin as the last note rang in her ears, followed by the roaring applause of fillies and colts. She even fluttered in place a little, her heart feeling as light as air. She pulled back the curtain for the others to walk backstage. Rarity flashed her a grin. Then she heard hoofsteps approaching around the side of the stage, and reality came crashing down. With a mad thrust of her wings, she bolted up and hid behind an upper curtain just as the mayor came around.

“Amazing, Ponytones!” said the mayor. “And it would be even more amazing if you could perform at my ribbon cutting ceremony, tomorrow!”

“Oh… mayor, we would love to, but…” Rarity started. She gave her mane a little flick so that she could sneakily glance up at the curtain, spotting Fluttershy giving a little nod. Rarity perked up. “Um, will you excuse us for a second?”

“Certainly,” said the mayor, walking back to the party. Once she was gone, Fluttershy swooped back down.

“Don’t worry, Fluttershy, you don’t have to perform again,” Rarity started.

“But we wouldn’t want to disappoint the mayor,” Fluttershy immediately responded.

Seeing her friend’s eagerness, Rarity gave a knowing look. “Well then, is everypony else on board?” Torch Song and Toe Tapper voiced their agreement and Big Mac nodded. Rarity went to inform the mayor, then the Ponytones headed out.

Before leaving the privacy of backstage, Fluttershy gave Rarity a little nudge. “Um, can I stay at your place, Rarity? I don’t want, um,” she trailed off, rubbing a leg with a hoof.

“Of course, darling,” Rarity beamed. “It’ll be just like old times!”

For the rest of the afternoon, Fluttershy helped Rarity make dresses for a client.
In the cover of night, Fluttershy flew to her cottage to lay out all the food for the animals, then rushed back to Carousel Boutique before being spotted.

Rarity heard the soft tap against her window. She let Fluttershy in, who hastily closed the curtains. Rarity couldn’t help but frown. “Fluttershy, are you sure you want to do this? I can’t imagine what it’s like to have to avoid speaking or seeing anypony except me for two whole days.”

“It's okay,” Fluttershy said, her voice still so jarringly deep. “I can still talk to my animals.”

“You’re not doing this just because the mayor asked, are you?”

“Well, maybe a little,” Fluttershy admitted. “She did ask me to do another fashion show, and I couldn’t do that.”

“I already told you she’s not your boss,” Rarity tutted. “And the mayor wasn’t asking you to perform, she was asking me. It would be me letting her down. She wouldn’t even know it was you.”

“Just seeing her enjoy the performance makes me happy, I promise,” Fluttershy said. “Really, it does,” she assured.

“Well, alright,” Rarity conceded.

“Thank you for having me over,” said Fluttershy. “I’m sorry to be a bother-”

“Not at all!” Rarity exclaimed. “You are never a bother. In fact…” Rarity smirked. “It is an honor to host one with such a riveting, gallant voice as yours, milord,” she bowed, fluttering her eyelashes.

From her recent modeling stint, Fluttershy put on the best impression of a Canterlot stallion. “You move me, my fair lady,” she drawled, reaching for Rarity’s hoof and giving it a kiss. The two of them burst into a fit of giggles.

Pinkie Pie bounced down the market street, greeting everypony she knew. Which was everypony, of course! “Hi Carrot Top! Hi Lyra! Hi Lily Valley! Hi Big Mac!”

“Evenin’, Pinkie Pie,” Big Mac called back from the apple stall.

Pinkie Pie froze mid-bounce and pivoted in place. “Big Mac! Your voice is all better already?”

“Eeyup!”

“Cool! Gotta bounce!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed, zipping straight to Carousel Boutique. Big Mac stared after her, then shrugged.

Pinkie blew past the front door and stuck her head into Rarity’s workroom before Rarity could even give her signature welcome message. “Hi Fluttershy!” Pinkie exclaimed, spotting the yellow mare frozen at a sewing machine. “Hi Rarity! I need a favor! I’m throwing a super duper amazing big party at Sugarcube Corner in an hour and I want the Ponytones to perform at it!”

“In an hour? You mean an hour from now?” Rarity shrieked.

“Yuh huh!” Pinkie nodded.

Rarity put a hoof to her head and flopped onto her chaise lounge (after levitating it over). “The notices get even shorter and shorter… well, I’ll go see if all the other tones are available and meet you there, but no promises.”

“Okie dokie lokie! I’m gonna go set up the stage now!” Pinkie was gone the next moment. She replaced her usual casual hop in favor of galloping down the streets hollering, “Party at Sugarcube Corner in an hour!” at the top of her lungs. Along the way, she swooped up empty crates and barrels around town, tossing them onto a stack on her back. After zigzagging every major road in town, she made her way back to her home turf.

Pinkie climbed up a ladder carrying the pole of her shower curtain in her mouth. She placed it on a hook on the ceiling; it wobbled back and forth. “Stay still, curtain! I need you to stay still!” Pinkie commanded. “Good!” She climbed down and picked up the ladder to put it away, but the ladder knocked against the curtain, which came crashing down and blanketed her. “Oh come on!” she exclaimed. Then she gasped. “Good curtain!” she said, petting it. “Now come on, you just stay up there until it’s time. You have to fall during the performance so that everypony will see the truth and they’ll cheer and it’ll be the best show ever!”

“Pinkie, did you say something? Who are you talking to?” Mrs. Cake called.

“Nopony!” Pinkie responded. Donning a hard hat and wielding a saw in her teeth, she broke apart all the crates and barrels, then switched to a hammer and started nailing the pieces into a stage. She shoved all the tables in chairs of Sugarcube Corner into a corner.

Mrs. Cake ignored the ruckus for a while until it was too much, even by Pinkie’s usual standards, and came out of the kitchen. “Pinkie! What in Equestria are you up to?!” Mrs. Cake exclaimed.

“I invited everypony in Ponyville to a party at Sugarcube Corner! But it’s not going to be just any party, it’s going to be a concert! And you can’t have a concert without a stage and a curtain! Don’t worry, I made sure to leave the display counter where it is so we can still sell treats!”

“Bum, Bum, bum-ba-da, ba-da! Bum, bum, bum-ba-da, ah!”

Pinkie grinned very widely from the audience. Pinkie knew Fluttershy still wanted to sing even though she didn’t have to! Time for Fluttershy to get the applause she deserved! Pinkie snuck off to the back of the room to the spotlight.

“Hey, find it, oh why, you can find it~”

As the song went further along, Pinkie started feeling nervous. Come on, curtain, hurry it up already! Bad curtain! I should’ve tied you to a leash! Then I would’ve pulled it!

Finally, there was a crash and the curtain fell down and over the Ponytones. Pinkie gasped, grinned, and pointed the spotlight at a moonwalking Fluttershy who looked like she was having the time of her life. Wow! That’s one of Fluttershy’s bestest smiles ever! Pinkie cheered to herself.

“Yeah, yeah, I love the music, ye-”

“Fluttershy?!” the crowd gasped.

Fluttershy stopped in place and sunk to the ground, so Pinkie adjusted the spotlight. Wait for it… Pinkie thought, looking at the crowd. Right on her mind’s cue, the guests started cheering and whooping and stomping their hooves. “Woo hoo!” Pinkie cheered along with them! She knew everypony would love Fluttershy!

“Big Mac, you’ve got some ‘splaining to do!” Applejack hollered, climbing onstage. Rarity quietly inched away.

“Turkey call?”

“Eeyup.”

“Trash your voice?”

“Eeyup.”

“Zecora remedy?”

“Eeyup.”

“Not quick enough?”

“Nope.”

“Needed a deep voice?”

“Eeyup.”

“Flutterguy?”

“Eeyup.”

“Better now?”

“Eeyup.”

Ooh, she’s good! Pinkie thought, holding both forehooves over mouth to control her excitement.

“And that shy filly was livin’ her dream in the shadows because she couldn’t bring herself to come into the spotlight?”

“Eeyup,” Big Mac concluded, looking sad.

“Well, for corn’s sake! Let’s go!” Applejack declared, galloping out the door.

“Where are we going?” Rainbow asked from overhead once the group was all outside.

“To Fluttershy’s cottage, silly!” Pinkie answered. “She must be getting the poison joke antidote to sound like her lovely self again! Not that her voice was any worse as Flutterguy! She really nailed my Evil Enchantress song, remember? She’s an evil enchantress-”

“Not now, Pinkie,” Applejack scolded.

“You know what’s strange?” said Rainbow. “I haven’t seen Fluttershy at her cottage for days.”

“She was… staying with me, dear…” Rarity huffed as she galloped after the others.

“So you were in on this, Rares?”

“Of course she was in on it, silly!” Pinkie giggled, bouncing along.

“Fluttershy? You in here?” Twilight asked as they let themselves into the cottage.

“Yes. I’m here,” they heard Fluttershy whisper, voice restored.

“That was totally unbelievable!” Pinkie exclaimed, foregoing the stairs and climbing up the wall. “I mean, the curtain came up, and there you were, singing in front of everypony! And you know, I don’t think anypony was jealous, ‘cause there certainly wasn’t an angry mob!” she said, waving her hooves in the air. Feeling gravity start to take hold, she bounced over the railing. “And it must’ve been horrible on stage, all eyes glued directly on you! It’s like you were living your own personal worst nightmare!” She paused for a dramatic breath and cracked a smile. “But that would be sill-”

“It was!” Fluttershy sobbed. Before Pinkie knew it, a yellow and pink contrail had zipped out of the cottage. Pinkie was left with the glares of the rest of her friends.

“What? Too much?”

“What Pinkie meant to say was that you were really great!” Twilight called out the door, running after Fluttershy.

Pinkie’s eyes widened. “Wait! Didn’t I say that?”

Fluttershy galloped and galloped and galloped, tears streaming out of both eyes. Her throat felt raw from all her sobbing - at this rate, she'd lose her ability to sing at all. But that was what everypony wanted. The thought made the tears flow twice as hard.

“You totally blew my mind!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed, zooming right up to Fluttershy. Fluttershy gasped and turned around. She just wanted to cry without her friends having to deal with her crying.

“Incredible!” Applejack hollered into Fluttershy’s face. Fluttershy squeaked and leaped up into air, landing on somepony’s roof.

There was a pop as Twilight teleported next to her. “You covered for Big Mac so well! I don’t think anypony could tell the difference!”

It just made Fluttershy want to cry harder. She flew off the roof and back towards the path. Hearing the others pursuing relentlessly, she stopped in her tracks and slumped. After a frozen moment, she wiped her tears and took a shaky breath, still not facing her friends. “Well, thank you all. I’m glad you enjoyed it… because I’m never going to sing in front of anypony ever again.”

She resumed her galloping. There. I said it. Now please, just let me cry…

“Can we please stop running!” Rarity called.

Fluttershy didn’t stop. She wouldn’t stop. She ran into the park, where she came face to face with the stage from that first performance. The sight made her pause, and once she paused, she couldn’t start again. She pressed her head against the side of the stage as she took ragged, tearful breaths that surely would destroy her voice.

“I just don’t understand why, Fluttershy,” Rarity spoke up. She too was out of breath, but pushed through before her friend could take off again. “After all, you’re the one that wanted the Ponytones to sing for every silly thing that was requested of us.”

“You mean, you knew I really wanted to perform?”

“Of course I knew!”

“Oh…” Fluttershy sighed. Great. I’ve been wasting my best friend’s valuable time too.

“And for all her babbling, Pinkie Pie was right about one thing.” Rarity climbed onto the stage and posed like a shining star would. “When that curtain fell, and everypony saw you singing, you lived your worst nightmare!” She looked Fluttershy softly in the eyes. “Was it really that bad?”

“Yes!” Fluttershy whimpered, covering her eyes with her hooves.

“Well, what was so bad about it?” Twilight asked.

“The thunderous applause?” asked Rainbow.

“The praise for your fantastic singing?” Applejack added.

Fluttershy peeked past her hooves and realized that she was surrounded. Rainbow was on her right, Applejack on her left, Twilight in front and Rarity over her shoulder. Oh, this is hopeless. I can’t outfly Rainbow Dash or escape Twilight’s magic, and Applejack will probably lasso me.

“They only liked Flutterguy,” Fluttershy mewled.

Rarity glanced at the other three, whose faces all shared her confusion. “Ehm, darling, could you speak up just a tad louder?”

“They only liked Flutterguy’s voice and Big Mac on stage, and everypony just wants to laugh at my misery!” Fluttershy snapped, making her friends recoil. The next moment, she was crying uncontrollably again.

“Now sugarcube, that don’t make a lick of sense,” Applejack said. “What makes you think we want to laugh at you?”

“Not you girls,” Fluttershy sobbed. “You’re my best friends. It’s everypony else in all of Equestria…”

“That is so not true!” Rainbow insisted.

Fluttershy peeked out from under her hooves. “When Photo Finish was there for that first photo shoot in Rarity’s boutique, she hated all the poses with attitude and pizzazz. The only ones she liked were of me looking like a failure.”

“Well that witch has no say on who you are,” Rarity snarled.

“During every fashion show, the guests would cheer whenever I looked scared of all the lights and the cameras and their eyes,” Fluttershy continued, staring at the grass between her hooves. “Whenever I would trip or mewl their eyes would shine.”

“That’s just Canterlot ponies-” Twilight started.

“Everypony in fashion loves me when I look shy and scared. But I hate being shy and scared!” she growled. “I can’t help it. In flight school, I could barely take off the ground, and everypony laughed at me then. Who would want to be friends with a pegasus who can’t talk and can’t fly?”

“Me!” Rainbow Dash declared. “All of us!”

“And I’m very happy to have all of you girls,” Fluttershy continued. “Especially you, Rarity. Why, you even gave me the confidence to sing to a crowd of ponies, even if it was from behind a curtain. I love singing, and I’ve always wanted to sing with my birds instead of just being the conductor. I was so, so happy after that first concert. I was behind this curtain, but I could hear everypony cheering. For me! It was so liberating that I wanted to do it again. And again. And again!”

“But when that curtain fell, everypony stopped smiling and cheering,” Fluttershy sighed. “When everypony realized it was me, the whole room went silent. A-and then,” she choked, “w-when I looked frozen on stage, and scared, and shy… everypony cheered!” Fluttershy wailed. “They were happy with my singing when they knew it wasn’t me, but once they knew it was me, they only liked me when I was scared! I thought singing would be different, but it was just flight school and modeling all over again!” Fluttershy collapsed to the ground, covering her eyes with her hooves once more. “Everypony thinks I’m just a weird pegasus who’s stuck on the ground and can only talk to animals and they only like me when I look miserable,” Fluttershy sobbed. “That is my own personal worst nightmare… and now I know it’s still true.”

Fluttershy’s tears gushed forward anew after that last admission. She felt warmth press against her as Rarity delicately climbed off the stage and settled at Fluttershy’s side. “Let it all out, dear,” Rarity soothed, stroking Fluttershy’s mane. “We’ll be here for you.” Fluttershy gave a peek and saw Twilight, Applejack and Rainbow Dash sitting patiently on the grass while Rarity took care of her mane. Her tears dried up pretty fast.

“Now, are you ready to listen?” Rarity spoke up. “If not, take some more time. We'll be here all night.”

“I'm ready,” Fluttershy whispered.

“Thank you for offering your voice for the Ponytones. Without you, all those events we performed at wouldn’t be as special as they were,” said Rarity.

“Oh. You’re welcome.”

“We were all surprised when we saw you behind the curtain,” said Twilight. “None of us knew you were filling in for Big Mac. Everypony except us didn’t know about the poison joke’s effect on you either. That’s why the room went silent. Ponies were confused.”

“But once everypony understood that it was you singing, they cheered their hooves off,” said Applejack. “Not because they liked seeing you scared, but because they liked your singing. I swear, that’s the honest truth.”

“Sure those other foals in Flight School were big jerks who kept laughing at you, and the teachers were total jerks too,” Rainbow said. “But that was Flight School. This is Ponyville.”

“And I cannot possibly imagine what was going on in Photo Finish’s head, but she’s in the past,” Rarity promised. “This is the present, where ponies enjoy your music. You also have everypony in the market who are happy that you brought them business. And all the ponies who you take care of their pets when they’re on vacation or their pets are sick. You are not a weird pegasus stuck on the ground.” Rarity booped Fluttershy softly on the nose. “You are Fluttershy, and everypony in Ponyville likes you for who you are.”

Fluttershy softened within Rarity’s embrace. “You really think if I sing on stage, ponies will like it?”

“Mhm!”

“Yeah!”

“Absolutely!”

Fluttershy looked down, tapping her front hooves. “I-I don’t know…”

“Sometimes you can't make others smile no matter how hard you try, but that shouldn't stop you from being yourself.”

Five heads turned to the stage, where Pinkie Pie crept out of her hiding place behind the curtain. She hopped off the stage and sat in front of Fluttershy and Rarity with her head bowed. “I’m sorry, Fluttershy. I shouldn’t’ve made a joke about your worst nightmares.”

“It’s okay, Pinkie,” Fluttershy sighed. “I know you didn’t mean it.”

“I really wanted you to perform,” Pinkie continued. “After hearing you sing in the most beautiful voice ever, I knew everypony would love it! But I should’ve talked to you about stage fright instead of ruining Big Mac’s voice to make you perform.”

“Say what now?” Applejack spoke up, stepping towards Pinkie Pie.

“I thought about tricking Torch Song into going home, but there are too many ponies who could cover her tone. I knew Flutterguy was the only voice in Ponyville that could match Big Mac’s tone, so I beat Big Mac at the turkey call to ruin his voice. I thought that if I could get you to perform just once, then you’d fall in love with performing and kick your fears around the corner.”

“I did enjoy performing,” Fluttershy agreed. “Just maybe not in front of everypony…”

“But you didn’t get any credit for singing and it was so unfair!” Pinkie exclaimed. “So when I found out Big Mac’s voice was better, I thought there was only one last chance. That’s why I had the concert at Sugarcube Corner and told the curtain to fall! So everypony could cheer for you! But… I should’ve asked you first instead of doing that without your permission. I’m sorry…”

“At least I know now that everypony liked my singing,” Fluttershy smiled. “Just, um, no more surprises that might embarrass me in front of everypony, please?”

“Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye!” Pinkie declared with the accompanying motions.

“For all her scheming, Pinkie Pie was certainly right about another thing,” Rarity spoke up. “Curtain or no curtain, you sang with the most beautiful voice ever!” She draped a leg across Fluttershy’s shoulders and pointed her other leg up at the stage. “Fluttershy, you know Torch Song is only here in Ponyville for the summer, while she’s not in theater school. When she has to go back home, will you take her place up there with me?”

“Um…”

“We can start with baby steps,” Rarity added. “How about a little concert just for us and your animal friends?”

“That sounds… nice,” Fluttershy said softly. She smiled at her friends. “Thank you for listening. I’m sorry you had to hear me cry so much.” All her friends moved in for a group hug, giving her reassurances.

“Now Pinkie Pie,” Applejack said, facing the rogue party pony. “I reckon you oughta make it up to Big Mac for ruining his voice on purpose. And I reckon he’ll want somethin’ a mite more than an apology.”

“What should I do?” Pinkie asked.

Applejack smirked. “Nothing right now, but you should cover his chores on the farm when the Ponytones go on tour.”

Haute Couture, Please

Fluttershy relaxed in the warm mist of the spa’s sauna, feeling a wave of comforting normalcy. Cheering lessons with Rainbow, going back to Cloudsdale, standing up to the old bullies, and cheering Rainbow on as she saved Rarity from almost certain doom was more than enough excitement for the week. Maybe even a month or two.

“You will not believe what happened yesterday evening,” Rarity announced as she relaxed beside from Fluttershy.

“Something tells me it was something nice,” Fluttershy giggled.

“Nice? More like magical,” Rarity gushed, resting her head against a cushion with a dreamy smile. “I was just closing up shop as usual when a charming pegasus stallion walked through the front door. He introduced himself as Clear Skies and said I was on his mind after our visit to the weather factory. Then he asked me if I wanted to get dinner!”

“How wonderful,” Fluttershy remarked. “Although, I would believe it, because you’re very pretty and approachable. I knew you’d find the perfect stallion soon.”

“It’s a little early to say that,” Rarity chuckled. “Though I very much did enjoy the dinner date. But enough about me. What about you, darling? Anypony catch your attention lately? Or tried to catch your attention, hmm?” Rarity prodded, batting her eyelids at the thought.

“Oh, I don’t know. I guess there was this one time when I was modeling with a ballet dancer, and he asked me for a date right on stage.”

Rarity gasped. “How bold of him!”

“I didn’t really know what to say,” Fluttershy mumbled, her damp mane falling over her face. “I was already scared of all the ponies watching, so I kind of didn’t say anything… Eventually he apologized and walked away. I don’t think I even got his name.”

The two of them moved out of the sauna and settled into their mud baths. “The Grand Galloping Gala is coming soon,” Rarity brought up, “and I’m going to make you a brand new dress for you for the occasion!”

Fluttershy glanced over. “A new dress? For me?” She smiled, even though Rarity’s eyes were covered with cucumbers. “You don’t have to do that for me.”

“But I want to, darling! I came up with six brand new, unique, exquisite designs for all six of us that I just can’t let go! And once I’m done with them, we can have our very own fashion show!”

“F-fashion show…?” Fluttershy whispered, sinking deeper into her mud bath.

“It’ll be a huge boost for my career, and it’ll be so much fun!” Rarity exclaimed. Looking into the cucumbers, she imagined the stage with the six of them spinning around in their dresses for all to see and admire. The moment she stepped off the stage, ponies from far and wide would approach her and place hundreds of orders on the spot.

Fluttershy glanced at Rarity, taken aback by the big dreamy smile plastered across the fashionista’s face. “Um… what kind of fashion show?” Fluttershy quietly whimpered.

“I’m imagining the six of us walking down the runway onto a rotating platform. What do you think?” Rarity was met with silence. “Is it not glamorous enough?” she voiced. “You can tell me; you’re the one with all the experience,” Rarity chuckled. When she was met with more silence, even for a mare as quiet as Fluttershy sometimes was, Rarity considered the fact that while Fluttershy had experience as a model, the soft-spoken mare had hated her experience as a model. Rarity took off a cucumber and looked to her side; Fluttershy had sunk so deep into the mud bath that her muzzle was submerged.

“Oh dear, I really didn’t think this through, did I? How rude of me,” Rarity chastised herself. “I completely understand if you don’t want to be part of the fashion show. I know it makes you uncomfortable after that horrible ordeal. I’m still making that gala dress for you, though. I already had your design in mind for the longest time! It’ll be marvelous! I’m making that dress for you no matter what, so don’t feel any obligation to partake in the show.” Rarity put her cucumbers back on and relaxed.

Fluttershy eventually rose out of the mud, wiping her snout with her mane. “Actually, I don’t mind being part of your fashion show.”

“Are you sure?” Rarity asked. “I truly do not want to pressure you.”

“As long as you and the other girls will be on stage with me, I’ll be happy to do it.”

“It’ll be wonderful! We’ll walk out on that stage and everypony will admire us! And we’ll walk into the gala in style. Then I’ll find my prince!” Rarity swooned, raising a hoof to her head. “Ooh, maybe that stallion who asked you out while you were modeling will be at the gala and you can have a proper chance! Now I have to make your dress extra special!” Rarity declared, pumping her hoof to the ceiling in determination.

Fluttershy blushed at the thought. “I don’t know if that will happen.”

“Oh, but it will happen!” Rarity giggled. “And you can tell me all about it! Fluttershy, if you ever have any romantic escapades, any drama at all, promise me you’ll tell me all about it?”

Fluttershy couldn’t help but giggle too. “Alright, I promise.”

“That's it… Keep them closed…” Rarity instructed her blindfolded friends. “Don't look… Okay, you can look now!”

Fluttershy opened her eyes and gasped. There were five unique and stunning dresses that would capture the eyes of anypony. Fluttershy stared with her muzzle slightly agape at the dress meant for her; it was elegant and showy, a true eye-catcher. It was a dress fit for a model. A dress for judging eyes. Fluttershy blinked repeatedly as she thought of the flashing lights.

“It’s… nice,” Fluttershy sighed, looking down at her hooves, ears flopping.

“But what’s the matter? Don’t you like them?” Rarity asked.

“They’re very nice,” Twilight answered hesitatingly.

“And we’re plumb grateful ‘cause you worked so hard on them,” Applejack added.

“Mine’s just not as cool as I was imagining,” Rainbow blurted out.

“I guess what we’re all saying is that they’re just not what we had in mind,” Twilight offered.

Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie Pie all voiced their agreement. Meanwhile, Fluttershy scuffed her hoof against the ground, trying to come up with a way to explain why she wasn’t enthusiastic about the dress.

“That’s okay,” Rarity sighed. “Not a problem. They were only a first pass,” she said, waving a hoof. “You’re my friends! And I want you to be one hundred and ten percent satisfied,” she declared. “Not to worry. I’ll redo them!”

Fluttershy lifted her head up to face Rarity’s radiant smile. What was she thinking, trying to find a way to reject an absolutely stunning dress that Rarity spent so much time and attention working on just for her? “Oh Rarity, you don’t have to do that,” Fluttershy said. “They’re fine.”

“I want them to be better than just fine!” Rarity said enthusiastically, busying herself with beginning to take the dresses off the ponyquins. “I want you to think they’re absolutely perfect.”

“Are you sure?” Applejack asked. “I mean, we wouldn’t wanna impose.”

Rarity chuckled, still facing away from them. “Oh, it’s no imposition. Really, I insist.” She gave a determined smile.

Fluttershy gulped. Rarity was such a good friend. How could Fluttershy explain what she really wanted? Or what she didn’t want?

“Well in that case… thank you again, Rarity,” Twilight voiced.

Fluttershy put on a smile and followed her other friends out the door. Maybe whatever Rarity came up with would be nice.

The next day, Fluttershy hesitantly walked up the stairs to Rarity’s bedroom. She felt awful with herself; why did she have to feel so apprehensive of seeing a beautiful dress made just for her? She stumbled through the door with her head low. “You wanted to see me, Rarity?”

“Fluttershy! Your new-new gown is ready!” Rarity exclaimed, galloping over. “I completely revised it, and I know you’re going to love it!”

Fluttershy dragged her hooves after Rarity, laying eyes on the new green dress. It was similar to the first dress, maybe a little less eye popping, but still fit for a beautiful, flawless model. Fluttershy kept quiet as Rarity helped her into the dress and made adjustments and rambled about the process she underwent all night to alter the dress from the first one. Fluttershy didn’t register any of Rarity’s comments; all she could think of was being backstage with ponies endlessly fussing over her. Before she knew it, she was in front of a mirror.

“What do you think?” Rarity asked eagerly.

Fluttershy looked in the mirror and saw the same meek mare that everypony loved to laugh at. Also in the mirror, Fluttershy could see an excited and proud Rarity. “I… love it,” Fluttershy said, trying desperately to avoid any tremors.

“Oh, you’re just saying that,” Rarity said, her smile deflating.

“No, no, I do… it’s… nice.”

“Nice,” Rarity repeated.

“Nice,” Fluttershy sighed.

“If you don’t like it, you should just tell me,” Rarity huffed, turning her nose the other way.

Fluttershy felt some resolve take hold of her. Rarity didn’t deserve to have her hard work rejected for stupid reasons a second time. “Oh, but I do like it,” Fluttershy asserted.

“Like it or love it?” Rarity demanded.

What little resolve Fluttershy had a moment ago emptied out. “Um… both?” Fluttershy weakly offered.

“Which is it?” Rarity snapped, taking a step forward.

Fluttershy shuffled backwards. “Please stop asking me this, I-”

“Well just tell me what you really think!” Rarity insisted.

I can’t wear any dresses that remind me of modeling anymore, but everything you make is so perfect and fit for modeling, so I can’t wear anything you make anymore, Fluttershy was thinking. “No, that’s okay…” Fluttershy said instead.

“Tell me…” Rarity began to growl.

“No… it’s fine…” Fluttershy whimpered. How long could she keep this up? Suddenly she found herself backed up against a wall.

“Tell me,” Rarity repeated curtly, getting right up in Fluttershy’s face.

Fluttershy started sweating. “Uh, I like it…” she squeaked. Was it time to tell the truth yet?

“Tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me!” Rarity demanded while stomping daintily. Fluttershy peered up into Rarity’s eyes, and at this point, there was less irritation and more… betrayal.

I promise to never keep my feelings a secret again, Rarity had promised, and Fluttershy had promised too.

“All right! Since you really wanna know…” Fluttershy took a deep breath, letting her repressed memories loose. “The armscye's tight, the middy collar doesn't go with the shawl lapel, the hems are clearly machine-stitched, the pleats are uneven, the fabric looks like toile, you used a backstitch here when it clearly called for a topstitch or maybe a traditional blanket stitch, and the overdesign is reminiscent of prêt-à-porter and not true Prench haute couture.”

Rarity stood there slack jawed.

Fluttershy felt a wave of shame. “But, uh, you know, um, whatever you want to do is fine…”

“No no, it’s okay,” Rarity quickly responded. She briefly lifted a hoof to her forehead then removed it. “I’m just a little… surprised, is all. I wasn’t aware of those preferences of yours… but no matter.” She floated over a notepad and quill. “Now, what was that first point you mentioned?”

“Oh, I really don’t know,” Fluttershy admitted. “The truth is, the dress really is amazing, but it just reminds me too much of modeling. Your dress is comfortable, but all I can think of is all the uncomfortable dresses I had to wear for photo shoots. Seeing myself wearing it in the mirror just reminds me of all the complaints the clients had when I wore dresses for them. I’m sorry, Rarity, but I just don’t want to wear it. It reminds me of modeling too much.”

Rarity dropped the notepad and wrapped a hoof around Fluttershy’s shoulder. “Oh Fluttershy, I’m sorry I pushed you so hard.”

“It’s okay. I should’ve just told you when you first showed us the dresses,” Fluttershy said. “And, um, I was looking forward to helping you promote your business at the fashion show, but, um, I don’t think I can do it anymore. How about I help you make the other dresses? That would make me feel better. If that’s okay with you…”

“It’s fine, dear, but what will you wear to the gala?”

“I don’t know…” Fluttershy muttered.

“I want you to be comfortable at the gala,” Rarity said, putting a hoof on Fluttershy’s shoulder. “Tell me what you want for your dress, and we can make it happen.”

“I can’t wear anything a model would wear,” Fluttershy stated.

Rarity frowned. “Well, I can’t say I’ve done that before. Very well, I shall take on this challenge in stride. But I’m going to need some specifics from you, dear.” Rarity led Fluttershy to her inspiration room. “Let’s start from the drawing board, together.”

Rarity stood down the row of her most demanding clients, who were also all her best friends. “Okay. I did exactly what each of you asked for. Now don’t hold back. Let me know what you really think.” She gestured to the new dresses.

Fluttershy marveled at her finished dress. The leafy shoes and petal necklaces looked so cozy. The dress’s calm light green fabric with pink flowers looked just like the first picnic quilt she ever knitted as a filly. The nest headpiece was the perfect place for birds to land on, and so were all the flower attachments for the bees.

“It’s exactly what I asked for!” Fluttershy exclaimed along with the others.

After Spike came in to announce that some big wig named Hoity Toity was going to be at the fashion show, the five of them tried on their dresses. “Oh Rarity, this dress is so wonderful,” Fluttershy praised. “For the first time since modeling, I feel like I belong in a dress. It really feels just right.”

Rarity put on the first genuine smile since starting to redesign the dresses. “I’m delighted to hear that, Fluttershy! It means a lot to me that you love it. I’ve always said I wanted the dresses I make to help ponies bring out their true selves.”

“I feel so confident, I’m going to walk in the fashion show after all!” Fluttershy declared. “Um, if that’s okay with you.”

“Of course, darling!” Rarity exclaimed. “Ooh, that makes my heart just soar!”

The music was playing, and Fluttershy followed Applejack onto the runway. Seeing the crowd of ponies all looking up at her, she slowed down for a brief moment, but quickly remembered that this time was different. This time was special, because all her friends were here with her. She smiled and kept walking, head held high and facing forward. Being able to walk confidently down the runway was really liberating, and it was all thanks to Rarity. All those other horrible fashion ponies kept making me wear what they wanted me to wear, but Rarity was happy letting me wear exactly what I wanted. She’s the best pony ever!

“These amateurish designs look like a piled-on mishmash of everything but the kitchen sink!” a refined voice spoke over the music. And just like that, the entire crowd started laughing.

Oh, right. This is still a fashion show, Fluttershy thought bitterly. They always went like this. She glanced at her friends and saw that their confidence had also wavered, but they still stood up strong with smiles on their faces. Fluttershy stood strong too. A fashion show was a lot more manageable with friends at her side.

“It’s a travesty is what it is. Those outfits are the ugliest things I’ve ever seen. Oh for shame!” Hoity Toity lambasted.

To her surprise, Fluttershy didn’t feel the usual embarrassment or impulse to mewl in distress like she usually did. She really loved her dress, and it didn’t matter how others felt about it.

“Who is responsible for subjecting our eyes to these horrors? Not to mention wasting my valuable time.”

Fluttershy’s eyes widened as she saw Rarity stepping forward into the spotlight, head down low. Rarity’s usually impeccable mane was disheveled beyond belief. She wasn’t even wearing any dress. It was then that Fluttershy realized, all too late, that there indeed was one pony whose opinion of the dress mattered. Fluttershy was witnessing that pony’s dreams shatter right before her eyes, and it was all her fault.

“Rarity? You okay in there?” Pinkie Pie asked, knocking her hoof on Rarity’s bedroom door.

“I’m never coming out!” Rarity shrieked.

Fluttershy stared at her hooves. How had she managed to ruin Rarity’s career a second time? First she somehow had taken Photo Finish’s spotlight away from Rarity, and now she ruined Rarity’s fashion show. This time, it wasn’t awful ponies laughing at her because they were awful. Fluttershy was the awful one. She so selfishly demanded every last detail about her dress instead of trusting her best friend. She felt good about herself strutting down the walkway, but what about Rarity? Fluttershy could only imagine Rarity feeling the way Fluttershy usually felt on stage. As Fluttershy vaguely heard Rarity’s muffled voice wailing, she realized how much pain Rarity must have felt while they were wearing her dresses. Fluttershy was very familiar with the feeling.

“Now what do we do?” Twilight asked.

“Panic?” Fluttershy suggested.

“That’s your answer for everything!” Rainbow blurted out. Fluttershy ducked back into her mane.

When Fluttershy had told Rarity she wanted to go on stage after all, Rarity had let her. Rarity had to have known the dress was awful to her intended audience, but she had let Fluttershy go on anyway because Fluttershy had said the dress made her feel good. And what did Rarity say? She said it had made her heart soar! She was willing to risk her career so that Fluttershy could walk on stage again!

“I have an idea,” Twilight announced, emerging from the keyhole of Rarity’s door. “I saw Rarity’s dress for the gala in her room, and it’s only half finished. She paused making her own dress so that she could make ours,” Twilight sighed, slumping a little. “So, we’re going to finish making Rarity’s dress for her, then we’ll have a do-over fashion show with all the original dresses,” Twilight declared.

“Yeah!” Pinkie and Rainbow cheered.

“And how the hay are we gonna do that?” Applejack asked.

“I can finish her dress,” Fluttershy spoke up. Four sets of eyes turned to her, and she retreated into her mane just a little. “Um, while my voice was all deep, I was hiding from everypony by coming here,” Fluttershy explained. “She showed me all her latest techniques. I can try my best.”

“Perfect!” Twilight exclaimed, clopping her front hooves together. “Now we just need to convince everypony to come to another fashion show!”

“Fat chance of that,” Rainbow groaned.

“Yeah, how are we gonna get that Hoity Toity fellow back in Ponyville?” Applejack asked. “We kinda need him to change his mind in order to fix the damage we’ve gone and done to Rarity’s career.”

There was silence for a moment. “Um,” Fluttershy squeaked, followed by more silence.

“Yes, Fluttershy?” Twilight prodded.

“I worked with Hoity Toity when I was a model,” Fluttershy said in a smaller than her usual small voice. “I was in a lot of his ads. I could offer pictures of us in the dresses for him to use for free. Um, if that’s okay with all of you.”

“Sounds fine to me,” said Twilight. The others agreed.

“Are y’all okay with it, sugarcube?” Applejack asked. “I realize y’all had a rough time with that whole modeling mess.”

“I’ll do it for Rarity,” Fluttershy said firmly.

“Then what are we waiting for?” Rainbow exclaimed, swooping up and pumping a hoof. “Let’s fix Rarity’s career!”

“We’re waiting for Rarity to leave her room so we can snatch her half-finished dress,” Applejack deadpanned.

“But she said she’s never coming out!” Pinkie exclaimed.

“We’ll have to sneak Rarity’s dress out while she’s asleep,” Twilight declared.

“Which won’t be until tonight,” said Rainbow Dash. “Then let’s go to Canterlot and talk to that Hoity Toity fella now!”

“R-right now?” Fluttershy whimpered. “Do we have to go right now?”

“Well, we don’t have that much time until the gala,” Twilight brought up. “The sooner we can finish Rarity’s dress and have the fashion show, the better, and we don’t know what Hoity’s schedule is.”

They headed to the train station but found that the train to Canterlot had left ten minutes ago. “Well, I guess we’ll go tomorrow then- Eep!” Fluttershy squeaked as Rainbow grabbed her into the air by the barrel.

“No biggie, we’ll just fly there. Meet you all back here tonight to get Rarity’s dress!”

“Come on, Fluttershy, put some wing power into it!” Rainbow hollered. “I know I’m awesome, but I can’t pull you all the way to Canterlot!”

“Okay, but can we please slow down?”

Rainbow sighed and slowed down just a little, making sure her friend’s wings were flapping before letting go. After a second, she slumped and slowed down properly to something more of Fluttershy’s pace.

“Sorry,” Fluttershy mumbled.

“It’s cool,” said Rainbow. “Give me a few minutes and I can lead us again. If we keep up the pace, we can beat the train.”

“Why do we have to beat the train?”

“We don’t have to, I just want to,” Rainbow grinned. Ponyville wasn’t too far from Canterlot; the main challenge was going up the mountain. The train ride usually took around an hour and a half due to swirling around the mountain as it went up. The height wasn’t an issue for a pegasus. Rainbow was sure she could get to Canterlot in half the train’s time if Fluttershy wasn’t slowing her down.

But since Fluttershy was slowing her down, Rainbow found herself thinking. “How are we going to find Hoity Toity anyway? Have you been to his place?” she asked. Fluttershy shook her head. “Alright, then we need to fly around and find the most frou-frou street in the city. Got it.”

“Um, I know where Frou-Frou street is. I can take us there,” Fluttershy offered.

“Wait, that’s a real thing?”

“Yeah, it’s where all the… fashion boutiques are…” Fluttershy trailed off, her wings slowing by some margin.

“And if we go there, we’ll find somepony that knows Hoity Toity!” Rainbow exclaimed. “Awesome! We’ll get this done in no time!”

“I-if you say so…” Fluttershy huffed.

“Alright, double time! Put some more wing power into it!” Rainbow hollered.

“Eep! Y-yes ma’am!”

After a quick sweep over the city, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash landed in the middle of Frou-Frou street. Boutiques showcasing all kinds of high fashion lined both sides and ponies walking down the street wore their wardrobes on their sleeves.

One mare stopped to look at the two pegasi. Rainbow took the opportunity. “Excuse me! Do you know where we can find a fashion pony named Hoity Toity?”

However, the mare ignored Rainbow Dash, exclaiming, “It’s Fluttershy! Here in Canterlot! What an absolute delight!” Her eyes roved over the former model.

“Eep!” Fluttershy squeaked, hiding behind Rainbow Dash. This didn’t help, since there were ponies on the other side whose eyes were drawn to her too.

“Can anypony point us to Hoity Toity?” Rainbow Dash asked, flapping over the gathering crowd. “Uh, hello!” she shouted over their clamoring. Her voice fell on deaf ears as ponies peppered Fluttershy with questions or praises. The poor yellow pegasus was on her rump, trying to disappear into her mane while making higher and higher squeaks.

An irritated Rainbow Dash swooped down and pushed the pink mane away with a hoof. “Fluttershy, stop hiding!” she half encouraged, half hissed. “Those ponies only like it more when you retreat like that. You have to stand up to them! Just like you did with those bullies in Cloudsdale last week! You can do it!”

“Okay,” she mumbled, standing up straight. She faced the first pony immediately in front of them and began to open her mouth.

“Miss Fluttershy, I absolutely must have you on the front cover of my magazine! Come to my studio at once!”

“Oh, um…” Fluttershy demurred, starting to bring back the pink curtain.

“Hurry up so we can fix Rarity’s career!” Rainbow strained through gritted teeth.

Fluttershy’s soft eyes hardened. “Right,” she muttered. She faced the magazine pony. “I’m not a model anymore, and I don’t want to be in your magazine… if that’s okay with you.” To her side, she heard the distinctive sound of a hoof hitting its owner’s forehead.

“Oh, you’re even more alluring as a pony than they say! Come along now, dear, my studio is right behind me.”

“Now listen up, buster-” Rainbow started, then her eyes widened as multiple levitation spells shoved her out of the way. “Hey!”

“Finally that uncouth blue one is out of my view of the perfect model.”

“But now it’s blocking my view!” another pony complained, trying to shove Rainbow in a different direction.

“Hey!” an assertive voice shouted, cracking through the chatter. “Didn’t your mothers ever teach you not to push other ponies around? And don’t talk like Rainbow Dash is some object. You should be ashamed of yourselves!”

“I am reconsidering my offer now-” the closest stallion muttered, cowering beneath the not-so-very-demure pegasus that was staring him down.

Fluttershy swooped right up to his face. “I. Said. NO!” she hollered. “Now somepony tell us where Hoity Toity is, RIGHT. NOW!”

A few non-frozen members of the invasive crowd pointed their hooves or horns toward a particular boutique down the street. Rainbow immediately grabbed Fluttershy and zipped into the indicated building, leaving behind a rainbow contrail.

“That. Was. Awesome!” Rainbow squealed. “I knew you totally had it in you, ‘Shy!”

“Oh. Um, I wasn’t very nice,” Fluttershy sighed.

“Eh, those ponies totally had it coming.”

“For pushing you around, yes. But I should’ve asked nicely about where to go.”

“Don’t dwell on it, pal,” Rainbow assured. “Now, let’s find Hoity Toity so we can get out of this street.” She looked around the shop full of all kinds of expensive suits and dresses, eventually finding a worker. The two trotted over.

“How can I help you?” the mare asked.

“We’re looking for Hoity Toity,” said Rainbow. “This is his shop, right?”

“Yes, but he’s not here at the moment.”

“What?!” Rainbow exclaimed, flapping several feet in the air and nearly pulling several hairs out with both hooves.

Then the door rang, and Hoity Toity walked in. “Fluttershy, you wished to see me?” he flashed a bright grin.

Fluttershy barely held back a whimper. “Um, yes please, if you don’t mind…”

“Oh, you were in the crowd,” Rainbow said aloud. “That makes sense.” She spotted the horde of other ponies following Hoity Toity into the shop. “Can the three of us talk privately?”

Hoity Toity took them through a door in the back to his office. “You are an even better actor than anypony thought!” he praised. “You do those demure poses very well, but I daresay the assertive streak you displayed was perhaps even more impressive! What a range of emotions!”

Rainbow’s jaw hit the desk. “You’re joking, right?”

“That wasn’t acting,” Fluttershy said flatly. “I didn’t like them pushing my friend around.”

“The shy stuff isn’t acting, either!” Rainbow exclaimed. “All you ponies really hurt Fluttershy!”

Hoity Toity’s dazzling smile fell. He rubbed his chin with a hoof as he regarded the two. “I see. My apologies.”

Rainbow rolled her eyes. “Anyway, we need you to come back to Ponyville for another fashion show,” she requested.

The fashion pony turned his nose up. “If it’s the same designer, I’m afraid not. Truthfully, I only attended to see you, Fluttershy, and even your pristine appearance could not make up for those garish nightmares.”

“That’s because we designed them, not Rarity,” said Rainbow Dash.

“Please come, Mr. Hoity,” Fluttershy pleaded. “I promise it will be worth it this time.”

“I am quite skeptical of that,” Hoity Toity stated.

“I’ll model for your magazine in the new dresses, free of charge,” Fluttershy offered. “Please give my friend another chance?”

“Hmm… the fans are definitely looking for more material… and if what you said out there was true, and you won’t be modeling anymore, then this last appearance will be worth a lot. Perhaps it is worth the risk. Very well, I am available on Wednesday.”

“Yes!” Rainbow Dash cheered, flying up to the ceiling.

Fluttershy heard some clamor coming from the main area of the boutique. The ponies from the street must’ve been there, and they were getting closer. “T-thank you, Mr. Hoity… we’ll see you next Wednesday in Ponyville.” She flew up to Rainbow Dash and wrapped her hooves around Rainbow’s barrel. “Um, Rainbow Dash? C-can you get us out of here? Fast?”

“You know the answer to that, ‘Shy,” Rainbow grinned, zipping over to the window. Fluttershy tightened her hold and squeezed her eyes shut.

“Rainbow Dash, um, you can slow down now!” Fluttershy hollered, the air whipping at her as she held on for dear life. They were descending the mountain very rapidly. The ground was approaching very rapidly.

“What was that?” Rainbow hollered back, laser focused with her wings beating.

“I said you can slow down now!” Fluttershy screamed.

“No way! Almost… there!” Rainbow gritted. A cone of air started forming around her front hooves.

Fluttershy’s eyes widened, but that made the wind sting even more, so she quickly snapped them shut. She braced herself for the moment that cone would turn into a trampoline and bounce them right back into Canterlot. They would land in the middle of a crowd of ponies ready to abduct her and shove her into uncomfortable dresses and she would never see her friends again.

The next moment, there was an explosion of color that compelled Fluttershy’s eyes open. A rainbow ring pulsed out from behind them, molding into a dome that enveloped Canterlot. A bright, persistent rainbow followed their path as they left Canterlot Mountain behind and streamed towards Ponyville.

“A sonic rainboom!” Fluttershy screamed at the top of her lungs. “You did it again!”

“Of course I did!” Rainbow grinned. “First one to save Rarity, second one to save you from those horrible fashion ponies! And save Rarity again, kinda. I mean, I’m kind of to blame for this incident. Even if it’s not my fault those ponies couldn’t appreciate my awesomeness!”

“Oh, it’s not your fault, Rainbow Dash. It’s mine,” Fluttershy said.

“What are you talking about? It was all of us.”

“But you heard Hoity Toity. He only came to Rarity’s fashion show to see me.”

“It’s still not your fault,” Rainbow asserted.

There was some silence as Fluttershy reflected and Rainbow Dash beat her wings to pick up some lost speed. They would be in Ponyville in no time. Once Rainbow was satisfied, she nodded to herself and set into a glide. She turned her head to regard her fellow pegasus on her back. “So… I kind of knew modeling was bad, but I didn’t realize it was that level of bad.”

“It was,” Fluttershy whimpered. “But It’s fine. I just won’t step foot in Canterlot again for the next few months.”

“Uh, but we’re going to the gala next week,” Rainbow pointed out.

“Oh, right. At least I’ll be hiding in the garden…”

“I can't believe those featherbrains thought you were acting the whole time! And they liked watching a pony scared out of their wits? Who does that?”

Fluttershy sighed.

“That was some weird crowd you got roped into.”

“They’re not weird to Rarity,” said Fluttershy. “Rarity likes high fashion. I'm sure she would make a perfect model.”

“Sure she would,” Rainbow remarked, thinking of the overblown getup Rarity put on in Cloudsdale and rolling her eyes. She caught wind of Fluttershy’s stern gaze. “Heh heh, I mean, sure she would!” Rainbow corrected herself.

“She was supposed to get famous from Photo Finish, not me. I stole the spotlight from her,” Fluttershy groaned.

“Don’t worry, Rarity can make her own spotlight anytime,” Rainbow chuckled. “You saw her at the Best Young Flier’s Competition.”

“If I hadn’t taken away her chance at modeling, she wouldn’t have gotten in your way,” Fluttershy realized. “I’m sorry, Rainbow Dash.”

“You have nothing to be sorry for, Shy!” Rainbow Dash laughed. “Listen, I’m going to tell you something, but don’t tell anypony else I said it. If you do, I’m gonna deny it anyway.”

“Hmm? What is it?”

Rainbow Dash took a deep breath. “I don’t think I can ever pull off the sonic rainboom on my own. I can only do it when one of my friends needs my help because… it’s like what the egghead says. Maybe friendship is the most powerful force in the universe.”

Fluttershy couldn’t help but giggle.

“But don’t tell anypony I said something so sappy,” Rainbow repeated. “So, yeah. Without Rarity trying to catch everypony’s attention, I wouldn’t have pulled off my routine. I never would’ve met the Wonderbolts! I don’t regret anything that happened that day, and neither should you.”

“Okay.”

“And stop thinking about the whole ‘stealing the spotlight’ thing! Just think about what we’re gonna next. We’ve got Hoity Toity, now we just need to finish Rarity’s dress!”

“And we’ll show off Rarity’s dresses,” Fluttershy said confidently.

“Yeah!”

“This time, I’ll help Rarity shine all across Equestria!”

“That’s the spirit!” Rainbow cheered. She spotted Ponyville amidst the sunset and flapped her wings harder. “Now hold on tighter!”

Rainbow Dash flew straight into the Golden Oaks Library through the balcony. Fluttershy let go and fluttered to the floor, grateful for the solid feeling of wood beneath her hooves. Rainbow Dash kept flying further into the treehouse.

“Twilight! We got-”

Twilight abruptly forced Rainbow’s loud mouth closed with a spell. “Shh. Spike’s asleep.”

“Hoity Toity agreed to come on Wednesday,” Fluttershy whispered.

“Wednesday?” Twilight repeated. “Wednesday, as in two days from today?”

“Yes.”

A strand of purple mane came loose. “Can you finish Rarity’s dress by then?”

“M-maybe? I think so.”

“Alright, then let’s go get it,” Twilight determined.

“Um, if you don’t mind… I’m kind of hungry,” Fluttershy said sheepishly. “It was a long flight, even though Rainbow did most of the flying.”

“Oh! Applejack left apple pies for you two,” said Twilight, floating them over.

Rainbow’s eyes shined at the pie, but she still couldn't open her mouth to eat it. She punched Twilight's shoulder and pointed a wing desperately at her closed muzzle.

“Oops,” Twilight chuckled, undoing the silence spell with a lavender flourish. Rainbow wasted no time digging in.

Once Fluttershy daintily finished her pie, the three of them made the short walk to Carousel Boutique under the moonlit sky while Twilight told the others her plan. Rainbow carried Twilight up to the second floor window. Twilight had spent the day practicing a levitation spell that could go through glass. She used it to open the inner curtains, confirming that Rarity was fast asleep. Then she unlatched the window from the inside and opened it.

In the bedroom, Opal stalked over to the disturbance with a hiss. Twilight sent Fluttershy in first; Opal recognized Fluttershy right away, purring softly against a yellow leg. Twilight grinned and motioned for Rainbow to let her down. She then went to gather Rarity’s dress, the design, and nearby materials in her magic.

While Fluttershy stroked Opal’s coat, she glanced over at Rarity. The poor unicorn was tossing and turning in bed, frowning and mumbling incoherently. Fluttershy felt an overwhelming urge to hold Rarity, brush her frazzled mane back into its signature coiffure, and promise that she wasn’t a laughing stock. She found herself putting one hoof forward, but then something poked her in the shoulder. Turning away from Rarity, she saw Rainbow gesturing that it was time to leave, all the dress materials floating outside in Twilight’s magic. Fluttershy nodded, gave Opal one last groom, and fluttered out the window.

Fluttershy said bye to her friends and started walking to her cottage; she had done an awful lot of flying today, and walking was always more calming to her. Half of Fluttershy wanted to go back to the boutique and comfort Rarity; she really looked like she could use a friend by her side right now. Fluttershy knew how unhealthy bottling things up could be, even if she seldom didn’t do anything about it.

In fact, Rarity was usually the one who opened up the cork for Fluttershy. She should be doing the same. On the other hoof, Twilight had already locked Rarity’s window back up. She could ask Opal to open it, but it was also pretty rude to barge into Rarity’s room uninvited. Which they already did... Oh no, what was Rarity going to do once she noticed her dress was missing? Fluttershy shook her head and hoped for the best. They would finish Rarity’s dress tomorrow, Hoity Toity would love it, and Rarity’s career would be saved!

It wasn’t going well.

The five of them had gathered at the library in the morning to finish Rarity’s dress, but it quickly became apparent that anything Applejack or Rainbow Dash touched would inexplicably turn disastrous. Pinkie wasn’t as destructive, but she couldn’t stick to Rarity’s design. Anything she touched started resembling balloons and streamers. Fluttershy eventually convinced them to go out and gather new materials. She couldn’t fault them for trying; they all felt responsible for the mishap, even though Fluttershy knew it was all her fault. Hoity Toity had only made the trek to Ponyville to see her.

Twilight was a more interesting case. Her contributions were sensible, and her techniques would work out well in a factory, but they weren’t Rarity. Fluttershy had to gently take over most of the core work, keeping Twilight as an assistant.

“Wow, Fluttershy, it looks amazing!” Twilight praised. “How do you do it? I read so many books about dressmaking yesterday, but, well, you saw how that turned out.”

“I work with Rarity a lot, so I have a feel for her style. It takes a lot of practice,” Fluttershy said.

“I have to write a book about your methods,” said Twilight, bringing over a scroll and quill.

“Um, I don’t think it can go in a book.”

“There’s a first time for everything! If we try hard enough, I’m sure we can capture it in a book.”

Fluttershy shook her head. “I’m just channeling Rarity. What would Rarity do? And it just comes naturally. I guess it’s because I’ve worked with her for a long time? I helped her open her boutique, you know.”

“I didn’t know,” said Twilight, looking fascinated. “Tell me more. In fact, how did you two meet? There could be a friendship lesson in there that I could send to the princess!” she said, pulling out a scroll and quill.

Fluttershy giggled. Of course, Twilight loved studying friendship. “Well, you know how I got my cutie mark after falling from the sky and meeting the animals. At some point, I had to find a way home, and the animals pointed me to Ponyville. I stood outside the town for a while, scared of going, but then Rarity trotted by carrying a bunch of gems on her back. We found somepony from the weather team who offered to fly me back to Cloudsdale after his daughter performed in a school play, the one where Rarity got her cutie mark! Then I went back to Cloudsdale. We wrote letters to each other afterwards.”

“Wait, so you got your special talent communicating with animals, then you had to go back to Cloudsdale where there were no animals?” Twilight asked.

“Yes. It was very lonely,” Fluttershy admitted. “Cloudsdale isn’t a very friendly place. It’s very competitive. Everypony wants to be the best worker at the weather factory or the best weather pony to bring the weather to the rest of Equestria. They push you very hard in flight school to learn how to fly fast and move clouds around. If you’re not good at those things, they laugh at you. I’m glad Rainbow Dash was around to protect me.”

Twilight paused her scribbling. “Whoa, I thought magic school entrance exams were tough, but flight school sounds way worse.”

“Even modeling wasn’t as bad as flight school,” Fluttershy said. “I hated flight school. I just wanted to stay home and knit with my mom. But after falling, I had a real reason to learn how to fly well - so that I could visit the ground. Animals don’t judge when you’re slow. They’re always happy to see you. Whenever Cloudsdale passed over Ponyville, I would fly down to see my animal friends. I was still a little scared of going into Ponyville, but I always wanted to visit Rarity. She helped me talk to others without getting too scared.”

“Aw, that’s so nice of her,” Twilight said, putting down her quill and putting a hoof to her chin. “Reminds me of when my brother taught me how to fly a kite.”

“It does?”

“My uncle gave me the kite and said he looked forward to seeing me fly it next time we met. I was very scared of making the performance perfect,” Twilight said sheepishly. “So what else did you and Rarity do as fillies?”

“We knitted and stitched together and had sleepovers,” said Fluttershy. “I tried to introduce her to some animals, but that didn’t go too well. Oh, one time when I was visiting, there was a bunny stampede through Ponyville and nopony knew what to do. Rarity encouraged me to calm the bunnies down. Once all the bunnies left, there was a baby bunny left behind. Rarity suggested I take him home as a pet so that I would at least have one animal with me all the time.”

Twilight gasped. “So that’s how you got Angel?”

Fluttershy beamed. “Mhm.”

“I always wondered how you could pick one animal as your special pet when you had so many animals at your cottage. But if you had Angel before all the animals and the cottage, then it all makes sense,” said Twilight. “But wait, how did Angel survive in Cloudsdale? He couldn’t walk on clouds, right?”

“He couldn’t on his own,” Fluttershy agreed. “Every time Cloudsdale passed over Canterlot, I went to Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns where a professor would cast a cloudwalking spell for Angel.”

“Oh, wow! I was at the school the whole time!” Twilight exclaimed. “We might have seen each other without knowing it!”

“Well, I was very shy… I tried to avoid as many ponies as possible,” Fluttershy whispered.

“Eheh, well, same here,” Twilight said. “The likelihood we saw each other has to be pretty slim. So how long did the cloudwalking spell last on Angel?”

“The professor promised it would last over a moon, so that there would be enough time for Cloudsdale to float over Canterlot so I could visit again.”

“Wow, that's powerful!” Twilight exclaimed, writing on a separate scroll. “A whole moon… hmm… although Angel is a lot smaller than a pony…” she scribbled out a few calculations before moving the new scroll aside. “Wait, so you could only visit Canterlot when Cloudsdale passed over. Same for Ponyville?”

“Yes. My parents didn’t want me flying too far from home.”

“Did you fly down to the ground to meet animals in other places?”

“I did, but not very much. No place else felt as special as Ponyville,” Fluttershy smiled.

“But you could only visit for a day every moon. That’s like… if I had to go back to Canterlot after we saved Princess Luna from Nightmare Moon.” Twilight stared out the window at the distant mountain peak. She shook her head. “I don’t want to think about that.”

“I’m sure it wouldn’t be that bad,” Fluttershy assured, patting Twilight’s hoof. “We would visit.”

“That’s true,” Twilight smiled. “You and Rainbow just flew there and back yesterday.”

“And Rarity would love to visit Canterlot often,” Fluttershy added. “Back then, when I told her I always visited Canterlot to get the spell for Angel, she would ask me all the details.” Fluttershy smiled, thinking back. “I think we understood each other so well back then because we both had talents that didn’t fit what was expected of us. I was a pegasus who wanted to be on the ground. She was a pony from a small town who wanted to create for the ponies in the big city.”

“Huh. I never would’ve thought of that,” Twilight mumbled, taking notes.

Fluttershy quirked an eyebrow, wondering what Twilight needed to write down, then shrugged, continuing with her stitching. “We promised to help each other as much as we could,” Fluttershy continued. “After another stampede, that time being squirrels, Rarity convinced the mayor to offer me a job managing the local animals to avoid disasters. That’s when I left Cloudsdale for Ponyville.”

“So Rarity helped you achieve your dream!” Twilight summarized.

“Yep, and I helped her move into the boutique and make her first dresses. My mom was her first customer.” Fluttershy paused again to glance at Twilight’s copious notes, the scroll flowing from the table to the floor. “Um, Twilight? What is all that for?”

“Today’s Tuesday. I have to write a letter about friendship to the princess,” Twilight explained. “I was going to write about Rarity’s dresses, but we haven’t finished yet.” She pored over her notes. “I just need to figure out the right lesson from your story that would make a nice letter…”

“Oh. Well if you’re looking for a lesson, there was this one time…” Fluttershy paused. “A-actually, never mind.”

Twilight’s eyes twinkled. “You have a lesson in mind that I could write about to the princess?” she asked eagerly.

“Oh, alright,” Fluttershy whispered, putting her needle and thread aside. “Once I settled into my cottage, I may have taken on too many animals to care for,” she recalled. “They started competing with each other for my time, attention, and space. Angel got especially jealous since he used to have all my time and attention. He started getting more demanding. There was this one time where I didn’t have any cherries left but he really really wanted one. So I went to the cherry stand, but ponies kept cutting in front of me in line until they ran out of cherries.”

“Rarity and Pinkie Pie saw what was happening and told me to stand up for myself. Then this minotaur named Iron Will visited Ponyville…”

Twilight let out a sigh of relief as she watched Spike send off the letter to Princess Celestia; one less deadline to worry about. She turned to look at the pegasus who was hard at work on the velvet dress. It was hard to imagine Fluttershy having a real mean streak, but it did explain how she could stand up to a manticore, a cockatrice and a full-grown dragon. Twilight trotted back to the table and dutifully followed Fluttershy’s instructions. The two worked well past sundown.

“Fluttershy, you look exhausted,” Twilight eventually stated, putting her hoof down. “Why don’t you head home and you can put the finishing touches in the morning? We’ll still have plenty of time before Hoity Toity arrives.”

“Have to make it perfect for Rarity,” Fluttershy muttered. “She works late into the night all the time.”

“But you’re a morning pony, and you have animals to take care of,” Twilight insisted.

“But Rarity-”

“Will love the finished dress,” Twilight promised. “But it wouldn’t be good if you misplaced a stitch while half-asleep.”

“Oh, alright,” Fluttershy yawned, putting the dress down. She looked at Twilight then back at the dress. “Um, promise you won’t work on it without me?”

Twilight giggled. “I promise. You poured your heart into Rarity’s dress, and I wouldn’t dare to mess it up. See you in the morning.”

Fluttershy rubbed a hoof along a fetlock nervously, watching Rarity burst out of the boutique in pajamas.

“Rainbow Dash! How dare you strand my poor Opal in a tree?!”

“Well how else were we gonna get you out here to show you… this!” Rainbow exclaimed, gesturing towards the others. Fluttershy put on her best smile and backed away, revealing the finished dress.

Rarity looked gobsmacked. “What is it? Wha… Huh?!” she mumbled, wide eyed.

“We all finished your dress for you!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed.

“Thanks to Fluttershy’s freaky knowledge of sewing,” Applejack added matter-of-factly.

Fluttershy blushed as Rarity regarded her in a new light. “Do you like it?” she asked.

“Like it,” Rarity stated, walking up to the ponyquin. “Like it,” she repeated, circling around to inspect the other side with a critical eye.

“Uh oh,” Fluttershy mumbled, lowering her head. “She doesn’t like it…” she turned her eyes to her hooves, which were starting to water. Despite all of her friends’ assurances, she hadn’t been good enough. She had let Rarity down.

“No, I don’t like it,” Rarity confirmed. “I love it!”

Everypony else cheered. Fluttershy felt the warmth return to her heart.

“You ponies did an amazing job. “It’s exactly the way I imagined it!”

“You can thank Fluttershy for that,” Twilight chuckled. “She knew exactly what you wanted.”

“Oh, it was nothing, Rarity. I just followed your brilliant design,” said Fluttershy.

“Like we should've let you do for our outfits,” Twilight added. “Those first dresses you designed were perfect.”

“And we're going to show them off for you! Your dress isn’t the only surprise we have for you, Rares,” Rainbow Dash declared, pointing a hoof down the street leading towards the train station.

Right on cue, a heavily dressed up gray pony wearing sunglasses approached with his snout held high. “Alright, I haven’t got all day.”

Rarity gasped. “Hoity Toity? You’re here, in Ponyville? I am so sorry I subjected you to those… alternative dresses. And seeing me in this state. How unprofessional of me,” Rarity realized. “Oh please give me another chance! These new dresses will surely pique your interest.”

“So I’ve heard,” Hoity Toity said with a nod.

“Well, do come in and get comfortable- wa huh?!” Rarity gasped as she went inside and got a proper look at her showroom. She had rushed out so fast to save Opal that she hadn’t noticed the brand new stage.

“Yup, we set up the stage for ya too,” Applejack chuckled. “To be honest, the dress was pretty much just Fluttershy and Twilight. The rest of us were working down here.”

“I even made some special effects for the show!” Pinkie exclaimed.

“Oh, thank you all so much,” Rarity said. “Shall we get dressed?”

“Are you alright, Rarity?” Fluttershy asked as Rarity helped her into her dress.

“I’m just so nervous,” Rarity admitted. “I don’t know what I did to deserve this second chance-”

“You made us these amazing dresses,” Fluttershy cut in. “And I refused to wear it.”

“Now, none of that, darling. I said I forgive you.”

“Well I haven’t forgiven myself yet. So Rainbow Dash and I flew to Canterlot two days ago to convince Hoity Toity to come back for a second chance.”

“You did?!” Rarity gasped. She gave Fluttershy a big hug, not too concerned for the dress. It was designed for her friends, which meant it was designed with hugs in mind. “But still, how did you convince him? We all know what he thought of those… other dresses.”

“Oh, well, I… When we landed on Frou-Frou street, the ponies there recognized me. They wanted me to model again. It was a little overwhelming.”

“Oh dear,” Rarity whispered.

“They wouldn’t take no for an answer, and they started pushing Rainbow around… so I yelled at them. I said I would never model again and that they should be ashamed of themselves for pushing Rainbow around. Then I demanded to know where Hoity Toity’s boutique was and Rainbow flew us in right away.”

“That’s wonderful, darling! You stood up for yourself. I’m proud of you.”

Fluttershy smiled. Rarity made her feel less bad about the whole thing. “Hoity Toity was in the crowd,” she continued. “Apparently he and all the other ponies thought it was all an act. That me being scared of being a model was all acting.”

“See? Nopony ever thought you were weird or were laughing at you,” Rarity assured as she added flowers to Fluttershy's mane.

“I guess not… Anyway, I told Hoity Toity I wasn’t acting and I really was never going to model again. But… if he wanted one last modeling job from me, he could come to Ponyville today to see our show.”

“My, aren’t you quite the shrewd businesspony?” Rarity chuckled. “I do so appreciate all that you went through for me. I’ll have to make it up to you.”

“You already did,” said Fluttershy, posing with the dress for Rarity to see.

“How is it, darling? Do I need to make any adjustments?”

“It’s perfect. Nothing’s too tight or uneven, everything goes well together, and it most definitely resembles true Prench haute couture.”

Rarity grinned. “So I take it you’re over your fear of dresses fit for models now?”

“Um, I know I’ll wear anything you make,” Fluttershy answered.

Rainbow poked her head into the backroom. “Fluttershy, your turn!”

Rarity grinned, nudging Fluttershy towards the door. “Now you go out there and show the world your true self!”

Fluttershy walked onto the makeshift stage, each step more sure than the last. Behind her, Pinkie’s party lights displayed a backdrop of vines, flowers and butterflies alongside appropriately themed music.

“Now this is a fashion show!” Hoity Toity exclaimed, snapping a picture.

Fluttershy beamed and struck some different poses, showing off every best angle of Rarity’s dress. Hoity Toity gave her encouraging words and instructions as he captured Rarity’s work of art in more pictures. In the warm comfort of Rarity’s gift, Fluttershy felt no hesitation or fear of the camera. She took to the air to give the effect of a breeze ruffling the pleats and to make the flowers in her mane dance. Maybe, just maybe the fashion pony behind the camera and his audience would see something other than a timid pegasus who couldn’t speak or fly. Maybe.

Hoity Toity spent over twice as long on Fluttershy than the other four ponies before her, but eventually asked Fluttershy to settle down off the stage. Fluttershy was still full of energy as she joined her friends.

“All of these dresses are absolutely amazing!” Hoity Toity exclaimed. “Who is responsible? Step forward, show yourself!”

Fluttershy gasped as Rarity strutted onto the stage amidst a flash of lights wearing the dress that Fluttershy had finished. Fluttershy couldn’t take her eyes away. Rarity was a model. A real model.

She looks amazing, Fluttershy thought. I really did do a good job on her dress. Then Rarity struck a pose, bouncing her coiffure and flitting her eyelashes. Fluttershy found herself leaning forward, eyes wide. She’s so beautiful, Fluttershy thought. She blinked her eyes and smiled. Of course she’s beautiful. She’s supposed to be beautiful wearing the dress I made, to catch the eyes of a prince at the gala!

Hoity Toity spent even more time on Rarity than he did on Fluttershy; in fact, Rarity kept coming up with new poses until Hoity Toity’s camera finally ran out of film. Rarity took a final bow and Pinkie turned off the lights and music. “Rarity, my congratulations to you on a most impressive fashion debut,” said Hoity Toity. “Would you do me the great honor of allowing me to feature your couture in my Best of the Best Boutique in Canterlot?”

Rarity gasped, jumping up and down in a most unlady-like manner. “Yes! Thank you! Thank you so much!”

Hoity Toity gave a dazzling smile. “Now, I’ll need you to make a dozen of each dress by next Tuesday.”

“What was that?” Rarity asked, ceasing her hops. “I’m sorry, I must have misheard. It almost sounded like you needed a dozen of each dress by next Tuesday.”

“That’s correct,” Hoity Toity nodded. “You must know that the Grand Galloping Gala will soon be upon Canterlot. It would be foolish not to have the dresses for sale before the big event.”

“Yes, yes of course,” Rarity said, shuffling her hooves. “But seventy-two dresses in six days…”

“Don’t worry, Rarity,” Fluttershy said, climbing onto the stage beside Rarity. “I’ll help you.”

“Oh, thank you, darling,” Rarity smiled, releasing her held breath. “Are you sure?”

“Of course,” Fluttershy answered, giving Rarity a nuzzle.

“We’ll all help you!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed, throwing confetti in the air. Rainbow Dash, Applejack and Twilight nodded and voiced their agreement.

Fluttershy bit her lip. “Oh dear…”

The Best Garden Ever

“Only a matter of days until I’ll meet… Him!” Rarity swooned.

“Him?” Fluttershy asked.

“Yes, Him! I made up a little song about it while I was in the washroom. Would you like to hear it?”

“Um, sure?”

Rarity cleared her throat and extended a hoof. “At the gala, all the royals, they will meet fair Rarity! And they’ll see I’m just as regal at the gala~! I will find him, my Prince Charming, how gallant he will be! He will treat me like a lady, tonight at the gala~!” After extending the last high note as long as she could, Rarity giggled to herself and started coming up with another verse as she sewed.

Fluttershy mumbled some faint praise. The melody was nice, but she didn't find herself saying anything else. After some time working in silence, she came up with something. “Um, Rarity, what about the pegasus stallion you met from Cloudsdale?”

“Oh, Clear Skies? He was no longer interested after the failed fashion show,” Rarity explained.

“Oh no,” Fluttershy whispered. “We messed up your date?”

“Don’t worry about it one bit,” Rarity brushed off. “We’re going to the Grand Galloping Gala, and I’m going to find my prince!”

“Right,” Fluttershy mumbled. “Still, I’m sorry I was so selfish, only thinking about my own silly fears during your fashion show-”

“No more apologizing, darling!” Rarity waved off. “Your fears of modeling were not silly and I’m glad you’ve overcome them. Now, speaking of that first fashion show, which dress are you going to wear to the gala?” Rarity asked.

“Hmm?” Fluttershy glanced at the green dress she was working on and the multiple finished copies hanging on a rack nearby. “These are all for Hoity Toity, aren’t they? I thought only the original one was for me.”

“Well yes, but what I meant was, do you want to take this design or the one with the bird’s nest?”

“Oh, I didn’t know that was an option. Um… it’s not very suited for a formal event in Canterlot, is it?” Fluttershy smiled sheepishly. “I know it looked a little… strange to any normal pony.” She let out a little giggle. “I specifically wanted it to be something a model would never wear! I can’t go to the gala in that.”

“Au contraire!” Rarity exclaimed. “Out of all the dresses our friends made, yours shined the most. Sure, it may not be high fashion, but we aren’t going to a fashion show. The most important thing is for you to be comfortable in your dress, and I saw you strut down that runway as confidently as Rainbow Dash during that first fashion show, regardless of what the crowd thought. And wasn’t the bird’s nest designed for the birds in the garden?”

“Hmm,” Fluttershy thought as she continued sewing. That other dress was cozy and practical, but it wasn’t what she needed. There was only one night for the gala, when all the flowers were in bloom and all the animals would be out and about. She needed to be bold, and the dress Rarity had designed her was meant to be bold. “I’m still going with your design,” she decided. “It’ll be perfect for the gala.”

“I’m honored!” Rarity mused. “Once we are done with all these other dresses, I’ll patch yours up and make it extra special!”

Fluttershy smiled, resuming her sewing. “How about you, Rarity? Which dress are you taking?”

“The one that you finished, of course!” Rarity answered.

Fluttershy bit her lip. “Even if it’s not perfect?”

“It is most certainly perfect to me,” Rarity declared. “All these copies are made in a rush, but yours was made with time, love, and couture. The dress you made is the most special. It means a lot to me.”

Fluttershy paused the sewing machine. “That means a lot to me, too.” She scooted over and gave Rarity a warmth-filled hug.

After a sleepover one night and an all-nighter on the eve, Fluttershy and Rarity sent off the dresses to Hoity Toity’s boutique in Canterlot just in time. Fluttershy got some urgent rest then caught up with all her chores that she had fallen behind on ever since Rarity’s failed fashion show. Before she knew it, she was back outside Rarity’s boutique where Pinkie Pie was bouncing on a trampoline.

“I. Can’t. Believe! Grand! Galloping! Gala! Is. Tonight!”

“I’m ready,” Twilight announced, closing her book.

“For what?” Rainbow asked.

“Come on, Spike,” Twilight instructed. Spike placed an apple in the middle and motioned for everypony to stand back. Everypony gasped as Twilight turned the apple into a carriage fit for royalty. “And that’s not all,” Twilight said. “Fluttershy, did you bring your friends?”

Fluttershy’s face fell behind her mane. “A-actually, Twilight… I’m not very comfortable with you casting a spell on them.”

“I promise they’ll be safe.”

“Well…” Fluttershy shook her pink curtain. “I just don't think it's a good idea. Sorry.”

Twilight groaned. “Then how will we get to the gala?”

“Oh, whatever shall we do?” Rarity exclaimed, holding a hoof to her forehead. The others stared at her and she put on a mischievous look.

Rarity strutted down Mane Street and locked onto two chatting stallions, one with a gray coat and the other gold. “Excuse me, Lucky Clover, Caramel,” Rarity said. “My friends and I are going to the Grand Galloping Gala in Canterlot tonight. Would two strong and handsome stallions such as yourselves be interested in pulling our carriage to the gala?” she asked, fluttering her eyelashes.

The two stallions glanced at each other with goofy smiles. “Sure thing, Rarity.”

“Marvelous!” Rarity tithered. “Come right this w-”

“Uh, that ain’t necessary, pardners,” Applejack interjected with a hoof in Rarity’s mouth. “It’s an awful long walk to Canterlot. We’ll just take the train.”

“Oh,” Twilight said, wearing a silly smile. “Right.”

Rarity spat out Applejack’s hoof and pushed the offender away. “But what about showing up at the castle in that divine carriage!” Rarity whined. Applejack glared at her. “Fine, have it your way.” She waved off the stallions with a dazzling smile.

Applejack rolled her eyes. “How bout we bring an apple with us and Twilight can turn it into a carriage once we get off in Canterlot?” she offered.

“Actually, I don’t think I can pull off that spell again for another week. And now that I think about it, the carriage could’ve turned back into an apple before we got home. I really didn’t think this through,” Twilight chuckled, rubbing her neck.

Twilight spotted Princess Celestia past the grand entrance of the castle and galloped in; this set off a chain reaction as all her friends ran off to make their dreams come true. Fluttershy took to the air towards the castle’s private garden, ready to meet new friends big and small.

She found the garden right away. The flowers were all in bloom, and they certainly lived up to their reputation of being the most beautiful and fragrant in all of Equestria. However, there wasn’t an animal in sight. The garden was currently occupied from left to right, front and back, with ponies sitting on cushions and socializing.

This isn’t what I imagined, Fluttershy thought. She blinked a few times and scanned the premises again, but still didn’t see any animals frolicking about the garden. She fluttered from bush to bush, tree to tree, but couldn’t find a single little critter. She settled down and closed her eyes, swiveling her ears around, but all she could hear was high class chatter, and not a single animal sound. She couldn’t take much high class chatter and promptly folded her ears, slumping down.

With a shake of her head, Fluttershy took to the sky once more. She scanned the garden grounds below her again; it occurred to her how rare it was for her to be the only one in the air for all to see, but the promise of new animal friends kept her flying high. She saw so many wonderful blooming flowers, she saw Applejack smiling at a stand full of apple-themed treats, she saw Rainbow Dash talking with the Wonderbolts, but she couldn’t see any animals!

Fluttershy was about to drop back to the ground in dismay when something velvet with golden gleams caught her eyes. Rarity strode through the crowd of other finely-dressed ponies looking all prim and proper and composed. She was simply stunning in that dress, the dress Fluttershy had made! Fluttershy watched with a proud smile as Rarity drew attention from ponies all around. But then Fluttershy realized Rarity was on a deliberate course towards a white stallion with blonde hair standing by a rose bush.

“Miss Fluttershy?” a polite voice called from below.

Fluttershy peeked down and noticed a blue stallion with a bright orange mane smiling up at her. She touched down, wiping off the pout that she didn’t know she was wearing and offering a small smile. “Um, hello?”

The stallion gave her a bow. “A pleasure to see you again. And what a lovely dress you have tonight.”

Fluttershy beamed. “Thank you, sir. My friend Rarity made it for me. She owns Carousel Boutique in Ponyville.” After a moment of hesitation, she struck a modest pose, stretching one leg to show off the green pleats.

“So I’ve heard,” the stallion remarked. “So I’ve heard indeed. I work with Hoity Toity quite often. Believe me when I say he could not stop raving about Rarity’s dresses.” The stallion took a step to the side which led into a fancy twirl and flourish as he moved to admire the rest of Fluttershy’s dress.

“Oh! You’re the ballet dancer!” Fluttershy exclaimed. “I’m so sorry, I never got your name.”

“Perfect Pace, at your service,” he introduced with a smooth twirl. “I also heard from dear Hoity that you no longer intend to be a model, and that your nervousness on stage was no act of coyness. My sincerest apologies for making you uncomfortable on stage.” He dropped eye contact, put on a serious expression, and bowed his head.

“It's okay, Mr. Pace. You didn't know,” Fluttershy reassured. “I only modeled because Rarity wanted me to, but she was supposed to be the star, not me. I'm really happy everypony likes her dresses. She worked so hard on them.”

“It truly shows,” Perfect Pace remarked. “And please, just ‘Pace’ is fine, I insist! Now it would be my great honor to get to know the real you. If not modeling, what do you love to do, Miss Fluttershy?”

Fluttershy giggled. “Just ‘Fluttershy.’ I take care of animals around Ponyville. Communicating with animals is my special talent.”

“How intriguing!” the ballet dancer remarked. “Would you accompany me to the ballroom? I would love to learn more.”

“Oh, sorry. I came to the gala to see the animals in the garden. I'm in the middle of looking for one. Have you seen any animals around?” she asked, perking up at the chance of help.

“Erm… I’m afraid not. What kind of animals do you seek?”

“Absolutely everything!” Fluttershy exclaimed with a flap of her wings. “I've heard there’s loons and toucans and bitterns, oh my! Hummingbirds that can really hum, and buzzards that can really buzz! Blue jays and red jays and green jays, pink jays and pink flamingos!” She settled back on the ground and scuffed a hoof. “But I haven’t seen any creatures at all so far, and I’ve been looking for a while.”

Perfect Pace tapped a hoof to his chin. “While I too have yet to spot any such creature tonight, I do recall such rumors of their existence.”

“Yes, so I have to keep looking,” Fluttershy said determinedly, flapping her wings again. “It was nice talking to you, Perfect Pace!”

“Uh, yes. A pleasure talking to you, Fluttershy,” the stallion called after her.

Fluttershy flew around from tree to tree some more with no luck. She finally decided to walk through the garden on the ground amongst the high class ponies. She evened out the ruffles in her dress, feeling a warm sense of security. In Rarity's dress, Fluttershy wasn't a model to be laughed at; she was a lady who could walk amongst high society, a lady who would find what she came for.

After a few laps and a bit of wandering, Fluttershy at last found something. “Oh my, a meadowlark!” she couldn't help but voice, scampering after the fast flying little avian. Fluttershy followed the yellow bird past the outskirts of the garden, where it disappeared around a corner of the castle.

Fluttershy peeked around the corner and gasped. There weren't any firefly lamps or cushions set up here. There weren't any exotics flowers in bloom, just ordinary trees and bushes. There were two plain wooden doors in the castle wall serving as the back exit of the ballroom. This small section of undecorated, wild greenery, forgotten behind a corner of the castle, housed the most exotic animals Fluttershy had ever met. Right away, she spotted a toco toucan with a bright green and red beak perched on a branch, a spider monkey swinging from tree to tree, and even a wallaroo hopping about.

Unable to stand still any longer, Fluttershy leaped into the air and soared towards the trees wearing a huge smile. Her dress rustled in the air as she flew. Immediately, all the animals flew, hopped, swung, or otherwise scampered away. Fluttershy froze in mid-air, drawing her front hooves back in shock, her tail swinging below and her dress flapping like an errant cape catching a harsh draft. She had never seen so many animals move so fast before - so fast away from her.

Fluttershy closed her jaw and gently touched down, careful not to step on her dress. She shook her head; it had been a very long time since she had accidentally scared an animal, let alone a whole flock of friendly animals. She let out a breath, releasing all the tension in her body, and resolved to try again. She fluttered after the birds, holding out her hooves for them to perch, but all the birds wanted nothing to do with her. She sat down on a branch and hummed a sweet tune, hoping some creatures would approach her, but none came. Venturing further into the greenery, Fluttershy spotted a bunny making eye-contact. Bunnies were perfect; she had the absolute most experience befriending bunnies. She crouched down low and calmly approached the bunny with a serene smile and no tension in her frame, her dress dragging along the uneven grass.

Within moments of her friendly approach, the bunny hopped away, disappearing into a bush. Fluttershy’s eyes widened, and she hung her head, her mane tangling up with her shoe straps. What was happening? How could these animals all want nothing to do with her? It dreadfully reminded her of Flight School, where everypony would laugh at her for not being able to fly or even talk, including the teachers. It reminded her of the runway, where everypony would laugh at her and make comments about her without ever looking at her like a pony, where she was just a model for their entertainment. Her friends had told her those other ponies weren’t being very nice and it was their loss. But these were animals! Friendly woodland creatures! Animals never judged or laughed at others, and animals never ran away from Fluttershy!

The blue butterfly necklace felt heavier around her neck. It also started to feel damp. Fluttershy opened her eyes and saw her tears soiling the wonderful dress that Rarity had made for her. With a sniff, Fluttershy lifted herself up and checked herself over. The dress had gotten a little frazzled here and there, but it still shined pristinely with its wonderful green shade and accompanying floral and butterfly patterns. The dress was a reminder to be bold. Be bold like Rarity. If Fluttershy could talk to a famous, handsome ballet star, then surely she could make friends with some new animals! And that’s what she was going to do!

“You do the pony pokey! You do the pony poke! You do the pony pokey and that’s what it’s all about! YEAH!” Pinkie squealed at the top of her lungs.

Rarity picked herself up from the floor, where she had lain after Prince Blueblood’s refusal to hold open the door had led to it slamming her in the flank and sending her sprawling. It was nothing a battle-hardened mare from Ponyville couldn’t handle, but how dare that lout treat a lady in such an uncouth fashion! She prowled after the prince, ready to give him a piece of her mind. Before she could, the doors across the ballroom swung open.

“Okay, all you high-class ponies,” Applejack announced, trotting forward with a magnificent cake perched atop her apple cart. “Here’s a highfalutin apple cake for all your hoity toity taste buds!”

“Stage dive!” Pinkie Pie screamed, leaping into the crowd. The only thing that caught her was the edge of Applejack’s cart. The cake catapulted over the stage and descended towards…

“Ah!” Rarity screeched at the top of her lungs. She crouched her legs, about to leap away, when something wrapped around her barrel. Her hooves were lifted off the ground, and the next moment, she felt the sweet, fragrant goodness of cake and frosting across her entire face.

Rarity’s hooves hit the ground and she stood stock still, trying to process whether the rich, fluffy, apple-infused cake on her tongue was real. She must’ve already passed out for some reason or another; there was no sound. Wasn’t there loud music a second ago? Yes, surely she had fainted long ago from the prince’s uncouth antics, and surely she hadn’t just been used as a pony shield from delicious cake. Perhaps she was still taking a nap on the train to Canterlot to recover from working herself to the bone on Hoity Toity’s dresses, and this was all a lucid nightmare of her hidden fears that she would not qualify as a lady?

The cake and frosting dribbled down her ears, restoring Rarity’s hearing. Yes, the music had stopped, but there were clearly murmurs bouncing about the room. Rarity opened her eyes and looked down, some frosting dripping off her mane and splatting over her glass slippers. The front of her velvet dress was utterly ruined. The extra weight on her back surely meant the entire dress was ruined too; she didn’t dare to look.

She whipped around in one motion, feeling some weight flying off. There stood a unicorn with a blond mane and a clean white coat. A growl emanated from Rarity’s throat the likes of which the Everfree Forest had never heard before. “You are the most uncharming princes I have ever met! In fact, the only thing royal about you is that you are a royal pain!”

“Ew!” Prince Blueblood shuddered. “S-stay back! I just had myself groomed!”

Rarity looked behind her at her ruined dress and grinned. “Afraid to get dirty?” She galloped two steps forward and swung around, the loose cake bits in her dress spraying onto the prince’s coat. Then her two backhooves bucked him in the chest, sending him into the large ornate pony statue in the center of the ballroom.

“This is my chance!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed, streaming under the falling statue with a rainbow contrail. “Yes! Whoa…” she yelped as the statue started tilting on her back. She stumbled from side to side, knocking a pillar over, which knocked over the next pillar, and the next. Rainbow collapsed, and the statue shattered in two at the neck.

Twilight Sparkle stared in shock from the grand entrance to the ballroom. Applejack was soothing Pinkie Pie, who was lying flat on the hard ground. Rarity was coated in cake. Rainbow Dash lay in a pile of rubble. Twilight didn’t dare to glance at her mentor beside her, Princess Celestia. “Well, it can’t get any worse…” she mumbled.

The very next moment, the backdoors in the corner of the ballroom flew open and a horde of animals flooded the premises. A very ragged Fluttershy at the doorway heaved heavy breaths. “You’re. Going to LOVE ME!” the pegasus screamed.

Twilight started hyperventilating, coming up with a dozen things to say to her mentor. “Run,” Princess Celestia suggested instead. Twilight nodded and gestured to her friends to come. With a sheepish smile to Princess Celestia, Twilight bolted down the stairs with her friends in tow. To Twilight’s surprise, Rarity quickly overtook her.

“Ooh! Rarity, your glass slipper!” Pinkie called out. “Now your prince is sure to find you!”

Rarity shrieked and galloped back up the stairs, slamming her hoof onto the slipper and almost certainly chipping something. “Let’s go!” she cried, grabbing Pinkie Pie by the dress and soaring down the stairs four steps at a time.

Twilight ran past the castle gates and hid behind the fence, counting her friends as they followed her out. “Wait! Where’s Fluttershy?”

Fluttershy’s hooves carried her back to the dreaded, abandoned corner of greenery, where she promptly hid inside a large bush and buried her face in her hooves. No creature came to check on her. She doubted anypony - or any creature - wanted anything to do with her anymore.

“Fluttershy,” a familiar voice eventually reached her wilted ears. “Fluttershy, could you come out from there?”

The pegasus didn’t budge, unwilling to part her tearstained face from her forelegs. The sound of moving branches filled the vicinity and a purple mane and velvet dress entered her periphery. Fluttershy started burrowing deeper into the bush.

“Tell me what’s the matter?” Rarity asked softly. Fluttershy stayed silent for almost a minute besides the occasional sniff before finally mumbling some muffled response into her hooves, prompting Rarity to move closer. “Pardon?”

“They hate me,” Fluttershy whimpered.

“The party goers may have some distaste for us, but it’s hardly something we can’t overcome-”

“No, not the ponies, the animals. They hate me,” Fluttershy cried.

“Oh,” Rarity voiced, realizing it was worse than she thought. “What happened between you and the animals? Please talk to me, darling,” Rarity urged, fully settling down next to Fluttershy.

“I finally found all the animals but they all ran away from me. Animals never run away from me. Why did they want nothing to do with me? It’s like I lost my special talent. There’s something wrong with me,” Fluttershy whispered, her voice barely audible near the end.

“There’s nothing wrong with you,” Rarity soothed, easing Fluttershy’s face up.

“There is,” Fluttershy whimpered.

“I don’t know why these animals ran away from you, but you have plenty of friends back home who love you just the way you are, animals and ponies alike.”

“Why does every new creature that I meet from outside Ponyville never want to be my friend?” Fluttershy sniffed. “All the foals in Cloudsdale made fun of me. All the fashion ponies made fun of me. Even these animals in Canterlot run away from me. I must be a horrible pony.”

“You are a very lovable pony,” Rarity soothed, brushing Fluttershy’s mane. “How others think or act is out of your control. Believe me, I know,” Rarity sighed. “There’s no reason to let the actions of others make you think you aren’t your wonderful self.”

“I’m not thinking about what other ponies think anymore,” Fluttershy mumbled. “I didn’t mind getting laughed at for wearing that silly bird’s nest at your fashion show.”

“Good. Now-”

“But this time it’s the animals who hate me! Animals have always loved me…”

“Animals have thoughts and opinions of their own, don’t they?” Rarity brought up. “That’s what you told me before letting me adopt Opal. That’s what you tell everypony when you entrust them with a pet.”

“Yes,” Fluttershy murmured.

“So, these animals could have some reason to avoid you. It doesn’t mean anything is wrong with you, not at all!”

“But what could possibly make them want to avoid me?”

“I don’t know. Maybe all these animals serve an evil prince whose special talent is to stamp over other ponies’ dreams,” Rarity chuckled. “The point is, those animals are not important. You are important. We have each other, and our friends, ponies and animals alike. Always remember your friends, how much you care about them,” Rarity said, lifting Fluttershy’s chin with a hoof, “and how much we all care about you, darling.”

Fluttershy met Rarity’s eyes through the tears and pink blinds, seeing the sincerity behind those sapphire orbs. She felt a warm feeling in her heart that slowly spread across her whole being, returning life to her limbs.

Feeling Fluttershy starting to rise, Rarity smiled and worked her way out of the bushes. “Feeling better?”

“A lot better,” Fluttershy said with a tiny nod. “Thank you.” Rarity offered a hoof to her, and Fluttershy took it with her own green-clad hoof. “Wait, did your slipper fall off?” Fluttershy asked, glancing into the bush’s depths.

“Eheh, it won’t be in there, darling,” Rarity mused. She cast a wistful glance out the garden towards the castle.

“Did you…” Fluttershy slumped, using her mane for cover. “Did you leave it behind for your prince to find?”

“Oh no. Quite the opposite. I destroyed it to make sure the prince would not find it,” Rarity said matter-of-factly, turning her snout up.

“Oh… s-so… your night didn’t go as planned either?”

“It most certainly did not!” Rarity stomped, glaring at the castle.

Fluttershy felt a sinking feeling. She knew she should not have had any thoughts about hoping Rarity wouldn’t find her prince; she was such a horrible friend! “I knew the dress I made wasn’t going to be good enough. I’m sorry, I just wanted…” Fluttershy trailed off. “You should’ve taken one of the other ones you made,” she mumbled.

“What?” Rarity voiced, turning to the friend she had come to cheer up and was doing a horrible job at. “Fluttershy, no! That’s not it at all. The dress you made was wonderful! Is wonderful! In fact, I should be apologizing to you for ruining it!”

Fluttershy perked up and finally got a proper look at Rarity. Her purple mane was clumped up with what seemed like frosting, her shawl was drenched, and the velvet dress was stained with cake. Leaves and twigs stuck to the cake stains, which made Fluttershy realize what lengths Rarity had gone to find and comfort her.

“Prince Blueblood was simply a horrible, undignified lout,” Rarity continued. “Don’t you worry one bit, Fluttershy. You did a wonderful job on my dress. Honestly, nopony has made me a dress before! You are more important to me than any prince.” Rarity leaned forward and wrapped Fluttershy in a hug, then started idly brushing the twigs out of Fluttershy’s mane.

Fluttershy felt the warmth double in her cheeks as she rested her head on Rarity’s shoulder. She didn’t have her mane to hide behind as Rarity was tending to it, but maybe she didn’t need to hide? She felt… nice.

“There you are, girls!” Twilight called out with the others in tow. “Let’s get out of here before anypony notices us. I know a donut shop down the street where we can lay low.”

“Ooh! I could really use some sweet indulgences right now!” Rarity exclaimed, trotting after Twilight. She beckoned to Fluttershy, who smiled warmly and followed.

“So Fluttershy, what’s the deal with all those animals?” Rainbow Dash asked, giving Fluttershy a little nudge with a wing.

And just like that, the feelings of dread resurfaced. “They h- didn’t like me,” Fluttershy mumbled, staring at her scuffed shoes.

“What? Ain’t never thought I’d hear the day a critter didn’t take kindly to ya,” Applejack responded. She winced as she recalled Fluttershy’s scream when the doors flew open. “Did ya do something to ‘em?” she dared to ask.

“Well, I, um, I may have tried to trap them in a box, and a net, and my bare hooves…” Fluttershy’s eyes widened. “Oh, I’m a terrible pony! Maybe I shouldn’t be around animals at all anymore!”

The others exchanged confused glances. “I’m sure there’s a perfectly reasonable explanation,” said Twilight. “Why did you set traps, Fluttershy?”

“Well, when I first found all the animals, they were all avoiding me. But I really wanted to befriend them, so I tried harder and harder…” Fluttershy’s voice shrunk smaller and smaller as she described the chases, the traps, getting caught in her own net, and finally the final rampage that drove all the animals out of the hidden enclosure and through the backdoors of the ballroom.

“It’s okay Flutters, we all make mistakes!” Pinkie said. “Like diving from a stage! My ribs are gonna be all bruisy-wuisy for days!”

“Yeah, and, uh, bringing a cake into a ballroom, I guess,” Applejack shrugged.

And bringing you girls to the gala, Twilight regretfully thought. What will the princess think now?

“See, it’s no big deal, Fluttershy,” Rarity said, waving a hoof, only to see Fluttershy was no longer at her side. Rarity looked back and saw Fluttershy standing still. “What’s the matter, darling?” she called over her shoulder.

“N-nothing,” Fluttershy mumbled, but the pegasus didn’t move.

Rarity followed Fluttershy’s line of sight to an adorable kitty on the side of the street with several burrs stuck on its back that it was trying to claw off. “Well, don’t just stand there, dear. There’s an animal in need of your help!” Rarity encouraged.

“I d-don’t know if I should anymore…”

“You can do it, I know you can!” Rarity urged, pushing Fluttershy along.

Fluttershy cautiously approached the cat, who noticed and hissed at her. Fluttershy looked past the claws and into the kitty’s eyes, feeling its needs. “It’s okay, I just want to help,” Fluttershy said soothingly, instinctively releasing all tension in her frame to convey her earnest intent. The cat calmed down and meowed, lifting its back to show the bothersome burrs.

Fluttershy leaned down and picked the burrs off one by one. The kitty hissed at first, but soon kept quiet as Fluttershy worked. Once Fluttershy was done, the cat rolled around with a happy meow, gave Fluttershy a lick on the foreleg and scampered off. Fluttershy had a radiant smile on her face, as if discovering her special talent again.

“See, Fluttershy? You are special, and some fussy animals in a royal garden isn’t going to change that about you,” Rarity reminded. Fluttershy darted over to Rarity and gave her a tight hug.

“Alright, enough with the sappy stuff. I’m starving!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed. “Those ‘hor de vors’ barely put a dent in my stomach.”

“I know from experience,” Applejack chuckled. “That’s why I made sure to bring plenty of apples.”

“Hey Rares,” Rainbow Dash called. “Gimme some of that cake.”

“Ew, gross!” Twilight interjected. Pinkie started a laugh that evolved into a chorus of laughs as the group of friends trotted down the street.

Fluttershy admired Rarity as she followed. Rarity’s mane and dress were a mess, but she was wearing Fluttershy’s dress, with the twigs as a reminder of how she found Fluttershy in the garden. Fluttershy couldn’t think of a more beautiful look.

The. Worst. Possible. Thing!

“Hi-Yah!” Fluttershy shouted as she twisted Harry the Bear’s neck and threw him down on the ground. She giggled, landing on his back and giving a massage with her hooves. “You really should have come to me sooner. You were carrying so much tension in that shoulder,”

Harry growled in appreciation. After a moment he grunted and tried to get up.

“Uh uh uh,” Fluttershy tutted. “You have to relax now.”

The bear pointed down the path leading to the cottage with a grunt.

Fluttershy spotted the lavender coat of Twilight. “Yes, that is my friend,” she remarked.

Harry gave a little whine, looking up with sad eyes.

“She does look a little sad,” Fluttershy agreed. “Just relax while I go check on her. I’ll be right back.”

As Fluttershy trotted closer to Twilight, she noticed how frazzled her friend’s mane looked. “Twilight?” Fluttershy called, but her voice was too quiet. She galloped forward. “Twilight? Is something the matter?”

Twilight’s neck snapped straight up and she gave Fluttershy a grin that looked a little too wide and toothy. “Hi Fluttershy! I was just stopping by to see if you had any troubles, trials or conundrums that I as a good friend could help you with! …But you seem to have it all covered,” Twilight sighed.

“Troubles, trials or conundrums?” Fluttershy repeated, scuffing a hoof.

“Uh huh!” Twilight exclaimed, going starry-eyed at Fluttershy’s body language. “So, do you have something for me?”

“Well, there’s one thing I could use some help with,” Fluttershy mumbled, starting to hide behind her mane. “I think I have a… crush.”

“I’m sorry, what was that?” Twilight prodded, leaning in closer.

“I have a-” Fluttershy started again, but trailed off.

“Didn’t quite catch that,” Twilight remarked. Her horn started glowing. “Here, let me give you a little amplification spell!”

“I have a… a crush,” Fluttershy whispered.

Twilight clopped her front hooves together. “A crush! You have a crush! So, you need help telling your crush?”

“Yes,” said Fluttershy. Her eyes widened as all the nearby birds flew out of the trees.

“Perfect! Well, how hard can that be? Who do you have a crush on?” Twilight asked, summoning a notepad and quill.

“Rarity,” Fluttershy said in the quietest voice possible, which didn’t come out quiet at all.

Twilight gasped, eyes widening, the notepad plopping on the ground.

“Um, please make my voice normal again?” Fluttershy whispered. Twilight somehow managed to reverse the spell while staying absolutely still.

“So…” Fluttershy started, testing to make sure she was back to normal. “I want to take her out on a date. Could you maybe help me plan it out? I-If it’s not too much trouble…”

“Not you too!” Twilight exclaimed, snapping out of her stupor. “Spike is already too much of a hooffull! Now you two are going to be competing for Rarity? Oh no. This is bad,” Twilight shuddered. “I thought the cupcakes having unequal icing for six friends was bad, but can you imagine what will happen to six friends if two of those six friends are more than friends? There won’t be six friends anymore, there’ll be four friends and two more than friends! And if there’s a breakup, we’ll be left with four friends and two not friends! What will happen to the Elements of Harmony?!”

Fluttershy cowered, her jaw on the floor as she shuffled back.

“Are you sure you have a crush and not just a closer friendship?” Twilight asked. “We need to go to the library and cross check a reference. I know I have a book on this.” She grabbed Fluttershy in her magic and galloped towards Ponyville, unable to hear her charge’s protests.

“Not this one, not this one, aha! Here it is! One-Hundred and One Telltale Signs of a Romantic Crush! Alright, Fluttershy,” Twilight said, flipping through the book rapidly and glancing to the seat next to her, only to find it empty. “Fluttershy?” She looked behind and saw the yellow pegasus sprawled out on the carpet in a daze. “Whoops, sorry I dropped you there,” Twilight remarked. She grabbed Fluttershy in her magic, who squeaked in response, and sat her friend down on the empty stump at the table, not noticing Fluttershy’s glare. “So, when you see Rarity, do you get a warm feeling in your chest?”

“Yes,” Fluttershy answered curtly.

Twilight frowned. “How about when you think of her?”

Fluttershy thought of Rarity and all the times her friend had helped her gain confidence, and the warm feeling started to bubble in her chest once more. Her agitated look melted into a small smile. “Yes,” she affirmed.

Twilight facehoofed at Fluttershy’s dreamy expression. She flipped through a few more pages. “Okay, do you get butterflies in your stomach when you see her?”

“Um… no? What kind of butterflies?” asked Fluttershy.

“Aha! Maybe you don’t have a crush on her after all!” Twilight proclaimed. She turned another page. “Okay, here’s a chapter on physical attraction. Do you like her mane? Or her eyelashes?” Twilight glanced at Fluttershy and saw a frozen expression. Twilight grinned as she went further down the page. “What about her perfume? What about her flanks?”

A mewl from Fluttershy caught Twilight’s attention. Now Fluttershy’s cheeks were a rosy red; at least, the parts that Twilight could see past Fluttershy’s trusty mane. Both her wings were unfurled too. Wait, rosy cheeks? Tense wings? Twilight flipped back several pages and groaned.

“Um,” Fluttershy squeaked. “I never really thought about those before, but…” she trailed off in a series of sounds an octave too high to interpret.

“What was that?” Twilight pressed, dreading the answer.

“I said, [small]yes to all,” Fluttershy answered, before draping her mane over her cheeks.

“Ugh!” Twilight exclaimed to the ceiling, slamming the book closed. “You can’t have a crush on Rarity!”

“Why not?” Fluttershy asked, emerging from her pink curtain and lowering her wings.

“Because…” Twilight grumbled, more hairs popping out of her mane. “Because…” she looked around the library, then scrambled around the library, then looked out the window. She spotted two stallions leisurely walking down the street. “Because Rarity likes stallions!” Twilight decided. “Yes, Rarity likes stallions! All she could talk about before the gala was finding her prince! She wants to marry a prince!”

“Oh…” Fluttershy mumbled, slumping. “I hadn’t thought about that, either…”

“You see? Rarity isn’t going to return your feelings. Things will get awkward. Then you’ll drift apart, and that could put our whole group of friends at risk. It’s best if you keep your crush a secret,” Twilight nodded matter-of-factly. She pulled out a scroll and dipped a quill in ink. “Dear Princess Celestia,” she said as she wrote, “today I learned an important lesson about friendship. Sometimes it’s necessary to keep your romantic feelings a secret in order to keep your friendships fair and intact. Your Faithful Student-”

“Twilight,” Fluttershy suddenly interjected, tapping a hoof on the table. “I, um… I don’t think Princess Celestia will like that letter.”

“Hmm, it is a little short, isn’t it? Okay, let me try again,” said Twilight, crumpling up the scroll and summoning a new one. “Dear Princess Celestia, today I learned an important lesson about friendship. I learned that crushes on friends are bad, and can only cause conflicts between friends. It’s better to keep your feelings a secret-”

“Do you really think my crush on Rarity is that bad, Twilight?” Fluttershy sniffed.

“Yes! You’re favoring Rarity over everypony else!” Twilight accused.

“Well, I’ve known Rarity the longest,” Fluttershy said. “I’ve known Rainbow Dash just as long, although-”

“Ugh!” Twilight screeched, ripping up the second scroll and starting fresh again. “Dear Princess Celestia, today I learned an important lesson about friendship. I learned that if you are the last friend to join a group of friends, then you will always be less important than the others. Your Faithful Student-”

“Twilight!” Fluttershy exclaimed, plucking the quill out of Twilight’s magical grasp with a wing. “You’re not any less important! Why would you think that?”

“You have a crush on Rarity,” Twilight deadpanned. “Clearly she’s more important to you than me.”

Fluttershy flinched. “A-are you jealous of Rarity, Twilight?” she stuttered. Almost subconsciously, the pink curtain started closing in.

“What?” Twilight shook her head. “No, it’s not that. I mean, I know I’ve been interested in both mares and stallions before, but you girls are just my friends. I haven’t thought much about romance, which is why I needed that book. I wanted to learn everything about friendship first before studying romance, but now I’m seeing how friendships aren’t all created equal…”

Fluttershy placed a hoof on Twilight’s shoulder. “I do have a crush on Rarity,” she admitted, softly and clearly. “I guess that does mean she is more special to me than my other friends. But does that have to mean we’re not friends anymore? I don’t want that…”

“Well, maybe it’s happening without you noticing,” Twilight said. “Did you ever realize that you two left me behind at the photo shoot studio? That hurt, and I didn’t know why at the time, but now I do. It’s because you’re favoring Rarity over all your other friends because of your stupid crush, whether you know it or not!”

Photo shoot studio? Fluttershy wondered. She thought back to what that could mean, but immediately started regretting it as memories of being a model and everypony staring at her resurfaced, making all her muscles tense. “I didn’t leave you behind because I had a crush on Rarity, which I didn’t have at the time,” Fluttershy grumbled as she remembered the real reason. “I was upset with how you used your magic to embarrass me on stage.”

“I was helping you!” Twilight said defensively. “You didn’t want to be a model anymore, but you could never be ungraceful on your own, so I made it happen!”

“And it was humiliating!” Fluttershy cried. “Your magic-”

“And it was working!” Twilight continued, pacing around. “It would have worked if Rarity hadn’t intervened.”

Fluttershy facehoofed. “You don’t get it, Twilight. Your magic-”

“What’s this about my magic?” Twilight snapped, several more hairs springing out of alignment.

Fluttershy drew back. “Um… Twilight, maybe you should calm down… a-and we can talk about this later?” Desperate not to meet Twilight’s increasingly manic expression, Fluttershy glanced out the window. “Oh, look, it's kind of getting close to sundown!” she exclaimed, even though the sun’s position was still solidly afternoon. “I better go back and finish Harry’s massage, then head to the park! See you at the picnic!” Without further ado, she flew out the window, leaving behind a yellow and pink contrail.

Oh my… Fluttershy thought, frozen with her muzzle slightly agape. She had arrived at the park to the sight of Rarity bent over and nosing through a basket. Fluttershy wouldn’t have thought twice about it if it hadn’t been for Twilight’s accursed book making Fluttershy think about what she thought was attractive about Rarity.

A picnic blanket suddenly washed over Fluttershy’s view, snapping her out of her trance. Trance was an understatement. Fluttershy had been ogling her best friend’s flank, for pony’s sake! She needed a distraction, fast. Spotting some balloons rising into the air, she turned her head up to watch them, hoping that nopony noticed that she was-

“Are you alright, sugarcube?” Applejack asked. “Sorry if I startled you with the blanket.”

Fluttershy flushed a little more at having been caught. “No, I wasn’t- I-I mean, yes! I’m fine! P-Pinkie, why did you bring balloons?” Fluttershy breathed out, desperate to change the subject.

“I had some left over!” Pinkie chimed. “I was gonna deflate them, but then I thought they might be so sad that their siblings got set free, so I-”

“Please tell me I did not forget the plates,” Rarity interrupted, still nosing through her basket.

Fluttershy dared to turn her head back towards that dazzling voice, barely trusting herself and her big disobedient eyes.

“I did!” Rarity gasped. “I totally forgot them! Of all the worst things that could happen, this is The. Worst. Possible. Thing!” She flopped onto her conveniently placed chaise lounge.

Fluttershy saw her other friends looking exasperated and put on a similar looking mask, but on the inside she was wrestling with herself between thinking of what it would be like to lie down with Rarity on the fainting couch or wondering how the two of them would fit.

“What? You didn’t expect me to lay on the grass, did you?”

Fluttershy snapped out of her fantasies, replacing her exasperated mask with the real thing.

There was a soft plop, followed by the sound of Rainbow Dash scrambling to her hooves, disrupting the picnic blanket. Five mares turned to face a wide-eyed, scruffy Twilight Sparkle. “You alright, hun?” Applejack asked, taking a cautious step forward.

“No! I am not alright,” Twilight declared, eyes starting to water.

“What can we do?” asked Applejack.

“It’s just terrible,” Twilight continued. “Simply awful. It’s the most horrific trouble I’ve ever been in and I really, really, really need your help!”

Fluttershy sat there wide eyed at her frazzled friend, holding her hooves to her muzzle. She suddenly felt very guilty for leaving the library so abruptly while Twilight had clearly not been thinking straight. Had Twilight sent a bad letter to the princess and got a scolding? Had she broken anything? Had she hurt herself somehow? When it came to Twilight’s magic, any damage imaginable was possible…

“My letter to Princess Celestia is almost overdue, and I haven’t learned anything about friendship!” Twilight exclaimed, going as stiff as a board.

Fluttershy breathed a huge sigh of relief, resting her eyes. “Oh, thank goodness. I thought something really awful had happened,” she said, putting on a serene smile.

Twilight drew back in shock, making some strangled sounds. The next moment, Twilight started teleporting around, the pop sounds making Fluttershy wince. “Something awful has happened!” Twilight screeched. “If I don’t turn in the letter on time, I’ll be tardy! Tardy!”

“No offense, sugarcube, but it looks like somepony’s getting themselves all worked up over nothing,” Applejack said, easing Twilight into a calm sitting position.

“This is not nothing,” Twilight shot back, punting Applejack’s hooves away. “This is everything. I need you guys to help me find somepony with a problem I can fix before sundown! My whole life depends on it!”

Pinkie Pie let out a signature giggle. “Oh Twilight, you’re such a crack-up!” she laughed.

“Come on now, have a seat and stop sweating the small stuff,” Applejack offered.

Twilight gave them a venomous glare that could probably shoot magical lasers if held for long enough. “Ugh!” she groaned, running off and teleporting away. The ponies at the picnic couldn’t see their friend anymore, if she was even still in the park at all.

Fluttershy lowered her head. “Wow, I’ve never seen Twilight so upset before,” she mumbled. She really should’ve braved whatever magical apocalypse was awaiting her back at the library in order to help Twilight sort out whatever was going on in that lavender head…

Rarity scoffed a dignified scoff. “What a drama queen!” the fashionista laughed. “Ehem, relatively speaking,” she added, tossing her mane and looking to the side with a sheepish smile.

Fluttershy smiled at the beautiful sight; Rarity very rarely had a need to look shy, but Fluttershy couldn't help but notice that shy Rarity looked adorable. For once, Fluttershy thought she might understand why all those ponies wanted her to look all shy in front of the camera. Fluttershy thought of complimenting Rarity, but then a strange feeling arose in her stomach. What was happening? Is this what Twilight meant by “butterflies in her stomach?” She never felt this way before! Why did Twilight have to read that book to her against her will?

“Fluttershy, darling. Is there something you’re trying to say?” Rarity asked, now staring back at the yellow mare.

The butterflies doubled, no, tripled. “Twilight!” Fluttershy blurted out. Twilight read a book about crushes to me and now I can’t think straight! Fluttershy squirmed even more at those thoughts. “Twilight came to me earlier asking for a friendship problem to solve so she could write a letter,” Fluttershy breathed out instead.

“So that’s why she asked me if I had any problems with AJ,” Rainbow Dash chimed in.

“I suppose that’s why she visited the boutique earlier,” Rarity remarked. “She disappeared before I could ask what was the matter.”

“Maybe we should help her find a problem to solve so she can write about it to the princess?” Applejack asked.

“Nah, it’s just Twilight being Twilight,” Rainbow dismissed, lying down on the picnic blanket.

“She’s gotta come back for cupcakes,” Pinkie said, nosing the forgotten box. When the lid flipped open, Pinkie gasped, eyes going wide at the thirteen near frostingless cupcakes. “What happened to these poor things?!” She pulled a tube of frosting out of her mane and squashed it between two hooves. Frosting splattered all over the cupcakes and surrounding picnic blanket.

The other four stared at Pinkie’s mess, then shrugged. “I’ll take the one with the least frosting,” said Rarity. “A lady must always watch her figure.”

“I’ll take the most frosting,” Rainbow declared. “I’ll fly it off in a jiffy. You just need to exercise more, Rares.”

“I do exercise,” Rarity pouted.

Pinkie handed out cupcakes based on everypony’s frosting preferences. “You know, Twilight’s birthday’s coming up! Since she’s not here, we should start planning the surprise party!”

Fluttershy wanted to ask Rarity for a date, but she couldn’t do it. She still hadn’t the slightest idea how, or what to even do on a date, and Twilight hadn’t helped at all. In fact, Twilight had made things worse by pointing out all of Rarity’s features and cursing Fluttershy with these new butterflies in her stomach. So instead of saying anything Fluttershy just smiled and listened as Rarity talked about how her dresses were doing in Canterlot.

Suddenly, the ground rumbled. A horde of ponies ran through the park, led by the mayor in front and with pegasi closing in from the air. “What in the name of all things oats and apples is going on here?” Applejack asked.

“Don’t look at it!” Twilight suddenly screeched. Fluttershy turned to see that Twilight was suddenly back, with her hooves covering Rainbow Dash’s eyes, looking even more unstable than before, if that was even possible.

“Don’t look at what?” Rarity asked.

Twilight let go of Rainbow’s eyes and moved to cover Rarity’s, which gave Fluttershy a sudden urge to push the mad unicorn away from Rarity. “My Smarty Pants doll!” Twilight let go of Rarity and stepped away. “I enchanted her and now everypony is fighting over her!”

Suddenly Fluttershy found herself at Rarity’s side, in front of Twilight, as if she could shield Rarity from whatever crazy spell might come out of Twilight next. “Why would you enchant your doll?” she demanded.

“Well I had to do something! I had nothing to report to Princess Celestia!” Twilight cried, lying on the grass with her hooves to her head. “I thought if I couldn’t find a problem, I’d make a problem! The day is almost over!”

“Not almost…” Applejack muttered, looking towards the horizon as the sun dipped below it.

Fluttershy whimpered at the carnage taking place across the park. She should’ve helped Twilight earlier. She knew she should’ve, but she didn’t. Now the magical disaster that she thought would happen was happening before their eyes.

“Twilight Sparkle!” a voice from above called, a ray of light shining down on them. Princess Celestia floated above, and for the first time, she looked angry. Her horn shone, followed by a wave of light, and the scuffles across the park ceased.

“Meet me in the library,” Princess Celestia ordered, flying off.

There was complete silence as Twilight lifted herself onto four hooves, head still to the ground. “Goodbye girls,” she whimpered, dragging her hooves forward. “If you care to visit, I’ll be in magic kindergarten… back in Canterlot…”

The five remaining friends stared after Twilight’s departing form until she teleported away. “Magic kindergarten…?” Fluttershy asked.

“Canterlot?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“We’re never going to see Twilight again!” Pinkie Pie cried.

“What are we gonna do, y’all?” Applejack asked.

“Of all the things that could happen, this is The. Worst. Possible. Thing!” Rarity cried. Fluttershy stared, pretending to look annoyed like the others although she was feeling on the more endeared side. “What? I really mean it this time!” Rarity added, flipping a hoof and winking.

Fluttershy had to look away to clear her mind of Rarity and maintain a normal temperature in her cheeks. She took a calming breath. “I’m sorry everypony. I knew Twilight needed a letter. I should’ve helped her write one, or talked to her to calm her down, instead of running off.”

“It ain’t your fault, Fluttershy,” Applejack reassured. “We all should’ve calmed her down earlier instead of letting her run off.”

“Well we gotta tell the princess that now! We can’t let Twilight go to magic kindergarten!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed. She set a course to the Golden Oaks Library with the others galloping after.

Twilight landed on the wooden floor of the library after her teleport, flopping on the ground and covering her face with her hooves. There was silence as Twilight awaited a lecturing and her sentencing. When none came, she slowly peered up at her teacher’s stern look.

“Twilight, I trust you know what you did wrong. So tell me, what did you learn today?”

“I’m sorry, Princess,” Twilight stammered. “I didn’t get a letter about friendship to you on time. I promise to be more organized in the future and never miss a deadline-” Twilight felt Celestia place a hoof on her shoulder. Twilight stopped immediately, covering her mouth with her hooves.

Celestia withdrew her hoof and closed her eyes. Silence filled the library once more.

Twilight didn’t know what to say. Despite being her teacher, Celestia was still an enigma to her in many ways. If the princess wasn’t mad at her friends for ruining the gala, then what would make her mad? The only time Twilight had ever even seen the princess mad was a moment ago back at the park, and the princess didn’t even look mad right now, just disappointed. “What did I do wrong, Princess?” Twilight asked in a small voice.

Princess Celestia sighed, looking Twilight in the eyes. “You know I don’t like giving out answers, Twilight. I prefer to guide my subjects and students alike to come to an understanding for themselves.” A small smile formed at the edges of her white muzzle as she went into teacher mode. “Now, why don’t you start by explaining to me what was happening in the park?”

“O-okay,” Twilight whispered. “Everypony was fighting with each other because they all wanted my doll, which I enchanted with a Want It, Need It spell. But you already knew that, since you cast the counterspell.”

“And why did you cast this particular spell?”

“I wanted to make three fillies fight over my doll so that I could break it up,” Twilight continued. “So that I could write a letter to you about how friends should share with each other. But they weren’t interested in the doll. I-I… When I cast that spell, I was only trying to cause a little argument between three fillies. I didn’t stop to think about what would happen if other ponies came in contact with my doll, and I ended up hurting a lot of ponies. I never should’ve forced anypony to like my doll.”

Celestia nodded. “Sounds like you learned an important lesson today.”

“I did,” said Twilight. “And I have a lot of ponies to apologize to.” Twilight briefly tried to calculate just how many ponies she had to apologize to, then put that thought aside for now. “So, does that cover my letter for the week?” Her eyes shone. “I’m clear until next Tuesday? I know it's after sundown, but-”

“Next Tuesday? What are you talking about, Twilight?”

“I’m supposed to send you a letter about friendship every week. I missed the deadline. I’m a bad student. I’m… tardy…”

“You are a wonderful student, Twilight. I don’t have to get a letter every week to know that. Wherever did you get that idea?”

Twilight’s mouth hung open. Indeed, she didn’t recall the princess ever giving her instructions, only asking her to report back on the magic of friendship with no specific due date. What was so special about a week? What was so special about Tuesday? Then it hit her. “Back in Canterlot, we would have tea every Tuesday afternoon and I would go over my magical discoveries,” Twilight said. “It was my favorite part of the week.”

Princess Celestia smiled warmly. “It was my favorite past of the week too, my faithful student.”

“But then, when I moved to Ponyville, I had new friends to share the day and night with instead of studying on my own all the time. I also spent more time with Spike; I wasn’t a very good friend to him before. I was enjoying my time in Ponyville so much that I started to forget what Canterlot was like. But one Tuesday afternoon, I felt like I was missing my meeting with you.” Twilight looked off to the side with an embarrassed grin, tapping her hooves together. “I realized that those Tuesday afternoon meetings were not just me reporting my studies to my teacher. I was spending time with a friend. So I thought, if I wasn’t in Canterlot to see you, I should at least send a letter every Tuesday.”

Princess Celestia pulled Twilight into a hug. “Oh Twilight, that means so much to me. Sometimes I worried that I was only a teacher to you, and not your friend. I am happy to hear my worries were unfounded. As I’m sure you now know, the magic of friendship is a very special kind of magic. While most magical studies can be gathered up and discussed every week, the magic of friendship doesn’t follow such rules.”

“You’re right, Princess. I can’t believe I tried to force a friendship problem for the week,” Twilight said sheepishly.

“Our magical talks were the highlight of my week, and your letters continue to be so. You can always write to me, and it doesn’t have to strictly be about a lesson in friendship. In fact, I realize today that I’ve been rather neglectful on my part. From this day forth, you should be expecting some mail in return, too,” Celestia added with a wink.

The library door burst open, causing Twilight to jump in surprise. Rainbow Dash flew in between Twilight and Princess Celestia, holding out a hoof. “Wait!”

“You can’t punish her!” Pinkie Pie cried, zipping to Twilight’s side.

“It wasn’t her fault!” Applejack hollered.

Princess Celestia smiled to herself, seeing the magic of friendship at work. “I’m listening.”

“Please your highness, we all saw that Twilight was upset,” Fluttershy said.

“But we thought that the thing she was worrying about wasn’t worrying about,” Rainbow confessed, looking at her hooves.

“So when she ran off all worked up, not a single one of us tried to stop her!” Applejack added.

“As Twilight’s good friends, we should have taken her feelings seriously and been there for her!” said Rarity.

“Please don’t take her away from us just because we were too insensitive to help her,” Fluttershy pleaded.

Princess Celestia wore an enigmatic smile. “It seems we’ve all learned a pretty valuable lesson today. Myself included.”

“I’m sorry I caused all that trouble and worried everypony,” Twilight said, wrapping her hooves around her friends. “I’m not getting banished to Canterlot. Although, I’m sure I’ll visit more often,” she smiled.

“I’m looking forward to it,” Princess Celestia chuckled. “Now, if you all will excuse me, I must return to Canterlot.” She made her way to the library’s balcony.

“Princess Celestia, wait!” Twilight called. “How did you know I was in trouble?”

“Spike made me aware that you were letting your fears get the best of you,” Celestia chuckled. With a great leap, the alicorn flapped towards the distant mountain in the moonlight before disappearing in a golden flash.

With her hooves on the balcony, Twilight stared out at the glowing speck that was Canterlot fondly. She walked back inside and spotted Spike hiding against the wall with his claws behind his back. “Thanks Spike,” she said, pulling him into a hug. “You’re a lifesaver.”

“Twilight?” Fluttershy voiced, rubbing one hoof. “I was wondering, if it’s not too much trouble, if I could help you write a friendship lesson to the princess?”

“Of course!” Twilight cheered. “Spike?”

“I’ve got you covered,” Spike grinned, scroll and quill handy.

“Dear Princess Celestia,” Fluttershy started, “today I learned to take my friends’ worries seriously, even if I don’t think it’s anything worth worrying about. It’s always better to handle problems early instead of letting them get worse.”

“And I learned to always talk about problems before jumping straight to magic, and to never use magic that affects others without their permission,” Twilight added. “Your friends, Fluttershy and Twilight Sparkle.”

“P.S.” said Spike, “Obviously, Spike did not have to learn a lesson, because he is the best, most awesome friend a pony could ask for. Unlike everypony else, he took things seriously, and-” he trailed off, grinning at Twilight’s glare.

Twilight shook her head and smiled. “Let’s just go with, ‘P.S. Thank you for coming to Ponyville after receiving Spike’s letter. He is the best friend a pony could ask for.’”

“Deal!” Spike declared. He scrolled up the letter and sent it off with a breath of green fire.

After all the girls left the library, Twilight caught up with Fluttershy on her way home to her cottage. “Fluttershy, I just wanted to say to you first…” she scuffed a hoof along the ground. “I’m sorry for all the times that I, um, cast random spells on you without approval.”

“Hmm?”

“You know, amplifying your voice, dragging you to the library… embarrassing you at the fashion show with all kinds of crazy things… I’m sure I’m forgetting something.”

“Turning me into a vampire fruit bat pony?” Fluttershy offered.

“Yeah, that,” Twilight said with a shudder. “It’s obvious now why you didn’t want me to turn your mice into horses. I’m sorry. From now on, I promise to control how I use my magic and think before I act.”

“It’s okay,” said Fluttershy. “You never wanted to hurt anypony on purpose. I, um, I didn’t want to make you feel uncomfortable about your special talent.”

“From now on, don’t hide your worries,” said Twilight. “As you said, we’re going to take worries seriously, even if we think they’re not worth worrying about.”

“Thank you,” Fluttershy smiled. The two friends shared a warm hug.

“Wait,” said Twilight. “I feel like there was something else I said to you today that wasn’t right. All the details got foggier as the day got closer to sundown…”

“No, you didn’t say anything bad,” Fluttershy said.

“Are you sure? I really feel like there was something I should apologize for,” Twilight insisted, rubbing a hoof against her head.

“Whatever it was, apology accepted,” Fluttershy smiled.

Twilight quirked an eyebrow, then shrugged. “Well, if you say so. Thanks!”

“Good night!” Fluttershy waved, heading towards her cottage.

Once Fluttershy was out of town, she lowered her head, careful not to trip over her mane. She didn’t want Twilight to know what had been forgotten. It wasn’t Twilight’s fault. Of course, the thing Twilight forgot was how she had crushed Fluttershy’s dreams by pointing out how Rarity wouldn’t return her feelings. It was The. Worst. Possible. Thing.