Fluttercraftby TheYewTreeChaptersA Request for Something FunA Package at the DoorDigital BeginningsA WishA Request for Something FunChapter One Something Fun By TheYewTree "Thanks for offering to take care of Tank while I'm away at the Wonderbolts Academy, Fluttershy," Rainbow Dash told her. "It really means a lot to me." Fluttershy replied, "Oh, it's no problem for me, and don't you worry. Tank will be just fine in my hooves," Fluttershy then smiled at the green tortoise, and it smiled back at her. "Anyways, when will you be coming back?" "Uh, probably in a week or so," the rainbow mare replied. "Unless if Spitfire wants me to be the lead pegasus for a longer time, then I'll probably be away longer. You know how she's like. I hope that's ok with you?" "Umm... it's fine. Even if you are away longer, I still have time on my hooves." Fluttershy nodded at Rainbow Dash. "Awesome! Thanks again. See ya in a week!" Rainbow Dash replied to her and then flew at lightning speed into the afternoon sky. After Rainbow's rapid take-off, Fluttershy steadily nudged Tank forward across the ground towards her cottage. For a moment Fluttershy asked Tank, "I haven't seen you in so long... how did you like Rainbow Dash?" Although the tortoise couldn't talk, Tank grew a smile on his face which Fluttershy assumed that the tortoise enjoyed Rainbow Dash. "I'll take that as a yes," Fluttershy lightly giggled. "Come on, let's go have some dinner." Tank nodded in agreement, and the pair slowly, but steadily, walked towards the cottage. After a hearty dinner, Fluttershy tucked all the animals into their beds for the night. She flew downstairs, turned off all the lights, and went back upstairs to her bedroom. Fluttershy even brought a cup of orange juice to her bedroom. She didn't feel tired at all. No yawning, no desire to fall asleep under the warm covers, she was wide awake. Drinking her orange juice bit by bit, Fluttershy flew around the room in search for two items-- a piece of parchment and a ballpoint pen. Anypony could've assumed that she was going to write a letter to somepony. Fluttershy then turned on her bedside lamp, which was just bright enough to illuminate what the pegasus was writing on the parchment. After a few moments of breathing and drinking juice, Fluttershy began to write slowly. Little by little, letters appeared on the parchment, then sentences, and finally, an entire letter. Fluttershy then rolled the parchment carefully, placed a blue and yellow star-shaped seal on it, and slid the parchment into the top drawer of her bedside table. When she realized she had finished her orange juice, Fluttershy quietly went downstairs and placed the cup in the sink for tomorrows' cleaning. When she got back upstairs, Fluttershy went to the bathroom, washed her hooves, brushed her teeth, and cleaned her face. About 20 minutes after going back downstairs, Fluttershy got into her bed, brought the blankets over her body, and dimmed the lamp. A few minutes later, there was nothing but silence and darkness, but Fluttershy wasn't scared. Instead, Fluttershy was awake, staring at the wooden ceiling, thinking about what she had just written on the parchment to her friend, Twilight Sparkle. At first, she thought the message on the letter was somewhat embarrassing to her smartest friend, but then she realized the message was true-- she needed something, something new, and most importantly, something fun. Although Fluttershy enjoyed taking care of little critters and animals, she had to admit that over many months, it was getting... uneventful. Every day was pretty much the same routine-- feeding the animals, watching the animals, tending to her chicken coop, and occasionally, went to Ponyville to buy some vegetables and clothes. She knew that her life did need excitement or something unexpected, even if she had a rather shy nature. Fluttershy contemplated the message for a moment or two, and finally fell asleep underneath the warm covers. The next morning, she would deliver the letter to her friend. A Package at the DoorChapter Two A Package at the Door By TheYewTree "Ring! Ring! Ring! Ring! Ring!" The sound of Fluttershy's alarm clock woke up the yellow pegasus in a flash. Fluttershy yawned a quick yawn, tapped her hoof on the alarm switch, and the bedroom became silent as it once had before. She looked bleakly at the hands on the alarm clock to see what time it was. "8:30 am. Perfect timing." The yellow pegasus said to herself. "Time to make some breakfast, and after that, I'll mail the letter to... *yawn*... Twilight." Fluttershy propped herself off the bed mattress and trotted across the floor to the bathroom. She did the same routine she had always done, and quietly went downstairs to the kitchen to start cooking. As she passed by the living room, Fluttershy noticed that many critters were still fast asleep in their cubbies and other spots. However, she noticed that one cubby was empty, the one that belonged to Tank. Immediately after noticing, Fluttershy became worried. She quickly trotted to Tank's cubby and searched around it. Tank wasn't found. Next, she galloped into the kitchen and spotted an all too-familiar green shell sitting motionless on a wooden chair. Fluttershy's concern was instantly relieved. When Fluttershy neared closer to the green shell, Tank popped his head out, giving Fluttershy a little scare. After a moment, Fluttershy managed to giggle a bit, but after, she stared at the tortoise and asked him, "Why did you leave your cubby hole, Tank?" Fluttershy asked. "You know feeding time doesn't start until later in the morning." Tank turned his head towards the tabletop, and Fluttershy did the same. She saw a big box of chocolate chip cookies, and immediately put two and two together. "Oh... you just wanted some cookies. Well, next time Tank, you should ask for somepony or somepony elses' help. I was worried sick when I didn't see you in your cubby hole. Just promise me that you won't do it again, ok?" Fluttershy told the tortoise in an kind, yet imperative tone. Tank frowned for a moment, and Fluttershy knew that he was sorry. She then grabbed the box of cookies over and placed a cookie right under Tank's nose. "Here you go, Tank. It's fine, it was just a misunderstanding, that's all." Fluttershy told him with a warm smile, and opened the door to the nearby pantry and placed the box inside. Fluttershy also grabbed the ingredients for her breakfast. While Fluttershy was making a warm breakfast, Tank was happily munching away on the chocolate chip cookie. When breakfast was done, the dishes were clean, and feeding time was over, Fluttershy flew upstairs into her bedroom to retrieve her letter she wrote last night. Fluttershy then trotted outside in the crisp morning air and deposited the sealed scroll into the mailbox for delivery. She then went back inside and snuck behind a nearby windowsill to see if the mailpony would come by. After a few minutes, the mailpony came by and put the sealed scroll inside her saddlebag and trotted off in the direction of Ponyville. Fluttershy knew that soon enough, her life and her daily routine would have more excitement, and the yellow pegasus was very eager to see what Twilight would send her. After many hours, it was soon dinnertime. Although Fluttershy still wanted to wait for the package, she knew that if she didn't make dinner, all of her animals would go hungry, and so she did. Afterwards, it was time for all her animals to go to sleep and as always, Fluttershy tucked all of them in for the night. Even after that, Fluttershy still continued to wait for the package, sitting on top of her bed. She waited for minutes, and finally, over an hour. Nothing came-- no doorbell or a knock on the door. "If it doesn't come today, then I'll probably get it by tomorrow," she told herself. "I'm sure Twilight must be getting me something really special." Fluttershy then looked at her alarm clock. The time on the hands read 10:30 pm, and she quickly got herself prepared for sleep. The next morning, the daily routine came again, as Fluttershy continued to wait for the package after breakfast. She crept up to the windowsill like yesterday and checked to see if there was any mail for her. She saw the mailbox overflowing with white letters. No packages, no cardboard box, or anything out of the ordinary. Still, the yellow pegasi opened the door to pick up all the mail. Suddenly, the door came to an abrupt stop, and Fluttershy peeked around to see what was blocking the door. This time, she saw a big rectangular package, the size of her, sitting outside on the front steps. Fluttershy went closer to the package to get a closer look. Attached to the top face, she found a noticeable purple pentagonal tag with words stamped on it. Fluttershy read the tag out loud: "To Fluttershy, from your friend, Twilight Sparkle. Hope you enjoy what I've brought you!" Fluttershy also found a small little message on the back of the tag that read: "P.S. I highly recommend reading the instruction manual first before assembly." After reading the message, Fluttershy knew that it would be a long time before she would play with Twilight's gift. Although, she did like the fact that it "required installation", as she hadn't assembled anything in a long time. She brought the big package inside the cottage, where all of her animals stared at the package, mesmerized by its grand size. "Oh, this?" Fluttershy told them. "It's just a gift Twilight gave to me. I'm sure it'll be lots of fun." Suddenly, an idea popped up in Fluttershy's mind. "Hey, do you all want to help me get whatever's inside the package assembled?" As soon as Fluttershy finished her sentence, all the animals and critters came to her and nodded. Fluttershy warmly smiled at all of them, and the first stage of assembly began shortly afterwards. Digital BeginningsChapter Three Digital Beginnings By TheYewTree A golden afternoon transformed into an indigo evening as Fluttershy finished connecting the power cable to the rest of the monitor. It had been 4 hours after she and her critters unpackaged everything inside the package Twilight sent to her in the morning. Fluttershy was the only being in the living room, awake, as every other critter in the cottage were sleeping silently away, after 4 hours of assembly. It turned out her gift was a computer with everything included-- the keyboard, mouse, camera, microphone, speakers, and even a cup holder for various beverages. "Phew..." Fluttershy sighed slowly. "It took a longer time than I expected, but... *yawn*... it's finally finished. Maybe I'll try... *yawn*... Twilight's recommended game tomorrow. Oh Celestia, I am... *yawn*... beat." She said tiredly. All at once, Fluttershy collapsed onto the wooden floor of her cottage and fell fast asleep. When Fluttershy woke up the next morning and made breakfast, immediately after she had finished eating it and fed food to her animals, she went to the table where the computer was assembled. She brought over a chair and a cup of orange juice to place it in the cup holder. Fluttershy then proceeded to turn the computer on to see if she assembled the device correctly. A whirring sound came from the computer, and bright lights illuminated the various buttons on the monitor contour. About a second later, a visible logo appeared, then disappeared after 3 seconds. "My... what kind of computer did Twilight even send me?" Fluttershy asked herself. Immediately after her thought, Fluttershy came face to face with the computer interface, with what Fluttershy considered to have a very drab background image. "Apparently, a rather drab looking one with a grey background, I suppose. But... I am her friend after all, and what would I be if I don't use this gift?" After contemplating the thought, she eventually decided to not bother with the less important details and moved on to see what Twilight had recommended for her to have the "ultimate fun experience." Fluttershy found the sheet with instructions hoof-written in Twilight's hoof-writing. Apparently it told Fluttershy to open up "The Internet" on the sheet with a doodle of poorly-drawn lowercase "i" with a ring around it. Fluttershy found the icon with ease. She clicked the icon and the screen turned to a white colour with a skinny little bar at the top where the cursor was flashing. The second step on the sheet was to type in a "website" in the address bar, and Fluttershy assumed that was where the cursor was positioned. With that information in hoof, she blazed through the instructions with ease. Quickly afterwards, Fluttershy was greeted by a website with a dark gray pixelated background with some brown at the top. The words "MINECRAFT" were found at the top of the site. Underneath was a video player with an image of trees and grass. On the right side of the video player, there was a pig and a character with some hair. Fluttershy assumed that the character was holding a rather pixelated version of a mining pickaxe. "Hmmmmm...." Fluttershy thought. "Twilight did certainly fit my request for something new... and something unexpected. I haven't seen anything like this before, let alone anything that looks so... so... square and pixel-y. Oh my goodness... I have to admit, I can't wait!" She looked at the instruction sheet and read further. It told her to create an account. As always, there was another poorly-drawn image of what Fluttershy was supposed to do. Fluttershy clicked the "Register" button, and after a long while of setting up her "username", "password", and a "pony email address", she was then asked by the site via display screen, if she wanted to download "Minecraft". All at once, Fluttershy clicked the "Yes" button, not because the instructions told her to do so, but due to her excitement and eagerness of finally doing something different for a change. Once all of that was done and her orange juice was finished, Fluttershy read the instruction sheet again for the final, yet most exciting step of all, which was to start playing. Fluttershy was still thirsty and in an instant came back to the computer with a cup of apple juice. Taking a sip, she selected the "singleplayer" option, selected "survival" mode, and put the difficulty on easy. She then continued to tweak around with the settings. "Let's see... generate structures- definitely. Allow cheats- no... I'm not a fan of using cheats... bonus chest... now what is that? Oh well, I'll just include it then-- what harm could a chest do? And of course, just a default world would be fine." Fluttershy told herself. "Ok, here we go!" and she clicked the button. Through the next few moments, the yellow pegasus saw little text messages and a green loading bar directly underneath each of the messages. The next thing she saw was a flash of white, and then pieces... no blocks... forming on the entire screen. Then each of those blocks continued on forming like ripples on water, out into every single direction. A pixelated version of the sun popped up, and 3-D rectangular clouds slowly moved in the sky. In a word, Fluttershy was amazed. Instinctively, she put her forehooves onto the keyboard and slowly moved the on-screen character and moved around. Luckily, Twilight also sent her a manual of the game mechanics, which gave Fluttershy a huge advantage of playing immediately. At the bottom of her screen, there was a long rectangle with 9 square boxes that Fluttershy assumed would be where she would store items and resources. She also noticed at the top right-hoof side, there was a pop-up that displayed a pixelated brown book and a little message that read: "Press 'E' to open your inventory." Fluttershy pressed the key and on the screen popped up a huge box with her character, the same 9 square boxes at the bottom, but this time, there were more slots-- 27 more to be exact, which gave her a total of 36 square boxes-- all for storing items. Fluttershy pressed the key again, and the huge box disappeared. She tried the function 3 times to test if it worked. When she was sure it wasn't glitching, Fluttershy moved her character around the digital terrain and saw she had spawned on a field with grasses, dandelions, and what appeared to sugar canes. She moved her mouse a little to the left, and saw an orange chest that was surrounded by torches. Fluttershy moved her character over to the chest, right-clicked it, and a box popped into view, this time, with items inside of it. "Wooden axe, stone pickaxe, 5 apples, 3 bread, 4 sticks, 4 wood, and 12 wooden planks," Fluttershy noted. "So that's what the bonus chest was about!" After dragging the items into her inventory, she moved her character over towards the grasses, and left-clicked at part of the grass with the mouse. A sound was produced then went away, and the grass wasn't there any longer. It just seemed to have disappeared. As usual, Fluttershy continued to experiment with her "discoveries" and tested other blocks as well. She soon was entranced by the terrain and the mechanics of the game, and just stood there for an hour, then two hours... three hours... and soon, she completely lost track of time. Little did she know in real life, the sun was slowly setting across the sky, and that nighttime would soon come. A WishChapter Four A Wish By TheYewTree By the time the nearby wooden clock chimed 8 times, Fluttershy was already eating dinner. Dinner consisted of a delicious meal—carrot noodle soup with a glass of milk, just in case if she didn’t fall asleep quite yet. As she steadily slurped the noodles into her mouth, she couldn’t stop thinking about the game she had played hours before. Minecraft, she thought, was an addicting game. For the past four and a half hours, she had been playing with the game and sitting for so long that she even forgot to feed Angel his food. Fluttershy had to pay the price to the demanding bunny by placing a ripe red cherry on top of his lettuce and cucumber salad just to make Angel satisfied. As much as Fluttershy knew the game was addicting, she couldn’t help herself from thinking about it. Once she finished her dinner and cleaned her dishes, Fluttershy went out to the cottage balcony and stared up at the intricate arrangement of the stars in wonder. For a few moments, everything seemed to be still and silent. Suddenly, Fluttershy saw something flickering in the sky. She strained her neck closer to see what it was and soon identified it as a shooting star. The star streaked across the sky with a blue flash, lighting up the night and then disappeared beyond the distant clumps of trees and rocks. Fluttershy began to, silently, make a wish. “I… I… wish…” Fluttershy started, “…that I would be able to experience the game in a different way. I do appreciate what Twilight had sent me, but I feel as though it wasn’t quite the idea for something fun I had in mind. It didn’t seem to me like it was fun, but rather more of an addicting game. If you would so grant me the wish or choose not to, then it’s fine by me. Thank you.” Fluttershy took a last look at the night sky before she went back inside, switched off all the lights, and quickly went to sleep in her warm, comfortable bed. “Whoosh… whoosh… whoosh…” The sound of wind woke Fluttershy up with a start and immediately the pegasus went to find the source of the sound. However, everywhere she checked, all the windows were closed and the sound steadily grew louder. Feeling confused, Fluttershy decided to go back upstairs to her bedroom to continue sleeping. Yet, the closer she got to her bedroom, the louder the sound became, and when she came into her bedroom, the sound became unbearable. In a flash, the windows burst open in a shower of glass, and violent winds rushed inside her bedroom, swirling and shattering everything inside—even Fluttershy. Fluttershy screamed at the top of her lungs, yet her screams were drowned out by the sound of hurricane force winds ripping through her home. Pages, knickknacks, pens, and bed sheets were blown around her room and were soon transformed into deadly projectiles. Almost instantly, Fluttershy was then greeted by a sudden, unpleasant flash from outside, which blinded her vision for a split second, as she was knocked unconscious by her own bedside lamp, swirling violently around her once undamaged bedroom.
A Request for Something FunChapter One Something Fun By TheYewTree "Thanks for offering to take care of Tank while I'm away at the Wonderbolts Academy, Fluttershy," Rainbow Dash told her. "It really means a lot to me." Fluttershy replied, "Oh, it's no problem for me, and don't you worry. Tank will be just fine in my hooves," Fluttershy then smiled at the green tortoise, and it smiled back at her. "Anyways, when will you be coming back?" "Uh, probably in a week or so," the rainbow mare replied. "Unless if Spitfire wants me to be the lead pegasus for a longer time, then I'll probably be away longer. You know how she's like. I hope that's ok with you?" "Umm... it's fine. Even if you are away longer, I still have time on my hooves." Fluttershy nodded at Rainbow Dash. "Awesome! Thanks again. See ya in a week!" Rainbow Dash replied to her and then flew at lightning speed into the afternoon sky. After Rainbow's rapid take-off, Fluttershy steadily nudged Tank forward across the ground towards her cottage. For a moment Fluttershy asked Tank, "I haven't seen you in so long... how did you like Rainbow Dash?" Although the tortoise couldn't talk, Tank grew a smile on his face which Fluttershy assumed that the tortoise enjoyed Rainbow Dash. "I'll take that as a yes," Fluttershy lightly giggled. "Come on, let's go have some dinner." Tank nodded in agreement, and the pair slowly, but steadily, walked towards the cottage. After a hearty dinner, Fluttershy tucked all the animals into their beds for the night. She flew downstairs, turned off all the lights, and went back upstairs to her bedroom. Fluttershy even brought a cup of orange juice to her bedroom. She didn't feel tired at all. No yawning, no desire to fall asleep under the warm covers, she was wide awake. Drinking her orange juice bit by bit, Fluttershy flew around the room in search for two items-- a piece of parchment and a ballpoint pen. Anypony could've assumed that she was going to write a letter to somepony. Fluttershy then turned on her bedside lamp, which was just bright enough to illuminate what the pegasus was writing on the parchment. After a few moments of breathing and drinking juice, Fluttershy began to write slowly. Little by little, letters appeared on the parchment, then sentences, and finally, an entire letter. Fluttershy then rolled the parchment carefully, placed a blue and yellow star-shaped seal on it, and slid the parchment into the top drawer of her bedside table. When she realized she had finished her orange juice, Fluttershy quietly went downstairs and placed the cup in the sink for tomorrows' cleaning. When she got back upstairs, Fluttershy went to the bathroom, washed her hooves, brushed her teeth, and cleaned her face. About 20 minutes after going back downstairs, Fluttershy got into her bed, brought the blankets over her body, and dimmed the lamp. A few minutes later, there was nothing but silence and darkness, but Fluttershy wasn't scared. Instead, Fluttershy was awake, staring at the wooden ceiling, thinking about what she had just written on the parchment to her friend, Twilight Sparkle. At first, she thought the message on the letter was somewhat embarrassing to her smartest friend, but then she realized the message was true-- she needed something, something new, and most importantly, something fun. Although Fluttershy enjoyed taking care of little critters and animals, she had to admit that over many months, it was getting... uneventful. Every day was pretty much the same routine-- feeding the animals, watching the animals, tending to her chicken coop, and occasionally, went to Ponyville to buy some vegetables and clothes. She knew that her life did need excitement or something unexpected, even if she had a rather shy nature. Fluttershy contemplated the message for a moment or two, and finally fell asleep underneath the warm covers. The next morning, she would deliver the letter to her friend.
A Package at the DoorChapter Two A Package at the Door By TheYewTree "Ring! Ring! Ring! Ring! Ring!" The sound of Fluttershy's alarm clock woke up the yellow pegasus in a flash. Fluttershy yawned a quick yawn, tapped her hoof on the alarm switch, and the bedroom became silent as it once had before. She looked bleakly at the hands on the alarm clock to see what time it was. "8:30 am. Perfect timing." The yellow pegasus said to herself. "Time to make some breakfast, and after that, I'll mail the letter to... *yawn*... Twilight." Fluttershy propped herself off the bed mattress and trotted across the floor to the bathroom. She did the same routine she had always done, and quietly went downstairs to the kitchen to start cooking. As she passed by the living room, Fluttershy noticed that many critters were still fast asleep in their cubbies and other spots. However, she noticed that one cubby was empty, the one that belonged to Tank. Immediately after noticing, Fluttershy became worried. She quickly trotted to Tank's cubby and searched around it. Tank wasn't found. Next, she galloped into the kitchen and spotted an all too-familiar green shell sitting motionless on a wooden chair. Fluttershy's concern was instantly relieved. When Fluttershy neared closer to the green shell, Tank popped his head out, giving Fluttershy a little scare. After a moment, Fluttershy managed to giggle a bit, but after, she stared at the tortoise and asked him, "Why did you leave your cubby hole, Tank?" Fluttershy asked. "You know feeding time doesn't start until later in the morning." Tank turned his head towards the tabletop, and Fluttershy did the same. She saw a big box of chocolate chip cookies, and immediately put two and two together. "Oh... you just wanted some cookies. Well, next time Tank, you should ask for somepony or somepony elses' help. I was worried sick when I didn't see you in your cubby hole. Just promise me that you won't do it again, ok?" Fluttershy told the tortoise in an kind, yet imperative tone. Tank frowned for a moment, and Fluttershy knew that he was sorry. She then grabbed the box of cookies over and placed a cookie right under Tank's nose. "Here you go, Tank. It's fine, it was just a misunderstanding, that's all." Fluttershy told him with a warm smile, and opened the door to the nearby pantry and placed the box inside. Fluttershy also grabbed the ingredients for her breakfast. While Fluttershy was making a warm breakfast, Tank was happily munching away on the chocolate chip cookie. When breakfast was done, the dishes were clean, and feeding time was over, Fluttershy flew upstairs into her bedroom to retrieve her letter she wrote last night. Fluttershy then trotted outside in the crisp morning air and deposited the sealed scroll into the mailbox for delivery. She then went back inside and snuck behind a nearby windowsill to see if the mailpony would come by. After a few minutes, the mailpony came by and put the sealed scroll inside her saddlebag and trotted off in the direction of Ponyville. Fluttershy knew that soon enough, her life and her daily routine would have more excitement, and the yellow pegasus was very eager to see what Twilight would send her. After many hours, it was soon dinnertime. Although Fluttershy still wanted to wait for the package, she knew that if she didn't make dinner, all of her animals would go hungry, and so she did. Afterwards, it was time for all her animals to go to sleep and as always, Fluttershy tucked all of them in for the night. Even after that, Fluttershy still continued to wait for the package, sitting on top of her bed. She waited for minutes, and finally, over an hour. Nothing came-- no doorbell or a knock on the door. "If it doesn't come today, then I'll probably get it by tomorrow," she told herself. "I'm sure Twilight must be getting me something really special." Fluttershy then looked at her alarm clock. The time on the hands read 10:30 pm, and she quickly got herself prepared for sleep. The next morning, the daily routine came again, as Fluttershy continued to wait for the package after breakfast. She crept up to the windowsill like yesterday and checked to see if there was any mail for her. She saw the mailbox overflowing with white letters. No packages, no cardboard box, or anything out of the ordinary. Still, the yellow pegasi opened the door to pick up all the mail. Suddenly, the door came to an abrupt stop, and Fluttershy peeked around to see what was blocking the door. This time, she saw a big rectangular package, the size of her, sitting outside on the front steps. Fluttershy went closer to the package to get a closer look. Attached to the top face, she found a noticeable purple pentagonal tag with words stamped on it. Fluttershy read the tag out loud: "To Fluttershy, from your friend, Twilight Sparkle. Hope you enjoy what I've brought you!" Fluttershy also found a small little message on the back of the tag that read: "P.S. I highly recommend reading the instruction manual first before assembly." After reading the message, Fluttershy knew that it would be a long time before she would play with Twilight's gift. Although, she did like the fact that it "required installation", as she hadn't assembled anything in a long time. She brought the big package inside the cottage, where all of her animals stared at the package, mesmerized by its grand size. "Oh, this?" Fluttershy told them. "It's just a gift Twilight gave to me. I'm sure it'll be lots of fun." Suddenly, an idea popped up in Fluttershy's mind. "Hey, do you all want to help me get whatever's inside the package assembled?" As soon as Fluttershy finished her sentence, all the animals and critters came to her and nodded. Fluttershy warmly smiled at all of them, and the first stage of assembly began shortly afterwards.
Digital BeginningsChapter Three Digital Beginnings By TheYewTree A golden afternoon transformed into an indigo evening as Fluttershy finished connecting the power cable to the rest of the monitor. It had been 4 hours after she and her critters unpackaged everything inside the package Twilight sent to her in the morning. Fluttershy was the only being in the living room, awake, as every other critter in the cottage were sleeping silently away, after 4 hours of assembly. It turned out her gift was a computer with everything included-- the keyboard, mouse, camera, microphone, speakers, and even a cup holder for various beverages. "Phew..." Fluttershy sighed slowly. "It took a longer time than I expected, but... *yawn*... it's finally finished. Maybe I'll try... *yawn*... Twilight's recommended game tomorrow. Oh Celestia, I am... *yawn*... beat." She said tiredly. All at once, Fluttershy collapsed onto the wooden floor of her cottage and fell fast asleep. When Fluttershy woke up the next morning and made breakfast, immediately after she had finished eating it and fed food to her animals, she went to the table where the computer was assembled. She brought over a chair and a cup of orange juice to place it in the cup holder. Fluttershy then proceeded to turn the computer on to see if she assembled the device correctly. A whirring sound came from the computer, and bright lights illuminated the various buttons on the monitor contour. About a second later, a visible logo appeared, then disappeared after 3 seconds. "My... what kind of computer did Twilight even send me?" Fluttershy asked herself. Immediately after her thought, Fluttershy came face to face with the computer interface, with what Fluttershy considered to have a very drab background image. "Apparently, a rather drab looking one with a grey background, I suppose. But... I am her friend after all, and what would I be if I don't use this gift?" After contemplating the thought, she eventually decided to not bother with the less important details and moved on to see what Twilight had recommended for her to have the "ultimate fun experience." Fluttershy found the sheet with instructions hoof-written in Twilight's hoof-writing. Apparently it told Fluttershy to open up "The Internet" on the sheet with a doodle of poorly-drawn lowercase "i" with a ring around it. Fluttershy found the icon with ease. She clicked the icon and the screen turned to a white colour with a skinny little bar at the top where the cursor was flashing. The second step on the sheet was to type in a "website" in the address bar, and Fluttershy assumed that was where the cursor was positioned. With that information in hoof, she blazed through the instructions with ease. Quickly afterwards, Fluttershy was greeted by a website with a dark gray pixelated background with some brown at the top. The words "MINECRAFT" were found at the top of the site. Underneath was a video player with an image of trees and grass. On the right side of the video player, there was a pig and a character with some hair. Fluttershy assumed that the character was holding a rather pixelated version of a mining pickaxe. "Hmmmmm...." Fluttershy thought. "Twilight did certainly fit my request for something new... and something unexpected. I haven't seen anything like this before, let alone anything that looks so... so... square and pixel-y. Oh my goodness... I have to admit, I can't wait!" She looked at the instruction sheet and read further. It told her to create an account. As always, there was another poorly-drawn image of what Fluttershy was supposed to do. Fluttershy clicked the "Register" button, and after a long while of setting up her "username", "password", and a "pony email address", she was then asked by the site via display screen, if she wanted to download "Minecraft". All at once, Fluttershy clicked the "Yes" button, not because the instructions told her to do so, but due to her excitement and eagerness of finally doing something different for a change. Once all of that was done and her orange juice was finished, Fluttershy read the instruction sheet again for the final, yet most exciting step of all, which was to start playing. Fluttershy was still thirsty and in an instant came back to the computer with a cup of apple juice. Taking a sip, she selected the "singleplayer" option, selected "survival" mode, and put the difficulty on easy. She then continued to tweak around with the settings. "Let's see... generate structures- definitely. Allow cheats- no... I'm not a fan of using cheats... bonus chest... now what is that? Oh well, I'll just include it then-- what harm could a chest do? And of course, just a default world would be fine." Fluttershy told herself. "Ok, here we go!" and she clicked the button. Through the next few moments, the yellow pegasus saw little text messages and a green loading bar directly underneath each of the messages. The next thing she saw was a flash of white, and then pieces... no blocks... forming on the entire screen. Then each of those blocks continued on forming like ripples on water, out into every single direction. A pixelated version of the sun popped up, and 3-D rectangular clouds slowly moved in the sky. In a word, Fluttershy was amazed. Instinctively, she put her forehooves onto the keyboard and slowly moved the on-screen character and moved around. Luckily, Twilight also sent her a manual of the game mechanics, which gave Fluttershy a huge advantage of playing immediately. At the bottom of her screen, there was a long rectangle with 9 square boxes that Fluttershy assumed would be where she would store items and resources. She also noticed at the top right-hoof side, there was a pop-up that displayed a pixelated brown book and a little message that read: "Press 'E' to open your inventory." Fluttershy pressed the key and on the screen popped up a huge box with her character, the same 9 square boxes at the bottom, but this time, there were more slots-- 27 more to be exact, which gave her a total of 36 square boxes-- all for storing items. Fluttershy pressed the key again, and the huge box disappeared. She tried the function 3 times to test if it worked. When she was sure it wasn't glitching, Fluttershy moved her character around the digital terrain and saw she had spawned on a field with grasses, dandelions, and what appeared to sugar canes. She moved her mouse a little to the left, and saw an orange chest that was surrounded by torches. Fluttershy moved her character over to the chest, right-clicked it, and a box popped into view, this time, with items inside of it. "Wooden axe, stone pickaxe, 5 apples, 3 bread, 4 sticks, 4 wood, and 12 wooden planks," Fluttershy noted. "So that's what the bonus chest was about!" After dragging the items into her inventory, she moved her character over towards the grasses, and left-clicked at part of the grass with the mouse. A sound was produced then went away, and the grass wasn't there any longer. It just seemed to have disappeared. As usual, Fluttershy continued to experiment with her "discoveries" and tested other blocks as well. She soon was entranced by the terrain and the mechanics of the game, and just stood there for an hour, then two hours... three hours... and soon, she completely lost track of time. Little did she know in real life, the sun was slowly setting across the sky, and that nighttime would soon come.
A WishChapter Four A Wish By TheYewTree By the time the nearby wooden clock chimed 8 times, Fluttershy was already eating dinner. Dinner consisted of a delicious meal—carrot noodle soup with a glass of milk, just in case if she didn’t fall asleep quite yet. As she steadily slurped the noodles into her mouth, she couldn’t stop thinking about the game she had played hours before. Minecraft, she thought, was an addicting game. For the past four and a half hours, she had been playing with the game and sitting for so long that she even forgot to feed Angel his food. Fluttershy had to pay the price to the demanding bunny by placing a ripe red cherry on top of his lettuce and cucumber salad just to make Angel satisfied. As much as Fluttershy knew the game was addicting, she couldn’t help herself from thinking about it. Once she finished her dinner and cleaned her dishes, Fluttershy went out to the cottage balcony and stared up at the intricate arrangement of the stars in wonder. For a few moments, everything seemed to be still and silent. Suddenly, Fluttershy saw something flickering in the sky. She strained her neck closer to see what it was and soon identified it as a shooting star. The star streaked across the sky with a blue flash, lighting up the night and then disappeared beyond the distant clumps of trees and rocks. Fluttershy began to, silently, make a wish. “I… I… wish…” Fluttershy started, “…that I would be able to experience the game in a different way. I do appreciate what Twilight had sent me, but I feel as though it wasn’t quite the idea for something fun I had in mind. It didn’t seem to me like it was fun, but rather more of an addicting game. If you would so grant me the wish or choose not to, then it’s fine by me. Thank you.” Fluttershy took a last look at the night sky before she went back inside, switched off all the lights, and quickly went to sleep in her warm, comfortable bed. “Whoosh… whoosh… whoosh…” The sound of wind woke Fluttershy up with a start and immediately the pegasus went to find the source of the sound. However, everywhere she checked, all the windows were closed and the sound steadily grew louder. Feeling confused, Fluttershy decided to go back upstairs to her bedroom to continue sleeping. Yet, the closer she got to her bedroom, the louder the sound became, and when she came into her bedroom, the sound became unbearable. In a flash, the windows burst open in a shower of glass, and violent winds rushed inside her bedroom, swirling and shattering everything inside—even Fluttershy. Fluttershy screamed at the top of her lungs, yet her screams were drowned out by the sound of hurricane force winds ripping through her home. Pages, knickknacks, pens, and bed sheets were blown around her room and were soon transformed into deadly projectiles. Almost instantly, Fluttershy was then greeted by a sudden, unpleasant flash from outside, which blinded her vision for a split second, as she was knocked unconscious by her own bedside lamp, swirling violently around her once undamaged bedroom.
