Fluttershy awoke to hear the birds singing, and the sun just beginning to peak over the eastern horizon. She yawned (quietly, of course) and stepped out of her bed, already thinking through her tasks for the day ahead. As on any normal day, she began by washing her pink mane ,brushing her yellow fur and cleaning her teeth. And, as usual, as soon as she made her way downstairs, Ditzy Doo, the mail-mare left giving Fluttershy only a glimpse at the back of her legs as she flew away. Fluttershy preferred it this way, as even though she didn't want to be rude to Ditzy by denying her a chance to chat, it meant she had to spend less time around potential strangers while she fully woke up.
Reaching for her cupboard to make her daily morning tea, she found it devoid of all potential drinks, save for a tin of coffee. While she did not usually drink this, she kept some in the rare case that she had a visitor who required a drink. She wouldn't want anyone to feel uncomfortable as her guest. Given that she had just woken up, she needed to quench her thirst.
"Coffee it is, I suppose", sighed Fluttershy as she began to boil some water.
Angel bounded up onto the kitchen counter thumping his right leg on the surface impatiently, as per usual. He stared at the back of Fluttershy's head until she turned around.
"Oh, angel, Good morning!", she welcomed the bunny. "Did you have a nice sleep?"
Angel did not answer and returned to thumping his leg on the counter. He pointed to his open mouth, hoping that the message would get across.
"Are you hungry?" queried Fluttershy "I'll go and get you a carrot", as she reached around to her vegetable basket. Lo and behold, where she would normally find an abundance of carrots, celery stalks and other goodies, she found only a few seeds and nuts. "Oh dear." She mentally added this new-found information to her steadily growing shopping list, as she finished preparing her morning coffee.
Setting the steaming mug down in front of Angel provoked a squeal from the rabbit, as the bitter scent rose into his nostrils.
"Come now, Angel, It can't be that bad." Fluttershy consoled the bunny as she took a tentative sip from the mug, and suddenly Fluttershy's eyes opened wide and she promptly spat out the offensive liquid. "Angel, I just don't understand people's tastes, sometimes. I'll have to go and get some tea, I can not drink this." Fluttershy shook her head, as if to rid her mouth of the taste. Angel caught Fluttershy's attention by opening his mouth and pointing an agitated paw to it. Looking over, "Oh yes, your carrot. I may as well go shopping now, before it gets too busy."
Heading out the door, Fluttershy grabbed her saddlebag and popped a bag of bits into it. "Do yo want to come along, Angel?"
The bunny clarified his feelings to this suggestion by hopping over and lazily collapsing onto the couch, limbs splayed out like an incompetent athlete.
"Okay, then. I'll be back soon." With this, Fluttershy left her cottage. Before she left for the village, she headed into her garden and found the bag of bird seed. She tossed some over to where all of her birds, like clockwork, were waiting for her arrival.
... ... ...
Fluttershy fluttered into the village of Ponyville a few centimetres off the ground, As she normally did, heading straight for the main square where the market stalls would be set up. Given that the sun had just risen, where would be a few stalls where she could buy some vegetables and tea. "Oh, It doesn't sound too crowded", she reassured herself. Heading into town, she couldn't help but shake the niggling feeling that something was wrong. Aside from a few breakfast mishaps, this had been a perfectly normal day. It wasn't until she had found a stall selling carrots that she noticed what was wrong. And it sent her cowering away behind the nearest tree she could see.
Breathing heavily, she turned very slowly around the edge of the Tree, looking over to where Carrot top's stand would usually be. Instead she found a stand, that sold carrots, being run by a pony who had the same build as carrot top. She had the same mane, the same body, but what shocked Fluttershy. What drove Fluttershy to hide behind a tree, was that the pony had yellow fur, and her mane was pink. Fluttershy looked around at all the other market stalls, and suddenly her earlier suspicion that something was amiss was confirmed. All around Ponyville were ponies that all had yellow fur, and pink manes. Some wore their manes in fancy curls, some wore their manes straight down. Some ponies had plenty of muscle, some others were much more slim. But everywhere the common colour theme resided.
"HEYAAA Fluttershy!" screamed an exuberant Pinkie, her head popping down from the tree leaves above Fluttershy, "Hows it going?"
One look at the jumpy yellow fur and poofy pink mane drooping from the tree above was all Fluttershy needed. "agggghhhh!", she quietly screamed before running off in the direction of her cottage.
The speedy journey back was not without it's stresses either. On her way she crossed paths with a golden Big Mac, hauling
apples to market. How could he be giving such normal behaviour with these bizarre goings-on‽
"Howdy, Fluttershy," He welcomed her politely, as he always did when they met.
"eep," Fluttershy squealed as she bounded past.
Not thinking much of this, Big Mac shrugged it off and continued to haul his load in the opposite direction.
On it's way, the yellow blur was stopped abruptly by
"Rainbow Dash?" queried the timid pegasus. Before her stood Rainbow Dash, clearly oblivious to the fact she no longer held her namesake colouring.
"Hey Flutters. What's got you in such a rush?" At the word 'Rush', Rainbow shot up and did a back flip in the air.
"I.. uhh..," stammered Fluttershy. "You haven't noticed anything odd today?"
"Nope. Why? a stray cloud got past?" Dashing about, Rainbow searched for said cloud. It remained elusive. "Or do you just need some more awesome in your day?"
"umm. So, you're OK?"
Noticing Fluttershy was obviously worried about something, Rainbow sat down next to her and put a wing around her.
“You know, if you need to, you can come to me with any problems.”
This did very little to calm Fluttershy's nerves. If anything, the thought of someone who was essentially her mirror with a different mane style consoling her was, for some reason, unnerving. She slowly slipped out from underneath Rainbow's wing, almost seeming to physically shrink, and when clear, she ran off, Leaving behind a very bewildered Rainbow Dash.
... ... ...
Having rushed back in to her cottage, Fluttershy bolted the door shut. Here, where she felt safe, she could calm down and collect
her thoughts. Even on a normal day, she was nervous around other ponies, let alone when everyone had turned into exact copies of herself. Angel Bunny hopped over to her just as she collapsed onto her couch, holding his paws out and his mouth open.
"oh, your carrot!" Fluttershy proclaimed with shock, "I'm so sorry. I forgot."
Angel did not seem amused by her antics. He began to gesture with his hands, even though he knew Fluttershy had nothing, seemingly to infuriate her for not fulfilling his request.
"Oh, Angel. It's terrible. Everyone is playing some sort of joke on me. At least, I hope that's what they're doing, I'd hate it if they had some sort of illness. Oh no! What if you and the other animals get it?” Fluttershy began stuttering and hyperventilating.
Rolling his eyes, Angel reached behind his back and pulled out a pair of what appeared to be Royal guard issue binoculars. He looked through a window to ponyville, then back to Fluttershy. Placing the binoculars down, he cocked his head as if to imply he saw nothing wrong.
Fluttershy looked up from her fetal position.
“You don't see anything odd?”
Angel shook his head.
“Nothing at all?”
Angel shook his head
“But, what about everyone's fur and manes?”
Angel checked once again through the binoculars only to look back at Fluttershy. Angel shook his head.
“But why is everyone like me?” Fluttershy began to whimper as she said this. “Wh- Why do they all have ye- yellow fur and pink m- manes?”
Hoping to avoid seeing Fluttershy cry, Angel hopped over to a bookshelf, and took out a rather large book from the bottom shelf.
He struggled, but dragged it over to Fluttershy. Opening it, Fluttershy saw it to be her photo album, where she kept photos of her friends and herself on the odd adventure they had.
“But...” Fluttershy began, as she noticed the contents of the Album. They all showed the same; Everyone within it had the same colour of pink manes and yellow fur. She turned the page, and more photos confirmed this. “... I ...”
Angel tried, and failed, to hide his 'I told you so' face. Fluttershy seemed to be calmed by this new revelation. Had all this been
a trick of her memory?
“If it is something wrong with me, Twilight would know about this sort of thing.” Fluttershy steeled herself with these words, as she sat up and turned towards the door. She began to purposefully make the journey to the Ponyville Library, Not noticing
Angel behind her, gesturing at his mouth.
… … …
“Why do you all look like me, Twilight?”
Taken aback by such a forward question, which was a rare thing coming from Fluttershy, Twilight took a moment to collect herself before answering.
“Could you elaborate, a bit Fluttershy?”
“Oh, I'm sorry, I mean why do all of the ponies look like me?” She quickly replied, although this didn't seem to quell Twilight's misgivings about the question.
“But we don't look like you, we look like the princess,” Twilight said this as if it had been common knowledge anyone would know. “She was here first, after all.”
“What?”
“Don't you remember what all foals are told at school?”
Fluttershy shook her head.
“That we were all created in the image of the Goddesses?”
Fluttershy still maintained her unsure look.
“But I thought that just meant our shape? Not our colour,” She replied, although beginning to question her own logic.
“Here, look at this,” Said twilight, holding up a picture of herself at the last Grand Galloping Gala, clearly showing herself standing by a yellow-furred, pink-maned Princess Celestia. “See, it is colour as well. I don't have any pictures of Luna on me right now, but I could get some if it would ease your mind,” Twilight said comfortingly.
“But... I...” Fluttershy's voice became exasperated, and tired. “No, I won't need that, Twilight. Thank you for your help.”
“Is everything alright, Fluttershy?” Twilight tried to put on her most comforting look for Fluttershy.
“Everything's Fine. I just... Need a rest,” And with that, Fluttershy slowly trudged back to her home. She didn't pay any heed to the ponies around her who said hello, or those who asked how she was. She just walked.
… … …
Far away, in the towering citadel of Canterlot, a royal yellow-furred, pink-maned princess walked through the gardens. All day, Princess Celestia could not help but feel that something was off. As she set the sun in motion to set, her equally coloured sister stepped up behind her.
“Hello sister, did your day go well?” Asked Princess Luna, lowering her head. Her horn glowed, and the moon began to show over the horizon.
“Hmm. I haven't been able to pin point it, but there seems to be something odd about today,” Sighing, Celestia despondently responded. “I'm sure it's nothing, though”
“Come sister, let us have Breakfast, or Dinner, in your case. You may feel better.” Luna put her wing around her sister and slowly trotted with her back to the Royal dining hall.
“You're Right. I'm sure I’m just hungry!” Celestia's stomach agreed by rumbling loudly.
As they giggled, walking away, Neither of them noticed the crack in the statue that they had just passed, unwary of any change in it's position or condition. Nor did they hear the dry, weary laugh of a Draconequus. The laugh of a fulfilled joker. The laugh of one who doesn't care for it's victim. The laugh behind a joke that went by so unnoticed, that all the participants had went on with their unwitting, Perfectly Normal lives.
