It was a chilly, late October evening. Condensation fogged the window. Slivers of ice graced the window sills throughout the house. Save a fierce wind howling outside, silence reigned.
Fluttershy rested her head on the sofa. She shivered, gripping a dirty blanket ever more tightly around her mane. A solitary candle, fueled by only a small stump of wax, provided the sole source of illumination. It was pitch black outside, but she didn't have any more candles. This was her last one, and she surmised that it would last only another hour, at most. After that, she would be draped in shadows, with only the faint light from the moon for company.
Fluttershy coughed, as a large bit of phlegm slivered out of throat. She instinctively swallowed it, for she had no napkins or even a wastebin to spit into. She may be severely impoverished and ill, but she was still civilized and ladylike, at least. Maybe. Living in an unheated hovel had taken a serious toll on her health. The local clinic diagnosed her with pneumonia, but she did not have the bits for treatment. They turned her away after the diagnosis.
She coughed again, this time violently. Blood dripped from the corner of her mouth, but she did not bother to wipe her lips clean. Her resolve to care vanished long ago.
Fluttershy turned to the window and peered outside at the bright lights emanating from Ponyville. She sighed. If only her friends were here... they could help her, or at the very minimum, lift her spirits up.
But those ponies whom she once recognized as friends were friends no more. They had all moved on long ago, to pursue greater opportunities, to pursue their dreams... Twilight moved back to Canterlot for another bout of intense studying. Applejack moved west, hoping to establish a new business with her cousin, Braeburn. Rarity received a new job as editor for a fashion magazine in Manehatten. Rainbow Dash achieved her dream of becoming a Wonderbolt and moved to Fillydelphia. Even Pinkie Pie outgrew her job at the Sugarcube Corner and... oh where did Pinkie move to? She couldn't remember.
On the eve of each departure, everypony promised the other that they would remain in touch. At first, Fluttershy received mounds of mail from each of her friends, complete with pictures, even. But as time went by, the volume dropped, little by little, until nopony wrote to her anymore. She wrote back incessantly, hoping to know what had become of them, only to see her pleas go unanswered.
Most of the letters she received made verbal promises that their friendship would remain vibrant and active, but her friends had betrayed these promises – to her, and possibly, each other. Her eyes welled up. Did it ever have to end this way? Must friendships die? And so quietly?
Fluttershy sank beneath the window, slouching upon the sofa. She could hold it no longer. She cried and wailed, hoping that someone would hear the dreadful noises she made, that someone would be curious enough to enter her home, that someone would drag her out of this pit of despair and poverty, that someone would just simply sit down and hear about the dreadful, lonely predicament she has sunk into-
The tears then stopped. Her crying slowed to a few muted sobs. Even despair had its limits. Fluttershy took a breath, trying to regain composure. She reached for the dirty handkerchief on the coffee table, wiped her eyes, and then the blood on the corner of her mouth. Looking up, her eyes darted to the telephone on the cabinet on her left. That gave her an idea. She needed somepony to talk to, and why not make it the telephone operator? Leaning over, she picked up the receiver and dialed.
“Hello, you have reached the operator,” a female voice answered.
Fluttershy heaved, hopeful. “Hi. I hope you are not too busy...”
“Yes? Do you know your party's extension?” the voice asked tersely.
“Well, I was hoping we can talk... about anything...” Fluttershy hicupped.
“Umm, sorry, sweetheart. I operate the phones. I have no time for chitchat whatsoever. Again, do you know your party's extension? Or do I need to look that-”
Fluttershy slammed the receiver onto the cabinet, convulsing in anger. It was true! Nopony ever wanted to talk to her! The friendship she enjoyed two years ago – it was all one giant web of deceit! They only pretended to be her friends. They had duped her, showering her with praise about her kindness, her skills with animals, only to turn around and smash her dignity and crush her soul! Yes, it all makes sense now...
She stood up angrily, casting aside her dirty blanket. Yes, tomorrow, she would go to Ponyville, and curse everypony for being stupid liars. She would reveal them to be the charlatans that they really are. Yes! That would be the proper course of action! Oh, how much of genius she was!
Fluttershy laughed maniacally, as if she was on top of the world-
-only to realize that she wasn't. Her rage dissipated. Her ego deflated. Oh, what was she thinking? They would take her for a fool, another looney destined for the insane asylum. Collapsing upon the sofa once again, she coughed. More blood dripped from the corner of her mouth. Her head was a block of iron. There was no use. She would never have again what she had lost. What else did she have left? Nothing, not even the animals. Even Angel, her supposedly faithful pet rabbit, moved away as her home slowly declined into a pigsty.
There was only one path left – the path which would set her free from this cruel, miserable world. Yes, Fluttershy thought, it was time.
Rising from the sofa, Fluttershy meandered into the kitchen, seizing a piece of rope from a cupboard and a stool from the corner. She had been saving this piece of rope for months now, awaiting the day she could use it. She set the stool under a beam in the kitchen.
Fluttershy leapt upon the stool on all fours, her mind racing. She needed to do this quickly, lest she panic and back out of it. She tied a knot into the rope, creating a circle. She then tied another knot, securing the rope to the beam above.
Fluttershy inserted her neck into crevice on the rope. Yes... she now knows what to do... This would set her free... at last... Free at last, free at last. Oh, how sweet those words were, and the predicament so close...
Peering over into the den, Fluttershy saw that the solitary candle on the coffee table had ceased to glow, enveloping the entire hovel in darkness for one last time. She gulped. There were no more candles. Her time has come. This was the end, and there was no turning back.
Fluttershy kicked the stool over gently with her hoof.
