ONCE BITTEN, FLUTTERSHY
The flower meadow just outside of Ponyville was often frequented by several of the towns ponies, but none of them came here in the spring more than Fluttershy. The air was filled with the chirping birds and the gentle humming of the pegasus that picked the flowers in the meadow, happily putting them in a basket that hung from her wing. A few birds fluttered around her, placing flowers in her basket as well, she smiled sweetly to them.
"Thank you for your help," she softly said as the birds chirped and flew off. The gentle humming continued as she skipped along before something caught her eye skittering about in the flowers. It looked black and continued into the flowers. Fluttershy's curiosity caused her to continue forward though. Her head lowered trying to get on the same level as the creature before suddenly it stopped and stood up.
The two of them were eye to eye, Fluttershy's blue eyes met with the green rounded eyes of the dark creature that looked a bit like a rabbit but instead of ears the top of its head was adorned with two horns. The crooked horns sprouted from its head curled around at odd angles. Fluttershy in the mean time continued to look into the eyes of the strange rabbit-like creature before finally speaking.
"Where are you from? I've never seen something like you before," she said tilting her head to one side as the creature mocked the movement. She decided then to move her head back, the creature once again mocking her movement. Curiously she began to turn around and took note as the creature did the same. The creature squeaked which made Fluttershy suddenly smile wide.
"Do you need a home little friend? You don't seem like you're from around here."
The creature squeaked again and leapt into the basket of flowers, looking as though it were curling up. Fluttershy giggled and started walking back out of the meadow with the creature in tow. Her mind began to wander, trying to figure out just where the creature came from and wondered to herself if perhaps Twilight would know where it came from. Moving back towards the town, she decided instead of heading straight home, she would see her friend at the library and perhaps shed some light on the mysterious identity of the creature.
The library rustled in the morning breeze as Fluttershy made her way towards it. The creature squeaked a little looking up at the giant tree that housed the town's books. She made her way up to the door and knocked her hoof against the door. A few sounds came from inside before the door opened and Twilight stepped out with a smile.
"Oh, Fluttershy, what brings you by?" she asked as Fluttershy extended the basket from her wing.
"I was just out picking flowers when I found this," she said as she looked into the basket. Her face went blank as she stared at a single flower resting at the bottom of it. Twilight also took a look down to the bottom of the basket and saw the single flower.
"Not a very productive day from the looks of things," she said with a slight bemused smile.
"Oh, no, I had way more than this before. I don't know what happened to them all, or the creature that I had in here."
"Maybe it jumped out before you got here. It's a shame, I'd have loved to have seen what you found."
"Oh well, sorry to bother you Twilight," she said as she smiled and looked slightly embarrassed she'd even bothered her in the first place.
"It's okay Fluttershy, if you ever need anything don't hesitate to come on by!" Twilight said as she moved back inside the library. Fluttershy also turned around and began walking away from the library before a squeak came from the basket. Fluttershy stopped to look back into it and stared into the green eyes of the creature once more. Blinking, she then went back and knocked on Twilight's door. Answering it again, Fluttershy presented the basket with a smile only to find it empty once again save the same flower that had been inside.
"Um, Fluttershy, you showed me the flower a second ago, ya know?"
"B-But, it was there!" Fluttershy exclaimed, eyes turning back to the basket and staring down at the flower.
"You okay, Fluttershy?" Twilight asked with concern in her voice. Fluttershy shook her head and stared down at the ground.
"I think so, um, I just, I'll go."
"Okay, see you later," Twilight said slowly shutting the door once more.
Fluttershy turned back from the door once more and took note of the creature once again squeaking and staring up at her from the basket. Her mouth hung open before turning back once again to Twilight's door and knocking on it. Twilight answered, only this time with a look of trepidation. Fluttershy pointed frantically at the basket which now, once more, contained a flower. She simply smiled as Twilight closed the door once more, leaving Fluttershy outside to hear the all too familiar squeak of the creature, eyes turning back to it. She stared at the thing for a good ten seconds before silently moving on back towards her house.
In her mind, she tried as hard as she could to rationalize just what the creature she had with her was or why it disappeared like it did when she tried to show it to Twilight. Her thoughts carried her all the way back to her door where she opened it and walked in. The creature squeaked again and hopped out of the basket. Setting it down, Fluttershy smiled as she walked towards her kitchen and began to prepare a small salad.
"I don't know what you are, but I'm sure you're hungry, even though you seemed to have eaten the flowers I picked," she said as she gathered up the ingredients. With a smile, she set the bowl down in front of the creature and began to tap on her chin in thought. The creature in the mean time began to devour the contents of the bowl.
"I've been thinking, how about the name Sully?" Fluttershy asked as the creature finished the bowl and looked up with a happy squeak. Fluttershy giggled at the creatures response before there was a knock at the door. Walking over to it, she opened it up to see Applejack standing at her door.
"Howdy Fluttershy, ya'll ready? Rainbow Dash is waitin' for us back at the farm," she said with a smile as Fluttershy suddenly gasped.
"Oh! I forgot, Applejack, I'm so sorry!" Fluttershy said before Applejack laughed a little and shook her head.
"It's all right, I had to go get Rainbow Dash too. I swear that pony would forget her head if it weren't already attached."
Fluttershy giggled a little as she moved back inside the house and looked down at the salad bowl. There inside of it was a single piece of lettuce that sat in the bowl. Fluttershy stared down at it before looking around the living room. Applejack peeked inside questioningly with a brow raised.
"Uh, Fluttershy, ya'll lose somethin'?" she asked as Fluttershy looked back down at the lettuce piece and leaned down to it.
"I understand you might be shy, but that's no reason to hide, Sully. She's a friend of mine, it's okay!"
"Sully?" Applejack questioned as she walked to Fluttershy's side and stared down at the lettuce. "Uh, Fluttershy, that there's a piece of lettuce."
"Oh no, it's some kind of critter I found in the meadow. It looked lonely so I brought it back here to see if it needed a home, but for some reason he keeps hiding."
Applejack's eyes went from the lettuce back to Fluttershy before she started to walk towards the door. "Okay, well maybe ya'll should just stay here an' rest up. RD an' I can take care of the apples."
"Oh, no no, I promised I'd come help and I'll do it, just let me pick him up and bring him along!"
"Uh, sure."
Applejack and Fluttershy made their way to Sweet Apple Acres, Fluttershy carrying the basket that still contained a lettuce leaf. As they came up to the front gate, from the clouds could be heard the sound of snoring. Applejack looked up towards the clouds and gave a slight huff.
"Rainbow Dash, I swear, do ya'll always sleep?" Applejack asked with a frown.
Rainbow Dash yawned, stretching herself out on the cloud she lay on and rubbed her eyes. "Well, excuse me for having to wait on you to go get Fluttershy."
"Oh, I'm so sorry," Fluttershy said, lowering her head and pouting. Applejack placed a hoof on her shoulder and shook her head.
"Ya'll don't fret none about it."
"What's up with the lettuce leaf?" Rainbow Dash asked as she floated down from her cloud and peered into the basket.
"Oh, this is Sully! I found him in the meadow earlier. He turned into a lettuce leaf, though."
Rainbow Dash stared at the basket then slowly turned her gaze to Fluttershy who smiled back. Rainbow then looked over to Applejack who's blank stare and shrug told her everything she needed to know. Looking back into the basket she placed a hoof on her head.
"Right, so Applejack, what was it we needed to do?" she asked, now ignoring how much sense the situation didn't make to her.
"Well, I need ya'll to get the apples outta the tall trees that I couldn't buck earlier this mornin'," she explained, pointing up towards a few hills in the distance that looked to still have red apples dotting their tops. "If ya'll need me, I'll be in the field buckin', jus' bring what ya'll get outta the trees down to me."
"You got it!" Rainbow Dash said excitedly and tossed a bucket up on her back to jet towards a hill. Fluttershy in the mean time quietly picked up a bucket herself and daintily flew towards another hill with the basket in tow as well.
Fluttershy landed on the ground and set both bucket and basket on the ground. The creature squeaked and hopped up out of the basket to look up at her. Fluttershy smiled a little and pat it on the head as it squeaked happily. With that, she flew toward the top of the tree and began to shake it, the apples falling down to the ground as the creature looked on. Fluttershy then began to move from tree to tree, shaking each one so that the apples fell to the ground. There weren't many, and with the last tree shook, she floated back down to the ground and looked around.
Her face twisted a moment as she stared at the ground. Her eyes turned back to the treetops for a fleeting moment before returning to the ground. All she saw was the creature, an empty bucket and the basket she'd carried the creature in. Her eyes then looked back towards the trees and began to rub her head.
"Did you see the apples fall from the trees, Sully?" she asked the creature, leaning down towards it. The creature shrugged before letting out a rather loud belch. Fluttershy recoiled and shook her head as though she were trying to recover from the sudden burst of air from the creature's mouth. With a frown, she picked the basket along with the bucket and flew towards the place Applejack had said she would be.
Applejack spun quickly on her hooves and kicked at the apple tree behind her as Fluttershy touched down. Placing the empty bucket down, Applejack looked at it then watched as Fluttershy placed the basket down on the ground and saw an apple roll out of it.
"So, was that all that was up there?" she asked pointing at the lone apple on the ground.
"No, that's Sully, who decided to eat all the apples after I shook them from the trees," she said with a disapproving look in her eyes, glaring down at the apple. "I brought him back down here so he could apologize to you for eating up all the apples that I worked hard to get out of the trees."
Applejack looked between the apple and Fluttershy for what was a solid minute. It was enough time for Rainbow Dash to return and place a barrel down next to Applejack who seemed stunned.
"Okay, second barrel, where are the other trees Applejack? ...Applejack?" she asked canting her head to one side before looking down at the apple then back to Fluttershy. "Please tell me this isn't what I think it is."
"Okay," Applejack began, a hoof running along her brow. "Fluttershy, tell ya what, Rainbow Dash and I will keep workin' here. In the mean time, you should really head home an' get ya'll some rest, sugarcube."
Fluttershy frowned and shook her head. "I don't need rest! I feel perfectly fine! Why don't you believe me!?"
Rainbow Dash and Applejack looked to one another before Fluttershy let out a growl and picked up the apple and placed it in the basket to fly away back to her home. Applejack and Rainbow Dash looked at each other again with worried looks on their faces as their friend disappeared in the sky.
Fluttershy landed at her home and flung the door open. Sully then hopped out of the basket and squeaked happily. Fluttershy in the mean time flung the basket out of her mouth and glared at him for a few moments before her expression softened and she sighed.
"I'm sorry little one, but I just don't understand why you have to hide all the time," Fluttershy said as she sank down to the ground with a sigh. "I can understand if you'd be scared of other ponies but they all think I'm crazy now because of this. I wish you could understand and just show yourself."
Fluttershy sighed and walked towards a couch in her living room to sit down and look out the window. In the mean time Sully looked up at her and slowly got up on its hind legs. It wobbled towards Fluttershy, eyes large and green, a sad look on its face. It squeaked as Fluttershy looked down at it. Her face warmed suddenly and she scooped the creature into her arms with a bright smile.
"Oh, I can't stay mad at you!" she exclaimed and snuggled the creature up to her. Fluttershy was interrupted by a tugging at her ear. Looking over, she smiled when she met the face of Angel who stamped a foot on the top of the couch and crossed it's arms. Angrily, the bunny pointed towards his stomach.
"Angel, I'm sorry! I can't believe I forgot to feed you!" Fluttershy exclaimed as she set Sully down on the couch and flew off towards her kitchen. Sully growled a little bit as Fluttershy left and looked back to glare at Angel. Angel looked at the creature curiously and hopped down, tilting its head to one side as though he were inspecting Sully. The horned critter smiled devilishly and suddenly jumped off the couch to lay on the ground. Letting out a whine, it rolled around on the ground. From the kitchen, Fluttershy dashed out and saw Angel staring down at the creature then looking back up to Fluttershy and Sully on the ground crying.
"Angel, Sully, what happened in here?" she asked before Sully ran over to her and pointed at Angel. It then began to pantomime that Angel had maliciously kicked him off the couch and proceeded to laugh maniacally. Fluttershy watched the show put on by Sully before frowning at Angel and moving towards him.
"Angel T. Bunny, did you kick Sully off of the couch?" she asked as Angel began to flail his arms in protest. "Just because we have a guest in our home and I forgot to feed you does not mean you can bully him! You know what? You can feed yourself!"
Fluttershy huffed and turned back to the kitchen as Angel stood on the couch with his mouth hanging open. Glaring down at Sully, the creature turned and blew a raspberry at the bunny before snickering. Angel then looked towards the kitchen where Fluttershy was putting things away and sighed sadly, walking away from the couch and the living area. Fluttershy returned from the kitchen and leaned down to Sully.
"I'm sorry about Angel being so mean to you Sully, I'll make sure nothing bad happens to you," she said once again scooping Sully up and hugging him tightly.
A knock at the door caused her to look down at Sully for a moment with a bit of a frown. The creature squeaked, staring up at Fluttershy who sighed and set him down on the ground. Moving to the door, she looked back to Sully before opening it and looking back again. A lone apple sat on the floor which made her sigh and roll her eyes a bit. There at the door stood Twilight Sparkle who smiled brightly.
"Hello Twilight," she said flatly.
"Fluttershy, Applejack and Rainbow Dash came to me a few moments ago and told me they were worried about you. Something about yelling at apples."
"Oh, I was just tired is all, I didn't mean to cause any problems," she replied, mustering up a smile.
"Well if you're tired, then I can go. I was just going to invite you over to the library," Twilight said as she turned to leave before Fluttershy stopped her. Looking back to the Sully apple on the ground she sighed and wandered back to it. Picking it up, she placed it in the basket and picked the basket up in her teeth. Twilight gave her a curious look but decided it better not to question her.
The two came to the library as Twilight opened the door. Inside Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Applejack and Pinkie Pie all sat around with Spike laughing and telling stories. They all five looked up to the door to see Twilight enter followed by Fluttershy carrying the basket in her mouth. Rainbow Dash immediately reacted by slapping her hoof against her face with a sigh.
"You've got to be kidding me, this again?" she said as Fluttershy placed the basket down. "I thought you said you were going to get that thing away from her, Twilight!"
Applejack jabbed Rainbow Dash with her elbow as Twilight moved to a shelf and looked around for a moment before turning to the stairs to head up them. "We've got to see what this, if anything, could possibly be Rainbow."
"No offense, Fluttershy, I mean, I know you really like taking care of things but this is pushing it just a little too far, don't you think?" Rainbow Dash asked with a frown on her face. Fluttershy stared at the ground, feeling as though she were shrinking into the floor.
"What Rainbow is tryin' to say without bein' rude is that we're worried about ya, sugarcube," Applejack said, glaring at Rainbow.
Fluttershy silently nodded as Pinkie bounced over to her with a bright smile. "Besides, it's not like we think you're crazy or anything! I mean, if you were that'd be okay, cause then we could have crazy parties!"
The other ponies glared at Pinkie who stood obliviously in front of an ever shrinking Fluttershy. She was soon on the floor and covering her head, whimpering slightly.
"There there now," Rarity began as she moved to Fluttershy's side, placing a hoof on her friend. "You spend a lot of time taking care of animals that we believe maybe it's just taking a toll on you, is all. We're concerned."
A low whine came from the pink mane that covered Fluttershy's face. Suddenly, she bolted out of the library with Rarity trying to catch her. She stopped, however as the sight of the apple suddenly bouncing out of the basket and rolling after Fluttershy made her jaw drop. Everyone else in the room followed suit watching the sight unfold before their eyes. As it rolled into the street, Rarity turned back to the group and pointed a hoof out the door.
"Everyone else did just see that, correct?" she asked as everyone nodded in unison.
"What in the hay is goin' on?" Applejack asked moving to the door and looking outside, but seeing no sign of the mysterious moving fruit or their friend.
"Ah hah!" Twilight exclaimed as she descended the stairs with a book in tow. Stopping half way, she looked down at the group and blinked. "Uh, well I found the book, now where is Fluttershy?"
Everyone pointed out the door, looking back up at her.
"And nopony tried to stop her?" she asked, ears flattening and letting out a sigh.
"Twilight, the apple just...rolled after her!" Rainbow Dash stated, floating over to her.
"Don't be silly, apples don't just roll on their own."
"Twilight dear, you know I don't often make up ridiculous stories like Rainbow Dash, but I can attest that the apple did indeed roll after Fluttershy," Rarity spoke up as Rainbow Dash frowned and crossed her hooves.
"I don't make up stories," she muttered before Twilight trotted down the stairs keeping the book with her.
"Well come on everypony, we have to get after her! We don't know what's going on and our friend might be in danger. Spike, you watch the library till I get back," Twilight said before she trotted out the door followed by the other four ponies. Spike waved to them as they left and shut the door behind them.
In the town square they could already see many of the townsfolk seemingly reeling from what they'd just seen. Many of them muttered about an apple that knocked a few of them down rolling after a crying Fluttershy. Some were in shock that an apple was rolling along on its own to begin with. Twilight followed the path of ponies who were going on about the living apple they'd just seen until they came to the bridge that crossed the river. There they saw Fluttershy crying and next to her sat the dark, horned creature.
The five of them could see it now for what it was as it curled up next to Fluttershy and held onto as much of it could of her with the tiny arms it had. Twilight breathed a sigh of relief and walked towards Fluttershy with book still floating along behind her.
"Fluttershy, I'm glad we found you again," Twilight said with a smile on her face, opening the book up in front of her.
"Why, so you can make fun of me some more?" Fluttershy asked, tears still in her eyes and staring at the running water below.
"What? No, we're just trying to help you figure out what it is you found!" Twilight said flipping through the pages.
"I don't care anymore," Fluttershy said flatly before standing up and walking away from the five of them. Twilight watched as the creature stood up with her and hopped onto her back.
"But, what if this thing's really harmful?" Applejack asked, concern in her voice as she motioned to the creature.
"Sully isn't harmful, and he isn't a thing!" Fluttershy responded sharply looking back to the group. "This whole day I tried to tell you all about him but all of you wouldn't listen. Now you suddenly want to listen to me because you can see him, well no thanks! You hurt my feelings and his. Come on Sully."
With that, Fluttershy turned and began walking down the path towards her home. The five watched her move down the path but not before witnessing Sully turn around and blow a raspberry at them. Twilight frowned and turned back to the group. Setting the book down, she began to flip through the pages frantically as the group watched on.
"I don't like this Twilight, that varmint just ain't no good," Applejack said, still watching Fluttershy disappear into the distance.
"I do have to say that something felt very strange while we were in the library," Rarity added looking around the group.
"Do you guys think maybe I was a bit too harsh with her?" Rainbow Dash asked, clear concern on her face.
"I think a little bit more than usual," Pinkie said, a waft of sadness coming over her face.
"Whatever that thing is, it certainly is not natural," Rarity said, placing a hoof on her chin in thought.
"You're right, Rarity, it's not natural," Twilight said pointing to a page in the book she had. "It's chaotic."
"What?" the group chimed in as a whole.
"Although they take on many forms, the most common is that of a rabbit with horns," Twilight began, reading from the page in her book. "As a byproduct of chaos magic the Lokirus is a being that latches onto a kind soul and warps it for its own games, surviving off of the chaos it causes."
"Discord!" Rainbow Dash blurted out and growled. "This is his doing!"
"Sort of, the Lokirus is really just an after effect of sorts," Twilight said looking up from her book. "But it's definitely because of him that this thing is wandering around. It also says if the Lokirus cannot feed off of chaos and disharmony that it will disappear and return to normal whomever it latched on to."
"So alls we gotta do is get that thing away from Fluttershy," Applejack said with a nod.
"It doesn't seem to be that simple, it needs to willingly return what harmony it took before it disappears."
"Whatever are we to do then?" Rarity asked looking around the group.
"We need to make Fluttershy feel harmonious again," Twilight said, her eyes moving across the pages once more. "Guess we really didn't do that while she was at the library."
"Oh! I know!" Pinkie said suddenly jumping in place.
"What if we just used the Elements of Harmony?" Applejack asked.
"No, we would need Fluttershy also, and the longer that Lokirus is around the more she won't be willing to use hers," Twilight explained causing them to looks down again.
"Me! Pick me! I have an idea!" Pinkie exclaimed again, jumping up and down once more.
"What if we just wail on this Lokirus until it gives up?" Rainbow Dash suggested as Twilight shook her head.
"That's just more disharmony for it to feed off of. We don't want to feed it anymore than it needs to be," Twilight responded.
"That's also an absolutely brutish suggestion," Rarity added. "Besides, I just had my hooves done, and I won't be dirtying them in some barbaric act such as that."
"Me! Me! ME!" Pinkie shouted again, starting to become winded from all the excited jumping.
"Pinkie, you have a suggestion?" Twilight asked as Pinkie nodded proudly.
"Uh huh! But we're gonna need a cake, balloons, music and streamers!" she said with a proud look on her face. The others didn't seem terribly certain of the suggestion save for Twilight who stood up and closed the book.
"Pinkie, that's it! You're a genius!"
"Well duh," she responded and shrugged a bit. The group gave a bit of a laugh and marched off with Pinkie.
Fluttershy slammed the door to her home angrily as the creature hopped off of her back and walked next to her. She stared at the ground, a furious look on her face, wings flapping about every so often as though her feathers were in actuality ruffled.
"Who do they think they are!?" she shouted to no one in particular. "I'm their friend. Was their friend! Thinking they can just push me around, thinking I'm not eventually just going to tell them I don't need them anymore. Nothing but a bunch of mean ponies! I hate them! I never want to see them again!"
She stomped around the living room more, kicking over food dishes she'd laid out for the animals staying at her home though none seemed to be around. They all seemed to be hiding, frightened of the loud, stamping pony that was now in place of the kind and sweet Fluttershy. She continued to rage as she wandered around her home, knocking things over with her hooves and wings before a knock interrupted her.
"Go away!" she shouted at the door, anger filling up her eyes for who could possibly be disturbing her. Silence passed before another knock came. She growled, stomping to the door to open it.
"Didn't I say go awa-" her sentence was cut off from the sight of a present that sat on her doorstep. Sully looked back to the door and spotted the present, suddenly gasping a bit. Fluttershy looked down at the tag that was on the present before Sully charged next to her and kicked the present away. It sailed through the air before Fluttershy shook her head and slammed the door to her house once more.
The present in the mean time continued its flight straight into a tree where it tumbled to the ground. The top popped open and out came balloons, streamers and Pinkie Pie into the middle of the walk way towards Fluttershy's house. The blowout she held in her mouth extended with the familiar sound it made before it fell to the ground.
"Well, that didn't go at all like I planned," Pinkie said, staring back towards the door. From the bushes next to the trees, Applejack, Rarity, Twilight and Rainbow Dash popped up staring down at Pinkie.
"Now what do we do?" Twilight asked before Rarity suddenly gasped and galloped off. It only took a few moments for her to return with a mannequin in tow. Upon it was a dress adorned with gems of all colours, shapes and sizes. She marched it to Fluttershy's door and knocked, the others hiding back into the bushes along with Pinkie.
"What!?" Fluttershy shouted as the door opened and she locked eyes with Rarity. She stood back and presented the shiny dress with open arms and a grin on her face.
"I come with a gift," Rarity said proudly. "This is the latest design that I was going to show off the next time I went to Canterlot, but I can't think of another pony that deserves it more than you for being such a sweet friend, Fluttershy."
For a moment, Fluttershy looked as though she were warming up but all too quickly, Sully came bolting out the door and leapt at the dress. It's green eyes looked up at Rarity from the mannequin who gasped in horror before the dress began to be torn by Sully. Fluttershy snapped out of it again and frowned before shaking her hoof.
"Don't you dare try to bring your cheap gifts around here again!" Fluttershy shouted as she and Sully returned inside and slammed the door. Outside, amongst the tattered remains of the dress Rarity stared down at it in horror. She couldn't speak or move on her own. It wasn't until Applejack and Rainbow Dash both moved out to Fluttershy's front doorstep that they were able to carry her away back to the bushes.
"Anypony else got a brilliant idea?" Twilight asked before Rainbow Dash huffed and flew up above the bush.
"I'm tired of ideas, Twilight! This has gone too far! Someone needs to knock some sense into Fluttershy, and I'm just the pony to do it!"
Rainbow Dash was half way to the door before Twilight could even begin to explain how horrible the idea was. Crashing through the door, the rainbow streak flew straight for Fluttershy. From the outside, it all sounded quite grizzly. The sounds of things breaking and sharp thuds echoed outside. Twilight, Applejack and Pinkie all leapt from the bushes and ran towards the door only to be greeted by Rainbow Dash who was flying right at them. They all four flew back into the walk way, Rainbow rubbed her head as she rolled over with a groan.
"You invite me out and insult me! You come to my home and try to bribe me, throw me a party and then hurt me after everything we've been through! Just because I care about this creature! Like you're jealous of it!" Fluttershy shouted as she walked out of her home towards the group, Sully still riding along on top of her back, looking as though he were sneering.
"But, Fluttershy," Twilight began before Fluttershy stamped a hoof on the ground.
"No buts Twilight. It's obvious now that this whole time I was just slowing you all down. I'll ask you to leave now so Sully and I can be alone together."
"Fluttershy, wait," Rainbow Dash spoke up, getting to her hooves. "Before you go, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have been so mean to you back in the library. I just wanted you to know that I don't mean to be hurtful. Sometimes I just say stuff I don't mean and it comes out all wrong."
"That goes for me too, sugarcube," Applejack added. "We didn't mean to be so cruel back at the library."
"Me too! Right Rarity?" Pinkie said looking back to the bushes where Rarity was still frozen over the tattered remains of her dress. "I'm pretty sure that means she's sorry!"
"We're all sorry, Fluttershy," Twilight said standing up with a warm smile. "We should never have dismissed you like we did. We're all friends and we should have listened to you from the very beginning instead of thinking something was wrong with you."
Fluttershy smiled and began to tear up as Sully looked between Fluttershy and the rest of the group. He squeaked a little and kicked Fluttershy on the back before moving towards her ears to tug on them. Fluttershy watched Sully with curiosity before smiling at her friends.
"I accept your ap-" her words became muffled as Sully gripped her mouth shut. Fluttershy began shaking her head, trying to wiggle the creature off of her face. It growled and held on for dear life before suddenly it was flung away and Fluttershy took breath in again."
"Apology," she said with a smile as a sudden poof of magic swirled around where Sully had been. The others cheered in joy and went to hug their friend. Fluttershy smiled before walking towards Rarity who still sat by her dress and leaned down to the pieces that lay around. Taking one of the bigger pieces, she put it back up on the mannequin with a meek smile. Rarity looked up at her and regained her composure, tiredly putting a hoof on Fluttershy's shoulder.
"I can help you fix it, Rarity, if you want," Fluttershy said, looking to the dress.
"That would be wonderful, dear," Rarity answered and hugged Fluttershy tightly.
Twilight soon returned to the library and opened the door. There in the main area was Spike with a broom and dustpan. He looked up to her, a look of concern about him.
"So, how'd it go?" he asked.
"Spike, take a letter," Twilight said as Spike happily nodded knowing that meant it went well. He rushed to a drawer and retrieved both quill and parchment. Dipping the quill in ink, he looked back towards Twilight, letting her know he was ready.
"Dear Princess Celestia, today I learned that friendship means that both ponies have to be ready to lend an ear. Even if what your friend is trying to tell you doesn't seem like that big of a deal, it could be to them and that means you sometimes need to just sit down and lend an ear."
A knock came to the door as Twilight stopped and looked to it. As she walked towards it and opened the door, she took note of Fluttershy standing with the a basket on her wing. Inside was a single flower. Twilight stared up at Fluttershy who started snickering and outright began laughing at her friend's reaction. Twilight shook her head and started laughing as well. Spike, in the mean time, blew the message away confused as to what was so funny about a flower at the bottom of a basket. He reasoned, however, that sometimes it would be better just not to ask.
Author's Note
Second story, feel this one was a bit better and wasn't too short or too long.
