Floating. Fluttershy felt like she was floating. But that’s not right – she hasn’t lived in Cloudsdale for years now. Even then, the clouds mostly stayed put, and she didn’t think she was a sleep-flyer… She attempted to goad her eyes into opening.
“What’s the worst that could happen?” she asked herself. She slowly peeped her left eye open, just a bit. She saw a very clear sky, full of stars. Certainly not the warm confines of her cottage… She immediately closed her eye shut again. The worst that could happen is that she was somehow floating hundreds of feet off of the ground on a rogue cloud that had somehow gotten loose, made its way into her house, picked her up, and is now whisking her off to Celestia knows where and she’ll probably never see any of her friends again and she’ll be lost forever and AAAAHH!
…But wait, do clouds even go rogue? She never recalled a single incident of that happening, so maybe things aren’t as bad as she thought. Her mind began to consider other possibilities; maybe Rainbow Dash is playing a prank on her? Could be, but Rainbow Dash’s pranks are typically played when ponies are awake, and after all, Fluttershy couldn't remember a time where she’d been the victim of Rainbow’s pranks. Curious, indeed. So that rules that out. Still, that doesn’t explain what she’s doing perched on a cloud. A cool breeze blew through her mane as she pondered her situation, keeping her eyes locked tight for fear of seeing how far down she was. Being a pegasus and all, she did have wings and could simply fly down from the cloud and back home, but when Fluttershy gets scared, sometimes her wings have a tendency to... umph! Argh! Yup, stiff as two yellow, fluffy boards taped to the side of her. A pity she's afraid of heights. What to do?
“I just have to be brave,” Fluttershy muttered to herself, devoid of much confidence in her ability to do so. Still, saying it out loud gave her the courage to at least attempt to open her left eye again. She peeked slowly, but surely out of her eye, and, unsurprisingly, the clear night sky, scattered with stars, uncountable and twinkling, folded out before her. At least, she thought, there was no present danger other than being very high up, and so she dared open her other eye to fully enjoy the starry splendor. Maybe that would calm her nerves enough to get her wings working properly again. So, with both eyes now staring intently at Luna’s lovely canvas, she spread her forelegs out on the cloud and just gazed at the stars above.
Now that she thought about it, she hadn’t really taken that much time to stargaze, even though she had plenty of time to. She was very happy staying put on the ground thank you very much, and although she did fly quite often, traveling by hoof was more her style – it always has been. When one is so focused on the ground, it’s not difficult to take everything higher up for granted perhaps. The ground is wonderful; it's always there when you need it, it would never move unexpectedly, it's very dependable, and it always takes you where you want to go, provided you make the effort. Fluttershy loves the ground! But this? This is nice too; the relaxing breeze caressing her mane and coat, the stars shining gently above, and the moon in all its glory, glowing for all to see. Looking at it was shockingly soothing, and Fluttershy felt much better simply letting all her fears drift away on a cloud of their own.
But this can't last forever, of course, and Fluttershy needed to face the fact that she had to get back home somehow, and drifting too far would just get her more lost. First, she needed to find out where she was, and that would mean… gulp… looking down. It’s not that she wouldn’t be happy to see the ground again – it's always there, after all – it’s just all that… not ground in between that makes her stomach churn. Especially if her wings still don't work. She decided to test them before she looked. She tried the muscles that got her wings flapping; they were stiff at first, but not completely frozen. That’s a good sign, Fluttershy thought. She moved her feathery appendages through the motions, bit by bit, until they were able to move freely again. Phew, that’s a relief. Now for the hard part. Fluttershy slowly moved towards the end of her white, cushy, makeshift bed. She found that she couldn’t open her eyes to look at the horizon, and instead decided to look at the ground first and foremost. Maybe that would let her take off more easily. The closer she is to the ground, the better, as far as she's concerned.
She crept herself closer to the edge of the cloud, if clouds even have edges for that matter, and tipped her head over the side, making sure to keep her balance. When she was sure that she could see the ground from where she was going to be looking, she counted to herself: 1… 2… 2 and a half… 3!
“...Oh.”
She had opened her eyes wide, and had expected her wings to freeze again as she was certainly to gasp in horror and shove her head inside her hooves… but none of those things happened. Instead, she almost laughed out loud! Here she was, completely fearful of having to trek miles and miles back to Ponyville after surviving the longest drop she could imagine, but here she was, floating on a cloud a mere three feet from the ground! The good ol’ reliable ground, open wide with a welcoming embrace. She could even see her cottage from here! All that worrying, and for nothing, too! Boy, did she feel silly. She chuckled to herself. That wasn’t nearly as bad as she thought; what an active imagination! She felt herself collapse backwards onto the cloud in a sigh of relief.
As she was lying there, she did wonder how she managed to get onto this cloud in the first place. Maybe she was a sleep-flyer after all? Surely she would have noticed sooner? Oh well, it’s a mystery she would just have to solve later, after a proper night’s sleep back at her cottage. Some of her nocturnal animal friends might be wondering where she went, after all. She decided to get off of the cloud and return to her cottage. She figured she would leave the cloud there and ask somepony if it was theirs in the morning. Eyes closed and a smile on her face, she daintily and fearlessly skipped off of the cloud, and descended the three-foot drop to safety.
“I hope Rainbow won't be too jealous if it turns out I am a sleep-flyer,” she wondered aloud, “I’ll bet she would want to find a way to fly while she was asleep!” She laughed as she fell a little bit, but then stopped when she realized she was not touching her beloved ground after a few seconds.
Fluttershy quickly looked down in shock as what was once a simple three foot drop now appeared to her as an endless abyss below. NO! She tried to flap her wings in desperation, but to no avail. Her wings were frozen to her sides again, paralyzed with fear and panic. The gentle breeze that had once flowed smoothly through her mane was now a ferocious maelstrom, whipping her mane violently, and making her tail sting her back with its throes. She screamed and thrashed her legs, hoping for somepony to come save her from the horrible fall into nothingness, the terrorizing blackness she was careening ever faster and ever nearer to. She looked around desperately for anything she might be able to grab onto, or focus on to calm herself enough for her wings to work, but what she saw, or rather, didn’t see, made her fear grow. No longer was the moon shining above, nor were there any stars dotting the clear night sky. She could not even spot any clouds. Simply an endless horizon above the bottomless ravine where she would surely meet her end. She began to cry at the thought. She looked down at her fate, blacker than the darkest of nights, sinister even, threatening to swallow her up forever. What had happened to the friendly ground she once knew and so cherished? Had it been devoured by this shadow?
Then, as Fluttershy was staring at the darkness, she saw something shiny… no, not shiny. Glowing? Glowing red… a dark, foreboding red. Two of them. Spaced just far enough apart: eyes. Glowing crimson eyes, slowly opening. Below them? No, say it isn’t so… teeth too? This can’t be! Sharp as spear-heads, dozens, no, hundreds of them – and she’s falling straight into them! The beast below roared with savage hunger as Fluttershy fell towards its open maw, her eyes shut in panicked denial. This can’t be the end, it just can’t be! The beast’s roar was close now, and she braced for the impact, wings useless, face wet with tears. With one last shriek, she expected her end…
An end that didn’t come. Fluttershy opened her eyes slowly and expected to see nothing but darkness, but instead she saw the familiar, frowning face of one of her most cherished animal friends: Angel Bunny. He was dressed in an adorable little nightcap, and was tapping his foot impatiently, almost as if to say “what’s wrong with you? Can’t you tell what time it is? There are some animals who are tryyyying to sleep here! Geez!” Fluttershy, recovering slightly, grinned apologetically, and Angel hopped away.
“Wow,” Fluttershy whispered, “what a crazy dream. I’ve never had one so vivid before. Too bad it was so terrifying…” She saw that she was in bed, safe in her cottage home in Ponyville. She was a tad cold, though. Oh! She saw she had bucked the blankets off of herself while she slept. Not so surprising considering what she had just been through. She was still shaking a little. It had been more horrifying than she ever thought her nightmares could become… she needed some tea. It was still the middle of the night, and she needed something to calm her nerves.
Fluttershy made her way quietly down to her kitchen, and started up her fireplace, putting a kettle with some water over it. She pulled a comforter over herself and laid down on her sofa, waiting for the water to boil. It had been such an eventful day! She was glad to finally be able to relax. Speaking of which, she couldn’t seem to get that horrible imagery out of her head…those piercing red eyes, those awful teeth, and that roar… she made the cup in her mouth vibrate just thinking about it. She looked around for a way to distract her mind from her nightmare. Birdhouse, potted plant, window, coffee table, giant book… Aha! Of course! The book of animals that she had discovered earlier would do just the trick! She loves animals, and if the book’s title was to be trusted, this was going to be a real treat.
“Let’s see,” Fluttershy said as she opened the hard-cover binding, “Everything You Didn’t Know About the Animals of Equestria.” Now, Fluttershy's never one to brag, but she knows her animals of Equestria, and if there is a book that can stump her, she would be rather surprised. She brought over a jar full of fireflies for light, and opened up to the table of contents. It was expectedly straightforward, but with a shockingly diverse array of subjects, some of which confused her: Likelihood of Food Preferences Over Several Specimen Chains, Stretching and Yawning Algorithms for the Basic Narwhal, and… Punnett Squares Postulating the Possibilities of the Powerful Puffin Program? What was all this? Well, Fluttershy thought, I suppose if somepony wanted to make an entire book dedicated to things nopony else knew about the animals of Equestria, that’s how they would do it…
Confusing as the chapter titles may be, Fluttershy decided not to waste such a unique find, and started reading the first chapter. As she got more into it, she realized that despite the weird names that the chapters have, the actual content isn't nearly as indecipherable as she had thought. She was finding it relatively easy to understand what the book was saying, and was learning so many new things about different critters! She never knew birds’ migrating patterns were directed by magnetism, or that the average dog’s mouth was possibly cleaner than hers! ...Ew… I’m going to need to brush my teeth better from now on, she thought, thinking of Applejack’s dog, Winona.
The minutes passed, and Fluttershy was engrossed in learning everything she apparently missed while taking care of her precious animal friends. She figured, that with this new knowledge, she might be able to take better care of them. Though all of her animals did seem rather happy with her, it could be that they were just being polite about all of these specific details. She wanted to make them all as happy as could be!
The hours passed and as sunlight peeked its way through Fluttershy’s cottage window, it found her still reading away, a smile on her face as the morning birds chirped, the roosters crowed, and the boiling-over kettle full of water was forgotten, as well as her tea.