Rarity lifted the blanket over the young purple unicorn. She had been foalsitting Twilight Sparkle while Fluttershy was out. It was odd that she went out without telling anyone what she was doing, but tonight was even more odd. Usually she would’ve picked up her child a few hours ago, but it was well past 10 pm. Sweetie Belle had been staying over already, so she put them to sleep together. She gave them both a kiss on the forehead, and hovered a blue unicorn magician plushie next to Twilight.
She paced near the entrance of the Carousel Boutique. She had already sent word to Spike, who went to find the other three of her friends to find Fluttershy. Rarity would be going out to look herself, if not for the fillies that were sleeping upstairs.
Over the next few hours, her friends had stopped by to tell Rarity what they had found, or what they didn’t. Applejack had checked the Everfree Forest. She knew that Fluttershy wouldn’t usually go in on her own, but she had gone to her house on the way to the forest, and noticed that the inside wasn’t as tidy as it was normally kept.
Rainbow Dash had taken to the air. Fluttershy didn’t normally fly too high, but it wasn’t out of the question. She searched from Ponyville to Cloudsdale, and repeated that path a few times. There was no sign of the quiet pony.
Pinkie Pie opted to lure out her missing friend, by placing her favorite sweet in various spots all over town, covered by a cardboard boxes all labeled “Fluttershy Trap.” When the Element of Kindness would walk under to get the treat, she’d hit a tripwire that would drop the box onto her. A few of the traps got tripped, but only prey they got was the party pony herself.
As Celestia’s sun rose, the four friends feared the worst. Rarity was looking at her worst, having stayed up all night. She knew she’d have to be the one to break the news to her “daughter” and it was something she absolutely feared doing. No five-year-old should have to go through something like this. She knew that Twilight wasn’t truly Fluttershy’s daughter, but had been born of her after her rebirth during what the princesses called “the Hour of Twilight.” All five of the friends were considered to be her mother, but Fluttershy was the only one she called “mommy.”
Rarity levitated two plates of breakfast food to the table as Sweetie Belle and Twilight Sparkle walked down the stairs. She didn’t dare to look at either of them. She had been crying for the last hour and she knew it showed. She had already wiped off some of her makeup that had run down her face.
“Um, Rarity? Don’t you usually put garnish on?” Sweetie Belle asked.
“Oh, yes...of course...” She levitated the garnish off of the counter and haphazardly dropped it onto the two plates. Sweetie Belle looked over in confusion. A knock on the door gave Rarity a chance to leave the room without having to answer any questions.
Upon opening the door, the pastel yellow pegasus stood in front of her. “I’m sorry I’m a bit late Rarity, but I got caught up in someth...oh my, what happened?” Fluttershy asked.
“Where the hell have you been!?” Rarity furiously asked. “We’ve been trying to find you all night! Didn’t you think to send a message to me or anything!? I don’t mind keeping the dear girl here for the night, but couldn’t you have given me some warning so that I wouldn’t worry!?”
“Oh...I’m sorry...I was...um...a bit busy...” Fluttershy looked to the ground and scratched her hoof against it nervously.
“Busy? Busy!? What could you have been doing that wouldn’t allow you to contact someone!?”
“It was...um...nothing...” The scared pony turned slightly and cowered. She could feel the fires of rage burning in the fashionista.
“NOTHING!? You stay out all night, don’t tell anyone, and you’re going to claim you did NOTHING!? I’m so angry with you right now that I could...” she paused as she noticed a glint coming from the bottom of her pink mane. “Is that what I think it is?” Her horn glowed as a similar light pulled Fluttershy closer to her.
“No, no, it’s nothing...Please don’t look...”
“That’s a DIAMOND! And such a pretty gold hairpin! Where did you get something like that!?”
“Um..." Fluttershy's voice shrunk after that.
“What was that, dear?”
A slightly louder, but still indistinguishable mumble came out.
“Didn’t quite catch that.”
The shy pony whimpered. She hadn’t intended to tell anypony yet, but she probably should have taken the hairpin off if she wanted to avoid the question. “It’s from my fiancee...I was proposed to...last night...”
Rarity’s anger completely disappeared, replaced by excitement. “So who’s the lucky stallion?”
“Mare, actually...She...saved my life once...I had known her before that time, we went to school together in Cloudsdale...”
“Caught yourself a cutie of a pegasus, then?” Rarity winked at her.
“Well, no...
The yellow pegasus filly tumbled to the cloud floor once again. Fluttershy was the weakest flier in her class. The rest of her class started laughing at her. “Hey guys, Klutzershy can’t fly!” The roar of laughter made her want to dig herself into the white fluff and never come up again.
“Look at her! Maybe we should call her FlutterCRY!”
“Leave her alone!” one voice called out from the side. The young filly, her red mane draped to the side of her face, stood firmly on the cloud, a glare at the crowd.
One of the larger members of the pack floated down to her. “So, the freak wants to defend the failure?” He flicked the unicorn’s horn.
Violyre winced. She was the only unicorn in her class. This would’ve been more surprising if she wasn’t the only unicorn that lived in Cloudsdale.
“Maybe we should toss her over the edge, let’s see if her little magic will protect her!” The crowd bellowed out laughter now. “That’s right, YOU DON’T HAVE ANY!”
She cowered back slightly. It was more often than she’d prefer that they came after her. She was exactly what they described, a freak. Even the best doctors in Equestria stated that she was “scientifically impossible.”
The crowd suddenly froze. Behind them, the icy stare of the pink-maned pegasus pierced them, even if they couldn’t see it. “You know, maybe we should go practice a bit more.” the lead instigator commented, and the crowd dispersed.
Violyre held her head down in shame, not wanting to look at Fluttershy, who had returned to her normal mannerisms. “I’m sorry...You always protect me, even though I can’t do anything to help you..You’re much braver than I could ever be...”
Fluttershy placed her hoof on the purple filly’s shoulder. “You know you don’t have to be sorry. I’m not brave, not at all. You’re always trying to stand up for me. That’s why you’re my only friend here...”
Violyre sniffled, and hugged the elder pony. “Will you always be my friend?” Fluttershy nodded.
“Of course I will!”