Twilight Sparkle darted out the door of the Carousel Boutique. She had been helping clean up from breakfast, when she caught sight of Fluttershy running away, looking really upset. She was used to seeing her mother’s emotions, but it wasn’t everyday that she would run from her friends, and even less often that she would forget her own daughter. She had been acting odd lately anyways, often finding herself left with any of her mamas, except for Rainbow Dash. That wouldn’t be too odd in itself, it’s not easy to be a non-pegasus in Cloudsdale, but even past that, it seemed as if her mommy had been actually trying to avoid mama Dashie.
“Mommy! Wait!” called out the purple unicorn. Her call went unanswered. Twilight knew that Fluttershy could be a completely different pony, depending on her emotion. Normally, the pair could keep the same speed, but when Fluttershy is scared or upset over something, there wasn’t a chance of her catching up. "At least she’s predictable." Twilight thought, heading in the direction of their house.
As Twilight reached the road leading towards the secluded house, she heard the door slamming in the distance. She started to run faster, but was knocked over by something jumping out of the bushes. Once she recovered, she looked in the direction where she fell back from, but there was nothing there. Confused, Twilight lifted her hoof into the air around the spot. “Not a barrier...”
“Pl-pl-please...don’t hurt me...” Twilight looked in the direction of the voice, a quivering bush catching her attention. Twilight walked over to it, and brushed some of the branches out of the way. Inside the shrubbery cowered a purple unicorn, her auburn mane draping down near her right eye. her hair reaching the top of her neck, and a ponytail a little shorter than that. A silver and gold shield cutie mark adorned her flank.
“Hurt you? Why would I want to hurt you?” Twilight started to step towards her, which caused the mare to start crying.
“Oh Celestia...I knew this was a bad idea...I shouldn’t have come out here by myself! I-i-i just wanted to show her I could do this alone...” The mare looked away, trembling. “Just...Please...Do whatever you have to do to me...” Twilight slowly reached her hoof towards the mare, who tried to cower as far down into the bush as she could.
“Shh...I won’t hurt you...” Twilight gently stroked the frightened unicorn’s neck, and smiled as the older pony looked up at her. “My name is Twilight Sparkle. What’s your name?”
“Vi-Violyre...I’m...I’m sorry...I’m just...not used to being outside...not by myself...”
“You have agoraphobia. You should be proud you made it this far!” Twilight smiled, but in her mind, she was confused. She had just met this pony, and yet, she felt like she already knew a lot about her.
Violyre nodded. “I-i suppose you’re right...Normally my fillyfriend is with me...I was...going to her house...”
“I can walk with you if you want me to! I know all the ponies that live around here! Mama Pinkie Pie introduced me to all of them! Though are you new in town? She never told me about anyone like you before.”
“I’ve...lived here for awhile. But like you said, I have a fear of the outside. Your mom is named Pinkie Pie?”
“Oh, no, she’s just mama. All of mommy’s close friends are my mamas. My mommy is named Fluttershy!”
“Flutter...shy...? Wait, you said you were Twilight Sparkle? You’re her daughter? She’s...she’s the one, my fillyfriend. Er, no...”
“My mommy is your fillyfriend!?”
“She was...”
“Aww, you seem like somepony that would be perfect for her!”
“She’s not my fillyfriend anymore...She’s my fiancée...”
Twilight’s eyes widened, and a wide smile appeared on her face. “Miss Violyre, does that mean you’ll also be my mo-” Her sentence was suddenly cut off as she laid down and clutched the area around her horn, cringing and crying in pain.
“Twilight!? What’s wrong!?” Violyre leaned down to check the filly. Twilight’s horn started to glow, and a burst of magic shot directly at the older unicorn, knocking her back. Every part of of Violyre’s body was searing with a burning pain, but she knew she had to endure it. Her soon-to-be daughter was having something happen to her, and she needed to get help. She pulled the filly onto her back, and galloped in the direction of the cottage.
Twilight’s horn glowed as she rocked the unicorn foal to sleep. “I knew that they had random magic outbursts, but I’ve never seen them that bad. Hopefully she’ll stay calm until Cadance and Shining Armour come to pick her up. Thanks for the help with catching her, girls!”
“Twi, we have a bit of a problem.” said the white unicorn.
“Problem? The baby’s safe and sleeping, what else could be wrong, Rarity?”
“What else could be wrong!? I’m Applejack!”
“Oh dear. I guess that means Rarity’s in your body then?”
“No darling, I’m over here!” Pinkie Pie’s voice sounded odd, as it was being spoken much slower than normal.
“Then where’s Pink-” Twilight got cut off as three Sonic Rainbooms shot off above the group. “That answers that question. Rainbow Dash?”
“Over here, feeling like there’s a two-ton weight on my back and I’m being punched in the gut! And Pinkie just killed any pride I ever had!” The yellow pegasus landed, unable to maintain her flight in the weaker body.
“Which means that Fluttershy must be in Applejack’s body.” She looked towards the frightened farmfilly hiding in a bush. “It’s getting late, can we just solve this issue tomorrow?”
“Yeah, it’s been a really long night. I just want to go to sleep.” Rainbow Dash yawned. “I might pass out on the way back to Cloudsdale though. Seriously Fluttershy, how do you fly with these things?”
“We should probably go back to the home of the body we’re in. Pretend to be each other, ya know?” Applejack commented. “My family might be confused if Rarity just walks out of my bedroom in the morning!”
“NO!” shouted the quivering voice from the farmmare’s body. The group waited for the usual “...that is, if you don’t mind...” from their friend, but it never came.
“Fluttershy, dear, there’s nothing to worry about.” the pinkened fashionista commented, Twilight just needs some rest before she can put us back in the right bodies.”
“No...I need to be back to normal...Th-the animals...they need...real me...”
“I think I can take care of all of your animals, Fluttershy. Don’t worry!” Rainbow Dash walked towards Fluttershy, and the earth pony form actually flinched when a hoof was put on her shoulder. “What’s wrong?”
Twilight was getting concerned, between Fluttershy’s outburst without apology, and seemingly being afraid of her old classmate, something was going on. “Let me talk to her for a minute. Alone.” The pink pony picked up the baby, and the group walked off to watch the pegasus Pinkie’s repeated Sonic Rainbooms, along with the agitated sounds of the body’s original owner. “Fluttershy, what’s wrong? I promise I’ll have this all sorted out by tomorrow.”
“No...Rainbow Dash can’t go back to my cottage...not right now...”
“What’s different now than any other time?”
“Vi...Violyre’s there...”
“You got her to leave her house!?”
Fluttershy nodded in response, the farmfilly’s hat slipping off of her head. “Just before you came over. I’ve been visiting her every day since you brought us together. Even with her full trust in me, she was hesitant to go outside. I didn’t force it on her, I asked her a few times though. Today, she said to me ‘I want to go outside.’ It made me so happy, I told her we’d go to my cottage since it wasn’t that far. After that was when you came to ask me to help. She was resting in my room at the time, she was exhausted after that much walking.”
“I’m sure Rainbow Dash will be fine around her.”
“NO! No, it’s out of the question! Rainbow Dash can’t find out about my relationship with Violyre!” Tears rolled down the cheeks of the tanned earth pony.
“Fluttershy...what aren’t you telling me?”
“Please...I’ll tell you later...but please, don’t let Rainbow Dash find Violyre...”
Twilight sighed. “Fine. You take everyone to the library. I’ll go see if Zecora might know, I know I don’t have anything in my magic. But you better stop at Starbits and get me some coffee.”