> In the Hooves of a Shy Mare > by Derpshy > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Mare Meets Mare > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The birds are singing and the flowers are blooming. Her cottage door swings open and Angel Bunny hops out, tapping her foot as Fluttershy takes her precious time to get outside. A rock flies across the air, nearly hitting Fluttershy. Her aqua eyes wander down to her feet noticing Angel Bunny looks impatient to go meet her playmates. The shy mare smiles, opening her mouth to speak but suddenly hears a crash. In the blink of an eye the cottage door is slammed shut by Fluttershy's speed to get inside as quickly as she can. She cracks her door open a minute later and peeks out to see Rainbowdash laying on the ground. Her friend looked hurt from the crash, so she rushed over to see if Dash was alright. It was soft but not to soft. The touch of her hoof on Dash's wing seemed to make her sit up straight. The raindow colored mare slowly blinked her eyes and began looking around. A glow of a pink mane caught Rainbowdash's eye. "F-fluttershy? Where am I?" Hm, thought Fluttershy, that crash must have really hurt her. I wonder how it happened! Snapping out of her thoughts, she quickly helped her friend to her feet and pointed to her cottage, signaling that she crashed at a good spot. Dash nodded her head and looked around as if she were afraid of someone finding her. Finally, Fluttershy piped up, "Something wrong?" To her surprise Dash replyed with a shake of her head. Rainbowdash looked around once more and let out a sigh of relief, "It's Derpy! She's driving me crazy! I can't stand to even be around her for a second longer. She's been following me everywhere." At this response, Fluttershy tilted her head in confusion. Who was Derpy? Why hadn't I met her? Bam! It hit her as hard as a rock. Yelps of terror came from the yellow mare's mouth as she tried to fly away but instead flew right into the tree Dash crashed into. Help me, she cried out in her head. A burst of laughter came from behind Fluttershy. It was Rainbowdash! What was she laughing at!? It wasn't funny... but a few seconds later after getting out of the tree, she turned to realize she'd been hit by a gray, wall-eyed mare. Oh! I've seen her before! Isn't she the mailmare? Quickly, Fluttershy looked to see where Dash was, but she already flew away. Perhaps trying to avoid this mare right infront of Fluttershy's eyes. A slight smile came across Fluttershy's face as Derpy tilted her head and waved her hand. "Why, are you Derpy? You frightened me." Both mares stared at each other for some time. Fluttershy began to frown and lowered her eyes thinking she did something wrong. Derpy blinked her eyes and flew up a few feet in the air, "I'm sorry! I don't know what went wrong! I was looking for Rainbowdash and I crashed into you." Hours went by of the two mares, mostly Fluttershy, talking about what they enjoyed doing. After some time Derpy started causing much damage to Fluttershy's surroundings. She whimpered and begged silently to herself to get Derpy away from her home. Looking up at the stars, Fluttershy forgave the mare and told her to carry on, but Derpy insisted on sleeping at her new acquaintances house. Fear struck this scared little mare. Well, what more damage could she do...? During the night in Fluttershy's cottage she slept peacefully whereas Derpy couldn't sit still. Bumping into one thing after another, messing up so much, saying sorry to herself every time something went wrong. Morning came with the sun shining brightly in Fluttershy's window. With a big stretch and a yawn, the mare flew out of bed and down the stairs. Moments after reaching the bottom of her stairs she left out a terrified scream, "What's happened to my house?!" Standing by the door with her arms behind her back and an innocent look upon her face was Derpy. As if on cue a knock was heard on her door, preventing Fluttershy from either crying or giving Derpy the stare and telling her to get out. Her new friend moved aside to let Fluttershy see who was there. Princess Luna! But why her and why at Fluttershy's place?! "Oh, oh my. Princess Luna," She bows down, still having her eyes fixed on the princess. "How wonderful to see you here. What's the occasion?" Luna smiled, beckoning the young mare to stand up. Her purple mane blew in the light breeze. No matter how beautiful she seemed with her mane blowing like that she looked very worried. Something was wrong but what exactly was it? Fluttershy had heard no terrible news lately and if there was bad news why tell it to her? The princess looked around the small cottage and noticed Derpy flying there, staring blankly at the doorway. Her smiled started to fade away. Still eyeing Derpy she opened her mouth to speak. The words were sweet but worrisome, "There's a problem... I will need you two to help with this assignment.." Two?! No! Not Derpy, too!! She'd had enough of Derpy. This wasn't the time to protest though. Luna was scared but of what? Water touched Fluttershy's nose. She narrowed her eyes and saw the princess started to cry. "Oh dear! Anything I can do to help, Princess Luna?!" Beginning to panic, she raced into the kitchen and brought out some food. She motioned for Luna to come in and eat with a wave of her hoof. Suddenly, Fluttershy felt disgusted with herself. Bringing someone into a trashed home?! With an angered glance at Derpy, she rushed to her broom and cleaning supplies. "I am so sorry! I forgot my home was....like this." Once the princess felt better she stepped out of the messy home. Pointing her horn inside, she cleaned it for Fluttershy. "Now that that's out of the way.... I have a favor I need to ask of you both...." Her voice faded away for a bit and soon resumed talking to them about the tragedy that has happened to her beloved sister. "....and so I want you to go into the Everfree Forest--" Fluttershy squeaked and hid behind Derpy. "T-the Everfree Forest....buh buh buh buh .... but! It's so scary!!" The hurt in Luna's eyes almost made Fluttershy cry. She stood up, wiping her fears away and looking up at Luna with a big grin on her face. "Okay. I'll do it! For you, for Celestia, and for everypony that cares for her!" Hope was brought back to Luna's heart when those words came out of Fluttershy's mouth. "Thank you very much Fluttershy and..." Fluttershy groaned in response, "Derpy..." Now that Fluttershy knew she wouldn't get out of this one she ran off after Luna's departure to find her friends. She would not go with Derpy. It was up to her to save Celestia but it could not be done with a mare like Derpy. > A Desperate Plea > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Oh, shoot! They got away with my apples!!" spat Applejack. Drops of sweat slid down from her forehead to her chin. The day had been hotter than any other day. With apple buck season here there was no time to lose. Big Mac was out helping a family member while Applebloom was out with her friends as usual. Her brother was sure to come back soon to help her. Granny Smith sit there in her rocking chair watching Applejack, drifting off to a long nap. It wouldn't have been so bad if her friends weren't all busy as well. On top of all that a lot of bad animals had been coming to Ponyville lately. This cowgirl mare had been chasing after a pair of bunnies for quite some time. She could have kept going if it weren't for a hot, sunny day much like this one. The mare dropped to the ground as if she were about to die. No one was around and heat was getting to her. Her green eyes slowly shut themselves. Heavy breaths soon came from her mouth. A nervous shout came not far from Applejack. Actually it was only a foot away from her. Applejack stirred and looked up murmuring to herself, "Who in the hay just woke me?!" A pathetic whimper came from none other than Fluttershy. She hadn't meant to disturb Applejack and didn't even realize she had been sleeping. "Oh. Oh, no. I am so sorry Applejack. I hadn't realized... I was just....um...." The words faded from her thoughts. Applejack stood up, letting out a tedious yawn. Fluttershy looked away, afraid her friend was going to yell at her. Seconds later the orange mare just smiled and waved her tail in greetings. She sat Fluttershy down to talk about what was going on. They chatted away about Luna and Celestia. At first, Applejack saw no problem. She knew Fluttershy was kind and would do this to help save their princess. Neither of them knew how bad the sickness was, but both of them wanted their princess to get better. Nothing struck Applejack as a bad thing. Finally, after what seemed like hours of talking, her shy friend mentioned Derpy the Mailmare. What was so bad about a companion? I'm sure she's fretting over nothing, Applejack wondered. Why Fluttershy would be mad about that? "I'm just so mad about going with her I could--" Applejack slapped her hoof over Fluttershy's mouth. "Now hush up. What's so bad about her, sugar cube?" Swiftly, Fluttershy removed her trusted friend's hoof and stomped on the ground a few times. Anger flooded through her and she pleaded Applejack to tell Derpy to not go. Still, Applejack did not know what was wrong. From the signs Fluttershy showed, to Applejack it seemed like this pony wasn't easy to be around. Fluttershy whined."Why if she ruins this I will ..... I will---" "I will come with you if it helps! Maybe even Rainbow Dash," Applejack opened her mouth to cut off Fluttershy. As she spoke about going with her friend another pony appeared. Rainbow Dash had conveniently dropped down from her cloud. "Dash! Were you spyin' on us?" Their rainbow friend chuckled and nodded her head, "No way you can get me to go with Derpy!" Long after Rainbow Dash stopped arguing with her two companions she finally got forced into going. Fluttershy had gone to pick up Derpy and Applejack packed food for her and Rainbow. It was about time for them to go. All four mares stepped walked to the outer edge of the Everfree forest and peered in. No matter how scary it was they knew they had to help Celestia. Derpy flew in first and the others followed her in. Would they find the cure in time?