Fluttershy carefully made her way behind the school grounds, passed the student parking lot, and into the small wooded area, making sure noone noticed her slipping away.
Today had been the worst day of sophomore year yet. Sadly, they were just a month into the school year. Fluttershy had hoped it would be better than the last year. The bar was already set pretty low, with the freshman year's loss of her friendships, the isolation, and gaining the bullying.
The summer had given her a much needed breath of fresh air, but it seemed Sunset Shimmer had decided to focus all of her attention on Fluttershy. She had always been extremely introverted, but Sunset's harassment had followed her every single day this last month, and now Fluttershy's nerves were on their last thread.
Thank the stars that she had discovered this oasis of privacy behind the school. It was a clearing a little ways into the woods behind the school, which looked like an abandoned picnic location, with the weathered stones clearly placed in formation at some point. The forest was slowly taking it back, but for now it was a nice place of solitude, where she was away from other people, and could enjoy seeing nature and the rare little animal that made the area their home.
It was the only place she could relax and let out her feelings without a feeling of anxiety. Fluttershy chose to sit near a fallen log nearby, and wait quietly for the animals in the area to come close by. She really hoped to see the family of bunnies she had discovered last week.
Sadly it seemed that none of her little friends were out and about. She kept waiting to see if any of the birds, squirrels, or maybe even a deer would come out, but it was silent. As Fluttershy sat quietly on a log, the adrenaline from all her pent up stress began to die down, leaving her tired all of a sudden.
Without noticing it, she closed her eyes a couple of times, as her exhaustion took her attention. Soon enough she was asleep, napping. It was hours before a noise finally broke the silence of the area. By that time the sun had long since set, though the full moon gave more than enough light to see.
Fluttershy slowly blinked her eyes open as there was quiet hooting from the trees beyond the clearing. She barely had time to really appreciate how late it was before what seemed like an owl seemed to fly out into the clearing, seemingly spooked by something, before quickly flying back out of sight. the bushes began rustling as something larger began making its way into the clearing.
Fluttershy first thought it was a deer or something as it seemed content to stay in the shadows, looking around and pawing the ground a bit. the shadowy shape slowly trotted the perimeter of the clearing, before going to the center of the clearing. Fluttershy covered her mouth, barely able to hold in a squeak of surprise.
The moonlight shown on golden fur, and a ruby mane that seemed to almost sparkle in the night. It had very equine-like look to it, but the creature had enormous eyes that were slightly reflective in the dark, and it's ears swiveled around reminded her more of a young doe. It was small with youthful proportions, making Fluttershy assume it was not done growing. As it looked around, she also noticed a horn. Fluttershy's mind finally made a connection with the childhood stories. She was seeing a unicorn!
The unicorn began trotting a bit quicker around, bursting into sprints now and then, seemingly content to play with itself. It would sometimes stop by a patch of flowers and nibble on them. At one point it got up on it's back legs before throwing itself onto its back and kicking at the air. All in all it was just enjoying itself.
This was when the experience turned from fantastical to magical. As the unicorn sat back up, that Fluttershy had noticed was a female, it's horn began to glow cyan. Soon after, a few dozen lights of the same color sprang up from the ground and began to weave around the unicorn. For a second a part of Fluttershy thought it may be a nest of fairies, though as her eyes acclimated, she was able to tell they were leaves held in some kind of aura. The unicorn had quite the skill, making beautiful patterns in the air.
Futtershy was finally able to focus on the fact that she would need some kind of proof for what she was seeing. She slowly pulled her phone out, and opened the camera app. As she tried to bring it up and get a good angle, her foot stepped on a twig. The snap echoed in the quiet forest, even as Fluttershy froze. However the damage was done. The unicorn barely spent more than half a heartbeat flinching her head up, before it leaped towards the woods. Fluttershy desperately brought her phone up, but by the time it began recording, it was gone.
Did it really happen? The hoof prints in the middle of the clearing seemed to disprove that for Fluttershy. She went ahead and took a picture of it, mostly as a way to prove it was all real come morning. She went around, taking mental notes on the plants that the magical beast had nibbled on, before returning and picking up her bag for her walk home. Her thoughts would be stuck on what she saw for the next few days.
Fluttershy was going to figure out how to make that unicorn her friend.
Today had been the best day of sophomore year yet!
Sunset cracked her neck as she slowly got up from the ground. The sky was beginning to lighten into that morning dusk. She could barely see her surroundings without a light, but the tops of the trees were once more visible against the sky.
Her body ached, bones and muscles feeling out of place once more, though oddly enough they felt well exercised and stretched. Returning to this form was uncomfortable, but it was worth it to have the brief respite back in her birth body.
For one night a month she got to be herself again, and touch the world with her magic. Sadly this realm was anemic, so she could barely use telekinesis and other simple parlor tricks, but it was enough to survive till the next full moon.
It also was proof that unicorn bodies did in fact create minor amounts of magic, something that was not testable in the highly magically saturated world of Equestria, and had been a theoretical exercise among academic circles for decades.
Her detail work had never been exercised so hard before, and once she was back home she knew the added efficiency in magic use would catapult her effective strength at least three fold.
She walked to the bag she had set aside last evening, pulling out a fresh set of clothes and some trail mix. It was time to go back to being human.
Sunset mused about how funny it was that when she was in her pony form her instincts made her so much more skittish. Why, last night she galloped away from a noise in the woods! Part of it was the healthy fear of discovery, but she had noticed how her mental processes changed subtly when her body did as well. Instincts and such she supposed. It wasn't that big a difference for the most part, and would likely not have been noticeable if it weren't for the stress of her living situation.
Finding out what human literature thought would happen to aliens if they were ever discovered had been an eye opener. However, Sunset had relaxed once she learned how such theorists were treated. Who would believe anyone saying they saw a unicorn behind the school?