On the Northern mountains, Celestia reigned in Canterlot. She had an army of stallions to take to the war on the crystal empire where Her sister Luna reigns. Their domain was not much richer than any other kingdoms in Equestria, the stallions on their way through were given orders to help with the fields that year in Apple Loosa, and to recruit any more colts for their army. With all the soldiers roaming the mares had to stay indoors. Celestia and Luna were both great rulers. They had used to rule together, until Luna's corruption.
The Draconequus only had his dark castle and not a single stallion at hoof for an army and only a young purple and green drake he took as a messenger. The services he owed Celestia were his own powers, his magic. He would often be called out to renew his oath of loyalty lest he is turned to stone again. Celestia could have called him to war but she knew he had a duty to watch the Everfree and protect the kingdoms from malice.
The Lord of Chaos loved books, he would pay many bits for a single great tome, and so the Flim and Flam brothers would always go out of their way to travel to Ponyville to peddle their books and so long as they were in the area some general wears as well, usually attempting to cheat the commoners out of some money. However as soon as our Lord heard of this it was said he paid them a personal visit, and no pony knows what went transpire, but since then they give the ponies an incredibly generous price on any purchase.
Then came the green summer, a hot wind carried some pollen and seeds from the Everfree into Ponyvilles fields and orchards, the trees at Apple Acres flourished and the fields grew furiously lush, but all also strange and misshapen and all different colours. The wind also blew in some Parasprites which devoured all the already grown harvest aside from the new misshapen ones that had sprung up. The ponies didn't know why the odd-looking crops were not touched but they soon found out why. Anypony who ate them grew sick and agitated, put in a state of hysteria. The affected ponies ran into the woods and was snarled by a blooming of sprouting thick black spiked roots and vines, Plundervines.
Fluttershy's family huddled in their darkened room, Fluttershy's mother holding her little brother Zephyr Breeze who was too young to understand, like Fluttershy, Mr Shy put his wing around his daughter, it was cold and frightening, Fluttershy's head snapped up every time she heard the screams of the neighbouring ponies, they had been driven restless with hunger and ate one of the apples from the neighbouring orchard the colour of a rainbow it was. Fluttershy's father removed his wing from her body, she shivered from the now absence of heat, Mr Shy much to the protest of his wife ran out in aid holding a pitchfork but the neighbour had escaped from his helping hooves and too ran off into the forest.
One day of that summer Fluttershy's hunger and worry for her family drove her to foolishness, Fluttershy couldn't bear the sobs of her hungry family especially the soft wails of her little brother who was becoming too weak to wail at his normal ear piercing volume. Not understanding the danger she escaped from her now thin mothers watch and ran into the forest.
The Plundervines seemingly paid her no notice, "possibly due to my small frame" she thought to herself.
She stumbled briefly and fell muzzle first into a... "A BLACKBERRY BUSH?!" she exclaimed with joy. The blackberries weren't misshapen at all, some had appeared to be nibbled on but only a handful. Fluttershy popped a few in her mouth, her hunger slowly easing as she sighed blissfully. She Heard a squeak and abruptly turned her head down to her left, under the bush lay a soft white baby bunny.
"Oh, you poor thing" at the sound of Fluttershy's voice the bunny stopped shaking and looked up, the white fluff around his mouth slightly stained with purple from the blackberries. "Oh, it was you that has nibbled on a fraction of these berries?". she plucked off another few and held them in her hooves out to the little bunny. "You must be so hungry I couldn't possibly take them all away from you". Angel bunny let out a grateful bundle of squeaks and chitter and took 2 of the 3 from her hoof and downed them feverishly.
Fluttershy filled her skirt and ran back as fast as her hooves could take her, she would have fluttered a little off the ground so as to not risk dropping the berries, but didn't want to test her luck shed had so far with the Plunder vines.
Fluttershy looked up again and a horrible realisation struck her, she was lost.
A sudden howl interrupted her now terrifying thoughts. "Timberwolves.." she muttered under her breathe in a gasp.
She ran, not knowing or caring where now, still desperately trying to hold on to her bounty of berries. Her family needed her, they NEEDED this food.
Running so fast her eyes started watering from the cold and the wind she started fluttering in a desperate attempt to put some distance between her and the Timberwolves she was sure were just behind her now, and then she halted, landing abruptly and skidding across the forest floor, dropping a few berries in the process. She had been cornered into the side of a steep cliff. She knew her wings were not strong enough to fly.
The Timberwolves had now formed a small pack she was sure she could not fight off. A low Menacing growl escaped their muzzles, their teeth bared and sharp glinting in the moonlight, and then they pounced. She shut her eyes tightly awaiting accepting her fate.
A thunderous roar shook her, sounding too loud to have come from a Timberwolf, and when nothing happened she opened her eyes to find the Timberwolves now engaged, with a dark figure of whom she couldn't make out as the moon was now clouded and providing her with no light for aid to see exactly what was going on. She looked down and saw a soft glow now dying out from inside her chest, but she had no time to ponder it. The creature slashed at the Timberwolves, they howled in pain and retreated, the figure turned to look at the buttercream mare. Still surrounded by shadows she could make out small glint in his seemingly amber eyes before he chased after the Timberwolves again and disappeared into the malevolent tree line.
Without looking back she ran, still unsure of where she was going but she didn't care, she just wanted to get out of this place. she held strong and steadfast, wondering whether to be more afraid of the Timberwolves or whatever she saw that attacked them before her eyes. She heard a squeak from behind her and turned her head. Behind her desperately trying to catch up was the white fluffy bunny and by the bunnies side a Kaleidoscope of butterflies with translucent pink wings and bodies that matched her teal eyes. She stopped in wonderment "oh please, I'm so lost!" tears threatened to roll down her soft buttercream cheeks, that were still a soft shade of pink despite the cold air, "can you help me find my way home, friends?"
The fluffy bunny nodded his little head, ears flopping about, while one of the butterflies landed delicately on the end of her nose as if to say "Of course!"
The bunny bounced slightly ahead while the butterflies seemed to band together to lift her gently into the air. It felt as though she was floating, and she wondered if this is how other Pegasi feel when they fly with no effort unlike herself.
Soon she found herself at her families home. She looked up at her saviours, the moon coming out from behind the cloud now and she found herself basking in awe at her new friends' beauty, "Thank you, friends, I will never forget you!"
a butterfly fluttered down and brushed her cheek, 'is this what a kiss would feel like' she thought to herself. Fluttershy felt a tingling sensation overcome her and glanced at her flank. Therein space that used to be empty, a cutie mark, identical to the beautiful butterflies who had led her to her safety. A small gasp escaped her lips, soft like her mannerism.
She looked back to where the butterflies had been but found them nowhere to be seen.
A small squeak brought her attention back to below her, the little white bunny by her side still, hanging onto her hoof with his little paws.
"You found them to help me didn't you?" she asked with tears of gratitude threatening to escape her big teal eyes. The rabbit nodded feverishly and pumped his chest up with pride.
"Oh thank you, you are my little angel!" she scooped him up and placed him in the pocket of her skirt that surprisingly still held a majority of the blackberries she had picked.
"That's what I will call you!"
The bunny now known as Angel twitched his nose in approval.
"Do you have someplace to go?"
Angel shook his head, ears lowering sadly.
"Well, you do now." Fluttershy nuzzled the little bunnies nose. Angels ears perked up and he jumped at his new owner and friends neck and tried to wrap his little paws around it as much as he could. Fluttershy then held her hoof to her door ready to open it before it violently swung open itself and a hoof reached down and pulled her inside with such force, even she let out a small squeak. Her mother pulled her close and wept, her father stood behind them with a pitchfork, Supposedly about to go look for her. Her mother wept of joy, her father, however, stood there with worry in his eyes now not for Fluttershy's safety but of the small amount of blackberry juice that stained her small pink lips. Mrs Shy pulled her head back and now wept for a different reason, she had seen the juice too.
When her mother and father had seen she didn't sicken like the others, they obviously calmed down and held her. Somehow the blackberry bush had escaped the Everfree Forests curse. They couldn't lose her, not their only daughter. After all was calm they shared the bounty of blackberries, their hunger subsiding slowly, her little brother Zephyr now fast asleep. Fluttershy didn't tell them the whole story in fear of them worrying, but she did, however, mention the butterflies and introduced her new baby bunny, Angel. Mr and Mrs Shy was at first hesitant to allow an animal into there home, but then decided it would do no harm if it rang joy to their daughters' already difficult life.
They were so proud of Fluttershy to have gotten her cutie mark but were still deeply afraid of the fact that they had almost lost her that night. Fluttershy didn't touch another blackberry for years after that, as every time shed see one shed be reminded of the sadness in her mothers' eyes and the horrors she had to face that night.
The next day they heard the Lord of Chaos had returned. He had been in the royal court of the Canterlot to renew his oath to Celestia but had come back early once he heard of the curse that had plagued his land. He called forth a storm of fireflies, that was actually made of embers, to burn all the tainted crops in the fields and orchards, that was what his duty was. But afterwards, he did something out of his usual character and sent his little dragon messenger to every house where any pony had been struck with the sickness and gave them a taste of a magical chocolate milk concoction that cleared their minds.
Fluttershy flew downstairs that afternoon, her pink tail a blur behind her. What she saw made her stomach fold in knots. Just below the landing was Tree Hugger, Starlight Glimmer and Rainbow Dashes mother, weeping to her own parents. Starlight didn't even look up at Fluttershy, neither did Rainbows mother, though her ears twitched when Fluttershy dropped on the landing with a quiet but noticeable thud. Tree Hugger looked up with red eyes, a solemn look on her face.
"Starlight! Tree Hugger! Whats wrong?" Fluttershy asked. Already fearing the worst. "Wheres Rainbow?"
Tree Hugger just shook her head and sniffed before answering.
"She saw you go into the Everfree last night, she thought you to be in trouble, it really knocked her chakras. We wanted to go in after you too, with her, but she told us to wait."
"no.." Fluttershy was shaking her head, tears already starting to break loose. "No! Is she okay? She has to be okay!"
brave brave Rainbow, always one to rush off to help a friend without a second thought.
Tree Hugger reached out to her, Starlight looking up now, her fur wet with the tears that had streamed down her own face. None as hysterical as Rainbows mother, who had collapsed into Mrs Shy's arms. But before Tree Hugger was able to place her hoof on Fluttershy's face she dropped on the floor collapsing under the weight of her weak hooves.
"NO!" Fluttershy wailed. The girls had always prepared for the fact that one of them might be taken away from the group by the Lord of Chaos, but now... they are already one down without any aid of a Draconequss. "This is my fault." Fluttershy had whispered audibly. And she had probably suffered a worse fate.
"No Flutters, it's not" Starlight had finally spoken and protested shakily. "She would have done it for anyone, we would have done it for her." Starlight continued. "I know you went out there because you were hungry, and there is no crime in that, it's against your nature to not try to feed your family." She sighed shakily. "It would be against Rainbows nature to leave you alone in the woods like that."
Fluttershy looked up from her hooves she had buried her soft yellow face in. she wouldn't forgive herself no matter what they said, but now their quadruple squad had become a trio, and she had to be strong for these girls. They couldn't lose another. Angel bunny hopped down the stairs after seeing the commotion and wiped the tears from Fluttershy's face with his little paw, ears drooped and solemn.
The next few days that followed were the hardest For the trio. The Lord of Chaos gave orders to Celestia's army that was helping with the fields in Apple Loosa that had escaped the curse, should share their harvest with Ponyville, he even gave up his own tribute that year so that none of the ponies would starve. In the next coming weeks, he went through the fields again to make sure there were no corrupted crops left to make way for a new planting season.
But for all he had done to save them, they didn't love him. He never came out of his castle, not even to share a drink with the stallions at harvest time the way the Celestia or the prince did.
The Princess would attend plays and performances in their honour. But he didn't come to see them. Whenever the Lord of Chaos was brought his tribute, the doors to his Chaotic castle would open themselves and the carpet would roll out and seemingly drag the goods in as if it were a sentient being. They never saw him. He didn't try to win the Ponies love at all, none of them knew him, just bits and pieces about him.
And of course, he was a master of chaos magic and dark sorcery. Lighting would flash around his tower on a clear night, pink clouds of cotton candy would rain down chocolate milk in the middle of the day, and he often sent the Breezies to keep watch for him around the river and the forest.