I am a Pegasus.
I have a proud heritage; the heritage of the Pegasi. We are known for our heart, our spirit, our determination... for spreading our wings and not just reaching for the sky, but soaring through it. The weather bends to our will, and we rule the storming skies with reckless abandon. As a filly I know that my classmates and I would look down at the world below from our place in the clouds, and we would be so far above it all that it would feel like looking up at the stars and planets and wondering what was out there. We were told that one day every part of Equestria would be ours to touch, to see, to experience in full... once we were proficient, once we could reach the uppermost part of the sky and feel the rush of the wind beneath our wings.
The Pegasi are an amazing, brilliant, crazy, incredible kind of pony...
I am a Pegasus.
But I'm not like that at all.
My name is Fluttershy, and I rarely use my wings. I prefer to walk if I can, and I don't live up on the clouds anymore, looking down on another world so far beneath me, not knowing what that world is really even like. I don't travel if I haven't the need to, either. And I don't go fast. I live on solid ground, and I never look up at the clouds above me and feel like I'm missing something.
I am a Pegasus.
But I am a different sort of Pegasus.
When I first visited the world beneath the clouds, I didn't fly there. I didn't spread my wings elegantly and catch a gust of wind just to ride an air current 'til I touched down to the grass for the first time.
I fell.
I was pushed off-balance when some of my classmates sped by me. I tried so hard to regain my footing on the soft cloud beneath me, but I couldn't and I fell. I don't even think I tried to use my wings once I hit the air, I just panicked, my hooves flailing every which way as if I could somehow swim my way to safety. My whole life flashed before my eyes, and at such a young age, there was so much more to life that I hadn't experienced. But on the inside I didn't mourn any of that. I just remembered my family; my parents smiling warmly at me from above, and my brother playfully pushing my shoulder in that ever annoying way. I thought I was never going to see them again, and in those moments I grieved their loss sorely; both because my heart broke at the thought I wouldn't see them again, and because I knew that their own hearts would break once they lost me.
But then something unbelievable happened.
In a myriad of fluctuating colors I felt the gentle embrace of wing-beats beneath me, and I settled onto the delicate mass with a thwump instead of hitting the ground so hard that I passed from this world. I didn't understand what was happening at first, but then I got a look at my rescuers, and I smiled. They were such beautiful creatures, they were small like me, but at the same time they were so much tinier. They had these lovely, warm hued powdered wings, and there were thousands of them. I had never seen one before, having lived so high in the sky, away from the lush floral foliage down below that they so depended on. Later, I would learn the name of these creatures.
The butterfly.
My heart suddenly welled up with song, and I contentedly fluttered through the air for a short while alongside my new friends before gently touching down, and that was when I felt the ground under my hooves for the first time. It was hard, but was softened by the grass that grew from it. It looked so vibrant and alive, and it felt so much safer than a cloud somehow. I wasn't high above in the sky, fearing that I could fall, I was at the bottom of everything and on something that felt more stable than anything I'd felt supporting me in my entire life. I hadn't been on the ground that long at all, but I already knew that I loved it.
Ever since that day, I knew it wasn't the skies that were going to be my home someday... it was going to be the ground.
And that's exactly how it was when I grew up.
I found a little place on the outskirts of Ponyville, which was a little town with a lot of heart that wasn't too far from Cloudsdale where I used to live. My parents didn't entirely understand my passion for the world below, but they accepted it and supported my decision with all the understanding they could give, for which I am forever grateful.
My new home was a charming little cottage right by a forest called Everfree. Later, I would learn its proximity to this forest was why it had come so cheap, but right then I was just so happy. I remember turning the key and stepping into the foyer for the first time since I bought it and just feeling so much pride - that must be what it feels like for most Pegasi ponies once they can finally make their way through the sky on their own, whereas for me flying by myself was just terrifying and I always wished I could land as soon as possible.
But I digress.
I was now in the business of helping animals. Well, it was less like a business and more like a calling, and all that I earned came from the bits donated to the Equestrian Wildlife Fund, established before my time by Princess Celestia herself.
Well, it didn't take long before that little cottage was filled up with lovable critters for me to take care of. Eventually, most everypony in town had learned about what I did one way or another, and soon they began bringing wild animals whenever they were found injured or unusually misplaced.
Once a stallion brought in a robin with a broken wing, asking me off-hoof if it hurt when I fell from heaven. I laughed and told him, "No, because the butterflies caught me." He looked at me all funny after I said that, but I didn't care. To me it was just the truth. His question was kind of strange anyways, but I didn't overthink it.
So yeah, I'm a Pegasus who prefers walking and hovering a few inches above the ground over the wonders of aerial flight. I don't push the limits of speed, and I don't spend my life in search of a grand quest for glory and honor - although I certainly respect those who do. I live a simple life, using my time and energy to take care of creatures even more weak and helpless than myself, to show them kindness and make them feel loved, because when it comes right down to it... they were the ones who showed me that kindness and love long ago to begin with.