Present Day Ponyville
Fluttershy gently nibbled her apple pie. She felt no desire to eat as she swallowed the small morsel of food in her mouth. All around her sat her friends, Twilight Sparkle, Rarity, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Rainbow Dash, all of them eating the pie that Applejack had made them with eager intensity. “This is the best pie yet, Applejack!” Dash exclaimed. Applejack blushed slightly. “Aw, it was nothin’,”she replied, her Appleloosan accent still as thick as ever.
Pinkie Pie looked up from her plate. Bits of pie had been smeared on the dish. The pony’s face was covered in sugary debris ranging from chunks of apples to the filling that coated the entire left side of her face. “She’s right Applejack! This pie is absolutely positively delightfully amazing!” the excited pink pony exclaimed.
“I have to hand it to you, Applejack. This pie is exquisite,” Rarity said as she took tiny bites of her slice. Twilight nodded in agreement. The ponies were having a picnic in the fields outside Ponyville. Birds chirped in the air as a light breeze picked up. Fluttershy blew strands of her pink mane out of her face as she nibbled the pie.
“Is there something wrong with the pie, Fluttershy?” Applejack asked. “Hey, that rhymed! Maybe you’re a poet, and you didn’t know it! Oh, I just rhymed!” Pinkie exclaimed, giggling. “Pinkie, do you mind?” Applejack asked, glaring at Pinkie. Pinkie just shrugged and lowered her head to eat the rest of her pie slice.
“Oh, no, it’s delicious,” Fluttershy said quietly. “Then why aren’t you eating? You usually love Applejack’s pies,” Twilight asked. “Um, well, you see, I’m just not very hungry, that’s all,” Fluttershy said. “Fluttershy, do you know have any idea how terrible of a liar you are?” Dash remarked as she wiped her mouth with a foreleg. She stood and stretched, extending her feathered wings. “Um, not really, Rainbow Dash,” Fluttershy answered. Dash looked at Fluttershy. “That was sarcasm, Fluttershy,” Dash sighed.
“Come on, Fluttershy. You can tell us what’s bothering you. We’re your friends,” Rarity said. Fluttershy lowered her head and closed her eyes. Dash walked over and wrapped a wing around her friend. “You can tell us,” Dash said, “We won’t laugh or anything like that.”
Fluttershy thought for a full minute before saying softly, “It’s the birds.”
Everyone looked at her quizzically. “Uh, the birds? That’s what’s bothering you, Fluttershy?” Applejack asked. Fluttershy nodded. “W-Well, what about the birds are bothering you?” Twilight inquired. “They’re leaving,” Fluttershy replied, still in a soft voice. “They’re leaving?” Pinkie said as she poked her head up. “That’s what I said, Pinkie Pie,” Fluttershy said, a bit annoyed at her friends reactions.
“What do you mean, they’re leaving?” Twilight asked. Fluttershy cleared her throat. “Well, I was talking to some birds in my garden, and I noticed that there weren’t nearly as many birds singing as usual. So I decided to look around and see if they were just sleeping, to calm my nerves. But when I looked, they were all gone, without a trace. When I went back to my house, most of the birds in my front yard had flow away, too. I asked one of those that had stayed where they were all going. All it said was, ‘Away.’ I asked it what it was running away from. It replied, ‘the shadows’.”
Everypony sat in silence. After Fluttershy had concluded her story, the day had suddenly taken a turn for the worse. The birds had stopped singing. The previously warm breeze suddenly grew chilly. Dash looked at the shadow of a tree and backed away slowly. Several minutes passed in silence. Nothing was said.
Pinkie Pie’s voice cut through the silence like a knife. “Is there any more pie, Applejack?” She asked. Fluttershy winced, her friend’s voice uncomfortably loud compared to the previous silence. After a moment, everypony began to laugh. “Really, Pinkie Pie, are sweets all you can think of?” Rarity said between giggles. Pinkie Pie nodded. “And proud of it!” Pinkie replied. “Here ya go darlin’. There’s one slice left, and it’s got ‘Pinkie Pie’ written all over it.” Applejack said with a laugh as she slid the plate over to Pinkie. Pinkie squealed in delight and stuck her face right into the slice of pie.
Twilight looked over and noticed that Fluttershy hadn’t been laughing. The mare still bore the same worried expression as before, only now it appeared more pronounced. Instead of feeling relieved about getting what was bothering her off of her chest, Fluttershy seemed to be even more troubled than before.
“Well, this was fun,” Dash said, “But I think it’s high time I flew back home and took a nice long nap.” “Oh, that sounds delightful,” Rarity said in agreement. “Later, everypony!” Dash said as she took off. Napkins flew about as the wave of air from Dash’s takeoff blew over them. “I think I’ll head home too. I promised Applebloom that I’d take her to the lake and see if she can get her cutie mark in fishin’,” Applejack said. All the ponies looked at her. Applejack shrugged and said, “Her idea, not mine.”
“Well, have fun. I am going to go home and take a nap in my nice warm bed,” Rarity said as she walked away. “What about you, Pinkie? Are you going home too?” Twilight asked. Pinkie didn’t reply. “Pinkie?” Twilight prodded. She nudged the pony. Pinkie uttered a loud snore and rolled over. Applejack, Fluttershy, and Twilight all laughed.
Using her unicorn magic, Twilight folded the blanket they had been sitting on and placed it in the picnic basket. “Oh, I can get that, twilight,” Applejack said as she put the plates into the basket. “It’s the least I can do, since you made the food,” Twilight replied as she magically put the napkins into the basket on top of the plates. With everything packed, Applejack picked up the basket with her mouth and started walking away. “Bye Twilight!” Applejack said, her words slurred by the basket. Twilight giggled. “See you around, Applejack!” the unicorn said. She turned to Fluttershy.
“Hey, Fluttershy,” Twilight said. “Yes, Twilight?” Fluttershy replied softly. “Why don’t you come over to my place? I’m sure I have a book on mysterious bird disappearances in my library,” Twilight said as she laid a hoof on Fluttershy’s shoulders. Fluttershy’s ears perked up and a new light entered her eyes. “You really think so?’ She asked, before covering her mouth with e foreleg, “I mean, you know, whatever you want to do is fine.” Twilight laughed. “You’re my friend, Fluttershy. I want to help you,” Twilight said. Fluttershy smiled a little.