The unusual winter and frost brought a chill to the palace. Normally, the palace was the largest volcano in all the Dragonlands, a constant flow of hot, sweltering, viscous lava. Princess Fluttershy looked beyond her kingdom, her mind lost deep in thought. Her people suffered, and she wanted to help them. Dragons were accustomed to the heat of the volcanic land they called home. They were fire breathers, after all. But their fire breath could only keep them so warm, and only for so long.
Fluttershy wrapped herself in a fur lined cloak, grabbed what warm fabrics she could, and snuck out of the palace to her people below. The guards were not to question where she was going, one of her father's few orders to them that made sense. They were not to bat an eye or tell her no. It was time she took advantage of that. Her father, King Shy was doing nothing for his people. The Frost grew colder and more violent each day. She had to help in any way she could.
Fluttershy made her way through the belly of the palace, looking around each corner to ensure no one but guards were around. Each outward breath showed in the air, a puff of white emanating from her nostrils. She looked to her right, then to her left, her claws moving her like air over the lava rock of the palace. She would fly, but her wings were delicate butterfly wings. They would not last in the snow.
She had finally made her way to the back exit of the palace. Again, she looked right, she looked left, and quietly stepped out into the snow. She made her way around the palace, heading into town quietly. She came across the first home, knocking gently. She peered inside, seeing dragons huddled together around their small fire, shivering, teeth chattering. She gently opened the door, watching the fear struck faces of the dragons before her. She only nodded to them, reaching under her wing for one of the many fabrics she had taken from the palace.
She approached gently, wrapping the family in a large enough piece of thicker fabric. With an inhale, she spit some of her fire onto theirs, bolstering it's size, and making it hotter. It was the least she could do. When their shivering slowed, she left them to keep warm, moving onto the next home.
The next family was far less fearful, accepting the aide and thanking the mysterious dragon maiden who had entered their home, seeking to help them. She went from home to home until she ran out of blankets, and her fire was nearly depleted. The palace had more resources to replenish her fire.
Fluttershy had saved her fire for something like this. It was hard to replenish such a resource when frost and snow had wiped out a majority of their resources. Said resources were dwindling, and fast. This was truly the least she could do, but in her spare time, which grew in number, she was researching what could have caused such a frost, and how to end it. The dragons needed their hot, viscous lava. Some had died from freezing to death already. There were more deaths to come. And all of those deaths were directly on the claws of the King, and indirectly, herself as well. She knew that much.
She quietly returned to the palace after helping those she could. She'd be back with more fire and blankets. And that's just what she did.
Another quiet escape and return to the palace. Fluttershy had barely made her way back into the palace, when from behind her, her father's voice rang out.
"Just because the guards are not to tell you no, and not to bat an eye, doesn't mean they don't tell me where you've been going, little princess," he father's voice was a low growl, but it was loud enough that it echoed. His sword clinked at his side as he stepped towards her. Fluttershy hesitated before she spoke in reply.
"As if you're doing anything for our people!" she retorted with a shout, gesturing in the direction of the village below the palace. She did not turn around to face him.
"You are undermining me!" her father shouted back.
"No! I am not! I am helping where YOU WON'T!" she raised her voice louder, whirling around to face him. Ice began to crackle and form on the walls around them. Her face was twisted with anger, each huff forming a puff of white in the frigid air around them. Her brows were furrowed, her eyes full of fury.
"I've seen nothing but bad things out of you! You were a mistake! You still are!" her father raged, the ice melting from the heat of his fury.
"Where was that heat when they needed it?" Fluttershy replied quietly, a sneer in her tone.
"Would you like to repeat that, little princess?" her father snarled in reply. The ice that had melted reformed, turning into sharpened spikes that pulled from the walls, pointing at the two. A distant, hallowing and ethereal whinny could be heard. Fluttershy stared daggers at her father.
"Where was that heat when our people needed it!" she spoke louder, her snout was scrunched and her face was contorted and twisted into an vicious rage. Her father held a claw at his sword.
"I should have left you to die in those freezing woods where I found you..." he snarled, turning to go, dropping the claw to the ground that lingered over his blade. Fluttershy's heart froze. Don't cry, don't cry, don't cry. Not in front of him. She couldn't bare to remain in the palace. As soon as he was gone, she sped through the underbelly of the palace, tears streaking her cheeks.
As soon as she was outside, she leapt into the air, spreading her wings despite how fragile they were. They looked like that of monarch wings, but were a pink and yellow gradient in color, and were transparent like crystals. If the sun were out, they would sparkle and shimmer in it's light.
Fluttershy could feel the frost and ice making its way around her wings. She flapped as hard as she could, using what fire she could muster to keep them from freezing over. Her tears began to freeze to her face, and her cloak she had worn was long gone. She was exposed to the elements, and they were tearing her apart.
With a pained cry, blood dripping from a wing, she descended towards the ground. She flapped harder and harder, but to no avail. Her wing was damaged and bleeding, and her body hit the ground, and hard. She slid several hundred feet, her backside smacking into something, a pained yell drowned out by the ferocity of the howling white wind.
The howling white snow swirled around her as her world went dark.